The experimental transmission of hop latent viroid and its elimination by low temperature treatment and meristem culture

Two aspects of hop latent viroid (HLVd) relevant to control were examined: the production of viroid-free plants from infected material and transmission of HLVd in the field. Plants free from HLVd were obtained by a combination of storing infected source plants at low temperature (2–4^oC in the dark) for several months followed by meristem culture using small explants. A total of 77 plants of six cultivars and male pollinator clones were grown from meristems and 28 of these were free from HLVd. Tests showed that the cutting of stems (mimicking the use of tools) was more effective than abrasion (mimicking natural plant to plant contact) for the mechanical transmission of HLVd between hop plants. When field-grown test plants were inoculated, infection occurred more commonly in May before plants had grown large enough for significant contact between neighbouring plants than later in the season. The aphid Phorodon humuli could not be shown to transmit HLVd.
These results indicate that all hop varieties and pollinator clones can be made available to the industry free from HLVd and that the chances of infection can be reduced by avoiding early-season cultural operations that cut into hop shoots.     

Biocatalytic potential of laccase-like multicopper oxidases from Aspergillus niger

Background

The integration of biotechnology into chemical manufacturing has been recognized as a key technology to build a sustainable society. However, the practical applications of biocatalytic chemical conversions are often restricted due to their complexities involving the unpredictability of product yield and the troublesome controls in fermentation processes. One of the possible strategies to overcome these limitations is to eliminate the use of living microorganisms and to use only enzymes involved in the metabolic pathway. Use of recombinant mesophiles producing thermophilic enzymes at high temperature results in denaturation of indigenous proteins and elimination of undesired side reactions; consequently, highly selective and stable biocatalytic modules can be readily prepared. By rationally combining those modules together, artificial synthetic pathways specialized for chemical manufacturing could be designed and constructed.

Results

A chimeric Embden-Meyerhof (EM) pathway with balanced consumption and regeneration of ATP and ADP was constructed by using nine recombinant E. coli strains overproducing either one of the seven glycolytic enzymes of Thermus thermophilus, the cofactor-independent phosphoglycerate mutase of Pyrococcus horikoshii, or the non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase of Thermococcus kodakarensis. By coupling this pathway with the Thermus malate/lactate dehydrogenase, a stoichiometric amount of lactate was produced from glucose with an overall ATP turnover number of 31.

Conclusions

In this study, a novel and simple technology for flexible design of a bespoke metabolic pathway was developed. The concept has been testified via a non-ATP-forming chimeric EM pathway. We designated this technology as “synthetic metabolic engineering”. Our technology is, in principle, applicable to all thermophilic enzymes as long as they can be functionally expressed in the host, and thus would be potentially applicable to the biocatalytic manufacture of any chemicals or materials on demand.

     

THE BIOLOGY AND FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY OF MYOCHAMA ANOMIOIDES STUTCHBURY, 1830 (BIVALVIA: ANOMALODESMATA: PANDOROIDEA), WITH REFERENCE TO CEMENTATION

The small, exclusively Australasian, anomalodesmatan familyMychamidae comprises only two genera; the shallow-burrowingMyadora and the cementing Myochama. This paper describes theanatomy ad cementing behaviour of Myochama anomioides and drawscomparisons with Myadora. The anatomy of Myochama anomioides is little different fromthat previously described for Myadora, except that they aremirror images. Valve inequality is not reflected in the organsof the mantle cavity in either taxon. Such differences whichare present, for example the reduction of the foot in Myochama,mostly relate to the adoption of a sessile habit. There arefew idfferences in mantle folds of the cementing and non-cementinggenus, except that in M. anomioides the right mantle fold, whichsecretes the cemented valve, is thicker and less well-developedthan the left. During the cementation process, the periostracumsecreted by the right fold is thinner and has a quilted appearance. Individuals of Myochama anomioides cement by their right valveonce they have recahed a size of 1.2—3.9 mm. They appear tohave a preference for attaching to the posterior portions ofa diversity of living, shallow infaunal bivalves. The pronounced stereotypicorientation they adopt suggests that these hosts are most oftenalive at the time of colonization and that the mychamids benefit fromthe relationship. The relationship, however, is not obligate. Theyare capable of attaching to other shelly or rock debris, butdo so at a lager size, presumaby whe the preferred substrataare not available. The thin layer of extra-periostracal cementlacks the calcereous crystalline nature of oyster cement, insteadof being largely composed of organic material. This cement ispresumably secreted by glands within the mantle, but these havenot been identified. Indeed, the mantle lacks arenophilic glandswhich might have been thought a suitable candidate for supplyingcement. (Received 14 December 1999; accepted 4 February 2000)     

Size and function of ammonite aptychi in comparison with buccal masses of modern cephalopods

Morton, Nicol & Nixon, Marion 1987 07 15: Size and function of ammonite aptychi in comparison with buccal masses of modem cephalopods.
Previous impressions that the size of ammonite aptychi is unusually large, thereby posing a problem to their interpretation as part of the jaw apparatus, are shown to be incorrect. The relative length of the aptychus for at least the Jurassic ammonite groups studied, at approximately 15% of the length of the body chamber, is remarkably constant in different taxonomic groups and sizes. This is well within the range for buccal mass length as percentage of mantle length of living cephalopods, being most similar to Octopus and Sepia and much smaller than Nautilus. The height and width of aptychi relative to whorl height and width are larger but again ammonites are probably not significantly different from modern cephalopods. The size and design, with no obvious structures for biting or crushing, suggest that ammonites were adapted to a particular type of relatively unspecialised feeding in which mostly small animals were ingested, possibly with some external digestion. The large shovel-like lower jaw may have functioned like a scoop for collecting large quantities of water and small prey, and movement of the buccal complex with the upper jaw almost closed against the lower jaw could have expelled water while retaining captured prey. Calcification of aptychi may have been protective, but more likely acted to weight the buccal mass for nektobenthic feeding and to make it more rigid.