A comparison of in vitro flowers to in vivo flowers of haploid and diploidNicotiana tabacum L.

Thin cell layers (TCLs) were cultured from inflorescences of diploid (2n=4x=48) and haploid (2n=2x=24)Nicotiana tabacum L. "Samsun" and the subsequent flowers formed in vitro were then compared to in vivo flowers. Plants derived from TCLs possessed flowers that were typical of their seed or androgenetically-derived counterparts, whereas de novo flowers from TCLs were abnormal when compared to their counterparts. The TCLs of haploid plants produced more flower buds than diploid TCLs, and did so in a shorter period of time. In vitro flowers and anthers at both ploidy levels were considerably smaller than the in vivo flowers; in vitro flowers also had variable numbers of anthers and pistils. The embryogenic capacity of anthers taken from in vivo diploid flowers was 5 times greater than that of in vitro diploid or haploid anthers. In vivo haploid anthers produced no embryoids, whereas in vitro haploid anthers did produce embryoids. Observations of mitotic cells in root tips of plants derived from anther cultures of in vitro haploid flowers revealed a mixoploid nature. Diploid meiosis was regular and haploid meiosis was irregular regardless of the origin (in vitro or in vivo) of the flowers.Supported by state Hatch funds.     

Effect of Sorbinil on myo-Inositol Metabolism in Cultured Neuroblastoma Cells Exposed to Increased Glucose Levels

Neuroblastoma cells were used to determine the effect of sorbinil on myo-inositol metabolism in cells exposed to elevated levels of glucose in culture. Exposing cells to elevated levels of glucose led to an increase in levels of intracellular sorbitol. The increase in sorbitol levels was dependent on the extracellular glucose concentration. In contrast, the myo-inositol content of cells was decreased in the presence of increasing concentrations of extracellular glucose. Increasing the concentration of glucose in the culture medium caused a decrease in myo-inositol uptake and in the incorporation of extracellular myo-inositol into phospholipid. The effect of elevated glucose levels on myo-inositol metabolism and sorbitol accumulation was blocked by addition of 0.4 mM sorbinil. The ability of sorbinil to block the decrease in myo-inositol metabolism and sorbitol accumulation caused by 30 mM extracellular glucose was dependent on its concentration. Maximal effects were obtained with 0.4 mM sorbinil. However, there was some variation in the degree of effectiveness among batches of sorbinil. These results at the cellular level suggest that the intracellular accumulation of sorbitol is responsible for the alteration of myo-inositol metabolism observed in neuroblastoma cells exposed to elevated glucose concentrations.     

Effect of Increased Glucose Levels on Na+/K+-Pump Activity in Cultured Neuroblastoma Cells

Neuroblastoma cells were used to analyze the effect of elevated glucose levels on myo-inositol metabolism and Na+/K+-pump activity. The activity of the Na+/K+ pump in neuroblastoma cells is almost totally sensitive to ouabain inhibition. Culturing neuroblastoma cells in 30 mM glucose caused a significant decrease in Na+/K+-pump activity, myo-inositol metabolism, and myo-inositol content, compared to cells grown in the presence of 30 mM fructose. Glucose supplementation also caused a large intracellular accumulation of sorbitol. The aldose reductase inhibitor sorbinil prevented the abnormalities in myo-inositol metabolism and partially restored Na+/K+-pump activity in neuroblastoma cells cultured in the presence of elevated glucose levels. These results suggest that the accumulation of sorbitol by neuroblastoma cells exposed to elevated concentrations of extracellular glucose causes a decrease in myo-inositol metabolism and these abnormalities are associated with a reduction in Na+/K+-pump activity.     

Secretion and export of IGF-1 in Escherichia coli strain JM101

Summary The processing of LamB-IGF-1 fusion protein and the export of processed IGF-1 (insulin-like growth-factor-1) into the growth medium was examined in the Escherichia coli host strain, JM101. Several strain or plasmid modifications were tried to increase export of periplasmic (Processed) IGF-1 into the growth medium of JM101. These included: (1) use of a lon null mutant strain to increase accumulation levels of unprocessed LamB-IGF-1 fusion protein; (2) use of an alternative drug resistance marker on the expression plasmid rather than beta-lactamase, thereby reducing any competition for processing of LamB-IGF-1 by signal peptidase; (3) examination of whether phage M13 gene III protein expression caused more periplasmic IGF-1 to be exported into the growth medium due to increased outer membrane permeability; and (4) examination of the effect of E. coli or yeast optimized IGF-1 codons. None of these strain or plasmid modifications caused any significant increase in export of IGF-1 into the growth medium of JM101. Solubility studies of LamB-IGF-1 and processed IGF-1 showed that virtually all of the LamB-IGF-1 and IGF-1 remaining within the cell after a 2 h induction period was insoluble. This implied that only soluble LamB-IGF-1 was processed to IGF-1 and that only soluble IGF-1 was exported into the growth medium. Taken together, the results indicated that LamB-IGF-1 and IGF-1 solubility were the limiting factors in secretion of IGF-1 into the periplasm and export of IGF-1 into the growth medium.     

Associational plant refuges: convergent patterns in marine and terrestrial communities result from differing mechanisms

Summary An associational plant refuge occurs when a plant that is susceptible to herbivory gains protection from herbivory when it is associated with another plant. In coastal North Carolina, the abundance of the palatable red alga Gracilaria tikvahiae is positively correlated with the abundance of the unpalatable brown alga Sargassum filipendula during times of increased herbivore activity. To see if grazing by the sea urchin Arbacia punctulata could generate this pattern, controlled experiments were conducted in out-door microcosms and in the laboratory. Gracilaria beneath a canopy of Sargassum was eaten significantly less than Gracilaria alone. When Arbacia were excluded, Gracilaria alone grew significantly more than Gracilaria beneath Sargassum, demonstrating that Sargassum is a competitor of Gracilaria. Experiments investigating Sargassum's deterrent role indicated that Sargassum decreased the foraging range of Arbacia and the rate at which it fed on Gracilaria. Additional experiments with plastic Sargassum mimics indicated that the decreased grazing on Gracilaria was not a result of Sargassum morphology, but was probably attributable to some chemical characteristic of Sargassum. The pattern of increased grazing in monocultures (only Gracilaria present) versus polycultures (both Gracilaria and Sargassum present) demonstrated in this study also has been demonstrated for plant-insect interactions in terrestrial communities. In these communities, insect density is higher in monocultures than in polycultures because insects find and immigrate to monocultures more rapidly, and once in a monoculture, they emigrate from them less often than from polycultures. In this study, urchins did not find and immigrate to monocultures more rapidly, nor did they tend to stay in them once they were found; in fact, they emigrated from monocultures of Gracilaria more rapidly than from Gracilaria and Sargassum polycultures. Increased grazing in Gracilaria monocultures resulted from increased rates of movement and feeding of individual herbivores, not from increased herbivore density as has been reported for terrestrial systems.     

Respiration and soluble sugar metabolism in sugar pine embryos

Embroys excised from dormant seeds of sugar pine ( Pinus lambertiana Dougl.) incubated at 25°C (non-dormancy-breaking) or stratified at 5°C (dormancy-breaking) were analyzed to determine temperature effects on the relative activities of respiration and fermentative metabolism, the levels of soluble sugers and the activities of the hydrolytic enzymes, invertase and sucrose synthase, as related to the release of dormancy and germinatio. At 25°C, despite a sharp drop in embryo oxygen uptake after 48 h, a simultaneous decline in acetaldehyde and ethanol concentrations indicated that there was not a shift to fermentative metabolism. The concentrations of soluble sugars showed no treatment effects. Embryo invertase (EC 3.2.1.26) activity changed only slightly at either temperature, while stratification was accompanied by a 4-fold increase in sucrose synthase (EC 2.4.1.13) activity (cleavage direction). Upon transfer of stratified seeds to 25°C, embryo sucrose synthase activity rapidly increased almost 10-fold, with the increase beginning prior to germination, while mvertase activity increased 20-fold, concomitant with germination.     

Effect of a Longitudinally Applied Voltage Upon the Growth of Zea mays Seedlings

The electrical parameters that affect young seedling growth were investigated. Voltages ranging from 5 to 40 volts were applied longitudinally along the mesocotyl region of 4-day old Zea mays L. (cv Silver Queen) seedlings for periods of 3 or 4 hours. It was determined that: (a) making the tips of the seedlings electrically positive relative to the base strongly inhibited shoot growth at 5 volts, whereas the reverse polarity had no effect; (b) at higher voltages, making the tip of the seedlings negative caused less growth inhibition than the reverse polarity at each voltage level; (c) the higher the applied voltage the greater the degree of inhibition; and, (d) the more growth inhibition experienced by the plants the poorer, and slower, their recovery. Previous observations of a relationship between the amount of free indole-3-acetic acid in the mesocotyl cortex and the growth rate of the mesocotyl and of gravitropism-induced movement of labeled indole-3-acetic acid from the seed to the shoot lead to the prediction of a voltage-dependent gating of the movement of indole-3-acetic acid from the stele to the cortex. This provided the basis for attempting to alter the growth rate of seedlings by means of an applied voltage.     

The role of transmembrane cationic gradients in immune complex stimulation of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes

The role of monovalent cationic gradients in human polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL) stimulation was investigated by monitoring immune complex-stimulated transmembrane depolarization and superoxide production, events which accompany--and have been used as indicators of --PMNL activation. Abolishing only the Na+ gradient by substitution of choline for extracellular Na+ did not affect the resting membrane potential but reduced the rate of stimulus-induced transmembrane depolarization to 50% of control. In contrast, collapsing both Na+ and K+ gradients by suspension in K+ buffer (high K-PRK) depolarized the cells and reduced the stimulus-induced rate of depolarization to 11% of control. Pretreatment of cells suspended in Na+ buffers with 5-(N,N-dimethyl)amiloride hydrochloride (DMA) or with valinomycin reduced by one-half the rate of immune complex induced membrane depolarization. Conversely, in the absence of either or of both Na+ or K+ gradients, or in the presence of valinomycin, immune complex elicited an enhanced rate of superoxide production. However, PMNL prepared via NH4Cl (NH4Cl-PMNL) instead of H2O (H2O-PMNL) lysis of residual red blood cells exhibited an absolute requirement for an intact Na+ gradient in cell stimulation. The present results thus demonstrate that: 1) both Na+ and K+ gradients participate equally in the membrane depolarization elicited by immune complex; 2) neither a Na+ or a K+ gradient is required for immune complex activation, or for activity of the respiratory burst; and 3) an artifactual requirement for an intact Na+ gradient occurs in neutrophils prepared by the NH4Cl lysis technique.     

Blockade of potassium channels in the plasmalemma ofChara corallina by tetraethylammonium,Ba2+, Na+ and Cs+

Summary The outer membranes of plant cells contain channels which are highly selective for K⁺. In the giant-celled green algaChara corallina, K⁺ currents in the plasmalemma were measured during the action potential and when the cell was depolarized to the K⁺ equilibrium potential in high external K⁺ concentrations. Currents in both conditions were reduced by externally added tetraethylammonium (TEA⁺), Ba²⁺, Na⁺ and Cs⁺. In contrast to inhibition by TEA⁺, the latter three ions inhibited inward K⁺ current in a voltage-dependent manner, and reduced inward current more than outward. Ba²⁺ and Na⁺ also appeared to inhibit outward current in a strongly voltage-dependent manner. The blockade by Cs⁺ is studied in more detail in the following paper. TEA⁺ inhibited both inward and outward currents in a largely voltage-independent manner, with an apparentK _D of about 0.7 to 1.1mm, increasing with increasing external K⁺. All inhibitors reduced current towards a similar linear leak, suggesting an insensitivity of the background leak inChara to these various K⁺ channel inhibitors. The selectivity of the channel to various monovalent cations varied depending on the method of measurement, suggesting that ion movement through the K⁺-selective channel may not be independent.