Cellulose: Energy source for microbial protein

Mixed cultures of bacteria anaerobically attacking cellulosic materials produce sufficient acetic, butyric, lactic and formic acids and ethanol and glucose to account for most of the original carbon. These products contain 60 to 90% of the free energy of the cellulose and are all usable as carbon sources for the aerobic growth of yeast.     

Further Studies on the Lyo and Desmo Components of Several Hydrolytic Enzymes and Their Histochemical Significance

This report describes additional studies of the lyo and desmo components of esterase, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, leucine aminopeptidase, and β-glucuronidase. The techniques used have already been reported (7). Enzyme diffusion occurs to different degrees in different fixatives, and varies somewhat with each enzyme. Loss of enzymatic activity during fixation occurs as a result of both inactivation due to the chemical reaction of the fixative with the enzymic protein, and diffusion of the lyo component into the fixative. The amount of diffusion into formalin can be reduced by the addition of salts, sucrose, or methocel. The pH of the aqueous medium significantly influences the removal of the lyo fraction from the tissue section. A striking similarity can be noted in the proportions of each fraction of enzyme present in the kidney of the rat, dog, and man. The procedure of fixation and paraffin embedding of tissue blocks does not wholly prevent the diffusion of the lyo component from the tissue sections when they are subsequently immersed in the aqueous incubation medium.     

Direct contact is required between serum albumin and hamster spermatozoa for capacitation in vitro

A dialysis unit was used to test whether direct physical contact between serum albumin and hamster spermatozoa is required for capacitation and/or the acrosome reaction. Sperm and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were incubated cither together (direct incubation) or separated by a dialysis membrane (indirect incubation). Sperm viability was supported with “sperm motility factors” (hypotaurine and epinephrine) and polyvinylalcohol (PVA). Spermatozoa became capacitated and underwent acrosome reactions when directly incubated in medium containing BSA (TALP-PVA), but did not undergo acrosome reactions when indirectly incubated with BSA (medium TLP-PVA). When sperm were first incubated for 4 hr indirectly with BSA, followed by 4 hr direct incubation with BSA, capacitation did not occur during indirect incubation. These findings indicate that an “intimate association” is necessary between serum albumin and spermatozoa to support capacitation under in vitro incubation conditions. The data are consistent with the concept of direct transfer of compounds from sperm to albumin and/or vice versa during sperm capacitation.     

Novel redistribution of myosin-containing filaments in cultured keratinocytes identified by a human monoclonal autoantibody

Summary A time-dependent redistribution of microfilaments was observed in cultured human keratinocytes using a human monoclonal autoantibody specific for myosin. Immunofluorescent staining revealed that 5 days after plating keratinocytes in either 0.1 mM or 2.0 mM Ca⁺⁺, myosin was distributed uniformly throughout the cytoplasm. At day 6, parallel arrays of myosin-containing microfilaments were prominent in the cell peripheries. At day 7 the microfilaments formed circumferential rings. The distribution of the microfilaments was disrupted by cytochalasin but not by colchicine, indicating that this novel distribution of myosin was not dependent on colchicine-sensitive vimentin intermediate filaments. The time-dependent redistribution of myosin was not influenced by cell population density, cell shape or cell cycle phase, except for mitotic cells in which myosin was distributed diffusely through the cytoplasm. If, as suggested by Kolega (9), microfilaments align parallel to the direction of applied tension, the redistribution of myosin-containing microfilaments in cultured keratinocytes may reflect the increased tension between cells resulting from increasing strength of cell-cell junctions over time. In sectioned human skin, myosin was localized in the peripheral cytoplasm of stratified epidermal cells. Tensions arising from the numerous desmosomal junctions between cellsin vivo could account for this distribution of myosin. Supported by grant NS-23537 (V. A. L.) from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and by the Mayo Foundation. C. L. W. is recipient of the Kermit E. Osserman and Blanche McClure Fellowship, 1987, National Myasthenia Gravis Foundation.     

Establishment of microscale vegetation pattern in maritime chaparral after fire

We quantified microscale pattern in vegetation and seed assemblages along a 24 m transect before and for two years following a controlled burn in chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) chaparral in central coastal California. Our objective was to document scale-dependent correlation between pre-burn seed assemblages, pre-burn canopy cover, microtopography, soil temperatures during burning, post-burn seed assemblages and post-burn vegetation. Scale-dependent correlations among pre- and post-burn seed densities, maximum soil temperatures during burning, microtopography and post-burn vegetation were measured based on two-term local covariance analysis.Seed distribution varied among species prior to fire, with seeds of some annual species concentrated in gap areas. Maximum soil temperatures during burning ranged from less than 50 °C to 225 °C, and were generally lowest in gaps in the pre-burn canopy. These gaps were associated with local topographic depressions. After burning, readily germinable seeds were concentrated in or near gaps in the pre-burn canopy. Germination of different species was variously enhanced, diminished or unchanged by the passage of fire. Post-burn vegetation was very patchy, with some areas nearly devoid of seedlings and other areas, especially pre-burn canopy gaps, supporting numerous seedlings. Seedling recruitment patterns in the second year were generally highly correlated with patterns in pre-burn seed banks and first year vegetation. Although many species exhibited similar recruitment patterns, several different mechanisms may have been responsible for the origin of those patterns.     

Contrasting effects of hypoxia and hypercapnia on ventilation and sympathetic activity in humans

We compared the effects of isocapnic hypoxia (IHO) and hyperoxic hypercapnia (HC) on sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) recorded from a peroneal nerve in 13 normal subjects. HC caused greater increases in blood pressure (BP), minute ventilation (VE), and SNA [53 +/- 14% (SE) during HC vs. 21 +/- 7% during IHO; P less than 0.05]. Even at equivalent levels of VE, HC still elicited greater SNA than IHO. However, apnea during HC caused a lesser (P less than 0.05) increase in SNA (91 +/- 26% compared with apnea on room air) than apnea during IHO (173 +/- 50%). Hypercapnic hypoxia resulted in a greater absolute increase in VE (23.6 +/- 2.8 l/min) than the additive increases due to HC alone plus IHO alone (18.0 +/- 1.8 l/min, P less than 0.05). SNA also increased synergistically by 108 +/- 23% with the combined stimulus compared with the additive effect of HC alone plus IHO alone (68 +/- 19%; P less than 0.05). We conclude that 1) HC causes greater increases in VE and SNA than does hypoxia; 2) for the same increase in VE, hypercapnia still causes a greater increase in SNA than hypoxia; however, during apnea, hypoxia causes a much greater increase in SNA than hypercapnia; 3) the inhibitory influence of ventilation on SNA is greater during hypoxia (i.e., predominantly peripheral chemoreceptor stimulation) than hypercapnia (i.e., predominantly central chemoreceptor stimulation); and 4) combined hypoxia and hypercapnia have a synergistic effect on SNA as well as on VE.     

Age determination of Antarctic krill using fluorescence and image analysis of size

Summary The ages of 252 mature female krill, collected from Prydz Bay in January 1985, were determined using length frequency analysis and the fluorescent age pigment (FAP) technique. Results of both methods suggest 6 years classes for adult krill. Correspondence between the ages determined by the two techniques is generally within one year. The animals were also analyzed by a computerized image analysis system, which recorded a large suite of size and shape parameters. The accuracy of discriminant functions constructed to relate the image analysis parameters to age approached 90% for the ages defined by length frequency, and 52% for physiological age.     

GENETIC RELATEDNESS OF TWO POPULATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL, MIROUNGA LEONINA

Blood samples from southern elephant seals ( Mirounga leonina ) from Heard and Macquarie Islands were surveyed electrophoretically for protein variation. Thirty proteins encoded by a minimum of 35 loci were screened, four of which were found to be polymorphic. Statistically significant differences in allele frequencies were found between the two populations at three loci. Heterozygosity estimates for the Heard and Macquarie island populations were 0.034 ± 0.020 (mean ± standard error) and O.029 ± 0.017 respectively, with a Nei distance of 0.007. The findings suggest that the two populations may have diverged genetically and very limited gene flow exists between the islands, a finding consistent with limited information from mark-recapture studies.     

Voltage dependence of theChara proton pump revealed by current-voltage measurement during rapid metabolic blockade with cyanide

Summary It is generally agreed that solute transport across theChara plasma membrane is energized by a proton electrochemical gradient maintained by an H⁺-extruding ATPase. Nonetheless, as deduced from steady-state current-voltage (I-V) measurements, the kinetic and thermodynamic constraints on H⁺-ATPase function remain in dispute. Uncertainties necessarily surround long-term effects of the relatively nonspecific antagonists used in the past; but a second, and potentially more serious problem has sprung from the custom of subtracting, across the voltage spectrum, currents recorded following pump inhibition from currents measured in the control. This practice must fail to yield the trueI-V profile for the pump when treatments alter the thermodynamic pressure on transport.We have reviewed these issues, using rapid metabolic blockade with cyanide and fitting the resultant whole-cellI-V and difference-current-voltage (dI-V) relations to a reaction kinetic model for the pump and parallel, ensemble leak. Measurements were carried out after blocking excitation with LaCl₃, so that steady-state currents could be recorded under voltage clamp between –400 and +100 mV. Exposures to 1mm NaCN (CN) and 0.4mm salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM) depolarized (positive-going)Chara membrane potentials by 44–112 mV with a mean half time of 5.4±0.8 sec (n=13). ATP contents, which were followed in parallel experiments, decayed coincidently with a mean half time of 5.3±0.9 sec ([ATP] _t=0, 0.74±0.3mm; [ATP] _t=x , 0.23±0.02mm). Current-voltage response to metabolic blockade was described quantitatively in context of these changes in ATP content and the consequent reduction in pump turnover rate accompanied by variable declines in ensemble leak conductance. Analyses ofdI-V curves (±CN+SHAM) as well as of families ofI-V curves taken at times during CN+SHAM exposures indicated a stoichiometry for the pump of one charge (H⁺) transported per ATP hydrolyzed and an equilibrium potential near –420 mV at neutral external pH; under these conditions, the pump accounted for approximately 60–75% of the total membrane conductance nearV _m. Complementary results were obtained also in fitting previously publishedI-V data gathered over the external pH range 4.5–7.5 Kinetic features deduced for the pump were dominated by a slow step preceding H⁺ unloading outside, and by recycling and loading steps on the inside which were in rapid equilibrium. These characteristics predict, in marked contrast to the situation forNeurospora, that cytoplasmic acid loads inChara should shift the pumpI-V curve negative-going along the voltage axis with little change in maximum current output at positive voltages.