Ontogenetic scaling of scansorial surface area and setal dimensions of Chondrodactylus bibronii (Gekkota: Gekkonidae): testing predictions derived from cross‐species comparisons of gekkotans

Little is known of how the adhesive apparatus of gekkotans scales with growth. Cross‐species comparisons of certain characteristics, using size as a comparator to investigate scaling relationships, suggest certain relationships between subdigital pad area and body size. The manner in which the adhesive apparatus grows and scales within any one species, however, remains unknown, and it is unclear whether interspecific and intraspecific patterns are similar. To address this, we examined a post‐hatching ontogenetic series of the southern African gecko Chondrodactylus bibronii and demonstrate that setal density, setal basal diameter and setal spacing remain relatively constant in relation to size, indicating conserved subdigital pad assembly rules that are independent of size. Conversely, however, average and maximal setal lengths increase slightly and isometrically with size, an outcome that is probably explained by setal row recruitment, and the surface area of the subdigital pads scales close to, but below, isometry with respect to body mass and snout–vent length, it therefore does not increase sufficiently with size to compensate for the increase in mass. As a result, relative adhesive capacity decreases with growth with a regression slope of –0.45.     

Attempted localization of a substrate for chitinases in plant cells reveals abundant N-acetyl-d-glucosamine residues in secondary walls

Ultrathin sections of healthy and fungus-infected plant tissue were treated with either wheat-germ agglutinin (WGA) ovomucoid-gold complex or microbial chitinase-gold complexes for localizing putative chitin-like macromolecules. Fungal cell walls, known to contain chitin, were labeled with both probes and were considered as positive controls. Plant secondary cell walls of both healthy and infected tissues were also intensely labeled whereas compound middle lamella-primary walls and cell cytoplasm were free of labeling. Enzymatic digestion of plant tissues with chitinase from Streptomyces griseus abolished the fungal cell wall labeling but did not interfere with that of plant secondary cell walls. This suggests that polymers analogous to fungal chitin are absent in plant cell walls. Tissue digestions with either proteinase K or lipase led to surprising results as far as the possible nature of N-acetylglucosamine-containing molecules is concerned. The loss of labeling over plant secondary walls following lipase digestion suggests that N-acetylglucosamine residues may be linked to lipids to form glycolipids. However, these results have to be viewed with caution since the possibility that peptides may be present but inacessible to proteinase K should be considered. The role of the detected N-acetylglucosamine containing molecules as possible substrates for plant chitinases is discussed.