VARIATION IN MALE AND FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AMONG FLORAL MORPHS IN THE TRISTYLOUS PLANT LYTHRUM SALICARIA (LYTHRACEAE)

The purpose of this study was to assess variation in male and female reproductive success among the three morphs of the tristylous plant, Lythrum salicaria. Fluorescent dyes were used as pollen analogs to determine whether morphs differ in their abilities to donate and receive pollen, and actual and potential seed set was measured with a hand pollination experiment. Dye transfer among morphs was highly asymmetric, with more frequent transfer from the short-styled morph to the long- and mid-styled morphs. This suggests that shorts are performing better at pollen donation and longs and mids are performing better at pollen receipt. All flowers on 95 plants were hand pollinated to test whether female reproductive success is more pollen-limited in the short-styled morph than in other morphs. Hand-pollinated short-styled plants had significantly higher total seed mass and more seeds per capsule than short controls, whereas hand pollination failed to increase seed set in long and mid morphs. As predicted, short-styled morphs showed significant pollen limitation, whereas seed set in long- and midstyled morphs was not pollen-limited. Thus, in Lythrum salicaria asymmetrical pollen flow generates morph-specific differences in male and female fitness.     

RECURRENT FORMATION AND POLYPHYLY OF NORDIC POLYPLOIDS IN DRABA (BRASSICACEAE)

Draba (Brassicaceae) is well known for its taxonomic complexity in arctic and alpine floras, and the polyploids in particular present vexing taxonomic problems. It has been suggested that polyploids in Draba may have formed recurrently from different populations of the parental species (polytopy), and it is also possible that a given taxonomic species may actually comprise several polyploid races, each originating from different progenitor species (polyphyly). To unravel the taxonomic complexity of polyploid Draba in the Nordic area, we investigated three of the most morphologically variable species and their possible progenitors using enzyme electrophoresis and restriction site analysis of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and nuclear ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA): D. norvegica (6x), D. lactea (6x), and D. corymbosa (16x). Electrophoretic analyses of progeny showed high levels of fixed heterozygosity in all three polyploids, demonstrating that all are genetic alloploids. Electrophoretic and rDNA data indicate that polytopic and/or polyphyletic origins have contributed to the complexity of these polyploids. However, a lack of cpDNA variation among the species limited the usefulness of this molecule for analysis of polyploid origins. The considerable electrophoretic variation observed in D. norvegica necessitates a minimum of three and probably 13 independent origins. Electrophoretic and rDNA data suggest that D. lactea and D. corymbosa are polyphyletic polyploids. Crossing data also support that D. corymbosa is polyphyletic. Given the widespread geographic distributions of these species and their possible progenitors, and that the populations analyzed represent only a small fraction of their geographic distributions, it is likely that these species have formed numerous times in different areas. As more molecular analyses of polyploids are completed, the data continue to suggest that multiple origins of polyploids are the rule rather than the exception.     

GENETIC CONSEQUENCES OF AUTOPOLYPLOIDY IN TOLMIEA (SAXIFRAGACEAE)

Although there is an extensive literature on the genetic attributes of allopolyploids, very little information is available regarding the genetic consequences of autopolyploidy in natural populations. We therefore addressed the major predicted genetic consequences of autopolyploidy using diploid and tetraploid populations of Tolmiea menziesii. Individual autotetraploid plants frequently maintain three or four alleles at single loci: 39% of the 678 tetraploid plants exhibited three or four alleles for at least one locus. Heterozygosity was also significantly higher in autotetraploid populations than in diploid populations: H_° = 0.070 and 0.237 in diploid and tetraploid Tolmiea, respectively. Most of the genetic diversity in T. menziesii is maintained within populations (ratio of gene diversity within populations to mean total genetic diversity = 0.636). The total genetic diversity due to differentiation between the two cytotypes is only 0.055. Such a low degree of differentiation between cytotypes would be expected between a diploid and its autotetraploid derivative. Most diploid and all tetraploid populations examined are in genetic equilibrium. Diploid and tetraploid Tolmiea share three or four alleles at six of eight polymorphic loci. This suggests that either autotetraploid Tolmiea was formed via crossing of genetically different diploids (perhaps via a triploid intermediate) or autopolyploidy occurred more than once in separate individual plants, followed by later crossing of autotetraploids.     

Ventilation and metabolism among rat strains

Strohl, Kingman P., Agnes J. Thomas, Pamela St. Jean, EvelynH. Schlenker, Richard J. Koletsky, and Nicholas J. Schork. Ventilation and metabolism among rat strains. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(1): 317-323, 1997.We examinedventilation and metabolism in four rat strains with variation in traitsfor body weight and/or blood pressure regulation.Sprague-Dawley [SD; 8 males (M), 8 females (F)], BrownNorway (BN; 10 M, 11 F), and Zucker (Z; 11 M, 12 F) rats were comparedwith Koletsky (K; 11 M, 11 F) rats. With the use of noninvasiveplethysmography, frequency, tidal volume, minute ventilation(E),O₂ consumption, andCO₂ production were derived atrest during normoxia (room air) and during the 5th minute of exposureto each of the following: hyperoxia (100% O₂), hypoxia (10%O₂-balanceN₂), and hypercapnia (7%CO₂-balance O₂). Statistical methods probedfor strain and sex effects, with covariant analysis by body weight,length, and body mass. During resting breathing, strain effects werefound with respect to both frequency (BN, Z > K, SD) and tidal volume(SD > BN, Z) but not to E. Sexinfluenced frequency (F > M) alone. Z rats had higher values forO₂ consumption,CO₂ production, and respiratoryquotient than the other three strains, with no independent effect bysex. During hyperoxia, frequency was greater in BN and Z than in SD orK rats; SD rats had a larger tidal volume than BN or Z rats; Z rats hada greater E than K rats; and M had alarger tidal volume than F. Strain differences persisted duringhypercapnia, with Z rats exhibiting the highest frequency andE values. During hypoxic exposure,strain effects were found to influenceE (SD > K, Z), frequency (BN > K), and tidal volume (SD > BN, K, Z). Body mass was only amodest predictor of E during normoxia, of both E and tidal volume withhypoxia, hypercapnia, or hyperoxia, and of frequency duringhypercapnia. We conclude that strain of rats, more than their body massor sex, has major and different influences on metabolism, the patternand level of ventilation during air breathing, and ventilation duringacute exposure to hypercapnia or hypoxia.

     

GENETIC VARIATION IN TRAGOPOGON SPECIES: ADDITIONAL ORIGINS OF THE ALLOTETRAPLOIDS T. MIRUS AND T. MISCELLUS (COMPOSITAE)

Genetic diversity in the introduced diploids Tragopogon dubius, T. porrifolius, and T. pratensis and their neoallotetraploid derivatives T. mirus and T. miscellus was estimated to assess the numbers of recurrent, independent origins of the two tetraploid species in the Palouse region of eastern Washington and adjacent Idaho. These tetraploid species arose in this region, probably within the past 50–60 yr, and provide one of the best models for the study of polyploidy in plants. The parental species of both T. mirus and T. miscellus have been well documented, and each tetraploid species has apparently formed multiple times. However, a recent survey of the distributions of these allotetraploids revealed that both tetraploid species have expanded their ranges considerably during the past 50 yr, and several new populations of each species were discovered. Therefore, to evaluate the possibility that these recently discovered populations are of recent independent origin, a broad analysis of genetic diversity in T. mirus, T. miscellus, and their diploid progenitors was conducted. Analyses of allozymic and DNA restriction site variation in all known populations of T. mirus and T. miscellus in the Palouse and several populations of each parental diploid species revealed several distinct genotypes in each tetraploid species. Four isozymic multilocus genotypes were observed in T. mirus, and seven were detected in T. miscellus. Tragopogon mirus possesses a single chloroplast genome, that of T. porrifolius, and two distinct repeat types of the 18S-26S ribosomal RNA genes. Populations of T. miscellus from Pullman, Washington, have the chloroplast genome of T. dubius; all other populations of T. miscellus have the chloroplast DNA of T. pratensis. All populations of T. miscellus combine the ribosomal RNA repeat types of T. dubius and T. pratensis, as demonstrated previously. When all current and previously published data are considered, both T. mirus and T. miscellus appear to have formed numerous times even within the small geographic confines of the Palouse, with estimates of five to nine and two to 21 independent origins, respectively. Such recurrent polyploidization appears to characterize most polyploid plant species investigated to date (although this number is small) and may contribute to the genetic diversity and ultimate success of polyploid species.     

N2O Evolution by Green Algae

Evidence is presented here that axenic cultures of Chlorella, Scenedesmus, Coelastrum, and Chlorococcum spp. evolve N₂O when grown on NO₂⁻, showing that the Chlorophyceae are a source of N₂O in aquatic systems.     

Effect of pyridine compounds on ammonia oxidation by autotrophic nitrifying bacteria andMethylosinus trichosporium OB3b

Ammonia oxidation, as measured by nitrite production, was inhibited by 2-chloro-6-trichloromethyl-pyridine (nitrapyrin, N-serve) in the methane-oxidizing bacterium,Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b, and the autotrophic nitrifying organisms,Nitrosococcus oceanus andNitrosomonas marina. 6-Chloropicolinic acid, a hydrolysis product of nitrapyrin, was ineffective as an inhibitor of ammonia oxidation by either the methanotroph or the autotrophs. Picolinic acid (2-carboxy-pyridine), in contrast, inhibited nitrification by the methane-oxidizing bacterium but not by the autotrophic cultures. Picolinic acid may provide a means for differentiating ammonia oxidation attributable to methanotrophs from that resulting from autotrophs in environmental studies.     

Sapatoxins,aliphatic ester tigliane diterpenes from Sapium indicum

From the unripe fruits of Sapium indicum, three aliphatic esters of the tigliane nucleus were isolated. These compounds were derivatives of 4-deoxyphorbol. Sapatoxin A was identified as 12-O-[n-deca-2,4,6-trienoyl]-4-deoxyphorbol-13-acetate, B as 12-O-[n-deca-2,4,6-trienoyl]-4-deoxy-5-hydroxyphorbol-13-acetate and C as 12-O-[n-deca-2,4,6-trienoyl]-4,20-dideoxy-5-hydroxyphorbol-13-acetate, by spectroscopic analysis and hydrolysis reactions.