Protein synthesis in liver,skeletal muscle,and brown adipose tissue of rats fed a protein-deficient diet

Feeding protein-deficient diets to rats is known to stimulate diet-induced thermogenesis and activate brown adipose tissue (BAT). The fact that BAT protein content, unlike that of other tissues, is unnaffected by protein deficiency prompted us to measure tissue protein synthesis in vivo in animals maintained on normal- (18.8%) and low- (7.6%) protein (LP) diets. Protein synthesis was depressed in the liver of the LP rats due to a fall in RNA activity, with no change in RNA content, and synthesis was also reduced in skeletal muscle from the LP group, but this was due to decreased RNA content with no change in RNA activity. Conversely, protein synthesis, RNA, DNA, and protein content of interscapular BAT were all unaltered in protein-restricted animals. These data indicate that, unlike liver, skeletal muscle, and whole carcass, BAT protein synthesis is not reduced in protein-restricted rats, and this may be related to activation of thermogenesis in the tissue.     

QUAESTORA AMPLECTA GEN. ET SP. N., A STRUCTURALLY SIMPLE MEDULLOSAN STEM FROM THE UPPER MISSISSIPPIAN OF ARKANSAS

A well preserved, permineralized seed fern stem is described from the Upper Mississippian Fayetteville Formation of north central Arkansas. Quaestora amplecta gen. et sp. n. is 41.6 cm long and exhibits six pairs of decussate, highly decurrent petiole bases. The stem has a cruciform, exarch protostele with prominent secondary xylem, vascular cambium and secondary phloem. Leaf traces are terete and occur as an outer ring with a small number of internal strands. The cauline vasculature, leaf-trace production, petiolar anatomy and several other features indicate that this specimen represents the most structurally simple and geologically ancient medullosan stem presently recognized.     

Conversion of DDT to DDD in flooded soil

Summary Anaerobic conditions obtained by flooding the soil caused reductive dechlorination of p,p-DDT and its conversion to p,p-DDD was enhanced under water-logged conditions creating or favouring anaerobiosis. The DDT showed recalcitrance in the soil kept at 15% moisture.More o,p-DDT was lost from the flooded soil. Similar amounts of p,p-DDE were detected in all of the three levels of technical DDT treatments and the concentrations were not significantly different under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.     

IMPLICATIONS OF NUCLEOLAR DIFFERENCES IN THE ROOT EPIDERMIS AMONG SEVERAL GRASS SPECIES

The nucleolar sizes of root epidermal cells were determined in 10 species of the Gramineae. Festucoid and panicoid roots presented significantly larger nucleoli in hair-producing, as opposed to hairless, cells. The magnitude of the nucleolar size differences between cell types seemed to be species specific and was not related to the type of epidermal cellular pattern. There seemed to be some suggestion that meristematic nucleoli of festucoid species may generally be larger than those of panicoid types. There was also an indication that festucoid grasses might be characterized by a high percent of multinucleolate epidermal cells. In contrast, cells of panicoid roots contained a single nucleolus in most instances. Possible implications of these observations were briefly discussed in terms of development and systematics.     

Diurnal variation and interrelations of ecophysiological parameters in three peatland woody species under different weather and soil moisture conditions

Summary The diurnal patterns of twig xylem water potential, net photosynthesis rate, water use efficiency of photosynthesis, and stomatal and mesophyll conductance to CO₂ in tamarack, black spruce and swamp birch growing in a natural peatland in central Alberta, Canada, were examined. The relationships of photosynthesis to other ccophysiological parameters were investigated. Data were collected on three days with different weather and soil moisture conditions in the 1988 growing season. Day 1 was clear and warm and the ground water table was 7 cm above the average peat surface. Day 2 was clear and hot. Day 3 was cloudy but warm. On day 2 and day 3, the water tables were in the normal range for that season. Major findings were: 1) Soil flooding depressed photosynthesis in tamarack and black spruce. 2) Swamp birch was better adapted to flooding than tamarack or black spruce. 3) The trees experienced water stress in the afternoons of the two days with lower water table. 4) Changes in photosynthesis of the three species were primarily affected by changes in mesophyll conductance (g_m) and the response of photosynthesis to changes in g_m was similar for all three species.     

The effect of specific immunization or infection with Trichostrongylus colubriformis on production of eosinophil differentiation factors in guinea pigs.

The cultivation of bone marrow was used to quantitate the levels of eosinophil differentiation factors (EDF) produced in conditioned medium (CM) by incubation of mesenteric lymph node cells (MLNC) with mitogens or specific antigens from the intestinal nematode parasite, Trichostrongylus colubriformis. In liquid cultures with 20 units ml⁻¹ recombinant murine interleukin-5 (IL-5), bone marrow cells (BMC) from either normal or infected donors contained <5% eosinophils and differentiated to> 50% eosinophils over 2–3 weeks. Conditioned medium from 3–4 week infected donors produced between 20 and 50% eosinophils when donor MLNC were stimulated with the specific antigen preparation SP3, but macrophages predominated when using CM from MLNC incubated with Concanavalin A (ConA). CM from MLNC of challenged donors incubated with SP3 produced 30–70% eosinophils in BMC assays, with highest levels induced by CM from high responder (HR) donors. Marrow from parasitized or normal donors gave rise to comparable proportions of eosinophils. CM was also produced from LNC of donors given protein or parasite antigens in adjuvant where between 28 and 35% eosinophils were produced in culture. There were no differences between activities attributable to the antigen, but Freund's complete adjuvant induced earlier differentiation of BMC than alum-induced CM. The results confirm that high levels of EDF activity are specifically induced by parasitic infection, and can also be produced by intraperitoneal and subcutaneous inoculation of adjuvanted antigens. Consistent with the greater eosinophilia exhibited by HR guinea pigs to infection with T.colubriformis L3, their MLNC also produced the highest levels of EDF activity.     

Acute influences on the two GDP-binding sites in brown-adipose-tissue mitochondria

Scatchard analysis of³H-guanosine diphosphate (GDP) binding to rat brown-adipose-tissue mitochondria demonstrated that binding to the high- and low-affinity sites (K_d=0.05 and 2.0 M) was abolished by denaturation at 100°C but non-specific binding remained constant (0.2% of free-GDP). Prior incubation of mitochondria at 37°C reduced binding to the high-affinity site, but this could be reversed by incubating samples at 0°C. Addition of palmitic acid (5–40 nmole/mg of mitochondrial protein) did not affect GDP-binding, but similar concentrations of palmitoyl CoA caused a slight reduction in the number of high-affinity sites and a significant decrease in the number of lower-affinity sites. Acute treatments known to stimulate thermogenesis in vivo (a single meal, cold exposure, or noradrenaline injection 40–80 min before sacrifice) all increased binding to both binding sites, and tended to raise the dissociation constants, whereas injection of 2-deoxy-D-glucose, which depresses metabolic rate in the rat, decreased dissociation constants of both sites and the maximum number of high-affinity sites. These data indicate that both GDP-binding sites respond rapidly to acute thermogenic stimuli, possibly due to conformational changes in the mitochondrial inner membrane, and that palmitoyl CoA may influence mitochondrial proton conductance via an association with purine nucleotide binding sites.     

Tissue blood flow in control and cold-adapted hyperthyroid rats

Chronic injections (once daily for 10-14 days) of triiodothyronine (T3) stimulated oxygen consumption by 50 and 15% in anaesthetized, control (24 degrees C), and cold-adapted (5 degrees C) rats, respectively, compared with euthyroid controls. Tissue blood flow, determined from the distribution of radioactive microspheres, was unaffected by T3 treatment in skeletal muscle, scrotum, brain, bone, skin, diaphragm, and brown adipose tissue (BAT) of rats housed at 24 degrees C, but was decreased in spleen (53% of control) and significantly increased in three white adipose tissue depots (average 267% increase) and liver (56%). Blood flow to epididymal fat and leg muscle of cold-adapted rats was increased by T3 treatment (100 and 138% increases, respectively), but other tissues were unaffected. Blood oxygen extraction and oxygen consumption in vivo by interscapular BAT was increased in hyperthyroid rats compared with euthyroid controls, but was reduced by T3 treatment in cold-adapted animals. These data show that BAT makes only a minor contribution (7%) to thyroid thermogenesis, but suggest that kidney, liver, gut, and particularly white adipose tissue may be involved.     

Isolation of a 45-kDa fragment from the kinesin heavy chain with enhanced ATPase and microtubule-binding activities

Kinesin is a microtubule-activated, mechanochemical ATPase capable of moving particles along microtubules and making microtubules glide along a solid substrate. In this study we used limited proteolysis to study the structure of bovine brain kinesin, a heterotetramer composed of two heavy (120-kDa) and two light (62-kDa) chains. alpha-chymotrypsin, trypsin, and subtilisin all produced a protease-resistant 45-kDa fragment from the kinesin heavy chain. As isolated by gel-filtration chromatography, this fragment contains both the microtubule-binding site and the ATP catalytic site of the molecule. Proteolytic cleavage stimulated microtubule-dependent Mg2+-ATPase activity 4- to 5-fold up to 75-120 mumol ATP/min/mg. Cleavage also increased the affinity of the fragment for microtubules at least 10-fold. Since the purified fragment does not support the gliding of flagellar axonemes, we propose that cleavage of the heavy chain uncouples ATPase activity from its translocator activity, which may require other parts of the molecule.