Typification of Linnaean taxa of annual Poaceae: Poeae related to Vulpia and Desmazeria

STACE, C. A. & JARVIS, C. E., 1985. TypiHcation of Linnaean taxa of annual Poaceae: Poeae related to Vulpia and Desmazeria. The status and typification of 15 Linnaean species of annual grasses related to Vulpia and Desmazeria are discussed. Of these 15, eight are represented by holotypes or lectotypes in LINN, two by lectotypes in Herb. A. van Royen (L), and one by a neotype in LINN. One (Festuca marina) is based on a pre-Linnaean polynomial and is represented by a lectotype in Herb. Sloane (BM); one (Cynosurus durus) has no known type specimens and we have chosen a Barrelier (1714) illustration as lectotype; one (Nardus aristatus) is an illegitimate name change for Nardus incurvus Gouan, for which we have selected a Scheuchzer (1719) illustration as lectotype; and finally Festuca incrassala appeared on a cancelled page of Species Plantarum and has no nomenclatural standing.     

Cloning of aroG, the gene coding for phospho-2-keto-3-deoxy-heptonate aldolase(phe), in Escherichia coli K-12, and subcloning of the aroG promoter and operator in a promoter-detecting plasmid

Defective transducing phages carrying aroG, the structural gene for phenylalanine (phe)-inhibitable phospho-2-keto-heptonate aldolase (EC 4.1.2.15; previously known as 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonate-7-phosphate synthetase[phe]), have been isolated, and DNA from two of these phages has been used to construct a restriction map of the region from att lambda to aroG. A 7.6-kb PstI-HindIII fragment from one of these phages was cloned into pBR322 and shown to contain aroG. The location of aroG within the 7.6 kb was established by subcloning and Tn3 transpositional mutagenesis. A fragment carrying the aroG promoter and operator has been cloned into a high copy number promoter-cloning vector (pMC489), and the resulting aroGpo-LacZ' (alpha) fusion subcloned in a low copy number vector. Strains with this fusion on the low copy number vector exhibit negative regulation of beta-galactosidase expression by both phenylalanine and tryptophan and positive regulation by tyrosine in a tyrR+ background.     

Action of pilocarpine on the normal frog heart and in pathology

Experiments on frogs were performed to examine the effect of the M-cholinomimetic pilocarpine on the heart. It was discovered that at concentrations of 10(-15)--10(-5) g/ml pilocarpine exerted only an adverse chronotropic effect on the perfused heart. When applied at a concentration of 10(-4) g/ml the drug produced a negative as well as a positive chronotropic effect. The latter occurred spasmodically (without progressive rise in the heart rate) in association with a slow heart rate. In some experiments such effects were preceded by a certain deceleration of the heart. In experiments with positive chronotropic effects, arrhythmias and sinoatrial dissociation were observed sometimes. Experiments with recording of the electrograms of the sinuses and lower parts showed that such effects were caused not by pacemaker acceleration but by the removal of the blockade of conduction, between the pacemaker and the atria. As far as the pacemaker is concerned, pilocarpine exerted only a negative chronotropic effect.     

Effect of the lymphocytosis-stimulating factor from Bordetella pertussis on murine lymphoid and hemopoietic cells

Effect of B. pertussis lymphocytosis-promoting factor (LPF) on the lympho-hematopoietic system of mice was studied. The injection of LPF was shown to sharply enhance endogenous colony formation and to induce a severe depletion of thymus cells, reaching its maximum of day 4. Thymocytes obtained on day 2 or 3 after the injection of LPF produced a suppressive effect on endogenous colony formation. The proliferative activity of hematopoietic stem cells sharply increased under the influence of LPF, though it had no radioprotective action. On the following day after the injection of LPF a steep rise in the number of hematopoietic stem cells was observed in the blood of mice: their content increased 20-fold in comparison with the control level. These data may be important for the evaluation of the side effects of pertussis vaccine on the lympho-hematopoietic system.     

The cluster method in conducting epidemiological research

The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) whose goal is to reduce morbidity and mortality by providing children with immunizations against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, and tuberculosis continually faces the problem of documenting immunization coverage rates. Therefore the EPI seeks simple, effective, and inexpensive methods of evaluation which could be implemented in different countries. An example of such a method is a simplified cluster sampling technique of estimation of immunization coverage through the examination of 210 children, selected randomly as 30 groups of 7 children each. In 1978-1984 more than 1000 immunization coverage surveys were performed all over the world, mainly in developing countries. In a modified way this method is also used to collect data on morbidity and mortality of certain EPI target diseases as well as diarrhoeal diseases.     

Effects of viral transformation on synthesis and secretion of collagen and fibronectin-like molecules by embryonic chick chondrocytes in culture

Monolayer cultures of chondrocytes isolated from 11-day-old chick embryo vertebral cartilage were transformed by Rous sarcoma virus, and the effects of transformation on synthesis and secretion of extracellular proteins by these cells were studied. Transformation resulted in decreased synthesis of type II collagen which did not appear to be due to underhydroxylation of collagenous protein but to a decrease in the total amount synthesized. Carboxymethyl-cellulose chromatography and polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis failed to demonstrate any alpha 2 chains as a result of the transformation, suggesting that conversion of type II to type I collagen did not occur. In contrast to the decrease in collagen synthesis, synthesis of a molecule with biochemical characteristics similar to fibronectin increased markedly in virally transformed cultures. Although there were no significant differences in the amount of fibronectin-like molecules in the cell layers of normal and transformed chondrocytes, a marked increase of these molecules in the culture media of the transformed cells was demonstrated. These findings were confirmed by experiments with temperature-sensitive mutants of the virus.     

Antibodies against calcium-regulating hormones in infectious-allergic forms of bronchial asthma

Antibodies to calcitonin, parathyroid hormone and cortisol are detected in acute stage of infection-caused bronchial asthma. The appearance of antibodies is paralleled by marked hypercalcaemia. The antibodies may bind excessive hormones in the blood, preventing further hormonal imbalance. Ten-day treatment with glucocorticoids decreased the amount of antibodies possibly due to normalization of hormonal secretion and restoration of their balance. As a result, calcium blood levels returned to normal.     

Characterization of staphylococci

A total of 158 Staphylococcus strains from various sources were characterized by biochemical, physiological, and morphological tests. Numerical taxonomy was applied by using these features. Taxonomic analysis was done with programs run under the MVS-TSO system of the IBM 370 complex and PDP-10 system of the National Institutes of Health. DNA-DNA hybridization with nitrocellulose filters was done to compare selected atypical cultures with American Type Culture Collection reference strains. We found that the use of the nomenclature of Bergey's Manual (8th edition) to identify these strains by species was not adequate. DNA homology values supported the formation of Staphylococcus hyicus subsp. hyicus separate from Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. The three tests that best separated these strains into four species were (i) tube coagulase (6-h or 24-h porcine plasma or 24-h Difco rabbit plasma), (ii) production of acetoin or acid aerobically from ribose, maltose, or trehalose, and (iii) growth in the presence of novobiocin. Four strains of S. hyicus subsp. hyicus (VII76, VII113, VII131, and VA519) gave typical enterotoxigenic responses in monkey-feeding tests but were negative for enterotoxins A through E, suggesting the presence of one or more new enterotoxins. Two coagulase-negative, heat-stable DNase-positive strains (D143 and ARM) could not be classified by either DNA-DNA hybridization or numerical taxonomy, and D143 was enterotoxigenic as measured by the monkey-feeding bioassay. DNA homology showed that strain FRI-698M was more closely related to S. epidermidis than to S. aureus, yet it produced enterotoxin D. These data suggest the occurrence of coagulase-negative enterotoxigenic strains that are not S. aureus; nonetheless, a positive tube coagulase test and heat-stable DNase test should together be useful for routine screening of most potentially enterotoxigenic staphylococci in foods.