Incorporation of tritiated thymidine into mitochondrial DNA of the liver and kidney cells of chickens and mice in tissue culture

Summary ³H-thymidine incorporation into mitochondrial DNA of the liver and the kidney cells of chick embryos and newborn mice in tissue culture was shown by means of electron microscope radioautography with accurate localization. In these cells, about 20% of all the mitochondria were labeled at their matrices between the cristae within 4 hours in contact with the radioisotope, which were removed by DN'ase.From the results, it is clear that the mitochondria of avian and mammalian cells in tissue culture synthesize DNA.     

Production ecology of phyto- and zooplankton in a eutrophic pond dominated byChaoborus flavicans (Diptera: Chaobolidae)

Primary production of phytoplankton and secondary production of a daphnid and a chaoborid were studied in a small eutrophic pond. The gross primary production of phytoplankton was 290 gC m⁻² per 9 months during April–December. Regression analysis showed that the gross primary production was related to the incident solar radiation and the chlorophylla concentration and not to either total phosphorus or total inorganic nitrogen concentration. The mean chlorophylla concentration (14.2 mg m⁻³), however, was about half the expected value upon phosphorus loading of this pond. The mean zooplankton biomass was 1.60 g dry weight m⁻², of whichDaphnia rosea and cyclopoid copepods amounted to 0.69 g dry weight m⁻² and 0.61 g dry weight m⁻², respectively. The production ofD. rosea was high during May–July and October and the level for the whole 9 months was 22.6 g dry weight m⁻².Chaoborus flavicans produced 10 complete and one incomplete cohorts per year. Two consecutive cohorts overlapped during the growing season. The maximum density, the mean biomass, and the production were 19,100 m⁻², 0.81 g dry weight m⁻², and 11.7 g dry weight m⁻²yr⁻¹, respectively. As no fish was present in this pond, the emerging biomass amounted to 69% of larval production. The production ofC. flavicans larvae was high in comparison with zooplankton production during August–September, when the larvae possibly fed not only on zooplankton but also algae.     

Functional comparison of transactivation by human retrovirus rev and rex genes.

The effect of rev-responsive element deletion on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2) gene expression was examined. The phenotypes of HIV-1 and HIV-2 provirus DNAs lacking the rev-responsive element, as determined by transfection experiments, were indistinguishable from those of virus DNAs carrying rev gene mutations. By using rev-response elements derived from these two viruses, we developed two monitoring systems to evaluate the functionality of HIV-1 rev, HIV-2 rev, and human T-lymphotropic virus type I rex. In both systems, HIV-1 rev and human T-lymphotropic virus type I rex transactivated HIV-2 very efficiently. On the contrary, HIV-2 rev and human T-lymphotropic virus type I rex were poor activators of HIV-1. No functional replacement of rex by HIV-2 rev was observed.