Dietary adaptations of temperate primates: comparisons of Japanese and Barbary macaques

Habitat, diet and leaf chemistry are compared between Japanese and Barbary macaques to reveal the similarities and differences in dietary adaptations of temperate primates living at the eastern and western extremes of the genus Macaca. Tree species diversity and proportion of fleshy-fruited species are much higher in Japan than in North Africa. Both species spend considerable annual feeding time on leaves. Japanese macaques prefer fruits and seeds over leaves, and Barbary macaques prefer seeds. These characteristics are adaptive in temperate regions where fruit availability varies considerably with season, since animals can survive during the lean period by relying on leaf and other vegetative foods. The two species are different with respect to the higher consumption of herbs by Barbary macaques, and the leaves consumed contain high condensed and hydrolysable tannin for Barbary but not for Japanese macaques. Barbary macaques supplement less diverse tree foods with herbs. Because of the low species diversity and high tannin content of the dominant tree species, Barbary macaques may have developed the capacity to cope with tannin. This supports the idea that digestion of leaves is indispensable to survive in temperate regions where fruit and seed foods are not available for a prolonged period during each year.     

De novo expression of pp125FAK in human macrophages regulates CSK distribution and MAP kinase activation but does not affect focal contact structure

The protein tyrosine kinase pp125FAK (focal adhesion kinase, or FAK) is expressed by a variety of cell types and has been implicated in integrin-mediated signaling events. We explored the potential functions of FAK by expressing it de novo in a cell type lacking FAK. We showed previously that cultured human macrophages lack FAK yet still have well-formed focal contacts. Adenovirus-mediated expression of FAK results in the appearance of FAK protein, which localizes to focal contacts and becomes tyrosine-phosphorylated without perturbing overall cell morphology or focal contacts. FAK associates with CSK 48 h after infection and recruits it to focal contacts. Tyrosine phosphorylation of p130cas but not of paxillin is stimulated after FAK expression. The phosphorylation of p130cas is lost at 48 h in parallel with CSK accumulation in focal contacts. The ERK2 form of MAP kinase is similarly activated at 12-24 h, but it also returns to low levels at 48 h. These findings demonstrate that FAK can be reconstituted to focal contacts in cells that lack it without affecting cell morphology or focal contact structure. FAK can regulate the distribution and activities of elements of the MAP kinase signaling pathway.     

Efficiency of particle-bombardment-mediated transformation is influenced by cell cycle stage in synchronized cultured cells of tobacco

Plasmid DNA pB1221 harboring β-glucuronidase gene was delivered to synchronized cultured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Bright Yellow-2) cells of different cell cycle stages by a pneumatic particle gun. The cells bombarded at M and G₂ phases gave 4 to 6 times higher transformation efficiency than those bombarded at the S and G₁ phases.     

Prothoracicotropic Hormone Acts as a Neuroendocrine Switch between Pupal Diapause and Adult Development

Diapause is a programmed developmental arrest that has evolved in a wide variety of organisms and allows them survive unfavorable seasons. This developmental state is particularly common in insects. Based on circumstantial evidence, pupal diapause has been hypothesized to result from a cessation of prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) secretion from the brain. Here, we provide direct evidence for this classical hypothesis by determining both the PTTH titer in the hemolymph and the PTTH content in the brain of diapause pupae in the cabbage army moth Mamestra brassicae. For this purpose, we cloned the PTTH gene, produced PTTH-specific antibodies, and developed a highly sensitive immunoassay for PTTH. While the hemolymph PTTH titer in non-diapause pupae was maintained at high levels after pupation, the titer in diapause pupae dropped to an undetectable level. In contrast, the PTTH content of the post-pupation brain was higher in diapause animals than in non-diapause animals. These results clearly demonstrate that diapause pupae have sufficient PTTH in their brain, but they do not release it into the hemolymph. Injecting PTTH into diapause pupae immediately after pupation induced adult development, showing that a lack of PTTH is a necessary and sufficient condition for inducing pupal diapause. Most interestingly, in diapause-destined larvae, lower hemolymph titers of PTTH and reduced PTTH gene expression were observed for 4 and 2 days, respectively, prior to pupation. This discovery demonstrates that the diapause program is already manifested in the PTTH neurons as early as the mid final instar stage.     

Studies on the Utilization of Hydrocarbons by Microorganisms

In the course of investigation of alicyclic hydrocarbon-utilizing microorganisms, five strains of ethylcyclohexane-utilizing bacteria were isolated from soil samples.

Among those bacteria, the strain S6B1 that was identified as Alcaligenes faecalis, showed the best growth in shaking culture.

The strain S6B1 was found to produce 4-ethylcyclohexanol from ethylcyclohexane.

This substance separated from culture broth was purified and identified to be trans-4-ethylcyclohexanol by the use of NMR.     

Effects of Trialkyltin Chlorides on Escherichia coli Spheroplasts

Valsa ceratosperma, which is the pathogenic fungus of apple canker, was grown in a synthetic medium. The neutral extract from the culture filtrate was chromatographed on a silica gel column to give five isocoumarins. Their structures were determined by MS, UV, IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR, and CD spectra. Three of them were known compounds; ( ? )-5-methylmellein (1), ( ? )-5-carboxylmellein (2) and ( ? )-5-hydroxylmethylmellein (3). Since the absolute configurations at C-3 in 2 and 3 were not known until now, both were determined to be R by chemical correlations. The two were new compounds; ( + )-(3R,4S)-trans-4-hydroxy-5-methylmellein (4) and ( ? )-(3R,4R)-cis-4-hydroxy-5-methylmellein (5). All the five compounds showed phytotoxicity in a bioassay using detached apple shoots and lettuce seedlings.     

Purification of Oat Debranching Enzyme and Occurrence of Inactive Debranching Enzyme in Cereals

The interaction of some anthracycline antibiotics (adriamycin, daunomycin, aclacinomycin-A) with bacteriophage ?X174 was investigated. Adriamycin and daunomycin inactivated the infectivity of both free ?X174 phage and naked single-stranded ?X174 DNA without DNA strand scission, but aclacinomycin-A did not show this action. The phage inactivation reaction was reversibly inhibited by Superoxide dismutase, catalase or other oxygen radical scavengers. The inactivation of ?X174 by adriamycin and aclacinomycin-A was stimulated by the addition of Cu²⁺, while the ?X174 inactivation by daunomycin was inhibited by the addition of Cu²⁺. The ?X174 inactivation by adriamycin and aclacinomycin-A in the presence of Cu²⁺ was caused by degradation of DNA, and this inactivation reaction was inhibited irreversibly by oxygen radical scavengers. These results indicate that anthracycline antibiotics bind to ?X174 DNA in the form of free radicals and that during the auto-oxidation of these antibiotics in the presence of Cu²⁺, oxygen radicals were generated to cause the degradation of ?X174 DNA.     

Lipid Compositions of Photomixotrophic Green Calluses and Chlorophyll Deficient Leaves of Tobacco

Among photomixotrophic green calluses tested (N. rustica. N. tobacum L. cv. BY-4 and Samsun), the callus of Samsun had the highest contents of chlorophyll and chloroplast lipids, such as monogalactosyldiglyceride (MGDG), digalactosyldiglyceride (DGDG), sulfoquinovosyldigly-ceride (SQDG) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG). However, the chlorophyll and chloroplast lipids in the green callus of Samsun were still 1/6 and 1/3 of that in the parent leaves, respectively. The relative content of a-linolenate in MGDG, DGDG and SQDG of the green calluses were higher than that of the white calluses. The ratios of hexadecatrienoate in MGDG and hexadeceno-ate (Δ³-trans) in PG in the green calluses were trace or less compared with that of the parent leaves. The crude lipids and total fatty acid contents of the chlorophyll deficient leaves (N. taba-cum L. cv. Consolation 402 and Dominant Aurea Su/su) were almost the same as those of the normal leaves (cv. BY-4 and Samsun), although the chlorophyll contents of the chlorophyll deficient leaves were 1/3 ~ 1/4 of that of the normal leaves. The ratios of chloroplast lipids in the total polar lipids in the chlorophyll deficient leaves were a little lower than that in the normal green leaves, but the former had a slightly higher ratio of phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine than the latter. There were few differences in the fatty acid compositions of each individual lipid betweeen both types of leaves.     

Ontogenetic Changes of Photosynthetic and Dark Respiration Rates in Relation to Nitrogen Content in Individual Leaves of Field Crops

Ontogenetic changes of rates of photon-saturated photosynthesis (P _sat) and dark respiration (R _D) of individual leaves were examined in relation to nitrogen content (Nc) in rice, winter wheat, maize, soybean, field bean, tomato, potato, and beet. P _sat was positively correlated with Nc as follows: P _sat = CfNc + P _sat0, where Cf and P _sat0 are coefficients. The value of Cf was high in maize, medium in rice and soybean, and low in field bean, potato, tomato, and beet, of which difference was not explained by ribulose-1,5-bisphoshate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPCO) content. R _D was explained by P _sat and/or Nc, however, two models must be applied according to plant species. R _D related linearly with P _sat and Nc in maize, field bean, and potato as follows: R _D = a P _sat + b, or R _D = aNc + b, where a, a, b and b are coefficients. In other species, the R _D/P _sat ratio increased exponentially with the decrease of Nc as follows: R _D/P _sat = a exp(b Nc), where a and b are coefficients. Therefore, R _D in these crops was expressed as follows: In(R _D) = ln(a P _sat) + b Nc, indicating that R _D in these crops was regulated by both P _sat and Nc.