Is vegetation in equilibrium with climate? How to interpret late-Quaternary pollen data

Current methods for estimating past climatic patterns from pollen data require that the vegetation be in dynamic equilibrium with the climate. Because climate varies continuously on all time scales, judgement about equilibrium conditions must be made separately for each frequency band (i.e. time scale) of climatic change. For equilibrium conditions to exist between vegetation and climatic changes at a particular time scale, the climatic response time of the vegetation must be small compared to the time scale of climatic variation to which it is responding. The time required for vegetation to respond completely to climatic forcing at a time scale of 10⁴ yr is still unknown, but records of the vegetational response to climatic events of 500-to 1000-yr duration provide evidence for relatively short response times. Independent estimates for the possible patterns and timing of late-Quaternary climate changes suggest that much of the vegetational evidence previously interpreted as resulting from disequilibrium conditions can instead be interpreted as resulting from the individualistic response of plant taxa to the different regional patterns of temperature and precipitation change. The differences among taxa in their response to climate can lead a) to rates and direction of plant-population movements that differ among taxa and b) to fossil assemblages that differ from any modern assemblage. An example of late-Holocene vegetational change in southern Quebec illustrates how separate changes in summer and winter climates may explain the simultaneous expansion of spruce (Picea) populations southward and beech (Fagus) populations northward.     

Respiratory-related cortical potentials evoked by inspiratory occlusion in humans

It has long been recognized that humans can perceive respiratory loads. There have been several studies on the detection and psychophysical quantification of mechanical load perception. This investigation was designed to record cortical sensory neurogenic activity related to inspiratory mechanical loading in humans. Inspiration was periodically occluded in human subjects while the electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in the somatosensory region of the cerebral cortex was recorded. The onset of inspiratory mouth pressure (Pm) was used to initiate signal averaging of the EEG signals. Cortical evoked potentials elicited by inspiratory occlusions were observed when C3 and C alpha were referenced to CZ. This evoked potential was not observed with the control (unoccluded) breaths. There was considerable subject variability in the peak latencies that was related to the differences in the inspiratory drive, as measured by occlusion pressure (P0.1). The results of this study demonstrate that neurogenic activity can be recorded in the somatosensory region of the cortex that is related to inspiratory occlusions. The peak latencies are longer than analogous somatosensory evoked potentials elicited by stimulation of the hand and foot. It is hypothesized that a portion of this latency difference is related to the time required for the subject to generate sufficient inspiratory force to activate the afferents mediating the cortical response.     

Granulocyte-mediated airway edema in guinea pigs

To determine the role of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) in the airway edema that accompanies airway inflammation, we studied the effects of a 1-h exposure to 2 ppm toluene diisocyanate (TDI) on tracheal extravasation of Evans blue dye and on the concentration of PMNs in the tracheal wall. Tracheal Evans blue content was significantly increased by TDI exposure (53.6 +/- 8.0 micrograms/g tracheal tissue (mean +/- SE) for animals exposed to TDI and 16.3 +/- 2.0 for animals exposed to air, P less than 0.0025) as were both the intravascular and extravascular concentration of PMNs in tracheal sections (intravascular PMNs were 28.0 +/- 8.4 X 10(3) cells/mm3 for TDI and 1.5 +/- 1.5 X 10(3) for air, P less than 0.025, extravascular PMNs were 10.9 +/- 4.5 X 10(3) for TDI and 0 for air, P less than 0.05). PMN depletion with vinblastine or with hydroxyurea abolished both the increase in tracheal Evans blue extravasation and the increase in the concentration of intravascular and extravascular PMNs in animals exposed to TDI. PMN depletion with hydroxyurea did not significantly inhibit the increase in tracheal Evans blue extravasation caused by intravenous histamine. Administration of donor PMNs to animals depleted of PMNs with hydroxyurea reconstituted the TDI-induced increase in tracheal Evans blue extravasation (80.4 +/- 17.3 micrograms/g tissue (mean +/- SE) in animals exposed to TDI vs. 21.3 +/- 2.9 in animals exposed to air, P less than 0.025) and in the intravascular concentration of PMNs in tracheal sections [18.5 +/- 3.4 X 10(3) cells/mm3 (mean +/- SE) in animals exposed to TDI vs. 1.3 +/- 1.3 X 10(3) in animals exposed to air, P less than 0.0025].(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Control of ammonium concentration in Escherichia coli fermentations

A control system has been devised for the maintenance of stable ammonium concentrations throughout a fedbatch fermentation. The control system is based on an ammonia gas-sensing electrode that monitors a pH-adjusted effluent stream from the fermentor. To overcome the time lag between the fermentor and the electrode, feedback control included metered flows of ammonium to both the fermentor and the electrode vessel. The system was used to study the growth of Escherichia coli B (ATCC 11303) at controlled ammonium concentrations of 5 to 200mM. Apparent specific growth rates, biomass and protein production, and glucose yields were essentially constant from 5 to 170mM. Above 170mM ammonium growth was inhibited. As ammonium concentration decreased from 170 to 5mM, ammonium yields increased from 1 to 24 g cell dry wt/g ammonium utilized. The results demonstrate that control of ammonium concentrations at levels so low that ammonium would be exhausted in batch fermentations can significantly increase overall ammonium yields.     

Properties of a specific glycolipid transfer protein from bovine brain

A transfer protein specific for glycolipids has been isolated from bovine brain. As judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the protein is 68% pure and has a molecular weight of 20 000. Three different assays were employed to study the protein's specificity and glycolipid binding properties. The protein transferred several different neutral glycosphingolipids and ganglioside GM1 equally well, but failed to accelerate phosphatidylcholine or sphingomyelin intervesicular movement. The protein's ability to interact with glycolipids was strongly influenced by the physical properties of the matrix phospholipid in which the glycolipids reside. Both the phase state of the phospholipid matrix and bilayer curvature affected glycolipid intervesicular transfer rates. Protein binding to phospholipid vesicles containing either tritium-labeled or pyrene-labeled glucosylceramide could not be demonstrated by density gradient centrifugation or fluorescence energy transfer measurements, respectively. A specific association of the transfer protein for pyrene-labeled glucosylceramide was found when the fluorescence emission of the pyrene excimer-to-monomer ratio was measured suggesting that a portion of the fluorescent glycolipid was being sequestered from the phospholipid vesicles and was binding to the freely soluble protein.     

Purification and properties of arylsulfatase B from high- and low-activity mouse strains

Arylsulfatase B (arylsulfate sulfohydrolase; EC 3.1.6.1) activities in C57BL/6J, SWR/J, and A/J mouse liver approximate a 5:3:1 ratio. Each enzyme was purified to apparent homogeneity, and the properties of the three purified enzymes were compared. The purified enzyme behaved as a monomer with an apparent molecular weight of 50,000. The purified enzyme catalyzed the hydrolysis of p-nitrocatechol sulfate (pNCS), 4-methylumbelliferyl sulfate (4MUS), and chondroitin-4-sulfate (C4S) heptasaccharide. Purified SWR/J arylsulfatase B possessed a higher relative electrophoretic mobility at pH 4.0 than the A/J and C57BL/6J isozymes, and the SWR/J enzyme was more thermostable than either the C57BL/6J or the A/J enzyme. No differences were observed among the three enzymes with respect to their Michaelis constants for 4MUS and pNCS, isoelectric points, responses to inhibitors, pH optima, or electrophoretic mobilities at pH 8.3. The relative in vivo rates of synthesis of C57BL/6J, A/J, and SWR/J arylsulfatase B were comparable.     

Ultrastructural localization of an extracellular protease in Pseudomonas fragi by using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase reaction.

An extracellular protease, which previously has been found to correlate with the appearance of bleblike evaginations on the cell wall of Pseudomonas fragi ATCC 4973, was purified 38-fold by ammonium sulfate precipitation and Sephadex chromatography to yield a single band by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Polyclonal rabbit antiserum raised against the purified enzyme had an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay titer of 4 X 10(7). The peroxidase antiperoxidase method was used to localize the neutral protease in P. fragi at the ultrastructural level. Electron microscopy of cell sections of this organism revealed that high concentrations of positive immunoperoxidase reaction product were located near the cell wall, whereas control sections stained with preimmune or heterologous serum did not show similar deposits to be present. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that blebs appearing on P. fragi contain high concentrations of neutral protease.     

Effect of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 on surface expression of class I major histocompatibility complex antigens on infected cells

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) generated in C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice in response to infection with the serologically distinct herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) or type 2 (HSV-2) were cross-reactive against target cells infected with either serotype. However, HSV-2-infected cells were shown to be much less susceptible to CTL-mediated lysis, and analysis through the use of HSV-1 X HSV-2 intertypic recombinants mapped the reduced susceptibility to a region contained within 0.82 to 1.00 map units of the HSV-2 genome. The study reported here was undertaken to determine the possible reasons for the reduced susceptibility of HSV-2-infected cells to lysis by CTL. Competition for the specific lysis of labeled HSV-1-infected cells by either HSV-1- or HSV-2-infected, unlabeled inhibitor cells and frequency analysis of the CTL precursor able to recognize HSV-1- and HSV-2-infected cells suggested that the reduced susceptibility of HSV-2-infected cells to lysis could be explained, at least in part, by reduced levels of target cell recognition. A determination of the surface expression of the critical elements involved in target cell recognition by CTL following infection with HSV-1 or HSV-2 revealed that all the major HSV-specific glycoprotein species were expressed. Infection with both HSV-1 and HSV-2 caused a reduction in the expression of the class I H-2 antigens. However, this reduction was much greater following infection with HSV-2. This suggested that one important factor contributing to reduced lysis of HSV-2-infected cells may be the altered or reduced expression of the class I H-2 self-antigens.     

Characterization of a membrane-regulated sugar phosphate phosphohydrolase from Lactobacillus casei.

One of the key components of the futile xylitol cycle of Lactobacillus casei Cl-16 is a phosphatase which dephosphorylates xylitol 5-phosphate to xylitol prior to the expulsion of the pentitol from cells. This enzyme has been partially purified and characterized. The phosphatase is active against a variety of four-, five-, and six-carbon sugars and sugar alcohols phosphorylated at the terminal 4, 5, and 6 positions, respectively, but exhibits little or no affinity for substrates phosphorylated at the C-1 position. The enzyme has an apparent molecular weight of 62,000 and a pH optimum between 5.5 and 6, and it requires a divalent cation (Mg2+) for maximal activity. A single protein band, exhibiting phosphatase activity, was excised from polyacrylamide gels and used to prepare antiphosphatase sera in rabbits. The antiserum was used to detect the enzyme on polyacrylamide gels and to determine the molecular weight of the monomer on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. With a subunit molecular weight of 32,000, the native enzyme appears to be a dimer. Phosphatase activity and substrate specificity are regulated by some component associated with the cytoplasmic membrane.