Transfer of a time-signal isochronous with local time in translocation experiments to the geographical longitude

Summary When mushroom-bodies of time-trained honeybees are translocated according to the geographical longitude — the latitude remains nearly the same — and are implanted to naive host animals the information on time is transferred as an information on local time, i.e. the time-signal learned by the donor animal breaks through in the host animal isochronous with local time and not as an endogenously driven circadian rhythm.In memoriam of Prof. Dr. K. v. Frisch on the occasion of the 100th birthday     

Endogenous substrates of protein kinase in rat liver cell sap under different dietary conditions

Liver cell sap from normally fed rats, rats fed with a highly-carbohydrate diet and fasted rats was chromatographed on DEAE-cellulose (pH 7.0). The chromatogram from each diet group was analyzed for pyruvate kinase activity and endogenous substrates of cyclic AMP-stimulated protein kinase. The materials were pooled into five phosphorylatable fractions, in each of which phosphate incorporation at 0.1 mM and 1.0 mM [³²P]ATP in the presence of cyclic AMP and protein kinase was determined.For characterization of the phosphorylatable components, thin-layer gel chromatography on Sephadex G-200 and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in detergent were used for determination of native and minimal molecular weights, respectively.Except for pyruvate kinase, eight components which incorporated at least 0.05 nmol of [³²P]phosphate/g of liver were detected. The phosphorylation of four of them was stimulated by cyclic AMP. Their minimal molecular weights were 42 000, 21 000, 52 000 and 49 000. The component with a minimal molecular weight of 42 000 seemed to have a native molecular weight of 160 000. Both the 21 000 and the 52 000 component had a native molecular weight of about 110 000–120 000. The protein with a minimal molecular weight of 49 000 could not be correlated with certainty to a native molecular weight. The proteins whose phosphorylation was not stimulated by cyclic AMP had minimal molecular weights of 54 000, 39 000, 34 000 and 22 000.     

Dispersal strategies of Danish seashore plants

The present research is based on previous surveys of primary succession in Danish seashore communities Dispersal spectra for these communities set up, using diaspore morphology as evidence for mode of dispersal Dispersal spectra of species occurring in different zones and different successional phases are compared, and differences between the dispersal spectra of natural and man-made communities are investigated
The dispersal of diaspores to Danish seashore communities occurs at random because it is mostly achieved by abiotic agents or human beings Wind is the prevalent dispersal vector, even though wind dispersal is not as common in Danish seashore communities as It IS in open, disturbed, treeless vegetation throughout the world Dispersal by water is most common among seashore plants that occur in the outer zones As the succession progresses, it is found that plants with no special device or censer dispersal are more frequent in the intermediary stages, while dispersal by ants, adhesion, and in the digestive tract of animals increases later in the succession No significant difference between dispersal spectra of the natural and man-made communities was found     

Substrate/Inhibitor Properties of Human Deoxycytidine Kinase (dCK) and Thymidine Kinases (Tk1 And Tk2) Towards the Sugar Moiety of Nucleosides,Including O′-Alkyl Analogues

Abstract

Nucleoside analogues with modified sugar moieties have been examined for their substrate/inhibitor specificities towards highly purified deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) and thymidine kinases (tetrameric high-affinity form of TK1, and TK2) from human leukemic spleen. In particular, the analogues included the mono-and di-O′-methyl derivatives of dC, dU and dA, syntheses of which are described. In general, purine nucleosides with modified sugar rings were feebler substrates than the corresponding cytosine analogues. Sugar-modified analogues of dU were also relatively poor substrates of TK1 and TK2, but were reasonably good inhibitors, with generally lower K_i values vs TK2 than TK1. An excellent discriminator between TK1 and TK2 was 3′-hexanoylamino-2′,3′-dideoxythymidine, with a K_i of ～600 μM for TK1 and ～0.1 μM for TK2. 3′-OMe-dC was a superior inhibitor of dCK to its 5′-O-methyl congener, consistent with possible participation of the oxygen of the (3′)-OH or (3′)-OMe as proton acceptor in hydrogen bonding with the enzyme. Surprisingly α-dT was a good substrate of both TK1 and TK2, with K_i values of 120 and 30 μM for TK1 and TK2, respectively; and a 3′-branched α-L-deoxycytidine analogue proved to be as good a substrate as its α-D-counterpart. Several 5 ′-substituted analogues of dC were     

Basement membrane components secreted by mouse yolk sac carcinoma cell lines

Three new cell lines (NE, ME, LRD) were cloned from mouse-embryo-derived teratocarcinomas and characterized on the basis of developmental, ultrastructural, and cytochemical criteria as nullipotent embryonal carcinoma (EC), pure parietal yolk sac (PYS) carcinoma and mixed parieto-visceral yolk sac carcinoma respectively. Cell lines NE and ME were composed of a monomorphous cell population; however, the morphology of ME was growth-medium-dependent. LRD was composed of a heterogeneous cell population and formed embryoid bodies. NE secreted soluble laminin, osteonectin, entactin and fibronectin but did not form visible pericellular matrix. ME formed pericellular matrix which was composed of laminin and entactin, but did not contain fibronectin. The LRD cells formed pericellular matrix which was composed of laminin, entactin and fibronectin. Whereas laminin from ME and LRD reacted with polyclonal antibodies and a monoclonal antibody to parietal yolk sac laminin, the laminin from NE cells was unreactive with the monoclonal antibody. Osteonectin was found in the supernatant of LRD and ME, but could not be demonstrated immunohistochemically in the extracellular matrix. We conclude that some extracellular matrix components, such as laminin and fibronectin, are produced not only by yolk sac carcinoma cells but by nullipotent EC as well, although the latter do not assemble them into extracellular matrix. Laminin produced by EC is immunochemically different from laminin secreted by yolk sac carcinoma. The extracellular matrix produced by mixed parieto-visceral yolk sac carcinoma is different from the matrix laid down by the pure PYS in that the latter does not contain fibronectin. The lack of osteonectin in the extracellular matrix of yolk sac carcinoma cells indicates that not all polypeptides secreted by these cell lines are incorporated into the extracellular matrix. The new cell lines described in this paper differ with regard to their capacity to form extracellular matrix and secrete its various components. Hence they could be used for further studies of basement membrane assembly in vitro.