Kontrolle der Eiablage der Brachfliege (Leptohylemyia coarctata Fallén) als Voraussetzung für die Befallsprognose und Bekämpfung

Study of bean plants infected by tabacco mosaic virus and potato X virus was performed. Virus infection of bean plants induced the injury of structural state of photosynthetic apparatus, viz., the a/b chlorophyll ratio decreased and the main photosynthetic membrane lipid monogalactosyl diacylglycerol degradation took place with parallel accumulation of intermediate compound suggested to perform a signal function. Phospholipid and free sterol content increase pointed out on the changes of the membrane fluidity and permeability. Accumulation of sulphoquinovosyl diacylglycerol in infected plants evidences the probability of latter to play important roles in adaptive reactions of photosynthetic apparatus.     

Individual variation evades the Prisoner's Dilemma

Background  

The Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) is a widely used paradigm to study cooperation in evolutionary biology, as well as in fields as diverse as moral philosophy, sociology, economics and politics. Players are typically assumed to have fixed payoffs for adopting certain strategies, which depend only on the strategy played by the opponent. However, fixed payoffs are not realistic in nature. Utility functions and the associated payoffs from pursuing certain strategies vary among members of a population with numerous factors. In biology such factors include size, age, social status and expected life span; in economics they include socio-economic status, personal preference and past experience; and in politics they include ideology, political interests and public support. Thus, no outcome is identical for any two different players.     

Optical anisotropy of oriented deoxyribonucleic acid films of different water content

Ultraviolet absorption and dichroism measurements on oriented films of calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) at varying degrees of hydration show a structural hysteresis which occurs within a relative humidity of 0 to 65% RH. This hysteresis is interpreted on the basis of a model which assumes the existence of structure-stabilizing hydrogen water bridges in the DNA double helix.     

Assessing the benefits of using mate-pairs to resolve repeats in de novo short-read prokaryotic assemblies

Background  

Next-generation sequencing technologies allow genomes to be sequenced more quickly and less expensively than ever before. However, as sequencing technology has improved, the difficulty of de novo genome assembly has increased, due in large part to the shorter reads generated by the new technologies. The use of mated sequences (referred to as mate-pairs) is a standard means of disambiguating assemblies to obtain a more complete picture of the genome without resorting to manual finishing. Here, we examine the effectiveness of mate-pair information in resolving repeated sequences in the DNA (a paramount issue to overcome). While it has been empirically accepted that mate-pairs improve assemblies, and a variety of assemblers use mate-pairs in the context of repeat resolution, the effectiveness of mate-pairs in this context has not been systematically evaluated in previous literature.     

Enhanced potential for metabolic studies using narrow-band sensitized FT-IR microspectroscopy.

The ability to detect and measure the relative concentration of deuterated substance found in tissue specimens is enhanced by adding a custom made-to-order 50 microm narrow MCT band that has an optimized response profile for the CD, ND and OH absorption bands. In the short range of interest it has a 2:1 signal advantage over the stock MCT detector and the steep cut off before the finger print region significantly diminishing the noise. The result is that levels of specific deuterated compounds experimentally administered to biological systems and dispersed by the host organism can be detected and measured The custom small target size narrow-band detector with increased signal and reduced noise enhances the potential for the use of FT-IR microspectoscopy as a novel way to study metabolism without the use of radioactive materials.     

Mu-opioid induction of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, RANTES, and IFN-gamma-inducible protein-10 expression in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Strong evidence for the direct modulation of the immune system by opioids is well documented. Mu-opioids have been shown to alter the release of cytokines important for both host defense and the inflammatory response. Proinflammatory chemokines monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), RANTES, and IFN-gamma-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) play crucial roles in cell-mediated immune responses, proinflammatory reactions, and viral infections. In this report, we show that [D-Ala(2),N:-Me-Phe(4),Gly-ol(5)]enkephalin (DAMGO), a mu-opioid-selective agonist, augments the expression in human PBMCs of MCP-1, RANTES, and IP-10 at both the mRNA and protein levels. Because of the proposed relationship between opioid abuse and HIV-1 infection, we also examined the impact of DAMGO on chemokine expression in HIV-infected cells. Our results show that DAMGO administration induces a significant increase in RANTES and IP-10 expression, while MCP-1 protein levels remain unaffected in PBMCs infected with the HIV-1 strain. In contrast, we show a dichotomous effect of DAMGO treatment on IP-10 protein levels expressed by T- and M-tropic HIV-infected PBMCs. The differential modulation of chemokine expression in T- and M-tropic HIV-1-infected PBMCs by opioids supports a detrimental role for opioids during HIV-1 infection. Modulation of chemokine expression may enhance trafficking of potential noninfected target cells to the site of active infection, thus directly contributing to HIV-1 replication and disease progression to AIDS.     

Determination of the relative and absolute stereochemistry of a potent and alpha1A-selective adrenoceptor antagonist

The binding affinities and selectivities of antagonists 1-4 for the alpha1A-adrenoceptor are dependent on the stereochemical orientation of the groups at the C-4 and C-5 positions of the oxazolidinone ring. The unambiguous assignment of the relative and absolute configurations of the diastereomers of SNAP 7915 (1) is reported.     

A Stochastic Model for the Synthesis and Degradation of Natural Organic Matter. Part I. Data Structures and Reaction Kinetics

Here we present a stochastic biogeochemical model for the formation, transformation and mineralization of natural organic matter (NOM). The model is agent-based, with each software agent representing a single molecule of defined composition. Molecular properties and reactivities are estimated from composition and environmental parameters. Environmental parameters including temperature, pH, light intensity, dissolved O₂, moisture and enzyme activities are user controlled. Time is treated in discrete steps, and during each step potential reaction probabilities are evaluated for each molecule based on its structure and the environmental parameters. When reactions occur, the molecular composition is modified accordingly. The model uses small natural products and biopolymers for inputs, and the composition of the molecules produced is constrained only by the inputs and reaction stoichiometries, not by pre-defined structures. Example simulations using the program AlphaStep are presented, in which the breakdown of biopolymers and the condensation of small molecules both lead to molecular assemblages with elemental composition and average properties similar to those of aquatic NOM. This batch-reactor model can be expanded to include spatial information and environmental feedback.