A modular domain of NifU,a nitrogen fixation cluster protein,is highly conserved in evolution

HnifU, a gene exhibiting similarity tonifU genes of nitrogen fixation gene clusters, was identified in the course of expressed sequence tag (EST) generation from a human fetal heart cDNA library. Northern blot of human tissues and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using human genomic DNA verified that the hnifU gene represented a human gene rather than a microbial contaminant of the cDNA library. Conceptual translation of the hnifU cDNA yielded a protein product bearing 77% and 70% amino acid identity to NifU-like hypothetical proteins fromHaemophilus influenzae andSaccharomyces cerevisiae, respectively, and 40–44% identity to the N-terminal regions of NifU proteins from several diazatrophs (i.e., nitrogen-fixing organisms). Pairwise determination of amino acid identities between the NifU-like proteins of nondiazatrophs showed that these NifU-like proteins exhibited higher sequence identity to each other (63–77%) than to the diazatrophic NifU proteins (40–48%). Further, the NifU-like proteins of non-nitrogenfixing organisms were similar only to the N-terminal region of diazatrophic NifU proteins and therefore identified a novel modular domain in these NifU proteins. These findings support the hypothesis that NifU is indeed a modular protein. The high degree of sequence similarity between NifU-like proteins from species as divergent as humans andH. influenzae suggests that these proteins perform some basic cellular function and may be among the most highly conserved proteins. Correspondence to: C.-C. Liew     

Dust and ammonia in horse stalls with different ventilation rates and bedding

Airborne particles and ammonia were monitored in horse stalls managed under four conditions. Two ventilation rates, high (27 air changes per h) and low (5 air changes per h) and two bedding types, paper and straw, were employed. At both ventilation rates, the number of airborne particles generated while the stalls were mucked out was higher with straw than with paper. Particles were more efficiently cleared at the higher ventilation rate in both the straw and paper stalls. Ammonia measurements reflected an accumulation over time. In the stalls with low ventilation, ammonia levels were significantly higher than in those stalls with high ventilation regardless of bedding type. Management decisions and their relationships to respiratory disorders are discussed.     

ITE Merlewood Land Classification of Great Britain

Abstract. The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) has classified the 1 km squares in Great Britain (GB) into thirty-two environmental strata, termed land classes, as a basis for ecological survey. The classes have been used in biogeographical studies of the distribution of individual species and species assemblages. The concept behind the technique is that there is an association between the environmental character of land and ecological parameters. The initial classification was based on a sample of squares drawn from a regular grid. The data for the 12121 km squares classified were drawn from published maps; the number of squares was limited by the available computing power. Subsequently the availability of more powerful computers and the need to improve geographical definition have led to the allocation of every 1 km square to its appropriate class. This paper has been written to summarise the principles involved in the development of the system and indicate the range of projects for which it has been used. The extension of the classification from a sample to the complete coverage of GB revealed the importance of the structure and style of data used to produce the classification. The significance of these conclusions for future work is discussed, with particular reference to automated methods of data capture.     

不同生境区稻田节肢动物群落相似性分析

根据不同生境区稻田节肢动物群落系统调查结果,应用组平均聚类分析法及主成分分析法,讨论节肢动物群落的相似（相异）性问题。结果表明：生境条件及管理措施的差异对群落的结构影响较为明显,不同生境区的稻田节肢动物群落,都能在一定距离取值时聚合成一类,而水稻品种对此影响较小。主成分分析结果由二维图表达已基本满足要求。结果说明大八镇生境区稻田节肢动物群落与岗列镇生境区稻田节肢动物群落差异较大,分别列于两个极端。海陵镇生境区稻田介于两者之间,而与岗列镇生境区稻田节肢动物群落重叠。与聚类分析结果有所差异。这可能与主成分分析法损失部分信息有关。     

Kinetics of ligand binding to a cluster of membrane-associated receptors

The process of ligand binding to a cluster of membrane-associated receptors is examined theoretically. The theoretical model proposed involves the diffusion of ligands from the solution to the disc-like cluster of receptors on the surface of the spherical cell. When the ligand hits the internal part of the disc-like cluster, it begins to move laterally until it leaves the disc through its outer surface or is bound by one of the receptors inside the disc. If the ligand leaves the cluster, it returns to the solution and hits the disc again after a certain period, etc. According to our model the transition from a diffusion-limited to a reaction-limited process of binding is determined by the dimensionless parameter Dt _c/a ², where D is the lateral diffusion coefficient,t _c is the characteristic time of reaction, anda is the radius of the disc-like cluster. The forward rate constantk _f turns out to be a function of . Comparing the results of our calculations ofk _f with some experimental data we found that agreement is achieved at high , i.e. the process of ligand binding by clustered receptors is predominantly reaction-limited.     

Succinate-ethanol fermentation in Clostridium kluyveri: purification and characterisation of 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase/vinylacetyl-CoA Δ3-Δ2-isomerase

Anaerobically prepared cell extracts of Clostridium kluyveri grown on succinate plus ethanol contained high amounts of 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase, which catalyzes the reversible dehydration of 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA. The enzyme was purified 12-fold under strictly anaerobic conditions to over 95% homogeneity and had a specific activity of 123 nkat mg^-1. The finding of this dehydratase means that all of the enzymes necessary for fermentation of succinate plus ethanol by C. kluyveri have now been demonstrated to exist in this organism and confirms the proposed pathway involving a reduction of succinate via 4-hydroxybutyrate to butyrate. Interestingly, the enzyme is almost identical to the previously isolated 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase from Clostridium aminobutyricum. The dehydratase was revealed as being a homotetramer (m=59 kDa/subunit), containing 2±0.2 mol FAD, 13.6±0.8 mol Fe and 10.8±1.2 mol inorganic sulfur. The enzyme was irreversibly inactivated after exposure to air. Reduction by sodium dithionite also yielded an inactive enzyme which could be reactivated, however, up to 84% by oxidation with potassium hexacyanoferrate(III). The enzyme possesses an intrinsic vinylacetyl-CoA isomerase activity which was also found in 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase from C. aminobutyricum. Moreover, the N-terminal sequences of the dehydratases from both organisms were found to be 63% identical.     

Efficiency of variable-intensity and sequential sampling for insect control decisions in cole crops in the Netherlands

A total of 24 commercial fields of cabbages and Brussels sprouts were sampled in a grid fashion with 20–25 equally spaced cells with four plants per cell. Using this data base of 80–100 plants, we conducted computer stimulations to compare the treatment decisions that would be made for the major insect pests using published sequential sampling programs and a newly developed variable-intensity sampling program. Additionally, we compared the number of samples required to make the decision. At low thresholds (10–20%) for both Lepidoptera and cabbage aphids, variable intensity-sampling required a smaller sample size and provided more reliable decisions, while at high thresholds (40–50%) sequential sampling provided more reliable decisions. In both procedures, the occurrence of incorrect decisions was minimal. The number of cases in which a decision would not be reached after a 40-plant sample was lower for variable-intensity sampling. Considering the number of samples required to make a correct decision and the greater need for reliable decisions at lower thresholds, variable-intensity sampling was superior to sequential sampling. Additionally, variable-intensity sampling has the advantage of requiring samples to be taken in a greater area of the field and thus increases the probability of detecting localized infestations. Although variable-intensity sampling was not designed to classify pest populations for treatment decisions but rather to achieve sampling precision around the population mean, our present studies indicate that it can also be an effective method to aid in treatment decisions.     

The posterior probability distribution of alignments and its application to parameter estimation of evolutionary trees and to optimization of multiple alignments

How to sample alignments from their posterior probability distribution given two strings is shown. This is extended to sampling alignments of more than two strings. The result is first applied to the estimation of the edges of a given evolutionary tree over several strings. Second, when used in conjunction with simulated annealing, it gives a stochastic search method for an optimal multiple alignment.Correspondence to: L. Allison