Processing of behaviorally relevant temporal parameters of acoustic stimuli by single neurons in the superior olivary nucleus of the leopard frog

Summary Response characteristics of 130 single neurons in the superior olivary nucleus of the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens pipiens) were examined to determine their selectivity to various behaviorally relevant temporal parameters [rise-fall time, duration, and amplitude modulation (AM) rate of acoustic signals. Response functions were constructed with respect to each of these variables. Neurons with different temporal firing patterns such as tonic, phasic or phasic-burst firing patterns, participated in time domain analysis in specific manners. Phasic neurons manifested preferences for signals with short rise-fall times, thus possessing low-pass response functions with respect to this stimulus parameter; conversely, tonic and phasic-burst units were non-selective and possessed all-pass response functions. A distinction between temporal firing patterns was also observed for duration coding. Whereas phasic units showed no change in the mean spike count with a change in stimulus duration (i.e., all-pass duration response functions), tonic and phasic-burst units gave higher mean spike counts with an increase in stimulus duration (i.e., primary-like high-pass response functions). Phasic units manifested greater response selectivity for AM rate than did tonic or phasic-burst units, and many phasic units were tuned to a narrow range of modulation rates (i.e., band-pass). The results suggest that SON neurons play an important role in the processing of complex acoustic patterns; they perform extensive computations on AM rate as well as other temporal parameters of complex sounds. Moreover, the response selectivities for rise-fall time, duration, and AM rate could often be shown to contribute to the differential responses to complex synthetic and natural sounds.Abbreviations SON superior olivary nucleus - DMN dorsal medullary nucleus - TS torus semicircularis - FTC frequency threshold curve - BF best excitatory frequency - PAM pulsatile amplitude modulation - SAM sinusoidal amplitude modulation - SQAM square-wave amplitude modulation - MTF modulation transfer function - PSTH peri-stimulus time histogram     

Role of the leader sequence in tobacco pectin methylesterase secretion

We report that unprocessed tobacco pectin methylesterase (PME) contains N-terminal pro-sequence including the transmembrane (TM) domain and spacer segment preceding the mature PME. The mature portion of PME was replaced by green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene and various deletion mutants of pro-sequence fused to GFP were cloned into binary vectors and agroinjected in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. The PME pro-sequence delivered GFP to the cell wall (CW). We showed that a transient binding of PME TM domain to endoplasmic reticulum membranes occurs upon its transport to CW. The CW targeting was abolished by various deletions in the TM domain, i.e., anchor domain was essential for secretion of GFP to CW. By contrast, even entire deletion of the spacer segment had no influence on GFP targeting.     

Comparative bioluminescence dynamics among multiple Armillaria gallica, A. mellea, and A. tabescens genets

Bioluminescence is well known among white-spored species of Basidiomycota including several species of the white-rot wood decay genus Armillaria. Previous work demonstrated consistent differences among A. gallica, A. mellea, and A. tabescens in luminescence magnitude and in luminescence expression relative to environmental stimuli. In the present studies, temporal fluctuations in mycelial luminescence were quantitatively characterized using genets matched for geographical location. All genets derived from rhizomorphs or basdiomata were constitutively luminescent while six of 13 genets originating from mycelial fans were inconsistently luminescent. Using time series of 1000 consecutive measurements over 800 ms intervals, fluctuation patterns had significantly quantifiable structure and were not simply ‘white noise’. Fluctuation patterns were qualitatively similar with alternating periods of rapid fluctuation and relative stability, regardless of luminescence magnitude. Anomalous spikes or shifts in luminescence were recorded for several genets suggesting further work to identify the transient stimuli which elicited these altered luminescence patterns.     

Temporal snychrony and patterns in an exotic host-parasitoid community

We studied an imported host-parasitoid community in Hawaii, asking to what extent the species covaried in a systematic fashion even though all species were exotic to Hawaii, and occurred in an artificial agroecosystem (a commercial guava, Psidium guajava L., orchard). Using knock-down pyrethrin sprays we were able to accurately quantify numbers of the host, [oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)] and its four major parasitoid species [Biosteres arisanus (Sonan), Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead), Psyttalia incisi (Silvestri), and Bi. vandenboschi (Fullaway)] at hourly intervals. We found that the parasitoids' activity and abundance was well correlated with the activity and abundance of their host, and that all four parasitoid species covaried in concert with one another. In fact, the magnitude of correlation between the different species in this system was greater than the correlation with temperature. This show clearly that an entirely exotic community, reassembled piecemeal as a result of biocontrol efforts, can end up with patterns of temporal covariation that are highly coincident. One other interesting result concerns the speed with which sprayed trees were recolonized by the fruit fly and its parasitoids. The time that it took each species to reach its mean density prior to removal by the first pyrethrin spray at 0600 hours varied. It took 2 h for female B. dorsalis to recolonize guava trees to pre-spray levels. It took 3 h for Bi. arisanus, 4 h for D. longicaudata, 7 h for Bi. vandenboschi and 14 h for P. incisi to reach pre-spray levels. The fact that Bi. arisanus recolonized vacant trees almost as rapidly as did the fruit fly pest suggest that there is little opportunity for the fruit fly to escape in space and time by staying one step ahead of its enemies.