The reaction of the mutagen 1,1′-hexamethylene-bis[(5-p-chlorophenyl)-biguanide] with guanosine and cysteine

The mutagen 1,1′-hexamethylene-bis[(5-p-chlorophenyl)-biguanide] reacts at 37°C with guanosine and guanine to yield xanthosine or xanthine and oxidizes cysteine to cystine. After treatment of a guanosine-labelled DNA sample from Escherichia coli with the mutagen xanthine could be detected as a reaction product. At a slow rate the mutagen is hydrolysed spontaneously yielding urea, 1,6-hexanediol and 4-chloroaniline. The reaction mechanisms both of the hydrolysis and of the reaction with cysteine and guanosine are discussed.     

Effects of metabolic inhibitors on cell lethality and mutation induction in Chinese hamster cells. I. Inhibitors of de novo purine synthesis and a comparison with the effects of caffeine

The effect of pre- and posttreatment incubation of UV-irradiated and ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) treated cells with non-toxic concentrations of inhibitors of de novo purine synthesis (dnPS) on expression of potentially lethal and premutational damage at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) locus in V79 cells has been examined. The concentrations of inhibitors used were shown to profoundly perturb de novo DNA synthesis, by measurements of [¹⁴C]formate uptake, and cell cycle progression by flow cytofluorimetry. Postincubation in 6-methyl mercaptopurine ribonucleoside (MMPR) usually but not invariably potentiated the cytotoxic effects of UV and EMS but azaserine (AZS) and methotrexate (MTX) were without effect. No effects on mutant frequencies were observed on posttreatment with any of these agents. Caffeine produced the least effect on dnPS, but invariably potentiated lethal damage. This potentiation of lethal damage is not mediated by dnPS inhibition as has been suggested for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells.     

The reproductive cycle in the population of Saccostrea cuccullatta (Born) from the coast of Karachi,Pakistan

Periphytic diatom communities on clay tile and sterilized rock substrates were compared with those on natural substrates. Clay tiles yielded diatom communities with the least variability between replicate samples, and the greatest similarity to the natural substrate assemblage. The advantages of utilizing introduced substrate communities and problems encountered with their simulation of the natural substrate community are discussed.     

Blue adaptation: An experimental tool for the study of visual receptor mechanisms and behaviour of Drosophila

Physiological and behavioural studies with Drosophila to elucidate visual mechanisms have exploited the bi-stability of the visual pigment in the peripheral retinula cells R1–6, and the off-on switch action of blue and orange light. Measurements of flicker fusion and response waveform from both receptor and lamina regions prior and subsequent to blue adaptation, which induces a prolonged depolarising afterpotential and loss of visual function in R1–6, show these retinula cells to have a high fusion frequency and R7/8, the central retinula cells, a lower fusion frequency. Such measurements also allow analysis of the extracellular response in terms of contributing cells, and its potential for studying the fly's ability to respond to various potential visual cues such as a rotating plane of polarised light. Blue adapted flies fail to fixate normally a black stripe, confirming a role for R1–6 in orientation behaviour requiring a competent degree of acuity.Based on material presented at the European Neurosciences Meeting, Florence, September 1978     

Effect of Exposure Period and Algal Concentration on the Frequency of Infection of Aposymbiotic Ciliates by Symbiotic Algae from Paramecium bursaria

The effect of exposure period and concentration of algae on the frequency of infection of aposymbiotic ciliates by algae obtained from the same clone of Paramecium bursaria syngen 2, was studied. The frequency of infection was roughly proportional to the algal concentration and to the exposure time of ciliates to algae. The relationship of algal concentration to infection frequency closely fitted the Poisson distribution curve for N = 1, suggesting that the minimum number of algae required to infect a single ciliate is 1. However, the data also strongly suggested that the average number of algae required to initiate infection of an average ciliate was ? 1,000. Three possible resolutions of this situation are: (a) the selection by the ciliate of a rare infective variant from a heterogeneous population: (b) the rare escape of an alga from digestion by the ciliate; and (c) the requirement for a large number of algae-ciliate contacts to induce susceptibility in the ciliate. Splitting the exposure of ciliates to algae into 2 periods of 0.5 h, separated by 5 h in the absence of algae, produced a much higher frequency of infection than a single l-h exposure, supporting the suggestion that the large number of algae is required to induce susceptibility in the ciliate which can then be infected by as few as a single algal cell.