Hydro-sedimentology of the Johnstone River estuary

This paper examines the physical consequences of increased catchment sediment yields on the sediment budget and the hydrodynamic setting of the South Johnstone River estuary in North Queensland. A combined study involving hydrological monitoring, assessment of sediment sources, estimation of riverine sediment budget and hydro-sedimentological numerical modelling for estuarine sediment transport is currently underway. Initial field and laboratory observations indicate that the sediment delivery from highly erosion-prone sugar cane cultivations in the tropical catchment has increased dramatically during the last 10 years. This has subsequently given rise to elevated flood levels in both the lower and upper catchment areas, as well as significant modifications to the river bed morphology.     

Ac transposition in transgenic tomato plants

Summary As an initial step towards developing a transposon mutagenesis system in tomato, the maize transposable element Ac was transformed into tomato plants via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Southern analysis of leaf tissue indicated that in nine out of eleven transgenic plants, Ac excised from the T-DNA and reintegrated into new chromosomal locations. The comparison of Ac banding pattern in different leaves of the same primary transformant provided evidnece for transposition during later stages of transgenic plant development. There was no evidence of Ds mobilization in tomato transformants.     

Mechanism for formation of the secondary wall thickening in tracheary elements: Microtubules and microfibrils of tracheary elements of Pisum sativum L. and Commelina communis L. and the effects of amiprophosmethyl

Arrangements of microfibrils (MFs) and microtubules (MTs) were examined in tracheary elements (TEs) of Pisum sativum L. and Commelina communis L. by production of replicas of cryo-sections, and by immunofluorescence microscopy, respectively. The secondary wall thickenings of TEs of Pisum and Commelina roots have pitted and latticed patterns, respectively. Most MFs in the pitted thickening of Pisum TEs retain a parallel alignment as they pass around the periphery of pits. However, some groups of MFs grow into the pits but then terminate at the edge of the thickening, indicating that cellulose-synthase complexes are inactivated in the plasma membrane under the pit. Microtubules of TEs of both Pisum and Commelina are localized under the secondary thickening and few MTs are detected in the areas between wall thickenings. In the presence of the MT-disrupting agent, amiprophosmethyl, cellulose and hemicellulose, which is specific to secondary thickening, are deposited in deformed patterns in TEs of Pisum roots, Pisum epicotyls and Commelina roots. This indicates that the localized deposition of hemicellulose as well as cellulose involves MTs. The deformed, but heterogeneous pattern of secondary thickening is still visible, indicating that MTs are involved in determining and maintaining the regular patterns of the secondary thickening but not the spatial heterogeneous pattern of the wall deposition. A working hypothesis for the formation of the secondary thickening is proposed.Abbreviations APM amiprophosmethyl - DMSO dimethyl sulfoxide - F-WGA fluorescein-conjugated wheat-germ agglutinin - M F microfibril - MT microtubule - PEG polyethyleneglycol - TE tracheary element I thank Ms. Aiko Hirata (Institute of Applied Microbiology, University of Tokyo, Japan) for help in taking stereomicrographs. This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan.     

Lead and cadmium content of Indian flue-cured tobacco

Summary Studies on levels of lead and cadmium of Indian flue-cured tobacco indicated that the leaf contained very low amounts of these heavy metals as compared to tobacco from other countries. Indian tobacco can therefore be adjudged as ‘safe and clean’ and least hazardous to the smoker. Of the two heavy metals, lead content of soils is higher than cadmium. But in the leaf, cadmium content is more than lead indicating that soil cadmium may be more available to tobacco and hence more readily absorbed by the plant than lead.     

沙地草场植物根系化学元素含量的特征

 本文报道了内蒙古沙地草场不同植物根系的化学元素含量特征。结果表明：51种植物根系的N、P、K、Si、Na、Fe和灰分的平均含量分别为1.08%、0.104%、0.686%、0.811%、0.049%、0.030%和6.416%。其中相同植物根系的N、P、K、Na和灰分的含量低于其地上部分的平均含量,而Si和Fe相反,根系的平均含量高于其地上部分。     

Ultrastructure of P-protein inHevea brasiliensis during sieve-tube development and after wounding

Summary P-protein and the changes it undergoes after wounding of sieve tubes of secondary phloem in one- to two-year old shoots ofHevea brasiliensis has been studied using electron microscopy. The P-protein in the form of tubules with a diameter of 8–9 nm and a lumen of 2–2.5 nm occurred in differentiating sieve elements and appeared as compact bodies which consisted of small aggregates of the tubules. As the sieve elements matured, these P-protein bodies dispersed with a disaggregation of the tubules before they turned into striated fibrils, 10–11 nm in diameter. In wounding experiments, as the mature sieve elements collapsed after cutting, their striated P-protein converted into tubules. These tubules were the same in ultrastructure as the tubules in differentiating sieve elements and they often were arranged in crystalline aggregates.