THE DIFFERENTIATION OF PIGMENT CELLS IN CULTURES OF CHICK EMBRYONIC NEURAL RETINAE

Neural retinal cells of 8–9 day-old chick embryos were differentiated into pigment cells in the conditions of cell culture for about 25 days. The increase of pigment cells in vitro was semi-quantitatively shown, by counting the number of black foci of pigmented cells per plate throughout the culture period. The increase paralleled the increase in the activity of tyrosinase. The addition of a small number of pigment cells freshly dissociated from tapeta to the cultures of neural retinae did not increase the number of black foci in vitro . Electron microscopic observations revealed the morphological differences of melanin granules between those in pigment cells of the neural retinal cultures and those in cultured tapetum cells. It was discussed that pigment cells appearing in the neural retinal cultures were derived from neural retinal cells, but not from contaminated cells of the tapetum.     

OSMOTIC EFFECT ON THE PHOTOSHRINKAGE OF CHLOROPLASTS

Shrinkage of spinach chloroplasts by illumination and that byexposure to a high tonicity raised by addition of sucrose wereinvestigated by means of the rapid measurement of chloroplastvolume with a COULTER counter. The osmotic shock in the darkinduced two steps of volume change; almost instantaneous shrinkagefor the osmotic shock and follow-up gradual swelling. The finalvolume attained after equilibration was smaller than the originalvolume below 0.6 M, and greater above this concentration. Whenchloroplasts under osmotic shock were illuminated, the photoshrinkagecompeted with the swelling induced by the osmotic shock, andthese reverse effects were balanced at a certain volume. Photoshrinkageactivity measured after equilibration decreased with increasingconcentrations, and the activity curve plotted against sucroseconcentration showed a stationary level of 50% of the originalactivity between 0.2 and 0.6 M, indicating the resistance ofa structure in chloroplasts to the denaturation by the osmoticeffect of sucrose. The osmotic effect in the dark as well asin the light was completely reversible below 0.2 M and was partiallyreversible or irreversible above this concentration. Glucoseshowed qualitatively the same osmotic effect as sucrose. ¹ Present address: Laboratory of Chemistry of Natural Products,Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguroku, Tokyo.     

Cypermethrin induction of vitellogenesis and ovarian development in unfed adult female Ornithodoros moubata (Acari: Argasidae)

Summary

Vitellogenesis in ticks is known to be induced by engorgement and mating. In this paper, the synthetic pyrethroid cypermethrin (CyM) is shown to induce production of yolk protein precursor, vitellogenin (Vg), and ovarian development in unengorged mated adult female Ornithodoros moubata. The levels of Vg found in the hemolymph and ovarian development induced by CyM were dose-dependent. i.e., CyM doses of more than 0.2 and 1.0 μg/tick were needed for significant increase of Vg titer in the hemolymph and yolk deposition in oocytes, respectively. Immunological and electrophoretical analyses of Vg and Vitellin (Vn) induced by CyM were identical with those induced by engorgement. Vg titer induced by CyM in unengorged females followed approximately the same time course as that in the normal engorged females. However, Vg titer induced by CyM continued to increase after day 8 and reached a maximum (95 μg/μ1) on day 10 after treatment, while Vg titer induced by engorgement decreased again after reaching a maximum (60 μg/μ1) on day 6, correlated with yolk Vn deposition in oocytes. Ovarian development induced by even high doses (10 or 20 μg/tick) of CyM was slow compared to normal development stimulated by engorgement. Oviposition was not observed in females treated with CyM.     

Excitation energy flow at 77 K in the photosynthetic apparatus of overwintering evergreens

The flow of excitation energy from the antennae to photosynthetic reaction centre complexes at 77 K was studied in leaves of two evergreen species, namely, snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieb. ex Spreng.) and a hemiparasitic mistletoe (Amyema miquelii, Lehm. ex Miq.). The leaves that were naturally acclimated to winter conditions of freezing temperatures and high irradiance displayed the recently discovered cold‐hard‐band or CHB feature of the chlorophyll a fluorescence spectra (Gilmore & Ball, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 97:11098–11101, 2000). A streak‐camera‐spectrograph was used and the double convolution integral method for global analysis was applied to simultaneously acquire and simulate, respectively, the time‐ and wavelength‐dependence of all major chlorophyll a components (Gilmore et al. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B‐London 355:1371–1384, 2000). The CHB coincided with changed amplitudes and decreased excited state lifetimes for the main F685 nm and F695 nm emission bands from the photosystem II (PSII) core‐inner‐antenna. The CHB dissipates energy as heat separate from PSII while also reducing the PSII quantum yield by competing for both photon absorption and antenna excitation. The CHB did not correlate with changes in the decay kinetics of the PSI antenna F740 nm band. The spectral‐kinetic features of the altered energy flow were similar in the unrelated evergreen species. These results are consistent with a functional association between the CHB, PSII energy dissipation and protective storage of chlorophyll in overwintering evergreens.     

Substrate selection for pit making and oviposition in an antlion, Myrmeleon bore Tjeder, in terms of sand particle size

The larvae of the pit‐making antlion Myrmeleon bore Tjeder live in open sand in riverbeds with a substratum consisting of various particle sizes. We analyzed the spatial distribution of their pits in a sandy floodplain to determine their larval and adult responses to the heterogeneous substrate. The spatial distribution pattern of their pits had an aggregated distribution, and there was a significant positive correlation between pit density and the ratio of medium‐size sand particles to total weight of sand. We examined the size of sand particles selected in the larval pit‐building behavior and the oviposition behavior of the adult. Both larvae and adults selected medium‐size sand particles. The larvae of M. bore are relatively sedentary predators and rarely move great distances. Thus, the present results suggest that habitat selection by adult females is a major factor causing the aggregative distribution of the pits.     

Development of microsatellite markers for Dryobalanops aromatica (Dipterocarpaceae), a tropical emergent tree in Southeast Asia

Eight polymorphic microsatellite markers were developed in Dryobalanops aromatica, an emergent tree in tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia, using an enriched library method. For the assessment of microsatellite variation, 36 individuals from a natural population were analysed. The number of alleles per locus ranged from three to 16, with observed heterozygosity of 0.056–0.833 and expected heterozygosity of 0.054–0.882. These microsatellite markers will be useful for studies of population genetics, reproductive ecology and regeneration dynamics of D. aromatica.     

日本长期不同施肥稻田N2O和CH4排放特征及其环境影响

观测了75年长期连续不施肥、施硫酸铵、施熟制水稻秸秆与豆饼混合堆肥、施绿肥苜蓿4种处理下日本单季稻田温室气体N₂O和CH₄的排放特征及其环境影响.结果表明： 在水稻生长季节,不同处理间N₂O排放无显著差异,但CH₄排放差异显著;长期连续施用有机肥虽然没有增加N₂O排放却促进了CH₄排放.各系统排放N₂O和CH₄所产生的累积全球增温潜势（GWP）以绿肥处理最大（310.7 g CO₂e·m^-2）,熟制有机堆肥次之（151g CO₂e·m^-2）,硫酸铵处理最小（60.6 g CO₂e·m^-2）.稻田系统的GWP主要来自CH₄排放,控制和减少稻田系统CH₄排放是稻田温室气体减排的核心问题.长期连续施用熟制有机堆肥既能增加土壤有机质,改善地力,满足水稻高产,又能实现CH₄减排,是实践中值得推荐的水稻生产模式.     

Minor carotenoid components in the chloroplasts of higher plants

One-dimensional thin layer chromatography with microcrystallinecellulose was used for the separation of minor carotenoid componentsin spinach, parsley and Brassicachloroplasts. It was revealedthat chloroplasts of these plants contain two minor xanthophyllcomponents besides carotenes, lutein, violaxanthin and neoxanthin.These minor components, designated as xanthophyll–443and –439, were different in spectral properties from antheraxanthinand zeaxanthin which are known to be present in the chloroplastsof some higher plants, and evidence was obtained showing thatxanthophyll–439 has an epoxy group. Spectral propertiesof these xanthophylls in benzene, ethanol, H-hexane and carbondisulfide, as well as their contents relative to other carotenoids,are presented in this paper. ¹Postal address     

Far-infrared Bands of Amino-acid Residues with α-Helical and β-Form Conformations

INFRARED spectra in the far-infrared region are very sensitive to the conformational changes of polypeptide backbones^1–6. We have measured the infrared spectra of sequential polypeptides in the region from 700 to 200 cm^?1 and have found several far-infrared bands characteristic of component amino-acid residues with α-helical and β-form conformations.