Transmission of Megatrypanum Trypanosomes to Cervus dama by Tabanidae1

Four fallow deer, Cervus dama, became infected with Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum) sp. by oral application of triturated guts from tabanids collected in an area with deer but without any cattle; four control calves remained negative. Upon challenge with triturated guts from tabanids from an area with pastured cattle, the four calves became infected with Trypanosoma (M.) theileri. The prepatent period in deer was five days or less. Haematopota spp. and Tabanus spp. were identified as vectors of the deer trypanosomes. It is concluded that the trypanosomes of C. dama belong to a Megatrypanum species that is not identical with T. theileri.     

Altered lipid synthesis in type II pneumonocytes exposed to lung surfactant.

When type II pneumonocytes were exposed to purified lung surfactant that contained 1-palmitoyl-2-[3H]palmitoyl-glycero-3-phosphocholine, radiolabelled surfactant was apparently taken up by the cells since it could not be removed by either repeated washing or exchange with non-radiolabelled surfactant, but was released when the cells were lysed. After 4 h of exposure to [3H]surfactant, more than half of the 3H within cells remained in disaturated phosphatidylcholine. Incorporation of [3H]choline, [14C]palmitate and [14C]acetate into glycerophospholipids was decreased in type II cells exposed to surfactant and this inhibition, like surfactant uptake, was half-maximal when the extracellular concentration of surfactant was approx. 0.1 mumol of lipid P/ml. Inhibition of incorporation of radiolabelled precursors by surfactant occurred rapidly and reversibly and was not due solely to dilution of the specific radioactivity of intracellular precursors. Activity of dihydroxyacetone-phosphate acyltransferase, but not glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase, was decreased in type II cells exposed to surfactant and this was reflected by a decrease in the 14C/3H ratio of total lipids synthesized when cells incubated with [U-14C]glycerol and [2-3H]glycerol were exposed to surfactant. Phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol and cholesterol, either individually or mixed in the molar ratio found in surfactant, did not mimic purified surfactant in the inhibition of glycerophospholipid synthesis. In contrast, an apoprotein fraction isolated from surfactant inhibited greatly the incorporation of [3H]choline into lipids and this inhibitory activity was labile to heat and to trypsin. It is concluded that the apparent uptake of surfactant by type II cells in vitro is accompanied by an inhibition of glycerophospholipid synthesis via a mechanism that involves a surfactant apoprotein.     

The influence of myo-inositol on phosphatidylglycerol synthesis by rat type II pneumonocytes.

Type II pneumonocytes isolated from adult rat lung were incubated in a serum-free medium containing [14C]glycerol and the incorporation of 14C into glycerophospholipids was measured. After 24 h, more than 80% of the 14C incorporated into total lipids or into phosphatidylcholine and approx. 90% of the 14C incorporated into phosphatidylglycerol after 24 h was recovered in the glycerophosphoester moieties of these molecules. Supplementation of the incubation medium with foetal-bovine serum (10%, v/v) did not alter the incorporation of [14C]glycerol by type II pneumonocytes after 24 h into either a total lipid extract or phosphatidylcholine. In the presence of foetal-bovine serum, however, the incorporation of 14C into phosphatidylglycerol was decreased and the incorporation of 14C into phosphatidylinositol was increased. In the absence of foetal-bovine serum, the incorporation of 14C into phosphatidylglycerol was decreased progressively as the concentration of myo-inositol in the incubation medium was increased. The range of concentration (0.04-0.50 mM) over which myo-inositol had the greatest influence on [14C]glycerol incorporation into phosphatidylglycerol by type II pneumonocytes in vitro encompassed the concentration range measured in foetal-rat serum late in gestation. At 4 days before birth, the concentration of myo-inositol in foetal-rat serum was 0.36 mM and decreased to 0.23 mM 1 day before birth. The concentration of myo-inositol in adult rat serum increased from 0.03 mM to 0.06 mM during pregnancy. Isolated rat type II pneumonocytes were found to take up myo-inositol by a saturable process. A half-maximal rate of myo-inositol uptake occurred at a concentration of myo-inositol of 0.29 mM. The results of this investigation are consistent with the hypothesis that late in gestation there is a decreasing availability of myo-inositol to the foetal lungs and that this favours the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerol for surfactant at the expense of phosphatidylinositol biosynthesis.     

Physical mapping of three fruit ripening genes：Endopolygalacturonase,ACC oxidase and ACC synthase from apple（Malus x domestica） in an apple rootstock A106（Malus sieboldii

The apple rootstock,A106(Malus sieboldii),had 17 bivalents in pollen mother cells at meiotic metaphase 1,and 17 chromosomes in a haploid pollen cell.Karyotypes were prepared from root-tip cells with 2n=34 chromosomes,Seven out of 82 karyotypes(8.5%) showed one pari of satellites at the end of the short arm of chromosome 3.C-bands were shown on 6 pairs of chromosomes 2,4,6,8,14,and 16 near the telomeric regions of short arms.Probes for three ripening-related genes from Malus x domestica:endopolygalacturonase(EPG,0.6kb),ACC oxidase(1.2kb),and ACC synthase(2kb)were hybridized in situ to metaphase chromosomes of A106.Hybridization sites for the EPG gene were observed on the long arm of chromosome 14 in 15 out of 16 replicate spreads and proximal to the centromere of chromosomes 6 and 11.For the ACC oxidase gene,hylridization sites were observed in the telomeric region of the short arm of chromosomes 5 and 11 in 87% and 81% of 16 spreads respectively,proxiaml to the centromere of chromosome 1 in 81% of the spreads,and on the long arm of chromosome 13 in 50% of the spreads. Physical mapping of three fruit ripening genes in an apple rootstock A106.Twenty five spreads were studied for the ACC synthase gene and hybridization sites were observed in the telomeric region of the short arm of chromosome 12 in 96% of the spreads.chromosomes 9 and 10 in 76% of the spreads,and chromosome 17 in 56% of the spreads.     

Beta-adrenergic stimulation of prostaglandin production by human amnion tissue

Arachidonic acid is released from specific glycerophospholipids in human amnion and is used to synthesize prostaglandins that are involved in parturition. In an investigation of the regulation of prostaglandin production in amnion, the effects of isoproterenol on discs of amnion tissue maintained in vitro were examined. Isoproterenol caused a large but transitory increase in the amount of cyclic AMP in amnion discs and this was accompanied by a sustained stimulation of the release of arachidonic acid (but not palmitic acid or stearic acid) and prostaglandin E2. The dependencies of cyclic AMP accumulation, arachidonic acid mobilization and prostaglandin E2 release on the concentration of isoproterenol were similar, each response was maximal at 10(-6) M isoproterenol and was inhibited by propranolol. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP stimulated the release of prostaglandin E2 from amnion discs. Although prostaglandin E2, when added to amnion discs caused an accumulation of cyclic AMP, it did not appear to mediate isoproterenol-induced accumulation of cyclic AMP since the latter effect was insensitive to indomethacin in concentrations at which prostaglandin production was inhibited greatly. These data support the proposition that catecholamines, found in increasing amounts in amniotic fluid during late gestation, may be regulators of prostaglandin production by the amnion.     

The cytokineplast: purified, stable, and functional motile machinery from human blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes

We examined the formation of motile, chemotactically active, anucleate fragments from human blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN, granulocytes), induced by the brief application of heat. These granule-poor fragments are former protopods (leading fronts, lamellipodia) that become uncoupled from the main body of the cell and leave it, at first with a connecting filament that breaks and seals itself. The usual random orientation of such filaments can be controlled by preorientation of cells in a gradient of the chemotactic peptide, N-formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (F-Met-Leu-Phe) (2x10(-9) M- 1x10(-8)). Cytochalsin B, 2.5-5 μg/ml, prevents fragment formation; colchicine, 10(-5) M, does not. In scanning electron micrographs, fragments are ruffled and the cell body rounded up and rather smooth. In transmission electron micrographs, fragments contain microfilaments but lack centrioles and microtubules. Like intact cells, both bound and free fragments can respond chemotactically to an erythrocyte destroyed by laser microirradiation (necrotaxis); the free, anucleate fragments may do so repeatedly, even after having been held overnight at ambient temperatures. We propse the name cytokineplast for the result of this self-purification of motile apparatus. The exodus of the motile machinery from the granulocyte requires anchoring of the bulk of the cell to glass and uncoupling, which may involve heat-induced dysfunction of the centrosome. In ultrastructural studies of the centrosomal region after heat, centriolar structure remains intact, but pericentriolar osmiophilic material appears condensed, and microtubules are sparse. These changes are found in all three blood cell types examined: PMN, eosinophil, and monocyte. Of these, the first two make fragments under our conditions; the more sluggish monocyte does not. Uncoupling is further linked to centrosomal dysfunction by the observation that colchicines-treated granulocytes (10(-5)M, to destroy the centrosome’s efferent arm) make fragments after less heat than controls. If motive force and orientation are specified mainly from the organelle-excluding leading front, then endoplasmic streaming in PMN is a catch-up phenomenon, and microtubules do not provide the vector of locomotion but rather stabilize and orient the “baggage” (nucleus, granuloplasm)—i.e., they prevent fishtailing. Moreover, constraints emanating from the centrosome may now be extended to include, maintenance of the motile machinery as an integral part of the cell.     

Phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange in a rabbit lung

A microsomal fraction prepared from rabbit lung tissue was found to catalyze CDPdiacylglycerol-independent incorporation of [3H]inositol into phosphatidylinositol. This incorporation resulted from CMP-dependent phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange and did not constitute a net synthesis of phosphatidylinositol. The phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange activity was distinct from the phospholipid-base exchange enzymes and was specific for inositol. Optimal in vitro phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange activity was observed at pH 8.5--8.8 and either Mn2+ or Mg2+ was essential for activity. Mercaptoethanol stimulated phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange and Hg2+ inhibited this activity. In the absence of CMP, no phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange was observed. CDP (and to a smaller extent CTP) also supported phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange and this appeared to occur via the generation of CMP during incubations. The apparent Km values of the phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange enzyme for CMP and inositol were 0.4 mM and 11 microM, respectively. When CDPdiacylglycerol was present at a concentration optimal for CDPdiacylglycerol : inositol transferase activity, CMP-dependent phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange activity was still observed. However, in the presence of Hg2+ CDPdiacylglycerol inhibited phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange activity. Several properties of the phosphatidylinositol-inositol exchange enzyme resemble those of CDPdiacylglycerol : inositol transferase, but the two enzymes appear distinct on the basis of different degrees of inhibition by either Ca2+, Hg/+ or heat, and on the basis of different changes in activity during lung development.     

A rapid sensitive assay for phosphatidate phosphohydrolase.

For a purified preparation of the soluble form of phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (EC 3.1.3.4) from guinea pig cerebral cortex, 1-O-alkyl-rac-glycerol 3-phosphate was found to be accepted as a substrate. This substrate analog was tritium-labeled in order to serve in a rapid sensitive assay for the enzyme, in which labeled 1-alkyl glycerol is released. Heat denaturation and enzyme activity dependence on pH indicated that 1-O-alkyl-rac-glycerol 3-phosphate phosphohydrolase and phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activities in the preparation are attributable to the same enzyme. 1-O-Alkyl-rac-glycerol 3-phosphate was hydrolyzed with a V_max of 1.7 nmol min^?1 mg^?1 of protein and a K_m of 270 μm.     

THE EFFECT OF ELECTRICAL STIMULATION ON THE TURNOVER OF PHOSPHATIDIC ACID IN SYNAPTOSOMES FROM GUINEA-PIG BRAIN

Synaptosomes prepared from guinea-pig cerebral cortex were suspended in a medium containing [³²P]orthophosphate and subjected to electrical stimulation. When the synaptosomal phospholipids were subsequently separated, the most highly labelled was phosphatidic acid and electrical stimulation over a 10 min period increased incorporation of ³²P₁ into this lipid. Stimulated synaptosomes were osmotically lysed and subsynaptosomal fractions isolated. The electrically stimulated increase in phosphatidic acid labelling was localized in a fraction enriched in synaptic vesicles. This phospholipid effect was not merely a reflection of an increased specific radioactivity of synaptosomal ATP, due to the electrically stimulated increase in respiration. The time course of the phosphatidic acid effect suggests that it is synchronous with release of transmitter.     

In vitro evaluation of native entomopathogenic fungi and neem (Azadiractha indica) extracts on Spodoptera frugiperda

The control of Spodoptera frugiperda is based on synthetic insecticides, so some alternatives are the use of entomopathogenic fungi (EF) and neem extract. The objective of the study was to evaluate in vitro effectiveness of native EF and neem extracts on S. frugiperda larvae. Six EF were identified by DNA sequencing of ITS regions from three EF (Fusarium solani, Metarrhizium robertsii, Nigrospora spherica and Penicillium citrinum). They were evaluated in concentrations of 1 × 10⁸ spores/ mL. In addition, a second bioassay was carried out evaluating only F. solani, M. robertsii and N. sphaerica and the addition of vegetable oil. On the other hand, extraction of secondary metabolites from neem seed (Azadirachta indica) was carried out by performing, mass (g) and solvent volume (mL ethanol and water) combinations, which were subjected to microwaves and ultrasound. Subsequently, these extracts were evaluated in concentrations of 3%, 4% and 5%. A survival analysis was performed for each of the bioassays. With respect to the results of the first bioassay, F. solani obtained a probability of survival of 0.476 on the seventh day, while in the second bioassay, M. robertsii obtained 0.488 survival probability. This suggests that the expected percentage of larvae that stay alive on the sixth day is 48.8%. However, in the evaluation of the neem extract the combination 1:12/70% to 4% caused 84% mortality of larvae. The use of native HE and neem extracts has potential for the control of S. frugiperda.