The Role of Dissolved Organic Material in the Nutrition of Pelagic Larvae: Amino Acid Uptake by Bivalve Veligers

SYNOPSIS. Studies on the role of dissolved organic materialin the nutrition of marine invertebrates have largely been confinedto adults. However larval forms, with a higher surface areato volume ratio, have a greater weight specific capacity forabsorbing dissolved organic material than adults. Autoradiographic,biochemical, and kinetic experiments with bivalve larvae allindicate that amino acid uptake and translocation mechanismscan operate efficiently at naturally occurring substrate concentrations.The mechanisms operate throughout the life-span of the animal,from fertilized egg to adult. Experimental evidence is presentedto show that the kinetics of uptake by larvae allow them tocompete with bacteria for dissolved organic material in seawater. In larvae, supplementary sources of energy may be moreimportant than in adults since larvae are provided with minimalfood reserves by the parent and must pass through periods whenpaniculate feeding cannot occur.     

Bryozoan frontal shields: studies on umbonulomorphs and impacts on classification

Umbonuloid frontal shields arc described in the type species of Lepraliella, Drepanophora, Frurionella, Tessaradoma, Hincksipora, Stephanopora , and Pseudolepralia. Consequences to classification include the following: the family group names Lepralielloidea and Lepralicllidae have subjective priority over Umbonuloidea and Celleporariidae, respectively; Cylindroporeh is excluded from the Tessaradomidae and included in the Gigantoporidae; Tessarudoma bifax Cheetham is included in Srnithsonius (Bifaxariidae); Hincksiporidae is confirmed as a family of Lepralielloidea; Stephanoporu , with newly discovered dimorphic orifices, comprises two species which are the basis for a new exechonellid subfamily Stephanoporinae; and a new umbonulomorph superfamily, Pseudolepralioidea, is established for Pseudolepraliu (Pseudolepraliidae). Kladapheles gen.n., is established for an erect branching species of Lepraliellidae from New Zealand.     

A role for haemoglobin in all plant roots?

Abstract. We have found haemoglobin in plant roots whereas previously it has been recorded only in nitrogen fixing nodules of plants. Haemoglobin occurs not only in the roots of those plants that are capable of nodulation but also in the roots of species that are not known to nodulate. We suggest that a haemoglobin gene may be a component of the genome of all plants. The gene structure and sequence in two unrelated families of plants suggests that the plant haemoglobins have had a single origin and that this origin relates to the haemoglobin gene of the animal kingdom. At present we cannot completely rule out the possibility of a horizontal transfer of the gene from the animal kingdom to a progenitor of the dicotyledonous angiosperms but we favour a single origin of the gene from a progenitor organism to both the plant and animal kingdoms. We speculate about the possible functions of haemoglobin in plant roots and put the case that it is unlikely to have a function in facilitating oxygen diffusion. We suggest that haemoglobin may act as a signal molecule indicating oxygen deficit and the consequent need to shift plant metabolism from an oxidative to a fermentative pathway of energy generation.     

Protein Kinase C and Melanocyte Transformation

Melanoma cells which have been isolated from metastatic melanoma tissue are able to survive and proliferate in serum supplemented media. In contrast, normal human melanocytes require the presence of growth stimulators if they are to survive in culture. A tumor promotor, 12–0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and substances that increase intracellular levels of cyclic-adenosine-monophosphate (cAMP), such as cholera toxin or isobutylmethyl xanthine, have been widely used for this purpose. The phorbol diester receptor was shown in 1982 to be the phospholipid- and calcium-dependent enzyme protein kinase C (PKC). We therefore directed our studies to the role of PKC regulation in the growth of normal human melanocytes and their transformation. Our studies show that while melanoma cells are inhibited by TPA, the growth of normal melanocytes is stimulated in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibitor, 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-methyl-piperizine dihydrochloride (H7), which has been found to be the most specific for PKC, had no effect on the growth of normal melanocytes, but inhibited the growth of melanoma cells in a dose-dependent manner. PKC was isolated from the membrane and cytosol of normal melanocytes and melanoma cells. The basal (resting) levels of PKC activity in normal melanocytes was low compared to that measured in melanoma cells, and after short-term (1 hour) treatment with TPA the PKC activity was greatest at the membrane, with the activity decreasing the cytosol. Upon prolonged (48 hours) treatment with TPA, this redistribution of activity continued in normal melanocytes and the total activity increased. In melanoma cells, however, the total PKC activity decreased, particularly in the membrane fraction. A difference in activity and distribution of the enzyme was also seen after short-term (1 hour) treatment with H7. There was very little effect seen on PKC in normal melanocytes; however, the effect on melanoma cells was similar to that seen after 48 hours of exposure to TPA with a decrease in total activity, particularly in the membrane fraction. These results indicate that the regulation of PKC, in particular its activation by TPA, is altered during the transformation of normal human melanocytes     

A multivariate approach to the determination of faunal structures among European butterfly species (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera)

Multivariate analyses of 393 butterfly species over 85 geographical areas (R- and Q-data matrices) in Europe and North Africa have produced a consistent pattern of faunal structures (units and regions). Prominent features to emerge are the latitudinal zonation of geographical units and the division of the Mediterranean into western and eastern components; southwards in Europe, endemicity increases whereas faunal structures decrease in spatial dimensions. Central Europe–from the Urals to the British Isles–forms a single large faunal structure (extent unit and region). A model has been constructed to account for Pleistocene evolutionary changes and endemism in European butterflies and for the east-west taxonomic divisions in the extent faunal structure which dominates central Europe. Periodic Pleistocene climatic changes have resulted in cycles of population extinction, isolation, evolution and migration, but the nature and timing of events has depended on the environmental tolerances of species belonging to different faunal units. During Pleistocene glaciations, southern species have been relatively static and more isolated and have evolved independently. By comparison, northern species have been more mobile and have migrated over large distances. Contact and hybrid zones among cosmopolitan species in northern Europe are probably of some antiquity. They result from persistent survival and isolation of refuge populations in the west and east Mediterranean during glacial phases; dispersal from these refuges leads to their regeneration during each interglacial.     

Shoot Regeneration from Fragmented Flower Buds of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)

Adventitious shoots were regenerated from fragmented flowerbuds, individual petals and receptacles in a number of differentcarnation cultivars. The major site of shoot formation was thesubepidermal cells at the proximal end of the petals. The yieldof shoots from a single flower bud was high, ranging between70 and 275, for the 11 cultivars tested. The regeneration mediumcontained Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with4–8 µm -naphthaleneacetic acid and 4–8 µmbenzyladenine. The preferred regeneration protocol appears highlysuited to the development of gene transfer systems. Adventitious shoots, Dianthus caryophyllus L., tissue culture, explant, auxin, cytokinin, cut flowers, floriculture, organogenesis     

Figs (Ficus spp.) and fig wasps (Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae): hypotheses for an ancient symbiosis

Figs and their pollinating fig wasps are dependent on one another for propagation of their own kinds. The wasps reproduce by ovipositing through the styles of female flowers within the closed fig receptacles (syconia). About half of the female flowers within the syconia of monoecious figs have styles which are longer than the ovipositors of the wasp, and they will therefore produce seeds rather than wasp larvae. Since a longer ovipositor would enable a wasp to reach more ovules and deposit more eggs, the question arises at to why longer ovipositors have not evolved.
In an attempt to answer this question, four seemingly plausible hypotheses are examined but each is shown to be problematical in some way. Consideration is then given to a fifth hypothesis which proposes that ovipositor length is constrained by abortion of syconia with relatively few seed embryos and many agaonid larvae. It is argued first that this pattern of abortion will be selected during a sustained period of heavy wasp infestation because seeds will then become scarce relative to pollen-carrying wasps. Increased expenditure by the fig on seed production would therefore be favoured by natural selection. A greater expenditure on seeds would occur if young syconia with exceptionally heavy wasp infestations were dropped and the saved nutrients invested in syconia of a subsequent crop containing average levels of wasp larvae and seeds. Provided that the energy and nutrient cost of dropping young syconia is small, the selective advantage to the wasp of longer ovipositors is eliminated in this way. A stable coexistence of figs and wasps is therefore possible. The paper concludes by discussing two general predictions of the abortion hypothesis, and how these may be tested.