Sex-biased dispersal promotes adaptive parental effects

Background  

In heterogeneous environments, sex-biased dispersal could lead to environmental adaptive parental effects, with offspring selected to perform in the same way as the parent dispersing least, because this parent is more likely to be locally adapted. We investigate this hypothesis by simulating varying levels of sex-biased dispersal in a patchy environment. The relative advantage of a strategy involving pure maternal (or paternal) inheritance is then compared with a strategy involving classical biparental inheritance in plants and in animals.     

Molecular Reclassification of Crohn’s Disease: A Cautionary Note on Population Stratification

Complex human diseases commonly differ in their phenotypic characteristics, e.g., Crohn’s disease (CD) patients are heterogeneous with regard to disease location and disease extent. The genetic susceptibility to Crohn’s disease is widely acknowledged and has been demonstrated by identification of over 100 CD associated genetic loci. However, relating CD subphenotypes to disease susceptible loci has proven to be a difficult task. In this paper we discuss the use of cluster analysis on genetic markers to identify genetic-based subgroups while taking into account possible confounding by population stratification. We show that it is highly relevant to consider the confounding nature of population stratification in order to avoid that detected clusters are strongly related to population groups instead of disease-specific groups. Therefore, we explain the use of principal components to correct for population stratification while clustering affected individuals into genetic-based subgroups. The principal components are obtained using 30 ancestry informative markers (AIM), and the first two PCs are determined to discriminate between continental origins of the affected individuals. Genotypes on 51 CD associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are used to perform latent class analysis, hierarchical and Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) cluster analysis within a sample of affected individuals with and without the use of principal components to adjust for population stratification. It is seen that without correction for population stratification clusters seem to be influenced by population stratification while with correction clusters are unrelated to continental origin of individuals.     

Cell degeneration during early development of hymenopteran olfactory sensilla

The imaginal pore plates of Hymenoptera apocrita so far examined embody five or six envelope cells respectively. In early developmental stages, however, supernumerary envelope cells have been found. The results are discussed in the context of cell death as a developmental phenomenon.     

Are highly phosphorylated 40-S subunits preferentially utilized during protein synthesis in a cell-free system from HeLa cells?

It has been concluded from circumstantial evidence obtained with HeLa cells in vivo that the phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 increases the affinity of 40S particles for mRNP [Duncan, R. and McConkey, E. H. (1982) Eur. J. Biochem. 123, 535-538; Thomas, G., Martin-Pérez, J., Siegmann, M. and Otto, A.M. (1982) Cell 30, 235-242]. This conclusion needs to be tested in vitro in a reinitiating cell-free translation system from growth-competent cells. We have prepared such a system from HeLa cells and have compared the capacity of homologous 40S subunits of various degrees of phosphorylation to enter the existing polysome pool. The 40S subunits' degree of phosphorylation was manipulated by exposing aliquots of growth-stimulated HeLa cells to hyperthermia (see accompanying paper). 40S subunits from heat-shocked and control cells, despite differences in S6 phosphorylation level as verified by two-dimensional electrophoresis, did not differ with respect to their recruitment into the existing polysome fraction. Owing to the reinitiation activity of the translation system, assay times could be kept sufficiently short, to avoid any serious interference by the S6 phosphatase activities of the system. Our results suggest that increased S6 phosphorylation by itself is not sufficient to accelerate the participation of 40S subunits in protein synthesis.     

Microcythemia from anemic hypoxia and normal erythropoiesis in the newt

Specimens of the newt, Triturus cristatus carnifex (Laurenti), rendered totally anemic, restore erythron by cyclic waves of erythropoietic activity that alternate with intervals of stasis. Hemolysis is obtained by administering 25 mg/liter of acetylphenylhydrazine in the breeding water for 36 h. The first cycle of erythropoietic activity produces microcytes, which have completely differentiated by 8 weeks after treatment. However, if the animals are raised in a hyperbaric chamber at a pressure of 1.5 atmospheres, in order to compensate for hypoxia, normocytes are produced. In both cases the hematocrit and hematic concentration of hemoglobin reach analogous values, so microcythemia appears to be the only effect of hypoxia. The hemoglobin, hematocrit values, and normocyte counts in hyperbaric animals are about one-half those of the controls newts. These data, together with those on the life span of red blood cells (RBC) and time span between two successive erythropoietic cycles (2 months and 1 month, respectively), indicate that the newts normally keep only two sets (one new, one old) of RBC in circulation, whose approximate parameters can be defined as RBC count: 60,000/mm3, hematocrit: 17%, and hemoglobin: 5.4 g/100 ml.     

High extracellular concentrations of potassium and rubidium modulate the synaptic transmission in the frog labyrinth

High extracellular K or Rb levels (20 mM) produce an increase in the resting EPSP and spike frequencies recorded intra cellularly from single fibres of the posterior nerve in the isolated frog labyrinth. The afferent discharge facilitation proved to be inversely related to the fibre's initial resting activity. The K effect is systematically larger than the Rb effect. High sensitive and scarcely sensitive units may be identified with respect to K and Rb action. The present findings suggest that, according to previous models of hair cell functioning, the K and Rb effects are mediated by a raise in intracellular Ca concentration which sustains an increased transmitter release at the cyto-neural junction.     

Synthesis of the biologically active β-subunit of human nerve growth factor in Escherichia coli

The gene(NGFB) encoding the β subunit of mature human nerve growth factor (hNGFB) was subcloned into the pJLA503 expression vector under the control of bacteriophage promoters p_R and p_L, and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant protein represented approximately 3% of the total cellular protein. Biologically active hNGFB was solubilized (0.2% total NGFB) and purified by cation-exchange chromatography and it yielded two bands on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis under nonreducing conditions, corresponding to the monomeric (14 kDa) and homodimeric (26.5 kDa) forms of the molecule. Both hNGFB forms were immunopositive on Western blots with rabbit anti-NGFB antibodies; however, following additional purification, only the species corresponding to the hNGFB homodimer was biologically active on cultured chicken dorsal root ganglion neurons. These results demonstrate the feasibility of synthesizing the biologically active form of hNGFB in E. coli.