Sexual dimorphism in the pyrgomorphid grasshopper Phymateus morbillosus: from wing morphometry and flight behaviour to flight physiology and endocrinology

Abstract In the field, adult males of the grasshopper Phymateus morbillosus are able to fly for up to 1 min and cover up to c. 100 m, whereas females, although fully winged, are apparently unable to get airborne. Morphometric data indicate that the males are lighter, have longer wings, a higher ratio of flight muscles to body mass, and a lower wing load value than females. It was investigated whether this inability of females to fly is related to fuel storage, flight muscle enzymatic design and/or the presence and quantitative capacity of the endocrine system to mobilize fuels. In both sexes, readily available potential energy substrates are present in the haemolymph in similar concentrations, and the amount of glycogen in flight muscles and fat bodies does not differ significantly between males and females. Mass-specific activities of the enzymes GAPDH (glycolysis), HOAD (fatty acid oxidation) and MDH (citric acid cycle) in flight muscles are significantly lower in females compared with males, and mitochondria are less abundant in the flight muscles of females. There is no significant difference between the ability of the two sexes to oxidize various important substrates. Both sexes contain three adipokinetic peptides in their corpora cardiaca; the amount of each peptide in female grasshoppers is higher than in males.
Thus, despite some differences listed above, both sexes appear to have sufficient substrates and the necessary endocrine complement to engage in flight. It seems more likely, from the morphometric data above, that the chief reason for flightlessness is that P. morbillosus females cannot produce sufficient lift for flight; alternatively, the neuronal functioning associated with the flight muscles may be impaired in females.     

A familial mutation in the testis-determining gene SRY shared by both sexes

A familial mutation in SRY, the gene coding for the testis-determining factor TDF, was identified in an XY female with gonadal dysgenesis, her father, her two brothers and her uncle. The mutation consists of a T to C transition in the region of the SRY gene coding for a protein motif known as the high mobility group (HMG) box, a protein domain known to confer DNA-binding specificity on the SRY protein. This point mutation results in the substitution, at amino acid position 109, of a serine residue for phenylalanine, a conserved aromatic residue in almost all HMG box motifs known. This F109S mutation was not found in 176 male controls. When recombinant wildtype SRY and SRY^F109S mutant protein were tested in vitro for binding to the target site AAC AAAG, no differences in DNA-binding activity were observed. These results imply that the F109S mutation either is a rare neutral sequence variant, or produces an SRY protein with slightly altered in vivo activity, the resulting sex phenotype depending on the genetic back-ground or environmental factors.This paper is dedicated by G. S. to Professor Ulrich Wolf on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Euploidie,Aneuploidie und B-Chromosomen beiCaltha palustris L.

Ohne ZusammenfassungMit 21 Textabbildungen.     

Chemical synthesis of tridecanucleoside dodecaphosphate sequence of SV40 DNA

The preparation, by the phosphotriester approach, of d[C-T-A-T-T-C-C-A-G-A-A-G-T] from one tetranucleoside triphosphate and three trinucleoside diphosphate blocks is described. The use of the o-dibromomethylbenzoyl (DBMB) protecting group in oligodeoxyribonucleotide synthesis is described for the first time. Internucleotide linkages are protected by o-chlorophenyl groups which are finally removed by treatment with the N1, N1, N3, N3-tetramethylguanidinium salt of syn-4-nitrobenzaldoxime. The first phosphorylation step (leading to phosphodiester intermediates) is carried out by treatment with o-chlorophenyl phosphorodi-(1,2,4-triazolide) followed by treatment with water and triethylamine. 1-Mesitylenesulphonyl-3-nitro-1,2,4-triazole (MSNT) is used as the activating agent in the second phosphorylation step in which 5'-protected mono- and di-nucleotides are condensed with nucleoside building blocks containing unprotected 3'-hydroxy functions.     

Calymperes (Musci: Calymperaceae): World ranges,implications for patterns of historical dispersion and speciation,and comments on phylogeny

Refinements in the taxonomy of the genus Calymperes (Musci: Calymperaceae) allow increasingly accurate estimates of the total number of species worldwide and new assessments of world ranges of the species. Instead of the 272 correct names of Calymperes listed in Volume 1 of Index Muscorum, the world total of “good” species now appears to be in the range of 30 to 40, and contrary to the high degree of narrow endemism implied from the compilation of Index Muscorum, many species of Calymperes have broad ranges in the paleo- or neotropics. A few species, including C. afzelii, C. erosum, C. palisotii, C. lonchophyllum, and C. tenerum, are pantropical. World ranges of species of Calymperes are mapped and implications for historical patterns of dispersal and speciation are discussed. Suites of endemic species and species groups in the neotropics differ from those in the paleotropics, demonstrating different ancestries, a long period of geographic separation, and independent evolution in two fundamentally different environments. It is suggested that Calymperes shares close phylogenetic relationship with limbate Syrrhopodon.     

A detailed study of the periodate oxidation of sialic acids in glycoproteins

Periodate oxidation of terminalN-acetyl- andN-glycoloylneuraminic acid residues in the mucins from edible bird nest substance and pig submandibular gland, respectively, can be carried out under conditions which exclusively give rise to the formation of the C-7 analogues of these sialic acids. In contrast, the C-8 compounds can be obtained in a maximum yield of about 40%. Under identical conditions,N-glycoloylneuraminic acid is oxidized about 1.5 times faster than theN-acetylated derivative. After release of the sialic acids by acid hydrolysis, the characterization of the oxidation products was carried out by TLC, by GLC and GLC-MS of the corresponding pertrimethylsilyl derivatives, and by 500-MHz¹H-NMR spectroscopy. In addition, molar response factors for GLC analysis and extinction coefficients in the orcinol/Fe³⁺/HCl assay were determined.