Parasitoid pressure and the radiation of a gallforming group (Cecidomyiidae: Asphondylia spp.) on creosote bush (Larrea tridentata)

Summary We tested the Enemy Impact Hypothesis, which predicts that communities of one tropic level are organized by the tropic level above. In the case of gallforming insect communities, the hypothesis predicts that gall morphology will diverge, minimizing the number of parasitoids shared among species. We used the monophyletic group of gallforming cecidomyiids (Asphondylia spp.) on creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) to test this hypothesis, predicting that species with thicker gall walls should exclude species of parasitoids with shorter ovipositors and have lower levels of parasitism. Of 17 parasitoid species reared from Asphondylia galls on creosote bush, 9 accounted for over 98% of parasitism. Seven of these 9 species had ovipositors long enough to penetrate 10 of 13 gall morphs measured. There was no significant relationship between gall wall thickness and number of associated parasitoid species (r ²=0.01, P>0.05, n=13). There was no relationship between gall wall thickness and types of parasitoid species colonizing galls: parasitoids with the shortest ovipositors colonized all types of gall morphs and were dominant members of the parasitoid assemblages in galls with the thickest walls. Ultimately, there were no significant differences in percent parasitism among Asphondylia species, regardless of gall wall thickness. We found no difference in numbers of associated parasitoids or percent parasitism in galls with different textures (e.g. hairy versus smooth), different locations on the plant or different phenologies. Our results suggest that enemy impact has not influenced the diversity of this gall community. Gall wall thickness, phenology, location on the plant and surface structure do not appear to influence the distribution of parasitoid species. Other explanations are offered to account for diversity in gall morphology among these species.     

Consequences of host plant chemical and physical variability to an associated herbivore

The effects of watering and fertilizer treatments on the vigor and biochemistry of the willow,Salix lasiolepis, and subsequent colonization and survivorship of its gallforming herbivore,Euura lasiolepsis, were investigated in two field experiments. Some plants received low (LW), intermediate (MW) or high (HW) levels of water as treatments, while others received no (OF), low (LF) or high (HF) fertilizer levels. In the watering experiment, plant protein concentrations decreased, while growth rate and number of galls per plant increased with increased water treatments. Plant growth proved to be the best correlate of sawfly attack. Sawfly survivorship increased slightly with greater watering, and phenol concentrations showed no pattern among treatments. In the fertilization experiment, leaf protein increased with fertilization, although shoot length, number of galls and survivorship ofE. lasiolepis survivorship were greatest in intermediate treatment plants. In both experiments, plant growth, rather than protein or phenol levels, was the best predictor of sawfly attack and survivorship. In a natural experiment with galls on wild plants, galled tissue had significantly greater protein concentrations and lower phenol concentrations than did ungalled tissue. We suggest that gallformers modify host plant biochemistry within willow galls, which may explain why the chemical parameters of ambient plant quality we tested were less predictive than plant growth.     

Continuous production of L-tryptophan from indole and L-serine by immobilized Escherichia coli cells

Escherichia coli B 10, which has high activity of tryptophan synthetase, was grown in a 50-L batch culture in order to determine in which growth phase the cells have the highest specific tryptophan productivity. Accordingly, whole cells of the stationary phase were used for immobilization in polyacrylamide beads. After immobilization, these immobilized cells had 56% activity of tryptophan synthetase compared with that of free cells. First, the properties of immobilized cells were investigated. Next, discontinuous productions of L-tryptophan were carried out by using immobilized cells. In discontinuous production of L-tryptophan by the batch, the activity remaining of immobilized cells was 76-79% after 30 times batchwise use. In continuous production of L-tryptophan with a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), the activity remaining of the immobilized cells was 80% after continuous use for 50 days. The maximum productivity of L-tryptophan in this CSTR system was 0.12 g tryptophan L(-1) h(-1).     

Fetal cells in maternal blood: recovery by charge flow separation

Fetal blood cells can be recovered from the maternal circulation by charge flow separation (CFS), a method that obviates the risks associated with amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling. By CFS, we processed blood samples from 13 women carrying male fetuses, 2 carrying fetuses with trisomy 21, and 1 who had delivered a stillborn infant with trisomy 18. On average more than 2000 fetal nucleated red blood cells were recovered per 20-ml sample of maternal blood. Recovery of fetal cells was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization with probes for chromosomes Y, 18 and 21. After culturing of CFS-processed cells, amplification by the polymerase chain reaction revealed Y-chromosomal DNA in clones from four of six women bearing male fetuses, but not in clones from three women bearing female fetuses. Received: 8 January 1996 / Revised: 22 March 1996     

Pyruvate kinase and creatine phosphokinase during development of the chicken with muscular dystrophy

Pyruvate kinase and creatine phosphokinase activities in breast muscle extracts and in serum, and protein content of the muscle extracts were determined during the first eight weeks of development of control and dystrophic chickens. In the dystrophic chicken serum enzyme levels were significantly greater than, and muscle protein content and enzyme activities on a gram wet weight basis were significantly less than control values, by the second week after hatching and thereafter. For both muscle and serum the relative differences between control and dystrophic groups was greater for pyruvate kinase than crearine phosphokinase. On a specific activity basis only pyruvate kinase levels in dystrophic muscle were significantly less than control values in 2–8-week-old chickens.     

Lysosomal proliferation in rachitic avian intestinal absorptive cells following 1,25-Dihydroxycholecalciferol

Lysosomes in chick intestinal absorptive cells from rachitic (vitamin D-deficient) and vitamin D-replete animals were studied utilizing transmission electron microscopic histochemistry and ultrastructural morphometry. Absorptive cells from rachitic animals, serum calcium = 7.3±0.3 mg%, contained an average of 4.0±0.3 supranuclear lysosomes. In rachitic chicks sacrificed 9 hr post-injection of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, the active metabolite of vitamin D, the values for both serum calcium, 9.8 ± 0.2 mg%, and the number of apical absorptive cell lysosomes, 12.9±0.6, were increased over non-injected or vehicle-only injected animals. Lysosomes in vitamin D-replete absorptive cells were characterized by their intense staining with pyroantimonate, indicative of their high calcium content. The same organelles also produced a positive reaction for acid phosphatase. Rachitic lysosomes, also acid phosphatase positive, were only lightly stained with pyroantimonate. The lysosomal proliferation apparently induced by 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol may be a further indication that these organelles play a role in intestinal calcium transport and/or intracellular calcium homeostasis within the absorptive cell.     

Studies on the H-Y antigen in rats

The H-Y antigen has been studied under a variety of experimental conditions in BN and Lewis rats. The results indicate that 1. graft size is crucially important in determining the fate of male skin isografts on females; 2. H-Y incompatible ear skin grafts survive significantly better than those of trunk origin; 3. prior exposure of females to male lymphoid cells greatly increases their capacity to reject male skin isografts; 4. neonatal castration has no influence on the expression of H-Y; 5. multiparity can induce unresponsiveness to H-Y; and 6. although BN females respond better than do Lewis females to H-Y, the antigen is stronger in Lewis males. These findings are compared with the results of similar experiments conducted with mice.Submitted in memory of Dr. Joy Palm, member of the Wistar Institute, who pioneered the genetic analysis of histocompatibility in rats.     

Plasminogen activation by receptor-bound urokinase. A kinetic study with both cell-associated and isolated receptor

The specific cellular receptor for urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) is found on a variety of cell types and has been postulated to play a central role in the mediation of pericellular proteolytic activity. We have studied the kinetics of plasminogen (Plg) activation catalyzed by uPA specifically bound to its receptor on the human monocytoid cell-line U937 and demonstrate this process to have properties differing widely from those observed for uPA in solution. The solution-phase reaction was characterized by a Km of 25 microM and for the cell-associated reaction this fell 40-fold to 0.67 microM, below the physiological Plg concentration of 2 microM. A concomitant 6-fold reduction in kcat resulted in an increase in the overall catalytic efficiency, kcat/Km, of 5.7-fold. This high affinity Plg activation was abolished in the presence of a Plg-binding antagonist. In contrast to intact cells, purified uPA receptor (isolated from phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-stimulated U937 cells) was observed to partially inhibit uPA-catalyzed Plg activation, although activity against low molecular weight substrates was retained. Therefore, the cellular binding of Plg appears to be of critical importance for the efficient activation of Plg by receptor-bound uPA. Plasmin generated in the cell-surface Plg activation system described here was also observed to be protected from its principal physiological inhibitor alpha-2-antiplasmin. Together, these data demonstrate that the cell surface constitutes the preferential site for Plg activation when uPA is bound to its specific cellular receptor, which therefore has the necessary characteristics to play an efficient role in the generation of pericellular proteolytic activity.