Influence of washing on elemental analysis of leaves of fieldgrown crop plants

Summary Information is limited on soil contamination of leaves from field-grown row crops, especially with respect to aluminum (Al) analyses. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of washing leaf samples with either deionized water or detergent solution on elemental analyses for several agronomic crop plants. The crop plants sampled were corn (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.), grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The crops were grown on a range of soil types, soil pH values, and tillage practices. Samples of upper leaves and lower leaves were collected separately. The samples were either not washed, washed with deionized water, or washed with detergent solution. After drying, grinding, and digesting, the samples were analyzed for Al, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu). For all crop plants and conditions studied, there was no effect on measured N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Zn, or Cu concentrations, but measured Al and Fe concentrations were influenced by washing. In general, washing had a greater effect on Al analyses than on Fe analyses. Soybean samples were most affected by washing, while wheat samples seemed to be least affected. The results reflected greater contamination of lower leaves than upper leaves. Decontamination procedures appear necessary prior to Al and Fe analyses of field-grown crop plants.     

Effects of fire on landscape heterogeneity in Yellowstone National Park,Wyoming

Abstract. A map of burn severity resulting from the 1988 fires that occurred in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) was derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery and used to assess the isolation of burned areas, the heterogeneity that resulted from fires burning under moderate and severe burning conditions, and the relationship between heterogeneity and fire size. The majority of severely burned areas were within close proximity (50 to 200 m) to unburned or lightly burned areas, suggesting that few burned sites are very far from potential sources of propagules for plant reestablishment. Fires that occurred under moderate burning conditions early during the 1988 fire season resulted in a lower proportion of crown fire than fires that occurred under severe burning conditions later in the season. Increased dominance and contagion of burn severity classes and a decrease in the edge: area ratio for later fires indicated a slightly more aggregated burn pattern compared to early fires. The proportion of burned area in different burn severity classes varied as a function of daily fire size. When daily area burned was relatively low, the proportion of burned area in each burn severity class varied widely. When daily burned area exceeded 1250 ha, the burned area contained about 50 % crown fire, 30 % severe surface burn, and 20 % light surface burn. Understanding the effect of fire on landscape heterogeneity is important because the kinds, amounts, and spatial distribution of burned and unburned areas may influence the reestablishment of plant species on burned sites.     

Differential requirement of protein tyrosine kinase and protein kinase C in the generation of IL-2-induced LAK cell and αCD3-induced CD3-AK cell responses

This study examined the role of protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) and protein kinase C (PKC) in the signal transduction pathways for lymphocyte activation through IL-2R to generate LAK cells and through TCR—CD3 to generate CD3-AK cells. Two PTK inhibitors [herbimycin A and genistein (PTK-I)] and two PKC inhibitors [calphositin C and staurosporine (PKC-I)] were used in the experiments. It was found that the primary activation pathway through IL-2R was PTK-dependent; that is, generation of both the IL-2-induced proliferative and the cytotoxic responses was completely abrogated by PTK-I and not by PKC-I. Quite different results were obtained with the αCD3-induced CD3-AK cell response. First, the αCD3-induced proliferation was only partially inhibited by PTK-I or PKC-I alone. Second, generation of CD3-AK cytotoxic response was primarily PKC-dependent; that is, only PKC-I induced significant inhibition. Genistein was found to reduce protein tyrosine phosphorylation in both LAK cells and CD3-AK cells, indicating that CD3-AK cells were also susceptible to PTK-I treatment. Further studies showed that PTK-I and not PKC-I suppressed perforin mRNA expression and N-2-benzyoxycarbonyl-l-lysine thiobeneylester esterase production in LAK cells, and the opposite was true for CD3-AK cells. These results indicate that different pathways were employed in lymphocyte activation through IL-2R and TCR—CD3. The former pathway is primarily PTK-dependent. Activation through TCR—CD3 is a more complex event. Induction of a proliferative response can employ either a PTK- or a PKC-dependent pathway, whereas induction of a cytotoxic response is primarily PKC-dependent. Furthermore, it appears that a PTK-independent pathway exists for the induction of a CD3-AK response and thus suggests that activation of the second messenger PKC may not necessarily be preceded by PTK activation.     

Translation of tyrosine aminotransferase mRNA in a modified reticulocyte system.

Tyrosine aminotransferase messenger RNA has been translated in a cell-free system derived from rabbit reticulocytes. Cytoplasmic poly(A)-containing RNA from rat liver was used as the source of the messenger RNA. The newly synthesized subunits of the enzyme were isolated by immunoprecipitation and identified and quantitated using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These procedures were used to demonstrate that glucocorticoid induction is associated with increased cytoplasmic levels of functional tyrosine aminotransferase messenger RNA.     

IL-4 regulation of a protein kinase C independent pathway for the generation of alpha CD3-induced activated killer cells.

alpha CD3 induced the generation of activated killer cells from resting T cells. Pretreatment of the splenic responders with PMA, a phorbol ester, depleted protein kinase C and induced unresponsiveness to the generation of alpha CD3-induced activated killer (CD3-AK) cells. Addition of exogenous IL-4 (1 U/ml) restored the cytotoxic response, with the maximal effect achieved with 30 to 100 U/ml. The phenotypes of CD3-AK cells maintained in IL-2 or in IL-4, with or without PMA, were the same: Thy1+ and CD8+. These results were reproduced with purified T cells and purified CD8+ cells, indicating that both the effectors and precursors were CD8+ cells and IL-4 had a selective effect to upregulate the CD8+ cells. Similar results were obtained by using SSP (staurosporine), another PKC inhibitor. At 2 days prior to testing, switching the lymphokine added to 2-week PMA- and IL-2-maintained CD3-AK cells reversed their cytolytic activity: switching from IL-2 to IL-4 restored cytolytic activity, and switching from IL-4 to IL-2 reduced cytolytic activity. The cytolytic activity of these CD3-AK cells correlated with their ability to produce BLT-esterase. In the absence of PMA, CD3-AK cells cultured in either IL-2 or IL-4 were cytolytic and contained high levels of BLT-esterase. In contrast, in the presence of PMA, only the IL-4-maintained CD3-AK cells were cytolytic and produced significant amounts of BLT-esterase. The effect of IL-4 was abrogated by the alpha IL-4 antibody 11B11, which reduced the cytolytic activity of CD3-AK and the ability to produce BLT-esterase. The requirement of IL-2 was less stringent and its major role appeared to be maintaining the cell growth. These findings indicate that IL-4 may participate in the regulation of a PKC-independent pathway for the generation of CD3-AK cells by regulating the production of cytolytic granules.