Plant phylogeny drives arboreal caterpillar assemblages across the Holarctic

1. Assemblages of insect herbivores are structured by plant traits such as nutrient content, secondary metabolites, physical traits, and phenology. Many of these traits are phylogenetically conserved, implying a decrease in trait similarity with increasing phylogenetic distance of the host plant taxa. Thus, a metric of phylogenetic distances and relationships can be considered a proxy for phylogenetically conserved plant traits and used to predict variation in herbivorous insect assemblages among co‐occurring plant species.
2. Using a Holarctic dataset of exposed‐feeding and shelter‐building caterpillars, we aimed at showing how phylogenetic relationships among host plants explain compositional changes and characteristics of herbivore assemblages.
3. Our plant–caterpillar network data derived from plot‐based samplings at three different continents included >28,000 individual caterpillar–plant interactions. We tested whether increasing phylogenetic distance of the host plants leads to a decrease in caterpillar assemblage overlap. We further investigated to what degree phylogenetic isolation of a host tree species within the local community explains abundance, density, richness, and mean specialization of its associated caterpillar assemblage.
4. The overlap of caterpillar assemblages decreased with increasing phylogenetic distance among the host tree species. Phylogenetic isolation of a host plant within the local plant community was correlated with lower richness and mean specialization of the associated caterpillar assemblages. Phylogenetic isolation had no effect on caterpillar abundance or density. The effects of plant phylogeny were consistent across exposed‐feeding and shelter‐building caterpillars.
5. Our study reveals that distance metrics obtained from host plant phylogeny are useful predictors to explain compositional turnover among hosts and host‐specific variations in richness and mean specialization of associated insect herbivore assemblages in temperate broadleaf forests. As phylogenetic information of plant communities is becoming increasingly available, further large‐scale studies are needed to investigate to what degree plant phylogeny structures herbivore assemblages in other biomes and ecosystems.

     

The spinal cord supports of vertebrae in the crown‐group salamanders (Caudata,Urodela)

The development of spinal cord supports (bony thickenings which extend into the vertebral canal of vertebrae) in primitive (Salamandrella keyserlingii) and derived (Lissotriton vulgaris) salamanders were described. The spinal cord supports develop as the protuberances of periostal bone of the neural arches in the anteroproximal part of the septal collagenous fibers which connect a transverse myoseptum with the notochord and spinal cord, in the septal bundle inside the vertebral canal. Spinal cord supports were also found in some teleostean (Salmo salar, Oncorhynchus mykiss) and dipnoan (Protopterus sp.) fishes. The absence of the spinal cord supports in vertebrates with cartilaginous vertebrae (lampreys, chondrichthyan, and chondrostean fishes) corresponds to the fact that the spinal cord supports are bone structures. The absence of the spinal cord supports in frogs correlates with the lack of the well developed septal bundles inside the vertebral canal. The spinal cord supports are, presumably, a synapomorphic character for salamanders which originated independently of those observed in teleostean and dipnoan fishes. J. Morphol. 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A determination key to the structural types of seattered green using the air multispectral photography

Scattered green was studied in Czechoslovakia by means of the air multispectral photography and of the field observation. According to various repartition and canopy 19 structural types of seattered green were derived.     

Peptides and multiple antigen peptides from Schistosoma mansoni glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase: preparation, immunogenicity and immunoprotective capacity in C57BL/6 mice.

Four monoepitopic MAPs (MAP A, B, C and E) and one bis-diepitopic MAP B-E derived fromthe primary sequence of Schistosoma mansoni glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, previously tested in BALB/c mice, were examined for their immunogenicity and protective capacity in C57BL/6 mice. Despite multimerization into MAPs, MAP Aand MAP C were poorly immunogenic. In contrast toBALB/c mice, MAP E was non-immunogenic in C57BL/6 mice. Peptide B in the form of MAP B orbis-diepitopic MAPB-E elicited immune responses in C57BL/6 mice that were associated with a significant decrease in worm burden. The MAPs were prepared by the stepwise solid-phase peptide synthesis using Boc/Bzl chemistry, successfully purified on the RP-HPLC column and characterized by RP-HPLC, HPCE and MALDI-TOF MS techniques. A general strategy for MAPs purification is discussed here and the purification of MAP Band MAP E is documented in detail.     

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human sex hormone-binding globulin

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of the "sandwich-type" for sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) has been developed. A rabbit anti-SHBG antibody (RAb) is immobilized to the microtitre plate. After incubation with standards and samples a second monospecific rabbit anti-SHBG antibody, labelled with alkaline phosphatase is added (RAb). Following further washing substrate is added, colour developed and the plate read at 405 nm wavelength on a standard ELISA plate reader. The assay is not influenced by the presence of steroids at the binding site, and shows good agreement to SHBG binding capacity assay and commercially available IRMA. Its sensitivity, specificity and precision allows its use in the routine laboratory. The SHBG ELISA has been used to measure SHBG concentrations in sera of normal men, women, pregnant women, and women receiving high-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate as a treatment of metastatic breast cancer.     

Molecular cloning and physical characterization of a Brassica linear mitochondrial plasmid

Summary A linear mitochondrial plasmid reported to be associated with cytoplasmic male sterility in the genus Brassica was analyzed. A protein was found to be associated with the 5 ends of the plasmid. The entire plasmid was cloned by the homopolymer tailing technique via free hydroxyl groups present at its 3 ends. DNA sequence analysis of the cloned plasmid revealed a perfect terminal inverted repeat of 325 base pairs. Southern hybridization and restriction enzyme mapping analysis confirmed colinearity of the native plasmid and the clone, which showed significant homology with organelle DNA but not with nuclear DNA. Under high-stringency hybridization conditions, an internal 4.6 kb fragment of the 11.5 kb plasmid hybridized to the main mitochondrial genome in several species. Although the hybridization signal was weaker, the chloroplast genome also showed homology to the mitochondrial plasmid. The plasmid was undetectable at a molar ratio of less than 1/10 000 of the main mitochondrial genome in some lines of Brassica and Raphanus that contain the Ogura male sterile cytoplasm (cms). The absence of the plasmid in these sterile lines demonstrates that the plasmid is not required for the expression and maternal inheritance of male sterility.     

Association of Epstein-Barr virus early antigen diffuse component and virus-specified DNA polymerase activity.

The role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) early antigen diffuse component (EA-D) and its relationship with EBV DNA polymerase in EBV genome-carrying cells are unclear, EBV-specified DNA polymerase was purified in a sequential manner from Raji cells treated with phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate and n-butyrate by phosphocellulose, DEAE-cellulose, double-stranded DNA-cellulose, and blue Sepharose column chromatography. Four polypeptides with molecular masses of 110,000, 100,000, 55,000, and 49,000 daltons were found to be associated with EBV-specified DNA polymerase activity. A monoclonal antibody which could neutralize the EBV DNA polymerase activity was prepared and found to recognize 55,000- and 49,000-dalton polypeptides. An EA-D monoclonal antibody, R3 (G. R. Pearson, V. Vorman, B. Chase, T. Sculley, M. Hummel, and E. Kieff, J. Virol. 47:183-201, 1983), was also able to recognize these same two polypeptides associated with EBV DNA polymerase activity. It was concluded that EBV EA-D polypeptides, as identified by R3 monoclonal antibody, are critical components of EBV DNA polymerase.     

Induction of heavy-metal binding phytochelatins by inoculation of cell cultures in standard media

A large increase in phytochelatin (PC) synthesis occurred when cell cultures of different plant species were transferred from spent medium to fresh standard media. Phytochelatin accumulation correlated with the initial concentration of zinc ions in the nutrient solution. After reaching stationary growth phase, phytochelatins had almost disappeared from the cells which indicates a high turnover of these molecules under normal conditions. No significant formation of the heavy-metal complexing phytochelatins was observed if the microelement ions zinc and copper were omitted from the nutrient solutions for plant cell cultures. Both the induction and degradation phenomena of these peptides indicate that phytochelatins are involved in metal ion homeostasis in plants.     

Enhancement of chloroplast energization in Chlorella by treatments inactivating the nitrate-reducing system

Inactivation of the nitrate-reducing system in whole cells of Chlorella vulgaris Bejerinck by darkening, nitrogen starvation, ammonium, or cycloheximide brings cells into a state with a high yield of the millisecond-delayed fluorescence of chlorophyll. Activation of this system by illumination, by adding glucose to dark-adapted cells or nitrate to nitrogen-starved cells brings the cells into a low-yield state. The transitions between the lowand high-yield state induced by alternating light and dark periods are suppressed by tungstate and restored by subsequent molybdate addition. The drop in the delayed-fluorescence yield upon activation of the nitrate-reducing system is associated with the decrease of the amplitude of the electrochemical proton gradient across the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast, as evidenced by the kinetics of the light-induced adsorption changes at 520 nm. The decrease of the proton gradient may be caused by the electron flow diverting from the cyclic path in photosystem I as a result of the activation of the electron transfer from ferredoxin to nitrite.Abbreviation DCMU 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea