Japanese barberry seed predation by Rhagoletis meigenii fruit flies harboring Wolbachia endosymbionts

The phytophagous fruit fly Rhagoletis meigenii harbors the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis and, together with Japanese barberry, form a tri-partite symbiosis. R. meigenii is a seed predator of invasive Japanese barberry plants and is dependent on this insect-plant interaction for reproductive success. The endosymbiotic bacterium W. pipientis is a reproductive parasite known to alter the sex ratios of offspring and the fitness of infected host insects. We investigated Japanese barberry fruit for the degree of infestation by R. meigenii and characterized the Wolbachia strain infecting R. meigenii. Densities of R. meigenii in four naturalized stands of Japanese barberry revealed low numbers of fruit flies with high variability in the population densities observed among individual plants. Overall, R. meigenii infested roughly 10–20 % of the Japanese barberry fruits analyzed; fruit with two seeds (vs. one seed) were the most frequently infested. Approximately, 90 % of the R. meigenii tested positive for Wolbachia infection via PCR amplification of the Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene. No bacterial strain diversity was observed when comparing multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) profiles within or among five R. meigenii populations in Maine, although the MLST profile obtained from R. meigenii differed from three co-occurring Rhagoletis. The Wolbachia endosymbiont of R. meigenii is a member of the Wolbachia supergroup A and the ST-13 cluster complex.     

An assay using embryo aggregation chimeras for the detection of nonlethal changes in X-irradiated mouse preimplantation embryos

We have developed a short-term in vitro assay for the detection of sublethal effects produced by very low levels of ionizing radiation. The assay utilizes mouse embryo aggregation chimeras consisting of one irradiated embryo paired with an unirradiated embryo whose blastomeres have been labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). X irradiation (from 0.05 to 2 Gy) and chimera construction were performed with four-cell stage embryos, and the chimeras were cultured for 40 h to the morula stage. The morulae were partially dissociated with calcium-free culture medium and viewed under phase contrast and epifluorescence microscopy to obtain total embryo cell number and the cellular contribution of irradiated (unlabeled) and control (FITC labeled) embryos per chimera. In chimeras where neither embryo was irradiated, the ratio of the unlabeled blastomeres to the total number of blastomeres per chimera embryo was 0.50 (17.8 +/- 5.6 cells per unlabeled embryo and 17.4 +/- 5.5 cells per FITC-labeled partner embryo). However, in chimeras formed after the unlabeled embryos were irradiated with as little as 0.05 Gy, the ratio of unlabeled blastomeres to the total number of blastomeres per chimera embryo was 0.43 (P less than 0.01). The apparent decreases in cell proliferation were not observed in irradiated embryos that were merely cocultured with control embryos, regardless of whether the embryos were zona enclosed or zona free. We conclude that very low levels of radiation induce sublethal changes in cleaving embryos that are expressed as a proliferative disadvantage within two cell cycles when irradiated embryos are in direct cell-to-cell contact with unirradiated embryos.     

Stimulation of facilitated [3H]uridine transport by thyroid hormone in GH1 cells. Evidence for regulation by the thyroid hormone nuclear receptor

We have previously shown that 3,5,3'-triiodo-L-thyronine (L-T3) stimulates cell growth and a 4- to 8-fold increase in growth hormone mRNA in GH1 cells. These effects appear to be mediated by a thyroid hormone nuclear receptor with an equilibrium dissociation constant for L-T3 of 0.2 nM and an abundance of about 10,000 receptors per cell nucleus. In this report, we show that L-T3 exerts a pleiotypic effect on GH1 cells to rapidly (within 2 h) stimulate [3H]uridine uptake to a maximal value of 2.5- to 3-fold after 24 h. This results from an increase in the number of functional uridine "transport sites" as shown by studies documenting an increase in the apparent Vmax with no change in the Km, 17 microM. Although the labeling of the cellular uridine pool and pools of all phosphorylated uridine derivatives was increased by L-T3, there was no change in the relative amounts of the individual pools in cells incubated with or without hormone. The intracellular concentration of [3H]uridine was estimated to be similar to that of the medium, suggesting that facilitated transport mediates [3H]uridine uptake. That this increase in [3H]uridine transport was nuclear receptor-mediated is supported by the excellent correspondence of the L-T3 dose-response curve for [3H]uridine uptake and that for L-T3 binding to receptor. Finally, inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide and RNA synthesis by actinomycin D demonstrated that the L-T3 effect required continuing protein and RNA synthesis. These results are consistent with an effect of the L-T3-nuclear receptor complex to increase uridine uptake in GH1 cells by altering the expression of gene(s) essential for the transport process.     

Compartmental analysis of the efflux of l-[3H]norepinephrine from isolated perfused rat lungs

Isolated rat lungs, pretreated with 100 microM pargyline and 100 microM U-0521 (3',4'-dihydroxy-2-methylpropriophenone) to block metabolism of norepinephrine (NE), were perfused with 0.3 microM 3H-labeled l-norepinephrine (1-[3H]-NE) for 30 min. Efflux samples were then collected for 30 min during washout of the tissue with amine-free Krebs solution. Compartmental analysis (nonlinear least-squares regression) of the efflux of tissue l-[3H]NE content vs. time indicates that NE is accumulated in a large slowly equilibrating compartment (t 1/2 = 58.15 +/- 6.84 min) in addition to distribution in the vascular (blue dextran tracer) and extracellular ([3H]sorbitol tracer) fluid compartments of the lung. Pretreatment of the lungs with 100 microM cocaine hydrochloride reduces the total l-[3H]NE space from 7.44 +/- 1.91 to 2.48 +/- 0.23 ml/g (P less than 0.05) by selectively decreasing the size of the slow NE compartment from 6.99 +/- 1.97 to 1.67 +/- 0.14 ml/g (P less than 0.05). The large size, cocaine sensitivity, and long efflux half time of this compartment suggest that neuronal uptake contributes to the pulmonary vascular inactivation of l-[3H]NE.     

Anticonvulsant activity of glycylglycine and delta-aminovaleric acid: evidence for glutamine exchange in amino acid transport

We have proposed that glutamine serves in a facilitated diffusion process, mediated by the enzyme gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase; gamma GT) and that it leaves the brain in exchange for entering amino acids. Glutamine is also a precursor of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Thus, providing an alternate substrate for gamma GT should spare brain glutamine, raise GABA, and cause an anticonvulsant effect. We have found that glycylglycine, the best-known substrate for gamma GT, and delta-aminovaleric acid (DAVA), a structural analog, have anticonvulsant activity in DBA/2J mice. Both compounds can decrease the incidence and severity of seizures induced by L-methionine-RS-sulfoximine or electroconvulsive shock. DAVA was also tested and found to be active against seizures caused by pentylenetetrazol or picrotoxin. [14C]DAVA entered the brain at the rate of 18.7 nmol/g/min. The activity of DAVA as a substrate of gamma GT was intermediate to that of glycylglycine and glutamine. Preliminary studies have shown that brain glutamine and perhaps GABA are elevated 3 h after administration of DAVA (7.5 mmol/kg). These findings support the theory that glutamine exchange plays a role in amino acid transport across the blood-brain barrier and suggests a new concept in anticonvulsant therapy.