Ribonuclease activity of the “myofibrillary” fraction of normal and autolyzed muscle tissue

The separation in a sucrose gradient of the myofibrillary fraction of normal and autolyzed muscle tissue gave 4 components. During post-mortem destruction of the tissue there was observed a slight decrease of the myofibrillary fraction yield and also certain changes in the distribution of protein between different components. Under the selected conditions RNase activity was found in all 4 components. During the course of autolysis enzymatic activity increased in the whole myofibrillary fraction, as well as in the lysosomal-mitochondrial components of myofibrils.Research Laboratory, Ministry of Health of the USSR, Moscow. Translated from Buylleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 85, No. 5, pp. 533–537, May, 1978.     

Foraging strategies ofDrosophila melanogaster: A chromosomal analysis

Two larval foraging strategies inDrosophila melanogaster were identified, rover and sitter. Rovers traverse a large area while feeding whereas sitters cover a small area. The difference between rovers and sitters was analyzed genetically by chromosomal substitutions between isogenic stocks. Differences in larval locomotor behavior (crawling behavior) can be attributed to the second chromosome, the rover strategy being dominant over the sitter strategy. Differences in feeding rate (shoveling behavior) are affected additively by both the second and third chromosomes. Natural populations ofDrosophila larvae were sampled three times over a 2-month period; rovers and sitters were at constant frequencies in these populations. The two foraging strategies are discussed in the light of resource utilization in environments where food is distributed continuously or discontinuously.     

Intraspecific variation in the structural organization and redundancy of chloroplast ribosomal DNA cistrons in Euglena gracilis

Summary Chloroplast DNAs from six different laboratory collections of Euglena gracilis strain Z and var. bacillaris were analyzed with restriction endonucleases EcoRI and Bam HI. The most variable portion of the organelle genome is the region containing the ribosomal cistrons. Intraspecific differences occur in both ribosomal DNA cistron number (one or three) and structural organization among those strains designated as strain Z and bacillaris. One culture previously designated as Z is most likely bacillaris.     

The penetration of the salivary glands ofRhodnius prolixus byTrypanosoma rangeli

Ultrastructural studies of the mechanism of penetration of the salivary gland of the reduviid bugRhodnius prolixus byTrypanosoma rangeli showed that trypanosomes from the haemocoele penetrate the outer membranes of the gland flagellum foremost, disrupting the inner layers, to pass between the muscle cells to reach the gland cell basement membrane. This latter is also penetrated flagellum foremost, the parasite invaginating the gland cell plasmalemma beneath, to create a vacuole in which the trypanosome crosses the gland cells to reach the central lumen, often only losing its containing vacuole just before leaving the cell.The structure of the outer membranes surrounding the salivary gland appeared similar to, and often actually part of, the basement membrane of the gland cells. These outer membranes were found to enclose large numbers of multinuleate giant form trypanosomes, whose significance is as yet unknown, but could perhaps represent a stage in the life cycle of the parasite where genetic interchange could take place.     

Neuron Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex of the Brain in Rats with Different Typological Characteristics in Conditions of Emotional Stimulation

Male Wistar rats were separated according to the emotional resonance method (groups of animals avoiding (altruists) and not avoiding (egotists) the pain cries of partner rats) and neuron activity in the prefrontal areas of the cortex was studied in the right and left hemispheres. Assessments were made of changes in the frequency of nerve cell spike activity (in relation to the baseline activity of neurons in sated animals) in rats subjected to one day of food deprivation and after electrical stimulation of emotionally positive (lateral hypothalamus) and negative (tegmentum of the midbrain) brain structures and after exposure to the pain cries of partner rats. The results of these experiments revealed a series of differences in the cell activities of the two groups of rats. In conditions of hunger, the discharge frequency in the altruists was higher than that in egotists. Cortical neuron responses to positive stimulation were greater than those to negative stimulation in rats of both groups. Intracerebral stimulation produced significantly greater increases in discharge frequency in neurons of both prefrontal areas of the cortex in altruists than in egotists. In both groups of rats, neurons in the right hemisphere responded to emotionally negative stimulation with significantly greater activation than cells in the left hemisphere, while activity in the left hemisphere was greater in conditions of emotionally positive stimulation. Altruists showed significantly greater neuron responses during exposure to pain cries from victim rats in both the right and left hemispheres. The responses of egotists to victim cries were not significantly different from baseline activity levels.     

Coronary blood flow in rats native to simulated high altitude and in rats exposed to it later in life

Summary In rats exposed to a simulated high altitude of 3500 m for their whole prenatal and postnatal life a severe cardiac hypertrophy develops. In rats born and first staying 5 weeks at sea level and then being exposed to simulated high altitude, only a unilateral right cardiac hypertrophy occurs. In both groups nutritional coronary blood flow was estimated in left ventricle, right ventricle, and septum and was compared with control animals of similar age. Coronary blood flow was measured at hypoxia in all groups. At first cardiac output was determined by the Fick principle, then⁸⁶Rb was applied and the animals were killed after 55 sec. Activity of⁸⁶Rb was measured in both cardiac ventricles and septum and the fractional uptake was calculated. According to Sapirstein (1956, 1958) the distribution of⁸⁶Rb follows the distribution of cardiac output and from both these data the nutritional blood flow to the parts of the heart may be estimated.Cardiac output was similar in rats exposed to simulated high altitude later in life (newcomers) and in control animals, but it was significantly lower in rats born in the low pressure chamber (natives).Fractions of cardiac output supplying cardiac ventricles and septum in rats from both hypoxic groups were significantly higher than in control animals. In the natives they were significantly higher than in the newcomers. The fractions of cardiac output in both newcomers and natives remained significantly higher than those of the control animals, also when calculated per gram of heart tissue.Nutritional coronary blood flow (in ml/min) was higher in both ventricles and septum of the newcomers and in the right ventricle of the natives, and lower in the septum of the natives, when compared with control animals. Coronary blood flow per gram of heart tissue (in ml/min·g) was significantly higher in all cardiac parts of the newcomers, but it was about the same in all cardiac parts of the natives when compared with controls.The importance of observed changes concerning myocardial tissue oxygenation is analyzed by using Krogh's cylindrical tissue model.Presented in part at the XXVIth International Congress of Physiological Sciences, New Delhi, India, October 20–26, 1974.     

Evidence for a direct relationship between mitochondrial genome organization and regeneration ability in hexaploid wheat somatic tissue cultures

Summary Embryogenic and non-embryogenic long-term callus cultures of hexaploid wheat exhibit differences in the organization of their mitochondrial genome. Embryogenic and non-embryogenic fractions of callus cultures initiated from immature embryos of the wheat cultivar Chinese Spring have been isolated and subsequently subcultured. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments using labelled cloned wheat mitochondrial DNA fragments have shown that the mitochondrial DNA organization of embryogenic subcultures derived from embryogenic parts of Chinese Spring calli is closely related to that of the initial Chinese Spring calli, while non-embryogenic subcultures derived from non-embryogenic fragments of Chinese Spring calli exhibit a mitochondrial DNA organization similar to that found in non-embryogenic calli derived from cultivar Aquila. In addition, somatic tissue cultures initiated from three other non-embryogenic wheat cultivars (Talent, Thésée and Capitole) display mitochondrial DNA arrangements similar to those found in cultivar Aquila. These results strongly suggest that, in wheat callus cultures, a particular mitochondrial genome organization is correlated with the ability of cultured cells to regenerate whole plants.Abbreviations mtDNA mitochondrial DNA - ctDNA chloroplast DNA - rRNA ribosomal RNA - kb kilobase pair - cv cultivar - 2,4-D 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid     

Effect of muscular work on the motor function of the stomach and duodenum

Summary The effect of muscle work on the gastric and duodenal motor function was studied in dogs.It was observed that the static stress inhibited the hunger contractions of the stomach and duodenum; the inhibitory effect disappeared as the stress ceased. The static muscle work effect was more pronounced in hunger contractions of the stomach than in those of the duodenum. Under the influence of static stress, the periodic hunger contractions of the stomach varied more extensively than its acid and digestive contractions.Presented by Active Member Acad. Med. Sci. USSR V. N. Chernigovsky     

An experimental method for electrographically determining the motility of the duodenum during digestion

Summary The author developed a method of leading off the biocurrents from the implanted electrodes. The latter provide the possibility of carrying out prolonged and continuous electrographic examinations of the intestinal motor function before meals and during digestion in conditions of chronic experiments. There is an electric mechanographic registration of the periods of work alternated by the periods of rest, as well as of the rhythm and power of contractions. The period of duodenal work is equal to 30–40 minutes, on the average. The rhythm of the peristaltic waves is equal to 5 oscillations per minute, while the rhythm of the pendular motions is equal 16–18 per minute. The period of relative rest is equal to 50–80 minutes, on the average.Presented by Active Member AMN SSSR V. N. Chernigovskii     

Effect of the degree of myocardial hypertrophy associated with an experimental heart defect on the resistance to altitude hypoxia

Summary Experimental coarctation of the abdominal aorta with constriction of its lumen to one-third of the original diameter was created in 18 albino rats. Four months later various degrees of myocardial hypertrophy developed in the animals with a relative weight of the heart ranging from 0.0033 to 0.0069. In elevation in the barochamber, the altitude ceiling of the animals with a relative cardiac weight below 0.0040, did not differ from the normal one. The altitude ceiling proved to be considerably decreased in animals with a relative cardiac weight of over 0.0040. Analysis of ECG recorded during the elevation demonstrated that in the animals with a considerable myocardial hypertrophy reduced resistance to the acute high altitude hypoxia depended on the reduction of the functional resistance of the heart.(Presented by Active Member AMN SSSR V. V. Parin) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 55, No. 5, pp. 37–40, May, 1963     

The use of electrophoretic karyotypes in the classification of yeasts: Kluyveromyces marxianus and K. lactis

Summary The relationship between varieties marxianus and lactis of Kluyveromyces marxianus was investigated. Strains of these varieties readily form hybrids, but their classification in one species has recently been contested. Enzyme patterns and the GC contents of their DNAs differed significantly. Moreover, DNA-DNA reassociation was less than 15%. Since the generally accepted definition of a species is based on gene exchange, we used two approaches for directly detecting genetic recombination in crosses between representatives of both species. First, multiple marked strains were crossed, and the offspring from the resulting hybrids analyzed. Secondly, the fate of individual chromosomes in identical crosses was followed by comparing the karyotypes of the parent strains, the hybrids formed between them, and the descendants of these hybrids. Karyotypes were obtained by orthogonal-field-altemation gel electrophoresis (OFAGE). Gene exchange was not detected with either method. We therefore concluded that the formation of hybrids, even when they produced viable offspring, was not sufficient to include var. lactis and var. marxianus in one species.     

A Proposed Heuristic for Communicating Heritability Estimates to the General Public, with Obesity as an Example

It is well established that many continuously distributed traits have a heritable component. However, it is often difficult to communicate to the general public the meaning of quantitative estimates of heritability. To address this problem, the present paper introduces a heuristic for communicating heritability to nonscientific audiences. This heuristic involves adopting an extremely simplified model of inheritance and artificially (and somewhat arbitrarily) defining a cutoffs of low environmental risk and affectation status. Using body weight and obesity as an example, we present a table which gives estimates of the proportion of obese persons who are genetically obese assuming varying levels of environmental risk for obesity and relative body weight scores for defining obesity. The resulting statistic may prove useful for lay audiences in understanding a heritability estimate.     

Lability in the responses of cells in the auditory cortex of squirrel monkeys to species-specific vocalizations

Summary The activity of 28 cells located mainly in the secondary auditory cortex (A II) of awake squirrel-monkeys, was extracellularly recorded for periods of up to 6 h. Seven different species-specific vocalizations, which were repeatedly presented to the monkey, were used as auditory stimuli. Twenty-six cells responded, at least once, to one or more vocalizations; 22 cells revealed some change in their response (pattern or strength) to at least one vocalization (change in response). Twenty-one cells exhibited a change in the number and/or type of vocalization to which they responded during the recording period (change in selectivity). At some time during the recording period all the responding cells exhibited a change in response and/or a change in selectivity (change in responsiveness). A change in response of a cell to a vocalization did not necessarily exclude a change in selectivity, associated with the same vocalization, later in time and vice-versa. A change in responsiveness to one vocalization was not necessarily correlated with changes in responsiveness to other vocalizations.     

Comparison of the estrous cycles in mice of high and low cancer lines

Summary In February and May the author studied the duration of the estrous cycle stages in female mice of high A and low C₅₇ cancer lines. It was established that the average duration of the estrus is much greater and of diestrus much shorter in the A than that of the corresponding stages in the C₅₇ line.The estrous cycles of the C₅₇ line females do not undergo any significant seasonal changes while in the A line they approach the character of the normal mice spring cycles.Desviations from the normal duration of the estrous cycle stages in the high cancer line mice denote a disturbed hypophyseal — ovarian hormonal balance.Presented by Active Member AMN SSSR V. N. Chernigovskii     

Active and passive recovery from maximal aerobic capacity work

Summary Thirteen subjects performed two identical maximal aerobic capacity tasks on the bicycle ergometer, at one time recovering while sitting absolutely quiet and once while continuing to pedal at the same RPM against minimal resistance. The heart rate, oxygen-debt pay-off, and carbon-dioxide expulsion curves during recovery were established. Comparison of the Active and Passive recovery data showed no difference above their respective levels of return (Zero load pedaling or resting), except for substantially slower pay-off of the lactic part of the oxygen debt.This work (project Hokulani) was supported in part by a grant from the University Research Fund.     

Effects of Age and Experience on Mating Activity in the Sibling Species Drosophila pavani and Drosophila gaucha

The effects of age and experience on sexual activity and on intra- and interspecific discrimination were studied in two sibling species of the mesophragmatica group, Drosophila pavani and Drosophila gaucha. Sexual activity of a total of 2970 individual couples of the same or of both species was observed at two ages: 10 days, (young inexperienced) and 18-20 days (old, either inexperienced or experienced, if either the male or the female had copulated previously). In the 1186 (39.97%) pairs that mated, the latency to copula and duration of copula were registered. Age has a different effect in both species: young Drosophila pavani and old Drosophila gaucha females are less receptive to males of either species of the corresponding age. The receptivity of females is also reflected in heterospecific matings, as Drosophila gaucha males increase their mating activity with age. In both species, female receptivity decreases with experience, whereas mating activity of males increases with experience, especially that of Drosophila gaucha toward heterospecific females. Drosophila pavani females take longer to mate than those of Drosophila gaucha. In both species old males tend to mate faster, whereas experience increases the latency to mating in females and decreases it in males. Both species differ significantly in the duration of copula. It is longer in Drosophila pavani than in Drosophila gaucha and is determined mainly by the male. The duration of copula increases with age, especially in Drosophila pavani females, whereas it is reduced in males of the same species.     

Adaptation and habituation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in intact and inferior olive-lesioned rats

Summary The gain of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) of intact pigmented rats was adaptively modified by training protocols that created a visual-vestibular conflict. For training, head restrained animals were oscillated on a turntable in front of an optokinetic pattern projected onto a cylindrical wall. The optokinetic pattern either moved the same amplitude with the animal (in-phase: 0.05 Hz ± 20°/s) or opposite in direction (out-of-phase: turntable and pattern 0.05 Hz ± 10°/s each). VOR responses were tested in darkness before and after each 8 min training period for a duration of 40 min. During out-of-phase training the gain of compensatory eye movements measured in light was close to 2 from the beginning on and the VOR tested in darkness increased in gain progressively from 0.48 (±0.12) to 0.9 (±0.3; P < 0.05) in 5 out of 7 rats. Two rats did not adapt their VOR gain. Phase values decreased slightly by about 10°. During in-phase stimulation compensatory eye movements were almost completely suppressed (gain close to 0) from the beginning on and the VOR tested in darkness decreased gradually in gain from 0.62 (±0.17) to 0.13 (±0.1; P<0.001) in all 6 trained rats. Phase values decreased in parallel from 151° to 119° (P< 0.01). The effectiveness of the in-phase training paradigm in the absence of compensatory eye movements indicates that retinal image slip is the relevant signal for adaptation. In seven rats with histologically verified almost complete inferior olive (IO) lesions (chemically induced at least 45 days prior to training), out-of-phase and in-phase stimulation evoked compensatory eye movements with gains comparable to those in intact rats. VOR parameters measured in darkness were altered with respect to those of control rats. Gain differed extremely between individuals and phase lag re acceleration was in all IO-lesioned rats larger than in intact rats. The time constant of the VOR in response to table velocity steps was significantly longer (17 s ±4) than in intact rats (11 s ± 3). Training did not alter the gain of the VOR in 5 out of 7 IO-lesioned rats. One rat increased its gain during out-of-phase training in the first, but not during a second training session (and not during in-phase training) and another rat decreased its gain during in-phase training (but not during out-of-phase training). These changes in VOR gain might have occurred by chance rather than by learning. The absence of adaptation in IO-lesioned rats can be explained either by the absence of climbing fiber mediated slip signals in the cerebellar cortex or by lesion-induced secondary changes which result in a long-term reduction of the inhibitory efficacy of Purkinje-cells. In the absence of arousing stimuli VOR responses of intact rats exhibit a strong decrement during table oscillations in darkness. Between trials, with the rat at rest, response magnitude recovered spontaneously. Six out of 8 IO-lesioned rats expressed a very similar modification of their VOR gain. These results indicate that the neural mechanisms responsible for adaptive gain decrease during in-phase training and those responsible for a gain decrease during short-term habituation are different.     

Kinetic studies on the effects of ouabain on Na+ fluxes in frog skin

Among 48 pieces of paired frog skins ofRana pipiens in Ringer's solution, 10 pieces showed a strictly monotone decrease in the short circuit current (SCC) following ouabain treatment (10^–4 M). In 9 cases a transient attenuation, and in 27 cases a distinct wave in the ebb of the SCC, was seen. In 2 instances, two waves were seen. Associated with the not-monotone events was a transient rise in electrical skin conductance. The reasons for these mixed skin responses are unknown. One possible reason is considered here: Early during the ouabain action, some of the Na⁺ entering from the mucosal side is trapped in the skin by electroneutral processes, in keeping with the already known fact that ultimately cellular KCl is partly replaced by NaCl. Computer assisted model studies show how monotone, and not-monotone transepithelial net Na⁺ flux curves can be generated. Essential conditions for the generation of notmonotone Na⁺ flux curves are: 1. Presence of two distinct cellular, active Na⁺ pools in the model. 2. Presence of a loop pathway in which a principal transepithelial Na⁺ transport compartment, and a constitutent Na⁺/K⁺ maintenance compartment, are connected to each other and to the extracellular compartment. The model, then, predicts under which kinetic conditions monotone and not-monotone transepithelial Na⁺ flux curves will be seen.     

Wild chromosomal variants inAspergillus nidulans

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and a chromosome-specific cosmid DNA library were used to determine the karyotypes of wild-typeAspergillus nidulans isolates from around the world. Overall, little structural variation was found, with a few major exceptions. One isolate possessed a non-essential B-chromosome of about 1.0 million base pairs (mb). Another isolate had undergone a non-reciprocal translocation of about 1.6 mb of chromosome VI onto chromosome VIII. Other than these chromosomal differences, these isolates appeared phenotypically normal. To analyze its effects on meiosis, the translocation isolate was outcrossed with another wild-type derivative that had a normal electrophoretic karyotype. This cross produced a range of phenotypes, including duplicated progeny that had a barren phenotype similar to that described forNeurospora partial disomics. The duplication was somewhat vegetatively unstable. This is the first association of sterility with chromosomal duplication inA. nidulans.