Longevity of guard cell chloroplasts in falling leaves: implication for stomatal function and cellular aging

Guard cell chloroplasts in senescing leaves from 12 species of perennial trees and three species of annual plants survived considerably longer than their mesophyll counterparts. In Ginkgo biloba, stomata from yellow leaves opened during the day and closed at night; guard cell chloroplasts from these leaves showed fluorescence transients associated with electron transport and photophosphorylation. These findings indicate that guard cell chloroplasts are highly conserved throughout the life-span of the leaf and that leaves retain stomatal control during senescence.     

Euglena gracilis: formation of giant mitochondria

The addition of antimycin A (0.5 microgram per milliliter) to cultures of a bleached strain of Euglena gracilis in the logarithmic phase of growth on succinate as a carbon source results in (i) an interruption of growth for 24 hours and (ii) an increase in whole-cell respiration and the emergence of a novel succinoxidase activity within 2 to 4 hours. After 3 to 5 hours, the mitochondria enlarge, fuse, and form a sheathlike structure situated close to the periphery of the cell.     

Phototaxis and sensory transduction in Euglena

The accumulation of Euglena gracilis in an illuminated region is brought about by two main mechanisms: orientation and subsequent directed movement (positive phototaxis) toward light scattered from particles in the illuminated zone; and by the trapping of cells in this region because of shock reactions experienced upon the cells encountering a sudden decrease of light intensity at the light-dark boundary (inverse photophobic responses).Phototactic orientation is mediated by inverse photophobic reactions which occur when the shadow of the stigma periodically falls upon the photoreceptor proper. Euglena also exhibits shock reactions when an already high light intensity is increased further (direct photophobic responses). The expression of both types of phobic responses depends upon stimulus intensity and adaptation of the sensory system in a seemingly complex way. A definition of the minimum components of the stimulus transduction system and a systems analytical approach to the study of input-output relationships enables one to construct an electronic analog of the cell's signal processing system that converts the photoreceptor input to commands which activate or inhibit flagellar reorientation. Computer simulation studies show that this model has considerable predictive value. It is hoped that with the approach presented in this article, a generalized model has become available for dealing with the questions of sensory transduction in aneural systems. Certainly, at this point more questions have been raised than have been answered. Where is the processing device located? Are its kinetic properties determined by electrical processes or by the rates of chemical reactions? Is the processor, and thereby the behavior of the orgamism, modulated by natural environmental parameters, and can it be modified permanently through more drastic chemical treatment of the cell? Is the system capable of permanent or transitory modification through repeated response, that is, does it exhibit phenomena analogous to learning and memory in higher organisms? These are only a few of the problems that require study in the future.     

甘蔗叶绿体分离及其蛋白质提取方法研究

【目的】探索甘蔗幼苗叶片完整叶绿体的分离纯化及其叶绿体蛋白质提取方法,为深入研究甘蔗叶绿体蛋白质组学奠定基础。【方法】以甘蔗品种ROC22幼苗叶片为材料,通过差速离心法制备粗叶绿体制品,分别利用蔗糖密度梯度离心和Percoll梯度离心进一步分离纯化完整叶绿体;提取叶绿体蛋白质,并进行电泳分析。【结果】两种密度梯度离心法均可获得纯度和完整率较高的叶绿体,但蔗糖密度梯度离心法具有分离时间较短、成本较低,分离的叶绿体完整率、纯度和含量高等特点,并且提取的叶绿体蛋白质电泳条带清晰,蛋白质数量多且较全。【结论】与Pecoll梯度离心法相比,蔗糖密度梯度离心法更适宜于在亚细胞水平上进行甘蔗蛋白质组学研究。     

Vibrations: their signal function for a spider kleptoparasite

The stealing behavior of Argyrodes elevatus suggests that this kleptoparasitic spider monitors the movements and the hunting success of its web-building host. Wrapping of prey by the host regularly elicits raids from the kleptoparasite. The prey-catching activities of the host generate vibrations that were recorded with a position-sensing photodiode. The recordings indicated that wrapping movements produce a characteristic pattern of vibrations.     

Hemoglobin in a nonleguminous plant, parasponia: possible genetic origin and function in nitrogen fixation

A dimeric hemoglobin was purified from nitrogen-fixing root nodules formed by association of Rhizobium with a nonleguminous plant, Parasponia. The oxygen dissociation rate constant is probably sufficiently high to allow Parasponia hemoglobin to function in a fashion similar to that of leghemoglobin, by oxygen buffering and transport during symbiotic nitrogen fixation. The identification of hemoglobin in a nonlegume raises important questions about the evolution of plant hemoglobin genes.     

Platinized chloroplasts: a novel photocatalytic material

Colloidal platinum was prepared and precipitated directly onto photosynthetic thylakoid membranes from aqueous solution and entrapped on fiberglass filter paper. This composition of matter was capable of sustained simultaneous photoevolution of hydrogen and oxygen when irradiated at any wavelength in the chlorophyll absorption spectrum. Experimental data support the interpretation that part of the platinum metal catalyst is precipitated adjacent to the photosystem I reduction site of photosynthesis and that electron transfer occurs across the interface between photosystem I and the catalyst. Photoactivity of the material was dependent on the nature of the ionic species from which the platinum was precipitated. All photoactive samples were prepared from the hexachloroplatinate(IV) ion, whereas samples prepared by precipitation of the tetraammineplatinum(II) ion showed no hydrogen evolution activity and only transient oxygen activity. This system is among the simplest known for photosynthetically splitting water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen.     

Circadian rhythmicity in amino acid incorporation in Euglena gracilis

A daily rhythm of amino acid incorporation exists in nondividing cultures of Euglena kept in a light-dark cycle. This rhythmicity persists for the two cycles measured in cultures transferred to constant conditions and is therefore probably circadian in nature.     

Mammalian and yeast ras gene products: biological function in their heterologous systems

Activated versions of ras genes have been found in various types of malignant tumors. The normal versions of these genes are found in organisms as diverse as mammals and yeasts. Yeast cells that lack their functional ras genes, RASSC-1 and RASSC-2, are ordinarily nonviable. They have now been shown to remain viable if they carry a mammalian rasH gene. In addition, yeast-mammalian hybrid genes and a deletion mutant yeast RASSC-1 gene were shown to induce morphologic transformation of mouse NIH 3T3 cells when the genes had a point mutation analogous to one that increases the transforming activity of mammalian ras genes. The results establish the functional relevance of the yeast system to the genetics and biochemistry of cellular transformation induced by mammalian ras genes.     

Circadian rhythm of cell division in Euglena: effects of random illumination regimen

A persisting, "free-running," circadian rhythm of cell division in autotrophically grown Euglena gracilis is obtained upon placing either an exponentially increasing population or a culture that has been synchronized by a 10:14 light-dark cycle in a random illumination regimen that affords a total of 8 hours of light each 24 hours. These results are interpreted as implicating an endogenous biological clock which "gates" the specific event of cell division in the cell developmental cycle.     

Cues: their relative effectiveness as a function of the reinforcer

Two cues, either size or flavor of food pellet, were conditionally paired with either malaise induced by x-ray or pain induced by shock in four groups of rats. The combination of flavor and illness produced as conditioned decrement in consumption, but that of size and illness did not. Conversely, the combination of size and pain produced an inhibition of eating, but flavor and pain did not. Apparently, effective associative learning depends on central neural convergence of the paired afferent input.     

Strength-density relations in particulate silicates of complex shape and their possible lunar significance

Some terrestrial particulate silicate rocks with complex particle shapes have internal friction angles over 45 degrees and cohesion of about 0.1 newton per square centimeter at bulk densities of 0.6 to 0.8 gram per cubic centimeter. Mechanical and other properties of the lunar surface layer, observed with spacecraft, may be consistent with a low bulk density and complex reentrant shapes for the fine particles.     

Redox signaling in chloroplasts: cleavage of disulfides by an iron-sulfur cluster

Light generates reducing equivalents in chloroplasts that are used not only for carbon reduction, but also for the regulation of the activity of chloroplast enzymes by reduction of regulatory disulfides via the ferredoxin:thioredoxin reductase (FTR) system. FTR, the key electron/thiol transducer enzyme in this pathway, is unique in that it can reduce disulfides by an iron-sulfur cluster, a property that is explained by the tight contact of its active-site disulfide and the iron-sulfur center. The thin, flat FTR molecule makes the two-electron reduction possible by forming on one side a mixed disulfide with thioredoxin and by providing on the opposite side access to ferredoxin for delivering electrons.     

Biochemical modeling of an autonomously oscillatory circadian clock in Euglena

Eukaryotic microorganisms, as well as higher animals and plants, display many autonomous physiological and biochemical rhythmicities having periods approximating 24 hours. In an attempt to determine the nature of the timing mechanisms that are responsible for these circadian periodicities, two primary operational assumptions were postulated. Both the perturbation of a putative element of a circadian clock within its normal oscillatory range and the direct activation as well as the inhibition of such an element should yield a phase shift of an overt rhythm generated by the underlying oscillator. Results of experiments conducted in the flagellate Euglena suggest that nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), the mitochondrial Ca2+-transport system, Ca2+, calmodulin, NAD+ kinase, and NADP+ phosphatase represent clock "gears" that, in ensemble, might constitute a self-sustained circadian oscillating loop in this and other organisms.     

Acetylcholine: possible neuromuscular transmitter in Crustacea

The tonic flexor muscles of the crayfish abdomen respond with a large depolarizing potential to acetylcholine iontophoresed onto a neuromuscular Junction, but not to glutamate. Excitatory junctional potentials are abolished by d-tubocurarine and enhanced by a cholinesterase inhibitor. The membrane is depolarized and the junctional potentials are desensitized by excess acetylcholine. Thus acetylcholine is thought to be the neuromuscular transmitter.     

Boron: possible role in plant metabolism

Leaves of boron-deficient oil palm showed a total absence of the leucoanthocyanins usually present, well before onset of pathological symptoms. The association of boron with flavonoid synthesis is consistent with the otherwise anomalous situation that this element is essential for higher plants but not for animals or lower plants.     

Azidoatrazine: photoaffinity label for the site of triazine herbicide action in chloroplasts

Binding of the 4-azido analog of the herbicide atrazine to pea chloroplast membranes was compared with that of atrazine. When [(14)C]azidoatrazine was treated with 300-nanometer ultraviolet light in situ, reversibility of binding was lost in proportion to the duration of irradiation. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of chloroplast membranes irradiated in the presence of [(l4)C]-azidoatrazine indicated radioactivity in only one region, corresponding to a protein with a molecular weight of approximately 32,000. Azidoatrazine is a photoaffinity reagent for the triazine binding site in chloroplasts and serves as a label to identify this site, which may be the apoprotein of the secondary electron acceptor in photosystem II.