Effect of seed treatment in preventing transmission of dwarf bunt of winter wheat to new areas

The effectiveness of various fungicide formulations containing carboxin and thiabendazole in eradicating teliospores of Tilletia controversa (dwarf bunt) from winter wheat seed was evaluated in the laboratory and the field. In the laboratory tests, the viability of teliospores washed from treated infested seed was greatly reduced as compared to the viability of teliospores washed from untreated infested seed, suggesting that carboxin and thiabendazole were primarily fungicidal. Field tests in two different years were established to determine if teliospores from treated infested seed could infect nearby untreated noninfested seed. Formulations containing carboxin were highly effective in reducing infection of healthy seed. No dwarf bunt infected plants developed in either year from seed treated with ‘Vitaflo 250’. Furthermore, seedborne common bunt caused by Tilletia foetida was nearly eradicated by carboxin-containing formulations in one field test. Carboxin treatment of winter wheat seed infested with dwarf bunt teliospores will greatly reduce the danger of introducing this pathogen into new areas.     

Autologous peptides constitutively occupy the antigen binding site on Ia

Low molecular weight material associated with affinity-purified class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules of mouse (Ia) had the expected properties of peptides bound to the antigen binding site of Ia. Thus, the low molecular weight material derived from the I-Ad isotype was efficient in inhibiting the binding of 125I-labeled I-Ad-specific peptide to I-Ad, but did not significantly inhibit the binding of an I-Ed-specific peptide to I-Ed; the reciprocal isotype-specific inhibition was demonstrated with low molecular weight material derived from I-Ed. The inhibitory material was predominantly peptide in nature, as shown by its susceptibility to protease digestion. It was heterogeneous as measured by gel filtration (mean molecular weight approximately 3000), and when characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography, it eluted over a wide concentration of solvent. Such self peptide-MHC complexes may have broad significance in the biology of T cell responses, including generation of the T cell repertoire, the specificity of mixed lymphocyte responses, and the immune surveillance of self and nonself antigens in peripheral lymphoid tissues.     

Volatile components in the breast muscles of chickens of different ages

Thirty‐eight volatile components have been found, of which 27 have been tentatively identified in the breast muscles of Arbor Acre broiler hybrids between the ages of 3 and 18 weeks. The study has been qualitative but, because standardised conditions of sampling and analysis have been used throughout, comparison between samples from different age groups is practicable.

For convenience in comparing the profiles of different age groups, but without implying any special organoleptic significance, the volatile components have been divided into 3 classes on the basis of their contribution to the total area of the chromatogram. Six large peaks together accounted for 82.5 per cent of this area in samples from 3‐week‐old birds, a second group of 6 smaller peaks accounted for 11.8 per cent, and 14 trace components made up the remainder. This pattern was typical of all but 2 of the age groups: at 9 weeks there were only 5 trace components instead of 13 or 14, and at 18 weeks the 14 components accounted for 17 per cent of the total chromatogram area instead of 2.6 to 7.0 per cent.

The possible organoleptic significance of the results has been briefly discussed.     

Immunological self, nonself discrimination

The ability of immunodominant peptides derived from several antigen systems to compete with each other for T cell activation was studied. Only peptides restricted by a given transplantation antigen are mutually competitive. There is a correlation between haplotype restriction, ability to bind to the appropriate transplantation antigen, and ability to inhibit activation of other T cells restricted by the same transplantation antigen. An exception was noted in that a peptide derived from an antigen, bacteriophage lambda cI repressor, binds to the I-Ed molecule in a specific way, yet is not I-Ed-restricted. Comparison of the sequence of the repressor peptide with that of other peptides able to bind to (and be restricted by) I-Ed and a polymorphic region of the I-Ed molecule itself revealed a significant degree of homology. Thus, peptides restricted by a given class II molecule appear to be homologous to a portion of the class II molecule itself. The repressor-derived peptide is identical at several polymorphic residues at this site, and this may account for the failure of I-Ed to act as a restriction element. Comparison of antigenic peptide sequences with transplantation antigen sequences suggests a model that provides a basis for explaining self, nonself discrimination as well as alloreactivity.