A releaser pheromone that attracts methyltestosterone- treated immature fish in the urine of ovulated female rainbow trout

SUMMARY: Behavioral experiments concerning a releaser pheromone in the urine of female rainbow trout were performed using immature fish administered orally with 17α-methyltestosterone (MT) during the non-spawning season. The urine was collected by catheter. The frequency of entries of test fish was recorded in each channel scented by test and control solutions in a Y-maze trough. The behavior of both MT-treated and control fish demonstrated that they could not discriminate the differences between distilled and environmental water as control solutions. There was also no difference between MT-treated and control fish when distilled and environmental water were introduced. The MT-treated immature fish were attracted to the channel scented by ovulated female urine. Neither coelomic fluid nor the immature female urine had any effect on the behavioral responses of MT-treated fish, while immature control fish had no preference for the urine of ovulated females. These results suggest in rainbow trout that ovulated female urine contains a releaser pheromone to attract mature males, and that androgens are involved in the sensory mechanisms detecting the releaser pheromone in fish.     

Seasonal variation in pigmentation and anthocyanidin phenetics in commercial Eustoma flowers

The seasonal change in petal color and pigmentation of 29 commercial Eustoma cultivars was studied. The flowers are basically divided into four groups according to the major anthocyanidin phenotype in association with petal coloration, i.e., delphinidin (Dp)-based (purple flower), cyanidin (Cy)-based (reddish purple flower), pelargonidin (Pg)-based (pink flower), and none (white flower) groups. The constitution of petal anthocyanidins was not changed by forcing treatment in most of the flowers. Lightness (L^*) and chroma (C^*, color saturation) showed a change along with the increase/decrease of hue angle difference (ΔH^*), thus simultaneously the chromatic tonalities tended to move to redder and bluer, respectively. Floral pigment clustering described two flower groups in a dendrogram, based on anthocyanidin constitutions as phenetic markers, which are apparently the Dp- and Pg-based phenotypes of anthocyanidin syntheses. The Cy-based flowers made a subcluster with the Pg-based flowers, indicating a close relationship in the biosynthesis of the two anthocyanidins, and suggesting the Dp- and Pg-syntheses complement one another.     

Changes in expression and localization of GPRC5B and RARalpha in the placenta and yolk sac during middle to late gestation in mice

The mRNA expression of GPRC5B, an orphan G protein-coupled receptor, is induced by retinoic acid (RA). Because RA plays critical roles in embryonic development, reproductive functions, metabolism and homeostasis, GPRC5B is also considered crucial in these physiological events. We investigated the changes in expression of GPRC5B and RA receptor (RAR) alpha mRNAs and immunohistochemical localization of their proteins in the murine placenta and yolk sac at 13.5, 15.5 and 17.5 days post coitus. Stable levels of GPRC5B and RARalpha mRNAs were detected in the placenta and yolk sac. In the placenta, GPRC5B was present in maternal and fetal vascular endothelial cells, stromal cells, fibroblast-like cells and glycogen cells. A strong reaction to RARalpha was detected in maternal and fetal vascular endothelial cells and stromal cells. The levels of GPRC5B and RARalpha proteins in maternal and fetal vascular endothelial cells decreased with gestation. In the yolk sac, GPRC5B and RARalpha proteins were detected in vascular endothelial cells, but their levels did not change during the gestation period. These findings indicate that GPRC5B is involved in RA-dependent morphogenesis/angiogenesis and regulation of extracellular matrix synthesis in the murine placenta and yolk sac.     

Phylogenetic characterization of rabies virus isolates from Carnivora in Brazil

The incidence of canine rabies has been widely reported in Brazil, and new rabies virus (RV) variants, genetically similar to canine RV, have recently been isolated from foxes. In order to derive the epidemiological characteristics of Brazilian Carnivora RV, Brazilian RVs isolated from dogs, cats, and foxes were genetically analyzed. Brazilian Carnivora RV isolates were divided into 2 main lineages. The predominant lineage was found in dogs and cats, which included the Argentinean and Bolivian Carnivora RV isolates, and was extensively distributed throughout Brazil and surrounding countries. The other lineage consisted of three sublineages containing Brazilian dog and fox RV isolates, with the dog sublineages located on an internal branch of 2 fox sublineages, suggesting that RV transmission events might have occurred between foxes and dogs in the past. These results suggest that contact between dogs and wildlife has the potential to generate new rabies variants and that it is important to control RV infection cycles in both dogs and wildlife to prevent spread of rabies infection.     

3D modeling and reconstruction of plants and trees: A cross-cutting review across computer graphics,vision, and plant phenotyping

This paper reviews the past and current trends of three-dimensional (3D) modeling and reconstruction of plants and trees. These topics have been studied in multiple research fields, including computer vision, graphics, plant phenotyping, and forestry. This paper, therefore, provides a cross-cutting review. Representations of plant shape and structure are first summarized, where every method for plant modeling and reconstruction is based on a shape/structure representation. The methods were then categorized into 1) creating non-existent plants (modeling) and 2) creating models from real-world plants (reconstruction). This paper also discusses the limitations of current methods and possible future directions.     

Analysis of mesh breaking loads in cotton gill nets: Possible solution to ghost fishing

ABSTRACT:   A small number of fishers in Chiba Prefecture of eastern Japan use cotton gill nets to catch Japanese spiny lobster Panulirus japonicus. To examine the advantages of cotton gill nets, we analyzed changes in mesh breaking load of a new cotton gill net used in a fishing operation. A new cotton gill net was also soaked in a seawater tank to simulate ghost fishing conditions. The average mesh breaking load of new cotton mesh was 50.3 N. This value decreased to 19.0 N after 38 days (∼912 h), and after 82 days (∼1968 h) the mesh could be easily torn (breaking load 0.07 N). Under fishing conditions, the cumulative soak time was only 744.4 h over 19 months. The average breaking load at the end of this period was 43.1 N, a strength 86% that of the presoaked mesh. The mesh breaking load of a cotton gill net continuously soaked for 744.4 h was 26.1 N, as estimated from tank experiment data. Thus, a cotton gill net maintains reasonable strength under typical use conditions, but will degrade if lost at sea.     

Growth Characteristics of Tea Plants and Tea Fields in Japan

In 12th century, the Buddhist priest Eisai brought tea ( Camellia sinensis L.) seeds to Japan from China and now tea plants are cultivated all over Japan except in the Hokkaido and Tohoku districts. The quality (reflected in the price) of Japanese green tea is affected by the nitrogen content. Consequently in tea fields, for last three decades large amounts of fertilizer have been applied to produce high quality tea. As a result, problems such as acidification of soil have been caused. It is also known that the growth of tea plants is stimulated by the addition of aluminum (Al) under acidic conditions. In this keynote address, some problems caused by excess applications of fertilizer in tea fields and the growth characteristics of tea plants related to Al are presented.     

Phenolic esters in peat

The p-hydroxypropiophenone ester of stearic acid has been isolated sedge peat. This appears to be the first report of the ester as a natural product.     

Iron uptake in a bicarbonate-resistant cell line of tobacco

Abstract

In alkaline soils, plant growth is impaired mainly by high pH and high concentration of bicarbonates. The bicarbonate concentration increases the pH value, and causes deficiency of iron. A bicarbonate-resistant cell line (BR line) of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Burley21) was selected by adding excess bicarbonate ions (20 mmol L^?1) to the culture medium. The pH of the medium was buffered 8.0 to 8.3. Under these conditions, about 80% of iron in the medium became insoluble. However, under such conditions, the BR line grew well. In this report, we examined some characteristics of the growth and iron uptake in the BR line under iron-deficient (i.e. high pH or no-iron) condition. At pH 5.8, the Fe³⁺ reduction activity was not significantly different between the non-selected line and the BR line. At pH 8.0, however, the Fe³⁺ reduction activity of the BR line was higher than that of the non-selected line. In no-iron condition, the growth of the non-selected line was markedly reduced after 2 weeks, while the BR line was not affected. The content of malic acid in both lines increased with the medium pH, and the content in the BR line was higher than that in the non-selected line. The BR line was able to adapt to the conditions, which restricted iron uptake, such as high bicarbonate concentration, high pH, and low iron conditions. The high ability of Fe³⁺ reduction was maintained at even high pH conditions. Further, the BR line may be able to improve the utilization of iron in the cells.