Photoreceptor coupling in turtle retina

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.L. FIRSOV ◽  
D.G. GREEN

Photoreceptors in the isolated turtle retina of two species of turtle, Chelydra serpentina and Pseudemus scripta elegans, were penetrated with double-barrel electrodes. Physiological responses were recorded through one barrel and Neurobiotin tracer was injected from the other. Intracellular injection of Neurobiotin revealed patterns of tracer-coupled photoreceptors. Both the patterns of tracer coupling and the electrophysiology suggest a high degree of specificity of connections. Rods seem to be coupled only to rods and green and red cones seem to be coupled to cones of the same spectral type. Receptive-field profiles, measured with a thin, sharply focused slit of light, often had well-defined peaks and troughs in sensitivity. We have taken advantage of this observation and used the position of a peak in sensitivity to locate the position on the retina of a coupled cell. In one rod, it was possible to correlate physiological and morphological data and to show that the peaks in the physiological receptive field occurred at positions on the retina where there were dye-coupled cells. This provides direct evidence that gap junctions produce the physiological coupling between rods.

1980 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 1144-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Baudyš ◽  
Helena Keilová ◽  
Vladimír Kostka

To determine the primary structure of the C-terminal part of the molecule of chicken pepsinogen the tryptic, chymotryptic and thermolytic digest of the protein were investigated and peptides derived from this region were sought. These peptides permitted the following 21-residue C-terminal sequence to be determined: ...Ile-Arg-Glu-Tyr-Tyr-Val-Ile-Phe-Asp-Arg-Ala-Asn-Asn-Lys-Val-Gly-Leu-Ser-Pro-Leu-Ser.COOH. A comparison of this structure with the C-terminal sequential regions of the other acid proteases shows a high degree of homology between chicken pepsinogen and these proteases (e.g., the degree of homology with respect to hog pepsinogen and calf prochymosin is about 66%). Additional tryptic peptides, derived from the N-terminal part of the zymogen molecule whose amino acid sequence has been reported before, were also obtained in this study. This sequence was extended by two residues using an overlapping peptide. An ancillary result of this study was the isolation of tryptic peptides derived from other regions of the zymogen molecule.


2016 ◽  
Vol 397 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Olombrada ◽  
Lucía García-Ortega ◽  
Javier Lacadena ◽  
Mercedes Oñaderra ◽  
José G. Gavilanes ◽  
...  

Abstract Ribotoxins are cytotoxic members of the family of fungal extracellular ribonucleases best represented by RNase T1. They share a high degree of sequence identity and a common structural fold, including the geometric arrangement of their active sites. However, ribotoxins are larger, with a well-defined N-terminal β-hairpin, and display longer and positively charged unstructured loops. These structural differences account for their cytotoxic properties. Unexpectedly, the discovery of hirsutellin A (HtA), a ribotoxin produced by the invertebrate pathogen Hirsutella thompsonii, showed how it was possible to accommodate these features into a shorter amino acid sequence. Examination of HtA N-terminal β-hairpin reveals differences in terms of length, charge, and spatial distribution. Consequently, four different HtA mutants were prepared and characterized. One of them was the result of deleting this hairpin [Δ(8-15)] while the other three affected single Lys residues in its close spatial proximity (K115E, K118E, and K123E). The results obtained support the general conclusion that HtA active site would show a high degree of plasticity, being able to accommodate electrostatic and structural changes not suitable for the other previously known larger ribotoxins, as the variants described here only presented small differences in terms of ribonucleolytic activity and cytotoxicity against cultured insect cells.


The work described in this and the following paper is a continuation of that in parts I and II, devoted to elucidation of the mechanism of the reactions of methylene with chloroalkanes, with particular reference to the reactivities of singlet and triplet methylene in abstraction and insertion processes. The products of the reaction between methylene, prepared by the photolysis of ketene, and 1-chloropropane have been identified and estimated and their dependence on reactant pressures, photolysing wavelength and presence of foreign gases (oxygen and carbon mon­oxide) has been investigated. Both insertion and abstraction mechanisms contribute significantly to the over-all reaction, insertion being relatively much more important than with chloroethane. This type of process appears to be confined to singlet methylene. If, as seems likely, there is no insertion into C—Cl bonds under our conditions (see part IV), insertion into C2—H and C3—H bonds occurs in statistical ratio, approximately. On the other hand, the chlorine substituent reduces the probability of insertion into C—H bonds in its vicinity. As in the chloroethane system, both species of methylene show a high degree of selectivity in their abstraction reactions. We find that k S Cl / k S H >7.7, k T Cl / k T H < 0.14, where the k ’s are rate constants for abstraction, and the super- and subscripts indicate the species of methylene and the type of atom abstracted, respectively. Triplet methylene is discriminating in hydrogen abstraction from 1-C 3 H 7 Cl, the overall rates for atoms attached to C1, C2, C3 being in the ratios 2.63:1:0.


1969 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 368-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Payne

In recent discussions of the origins and process of animal domestication (Reed, 1961, Zeuner, 1963), both authors rely on two kinds of evidence: on the one hand, the present distributions and characteristics of the different breeds of whatever animal is being discussed, together with its feral and wild relatives, and, on the other hand, the past record, given by literary and pictorial sources and the bones from archaeological and geological sites. Increased recognition of the limitations of the past record, whether in the accuracy of the information it appears to give (as in the case of pictorial sources), or in the certainty of the deductions we are at present capable of drawing from it (this applies especially to the osteological record), has led these authors to argue mainly from the present situation, using the past record to confirm or amplify the existing picture.Arguing from the present, many hypotheses about the origins and process of domestication are available. The only test we have, when attempting to choose between these, lies in the direct evidence of the past record. The past record, it is freely admitted, is very fragmentary: the information provided by the present situation is more exact, ranges over a much wider field, and is more open to test and control. Nevertheless, the past record, however imperfect it is, is the only direct evidence we have about the process of domestication.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 705-707
Author(s):  
WILLIAM D. DONALD

In vitro sensitivities of 70 shigella strains isolated over a recent 18-month period are reported. The high degree of sulfadiazine resistance casts some doubt on the selection of this agent as the drug of choice in the treatment of shigellosis, at least in this community. Some of the other agents, although inhibiting the growth of the organisms in vitro, have disadvantages such as toxicity or failure of absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. Tetracycline resistance was found in only 7% of the organisms tested, but from this and other reports we may anticipate the occurrence of more organisms resistant to this agent. The results of the sensitivities to ampicillin are encouraging and further studies including clinical trials of this agent are in order.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle Lieber

A lively introduction to morphology, this textbook is intended for undergraduates with relatively little background in linguistics. It shows students how to find and analyze morphological data and presents them with basic concepts and terminology concerning the mental lexicon, inflection, derivation, morphological typology, productivity, and the interfaces between morphology and syntax on the one hand and phonology on the other. By the end of the text students are ready to understand morphological theory and how to support or refute theoretical proposals. Providing data from a wide variety of languages, the text includes hands-on activities designed to encourage students to gather and analyse their own data. The third edition has been thoroughly updated with new examples and exercises. Chapter 2 now includes an updated detailed introduction to using linguistic corpora, and there is a new final chapter covering several current theoretical frameworks.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 3780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dingxuan He ◽  
Andrew Gichira ◽  
Zhizhong Li ◽  
John Nzei ◽  
Youhao Guo ◽  
...  

The order Nymphaeales, consisting of three families with a record of eight genera, has gained significant interest from botanists, probably due to its position as a basal angiosperm. The phylogenetic relationships within the order have been well studied; however, a few controversial nodes still remain in the Nymphaeaceae. The position of the Nuphar genus and the monophyly of the Nymphaeaceae family remain uncertain. This study adds to the increasing number of the completely sequenced plastid genomes of the Nymphaeales and applies a large chloroplast gene data set in reconstructing the intergeneric relationships within the Nymphaeaceae. Five complete chloroplast genomes were newly generated, including a first for the monotypic Euryale genus. Using a set of 66 protein-coding genes from the chloroplast genomes of 17 taxa, the phylogenetic position of Nuphar was determined and a monophyletic Nymphaeaceae family was obtained with convincing statistical support from both partitioned and unpartitioned data schemes. Although genomic comparative analyses revealed a high degree of synteny among the chloroplast genomes of the ancient angiosperms, key minor variations were evident, particularly in the contraction/expansion of the inverted-repeat regions and in RNA-editing events. Genome structure, and gene content and arrangement were highly conserved among the chloroplast genomes. The intergeneric relationships defined in this study are congruent with those inferred using morphological data.


1985 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Aalkjaer ◽  
H. Danielsen ◽  
P. Johannesen ◽  
E. B. Pedersen ◽  
A. Rasmussen ◽  
...  

1. In order to obtain direct information about vascular changes associated with pre-eclampsia, the morphological and functional characteristics of isolated omental resistance vessels from 11 women with pre-eclampsia, 10 normotensive pregnant women and eight normotensive nonpregnant women were determined. 2. In vessels from the women with preeclampsia, the ratio of media thickness to lumen diameter was increased, compared with that in vessels from the other two groups. 3. The vessels from the women with preeclampsia had an increased responsiveness to angiotensin II and a decreased rate of relaxation, but only when compared with the vessels from the normotensive pregnant women. However, no difference in responsiveness to noradrenaline was found between any of the groups. 4. The angiotensin II responsiveness of the vessels from the women with pre-eclampsia and from the non-pregnant women were similar, suggesting that pre-eclampsia is associated with an absence of the change in vascular function which normally occurs during pregnancy. 5. The study provides direct evidence for an involvement of vascular abnormalities in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia.


Author(s):  
Piotr Lityński

The aim of the article is to assess Poznań’s urban sprawl from the perspective of the morphology of space and financial situation of suburban households. The morphological assessment uses a method based on two grids of squares with a side: 1 km, 500 m; and data on the location of buildings from CCGCD. On the other hand, the assessment of households was carried out on the basis of the CSO Household Budget database. The results of the research indicate that the analyzed communes in the Poznań area are characterized by a moderate degree of disorder in the spatial structure. There are no communes with a completely compact specificity, there are also no communes with an absolutely high degree of spatial disorder. Households causing urban sprawl in Poznań are entities that incur moderate financial losses in order to maximize their housing preferences.


Blood ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-635
Author(s):  
S Vora ◽  
L Corash ◽  
WK Engel ◽  
S Durham ◽  
C Seaman ◽  
...  

Normal human erythrocyte phosphofructokinase (ATP:c D-fructose-6, P-1- phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.11; PFK) has recently been shown to consist of a heterogeneous mixture of five tetrameric isozymes: M4, M3L, M2L2, ML3, and L4 (M, muscle type; L, liver type). In the light of these findings, we have investigated the molecular basis of the inherited erythrocyte PFK deficiency associated with myopathy and hemolysis (Tarui disease). The propositus, a 31-yr-old male, suffered from muscle weakness and myoglobinuria on exertion. He showed mild erythrocytosis despite laboratory evidence of hemolysis. In his erythrocytes a metabolic crossover point was found at the level of PFK; 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) was also significantly reduced. The PFK from the patient's erythrocytes consisted exclusively of the L4 isozyme, and there was a complete absence of the other four. The leukocyte and platelet PFKs from the patient showed normal activities, chromatographic profiles, and precipitation with anti-M4 antibody. These studies provide direct evidence that in Tarui disease the M-type subunits are absent; but the liver- and platelet-type subunits of PFK are unaffected. The paradox of mild erythrocytosis despite hemolysis reflects the decreased production of 2,3-DPG.


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