Sexual dimorphism in the pyrgomorphid grasshopper Phymateus morbillosus: from wing morphometry and flight behaviour to flight physiology and endocrinology

Abstract In the field, adult males of the grasshopper Phymateus morbillosus are able to fly for up to 1 min and cover up to c. 100 m, whereas females, although fully winged, are apparently unable to get airborne. Morphometric data indicate that the males are lighter, have longer wings, a higher ratio of flight muscles to body mass, and a lower wing load value than females. It was investigated whether this inability of females to fly is related to fuel storage, flight muscle enzymatic design and/or the presence and quantitative capacity of the endocrine system to mobilize fuels. In both sexes, readily available potential energy substrates are present in the haemolymph in similar concentrations, and the amount of glycogen in flight muscles and fat bodies does not differ significantly between males and females. Mass-specific activities of the enzymes GAPDH (glycolysis), HOAD (fatty acid oxidation) and MDH (citric acid cycle) in flight muscles are significantly lower in females compared with males, and mitochondria are less abundant in the flight muscles of females. There is no significant difference between the ability of the two sexes to oxidize various important substrates. Both sexes contain three adipokinetic peptides in their corpora cardiaca; the amount of each peptide in female grasshoppers is higher than in males.
Thus, despite some differences listed above, both sexes appear to have sufficient substrates and the necessary endocrine complement to engage in flight. It seems more likely, from the morphometric data above, that the chief reason for flightlessness is that P. morbillosus females cannot produce sufficient lift for flight; alternatively, the neuronal functioning associated with the flight muscles may be impaired in females.     

A familial mutation in the testis-determining gene SRY shared by both sexes

A familial mutation in SRY, the gene coding for the testis-determining factor TDF, was identified in an XY female with gonadal dysgenesis, her father, her two brothers and her uncle. The mutation consists of a T to C transition in the region of the SRY gene coding for a protein motif known as the high mobility group (HMG) box, a protein domain known to confer DNA-binding specificity on the SRY protein. This point mutation results in the substitution, at amino acid position 109, of a serine residue for phenylalanine, a conserved aromatic residue in almost all HMG box motifs known. This F109S mutation was not found in 176 male controls. When recombinant wildtype SRY and SRY^F109S mutant protein were tested in vitro for binding to the target site AAC AAAG, no differences in DNA-binding activity were observed. These results imply that the F109S mutation either is a rare neutral sequence variant, or produces an SRY protein with slightly altered in vivo activity, the resulting sex phenotype depending on the genetic back-ground or environmental factors.This paper is dedicated by G. S. to Professor Ulrich Wolf on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Klimacharakter und Pflanzendecke

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Studies on prolysostaphin processing and characterization of the lysostaphin immunity factor (Lif) of Staphylococcus simulans biovar staphylolyticus

Lysostaphin is an extracellular glycylglycine endopep-tidase produced by Staphylococcus simulans biovar staphylolyticus ATCC1362 that lyses staphylococcal cells by hydrolysing the polyglycine interpeptide bridges of the peptidoglycan. Renewed analysis of the sequence of the lysostaphin gene (Iss), and the sequencing of the amino-terminus of purified prolysostaphin and of mature lysostaphin revealed that lysostaphin is organized as a preproprotein of 493 amino acids (aa), with a signal peptide consisting of 36 aa, a propeptide of 211 aa from which 195 aa are organized in 15 tandem repeats of 13 aa length, and a mature protein of 246 aa. Prolysostaphin is processed in the culture supernatant of S. simulans biovar staphylolyticus by an extracellular cysteine protease. Although prolysostaphin was staphylolytically active, the mature lysostaphin was about 4.5-fold more active. The controlled expression in Staphylococcus carnosus of Iss and Iss with deletions in the prepropeptide region indicated that the tandem repeats of the propeptide are not necessary for protein export or activation of Lss, but keep Lss in a less active state. Intracellular expressed pro- and mature lysostaphin exert staphy-lolytic activity in cell-free extracts, but do not affect growth of the corresponding clones. We characterized a lysostaphin immunity factor gene (lif) which is located in the opposite direction to Iss. The expression of lif in S. carnosus led to an increase in the serine/glycine ratio of the interpeptide bridges of peptidoglycan from 2 to 35%, suggesting that lysostaphin immunity depends on serine incorporation into the interpeptide bridge. If, in addition to lif, Iss is co-expressed the serine/glycine ratio is further increased to 58%, suggesting that Lss selects for optimal serine incorporation. Lif shows similarity to FemA and FemB     

Micropropagation of Calluna vulgaris cv. ‘H.E. Beale’

Axillary shoot producing cultures were obtained from microcuttings and shoot tips of Calluna vulgaris cv. H.E. Beale. For cultures derived from microcuttings the highest multiplication rate of 38 shoots (5 mm or longer) was obtained on a reduced salt medium with the addition of 0.5 mgl^-1 2-isopentenyladenine (2iP) during an 8 week subculture. For shoot tip derived cultures 0.2 mgl^-1 6-benzyladenine (BA) was the best cytokinin and led to a multiplication rate of 26 for a 6 week subculture. The addition of 1 g/l casein hydrolysate to a multiplication medium enhanced shoot proliferation in presence of 0.5 mgl^-1 BA.Despite various auxin treatments shoots formed no roots in vitro but rooted readily if transferred to a peat substrate ex vitro. A high rooting percentage (80%) was also obtained with shoots taken from the end of a multiplication phase and rooted directly. An additional subculture on low auxin containing media before transfer to peat substrate is recommended because the shoot condition can be improved in this way. A high number of rooted plantlets was produced, so the methods described will allow mass propagation.     

Purification and properties of a protein linked to the soluble hydrogenase of hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria.

In Alcaligenes eutrophus, the formation of the hydrogenases and of five new peptides is subject to the hydrogenase control system. Of these, the B peptide was purified to homogeneity. This protein (Mr, 37,500) was composed of two identical subunits (Mr, 18,800). Antibodies against the B protein were used for its quantification by rocket immunoelectrophoresis. About 4% of the total protein consisted of the B protein; its molar ratio to the NAD-linked hydrogenase was about 4:1. The B protein appeared to be associated with the NAD-linked hydrogenase, as shown by gel filtration analysis with Sephadex G-200. The B protein was not detected in cells that had not expressed the hydrogenase proteins or that lacked the genetic information of the hydrogen-oxidizing character; it was also not detected in Tn5 insertional mutants that were unable to form soluble hydrogenase antigens. Immunochemical analysis of other species and genera than A. eutrophus revealed that only strains able to form a NAD-linked hydrogenase also formed B-protein antigens. The B protein is not required for the catalytic activity of soluble hydrogenase in vitro; its function is at present unknown.     

N-Terminal Sequence of Pig Brain Choline Acetyltransferase Purified by a Rapid Procedure

A procedure is reported that allows the purification and amino terminal sequencing of pig brain choline acetyltransferase. The enzyme (present in extremely low amounts in this tissue) is eluted together with its antibody from an affinity column by a mild pH shift and the resulting enzyme-antibody complex separated by gel electrophoresis. The band corresponding to the enzyme is electroeluted from the gel using volatile solutions allowing the direct determination of the amino acid composition and partial sequence. The first 11 residues are: Pro-Ile-Leu-Glu-Lys-Thr-Pro-Pro-Lys-Met-Ala.