安哥拉山羊及其杂种羊父权认定的DNA指纹图分析

应用ＤＮＡ指纹技术对安哥拉山羊作亲子鉴定,结果发现子代个体的ＤＮＡ指纹图中,谱带均分别来自父亲和母亲,没有新带出现。父权概率为０．９８８９,表明（ＣＡ／ＧＡＴＡ／ＴＣＣ）５探针能有效地应用于安哥拉山羊及其杂种后代的遗传分析。     

A heterotrophic desert stream? The role of sediment stability

In autumn 1998 stream metabolism was measured in the Hassayampa River, Arizona, a Sonoran Desert stream, using single-station diel oxygen curves and an oxygen mass balance model. Oxygen consumption rates of parafluvial and channel sediments were determined with respiration chambers. Bedload of channel sediments (sand) prevented significant primary production by benthic autotrophs, despite favorable nutrient, light, and temperature conditions. Ecosystem respiration was relatively low (1.50 g O 2 m -2 d -1 ) and presumably fueled by production in the riparian zone and riverine marshes. Respiration rates in the parafluvial zone and in channel sediments ranged from 0.6 to 1.4 g O 2 m -3 sediment h -1 . Sediment organic matter (ash-free dry mass) was 4.0 ± 1.8 kg m -3 sediment and did not significantly differ between the channel and the parafluvial zone. Results indicate that heterotrophic processes may dominate the metabolism of desert stream segments over extended periods of time if unstable sandy bed sediments prevail.     

Transient dynamics of an altered large marine ecosystem

Overfishing of large-bodied benthic fishes and their subsequent population collapses on the Scotian Shelf of Canada's east coast and elsewhere resulted in restructuring of entire food webs now dominated by planktivorous, forage fish species and macroinvertebrates. Despite the imposition of strict management measures in force since the early 1990s, the Scotian Shelf ecosystem has not reverted back to its former structure. Here we provide evidence of the transient nature of this ecosystem and its current return path towards benthic fish species domination. The prolonged duration of the altered food web, and its current recovery, was and is being governed by the oscillatory, runaway consumption dynamics of the forage fish complex. These erupting forage species, which reached biomass levels 900% greater than those prevalent during the pre-collapse years of large benthic predators, are now in decline, having outstripped their zooplankton food supply. This dampening, and the associated reduction in the intensity of predation, was accompanied by lagged increases in species abundances at both lower and higher trophic levels, first witnessed in zooplankton and then in large-bodied predators, all consistent with a return towards the earlier ecosystem structure. We conclude that the reversibility of perturbed ecosystems can occur and that this bodes well for other collapsed fisheries.     

A molecular clone of HTLV-III with biological activity

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an epidemic immunosuppressive disease characteristically associated with a depletion of T lymphocytes of the helper/inducer phenotype. Numerous converging lines of research have implicated a human T-cell lymphotropic retrovirus, HTLV-III, in the pathogenesis of AIDS. Recently, several distinct forms of the HTLV-III genome were molecularly cloned in phage and extensively characterized. In the present study, a clone containing full-length HTLV-III proviral DNA was inserted into a plasmid and used to transfect cord blood T cells from normal newborn humans. We demonstrate that this molecular clone is infectious in vitro and causes marked cytopathic effects on T-cell cultures. This is the first direct evidence that the HTLV-III genome, rather than a minor component of the virus complex, is cytopathic for T cells. Using this biologically competent clone and mutants derived from it, it should now be possible to localize the subgenomic regions that contribute to the biological effects of HTLV-III.