Spectral sensitivity of a novel photoreceptive system mediating entrainment of mammalian circadian rhythms

Environmental light cycles are the dominant synchronizers of circadian rhythms in the field, and artificial light cycles and pulses are the major tools used in the laboratory to analyse properties of circadian systems. It is therefore surprising that few studies have analysed the physical parameters of light stimuli that affect circadian rhythms. There have previously been no spectral sensitivity measurements for phase shifting the circadian rhythms of mammals and only two preliminary reports on the wavelength dependence of this response exist. Using the magnitude of phase shift caused by a single 15-min pulse of monochromatic light given 6 h after activity onset, we have now characterized the spectral sensitivity of the photoreceptors responsible for phase shifting the locomotor rhythm of the hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). The sensitivity curve for this response has a maximum near 500 nm and is similar to the absorption spectrum for rhodopsin. Although the spectral sensitivity is consistent with a rhodopsin-based photopigment, two features of the photoreceptive system that mediates entrainment are unusual: the threshold of the response is high, especially for a predominantly rod retina like that of the hamster, and the reciprocal relationship between intensity and duration holds for extremely long durations (up to 45 min). These results suggest that the photoreceptive system mediating entrainment is markedly different from that involved in visual image formation.     

Ultrastructural localization of heavy- and light-polypeptide chains in human long-term culture cells detected by peroxidase-conjugated antibodies

Zusammenfassung In langfristiger Kultur wurde mit peroxidasekonjugiertem Antikörper (monospezifisch gegen H- und L-Kette) die submikroskopische Lokalisation der Immunoglobulin H- und L-Kette in den menschlichen Lymphoblastoidzellen an das endoplasmatische Retikulum gebundene beziehungsweise freie Polysoma gefunden.     

Two sulfur-containing ansamycin antibiotics fromStreptomyces albolongus

Summary Two sulfur-containing ansamycin antibiotics were isolated from the culture broth ofStreptomyces albolongus C-46366; the major one was identical with awamycin and the minor one was a new ansamycin antibiotic, ansathiazin. Their structures were elucidated from their reactions and spectroscopic analyses. These antibiotics were active against gram-positive bacteria, acid-fast bacteria and a protozoan.We thank Dr I. Umezawa for his generous gift of awamycin. We are grateful to Drs K. Morita, Y. Nakao, H. Okazaki and H. Ono for their interest throughout this work. Thanks are also due to Messrs Y. Kono, K. Koyama, H. Fujiuchi and Y. Nakano, and Mrs K. Jinno for their skillful technical assistance.     

233U Breeding in Accelerator-driven Sub-critical Fast Reactor

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Episodic fresh surface waters in the Eocene Arctic Ocean

It has been suggested, on the basis of modern hydrology and fully coupled palaeoclimate simulations, that the warm greenhouse conditions that characterized the early Palaeogene period (55-45 Myr ago) probably induced an intensified hydrological cycle with precipitation exceeding evaporation at high latitudes. Little field evidence, however, has been available to constrain oceanic conditions in the Arctic during this period. Here we analyse Palaeogene sediments obtained during the Arctic Coring Expedition, showing that large quantities of the free-floating fern Azolla grew and reproduced in the Arctic Ocean by the onset of the middle Eocene epoch (approximately 50 Myr ago). The Azolla and accompanying abundant freshwater organic and siliceous microfossils indicate an episodic freshening of Arctic surface waters during an approximately 800,000-year interval. The abundant remains of Azolla that characterize basal middle Eocene marine deposits of all Nordic seas probably represent transported assemblages resulting from freshwater spills from the Arctic Ocean that reached as far south as the North Sea. The termination of the Azolla phase in the Arctic coincides with a local sea surface temperature rise from approximately 10 degrees C to 13 degrees C, pointing to simultaneous increases in salt and heat supply owing to the influx of waters from adjacent oceans. We suggest that onset and termination of the Azolla phase depended on the degree of oceanic exchange between Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas.     

The Cenozoic palaeoenvironment of the Arctic Ocean

The history of the Arctic Ocean during the Cenozoic era (0-65 million years ago) is largely unknown from direct evidence. Here we present a Cenozoic palaeoceanographic record constructed from >400 m of sediment core from a recent drilling expedition to the Lomonosov ridge in the Arctic Ocean. Our record shows a palaeoenvironmental transition from a warm 'greenhouse' world, during the late Palaeocene and early Eocene epochs, to a colder 'icehouse' world influenced by sea ice and icebergs from the middle Eocene epoch to the present. For the most recent approximately 14 Myr, we find sedimentation rates of 1-2 cm per thousand years, in stark contrast to the substantially lower rates proposed in earlier studies; this record of the Neogene reveals cooling of the Arctic that was synchronous with the expansion of Greenland ice (approximately 3.2 Myr ago) and East Antarctic ice (approximately 14 Myr ago). We find evidence for the first occurrence of ice-rafted debris in the middle Eocene epoch (approximately 45 Myr ago), some 35 Myr earlier than previously thought; fresh surface waters were present at approximately 49 Myr ago, before the onset of ice-rafted debris. Also, the temperatures of surface waters during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum (approximately 55 Myr ago) appear to have been substantially warmer than previously estimated. The revised timing of the earliest Arctic cooling events coincides with those from Antarctica, supporting arguments for bipolar symmetry in climate change.     

The Mesp2 transcription factor establishes segmental borders by suppressing Notch activity

The serially segmented (metameric) structures of vertebrates are based on somites that are periodically formed during embryogenesis. A 'clock and wavefront' model has been proposed to explain the underlying mechanism of somite formation, in which the periodicity is generated by oscillation of Notch components (the clock) in the posterior pre-somitic mesoderm (PSM). This temporal periodicity is then translated into the segmental units in the 'wavefront'. The wavefront is thought to exist in the anterior PSM and progress backwards at a constant rate; however, there has been no direct evidence as to whether the levels of Notch activity really oscillate and how such oscillation is translated into a segmental pattern in the anterior PSM. Here, we have visualized endogenous levels of Notch1 activity in mice, showing that it oscillates in the posterior PSM but is arrested in the anterior PSM. Somite boundaries formed at the interface between Notch1-activated and -repressed domains. Genetic and biochemical studies indicate that this interface is generated by suppression of Notch activity by mesoderm posterior 2 (Mesp2) through induction of the lunatic fringe gene (Lfng). We propose that the oscillation of Notch activity is arrested and translated in the wavefront by Mesp2.     

A blue-light-activated adenylyl cyclase mediates photoavoidance in Euglena gracilis

Blue light regulates processes such as the development of plants and fungi and the behaviour of microbes. Two types of blue-light receptor flavoprotein have been identified: cryptochromes, which have partial similarity to photolyases, and phototropins, which are photoregulated protein kinases. The former have also been found in animals with evidence of essential roles in circadian rhythms. Euglena gracilis, a unicellular flagellate, abruptly changes its swimming direction after a sudden increase or decrease in incident blue light intensity, that is, step-up or step-down photophobic responses, resulting in photoavoidance or photoaccumulation, respectively. Although these photobehaviours of Euglena have been studied for a century, the photoreceptor molecules mediating them have remained unknown. Here we report the discovery and biochemical characterization of a new type of blue-light receptor flavoprotein, photoactivated adenylyl cyclase, in the photoreceptor organelle of Euglena gracilis, with molecular genetic evidence that it mediates the step-up photophobic response.