Anthraquinones in the fungusTalaromyces stipitatus

Zusammenfassung Drei Anthrachinonpigmente wurden aus dem SchimmelpilzTalaromyces stipitatus CBS 349.72 isoliert. Die Untersuchung zeigte, dass sie Verbindungen identisch sind mit Erythroglaucin, Catenarin und Emodin. Durch Vergleich mit authentischen Proben konnte diese Ansicht bestätigt werden.     

The tight junction does not allow lipid molecules to diffuse from one epithelial cell to the next

The tight junction (zonula occludens) links epithelial cells into a monolayer by forming a continuous belt of sealing contacts around the apex of each cell. They appear in thin sections as if they were 'fusions' between the apposed plasma membranes and in freeze-fracture replicas as patterns of complementary strands and furrows. These images have led to the proposal that the core of the tight junction is formed by a hexagonal cylinder of lipids. In this model, the cytoplasmic leaflet of the apical and basolateral plasma membrane domains would be continuous, whereas the exoplasmic leaflets of the two plasma membrane domains of the same cell would be separated at the tight junction and are instead predicted to be continuous between the plasma membranes of neighbouring cells. We demonstrate here that this prediction does not hold true. An endogenous glycolipid (Forssman antigen), present in the exoplasmic leaflet of the apical membrane of MDCK strain II cells, is unable to pass to MDCK strain I cells (which lack this glycolipid) under conditions where these cells are connected by tight junctions. In addition, fluorescent lipids which have been fused into the plasma membrane of one MDCK cell do not diffuse to neighbouring cells while the tight junctions between the cells are intact.     

The use of radioactive bands in tracing hibernating bats

Zusammenfassung Winterschlafende Fledermäuse wurden mit Ringen markiert, die radioaktives Antimonium (¹²⁴Sb) enthielten.Dadurch konnte gezeigt werden, dass in unzugänglilichen Felsspalten ein unsichtbares Fledermausreservoir vorhanden ist. Ferner wurde gezeigt, dass im Verlaufe des Winters Wechsel von Höhle zu Höhle stattfinden.Im Januar 1956 wurden in einer Höhle 26 Fledermäuse gefangen, mit radioaktiven Ringen markiert und in einer 6 km entfernten Höhle ausgesetzt. Nach einem Tag konnte in der Ausgangshöhle der erste Rückkehrer festgestellt werden und kurz hernach 7 weitere Tiere.     

Activation of old carbon by erosion of coastal and subsea permafrost in Arctic Siberia

The future trajectory of greenhouse gas concentrations depends on interactions between climate and the biogeosphere. Thawing of Arctic permafrost could release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere in this century. Ancient Ice Complex deposits outcropping along the ~7,000-kilometre-long coastline of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS), and associated shallow subsea permafrost, are two large pools of permafrost carbon, yet their vulnerabilities towards thawing and decomposition are largely unknown. Recent Arctic warming is stronger than has been predicted by several degrees, and is particularly pronounced over the coastal ESAS region. There is thus a pressing need to improve our understanding of the links between permafrost carbon and climate in this relatively inaccessible region. Here we show that extensive release of carbon from these Ice Complex deposits dominates (57?±?2 per cent) the sedimentary carbon budget of the ESAS, the world’s largest continental shelf, overwhelming the marine and topsoil terrestrial components. Inverse modelling of the dual-carbon isotope composition of organic carbon accumulating in ESAS surface sediments, using Monte Carlo simulations to account for uncertainties, suggests that 44?±?10 teragrams of old carbon is activated annually from Ice Complex permafrost, an order of magnitude more than has been suggested by previous studies. We estimate that about two-thirds (66?±?16 per cent) of this old carbon escapes to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, with the remainder being re-buried in shelf sediments. Thermal collapse and erosion of these carbon-rich Pleistocene coastline and seafloor deposits may accelerate with Arctic amplification of climate warming.     

Persistent near-tropical warmth on the Antarctic continent during the early Eocene epoch

The warmest global climates of the past 65 million years occurred during the early Eocene epoch (about 55 to 48 million years ago), when the Equator-to-pole temperature gradients were much smaller than today and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were in excess of one thousand parts per million by volume. Recently the early Eocene has received considerable interest because it may provide insight into the response of Earth's climate and biosphere to the high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels that are expected in the near future as a consequence of unabated anthropogenic carbon emissions. Climatic conditions of the early Eocene 'greenhouse world', however, are poorly constrained in critical regions, particularly Antarctica. Here we present a well-dated record of early Eocene climate on Antarctica from an ocean sediment core recovered off the Wilkes Land coast of East Antarctica. The information from biotic climate proxies (pollen and spores) and independent organic geochemical climate proxies (indices based on branched tetraether lipids) yields quantitative, seasonal temperature reconstructions for the early Eocene greenhouse world on Antarctica. We show that the climate in lowland settings along the Wilkes Land coast (at a palaeolatitude of about 70° south) supported the growth of highly diverse, near-tropical forests characterized by mesothermal to megathermal floral elements including palms and Bombacoideae. Notably, winters were extremely mild (warmer than 10?°C) and essentially frost-free despite polar darkness, which provides a critical new constraint for the validation of climate models and for understanding the response of high-latitude terrestrial ecosystems to increased carbon dioxide forcing.