Tumour necrosis factor alpha restores granulomas and induces parasite egg-laying in schistosome-infected SCID mice.

Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) is a parasitic disease caused by several species of schistosome worms (blood flukes). The key pathogenic event in this disease is the formation of granulomas around schistosome eggs trapped in portal venules of the liver. Granulomas are a distinctive form of chronic inflammation characterized by localized aggregation of activated macrophages around an inciting stimulus. Each granuloma evolves to form a fibrous scar; in schistosomiasis, the result is widespread hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension. To identify the specific immune signal molecules necessary for granuloma formation, we studied schistosome infections in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, which have normal macrophages but lack functional B or T lymphocytes. Here we report that the immunoregulatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor alpha is necessary and sufficient to reconstitute granuloma formation in schistosome-infected SCID mice. Moreover, we find that the parasitic worms require tumour necrosis factor alpha for egg-laying and for excretion of eggs from the host. The implication of this latter result is that the parasite has adapted so successfully to its host that it uses a host-derived immunoregulatory protein as a signal for replication and transmission.     

Rapid switching to multiple antigenic and adhesive phenotypes in malaria.

Adhesion of parasitized erythrocytes to post-capillary venular endothelium or uninfected red cells is strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Neoantigens at the infected red-cell surface adhere to a variety of host receptors, demonstrate serological diversity in field isolates and may also be a target of the host-protective immune response. Here we use sequential cloning of P. falciparum by micromanipulation to investigate the ability of a parasite to switch antigenic and cytoadherence phenotypes. Our data show that antigens at the parasitized cell surface undergo clonal variation in vitro in the absence of immune pressure at the rate of 2% per generation with concomitant modulations of the adhesive phenotype. A clone has the potential to switch at high frequency to a variety of antigenic and adhesive phenotypes, including a new type of cytoadherence behaviour, 'auto-agglutination' of infected erythrocytes. This rapid appearance of antigenic and functional heterogeneity has important implications for pathogenesis and acquired immunity.     

Superantigen implicated in dependence of HIV-1 replication in T cells on TCR V beta expression.

In the pathogenesis of AIDS it is not yet understood whether the small fraction of CD4+ T cells (approximately 1%) infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are randomly targeted or not. Here we present evidence that human CD4 T-cell lines expressing selected T-cell antigen receptor V beta gene products can all be infected in vitro with HIV-1, but give markedly different titres of HIV-1 virion production. For example, V beta 12 T-cell lines from several unrelated donors reproducibly yielded up to 100-fold more gag gene product (p24gag antigen) than V beta 6.7a lines. This is consistent with a superantigen effect, because the V beta selectivity was observed with several divergent HIV-1 isolates, was dependent on antigen-presenting cells and on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II but was not MHC class II-restricted. The in vivo significance of these findings is supported by the preferential stimulation of V beta 12+ T cells by freshly obtained irradiated antigen-presenting cells from some HIV-1-seropositive but not HIV-1-negative donors. Moreover, cells from patients positive for viral antigen (gp120) were enriched in the V beta 12 subpopulation. V beta 12+ T cells were not deleted in AIDS patients, however, raising the possibility that a variety of mechanisms contribute to T-cell depletion. Our results indicate that a superantigen targets a subpopulation of CD4+ cells for viral replication.     

Human infection by genetically diverse SIVSM-related HIV-2 in west Africa.

Our understanding of the biology and origins of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) derives from studies of cultured isolates from urban populations experiencing epidemic infection and disease. To test the hypothesis that such isolates might represent only a subset of a larger, genetically more diverse group of viruses, we used nested polymerase chain reactions to characterize HIV-2 sequences in uncultured mononuclear blood cells of two healthy Liberian agricultural workers, from whom virus isolation was repeatedly unsuccessful, and from a culture-positive symptomatic urban dweller. Analysis of pol, env and long terminal repeat regions revealed the presence of three highly divergent HIV-2 strains, one of which (from one of the healthy subjects) was significantly more closely related to simian immunodeficiency viruses infecting sooty mangabeys and rhesus macaques (SIVSM/SIVMAC) than to any virus of human derivation. This subject also harboured multiply defective viral genotypes that resulted from hypermutation of G to A bases. Our results indicate that HIV-2, SIVSM and SIVMAC comprise a single, highly diverse group of lentiviruses which cannot be separated into distinct phylogenetic lineages according to species of origin.     

木槿（Hibiscus syriacusL.）耐盐变异体的选择

木槿愈伤组织耐盐细胞系是在含ＮａＣｌ的培养基上通过屡代选择产生的，在无盐培养其中进行几代继代培养后的愈伤组织，由其分化的芽以及脱分化增殖的愈伤组织均表现了耐盐性，木槿耐盐细胞由于对ＮａＣｌ的反应比未经选择的细胞积累了更多的Ｎ＾＋，Ｋ＾＋，而且细胞体积较小。     

Effects of corpora cardiaca extract,furosemide and ion substitution on sodium and chloride flux in perfused Malpighian tubules ofLocusta

Treatment with the co-transport inhibitor, furosemide decreased³⁶Cl^– flux across perfused Malpighian tubules ofLocusta. However, exclusion of³⁶Cl^– from the bathing medium had not effect on²²Na⁺ flux whereas substitution of bathing medium Na⁺ by K⁺ increased³⁶Cl^– flux. Diuretic extract of corpora cardiaca increased²²Na⁺ (by 106%) and³⁶Cl^– (by 335%) fluxes differentially.     

Sexual isolation betweenDrosophila melanogaster females andD. simulans males. Male mating propensities versus success in hybridization

Genetic variation has been found in males of aD. simulans population for their eagerness to hybridize withD. melanogaster females. In a search for traits involved in this hybridization, males ofD. simulans were tested for mating speed and sexual vigour. Between-male differences were detected in both sexual traits, but no relationship was noticed between them, nor with the frequency of hybridization. Thus male mating propensities appear to be unrelated to the breakdown of sexual isolation between these sibling species.     

The effect of scale changes on repetitive patterns: Influence of 6-aminonicotinamide on feather germ number

There are many examples of patterned developing systems which are size invariant: if the total size of the system is reduced, then the pattern responds by changing its scale in such a way that the number of pattern elements remains constant. This phenomenon is one of the bases which underaly the formulation of the concept of positional information, one of the great unifying ideas in developmental biology. However, there are less common examples of patterns which are size dependent. In these, alterations of overall size lead to a reduction in pattern elements. Such size-dependent patterns are therefore of theoretical interest. Here we describe how the number of feather germs along the wing bud of the developing chick embryo responds to shortening of the limb, and consider the implications of these observations.     

Extraordinary levels of cadmium and zinc in a marine sponge,Tedania charcoti Topsent: inorganic chemical defense agents

The Antarctic marine spongeTedania charcoti has been shown to contain extraordinarily high natural concentrations of cadmium and zinc, which have in turn been correlated to the ability of the crude ethanol extract to modulate protein phosphorylation in chicken forebrain and to inhibit the growth of several test bacteria.     

Oxygen consumption and the evolution of order: negentropy criteria applied to the evolution of ants

Optimization of energy use by evolving organisms, predicted by theoretical extensions of the neo-Darwinian theory, i. contrasted with that of irreversible thermodynamics, which predicts an increase in orderliness and thus an increase in energy consumption per unit of biomass. We compared this index with estimates of social complexity among ant genera and species. Our results show that simple optimization models cannot explain experimental data, and that social complexity correlates differently with negentropy at different levels of analysis. Comparing the genera among Formicidae, workers (not colonies) from genera with highly social species are less negentropic than those of socially primitive ones. At the sub-generic level, social complexity correlated positively with negentropy among species, for major workers inAcromyrmex and for minor workers inAtta. The results illustrate the complexity of thermodynamic criteria in the study of evolution but also hint at their usefulness. In this case, they show that two different evolutionary routes to the complex Attini ant societies may exist.