ALBERT

Notes: Sm–Nd (garnet), U–Pb (monazite) and Rb–Sr (biotite) ages from a composite migmatite sample (Damara orogen, Namibia) constrain the time of high-grade regional metamorphism and the duration of regional metamorphic events. Sm–Nd garnet whole-rock ages for a strongly restitic melanosome and an adjacent intrusive leucosome yield ages of 534±5, 528±11 and 539±8 Ma. These results provide substantial evidence for pre-500 Ma Pan-African regional metamorphism and melting for this segment of the orogen. Other parts of the migmatite yield younger Sm–Nd ages of 488±9 Ma for melanosome and 496±10, 492±5 and 511±16 Ma for the corresponding leucosomes. Garnet from one xenolith from the leucosomes yields an age of 497±2 Ma. Major element compostions of garnet are different in terms of absolute abundances of pyrope and spessartine components, but the flat shape of the elemental patterns suggests late-stage retrograde equilibration. Rare earth element compositions of the garnet from the different layers are similar except for garnet from the intrusive leucosome suggesting that they grew in different environments. Monazite from the leucosomes is reversely discordant and records 207Pb/235U ages between 536 and 529 Ma, indicating that this monazite represents incorporated residual material from the first melting event. Monazite from the mesosome MES 2 and the melanosome MEL 3 gives 207Pb/235U ages of 523 and 526 Ma, and 529 and 531 Ma, respectively, which probably indicates another thermal event. Previously published 207Pb/235U monazite data give ages between 525 and 521 Ma for composite migmatites, and 521 and 518 Ma for monazite from neosomes. Monazite from granitic to granodioritic veins indicates another thermal event at 507–505 Ma. These ages are also recorded in 207Pb/235U monazite data of 508 Ma from the metasediment MET 1 from the migmatite and also in the Sm–Nd garnet ages obtained in this study. Taken together, these ages indicate that high-grade metamorphism started at c. 535 Ma (or earlier) and was followed by thermal events at c. 520 Ma and c. 505 Ma. The latter event is probably connected with the intrusion of a large igneous body (Donkerhoek granite) for which so far only imprecise Rb–Sr whole-rock data of 520±15 Ma are available. Rb–Sr biotite ages from the different layers of the migmatite are 488, 469 and 473 Ma. These different ages indicate late-stage disturbance of the Rb–Sr isotopic system on the sub-sample scale. Nevertheless, these ages are close to the youngest Sm–Nd garnet ages, indicating rapid cooling rates between 13 and 20°C Ma−1 and fast uplift of this segment of the crust. Similar Sm–Nd garnet and U–Pb monazite ages suggest that the closure temperatures for both isotopic systems are not very different in this case and are probably similar or higher than the previously estimated peak metamorphic temperatures of 730±30°C. The preservation of restitic monazite in leucosomes indicates that dissolution of monazite in felsic water-undersaturated peraluminous melts can be sluggish. This study shows that geochronological data from migmatites can record polymetamorphic episodes in high-grade terranes that often contain cryptic evidence for the nature and timing of early metamorphic events.

Notes: We report on photoluminescence (PL) spectra of ZnO films grown by low pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. For PL measurements, high quality ZnO thin films were epitaxially grown on Al2O3(0001) substrates. Time-integrated PL spectra of the films at 10 K clearly exhibited free A and B excitons at 3.376 and 3.382 eV and bound exciton peaks at 3.360, 3.364, and 3.367 eV. With increasing temperature, intensities of the bound exciton peaks drastically decreased and a free exciton peak was dominant above 40 K. Furthermore, time-resolved PL measurements at the free exciton peak were carried out at room temperature. The decay profiles were of double-exponential form, and the decay time constants of 180 ps and 1.0 ns were obtained using a least-square fit of the data. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: A high-power near-field fiber tip is proposed and demonstrated. This high-power tip can handle an optical power of greater than 150 mW injected into the fiber core, higher than any previous tip. The tip has a unique, thick, heat-conducting metal layer deposited by an electroplating process. The subwavelength aperture of the tip is fabricated by the controlled lapping of the end face with in situ optical monitoring. We also demonstrate using this tip to record on phase change and photoresist media. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation was used to introduce plastidic protoporphyrinogen IX oxidase (Protox) genes from Arabidopsis, with and without the transit sequence, into the rice genome. They were placed under the control of the constitutive and ubiquitous maize ubiquitin promoter, and their abilities to confer resistance to the diphenyl ether-type herbicide, oxyfluorfen were compared. The integration and expression of the transgene in the T1 generation was examined by Southern, northern and western blot analyses. Surprisingly, as judged by an in vivo seed germination assay and an in vitro cellular leakage assay, both lines were similarly resistant to oxyfluorfen. The tolerance to cellular damage (lipid peroxidation and electrolyte leakage) was higher in transgenic plants than in wild-type plants. In transgenic plants, the degree of herbicide resistance varied directly with the absolute amount of Protox protein expression. Both the intact protein and the protein with the transit sequence deleted were accumulated in plastids.

Notes: Much attention has been paid to the signal sequences of eukaryotic protoporphyrinogen oxidases (protoxes); both the organelles targeted by protoxes and the role of protoxes in conferring resistance against protox-inhibiting herbicides, such as oxyfluorfen, have been examined. However, there have been no reports on the translocation of prokaryotic protoxes. This study investigated the targeting ability of Myxococcus xanthus protox in vitro and in vivo. In an in vitro translocation assay using a dual import system, M. xanthus protein was detected in chloroplasts and mitochondria, suggesting that the M. xanthus protox protein was targeted into both organelles. In order to confirm the in vitro dual targeting ability of M. xanthus, we used a stable transgenic strategy to investigate dual targeting in vivo. In transgenic rice plants overexpressing M. xanthus protox, M. xanthus protox antibody cross-reacted with proteins with predicted molecular masses of 50 kDa from both chloroplasts and mitochondria, and this in vivo transgene expression corresponded to a prominent increase in chloroplastic and mitochondrial protox activity. Seeds from the transgenic lines M4 and M7 germinated in solid Murashige and Skoog media of up to 500 µm of oxyfluorfen, whereas wild-type seeds did not germinate in 1 µm. After 4-week-old-rice plants were treated with oxyfluorfen for 3 d, lines M4 and M7 exhibited normal growth, whereas the wild-type line was severely bleached and necrotized. The herbicidal resistance is attributed to the insignificant accumulation of photodynamic protoporphyrin IX in cytosol because the high chloroplastic and mitochondrial protox activity in oxyfluorfen-treated transgenic lines, compared with that in oxyfluorfen-treated and untreated wild-type plants, metabolizes protoporphyrinogen IX to chlorophyll and heme. A practical application of the dual targeting of M. xanthus protox for obtaining outstanding resistance to peroxidizing herbicides is discussed.

Notes: Two new cell cultures from flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus (Temminck & Schlegel), flounder fin (FFN) cells from fin tissue and flounder spleen (FSP) cells from spleen tissue, were established and characterized. The cells multiplied well in Eagle's minimum essential medium, supplemented with 10% foetal bovine serum, and have been subcultured more than 100 times, becoming continuous cell lines. Modal diploid chromosome number of FFN and FSP cells was 64 and 62, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction products were obtained from FFN and FSP cells with primer sets of microsatellite markers of flounder. Optimal growth temperature was 20 °C and consisted of epithelioid cells. FFN and FSP cells showed cytopathic effects after inoculation of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus, marine birnavirus, chum salmon virus, infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus, spring viraemia of carp virus and hirame rhabdovirus. Thus these new cell lines may be useful for studying a wide range of fish viruses.

Notes: Studies were conducted by injecting/feeding white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) derived from infected shrimp, Penaeus monodon (Fabricius), to different life-stages, namely post-larvae, juveniles, sub-adults and adults of Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man). The disease was also induced in brood stock, and the eggs and larvae derived from these animals were subsequently tested for WSSV infection. All the stages except egg used for the experiment were found WSSV positive in histopathology, cross infection bioassay and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. Experimentally infected post-larvae and juveniles showed a high percentage of mortality and an increased rate of cannibalism. The cumulative mortality in post-larvae was up to 28%; with 28–40% cannibalism resulting in a maximum loss of up to 68%. In juveniles, observed mortality and cannibalism were 10–20% and 6.7–30.0%, respectively, and the maximum loss recorded was 50%. In sub-adults, mortality ranged from 2.8 to 6.7%, cannibalism was up to 20% and the total loss was up to 26.7%. Sub-adults and adults were found to be more tolerant to the infection as evidenced by the mortality pattern. A nested (two-step) PCR resulted in a 570-bp product specific to WSSV in all stages, except the eggs.

Notes: Microcontact printing of hydrophobic OTS (Octadecyl-Trichloro-Silane) material was made on various substrates, and finely patterned CdS thin film has been fabricated by CBD (Chemical Bath Deposition) method. In the preliminary experiment, it is confirmed that the size of colloid particle and roughness of surface of CdS thin film are increased with increase of pH, fabrication time and temperature. The optimum condition for the selective deposition of CdS film pattern using the SAM with microcontact printing was determined to be pH 10, temperature of 75°C, deposition time of 15 minute. Various patterns of different shape of CdS thin film werefabricated uniformly and satisfactorily in large area by the conditions determined in the present work. The stoichiometric composition of CdS was confirmed to be 1:1 by EDS and XPS