ALBERT

Notes: The halophyte Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (ice plant) has been suggested as a model for salt-tolerance in higher plants. To investigate salt-induced changes in polypeptide patterns at the cellular level, a light-grown callus of M. crystallinum with substantial chlorophyll content, was established and the effect of NaCl on the composition of phenol-extracted protein was examined by SDS- and 2D-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). SDS-PAGE showed the accumulation of five polypeptides with estimated molecular masses of 40, 34, 32, 29 and 14 kDa was enhanced by the addition of 200 mM NaCl to the culture media. The addition of ABA (10 μM) or mannitol (400 mM) did not elicit the same degree of accumulation of these salt-specific proteins. These polypeptides were classified into two groups according to their course of induction: early responsive (40, 34, 29 kDa) and late-responsive (32, 14 kDa) proteins. In addition, two polypeptides (20, 18 kDa) were transiently accumulated during salt treatment. Further separation of soluble proteins by 2-D gel electrophoresis, either isoelectric focusing (IEF) or non-equilibrium pH-gradient electrophoresis (NEPHGE) followed by SDS-PAGE, showed more alterations in accumulation of polypeptides by NaCl than 1-D gel electrophoresis. Overall, levels of more than 30% of basic polypeptides, detected by NEPHGE/SDS-PAGE, were altered by 200 mM NaCl treatment, while only 10% of neutral and acidic polypeptides, detected by IEF/SDS-PAGE, were changed. The enhanced expression of these proteins by salt in cultured cells is most likely related to the cellular responses to salinity, and not to the mechanism of CAM induction in this facultative halophyte.

Notes: Maize (Zea mays L. Hybrid Sweet Corn, Royal Crest), a C4 plant, was grown under different light regimes, after which the rate of photosynthesis and activities of several photosynthetic enzymes (per unit leaf chlorophyll) were measured at different light intensities. Plants were grown outdoors under direct sunlight or 23% of direct sunlight, and in growth chambers at photosynthetic photon flux densities of about 20% and 8% of direct sunlight. The plants grown under direct sunlight had a higher light compensation point than plants grown under lower light. At a light intensity about 25% of direct sunlight, plants from all growth regimes had a similar rate of photosynthesis. Under saturating levels of light the plants grown under direct sunlight had a substantially higher rate of photosynthesis than plants grown under the lower light regimes. The higher photosynthetic capacity in the plants grown under direct sunlight was accompanied by an increased activity of several photosynthetic enzymes and in the amount of the soluble protein in the leaf. Among five photosynthetic enzymes examined, RuBP carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.39) and pyruvate, Pi dikinase (EC 2.7.9.1) were generally just sufficient to account for rates of photosynthesis under saturating light; thus, these may be rate limiting enzymes in C4 photosynthesis. Pyruvate, Pi dikinase and NADP-malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.82) were the only enzymes examined which were light activated and increased in activity with increasing light intensity. In the low light grown plants the activity of pyruvate, Pi dikinase closely paralleled the photosynthetic rate measured under different light levels. With the plants grown under direct sunlight, as light intensity was increased the activation of pyruvate, Pi dikinase and NADP+-malate dehydrogenase proceeded more rapidly than photosynthesis.

Notes: The effect of environmental factors on the post-illumination burst of CO2 (PIB) and O2 inhibition of apparent photosynthesis (APS) in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was studied in an open gas exchange system utilizing the mathematics of non-steady-state systems. Two components of inhibition by O2 are suggested: one is caused by photorespiration as measured from the maximum rate of the PIB, and the second is direct inhibition as taken as APS2%O2— (APSx%O2+ PIBx%O2) where X is the oxygen concentration.A primary PIB which occurred from 16–28 s after the darkening of the foliage was attributed to photorespiration. No primary PIB was observed at 2% O2. At a CO2 concentration of 100 μ/1 in the atmosphere (about 2.5 μM based on leaf intercellular concentration) and at 30°C and 145 nE/cm2 nE/cm2·s, APS decreased curve-linearly with increasing O2 and reached an O2 compensation point of 560 μM (48% by volume), above which there was a net loss of CO2 in the light. The PIB increased with increasing O2 and became saturated at about 500 μM O2 but decreased above 900 μM O2. Direct inhibition of photosynthesis by O2 increased with increasing O2 concentration.Decreasing CO2 concentration had an effect on the magnitude of the PIB similar to that of increasing O2. At 30°C and 21% O2, the PIB increased with decreasing CO2 down to the CO2 compensation point (I) of 1.4 μM (47 μM/l). Below Γ, both PIB and CO2 evolution into the air in the light (at 21% O2) increased and then decreased at CO2 below 0.8 μM.The ratio of the PIB to APS2% o O2 increased linearly with increasing O2/CO2 ratio where O2 was held constant at 21% and CO2 was varied from 1.4 to 8.5 μM, while direct inhibition of photosynthesis expressed as a proportion of APS2%O2 remained constant over this range. At low CO2 concentration photorespiration as estimated by the PIB is the major part of O2 photosynthesis, while at atmospheric CO2 levels, direct inhibition is the major component.The PIB and APS at 2% and 21% O2 increased hyperbolically with increasing irradiance and all became light-saturated at about 65 nE/cm2 s. The percentage total O2 inhibition of photosynthesis remained constant with increasing irradiance as did the relative contribution of direct O2 inhibition or photorespiration (PIB) to total O2 inhibition.The PIB and APS at 21% O2 had similar temperature optima of 30°C when experimental conditions were adjusted to provide a constant internal O2/CO2 solubility ratio at varying temperatures. However, with a constant external CO2 concentration, the temperature optimum for the PIB shifted upward to 35°C while that for APS at 21% O2 remained at 30°C, which may be due to an increased O2/CO2 concentration in the leaf with increasing temperature.

Notes: 1. The metabolic effects of human growth hormone were studied in six patients who sustained moderate to severe burns averaging 30% of the body surface area.2. Two normal controls were also studied.3. The patients and the controls were placed on a constant intake of 9.0 gm of nitrogen/m2 of body surface and 1500 cal/m2 and complete balance studies of nitrogen, potassium, sodium and chloride were carried out for 16 days.4. When growth hormone was given, increased storage of nitrogen, potassium, sodium and chloride and weight gain occurred, but with marked variability from patient to patient and even in the same patient at various times post-burn.5. The administration of growth hormone was associated with an increase in oxygen utilization which, however, did not show a quantitative relationship with the degree of nitrogen storage.6. Fat mobilization was indicated by a sustained increase in serum nonesterified fatty acid levels with growth hormone administration.7. The most striking nitrogen retention occurred in the early anabolic phase and not during the height of the catabolic phase.