The aim of this study was to detect suites of traits related to whole plant and seed morphology, phenology and resource use--including water--in species differing in successional status. Twenty traits were measured on 55 species representative of 5 successional stages in Mediterranean southern France, including eight pertaining to phenology and five to water economy. Suites of traits that changed along succession in agreement with the acquisition/conservation trade-off were completed by continuous changes in phenology. Early successional species had leaves with a high specific leaf area that were produced and lost continuously through the growing season. Late-successional species were taller with long-lived, high delta(13)C leaves produced during short periods, most of them persisting during summer, and produced large seeds requiring a long ripening period. Replacement of species occurred with change in strategies of drought survival: early successional species escaped drought by dying before summer; later herbaceous species maintained favourable water status in relation to leaf shedding during summer; late successional trees with a large body allowing access to a large pool of resources, produced dense leaves that could tolerate desiccation. These changes occurred concomitantly with a shift in CSR strategies, using traits related to resource use, plant size and flowering phenology: ruderal herbs were replaced by more stress-tolerant herbs and shrubs throughout the succession, with competitive trees dominating the latest successional stage. These results suggest that the breadth of functional variability found in natura is not predicted by the CSR framework, and calls for a more integrated view of whole plant functioning.

The dopamine receptor type 1 (DRD1) has been implicated in the development of hypertension in humans as well as in animal models of spontaneous hypertension. We screened the entire coding and promoter region of the human DRD1 receptor for polymorphisms to analyze their association with hypertension. The allele frequencies of two common single-nucleotide polymorphisms, A-48G and G-94A were determined in 493 hypertensive patients and 209 normotensive controls. Allele frequencies did not differ for both polymorphisms between the two groups (-48 G-allele in hypertension = 0.37; -48 G-allele in normotension = 0.36; -94 A-allele in hypertension = 0.14; -94 A-allele in normotension = 0.10). Our findings in these Caucasian patients are in contrast to a recent Japanese study that revealed a significant association of the -48 G-allele with hypertension. Thus, racial differences may play an important role concerning the association of variants in the dopamine receptor type 1 gene with essential hypertension.

Zac1, a new zinc-finger protein that regulates both apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, is abundantly expressed in many proliferative/differentiation areas during brain development. In the present work, we studied Zac1 gene expression and protein in experimental seizure models following i.p. injection of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) or kainic acid (KA). Following KA treatment, an early and intense up-regulation of Zac1 is detected in the limbic areas, such as the hippocampus, cortex and amygdaloid and hypothalamic nuclei. Pre-treatment with MK-801, an antagonist of the NMDA receptors, fully blocks the effect of KA in the hippocampus, whereas it only attenuates KA-induced Zac1 up-regulation in the other areas of the limbic system. A reduced induction is obtained with PTZ-treated animals, specifically in the entorhinal and piriform cortices as well as in amygdaloid and hypothalamic nuclei. Thus, Zac1 is highly induced in the seizure models that generate strong neuronal stimulation and/or extensive cell damage (cell death), reinforcing its putative role in the control of the cell cycle and/or apoptosis. Moreover, strong induction is observed in the granular cells of the dentate gyrus (which are resistant to neurodegeneration) and in some glial cells of the dentate gyrus and subventricular zone, suggesting that Zac1 may be implicated in the mechanisms of neural plasticity following injury.

Although the structure and composition of plant communities is known to influence the functioning of ecosystems, there is as yet no agreement as to how these should be described from a functional perspective. We tested the biomass ratio hypothesis, which postulates that ecosystem properties should depend on species traits and on species contribution to the total biomass of the community, in a successional sere following vineyard abandonment in the Mediterranean region of France. Ecosystem-specific net primary productivity, litter decomposition rate, and total soil carbon and nitrogen varied significantly with field age, and correlated with community-aggregated (i.e., weighed according to the relative abundance of species) functional leaf traits. The three easily measurable traits tested, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, and nitrogen concentration, provide a simple means to scale up from organ to ecosystem functioning in complex plant communities. We propose that they be called "functional markers," and be used to assess the impacts of community changes on ecosystem properties induced, in particular, by global change drivers.

•  Specific leaf area (leaf area to dry mass ratio), leaf dry matter content (leaf dry mass to saturated fresh mass ratio) and leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC) have been proposed as indicators of plant resource use in data bases of plant functional traits. •  We tested whether species ranking based on these traits was repeatable by studying spatio-temporal variations in specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content of water-saturated leaves (SLASAT and LDMCSAT ), as well as in LNC, for 57 herbaceous and woody species (or subsets thereof) growing under the Mediterranean climate of southern France. •  Interseason and intersite variations were more pronounced than interannual variations, but species ranking for a given trait remained mostly consistent in space and time. Classifications based on LDMCSAT were generally more repeatable across years and sites, whereas those based on SLASAT were more stable over seasons. LNC usually gave the least repeatable classifications. •  Species rankings were not completely similar for the three traits. Discussion of reproducibility, ease of trait measurement, as well as trait-function relationships led us to propose that measurements of the leaf traits, SLASAT and/or LDMCSAT , were the most suitable in large screening programmes.

LysE of Corynebacterium glutamicum belongs to a large new superfamily of translocators whose members are probably all involved in the export of small solutes. Here, the transcript initiation site of lysE, and its divergently transcribed regulator gene, lysG, are identified. Single-copy transcriptional fusions of lysE with lacZ, and titration experiments, show that LysG is the positive regulator of lysE expression enabling its up to 20-fold induction. This induction requires the presence of a coinducer, which is either intracellular L-lysine, or L-arginine. A competition experiment showed that LysE exports these two basic amino acids at comparable rates of about 0.75 nmol min(-1) (mg dry wt)(-1). Although L-histidine and L-citrulline also act as coinducers of lysE expression, these two amino acids are not exported by LysE. As is evident from the analysis of a lysEG deletion mutant, the physiological role of the lysEG system is to prevent bacteriostasis due to elevated L-lysine or L-arginine concentrations that arise during growth in the presence of peptides or in mutants possessing a deregulated biosynthesis pathway. C. glutamicum has additional export activities other than those of LysE for exporting L-histidine, L-citrulline and L-ornithine.

In Corynebacterium glutamicum the LysE carrier protein exhibits the unique function of exporting L-lysine. We here analyze the membrane topology of LysE, a protein of 236 amino acyl residues, using PhoA- and LacZ-fusions. The amino-terminal end of LysE is located in the cytoplasm whereas the carboxy-terminal end is found in the periplasm. Although 6 hydrophobic domains were identified based on hydropathy analyses, only five transmembrane spanning helices appear to be present. The additional hydrophobic segment may dip into the membrane or be surface localized. We show that LysE is a member of a family of proteins found, for example, in Escherichia coil, Bacillus subtilis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Helicobacter pylori. This family, which we have designated the LysE family, is distantly related to two additional protein families which we have designated the YahN and CadD families. These three families, the members of which exhibit similar sizes, hydropathy profiles, and sequence motifs comprise the LysE superfamily. Functionally characterized members of the LysE superfamily export L-lysine, cadmium and possibly quarternary amines. We suggest that LysE superfamily members will prove to catalyze export of a variety of biologically important solutes.

In this study, the molecular masses and isoelectric characteristics of pituitary LH and FSH in two species of callitrichid primate, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) and the cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus), were determined. Comparative data for urine samples from Callithrix jacchus are also presented. The separation of gonadotrophins from pituitary extracts and urine was performed under nonreducing conditions using SDS-PAGE and isoelectric focusing procedures. Hormone activity in gel eluates was determined by in vitro bioassays for LH and FSH and by a microtitre plate enzymeimmunoassay for LH. The molecular masses of pituitary and urinary proteins were between 36 and 37 kDa for LH and FSH, and were similar in both species. A dimer form of pituitary LH with a molecular mass of 33 kDa was also found in the cotton-top tamarin, but not in the marmoset. Guanidine-HCl dissociation of gonadotrophins from marmoset and tamarin pituitaries before electrophoresis gave proteins of 16 and 28 kDa, and 16 and 25 kDa range, respectively. Isoelectric focusing revealed numerous peaks of bioactivity for both LH and FSH, indicating the presence of multiple molecular variants (isoforms) of each hormone. In both species pituitary FSH eluted over a narrower and more acidic pH range than LH. Isoelectric focusing profiles for pituitary and urinary LH in the marmoset were similar (pH range 5.0-8.5), whereas urinary FSH demonstrated a more acidic profile than the pituitary protein. These results give comparative information on the properties of New World primate gonadotrophins, which should be useful in studies of their physiological action and in aiding the development of improved reagents and assays for their detection.

Biometrical JournalVolume 30, Issue 3 p. 378-378 Book Review Schulze, U.: Mehrphasenregression, Stabilitätsprüfung, Schätzung, Hypothesenprüfung. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1987, 178 S., 40 Abb., 25,–M A. Bellmann, A. BellmannSearch for more papers by this author A. Bellmann, A. BellmannSearch for more papers by this author First published: 1988 https://doi.org/10.1002/bimj.4710300317AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume30, Issue31988Pages 378-378 RelatedInformation

Although the structure and composition of plant communities is known to influence the functioning of ecosystems, there is as yet no agreement as to how these should be described from a functional perspective. We tested the biomass ratio hypothesis, which postulates that ecosystem properties should depend on species traits and on species contribution to the total biomass of the community, in a successional sere following vineyard abandonment in the Mediterranean region of France. Ecosystem-specific net primary productivity, litter decomposition rate, and total soil carbon and nitrogen varied significantly with field age, and correlated with community-aggregated (i.e., weighed according to the relative abundance of species) functional leaf traits. The three easily measurable traits tested, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, and nitrogen concentration, provide a simple means to scale up from organ to ecosystem functioning in complex plant communities. We propose that they be called ‘‘functional markers,’’ and be used to assess the impacts of community changes on ecosystem properties induced, in particular, by global change drivers.