Abstracts of Papers Presented at the Autumn Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences(USA), Washington, D.C., 25-27 October 1971Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,Vol. 68, No. 11 (Nov., 1971), pp. 2898a+2899a+2900aPublished by: National Academy of SciencesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/61255 .

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ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS PRESENTED NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIEN

25-27 OCT(

Scanning electron microscopy of Coelomomyces

The fungus, Coelomomyces Keilin, is a highly specific obligate, intern-al parasite of mosquito and a few other dipteran larvae which has been collected from localities over much of the world. Once infected, the larvae seldom mature beyond the pupal stage. The specificity of Coelomomyces to mosquito larvae and its high rate of kill following infection under greenhouse conditions mnake this fungus a very suitable candidate for possible biological control of mosquitoes. Species differentiation in Coelomomyces is based primarily on the shape and surface markings of the resting sporangia which occur in the coelom of the mosquito. To supplement light microscope interpretation of these surface features and as a possible aid in the solving of certain taxonomic problems in this genus, a scanning electron microscope examination of the resting sporangia in 40 specimens of Coelomomyces has been undertaken. Results thus far indicate that although the scanning electron microscope is not essential for species determination in Coelomomyces, it is very useful in providing a graphic display of the sporangial wall structure. This is in turn providing information regarding intraspecific diagnostic characters as in C. psorophorae.

C. E. B13AND

East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 2783/4

Coelomomyces, a fungus for inosquito control

Mosquitoes are becoming resistant to chemical insecticides, consequently a search is beinig made for additional means of conitrol. The species of the fungal genus Coelomomyces which kill mosquitoes but are harmless to other organisms are ideal for biological control. Since they are obligate parasites the innoculum for infection experiments must be grown in the host. Inoculum consists of sporangia produced in the coelom by the vegetative mycelium of the fungus, as many as 60,000 in one larva. Each sporangium germinates to form several hundred zoospores, the agents of infection. I have maintained Coelomomyces punctatus in its host Anopheles quadrimaculatus since 1966. Until 1968 soil from the location where infection occurred was thought necessary for infection. But by the addition of certain- plankton algae to the larval diet, the infection rate has been increased without soil. The algae, used as food by the larvae, in turin utilize their waste products. Infection occurs when inoculum is added once to any onIe of the four instars but the rate of infection is low. However if inoculum is added to the eggs and then again to the larvae at each of the three ecdyses, the rate may be increased to 100%. Maximum infection occuis during the second instar. Excessive amounts of inoculum so far have not in- duced resistance. Sporangia ready to germinate, swallowed by the larvae and triggered by the lack of oxygen in the gut,

discharge their zoospores. These, it is assumed, penetrate the

gut wall before the new peritrophic membrane is formed.

J. N. CouCH

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514

289'

AT THE AUTUMN MEETING OF THE CES (USA), WASHINGTON, D.C., )BER 1971

Catalytic reduction of stratospher-ic ozone by nitrogen oxides

To give an exact solution to the problem of iiijecting man- made nitrogen oxides into the ozone band of the stratosphere, one must know the background distribution of nitrogeni oxides, the photochemical rate constants between ozone and the oxides of nitrogen, and the variables of stratospheric motions (vertical turbulent diffusion, horizontal transport, equitorial upwelling, polar subsidence, etc.). The background concentration and distribution of the oxides of nitrogen in the stratosphere appear to be unknown at this time. Many rate constants for the photochemical and chemical reactions of ozone and the oxides of nitrogen are well known, but there are some gaps in this knowledge. Stratospheric motions are exceedingly complicated, and the total problem of coupled transport and photochemistry presents a so-far unsolved problem. I have approached this difficult problem in an unconventional, but straightforward, manner. Since the concentration and distribution of oxides of initrogen are inot knowin, I have made photochemical rate calculations for such a wide range of uniform and nonuniform distributions that the calculations probably cover any distribution that may later be found. Since the global air transport problem is complicated, I have made these photocheimical rate cal- culations for the full range of solar angles, latitude, and stratospheric elevations. By covering this wide range of assumed nitrogen oxide concentrations amnd by covering global ranges of stratospheric variables, I have delineated the pirobable effect of man-made nitrogen oxides in the strato- sphere, without having to solve the difficult problem of coupled photochemistry and mass transport.

HAROLD JOHNSTON

University of California, Berkeley, Calif. 94720

Chemical events during electrical activity of conducting and synaptic membranes

According to recent information cell membranes are highly organized, dynamic structures, the site of intensive chemical reactions and of many proteins and enzymes. Excitable membranes which surround nerve and muscle fibers have specific protein assemblies that control-by change of permeability-the ion movements that carry the electrical currents conducting nerve impulses. A simple diffusion process excluding chemical reactions, proposed by the Hodgkin-Huxley theory as explaining bioelectricity, is con- tradicted by many experimental data; moreover, the theory was based on- the Planck-Nernst equations applicable only to systems in equilibrium, whereas cell membranes require the use of nonequilibriunm thermodynamics. Based on bio- energetics and protein and enzyme chemistry, a chemical theory of bioelectricity has been developed. Acetylcholine (AcCh), believed to be a neurohumoral transmitter across

synaptic junctions, is released on excitation within excitable membranes and acts as a signal initiating a series of chemical reactions; it induces conformational changes of the AcCh-

recepltor proteins, thereby probably releasing Ca2+ ions by

Ia

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allosteric action. These ions, by inducing conformational changes of phospholipids and other polyelectrolytes, amplify the signal, permitting the influx of 20,000-40,000 Na+ and the equivalent efflux of K+ ions per molecule of AcCh re- leased. Acetylcholinesterase, hydrolyzing AcCh in ,usec, (permits the return of the receptors to their original con- formation, thereby restoring the ion barrier. Schemes will be presented illustrating the similarity of chemical events in conducting and synaptic membranes during electrical activity. Data will be discussed which have made untenable the assumptioni of AcCh being a synaptic transmitter as originally proposed.

DAVID NACHMANSOHN

College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, N.Y. 10032

Magnetic and gravitational effect on osmotic equilibria

It has been argued that the impact of solute molecules on the free or unrestrained surface of a solution would give negative hydrostatic pressure to the water and would be the cause of osmotic flux. As evidence may be stated: lowering of the vapor pressure by the solutes, equality of hydrodynamic and osmotic flux and the fact that this is the established mecha- unism for negative pressure of water in matrices and sus- pensions. When a magnet approaches the surface of a ferro- magnetic colloidal solution from above the osmotic pressure increases by an amount equal to the magnetic vector. Con- versely when a strong magnet pulls the solute toward the membrane the osmotic pressure goes to zero. Inverting a suspension with colloidal particles lighter than the water decreased the osmotic pressure by the buoyancy vector; heavier-than-water particles give the opposite effect. The osmotic interaction relates to the free surface and Inot to the membrane. Indeed, we are unable to define osmotic inter- action with the water at equilibrium, in any other terms than a simple coupling at the free surface.

P. F. SCHOLANDER

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, Calif. 92037

MIANOEL PEREZ

Istituto de Pesquisas de Marinha, Brasil

On the significance level for genetic dominance of IQ and on the 24 point difference between twins Gladys and Helen

A level of significance has been determined for the 82% "geneticity" [genetic fraction of population variance] deduced from the observed nongenetic variance Vng = 36 (square IQ points) of the 122 pairs of separately-reared, white identical twins tabulated by A. R. Jensen [Behav. Genet., 1, 133-148 (1970)]. Since Vng has a chi-square dis- tribution, the probability is found from standard tables to be 0.0005 of obtaining 36 or less for Vng if the true variance were greater than 57. Since the population variance is 203, the null hypothesis that 82% resulted by chance from a true

geneticity of 71.8% [= (203-57)/203] can, therefore, be

rejected at a significance level of 0.0005. In combination with the fact that IQ is correlated about 0.2-0.5 with socially- accepted human quality traits [Shockley, W., Proc. Nat. Acad.

National Academy of Sciences Autumn Meeting 2899a

Sci. USA, 66, 245 Abst. (1970) ], an 0.0005 level of significance warrants a stronger assertion about the importance of genes than "All that can be said is that with respect to some problems they [genes] are highly important while with respect to others, they are unimportant"-an assertion approved at the 1971 annual business meeting of the N.A.S. The observed normalcy of twin-twin IQ differences shows that the famous twins Gladys and Helen with IQ-difference of 24 points constitute the exception that proves the statistical rule for 82% geneticity. Results of polls of psychology specialists reveal serious inconsistencies of opinions on these matters.

W. SmHOCKnLEY

Stanford University Stanford, California 94305

"Supernutrition" as a strategy for the control of disease

A hitherto untried strategy for disease prevention is presented. Supernutrition, as the word implies, has a quality above and beyond nutrition as it is ordinarily experienced. It does not involve over-nutrition but rather an attempt to provide in what we ingest, by whatever technical means necessary, a completely suitable assortment (ideally tailored to individual needs) of all the needed amino acids, minerals and vitamins, etc., in proper proportions.

Medical education has not taught the extreme importance of internal environments and of providing in the food we ingest raw materials to produce highly favorable environ- ments for all our cells and tissues. Each vitamin (and each nutrient) has erroneously been looked upon as a potential "remedy" which should be expected to act as an independent agent. Each agent, on the contrary, always functions as a part of a team which includes all the other nutrients. By invalid experimentation the nutrients have been wrongly judged and their potential value lost.

Supernutrition corrects this; it encompasses all needed nutrients acting as a complex team.

To the extent that fully adequate cellular environments can be provided, health will prevail. In a current book extensive evidence is presented that diseases for which medical science can assign no adequate cause, such as defective births, atherosclerosis, arthritis, mental disease, alcoholism, etc., can be prevented if supernutrition, or something approaching it, is expertly applied. It is well within the realm of possibility that cancer initiation can be prevented by giving the threatened cells the best possible environments.

ROGER J. WILLIAMS

Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712

Nature of oxygen inhibition of nitrogenase Oxygen inhibits nitrogen fixation in a variety of organisms, and it has been reported that this inhibition is competitive. Our current results indicate that the inhibition is uncom- petitive.

Intact organisms have been employed in most studies of

02 inhibition of nitrogenase, and secondary effects of O2 have complicated interpretation of results. Highly purified nitrogenase is not suitable for study, because it is irreversibly inactivated by 02. Centrifugally separated subcellular particles from Azotobacter vinelandii have relatively high

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2900a National Academy of Sciences Autumn Meeting

mnitrogenase specific activity, and because they are not irreversibly inactivated by 02 we have used them for studying 02 effects under well-defined conditions. The reduction of various substrates at various 02 concentrations by the particles was tested in the system of Benemann et al., [Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 64, 1079 (1969)]; the system includes ATP-generating components and supplies electrons via illuminated spinach chloroplasts (photosystem I), ascor- bate, dichlorophenol indophenol and A. vinelandii flavo- protein.

Kinetic measurements of reduction of N2, acetylene,

azide and cyanide by nitrogenase revealed that 02 inhibits each reduction uncompetitively. The inhibition constants (Ki) were 0.014, 0.023 and 0.008 atmosphere of 02 for reduc- tion of N2, acetylene and azide, respectively. There is no evidence that 02 affects the photochemical electron donating system, but it does inhibit nitrogenase-dependent ATP hydrolysis.

PETER P. WONG R. H. BURRIS

University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 53706

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