The alignment of sperm in a cloacal sperm storage gland, the spermatheca, was studied in female desmognathine salamanders by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Females representing nine species and collected in spring, late summer, and fall in the southern Appalachian Mountains contained abundant sperm in their spermathecae. The spermatheca is a compound tubuloalveolar gland connect...

Duplication of the gene for the peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) is the most common cause for Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy type 1a (CMT1A) neuropathy. In early stages of the disease PMP22 is overexpressed in nerve biopsies from CMT1A patients. Recent studies with genetically modified Schwann cells have demonstrated that the altered expression of PMP22 modulates cell growth. Thus we hypoth...

The onion lachrymatory factor (LF) is produced from trans-S-1-propenyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (PRENCSO) through successive reactions catalyzed by alliinase (EC 4.4.1.4) and lachrymatory factor synthase (LFS), and is responsible for the tear inducing-property and the pungency of fresh onions. We developed tearless, non-pungent onions non-transgenically by irradiating seeds with neon-ion at 20 Gy. ...

Vacuoles are dynamic compartments with constant fluctuations and transient structures such as trans-vacuolar strands and bulbs. Bulbs are highly dynamic spherical structures inside vacuoles that are formed by multiple layers of membranes and are continuous with the main tonoplast. We recently carried out a screen for mutants with abnormal trafficking to the vacuole or aberrant vacuole morpholog...

Complementary DNAs encoding two forms of cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptide precursors were identified from goldfish brain and named CART I and CART II. Each cDNA contains a signal peptide sequence, the putative CART-like peptide, and a carboxy-terminal extension peptide. Form I encodes a 117-amino acid pro-CART, whereas form II encodes a 120-amino acid pro-CART. Both ...

Bulbs of tulip (Tulipa gesneriana L. `Gander'), in which the formation of ̄oral organs had been completed, were chilled at 28C for 3±30 weeks and then forced hydroponically at 208C under a 12 h photoperiod with the light at 100 mmol mÿ2 sÿ1. The fresh weight and the perianth length of the cut ̄ower highly correlated with the dry weights of shoots and ̄oral organs at anthesis, respectively. The d...

To elucidate the genes involved in the formation of white and black plumage in ducks, RNA from white and black feather bulbs of an F(2) population were analyzed using RNA-Seq. A total of 2,642 expressed sequence tags showed significant differential expression between white and black feather bulbs. Among these tags, 186 matched 133 annotated genes that grouped into 94 pathways. A number of genes...