Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) plays a key role in terminating neurotransmission at cholinergic synapses. AChE is also found in tissues devoid of cholinergic responses, indicating potential functions beyond neurotransmission. It has been suggested that AChE may participate in development, differentiation, and pathogenic processes such as Alzheimer's disease and tumorigenesis. We examined AChE expression in a number of cell lines upon induction of apoptosis by various stimuli. AChE is induced in all apoptotic cells examined as determined by cytochemical staining, immunological analysis, affinity chromatography purification, and molecular cloning. The AChE protein was found in the cytoplasm at the initiation of apoptosis and then in the nucleus or apoptotic bodies upon commitment to cell death. Sequence analysis revealed that AChE expressed in apoptotic cells is identical to the synapse type AChE. Pharmacological inhibitors of AChE prevented apoptosis. Furthermore, blocking the expression of AChE with antisense inhibited apoptosis. Therefore, our studies demonstrate that AChE is potentially a marker and a regulator of apoptosis.

Five new verticillin-type epipolysulfanyldioxopiperazines, gliocladine A (1), B (2), C (3), D (4), and E (5), were isolated from wheat solid-substrate fermentation of Gliocladium roseum 1A, along with four known compounds, verticillin A (6), 11'-deoxyverticillin A (7), Sch52900 (8), and Sch52901 (9). Their structures were elucidated by extensive 1D and 2D NMR studies, MS, and chemical transformations. In vitro immersion tests showed that all nine compounds exhibited antinematodal activity against Caenorhabditis elegans and Panagrellus redivivus. The monomeric epipolysulfanydioxopiperazines (3-5), with the indole moiety, were found to be less active than the dimeric compounds (1, 2, 6-8).

All animals require a relatively extensive surface through which to absorb oxygen from the ambient environment. Because the oxygen molecule is larger than the water molecule, no animal has been able to evolve a membrane that is at once permeable to oxygen and impermeable to water (10). It is for this reason that any relatively dry environment presents the animal with contradictory demands : on the one hand, it must have an extensive surface permeable to oxygen but, on the other hand, it must not lose too much water through such a surface. Arthropods are a group of small animals that have been successful in. dealing with these contradictory demands o~ dry environments. The exposed cuticle is water-proofed, and effectively oxygenproofed, by a continuous fatty acid layer. At the same time, a very extensive surface is invaginated and forms tracheae that may ramify through the body. The air in the tracheae can be kept saturated and the loss of water can be reduced to manageable proportions because the total cross-sectional area of the spiracles is only a small fraction of the surface area of the tracheae. As a further improvement, a spiracular closing apparatus may be evolved and water loss restricted to periods when the spiracles are open, or the spiracular atrium may have dense layers of cuticular projections that by pressure resistance and frictional drag prevent bulk exchanges of air with the ambient environment and so reduce water loss (9). Dry environments present insect eggs, no less than other stages, with the contradictory demands already noted. The different types of chorionic respiratory systems that have been evolved in large measure reflect different solutions to the same problem: oxygen needs must be satisfied without losing too much water. The first very extensive study of the respiratory systems of insect eggs was that of Leuckart (32). This was followed by the important papers Korschelt (29, 30). Although there have been numerous descriptions of the respirator)" systems of single species or small groups of species, few indeed have been accurate. For instance, at the time of writing, I know of no accurate account of the respiratory system of any lepidopterous egg. Reviews of work on the respiratory systems of the eggs of larger groups are almost nonexistent, the papers by~Southwood (39) and Cobben (3) being noteworthy exceptions. 1 The survey of the literature pertaining to this review was concluded à pril 1968.

A new alkaloid, daphenylline (1), with an unprecedented rearranged 22-nor-calyciphylline skeleton, was isolated from the fruits of Daphniphyllum longeracemosum. Its structure and stereochemistry were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic and computational approaches. A plausible biosynthetic pathway of 1 was also proposed.

Two new carbazole alkaloids named murrayanine (1) and 8,8' '-biskoenigine (2) were isolated from Murraya koenigii. The structure elucidations for 1 and 2 were carried out on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR experiments. Compound 1 was a novel carbazole alkaloid with a rare phenylpropanyl substitution. Compound 2 was a symmetrical dimer of the carbazole alkaloid koenigine and showed antiosteoporotic activity in the CAT-B model with IC(50) 1.3 microg/mL. The synthesis of 2 from koenigine was carried out through oxidative coupling using a solid state reaction.

Three new alkaloids, phomapyrrolidones A–C (1–3), bearing a cyclopenta[b]fluorene ring system were isolated from the mycelium extract of the endophytic fungal strain, Phoma sp. NRRL 46751, inhabiting Saurauia scaberrinae. Methylation of 1 afforded its N-methyl derivative 4. The planar structures and relative configurations of 1–4 were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis. Phomapyrrolidones B (2) and C (3) exhibited weak antitubercular activity at subcytotoxic concentrations.

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Inbreeding is known to have adverse effects on fitness-related traits in a range of insect species. A series of theoretical and experimental studies have suggested that polyandrous insects could avoid the cost of inbreeding via pre-copulatory mate choice and/or post-copulatory mechanisms. We looked for evidence of pre-copulatory inbreeding avoidance using female mate preference trials, in which females were given the choice of mating with either of two males, a sibling and a non-sibling. We also tested for evidence of post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance by conducting double mating experiments, in which four sibling females were mated with two males sequentially, either two siblings, two non-siblings or a sibling and a non-sibling in either order. We identified substantial inbreeding depression: offspring of females mated to full siblings had lower hatching success, slower development time from egg to adult, lower survival of larval and pupal stages, and lower adult body mass than the offspring of females mated to non-sibling males. We also found evidence of pre-copulatory inbreeding avoidance, as females preferred to mate with non-sibling males. However, we did not find any evidence of post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance: egg hatching success of females mating to both sibling and non-sibling males were consistent with sperm being used without bias in relation to mate relatedness. Our results suggest that this cabbage beetle has evolved a pre-copulatory mechanism to avoid matings between close relative, but that polyandry is apparently not an inbreeding avoidance mechanism in C. bowringi.