Effect of vanadate on gill cilia: switching mechanism in ciliary beat.

Lateral (L) cilia of freshwater mussel (Margaritana margaritifera and Elliptio complanatus) gills can be arrested in one of two unique positions. When treated with 12.5 mM CaCl2 and 10(-5) M A23187 they arrest in a "hands up" position, ie, pointing frontally. When treated with approximately 10 mM vanadate (V) they arrest in a "hands down" position, ie, pointing abfrontally. L-cilia treated with 12.5 mM CaCl2 and 1 mM NaN3 also arrest in a "hands down" position; substitution of 20 mM KCl and 1 mM NaN3 causes cilia to move rapidly and simultaneously to a "hands up" position. The observations suggest that there are two switching mechanisms for activation of active sliding in ciliary beat one at the end of the recovery stroke and the other at the end of the effective stroke; the first is inhibited by calcium and the second by vanadate or azide. This is consistent with a model of ciliary beating where microtubule doublet numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 are active during the effective stroke while microtubule doublets numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9 are passive, and the converse occurs during the recovery stroke.     

Evidence of microfilament-associated mitochondrial movement.

The mitochondria in the lower Malpighian tubule of the insect Rhodnius prolixus can be stimulated by feeding in vivo and by 5-hydroxytryptamine in vitro, to move from a position below the cell cortex to one inside the apical microvilli. During and following their movement into the microvilli, the mitochondria are intimately associated with the microfilaments of the cell cortex and microvillar core bundle. Bridges approximately 14 nm in length and 4 nm in diameter are observed connecting the microvillar microfilaments to the outer mitochondrial membrane and microvillar plasma membrane. Depolymerization of all visible microtubules with colchicine does not inhibit 5-HT-stimulated mitochondrial movement. On the other hand, treatment with cytochalasin B does block mitochondrial movement, suggesting that microfilaments play a role in the mitochondrial motility. We have labeled the microvillar microfilaments, which are 6 nm in diameter, with heavy meromyosin, which supports the contention that they contain actin. A model of the mechanism of mitochondrial movement is presented in which mitochondria slide into position in the microvilli along actin-containing microfilaments in a manner analogous to the sliding actin-myosin model of skeletal muscle.     

Differential constrains, recursion operators, and logical integrability

Differential constraints compatible with the linearized equations of partial differential equations are examined. Recursion operators are obtained by integrating the differential constraints.     

Integrable Equations of the Form q t =L 1(x,t,q,q x,q xx )q xxx +L 2(x,t,q,q x,q xx )

Integrable equations of the form q _t =L ₁(x,t,q,q _x ,q _xx )q _xxx +L ₂(x,t,q,q _x ,q _xx ) are considered using linearization. A new type of integrable equations which are the generalization of the integrable equations of Fokas and Ibragimov and Shabat are given.     

Long-term storage of bionanodevices by freezing and lyophilization

Successful long-term storage of a "smart dust" device integrating biomolecular motors and complex protein assemblies has been demonstrated using freezing or lyophilization, which implies that fabrication and application can be separated even for complex bionanodevices.