HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dr@ducvax.auburn.edu
Subject: Re: A big hello
Organization: Auburn University, AL
Distribution: bionet
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 06:32:56 GMT

In article <1992Dec10.153700.17634@gserv1.dl.ac.uk>, ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk (Tony Travis) writes:
> In article <92129225625.MIN-LVLBa00330.bionet-news@uk.ac.daresbury> you wrote:
> : I am a "virgin" bionet user, this is my first message.
> 
> Hello, David + welcome to bionet.plants!
> 
> : Is there anybody out there who is interested in how plants deal with
> : heavy metals (ie Cd, Cu, Zn etc....yes O.K you know what a heavy metal
> : is). Perhaps were could have a meaningful dialogue?
> 
> <some deletions...>
>
> Ok, everybody - are you interested in discussing heavy metals??
> 

I'd be interested in such a discussion; my current interest would be
taxonomic in nature.  'Fraid I can't make any contribution to such a
discussion at this time, for convoluted reasons, best alluded to by my 
post, "Request: Recruiting/Luring Biologists to the Nets", in sci.bio 
and bionet.general.  That same post would also serve as a belated way 
to introduce myself (I did not do so at the inception of this group, 
for reasons I will style as virginal shyness).

	D.R.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Roller  |    Bitnet = dr@auducvax            |  "Because we're all
Auburn Univ.  |  Internet = dr@ducvax.auburn.edu   |   in this together."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 20:11:42 EST
From: <MEK104@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: Re: Sugarcane


>Hello, everyone.  I am trying to find a small supply of sugar cane
>(Saccharum officinarum) or any other Saccharum spp.  for that matter- I
>understand there is an ornamental form.  I realize this is not a northern
>crop- I'm doing a host range test for the purposes of naming a new pathogen.
>So, even leaf pieces would be a help, if I don't have to go through all of
>the rigamarol of getting through customs.  Root cuttings or botanical seed
>would be fine.  Any Canadian botanical gardens with this out there?  I
>haven't had much luck in the usual catalogues.

>Thanks -RSW

>RICHARD WINDER Title: Visiting Fellow Forestry Canada Phone: (604) 363-0600
>Victoria, B.C.  Internet: RWINDER@A1.PFC.Forestry.CA

Hi Rich,

I suggest you contact Frederick (Rick) Meinzer, Hawaiian Sugar Planters
Assoc., PO Box 1057, Aiea, Hawaii, 96701.  He's a real nice guy and is
familiar with various sugarcane cultivars.



Mark Kubiske                < MEK104@PSUVM.PSU.EDU >
School of Forest Resources
Penn State University
From: barzvi@bgumail.bgu.ac.il (bar zvi )
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: WANTED: JASMONIC ACID OR METHYL JASMONATE
Date: 18 Dec 92 09:45:27 GMT
Distribution: bionet
Original-To: plantbio@uk.ac.daresbury
Original-Cc: BARZVI@il.ac.bgu.bgumail
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]

Dear networker,

I am looking for Jasmonic acid or Methyl jasmonate. Could you please
inform me of a source for these compounds?

Thanks,


Dudy Bar-Zvi

barzvi@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
From: barzvi@bgumail.bgu.ac.il (bar zvi )
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: tomato ABA mutants
Date: 16 Dec 92 10:18:56 GMT
Distribution: bionet
Original-To: plantbio@uk.ac.daresbury
Original-Cc: barzvi@il.ac.bgu.bgumail
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]

Dear networkers,

I am looking for seeds of tomato ABA mutants. I would be very thankful if
you could send me some seeds or inform me about a source to get them.

Thank you,

Dudy Bar-Zvi
Department of Life Sciences
Ben-Gurion University
Beer-Sheva 84105
Israel

Bitnet barzvi@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
From: young@serum.kodak.com (Rich Young)
Subject: Re: Plant communication/sensing references wanted
Originator: young@sasquatch
Reply-To: young@serum.kodak.com
Organization: Clinical Diagnostics Division, Eastman Kodak Company
Distribution: bionet
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 14:54:40 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.001934.23792@gserv1.dl.ac.uk> ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk writes:

[...mimosa pulvinus mechanism discussion deleted...]

>The analogy with propagation of nerve impulses in animals is often
>cited in descriptions of these responses, and ion-transport is
>certainly involved in the turgor mechanism of the pulvini.  However,
>electrogenic proton extrusion is the fundamental ion-transport process
>in plants and the active Na+/K+ exchanges that occur in transmission of
>nerve impulses do not occur in plants.

  This is interesting...apparently there is some disagreement in this area?
  I lifted the following from a different newsgroup written by Bill Williams
  of St. Mary's College of Maryland in message <13812@umd5.umd.edu> in
  reference to mimosa pudica:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sensing of environment:  I'm not too sure what the actual sensing mechanism is,
but the signal is an action potential, just like in an animal's neurons.  A
charge separation propagates along the cells, causing sodium and potassium
channels in their membranes to open and close, which alters the membrane
potential and thus passes the signal along to the next patch of membrane. 
Plant action potentials are usually much, much slower to propagate than animal
action potentials.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Clearly, there is a fundamental difference of opinion regarding the action
  of Na+ and K+ in this area...either that, or my ignorance is showing, which
  is entirely possible.  :-)

[...]

>I would be interesed to know if rapid ion-mediated responses of plants
>to external stimuli are related in any way to the evolution of a
>nervous system in animals?

  Me, too, although my feeling is that there may be some parallel evolution
  at work.


-Rich Young (These are not Kodak's opinions.)
From: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk (Tony Travis)
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: Re: Plant communication/sensing references wanted
Date: 19 Dec 92 22:29:57 GMT
Reply-To: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk
Distribution: bionet
Organization: Rowett Research Institute
Original-To: plantbio@uk.ac.daresbury

In article <921219201229.MIN-LDEAa26371.bionet-news@uk.ac.daresbury> you wrote:
: [...]
: 	Okay.  Wildon, et. al., state that "...wounding by heat or physical
: 	injury produces electrical activity that has similarities to the
: 	epithelial conduction system used to transmit a stimulus in the
: 	defence responses of some lower animals."

I confess that I have not read Wildon et al. but one aspect of the
relationship between plant cells is the existence of electrochemical
gradients that drive ion-transport between them.  Any perturbation of
these gradients by disruption of the cell membrane (mechanical injury
or denaturation of proteins in the membrane by heat) is likely to cause
a 'ripple' or wave of change as cells in the surrounding tissues
readjust to changes in the electrochemical environment around them.

I can accept that this is, in some ways, like the transmission of
stimuli in 'animals' such as hydra (which are associations of
cooperating individuals rather than genuine multi-cellular organisms).
In the case of plants, the existence of a continuous extracellular
channel of communication via the apoplast may facilitate (relatively)
rapid responses by the propagation of perturbations in one part of the
plant to another.

The hormonal control of growth and development is strategic to the
success of a plant, but I can see a 'tactical' advantage to plants that
are able to respond more rapidly to changes in their environment. 
Mimosa pudica is a case in point where (as I mentioned in a previous
article) the rapid leaf movements in response to mechanical stimuli may
reduce the loss of foliage from damage caused by torrential rain or
grazing animals.

	Tony.
--
Dr. A.J.Travis,                       |  Tony Travis
Rowett Research Institute,            |  JANET: <ajt@uk.ac.sari.rri>
Greenburn Road, Bucksburn,            |  other: <ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk>
Aberdeen, AB2 9SB. UK.                |  phone: 0224-712751
From: bertheau@inapv.inapg.inra.fr (Yves Bertheau)
Subject: Cladistic and phenetic analyses of RFLP data
Keywords: Phylogeny,RFLP,analysis,
Organization: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique INA P-G
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 12:18:48 GMT


Dear netters,

We are comparing several Erwinia bacteria by RFLP (rRNA) or RFLP after
specific PCR (on the amplified fragments of genes involved in pathogenicity)

We plan to make phenetic and cladistic analyses of the data:

1) Does somebody know a good review about the analysis of RFLP data using
a phenetic approach (the several similarity indices, the distances...), I
know for the cladistic approach several papers by J. Felsenstein, are they
other of the same type?

2) Are we allowed to analyze PCR/RFLP data as classical RFLP data? Or is a
new approach necessary for the RFLP data originating from amplified fragments?
(phenetic and cladistic approaches)

3) We used 4 and 6 bases cutters restriction enzymes. How could we analyze the
data with the Nei and Li distance when we know that the number of nucleotides
is a part of the formula? Do we have to make separate analysis depending on the
number of nucleotides recognized by the enzymes?

4) Same question as in item 3 when using the PHYLIP package, what to do when
we used 4 and 6 bases cutters?

Thanks in advance

-- 

		Yves Bertheau
		INRA INA P-G
		Pathologie Vegetale
		16 rue Claude Bernard
		75231 Paris cedex 05
		FRANCE
Phone: +33 (1) 43.31.93.97	Fax  : +33 (1) 43.31.83.82
Telex: 250985			Internet bertheau@inapv.inapg.inra.fr

-- 
		Yves Bertheau
INRA INA P-G		Pathologie Vegetale	16 rue Claude Bernard	
75231 PARIS cedex 05	FRANCE	Tel +33 (1) 43.31.93.97 
Fax: +33 (1) 43.31.83.82 Internet: bertheau@inapg.inra.fr
From: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk (Tony Travis)
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: Re: A big hello
Date: 16 Dec 92 23:25:37 GMT
Reply-To: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk
Distribution: bionet



----------------------------Original message----------------------------

Welcome to the group, David.

I'm glad that people are beginning to participate actively on the
bionet.plants group.  As plant biologists we have a lot to learn from
the molecular biologists experience of using the network, but we are
getting there gradually.

The essence of Usenet, for me, is the informal contact we make with
each other by posting to a group such as this.  I began the discussions
on bionet.plants by asking people to introduce themselves and describe
their area of interest.

So, tell us something about your interest in heavy metals and taxonomy?

Ok, what am I interested in . My main interest is in how plants are able
to tolerate elevated levels of heavy metals and specifically what is the
mechanism of metals tolerance in evolved metal tolerant races. I have
looked at the formation of copper-phytochelatin (gamma(EC)nG) and
metallothionein (the protein I isolated had an amino acid composition very
similar to that predicted for the plant metallothionein gene) in copper
tolerant Mimulus guttatus inresponse to 10 micro molar Cu and the synthesis
of just phytochelatins in response to Cd. Recently I have been looking at the
mechanism involved in Cd and phytochelatin transport into the vacuole where
they appear to accumulate. I have identified a Cd/H antiport activity at the
tonoplast and am now investigateing the mechanisms of phytochelatin transport.
Well in a nut shell that is what I do.

David Salt
Botany Dept.
University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada  (Botsalt@vm.uoguelph.ca)
From: BOTSALT@VM.UOGUELPH.CA (david salt)
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: heavy metals a few points
Date: 11 Dec 92 22:14:04 GMT
Distribution: bionet

Well I am pleased with the response to my plea for discussion on the topic
of heavy metals and plants.
The discussion on hyperaccumulators is interesting but it is important to
realise that to my knowledge there is no example of a plant which excludes
metals, all plants appear to accumulate metals to some degree. This is probably
due to the cationic metal being driven across the PM via the membrame potential
-ve inside. In tobacco this metal then appears to be compartmentalised within
the vacuole. Once inside the vacuole Cd is bound to the induced peptide
phytochelatins, therebye reducing the Cd's chemical gradient across the
tonoplast and hence reducing the amount of energy required to keep pumping
Cd inside. In oats Cd is transported across the tonoplast via a Cd/H
antiport (presumably driven in vivo by tghe tonoplast H-ATPase or H-PPiase).
Transport of Cd back out across the PM may also be a possibility.
RE Datura: P. Jackson at Los Alamos has done alot of work on the
biochemistry of Cd resistence on Datura innoxia in tissue culture!

IS CADMIUM REALLY SO BAD!!!!!!
a recent article in Nature suggests not!(344, 658-660, 1990)
It would appear that Cd can substitute for Zn in Zn deficient marine diatoms!
Does this explain the slight growth stimulation physiologist have seen (but
not talked about) in Cd tolerence tests using root elongation?
What is Cd doing in the marine diatom? Is it siting in the active site of
catalase or in Zn-fingers?....Any ideas.

Finally are there any biophysicists out there how can explain to me why
crystaline CdS is an interesting semiconductor because the fission yeast
S. pombe makes particles of it when exposed to Cd (and may be also plants)
and AT&T Bell laboratories are interested (Nature 338, 596-597, 1989).

David Salt
Botsalt@vm.uoguelph.ca
Newsgroups: bionet.plants,sci.anthropology
From: claird@NeoSoft.com (Cameron Laird)
Subject: Re: polynesian ethnobotany
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 05:10:00 GMT

In article <Bz4AL7.GBC@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> richter@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (C. Richter) writes:
>In article <nking.724101804@unix1.tcd.ie> nking@unix1.tcd.ie (Nev's family recipe) writes:
>>i am currently doing a dissertation on the biology of thespesia
>>populnea (miro, milo ,portia tree, mahoe)
>>and its use by pitcairn islanders.
>>If anyone has any information on its medicinal, or other uses of the
>>plant.... E Mail me at nking@unix1.tcd.ie
>
>I checked some issues of _Economic Botany_ which were close at hand; here 
>are some items on Thespesia populnea. Interesting plant; enjoyed learning 
>about it.  
> 
> Bhargava N 1983. Ethnobotanical studies of the tribes of Andaman and 
>     Nicobar Islands, India. 1. Onge. 37:110-119
>     p. 113.  "...tebokala. Tree. Leaves eaten raw for constipation."
> 
> Whistler WA 1984. Annotated list of Samoan plant names. 38:464-489.     
>     p. 477.  "Milo -- ... common, small to medium-sized tree of the 
>              littoral forest, well known to most Samoans because of its 
>              highly esteemed wood. It is also known as milo in the rest 
>              of western Polynesia, and miro in most of eastern Polynesia."
		[numerous other provocative citations]
			.
			.
			.
1.  Ethnoscience conversations would be most welcome also
    in sci.anthropology, I propose.
2.  It's a particularly good idea in anthropology to scan
    current journals.  They're often accessible at an
    undergraduate level (in contrast to what prevails in,
    say, mathematics or physics, or, in a different way,
    in psychology).  *Current Anthropology* of course
    deliberately sets out to illustrate the dialogic
    intellectual essence of the discipline, and its inter-
    national character, and so is instructive in the ways
    of anthropology in general.  Among specialized periodi-
    cals, *Economic Botany* reliably exemplifies many of
    the small pleasures of anthropology:  the dialectics
    of psychology and material reality, language and folk-
    ways, human society and allo-human biology, and
    economic calculation and liminal experience.  It's a
    good read.
-- 

Cameron Laird
claird@Neosoft.com (claird%Neosoft.com@uunet.uu.net)	+1 713 267 7966
claird@litwin.com (claird%litwin.com@uunet.uu.net)  	+1 713 996 8546
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
From: news@bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au (USENET News System)
Subject: Re: Why plants produce alkaloids
Organization: Prentice Centre, University of Queensland
 
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 00:08:43 GMT

This article was probably generated by a buggy news reader.
Newsgroups: bionet.plants,alt.sustainable.agriculture
From: london@sunSITE.unc.edu (Larry London)
Subject: Re: plants, metals and contaminated sites
Summary: 260 plants tested for purifiying ability
Keywords: Kathe Seidel of Max Planck Institute
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Distribution: bionet
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 07:30:06 GMT


Regarding hyperaccumulators, bioremediation, etc.:

See this article:

HARROWSMITH, The Magazine of Country Life
December, 1988
Number 18
Pages 38-47

"The New Alchemist" John Todd: Transforming Waste With a Rare Mettle
By Donella Meadows

-------------------------
From text on pages 43-44:
[quoted without permission]

"The effluent takes five days to wind from one end of the greenhouse to
the other. When it reaches the far end, it is filtered by the artificial
marsh - a gravel bed out of which grows a carefully selected thicket of 
water-loving plants. The marsh plants are chosen because they have 
commercial value (watercress) or pretty blooms (marsh marigold) or known
ability to take up toxic substances (cattails, bulrushes). Organic toxins
are broken down. Heavy metals accumulate in the plants and in any compost
made from the plants. That's a problem, but heavy metals are a problem in
every kind of wastewater treatment plant."
"I learned about these plants from Kathe Seidel at the Max Planck
Institute in West Germany. She's tested 260 plants for purifying ability.
She found that some would take up heavy metals and organic solvents and
even some, like that aquatic iris over there, that exude substances from
their roots that kill pathogenic bacteria. Hardly anyone pays attention to
her work. But she gave me the confidence that we could duplicate nature's 
way of making high-quality water."

----------------------
Lawrence
london@sunsite.unc.edu
From: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk (Tony Travis)
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: Re: Plant communication/sensing references wanted
Date: 16 Dec 92 00:19:28 GMT
Reply-To: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk
Distribution: bionet
Organization: Rowett Research Institute
Original-To: plantbio@uk.ac.daresbury

In article <921215021837.MIN-LDUCa00330.bionet-news@uk.ac.daresbury> you wrote:
: [...]
:    I've just finished reading Wildon, et. al., in NATURE 360:62-65, and I
:    find this to be fascinating.  Seems like it's one of those, "Golly, we
:    never thought they could do THAT," subjects.  Is this stuff a hot topic
:    of discussion in the plant-oriented community?

Well, Rich a popular project for undergraduate students is to discover
how mechanical stimulation of one mimosa pulvinus (ie. the tissue
supporting a leaf where it is attached to the stem) causes a response
in other, distant, pulvini.

Normally, the pulvinus is turgid, and supports the leaf errect in an
orientation suitable for photosynthesis but if the leaf is touched the
turgor of the pulvinus is lost and the leaf drops down.  Then, other
leaves/leaflets in the vicinity drop in a 'wave' as the stimulus is
propagated throughout the plant.

There are a number of possible advantages to the plant in adopting this
behaviour such as reducing damage to foliage in torrential rain, or in
presenting an unappetising appearance to grazing herbivores :-)

The analogy with propagation of nerve impulses in animals is often
cited in descriptions of these responses, and ion-transport is
certainly involved in the turgor mechanism of the pulvini.  However,
electrogenic proton extrusion is the fundamental ion-transport process
in plants and the active Na+/K+ exchanges that occur in transmission of
nerve impulses do not occur in plants.

Interestingly, stomata (which also respond by ion-transport mediated
turgor chages) are known to oscillate and this may indicate similar
sensitivity of guard cells to responses elsewhere in the plant via
changes in the concentration of ions in the apoplast.  Clearly, the
hormonal responses (ABA etc.) to which stomata respond are part of the
overall response but the stomatal oscillations and the propagation of
responses to mechanical stimulation in mimosa are rapid responses.

I would be interesed to know if rapid ion-mediated responses of plants
to external stimuli are related in any way to the evolution of a
nervous system in animals?

	Tony.
--
Dr. A.J.Travis,                       |  Tony Travis
Rowett Research Institute,            |  JANET: <ajt@uk.ac.sari.rri>
Greenburn Road, Bucksburn,            |  other: <ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk>
Aberdeen, AB2 9SB. UK.                |  phone: 0224-712751
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
From: Ribas A. Vidal <VIDAL@PURCCVM.BITNET>
Subject: test
Organization: Purdue University
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:55:54 GMT

this is a test.

repeating,

this is a test.
From: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk (Tony Travis)
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: Re: heavy metals a few points
Date: 12 Dec 92 23:18:36 GMT
Reply-To: ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk
Distribution: bionet
Organization: Rowett Research Institute
Original-To: plantbio@uk.ac.daresbury

In article <921211224901.MIN-LHFCa00330.bionet-news@uk.ac.daresbury> you wrote:
: [...]
: The discussion on hyperaccumulators is interesting but it is important to
: realise that to my knowledge there is no example of a plant which excludes
: metals, all plants appear to accumulate metals to some degree. This is probably
: due to the cationic metal being driven across the PM via the membrame potential
: -ve inside. In tobacco this metal then appears to be compartmentalised within
: [...]

I did some work with benzo-18-crown-6 (a synthetic ionophore) which
demonstrated that accumulation of K+ in the vacuole of stomatal guard
cells was dependent on the permeability of the PM to K+ ions.  The
crown ether is incorporated into the membrane and forms K+ permeable
channels.

The driving force for accumulation of K+ is electrogenic proton
extrusion across the PM/tonoplast.  It seems that accumulation of Cd or
any other cation available would depend on membrane permeability rather
than active transport of the metal itself.

	Tony.
--
Dr. A.J.Travis,                       |  Tony Travis
Rowett Research Institute,            |  JANET: <ajt@uk.ac.sari.rri>
Greenburn Road, Bucksburn,            |  other: <ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk>
Aberdeen, AB2 9SB. UK.                |  phone: 0224-712751
Newsgroups: bionet.plants