Neues von der Nervenzellmembran

Information processing in the brain requires the activation of electrically and chemically gated ion channels in the neuronal plasma membrane. Recently, the function and the molecular composition of some of these membrane proteins have become the subject of extensive biochemical and biophysical analysis. From the currently available data, it is proposed that the architecture of different neuronal ion channels obeys common structural principles which may have resulted from a divergent evolution of a limited number of ancestor transmembrane polypeptides.     

Carbon source in the future chemical industries

Rising crude oil prices favour the exploitation of hitherto unutilised energy carriers and the realisation of new technologies in all sectors where carbon is used. These changed economic constraints necessitate both savings in conventional petrochemistry and a change to oil-independent carbon sources in the chemical industry. While, in coal chemistry, the synthesis and process principles of petrochemistry — fragmentation of the raw material and subsequent buildup of molecular structures — can be maintained, the raw material structure largely remains unchanged in the chemistry of renewable raw materials. This lecture is to demonstrate the structural as well as the technological and energy criteria of the chemistry of alternative carbon sources, to forecast the chances of commercial realization and to discuss some promising fields of research and development.     

Aggregation and foraging behavior of whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae)

Summary Whirligig beetles aggregate in the daytime into dense single-and multispecies groups (rafts) of hundreds or thousands of individuals. On the 22km shoreline of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, these aggregations were on the average 0.8 km apart, and they were usually found day after day in the same ocations.Most beetles apparently do not home to the aggregation of their origin after dispersing at night because (a) the species composition of some aggregations changed greatly, and (b) paint-marked beetles (Dineutus horni) moved overnight from one aggregation as far as 4km, joining 11 of the 14 large (>300 beetles) D. horni groups on the lake.Throughout the night, the largest concentrations of beetles remained within 100m of the diurnal aggregation sites. Beetles reconvened into the compact rafts before daybreak, in part by following each other in sometimes long single files or trains. Their forward motion stopped after they joined large number of other beetles. We infer that following behavior enables those individuals that have dispersed from their original aggregations (during their nocturnal foraging) to find and join other aggregations before daylight.Naive fish ate the beetles despite their noxious secretions. However, fish living near rafting sites and feeding on insects on the water surface in daylight should soon learn to avoid the beetles. The rafting sites would then become safe places. We observed fish attacking only those beetles that had been either dispersed from their rafts or released into open water away from raft sites in the daytime. We speculate that the evolutionary significance of the aggregation behavior is related to predator (fish) avoidance.     

über Bilche oder ?Schl?fer’: Gartenschl?fer, Baumschl?fer, Siebenschl?fer und Haselm?use

Ohne Zusammenfassung