Microbial metabolism of the pyridine ring. Formation of pyridinediols (dihydroxypyridines) as intermediates in the degradation of pyridine compounds by micro-organisms.

1. Several species of micro-organisms that were capable of utilizing pyridine compounds as carbon and energy source were isolated from soil and sewage. Compounds degraded included pyridine and the three isomeric hydroxypyridines.

Microbial metabolism of alkylbenzene sulphonates. Bacterial metabolism of undecylbenzene-p-sulphonate and dodecylbenzene-p-sulphonate.

1. A study was made of the biodegradation of alkylbenzene sulphonate homologues, one of the major components of commercially marketed detergents. A Bacillus species was elected for growth on alkylbenzene sulphonate homologues as the sole source of carbon and sulphur.

Microbial metabolism of pyridinium compounds. Radioisotope studies of the metabolic fat of 4-carboxy-1-methylpyridinium chloride.

Extracts of Achromobacter D formed CO(2), methylamine, succinate and formate as metabolic end-products from N-methylisonicotinic acid (4-carboxy-1-methylpyridinium chloride). The origin of the CO(2) in the 4-carboxyl group and of the methylamine in the N-methyl group of N-methylisonicotinate was demonstrated with carboxyl-(14)C- and N-Me-(14)C-labelled substrates respectively. The carbon skeletons of formate and succinate were shown to arise from the C-2 and the C-3-C-6 atoms of the heterocyclic ring respectively by using N-methyl[2,3-(14)C(2)]isonicotinate.

Microbial metabolism of pyridinium compounds. Metabolism of 4-carboxy-1-methylpyridinium chloride, a photolytic product of paraquat.

1. A bacterium, Achromobacter D, isolated from garden soil by elective culture, utilized N-methylisonicotinic acid (4-carboxy-1-methylpyridinium chloride) as sole carbon source. 2.

Coefficients of inbreeding and homozygosity in recurrent selection: The case of m linked loci.

Methods of calculating the coefficients of inbreeding and homozygosity in a finite population undergoing recurrent selection (self-select-intercross in succeeding generations) are investigated for the case of m linked loci and effective directional selection. These coefficients are derived in terms of vectors whose components reflect the various possible patterns of genes being identical at a given stage of the recurrent selection breeding program.For the case of two linked loci the progress of the panmictic index and/or the index of total heterozygosity through twenty-five cycles of recurrent selection is traced by means of computer-simulated populations ranging in sizes from ten through one hundred, assuming varying recombination probabilities, and assuming both minimum and maximum inbreeding selection patterns.

Habituation of electrically induced readiness to gnaw.

Electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus in prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) produced a readiness to gnaw which decreased over time, exhibited spontaneous recovery, and could be dishabituated by foot shock. The response decrement was in part habituatory and could modify the interaction between a stimulation-induced readiness to gnaw and a physiologically induced hunger. Functional plasticity of stimulation-induced behavior might be accounted for, in part, by habituation.

Coefficients of inbreeding and homozygosity in recurrent selection: the one-locus case.

For selection programs which can be represented by successive self-select-intercross cycles (such as recurrent selection or reciprocal recurrent selection) general recurrence formulae are developed for obtaining the coefficients of inbreeding and homozygosity in each cycle. The formula for the coefficient of inbreeding is a generalization of a result given by Sprague, et al. (1952).