Ovule morphogenesis in Ranunculaceae and its systematic significance.

Background And Aims: Ranunculaceae has a prominent phylogenetic position in Ranunculales which appears at the base of eudicots. The aims of the present paper are to reveal the features of ovule morphogenesis in different taxa and gain a better understanding of the systematics of Ranunculaceae.

Methods: Flowers of 17 species from three subfamilies, nine tribes and 16 genera of Ranunculaceae, at successive developmental stages, were collected in the wild and studied with a scanning electron microscope.

Dynamic scaffolding in a G protein-coupled signaling system.

The INAD scaffold organizes a multiprotein complex that is essential for proper visual signaling in Drosophila photoreceptor cells. Here we show that one of the INAD PDZ domains (PDZ5) exists in a redox-dependent equilibrium between two conformations--a reduced form that is similar to the structure of other PDZ domains, and an oxidized form in which the ligand-binding site is distorted through formation of a strong intramolecular disulfide bond. We demonstrate transient light-dependent formation of this disulfide bond in vivo and find that transgenic flies expressing a mutant INAD in which PDZ5 is locked in the reduced state display severe defects in termination of visual responses and visually mediated reflex behavior.

[Accumulation and localization of camptothecin in young shoot of Camptotheca acuminata].

The developmental of young stems and leaves were investigated using optical, fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy and the camptothecin content in Camptotheca acuminata was analyzed by HPLC. Secretory structure, especially secretory canals were found. A linear relationship (r(2)=0.