Free-living marine nematodes of Desmodorella and Zalonema (Nematoda: Desmodoridae) with description of two new species from the deep sea of the North Western Pacific.

Examination of material recently collected by the German-Russian deep-sea expeditions has revealed that new species occur regularly in macro- and meiobenthic samples of the North-Western (NW) Pacific. In this paper, we report three desmodorid species of the genera Desmodorella and Zalonema from the NW Pacific. They were studied and described using both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy.

Revision of the genus Campylaimus (Diplopeltidae, Nematoda) with description of four new species from the Sea of Japan.

Four new Campylaimus species are described from the deep-sea sediments of the Sea of Japan at depths of about 500‒3400 m. Campylaimus orientalis sp. nov.

Molecular systematics and DNA barcoding of Altai osmans, oreoleuciscus (pisces, cyprinidae, and leuciscinae), and their nearest relatives, inferred from sequences of cytochrome b (Cyt-b), cytochrome oxidase c (Co-1), and complete mitochondrial genome.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) at the protein-coding Cyt-b gene along with data retrieved from GenBank for Co-1 gene fragments and complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Altai osmans and the nearest relatives of Leuciscinae fish species were compared for the estimation of variability and phylogenetic tree building. Phylogenetic trees were built by four techniques: Bayesian (BA), maximum likelihood (ML), maximum parsimony (MP), and neighbor-joining (NJ). Resolution of Cyt-b trees for species of two genera (Oreoleuciscus and Phoxinus) was quite distinct at all the approaches.

Description of new species of Phanodermopsis (Enoplida, Phanodermatidae) with key to genera of family Phanodermatidae and pictorial key to Phanodermopsis species.

A new representative of the family Phanodermatidae, Phanodermopsis nana sp. n., is described.

Assessment of the toxic effect exerted by fluorescent pseudomonads on embryos and larvae of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus nudus.

Strains of bacteria capable of growing on artificial culture media were isolated from the fouling of brass plates submerged in Nha Trang Bay, South China Sea, and from tissues of the seastar Distolasterias nipon, caught in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan. According to the complex of data of genetic and physiological/biochemical analyzes, two strains of cultivated bacteria were identified by us as the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two strains as Pseudomonas fluorescens, and one strain as Ruegeria sp. It was shown that the cultivated strains of P.

New deep-sea free-living marine nematodes from the Sea of Japan: the genera Siphonolaimus and Halichoanolaimus (Nematoda: Chromadorea) with keys to species identifications.

In deep-sea sediments from the Sea of Japan, two new species, Halichoanolaimus brandtae sp. n. and Siphonolaimus japonicus sp.

Pre-meiotic transformation of germplasm-related structures during male gamete differentiation in Xenopus laevis.

To highlight the ultrastructural features of transformation occurring with germplasm-related structures (GPRS), the spermatogenic cells of Xenopus laevis were studied by transmission electron microscopy and quantitative analysis. It was determined that in spermatogonia and spermatocytes, the compact germinal granules underwent fragmentation into particles comparable with inter-mitochondrial cement (IMC). Fragments of IMC agglutinated some cell mitochondria and resulted in the creation of mitochondrial clusters.

In mouse oocytes the mitochondrion-originated germinal body-like structures accumulate mouse Vasa homologue (MVH) protein.

Mouse Vasa homologue (MVH) antibodies were applied to mouse Graafian oocytes to clarify if mitochondrion-originated germinal body-like structures, described previously by conventional electron microscopy, were associated with the germ plasm. It was found that both the mitochondrion-like structures with cristae and the germinal body-like structures that lacked any signs of cristae were labelled specifically by the anti-MVH antibody. Moreover, some granules were MVH-positive ultrastructural hybrids of the mitochondria and germinal body-like structures, the presence of which clearly supported the idea of a mitochondrial origin for the germinal body-like structures.

THE OOGONIA OF MACROALGA UNDARIA PINNATIFIDA ARE ALKALINE-PHOSPHATASE POSITIVE AND CONTAIN GERMINAL BODY-LIKE STRUCTURES(1).

It was observed that in the female gametophyte of Undaria pinnatifida (Harv.) Suringar (Phaeophyta, Laminariales) gametangial initials and maturing oogonia demonstrated different levels of alkaline-phosphatase activity (APA). The oogonia exhibited a higher level of APA than in its initials.