Oxidation and reduction of sulfite by chloroplasts and formation of sulfite addition compounds.

After exposing intact chloroplasts isolated from spinach (Spinacia oleracea L. cv Yates) and capable of photoreducing CO(2) at high rates to different concentrations of radioactive sulfite in the light or in the dark, (35)SO(2) and H(2) (35)S were removed from the acidified suspensions in a stream of nitrogen. Remaining activity could be fractionated into sulfate, organic sulfides, and sulfite addition compounds. When chloroplast suspensions contained catalase, superoxide dismutase and O-acetylserine, the oxidation of sulfite to sulfate was slower in the light than the reductive formation of sulfides that exhibited a maximum rate of about 2 micromoles per milligram chlorophyll per hour, equivalent to about 1% of maximum carbon assimilation. Botht the oxidative and the reductive detoxification of sulfite were very slow in the dark. Oxidation was somewhat, but not much, accelerated in the light in the absence of O-acetylserine, which caused a dramatic decrease in the formation of organic sulfides and an equally dramatic increase in the concentration of sulfite addition compounds whose formation was light-dependent. The sulfite addition compounds were not identified. Addition compounds did not accumulate in the dark. In the light, the electron transport inhibitor 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea, diuron, decreased not only the reduction, but also the oxidation of sulfite and the formation of addition compounds.

The optic lobe of Drosophila melanogaster. II. Sorting of retinotopic pathways in the medulla.

We present a quantitative evaluation of Golgi-impregnated columnar neurons in the optic lobe of wild-type Drosophila melanogaster. This analysis reveals the overall connectivity pattern between the 10 neuropil layers of the medulla and demonstrates the existence of at least three major visual pathways. Pathway 1 connects medulla layer M10 to the lobula plate. Input layers of this pathway are M1 and M5. Pathway 2 connects M9 to shallow layers of the lobula, which in turn are tightly linked to the lobula plate. This pathway gets major input via M2. Pathways 1 and 2 receive input from retinula cells R1-6, either via the lamina monopolar cell L1 (terminating in M1 and M5) or via L2 and T1 (terminating in M2). Neurons of these pathways typically have small dendritic fields. We discuss evidence that pathways 1 and 2 may play a major role in motion detection. Pathway 3 connects M8 to deep layers of the lobula. In M8 information converges that is derived either from M3 (pathway 3a) or from M4 and M6 (pathway 3b), layers that get their major input from L3 and R8 or L4 and R7, respectively. Some neurons of pathway 3 have large dendritic fields. We suggest that they may be involved in the computation of form and colour. Possible analogies to the organization of pathways in the visual system of vertebrates are discussed.

Oxidation versus Reductive Detoxification of SO(2) by Chloroplasts.

Intact chloroplasts isolated from spinach (Spinacia oleracea L. cv Yates) both oxidized and reduced added sulfite in the light. Oxidation was fast only when endogenous superoxide dismutase was inhibited by cyanide. It was largely suppressed by scavengers of oxygen radicals. After addition of O-acetylserine, chloroplasts reduced sulfite to cysteine and exhibited sulfite-dependent oxygen evolution. Cysteine synthesis from sulfite was faster than from sulfate. The results are discussed in relation to species-specific differences in the phytotoxicity of SO(2).