Том 48, № 2 (2017)

The main achievements in applying modern reproductive technologies to the banking of the genetic resources of the Felidae family are reviewed. The classification of felids at the level of species and subspecies is revised in the light of recent molecular data. Special emphasis is made on such mainstream technologies as semen collection and cryopreservation followed by artificial insemination, as well as on in vitro maturation and fertilization of oocytes combined with the culture of in vitro-derived felid embryos.

The transformation of polyp into medusa is one of the most interesting processes in the life cycle of cnidarians. In the polyps of the class Scyphozoa this transformation occurs in the form of strobilation, which is the transverse fission of polyps with the formation of discoidal ephyrae. At present, the endogenous regulation of strobilation in one of scyphozoans, Aurelia aurita, is being investigated by the methods of molecular biology (Fuchs et al., 2014). However, it is still unclear which key environmental factors induce this process. The main purposes of this review are to summarize the literature data on the conditions in which strobilation in A. aurita occurs in nature and in the laboratory and to try to identify the environmental factors that are most likely to play a signaling role in strobilation.

This article is devoted to the study of the double fertilization mechanism in plants, in particular of the maize gamete membrane fusion genes. We detected and analyzed for the first time gamete-fusion genes in the maize genome. Using the BLAST program, we searched for the hap2 gene (generative cell specific 1 (gcs1)) homologs from Arabidopsis in the maize genome. The ZM_BFb0162K03 maize transcript was found, which had 67% identity to the Athap2 gene and contained a conserved region similar to the Athap2 gene fragment. In mRNA samples from the haploid-inducing and control maize lines, an PCR was conducted by using primers specific to the ZM_BFb0162K03 sequence fragment. Sequences of the PCR products from a fragment (1467 bp) of the Zm_hap2 gene of the haploid-inducing and the control maize lines were identical and also were identical to the maize sequences from the GenBank (ZM_BFb0162K03). PCR products (656 bp region of Zm_hap2) for the ZM_BFb0162K03 (1925 bp) maize sequence were observed for the cDNA of pollen grains, ovary, leaves, and roots of the haploid-inducing and control maize lines. Using the Blastx program, we found significant homology of the maize translated proteins to the GEX2, TET11, and TET12 proteins, involved in Arabidopsis gamete-fusion contacts.

Neuronal development of the majority of trochozoan animals with biphasic pelago-bentic life cycle starts from transient peripheral neurons, which do not belong to the central nervous system and are mainly located in the apical sensory organ and in the hyposphere. Some of these neurons are pioneer and send neurites that form a scaffold upon which the adult central nervous system later develops. In representative species of molluscs and polychaetes, immunolabelling with the antibodies against neurotransmitters serotonin and FMRFamide, and acetylated α-tubulin revealed that the structure of almost all early peripheral neurons is typical for sensory, most probably chemosensory cells: flask shape, and cilia at the end of the apical dendrite or inside the distal ampoule. Morphology, transmitter specificity, location and projections of the early sensory cells differ in trochophores of different species thus suggesting different origin of these cells. In polychaete larvae, pharmacological inhibition of serotonin synthesis in early peripheral neurons did not affect the development, whereas its increase resulted in developmental arrest and neural malformations, suggesting that early peripheral sensory neurons are involved in developmental regulation.

Terahertz radiation (0.1–10 THz) is increasingly becoming a factor of human habitat. The study of the consequences of radiation allows one to estimate its possible biological danger. Our data indicate that the terahertz irradiation of parental Drosophila shortens the period of embryonic development of their first generation descendants. Significant deviations of data from the control were found, when both females and males were experimental parents. The highest portion of animals with accelerated hatching as compared with the control was found in progenies from irradiated females. The shift of maximal hatching peak to an earlier period was found in descendants of both sexes. Thus, it was for the first time found on the model object (Drosophila) that the terahertz irradiation of parents can have positive or negative consequences in the first generation descendants.