Chemical bioinduction of rubber in guayule plant.

The treatment of young guayule plants with 2-(3,4-dichlorophenoxy)-triethylamine stimulated the accumulation of polyisoprenoid rubber in the stem and root tissues. This finding suggests that rubber productivity can be improved by the use of chemical agents on guayule and other rubber-forming plants.

Fluorometric examination of a lunar sample.

We have been unable to detect porphyrins in 13 grams of the bulk fine lunar sample from the Sea of Tranquillity under conditions in which less than 10-(1J) mole per gram of lunar sample could have been detected. By appropriate extraction, however, the lunar sample yields a material which exhibits absorption maxima at 310 and 350 nanometers and a fluorescence maximum at 410 nanometers.

Sterile soil from Antarctica: organic analysis.

Soils from the dry-valley region of Antarctica can be sterile by the usual microbiological criteria and yet contain significant amounts of organic carbon. Examination of one such soil shows that the organic material is finely divided anthracite coal. These findings have significant implications for the biological exploration of Mars.

Fatty acids and polar lipids of extremely thermophilic filamentous bacterial masses from two Yellowstone hot springs.

The fatty acid composition of filamentous bacterial masses from two very hot Yellowstone Park springs is not unusual despite the extreme environment. Both populations have a series of C(14) to C(20) straight-chain acids with a maximum at C(18), and a series of saturated iso acids with a maximum at C(17) in one case and C(19) in the other. The fatty acid pattern of this anomalous group of organisms is like that of bacteria but not of blue-green algae. Both populations have similar polar lipids and identical carotenoids. It is speculated that these organisms may be adapted to their high-temperature environment by means of stable lipoprotein membrane systems.

The unextractable organic fraction of the pueblito de allende meteorite: evidence for its indigenous nature.

The Pueblito de Allende meteorite contains only 0.1-0.5 ppm of solvent-extractable carbon, most or all of which is due to terrestrial contamination. Determinations of the total carbon content gives values from 0.23 to 0.35 per cent. The presumed indigenous insoluble carbon is thus present in a ratio of 2300:1 relative to contaminant carbon. A sample of the meteorite was extracted with a deuterated solvent containing benzene:methanol (4:1 w/w) to remove contaminants and then was subjected to pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to investigate the nature of the remaining carbon. The pyrolysis products (about 20 ppm) consisted chiefly of aromatic and substituted aromatic hydrocarbons. The pyrolysis results were confirmed by oxidative thermal analysis which showed that the bulk of the carbon present was a macromolecular structure and not graphite. This suggests that an insoluble nongraphitic condensed aromatic polymer is indigenous to the meteorite. The origin and precise chemical structure of this material has not been determined, but it bears a superficial resemblance to coal-like structures.