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Changes in invertase activities were studied upon hardening of chilling-sensitive (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and cold-resistant (Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh. (L.)) plants to hypothermia. In tobacco plants, the activity of cytoplasmic and vacuolar invertases was found to decrease by 20% during hardening, while the activity of cell wall invertase increased almost twofold. In arabidopsis, the activity of all three types of invertases increased more than twofold during hardening. The hardened tobacco plants showed a 20% increase in sugar content, while the relative content of sucrose and hexoses (fructose and glucose) in sugars did not change after hardening and equaled approximately 50% each. During hardening of arabidopsis plants, the sugar content increased 2.5 fold, whereas the proportion of sucrose in the total sugar content decreased (from 44 to 24%) and the proportion of hexoses increased (from 56 to 76%). It was proposed that the increase in activity of cell wall invertase in both plant species suppressed the outflow of assimilates and facilitated the accumulation of photosynthates in mesophyll cells of tobacco and arabidopsis leaves. The decrease in activity of cytoplasmic and vacuolar invertases in N. tabacum restricted the formation of hexoses in cells and reduced the efficiency of cold hardening in tobacco plants. More than a twofold increase in the content of soluble carbohydrates in arabidopsis was mainly caused by hexose accumulation, which was due to the increased activity of cytoplasmic and vacuolar invertases and ensured high efficiency of A. thaliana hardening to hypothermia.

Chloroplast ultrastructural changes were investigated in chilling-sensitive (cucumber, Cucumis sativus L.) and cold-tolerant (winter rye, Secale cereale L.) plants during low-temperature hardening. Cold hardening was found to shorten the total length of thylakoid membranes in chloroplasts of both species by 20–30%. The reduction in total membrane length in cucumber was due to the decline in membrane length of both grana and stroma thylakoids, whereas the membrane length of grana thylakoids in winter rye was reduced without changes in length of stroma thylakoid membranes. In cucumber plants, the chloroplast section area decreased during hardening in parallel with more than threefold increase in starch grain area. In winter rye, the chloroplast area increased after hardening, while starch grains were completely absent. Both S. cereale and C. sativus retained photosynthetic activity at hardening temperatures, although photosynthetic rates decreased by 2–3 times compared to those in untreated plants. The content of soluble sugars in leaves increased by 20% in cucumber and increased more than threefold in winter rye. The accumulation of starch in cucumber chloroplasts provides evidence that a significant part of photosynthetic products was removed from the osmotic pool, which limited the efficiency of hardening in C. sativus plants. In winter rye plants, the thylakoid system rearrangement and the lack of starch synthesis in chloroplasts caused a severalfold increase in the content of intracellular soluble sugars, which ensured highly efficient low-temperature hardening of these plants.

Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh. (L.) plants of the Columbia ecotype (Col-0) and its ethylene-insensitive etr1-1 (ethylene resistant 1) and ein2-1 (ethylene insensitive 2) mutants were studied. The plants were compared in respect to their cold tolerance conferred by cold acclimation. The tolerance to negative temperature increased in all the three genotypes after 5-day cooling of the plants at 2°C. Meanwhile, a quantitative difference was observed between them: the Col-0 plants survived better than the mutants, and the electrolyte leakage from the tissues reached 50% at higher (by 1°C and more) temperature in the hardened mutants than in the Col-0. Only the mutants manifested the increased lipid peroxidation over the hardening period; this indicates ROS production and general oxidative stress. From this point, we speculated that the tested Arabidopsis genotypes are different in the efficiency of their antioxidant systems. For testing, the total activities of the chief antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase, including their isoenzymes, were monitored in the course of hardening. The total SOD activity was found to be lower in the mutants than in the Col-0 both at the normal growing temperature and over the whole time of the cold hardening. The isozyme analysis revealed the link of the reduced total SOD activity of the mutants with the reduced activity of their Cu/Zn-SOD isoforms at 22°C and at the beginning of the hardening. This relationship was supported by the lower relative content of the CSD1 and CSD2 gene transcripts of Cu/Zn-SOD in the mutants in comparison with the Col-0. The decrease in the total catalase activity was also observed and would be ascribed to the lowered activity of the CAT2 isoform. The reported results evidence to the principal feasibility of the ethylene signaling control of the Cu/Zn-SOD and catalase activities associated with the cold acclimation of Arabidopsis.

This paper provides information on the structure, chemical composition, and concentrations of microelements in ferromanganese crusts and siliceous crusts sampled on the Pervenets Rise, Sea of Japan. The crusts were formed by cementation of small fragments of green clays (celadonite) by manganese hydroxides (todorokite and birnessite) or by silica. The primary process involved the generation of celadonite, which was deposited as ore-bearing hydrothermal brine that was discharged in the caldera of the volcano or on its slopes. The crusts have a structure that indicates their formation during diffuse percolation of gas-charged hydrothermal brine along fissures or weakened zones in volcanic rocks and subsequent cementation of the resulting celadonite deposits with manganese or siliceous oxides. The manganese and the siliceous mineralization are separated over time, as well as, frequently, in space, and are more local.

Alterations in the ultrastructure of chloroplasts and the content of sugars during low-temperature hardening (5°C, 6 days) of potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Desnitsa) and a transformed line with the desA gene of Δ12 acyl-lipid desaturase Synechocystis sp. RCC 6803 were studied. It was noted that during hardening, sugars were accumulated in the leaves of both lines, but with greater speed in the leaves of the transformants. In control plants after hardening, an increase in the total number of thylakoid membranes and in the number of plastoglobules per chloroplast were obtained accompanied by a decrease in the chloroplast cross-sectional area and starch grain area. It was found that chloroplasts of transformed plants, which were different from the control plants in the higher absolute content of membrane lipids and the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, corresponded to the hardened plants before cold exposure by some ultrastructural parameters. In the early period of low-temperature hardening, the transformed plants were more adaptable, according to the data on the sugar content.

The paper presents a comparative analysis of ferromanganese crusts and concretions (FMC) recovered during the dredging of 14 seamounts in the Central Basin, Sea of Japan. The major rock-forming elements in FMC are Mn, Fe, and Si. In terms of the Mn content, the studied 53 samples are divided into four groups: (1) less than 10% (given than concentrations of 2–8% are lacking); (2) 10‒25%; (3) 25‒42%; and (4) 42‒63%. The (Mn + Fe)/Si ratio increases from group 1 to group 4, and average value in them is 1.6, 2.5, 6.7, and 70.7, respectively. Taking Fe/Si and Mn/Si values into consideration, concretions of these groups belong to the following varieties: (1) ferrosiliceous; (2) mangano-ferrosiliceous; (3) siliceous-ferromanganese, and (4) manganiferous. The highest concentration of nonferrous metals is observed in FMC of groups 2 and 3. Their concentration is slightly lower in group 4 and very low in group 1. The internal structure of FMC in these groups is variable, suggesting their different formation settings. Crusts of group 1 were formed during the precipitation of Mn from a hydrothermal plume on the older ferrosiliceous crusts. Crusts of groups 2 and 3 were likely formed by the diffuse percolation of Mn-bearing hydrothermal solutions along fractures and weakened zones in volcanic rocks, with their subsequent cementation by manganiferous hydroxides from sedimentary or volcaniclastic deposits on seamounts. Crusts of group 4 were formed at sites of the hydrothermal solution discharge on the seafloor. FMC of different groups are recovered during the dredging of most volcanic seamounts in the Central Basin (Sea of Japan). Since the dredging is accomplished at a depth interval of a few hundreds of meters, the detection of concretions of a certain type is governed by the distance to the nearest hydrothermal source.

The freezing tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. was studied in relation to functioning of the ethylene signaling pathway. Constitutive freezing tolerance was compared in wild-type plants (ecotype Col-0) and ethylene-insensitive mutants etr1-1 and ein2-1. For the first time it was established that the ethylene-insensitive mutants had a 25-30% lower net photosynthesis rate, a decreased content of soluble sugars, and, as a result, a lower freezing tolerance. Our work provides evidence that the perception and transduction of ethylene signal are necessary for constitutive tolerance of Arabidopsis to low temperature.

Based on data on the concentration of noble metals (Au, Ag, Pt, Os, Ir, and Ru) in bulk samples of ferromanganese crusts, the presence of inclusions of micro- and nanosized grains of Ag, Au, Pd, and Pt, often with impurities of other elements, as well as their chaotic distribution, three sources of incorporation of these metals into ore crusts of Far Eastern seas are suggested: seawater, postvolcanic gas–hydrothermal fluids, and hydrothermal plumes. The presence of grains of platinoids and gold in ferromanganese crusts on only some mounts may result from peculiarities in the formation of volcanic rocks on the ancient continental basement.

Changes in activities of the enzymes performing direct antioxidant functions were studied in 7–8-week-old plants Arabidopsis thaliana Heinh (L.) of Columbia (Col-0) ecotype. It was found that 5-day cold hardening at 2°C increased plant cold resistance to the subsequent stronger cooling. Under these conditions, the marked changes occurred in activities of superoxide dismutase and III type (guaiacol) peroxidses but not in that of catalase. The total peroxidase activity exceeded the catalase activity before cold hardening. Therefore, peroxidases are able to decompose more H2O2 than catalases and appear to make the dominant contribution to the protection from the cold damage.

Changes of ultrastructural organization of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Samsun) chloroplasts associated with plant protection from oxidative stress during hypothermia were studied. It was found that the chilling hardening (6 days at 8°C) was accompanied by the significant reduction in the number of grana in a chloroplast simultaneously with area reduction of a granum that led to 30% decrease in the total area of grana in tobacco chloroplasts. In the course of tobacco plant hardening, approximately twofold decrease in generation rate of superoxide anion radical and 30% decrease in content of hydrogen peroxide occurred, which indicates retardation of oxidative processes in plant cells during the cold exposure. It is suggested that the ultrastructural changes in chloroplast organization that were found may prevent an overreduction of an electron-transport chain under hypothermia, when the ability of the Calvin cycle to utilize ATP and NADP·H is significantly reduced. The balanced work of components of light and dark photosynthetic phases may prevent the excessive generation of reactive oxygen species and render formation of tobacco plant tolerance to hypothermia.

When following low-temperature acclimation (5 days at 2°C) of cold-resistant plants of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana Heynh. (L.), ecotype Columbia) in relation to the changes in chloroplast ultrastructure, we registered the high efficiency of hardening and the ability of hardened plants to lower a threshold of frost damage by about 3°C. During hardening, the area of grana in the chloroplasts more than doubled, with considerably increased numbers of thylakoids per granum and thylakoids per chloroplast. The rate of apparent photosynthesis decreased to lesser extent than the rate of dark respiration, as a result the content of soluble sugars increased fourfold, ensuring an adaptive reorganization of metabolism, which enabled the hardened plants to survive even at below-zero temperatures (up to −7°C). The authors conclude that a considerable increase in the number of thylakoids in the chloroplasts helps maintain photosynthesis at low above-zero temperatures and is a prerequisite for the accumulation of soluble sugars in Arabidopsis leaves.

The electron microprobe investigation of volcanic rocks from the submarine rises of the Sea of Japan revealed for the first time numerous inclusions of small grains containing metals (Cu, Zn, Sn, Ni, Pb, As, Cr, W, Ti, Ta, Fe, and Ag), mainly as native elements, intermetallic compounds, phosphides, oxides, sulfides, and sulfates. These grains are usually confined to the walls of microscopic fractures and pores or fill microscopic cavities and interstices in the groundmass and in rock-forming minerals. Taking into account that native metals, intermetallic compounds, and phosphides are indicative of a high-temperature gaseous fluid, it can be supposed that such a fluid was the source of metals.

The examination of polished sections of ferromanganese crusts from the Sea of Japan revealed abundant inclusions of small grains of base and precious metals: Ag, Pd, Pt, Au, Rh, Cu, Zn, Sn, P, Ni, Cr, Ti, Sb, As, W, and Mo. The metals occur in the form of native elements or intermetallic compounds, subordinate sulfides, sulfates, oxides, tungstates, and phosphides. The data on contents, occurrence forms, and distribution of these metals in the ore crusts from this region are discussed.

Equipment and software for recording time-of-flight spectra with a small channel width (10 ns) in precision experiments under conditions of low neutron beam intensities or recording rare events have been designed. An eight-input time encoder operates without losses when the signal intensity is up to 105s−1 at any of the eight inputs. The use of the USB interface ensures the system mobility. The developed system integration procedure from components in the executed format allows one to obtain a distributed system, ensures a higher succession of the software, and the possibility of assembling the system by the user.

Effects of the desA gene from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. encoding Δ12 acyl-lipid desaturase and increasing the level of unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid (18:2) primarily) in membrane lipids, which was inserted into potato (Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Desnitsa) plants, on chloroplast ultrastructure and plant tolerance to low temperatures were studied. The main attention was focused on modifications in the chloroplast structure and their possible relation to potato plant tolerance to oxidative and low-temperature stresses under the influence to their transformation with the Δ12 acyl-lipid desaturase gene from cyanobacterium (desA-licBM3-plants). Morphometric analysis showed that, in comparison with wild-type (WT) plants, in desA-licBM3-plants the number of grana in chloroplasts increased substantially. The total number of thylakoids in transformant chloroplasts was almost twice higher than in WT plants. The number of plastoglobules per chloroplast of transformed plants increased by 25%. A marked increase in the number of grana, total number of thylakoids, and the number of plastoglobules in chloroplasts of desA-licBM3-plants indicates their more intense lipid metabolism, as compared with WT plants, and this resulted in the conservation of some part of lipids in plastoglobules. In addition, the expression of heterological desA gene encoding Δ12 acyl-lipid desaturase positively influenced stabilization of not only structure but also functioning of chloroplast membranes, thus preventing a transfer of electrons from the ETR to oxygen and subsequent ROS generation at hypothermia. This was confirmed by the analysis of the rate of superoxide anion generation in tested genotypes.

Thin mineral grains of nonferrous and precious metals (Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sn, Zn, Sb, Ti, W, Mo, and Ce) were revealed for the first time by SEM and microprobe studies of polished sections of iron-manganese crusts from the Sea of Okhotsk. The metals form native and intermetallic compounds; less frequently they form mineral oxides or sulfides. The conclusion was drawn that the main part of the native minerals represents a mechanical admixture in the ferromanganese crusts.

The content of saccharides and phenolic compounds (including flavonoids and lignin) and the activity of L-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) were determined in leaves and tillering nodes of winter wheat Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars Inna and Moskovskaya 39, differing in the level of frost resistance. These parameters were determined in three groups of plants--control, hardened, and treated with synthetic antioxidants (ambiol and amerol 2000). Cold hardening increased accumulation of primary and secondary metabolites in tissues but decreased the enzyme activity. Treatment with antioxidants also increased the content of saccharides and phenolic compounds (primarily flavonoids) and PAL activity. These changes were more pronounced in cultivar Inna, which is less frost resistant than Moskovskaya 39.

The pattern of changes in the activity of various forms of invertase (acid soluble, alkaline, and acid insoluble) and the content of sugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose) in the course of plant adaptation to prolonged (6 days) hypothermia (5°C) was investigated in the leaves of potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Desiree) produced in vitro. We used the wild-type plants as a control and transformed plants with carbohydrate metabolism modified by inserting the yeast gene for invertase (apoplastic enzyme). In the course of adaptation to hypothermia, the activity of acid invertase was shown to rise and the content of sucrose and glucose to increase in the leaves of both genotypes. The greatest activity of acid invertases by the third day of cold acclimation corresponded to the peak level of sugars; in transformed plants, these characteristics exceeded those in the control plants. The transformed plants were more cold resistant than the control plants as suggested by the lack of disturbance of ion permeability of their membranes. It was concluded that owing to accumulation of low-molecular carbohydrates in the course of cold acclimation caused by activation of acid invertase cold resistant plants better adapt to temperature drop.

Ferromanganese formations are among the major solid mineral resources in the World Ocean. They are characterized by high contents of Fe, Mn, and often nonferrous and noble metals. The issue of the mode of occurrence and genesis of noble and nonferrous metals in the FMS long ago attracted the attention of researchers. However, this issue remains debatable. According to some researchers, the metals mentioned above are extracted from seawater by manganese and iron hydroxides. Other researchers believe that the metals are derived from postmagmatic and hydrothermal solutions. Proponents of the extraterrestrial origin have suggested that platinum group elements (PGE) and some other heavy metals could be incorporated as cosmogenic spherules during the growth of ferromanganese formations. However, all these hypotheses remain controversial. We investigated ferromanganese crusts from the Kashevarov Bank, Deryugin Basin, and Akademiya Nauk Rise in the central part of the Sea of Okhotsk (Fig. 1). Ore crusts from this region are thin (up to 2 cm), usually homogeneous, and vaguely layered (Fig. 2a). The slope of the Kashevarov Bank also contains oolitic crusts related to the cementation of sandy sediment by ferromanganese hydroxides. However, the predominant crust type is characterized by a monolithic upper layer (3 to 4 mm thick) and an oolitic lower layer (Fig. 2b). Data on the chemical composition showed that the crusts contain almost equal contents of Mn and Fe. The total content of ore elements in them is as much as 30 wt %. The Mn content varies from 5.6 to 16.0%; the Fe content, from 3.9 to 17.7%; and the Mn/Fe ratio, from 0.18 to 1.42. Contents of nonferrous metals are very low (0. n ‐0.0 n %) relative to the oceanic ore crust. The total content of Ni, Co, Cu, Pb, and Zn varies from 0.03 to 0.46%. The content of Au and Ag is 0.01 and 0.24 g/t, respectively. In order to elucidate the mode of occurrence of noble and nonferrous metals, we prepared eight polished samples and examined them with an electron microscope and microprobe analyzer (JXA8100, Jeol, Japan). The results show that all samples contain inclusions of noble and nonferrous metals of different compositions. Native silver is the major constituent. Small grains of gold, iron, copper, tungsten, Fe‐Sb oxides, Zn‐Ag‐Cu sulfides, phosphates of rare earth elements, and intermetallic (Cu‐Zn, Cu‐Ni, Sn‐Pb‐Cu‐Ni, Ni‐ Cr‐Mo, Fe‐Cr‐Ni, and Au‐Cu‐Ag) compounds are the subordinate components (Tables 1, 2; Fig. 3).

This paper reports the results of an investigation of the chemical composition and distribution of manganese-rich metalliferous sediments in the Deryugin Basin. They compose an upper sedimentary layer up to 30 cm thick within a strip up to 40 km wide and 180 km long in the central part of the basin along the East Deryugin suture zone bounding the Deryugin sedimentary basin to the east. The sediments are enriched relative to the regional background composition in Mn (by a factor of 35); Au; Ni; Zn; Co (by a factor of 3–5); and, locally, in Mo, V, Ba, Cu, Pb, and Hg. It was supposed that their formation was controlled by several processes: precipitation of Mn and some other trace elements from hydrothermal plumes of seawater that occasionally form above submarine hot vents in the northern part of the basin, precipitation from anoxic bottom waters at the eastern boundary of the Deryugin sedimentary basin, and early diagenetic migration of Mn into the surface sediments.

Growth, CO2 exchange, and the ultrastructure of chloroplasts were investigated in the leaves of potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Desiree) of wild type and transformed with a gene for yeast invertase under the control of patatin class I B33 promoter (for apoplastic enzyme) grown in vitro on the Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 2% sucrose. At a temperature of 22°C optimal for growth, the transformed plants differed from the plants of wild type in retarded growth and a lower rate of photosynthesis as calculated per plant. On a leaf dry weight basis, photosynthesis of transformed plants was higher than in control plants. Under hypothermia (5°C), dark respiration and especially photosynthesis of transformed plants turned out to be more intense than in control material. After a prolonged exposure to low temperature (6 days at 5°C), in the plants of both genotypes, the ultrastructure of chloroplasts changed. Absolute areas of sections of chloroplasts and starch grains rose, and the area of plastoglobules decreased; in transformed plants, these changes were more pronounced. By some ultrastructural characteristics: a reduction in the cold of relative total area of sections of starch grains and plastoglobules (in percents of the chloroplast section area) and in the number of granal thylakoids (per a chloroplast section area), transformed plants turned out to be more cold resistant than wild-type plants. The obtained results are discussed in connection with changes in source-sink relations in transformed potato plants. These changes modify the balance between photosynthesis and retarded efflux of assimilates, causing an increase in the intracellular level of sugars and a rise in the tolerance to chilling.

Ultrastructural changes in chloroplasts of tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.) with the introduced desC gene for the acyl-lipid Δ9-desaturase from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus vulcanus were investigated during plant acclimation to cold. Control plants were transformed with an empty pGA482 binary vector. At optimum growth temperature, a decreased number of grana and thylakoids and an increased number of plastoglobules and their larger area were observed in transgenic plants when compared to control ones. In control plants, acclimation to cold (6 days at 10°C) resulted in the larger areas of chloroplasts and grana. These changes indicated starting cold-induced injuries manifested in swelling of the stroma and a slight decrease in the total number of thylakoids in the chloroplast. In contrast, transgenic plants responded to cold by reducing the chloroplast, granal, and plastoglobule areas. Meantime, the number of thylakoids per granum increased noticeably. The total number of thylakoids in the chloroplast increased from 123 to 203. It was concluded that expression of the acyl-lipid Δ9-desaturase gene in tobacco plants provided for the formation of the cell ultrastructure similar to one characteristic of cold-tolerant plants.

Tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.) transformed with the desC gene for acyl-lipid Δ9-desaturase from a thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus vulcanus were cultivated on the agarized Murashige and Skoog medium at 22°C and a 16-h photoperiod. Tobacco plants transformed with an empty binary vector pGA482 served as the control. The investigations showed that, in contrast to the control, transgenic plants maintained a higher activity of antioxidant enzymes during 2-h incubation at 2°C; as a result, these plants resisted more efficiently the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and reduced the rate of the lipid peroxidation. The activity of antioxidant enzymes in the transformed plants is apparently related to the operation of the introduced desC gene for acyl-lipid Δ9-desaturase because the enhanced activity of the latter increased the relative content of polyunsaturated FAs in membrane lipids and in this way promoted the liquid state of membranes during the chilling period. These changes helped preserve the cellular homeostasis and thereby maintain the steady synthesis of antioxidant enzymes at hypothermic conditions; as a result, cold resistance of transformed tobacco plants increased.

This paper reflects the evolution of the principles published in the No. 5, 2004, issue of Instruments and Experimental Techniques for creating new software for spectrometers. The development of the technique and software complex that allow a distributed experiment automation system (EAS) to be assembled from ready-made modules is described. Attention is devoted primarily to ensuring the invariance of programs with respect to variations of the experimental technique, the possibility of the user controlling the configuration of the spectrometer without involving the programmers, and to minimizing the driver development costs. The complex uses universal base programs and drivers for controlling particular devices. The drivers can be written in any programming language, and their functional code is minimized. The control computer, frontend computers, and observer computers are distinguished logically in the EAS structure on the basis of their functionality. The main function of the frontend computer is to control the equipment incorporated into the spectrometer. The complex allows one to easily scale the EAS, increase the number of frontend computers and drivers, and use frontend computers that run under any operating system. During operational testing on the DN2 spectrometer, the predicted characteristics of the described technique were confirmed. The interactive control program can be used on various setups without making any modifications.

Long-term studies of the cytoplasm-nucleus interactions in alloplasmic hybrids with the nucleus of Triticum aestivum functioning in the alien cytoplasm of Aegilops ovata are reviewed. The interaction of heterologous genome and cytoplasm affects the balanced mechanisms of developmental control of the parental forms. The changes are observed at all levels of physiological and morphological processes. Alloplasmic wheats produced by backcrossing represent a novel type of synthetic plant different from the T. aestivum type and are of great interest to breeders.

Tolerance to chilling was compared in potato plants ( Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Desiree) transformed with a yeast-derived invertase gene under the control of the B33 class 1 tuber-specific promoter and with the proteinase inhibitor II leader peptide sequence providing for the apoplastic enzyme localization (the B33 -inv plants) and potato plants transformed only with a reporter gene (the control plants) under in vitro conditions. The total activities of acid and alkaline invertases and contents of sugars in the B33 -inv plants exceeded those in the control plants. The exposures at low temperature produced a significant less lipid peroxidation activity in the B33- inv plants, as compared to the control. The authors presume that the B33 -inv plants acquire a higher tolerance to low temperatures apparently due to the changes in sugar ratio produced by the yeast invertase.

A special structure and operating algorithm for a data acquisition subsystem have been developed for spectrometric experiments in which data are buffered in the memory. Universal basic software and driver-level programs for each particular spectrometer are both used in this subsystem. It is proposed that the experimental technique be taken into account in every measurement by specifying the spectrometer-state vector in terms of the variable parameters. Without any modification, such data acquisition subsystem programs are suitable for use with different spectrometers and impose no restrictions on the application of any experimental technique. A structure has been developed for the software used in a system for automating experiments, in which it is possible to perform the preliminary (and complete) on-line mathematical processing of experimental data and to realize a mode of processing that would permit the automatic cyclic execution of such operations as editing the composition of experimental data, computing, and analyzing the results.

A user interface that provides the means for scheduling an experiment and controlling its performance is described. The current state of a spectrometer, the programs, and the experimental results can now be presented on the Internet as dynamically formed protocols and graphs. After giving a password, an experiment may be controlled via the Internet. The client can use the Internet without the need for any applied programs. The software package is designed for experiments in the field of condensed matter and nuclear physics and is ready for immediate use.

The software package for the YuMO spectrometer has been updated. The MS DOS programs used before the updating are compared to the similar new programs operating in the OS-9 environment. The merits and demerits of each program are discussed. The main features of the new software are described, and the results of the long-term operation of the new software package are analyzed. It is shown that upgrading the software has improved spectrometer control.