白杨杂种三倍体小孢子母细胞减数分裂及花粉形态观察

通过醋酸洋红压片等方法观察毛新杨×银腺杨杂种三倍体小孢子母细胞减数分裂及花粉形态,以探讨杂种三倍体雄配子的育性及其细胞学机制.结果显示:(1)在小孢子母细胞减数分裂过程中可观察到部分染色体提前分向两极、落后染色体、微核等一系列染色体异常行为,表明该三倍体存在染色体的高度不平衡性.(2)在减数第二次分裂过程中存在大量胞质分裂提前现象;减数分裂产物中发现有少量二分体、三分体的存在,同时毛新杨×银腺杨杂种三倍体花粉粒的直径变化范围为22.6～62.6 μm,呈现双峰分布,由此推测有一定数量的具可育性的未减数花粉产生.     

Paleoclimatic Variation and Brain Expansion during Human Evolution

One of the major adaptations during the evolution of Homo sapiens was an increase in brain size. Here we present evidence that a significant and substantial proportion of variation in brain size may be related to changes in temperature. Based on a sample of 109 fossilized hominid skulls, we found that cranial capacities were highly correlated with paleoclimatic changes in temperature, as indexed by oxygen isotope data and sea-surface temperature. Indeed, as much as 52% of the variance in the cranial capacity of these skulls could be accounted for by temperature variation at 100 ka intervals. As an index of more short-term seasonal fluctuations in temperature, we examined the latitude of the sites from which the crania originated. More than 22% of the variance in cranial capacity of these skulls could be accounted for by variation in equatorial distance.     

Emi1 Class of Proteins Regulate Entry into Meiosis and the Meiosis I to Meiosis II Transition in Xenopus Oocytes

Xenopus oocytes are arrested at the G2/prophase boundary of meiosis I and enter meiosis in response to progesterone. A hallmark of meiosis is the absence of DNA replication between the successive cell division phases meiosis I (MI) and meiosis II (MII). After the MI-MII transition, Xenopus eggs are locked in metaphase II by the cytostatic factor (CSF) arrest to prevent parthenogenesis. Early Mitotic Inhibitor 1 (Emi1) maintains CSF arrest by inhibiting the ability of the Anaphase Promoting Complex (APC) to direct the destruction of cyclin B. To investigate whether Emi1 has an earlier role in meiosis, we injected Xenopus oocytes with neutralizing antibodies against Emi1 at G2/prophase and during the MI-MII transition. Progesterone-treated G2/prophase oocytes injected with anti-Emi1 antibody fail to activate Maturation Promoting Factor (MPF), a complex of cdc2/cyclin B, and the MAPK pathway, and do not undergo germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD). Injection of purified ?90 cyclin B protein or blocking anti-Emi1 antibody with purified Emi1 protein rescues these meiotic processes in Emi1-neutralized oocytes. Acute inhibition of Emi1 in progesterone treated oocytes immediately after GVBD causes rapid loss of cdc2 activity with simultaneous loss of cyclin B levels and inactivation of the MAPK pathway. These oocytes decondense their chromosomes and enter a DNA replication phase instead of progressing to MII. Prior ablation of Cdc20, addition of methyl-ubiquitin, or addition of indestructible ?90 cyclin B rescues the MI-MII transition in Emi1 inhibited oocytes.     

甘蔗属及其近缘属种的rbcL基因序列变异和系统发育初步研究

甘蔗属及其近缘属种在分类关系上非常复杂,存在不少混乱,目前关于它们的分类学研究主要是基于形态学和同工酶水平,而基因水平上的报道很少,我们对甘蔗属及其近缘的属种的部分rbcL基因片段（1137bp)进行了测序比较,以期探讨rbcL基因能否用于研究甘蔗属及其近缘种之间的亲缘关系,序列比较显示rbcL基因在甘蔗属和近缘属种间的变异极低,一些来自不同属的个体序列完全一致,而某些同属内不同种个体却略有差异。这些结果表明rbcL基因在甘蔗属及其近缘属种之间的进化速率缓慢而不稳定,难以用于系统发育研究,不过,不同聚类方法都将斑茅与其它属种分开,放在玉米与甘蔗属和其他近缘属种分枝的外部,提示斑茅不应列入甘蔗属或蔗茅属,而应独立为一属。     

Dietary Variation and Evolution of Gene Copy Number among Dog Breeds

Prolonged human interactions and artificial selection have influenced the genotypic and phenotypic diversity among dog breeds. Because humans and dogs occupy diverse habitats, ecological contexts have likely contributed to breed-specific positive selection. Prior to the advent of modern dog-feeding practices, there was likely substantial variation in dietary landscapes among disparate dog breeds. As such, we investigated one type of genetic variant, copy number variation, in three metabolic genes: glucokinase regulatory protein (GCKR), phytanol-CoA 2-hydroxylase (PHYH), and pancreatic α-amylase 2B (AMY2B). These genes code for proteins that are responsible for metabolizing dietary products that originate from distinctly different food types: sugar, meat, and starch, respectively. After surveying copy number variation among dogs with diverse dietary histories, we found no correlation between diet and positive selection in either GCKR or PHYH. Although it has been previously demonstrated that dogs experienced a copy number increase in AMY2B relative to wolves during or after the dog domestication process, we demonstrate that positive selection continued to act on amylase copy number in dog breeds that consumed starch-rich diets in time periods after domestication. Furthermore, we found that introgression with wolves is not responsible for deterioration of positive selection on AMY2B among diverse dog breeds. Together, this supports the hypothesis that the amylase copy number expansion is found universally in dogs.     

Molecular Variation and Possible Lines Of Evolution of Peptide and Protein Hormones

The widespread distribution of certain steroids and amino acidderivatives with hormonal properties is considered evidencein support of the dictum that "it is not the hormones that change,but rather the uses to which they are put." However, analysesof the distributions, biological activities, immunological cross-reactivities,and sequences of amino acids of five representative peptideand protein hormones or groups of hormones—lactogenichormone, growth hormone, the corticotropin-MSH-ß lipotropinfamily, insulin, and the neurohypophysial hormones—supporta concept of change and of molecular evolution of these polypeptidicmolecules. When analyzed in terms of the genetic code, the aminoacid interchanges which have been revealed by determinationof sequences of amino acids can, most often, be explained bysingle base mutations in the appropriate codons. In two instanceswhere two base mutations within a single codon are required,intermediate replacements of amino acid have been suggested;one of these would lead to a 2-ALA-ß MSH, and theother to a 4-PRO, 8-ILE oxytocin.     

Meiosis und Mitosis

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Sex, Meiosis and Multicellularity

The origin and progress of multicellularity, which is one of the crucial steps in the evolution of life, remains unclear and stringent phylogenetic reconstruction of the process is difficult. However, further theoretical considerations of the problem could be useful for the creation of a verifiable hypothesis. Sex as a ubiquitous biological phenomenon is usually considered as something entirely linked with reproduction. This is mostly true for modem multicellular organisms, but at the earliest stage of evolution of eukaryotes it was not so. At that time the sexual process had nothing to do with reproduction, and only later, sex and reproduction merged together.One of the aims of this paper is to consider the sexual process as a likely basis for the establishment of multicellularity and to discuss the early stages of evolution of the multicellularity from this perspective. It is suggested that mitotic reproduction of cells at different stages of the sexual cycle of unicellular ancestors might be the starting points for independent transition to multicellularity in different taxa. Numerous consequences of these transitions, including evolution of bisexuality and development of novel meiotic functions in animals, are discussed.