电场中的蛋白质结晶

人们一直致力于寻求提高蛋白质晶体质量的方法,利用电场诱导蛋白质结晶即是诸多方法中的一种。已有文献报道显示,电场对蛋白质结晶的影响是积极的。我们从直流电场、交流电场、内置电场、外置电场对蛋白质结晶的影响及相关结晶设备,电场中生长的蛋白质晶体质量的评估,电场中蛋白质结晶的原理及影响因素等方面,对已报道的电场中的蛋白质结晶研究工作进行了总结。     

八角茴香油溶剂结晶分离的研究

对八角茴香油（ａｎｉｓｅ ｏｉｌ）在三种溶剂中的结晶分离过程进行了研究,考察添加剂对结晶析出的影响,并用溶解度参数理论阐明溶剂的性质与结晶的关系,结果表明,乙醇,甲醇的结晶分离性能较为理想,而丙酮较差;添加剂能显著提高结晶产物的收率,但对结晶产物的纯度有一定的负面影响。     

白蜡虫马氏管的超微结构

白蜡虫Ericerus Pela的马氏管由两条黄色膨泡串状的端管和一条公共管构成,通过公共管与消化道相连。端管和公共管细胞结构相似,都具有非胶原质的基膜,高度发达的基褶, 长而致密的微绒毛,微绒毛无线粒体插入,细胞质中线粒体少,且随机分布。细胞质的绝大部分为两种矿质-尿酸颗粒结晶所占据,一种为不规则结晶,另一种为轮纹状结晶。白蜡虫马氏管可能发生了合胞化,其排泄方式可能是一种以滞留排泄为主,离子梯度排泄方式为辅的特有的排泄方式。     

筛选蛋白质结晶条件的试剂盒研发进展

蛋白质结晶条件筛选是蛋白质分子三维结构解析的主要限速环节之一,因此发展筛选效率较高的结晶条件筛选试剂盒有着十分重要的意义.目前广泛应用的结晶条件筛选试剂盒的设计方法主要有不完全因子法、稀疏矩阵法和系统筛选法.结晶学家基于这三种方法研发了一系列用于蛋白质结晶条件筛选的试剂盒.评述了20世纪以来筛选试剂盒的设计方法及应用进展,并展望了其未来的发展方向.     

胆固醇结晶激活动脉粥样硬化斑块巨噬细胞NLRP3炎症体的途径

动脉粥样硬化既是胆固醇在血管壁聚集的疾病,也是发生在动脉壁的一种低强度慢性炎症形式。近年来有研究证实胆固醇结晶在动脉粥样硬化发生发展中具有重要作用。新的显微技术证实,胆固醇结晶在动脉粥样硬化斑块形成的早期即已出现,并与早期炎症有关。胆固醇结晶通过诱发局部炎症,促进大的脂质核心形成;刺破纤维帽,导致斑块破裂进而促进动脉粥样硬化斑块的进展。在影响斑块进程中,NLRP3炎症体的激活对此发挥了重要的作用。NLRP3炎症体是研究最多最明确的炎症体,其与非炎症性疾病的发生发展密切相关。以胆固醇结晶激活NLRP3炎症体的途径作为研究靶点,为动脉粥样硬化的诊断和治疗提供了新的思路和方法。该文就胆固醇结晶在动脉粥样硬化斑块中激活巨噬细胞NLRP3炎症体的两种途径做一综述。     

天然纤维素超显微结构的扫描隧道显微镜研究

用扫描隧道显微镜（ＳＴＭ）对天然纤维素脱脂棉的超显微结构进行了研究,结果表明用ＳＴＭ可直接观察到脱脂棉的微纤丝和基原纤丝。另外,还直接观察到了脱脂棉中纤维素分子的结晶区和非结晶区以及分叉状结构,从而表明棉花纤维素是一种结晶不完全的多聚物。     

蛋白质大分子的结晶

近几年研究蛋白质晶体的生长机理及过程日益受到重视 ,并逐步发展为蛋白质晶体学中的另一个重要的科学分支。1 .蛋白质结晶的基本过程蛋白质属于生物大分子 ,但其结晶的一般过程与盐、有机小分子等的结晶过程一样可分为 3个阶段进行 :( 1 )形成稳定的晶核 ;( 2 )由晶核生长为晶体 ;( 3)生长结束。1 .1　成核　　是指溶解在溶液中的分子或非晶态的低聚体 (二聚体 ,三聚体等 )以过饱和度为驱动力聚合在一起形成热力学稳态的点阵结构。Ｄｒｅｎｔｈ等[1] 研究发现 ,在蛋白质结晶后其溶液体系的自由能降低了 1 2～ 2 4ｋＪ/ｍｏｌ。另外 ,结晶蛋…     

溶菌酶的结晶研究

介绍了溶菌酶结晶的意义,通过对晶核形成、晶体生长和停止生长三个阶段的论述,详细地阐述了溶菌酶的结晶机理;并综述了结晶过程中的各个影响因素:蛋白质浓度、pH值、添加剂、生长温度及重力场、磁场等;展望了溶菌酶结晶研究的发展趋势和发展前景。     

植物黄酮二氢杨梅素的提纯及结晶形态研究

显齿葡萄属植物富含黄酮物质。研究对显齿葡萄黄酮提取物二氢杨梅素的提纯及结晶态进行了初步探讨。结果表明:以水作为结晶溶剂进行多次重结晶,可有效去除植物黄酮提取物的杂质,总黄酮含量由原来的86%提高至96.5%。二氢杨梅素在水相中的结晶态多为针状结晶,水相保温结晶呈放射性棒状结晶。在pH4.5的条件下,其溶解度最低可获得较高的回收率。     

溶菌酶晶体及其交联技术的研究进展

在结晶蛋白中,溶菌酶成为一种典范,是一种模型蛋白.在不同的环境中,通过调变各项反应条件,可以实现对不同晶系溶菌酶晶体形貌、结构的控制并进行最优化,然后对其进行交联,讨论其反应机理.所采用的方法还能扩展到其他类型蛋白质晶体中,为设计和制备具有优良应用性能的不同形貌的蛋白晶体及交联晶体材料奠定基础,必将大大促进蛋白晶体材料在我国生物材料应用方面的研究.     

A Unique Protease Cleavage Site Predicted in the Spike Protein of the Novel Pneumonia Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Potentially Related to Viral Transmissibility

正Dear Editor,In December 2019, a novel human coronavirus caused an epidemic of severe pneumonia(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China(Wu et al. 2020; Zhu et al. 2020). So far, this virus has spread to all areas of China and even to other countries. The epidemic has caused 67,102 confirmed infections with 1526 fatal cases     

Curcuminoids as inhibitors of thioredoxin reductase: A receptor based pharmacophore study with distance mapping of the active site

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric that interacts irreversibly forming an adduct with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an enzyme responsible for redox control of cell and defence against oxidative stress. Docking at both the active sites of TrxR was performed to compare the potency of three naturally occurring curcuminoids, namely curcumin, demethoxy curcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin. Results show that active sites of TrxR occur at the junction of E and F chains. Volume and area of both cavities is predicted. It has been concluded by distance mapping of the most active conformations that Se atom of catalytic residue SeCYS498, is at a distance of 3.56 from C13 of demethoxy curcumin at the E chain active site, whereas C13 carbon atom forms adduct with Se atom of SeCys 498. We report that at least one methoxy group in curcuminoids is necessary for interation with catalytic residues of thioredoxin. Pharmacophore of both active sites of the TrxR receptor for curcumin and demethoxy curcumin molecules has been drawn and proposed for design and synthesis of most probable potent antiproliferative synthetic drugs.     

Comparative morphology of the carpel in the Liliaceae: Hewardieae, Petrosavieae, and Tricyrteae

The young pistils in the melanthioid tribes, Hewardieae, Petrosavieae and Tricyrteae, are uniformly tricarpellate and syncarpous. They lack raphide idioblasts. All are multiovulate, with bitegmic ovules. The Petrosavieae are marked by the presence of septal glands and incomplete syncarpy. Tepals and stamens adhere to the ovary in the Hewardieae and the Petrosavieae but not in the Tricyrteae. Two vascular bundles occur in the stamens of the Hewartlieae and Tricyrtis latifolia. Ventral bundles in the upper part of the ovary of the Hewardieae are continuous with compound septal bundles and placental bundles in the lower part. Putative ventral bundles occur in the alternate position in the Tricyrteae and putative placental bundles in the opposite. position in the Petrosavieae. The dichtomously branched stigma in each carpel of the Tricyrteae is supplied by a bifurcated dorsal bundle.     

Selection with two alleles and complete dominance

For a plant selection model with frequency-independent viabilities, fertilities and selfing rates, it is shown that apart from global fixation, for certain parameter combinations a protected polymorphism and facultative fixation (either allele may become fixed according to initial frequencies) may both occur. Facultative fixation requires different selling rates for the dominant and recessive type. Protection of the polymorphism requires resource allocation for male and female function. In this connection the problem of purely genetically caused population extinction is discussed.
For general frequency dependence and regular segregation, the chances for establishment of a completely recessive gene are compared to those of a completely dominant gene. It is proven that the process of establishment of the recessive gene, despite a fitness advantage, may be considerably endangered by drift effects if random mating prevails. The recessive gene may reach the same effectivity in establishment as a dominant gene, only if the recessive homozygote mates exclusively with its own type during the period of establishment.     

Composition and diversity of bird communities in Swedish farmland–forest mosaic landscapes

CapsuleThe amount of forest (at local and landscape scales) and occurrence of residual habitats at the local scale are shown to be the major factors influencing bird community composition in farmland–forest landscapes in central Sweden.

Aims To investigate the importance of local habitat and landscape structure for breeding birds in farmland–forest landscapes in central Sweden.

Methods Breeding birds were censused at 292 points. A detailed habitat mapping was made within 300 m of the points. Within a 300–600 m radius only two major habitats (forests and arable fields) were identified.

Results Cluster analyses of bird communities identified three site types that also differed in habitat composition: (i) partially forested sites in forested landscapes; (ii) heterogeneous sites with residual habitats in mosaic landscapes; and (iii) field-dominated farmland sites in open landscapes. A total of 19 of 25 farmland bird species (restricted to farmland or using both farmland and forest) had the highest abundance in farmland sites with mosaics of forest and farmland, while only six farmland species had the highest abundance in field-dominated sites. The bird community changed from being dominated by farmland species to being dominated by forest species (common in forest landscapes without farmland) at small proportions (10–20%) of forest at the local scale. A major difference in habitat composition between heterogeneous and field-dominated sites was the occurrence of different residual habitats (e.g. shrubby areas and seminatural grasslands). These habitats seemed to influence bird community composition more than land-use, despite covering <10% of the area. Seminatural grasslands were important for bird community composition and species-richness, but grazing seemed to be less important. Among different land-use types, cereal crops were the least preferred fields. Set-asides with tall vegetation and short rotation coppices were positively associated with species-richness of farmland birds.

Conclusion In general, the composition of the landscape was important for bird community composition, although amount and distribution of forests, occurrence of residual habitats and land-use of fields at the local scale had the strongest influence on bird community composition. The possible implications of these patterns for managing farmland–forest landscapes are discussed.     

Chemical constituents from the fruits of Rhus typhina L. and their chemotaxonomic significance

This work describes the isolation and characterization of twenty-nine compounds from the fruits of Rhus typhina L., including eleven flavonoids (1–11), eleven phenols (12–22), two pentacyclic triterpenes (23–24), two organic acids (25–26), one lumichrome (27), one courmarin (28) and one pyrimidine (29) on the basis of their spectroscopic data. Compounds apigenin (1), daidzein (4), orobol (5), 3′, 5, 5′, 7-tetrahydroxyflavanone (6), naringenin (7), butein (8), (-)-catechin (9), quercetin-3-O-α-L-(3″-O-galloyl)-rhamnoside (11), 2-hydroxybenzoic acid (13), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (14), vanillin (15), methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (16), 3,5-dihydroxybenzamide (18), tyrosol (19), caffeic acid (20), 3-(2,4,6-trihydroxyphenyl)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propan-1-one (21), phlorizin (22), friedelin (23), oleanolic acid (24), 4,4-dimethyl-heptanedioic acid (25), anthranilic acid (26), lumichrome (27), scoparone (28) and uracil (29) have not been recorded before in this plant. This is the first report on the occurrence of compounds 4–7, 9, 11, 13–14, 16, 18–21, 25–29 from the genus Rhus. Moreover, the chemotaxonomic significance of these isolated compounds was also summarized.