植物Whirly蛋白调控叶片衰老的研究进展

植物衰老是植物细胞生长发育的最后一个阶段,其启动的早晚对植物生物量和品质的形成有很大影响。叶片衰老是植物衰老的主要形式,受到内外环境因素的诱导,并被多种转录因子介导的信号传导途径所调控。对叶片衰老调控机制的研究一直是植物衰老研究中的重点。Whirly蛋白作为一类广泛存于植物中的特异转录因子小家族,能与单链DNA分子结合,双定位于细胞器(线粒体或叶绿体)与细胞核中,在植物细胞核和细胞器中发挥多种功能,参与对植物叶片衰老的调控。本文概述了植物Whirly蛋白的结构和定位,重点阐述了Whirly蛋白的功能与细胞衰老关系及其对叶片衰老调节机理的研究进展等,并对未来的研究方向进行了展望。     

器官间关系对叶片衰老的影响

叶片衰老是整个植株生理特性的敏感表现,受根系、茎、生殖器官和其他叶片等器官的影响。器官间关系影响叶片衰老可能是通过竞争体内营养、水分等物质、竞争环境因子、源库关系、激素等信息系统调节等机制实现的。从整株水平上加强叶片衰老的生理机制和控制技术研究,将为生产上控制衰老、减少叶片异常衰老造成的产量和品质损失提供有效的技术途径。     

器官间关系对叶片衰老的影响

叶片衰老是整个植株生理特性的敏感表现,受根系、茎、生殖器官和其他叶片等器官的影响。器官间关系影响叶片衰老可能是通过竞争体内营养、水分等物质、竞争环境因子、源库关系、激素等信息系统调节等机制实现的。从整株水平上加强叶片衰老的生理机制和控制技术研究,将为生产上控制衰老、减少叶片异常衰老造成的产量和品质损失提供有效的技术途径。     

叶片衰老过程中的蛋白激酶和蛋白磷酸酶

衰老是受遗传程序严格控制的植物个体发育过程中的一个必经阶段,由特殊发育信号通过一定的信号传导路径来启动和控制。研究发现,蛋白激酶和蛋白磷酸酶所介导的可逆磷酸化反应在叶片衰老信号传递和衰老的启动和进程控制过程中发挥了重要作用。本文对近年参与叶片衰老调控的蛋白激酶和蛋白磷酸酶基因的分离鉴定及功能研究进行了综述。     

花生叶片衰老过程中某些酶活性的变化

人们对花生叶片衰老的现象早就有所认识 ,认为叶片变黄脱落、叶斑病加重是花生叶片衰老的主要特征 ,但真正对花生叶片衰老的研究较少且意见不一。Ｋｖｉｅｎ和Ｏｚｉａｓ Ａｋｉｎｓ( 1 991 )认为花生播后1 46ｄ(饱果期 )叶片仍未表现衰老迹象 ,叶中Ｎ含量仍保持 2 8ｍｇ/ｇ的较高水平 ;Ｓａｈｒａｗａｔ等 ( 1 987)研究发现 ,随着花生叶片的衰老 ,叶片中Ｎ、Ｐ、Ｋ、Ｃｕ、Ｍｎ、Ｚｎ的含量逐渐降低 ,而叶片中Ｍｇ的含量有增加趋势 ,Ｃａ的含量随衰老明显升高。Ｎａｒａｙａｎａｎ和Ｃｈａｎｄ( 1 986)研究指出 ,花生主茎上、下叶片叶比重 …     

蚕豆叶片发育与衰老过程中超氧物歧化酶活性与丙二醛含量变化

蚕豆植株叶片随茎节自上而下表现出明显的发育与衰老顺序,可作为衰老特征的是叶绿素和蛋白质含量明显下降。蚕豆叶中SOD活性主要定位于12 000× g离心后所得的上清液和叶绿体组分。衰老叶片的SOD总活性和叶绿体组分的相对活性都有所下降,SOD同工酶谱也发生了改变。O_2~ 产生速率随叶龄增大而稍上升;而MDA含量在叶片外观表现枯黄衰老征兆前就急剧上升。可能因为衰老叶片过氧化氢酶活性大幅度下降与SOD之间的不平衡,致使O_2~ 代谢中间产物累积而引起膜的损伤.     

水稻衰老调控机制研究取得重要进展

正植物的衰老受发育年龄和体内信号因子精确调节。脱落酸(ABA)是植物五大激素之一,参与众多的生物学过程,如促进种子休眠、提高耐逆性、调节气孔开关、促进叶片衰老等。在植物衰老时,体内ABA含量急剧升高,外源ABA也可诱导叶片衰老,因此,ABA被认为是一重要的衰老促进激素。然而,水稻中ABA合成和信号传导相关基因的突变体并未表现出延迟衰老的表型。因此,人们一直困惑ABA是如何参与调控植物的衰老进程。     

光质对设施葡萄叶片衰老与内源激素含量的影响

以设施延迟栽培条件下叶片衰老速度不同的意大利和无核白鸡心2个葡萄品种为试材,分别进行补充红光和蓝光处理,研究不同光质对叶片衰老过程中叶绿素含量、净光合速率和内源激素含量的影响.结果表明: 与未补光对照相比,红光能够显著提高叶片的叶绿素含量和净光合速率,降低了内源赤霉素(GA₃)含量,但明显减缓了脱落酸(ABA)含量的增加和玉米素核苷(ZR)总含量的减少,从而显著提高了(GA₃+ZR)/ABA值,延缓叶片衰老.叶片衰老前期,蓝光处理叶片叶绿素含量、净光合速率和(GA₃+ZR)/ABA值均低于对照,加速了植株的衰老进程;但在叶片衰老后期,蓝光处理叶绿素含量、净光合速率和(GA₃+ZR)/ABA值逐渐高于对照,在一定程度上延缓了叶片衰老.植物内源激素生长素(IAA)则表现出叶片衰老前期促进叶片生长发育、叶片衰老后期加速衰老的双重作用.意大利叶片衰老速度较无核白鸡心慢.在本试验条件下,红光处理效果最好,有效延缓了叶片衰老进程,延长了叶片的生理功能期.     

叶片衰老原因新探

叶片变黄是叶器官衰老的最明显的症状之一,叶绿素迅速降解和类胡萝卜素的相对稳定是叶片变黄的主要原因。不少研究者认为,叶绿素降解起因于叶片光合受阻和叶绿体内氧自由基的累积,也有的人则认为与叶绿素降解酶系统的协调作用有关。 1.叶绿素酶系统对叶片衰老的作用 叶绿素酶是参与叶绿素降解的第一种蛋白,催化叶绿素解体形成叶绿酸和游离叶绿醇。     

SAUR72在拟南芥叶片衰老调控中的作用机制

植物激素在叶片衰老过程中起着重要的调控作用。本课题组在前期利用拟南芥cDNA文库筛选叶片衰老负调节因子SSPP互作组分的过程中,发现一个生长素响应基因家族成员SAUR72可能与SSPP发生互作。本文首先利用酵母双杂交技术对SAUR72和SSPP之间的蛋白互作进行了验证,并进一步发现SAUR72基因的表达受到衰老诱导和SSPP过表达抑制;过表达SAUR72基因不但造成拟南芥成苗叶片早衰,还能促进幼苗下胚轴和主根伸长、根系等部位pH值下降,暗示着这一生长素响应基因是拟南芥叶片衰老的正调节因子,并可能通过抑制特殊磷酸酶活性、间接促进H~+-ATPase的活性上升而发挥作用。上述研究结果的取得,为明确生长素在叶片衰老调控中的功能奠定了基础。     

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.     

Enterovirus 71 3C proteolytically processes the histone H3 N-terminal tail during infection

Highlights
1. The N-terminal tail of histone H3 is specifically cleaved during EV71 infection.
2. Viral protease 3C is identified as a protease responsible for proteolytically processing the N-terminal H3 tail.
3. Our finding reveals a new epigenetic regulatory mechanism for Enterovirus 71 in virus-host interactions.     

Detection of EBV and HHV6 in the Brain Tissue of Patients with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis

Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE) is a rare pediatric neurological disorder, and the exact etiology is not clear. Viral infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of RE, but conflicting results have reported. In this study, we evaluated the expression of both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV) 6 antigens in brain sections from 30 patients with RE and 16 control individuals by immunohistochemistry. In the RE group, EBV and HHV6 antigens were detected in 56.7% (17/30) and 50% (15/30) of individuals, respectively. In contrast, no detectable EBV and HHV6 antigen expression was found in brain tissues of the control group. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in 20.0% (6/30) of individuals. In particular, a 4-year-old boy had a typical clinical course, including a medical history of viral encephalitis, intractable epilepsy, and hemispheric atrophy. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in neurons and astrocytes in the brain tissue, accompanied by a high frequency of CD8⁺ T cells. Our results suggest that EBV and HHV6 infection and the activation of CD8⁺ T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of RE.     

Perinatal Vertical Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in Ruili,a Town on the Border between China and Myanmar

正Dear Editor,Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus in the family of Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, is transmitted by the A.aegyptii or A. albopictus mosquito, and causes disease in humans characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgia (Silva and Dermody 2017; Suhrbier 2019). It was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and caused only a few outbreaks and sporadic cases in Africa and Asia in last century. However, in the epidemic in 2004, CHIKV acquired mutations that conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito(Schuffenecker et al. 2006). Since then, it has successively caused outbreaks in Africa, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, the South America, and Europe (Zeller et al. 2016).     

Development of a Novel Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2

In conclusion, the novel visual RT-LAMP assay is a simple, rapid, and sensitive approach for detection of SARS-CoV-2, and it is ready for application in primary care and community hospitals or health care centers, and even patients' own houses in response to the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic because the assay does not require sophisticated equipment and skilled personnel. Furthermore, it is also ready to be used in fields for screening samples from wild animals and environments to facilitate the identification of potential intermediate hosts that mediate the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans.