基于鸣声模型的云南柳莺地理种群关系分析

将录自北京、甘肃、四川和陕西7个地区共117段云南柳莺(Phylloscopus yunnanensis)的鸣唱样本分别提取短时特征Mel倒谱系数(MFCC),利用系统聚类方法,构建云南柳莺不同地理种群鸣声特征之间的树状关系图,并对云南柳莺地理鸣声差异产生机制的可能因素(地理距离、海拔等)进行探讨。这是基于鸣声短时特征的物种识别在研究同一物种不同地理种群关系中的首次尝试。结果显示,其鸣声地理差异与距离之间没有显著相关性(Pearson,r=﹣0.036,P=0.762,n=117),但与海拔存在显著的相关性(Pearson,r=﹣0.836,P0.001,n=117)。     

圆蟾舌蛙鸣声特征分析

为研究体型较小的蛙类的鸣声特征,2012年7~8月,采用录音机和指向性话筒,在野外录制51只雄性圆蟾舌蛙(Phrynoglossus martensii)鸣声并对应测量了录音个体的体重、体长及头宽等体征数据。雄性圆蟾舌蛙的体重为(1.26±0.55)g,体长为(21.04±2.57)mm,头宽为(6.76±0.75)mm。该种蛙可发出广告鸣声和争斗鸣声。广告鸣声为单音节鸣叫,主频(3 782.25±167.78)Hz,3 100~4 349 Hz;基频(1 519.69±70.60)Hz,1 057~1 765 Hz。广告鸣声主频和基频均与体重、体长、头宽呈显著负相关,而音节间隔与体重和头宽呈正相关(相关性分析)。争斗鸣声主频(3 752.64±174.47)Hz,(3 304~4 081)Hz;基频(1 674.88±79.88)Hz,1 367~1 870 Hz。与广告鸣声相比,争斗鸣声的基频显著增高(t=﹣5.374,df=56,P0.001),音节时长和音节间隔显著降低(P0.05),而主频在两种鸣声类型中无显著差异(t=0.436,df=56,P=0.665)(独立样本T检验)。结果表明,作为体型较小的蛙类,体型影响了圆蟾舌蛙的鸣声结构和类型。     

体征对灰眉岩鹀鸣唱特征的影响

声信号是鸟类交流的重要方式。鸟类的鸣声特征受到生境的塑造和性选择,也受到发声器官的影响,如种间的比较研究发现,体重大的鸟类鸣声频率低,喙短的鸟类鸣声频宽大。在种内是否也存在类似的规律,目前的结论还不一致。2012年6月,在北京小龙门地区(40°00'N,115°26'E)测量了17只灰眉岩鹀(Emberiza godlewskii)的形态参数以及鸣声的频率特征,未发现体重或喙长与鸣声的最高频率、最低频率、峰频或频宽存在显著的相关性。本研究的结果支持在小型雀形目鸟类中,体型对繁殖期鸣唱频率特征的影响不显著。     

云南柳莺鸣声特点及地理差异的初步分析

1997、2002和2005年5～7月,在陕西省、四川省和甘肃省内共7个地区采集云南柳莺(Phylloscopus yunnanensis)的鸣声样本,并分析采自不同地区的共40只个体的鸣声.发现云南柳莺的鸣唱(song)和鸣叫(calls)在同一地区存在一定的差异.比较99段云南柳莺的鸣唱声,发现持续时间与间隔时间之间存在显著的负相关Pearson,r=-0.276,P=0.006,t=99).单因素方差分析表明,不同地区云南柳莺鸣唱的最高频率、最低频率和持续时间没有显著差异,而音节的间隔时间及音素数量均存在显著差异(P=0.006;P=0.000).结果表明,不同海拔、地区之间个体鸣唱音节间隔时间与海拔成正相关(Pearson,r=0.425,P=0.03,n=26).     

若尔盖湿地保护区黑颈鹤巢期及影响因子

对鸟类巢期的研究不仅可以丰富鸟类繁殖生物学资料,也可为理解和研究鸟类的生态适应与进化提供重要线索和依据。2013—2014年3月份至7月份,在若尔盖湿地保护区及周边对55对繁殖黑颈鹤的营巢时长进行了研究,调查结果显示:黑颈鹤的营巢时长在0.5—40 d之间,平均巢期为(6.7±9.3)d;在其营造的4种巢型中,巢期长短依次为:泥堆巢草堆巢草墩巢岛地巢,且差异性极显著(P0.001),巢期与巢型显著相关(r=0.728);在其营巢的3种巢址生境中,巢期长短依次为:湖泊生境沼泽生境河流生境,且差异性极显著(P0.001),巢期与巢址生境显著相关(r=0.315);从不同营巢月份看,巢期长短依次为:4月份巢5月份巢6月份巢,且差异性极显著(P0.01),巢期与筑巢月份显著相关(r=0.664);巢期与巢体积大小具有显著相关性(r=0.856),即营巢时间越长巢体积越大。黑颈鹤的营巢时间长短主要受营巢生境、月份和做巢类型的影响。     

棘胸蛙求偶鸣声与温度有关但与体大小无关

鸣声被认为是鉴别蛙类物种最有效的特征之一,但受许多因素影响。为了研究环境因素和身体大小与雄性棘胸蛙鸣声特征的关系,在人工仿生态养殖条件下测量环境温度和体温以及蛙体的大小(体重、体长),并通过个体定位,录制繁殖期中雄性棘胸蛙的求偶鸣声,分析鸣叫参数。结果表明,棘胸蛙雄性鸣声特征测量参数与体重、体长无相关性,而鸣声特征中的鸣叫时长、音节时长与环境温度、水温、体温、泄殖腔温度存在负相关性。研究结果提示在开展棘胸蛙鸣声学研究时应注意温度对其的影响。     

中国43种蛙类鸣声特征数据集

无尾两栖动物的鸣声通常具有物种特异性,了解其鸣声特征信息,是利用生物声学进行物种多样性调查及物种监测的前提。本文汇总、整理了2012–2020年间利用高保真录音设备在野外记录的43种(隶属于7科26属)无尾两栖动物的鸣声数据,以及相应的鸣声采集信息。对音频文件进行降噪处理后,提供了由61个鸣声的波形图及语图组成的鸣声特征数据集。本数据集展示了鸣声的多种时域和频域信息,如单音节或多音节、音节数、音节时长、音节间隔、鸣声时长、主频、基频、谐波等,为我国无尾两栖类的声学研究、物种多样性调查及鸣声监测提供了数据支持。     

四种鸣禽个体间曲目的差异与领域维持时间的Meta分析

鸟类鸣唱曲目的大小被认为是雄鸟质量的指标,其与领域维持时间的关系在多个鸟种中进行过检验。从单项研究的结果看,曲目与领域维持时间的关系在种间甚至同一物种的种群间均有较大的差异。为了克服单项研究功效低的缺陷,本文采用Meta分析,检验鸣禽曲目大小与领域维持时间的关系。共收集到10篇文献,涉及大山雀(Parus major)、大苇莺(Acrocephalus arundinaceus)、歌带鹀(Melospiza melodia)和强脚树莺(Horornis fortipes)共12个种群的研究。Meta分析发现,曲目大的个体领域维持时间显著长于曲目小的个体(Cohen′s d效应量为0.60,95%置信区间为0.38~0.82)。通过Meta回归,发现曲目大小与领域维持时间的关联不随繁殖地纬度而变化(斜率为0.00,95%置信区间为﹣0.02~0.02),但在平均曲目大的种群中曲目大小与领域维持时间的关联较弱(斜率为﹣0.14,95%置信区间为﹣0.30~0.03)。本研究可为了解鸟类曲目的功能及其演化提供资料。     

基于音节聚类分析的被动声学监测技术及其在鸟类监测中的应用

被动声学监测通过分析鸟鸣声信息来实现物种识别,为鸟类多样性监测提供了一种切实可行的技术方案。由于鸟种的鸣声复杂多变,如何通过声纹快速准确辨别物种,分析鸟类丰度,降低对人工操作的需求等技术难题,成为基于声纹的鸟类多样性监测所面临的挑战。本文提出了基于音节聚类的鸟类鸣声监测框架:首先通过音高、频率平坦度等音频特征在声纹数据中提取音节,然后通过无监督表征学习与狄利克雷过程(Dirichlet process)混合模型对音节进行深度无监督聚类训练,完成音节聚类和自动音节种类推断。分析结果表明,本文提出的基于音节聚类的鸟类鸣声监测框架在处理开源数据集白腰文鸟(Lonchura striata)的曲目时可获得接近90%的聚类准确率。在此基础上,本研究对2022年4-5月在广州市白云山公园固定监测点所录制的10种鸟类鸣声进行了无监督的音节聚类分析,验证了本文所提出的基于音节聚类的鸟类鸣声监测框架的有效性:本技术不仅可以支持快速鸟类物种识别,还可以统计和分析不同物种鸟鸣在时间、频度、数量上的变化。这些结果表明,基于音节聚类的鸟类鸣声监测框架可以显著降低对人工标注训练数据的要求,克服传统鸟鸣物种识别框架...     

高寒草甸常见雀形目鸟类的卵壳特征

作为胚胎发育的屏障,卵壳特征如卵壳厚度和气孔密度具有重要的生态学意义。本文研究了高寒草甸繁殖的7种代表性雀形目鸟类角百灵（Eremophila alpestris）、小云雀（Alauda gulgula）、黄头鹡鸰（Motacilla citreola）、树麻雀（Passer montanus）、粉红胸鹨（Anthus roseatus）、黄嘴朱顶雀（Carduelis flavirostris）、赭红尾鸲（Phoenicurus ochruros）的卵与卵壳特征,以探索在高寒缺氧环境下,不同科鸟类的适应性调节。结果发现,7种鸟类中,除小云雀和角百灵之外,其他鸟类的卵与卵壳特征均有显著的种间差异（除卵壳厚度和气孔直径之外）;对7种鸟类卵壳厚度、气孔密度、卵体积、卵重之间的线性拟合显示,卵壳厚度、卵体积与气孔密度均无显著相关性（卵壳厚度：P = 0.11,卵体积：P = 0.09）,卵重、卵体积与卵壳厚度呈显著正相关（卵重：r2 = 0.46,P ＜ 0.001;卵体积：r2 = 0.44,P ＜ 0.001）;对7种鸟类卵的数据与繁殖期雌鸟平均体重的线性拟合结果显示：平均卵重、卵壳厚度的差异与雌鸟体重成正相关（卵重：r2 = 0.66,P = 0.03;卵壳厚度：r2 = 0.92,P ＜ 0.01）;对6种鸟类（缺乏粉红胸鹨窝卵数数据）卵的数据与孵卵相关变量的线性拟合结果显示：卵壳厚度及气孔率与窝卵数成负相关（卵壳厚度：r2 = 0.64,P = 0.056;气孔率：r2 = 0.87,P ＜ 0.01）,6种鸟类（缺乏树麻雀巢杯指数数据）气孔率与巢杯指数或巢型无显著相关性（巢杯指数：P = 0.49,巢型：P = 0.435）。卵表面积和总气孔数解释了大部分气孔率差异（87%）,卵重和气孔率与孵卵期无显著相关（P = 0.77）,气孔率显著低于预期气孔率（P＜0.001）。这些结果表明,种间的遗传性（如成鸟的形态、窝卵数等）决定了大部分卵与卵壳特性的差异,但是为适应高寒低氧的气候特征,不同种的鸟都具有相对厚的卵壳和低的气孔率特征,说明环境因素同样影响卵的进化。另外,单纯的卵特性（卵体积和气孔率）并不能决定孵卵期的长短,亲鸟的孵卵行为同样具有重要的影响,角百灵虽然离巢频率相对较高,但是孵卵期却相对较短,这可能与其较高的气孔率有关。     

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.