生物光子学应用

生物光子学是光学技术与生命科学的交叉学科,可以在分子水平上研究细胞的功能和结构,包括生物系统的光子辐射以及这些光子携带的信息,用光子及其技术对生物系统进行检测、加工和改造等。激光扫描共焦显微术、双光子荧光显微术、近场光学扫描显微术和光镊等显微技术在生命科学研究中的应用非常重要。     

关于举办生物文库技术与应用实验学习班的第一轮通知

生物文库技术是针对特定靶标,从生物文库中筛选特异结合分子的方法,是近些年发展起来的新型平台操作技术,具有创建和使用方便、库容量大、高效特异等特点,已经广泛应用到筛选特异的配体或抗体,建立特异诊断方法,研制新型高效疫苗,研制新型治疗药物,探求生物分子之间相互作用规律等领域。在基础研究和应用研究方面的广泛应用使生物文库技术已成为生命科学最重要的研发技术之一。为普及生物文库技术,进一步交流和推广该技术的发展和应用,军事医学科学院基础医学研究所、西南交通大学生物工程系和北京市生物化学与分子生物学会将于2004年7月底…     

活体光学成像技术在TGF-β1信号通路调控乳腺癌转移作用中的应用北大核心CSCD

活体动物光学成像技术因具有无创伤、活体、动态、连续、特异显像等优点,已被广泛应用于细胞的体内示踪或特定基因体内表达的实时监测研究。TGF-β1信号通路在乳腺癌的发生、发展和转移过程中起着十分重要的作用。本文主要对活体动物光学成像技术在研究TGF-β1信号通路调控乳腺癌转移作用中的应用进行综述,讨论乳腺癌的体内转移过程与TGF-β1信号通路的相关性,最后对黄酮类化合物干预乳腺癌转移的作用进行总结。因此,本文可为筛选抗乳腺癌转移的新型药物提供一定的理论指导,推动分子影像技术在活体动态连续观测药物治疗效果方面的应用。     

单分子光镊技术在生命科学中的应用

单分子光镊技术是近年来发展起来的一种新型的高分辨率光学技术,可以在单分子水平上实时观测并研究生物大分子或复合物相互作用的动态行为。光镊次毫秒级的时间分辨率和皮牛顿的力分辨率可使我们精确获得中间态、折叠速率(两态迁移速率)、作用力、能量、距离等重要的动力学信息;不同于传统的结构生物学方法,光镊实验是在生理条件下进行的,这些优势都使得光镊技术成为生物物理学领域一项不可或缺的技术手段。该文将主要针对这项单分子光学技术的原理及其在生物动力学上的应用和发展前景作简要介绍。     

光学成像在肿瘤研究中的应用

随着分子标记技术的发展,光学成像技术作为一种非侵入性动态成像技术,以其高分辨率、高灵敏度正越来越多的应用于医学和生物学的研究.该文重点介绍了在体生物光学成像技术在肿瘤的转移机制、药物对肿瘤的疗效、肿瘤细胞凋亡、肿瘤血管生成等方面的应用.     

多元光学蛋白质芯片研究取得重要进展

蛋白质芯片技术是一种新型蛋白质分析技术,具有集成、并行、快速和自动化分析的优势。多元光学蛋白质芯片传感器,仅需微量生理或生物采样,即可以同时检测、识别和纯化不同的生物分子和研究分子间的相互作用。无需标记,可以直接测量像血浆、细胞裂解液等生理样品。     

SPR生物传感器及其应用进展

基于表面等离子体共振 (SPR)技术的光学生物传感器是进行生物分子相互作用分析的一种先进手段。与传统的超速离心、荧光法等相比 ,它具有实时检测、无需标记、耗样最少等特点 ,在药物筛选、临床诊断、食物及环境监控和膜生物学等领域中的新兴应用日益扩大 ,并且已成为生命科学和制药研究的一种标准的生物物理学工具。综述了近几年国际上生物传感器的应用进展情况 ,并简要展望了该技术的发展和应用前景     

综述——基于纳米材料的生物检测与医学诊断技术：功能化量子点在肿瘤活体成像中的应用

量子点表面经生物分子或药物分子修饰而具有生物功能．功能化量子点具有独特的光学性质和生物相容性,在生物医学光学诊断和治疗领域具有广泛的应用．本文简要介绍了功能化量子点制备及修饰方法,综合评述了量子点在肿瘤活体诊断和治疗中的应用,包括活体淋巴结成像、血管动态成像、肿瘤成像和抗肿瘤药物示踪等,讨论了功能化量子点在肿瘤活体诊断和治疗中的应用前景以及面临的挑战．     

分子与细胞事件的光学可视化——解读2008年诺贝尔化学奖

绿色荧光蛋白（green fluorescent protein,GFP）及其突变体作为报告基因,已被广泛应用于基因表达调控、蛋白质空间定位、生物分子之间相互作用、转基因动物以及药物药效评价和作用机理研究等方面,极大地推动了现代生物学的发展．随着光电信息技术的不断进步,基于荧光报告基因的光学分子成像技术将在细胞、细胞网络、组织、器官和个体等不同层次实现分子与细胞事件的实时可视化,从而在重大疾病的早期诊断和药物研发中发挥重要作用．     

基于近红外荧光制剂的多模态多功能分子影像技术在肿瘤模型中的应用

多模态融合的分子影像技术整合了多种分子影像技术的优势,已成为当前分子影像领域研究的热点和发展趋势。新近报道的七甲川菁(heptamethine cyanine)染料是一类具有肿瘤靶向性的近红外荧光(nearinfrared fluorescence,NIRF)制剂。该染料独特的光学特征使其在肿瘤分子影像、靶向治疗和药物传递系统方面具有广阔的应用前景。纳米材料包裹该类染料可用于NIRF/MRI双模成像,标记核素后可实现NIRF/PET双模成像,共轭结合化疗药物后,可实现抗肿瘤药物的靶向传递,多个七甲川菁染料的复合物已被用作多模态成像,成为光热、光动力学和组合治疗肿瘤的新策略。     

Effect of barium and tetraethylammonium on membrane circulation in frog retinal photoreceptors

We studied the influence of altered ionic conditions on the recycling of synaptic vesicle membrane in frog retinal photoreceptors using horseradish peroxidase to monitor synaptic activity and trace the fate of internalized membrane. The addition of 1.2 mM barium or 20 mM tetraethylammonium to isolated retinas maintained in Ringer's solution, changes the usual balance of membrane circulation in the rod cells; the cone cells are much less affected. Retrieval of synaptic vesicle membrane in the rods, which normally regenerates small vesicles, becomes mediated predominantly by large sacs and vacuoles ("cisternae"). Because these cisternae can be labeled with peroxidase, they appear to arise from endocytized membrane. Morphometric analysis suggests strongly that the cisternae are formed of circulating synaptic vesicle membrane. The effects of barium and tetraethylammonium can be inhibited by high extracellular potassium, by high intensity light, and by 5 mM cobalt. They seem likely to depend on potassium channels, though additional more complex mediation may also be involved. The alterations in membrane retrieval that we find are of interest in terms of the multiple pathways of membrane cycling now being uncovered. They open potential experimental approaches to the controls of this circulation. In addition, the findings extend our previous ones demonstrating that rod cells and cone cells differ in their responses to divalent cations in ways that seem likely to be of physiological importance.     

Endophage-ectophage ratios and plant defense

Summary Endophagous folivores, which are concealed inside leaf tissue for much of their life cycle, or which live externally but feed internally, should be more successful on heavily defended plants than ectophagous species. This is because endophages are more facile at feeding selectively and can manipulate tissue development to avoid physical and chemical defenses and to enhance nutrition. As a result, endophage-ectophage ratios should increase on more heavily defended hosts. This pattern will likely be strengthened by negative asymmetrical interactions with ectophages and pathogens, which may displace endophages from lightly defended hosts. The hypothesis predicts that endophages should be particularly abundant in resource-poor habitats which seem to support a preponderance of heavily defended hosts. Although data do not yet exist for a rigorous test, several observed cases where endophage distributions seem biased toward heavily defended hosts are at least consistent with the hypothesis. Plant defense levels may have little influence on the total number of herbivores associated with a host, but I suggest that guild structure can be profoundly altered.     

Natural selection and the origin and maintenance of standard genetic marker systems

Natural selection has always been assumed to be the major force of evolution, but its presence has been difficult to demonstrate. A review of the evidence for selective differences among genotypes for most human genetic polymorphisms indicates there is little of a direct nature. Indirect theoretical evidence, however, seems to support a major role for natural selection, and it does not seem to support the hypothesis that most amino acid substitutions within the human species are neutral. Among small isolates, most of the gene frequency differences are most likely due to genetic drift or the founder effect, and the principal counterbalancing force is gene flow or migration. But genetic differences among the major human subdivisions do not seem to be due to the same interacting forces. One reason for the inability to detect selection has been an oversimplified view of its operation, which assigns genotypes a constant fitness in every generation. Many recent theoretical developments of more complicated kinds of selection may lead to a resolution of the problem and suggest better interpretations of the enormous amount of data on human genetic variation that is rapidly accumulating.     

Polypeptide chain binding proteins: catalysts of protein folding and related processes in cells

Subcellular compartments in which folding and assembly of proteins occur seem to have a set of PCB proteins capable of mediating these and related processes, such as translocation across membranes. When a domain of a polypeptide chain emerges from a ribosome during synthesis or from the distal side of a membrane during translocation, successive segments of the chain are incrementally exposed to solvent and yet are unlikely to be able to fold. This topological restriction on folding likely mandates a need for PCB proteins to prevent aggregation. Catalysis of topologically restricted folding by PCB proteins is likely to involve both an antifolding activity that postpones folding until entire domains are available and, more speculatively, a folding activity resulting from a programmed stepwise release that employs the energy of ATP hydrolysis to ensure a favorable pathway. We are left with a new set of problems. How do proteins fold in cells? What are the sequences or structural signals that dictate folding pathways? The new challenge will be to understand folding as a combination of physical chemistry, enzymology, and cell biology.     

Neandertal Pelves and Gestation Length: Hypotheses and Holism in Paleoanthropology

Neandertal pelves differed from those of modern humans in pubic morphology. Explanations of this difference are presented and evaluated. The gestation-length hypothesis proposed by Trinkaus is not supported by data and theories drawn from a number of different fields. Some of the alternative hypotheses seem more likely. Paleoanthropologists should utilize a wide variety of evidence to support or falsify their theories in order to increase their power to explain the events of human evolution.     

Expansion and contraction of the DUP240 multigene family in Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations

The influence of duplicated sequences on chromosomal stability is poorly understood. To characterize chromosomal rearrangements involving duplicated sequences, we compared the organization of tandem repeats of the DUP240 gene family in 15 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains of various origins. The DUP240 gene family consists of 10 members of unknown function in the reference strain S288C. Five DUP240 paralogs on chromosome I and two on chromosome VII are arranged as tandem repeats that are highly polymorphic in copy number and sequence. We characterized DNA sequences that are likely involved in homologous or nonhomologous recombination events and are responsible for intra- and interchromosomal rearrangements that cause the creation and disappearance of DUP240 paralogs. The tandemly repeated DUP240 genes seem to be privileged sites of gene birth and death.     

Effects of diet and gliclazide on the haemostatic system of non-insulin-dependent diabetics.

The effect of the sulphonylurea gliclazide on tests of haemostatic function was studied in 14 newly diagnosed non-insulin-dependent diabetics. After two months'' treatment with diet alone 11 of the 14 were given gliclazide; the three others remained on dietary treatment. Compared with pretreatment values, significant reductions in platelets retention, factor VIII-related antigen, factor VIII coagulant activity, and plasma heparin neutralising activity accompanied a fall in the plasma glucose concentration due to either diet alone or diet and gliclazide. The beneficial effects of gliclazide on platelet abnormalities seem likely to be due to its hypoglycaemic action rather than to any direct effect on haemostatic function.     

Assortative mating and the cost of inbreeding — A simulation approach

Assortative mating is an important factor in the process of speciation. Models of speciation frequently deal with small founder populations often with mating preferences based on ecological traits or habitat preferences. Small populations, on the other hand might suffer from inbreeding. However, few studies have explored the combined effects of assortative mating and inbreeding in such populations. Can they speciate, or are they doomed to eventually go extinct? With this simulation we show that assortative mating based on similarities increases the possibility for change in a population, as long as the population does not suffer from inbreeding depression. Inbred populations seem not to be able to cope with strong assortative mating, as this is likely to elevate the level of inbreeding, increasing the risks of inbreeding depression and as a result decreasing population mean fitness. This in turn hinders the possibility of change, and instead might drive the population to extinction.     

The oxygenation of [3-methyl-3H]desacetoxycephalosporin C [7beta-(5-D-aminadipamido)-3-methylceph-3-em-4-carboxylic acid] to [3-hydroxymethyl-3H]desacetylcephalosporin C by 2-oxoglutarate-linked dioxygenases from Acremonium chrysogenum and Streptomyces clavuligerus.

Cell-free extracts of Acremonium chrysogenum and Streptomyces clavuligerus oxidize the 3-methyl group of desacetoxycephalosporin C to a 3-hydroxymethyl group. The enzyme responsible for this reaction in these organisms was purified 20- and 30-fold respectively by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The enzymes, which were assayed with [3-methyl-3H]desacetoxycephalosporin C as substrate, have the properties expected of 2-oxoglutarate-linked dioxygenases. They require 2-oxoglutarate, Fe2+ cations and a mixture of reducing agents (dithiothreitol and ascorbate) for full activity. The enzyme from A. chrysogenum, but not that S. clavuligerus, is activated about 10-fold when it is preincubated with a reaction mixture from which either desacetoxycephalosporin C or 2-oxoglutarate is omitted. Fe2+ cations seem to play a key role in this activation. Both enzymes seem highly specific for cephalosporins with the natural 7beta-(5-D-aminoadipamido) side chain and are likely to be responsible for the oxidation of the 3-methylcephem nucleus in vivo.     

Why copulatory organs provide so many useful taxonomic characters: the origin and maintenance of hemipenial differences in lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae)

The structure of copulatory organs is used very widely in systematics, both for differentiating species and for working out relationships. Differences between taxa may arise from a variety of sources, including non-homology, differences in other parts of the animal, direct selection on copulatory organs, development of physical isolating mechanisms and pleiotropic events. Physical isolating mechanisms seem likely to account for the abrupt differences, involving size, asymmetry and simplifications, that are useful in distinguishing very similar lacertid species. Although these differences usually seem to arise at the end of a speciation event they can simultaneously be the initiating mechanism in a second one. Copulatory organs appear to have high inherent stability, probably resulting from frequent location in strongly homoeostatic environments, single function, insensitivity to niche shift and inertia due to the need to conform to the genitalia of the opposite sex. This stability may be overridden at times by direct selection on the organs themselves or pleiotropic events. Such changes tend to be retained because efficiency in copulation depends not on any absolute genital architecture but on close conformity of the organs. It is the combination of relative stability and tangible input of varied change, which tends to be retained, that so often makes these structures good indicators of relationship.