全球转基因玉米专利信息分析与技术展望 *

转基因玉米是当前全球第二大转基因作物,在保障人类能源、饲料、工业等方面发挥着重要作用。基于智慧芽数据库(PatSnap)对欧盟、美国及中国等国家或地区收录的1985~2018年全球转基因玉米技术领域专利文献进行统计分析,得出全球转基因玉米专利技术发展的总体趋势、技术分布与格局及研发热点,并对比分析了国内外主要研发单位转基因玉米研发的竞争力,对未来转基因玉米的产业发展提出了展望。     

我国转基因植物研发形势及发展战略

当前,发达国家及跨国种业集团在功能基因组学、转基因技术和转基因产品研发方面进展显著,转基因产业发展势头强劲,已成为近年来持续保持高速增长的新兴产业。我国高度重视转基因植物研发及产业化,整体水平领先于发展中国家,但与国际转基因生物产业快速发展和我国衣业发展对转基因产品的需求相比,在转基因技术和产品创新、产业化机制以及支撑条件等方面尚存在较多制约因素。基于系统比较分析,建议我国进一步加强转基因植物研发能力建设,夯实转基因育种基础,突破转基因核心技术,培育转基因植物新品种,加强产学研紧密结合,培育具有自主创新能力和市场竞争力的大型企业,与此同时加强科普宣传,营造良好的社会氛围,推进我国生物育种战略性新兴产业的快速发展。     

转基因植物生产疫苗和药物的研发进展

与传统的生产方式相比,以转基因植物作为生物反应器生产药用蛋白和疫苗,被认为是成本低廉、安全便捷的技术途径。目前,若干以转基因植物生产的药用蛋白已通过行政审批准予上市,一批转基因植物表达的人用或畜禽用疫苗也进入临床试验。综述了转基因植物生产疫苗和药用蛋白的研发进展与代表性案例,讨论了目前面临的问题与挑战,展望了未来技术发展方向。     

对虾转基因研究的现状和展望

随着生物技术的发展,通过基因工程手段获得对虾新品种成为可能,然而经过十几年努力,目前对虾转基因研究依然处于初级阶段。各国科学家正在加紧研究,争取有所突破。综述了近年来国内外对虾转基因研究的进展以及目前面临的技术和安全问题,同时对未来对虾的转基因技术发展和应用前景进行了讨论 。     

阿根廷转基因作物安全管理制度概况及进展

阿根廷是最早采用转基因技术的国家之一,目前已成为全球第三大转基因作物种植国。阿根廷是全球尤其是拉美国家在生物技术产品监管和审批方面的先驱,其在转基因作物监管问题方面的丰富经验以及联合国粮食及农业组织的认可使阿根廷成为全球转基因作物监管的领导者之一。介绍了阿根廷转基因作物研发和应用、转基因作物监管体系、新型育种技术监管体系、转基因作物进出口情况以及追溯体系,讨论了转基因技术的引进对阿根廷的影响,旨在全面了解阿根廷转基因作物及新型育种技术的监管体系,为我国转基因作物安全管理提供参考。     

全球转基因大豆专利信息分析与技术展望

转基因大豆作为目前转基因作物推广种植面积最广的作物,在保障人类油料与饲料供给上发挥着重要作用。基于智慧芽数据库(PatSnap)对欧盟、美国及中国等国家地区1985~2016年收录的全球转基因大豆技术领域专利文献进行统计分析,得出全球转基因大豆专利信息的总体发展趋势、研发热点及技术分布与格局,并对比分析了我国转基因大豆研发的竞争力,对未来转基因大豆的产业发展提出了展望。     

转基因作物将为我国农业发展注入新动力

随着基因组学研究和生物技术的不断突破,应用生物技术改良农作物品种正成为引发新的农业技术革命的关键。由于转基因品种在生产上表现出的巨大效益,其研发和产业化在全球迅猛发展,并逐渐成为世界各国抢占的生物技术制高点。本文从转基因技术的内涵、国际转基因作物的研发态势、我国转基因作物的研发和产业化现状等方面进行阐述,探讨了大力发展转基因作物对于解决我国目前农业生产上面临的挑战、保障我国粮食安全和农业可持续发展的重要意义。     

转基因技术与大豆品质改良

大豆是重要的食用油、食用蛋白和饲用蛋白原料。应用转基因技术对调节大豆品质形成的关键基因进行定向操作,可大大加速优质大豆品种的选育进程,培育出适合不同消费需求的多样化优质大豆品种。文章主要综述了近年来转基因技术在大豆品质性状改良方面的应用进展,同时也简要介绍了目前已经发展起来的安全转基因技术。     

转基因产品检测标准物质量值一致性研究进展

转基因产品检测标准物质是转基因生物安全管理的物质基础,是检测结果可比性、有效性和溯源性的保障。当前国际上转基因产品检测标准物质研发机构主要有欧盟联合研究中心、美国油脂化学家学会等。我国近年也研发了一系列转基因成分检测标准物质。对各机构研发的标准物质种类、数量、量值表述方式以及量值转换进行汇总、统计、分析,挖掘异同点,并在国内外交流合作、新型标准物质研发以及标准物质应用方面提出合理化建议,以期为我国转基因产品检测标准物质研发和应用提供支撑。     

推进我国转基因玉米产业化的思考

首先分析了全球转基因玉米产业化情况,进而从国内转基因玉米产品消费现状、玉米生产中的技术需求以及我国转基因玉米研发现状等方面论述了我国推进转基因玉米产业化的必要性,并从科学上和管理上分析了推动转基因玉米产业化亟待解决的问题,对转基因研发人和安全管理工作提出了建议,以促进转基因玉米产业化的进程。     

Epigenetics and aging: the targets and the marks

'Aging epigenetics' is an emerging field that promises exciting revelations in the near future. Here we focus on the functional and biological significance of the epigenetic alterations that accumulate during aging and are important in tumorigenesis. Paradigmatic examples are provided by the global loss of DNA methylation in aging and cancer and by the promoter hypermethylation of genes with a dual role in tumor suppression and progeria, such as the Werner syndrome (WRN) and lamin A/C genes. Another twist is provided by sirtuins, a family of NAD-dependent deacetylases that act on Lys16 of histone H4, which are emerging as a link between cellular transformation and lifespan.     

Biophysics and Structure of the Patch and the Gigaseal

Interpreting channel behavior in patches requires an understanding of patch structure and dynamics, especially in studies of mechanosensitive channels. High resolution optical studies show that patch formation occurs via blebbing that disrupts normal membrane structure and redistributes in situ components including ion channels. There is a 1-2 μm region of the seal below the patch where proteins are excluded and this may consist of extracted lipids that form the gigaseal. Patch domes often have complex geometries with inhomogeneous stresses due to the membrane-glass adhesion energy (E_a), cytoskeletal forces, and possible lipid subdomains. The resting tension in the patch dome ranges from 1-4 mN/m, a significant fraction of the lytic tension of a bilayer (∼10 mN/m). Thus, all patch experiments are conducted under substantial, and uneven, resting tension that may alter the kinetics of many channels. E_a seems dominated by van der Waals attraction overlaid with a normally repulsive Coulombic force. High ionic strength pipette saline increased E_a and, surprisingly, increased cytoskeletal rigidity in cell-attached patches. Low pH pipette saline also increased E_a and reduced the seal selectivity for cations, presumably by neutralizing the membrane surface charge. The seal is a negatively charged, cation selective, space with a resistance of ∼7 gigohm/μm in 100 mM KCl, and the high resistivity of the space may result from the presence of high viscosity glycoproteins. Patches creep up the pipette over time with voltage independent and voltage dependent components. Voltage-independent creep is expected from the capillary attraction of E_a and the flow of fresh lipids from the cell. Voltage-dependent creep seems to arise from electroosmosis in the seal. Neutralization of negative charges on the seal membrane with low pH decreased the creep rate and reversed the direction of creep at positive pipette potentials.     

Serology and systematics of the Ebenales and the Theales

The systematic position ofthe Ebenaceae, Sapotaceae, Styracaceae, Ochnaceae, Stachyuraceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Clusiaceae and Hypericaceae has been investigated using serological comparisons of sets of antigenic determinants. The results show that the Sytracaceae and Sapotaceae are undoubtedly more closely associated with the Actinidiaeceae and Theaceae, respectively, than with each other. We found no corresponding determinants betnween antigen systems from the Ebenaceae and systems from any other family whose relations to this family have been proposed. As discovered previously, investigations of antigen systems from the Ochnaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Stachyuraceae, Clusiaceae and Hypericaceae are against the idea of a natural order “Theales” in which these families, or at least some of them, are combined with the Theaceae and Actinidiaceae. This paper completes our previous investigations which largely support a superorder Ericanae sensu Ehrendorfer and Takhtajan. We propose to include the Actinidiaceae and Theaceae in this superorder, assigning them a central position laong with the Sapotaceae and Sytracaeae on one side and the Primulales and Ericales on the other. Another most interesting finding is that there are corresponding determinants between antigen systems from the members of the Ericanae and representatives of the Polemoniaceae and Loasaceae.     

On the structure and dynamics of the complex of the nucleosome and the linker histone

Several different models of the linker histone (LH)–nucleosome complex have been proposed, but none of them has unambiguously revealed the position and binding sites of the LH on the nucleosome. Using Brownian dynamics-based docking together with normal mode analysis of the nucleosome to account for the flexibility of two flanking 10 bp long linker DNAs (L-DNA), we identified binding modes of the H5-LH globular domain (GH5) to the nucleosome. For a wide range of nucleosomal conformations with the L-DNA ends less than 65 Å apart, one dominant binding mode was identified for GH5 and found to be consistent with fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiments. GH5 binds asymmetrically with respect to the nucleosomal dyad axis, fitting between the nucleosomal DNA and one of the L-DNAs. For greater distances between L-DNA ends, docking of GH5 to the L-DNA that is more restrained and less open becomes favored. These results suggest a selection mechanism by which GH5 preferentially binds one of the L-DNAs and thereby affects DNA dynamics and accessibility and contributes to formation of a particular chromatin fiber structure. The two binding modes identified would, respectively, favor a tight zigzag chromatin structure or a loose solenoid chromatin fiber.     

The Choroid Plexuses and the Barriers Between the Blood and the Cerebrospinal Fluid

1. The fluid homeostasis of the brain depends both on the endothelial blood–brain barrier and on the epithelial blood–cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier located at the choroid plexuses and the outer arachnoid membrane.2. The brain has two fluid environments: the brain interstitial fluid, which surrounds the neurons and glia, and the CSF, which fills the ventricles and external surfaces of the central nervous system.3. CSF acts as a fluid cushion for the brain and as a drainage route for the waste products of cerebral metabolism.4. Recent findings suggest that CSF may also act as a third circulation conveying substances secreted into the CSF rapidly to many brain regions.     

Baculoviruses and apoptosis: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Since 1991, when a baculovirus was first shown to inhibit apoptosis of its host insect cells, considerable contributions to our knowledge of apoptosis have arisen from the study of these viruses and the anti-apoptotic genes they encode. Baculovirus anti-apoptotic genes include p35, which encodes the most broadly acting caspase inhibitor protein known, and iap (inhibitor of apoptosis) genes, which were the first members of an evolutionarily conserved gene family involved in regulation of apoptosis and cytokinesis in organisms ranging from yeast to humans. Baculoviruses also provide an ideal system to study the effects of an apoptotic response on viral pathogenesis in an animal host. In this review, I discuss a number of interesting recent developments in the areas of apoptotic regulation by baculoviruses and the effects of apoptosis on baculovirus replication and pathogenesis.     

Connections between the globus pallidus and putamen and the hypothalamus and subthalamus

In 16 adult cats with electrolytically destructed external and internal parts of the globus pallidus and in 8 cats with destructed putamen direct strio-pallido-hypothalamic and strio-pallido-subthalamic pathways have been studied. Degeneration of the axonal preterminals and terminals have been examined in preparations treated after Nauta--Gygax, Nauta--Laidlow, Finck--Heimer with simultaneous additional staining of the nuclei with cresyl violet after Kawamura--Niimi. Direct pallido- and putamen-hypothalamic pathways to nuclei of the grey tubercle, posterior and lateral nuclei of the hypothalamus were stated. Direct pathways from the putamen to the subthalamic nucleus have been revealed, however, these pathways are represented in less degree than those of pallido-subthalamic connections. Direct pathways from the external portion of the globus pallidus and putamen to the subthalamic nucleus are more pronounced and represented by greater numbers of projections than those of strio-pallido-hypothalamic origin.