Tyroserleutide tripeptide affects calcium homeostasis of human hepatocarcinoma BEL-7402 cells

Copyright by Science in China Press 2005 Primary hepatocarcinoma is one of the most fre-quent digestive-tract cancers, particularly in China. The incidence and death rate of primary hepatocarci-noma in China is the highest in the world, with about 1100 thousands people dying from primary hepatocar-cinoma per year[1]. Although the chemotherapeutic agents are the main therapeutic approach for hepato- carcinoma, they are relatively ineffective and result in many toxic and side effects. Accordin…     

Comparative analysis of the pig BAC sequence involved in the regulation of myostatin gene

Myostatin (GDF-8, MSTN) is a member of trans- forming growth factors (TGF-β) superfamily, which was first described by McPherron et al. in 1997[1]. Myostatin appears to act as a negative regulator of muscle development and controls not only fibre size but also fibre number[2,3]. Mutations in the third exon of the myostatin gene have been shown to cause dou- ble muscling in cattle[4]. By knocking out the gene of myostatin in mice, they were able to show that the transgenic mice developed …     

关于中国淡水生态系统生物多样性监测与管理的探讨

China is one of the countries in the world with therichest species biodiversityinfreshwater ecosystem.How-ever,duetothe rapid economic growthandthe continuingincrease of human disturbances and destructions of aquatichabitats,the biodiversity of freshwater ecosystemsis dras-tically declining.Waterbodies become more and more“deserted”of sensitive species.Water areas are reduced,fragmentized,and changed in their hydrodynamics(i.e.damming),causing changes in sedimentation and otherchanges.Forinstance,the area o...     

Excess of de novo deleterious mutations in genes associated with glutamatergic systems in nonsyndromic intellectual disability

Little is known about the genetics of nonsyndromic intellectual disability (NSID). We hypothesized that de novo mutations (DNMs) in synaptic genes explain an important fraction of sporadic NSID cases. In order to investigate this possibility, we sequenced 197 genes encoding glutamate receptors and a large subset of their known interacting proteins in 95 sporadic cases of NSID. We found 11 DNMs, including ten potentially deleterious mutations (three nonsense, two splicing, one frameshift, four missense) and one neutral mutation (silent) in eight different genes. Calculation of point-substitution DNM rates per functional and neutral site showed significant excess of functional DNMs compared to neutral ones. De novo truncating and/or splicing mutations in SYNGAP1, STXBP1, and SHANK3 were found in six patients and are likely to be pathogenic. De novo missense mutations were found in KIF1A, GRIN1, CACNG2, and EPB41L1. Functional studies showed that all these missense mutations affect protein function in cell culture systems, suggesting that they may be pathogenic. Sequencing these four genes in 50 additional sporadic cases of NSID identified a second DNM in GRIN1 (c.1679_1681dup/p.Ser560dup). This mutation also affects protein function, consistent with structural predictions. None of these mutations or any other DNMs were identified in these genes in 285 healthy controls. This study highlights the importance of the glutamate receptor complexes in NSID and further supports the role of DNMs in this disorder.     

白介素19(IL-19)

白介素-10(IL-10)是一种具有重要免疫调节功能的多效性细胞因子,它能影响免疫系统中多种类型细胞的活性。新近,美英科学家克隆了一种独特的人mRNA,它编码名为白介素19(Interleukin-19,IL-19)的新型IL-10同源物。IL-19基因邻近IL-10基因,都位于1号染色体上。IL-19基因由5个外显子和4个内含子组成,由二种不同的启动子转录。IL-19与IL-10有21％aa同源。IL-19mRNA是在活化的巨噬细胞中发现的,其表达相似而又不同于IL-10。IL-19与IL-10的序列比较表明两者不可能共享一种受体。IL-19的鉴定增加了已鉴定的IL-10同源物数并证明了IL-10相关蛋白家族的存在。在活化的巨噬细胞中,IL-19的表达模式不同于IL-10,并且可能通过不同于典型的IL-10受体复合物的不同受体进行信号转导。 [黄仕和译自Gallgaher G et al．Immunol Letters,2000,73(2,3)：206]     

CRC系列期刊之<生物技术评论>和<植物科学评论>

《生物技术评论》(ＣｒｉｔｉｃａｌＲｅｖｉｅｗｉｎＢｉｏｔｅｃｈｎｏｌｏｇｙ)该刊是美国著名的出版公司———ＣＲＣ出版有限责任股份公司出版的系列期刊之一 ,原名为ＣＲＣＣｒｉｔｉｃａｌＲｅｖｉｅｗｉｎＢｉｏｔｅｃｈｎｏｌｏｇｙ ,是 1983年创刊的。该刊为季刊 ,每年 1卷 ,每卷末期附带全年作者索引和主题索引。该刊收录的文章涉及生物技术的各个领域 ,包括与食品和饮料工业、燃料生产、化学及制药业、废物处置以及其它与社会、环境和经济领域密切相关的从发酵技术到遗传操作和蛋白质工程的技术。该刊刊登世界不同地区的技术现…