H-FABP基因的多态性和营养因素对猪肉质的影响

遗传和营养因素都能影响猪肉的品质。但是, 到目前为止同时研究遗传和营养因素对肉质影响的报道很少。在本研究中, 136头PIC5系杂交猪, 体重65 kg, 被随机分成4组, 各组分别给予不同日粮。在饲养35 d、体重大约90 kg时统一屠宰并且进行肉质测定、H-FABP基因分型及其与肉质性状的关联分析。结果表明: (1)所采用的3种日粮对肉色、屠宰后24 h的pH、肌内脂肪和肌肉蛋白含量有极显著的影响; (2)H-FABP基因型对肌内脂肪和肌肉蛋白含量存在极显著的影响; (3)H-FABP基因多态性和营养因素的交互作用对pH 和肌内脂肪含量均有显著的影响, 对照组的AA基因型具有最高pH值, 高维生素E组的AA基因型具有最高肌内脂肪值。实验结果提示在关于猪肉质的育种和生产过程中应该同时考虑营养因素和遗传因素。     

Z:ZCLA长爪沙鼠微卫星标记的遗传多态性研究

通过对9个微卫星座位的扩增,研究了Z：ZCLA长爪沙鼠的遗传多态性。结果表明,Z：ZCLA长爪沙鼠在其中1个位点上只有一个等位基因,在其它位点上均有2～4个等位基因,平均等位基因数2．6个。平均杂合度0．4684,平均多态信息量0．4166,平均有效等位基因数2．1756。全群基因纯合度从0．1111～0．5555,平均0．3389,提示目前本群遗传多样性水平处于中度多态。     

披针叶黄华的界定

通过对标本的比较研究及广泛的野外考察,界定了披针叶黄华,承认了一个种级名称Thermopsis lupinoides（L．）Link．并组合了9个新异名。     

MDR1基因单靶点双荧光素酶报告基因系统的建立

目的通过构建以MDR1启动子为启动序列的双荧光素酶报告基因系统并进行活性分析,为MDR1基因表达的单靶点调控研究和逆转剂的筛选提供一种有效的方法。方法从HCT-8细胞中提取DNA并克隆含有MDR1基因启动子中Y—box序列。将该序列重组到萤光素酶报告基因载体pGL-3．Basic的启动区域中,从而构建报告基因载体pGL-MDR1。将pGL-MDR1和pRL-TK载体共转染到HCT-8和HCT-8／VCR细胞中。通过调节不同载体的比例来优化转染效率。利用MDRI基因激活剂（热诱导）和抑制剂（EGCG）等处理来分析其启动转录活性受外界因素的影响。结果通过直接测序法验证了pGL-MDR1含有MDR1基因启动子Y—box序列且没有出现碱基突变。在pGL-MDR1和pRL-TK的转染比例为5：5时,转染效率最高并具有最高的萤光素酶活性。通过MDR1基因激活处理后表现为时间依赖性地激活MDR1基因的表达,而MDR1基因抑制剂的作用则相反。结论MDR1启动子为启动序列的双荧光素酶报告基因系统建立成功。该系统不但可以用于研究活体生物发光成像和MDRI基因表达的机理,而且可用于单靶点的多药耐药抑制剂的筛选。     

Clustering cancer gene expression data: a comparative study

Background  

The use of clustering methods for the discovery of cancer subtypes has drawn a great deal of attention in the scientific community. While bioinformaticians have proposed new clustering methods that take advantage of characteristics of the gene expression data, the medical community has a preference for using "classic" clustering methods. There have been no studies thus far performing a large-scale evaluation of different clustering methods in this context.     

Functional correlation between habitat use and leg morphology in birds (Aves)

Many of the morphological features of animals are considered to be adaptations to the habitat that the animals utilize. The habitats utilized by birds vary, perhaps more than for any other group of vertebrates. Here, we study possible adaptations in the morphology of the skeletal elements of the hind limbs to the habitat of birds. Measurements of the lengths of the femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus of 323 bird species from 74 families are used together with body mass data, taken from the literature. The species are separated into six habitat groups on the basis of literature data on leg use. A discriminant analysis of the groups based on leg morphology shows that swimming birds, wading birds and ground living species are more easily identified than other birds. Furthermore, functional predictions are made for each group based on ecological and mechanical considerations. The groups were tested for deviation from the norm for all birds for three indices of size- and leg-length-independent measures of the bones and for a size-independent-index of leg length. Several of the groups deviate significantly from the norm for one or more of the indices used, suggesting habitat-related adaptations in the leg morphology of birds. The results indicate that stability is an important factor affecting the leg morphology of primarily long-legged birds. The femur seems to be more important than previously thought because several of the groups have high femur indices, suggesting a positive selection pressure on this bone. On a general basis, the results suggest that the effect of leg length should be taken into consideration when discussing adaptations of mass-independent lengths of the long bones of the legs of birds.  © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2003, 79, 461–484.     

A modular treatment of molecular traffic through the active site of cholinesterase

We present a model for the molecular traffic of ligands, substrates, and products through the active site of cholinesterases (ChEs). First, we describe a common treatment of the diffusion to a buried active site of cationic and neutral species. We then explain the specificity of ChEs for cationic ligands and substrates by introducing two additional components to this common treatment. The first module is a surface trap for cationic species at the entrance to the active-site gorge that operates through local, short-range electrostatic interactions and is independent of ionic strength. The second module is an ionic-strength-dependent steering mechanism generated by long-range electrostatic interactions arising from the overall distribution of charges in ChEs. Our calculations show that diffusion of charged ligands relative to neutral isosteric analogs is enhanced approximately 10-fold by the surface trap, while electrostatic steering contributes only a 1.5- to 2-fold rate enhancement at physiological salt concentration. We model clearance of cationic products from the active-site gorge as analogous to the escape of a particle from a one-dimensional well in the presence of a linear electrostatic potential. We evaluate the potential inside the gorge and provide evidence that while contributing to the steering of cationic species toward the active site, it does not appreciably retard their clearance. This optimal fine-tuning of global and local electrostatic interactions endows ChEs with maximum catalytic efficiency and specificity for a positively charged substrate, while at the same time not hindering clearance of the positively charged products.     

Hierarchical analysis of variation in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene among Hymenoptera

Nucleotide sequences from a 434-bp region of the 16S rRNA gene were analyzed for 65 taxa of Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, parasitoid wasps, sawflies) to examine the patterns of variation within the gene fragment and the taxonomic levels for which it shows maximum utility in phylogeny estimation. A hierarchical approach was adopted in the study through comparison of levels of sequence variation among taxa at different taxonomic levels. As previously reported for many holometabolous insects, the 16S data reported here for Hymenoptera are highly AT-rich and exhibit strong site-to-site variation in substitution rate. More precise estimates of the shape parameter (alpha) of the gamma distribution and the proportion of invariant sites were obtained in this study by employing a reference phylogeny and utilizing maximum-likelihood estimation. The effectiveness of this approach to recovering expected phylogenies of selected hymenopteran taxa has been tested against the use of maximum parsimony. This study finds that the 16S gene is most informative for phylogenetic analysis at two different levels: among closely related species or populations, and among tribes, subfamilies, and families. Maximization of the phylogenetic signal extracted from the 16S gene at higher taxonomic levels may require consideration of the base composition bias and the site-to-site rate variation in a maximum-likelihood framework.      

Mycotoxins of Alternaria alternata produced on ceiling tiles

The production of mycotoxins by Alternaria alternata in cellulosic ceiling tiles was examined with thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography procedures. Alternariol and alternariol monomethyl ether were found in ceiling tile extracts, whereas extracts of control rice cultures of all three isolates produced these mycotoxins plus altenuene and altertoxin I. Extensive fungal growth and mycotoxin production occurred in the ceiling tiles at relative humidities of 84–89% and 97%. Received 28 May 1997/ Accepted in revised form 06 October 1997     

Immunochemical identity of peroxisomal enoyl-CoA hydratase with the peroxisome-proliferation -associated 80,000 mol wt polypeptide in rat liver

Peroxisome proliferators, which induce proliferation of hepatic peroxisomes, have been shown previously to cause a marked increase in an 80,000 mol wt polypeptide predominantly in the light mitochondrial and microsomal fractions of liver of rodents. We now present evidence to show that this hepatic peroxisome-proliferation-associated polypeptide, referred to as polypeptide PPA-80, is immunochemically identical with the multifunctional peroxisome protein displaying heat-labile enoyl-CoA hydratase activity. This conclusion is based on the following observations: (a) the purified polypeptide PPA-80 and the heat- labile enoyl-CoA hydratase from livers of rats treated with the peroxisome proliferators Wy-14,643 {[4-chloro-6(2,3-xylidino)-2-pyrimidinylthio]acetic acid} exhibit identical minimum molecular weights of approximately 80,000 on SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; (b) these two proteins are immunochemically identical on the basis of ouchterlony double diffusion, immunotitration, rocket immunoelectrophoresis, and crossed immunoelectrophoresis analysis; and (c) the immunoprecipitates formed by antibodies to polypeptide PPA-80 when dissociated on a sephadex G-200 column yield enoyl-CoA hydratase activity. Whether the polypeptide PPA-80 exhibits the activity of other enzyme(s) of the peroxisomal β-oxidation system such as fatty acyl-CoA oxidase activity or displays immunochemical identity with such enzymes remains to be determined. The availability of antibodies to polypeptide PPA-80 and enoyl-CoA hydratase facilitated immunofluorescent and immunocytochemical localization of the polypeptide PPA- 80 and enoyl-CoA hydratase in the rat liver. The indirect immunofluorescent studies with these antibodies provided direct visual evidence for the marked induction of polypeptide PPA-80 and enoyl-CoA hydratase in the livers of rats treated with Wy-14,643. The present studies also provide immunocytochemical evidence for the localization of polypeptide PPA- 80 and the heat-labile enoyl-CoA hydratase in the peroxisome, but not in the mitochondria, of hepatic parenchymal cells. These studies, therefore, provide morphological evidence for the existence of fatty acyl-CoA oxidizing system in peroxisomes. An increase of polypeptide PPA-80 on SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis of the subcellular fractions of liver of rodents treated with lipid-lowering drugs should serve as a reliable and sensitive indicator of enhanced peroxisomal β- oxidation system.