Single feature polymorphism discovery in rice

The discovery of nucleotide diversity captured as single feature polymorphism (SFP) by using the expression array is a high-throughput and effective method in detecting genome-wide polymorphism. The efficacy of such method was tested in rice, and the results presented in the paper indicate high sensitivity in predicting SFP. The sensitivity of polymorphism detection was further demonstrated by the fact that no biasness was observed in detecting SFP with either single or multiple nucleotide polymorphisms. The high density SFP data that can be generated quite effectively by the current method has promise for high resolution genetic mapping studies, as physical location of features are well-defined on rice genome.     

Oleanolic Acid Induces Apoptosis in Human Leukemia Cells through Caspase Activation and Poly（ADP-ribose） Polymerase Cleavage

It has been shown that Fructus Ligustri Lucidi （FLL）, a promising traditional Chinese medicine, can inhibit the growth of tumors. However, the effective component and molecular mechanism of FLL act to inhibit tumor proliferation are unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that oleanolic acid （OA）, a principal chemical component of FLL, inhibited the proliferation of human leukemia HL60 cells in culture. MTT assay showed that treatment of HL60 cells with FLL crude extracts or OA dramatically blocked the growth of target tumor cell in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Morphological changes of the nuclei and DNA fragmentation showed that apoptotic cell death occurred in the HL60 cells after treating with FLL extracts （20 mg/ml） or OA （3.65×10^-2 mg/ml）. Furthermore, flow cytometry assay showed that treatment of HL60 cells with FLL or OA caused an increased accumulation of G1 and sub-G1 subpopulations. Western blot analysis showed that caspase-9 and caspase-3 were activated, accompanied by the cleavage of poly （ADP-ribose） polymerase （PARP） in the target cells during FLL- or OA-induced apoptosis, These results suggest that OA acts as the effective component of FLL by exerting its cytotoxicity towards target tumor cells through activation of caspases and cleavage of PARP.     

Responses of Hedysarum Laeve , a guerrilla clonal semi-shrub in the Mu Us sandland, to local sand burial

In arid and semi-arid inland deserts, one of the environmental stresses for plants is recurrent sand burial, which can influence the physical and biotic microenvironments of the plants and soil. Previous studies have shown that different levels of sand burial have different effects on plants. Slight sand burial could increase the height increment, leaf biomass and the number of new ramets of the plants while heavy sand burial could impair the growth of the plants and even decrease their chances of survival. In other words, below a certain threshold level of burial, the growth of plants is stimulated probably because of multiple factors. However, as the level of burial increases, the positive response starts to decline until it becomes a negative value. Arid and semi-arid inland deserts are frequently colonized and stabilized by many rhizomatous clonal plants. Clonal physiological integration often helps clonal plants buffer local environmental stress encountered by ramets. A rhizomatous clonal semishrub, Hedysarum laeve (H. laeve), is the dominant plant species and important for vegetation restoration in the Mu Us sandland. To investigate whether clonal integration can increase the threshold of sand burial and help rhizomatous H. laeve tolerate heavy sand burial, we conducted a field experiment. The results showed that slight sand burial could accelerate ramet growth and enhance leaf biomass, stem biomass and shoot biomass, while heavy sand burial reducesed the biomass of the plant and impairs survival and growth of the ramets. Clonal integration increased the threshold of sand burial. Under heavy sand burial, ramets connected to other ramets not buried in sand were more in terms of height increment, stem biomass, leaf biomass and shoot biomass compared to the ramets encountering sand burial but disconnected from other ramets. It suggested that clonal physiological integration could help H. laeve ramets tolerate relatively heavy sand burial. We also discussed that clonal integration plays a role in H. laeve presence in the Mu Us sandland. __________ Translated from Journal of Plant Ecology (formerly Acta Phytoecologica Sinica), 2006, 30(2): 278–285 [译自: 植物生态学报]     

低温胁迫下不同光照条件对锦熟黄杨抗氧化酶活性的影响

研究了锦熟黄杨（Buxus sempervirens L.）在低温胁迫下不同光照条件（12 h光照/12 h黑暗、24 h全光、24 h全黑）对其抗氧化酶活性的影响,结果表明：低温不同光照条件下细胞膜透性和丙二醛含量均高于对照（20℃ 12 h光照/12 h黑暗）,细胞膜透性和丙二醛含量在5℃ 24 h光照条件下最大;低温胁迫下SOD活性高于对照,并在5℃ 24 h光照条件下达到最高值;CAT的活性仍维持较高水平,5℃ 12 h光照/12 h黑暗显著高于对照及其它处理;在低温有光照条件下,POD活性升高,黑暗条件下POD活性低于对照。低温胁迫下POD、SOD和CAT的活性均呈上升趋势,可能是植株具有较强抗性的原因。     

一个Ⅰ型遗传性淋巴水肿中国家系的VEGFR3基因的新突变方式

通过对国人Ⅰ型遗传性淋巴水肿一家系分子遗传学检测,报告VEGFR-3基因新突变。首先在Ⅰ型遗传性淋巴水肿对该家系进行致病基因的连锁分析,然后用DNA直接测序方法进行基因突变分析。连锁分析和单倍体分析确定该家系致病基因位于5q35.3,与Ⅰ型遗传性淋巴水肿连锁。VEGFR-3基因突变分析发现了一个新的错义突变D1055V,该错义突变在家系中共分离,且在100个正常对照组中未发现该序列改变。本研究首次报告了国内Ⅰ型遗传性淋巴水肿VEGFR-3基因新的错义突变D1055V,丰富了VEGFR-3基因基因突变谱,为今后开展遗传性淋巴水肿的基因诊断和遗传咨询奠定基础。     

农杆菌介导的转化芦荟的研究

芦荟（Aloe）是美容和医疗保健工业的重要植物资源,然而基因工程途径改良芦荟鲜有报道。本实验研究了次氯酸钠、升汞不同浓度和时间对芦荟外植体的灭菌效果,比较了芦荟不同部位（叶片、叶鞘和茎段）的再生能力,利用GUS基因瞬间表达技术（X-Gluc染色）探讨了不同农杆菌对不同芦荟外植体的侵染效果,确定了G418筛选剂在芦荟转化后的最适筛选浓度,摸索了适宜于农杆菌—芦荟共培养用培养基组成和共培养条件,通过转化、筛选和移栽共获得了67棵抗性再生植株,进一步对抗性再生植株进行了PCR、Southern blotting和ELISA检测。结果表明,芦荟外植体灭菌方法为20.0%次氯酸钠溶液浸泡25min,效果优于利用0.1%升汞灭菌处理,茎部切段的再生能力高于叶片切段和叶鞘切段,适宜的共培养条件为芦荟外植体浸泡在含有农杆菌的液体共培养基中半小时后,在无菌滤纸上、24℃、10h光照共培养3天;EHA105农杆菌菌系对芦荟茎部细胞的侵染能力明显强于C58C1,EHA105侵染后GUS基因瞬时表达率达到了80.0%左右,而C58C1侵染后GUS基因瞬时表达率只有30.0%左右。G418用于筛选抗性再生芽和抗性植株的适宜浓度为10.0～25.0mg/L。PCR和Southern blotting检测证实外源基因已成功整合到芦荟基因组中,转化效率为0.9%,单拷贝整合占80.0%,2～3拷贝整合占20.0%,ELISA检测证明外源基因已在转基因芦荟中稳定表达。综上所述,初步建立了农杆菌介导转化芦荟的技术体系,为利用基因工程途径改良芦荟奠定了基础。     

丹桂和籽银桂花芽分化的研究

采用石蜡切片技术, 对不育的丹桂(Osmanthus fragrans ‘Dangui’ )和可育的籽银桂(Osmanthus fragrans ‘Ziyingui’)花芽分化的过程进行了研究。结果表明, 桂花(Osmanthus fragrans Lour.)花芽形态分化可分为花芽分化初始期、总苞分化期、花原基分化期、顶花花被分化期、雄蕊分化期和雌蕊分化期6个阶段。雄蕊的发育在丹桂和籽银桂之间基本没有区别, 都能形成完整的花粉囊和成熟的花粉粒。但是, 雌蕊的发育在可育的籽银桂与不育的丹桂之间存在明显差异。根据花芽分化的过程证明, 丹桂的不育是由于雌蕊发育不正常导致的。     

Mechanistic analysis on the effects of salt concentration and pH on protein adsorption onto a mixed-mode adsorbent with cation ligand

Streamline Direct HST is a new kind of mixed-mode adsorbent with cation exchange ligand, especially developed for the expanded bed adsorption process, which can capture target protein directly from the moderate ionic strength feedstock without the need of dilution or other additives. In this study, the isotherm adsorption behaviors and the isocratic retention factors of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on Streamline Direct HST were measured, and the corresponding adsorption mechanisms were also described. The results indicated that Streamline Direct HST shows the typical property of salt-independent adsorption and the maximum binding capacity of BSA occurs near the isoelectric point of BSA. When there are some amounts of electrostatic repulsion protein-adsorbent interactions, the multilayer adsorption could be found, and high salt concentration does not favor the adsorption of protein. A patch-controlled adsorption process and an oriented adsorption model are proposed for describing the adsorption behaviors under electrostatic repulsion condition.     

Two new antibacterial sesquiterpenoids from Centipeda minima

Two new guaiane-type sesquiterpene lactones, compounds 1 and 2, along with three known guaianolide- or pseudoguaianolides, were isolated from Centipeda minima (whole plant). Their structures were identified by spectroscopic and mass-spectrometric analyses. The configuration at C5 of the guaiane framework of 1 was rationalized by quantum-mechanical calculations (Table 2). All compounds were found to be active against eight different microbial pathogens (Table 3), with MIC values in the range of 6.25-100 microg/ml.