Characterization of Photosynthetic Performance during Senescence in Stay-Green and Quick-Leaf-Senescence Zea mays L. Inbred Lines

The net photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence and 820 nm transmission were investigated to explore the behavior of the photosynthetic apparatus, including light absorption, energy transformation and the photoactivities of photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI) during senescence in the stay-green inbred line of maize (Zea mays) Q319 and the quick-leaf-senescence inbred line of maize HZ4. The relationship between the photosynthetic performance and the decrease in chlorophyll content in the two inbred lines was also studied. Both the field and laboratory data indicated that the chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, and the photoactivities of PSII and PSI decreased later and slower in Q319 than in HZ4, indicating that Q319 is a functional stay-green inbred line. In order to avoid the influence of different development stages and environmental factors on senescence, age-matched detached leaf segments from the two inbred lines were treated with ethephon under controlled conditions to induce senescence. The net photosynthetic rate, light absorption, energy transformation, the activities of PSII acceptor side and donor side and the PSI activities decreased much slower in Q319 than in HZ4 during the ethephon-induced senescence. These results suggest that the retention of light absorption, energy transformation and activity of electron transfer contribute to the extended duration of active photosynthesis in Q319. Although the chlorophyll content decreased faster in HZ4, with decrease of chlorophyll content induced by ethephon, photosynthetic performance of Q319 deteriorated much more severely than that of HZ4, indicating that, compared with Q319, HZ4 has an advantage at maintaining higher photosynthetic activity with decrease of chlorophyll although HZ4 is a quick-leaf-senescence inbred line. We conclude that attention should be paid to two favorable characteristics in breeding long duration of active photosynthesis hybrids: 1) maintaining more chlorophyll content during senescence and 2) maintaining higher photosynthetic activity during the loss of chlorophyll.     

Molecular Control of TiO(2)-NPs Toxicity Formation at Predicted Environmental Relevant Concentrations by Mn-SODs Proteins

With growing concerns of the safety of nanotechnology, the in vivo toxicity of nanoparticles (NPs) at environmental relevant concentrations has drawn increasing attentions. We investigated the possible molecular mechanisms of titanium nanoparticles (Ti-NPs) in the induction of toxicity at predicted environmental relevant concentrations. In nematodes, small sizes (4 nm and 10 nm) of TiO(2)-NPs induced more severe toxicities than large sizes (60 nm and 90 nm) of TiO(2)-NPs on animals using lethality, growth, reproduction, locomotion behavior, intestinal autofluorescence, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production as endpoints. Locomotion behaviors could be significantly decreased by exposure to 4-nm and 10-nm TiO(2)-NPs at concentration of 1 ng/L in nematodes. Among genes required for the control of oxidative stress, only the expression patterns of sod-2 and sod-3 genes encoding Mn-SODs in animals exposed to small sizes of TiO(2)-NPs were significantly different from those in animals exposed to large sizes of TiO(2)-NPs. sod-2 and sod-3 gene expressions were closely correlated with lethality, growth, reproduction, locomotion behavior, intestinal autofluorescence, and ROS production in TiO(2)-NPs-exposed animals. Ectopically expression of human and nematode Mn-SODs genes effectively prevented the induction of ROS production and the development of toxicity of TiO(2)-NPs. Therefore, the altered expression patterns of Mn-SODs may explain the toxicity formation for different sizes of TiO(2)-NPs at predicted environmental relevant concentrations. In addition, we demonstrated here a strategy to investigate the toxicological effects of exposure to NPs upon humans by generating transgenic strains in nematodes for specific human genes.     

Comparative Analysis of FLC Homologues in Brassicaceae Provides Insight into Their Role in the Evolution of Oilseed Rape

We identified nine FLOWERING LOCUS C homologues (BnFLC) in Brassica napus and found that the coding sequences of all BnFLCs were relatively conserved but the intronic and promoter regions were more divergent. The BnFLC homologues were mapped to six of 19 chromosomes. All of the BnFLC homologues were located in the collinear region of FLC in the Arabidopsis genome except BnFLC.A3b and BnFLC.C3b, which were mapped to noncollinear regions of chromosome A3 and C3, respectively. Four of the homologues were associated significantly with quantitative trait loci for flowering time in two mapping populations. The BnFLC homologues showed distinct expression patterns in vegetative and reproductive organs, and at different developmental stages. BnFLC.A3b was differentially expressed between the winter-type and semi-winter-type cultivars. Microsynteny analysis indicated that BnFLC.A3b might have been translocated to the present segment in a cluster with other flowering-time regulators, such as a homologue of FRIGIDA in Arabidopsis. This cluster of flowering-time genes might have conferred a selective advantage to Brassica species in terms of increased adaptability to diverse environments during their evolution and domestication process.     

CPU-GPU hybrid accelerating the Zuker algorithm for RNA secondary structure prediction applications

Background

Different Cupriavidus metallidurans strains isolated from metal-contaminated and other anthropogenic environments were genotypically and phenotypically compared with C. metallidurans type strain CH34. The latter is well-studied for its resistance to a wide range of metals, which is carried for a substantial part by its two megaplasmids pMOL28 and pMOL30.

Results

Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) indicated that the extensive arsenal of determinants involved in metal resistance was well conserved among the different C. metallidurans strains. Contrary, the mobile genetic elements identified in type strain CH34 were not present in all strains but clearly showed a pattern, although, not directly related to a particular biotope nor location (geographical). One group of strains carried almost all mobile genetic elements, while these were much less abundant in the second group. This occurrence was also reflected in their ability to degrade toluene and grow autotrophically on hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide, which are two traits linked to separate genomic islands of the Tn4371-family. In addition, the clear pattern of genomic islands distribution allowed to identify new putative genomic islands on chromosome 1 and 2 of C. metallidurans CH34.

Conclusions

Metal resistance determinants are shared by all C. metallidurans strains and their occurrence is apparently irrespective of the strain's isolation type and place. Cupriavidus metallidurans strains do display substantial differences in the diversity and size of their mobile gene pool, which may be extensive in some (including the type strain) while marginal in others.     

血红蛋白水平对慢性阻塞性肺疾病患者院内死亡的临床预测价值

目的:在明确贫血对慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)患者产生不良预后的前提下,进一步探讨贫血时的血红蛋白水平对COPD患者器官和功能的影响,以利于对COPD合并贫血的患者进行干预提供临床数据。方法:我们回顾性的研究了北京地区三个三级甲等医院4960例住院COPD患者血红蛋白水平对COPD患者的存活的预测价值。结果:①在4960例COPD患者中,血红蛋白<110 g/L的COPD患者为1009例,1009/4960,占20.34%;②肺栓塞、充血性心力衰竭和慢性肾功能衰竭的患病比例在Hb水平<110 g/L和≥110 g/L的COPD患者组有显著差异(P<0.05),其它临床基线特征无显著性差异(P>0.05);③年龄、吸烟、呼吸衰竭、缺血性心脏病、肺原性心脏病、充血性心力衰竭、房颤、肺栓塞、急性肾功能不全、慢性肾功能不全、PaCO2、PaO2和Hb水平在存活与死亡两组之间均有显著性差异(P<0.01);④逐步筛选变量法多因素非条件Logistic回归结果显示,除肺栓塞、PaCO2和房颤与死亡的相关性无统计学差异外(P>0.05),年龄、吸烟史、Hb水平、PaO2、呼吸衰竭、慢性肾功能衰竭、急性肾功能衰竭、肺源性心脏病、充血性心力衰竭和缺血性心脏病均与死亡密切相关(均P<0.05);⑤血红蛋白水平与死亡密切相关(P<0.01)。结论:低血红蛋白水平(<110 g/L)与死亡密切相关,可以作为预测院内死亡的危险因子之一。     

Identification and expansion of cancer stem cells in tumor tissues and peripheral blood derived from gastric adenocarcinoma patients

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, with a high rate of death and low 5-year survival rate. To date, there is a lack of efficient therapeutic protocols for gastric cancer. Recent studies suggest that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for tumor initiation, invasion, metastasis, and resistance to anticancer therapies. Thus, therapies that target gastric CSCs are attractive. However, CSCs in human gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) have not been described. Here, we identify CSCs in tumor tissues and peripheral blood from GAC patients. CSCs of human GAC (GCSCs) that are isolated from tumor tissues and peripheral blood of patients carried CD44 and CD54 surface markers, generated tumors that highly resemble the original human tumors when injected into immunodeficient mice, differentiated into gastric epithelial cells in vitro, and self-renewed in vivo and in vitro. Our findings suggest that effective therapeutic protocols must target GCSCs. The capture of GCSCs from the circulation of GAC patients also shows great potential for identification of a critical cell population potentially responsible for tumor metastasis, and provides an effective protocol for early diagnosis and longitudinal monitoring of gastric cancer.     

鸡传染性支气管炎病毒广西分离毒株抗原相关性的研究

本研究将26个传染性支气管炎病毒(Infectious bronchitis virus,IBV)广西分离毒株以及参考株M41和常用疫苗株H120、Ma5和4/91共30个毒株,分别与根据这些毒株S1基因高变区Ⅰ的基因分型结果而选取的属于3个不同亚群的7个代表性分离毒株和常用疫苗株H120、Ma5和4/91制备的共10个单因子血清,在鸡胚气管环培养(TOC)上进行病毒中和试验,然后根据中和试验结果对1985～2008年间课题组所分离的26个IBV广西地方流行毒株与3个常用疫苗株H120、Ma5和4/91以及参考毒株M41的抗原相关性及其血清型进行分析。结果显示,30个试验的毒株分属7个不同的血清型,其中26个分离株有两个优势血清型(占总分离株的68%),分别是血清1型(包含13个毒株)和血清2型(包含5个毒株)。此外,我们还将分离毒株的血清分型结果与重要抗原基因(包括S1、N、M和3′UTR)的分型结果之间的关系进行了比较,发现它们之间的分型结果不尽相同。研究结果表明,近年来广西存在多个血清型IBV的流行而且不同时期流行的优势血清型不同,分离毒株之间以及分离毒株与疫苗毒株之间的抗原相关性也存在着差异。     

生物大分子的硫酸化修饰及其生物活性的研究进展

生物大分子经过硫酸化修饰后具有抗病毒、抗肿瘤、抗凝血和增强免疫功能等生物活性。本文就硫酸化生物大分子的制备方法和生物活性等进行了综述。     

Theoretical studies on the Mo-catalyzed asymmetric intramolecular Pauson-Khand-type [2?+?2?+?1] cycloadditions of 3-allyloxy-1-propynylphosphonates

Density functional theory (DFT) was used to investigate the Mo-catalyzed intramolecular Pauson-Khand reaction of 3-allyloxy-1-propynylphosphonates. All intermediates and transition states were optimized completely at the B3LYP/6-31 G(d,p) level [LANL2DZ(f) for Mo]. In the Mo-catalyzed intramolecular Pauson-Khand reaction, the C–C oxidative cyclization reaction was the chirality-determining step, and the reductive elimination reaction was the rate-determining step. The carbonyl insertion reaction into the Mo–C(sp(3)) bondwas easier than into the Mo–C=C bond. And the dominant product predicted theoretically was of (S)-chirality, which agreed with experimental data. This reaction was solventd ependent, and toluene was the best among the three solvents toluene, CH3CN, and THF.