基于环境DNA技术的赤水河秋季鱼类多样性分布特征

赤水河是长江上游少有的仍保持自然流态的大型一级支流,是长江鱼类重要的繁衍场和珍稀物种的保护地,摸清其鱼类多样性现状及鱼类群落结构特征对赤水河水生态恢复评估极为重要。于2021年9月对赤水河流域开展了鱼类多样性、分布及其特征调查,全流域共设置52个采样点,采用环境DNA技术采集并研究了赤水河鱼类的组成及其分布。结果显示通过环境DNA方法共调查到鱼类6目18科62属77种,包含16种长江特有鱼类。以鲤形目为主,占总数的87.87%。赤水河鱼类食性以杂食性和肉食性鱼类为主,群落结构上,处于下层水环境鱼类较多;赤水河鱼类优势种为宽鳍鱲(Y=0.205)、西昌华吸鳅(Y=0.085)、麦穗鱼(Y=0.068)、乌苏拟鲿(Y=0.033)、云南光唇鱼(Y=0.027);赤水河上游和下游鱼类群落(P<0.01)和Shannon-Wiener指数差异均显著(P<0.05)。海拔、流速、pH、电导率和温度是影响赤水河鱼类多样性的主要环境因素。为环境DNA技术在赤水河鱼类多样性调查中的应用提供了探索性研究,将有助于赤水河生物多样性的保护。     

‘凤丹’牡丹PoKAS基因的克隆及表达分析

为探究‘凤丹’牡丹(Paeonia ostii‘Feng Dan’)PoKAS基因在脂肪酸合成中的功能,从转录组数据中获得3个PoKAS基因,克隆基因全长并进行生物信息学分析,通过qRT-PCR检测它们在牡丹落花后第23、45、75、100和125天时的表达。结果显示：(1)克隆得到的3个基因序列全长分别为1 401、1 692和1 215 bp,分别编码466、563和404 aa;保守结构域分析发现,它们都含有KAS保守结构域,属于cond-enzymes超蛋白家族。(2)系统进化树将三者分为三大类,表明其在进化上相对独立,分别命名为PoKASⅠ、PoKASⅡ和PoKASⅢ(GenBank登录号分别为OP056413、OP056412和OP056414)。(3)qRT-PCR分析发现,在牡丹落花后种子发育的5个时期中,PoKASⅠ和PoKASⅡ基因在落花后75 d和45 d时的表达量分别显著高于其他发育时期;PoKASⅢ基因在落花后45～125 d时的表达量均显著高于落花后23 d,说明PoKASⅢ基因在牡丹种子脂肪酸合成的整个过程中发挥着重要作用,而PoKASⅡ基因主要在种子油脂...     

LDL的氧化修饰和氧化修饰LDL的组成和结构变化

与低密度脂蛋白(LDL)相比,氧化修饰LDL(O-LDL)的组成、结构和生物学特性发生了深刻的变化,而组成和结构的改变是生物学特性改变的基础.本文根据最近文献资料.结合我们实验室的工作.对LDL的氧化修饰、O-LDL的组成、结构改变,以及它们的机理作一简要综述.     

鼠兔核质杂交胚胎早期发育的研究

细胞核移植技术已被证明是研究发育中核质相互关系的非常重要的手段之一,电融合技术也是近十年发展起来的新型细胞融合技术。本实验运用这两项技术,进行了鼠、兔目间核质杂交实验,小鼠8-细胞核在激活的兔去核卵母细胞中,发生了染色体超前凝聚及核膨胀,融合卵移植到小鼠输卵管4.5天后,冲洗出,有5.4%的重构卵发育到囊胚期,通过染色体检查,囊胚细胞中均为小鼠染色体,其中一个囊胚为正常小鼠核型(2 n=40,XX)。通过本实验,我们认为:鼠兔远缘核质杂交胚胎的早期发育是可能的。     

Transmembrane kinase 1-mediated auxin signal regulates membrane-associated clathrin in Arabidopsis roots

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is the major endocytic pathway in eukaryotic cells that directly regulates abundance of plasma membrane proteins. Clathrin triskelia are composed of clathrin heavy chains (CHCs) and light chains (CLCs), and the phytohormone auxin differentially regulates membrane-associated CLCs and CHCs, modulating the endocytosis and therefore the distribution of auxin efflux transporter PIN-FORMED2 (PIN2). However, the molecular mechanisms by which auxin regulates clathrin are still poorly understood. Transmembrane kinase (TMKs) family proteins are considered to contribute to auxin signaling and plant development; it remains unclear whether they are involved in PIN transport by CME. We assessed TMKs involvement in the regulation of clathrin by auxin, using genetic, pharmacological, and cytological approaches including live-cell imaging and immunofluorescence. In tmk1 mutant seedlings, auxin failed to rapidly regulate abundance of both CHC and CLC and to inhibit PIN2 endocytosis, leading to an impaired asymmetric distribution of PIN2 and therefore auxin. Furthermore, TMK3 and TMK4 were shown not to be involved in regulation of clathrin by auxin. In summary, TMK1 is essential for auxin-regulated clathrin recruitment and CME. TMK1 therefore plays a critical role in the establishment of an asymmetric distribution of PIN2 and an auxin gradient during root gravitropism.     

Systematics of Mukdenia and Oresitrophe (Saxifragaceae): Insights from genome skimming data

Oresitrophe and Mukdenia (Saxifragaceae) are epilithic sister genera used in traditional Chinese medicine. The taxonomy of Mukdenia, especially of M. acanthifolia, has been controversial. To address this, we produced plastid and mitochondrial data using genome skimming for Mukdenia acanthifolia and Mukdenia rossii, including three individuals of each species. We assembled complete plastomes, mitochondrial CDS and nuclear ribosomal ETS/ITS sequences using these data. Comparative analysis shows that the plastomes of Mukdenia and Oresitrophe are relatively conservative in terms of genome size, structure, gene content, RNA editing sites and codon usage. Five plastid regions that represent hotspots of change (trnH-psbA, psbC-trnS, trnM-atpE, petA-psbJ and ccsA-ndhD) are identified within Mukdenia, and six regions (trnH-psbA, petN-psbM, trnM-atpE, rps16-trnQ, ycf1 and ndhF) contain a higher number of species-specific parsimony-informative sites that may serve as potential DNA barcodes for species identification. To infer phylogenetic relationships between Mukdenia and Oresitrophe, we combined our data with published data based on three different datasets. The monophyly of each species (Oresitrophe rupifraga, M. acanthifolia and M. rossii) and the inferred topology ((M. rossii, M. acanthifolia), O. rupifraga) are well supported in trees reconstructed using the complete plastome sequences, but M. acanthifolia and M. rossii did not form a separate clade in the trees based on ETS + ITS data, while the mitochondrial CDS trees are not well-resolved. We found low recovery of genes in the Angiosperms353 target enrichment panel from our unenriched genome skimming data. Hybridization or incomplete lineage sorting may be the cause of discordance between trees reconstructed from organellar and nuclear data. Considering its morphological distinctiveness and our molecular phylogenetic results, we strongly recommend that M. acanthifolia be treated as a distinct species.     

Probing the structure and mobility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin by circular dichroism and dynamic fluorescence anisotropy.

The UV dynamic fluorescence and CD of several Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurins bearing single amino acid mutation have been studied. Two classes of mutants were examined. In the first class, two hydrophobic residues in the core of the protein, Ile 7 and Phe 110, nearest to the azurin single tryptophan Trp 48, were substituted by a serine (mutants 17S and F110S). In the second class, two residues in the outer sphere of the copper ligand field were changed, obtaining the following mutants: M44K, H35F, H35L, and H35Q. All these proteins showed two fluorescence lifetimes in the copper-containing form, but only one in the copper-free form. The lifetime of the latter derivatives was different from either those of the metal-bound samples, definitely ruling out the presence of apo-like species in the holo protein. Copper-free 17S and F110S showed a more complex fluorescence decay profile requiring a distribution of lifetimes rather than a single lifetime. Holo F110S was also better fitted, in the limit of confidence, with two distributions rather than a pair of lifetimes. Time-resolved anisotropy of these two mutants as well as of wild-type (wt) protein showed two components (rotational times for wt < or = 200 ps and 7 ns, respectively). These components were not affected significantly by copper removal in the case of wt protein. Instead, the short rotational component of the mutants dropped dramatically to values near zero, indicating a much greater mobility of the tryptophanyl residue in the mutant apo azurins. These data were supported by CD measurements showing a small effect of the copper presence in the region below 250 nm, i.e., in the secondary structure, but almost a collapse of the aromatic asymmetry at 270-295 nm related to a relaxation of the structural constraint around the tryptophan. Altogether these data show that copper does not play a structural role in wt azurin, whereas it is crucial in the stabilization of 17S and F110S mutants. Furthermore, although the metal site geometry is rigidly kept in wt apo-azurin, it regains the native form only in the presence of the metal in the "core" mutants. This finding is important for the theory of entatic states in metalloproteins (Williams RJP, 1995, Eur J Biochem 234:363-381).