A caprine chimera produced by injection of embryonic germ cells into a blastocyst

This report details a chimeric goat derived by injecting caprine embryonic germ (EG) cells into a host blastocyst. The EG cells, isolated from the primordial genital ridge of white Guanzhong goat fetuses (28-42 days of pregnancy), had alkaline phosphatase activity and several stem cell markers, including SSEA-1, c-kit, and Nanog. Ten to 20EG cells were microinjected into the blastocoelic cavity of a host blastocyst collected from a black goat following natural service. Twenty-nine injected blastocysts were transferred into nine white surrogate goats. One of the recipients maintained pregnancy to term and gave birth to three kids: one male, one female, and a dead, malformed fetus of undetermined gender; all three fetuses were black, but the female and the malformed fetus each had a large white spot on their head. Based on PCR and microsatellite DNA assay, the female and the malformed fetus were monozygotic twins and chimeras. Microsatellite assay on various tissues from the dead fetus (including skin, blood, liver, placenta, lung, heart, spleen, muscle, and brain), revealed that these tissues and organs were chimeric and contained cells derived from EG cells. In conclusion, caprine EG cells differentiated into all three germ layers in vivo.     

Structure and function of skeletal muscle in zebrafish early larvae

Zebrafish muscles were examined at an early developmental stage (larvae 5-7 d). Using aluminum clips, preparations (approximately 1.5 mm length, 150 microm diameter) were mounted for force registration and small angle x-ray diffraction. Sarcomeres were oriented mainly in parallel with the preparation long axis. Electrical stimulation elicited fast and reproducible single twitch contractions. Length-force relations showed an optimal sarcomere length of 2.15 microm. X-ray diffraction revealed clear equatorial 1.1/1.0 reflections, showing that myofilaments are predominantly arranged along the preparation long axis. In contrast, reflections from older (2 mo) zebrafish showed two main filament orientations each at an approximately 25 degrees angle relative to the preparation long axis. Electrical stimulation of larvae muscles increased the 1.1/1.0 intensity ratio, reflecting mass transfer to thin filaments during contraction. The apparent lattice volume was 3.42 x 10(-3) microm(3), which is smaller than that of mammalian striated muscle and more similar to that of frog muscles. The relation between force and stimulation frequency showed fusion of responses at a comparatively high frequency (approximately 186 Hz), reflecting a fast muscle phenotype. Inhibition of fast myosin with N-benzyl-p-toluene sulphonamide (BTS) showed that the later phase of the tetanus was less affected than the initial peak. This suggests that, although the main contractile phenotype is fast, slow twitch fibers can contribute to sustained contraction. A fatigue stimulation protocol with repeated 220 ms/186 Hz tetani showed that tetanic force decreased to 50% at a train rate of 0.1 s(-1). In conclusion, zebrafish larvae muscles can be examined in vitro using mechanical and x-ray methods. The muscles and myofilaments are mainly orientated in parallel with the larvae long axis and exhibit a significant fast contractile component. Sustained contractions can also involve a small contribution from slower muscle types.     

白细胞介素-6在肝再生中的作用

白细胞介素-6(IL-6)是一种多功能的细胞因子。近年来发现,它是启动肝细胞增殖的早期信号中不可缺少的组成部分,在肝再生中有重要作用。现对IL-6在肝再生中的作用及可能机制进行综述,为肝脏疾病的治疗提供新的思路。     

胚胎干细胞生物学特性及其应用前景

胚胎干细胞是来源于着床前的囊胚内细胞团或早期胎儿的原始生殖细胞的一类未分化的全能性（多能性）干细胞,具有无限增殖和全能化的潜力,胚胎干细胞在发育生物学基础研究,动物胚胎工程研究生产和临床医学上具有诱人的应用前景。     

重庆地区蕨类植物区系的初步研究

对重庆地区蕨类植物从科、属分布区类型进行了统计分析,同时将该区区系特征与其它几个地区进行了对比分析。结果表明:(1)该区共有蕨类植物389种(含变种和变型),隶属于109属, 43科。(2)该区蕨类植物中优势科、属十分明显,其中优势科为:鳞毛蕨科、金星蕨科、水龙骨科、蹄盖蕨科、凤尾蕨科;优势属为鳞毛蕨属、耳蕨属、凤尾蕨属、铁角蕨属、卷柏属、凤丫蕨属。(3)从蕨类植物科、属分布区类型的所占比例来看,该地区区系性质以热带成分占优势,其中热带分布科22科,占总科数的75.00%;热带分布属有60属,占总属数的64.52%(剔除世界分布)。(4)本区区系成分古老,古老孑遗的科属较为丰富,但特有现象不明显。(5)该区地形、气候条件对于蕨类植物的散布和充分发育比较适宜,为其在该区的充分发育创造了极为有力的条件。(6)经对比分析和聚类分析表明:该区与临近的几个地区属的相似性系数很高,特别是与西南地区的西藏、横断山区的属相似性系数较大,表明区系上与这些地区有着广泛的联系;而与华北的内蒙古,东北的辽宁等相距较远的地区属的相似性系数较低,表明区系上联系较为疏远。     

Activity-induced rapid synaptic maturation mediated by presynaptic cdc42 signaling

Maturation of presynaptic transmitter secretion machinery is a critical step in synaptogenesis. Here we report that a brief train of presynaptic action potentials rapidly converts early nonfunctional contacts between cultured hippocampal neurons into functional synapses by enhancing presynaptic glutamate release. The enhanced release was confirmed by a marked increase in the number of depolarization-induced FM4-64 puncta in the presynaptic axon. This rapid presynaptic maturation can be abolished by treatments that interfered with presynaptic BDNF and Cdc42 signaling or actin polymerization. Activation of Cdc42 by applying BDNF or bradykinin mimicked the effect of electrical activity in promoting synaptic maturation. Furthermore, activity-induced increase in presynaptic actin polymerization, as revealed by increased concentration of actin-YFP at axon boutons, was abolished by inhibiting BDNF and Cdc42 signaling. Thus, rapid presynaptic maturation induced by neuronal activity is mediated by presynaptic activation of the Cdc42 signaling pathway.     

Model for kinetics of wild-type and mutant kinesins

A hand-over-hand model is presented for the processive movement of two-headed kinesin based on previous structural and biochemical studies. In the model, the ATPase activities of the two heads are regulated by forces, both from internal elasticity and external load, exerted on their neck linkers. The results from the model show that the two heads may be partially coordinated in their ATPase cycles: in the case of backward load or low forward load, the ATPase cycles of its two heads are well coordinated, whereas in the case of high forward load, they are no longer well coordinated. The model gives results that show good quantitative agreement with both previous biochemical and mechanical experimental results such as the limping of homodimers and the dependences of mean velocity on [ATP] and on loads (both positive and negative). Furthermore, using the model we study the kinetics of a number of mutant kinesin homodimers and heterodimers, showing that the two heads' ATPase activities of some of these molecules are not well coordinated and they move processively with low mechanochemical coupling efficiencies even under no load. The theoretical results of ATPase rate per head, moving velocity, and stall force of the motors show good quantitative agreement with the experimental ones. The puzzling dynamic behaviours of mutant homodimeric and heterodimeric kinesins become understandable.     

A hand-over-hand diffusing model for myosin-VI molecular motors

Single molecules of dimeric myosin-VI have been demonstrated to be able to move processively towards the pointed end of actin filament with a mean step size of approximately 36 nm. Here we present a hand-over-hand diffusing mechanism for this unidirectional movement. Based on this mechanism, its dynamical behaviors such as the step-size distribution, dwell-time distributions and mean dwell time at various ATP and ADP concentrations and under various loads are studied in detail. The calculated results show good agreement with previous experimental results. The processive movement of mutant myosin-V with its neck domains truncated to only one IQ motif can also be explained by using this hand-over-hand diffusing model.     

Several appropriate background distributions for entropy-based protein sequence conservation measures

Amino acid background distribution is an important factor for entropy-based methods which extract sequence conservation information from protein multiple sequence alignments (MSAs). However, MSAs are usually not large enough to allow a reliable observed background distribution. In this paper, we propose two new estimations of background distribution. One is an integration of the observed background distribution and the position-specific residue distribution, and the other is a normalized square root of observed background frequency. To validate these new background distributions, they are applied to the relative entropy model to find catalytic sites and ligand binding sites from protein MSAs. Experimental results show that they are superior to the observed background distribution in predicting functionally important residues.     

Ultrastructural features of PPRV infection in Vero cells

<正>Dear Editor,The peste des petits ruminants virus(PPRV)causes an increasingly important viral disease of livestock that predominantly infects small ruminants such as goats and sheep.It belongs to the Paramyxoviridae family and is classified as the fourth member of the genus Morbillivirus because of its genetic similarity with other members of this genus,which includes measles virus(MV),rinderpest virus(RPV),canine distemper virus