基于功能性状评价5种植物对热带珊瑚岛环境的适应性

植被新建是保护和改善热带珊瑚岛生态系统的关键环节,热带珊瑚岛极端干旱生境是影响植物存活和定居的主要限制因子之一,因此选取适生植物对热带珊瑚岛植被新建至关重要。通过测定在海南省文昌市苗圃和热带珊瑚岛上的草海桐(Scaevola taccada)、厚藤(Ipomoea pescaprae)、木麻黄(Casuarina equisetifolia)、花生(Arachis hypogaea)、椰子(Cocos nucifera)5种植物的光合/水力相关功能性状,探讨植物对热带珊瑚岛生境的适应性。研究发现:与对照(文昌苗圃)相比,热带珊瑚岛上的草海桐、厚藤、木麻黄最大光合速率(A_(max))均显著升高;除椰子外,其余4种植物的比叶面积(SLA)降低,长期水分利用效率升高(其中木麻黄和花生升高显著);5种植物的叶片碳含量(LC)均有不同程度降低。此外,厚藤、木麻黄、椰子的叶片导水率(K_(leaf))显著升高;厚藤和花生的叶片膨压丧失点(Ψ_(tlp))显著降低;厚藤和木麻黄的气孔导度(g_s)显著升高。研究结果表明草海桐、椰子、花生主要通过非气孔调节方式(提高K_(leaf),降低Ψ_(tlp)、SLA等)适应热带珊瑚岛干旱环境;而厚藤和木麻黄同时通过气孔调节(降低g_s)及非气孔调节(提高K_(leaf),降低Ψ_(tlp)、SLA等)两种方式促进植物碳同化和水分利用。综上所述,草海桐、厚藤、木麻黄具有更高的光合能力和水分利用效率,能有效协调碳同化和水分利用,表现出良好的适应能力,适合用于热带珊瑚岛的植被新建。     

Apoptosis of Acanthamoeba castellanii Trophozoites Induced by Oleic Acid

Acanthamoeba spp. can be parasitic in certain situations and are responsible for serious human infections, including Acanthamoeba keratitis, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis, and cutaneous acanthamoebiasis. We analyzed the fatty acid composition of Acanthamoeba castellanii trophozoites and tested the inhibitory activity of the main fatty acids, oleic acid and arachidonic acid, in vitro. Oleic acid markedly inhibited the growth of A. castellanii, with trophozoite viability of 57.4% at a concentration of 200 μM. Caspase‐3 staining and annexin V assays showed that apoptotic death occurred in A. castellanii trophozoites. Quantitative PCR and dot blot analysis showed increased levels of metacaspase and interleukin‐1β converting enzyme, which is also an indication of apoptosis. In contrast, arachidonic acid showed negligible inhibition of growth of A. castellanii trophozoites. Stimulated expression of Atg3, Atg8 and LC3A/B genes and monodansylcadaverine labeling suggested that oleic acid induces apoptosis by triggering autophagy of trophozoites.     

The development of biphasic chiral recognition in chiral separation

In chiral separation, enantioseparation factor is an important parameter which influences the resolution of enantiomers. In this current overview, a biphasic chiral recognition method is introduced to the readers. This method can significantly improve the enantioseparation factor in two‐phase solvent through adding lipophilic and hydrophilic chiral selectors which have opposite chiral recognition ability to organic and aqueous phases, respectively. This overview presents the development and applications of biphasic chiral recognition in liquid‐liquid extraction and counter current chromatography. It mainly focuses on the topics of mechanism, advantages and limitations, applications, and key factors of biphasic chiral recognition. In addition, the future outlook on development of biphasic chiral recognition also has been discussed in this overview.     

Monitoring HIV DNA and cellular activation markers in HIV-infected humanized mice under cART

Background

The major obstacle to cure of HIV type-1 infection is the presence of the HIV reservoir, hidden from the immune system and insensitive to combined antiretroviral therapy (cART). Eradication approaches have been hindered by the difficulty for accurately monitoring its size in vivo, especially in the lymphoid organs. Humanized mouse models are a valuable tool for systematically assess the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in reducing the HIV reservoir. Nonetheless, persistence of the HIV reservoir over time, in the presence of cART, has yet to be analyzed in this in vivo model.

Findings

We found that the proviral DNA as well as the total DNA were very stable in the spleen and mesenteric lymph node irrespective of the length of cART. Notably, the amount of proviral DNA was very similar in the spleen and lymph node. Furthermore, we observed a correlation between the percentage of splenic human CD4+ T-cells with total HIV DNA, between the number of human CD38?+?CD8+ T-cells in the spleen with the amount of integrated HIV DNA, and eventually between the hCD4/hCD8 ratio in the spleen with integrated as well as total HIV DNA implying that the CD8+ T cells influence the size of the HIV reservoir.

Conclusions

Here, we demonstrated the stability of this reservoir in humanized mice irrespective of the length of cART, confirming the relevancy of this model for HIV latency eradication investigations. Notably, we also found correlates between the frequency of CD4+ T-cells, their activation status and viral parameters, which were analogous to the ones in HIV-infected patients. Thus, hu-mice represent a very valuable HIV latency model.

     

Research of blastocyte-like structure in chicken

The chicken embryo is a classic model used to investigate embryonic development, gene expression, and tissue differentiation, and is also an important research tool in studying the animal functional genomics. The whole blastoderms of fresh unincubated eggs from White Leghorn chickens were collected with a paper ring, mechanically broken into small pieces and cultured in medium. Then the small pieces would develop into blastocyte-like structures (BLS), which could be facilitated by an addition of fetal bovine serum (FBS) to the primary culture and their diameter was nearly doubled from 12 to 24 h. The additional yolk had no positive effect on the development in the first 12 h but encouraged the BLSs attaching and inner cells differentiating instead in 24 h. The inner cells of the BLS showing a high alkaline-phosphatase activity similar to those in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and also expressing a large amount of the specific stage embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA-1) on the surface, which was known to be the characteristic of non-differentiated mouse and avian ES cells, could finally differentiate into nerve-like cells, fibroblast cells and so on in the medium. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) facilitated the cells' proliferation and prevented differentiation in the suspended culture of the BLSs. So we drew the conclusion that the BLS obtained from broken blastoderm can be used to amplify avian ES cells so as to initiate a new method of producing transgenic chickens.     

近30年来白洋淀湿地景观格局变化及其驱动机制

湿地是水陆相互作用形成的独特生态系统,其景观格局极易受到气候变化和人类活动的影响。利用1984—2014年的11期遥感影像数据,综合运用GIS技术和景观格局指数方法,对白洋淀湿地景观格局变化特征及其驱动力机制进行了分析。结果表明,1984—2014年期间,挺水植物和沉水植物呈减少趋势,农田和居民点持续快速增长,纯水体为"增加—减少—再增加"的趋势,林地和裸土地变化幅度不大。其中挺水植物一直是白洋淀最主要的景观类型,占研究区总面积比例达到37%—61%。农田的平均斑块面积最大,挺水植物的最大斑块指数和分维度指数最高,挺水植物和农田的聚集度指数最大,居民点、林地和裸土地空间分布离散,破碎化程度高,连通性差。1989—2004年白洋淀景观多样性指数呈减少趋势,景观格局趋于不稳定,同期聚集度指数上升,湿地连通性增加;1984—1989年和2004—2014年期间白洋淀多样性指数上涨,聚集度指数逐年下降,景观异质性增加。人口和社会经济发展是影响白洋淀景观格局变化的主要因素。     

花棒茎流对降雨的响应

干旱半干旱区植物生理过程的水分响应依赖于降雨强度和频率,研究典型沙生植物对降雨的响应有助于预测未来气候条件下荒漠生态系统的结构和功能变化.2012和2013年花棒生长季,在宁夏盐池采用包裹式茎流仪对花棒茎流进行连续观测,分析茎流在晴天和雨天的变化特征及其对不同降雨事件的响应.结果表明: 雨天的花棒日茎流量低于晴天.晴天,茎流日变化呈“几”字型宽峰曲线,与太阳辐射和相对湿度呈正相关;雨天,茎流日变化呈多峰曲线或者一直处于极低状态,与太阳辐射和空气温度呈正相关.降雨不仅可以通过影响当天太阳辐射、空气温度、饱和蒸汽压差和相对湿度影响花棒茎流通量,还通过调控土壤含水量影响降雨后的茎流通量.降雨量<20 mm时,降雨前后茎流通量差异不显著;降雨量>20 mm时,降雨后的茎流通量比降雨前有显著提高.高土壤含水量不仅能够提高茎流通量,并且能够提高茎流通量对太阳辐射、饱和水汽压差和空气温度的响应敏感性.     

哈尔滨郊区人为鼠疫疫源地鼠类种群动态分析

根据黑龙江省哈尔滨市郊区人为鼠疫疫源地1952～1996 年达乌尔黄鼠密度监测资料,建立了黄鼠密度的自回归模型D_t=0.1374+1.130 2D_t-1-0.4754D_t-2+0.8033D_t-3-0.4680D_t-4 , 对1997～2000 年的密度进行了预测。1952～1980 年, 人工捕黄鼠率极为显著地影响黄鼠密度(P<0.001)。在该地区, 1982～1996年共捕啮齿动物6种, 其中黄鼠和大仓鼠为野外优势种, 褐家鼠为室内优势种, 其余为常见种。大仓鼠、黑线仓鼠、黑线姬鼠均与夜行鼠总捕获率正相关(P<0.01),逐步回归模型为总捕获率=0.5219+1.1733 大仓鼠+10312 黑线仓鼠+ 1.1273小家鼠+ 0.9242 褐家鼠(P<0.0001)。黄鼠密度与捕获率不相关(P>0.10)。