Spatio-temporal changes in biomass carbon sinks in China’s forests from 1977 to 2008

Forests play a leading role in regional and global carbon (C) cycles. Detailed assessment of the temporal and spatial changes in C sinks/sources of China’s forests is critical to the estimation of the national C budget and can help to constitute sustainable forest management policies for climate change. In this study, we explored the spatio-temporal changes in forest biomass C stocks in China between 1977 and 2008, using six periods of the national forest inventory data. According to the definition of the forest inventory, China’s forest was categorized into three groups: forest stand, economic forest, and bamboo forest. We estimated forest biomass C stocks for each inventory period by using continuous biomass expansion factor (BEF) method for forest stands, and the mean biomass density method for economic and bamboo forests. As a result, China’s forests have accumulated biomass C (i.e., biomass C sink) of 1896 Tg (1 Tg=10¹² g) during the study period, with 1710, 108 and 78 Tg C in forest stands, and economic and bamboo forests, respectively. Annual forest biomass C sink was 70.2 Tg C a^?1, offsetting 7.8% of the contemporary fossil CO₂ emissions in the country. The results also showed that planted forests have functioned as a persistent C sink, sequestrating 818 Tg C and accounting for 47.8% of total C sink in forest stands, and that the old-, mid- and young-aged forests have sequestrated 930, 391 and 388 Tg C from 1977 to 2008. Our results suggest that China’s forests have a big potential as biomass C sink in the future because of its large area of planted forests with young-aged growth and low C density.     

Hela细胞HGPRT缺陷型细胞系构建

建立稳定的次黄嘌呤鸟嘌呤磷酸核糖转移酶(HGPRT)缺陷的Hela细胞系,为细胞融合相关研究和人源化单克隆抗体制备提供有利于筛选的亲本细胞。通过诱变剂N-甲基-N′-硝基-N-亚硝基胍(MNNG)对Hela细胞进行诱变,逐步提高培养基中6-巯基鸟嘌呤(6-TG)的浓度,筛选出对6-TG稳定耐受的细胞,在次黄嘌呤-氨基喋呤-胸腺嘧啶(hypoxanthine-aminopterin-thymidine,HAT)培养基中鉴定其敏感性,最后对筛选得到的Hela-HGPRT-进行生物学鉴定。在此基础上,将Hela-HGPRT-细胞系与人淋巴细胞融合,在HAT培养基中筛选杂交细胞。筛选得到了能够长期在含20μg/mL 6-TG培养基中生长的Hela-HGPRT-细胞,并且在HAT培养基中不能存活。Hela-HGPRT-细胞与人淋巴细胞成功融合,获得能够连续传代培养的杂交瘤细胞。经MNNG诱导和6-TG筛选,得到了稳定传代的Hela-HGPRT-细胞系,该细胞系可用于细胞融合相关研究。     

Effects of sand burial depth on the root system of Salix cheilophila seedlings in Mu Us Sandy Land, Inner Mongolia, China

Salix cheilophila Schneid. is a naturally occurring Salix species in Mu Us Sandy Land, Inner Mongolia, China. We focused on the morphological adaptability of S. cheilophila to sand dune burial. For morphological measurements, 32 S. cheilophila seedlings were removed from a community which was in the process of being buried by a shifting sand dune. Each seedling collected included the entire root system. We measured the number, length, and biomass of the adventitious roots, primary lateral roots, and taproot, and compared the morphological characteristics of the root system, including adventitious roots, for seedlings buried to various levels in the sand. The growth range of adventitious roots increased as the length of the buried portion of the main shoot increased. In addition, the total dry weight of all current-year shoots tended to increase gradually with increasing total dry weight of the adventitious roots. These results suggest that S. cheilophila tends to make use of the sedimentary sand layer that accompanies shifting sand dunes. However, there was no correlation between biomass or number of adventitious roots and the length of the buried part of the main shoot. Thus, S. cheilophila does not grow adventitious roots proportional to the buried part. These morphological characteristics of the root system, including the adventitious roots, may indicate that S. cheilophila has poor morphological adaptability to sand dune burial.     

Simultaneous Analysis of Anthocyanin and Non-Anthocyanin Flavonoid in Various Tissues of Different Lotus (Nelumbo) Cultivars by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn

A validated HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSⁿ method for the analysis of non-anthocyanin flavonoids was applied to nine different tissues of twelve lotus genotypes of Nelumbo nucifera and N. lutea, together with an optimized anthocyanin extraction and separation protocol for lotus petals. A total of five anthocyanins and twenty non-anthocyanin flavonoids was identified and quantified. Flavonoid contents and compositions varied with cultivar and tissue and were used as a basis to divide tissues into three groups characterized by kaempferol and quercetin derivatives. Influences on flower petal coloration were investigated by principal components analyses. High contents of kaempferol glycosides were detected in the petals of N. nucifera while high quercetin glycoside concentrations occurred in N. lutea. Based on these results, biosynthetic pathways leading to specific compounds in lotus tissues are deduced through metabolomic analysis of different genotypes and tissues and correlations among flavonoid compounds.     

Changes in Human Parechovirus Profiles in Hospitalized Children with Acute Gastroenteritis after a Three-Year Interval in Lanzhou,China

The changing profile of infection over time for Human Parechoviruses (HPeVs) is not well known and no detailed study has been reported to date in China. This investigation on HPeV infection in hospitalized children in Lanzhou, China revealed variations in epidemiological characteristics after a three-year interval. To assess the changes that had occurred, epidemiological and clinical characteristics of HPeVs were characterized and compared with previously reported data by our group. A comparable positivity rate (25.3%, 73/289) was revealed after the three-year interval with the majority of the infected children (95.9%, 70/73) being younger than two years of age. While a temporal change in the seasonal distribution was noted in the current study, HPeVs were more frequently detected during July to November compared to September to December in the previous study. Changes in HPeV genotypes patterns, a temporal change in the prevalence of HPeV1, a younger susceptible age to HPeV3 compared with HPeV1 and a tendency of older children to be infected with HPeV4 are in contrast to our previous report. HPeV2, a rarely reported genotype, was identified for the first time in China. In addition, an exclusive trinucleotide (GAT) insertion in the HPeV4 nucleotide sequence was identified. However, the profiles of co-infection with other enteric related viruses were similar to our previous findings. In summary, these data suggest temporal variation in the seasonal distribution of HPeV and changing patterns of HPeV genotypes over time in the study region.     

Berberine Targets AP-2/hTERT,NF-κB/COX-2, HIF-1α/VEGF and Cytochrome-c/Caspase Signaling to Suppress Human Cancer Cell Growth

Berberine (BBR), an isoquinoline derivative alkaloid isolated from Chinese herbs, has a long history of uses for the treatment of multiple diseases, including cancers. However, the precise mechanisms of actions of BBR in human lung cancer cells remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms by which BBR inhibits cell growth in human non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. Treatment with BBR promoted cell morphology change, inhibited cell migration, proliferation and colony formation, and induced cell apoptosis. Further molecular mechanism study showed that BBR simultaneously targeted multiple cell signaling pathways to inhibit NSCLC cell growth. Treatment with BBR inhibited AP-2α and AP-2β expression and abrogated their binding on hTERT promoters, thereby inhibiting hTERT expression. Knockdown of AP-2α and AP-2β by siRNA considerably augmented the BBR-mediated inhibition of cell growth. BBR also suppressed the nuclear translocation of p50/p65 NF-κB proteins and their binding to COX-2 promoter, causing inhibition of COX-2. BBR also downregulated HIF-1α and VEGF expression and inhibited Akt and ERK phosphorylation. Knockdown of HIF-1α by siRNA considerably augmented the BBR-mediated inhibition of cell growth. Moreover, BBR treatment triggered cytochrome-c release from mitochondrial inter-membrane space into cytosol, promoted cleavage of caspase and PARP, and affected expression of BAX and Bcl-2, thereby activating apoptotic pathway. Taken together, these results demonstrated that BBR inhibited NSCLC cell growth by simultaneously targeting AP-2/hTERT, NF-κB/COX-2, HIF-1α/VEGF, PI3K/AKT, Raf/MEK/ERK and cytochrome-c/caspase signaling pathways. Our findings provide new insights into understanding the anticancer mechanisms of BBR in human lung cancer therapy.     

Understanding Dry Matter and Nitrogen Accumulation with Time-Course for High-Yielding Wheat Production in China

Understanding the time-course of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) accumulation in terms of yield–trait relationships is essential to simultaneously increase grain yield and synchronize N demand and N supply. We collected 413 data points from 11 field experiments to address patterns of DM and N accumulation with time in relation to grain yield and management of winter wheat in China. Detailed growth analysis was conducted at the Zadok growth stages (GS) 25 (regreening), GS30 (stem elongation), GS60 (anthesis), and GS100 (maturity) in all experiments, including DM and N accumulation. Grain yield averaged 7.3 Mg ha⁻¹, ranging from 2.1 to 11.2 Mg ha⁻¹. The percent N accumulation was consistent prior to DM accumulation, while both DM and N accumulation increased continuously with growing time. Both the highest and fastest DM and N accumulations were observed from stem elongation to the anthesis stage. Significant correlations between grain yield and DM and N accumulation were found at each of the four growth stages, although no positive relationship was observed between grain yield and harvest index or N harvest index. The yield increase from 7–9 Mg ha⁻¹ to >9 Mg ha⁻¹ was mainly attributed to increased DM and N accumulation from stem elongation to anthesis. Although applying more N fertilizer increased N accumulation during this stage, DM accumulation was not improved, indicating that N fertilizer management and related agronomic management should be intensified synchronously across the wheat growing season to simultaneously achieve high yields and match N demand and N supply.     

An Ensemble Method for Predicting Subnuclear Localizations from Primary Protein Structures

Background

Predicting protein subnuclear localization is a challenging problem. Some previous works based on non-sequence information including Gene Ontology annotations and kernel fusion have respective limitations. The aim of this work is twofold: one is to propose a novel individual feature extraction method; another is to develop an ensemble method to improve prediction performance using comprehensive information represented in the form of high dimensional feature vector obtained by 11 feature extraction methods.

Methodology/Principal Findings

A novel two-stage multiclass support vector machine is proposed to predict protein subnuclear localizations. It only considers those feature extraction methods based on amino acid classifications and physicochemical properties. In order to speed up our system, an automatic search method for the kernel parameter is used. The prediction performance of our method is evaluated on four datasets: Lei dataset, multi-localization dataset, SNL9 dataset and a new independent dataset. The overall accuracy of prediction for 6 localizations on Lei dataset is 75.2% and that for 9 localizations on SNL9 dataset is 72.1% in the leave-one-out cross validation, 71.7% for the multi-localization dataset and 69.8% for the new independent dataset, respectively. Comparisons with those existing methods show that our method performs better for both single-localization and multi-localization proteins and achieves more balanced sensitivities and specificities on large-size and small-size subcellular localizations. The overall accuracy improvements are 4.0% and 4.7% for single-localization proteins and 6.5% for multi-localization proteins. The reliability and stability of our classification model are further confirmed by permutation analysis.

Conclusions

It can be concluded that our method is effective and valuable for predicting protein subnuclear localizations. A web server has been designed to implement the proposed method. It is freely available at http://bioinformatics.awowshop.com/snlpred_page.php.