Metagenomic insights into the fibrolytic microbiome in yak rumen

The rumen hosts one of the most efficient microbial systems for degrading plant cell walls, yet the predominant cellulolytic proteins and fibrolytic mechanism(s) remain elusive. Here we investigated the cellulolytic microbiome of the yak rumen by using a combination of metagenome-based and bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-based functional screening approaches. Totally 223 fibrolytic BAC clones were pyrosequenced and 10,070 ORFs were identified. Among them 150 were annotated as the glycoside hydrolase (GH) genes for fibrolytic proteins, and the majority (69%) of them were clustered or linked with genes encoding related functions. Among the 35 fibrolytic contigs of >10 Kb in length, 25 were derived from Bacteroidetes and four from Firmicutes. Coverage analysis indicated that the fibrolytic genes on most Bacteroidetes-contigs were abundantly represented in the metagenomic sequences, and they were frequently linked with genes encoding SusC/SusD-type outer-membrane proteins. GH5, GH9, and GH10 cellulase/hemicellulase genes were predominant, but no GH48 exocellulase gene was found. Most (85%) of the cellulase and hemicellulase proteins possessed a signal peptide; only a few carried carbohydrate-binding modules, and no cellulosomal domains were detected. These findings suggest that the SucC/SucD-involving mechanism, instead of one based on cellulosomes or the free-enzyme system, serves a major role in lignocellulose degradation in yak rumen. Genes encoding an endoglucanase of a novel GH5 subfamily occurred frequently in the metagenome, and the recombinant proteins encoded by the genes displayed moderate Avicelase in addition to endoglucanase activities, suggesting their important contribution to lignocellulose degradation in the exocellulase-scarce rumen.     

贵州雷公山秃杉种群生活史特征与空间分布格局

秃杉是一种珍稀濒危植物,以斑块状分布于雷公山东南面斜坡海拔800-1300 m之间的沟谷两侧。从年龄结构、生命表特征、存活曲线以及种群不同龄级个体空间分布格局等方面研究了雷公山秃杉种群生活史特征与空间分布格局。研究结果表明:秃杉的种群结构存在波动性,成年阶段个体较丰富,幼苗与老龄数目相对较少,秃杉自身的生物学特性及环境因素是形成这种现象的主要原因;秃杉种群存活曲线趋于DeeveyⅡ型,出现2个死亡率高峰,一个出现在第6龄级阶段,另一个出现在第12龄级阶段,期望寿命单调下降;秃杉种群空间分布格局总体上为聚集分布,处于不同发育阶段的秃杉种群,其分布格局随时间而发生变化,从幼龄期到中龄期再到老龄期,种群分布格局由聚集分布逐渐变为随机分布,秃杉种群在不同发育阶段的空间分布格局差异与其生物学和生态学特性密切相关,同时受群落小环境的影响。     

Research ethics training in Peru: a case study

With the rapidly increasing number of health care professionals seeking international research experience, comes an urgent need for enhanced capacity of host country institutional review boards (IRB) to review research proposals and ensure research activities are both ethical and relevant to the host country customs and needs. A successful combination of distance learning, interactive courses and expert course instructors has been applied in Peru since 2004 through collaborations between the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center Detachment, the University of Washington and the Department of Clinical Bioethics of the National Institutes of Health to provide training in ethical conduct of research to IRB members and researchers from Peru and other Latin American countries. All training activities were conducted under the auspices of the Peruvian National Institute of Health (INS), Ministry of Health. To date, 927 people from 12 different Latin American countries have participated in several of these training activities. In this article we describe our training model.     

Wnt signaling and neural stem cells: caught in the Wnt web

Wnt proteins have now been identified as major physiological regulators of multiple aspects of stem cell biology, from self-renewal and pluripotency to precursor cell competence and terminal differentiation. Neural stem cells are the cellular building blocks of the developing nervous system and provide the basis for continued neurogenesis in the adult mammalian central nervous system. Here, we outline the most recent advances in the field about the critical factors and regulatory networks involved in Wnt signaling and discuss recent findings on how this increasingly intricate pathway contributes to the shaping of the developing and adult nervous system on the level of the neural stem cell. Funding: We wish to apologize to those whose work is not included due to the length constraints on the review. Work in the Lie lab is supported by the European Young Investigator Award Program of the European Science Foundation and grants of the Deutsche Forchungsgemeinschaft (LI 858/5-1), the European Union (Marie Curie Excellence Team Award and Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant), and the Bavarian Research Network “Adult Neural Stem Cells” FORNEUROCELL.     

小麦开花后不同器官中硝酸还原酶和谷氨酰胺合成酶的活性比较

小麦开花后各器官的硝酸还原酶和谷氨酰胺合成酶均具有一定的活性,旗叶中硝酸还原酶和谷氨酰胺合成酶活性最高。开花后旗叶和根系硝酸还原酶和谷氨酰胺合成酶活性逐渐降低,颗壳和籽粒中硝酸还原酶和谷氨酰胺合成酶活性先升高,达到最大值后又降低。     

东方鲎C因子的分段克隆及表达

东方鲎C因子 (factorCfromTachypleustridentatus)是鲎血细胞中的一种对内毒素敏感的丝氨酸蛋白酶原 ,它与内毒素特异结合的特性 ,使之具有很大的应用价值。根据报道的C因子序列 ,设计了两对引物 ,以中国福建沿海的东方鲎 (Tachypleustridentatus)为材料抽提其血细胞总RNA ,首次用RT PCR的方法分两段扩增了鲎血中编码C因子蛋白的基因全序列。序列分析表明 ,得到的FC基因与文献报道的来自日本的东方鲎的FC有很高的同源性。将分段克隆得到的两段FC片段经相应酶切后 ,与含T7启动子的质粒 pET 2 8a( )在一个体系中作连接反应 ,构建表达质粒pET2 8a FC ,转化大肠杆菌BL2 1(DE3) ,筛选表达菌株。表达菌株经 1mmol/LIPTG诱导表达 2 .5h后 ,收集菌体并超声破菌。经SDS PAGE分析表明 ,在 110kD左右处有明显的表达条带 ,大小与FC的计算分子量相吻合。但表达产物以包涵体形式存在。经洗涤与变复性后 ,重组FC在体外表现出明显的抑菌活性。同时蛋白质印迹实验也提示了在大肠杆菌中FC的单基因表达物可能发生部分自剪切反应 ,而形成了额外的免疫印迹条带     

Genetic Variations in the Antibody Response in Young Bulls

Considerable evidence for the existence of a direct genetic control of the immune response has been presented during recent years. Experimental work with rodents are the main basis for this evidence. The first study on genetic variations in the antibody response was carried out by Gorer & Schütze (1938). Later Cinader (1960) published detailed considerations about the specificity and inheritance of the antibody response. In mice it has been demonstrated that a few dominant immune response (Ir) genes determine the ability to produce antibodies against certain specific antigens (McDevitt & Tyan 1968). The magnitude of the response is probably under the influence of polygenes, which are not associated with Ir genes. This theory is supported by selection for high and low antibody production in mice (Biozzi et al. 1972).     

Isolation and characterization of variable (GT)n repetitive sequences from Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.

Microsatellites are islands of long repeats of mono-, di- or trinucleotides evenly distributed in the eukaryotic genome with an average distance of 50–100 kb. They display a high degree of length polymorphism and heterozygosity at individual loci, making them highly useful as markers in the development of genomic maps of eukaryotes. In the present work, we examined the dinucleotide repeat motif (dG-dT)_n in the Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., genome. The frequency of (dG-dT)_n microsatellites in salmon correlates well with earlier published estimations. Cloning and sequencing of 45 salmon microsatellites revealed perfect and imperfect repeats, but no compound microsatellites. The distribution of number of repeat units in salmon microsatellites differ significantly from that of higher vertebrates. Salmon tends to have more long repeat stretches and less intermediate length repeats.