转基因生物与生物安全

20世纪70年代以来,以转基因技术为代表的现代生物技术在解决人类所面临的粮食短缺、环境污染等重大问题上发挥了巨大作用,并逐渐发展成为强大的现代生物技术产业。随着各类转基因生物的问世及其产品的不断上市,转基因生物的安全性问题已成为公众关心的焦点。本文分析了转基因生物可能对生物多样性、生态环境和人体健康等方面产生的负面影响,总结丁国内外有关转基因生物安全管理的现状,提出了加强转基因生物安全管理的策略。     

Leptin protects the cardiac myocyte cultures from hypoxic damage

Leptin, a circulating hormone mainly produced by adipose tissue, regulates fatty acid metabolism and causes multiple systemic biological actions even the regulation of cardiovascular function. It is previously known that leptin is a hypoxia-inducible hormone, that hypoxic conditions increase the expression of this peptide in various tissues such as placenta, pancreas and also in the heart. Since leptin receptors are present in the heart, we hypothesized that whether leptin was a protector response for tissues especially for the heart against the deleterious effects of hypoxia. Cultured cardiomyocytes from newborn rats were initially treated with 3000 ng/ml leptin incubation for 1, 5 and 20 h separately, then subjected to 120 min of hypoxia. Hypoxic damage of myocytes was assayed using the measurements of both lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase releases into the medium and performing morphological observations (ultrastructural and immunocytochemical) of plates. The obtained results from leptin treated and non-treated control groups were compared to each other, and these data have demonstrated that 5 h of leptin treatment before hypoxia provides a significant protection for cardiomyocytes against hypoxia. Neither 1- nor 20-h leptin treated groups exhibited sufficient protection against hypoxia. In conclusion, leptin protects the cardiomyocyte cultures from hypoxia, but this effect is selective and evident only in the 5-h treated myocytes.     

外来宠物对我国的影响分析

宠物伴随人类文明已有数千年的历史。目前,外来宠物日益受到玩家青睐,但它们也对当地生态环境存在一定不利影响。本文概括了我国外来宠物的现状,分析了外来宠物的潜在危害,探讨了在外来宠物及外来入侵生物管理方面存在的问题并提出了相应的管理对策。     

甘肃有尾两栖动物资源现状及保护对策

甘肃地理与气候条件复杂,南部地区有尾两栖动物物种多样性较为丰富,共有3科、3属、3种.其中,文县疣螈为甘肃特有种.但由于滥捕乱猎、栖息地丧失、破坏、污染以及异种侵入等原因,已造成有尾两栖动物的渐危和濒危.针对这种情况,本文提出了一些保护举措和建议,希望能在维持有尾两栖动物资源储量的前提下,对其进行合理利用.     

Characterization of a putative filovirus vaccine: Virus-like particles

Filoviruses are hemorrhagic fever viruses endemic to parts of Africa and the Philippines. Infection carries with it a mortality rate of up to 90% and currently there are no effective vaccines or therapeutics available to combat infection. However, the filovirus virus-like particles (VLP), which are currently under development, have been shown to be a promising vaccine candidate. They provide protection from infection in the mouse, guinea pig, and nonhuman primate models of infection, eliciting high anti-glycoprotein antibody titers and T cell responses to viral proteins. In this review, we will highlight the development of the filovirus VLP and describe the current understanding of VLP immunogenicity and correlates of protection.     

The complete mitochondrial genome of the leafminer Liriomyza sativae (Diptera: Agromyzidae): great difference in the A+T-rich region compared to Liriomyza trifolii

The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Liriomyza sativae Blanchard (15,551 bp) was determined and analyzed in this study. The circular genome contained 37 genes including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and an A + T-rich region. The initiation codons of COI and ND1 were ‘ATCA’ and ‘GTG’, respectively. ND2 gene used the truncated termination codon ‘T’. All the tRNA genes had the typical cloverleaf secondary structures except for tRNA^Ser(AGN) gene, which was found with the absence of a DHU arm. In addition, a tRNA-like secondary structure (tRNA^Met) was found in the A + T-rich region. The great difference was that the length of L. sativae A + T-rich region was 597 bp shorter than that of Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess). Meanwhile, some minor differences such as ‘TATA’ block were also observed in L. sativae in contrast to ‘TACA’ block in L. trifolii. There were also some essential structure elements such as ‘TATA’ block, ‘G(A)_nT’ block, poly-T stretch and stem-and-loop structure in the A + T-rich region of L. sativae mitochondrial genome.     

免疫器官辐射损伤与防护的研究进展

随着社会的发展,核医学技术、放射医学技术的持续发展及广泛应用,当今世界核武器、核电站泄漏等事故偶有发生,以及人类现代生活和工作中广泛应用各种高科技电子产品,各类肿瘤病人接受放疗,人类生活圈四周充满的是多种放射线。电离辐射不仅对人类生命和财产造成损害,而且也对生理和心理造成严重创伤。因此对辐射的防治极为重要,加强对辐射的损伤机制及防护研究具有十分重要的现实意义。辐射导致的免疫损伤及其引发的免疫功能障碍,是核辐射、放射治疗和放射性核事故患者最常见的并发症,死亡率极高,至今仍是临床上亟待解决的难题。本文探讨了辐射免疫损伤效应和机理研究方面需要解决的问题,以及提出了进一步研究辐射免疫损伤防护措施的切入点。     

Early responses of wild plant seedlings to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and pathogens

Many plants form associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) because they profit from improved phosphorus nutrition and from protection against pathogens. Whereas mycorrhiza-induced pathogen protection is well understood in agricultural plant species, it is rarely studied in wild plants. As many pathogens infest plants in the first days after germination, mycorrhiza-induced pathogen protection may be especially important in the first few weeks of plant establishment.Here, we investigated interacting effects of AMF and the seedling pathogen Pythium ultimum on the performance of six- to seven-week-old seedlings of six wild plant species of the family Asteraceae in a full factorial experiment.Plant species differed in their response to AMF, the pathogen and their interactions. AMF increased and the pathogen decreased plant biomass in one and three species, respectively. Two plant species were negatively affected by AMF in the absence, but positively or not affected in the presence of the pathogen, indicating protection by AMF. This mycorrhiza-induced pathogen protection is especially surprising as we could not detect mycorrhizal structure in the roots of any of the plants.Our results show that even seedlings without established intraradical hyphal network can profit from AMF, both in terms of growth promotion in the absence of a pathogen and pathogen protection. The function of AMF is highly species-specific, but tends to be similar for more closely related plant species, suggesting a phylogenetic component of mycorrhizal function. Further studies should test a wider range of plant species, as our study was restricted to one plant family, and investigate whether plants profit from early mycorrhizal benefits in the long term.     

广东车八岭国家级自然保护区生物资源及保护对策

报道了车八岭国家级自然保护区生物的资源,计有植物1928种,动物1558种。分析了影响生物多样性保护的主要因素,指出当地居民乱砍滥捕、乱挖滥采是对保护区内生物多样性的最大威胁。讨论了生物多样性的保护对策。在保护自然资源的同时,该保护区创造性地设立生态村,妥善安置居民,走出了一条自然保护区与当地经济协调、持续发展的道路,既保护了自然资源,又取得了良好的社会效益和经济效益。车八岭国家级自然保护区的生物资源保护对策和经营管理经验,对我国自然保护事业具有重要的启示作用。     

道路边坡绿化防护工程中的生态学原理

随着我国公路和铁路建设的快速发展,公路护坡及山体边坡的绿化工程也日益受到人们的重视并付诸实施。然而,出于急功近利的目的,一些工程并没有按照科学的规律开展工作,结果导致了最终的失败。本文从生态学的观点出发,提出在路坡边坡绿化工程中应遵循的一些生态学原理,如适应性原理、生物多样性原理、生态位原理、生物共生原理、限制因子原理和力能学原理,试图为有关从业人员提供有益的帮助。