科学出版社科学出版中心生命科学分社新书推介2008-01

本书根据美国冷泉港实验室出版社出版的《RNA世界》第三版译出。本书系统地介绍了RNA在生命起源中的作用和RNA功能，是国际上RNA领域最权威的专业书籍。内容涵盖了RNA的起源、核酶、核糖体、剪接体、核糖开关、RNA蛋白质复合物、snRNP、snoRNP、端粒酶RNA、RNA编辑、RNAi、microRNA、非编码RNA、     

转录中介体复合物在心血管发育和疾病中的转录调控作用

哺乳动物心血管系统发育过程中，各分子、细胞和组织器官形态发生过程的精细协调对于形成成熟且功能齐全的心血管系统是不可或缺的，这些过程出现异常通常会导致严重的先天性心血管发育缺陷。多细胞生物中细胞命运的决定和维持在很大程度上依赖于对RNA聚合酶Ⅱ (Pol Ⅱ)转录活性的时空精确调控，而转录中介体(Mediator)在Pol Ⅱ转录过程中起着重要的协同作用。Mediator是一种进化上保守的多亚基蛋白质复合体，包括头部、中部、尾部和激酶部四个部分，是转录因子和基础转录机器之间的功能联系的桥梁。近年来，鉴于Mediator在基因表达中的关键作用，越来越多的人类心血管疾病被证实与特定的Mediator基因突变相关，如心脏瓣膜缺陷、大动脉转位、DiGeorge综合征及一些与能量稳态失衡相关的心血管疾病。本文就Mediator在心血管系统发育和疾病中的作用进行综述，重点讨论Mediator对转录调控的影响在心血管疾病发生发展中的作用，旨在为与Mediator相关的心血管系统发育和疾病的研究提供广阔的研究思路。     

Differential Regulation of Carbon Partitioning by the Central Growth Regulator Target of Rapamycin （TOR）

Target of rapamycin （TOR） is an evolutionary conserved ser- ine/threonine protein kinase found in yeast, plants, and ani- mals. TOR plays a central role in sensing nutrients and energy status, growth factors, and other environmental signals, and integrates these cues to synchronize cell growth-related pro- cesses （Laplante and Sabatini, 2012）. In yeast and animal cells, TOR acts as the catalytic component in two structurally and functionally distinct protein complexes termed TORC （TOR complex） 1 and TORC2. TOR seems to be localized specifi- cally to the endomembrane system and the nucleus with a certain mobility, depending on the environmental conditions （Laplante and Sabatini, 2012）. The three major components of TORCl, namely TOR, RAPTOR （Regulatory associated protein of mTOR）, and LST8 （Lethal with Sec13 protein 8）, are present in the genome of Arabidopsis, and interactions between TOR and RAPTOR, as well as TOR and LST8, occur also in plants, indicating the existence of a plant TORC1 （Moreau et al., 2012）. Here, we highlight the possible role of TOR in carbon utilization and growth regulation in Arabidopsis.