柠条锦鸡儿CkLEA1基因克隆及表达分析

植物受到逆境胁迫后,大量逆境响应基因会被诱导表达,LEA蛋白编码基因就是与植物抗旱、抗冷等非生物胁迫密切相关的一类基因.从已构建的柠条锦鸡儿干旱胁迫抑制性削减杂交文库中筛选到了一条LEA蛋白编码基因并进行了克隆.序列比对与系统进化分析显示该基因属于LEA3基因家族成员,命名为CkLEA1(GenBank登录号是KC309408).克隆得到该基因gDNA长469bp,包含两个外显子和一个内含子;cDNA长357bp,包含300bp的开放阅读框,推导编码99个氨基酸的蛋白质.利用荧光定量PCR技术对CkLEA1基因在各种逆境胁迫条件的表达情况进行初步研究表明,CkLEA1受干旱、ABA、冷、热、盐和碱等处理不同程度地诱导,推测其与柠条锦鸡儿响应逆境胁迫的机制有关.     

Phylogenetic diversity of endolithic bacteria in Bole granite rock in Xinjiang

The endolithic environment is a ubiquitous microbial habitat for microorganisms, such as lichens, Cyanobacteria and fungi, and it provides mineral nutrients and growth surfaces. In extremely environments, such as hot and cold desert, endolithic communities are often the main form of life. More recently, endolithic microbial communities have been observed inhabiting a variety of rock types ranging from hard granite to porous rocks such as basalt, dolomite, limestone, sandstone and granites. Regardless of geographic location and rock type, each of these habitats is characterized by a subsurface microclimate that prevents endolithic microorganisms growth. Photosynthesis-based endolithic microbial communities commonly inhabit the outer millimeters to centimeters of rocks exposed to the surface. The ability to fix carbon dioxide and in some cases atmospheric dinitrogen, gives the Cyanobacteria a clear competitive advantage over heterotrophic bacteria, so it is been called the main primary producer. Light quality and intensity appear to be the main determinant of the maximum depth to which growth occurs in endolithic phototrophic communities. Valleys of Fantastic Rocks in Bole is close to Alashankou Port of Xinjiang which belongs to extreme continental climate. In order to investigate the structure, composition and diversity of endolithic bacterial community in exposed granitic porphyry in the Valleys of Fantastic Rocks, environmental DNA was directly extracted from granite rock, the 16S rRNA genes were amplified from the total DNA by PCR with bacterial-specific primers, and an endolithic bacterial clone library was constructed. Positive clones were randomly selected from the library and identified by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). The unique rRNA types clones were sequenced, analysised and then constructed phylogenetic tree. In total, 129 positive clones were screened and grouped into 46 operational taxonomic unites (OTUs). The clone coverage C value was 89.15%, indicating that most of the estimated endolithic bacterial diversity was sampled. BLAST analysis indicated that 46 OTUs were divided into seven phyla (Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, Planctomycetes, Proteobacteria) and five unknown groups. Cyanobacteria (43%), especially the Gp I, form the functional basis for an endolithic bacteria community which contain a wide spectrum species of chemotrophic bacteria (33%) with mainly Actinobacteria, α-Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria. Additionally, most clones that derived from the endolithic bacteria clone library showed high similarity to the sequence deposited in GenBank database with 97%–99%. Besides, 35% of the clones showed less than 97% of sequence similarity, of which 12% sequences were affiliated to genus Rubrobacter. The results suggested that endolithic bacteria in Valleys of Fantastic Rocks in Xinjiang were highly diverse in species richness, and maybe have a diversity of potential novel species and lineages.     

Community Structure of Archaea in the Water Column above Gas Hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico

Microorganisms play fundamental roles in the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), yet their vertical distributions along the depth continuum of water column are not well known. In this study, we presented the 16S rDNA sequences and lipid profiles in the context of water chemistry to characterize the archaeal community structure above a gas hydrate mound (MC 118) in GOM. Our results showed that all archaeal sequences were related to unknown species of Crenarchaeota or Euryarchaeota. Phylogenetically, group II –β Euryarchaeota dominated the surface water and mid-depth (400-m) water (74% and 58% of total archaeal species, respectively) whereas the marine group I-γ Crenarchaeota dominated the bottom (869 m) water (61% of total archaeal species). Estimates of the Shannon index showed the highest diversity of planktonic Archaea at the 400 m depth. Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids were detected from the 400- and 869-m depths only and characterized by relatively high abundances of GDGT-5 (crenarchaeol) and GDGT-0. Our studies suggested a possible zonation of archaeal community in the water column, which did not seem to be affected by the possible venting of hydrocarbons from the hydrate location in GOM.     

丹参环阿屯醇合酶基因克隆及表达分析

以丹参cDNA为模板,克隆了丹参环阿屯醇合酶(cycloartenol synthase,CAS)基因的cDNA序列(SmCAS),对其序列进行生物信息学分析,并采用实时荧光定量PCR方法研究了该基因在丹参不同器官及不同胁迫处理下的表达模式。结果显示:该基因全长2 346bp,包含2 271bp开放阅读框,编码756个氨基酸。预测其编码蛋白分子量为86.16kD,具有氧化鲨烯环化酶超家族典型的DCTAE结构域和QW结构域。该基因推测的氨基酸序列与人参、田七、积雪草、甘草、拟南芥的相似性分别为83%、84%、83%、81%和80%。SmCAS基因在丹参根、茎、叶、花中均有表达,在花中表达量最高;而且SmCAS基因能够响应ABA、低温和干旱的诱导。     

天山雪莲LEA14基因克隆及功能分析

从天山雪莲叶片低温诱导的EST文库中获得了1个胚胎发育晚期丰富蛋白基因(LEA)cDNA全长序列。序列分析表明,该基因含有1个468bp编码155个氨基酸的开放阅读框。NCBI保守域预测此蛋白属于LEA_2家族,命名为SiLEA14。系统进化分析表明,该蛋白与北柴胡的LEA-2蛋白亲缘关系最近。荧光定量PCR结果显示,SiLEA14表达量在低温、盐和干旱胁迫条件下迅速升高。亚细胞定位结果表明,SiLEA14蛋白定位于细胞核中。利用农杆菌介导法将该基因导入烟草,测定并分析转基因植株在冷冻和盐胁迫处理下的生理指标,结果表明,SiLEA14基因在烟草中的过量表达提高了烟草的抗冻和耐盐能力。     

Individual identification from genetic marker data: developments and accuracy comparisons of methods

Genetic marker‐based identification of distinct individuals and recognition of duplicated individuals has important applications in many research areas in ecology, evolutionary biology, conservation biology and forensics. The widely applied genotype mismatch (MM) method, however, is inaccurate because it relies on a fixed and suboptimal threshold number (T_M) of mismatches, and often yields self‐inconsistent pairwise inferences. In this study, I improved MM method by calculating an optimal T_M to accommodate the number, mistyping rates, missing data and allele frequencies of the markers. I also developed a pairwise likelihood relationship (LR) method and a likelihood clustering (LC) method for individual identification, using poor‐quality data that may have high and variable rates of allelic dropouts and false alleles at genotyped loci. The 3 methods together with the relatedness (RL) method were then compared in accuracy by analysing an empirical frog data set and many simulated data sets generated under different parameter combinations. The analysis results showed that LC is generally one or two orders more accurate for individual identification than the other methods. Its accuracy is especially superior when the sampled multilocus genotypes have poor quality (i.e. teemed with genotyping errors and missing data) and highly replicated, a situation typical of noninvasive sampling used in estimating population size. Importantly, LC is the only method that guarantees to produce self‐consistent results by partitioning the entire set of multilocus genotypes into distinct clusters, each cluster containing one or more genotypes that all represent the same individual. The LC and LR methods were implemented in a computer program COLONY for free download from the Internet.     

Microbial Communities Associated with Zones of Elevated Magnetic Susceptibility in Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Sediments

Recent studies suggest that magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements can play an important role in identifying zones where microbial-mediated iron mineral transformations are occurring. Here we investigated the microbial community variations within zones of elevated MS in a petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated aquifer near Bemidji, Minnesota, USA. Our main objective was to 1) identify the key microbial populations that may play a role in hydrocarbon degradation, 2) analyze which microbial populations could be connected to the elevated MS and 3) explore the use of non-destructive geophysical techniques as a tool to guide microbial sampling. Clone libraries based on the 16S rRNA gene revealed the presence of iron-reducing β-Proteobacteria in the vadose zone, whereas the free petroleum phase on the water table was characterized by a methanogenic consortium, in which the syntrophic δ-proteobacterium Smithella and the hydrogenotrophic Methanoregula predominated. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) found a close relationship between elevated MS values and the methanogenic hydrocarbon-degrading consortium. Our results suggest that magnetic susceptibility measurements can guide microbiologists to zones of active microbial biodegradation in aged petroleum spills.     

Evidence for different,host‐dependent functioning of Rx against both wild‐type and recombinant Pepino mosaic virus

The potato Rx gene provides resistance against Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) in tomato; however, recent work has suggested that the resistance conferred may not be durable. Resistance breaking can probably be attributed to multiple mutations observed to accumulate in the capsid protein (CP) region of resistance‐breaking isolates, but this has not been confirmed through directed manipulation of an infectious PepMV clone. The present work describes the introduction of two specific mutations, A‐T78 and A‐T114, into the coat protein minimal elicitor region of an Rx‐controlled PepMV isolate of the EU genotype. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and phenotypic evaluation were conducted in three Rx‐expressing and wild‐type solanaceous hosts: Nicotiana benthamiana, Nicotiana tabacum and Solanum lycopersicum. Mutation A‐T78 alone was sufficient to confer Rx‐breaking activity in N. benthamiana and S. lycopersicum, whereas mutation A‐T114 was found to be associated, in most cases, with a secondary A‐D100 mutation to break Rx‐mediated resistance in S. lycopersicum. These results suggest that the need for a second, fitness‐restoring mutation may be dependent on the PepMV mutant under consideration. Both mutations conferred Rx breaking in S. lycopersicum, whereas neither conferred Rx breaking in N. tabacum and only A‐T78 allowed Rx breaking in N. benthamiana, suggesting that Rx may function in a different manner depending on the genetic background in which it is present.