Diverse flowering responses subjecting to ambient high temperature in soybean under short-day conditions

Flowering time is one of important agronomic traits determining the crop yield and affected by high temperature. When facing high ambient temperature, plants often initiate early flowering as an adaptive strategy to escape the stress and ensure successful reproduction. However, here we find opposing ways in the short-day crop soybean to respond to different levels of high temperatures, in which flowering accelerates when temperature changes from 25 to 30 °C, but delays when temperature reaches 35 °C under short day. phyA-E1, possibly photoperiodic pathway, is crucial for 35 °C-mediated late flowering, however, does not contribute to promoting flowering at 30 °C. 30 °C-induced up-regulation of FT2a and FT5a leads to early flowering, independent of E1. Therefore, distinct responsive mechanisms are adopted by soybean when facing different levels of high temperatures for successful flowering and reproduction.     

Ribosomal protein L22-like1 promotes prostate cancer progression by activating PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignancies in men. Ribosomal protein L22-like1 (RPL22L1), a component of the ribosomal 60 S subunit, is associated with cancer progression, but the role and potential mechanism of RPL22L1 in PCa remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of RPL22L1 in PCa progression and the mechanisms involved. Bioinformatics and immunohistochemistry analysis showed that the expression of RPL22L1 was significantly higher in PCa tissues than in normal prostate tissues. The cell function analysis revealed that RPL22L1 significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of PCa cells. The data of xenograft tumour assay suggested that the low expression of RPL22L1 inhibited the growth and invasion of PCa cells in vivo. Mechanistically, the results of Western blot proved that RPL22L1 activated PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in PCa cells. Additionally, LY294002, an inhibitor of PI3K/Akt pathway, was used to block this pathway. The results showed that LY294002 remarkably abrogated the oncogenic effect of RPL22L1 on PCa cell proliferation and invasion. Taken together, our study demonstrated that RPL22L1 is a key gene in PCa progression and promotes PCa cell proliferation and invasion via PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, thus potentially providing a new target for PCa therapy.     

三江源国家公园草地地上生物量时空动态及其气候影响

三江源区位于青藏高原腹地,作为长江、黄河、澜沧江三大河流的发源地,是我国重要的生态安全屏障。基于三江源区域草地AGB的野外调查数据,本研究采用多种机器学习算法集成分析的方式构建模型,实现了高精度的三江源国家公园草地AGB时空估算。基于AGB时空模拟结果,分析了近19年(2000—2018年)三江源国家公园区域草地AGB的时空动态变化。研究结果显示：(1)通过多种机器学习结合贝叶斯平均模型,草地AGB模拟值与实测值的r为0.88,RMSE为71.60g/m²,表明多模型集成分析的方式对草地AGB估算获得了较好的模拟效果。(2)三江源国家公园区域草地AGB的空间分布具有明显的空间异质性,呈从东南向西北递减的趋势。(3)2000—2018年长江源国家公园、黄河源国家公园和澜沧江国家公园区域草地AGB多年平均值分别为82.96 g/m²、117.54g/m²和168.39 g/m²。(4)近19年间,在黄河和长江源园区受到温度上升的影响草地AGB呈现出非显著性上升趋势;澜沧江区域,由于2015和2016年的...     

Two genes present on a transposon-like structure in Lactococcus lactis are involved in a Clp-family proteolytic activity

The lactose-protease plasmid pUCL22 of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strain CNRZ270 contained two inverted copies of IS 1076 flanking a region of 3.7 kb. This internal region was sequenced and found to contain two large open reading frames, ORF1 and ORFP in opposite orientations. ORF1 consists of 2289 bp; the deduced 763-amino-acid sequence is similar to the ATPases of the ClpA family. It contains two well-conserved consensus ATP-binding sites. It was named ClpL. ORFP consists of 930 bp encoding a protein of 310 amino acids. No similarity with any known protein was found in GenBank data for ORFP. Increased ATP-dependent proteolytic activity was detected in extracts from Escherichia coli cells expressing the clpL and ORFP genes.     

黄土高原草地植物多样性与群落稳定性的关系及其驱动因素

植物多样性对维持生态功能的稳定发挥具有重要作用。以黄土高原不同植被带草地为研究对象,基于野外调查和实验分析,探究黄土高原不同植被带草地植物多样性与群落稳定性特征和二者之间的关系以及影响因素。结果表明：黄土高原草地群落结构特征(地上生物量、地下生物量)与植物多样性具有明显的纬度分布格局,草地植物多样性和生物量均表现出自东南向西北沿森林草原带—森林带—草原带—草原荒漠带逐渐递减趋势。森林草原带草地植物多样性和群落稳定性显著高于森林带、草原带和草原荒漠带;植物多样性与群落稳定性之间存在显著正相关关系,可以作为衡量群落稳定性的指标,其稳定性大小表现为森林草原带>森林带>草原带>草原荒漠带。降雨量是影响植物多样性和群落稳定性的主要因素,并通过改变土壤含水量影响群落稳定性。研究结果揭示了草地植物多样性与群落稳定性之间的关系及驱动机制,为维持黄土高原草地生态系统的群落稳定性提供了科学依据。     

PDGF-AA activates AKT and ERK signaling for testicular interstitial Leydig cell growth via primary cilia

Testes control the development of male reproductive system. The testicular interstitial Leydig cells (Leydig cells) synthesize testosterone for promoting spermatogenesis and secondary sexual characteristics. Type A platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-AA) is one of the most important growth factors in regulating Leydig cell growth and function. Knockout of PDGF-AA or its congenital receptor PDGFR-α leads to poor testicular development caused by reducing Leydig cell numbers, supporting PDGF-AA/PDGFR-α signaling regulates Leydig cell development. Primary cilium is a cellular antenna that functions as an integrative platform to transduce extracellular signaling for proper development and differentiation. Several receptors including PDGFR-α are observed on primary cilia for initiating signaling cascades in distinct cell types. Here we showed that PDGF-AA/PDGFR-α signaling promoted Leydig cells growth, migration, and invasion via primary cilia. Upon PDGF-AA treatment, AKT and ERK signaling were activated to regulate these cellular events. Interestingly, active AKT and ERK were detected around the base of primary cilia. Depletion of ciliary genes (IFT88 and CEP164) alleviated PDGF-AA-activated AKT and ERK, thus reducing Leydig cell growth, migration, and invasion. Thus, our study not only reveals the function of PDGF-AA/PDGFR-α signaling in maintaining testicular physiology but also uncovers the role of primary cilium and downstream signaling in regulating Leydig cell development.     

Partition of proteins in aqueous two-phase systems containing charged dextran or hydrophobic PEG

Summary The electrochemical effect of a charged dextran derivative and the hydrophobic effect of hydrophobic chain PEG derivative on partitioning of six types of proteins in PEG/dextran aqueous two-phase systems were investigated- When 1. 6%(w/w)DEAE-dextran was present in the system,the partition coefficient decreased quickly with increasing pH value;when 0. 4% (w/w)PEG pentadecanoic acid ester was present in the system, the partition coefficient of protein with strong hydrophobicity was greatly increased. The experimental results show that the influence of hydrocarbon chain PEG derivative on partition coefficient is closely related to the hydrophobicity of proteins.     

甘蓝型油菜RPD3/HDA1基因家族鉴定及早熟相关基因挖掘

该研究运用生物信息学方法鉴定甘蓝型油菜RPD3/HDA1基因家族,检测了其在‘黔油早2号’和‘中双11’中的表达水平及2个品种在低温(4℃)和ABA胁迫下该家族基因的表达特征,以探讨RPD3/HDA1基因在甘蓝型油菜中的潜在功能,为早熟油菜抗逆性遗传改良提供理论基础和候选基因。结果表明:(1)在甘蓝型油菜全基因组中共鉴定到28个RPD3/HDA1基因,将其命名为BnHDA1~BnHDA28,聚类为4个亚家族,同一亚家族成员的基因结构较为相似;在该基因家族中共检测到16对复制基因,均为片段重复。(2)顺式作用元件预测统计中共发现675个元件与植物激素、环境胁迫和光响应有关。(3)qRT-PCR分析显示,RPD3/HDA1基因在‘黔油早2号’中的表达量均高于‘中双11’;低温胁迫下,‘黔油早2号’和‘中双11’中RPD3/HDA1基因呈差异表达,与‘中双11’相比,RPD3/HDA1基因在‘黔油早2号’中的下调幅度较大;ABA处理后,RPD3/HDA1基因在2个品种中表达模式不一致,‘黔油早2号’中大部分RPD3/HDA1基因表达量较‘中双11’下调幅度小。研究认为,RPD3/HDA1基因可能在油菜开花中发挥调节作用,而且可能通过激素信号通路和防御信号通路参与油菜的生长发育和防御反应的调节。     

北美水貂和欧亚水獭在东北地区的分布与生态位重叠

作为入侵物种,北美水貂(Neovison vison)在欧洲引起了一系列生态问题,侵占了欧亚水獭(Lutra lutra)的生态空间,其入侵性对当地生物多样性和生态系统构成了严重威胁。水貂引入我国东北地区已有70多年的历史,然而国内对其野外种群却鲜有研究。掌握水貂种群的入侵范围、入侵影响因素以及与本地具有相似生态位的欧亚水獭之间的竞争关系,对水貂的入侵管理和东北地区的生物多样性保护具有重要意义。本研究利用实地调查和文献资料获取的分布信息,通过集合模型识别水貂和水獭的潜在分布区,评估水貂对水獭在地理空间上的入侵风险,并通过主成分分析(principal component analysis,PCA)评估其生态位重叠和影响因素。结果表明:(1)我国东北地区水貂的潜在分布区面积为61,944.57 km²,水獭的潜在分布区面积为83,590.94 km²,两者重叠区域面积为50,544.21 km²,占水獭潜在分布区面积的60.47%;(2)从各省分布情况来看,黑龙江省水獭受水貂入侵的风险最高,潜在分布区重叠的比例达到78.9...