A genetic adaptive pattern＊low hemoglobin concentration in the himalayan highlanders

Mean hemoglobin （Hb） concentration of about 3 500 subjects derived from 17 studies of Himalayan highlanders （Tibetans, Sherpas, and Ladakhis） was compared with lowlanders （Chinese Han, Indian Tamils） lived in the Himalayas, and European climbers during Everest expeditions as well as Andean natives. The results found that Hb concentration in Himalayan highlanders was systemically lower than those reported for Andean natives and lowland immigrants. These comparative data demonstrated that a healthy native population may successfully reside at high altitude without a significant elevation in Hb, and the lower Hb levels of Himalayan highlanders than those of migrated lowlanders and Andean natives are an example of favourable adaptation over the generations. In addition, excessive polycythemia has frequently been used as a marker of chronic mountain sickness （CMS）. Altitude populations who have a higher Hb concentration also have a higher incidence of CMS. The low Hb in Himalayans suggested as showing adaptation over many generations in Tibetan stock. Recent work in Tibet, suggested that Tibetans there may have adapted to high altitude as a result of evolutionary pressure selecting for genes which give an advantage at altitude. All of the population genomic and statistical analysis indicated that EPAS1 and EGLN1 are mostly likely responsible for high altitude adaptation and closely related to low Hb concentration in Tibetans. These data supported the hypothesis that Himalayan highlanders have evolved a genetically different erythropoietic response to chronic hypoxia by virtue of their much longer exposure to high altitude.     

Role of mitochondrial quality control in exercise-induced health adaptation

Long-term endurance training or physical activity has been confirmed not only to improve physical performance, but to bring about an obvious beneficial effect on human health; however, the mechanism of this effect is not clear. The most studied health adaptations in skeletal muscle response to endurance exercise are increased muscle glycogen level and insulin sensitivity, fiber type transformation toward oxi- dative myofibers, and increased mitochondrial content/function. Mitochondria are dynamic organelles in eukaryotic cells critical in physical performance and disease occurrence. The mitochondrial life cycle spans biogenesis, maintenance, and clearance. Exercise training may promote each of these processes and confer positive impacts on skeletal muscle contractile and metabolic functions. This review focused on the regula- tion of these processes by endurance exercise and discussed its potential benefits in health and disease. We presented evidence suggesting that exercise training potentiates not only the biogenesis of mitochondria but also the removal of old and unhealthy mitochondria through mitochondrial quality control.     

基因组重排选育胸苷磷酸化酶高产菌株

以短乳杆菌为研究对象,通过基因组重排技术选育胸苷磷酸化酶高产菌株。首先采用紫外复合诱变筛选出EA42、EB27作为基因组重排育种的亲本并制备成原生质体,分别采用紫外照射50min和60℃水浴加热60min双亲灭活原生质体,然后用质量分数40％PEG6000,30℃恒温诱导融合10min进行基因组重排。经过3轮基因组重排育种,成功选育出3株胸苷磷酸化酶高产菌株,其中菌株F3-36在菌体发酵量提高的前提下,进行5次传代测试其胸苷磷酸化酶活均在2．500U／mg湿菌体,比原始菌株酶活提高了260％。     

针叶树基因组特征及其序列资源挖掘进展

针叶树是裸子植物中最大也是分布最广的一支。作为多年生木本植物,针叶树不仅为工业提供建筑、造纸等重要原料和其它可再生能源,而且在北半球的生态平衡中也起着重要作用。因其独特的分类地位、重要的经济价值和生态价值,针叶树序列资源挖掘备受重视。然而其庞大且复杂的基因组阻碍了这一进程,截至2013年4月,尚无获得全基因组序列的针叶树种。随着第2代测序技术的出现及生物信息学的快速发展,针叶树序列资源挖掘也从转录组过渡到全基因组测序,后者己在松属（Pinus）、云杉属（Picea）和黄杉属（Pseudotsuga）部分树种中开展。该文首次归纳了针叶树基因组特征．回顾了针叶树序列资源挖掘进程,并重点介绍了火炬松（Pinustaeda）、欧洲云杉（Piceaabies）和白云杉（Piceaglauca）的全基因组测序项目。     

1,3-丙二醇生物法生产中关键酶的研究进展

目前,国内外对于1,3-丙二醇(1,3-propanediol,1,3-PD)的生产研究正在由化学法逐渐向生物法转变。该文着重介绍了生物法生产1,3-PD的生产菌株和生物合成途径,综述了关键酶的性质特点和基因克隆表达情况,对关键酶晶体结构的相关研究成果进行了介绍,进一步探讨了运用宏基因组技术和酶分子改造技术来获得新型高性能关键酶的方法,并展望了基因工程菌的应用前景,从而推动了对1,3-PD生产途径中关键酶的了解及1,3-PD的生产应用研究。     

A large-scale gene discovery for the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus （Coleoptera： Curculionidae）

The red palm weevil （RPW; Rhynchophorusferrugineus） is a devastating pest of palms, prevalent in the Middle East as well as many other regions of the world. Here, we report a large-scale de novo complementary DNA （cDNA） sequencing effort that acquired ~5 million reads and assembled them into 26 765 contigs from 12 libraries made from samples of different RPW developmental stages based on the Roche/454 GS FLX platform. We annotated these contigs based on the publically available known insect genes and the Tribolium castaneum genome assembly. We find that over 80% of coding sequences （CDS） from the RPW contigs have high-identity homologs to known proteins with complete CDS. Gene expression analysis shows that the pupa and larval stages have the highest and lowest expression levels, respectively. In addition, we also identified more than 60 000 single nucleotide polymorphisms and 1 200 simple sequence repeat markers. This study provides the first large-scale eDNA dataset for RPW, a much-needed resource for future molecular studies.     

Genome-wide analysis of Nilaparvata lugens nymphal responses to high-density and low-quality rice hosts

The brown planthopper （BPH） Nilaparvata lugens is an economically impor- tant pest on rice plants. In this study, the higher population density and yellow-ripe stage of rice plants were used to construct adverse survival conditions （ASC） against BPH nymphs. Simultaneously, the low population density and tillering stage of rice plants were used to establish a suitable survival condition （SSC） as a control. Solexa/Illumina sequencing was used to identify genes of BPH nymphs responding to ASC. Significantly longer duration development of BPH nymphs and significantly lower brachypterous ratio of BPH adults were observed by ASC compared with SSC. A total of 2 544 differentially expressed genes （DEGs） were obtained and analyzed by BLASTx, Gene Ontology and KEGG Orthology. Gene ontology analysis revealed that the DEGs were mainly involved in categories of cell, cell part, cellular process, binding, catalytic, organelle and metabolic processes. 1138 DEGs having enzyme commission numbers were assigned to different metabolic pathways. The largest clusters were neurodegenerative diseases （137, 12.0%）, followed by carbohy- drate metabolism （113, 9.9%）, amino acid metabolism （94, 8.3%）, nucleotide metabolism （76, 6.7%）, energy metabolism （64, 5.6%）, translation （60, 5.3%）, lipid metabolism （58, 5.1%）, and folding, sorting and degradation （52, 4.6%）. Expressing profile of 11 DEGs during eight nymphal developmental stages of BPH were analyzed by quantitative real- time polymerase chain reaction. The 11 genes exhibited differential expression between ASC and SSC during at least one developmental stage. The DEGs identified in this study provide molecular proof of how BPH reconfigures its gene expression profile to adapt to overcrowding and low-quality hosts.     

假眼小绿叶蝉地理种群的线粒体DNA 16S rRNA基因序列分析及遗传分化研究

测定了12个不同地理种群的茶树害虫假眼小绿叶蝉Empoasca vitis(Gothe)和1个外群共103个个体的线粒体DNA 16S rRNA基因部分序列,比较其同源性,计算核苷酸组成,并构建单倍型进化关系图。结果表明:在获得的假眼小绿叶蝉536 bp的序列中A+T含量占76.8%,其中56个核苷酸位点存在变异;100个个体共检测出56种单倍型,单倍型多样性指数(H)为0.971,核苷酸多样性指数(Pi)0.006;12个种群间的平均基因流(Nm)为1.64。总群体的固定系数Fst为0.026;AMOVA分子方差分析结果表明假眼小绿叶蝉的遗传分化主要来自于种群内部(97.4%)。各地理种群的遗传距离与地理分布不具有直接对应的关系。根据构建的单倍型进化关系网,各地理种群的单倍型呈现一种混杂的分布格局,未显示出与地理分布的一致性。     

T细胞的效应功能受有氧糖酵解的转录后调控

非增殖细胞将葡萄糖代谢为丙酮酸,进而进入线粒体的三羧酸循环,通过氧化磷酸化产生还原当量和ATP。然而,增殖细胞如激活的T细胞和癌细胞,它们进行糖酵解,在胞浆中将丙酮酸代谢为乳酸,有充足的氧气可以进行氧化磷酸化(OX-PHOS)。这一现象被称为Warburg效应。显然,后者在提供能量方面效率不如前者,提示这一过程可能有其他功能。之前有学者认为有氧糖酵解在增殖产生子细胞营养物质生物合成的过程中是必需的。但是氧化磷酸化转变为有氧糖酵解是T细胞激活而不是增殖的标志,所以作者希望探索有氧糖酵解对T细胞是否有增殖以外其他方面的功能。他们的研究成果发表在2013年6月6日在线出版的《细胞》(cell)杂志上。     

中国地鼠线粒体DNA 16S rRNA基因序列分析及分子系统发育研究

目的通过克隆分析中国地鼠16S基因的部分序列,对中国地鼠16S基因的结构和功能进行初步探索和揭示。方法从GenBank中已报道的啮齿动物16S基因保守区设计一对引物,进行PCR扩增,测序。用Blastn与GenBank中七种啮齿类动物的16S基因进行序列比较,分析其碱基组成及变异情况,并用邻接法(NJ)、非加权组平均法(UPGMA)构建分子系统树,在分子水平上探讨中国地鼠和其他啮齿类动物的进化关系,对中国地鼠的种属地位进行了进一步验证。结果获得了中国地鼠线粒体16S基因的部分序列,其碱基组成A、T、C、G分别为40.5%、24.5%、18.7%、16.3%,与其他七种啮齿类动物的碱基含量相比,各碱基含量基本相似。NJ进化树表明,中国地鼠、金黄地鼠与欧洲仓鼠先聚为一支,小鼠与大鼠先聚为一支,东方田鼠、台湾田鼠与东欧田鼠先聚为一支。结论中国地鼠和金黄地鼠的亲缘关系最近,与传统的分类地位基本吻合。