ROS和丁内酯-I抑制山羊卵母细胞的减数分裂

本文研究了ROS(Roscovitine)和丁内酯-I(ButyrolactoneI,BL-I)两种细胞周期依赖性激酶抑制剂对山羊卵母细胞减数分裂恢复的抑制作用,并研究了抑制对卵母细胞成熟、激活和发育的影响。结果表明:ROS和BL-I对山羊卵母细胞减数分裂恢复的抑制作用具有浓度依赖性;200μmol/LROS、100μmol/LBL-I、100μmol/LROS+6·25μmol/LBL-I和50μmol/LROS+25μmol/LBL-I都能有效抑制山羊卵母细胞减数分裂的恢复,24h的抑制率分别为78·4%、80·9%、80·3%和77·8%。用ROS和BL-I抑制24h后转为正常培养24h,各处理组卵母细胞的成熟率(分别为81·3%、81·9%、83·2%和85·2%)与对照组(83·0%)无显著差异;成熟卵母细胞的化学激活率分别为93·3%、96·2%、92·5%和90·5%,与对照组(97·8%)无显著差异。然而,抑制处理后卵母细胞的卵裂率和桑椹胚率降低,未能发育到囊胚。ROS和BL-I抑制山羊卵丘扩展,并且转为正常培养后卵丘不能再扩展。ROS和BL-I能够浓度依赖性地抑制山羊卵母细胞减数分裂,二者既可单独,又可降低浓度联合使用,但抑制山羊卵母细胞的浓度远高于牛和猪卵母细胞的;ROS和BL-I抑制24h不影响山羊卵母细胞的成熟和激活能力,但影响卵母细胞的卵丘扩展和胚胎发育能力。因此,山羊卵母细胞减数分裂调控可能比它动物更精细[动物学报52(2):342-348,2006]。     

Abrupt expression of TLR4 in TLR4-deficient macrophages imposes a selective disadvantage: genetic evidence for TLR4-dependent responses to endogenous, nonmicrobial stimuli

TLR4 is crucial for macrophage responses to LPS. It is less clear whether TLR4 may also transduce signals from host factors, and if so, with what consequences. Immortalized bone marrow-derived macrophage cell lines, termed T4Cr and T4ko, were established from TLR4null strains, C57BL/10ScNCr and TLR4 knockout mice, respectively. Multiple transfections and selections were conducted to stably introduce TLR4 into these cell lines. Among 196 individual clones isolated, 48 expressed TLR4 on the cell surface but did not respond to LPS due to a deletion in the MyD88 gene. The remaining clones integrated TLR4 DNA into the genome but expressed neither detectable TLR4 mRNA nor TLR4 protein. To test the possibility that TLR4null cells lack modulating factors to protect against a harmful effect of TLR4, 15 stably transfected clones were generated in the presence of conditioned media from wild-type macrophages. Some of these cells expressed a small amount of TLR4 and regained responsiveness to LPS. Because no microbial ligands were available to the cell lines during their generation, signaling via endogenous ligands is likely to have occurred in TLR4-expressing, signal-competent macrophages and imposed a proliferative or other selective disadvantage. These studies support the existence of constitutive signaling via TLR4 during in vitro culture of macrophages without microbial products, and help account for the lack of reports of restoration of TLR4 expression in normally TLR4-expressing types of cells in vitro whose TLR4 genes are deleted or disrupted.     

IL-10 inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced CD40 gene expression through induction of suppressor of cytokine signaling-3

Costimulation between T cells and APCs is required for adaptive immune responses. CD40, an important costimulatory molecule, is expressed on a variety of cell types, including macrophages and microglia. The aberrant expression of CD40 is implicated in diseases including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease, and inhibition of CD40 signaling has beneficial effects in a number of animal models of autoimmune diseases. In this study, we discovered that IL-10, a cytokine with anti-inflammatory properties, inhibits LPS-induced CD40 gene expression. We previously demonstrated that LPS induction of CD40 in macrophages/microglia involves both NF-kappaB activation and LPS-induced production of IFN-beta, which subsequently activates STAT-1alpha. IL-10 inhibits LPS-induced IFN-beta gene expression and subsequent STAT-1alpha activation, but does not affect NF-kappaB activation. Our results also demonstrate that IL-10 inhibits LPS-induced recruitment of STAT-1alpha, RNA polymerase II, and the coactivators CREB binding protein and p300 to the CD40 promoter, as well as inhibiting permissive histone H3 acetylation (AcH3). IL-10 and LPS synergize to induce suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3 gene expression in macrophages and microglia. Ectopic expression of SOCS-3 attenuates LPS-induced STAT activation, and inhibits LPS-induced CD40 gene expression, comparable to that seen by IL-10. These results indicate that SOCS-3 plays an important role in the negative regulation of LPS-induced CD40 gene expression by IL-10.     

云南高背鲫鱼不同组织同工酶分析

采用聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳技术,分析了滇池中云南高背鲫鱼(Carassius auratus)的脑、眼睛、肝脏、心脏、肌肉5种组织中的酯酶(EST)、超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)和乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)3种同工酶的表达模式,并对各种酶的同工酶酶谱表型进行了分析。结果表明,云南高背鲫鱼的同工酶系统具有明显的组织特异性,且同工酶的种类与活性变化与其功能相适应。     

Powers of Multiple-Testing Procedures for Identification of Genes Significantly Differentially Expressed in Microarray Experiments

Because of the high operation costs involved in microarray experiments, the determination of the number of replicates required to detect a gene significantly differentially expressed in a given multiple-testing procedure is of considerable significance. Calculation of power/replicate numbers required in multiple-testing procedures provides design guidance for microarray experiments. Based on this model and by choice of a multiple-testing procedure, expression noises based on permutation resampling can be considerably minimized. The method for mixture distribution model is suitable to various microarray data types obtained from single noise sources, or from multiple noise sources. By using the biological replicate number required in microarray experiments for a given power or by determining the power required to detect a gene significantly differentially expressed, given the sample size, or the best multiple-testing method can be chosen. As an example, a single-distribution model of t-statistic was fitted to an observed microarray dataset of 3 000 genes responsive to stroke in rat, and then used to calculate powers of four popular multiple-testing procedures to detect a gene of an expression change D. The results show that the B-procedure had the lowest power to detect a gene of small change among the multiple-testing procedures, whereas the BH-procedure had the highest power. However, all multiple-testing procedures had the same power to identify a gene having the largest change. Similar to a single test, the power of the BH-procedure to detect a small change does not vary as the number of genes increases, but powers of the other three multiple-testing procedures decline as the number of genes increases.     

用海棠苗饲养苹果绵蚜的方法

报道了用1年生海棠苗作为寄主植物饲养苹果绵蚜Eriosomalanigerum(Hausmann)的方法,包括寄主植物的选取、栽培管理、接虫方法及试验结果。该方法既能为苹果绵蚜提供长期新鲜的寄主植物,又能使仔蚜很快定殖成活,十分有利于试验的连续进行,且简单经济。     

Mannose selection system used for cucumber transformation

The selectable marker system, which utilizes the pmi gene encoding for phosphomannose-isomerase that converts mannose-6-phosphate to fructose-6-phosphate, was adapted for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Only transformed cells were capable of utilizing mannose as a carbon source. The highest transformation frequency of 23% was obtained with 10 g/l mannose and 10 g/l sucrose in the medium. Molecular, genetic analysis, and PMI activity assay showed that the regenerated shoots contained the pmi gene and the gene was transmitted to the progeny in a Mendelian fashion. The results indicated that the mannose selection system, which is devoid of the disadvantages of antibiotic or herbicide selection, could be used for cucumber Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.     

Intraspecific vicariant history and the evolution of adaptive morphological diversity in a fish species (Osmerus mordax)

Vicariant geographic isolation and resource partitioning have long been independently identified as processes contributing to the morphological divergence of closely-related species. However, little is known about the extent to which vicariant history influences the adaptive ecological divergence associated with resource partitioning and trophic specialization within species. The present study thus quantified the contribution of vicariant historical genetic divergence to the adaptive contemporary morphological divergence of intraspecific feeding specialists in the Rainbow smelt (Pisces: Osmerus mordax ). This species is characterized by the polyphyletic origin of two lacustrine feeding specialists originating in two intraspecific lineages associated with independent glacial refuges. The historical genetic segregation was initiated approximately 350 000 years ago, whereas the lacustrine trophic segregation arose within the past 10 000 years. Wild caught lacustrine smelt populations were grouped a priori based on known historical genetic identities (Acadian and Atlantic mitochondrial DNA clades) and contemporary feeding specializations (microphageous and macrophageous morphotypes). The present study demonstrated that independent suites of correlated morphological traits are associated with either vicariant history or contemporary feeding specializations. Second, functionally-similar feeding specialists exhibit distinct morphologies resulting largely from vicariant historical processes. Although, the evolutionary processes producing historical phenotypes remains unknown, the results obtained demonstrate how adaptive radiation associated with ecological resource partitioning and feeding specializations can be strongly influenced by intraspecific phenotypic diversification resulting from relatively recent vicariant histories.  © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2009, 97 , 140–151.