NKG2D ligand RAE1ε induces generation and enhances the inhibitor function of myeloid‐derived suppressor cells in mice

Expression of surface NKG2D ligands on tumour cells, which activates nature killer (NK) cells and CD8⁺ T cells, is crucial in antitumour immunity. Some types of tumours have evolved mechanisms to suppress NKG2D‐mediated immune cell activation, such as tumour‐derived soluble NKG2D ligands or sustained NKG2D ligands produced by tumours down‐regulate the expression of NKG2D on NK cells and CD8⁺ T cells. Here, we report that surface NKG2D ligand RAE1ε on tumour cells induces CD11b⁺Gr‐1⁺ myeloid‐derived suppressor cell (MDSC) via NKG2D in vitro and in vivo. MDSCs induced by RAE1ε display a robust induction of IL‐10 and arginase, and these MDSCs show greater suppressive activity by inhibiting antigen‐non‐specific CD8⁺ T‐cell proliferation. Consistently, upon adoptive transfer, MDSCs induced by RAE1ε significantly promote CT26 tumour growth in IL‐10‐ and arginase‐dependent manners. RAE1ε moves cytokine balance towards Th2 but not Th1 in vivo. Furthermore, RAE1ε enhances inhibitory function of CT26‐derived MDSCs and promotes IL‐4 rather than IFN‐γ production from CT26‐derived MDSCs through NKG2D in vitro. Our study has demonstrated a novel mechanism for NKG2D ligand⁺ tumour cells escaping from immunosurveillance by facilitating the proliferation and the inhibitory function of MDSCs.     

Comparative analysis of complete chloroplast genome sequences of two subtropical trees, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoebe sheareri</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoebe omeiensis</Emphasis> (Lauraceae)

Phoebe is an economically important genus from the family Lauraceae. It is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical Asia, but systematics of the genus is unclear, and currently there is no species-level phylogeny. Here, we determined the complete chloroplast genome sequences of two species with long-range PCR and next genome sequencing technologies, and identified mutation sites and highly variable regions. These highly variable sites were used to reconstruct the phylogeny. The plastomes of Phoebe sheareri and P. omeiensis were 152, 876, and 152, 855 bp, respectively. Comparative genomic analysis indicated that there are 222 mutation sites including 146 substitutions, 73 indels, and 3 microinversions in both plastomes. Fifty-six single-nucleotide changes were identified in gene-coding regions, and 45 microsatellite sites were found for use in species identification. Fourteen divergence hotspots of 38 variable regions were located. Phylogeny was reconstructed using a Bayesian and maximum likelihood approach for 12 Phoebe species and other five related Lauraceae based on 15 of the highly variable regions including accD-psaI, atpB-rbcL, ndhC-trnV, ndhF-rpl32, petA-psbJ, psaA, psbA-trnH, rbcL, rps8-rpl14, rps16-trnQ, rpl32-trnL, trnC-petN, trnL-trnF, trnS-trnG, and ycf1 indicated that variability in the chloroplast regions proposed as variable is enough to detect divergence events among 12 taxa of Phoebe, and that maybe also useful to help to elucidate further relationships among other taxa of the genus.     

Analysis of conformational motions and related key residue interactions responsible for a specific function of proteins with elastic network model

Protein collective motions play a critical role in many biochemical processes. How to predict the functional motions and the related key residue interactions in proteins is important for our understanding in the mechanism of the biochemical processes. Normal mode analysis (NMA) of the elastic network model (ENM) is one of the effective approaches to investigate the structure-encoded motions in proteins. However, the motion modes revealed by the conventional NMA approach do not necessarily correspond to a specific function of protein. In the present work, a new analysis method was proposed to identify the motion modes responsible for a specific function of proteins and then predict the key residue interactions involved in the functional motions by using a perturbation approach. In our method, an internal coordinate that accounts for the specific function was introduced, and the Cartesian coordinate space was transformed into the internal/Cartesian space by using linear approximation, where the introduced internal coordinate serves as one of the axes of the coordinate space. NMA of ENM in this internal/Cartesian space was performed and the function-relevant motion modes were identified according to their contributions to the specific function of proteins. Then the key residue interactions important for the functional motions of the protein were predicted as the interactions whose perturbation largely influences the fluctuation along the internal coordinate. Using our proposed methods, the maltose transporter (MalFGK₂) from E. Coli was studied. The functional motions and the key residue interactions that are related to the channel-gating function of this protein were successfully identified.     

Capturing pair-wise epistatic effects associated with three agronomic traits in barley

Genetic association mapping has been widely applied to determine genetic markers favorably associated with a trait of interest and provide information for marker-assisted selection. Many association mapping studies commonly focus on main effects due to intolerable computing intensity. This study aims to select several sets of DNA markers with potential epistasis to maximize genetic variations of some key agronomic traits in barley. By doing so, we integrated a MDR (multifactor dimensionality reduction) method with a forward variable selection approach. This integrated approach was used to determine single nucleotide polymorphism pairs with epistasis effects associated with three agronomic traits: heading date, plant height, and grain yield in barley from the barley Coordinated Agricultural Project. Our results showed that four, seven, and five SNP pairs accounted for 51.06, 45.66 and 40.42% for heading date, plant height, and grain yield, respectively with epistasis being considered, while corresponding contributions to these three traits were 45.32, 31.39, 31.31%, respectively without epistasis being included. The results suggested that epistasis model was more effective than non-epistasis model in this study and can be more preferred for other applications.     

培养人皮下脂肪干细胞纵向分化的实验研究

目的:建立人脂肪干细胞(adipose-derived stem cells,ADSCs)分离、培养的方法,观察其生物学特性,探讨其纵向分化的能力.方法:自皮下脂肪组织获得梭形细胞,观察细胞生物学特征,免疫组化鉴定波形蛋白和CD44.以含有胰岛素、地塞米松、1.甲基-3-异丁基-黄嘌呤的无血清混合培养基诱导其向脂肪细胞纵向分化,以细胞形态学变化.油红O染色和测定甘油磷酸脱氢酶活性判定分化是否成功.结果:人皮下脂肪中能够分离培养出生长旺盛的脂肪干细胞,诱导培养7d后细胞由梭形逐渐变圆,胞质内出现脂滴后逐渐增多融合为脂泡,并与甘油磷酸脱氢酶活性变化相吻合.油红O染色显示约(78.6±2.2)%细胞转变为脂肪细胞.结论:人皮下脂肪中分离的脂肪干细胞在体外诱导条件下能纵向分化为脂肪细胞,可能成为修复软组织缺损及整形美容的又一干细胞来源.     

桃江县毛竹林生态系统碳储量及其空间分布

采用标准地调查和生物量实测方法,研究了湖南省桃江县毛竹林生态系统生物量、碳含量、碳储量及空间分布格局。结果表明,不同年龄毛竹林生态系统总生物量分别为:28.147、30.889 t/hm~2和57.763 t/hm~2,其中竹林层生物量为20.254、25.036、55.685 t/hm~2,各器官生物量均以竹竿最高,占器官生物量的63.0%以上。不同年龄毛竹各器官碳平均含量为0.466—0.483 g C/g;灌木层碳含量为0.474—0.489 g C/g;草本层为0.472—0.490 g C/g;死地被物层为0.213—0.276 g C/g;土壤层有机碳含量为14.790—34.503 g C/g。各年龄毛竹林生态系统总碳储量分别为131.273、139.089 t/hm~2和167.817 t/hm~2,其中植被层碳储量为13.627—28.419 t/hm~2,占系统总碳储量的9.935%—16.935%;死地被物为0.307—0.420 t/hm~2,占0.234%—0.265%;土壤层为117.339—138.978 t/hm~2,占82.815%—89.799%。毛竹林生态系统碳储量分布格局为:土壤层植被层死地被物层。研究结果可为深入研究毛竹林的碳平衡提供基础数据。     

Monkeys pass the mirror test after training

<正>There is no experiencing without an experiencer,the self.Whether the experiencer knows it is"the self"that is experiencing is a different and tricky philosophical issue.Dating back to Ivan Pavlov’s dogs,the"experience"of animals has