Transgenic Populus Trees for Forest Products,Bioenergy, and Functional Genomics

Species within the genus Populus are among the fastest growing trees in regions with a temperate climate. Not only are they an integral component of ecosystems, but they are also grown commercially for fuel, fiber, and forest products in rural areas of the world. In the late 1970s, they were designated as a bioenergy crop by the U.S. Department of Energy, as a result of research following the oil embargo. Populus species also serve as model trees for plant molecular biology research. In this article, we will review recent progress in the genetic improvement of Populus, considering both classical breeding and genetic engineering for bioenergy, as well as in using transgenics to elucidate gene functionality. A perspective for future improvement of Populus via functional genomics will also be presented.     

短柄草与麦类作物的比较基因组学研究进展

麦类作物是人类主要的食物来源,其遗传改良对于保障世界粮食生产具有重要作用。获得麦类作物的基因组和功能基因组信息是作物遗传育种学家解析种质资源高产及抗逆机理,并准确选择目标性状、实现分子设计育种目标的有效途径。目前,二穗短柄草（Brachypodium distachyum）是早熟禾亚科中唯一完成全基因组测序的植物。以二穗短柄草为模式植物,利用比较基因组学方法获得早熟禾亚科中基因组庞大而复杂的麦类作物的相关信息,必将加速麦类作物的遗传改良进程。本文重点介绍近十年来短柄草在麦类作物比较基因组学方面的研究进展。     

Genomics of human longevity

In animal models, single-gene mutations in genes involved in insulin/IGF and target of rapamycin signalling pathways extend lifespan to a considerable extent. The genetic, genomic and epigenetic influences on human longevity are expected to be much more complex. Strikingly however, beneficial metabolic and cellular features of long-lived families resemble those in animals for whom the lifespan is extended by applying genetic manipulation and, especially, dietary restriction. Candidate gene studies in humans support the notion that human orthologues from longevity genes identified in lower species do contribute to longevity but that the influence of the genetic variants involved is small. Here we discuss how an integration of novel study designs, labour-intensive biobanking, deep phenotyping and genomic research may provide insights into the mechanisms that drive human longevity and healthy ageing, beyond the associations usually provided by molecular and genetic epidemiology. Although prospective studies of humans from the cradle to the grave have never been performed, it is feasible to extract life histories from different cohorts jointly covering the molecular changes that occur with age from early development all the way up to the age at death. By the integration of research in different study cohorts, and with research in animal models, biological research into human longevity is thus making considerable progress.     

水稻功能基因组学研究策略

自80年代第一株可育转基因水稻问世以来,水稻转化研究进展迅速。已采用包括农杆茵介导等许多转化方法。随着水稻基因组测序计划的完成,以功能基因组学研究为代表的后基因组时代已经到来。丰富的信息资源将为水稻功能基因的发掘创造十分有利的条件。本文将对水稻功能基因组的研究进展及其方法等进行简要概括。     

植物功能基因组学研究进展

植物基因组研究已经由以全基因组测序为目标的结构基因组学转向以基因功能鉴定为目标的功能基因组学研究.本简要介绍了植物功能基因组的主要研究方法,如基因表达系列分析法、表达序列标签法、差异表达谱基因芯片法、蛋白质组学分析法以及生物信息学等及其研究现状,并展望了植物功能基因组学的应用前景.     

植物功能基因组研究进展

随着植物基因组计划的深入,植物基因组学研究的重点已经转变为基因组功能的研究,即利用基因组序列的信息和高通量的系统分析技术,在基因组水平研究植物结构和组织与植物功能在细胞、有机体和进化上的关系.对功能基因组学研究的内容、方法以及最新研究进展进行了综述.     

cDNA微阵列在功能基因组学研究中的应用

cDNA微阵列是当前功能基因组学研究中的一种强有力的工具。由于微阵列能检测全基因组水平上的基因表达,它能帮助人们把研究对象作为一个整体进行研究。这正是以往孤立地研究特定基因的研究方式所不能比拟的。本文简要介绍了cDNA微阵列技术的发展渊源和大致的操作流程,侧重于原理和策略,突出了它与传统方法在思路上的不同之处,同时也分析了它目前的瓶颈和局限。最后,展望了其进一步发展的方向。     

Incorporating Genomics into the Toolkit of Nematology

The study of nematode genomes over the last three decades has relied heavily on the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, which remains the best-assembled and annotated metazoan genome. This is now changing as a rapidly expanding number of nematodes of medical and economic importance have been sequenced in recent years. The advent of sequencing technologies to achieve the equivalent of the $1000 human genome promises that every nematode genome of interest will eventually be sequenced at a reasonable cost. As the sequencing of species spanning the nematode phylum becomes a routine part of characterizing nematodes, the comparative approach and the increasing use of ecological context will help us to further understand the evolution and functional specializations of any given species by comparing its genome to that of other closely and more distantly related nematodes. We review the current state of nematode genomics and discuss some of the highlights that these genomes have revealed and the trend and benefits of ecological genomics, emphasizing the potential for new genomes and the exciting opportunities this provides for nematological studies.     

Salt Tolerance in Selected Vegetable Crops

Ensuring adequate food production is a major issue in the context of an increasing human population, limit to the areas of new land that can be cultivated, and loss of existing cultivated lands to abiotic stresses. Of these stresses, salinity consistently has the greatest impact in reducing the area of cultivated land, often due to inappropriate irrigation techniques. To increase food supply, there is a need to produce salt-tolerant crops, which can grow successfully on salt-affected lands. Among crops, vegetables possess a central position in the human diet because of their nutritional value providing vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, and mineral nutrients. There are many vegetable crops of local importance around the world but others that are very widely cultivated. All of these vegetable crops are affected by salinity more or less severely. Salinity affects every aspect of vegetable crop development including their morphology, physiological function and yield. Although efforts have been made to understand the mechanisms of salt tolerance in vegetable crops, less attention has been paid to these than to the staple crops. Where attempts have been made to improve salt tolerance of vegetables, the strategies have ranged from exogenous application of fertilizers, compatible solutes or plant growth regulators, to use of advanced molecular techniques for genetic modifications. This review focuses on the responses of pea, okra, tomato, eggplant, pepper, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, and potato to salt stress and the strategies being used to enhance their salt tolerance.     

植物功能基因组学的发展现状与发展趋势

本文将评述植物功能基因组学研究领域最新的发展状况及其趋势。     

cDNA微阵列技术在植物功能基因组学研究中的应用

cDNA微阵列 (cDNAMicroarrays)技术是近年发展起来的分子生物学研究新型工具 ,以分子杂交为基本原理 ,在检测植物基因表达水平、研究基因表达图谱、特异基因检测以及发现新基因和分离差异表达基因等方面有着独特的优势 ,已成为植物功能基因组学研究的重要手段。     

植物转座子及其在番茄功能基因组的应用

转座子作为插入突变原或分子标签被广泛应用于基因的分离和克隆,已成为发现新基因和基因功能分析的有效工具。该文综述了植物转座子及其在基因分离中的研究进展,并讨论其在番茄功能基因遗传资源、功能基因组分离等研究中的应用。     

功能基因组学技术在慢性疼痛研究中的应用

慢性疼痛是一个世界性难题,其治疗效果不佳,与其机制不明有很大关系。解决机制问题,探索有效的治疗方法已经成为研究的焦点。伴随着后基因时代的到来,以及分子生物学,生物信息学等多门生物相关学科的发展,RNA干扰技术,反义寡核苷酸技术,基因芯片等这些功能基因组学中常用的实验手段,通过在基因组或系统水平上全面分析基因的功能,为研究慢性疼痛发生机制,发现新的疼痛调节相关基因以及探索疼痛治疗的新途径开辟了更加广阔的空间。     

引进马铃薯种质资源抗旱性评价

马铃薯属于干旱敏感型作物,当前生产上的马铃薯品种多数不耐旱,中国马铃薯抗旱育种进程又受到遗传背景狭窄的制约。引进外来种质资源,拓宽我国马铃薯遗传背景,加快选育抗旱品种是马铃薯应对干旱的关键策略。2016年和2017年,在常规滴灌和雨养条件下,利用增广设计方法,以生产上常用的5个马铃薯品种为对照,对来自国际马铃薯中心的315份高代品系和中国已有的3个品种进行抗旱性评价。通过AMMI模型和GGE模型分析基因型、环境及二者互作对产量的影响,并结合抗旱指数筛选抗旱性稳定且产量高的材料。从整体上看,在雨养条件下,两年马铃薯平均产量差异较小,但是变异系数较大,常规滴灌条件下正好相反。马铃薯产量受基因型、环境及其交互作用的显著影响,其变异平方和分别占总处理平方和的43.39%、39.36%和17.26%;C93和YS902两年的抗旱指数均高于对照品种,稳产性好,C48虽然抗旱指数相对较低,但是高产和稳产性高于所有材料。筛选出来的材料不仅可以作为抗旱育种亲本,还可以通过进一步研究其抗旱机制,为抗旱育种提供理论支持。     

A New System for Comparative Functional Genomics of Saccharomyces Yeasts

Whole-genome sequencing, particularly in fungi, has progressed at a tremendous rate. More difficult, however, is experimental testing of the inferences about gene function that can be drawn from comparative sequence analysis alone. We present a genome-wide functional characterization of a sequenced but experimentally understudied budding yeast, Saccharomyces bayanus var. uvarum (henceforth referred to as S. bayanus), allowing us to map changes over the 20 million years that separate this organism from S. cerevisiae. We first created a suite of genetic tools to facilitate work in S. bayanus. Next, we measured the gene-expression response of S. bayanus to a diverse set of perturbations optimized using a computational approach to cover a diverse array of functionally relevant biological responses. The resulting data set reveals that gene-expression patterns are largely conserved, but significant changes may exist in regulatory networks such as carbohydrate utilization and meiosis. In addition to regulatory changes, our approach identified gene functions that have diverged. The functions of genes in core pathways are highly conserved, but we observed many changes in which genes are involved in osmotic stress, peroxisome biogenesis, and autophagy. A surprising number of genes specific to S. bayanus respond to oxidative stress, suggesting the organism may have evolved under different selection pressures than S. cerevisiae. This work expands the scope of genome-scale evolutionary studies from sequence-based analysis to rapid experimental characterization and could be adopted for functional mapping in any lineage of interest. Furthermore, our detailed characterization of S. bayanus provides a valuable resource for comparative functional genomics studies in yeast.     

Reverse Genetic Approaches for Functional Genomics of Rice

T-DNA and transposable elements e.g., Ds and Tos17, are used to generate a large number of insertional mutant lines in rice. Some carry the GUS or GFP reporter for gene trap or enhancer trap. These reporter systems are valuable for identifying tissue- or organ-preferential genes. Activation tagging lines have also been generated for screening mutants and isolating mutagenized genes. To utilize these resources more efficiently, tagged lines have been produced for reverse genetic approaches. DNA pools of the T-DNA tagged lines and Tos17 lines have been prepared for PCR screening of insertional mutants in a given gene. Tag end sequences (TES) of the inserts have also been produced. TES databases are beneficial for analyzing the function of a large number of rice genes.     

干旱胁迫对不同耐旱性大麦品种叶片超微结构的影响

选用耐旱性不同的3个大麦（Hordeum sativum）品种作为研究对象,分析干旱胁迫对其叶肉细胞叶绿体、线粒体和细胞核超微结构的影响。结果表明,3个大麦品种在非胁迫条件下其超微结构无明显差异。遭受干旱胁迫后,不耐旱大麦品种Moroc9-75叶片细胞核中染色质的凝聚程度高,叶绿体变形,外被膜出现较大程度的波浪状和膨胀,同时基粒出现弯曲、膨胀、排列混乱的现象;线粒体外形及膜受到破坏、内部嵴部分消失等。耐旱大麦品种HS41-1叶片细胞中染色质虽出现凝聚,但凝聚程度低;其叶绿体及线粒体与非胁迫条件下基本相似,多数未见明显损伤。耐旱中等的大麦品种Martin叶片超微结构的变化则介于二者之间。因此,干旱胁迫下叶绿体外形、基粒和基质类囊体膜结构的完整性与基粒的排列次序、染色质的凝聚度和线粒体膜及嵴的完整性与大麦的耐旱性相关,这些特性可作为评价大麦耐旱性强弱的形态结构指标。