转基因植物作为生物反应器生产口蹄疫疫苗的研究进展

利用转基因植物作为生物反应器表达重组蛋白,生产外源蛋白质作为动物疫苗是一个很有吸引力的廉价生产系统,它有可能代替生产成本较高的传统疫苗的发酵生产系统。通过口蹄疫病毒VP1结构蛋白基因在转基因植物中的表达,口蹄疫疫苗已在植物中产生。在植物中生产的抗原能够保持其自身的免疫原性。本文简要综述了近十年来用转基因植物作为生物反应器生产口蹄疫疫苗的研究进展、特点及其应用前景 。     

CircPlant:An Integrated Tool for circRNA Detection and Functional Prediction in Plants

The recent discovery of circular RNAs (circRNAs) and characterization of their functional roles have opened a new avenue for understanding the biology of genomes. circRNAs have been implicated to play important roles in a variety of biological processes, but their precise functions remain largely elusive. Currently, a few approaches are available for novel circRNA prediction, but almost all these methods are intended for animal genomes. Considering that the major differences between the organization of plant and mammal genomes cannot be neglected, a plant-specific method is needed to enhance the validity of plant circRNA identification. In this study, we present CircPlant, an integrated tool for the exploration of plant circRNAs, potentially acting as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs), and their potential functions. With the incorporation of several unique plant-specific criteria, CircPlant can accurately detect plant circRNAs from high-throughput RNA-seq data. Based on comparison tests on simulated and real RNA-seq datasets from Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa, we show that CircPlant outperforms all evaluated competing tools in both accuracy and efficiency. CircPlant is freely available at http://bis.zju.edu.cn/circplant.     

雅安4种常见水果维生素C含量的测定与比较

采用紫外分光光度法对雅安常见水果草莓、桔子、猕猴桃和苹果的维生素C含量进行测定和比较。配制维生素C标准溶液,在243nm的紫外波长下绘制标准曲线。根据维生素C标准溶液的线性方程计算上述4种水果的维生素C含量。结果表明,雅安市常见水果中维生素C的含量依次为草莓37.1mg·100g-1,桔子52.6mg·100g-1,猕猴桃95.5mg·100g-1,苹果4.9mg·100g-1。4种水果样品的维生素C含量多少依次为:猕猴桃>桔子>草莓>苹果,为人们合理地获取维生素C提供理论依据。     

Cotton Leaf Curl Multan Betasatellite as a Tool to Study the Localization of Geminiviruses in Plants

Molecular Biology - Cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMB) is a ubiquitous betasatellite commonly found along with cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) associated begomoviruses in the Old...     

Activated Carbon as a Restoration Tool: Potential for Control of Invasive Plants in Abandoned Agricultural Fields

Exotic plants have been found to use allelochemicals, positive plant–soil feedbacks, and high concentrations of soil nutrients to exercise a competitive advantage over native plants. Under laboratory conditions, activated carbon (AC) has shown the potential to reduce these advantages by sequestering organic compounds. It is not known, however, if AC can effectively sequester organics or reduce exotic plant growth under field conditions. On soils dominated by exotic plants, we found that AC additions (1% AC by mass in the top 10 cm of soil) reduced concentrations of extractable organic C and N and induced consistent changes in plant community composition. The cover of two dominant exotics, Bromus tectorum and Centaurea diffusa, decreased on AC plots compared to that on control plots (14–8% and 4–0.1%, respectively), and the cover of native perennial grasses increased on AC plots compared to that on control plots (1.4–3% cover). Despite promising responses to AC by these species, some exotic species responded positively to AC and some native species responded negatively to AC. Consequently, AC addition did not result in native plant communities similar to uninvaded sites, but AC did demonstrate potential as a soil‐based exotic plant control tool, especially for B. tectorum and C. diffusa.     

Regulation of Photosynthesis of C3 Plants in Response to Progressive Drought: Stomatal Conductance as a Reference Parameter

We review the photosynthetic responses to drought in field-growngrapevines and other species. As in other plant species, therelationship between photosynthesis and leaf water potentialand/or relative water content in field-grown grapevines dependson conditions during plant growth and measurements. However,when light-saturated stomatal conductance was used as the referenceparameter to reflect drought intensity, a common response patternwas observed that was much less dependent on the species andconditions. Many photosynthetic parameters (e.g. electron transportrate, carboxylation efficiency, intrinsic water-use efficiency,respiration rate in the light, etc.) were also more stronglycorrelated with stomatal conductance than with water statusitself. Moreover, steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence alsoshowed a high dependency on stomatal conductance. This is discussedin terms of an integrated down-regulation of the whole photosyntheticprocess by CO₂ availability in the mesophyll. A study with sixMediterranean shrubs revealed that, in spite of some markedinterspecific differences, all followed the same pattern ofdependence of photosynthetic processes on stomatal conductance,and this pattern was quite similar to that of grapevines. Furtheranalysis of the available literature suggests that the above-mentionedpattern is general for C₃ plants. Even though the patterns describeddo not necessarily imply a cause and effect relationship, theycan help our understanding of the apparent contradictions concerningstomatal vs. non-stomatal limitations to photosynthesis underdrought. The significance of these findings for the improvementof water-use efficiency of crops is discussed.     

Damage to Photosynthetic Membranes in Chilling-Sensitive Plants: Maize,a Case Study

Abstract

Biotechnology may soon take greater advantage of extremophiles — microorganisms that grow in high salt or heavy metal concentrations, or at extremes of temperature, pressure, or pH. These organisms and their cellular components are attractive because they permit process operation over a wider range of conditions than their traditional counterparts. However, extremophiles also present a number of challenges for the development of bioprocesses, such as slow growth, low cell yield, and high shear sensitivity. Difficulties inherent in designing equipment suitable for extreme conditions are also encountered. This review describes both the advantages and disadvantages of extremophiles, as well as the specialized equipment required for their study and application in biotechnology.     

The Level of Orally Ingested Vitamin C Affected the Expression of Vitamin C Transporters and Vitamin C Accumulation in the Livers of ODS Rats

We investigated the effects of vitamin C administration on vitamin C-specific transporters in ODS/ShiJcl-od/od rat livers. The vitamin C-specific transporter levels increased in the livers of the rats not administered vitamin C and decreased in the livers of those administered vitamin C at 100 mg/d, indicating that these transporter levels can be influenced by the amount of vitamin C administered.     

Functional Phylogeny: the Use of the Sensitivity of Ribosomes to Protein Synthesis Inhibitors as a Tool to Study the Evolution of Organisms

In order to study the functional phylogeny of organisms, forty different protein synthesis inhibitors with diverse domain and funcional specificities have been used to analyze forty archaeal, bacterial and eukaryotic translational systems. The inhibition curves generated with the different ribosome-antibiotic pairs have shown very interesting similarities among organisms belonging to the same phylogenetic group, confirming the feasibility of using such information in the development of evolutionary studies. A new method to extract most of the information contained in the inhibition curves is presented. Using a statistical treatment based on the principal components analysis of the data, we have defined coordinates for the organisms which have allowed us to perform a functional clustering of them. The phenograms obtained are very similar to those generated by 16/18S rRNA sequence comparison. These results prove the phylogenetic value of our functional analysis and suggest an interesting intersection between genotypic and phenotypic (functional) information.     

大陆性海岛野生植物功能性状特征及其演变趋势——以平潭岛为例

探讨海岛植物功能性状的演变机制,对福州市平潭岛和福州国家森林公园的野生植物功能性状进行了比较。结果表明,平潭岛和公园植物的共有科占总科数的63%,共有种占总种数的19%。海岛植物为适应强风、干旱、贫瘠的环境,以草本植物为主,占65.75%。海岛植物的叶级明显小于大陆植物,叶被毛植物占62.39%,并呈木质化和肉质化特征。海岛植物的繁殖能力提高,海岛植物花期长于大陆,以r-繁殖策略为主。海岛植物的传播能力提高,颖果和瘦果比例高于大陆植物,而核果和浆果比例相反;微型果为79.20%,以风力和蚁类传播为主。总体而言,大陆性海岛与大陆野生植物具有相同起源,海岛植物为适应脆弱的生态环境,其适应-繁殖-传播相关的功能性状发生演变,呈现出适应能力增强、繁殖和传播能力提高的特点。     

中华猕猴桃和毛花猕猴桃果实碳水化合物及维生素Ｃ的动态变化研究

分别对中华猕猴桃（Actinidia chinensis）黄肉品种‘金桃’和毛花猕猴桃（Actinidia eriantha）品系‘6113’果实生长发育过程中碳水化合物及维生素C的动态变化进行了系统研究。结果表明,中华猕猴桃‘金桃’和毛花猕猴桃‘6113’果实的可溶性固形物（SSC）含量均于谢花后146d内保持相对平稳,而后开始上升;此时,两物种果实的淀粉含量均上升到最大值,之后两者均开始下降。两者糖含量的变化与SSC相似,且中华猕猴桃‘金桃’果实糖含量进入快速增长期的时间比毛花猕猴桃‘6113’早1个月。两者果实Vc含量的变化趋势相似,均于7月上中旬达到一个高峰,以后随着果实的生长发育,含量下降,‘金桃’于8月14日降至最低值,‘6113’于9月13日降至最低值;两者的Vc含量降到最低值后均缓慢上升,到果实完全成熟期（树上自然软熟期）回升到第二个峰值。‘6113’果实的Vc含量在完全成熟期的峰值远远高于7月上旬的高峰值。对‘金桃’和‘6113’果实碳水化合物及Vc含量方差分析表明,两者的可溶性固形物、淀粉和总糖没有明显差异,而毛花猕猴桃‘6113’的Vc含量显著高于中华猕猴桃‘金桃’。     

Construction of Signature-tagged Mutant Library in Mesorhizobium loti as a Powerful Tool for Functional Genomics

Rhizobia are nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria that establish endosymbiosis with some leguminous plants. The completion of several rhizobial genome sequences provides opportunities for genome-wide functional studies of the physiological roles of many rhizobial genes. In order to carry out genome-wide phenotypic screenings, we have constructed a large mutant library of the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic bacterium, Mesorhizobium loti, by transposon mutagenesis. Transposon insertion mutants were generated using the signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) technique and a total of 29 330 independent mutants were obtained. Along with the collection of transposon mutants, we have determined the transposon insertion sites for 7892 clones, and confirmed insertions in 3680 non-redundant M. loti genes (50.5% of the total number of M. loti genes). Transposon insertions were randomly distributed throughout the M. loti genome without any bias toward G+C contents of insertion target sites and transposon plasmids used for the mutagenesis. We also show the utility of STM mutants by examining the specificity of signature tags and test screenings for growth- and nodulation-deficient mutants. This defined mutant library allows for genome-wide forward- and reverse-genetic functional studies of M. loti and will serve as an invaluable resource for researchers to further our understanding of rhizobial biology.Key words: Mesorhizobium loti, signature-tagged mutagenesis, mutant library, reverse genetics     

The Evolution of euAPETALA2 Genes in Vascular Plants: From Plesiomorphic Roles in Sporangia to Acquired Functions in Ovules and Fruits

The field of evolutionary developmental biology can help address how morphological novelties evolve, a key question in evolutionary biology. In Arabidopsis thaliana, APETALA2 (AP2) plays a role in the development of key plant innovations including seeds, flowers, and fruits. AP2 belongs to the AP2/ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE ELEMENT BINDING FACTOR family which has members in all viridiplantae, making it one of the oldest and most diverse gene lineages. One key subclade, present across vascular plants is the euAPETALA2 (euAP2) clade, whose founding member is AP2. We reconstructed the evolution of the euAP2 gene lineage in vascular plants to better understand its impact on the morphological evolution of plants, identifying seven major duplication events. We also performed spatiotemporal expression analyses of euAP2/TOE3 genes focusing on less explored vascular plant lineages, including ferns, gymnosperms, early diverging angiosperms and early diverging eudicots. Altogether, our data suggest that euAP2 genes originally contributed to spore and sporangium development, and were subsequently recruited to ovule, fruit and floral organ development. Finally, euAP2 protein sequences are highly conserved; therefore, changes in the role of euAP2 homologs during development are most likely due to changes in regulatory regions.     

The DAVID Gene Functional Classification Tool: a novel biological module-centric algorithm to functionally analyze large gene lists

The DAVID Gene Functional Classification Tool uses a novel agglomeration algorithm to condense a list of genes or associated biological terms into organized classes of related genes or biology, called biological modules. This organization is accomplished by mining the complex biological co-occurrences found in multiple sources of functional annotation. It is a powerful method to group functionally related genes and terms into a manageable number of biological modules for efficient interpretation of gene lists in a network context.     

Fire as a Restoration Tool: A Decision Framework for Predicting the Control or Enhancement of Plants Using Fire

Wildfires change plant communities by reducing dominance of some species while enhancing the abundance of others. Detailed habitat‐specific models have been developed to predict plant responses to fire, but these models generally ignore the breadth of fire regime characteristics that can influence plant survival such as the degree and duration of exposure to lethal temperatures. We provide a decision framework that integrates fire regime components, plant growth form, and survival attributes to predict how plants will respond to fires and how fires can be prescribed to enhance the likelihood of obtaining desired plant responses. Fires are driven by biotic and abiotic factors that dictate their temporal (seasonality and frequency), spatial (size and patchiness), and magnitude (intensity, severity, and type) components. Plant resistance and resilience to fire can be categorized by a combination of life form, size, and ability to disperse or protect seeds. We use a combination of life form and vital plant attributes along with an understanding of fire regime components to suggest a straightforward way to approach the use of fire to either reduce or enhance particular species. A framework for aiding decisions is organized by life form and plant size. Questions regarding perennating bud and seed characteristics direct restoration practitioners to fire regimes that may achieve their management objectives of either increasing or decreasing plants with specific life form characteristics.