SUMO化修饰系统在哺乳动物胚胎发育及器官发生中的作用

小分子泛素相关修饰物蛋白（small ubiquitin-related modifier protein,SUMO）化修饰是一种广泛存在的蛋白质翻译后修饰形式,存在于动物多个生理和病理过程中,并涉及复杂的信号通路调节过程,是细胞对应激反应的重要调节机制,并且越来越多的研究表明,SUMO化修饰在哺乳动物胚胎发育及器官发生过程中发挥重要作用。在胎儿发育过程中,SUMO化对于器官的形成及发育起着至关重要的作用。SUMO化途径的各组成成分（UBC9、SUMO1～3、PIAS、SENP1～7）在胚胎发育过程中协调胚泡与子宫间的对话、心脏发育以及颅面发育中都发挥着重要作用。在发育过程中SUMO化修饰一旦失调,则可能导致胚胎植入前缺陷、胚胎发育缺陷以及胚胎致死。本综述总结了SUMO化修饰的分子机制,以及SUMO化途径各个组成成分（SUMO、UBC9、PIAS、SENPs）在早期胚胎发育及后续器官发生中功能的最新进展,以望为后续的研究提供借鉴。     

薄囊蕨胚胎发育模式——以华北鳞毛蕨为例

以鳞毛蕨科的华北鳞毛蕨为材料,在模拟自然条件下人工培养配子体世代,用石蜡切片详细观察记录了胚胎发育全过程,以建立更详细的薄囊蕨胚胎发育模式,为探讨薄囊蕨与其它类群的系统演化关系及生殖生物学提供依据。结果表明:(1)华北鳞毛蕨的胚胎发育垂直于配子体平面和背腹轴,符合俯卧型发育模式,合子第一次分裂平行于颈卵器的长轴方向;胚胎在16细胞时期才能够确定器官发生的原始细胞,且第一叶原基的产生先于第一根原基;海马胚时期第一叶原基和第一根原基突破帽状体形成具有明显维管束结构的第一叶和第一根;胚胎发育过程中有游离核的存在。(2)该文绘制了从合子到第一叶和第一根成熟的发育过程,包括胚胎早期细胞的分裂方式、细胞核及其核仁的特征、器官的发生顺序及其相互关系等14个点线图,总结出薄囊蕨胚胎发育的详细模式;该模式支持Nayar的\"根叶学说\",并主张薄囊蕨和种子植物的茎在本质上是不同的,二者是平行发展的两个类群。     

Growth potential of adult hepatocytes in mammals: highly replicative small hepatocytes with liver progenitor-like traits

The liver is one of the few organs that is capable of completely regenerating itself without using a stem cell population. When damaged, growth factors and cytokines are released, stimulating terminally differentiated adult hepatocytes and making them re-enter the cell cycle. We have been developing a series of studies on the growth potential of rat and human hepatocytes to identify a population of hepatocytes that is responsible for the regeneration of the injured liver. For this purpose, we established an appropriate culture method for hepatocytes by which growth and differentiation capacities are practically examined under various experimental conditions. This in vitro assay system allows us to identify small hepatocytes that are prominently replicative compared to large hepatocytes. Non-parenchymal cells play critical roles in the proliferation of small hepatocytes. These hepatocytes are present in both rat and human liver and are located in portal regions there. Phenotypic features were examined at morphological and gene/protein levels in detail, which showed the phenotypic plasticity in vitro. Mammalian liver includes a population of small hepatocytes in normal adults with a minute occupancy rate. We speculate that small hepatocytes play a role in regenerating the injured liver and in compensating for apoptotic hepatocytes in the physiological turnover of hepatocytes.     

Effect of auxin-cytokinin interaction on organogenesis in haploid callus of pelargonium hortorum

Summary Bud differentiation from haploid anther callus of geranium was achieved on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 0.5 mg per 1 NAA and 2.5 mg per 1 kinetin. At concentrations higher than 5 mg per 1 kinetin, malformation and tissue senescence were evident.     

A gene trap approach to identify genes that control development

One methodology called gene trap represents a versatile strategy by which murine genes that control developmental events can be captured and identified with corresponding mutants produced at the same time. Gene trap methodology has been developed and several genes and their mutants have been analyzed, but almost all of the genes reported are those already known or murine homologs of other species. In this study, the efficiency of the gene trap methodology was improved and a novel mutant mouse strain named jumonji established which displayed an intriguing defect. Homozygous fetal mice died in utero and a significant proportion of the homozygotes showed abnormal groove formation on the neural plate and a defect in neural tube closure with a mixed genetic background of 129/Ola and BALB/c. The trapped gene believed to be responsible for these phenotypes encodes a novel nuclear protein. The results reveal that the gene trap approach can identify unknown interesting genes in murine development. The gene trap strategy, however, has several problems, the greatest of which is the difficulty in prescreening embryonic stem (ES) cells for interesting trapped genes. Recent studies are solving this problem and show that the prescreening of ES cells for genes with several characteristics is possible.     

Early events in the induction of glutamine synthetase activity by hydrocortisone in embryonic chick neural retina

Summary Primary cultures of 10-day embryonic chick neural retinas were used to investigate early aspects of the mechanism of hydrocortisone action on glutamine synthetase activity. As little as 2 hr of hydrocortisone exposure served to initiate significant increases in the glutamine synthetase activity levels assayed after 24 hr culture. Time course studies indicated that the increase in glutamine synthetase activity observed after 24 hr in culture resulted from a two-phase rise in activity and that cycloheximide was effective in suppressing the second-phase rise. Additional inhibition studies demonstrated that the second-phase increase in enzyme activity required continuous protein synthesis during the initial 6 hr. The evidence suggests a mechanism of hydrocortisone action involving the production of a protein which is important for the induction of glutamine synthetase activity by hydrocortisone. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) Training Grant.     

Liver bioengineering: From the stage of liver decellularized matrix to the multiple cellular actors and bioreactor special effects

Liver bioengineering has been a field of intense research and popular excitement in the past decades. It experiences great interest since the introduction of whole liver acellular scaffolds generated by perfusion decellularization^1–3. Nevertheless, the different strategies developed so far have failed to generate hepatic tissue in vitro bioequivalent to native liver tissue. Even notable novel strategies that rely on iPSC-derived liver progenitor cells potential to self-organize in association with endothelial cells in hepatic organoids are lacking critical components of the native tissue (e.g., bile ducts, functional vascular network, hepatic microarchitecture, etc)⁴. Hence, it is vital to understand the strengths and short comes of our current strategies in this quest to re-create liver organogenesis in vitro. To shed some light into these issues, this review describes the different actors that play crucial roles in liver organogenesis and highlights the steps still missing to successfully generate whole livers and hepatic organoids in vitro for multiple applications.     

转基因植物中标记基因研究概况

标记基因在植物基因工程中具有重要的作用。它在遗传转化中的关键作用是区分转化和非转化的细胞,以筛选并鉴定出转化的细胞、组织和转基因植株。目前,已报道的标记基因种类很多,划分标准也各不相同。出于对生态环境和转基因食品的生物安全性考虑,从传统的选择标记基因、与激素代谢相关的基因、与氨基酸代谢相关的基因、与糖类代谢相关的基因、能解除化合物毒性（或胁迫）的基因、编码能产生特定荧光物质的蛋白酶类的基因、利用颜色差异性筛选转化体的相关基因及抗性标记基因的敲除技术八个不同的方面,综述了标记基因的种类、作用原理、应用价值及存在的问题。在标记基因的综合应用方面,详细总结了标记基因与组织（或器官）特异性启动子和MAT载体系统的结合应用,以及P．葡萄糖苷酸酶作为多功能标记基因的综合应用。最后,对标记基因的发展前景进行了探讨分析。