观赏植物组织培养与基因工程研究进展(综述)

本文综述近年来观赏植物组织培养和基因工程的研究进展。     

Transgenic wine yeast technology comes of age: is it time for transgenic wine?

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the main yeast responsible for alcoholic fermentation of grape juice during wine making. This makes wine strains of this species perfect targets for the improvement of wine technology and quality. Progress in winemaking has been achieved through the use of selected yeast strains, as well as genetic improvement of wine yeast strains through the sexual and pararexual cycles, random mutagenesis and genetic engineering. Development of genetically engineered wine yeasts, their potential application, and factors affecting their commercial viability will be discussed in this review.     

本科生物技术综合性超大实验课程的架构与建设

为了培养本科生的分子生物学实验设计与操作技能,在实践教学中实现培养本科创新人才的目标,以用大肠杆菌发酵生产重组细菌碱性磷酸酶为案例,通过碱性磷酸酶基因的克隆、原核表达、发酵生产、提取纯化以及酶活性检测等系列实验,把本科的基因工程、发酵工程和生物化学3门综合性独立实验课程有机地组合成一个内容相关联的超大型综合性生物技术大实验,进一步凸显了生物技术中以基因工程技术为核心的上游核酸操作、中游发酵生产和下游蛋白分离纯化三大技术模块的有机联系,大大地提高了本科实验教学的综合性和研究性,提升了实践教学水平,取得了良好的教学效果。     

New hope for dedicated genetically engineered bioenergy feedstocks?

The unique regulatory requirements and costs of genetic engineering (GE) are likely to inhibit commercialization of dedicated bioenergy crops due to the relatively small current market. Two recent regulatory approvals for GE plants, however, may signal a shift in policy and an opening of a door to a streamlined federal regulatory pathway for commercialization for non‐food plants. The change, however, may shift regulatory battles from the federal to the state and local level, as each state has independent authority to regulate plants under respective noxious weed/plant protection statutes. This previously dormant state regulatory power could result in even more complex barriers to commercialization of GE bioenergy crops‐‐replacing the regulatory delays embedded in the federal system with regulatory chaos at the state and local level.     

Metabolic engineering of plant secondary metabolite pathways for the production of fine chemicals

The technology of large-scale plant cell culture is feasible for the industrial production of plant-derived fine chemicals. Due to low or no productivity of the desired compounds the economy is only in a few cases favorable. Various approaches are studied to increase yields, these encompass screening and selection of high producing cell lines, media optimization, elicitation, culturing of differentiated cells (organ cultures), immobilization. In recent years metabolic engineering has opened a new promising perspectives for improved production in a plant or plant cell culture.     

Time to start intervening in the human germline? A utilitarian perspective

Focusing on present-day possibilities raised by existing technology, I consider the normative aspects of genetically modifying the human germline from a utilitarian standpoint. With reference to a hypothetical case, I examine the probable consequences of permitting a well-conceived attempt to correct a disease-associated gene in the human germline using current CRISPR gene-editing technology. I consider inter alia the likely effects on utility of creating healthy new lives, of discouraging adoption, and of kickstarting a revolution in human germline genetic modification (HGGM). I reject various objections to HGGM, including claims that the risks of genetic harm outweigh the likely benefits. From this utilitarian analysis, I conclude that strong grounds exist to support intervening in the human germline using current technology. Delay in commencing such work will impose a utility cost, because the longer we wait until commencing the HGGM revolution and moving towards a world of increased utility, the greater will be the quantity of suffering accrued meantime through genetically influenced disease. Nevertheless, considering residual safety concerns and the negative publicity engendered by an ethically problematic recent (2018) first attempt at HGGM, it seems prudent—and ultimately generative of the greatest amount of utility—to delay implementing HGGM for a modest period of time, in the order of 1–2 years.     

基因工程技术在食品品质改良中的应用

概述了用基因工程技术改良食品的食用品质,提高食品加工性能的研究和应用现状。     

Will escaped transgenes lead to ecological release?

One potential effect of transgenes escaped from cultivation, either in crop plants themselves or introgressed into wild relatives, is release of the plants from ecological constraints that currently limit or control their distribution and abundance. Release may occur only within the community that the species presently occupies, or it may allow range expansion into new communities. Experience with ecological range expansions of invading plant species suggests that when ecological release occurs, the consequences can be severe. To assess properly the likelihood of ecological release, the factors that currently limit species' distributions and abundances must be determined by manipulative experiments. The effect of transgenes on these factors must then be investigated throughout the life cycle of the species and on a case-by-case basis. For ruderal annual species, seed survival and seedling establishment phases may be particularly important.     

工业生物技术的前沿科技

随着石化资源逐步消耗,气候问题日益凸显,工业生物技术被认为是解决能源和资源供给、应对气候变化、实现绿色可持续发展的重要方向。得益于理论突破、技术变革和学科交叉,工业生物技术主要经历了由生命科学突破性成就、多学科技术理念交汇融合和产业应用导向推动的3个阶段。本文回顾总结了工业生物技术的发展历程及近年来取得的重要突破,并展望了其未来发展方向。     

Community response to transgenic plant release: using mathematical theory to predict effects of transgenic plants

Predicting the potential effects of introductions of plants on the structure of plant communities has been elusive. I suggest that mathematical models of resource competition might be useful for identifying categories of plants that either are unlikely to alter community structure or that have the potential for altering community structure. Assuming that the transgenic plant will escape and establish viable populations in nontarget habitats, this theory suggests that species that have a high minimum resource requirement are unlikely to alter community structure. The theory is elaborated to evaluate the potential effects on community structure of transgenic plants with resistance to primary consumers. Results indicate that the greatest reduction in the minimum resource requirement caused by resistance will occur when consumers are consuming enough plant biomass that the plant can no longer grow. If resistance to such a consumer were incorporated into a plant, it could lower the minimum resource requirement sufficiently that a transgenic plant would be able to alter community structure substantially. Examples of introductions of exotic plants, plant pathogens, and insect herbivores are given to support the conceptual basis of the theory. Not all transgenic plants with resistance, however, have the potential to alter community structure. Resistance to primary consumers that strongly reduce the biomass producing ability of a plant will probably be able to alter community structure, whereas resistance that reduces most other types of yield loss is less likely to alter community structure. The theory should be elaborated to incorporate more-realistic assumptions, such as those regarding reproduction, dormancy, and dispersal of the transgenic plants, and provide more detailed characterization of the potential hazard of transgenic plants to plant communities.