一起旅游团中急性胃肠炎的暴发与GII. 17型诺如病毒相关

为了解2016年夏季一起发生在某赴内蒙古旅游团游客中的急性胃肠炎暴发流行的病毒病原。分别采集此次胃肠炎暴发流行中两名患病游客腹泻症状发生后第3天、5天和7天的粪便标本,提取核酸后首先用荧光定量PCR扩增诺如病毒核酸进行检测,阳性标本分别用RT-PCR扩增病毒VP1基因和RdRp区域基因,通过基因测序和序列比对进行基因分型,构建进化树确定进化同源性。通过荧光定量PCR法检测到两名患者的粪便标本均为诺如病毒阳性,提示此次胃肠炎暴发流行的病原为诺如病毒,进一步的RT-PCR扩增病毒基因分析显示检测到的诺如病毒为GII.P17-GII.G17型;构建系统进化树分析显示本次与2014~2015年度广州、中国香港、中国台湾和日本等地的病毒亲缘关系更为接近;氨基酸序列分析显示该基因型与2014年以来流行的毒株同源性较近,与2014年之前流行的毒株相比变异较大,氨基酸变异主要出现在主要衣壳蛋白的P结构域。提示GII.P17-GII.G17型诺如病毒也是引起内蒙地区急性胃肠炎暴发流行的病毒病原。     

2018–2020年人轮状病毒锦州地方株VP4及VP7基因特征

【背景】人A组轮状病毒(Rotavirus Group A,RVA)是婴幼儿胃肠炎的主要病原体及发展中国家婴幼儿死亡的重要原因,目前无特效药物治疗,疫苗预防是唯一可行的预防感染方法。外衣壳蛋白VP7和VP4是疫苗设计的主要靶点,针对该基因加强RVA地方株分子流行病学监测十分必要。【目的】对锦州地方流行RVA株VP7和VP4基因进行型别鉴定和序列特征分析。【方法】收集锦州地区2018-2020年RVA感染腹泻患儿的粪便标本,提取病毒RNA,通过RT-PCR扩增VP7、VP4基因片段并测序,得到7株RVA VP7和VP4序列。使用在线基因分型工具Rota C V2.0对测序结果进行分型分析。应用BLAST、DNAStar、MEGA X、Bio Edit等生物软件与临床流行株及疫苗株进行系统发育分析及氨基酸序列比对分析。【结果】分型结果表明7株锦州地方株均为G9P[8]型,系统发育分析证实其VP7和VP4基因分别属于G9-Ⅵ和P[8]-3谱系,核苷酸序列相似性分别为99.32%-100%与99.41%-100%。JZ株VP7与疫苗株Rotavac和Rotasiil相比,在抗原表位区7-1a、7-1b、7-2中分别存在4个和3个氨基酸替换。JZ株VP4与疫苗株Rotarix和Rota Teq VP4氨基酸序列相比,发现7个和4个氨基酸替换,位于抗原表位区8-1和8-3。【结论】2018-2020年在辽宁锦州地区检测到7株G9P[8]型RVA株,VP7和VP4序列相似性高于99%,G9P[8]型可能是辽宁省锦州地区2018-2020年婴幼儿轮状病毒腹泻的主要流行基因型之一。与同基因型疫苗株比较,位于JZ株VP7和VP4抗原表位区的氨基酸位点差异对于野毒株免疫逃逸机制的研究具有意义。     

湖州市GⅡ.P16-GⅡ.2型诺如病毒胃肠炎疫情的病原分子特征分析

鉴定湖州市2017年11月3起急性胃肠炎疫情的病原,并对病原进行基因特征研究。收集3起疫情中采集的患者粪便标本,采用荧光定量RT-PCR方法对其进行诺如病毒核酸检测,并对核酸阳性标本进行多聚酶和衣壳蛋白部分区域的RT-PCR扩增。选取阳性扩增产物进行序列测定和分子特征分析。同时收集疫情的相关流行病学资料。3起暴发疫情中15份标本经荧光PCR检测为GII型诺如病毒核酸阳性,其中9份标本成功测序。在线分型、系统进化和重组分析判定3起均是GII.P16-GII.2型重组株引起的诺如病毒感染聚集性疫情。系统进化分析显示,本研究中检出的GII.P16-GII.2与2016年底中国各地以及德国、法国检出的GII.P16-GII.2相聚在一起并区别于2016年以前的GII.P16-GII.2形成了一个相对独立的进化分支。提示2016年新出现的GII.P16-GII.2在多聚酶区和衣壳蛋白区都各自经历了一定进化获得了在人群中广泛流行的能力,具体机制有待进一步的研究。这也是首次在本地的诺如病毒胃肠炎疫情中检出GII.P16-GII.2重组株。     

南京地区2012～2013年G9型轮状病毒VP7基因特征的分析

A组轮状病毒是引起成人和婴幼儿急性腹泻的主要病原。了解轮状病毒流行株的型别,对主要中和抗原VP7的编码基因进行遗传变异分析,可为当地轮状病毒疫苗的应用和开发提供指导。我们对2012年10月至2013年12月南京地区908例腹泻门诊患者的粪便标本进行轮状病毒检测,采用RT-PCR方法对随机抽取的50份阳性标本进行G分型,并对其中19份G9型轮状病毒的VP7基因序列测序分析。结果发现轮状病毒阳性率11.34%(103/908),其中以G9型为主,占78.0%(39/50),其次是G2、G1和G3型。对G9型轮状病毒VP7基因核苷酸序列进行分析,显示主要分为G9-VI亚型和G9-III亚型,以G9-VI亚型为主,且属于中国和日本G9型轮状病毒亚簇,部分毒株在A、B、C、F四个中和抗原表位中有变异,这可能有助于G9型轮状病毒的流行,值得引起注意。     

中国首株格特隐球菌VGII基因型分离株XH91的分子和表型特征鉴定

【目的】研究我国首次临床分离的一株格特隐球菌VGII基因型菌株(XH91)的分子和表型特征。【方法】对受试株XH91进行血清型的分子鉴定;选取核基因组和线粒体基因组中共16个基因片段进行多位点序列分型;对受试株进行单倍体繁育、同性交配及异性交配能力评价;观察受试株的黑色素生成、荚膜厚度及37℃生长等表型特征。【结果】我国首株格特隐球菌VGII基因型菌株XH91为血清B型;该菌株在多位点序列分型上与温哥华岛致病基因型VGIIb一致;XH91能与a交配型发生交配,产生担孢子,而不能与α交配型发生交配且不具备单倍体繁育能力;XH91的黑色素生成、荚膜厚度及37℃生长等表型特征与参考株无明显差异。【结论】我国首株格特隐球菌VGII基因型菌株XH91在基因型、表型特征上均与温哥华岛VGIIb基因亚型一致,该结果将为我国格特隐球菌VGII基因型的分子流行病学和疾病监控提供重要资料。     

GII.3型诺如病毒GZ31597株变异情况及与受体组织血型抗原结合模式分析

诺如病毒(Noroviruses,NoVs)是引起非菌型胃肠炎暴发流行的主要病原体之一。为了解我国GII.3型NoVs毒株的变异以及受体结合模式,本研究对来自2015年一起中国广州NoVs胃肠炎暴发的GII.3型毒株GZ31597株进行聚合酶区和完整VP1区基因扩增、序列测定和序列分析,并表达VP1突出区蛋白(P蛋白),通过P蛋白与不同血型唾液样本的酶免疫分析法(EIA)测定实验确定其组织血型抗原(Histo-blood group antigens,HBGAs)结合模式。GZ31597株聚合酶和VP1基因系统进化分析表明,GZ31597株为GII.P12/GII.3-SubD基因型(聚合酶/衣壳区),该毒株较先前的GII.3毒株相比,在既是抗原表位又是HBGAs受体结合位点的氨基酸385残基发生了氨基酸转换。根据Western Blotting结果,证实P蛋白成功表达。唾液结合分析结果显示,该毒株P蛋白与A、B、AB、O型分泌型以及O型非分泌型唾液均可以结合,但结合值相对低。本研究表明该GII.P12/GII.3-SubD亚型的GII.3毒株在长期的流行过程中,通过氨基酸的转换,改变抗原性和受体结合活性,使GII.3型毒株在人群中继续流行。通过探索GII.3型NoVs在人群中长期广泛流行的原因,为GII.3型诺如病毒性胃肠炎的预防和控制提供重要依据。     

广州地区GII.4 Sydney 2012[P31]型诺如病毒GZ2013-L10毒株病毒样颗粒功能和免疫原性鉴定

【背景】诺如病毒(Norovirus,NoV)是全球范围内引起急性胃肠炎暴发的主要病原体之一,其中GII.4型通过不断变异在人群中持续存在并占据诺如病毒感染的主导地位,尤其GII.4 Sydney2012[P31]变异株自2012年出现以来在全球各地持续流行至今。【目的】制备广州地区GII.4 Sydney2012[P31]型诺如病毒毒株GZ2013-L10的病毒样颗粒(virus like particle,VLP),并系统表征其功能及免疫原性特点。【方法】从毒株GZ2013-L10中扩增ORF2基因并克隆构建重组转座载 PFastBac1-L10-ORF2,进一步转化至大肠杆菌DH10Bac构建重组杆状病毒质粒,进而在昆虫细胞sf9中表达病毒样颗粒并通过超速离心纯化,最后经透射电镜、Western blotting和受体结合实验对病毒样颗粒进行表征。此外,将免疫小鼠获得的病毒抗血清通过间接酶联免疫吸附测定(enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,ELISA)和受体结合阻断试验进行验证。【结果】成功构建了重组杆状病毒质粒Bacmid-L10-ORF2并获得病毒样颗粒,电镜结果表明病毒样颗粒直径约为30 nm,SDS-PAGE和Western blotting显示蛋白大小约为58 kDa。受体结合实验结果显示,病毒样颗粒能与A/B/O等分泌型唾液受体及猪胃黏膜蛋白结合,而与非分泌型唾液受体均不结合。免疫小鼠获得效价为1.3×105的抗血清,但ELISA结果显示其与不同基因型诺如病毒衣壳蛋白无交叉免疫活性。此外,抗血清对同型病毒样颗粒具有受体中和阻断作用,但对不同型别病毒样颗粒(包括GII.8、GII.17和GII.3)无中和效果。【结论】本研究制备并系统表征了广州地区GZ2013-L10毒株的病毒样颗粒及其抗血清,其研究结果可为解析其流行原因以及疫苗研发提供参考。     

腹泻犬中细小病毒携带情况以及VP2基因进化分析

为了解四川省部分地区腹泻犬中细小病毒的感染情况以及VP2基因的遗传变异情况。从四川省部分地区收集了50例疑似CPV感染的腹泻犬粪便,对标本采用PCR扩增VP2,并对VP2基因全序列进行测序分析。PCR检测阳性标本19份。序列分析显示,15份扩增出VP2基因全序列标本均为CPV-2a型,聚类分析显示全部序列聚类在同一分支,本次研究的四川省部分地区流行的CPV均为CPV-2a型。可推测目前四川省部分地区所常见的CPV流行株依然以CPV-2a型为主。本次试验所扩增的15份CPV阳性标本与国内外传统毒株有着极高的同源性,提示目前四川省部分地区CPV还未出现重大的变异情况。     

IgA肾病与膜性肾病患者肠道微生物菌群结构分析

【背景】越来越多的证据表明肠道失衡与免疫介导的疾病相关,但肠道菌群和免疫介导的肾脏疾病之间的关系仍不清楚。【目的】通过Illumina高通量测序方法对IgA肾病(immunoglobulin A nephropathy, IgAN)、膜性肾病(membranous nephropathy, MN)患者和健康人群的肠道菌群进行比较。【方法】回顾性选择2020年9月–2021年12月期间,在甘肃省人民医院肾内科行肾穿刺活检并诊断为IgAN及MN患者的新鲜粪便标本,分别编号为IgAN组和MN组,收集体检中心健康人群粪便标本作为健康对照组,每组样本为10例。采用高通量测序技术对粪便样本中所有细菌的16S rRNA基因V3-V4区进行DNA测序,然后进行分类操作单元(operational taxonomic units, OTU)、物种分类、α多样性、β多样性等分析,比较3组之间的肠道菌群差异。【结果】与健康对照组相比,门水平上IgAN组的变形菌门(Proteobacteria)和放线菌门(Actinobacteria)比例明显增高,分别为18%vs. 4%和18.3%vs. 5%;属水平上I...     

双重荧光定量PCR检测志贺毒素stx1和stx2基因

目的建立一种双重荧光定量PCR检测志贺毒素stx1和stx2基因的方法。方法根据不同细菌来源的stx1和stx2序列,设计PCR引物和TaqMan探针,建立双重实时荧光定量PCR检测体系,进行灵敏度、特异性和重复性评价,并对腹泻患者粪便样本进行检测分析。结果双重实时荧光定量PCR检测含志贺毒素基因重组质粒的最低检测下限为102 copies/mL;该法对12种常见肠道病原菌均无特异性扩增,对不同浓度的标准质粒检测重复性高,Ct值变异系数均小于10%;对急性腹泻粪便标本的检测阳性率高于细菌分离培养。结论建立的双重实时荧光定量PCR可作为不同细菌来源的志贺毒素基因的快速鉴定方法,亦可用于人感染性腹泻标本的快速筛查。     

Race and Racism in America and in Anthropology

Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview . Audrey Smedley
Anthropology and Race . Eugenia Shanklin     

Degradation and conversion of somatostatin in normal and diabetic rats in vivo and in vitro

Plasma somatostatin-like immunoreactivity in the portal and jugular veins of streptozotocin diabetic rats was compared with that in normal control rats. In the diabetic group, somatostatin levels in the portal (p less than 0.05) and jugular (p less than 0.01) veins were both elevated compared with those in the control group. Moreover, the degree of elevation was greater in the jugular vein than in the portal vein. To further investigate the role of the liver in the clearance of somatostatin-28 in vivo, 2 micrograms of somatostatin-28 was administered as a bolus into the external jugular vein of intact and functionally hepatectomized rats. The mean half-time of somatostatin-28 was significantly longer in intact diabetic rats than in controls (p less than 0.05). The functional hepatectomy did not cause a significant difference in the half-time in diabetic rats but made it longer in control rats. These results suggest that the longer half-time of somatostatin-28 in diabetic rats in vivo is due to its slower hepatic clearance. The hepatic clearance of somatostatin-28 and somatostatin-14 was further studied in vitro using a recirculating liver perfusion method. The hepatic clearance of 1.2 nM of either somatostatin-28 or somatostatin-14 was significantly lower in diabetic rats than in controls (p less than 0.01). This indicates that elevated plasma somatostatin levels in diabetic rats are caused at least in part by decreased hepatic clearance of somatostatin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Electroejaculation in chimpanzees and gorillas and artificial insemination in chimpanzees

Electroejaculation was performed in 3 chimpanzees, 1 pygmy chimpanzee, and 2 gorillas with an instrument that delivers a modified sine wave current with a frequency of 24 Hz. The current stimuli were applied by a rectal probe with longitudinal electrodes. The electrical parameters varied from 6 to 12 V and from 30 to 40 mA for response of erection and lay between 8 and 18 V and between 40 and 145 mA during semen emission. Eleven chimpanzee semen samples showed the following data (x ± SD): total volume 1.9 ± 1.3 ml, volume of the liquid fraction 0.3 ± 0.2 ml, spermatozoa per ejaculate 743 ± 376 × 10⁶, sperm motility 52.7 ± 9.6%, morphologically abnormal spermatozoa 12.2 ± 7.5%. From an adult gorilla, three semen samples were collected, in each case without spermatozoa. The electrostimulation of a 6-year-old gorilla led to an erection, but not to semen emission. Three female chimpanzees were inseminated with fresh or frozen semen, each of them within three different estrous cycles. None of these inseminations led to a pregnancy.     

Variation in infectivity and aggressiveness in space and time in wild host-pathogen systems: causes and consequences

Variation in host resistance and in the ability of pathogens to infect and grow (i.e. pathogenicity) is important as it provides the raw material for antagonistic (co)evolution and therefore underlies risks of disease spread, disease evolution and host shifts. Moreover, the distribution of this variation in space and time may inform us about the mode of coevolutionary selection (arms race vs. fluctuating selection dynamics) and the relative roles of G × G interactions, gene flow, selection and genetic drift in shaping coevolutionary processes. Although variation in host resistance has recently been reviewed, little is known about overall patterns in the frequency and scale of variation in pathogenicity, particularly in natural systems. Using 48 studies from 30 distinct host–pathogen systems, this review demonstrates that variation in pathogenicity is ubiquitous across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Quantitative analysis of a subset of extensively studied plant–pathogen systems shows that the magnitude of within‐population variation in pathogenicity is large relative to among‐population variation and that the distribution of pathogenicity partly mirrors the distribution of host resistance. At least part of the variation in pathogenicity found at a given spatial scale is adaptive, as evidenced by studies that have examined local adaptation at scales ranging from single hosts through metapopulations to entire continents and – to a lesser extent – by comparisons of pathogenicity with neutral genetic variation. Together, these results support coevolutionary selection through fluctuating selection dynamics. We end by outlining several promising directions for future research.     

MPD and DNA Bending in Crystals and in Solution

Bending of 15 to 24° is observed within crystal structures ofB-DNA duplexes, is strongly sequence-dependent, and exhibits no correlation with the concentration of MPD (2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol) in the crystallizing solution. Two types of bends are observed: facultative bends or flexible hinges at junctions between regions of G·C and A·T base-pairs, and a persistent and almost obligatory bend at the center of the sequence R-G-C-Y. Only A-tracts are characteristically straight and unbent in every crystal structure examined to date. A detailed examination of normal vector plots for individual strands of a double helix provides an explanation, in terms of the stacking properties of guanine and adenine bases. The effect of high MPD concentrations, in both solution and crystal, is to decrease local bending somewhat without removing it altogether. MPD gel retardation experiments provide no basis for choosing among the three models that seek to explain macroscopic curvature of DNA by means of microscopic bending: junction bending, bent A-tracts, or bent general- sequence DNA. Crystallographic data on the straightness of A-tracts, the bendability of non-A sequences, and the identity of inclination angles in A-tract and non-A-tractB-DNA support only the general-sequence bending model. The pre-melting transition observed in A-tract DNA probably represents a relaxation of stiff adenine stacks to a flexible conformation more typical of general-sequence DNA.     

Aminoacylation in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and in methanogenic and halophilic archaebacteria

Abstract Phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (PRS) from the sulphur-metabolizing thermoacidophilic archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius has been purified 150-fold using different chromatographic steps. The enzyme has a M _r of 270 000 and exhibits considerable thermostability in a temperature range up to 90°C with optimal activity at 70°C. Conservation of antigenic determinants could not be detected by antibodies against various PRS of all primary kingdoms. As a further means to detect traits of phylogenetic relationship, the cross-species reactivity between PRS and tRNAs of organisms from the three branches of archaebacteria and from all primary kingdoms reveals the group character of all 3 branches of the archaebacterial domain, the sulphur-metabolizing, methanogenic and halophilic archaebacteria.     

Advances in purine and pyrimidine metabolism in health and diseases

ABSTRACT

In June, 2015, the Purine and Pyrimidine Society organized the 16th biennial symposium on Purine and Pyrimidine metabolism at the Faculty House of Columbia University, New York City. This exciting meeting focused on these important molecules, new developments in inborn errors of metabolism; therapeutic analogs. In addition, the biochemistry of mammalian and non-mammalian systems were discussed. Due to significant advances in molecular medicine, the boundaries between clinical and basic sciences have merged into exciting translational research, of which a small portion was highlighted in the presymposium.