Retinoblastoma,gross internal malformations,and deletion 13q14→q31

Summary A male patient with an interstitial deletion 13q14q31 is described. Our necropsy findings included a left retinoblastoma and several gross internal malformations. In this paper we reaffirm that band 13q14 is involved in cases of retinoblastoma and we propose, after studying accompanying cases of total or partial long arm trisomies 13, that the loss of specific 13q bands, from 13q14 to 13q31 is responsible for the congenital defects we are describing.     

Protein molecular dynamics with electrostatic force entirely determined by a single Poisson-Boltzmann calculation

The electrostatic force including the intramolecular Coulombic interactions and the electrostatic contribution of solvation effect were entirely calculated by using the finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann method (FDPB), which was incorporated into the GROMOS96 force field to complete a new finite difference stochastic dynamics procedure (FDSD). Simulations were performed on an insulin dimer. Different relative dielectric constants were successively assigned to the protein interior; a value of 17 was selected as optimal for our system. The simulation data were analyzed and compared with those obtained from 500-ps molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with explicit water and a 500-ps conventional stochastic dynamics (SD) simulation without the mean solvent force. The results indicate that the FDSD method with GROMOS96 force field is suitable to study the dynamics and structure of proteins in solution if used with the optimal protein dielectric constant.     

A rapid enzymatic assay for high-throughput screening of adenosine-producing strains

Adenosine is a major local regulator of tissue function and industrially useful as precursor for the production of medicinal nucleoside substances. High-throughput screening of adenosine overproducers is important for industrial microorganism breeding. An enzymatic assay of adenosine was developed by combined adenosine deaminase (ADA) with indophenol method. The ADA catalyzes the cleavage of adenosine to inosine and NH₃, the latter can be accurately determined by indophenol method. The assay system was optimized to deliver a good performance and could tolerate the addition of inorganic salts and many nutrition components to the assay mixtures. Adenosine could be accurately determined by this assay using 96-well microplates. Spike and recovery tests showed that this assay can accurately and reproducibly determine increases in adenosine in fermentation broth without any pretreatment to remove proteins and potentially interfering low-molecular-weight molecules. This assay was also applied to high-throughput screening for high adenosine-producing strains. The high selectivity and accuracy of the ADA assay provides rapid and high-throughput analysis of adenosine in large numbers of samples.     

Molecular characterization of avian-like H1N1 swine influenza a viruses isolated in Eastern China, 2011

Currently, three predominant subtypes of influenza virus are prevalent in pig populations worldwide: H1N1, H3N2, and H1N2. European avian-like H1N1 viruses, which were initially detected in European pig populations in 1979, have been circulating in pigs in eastern China since 2007. In this study, six influenza A viruses were isolated from 60 swine lung samples collected from January to April 2011 in eastern China. Based on whole genome sequencing, molecular characteristics of two isolates were determined. Phylogenetic analysis showed the eight genes of the two isolates were closely related to those of the avian-like H1N1 viruses circulating in pig populations, especially similar to those found in China. Four potential glycosylation sites were observed at positions 13, 26, 198, 277 in the HA1 proteins of the two isolates. Due to the presence of a stop codon at codon 12, the isolates contained truncated PB1-F2 proteins. In this study, the isolates contained 591Q, 627E and 701N in the polymerase subunit PB2, which had been shown to be determinants of virulence and host adaptation. The isolates also had a D rather than E at position 92 of the NS1, a marker of mammalian adaptation. Both isolates contained the GPKV motif at the PDZ ligand domain of the 3′ end of the NS1, a characteristic marker of the European avian-like swine viruses since about 1999, which is distinct from those of avian, human and classical swine viruses. The M2 proteins of the isolates have the mutation (S31N), a characteristic marker of the European avian-like swine viruses since about 1987, which may confer resistance to amantadine and rimantadine antivirals. Our findings further emphasize the importance of surveillance on the genetic diversity of influenza A viruses in pigs, and raise more concerns about the occurrence of cross-species transmission events.     

细胞因子人MK基因的克隆及在大肠杆菌中的高效表达(简报)

细胞因子Midkine(简称MK)是新发现的一类肝素结合因子家族中的一员。1988年,Kadamatsu等利用差异杂交法在经维甲酸诱导分化的小鼠畸胎瘤细胞株HM-1中首先克隆到小鼠MK基因。人MK基因则最早是从λgt10人胚肾(20-24周)cDNA库和EMBL-3人胎盘基因组库获得。成熟     

人心肌肌球蛋白轻链1的克隆,表达纯化和单抗制备

报道了中国人心肌肌球蛋白轻链１ｃＤＮＡ的核苷酸序列,并由此推算的氨基酸序列。与国外发表的人心肌肌球蛋白轻链的氨基酸序列比较,发现有两处差异,即在２４位,由谷氨酸变为丙氨酸,则从９８位起至１０１位有４个氨基酸序列的连续差异,即由天冬酰胺－精氨酸－丝氨酸－赖氨酸变为赖氨酸－脯氨酸－精氨酸－谷氨酰妥,推测可能是由于人种差异而引起的。利用该ｃＤＮＡ在大肠杆菌内的表达产物,已获得一株高效的抗中国人心肌肌球蛋     

Seroprevalence of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in pregnant women in China: an observational study

Background

We investigated the seropositive rates and persistence of antibody against pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus (pH1N1) in pregnant women and voluntary blood donors after the second wave of the pandemic in Nanjing, China.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Serum samples of unvaccinated pregnant women (n = 720) and voluntary blood donors (n = 320) were collected after the second wave of 2009 pandemic in Nanjing. All samples were tested against pH1N1 strain (A/California/7/2009) with hemagglutination inhibition assay. A significant decline in seropositive rates, from above 50% to about 20%, was observed in pregnant women and voluntary blood donors fifteen weeks after the second wave of the pandemic. A quarter of the samples were tested against a seasonal H1N1 strain (A/Brisbane/59/2007). The antibody titers against pH1N1 strain were found to correlate positively with those against seasonal H1N1 strain. The correlation was modest but statistically significant.

Conclusions and Significance

The high seropositive rates in both pregnant women and voluntary blood donors suggested that the pH1N1 virus had widely spread in these two populations. Immunity derived from natural infection seemed not to be persistent well.     

Self‐Powered Wireless Sensor Node Enabled by a Duck‐Shaped Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Water Wave Energy

This paper presents a fully enclosed duck‐shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for effectively scavenging energy from random and low‐frequency water waves. The design of the TENG incorporates the freestanding rolling mode and the pitch motion of a duck‐shaped structure generated by incident waves. By investigating the material and structural features, a unit of the TENG device is successfully designed. Furthermore, a hybrid system is constructed using three units of the TENG device. The hybrid system achieves an instantaneous peak current of 65.5 µA with an instantaneous output power density of up to 1.366 W m^?2. Following the design, a fluid–solid interaction analysis is carried out on one duck‐shaped TENG to understand the dynamic behavior, mechanical efficiency, and stability of the device under various water wave conditions. In addition, the hybrid system is experimentally tested to enable a commercial wireless temperature sensor node. In summary, the unique duck‐shaped TENG shows a simple, cost‐effective, environmentally friendly, light‐weight, and highly stable system. The newly designed TENG is promising for building a network of generators to harvest existing blue energy in oceans, lakes, and rivers.     

Resistance-related physiological response of rice leaves to the compound stress of enhanced UV-B radiation and Magnaporthe oryzae

An enhanced UV-B radiation (5.0?kJ?m^?2) was supplied before, during, and after Magnaporthe oryzae infection. The effects of single and compound stress of the UV-B radiation and M. oryzae on the resistance physiology and gene expression of rice leaves were examined. Results revealed that UV-B radiation given before M. oryzae infection (UV-B?→?M.) significantly increased the pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) activities of phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL), lipoxygenase (LOX), chitinase (CHT), and β-1,3-glucanase, the resistance-related substances (flavonoids and total phenols) content, and resistance-related genes (OsPAL and OsCHT) expression, thereby improving the disease resistance of rice leaves. Simultaneous exposure to UV-B radiation and M. oryzae (UV-B/M.) significantly increased the OsLOX2 expression and the PRs activities. Exposure to UV-B radiation after M. oryzae infection (M.?→?UV-B) decreased the flavonoid content, did not improve the PRs activity, and increased OsLOX2 expression. Compound treatments of UV-B?→?M., UV-B/M., and M.?→?UV-B reduced the disease index by 62.3%, 40.2%, and 26.6%, respectively, indicating UV-B radiation inhibited the occurrence of M. oryzae disease, but its inhibitory effect weakened when it was provided after M. oryzae infection. Hence, rice responded to the compound stress of UV-B radiation and M. oryzae through a resistance-related physiological mechanism associated with the sequence of stress occurrence.     

Chromosomal deletions and inversions mediated by TALENs and CRISPR/Cas in zebrafish

Customized TALENs and Cas9/gRNAs have been used for targeted mutagenesis in zebrafish to induce indels into protein-coding genes. However, indels are usually not sufficient to disrupt the function of non-coding genes, gene clusters or regulatory sequences, whereas large genomic deletions or inversions are more desirable for this purpose. By injecting two pairs of TALEN mRNAs or two gRNAs together with Cas9 mRNA targeting distal DNA sites of the same chromosome, we obtained predictable genomic deletions or inversions with sizes ranging from several hundred bases to nearly 1 Mb. We have successfully achieved this type of modifications for 11 chromosomal loci by TALENs and 2 by Cas9/gRNAs with different combinations of gRNA pairs, including clusters of miRNA and protein-coding genes. Seven of eight TALEN-targeted lines transmitted the deletions and one transmitted the inversion through germ line. Our findings indicate that both TALENs and Cas9/gRNAs can be used as an efficient tool to engineer genomes to achieve large deletions or inversions, including fragments covering multiple genes and non-coding sequences. To facilitate the analyses and application of existing ZFN, TALEN and CRISPR/Cas data, we have updated our EENdb database to provide a chromosomal view of all reported engineered endonucleases targeting human and zebrafish genomes.