Contents of Volume 53

Plant Molecular Biology -     

Complete Genome Sequence of Hepatitis E Virus from Rabbits in the United States

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a single-strand positive-sense RNA virus in the family Hepeviridae. The disease caused by HEV, hepatitis E, is an important public health problem in developing countries of Asia and Africa and is also endemic in many industrialized countries, including the United States. HEV has been identified from several other animal species in addition to humans, including the pig, chicken, mongoose, deer, rabbit, ferret, bat, and fish. Here we report the complete genome sequence of the first strain of HEV from rabbits in the United States. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the U.S. rabbit HEV is a distant member of the zoonotic genotype 3 HEV, thus raising a concern for potential zoonotic human infection. A unique 90-nucleotide insertion within the X domain of the ORF1 was identified in the rabbit HEV, and this insertion may play a role in the species tropism of HEV.     

Soil Properties,Nutrient Dynamics,and Soil Enzyme Activities Associated with Garlic Stalk Decomposition under Various Conditions

The garlic stalk is a byproduct of garlic production and normally abandoned or burned, both of which cause environmental pollution. It is therefore appropriate to determine the conditions of efficient decomposition, and equally appropriate to determine the impact of this decomposition on soil properties. In this study, the soil properties, enzyme activities and nutrient dynamics associated with the decomposition of garlic stalk at different temperatures, concentrations and durations were investigated. Stalk decomposition significantly increased the values of soil pH and electrical conductivity. In addition, total nitrogen and organic carbon concentration were significantly increased by decomposing stalks at 40°C, with a 5∶100 ratio and for 10 or 60 days. The highest activities of sucrase, urease and alkaline phosphatase in soil were detected when stalk decomposition was performed at the lowest temperature (10°C), highest concentration (5∶100), and shortest duration (10 or 20 days). The evidence presented here suggests that garlic stalk decomposition improves the quality of soil by altering the value of soil pH and electrical conductivity and by changing nutrient dynamics and soil enzyme activity, compared to the soil decomposition without garlic stalks.     

Starch Binding Domain-containing Protein 1/Genethonin 1 Is a Novel Participant in Glycogen Metabolism

Stbd1 is a protein of previously unknown function that is most prevalent in liver and muscle, the major sites for storage of the energy reserve glycogen. The protein is predicted to contain a hydrophobic N terminus and a C-terminal CBM20 glycan binding domain. Here, we show that Stbd1 binds to glycogen in vitro and that endogenous Stbd1 locates to perinuclear compartments in cultured mouse FL83B or Rat1 cells. When overexpressed in COSM9 cells, Stbd1 concentrated at enlarged perinuclear structures, co-localized with glycogen, the late endosomal/lysosomal marker LAMP1 and the autophagy protein GABARAPL1. Mutant Stbd1 lacking the N-terminal hydrophobic segment had a diffuse distribution throughout the cell. Point mutations in the CBM20 domain did not change the perinuclear localization of Stbd1, but glycogen was no longer concentrated in this compartment. Stable overexpression of glycogen synthase in Rat1WT4 cells resulted in accumulation of glycogen as massive perinuclear deposits, where a large fraction of the detectable Stbd1 co-localized. Starvation of Rat1WT4 cells for glucose resulted in dissipation of the massive glycogen stores into numerous and much smaller glycogen deposits that retained Stbd1. In vitro, in cells, and in animal models, Stbd1 consistently tracked with glycogen. We conclude that Stbd1 is involved in glycogen metabolism by binding to glycogen and anchoring it to membranes, thereby affecting its cellular localization and its intracellular trafficking to lysosomes.     

Hot spot of recombination within DXS164 in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene.

The DMD gene, which spans more than 2,000 kbp, has been assigned to band Xp21 of the X chromosome. Two subclones (PERT 87-1 and PERT 87-15) of the intragenic locus DXS164 physically are separated by approximately 60 kbp. Linkage studies were done in 49 informative DMD families by using the LINKAGE program. Crossing-over between the loci studied occurred in four families. A recombination rate of 4% (support interval [Zmax-1] 1%-10%), which was 54 (support interval 14-135-fold) times higher than expected, was found with a maximum lod score of 13.50. These data suggest a hot spot for recombination within DXS164.     

流行性感冒病毒重组株京生75-29 R2 T1及冷适应株31-广的基因分析

用聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳方法分析了流行性感冒病毒重组株京生75-29R2 T1(H3N2)及冷适应株31-广(H3N2)的RNA及多肽。重组株京生75-29R2 T1的HA及M基因系来自流行病毒亲本株/甲/北京/29/75(H3N2),而P_2、NA、NP及NS基因则来自温度敏感母株福R3(H2N2)。流行病毒株甲/穗/03/68(H3N2)在低温条件下经鸡胚尿囊腔传递24代而获得的冷适应疫苗毒株31-广(H3N2)其基因型与野毒株一致。