Global human genetics of HIV-1 infection and China

Genetic polymorphisms in human genes can influence the risk for HIV-1 infection and disease progression, although the reported effects of these alleles have been inconsistent. This review highlights the recent discoveries on global and Chinese genetic polymorphisms and their association with HIV-1 transmission and disease progression.     

10-23型DNA酶作为鉴定mRNA靶点有效性的新工具

10-23DNA酶是能主动切割mRNA的一类反义寡核苷酸.利用10-23DNA酶的直接切割作用验证mRNA结构靶点的有效性.对筛选的绿色荧光蛋白(GFP)基因mRNA的4个靶点平行设计了4条反义寡核苷酸和4条10-23DNA酶,对照组反义寡核苷酸将最佳靶点——靶点2的反义寡核苷酸突变2个碱基,对照组10-23DNA酶将靶点2的10-23DNA酶结合臂中央突变2个碱基.体外4条10-23DNA酶切割mRNA的结果和相应的4条反义寡核苷酸依赖的RNaseH降解结果完全相似,细胞内4条10-23DNA酶对绿色荧光蛋白的表达抑制作用与相应的4条反义寡核苷酸相似,表明10-23DNA酶显示的最佳作用靶点同样是最佳作用效果的反义寡核苷酸结合靶.10-23DNA酶可以作为评价mRNA结构靶点有效性的新工具.     

啮齿动物和鸟类对红松种子的消耗

2006—2007年在长白山相同海拔的阔叶红松林和白桦林样地内研究了啮齿动物和鸟类对红松球果种子的消耗情况.结果表明：阔叶红松林中啮齿动物对红松球果种子的消耗量明显大于鸟类（P<0.01）,而白桦林中鸟类的消耗量明显大于啮齿动物(P<0.01);两林型中啮齿动物的总消耗量明显大于鸟类,二者差异极显著(P<0.01).啮齿动物对阔叶红松林中埋藏种子的消耗量显著多于白桦林,两林型中啮齿动物对埋藏种子的消耗量均随埋藏深度的增加而减少.     

上海城市公共开放空间夏季小气候及舒适度

基于2006年5—8月上海城区5种类型公共开放空间（广场、喷泉、草坪、廊道、林地）的空气温度、相对湿度、风速和辐射强度等小气候指标,分析了各空间类型对小气候的调节作用,并采用体感气象指数（discomfort index, DI）作为评价指标,比较了各空间类型对人体舒适程度影响的差异.结果表明：上海市5种类型公共开放空间的平均温度、相对湿度等小气候因子存在一定差异;平均气温依次为广场＞草坪＞喷泉＞廊道＞林地;平均空气相对湿度依次为林地＞廊道＞喷泉＞草坪＞广场;广场面积、喷泉水体附近的风速及风向、草坪的草种类型、廊道的宽度及乔木盖度、林地的盖度及乔木林冠层高度等非气候指标分别与各自空间的气候指标呈显著相关.与其他3种空间类型相比,林地和廊道具有明显的遮荫、降温、增湿作用,对小气候的调节能力更佳.     

Expression and Assembly Mechanism of the Capsid Proteins of a Satellite Virus （XSV） Associated with Macrobrachium rosenbergii Nodavirus

The extra small virus （XSV） is a satellite virus associated with Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus （MrNV） and its genome consists of two overlapping ORFs, CP17 and CP16. Here we demonstrate that CP16 is expressed from the second AUG of the CP17 gene and is not a proteinase cleavage result of CP17. We further expressed CP17 and several truncated CP17s （in which the N-or C-terminus or both was deleted）, respectively, in Escherichia coli. Except for the recombinant plasmid CP17^AC10, all recombinant plasmids expressed soluble protein which assembled into virus-like particles （VLPs）, suggesting that the C-terminus is important for VLP formation.     

Cloning and Sequence Analysis of Genome from the Inner Mongolia Strain of the Endogenous Betaretroviruses （enJSRV）

In order to amplify the complete genome of enJSRV from the strain of Inner Mongolia （enJSRV-NM）, we used enJSRV-specific and JSRV-specific DNA probes in dot blot hybridization. Seven pairs of primers were designed based on Genbank sequences. Seven fragments were obtained by PCR and were cloned into the PMD19-T vectors. The recombinant plasmids were sequenced and analyzed. The results showed that the genome was 7 942 bp in length and contained four overlapping open reading frames corresponding to the gag, pro, pol and env genes as well as an additional open reading frame （orf-x） that overlaps the 3＇ end of the pol gene. The nucleotide acid sequences of the enJSRV-NM loci were compared with the sequences of South Africa enJS56A1 strain （Accession No.AF153615） and USA JSRV21 strain （Accession No. AF105220）. The nucleotide acid identities were 99.2% and 92.3% respectively. Two zinc fingers were found in the NC region in the predicted amino acid sequence. However, the YXXM motif, which is a reliable molecular marker for the infectious exogenous virus, was not found in the TM region. It was found that the enJSRV-NM region was 90%-98% identical at the amino acid level to its exogenous infectious counterparts in most of the retroviral genome. This is the first nucleotide sequence of enJSRV reported in P.R China. The resource work has provided a wide range of information useful not only for expression genomics and annotation of genomic DNA sequence, but also for further research on the clinical diagnosis of OPA.     

肝损伤模型小鼠高迁移率族蛋白-1的表达

将刀豆蛋白A(Con A)经尾静脉注射入雄性Balb/C小鼠,建立T细胞介导的Con A急性肝损伤小鼠模型,检测模型小鼠不同时间点血清中高迁移率族蛋白1(HMGB1)及肝组织HMGB1 mRNA的表达水平,并与血清中TNF-α进行对比.实验显示:在Con A注射后0~3h,小鼠血清中的未能检测出HMGB1蛋白特异带:但在4h后,检测出一条微弱的HMGB1蛋白特异带;在6~36h,均检测出一条清晰的HMGB1蛋白特异带,在8~12 h处于一个高水平状态.而正常对照组小鼠血清中未能检测HMGB1蛋白-与HMGB1动力学曲线不同.血清中TNF-α水平在Con A注射后2h就达到峰值,4h后迅速下降,8h恢复到正常范围.Con A小鼠肝细胞中HMGB1 mRNA的表达在Con A注射1h后即达到峰值,是对照组的2.4倍,之后迅速回落,3-12h均低于对照组水平(0.5~0.8倍),24h后逐渐恢复正常水平.初步揭示HMGB1在Con A小鼠急性肝损伤中可能发挥重要作用,血清中HMGB1蛋白与TNF-α相比,呈现出迟发与长效的特点,HMGB1给肝细胞造成损伤有足够强度和效应时间.     

黑曲霉bgl基因的cDNA克隆及序列分析

通过一步法提取黑曲霉AS3．796的总RNA,利用依据其他黑曲霉β-葡萄糖苷酶（bgl）基因序列设计的一对特异性引物,采用RT-PCR方法扩增得到了该菌bgl基因cDNA片段。将目的片段与pGEM-T载体连接并转入大肠杆菌。序列测定结果表明该cDNA片段大小为2583bp,其基因序列与已公布的其它黑曲霉bgl基因的同源性最高可达99％。蛋白质分析结果表明该β-葡萄糖苷酶属于糖苷水解酶家族3成员。     

cDNA cloning and function analysis of two novel erythroid differentiation related genes

Our previous studies showed that some nuclear proteins that were expressed especially during terminal differentiation of erythroid cells might interact directly or indirectly with HS2 sequence to form the HS2-protein complexes and thus play an important role in the globin gene regulation and erythroid differentiation. Monoclonal antibodies against the nuclear proteins of terminal differentiated erythroid cells, including intermediate and late erythroblasts of human fetal liver and hemin induced K562 cells, were prepared by hybridoma technique. The monoclonal antibodies were used to screen λ-gtll human cDNA expression library of fetal liver in order to obtain the relevant cDNA clones. By the analysis of their cDNA clones and the identification of the proteins' functions, the regulation mechanism of the HS2 binding proteins might be better understood. Two cDNA clones (GenBank accession number AF040247 and AF040248 respectively) were obtained and one of them owns a full length and the other encodes a prote