Behavioral and Neurogenomic Responses to Acoustic and Visual Sexual Cues are Correlated in Female Torrent Frogs

Diverse a nimal species use multimodal communica tion signals to coordina te reproductive behavior.Despite active research in this field,the brain mechanisms underlying multimodal communication remain poorly understood.Similar to humans and many mammalian species,anurans often produce auditory signals accompanied by conspicuous visual cues(e.g.,vocal sac inflation).In this study,we used video playbacks to determine the role of vocal-sac inflation in little torrent frogs(Amolops torrentis).Then we exposed females to blank,visual,auditory,and audiovisual stimuli and analyzed whole brain tissue gene expression changes using RNAseq.The results showed that both auditory cues(i.e.,male advertisement calls)and visual cues were attractive to female frogs,although auditory cues were more attractive than visual cues.Females preferred simultaneous bimodal cues to unimodal cues.The hierarchical clustering of differentially expressed genes showed a close relationship between neurogenomic states and momentarily expressed sexual signals.We also found that the Gene Ontology terms and KEGG pathways involved in energy metabolism were mostly increased in blank contrast versus visual,acoustic,or audiovisual stimuli,indicating that brain energy use may play an important role in response to these stimuli.In sum,behavioral and neurogenomic responses to acoustic and visual cues are correlated in female little torrent frogs.     

敲除trim47基因斑马鱼脑和脾的比较转录组学分析

用CRISPR/Cas9技术敲除斑马鱼(Danio Rerio)的trim47, 收集TRIM47–/–(trim47基因敲除)和WT(野生型)斑马鱼的大脑和脾脏进行RNA-seq分析, 以鉴定差异表达基因(DEGs)。总共确定了271个DEGs, 经过简要分析, 将这些DEGs注释为KEGG途径和GO富集分析, 与WT组相比, TRIM47-/-组的脑中DEGs集中在细胞黏附和谷氨酸能突触信号传导途径中。在脾脏中, 与野生型组相比, TRIM47-/-组的DEGs在补体和凝血级联信号通路中发生了变化。使用qRT-PCR验证了脑和脾中与补体途径相关的基因, 与转录组数据一致。这些结果表明, Trim47在脾脏和大脑中起着重要的生物学作用, 尤其是通过补体途径参与先天免疫功能。体内感染实验表明, trim47基因敲除可提高斑马鱼中鲤春病毒血症病毒(SVCV)的感染率。总之, 这些发现为TRIM成员在先天免疫中的功能提供了新线索。     

Description of a New Species of the Genus Brachytarsophrys Tian and Hu, 1983 （Amphibia： Anura： Megophryidae） from Southern China Based on Molecular and Morphological Data

A new species, Brachytarsophrys popei sp. nov., is described based on a series of specimens collected from Mount Jinggang, Jiangxi Province, Taoyuandong Nature Reserve, Hunan Province and Nanling Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province, China. The new species can be easily distinguished from other known congeners by morphology, morphometrics and molecular data of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. It is characterized by its relatively small size with 86.2 mm in snout-vent length in adult female and 70.7 mm-83.5 mm in males; vomerine teeth bearing on two markedly elevated ridges, which projecting behind far beyond the posterior level of the choanae, widely separated by a distance nearly 1.5 times length of one; margin of tongue de~ply notched behind; toes about one-third to two-thirds webbed in males, at most one-third webbed in female; the webs extending as a wide fringes along either side of toes; upper eyelid with tubercles, one of which is enlarged and becoming a remarkably prominent, bluntly conical light- yellow horn; black tiny nuptial spines on the dorsal surface of the first finger and second finger base, single vocal sac in males; gravid females bear pure yellowish oocytes; tadpoles with a transverse white stripe on ventral surface and two longitudinal white stripes along the sides of body. The new species represents the fifth known Brachytarsophrys species.     

Structural basis of the ultrasensitive calcium indicator GCaMP6

GCaMP is one of the most widely used calcium indicators in neuronal imaging and calcium cell biology.The newly developed GCaMP6 shows superior brightness and ultrasensitivity to calcium concentration change.In this study,we determined crystal structures of Ca2+-bound GCaMP6 monomer and dimer and presented detailed structural analyses in comparison with its parent version GCaMP5G.Our analyses reveal the structural basis for the outperformance of this newly developed Ca2+indicator.Three substitution mutations and the resulting changes of local structure and interaction explain the ultrasensitivity and increased fluorescence intensity common to all three versions of GCaMP6.Each particular substitution in the three GCaMP6 is also structurally consistent with their differential sensitivity and intensity,maximizing the potential of using GCaMP6 in solving diverse problems in neuronal research and calcium signaling.Our studies shall also be beneficial to further structure-guided optimization of GCaMP and facilitate the design of novel calcium indicators.     

抑癌蛋白PTEN的原核表达、抑癌活性研究和抗体制备

PTEN是具有蛋白质和酯类双重特异性磷酸酶活性的抑癌蛋白,在肿瘤治疗中具有广阔的应用前景。鉴于原核表达PTEN蛋白并用于抑癌实验的研究尚未见报道,因此尝试利用大肠杆菌表达有活性的PTEN蛋白,检测其抑癌效果。利用本室克隆的PTEN基因cDNA和原核表达载体pET44a( )分别构建带6×His和Nus标签的两种诱导型原核融合表达载体pETPTEN和pETNusPTEN,在不同的大肠杆菌表达宿主BL21(DE3)(简写为BL)和Rosettagami(DE3)pLysS(简写为RG)中诱导表达。SDSPAGE和Westernblot检测表明:在可溶性组分和包涵体中均含有目的蛋白,在BL中目的蛋白的表达量较高(18.7%)而在RG中可溶性蛋白的比例较高(6.6%)。经纯化和包涵体蛋白复性处理后,重组融合蛋白经Chariot转运入小鼠实体瘤及人前列腺癌DU145细胞。抑癌实验表明:与对照组相比,重组PTEN蛋白对小鼠实体瘤的生长抑制率为58.76%;对癌细胞DU145的生长抑制率可达46.16%;并可导致明显的G0G1期阻滞,其中在宿主RG中表达的重组蛋白抑癌效果明显高于BL宿主中表达的目的蛋白。证实在原核系统中表达的重组PTEN蛋白具有抑癌活性,同时制备了PTEN的高效价腹水多抗,为深入研究PTEN蛋白在癌症治疗中的应用打下了良好的基础。     

染色体荧光原位杂交技术检测平衡易位的临床应用

染色体荧光原位杂交技术检测平衡易位的临床应用崔英霞商学军王咏梅（南京军区南京总医院全军医学检验中心,南京２１０００２）潘淑娟张锡然（南京师范大学生物系,南京２１００９７）ＣｌｉｎｉｃａｌＡｐｐｌｉｃａｔｉｏｎｏｆＦｌｕｏｒｅｓｃｅｎｃｅｉｎｓｉｔｕＨ...     

多花黑麦草与普通小麦的杂交

多花黑麦草二倍体种,具有14条染色体。用普通小麦与多花黑麦草杂交,获得了杂种,杂交结实率为0.058%。杂种F1表现为畸形,其体细胞染色体数为28,F1植株产生的花粉败育,雌蕊不孕,用普通小麦和多花黑麦草回交均未获得回交种子,有待于用秋水仙素加倍染色体以获得异源四倍体。     

The herbal compound geniposide rescues formaldehyde-induced apoptosis in N2a neuroblastoma cells

The herbal medicine Tong Luo Jiu Nao(TLJN)contains geniposide(GP)and ginsenoside Rg1 at a molar ratio of 10:1.Rg1 is the major component of another herbal medicine,panax notoginseng saponin(PNS).TLJN has been shown to strengthen brain function in humans,and in animals it improves learning and memory.We have previously shown that TLJN reduces amyloidogenic processing in Alzheimer’s disease(AD)mouse models.Together this suggests TLJN may be a potential treatment for patients with dementia.Because chronic damage of the central nervous system by formaldehyde(FA)has been presented as a risk factor for age-associated cognitive dysfunction,in the present study we investigated the protective effect of both TLJN and GP in neuron-like cells exposed to FA.FA-exposed murine N2a neuroblastoma cells were incubated with TLJN,its main ingredient GP,as well as PNS,to measure cell viability and morphology,the rate of apoptosis and expression of genes encoding Akt,FOXO3,Bcl2 and p53.The CCK-8 assay,cytoskeletal staining and flow cytometry were used to test cell viability,morphology and apoptosis,respectively.Fluorescent quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR)was used to monitor changes in gene expression,and HPLC to determine the rate of FA clearance.Treatment of N2a cells with 0.09 mmol L?1 FA for 24 h significantly reduced cell viability,changed cell morphology and promoted apoptosis.Both TLJN and GP conferred neuroprotection to FA-treated N2a cells,whereas PNS,which had to be used at lower concentrations because of its toxicity,did not.Our data demonstrate that TLJN can rescue neuronal damage caused by FA and that its main ingredient,GP,has a major role in this efficacy.This presents purified GP as a drug or lead compound for the treatment of AD.     

Expression of HSV-1 ICP0 Antigen Peptide in Prokaryotic Cells and Preparation of Specific Antibody

As an immediate-early protein of herpes simplex virus, infected-cell polypeptide 0 (ICP0) exhibits complicated interactions with host cells, and its regulatory function on gene expression is of great importance. Since the ICP0 encoding sequence contains many rare codons which are absent in E.coli, and ICP0 is highly unstable in prokaryotic cells, expression of entire ICP0 in prokaryotic cells has never been reported. In order to further investigate the function of ICP0, a recombinant plasmid was constructed by subcloning a cDNA fragment encoding an amino-terminal of 105 residues of the ICP0 protein into pGEX-5x-1 vector. The resulting GST-105 fusion antigen peptide was expressed with high efficiency in E.coli. Antibodies prepared after the immunization of mice with purified fusion protein can recognize not only the denatured ICP0 protein, but also the native ICP0 protein with normal biological conformation.