基于表面等离子体共振和电化学联用的DNA传感器研究进展

表面等离子共振(surface plasmon resonance,SPR)技术旨在检测物体表面附近折射率的变化,其特点是无标记、实时、灵敏和快速,该技术多用于研究分子的相互作用,包括动力学、效率常数和大分子构象变化等。电化学(electrochemical,EC)技术是一项用于定性定量研究电子转移、物质氧化还原、界面吸附等过程的成熟技术,具有简单、低成本和设备小型化的优点。现有的DNA杂交技术,例如光学、电化学或压电转导技术,主要关注于提高DNA杂交检测系统的选择性和灵敏度。传统的SPR在DNA分析方面,由于无法测量折射率的极小变化而在超灵敏检测中的应用受到限制。因此,随着纳米材料的研发和联用技术的飞速发展,SPR与EC联用的生物传感器研究越来越成为人们关注的热点。近年来,关于SPR和EC联用在DNA检测方面的综述鲜有报道。对SPR和EC检测DNA的技术原理、联用方法、应用进展等方面作出了简要的介绍,以期为表面等离子共振和电化学联用的DNA传感器相关研究提供参考。     

含连翘的青贮饲料对肉鹅饲喂效果研究

为研究含连翘的青贮饲料对肉鹅的生长力、发病率和成活率的影响,提高鹅群的整体健康水平,将乳酸菌、宇佐美曲霉菌悬液按比例接入含连翘组分的青贮饲料中自然发酵60 d后用于肉鹅饲喂试验,28日龄肉鹅随机分为3组,饲喂42 d,在青贮饲料中添加不同比例的连翘枝条,观察含连翘的青贮饲料对肉鹅生产性能的影响。结果显示,含5%和10%连翘枝条的青贮饲料中功能成分连翘苷与连翘脂苷A的含量差异具有统计学意义（P<0.05）;含连翘的青贮饲料能够使肉鹅成活率提高4.38%～4.63%,日增重提高3.07%～4.33%,显著降低料肉比（P<0.05）。乳酸菌与宇佐美曲霉菌发酵含连翘青贮饲料能够有效改善连翘枝条的适口性,应用于肉鹅饲喂后,可以提高肉鹅的健康水平。利用废弃中药原料开展饲料添加剂的应用研究,可为降低生产成本、预防与治疗禽类疾病提供新的思路。     

陇东黄土高原丘陵沟壑区天然草地植物多样性研究

以陇东黄土高原丘陵沟壑区天然草地30个植被样点的样方资料为依据,以相对生物量为指标,对该地区群落植物多样性进行了研究。结果表明,该地区天然草地可划分为长芒草草原、次生杂类草草原和杂类草草甸草原3个植被类型,16个群落按放牧程度分为禁牧草地、轻牧草地和过牧草地3个层次。多样性指数显示草甸草原>长芒草草原>次生杂类草草原,轻牧草地>禁牧草地>过牧草地的趋势。放牧程度可能是影响该区域天然草地植物多样性的关键因素,出现海拔增高和降水增加多样性指数降低的趋势可能是放牧干扰的结果。相关性分析显示物种的Shannon-wiener和Simpson多样性指数与Shannon和Simpson均匀度指数间均呈显著正相关,而与生物量之间呈显著负相关。     

Cellular acidosis in rodents exposed to cadmium is caused by adaptation of the tissue rather than an early effect of toxicity

Proton (¹H) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used to investigate the biochemical response of bank voles and wood mice (two wild rodent species frequently found on metal-contaminated sites) to chronic cadmium (Cd) insult. Similar effects, in terms of both metabolic changes (consistent with cellular acidosis) and induced metallothionin (MT) production were observed in all animals. These changes appeared to be an adaptation of the liver to toxic insult rather than onset of a toxic effect, and, in common with previous studies, were more marked in bank voles than wood mice. This may have reflected the greater Cd intake and assimilation of the former but was not explained by differences in concentrations of free (non MT-bound) Cd; concentrations of which were negligible in both voles and mice. Responses to Cd insult were detected in both species even though their bodies contained cadmium concentrations well below the World Health Organisation critical renal concentration of 200 μg/g dry mass.     

用DREAM技术纠正人工合成基因中的突变

目的：介绍一种简便、有效的定点突变技术。方法：根据突变位点附近的DNA序列推导出氨基酸序列,再以此氨基酸序列进行逆翻译,这样在不改变氨基酸序列的前提下可以得到数目巨大的隐性突变体（silent mutants）,这些突变体中包含大量的限制性内切酶位点,选择合适的酶切位点设计引物用PCR技术扩增两侧DNA片段,然后以相应酶切融合这两个片段即可完成定点突变。结果：用该方法成功地在人工合成的含有缺失的可溶性组织因子基因的472位插入C,T两个碱基,校正了阅读框架,获得了预期的目的基因。结论：该方法简便、有效, 避免了多轮PCR和合成长引物导致突变的可能性,这种改进的PCR 定点诱变技术我们称之为“设计限制酶辅助突变”（Designed Restriction Enzyme Assisted Mutagenesis, DREAM）。此技术简单方便, 诱变的成功率高, 适于实验室常规应用。     

促进植物高效遗传转化的发育调节因子及其在玉米中的应用进展*

高效遗传转化技术体系的建立对植物功能基因组学研究和作物新品种的培育均具有促进作用,目前,再生效率低下是限制许多植物高效遗传转化体系建立的主要技术屏障之一。随着对植物分生组织和体细胞胚形成过程研究的深入,鉴定到了一些关键调控基因,统称为发育调节因子。发育调节因子应用于植物遗传转化后,可以有效改善植物分生组织诱导和再生能力,为提高遗传转化效率提供了重要机遇。综述了7类发育调节因子在提高植物遗传转化效率中的研究进展,重点介绍了其中3类在促进玉米遗传转化中的应用,最后展望了建立植物高效遗传转化体系的发展方向。     

LPS通过上调BMP4促进猪主动脉瓣膜间质细胞成骨样分化

该文主要探究了LPS通过上调骨形态发生蛋白4(bone morphogenetic protein 4,BMP4)促进猪主动脉瓣膜间质细胞(valve interstitial cells,VICs)成骨样分化的作用及机制,为钙化性主动脉瓣膜病(calcific aortic valve disease,CAVD)的干...     

Control of bovine placental progesterone synthesis: roles of cholesterol availability and calcium-activated systems

It was previously reported that dispersed bovine placentome secretes progesterone and that the steroidogenic activity of these cells is stimulated by a calcium-mediated, cyclic nucleotide independent mechanism. In the present study, the influence of substrate availability was explored and the roles of calmodulin and protein kinase C in progestin production examined. Incubation of dispersed fetal cotyledon cells with 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OH-C), a soluble sterol which readily enters cells and is metabolized to steroid hormones, increased progesterone secretion in a dose-dependent manner. The response to 25-OH-C was dependent on the extracellular calcium concentration. Methyl isobutyl xanthine (MIX) alone also increased pregnenolone as well as progesterone secretion, and the combination of 25-OH-C and MIX stimulated progesterone secretion was inhibited by trifluoperazine. The phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), caused no major effects on steroidogenesis but the stimulatory effects of MIX or the ionophore A23187 were enhanced in its presence. These findings suggest that (1) basal progesterone secretion by fetal cotyledon cells is limited by cholesterol availability; (2) MIX increases steroidogenesis in part by increasing the synthesis of pregnenolone, but its actions are expressed independently of cholesterol availability; (3) both calmodulin and protein kinase C may participate in the modulation of bovine placental steroidogenesis.     

Resolution of Michaelis complex, acylation, and conformational change steps in the reactions of the serpin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, with tissue plasminogen activator and trypsin

Michaelis complex, acylation, and conformational change steps were resolved in the reactions of the serpin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and trypsin by comparing the reactions of active and Ser 195-inactivated enzymes with site-specific fluorescent-labeled PAI-1 derivatives that report these events. Anhydrotrypsin or S195A tPA-induced fluorescence changes in P1'-Cys and P9-Cys PAI-1 variants labeled with the fluorophore, NBD, indicative of a substrate-like interaction of the serpin reactive loop with the proteinase active-site, with the P1' label but not the P9 label perturbing the interactions by 10-60-fold. Rapid kinetic analyses of the labeled PAI-1-inactive enzyme interactions were consistent with a single-step reversible binding process involving no conformational change. Blocking of PAI-1 reactive loop-beta-sheet A interactions through mutation of the P14 Thr --> Arg or annealing a reactive center loop peptide into sheet A did not weaken the binding of the inactive enzymes, suggesting that loop-sheet interactions were unlikely to be induced by the binding. Only active trypsin and tPA induced the characteristic fluorescence changes in the labeled PAI-1 variants previously shown to report acylation and reactive loop-sheet A interactions during the PAI-1-proteinase reaction. Rapid kinetic analyses showed saturation of the reaction rate constant and, in the case of the P1'-labeled PAI-1 reaction, biphasic changes in fluorescence indicative of an intermediate resembling the noncovalent complex on the path to the covalent complex. Indistinguishable K(M) and k(lim) values of approximately 20 microM and 80-90 s(-1) for reaction of the two labeled PAI-1s with trypsin suggested that a diffusion-limited association of PAI-1 and trypsin and rate-limiting acylation step, insensitive to the effects of labeling, controlled covalent complex formation. By contrast, differing values of K(M) of 1.7 and 0.1 microM and of k(lim) of 17 and 2.6 s(-1) for tPA reactions with P1' and P9-labeled PAI-1s, respectively, suggested that tPA-PAI-1 exosite interactions, sensitive to the effects of labeling, promoted a rapid association of PAI-1 and tPA and reversible formation of an acyl-enzyme complex but impeded a rate-limiting burial of the reactive loop leading to trapping of the acyl-enzyme complex. Together, the results suggest a kinetic pathway for formation of the covalent complex between PAI-1 and proteinases involving the initial formation of a Michaelis-type noncovalent complex without significant conformational change, followed by reversible acylation and irreversible reactive loop conformational change steps that trap the proteinase in a covalent complex.