Seasonal and spatial patterns in cellular energy allocation in the estuarine mysid Neomysis integer (Crustacea: Mysidacea) of the Scheldt estuary (The Netherlands)

The seasonal and spatial patterns in cellular energy allocation of the estuarine mysid Neomysis integer (Leach, 1814) were investigated in the Scheldt estuary over a 2-year period. Using the recently developed cellular energy allocation (CEA) assay, energy reserves (protein, lipid and sugar) and energy consumption (as derived from the cellular respiration rate) were integrated into a general indicator of physiological stress. Total energy reserves were relatively unaffected by sampling season or location, whereas the individual energy reserve fractions of N. integer were differentially influenced by sampling location and season. Seasonal effects were apparent for mysid weight and were related to the population biology, whereas spatial effects on the weight of N. integer may depend on pollution-induced effects on cellular energy allocation in the two most upstream sites (Bath and Doel). These upstream sites coincide with the most polluted part of the sampled area and were characterized by a significant increase in energy consumption, resulting in a significantly lower CEA. Due to the recent amelioration in the oxygen concentration at these sites, it can be expected that N. integer will migrate further upstream, similar to what is observed in other European estuaries. It will, therefore, be important to assess the physiological consequences and potential population effects on mysids from these polluted areas in the Scheldt estuary. This study provides evidence that the CEA assay has potential under field conditions as an in situ biomarker of pollutant effects.     

小鼠脑组织腺苷A2A受体缺失模型的建立与评价

制备了脑组织腺苷A2A受体基因缺失的小鼠模型并对该模型进行评价。在采用2次6.2 Gy X线间隔照射对敲除A2A受体基因的雌性C57BL/6小鼠进行清髓处理后, 将野生型雄性C57BL/6小鼠骨髓细胞移植到其体内, 使其脑组织的A2A受体仍保持缺失型。然后对移植效果进行鉴定, 并对模型的生理指标进行观察和评价。结果发现: 骨髓移植6周后, 受体小鼠的白细胞性染色体基因由雌性变为雄性; 骨髓中A2A受体阳性细胞率为94.85%, 而脑内A2A受体mRNA与A2A受体基因敲除小鼠比较, 无显著差异。模型小鼠除心率略低于野生型小鼠外, 在呼吸频率、脑含水量以及脑内谷氨酸含量等生理指标上均与野生型小鼠和A2A基因敲除小鼠无显著差异。     

The N-terminus of PrP is responsible for interacting with tubulin and fCJD related PrP mutants possess stronger inhibitive effect on microtubule assembly in vitro

Microtubule dynamics is essential for many vital cellular processes such as in intracellular transport, metabolism, and cell division. Some evidences demonstrate that PrP may associate with microtubular cytoskeleton and its major component, tubulin. In the present study, the molecular interaction between PrP and tubulin was confirmed using pull-down assays, immunoprecipitation and ELISA. The interacting regions within PrP with tubulin were mapped in the N-terminus of PrP spanning residues 23-50 and 51-91. PrP octapeptide repeats are critical for the binding activity with tubulin, that the binding activity of PrP with tubulin became stronger along with the number of the octapeptide repeats increased. Microtubule assembly assays, sedimental tests and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that the full-length PrP (aa 23-231) obviously inhibited the microtubule polymerization processes in vitro, whereas the N- (aa 23-91) and C- (aa 91-231) terminal peptides of PrP did not affect microtubule polymerization. Moreover, the familial Cruetzfeldt Jacob disease (fCJD) related PrP mutants with inserted or deleted octapeptide repeats showed much stronger inhibitive capacities on the microtubule dynamics in vitro than wild-type PrP. Our data highlight a potential role of PrP in regulating the microtubule dynamics in neurons.     

Molecular Characterization of Tree Peony Germplasm Using Sequence-Related Amplified Polymorphism Markers

This study examined 63 tree peony specimens, consisting of 3 wild species and 63 cultivars, using sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers for the purpose of detecting genomic polymorphisms. Bulk DNA samples from each specimen were evaluated with 23 SRAP primer pairs. Among the 296 different amplicons, 262 were polymorphic. The maximum parsimony, neighbor-joining, and unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic average trees were largely in congruence. In the three trees, the wild species Paeonia ludlowii and P. delavayi formed separate clusters with strong bootstrap support, and P. ostii was closely related to all cultivars. The cultivars were divided into groups with various corresponding bootstrap values. The genetic similarity among the genotypes ranged from 0.02 to 0.73. These results demonstrate that SRAP markers are effective in detecting genomic polymorphisms in the tree peony and should be useful for linkage map construction and molecular marker assisted selection breeding. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Transgenic peanut plants obtained by particle bombardment via somatic embryogenesis regeneration system.

After pre-culture and treatment of osmosis, cotyledons of immature peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) zygotic embryos were transformed via particle bombardment with a plasmid containing a chimeric hph gene conferring resistance to hygromycin and a chimeric intron-gus gene. Selection for hygromycin resistant calluses and somatic embryos was initiated at 10th d post-bombardment on medium containing 10-25 mg/L hygromycin. Under continuous selection, hygromycin resistant plantlets were regenerated from somatic embryos and were recovered from nearly 1.6% of the bombarded cotyledons. The presence and integration of foreign DNA in regenerated hygromycin resistant plants was confirmed by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) for the intron-gus gene and by Southern hybridization of the hph gene. GUS enzyme activity was detected in leaflets from transgenic plants but not from control, non-transformed plants. The production of transgenic plants are mainly based on a newly improved somatic embryogenesis regeneration system developed by us.     

中国四川圆蝇属三新种（双翅目：蝇科）

本文报道1984－1989年采自四川山区圆蝇属Mydaea R.-D.,1830的3个新种：峨眉山圆蝇Mydaea emeishanna sp.nov.;鬃腹圆蝇Mydaea jubiventera sp.nov.;九寨沟加蝇Mydaea jiuzhaigouensis sp.nov.。模式标本均保存于第二作者实验室。     

平颏海蛇碱性磷脂酶A_2的融合表达、纯化及活性特征

 将编码平颏海蛇碱性磷脂酶A2 的基因 (PLA2 9)克隆于硫氧还蛋白基因融合表达载体pPETTRX的trxA基因的 3′末端 ,构建符合读码框的融合基因 .2 5℃下经IPTG诱导 ,该融合蛋白在大肠杆菌中以可溶形式表达 ,表达量达 2 0 %以上 .利用金属螯合亲和层析和凝胶过滤层析两步纯化 ,得到纯度 85%的融合蛋白 .经肠激酶切割和离子交换柱层析进一步纯化后 ,得到浓度 95%以上的成熟PLA2 9.对重组PLA2 9进行了Western印迹检测 .重组PLA2 9具有与天然PLA2 相近的酶活性 ;并具有对HL60等几种肿瘤细胞的细胞毒作用 ,这在海蛇PLA2 中是首次报道 .平颏海蛇碱性PLA2 融合表达及快速纯化系统的建立 ,为深入开展其结构与功能关系研究奠定了基础     

Remodeling of host membranes during herpesvirus assembly and egress

Many viruses,enveloped or non-enveloped,remodel host membrane structures for their replication,assembly and escape from host cells.Herpesviruses are important human pathogens and cause many diseases.As large enveloped DNA viruses,herpesviruses undergo several complex steps to complete their life cycles and produce infectious progenies.Firstly,herpesvirus assembly initiates in the nucleus,producing nucleocapsids that are too large to cross through the nuclear pores.Nascent nucleocapsids instead bud at the inner nuclear membrane to form primary enveloped virions in the perinuclear space followed by fusion of the primary envelopes with the outer nuclear membrane,to translocate the nucleocapsids into the cytoplasm.Secondly,nucleocapsids obtain a series of tegument proteins in the cytoplasm and bud into vesicles derived from host organelles to acquire viral envelopes.The vesicles are then transported to and fuse with the plasma membrane to release the mature virions to the extracellular space.Therefore,at least two budding and fusion events take place at cellular membrane structures during herpesviruses assembly and egress,which induce membrane deformations.In this review,we describe and discuss how herpesviruses exploit and remodel host membrane structures to assemble and escape from the host cell.