Isolation and Identification of Pathogens Causing Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) Black Spot in Beijing,China

Black spot leads to great marigold losses worldwide. The disease is characterized by black spots on leaves and stems in its early stages, and the whole plant has black rot at the advanced stage. In this report, 6 of 217 Alternaria strains isolated from lesions of marigold plants in Beijing were randomly selected. The morphological characteristics and a pathogenic tree based on two protein‐coding genes (gpd and alt a 1) indicated that Alternaria tagetica is the causal agent of marigold black spot in Beijing. All six Alternaria strains could successfully re‐infect marigold, but they could not infect carrot or zinnia by either spore spray in a greenhouse or planting experiments in the epidemic area. This is the first report of the A. tagetica pathogen being isolated from marigold in Beijing.     

唾液酸酶Neu1及其相关信号通路研究进展

唾液酸广泛存在于生物体内,常存在于糖复合物的糖链末端,对组织器官特别是脑神经的发育至关重要,并且与多种疾病的发生和发展过程密切相关.唾液酸被唾液酸酶水解后,可改变糖复合物的构象从而调控相关因子的生物学功能.在目前发现的4种唾液酸酶中,对Neu1的研究较为深入.研究表明,Neu1的剪切底物具有多样性,其与细胞表面受体的结构和功能调节密切相关.随着研究的深入,Neu1逐渐被认为是唾液酸介导的调控疾病发生过程中的重要因子,Neu1在人类疾病中的作用比预想的还要深远.本篇综述了在已有总结的唾液酸酶性质和生理病理学功能的基础上,概述了近年来Neu1的研究进展,并对其作用及与不同细胞表面受体的相互作用机制做了总结.     

Parametric analysis of the biomechanical response of head subjected to the primary blast loading – a data mining approach

Traumatic brain injury due to primary blast loading has become a signature injury in recent military conflicts and terrorist activities. Extensive experimental and computational investigations have been conducted to study the interrelationships between intracranial pressure response and intrinsic or ‘input’ parameters such as the head geometry and loading conditions. However, these relationships are very complicated and are usually implicit and ‘hidden’ in a large amount of simulation/test data. In this study, a data mining method is proposed to explore such underlying information from the numerical simulation results. The heads of different species are described as a highly simplified two-part (skull and brain) finite element model with varying geometric parameters. The parameters considered include peak incident pressure, skull thickness, brain radius and snout length. Their interrelationship and coupling effect are discovered by developing a decision tree based on the large simulation data-set. The results show that the proposed data-driven method is superior to the conventional linear regression method and is comparable to the nonlinear regression method. Considering its capability of exploring implicit information and the relatively simple relationships between response and input variables, the data mining method is considered to be a good tool for an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of blast-induced brain injury. As a general method, this approach can also be applied to other nonlinear complex biomechanical systems.     

A leaf shape mutant provides insight into PINOID Serine/Threonine Kinase function in cucumber(Cucumis sativus L.)

Optimizing leaf shape is a major challenge in efforts to develop an ideal plant type. Cucumber leaf shapes are diverse; however, the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying leaf shape formation are unknown. In this study, we obtained a round leaf mutant(rl) from an ethyl methanesulfonate-induced mutagenesis population. Genetic analysis revealed that a single recessive gene, rl, is responsible for this mutation. A modified Mut Map analysis combined linkage mapping identified a single nucleotide polymorphism within a candidate gene,Csa1 M537400, as the mutation underlying the trait.Csa1 M537400 encodes a PINOID kinase protein involved in auxin transport. Expression of Csa1 M537400 was significantly lower in the rl mutant than in wild type, and it displayed higher levels of IAA(indole-3-acetic acid) in several tissues. Treatment of wild-type plants with an auxin transport inhibitor induced the formation of round leaves,similar to those in the rl mutant. Altered expression patterns of several auxin-related genes in the rl mutant suggest that rl plays a key role in auxin biosynthesis,transport, and response in cucumber. These findings provide insight into the molecular mechanism underlying the regulation of auxin signaling pathways in cucumber,and will be valuable in the development of an ideal plant type.     

Construction of an efficient genomic editing system with CRISPR/Cas9 in the vector mosquito Aedes albopictus

Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus, also known as the Asian tiger mosquito, is a mosquito which originated in Asia. In recent years, it has become increasingly rampant throughout the world. This mosquito can transmit several arboviruses, including dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses, and is considered a public health threat. Despite the urgent need of genome engineering to analyze specific gene functions, progress in genetical manipulation of Ae. albopictus has been slow due to a lack of efficient methods and genetic markers. In the present study, we established targeted disruptions in two genes, kynurenine hydroxylase (kh) and dopachrome conversion enzyme (yellow), to analyze the feasibility of generating visible phenotypes with genome editing by the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/ CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system in Ae. albopictus. Following Cas9 single guide RNA ribonucleoprotein injection into the posterior end of pre-blastoderm embryos, 30%-50% of fertile survivors produced alleles that failed to complement existing kh and yellow mutations. Complete eye and body pigmentation defects were readily observed in GI pupae and adults, indicating successful generation of highly heritable mutations. We conclude that the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing system can be used mAe. albopictus and that it can be adopted as an efficient tool for genome-scale analysis and biological study.     

新媒体时代下医学生手机依赖与人际关系的相关性研究

目的:了解新媒体背景下的医学生手机依赖与人际关系现状及两者的相关性,为相关部门制定干预策略提供依据。方法:采取方便抽样的方法抽取样本,通过手机依赖和人际关系量表开展匿名问卷调查,SPSS19.0软件进行数据处理。结果:医学生中手机依赖阳性检出率为35.81%,人际交往敏感检出率为33.78%。手机依赖组的人际关系得分明显高于非手机依赖组(P0.05);同时,手机依赖量表与人际关系量表呈正相关(P0.05)。多元线性回归分析结果显示身体锻炼频率对手机依赖有反向预测作用,人际关系中的交际与交友维度对手机依赖有正向预测作用(P0.05)。结论:医学生手机依赖与人际交往情况形势严峻、不容乐观,社会各界应关注医学生手机依赖及其引发的系列公共卫生问题,多层面、多角度进行干预。     

Traction force-mediated B cell activation: how and why

<正>B and T lymphocytes are responsible for the acquisition of adaptive immune response, among which, B cells dominate humoral immunity. In vivo, B cells utilize surface expressed B cell receptors (BCRs) to sense antigens presented by antigen-presenting cells (APCs), and eventually mediate antibody response and immune memory. It is well recognized