基因工程雄性不育烟草及其温度敏感性

将含有抗溴苯腈基因bxn和雄性不育基因的重组载体pTA29-Barnase/bxn导入农杆菌(Agrobacterium tumefaciens)后转化烟草(Nicotiana tabacum L.),得到33个转基因植株。在27℃/23℃培养的16株中,有7株表现部分不育,另9株全部可育。而在20℃/15℃培养的17株中,12株表现不育,5株表现部分不育。部分不育的植株上同时开放可育花朵和不育花朵,不过其中的不育花朵中的花粉萌发活力很低。将在20℃/15℃条件下表现不育的12个不育株从20℃/15℃温室移至27℃/23℃温室后30d左右,其中9株表现程度不同的育性恢复现象:5株表现部分可育,另4株表现完全可育;但仍有3株表现雄性不育。雄性不育花朵的花丝变短,花药皱瘪,不散粉。细胞学观察证明,转基因植株的花药绒毡层降解提早于四分体时期,至单核小孢子时期降解殆尽。     

歌德与生物学

歌德（Goethe）是德国古典文学和民族文学的杰出代表,也是世界文学史上最杰出的作家之一。青年时代,他的书信体小说《少年维特之烦恼》使他获得了巨大的成功;而他晚年的作品《浮士德》则是他一生丰富的思想总结和艺术探索的结晶,因而与荷马史诗、但丁的《神曲》和莎士比亚的《哈姆雷特》并列为欧洲文学的四大古典名著。歌德在世界文学史上的重要地位是毋庸置疑的,但是他在生物学上的重要贡献就鲜为人知了。     

重组人胸腺素α原体外活性观察

以原核表达并纯化人胸腺素α原后,观察其体外活性,了解到胸腺素α原对胸腺细胞氢化考的松损伤有明显的保护作用,表现在它可明显提高氢化考的松损伤后细胞的数目和ＭＴＴ反应能力,氢化考的松引起胸腺细胞凋亡的发生,并显著降低ＣＤ４＋、ＣＤ８＋单阳性细胞和ＣＤ４－ＣＤ８－双阴性细胞的比例,胸腺素α原不能抑制胸腺细胞凋亡的发生,并可能对胸腺细胞凋亡有促进作用,与空白对照组比较,它也可明显降低ＣＤ４＋阳性细胞的比例,结果表明,胸腺素α原对胸腺细胞氢化考的松损伤的保护作用并非通过抑制凋亡而实现。     

Altered Plasma Concentrations of Trace Elements in Ulcerative Colitis Patients Before and After Surgery

Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) is a classical surgery for ulcerative colitis patients. However, knowledge on trace element alteration in patients who had undergone this surgery is limited. This study was conducted to assess trace element alteration in patients with ulcerative colitis before and after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. Preoperative (40) and postoperative (35) ulcerative colitis patients were studied. The dietary assessment of trace element intake was undertaken by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Patients' trace element status of zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, calcium, iron, and vitamin D₃ was assessed by measuring their blood concentrations. We found that with the similar dietary intake, there was no statistical difference in the concentrations of plasma copper, iron, calcium, and vitamin D₃ in the two groups (P?>?0.05). Compared with preoperative patients, postoperative patients had higher concentrations of plasma zinc (14.51?±?4.75 μmol/l) and manganese (0.21?±?0.11 μmol/l) and lower concentrations of plasma selenium (0.86?±?0.58 μmol/l). Both preoperative and postoperative mean concentrations of plasma calcium and vitamin D₃ were below their reference range, respectively. We conclude that IPAA does not seem to alter patients' abnormal trace elements completely. It is important to monitor and supply some specified trace elements even in postoperative patients.     

Cloned pig fetuses exhibit fatty acid deficiency from impaired placental transport

Cloned pig fetuses produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer show a high incidence of erroneous development in the uteri of surrogate mothers. The mechanisms underlying the abnormal intrauterine development of cloned pig fetuses are poorly understood. This study aimed to explore the potential causes of the aberrant development of cloned pig fetuses. The levels of numerous fatty acids in allantoic ?uid and muscle tissue were lower in cloned pig fetuses than in artificial insemination‐generated pig fetuses, thereby suggesting that cloned pig fetuses underwent fatty acid deficiency. Cloned pig fetuses also displayed trophoblast hypoplasia and a reduced expression of placental fatty acid transport protein 4 (FATP4), which is the predominant FATP family member expressed in porcine placentas. This result suggested that the placental fatty acid transport functions were impaired in cloned pig fetuses, possibly causing fatty acid deficiency in cloned pig fetuses. The present study provides useful information in elucidating the mechanisms underlying the abnormal development of cloned pig fetuses.     

Characterization and mapping of Ds—GUS-T-DNA lines for targeted insertional mutagenesis

The transposition patterns of the Ds —GUS transposon T-DNA in 23 independent single-copy lines have been characterized and the map positions of 10 of them on three of the five Arabidopsis chromosomes are reported. Using overexpressed Activator ( Ac ) elements as a transposase source, it was found that the primary determinant of transposition frequency is the insertion site of the Ac -T-DNA. Neither the structure of the transposon T-DNA nor, in most cases, its insertion site have a significant effect on transposition frequency. Both the frequency and timing of transposition are influenced by the parent through which the transposon and transposase T-DNAs are transmitted. Overall, nearly 75% of plants in which excision has occurred bear a reinserted element and very short-range transpositions predominate, underlining the advantage of using mapped transposons for insertional mutagenesis.