瑞丽莫里热带雨林种子植物区系的初步研究

初步分析了鲜为人知的滇西南瑞丽莫里的热带雨林植物区系组成与地理成分。该植物区系中热带和主产热带的科占总科数的80%以上,热带分布属占总属数的84.1%;典型热带分布种占总种数的82.1%,该区系在科、属和种水平上均以热带成分占优势,明显属于热带性质的植物区系。在其热带分布属中,又以热带亚洲分布属最多,占总属数的26.5%;典型热带分布种中也以热带亚洲分布及其变型的种占绝对优势,占总种数的72.9%,反映了该植物区系具有热带亚洲植物区系的性质特点。在其热带亚洲成分中,又具体以南亚—大陆东南亚成分比例最高,反映了滇西南的热带雨林植物区系由于地域邻接关系,受印度(喜马拉雅)—缅甸植物区系的强烈影响。     

强光照和全黑暗条件下荒漠沙蜥视网膜内GAP-43表达的免疫组织化学

采用免疫组织化学技术研究了在强光照和全黑暗条件下荒漠沙蜥(Phrynocephalus prezewalskic)视网膜内生长相关蛋白GAP-43的表达变化。结果表明,在正常光照条件下,视网膜内GAP-43阳性表达部位主要存在于内网层;强光照条件下,GAP-43免疫染色部位主要出现在内网层、节细胞层和内核层的部分细胞核。在全黑暗条件下,在视纤维层和内网层呈阳性染色;提示视网膜在不同环境条件下GAP-43的不同定位,可能与其在相应的环境下参与不同的视觉功能有关。     

甲基苯丙胺成瘾的表观遗传学机制

苯丙胺类兴奋剂是全世界第二大滥用程度的药物,甲基苯丙胺作为苯胺类兴奋剂中的主要药物,是中国滥用的“头号毒品”。而现有的研究对甲基苯丙胺成瘾机制尚不清晰,且临床上对药物成瘾的治疗依然存在无药可医的局面。因此,发现新的成瘾机制和治疗策略尤为迫切。甲基苯丙胺成瘾与额前叶皮质（mPFC）、中脑腹侧被盖区（VTA）和伏隔核（NAc）中的多巴胺（DA）、谷氨酸（Glu）、去甲肾上腺素（NE）和血清素（SNRIS）等神经递质的异常释放有关。研究表明,这些神经递质受到表观遗传机制中组蛋白乙酰化、甲基化、泛素化和非编码RNA等调节,某些基因的表达在甲基苯丙胺的诱导过程中增强或被抑制,导致甲基苯丙胺依赖性产生。本文将针对表观遗传学对甲基苯丙胺成瘾机制的影响进行着重论述,以期推进临床开发甲基苯丙胺戒断药物的研究。     

The adaptive evolution database (TAED)

Background

The Master Catalog is a collection of evolutionary families, including multiple sequence alignments, phylogenetic trees and reconstructed ancestral sequences, for all protein-sequence modules encoded by genes in GenBank. It can therefore support large-scale genomic surveys, of which we present here The Adaptive Evolution Database (TAED). In TAED, potential examples of positive adaptation are identified by high values for the normalized ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous nucleotide substitution rates (K_A/K_S values) on branches of an evolutionary tree between nodes representing reconstructed ancestral sequences.

Results

Evolutionary trees and reconstructed ancestral sequences were extracted from the Master Catalog for every subtree containing proteins from the Chordata only or the Embryophyta only. Branches with high K_A/K_S values were identified. These represent candidate episodes in the history of the protein family when the protein may have undergone positive selection, where the mutant form conferred more fitness than the ancestral form. Such episodes are frequently associated with change in function. An unexpectedly large number of families (between 10% and 20% of those families examined) were found to have at least one branch with high K_A/K_S values above arbitrarily chosen cut-offs (1 and 0.6). Most of these survived a robustness test and were collected into TAED.

Conclusions

TAED is a raw resource for bioinformaticists interested in data mining and for experimental evolutionists seeking candidate examples of adaptive evolution for further experimental study. It can be expanded to include other evolutionary information (for example changes in gene regulation or splicing) placed in a phylogenetic perspective.     

Kinetic characterization of wild-type and proton transfer-impaired variants of beta-carbonic anhydrase from Arabidopsis thaliana

We have cloned and overexpressed a truncated, recombinant form of beta-carbonic anhydrase from Arabidopsis thaliana. The wild-type enzyme and two site-directed variants, H216N and Y212F, have been kinetically characterized both at steady state by stopped-flow spectrophotometry and at chemical equilibrium by (18)O isotope exchange methods. The wild-type enzyme has a maximal k(cat) for CO2 hydration of 320 ms(-1) and is rate limited by proton transfer involving two residues with apparent pK(a) values of 6.0 and 8.7. The mutant enzyme H216N has a maximal k(cat) at high pH that is 43% that of wild type, but is only 5% that of wild type at pH 7.0. (18)O exchange studies reveal that the effect of the mutations H216N or Y212F is primarily on proton transfer steps in the catalytic mechanism and not in the rate of CO2-HCO3- exchange. These results suggest that residues His-216 and Tyr-212 are both important for efficient proton transfer in A. thaliana carbonic anhydrase.     

Biological activity of Manduca sexta allatotropin-like peptides,predicted products of tissue-specific and developmentally regulated alternatively spliced mRNAs

The insect neuropeptide, allatotropin (Manse-AT), exerts multiple functions including the stimulation of juvenile hormone (JH) biosynthesis in adults and the inhibition of active ion transport across the midgut epithelium of feeding larvae. The Manse-AT gene is expressed in multiple regions of the nervous system as three mRNAs that differ by alternative splicing. The specific mRNA isoform present differs in a tissue- and developmental-specific manner thus providing a mechanism for the regulated production of peptides specific to each isoform. These peptides are predicted to include three allatotropin-like (Manse-ATL) peptides that exhibit limited structural identity to Manse-AT and overlapping biological activities.     

缝隙连接与糖尿病

细胞间通讯方式可分为间接与直接通讯方式,以体循环远程分泌、旁分泌和自分泌方式完成的调节方式为间接通讯,而以细胞间隙连接为途径进行的细胞间直接的信息交流为直接通讯。细胞间隙连接又称缝隙连接,是普遍存在于人和动物组织中的一种细胞连接形式。近年有一系列研究表明缝隙连接胞间通道的异常与糖尿病及其并发症的发生、发展密切相关,本文将就有关这方面的研究进展作一综述。     

缝隙连接与糖尿病

细胞间通讯方式可分为间接与直接通讯方式,以体循环远程分泌、旁分泌和自分泌方式完成的调节方式为间接通讯,而以细胞间隙连接为途径进行的细胞间直接的信息交流为直接通讯.细胞间隙连接又称缝隙连接,是普遍存在于人和动物组织中的一种细胞连接形式.近年有一系列研究表明缝隙连接胞间通道的异常与糖尿病及其并发症的发生、发展密切相关,本文将就有关这方面的研究进展作一综述.     

达乌里秦艽的传粉生物学研究

对达乌里秦艽3个自然居群和1个人工栽培居群进行了两年的传粉生态学研究.研究发现:(1)达乌里秦艽套袋花均不结实,说明雌雄异熟和雌雄异位这两种花部机制成功阻止了主动自交,且不存在无融合生殖现象.(2)隔离传粉昆虫导致花寿命明显延长,授粉会导致花冠提前闭合,说明达乌里秦艽的花寿命具有可塑性,可通过延长花寿命确保成功繁殖.(3)在一个自然居群中证明存在花粉限制,且该居群的花寿命显著长于另外两个没有花粉限制的自然居群.(4)在整个雌性持续期柱头都具有一定的可授性,且在第2天可授性最高,随后逐渐降低;开花后期柱头可授性降低,使植物维持花开放资源投入的产出将有可能降低.研究表明,达乌里秦艽在严重缺乏传粉者的情况下,延长花寿命仅能部分弥补传粉者的不足,该物种在部分居群中仍有可能存在花粉限制.