Corrigendum to ‘Nanopore-based Fourth-generation DNA Sequencing Technology' [GPB 144(2015)–GPB 13/1(4–16)]

<正>The authors regret that there were typos in the online version of Figure 4 published in Issue 1,2015.In the figure legend boxes of panels F and G,‘‘Ni’’should be corrected to‘‘N’’for the labeling of the green curves.The figure in the printed version has been corrected.The correct Figure 4 is shown below.The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.     

Mineral Elements of Subtropical Tree Seedlings in Response to Elevated Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Addition

Mineral elements in plants have been strongly affected by increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations and nitrogen (N) deposition due to human activities. However, such understanding is largely limited to N and phosphorus in grassland. Using open-top chambers, we examined the concentrations of potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn) in the leaves and roots of the seedlings of five subtropical tree species in response to elevated CO₂ (ca. 700 μmol CO₂ mol^-1) and N addition (100 kg N ha^-1 yr^-1) from 2005 to 2009. These mineral elements in the roots responded more strongly to elevated CO₂ and N addition than those in the leaves. Elevated CO₂ did not consistently decrease the concentrations of plant mineral elements, with increases in K, Al, Cu and Mn in some tree species. N addition decreased K and had no influence on Cu in the five tree species. Given the shifts in plant mineral elements, Schima superba and Castanopsis hystrix were less responsive to elevated CO₂ and N addition alone, respectively. Our results indicate that plant stoichiometry would be altered by increasing CO₂ and N deposition, and K would likely become a limiting nutrient under increasing N deposition in subtropics.     

Palmitate Inhibits SIRT1-Dependent BMAL1/CLOCK Interaction and Disrupts Circadian Gene Oscillations in Hepatocytes

Elevated levels of serum saturated fatty acid palmitate have been shown to promote insulin resistance, increase cellular ROS production, and trigger cell apoptosis in hepatocytes during the development of obesity. However, it remains unclear whether palmitate directly impacts the circadian clock in hepatocytes, which coordinates nutritional inputs and hormonal signaling with downstream metabolic outputs. Here we presented evidence that the molecular clock is a novel target of palmitate in hepatocytes. Palmitate exposure at low dose inhibits the molecular clock activity and suppresses the cyclic expression of circadian targets including Dbp, Nr1d1 and Per2 in hepatocytes. Palmitate treatment does not seem to alter localization or reduce protein expression of BMAL1 and CLOCK, the two core components of the molecular clock in hepatocytes. Instead, palmitate destabilizes the protein-protein interaction between BMAL1-CLOCK in a dose and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, we showed that SIRT1 activators could reverse the inhibitory action of palmitate on BMAL1-CLOCK interaction and the clock gene expression, whereas inhibitors of NAD synthesis mimic the palmitate effects on the clock function. In summary, our findings demonstrated that palmitate inhibits the clock function by suppressing SIRT1 function in hepatocytes.     

Expression and nucleotide diversity of the poplar <Emphasis Type="Italic">COBL</Emphasis> gene

The COBRA gene encodes a putative glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored protein that regulates cellulose deposition and oriented cell expansion in the plant cell wall. This study reports the identification of PtCOBL4, a first COBRA gene from the tree Populus tomentosa. The full-length cDNA of PtCOBL4 was isolated from a xylem cDNA library. The deduced protein sequence shares 72.7% identity with Arabidopsis AtCOBL4 protein involved in secondary cell wall deposition. Analysis of differential tissue expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) indicated that PtCOBL4 is expressed predominantly in the mature xylem zone. By using the sequenced whole genome and DNA microarray data of Populus, we demonstrated that COBRA is a multigene family of 11 members, each of which exhibit different tissue-specific expression patterns. To evaluate the functional consequences of nucleotide polymorphisms in the PtCOBL4 locus, the patterns of variation in a 2,002-bp region of the gene were surveyed in 40 unrelated individuals representative of almost the entire natural range of P. tomentosa. Sixty-one single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified at a frequency of one SNP per 32.8 bp of sequence, giving an estimated nucleotide diversity of π _T = 0.00800 and θ _w = 0.00716. Within coding regions, nonsynonymous diversity (π _nonsyn = 0.00285) was markedly lower than synonymous diversity (π _syn = 0.02128); the π _nonsyn/π _syn ratio was 0.13, significantly less than 1, indicating that the synonymous sites were subject to strong purifying selection. These results provide the necessary foundation for improving the quantity and quality of cellulose via genetic engineering or by candidate-gene-based association genetics in P. tomentosa.     

Maize uroporphyrinogen III methyltransferase: overexpression of the functional gene fragments in Escherichia coli and one-step purification

S-Adenosyl-L-methionine: uroporphyrinogen III methyltransferase (SUMT), a key regulatory enzyme, converts uroporphyrinogen III to precorrin-2 in the porphinoids biosynthesis. In this study, the mature SUMT was signified that the maize SUMT precursor encoded by the open reading frame of maize SUMT cDNA was deleted the first 91 amino acids constituting the postulated signal peptide. Several mature SUMT fusion and deletion mutants were conducted. It actively expressed in Escherichia coli that the mature SUMT, or the truncated one deleting the C-terminal extra 52 amino acids based on SUMT sequence comparisons. On the contrary, it expressed as an inclusion body in E. coli that the mature SUMT fusion mutant, the SUMT precursor, or the mature SUMT deleting the N-terminal 36 amino acids including glycine-rich region involved directly in SAM binding. The purified His6-tagged mature SUMT was homodimer with a molecular weight of 34 kDa, as shown by SDS-PAGE, 52 kDa using gel-filtration chromatography, and 79 kDa by dynamic light scattering assay. Red fluorescent compounds were associated with the recombinant mature SUMT which were identified as sirohydrochlorin and trimethylpyrrocorphin by spectroscopic analysis. This association slightly altered the protein secondary structure confirmed by circular dichroism assay.     

Silencing TRPM2 enhanced erastin- and RSL3-induced ferroptosis in gastric cancer cells through destabilizing HIF-1α and Nrf2 proteins

Cytotechnology - Ferroptosis is a regulated form of cell death driven by small molecules or conditions that induce lipid-based reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Cation channel transient...     

一种比格犬雌二醇β受体剪切异构体的克隆和序列分析

目的分析比格犬下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴,雌二醇β受体剪切异构体的存在情况。方法根据NCBI数据库上的比格犬雌二醇受体的基因序列,设计两对特异性引物,以比格犬的卵巢、子宫、下丘脑和垂体的总RNA为模板进行反转录,并利用两对特异性引物扩增比格犬雌二醇受体的基因,对其中的主要条带进行克隆测序。结果获得了比格犬雌二醇受体的全长cDNA序列,对主要条带进行克隆测序的结果表明,该序列是一种比格犬雌二醇受体的剪切异构体。结论比格犬雌二醇β受体剪切异构体与小鼠和人的组成有较大的不同,需要进一步系统研究。     

单蚤属一新种记述(蚤目：角叶蚤科)

单蚤属一新种记述（蚤目：角叶蚤科）张荣广,吴德强,李宝肃（甘肃省地方病防治研究所兰州７３００３０）在鉴定甘肃省单蚤属Ｍｏ。ｏｐ。ｙｌｌｕ。Ｋｏｌｅｎａｔｉ,１８５７的跳蚤时,发现在形态上与花鼠单蚤Ｍｏｎｏｐｓｙｌｌｕ。。ｎｄａｇ。ｓＲｏｔｌｉｓｃｈｌ...     

Tetrameric mouse acetylcholinesterase: continuum diffusion rate calculations by solving the steady-state Smoluchowski equation using finite element methods

The tetramer is the most important form for acetylcholinesterase in physiological conditions, i.e., in the neuromuscular junction and the nervous system. It is important to study the diffusion of acetylcholine to the active sites of the tetrameric enzyme to understand the overall signal transduction process in these cellular components. Crystallographic studies revealed two different forms of tetramers, suggesting a flexible tetramer model for acetylcholinesterase. Using a recently developed finite element solver for the steady-state Smoluchowski equation, we have calculated the reaction rate for three mouse acetylcholinesterase tetramers using these two crystal structures and an intermediate structure as templates. Our results show that the reaction rates differ for different individual active sites in the compact tetramer crystal structure, and the rates are similar for different individual active sites in the other crystal structure and the intermediate structure. In the limit of zero salt, the reaction rates per active site for the tetramers are the same as that for the monomer, whereas at higher ionic strength, the rates per active site for the tetramers are approximately 67%-75% of the rate for the monomer. By analyzing the effect of electrostatic forces on ACh diffusion, we find that electrostatic forces play an even more important role for the tetramers than for the monomer. This study also shows that the finite element solver is well suited for solving the diffusion problem within complicated geometries.     

Crystal structure of human vacuolar protein sorting protein 29 reveals a phosphodiesterase/nuclease-like fold and two protein-protein interaction sites

Vacuolar protein sorting protein 29 (Vps29p), which is involved in retrograde trafficking from prevacuolar endosomes to the trans-Golgi network, performs its biological functions by participating in the formation of a "retromer complex." In human cells, this complex comprises four conserved proteins: hVps35p, hVps29p, hVps26p, and sorting nexin 1 protein (SNX1). Here, we report the crystal structure of hVps29p at 2.1 Angstroms resolution, the first three-dimensional structure of the retromer subunits. This novel structure adopts a four-layered alpha-beta-beta-alpha sandwich fold. hVps29p contains a metal-binding site that is very similar to the active sites of some proteins of the phosphodiesterase/nuclease protein family, indicating that hVps29p may carry out chemically similar functions. Structure and sequence conservation analysis suggests that hVps29p contains two protein-protein interaction sites. One site, which potentially serves as the interface between hVps29p and hVps35p, comprises 5 conserved hydrophobic and 8 hydrophilic residues. The other site is relatively more hydrophilic and may serve as a binding interface with hVps26p, SNX1, or other target proteins.