Prediction of enteric methane emissions from cattle

Agriculture has a key role in food production worldwide and it is a major component of the gross domestic product of several countries. Livestock production is essential for the generation of high quality protein foods and the delivery of foods in regions where animal products are the main food source. Environmental impacts of livestock production have been examined for decades, but recently emission of methane from enteric fermentation has been targeted as a substantial greenhouse gas source. The quantification of methane emissions from livestock on a global scale relies on prediction models because measurements require specialized equipment and may be expensive. The predictive ability of current methane emission models remains poor. Moreover, the availability of information on livestock production systems has increased substantially over the years enabling the development of more detailed methane prediction models. In this study, we have developed and evaluated prediction models based on a large database of enteric methane emissions from North American dairy and beef cattle. Most probable models of various complexity levels were identified using a Bayesian model selection procedure and were fitted under a hierarchical setting. Energy intake, dietary fiber and lipid proportions, animal body weight and milk fat proportion were identified as key explanatory variables for predicting emissions. Models here developed substantially outperformed models currently used in national greenhouse gas inventories. Additionally, estimates of repeatability of methane emissions were lower than the ones from the literature and multicollinearity diagnostics suggested that prediction models are stable. In this context, we propose various enteric methane prediction models which require different levels of information availability and can be readily implemented in national greenhouse gas inventories of different complexity levels. The utilization of such models may reduce errors associated with prediction of methane and allow a better examination and representation of policies regulating emissions from cattle.     

人TRAIL基因cDNA的克隆及其在COS—7细胞中的表达

ＴＲＡＩＬ(ＴＮＦｒｅｌａｔｅｄａｐｏｐｔｏｓｉｓｉｎｄｕｃｉｎｇｌｉｇａｎｄ)是最近克隆的肿瘤坏死因子(ＴＮＦ)家族的新成员,由于它的蛋白质结构和生物学效应类似于ＦＡＳ/ＡＰＯ1Ｌ,因此,也被称为ＡＰＯ2Ｌ。在低浓度下,ＴＲＡＩＬ能迅速地诱导多种肿瘤细胞系的?..     

中国三种常见蒿属植物潜在地理分布及其主导气候因子

裂叶蒿(Artemisia tanacetifolia)、大籽蒿(Artemisia sieversiana)和艾(Artemisia argyi)是我国常见的蒿属(Artemisia)植物,其分布区域遍布全国.本文利用MaxEnt模型预测3种蒿属植物在当前气候条件以及未来两种气候情景下的潜在分布区.采用受试者工作特征...     

构建基于CRISPR/Cas9技术敲除ALOX5的质粒

旨在利用CRISPR/Cas9技术构建敲除花生四烯5-脂氧合酶基因(Arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase gene,ALOX5)的重组质粒。设计合成3对靶向敲除ALOX5第六外显子的sgRNA,将其分别插入到CRISPR/Cas9质粒骨架pX458载体中,转化感受态大肠杆菌DH5α后挑取克隆,通过测序评估重组质粒是否构建成功。将构建好的重组质粒转染293T细胞,在荧光显微镜下观察转染效果,挑取转染成功的细胞,用试剂盒提取转染细胞基因组DNA,PCR扩增含敲除位点的DNA片段,用测序技术获得核苷酸序列,用DNAStar软件分析转染细胞中ALOX5基因敲除情况。测序结果表明2对双链sgRNA寡核苷酸已插入质粒,且序列正确,靶向ALOX5基因的重组质粒pX458-sgRNAs-ALOX5构建成功。其在293T细胞中的转染效率约为50%,用一代测序法未检测到sgRNAs的切割效果。初步表明利用CRISPR/Cas9技术成功构建靶向ALOX5基因的重组质粒pX458-sgRNAs-ALOX5。     

杨树溃疡病生防菌株N6-34抗菌活性物质的分离纯化与结构鉴定

【背景】杨树溃疡病是一种主要由葡萄座腔菌引起的杨树枝干病害,危害严重。前期从杨树中分离到一株内生拮抗细菌N6-34,研究表明该菌株拮抗效果好,对多种植物病原菌均有较强的拮抗作用。【目的】对拮抗细菌N6-34产生的抗菌活性物质进行分离纯化,并鉴定了活性物质组分的结构。【方法】通过硫酸铵盐析、甲醇抽提、分子筛、高效液相色谱等方法分离纯化N6-34菌株的抗菌活性物质,并对其进行结构鉴定。【结果】N6-34菌株发酵液经多步分离纯化,共获得14个组分,其中有13个组分具有抗菌活性,经一级质谱分析,获得了13种抗菌活性组分的分子量;经二级质谱分析,将13种抗菌活性物质鉴定为Fengycin A或Fengycin B的同系物或同分异构体。【结论】从N6-34菌株发酵液中分离获得了13种抗菌成分,为杨树溃疡病的生物防治提供了理论依据。     

长爪沙鼠肝细胞体外分离培养体系的建立

目的建立长爪沙鼠原代肝细胞分离培养体系。方法以雄性长爪沙鼠为供体,采用组织消化法和Seglen两步灌流法分离肝细胞,以台盼蓝染色检测细胞得率和活率,过碘酸-希夫氏反应(PAS)鉴定肝细胞,倒置显微镜观察肝细胞形态变化,并使用含有多种细胞因子的培养基维持培养。结果组织消化法和Seglen两步灌流法平均每只长爪沙鼠可分别获得肝细胞(1.33±0.34)×107个、(3.97±1.15)×107个,细胞活率分别为(29.4±6.05)%、(80.3±4.56)%,这两种方法在细胞得率及活率方面存在显著差异。肝细胞内因有大量的糖原颗粒,经PAS染色后被染成红色。结果表明肝细胞在贴壁后72 h内,肝细胞形态发生显著变化。结论采用胶原酶经肝门静脉灌流分离肝细胞是一种高效获得肝细胞的方法。各种细胞因子有利于维持肝细胞在体外的生长分化,长爪沙鼠原代肝细胞分离培养体系的建立将为肝脏相关疾病研究和防治药物的开发提供技术支持。     

Expression and overproduction of glucose oxidase in Aspergillus niger

Summary This report describes the expression of cloned glucose oxidase gene (god) in glucose-oxidase-deficient mutants (God^–) of Aspergillus niger NRRL-3, the use of this gene for the elevation of glucose oxidase (GOD) productivity in the parental strain, and the further improvement of GOD production by subjecting the transformants to nitrous acid mutagenesis.Correspondence to: F. A. Sharif     

蒙古高原岩黄芪属植物的分支分类学研究

以蒙古高原岩黄芪属植物为对象, 应用徐克学的最大同步法, 探讨了蒙古高原岩黄芪属(豆科)植物的系统演化, 并根据分支分类结果对蒙古高原岩黄芪属进行了系统学处理。作者首次将蒙古高原岩黄芪属分为岩黄芪亚属、半灌木岩黄芪亚属(新拟)和无刺岩黄芪组、丛枝岩黄芪组、无茎岩黄芪组、半灌木岩黄芪组等4 个组。本文对蒙古高原岩黄芪组的划分符合苏联植物志(1945)中的观点。     

Increased acetylcholine and glutamate efflux in the prefrontal cortex following intranasal orexin‐A (hypocretin‐1)

Orexin/hypocretin neurons of the lateral hypothalamus and perifornical area are integrators of physiological function. Previous work from our laboratory and others has shown the importance of orexin transmission in cognition. Age‐related reductions in markers of orexin function further suggest that this neuropeptide may be a useful target for the treatment of age‐related cognitive dysfunction. Intranasal administration of orexin‐A (OxA) has shown promise as a therapeutic option for cognitive dysfunction. However, the neurochemical mechanisms of intranasal OxA administration are not fully understood. Here, we use immunohistochemistry and in vivo microdialysis to define the effects of acute intranasal OxA administration on: (i) activation of neuronal populations in the cortex, basal forebrain, and brainstem and (ii) acetylcholine (AC h) and glutamate efflux in the prefrontal cortex (PFC ) of Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 rats. Acute intranasal administration of OxA significantly increased c‐Fos expression, a marker for neuronal activation, in the PFC and in subpopulations of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. Subsequently, we investigated the effects of acute intranasal OxA on neurotransmitter efflux in the PFC and found that intranasal OxA significantly increased both AC h and glutamate efflux in this region. These findings were independent from any changes in c‐Fos expression in orexin neurons, suggesting that these effects are not resultant from direct activation of orexin neurons. In total, these data indicate that intranasal OxA may enhance cognition through activation of distinct neuronal populations in the cortex and basal forebrain and through increased neurotransmission of AC h and glutamate in the PFC .

     

Molecular evolution of cytochrome c oxidase: rate variation among subunit VIa isoforms

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) consists of 13 subunits, 3 encoded in the mitochondrial genome and 10 in the nucleus. Little is known of the role of the nuclear-encoded subunits, some of which exhibit tissue-specific isoforms. Subunit VIa is unique in having tissue-specific isoforms in all mammalian species examined. We examined relative evolutionary rates for the COX6A heart (H) and liver (L) isoform genes along the length of the molecule, specifically in relation to the tissue-specific function(s) of the two isoforms. Nonsynonymous (amino acid replacement) substitutions in the COX6AH gene occurred more frequently than in the ubiquitously expressed COX6AL gene. Maximum-parsimony analysis and sequence divergences from reconstructed ancestral sequences revealed that after the ancestral COX6A gene duplicated to yield the genes for the H and L isoforms, the sequences encoding the mitochondrial matrix region of the COX VIa protein experienced an elevated rate of nonsynonymous substitutions relative to synonymous substitutions. This is expected for relaxed selective constraints after gene duplication followed by purifying selection to preserve the replacements with tissue-specific functions.