利用纤维素废弃物发酵生产纤维素酶的研究

以纤维素废弃物为原料利用黑曲霉LN0402菌株发酵生产纤维素酶。分别考察培养时间、碳源用量、装液量、摇床转速及孢子悬液体积分数等因素对该菌株利用不同碳源生产纤维素酶能力的影响。确立了黑曲霉LN0402利用不同纤维素废弃物产纤维素酶的最适条件。     

荒漠化与气候变化间反馈机制研究进展

荒漠化和气候变化是全球关注的重大环境问题,两者间的反馈机制是目前科学研究的热点之一。从荒漠化与气候变化间的反馈机制和荒漠化及其防治对碳源／汇的影响两方面对其研究进展进行了评述。以往的研究表明,荒漠化对区域乃至全球气候变化的影响主要通过荒漠化过程中植被覆盖降低一地表反射率提高和(或)土壤含水量降低-降雨量降低-植被覆盖降低这样一个正反馈机制(荒漠化生物地球物理模型“Charney假说”及其衍生理论)来实现的,此外大气中悬浮的沙尘具有明显抑制降雨的作用,土地荒漠化所导致的沙尘暴频发及其影响范围之大也将对全球气候变化产生显著影响。气候变化对荒漠化的影响则表现在对荒漠化的范围、发展速度和强度以及潜在危险性及干旱生态系统的结构、功能及生产力的影响上。同时作为全球重要的碳贮存地,干旱区的变化从一定程度上影响到大气中CO2的收支．据估算全球荒漠化所导致的碳损失总量为18～28Pg C,其中中国近40a来因土地沙质荒漠化导致的CO2净释放量为91Mt C,如果UNEP建议的退化土地治理措施得以实施,每年可固定37Pg的碳,约占CO2年排放量的15％．其投入低于一些限制CO2排放的措施,因此具有很大的吸引力。从目前的研究进展来看,大多数研究尚处于定性描述阶段,虽然有一些量化的尝试,但多停留在低精度的外推或估算上,因此今后有关荒漠化与气候变化间反馈机制研究的重点应放在：(1)量化气候变化过程对干旱生态系统弹性、生物多样性、生物生产力和总体健康的影响。(2)模拟荒漠化发生发展对区域和全球的气候变化影响,(3)评价荒漠化防治对气候变化的可能影响及其程度,特别是一些大范围的生态建设工程在防治土地荒漠化方面的作用及其对气候变化的可能影响。简言之,从科学和政策的角度来看弄清荒漠化与气候变化间的反馈机制不仅有利于区域和全球尺度荒漠化防治的开展,而且也将为国际气候变化框架条约中相关部分的协商及谈判提供依据。     

Identification of an arginine-rich motif in human papillomavirus type 1 E1;E4 protein necessary for E4-mediated inhibition of cellular DNA synthesis in vitro and in cells

Productive infections by human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are restricted to nondividing, differentiated keratinocytes. HPV early proteins E6 and E7 deregulate cell cycle progression and activate the host cell DNA replication machinery in these cells, changes essential for virus synthesis. Productive virus replication is accompanied by abundant expression of the HPV E4 protein. Expression of HPV1 E4 in cells is known to activate cell cycle checkpoints, inhibiting G(2)-to-M transition of the cell cycle and also suppressing entry of cells into S phase. We report here that the HPV1 E4 protein, in the presence of a soluble form of the replication-licensing factor (RLF) Cdc6, inhibits initiation of cellular DNA replication in a mammalian cell-free DNA replication system. Chromatin-binding studies show that E4 blocks replication initiation in vitro by preventing loading of the RLFs Mcm2 and Mcm7 onto chromatin. HPV1 E4-mediated replication inhibition in vitro and suppression of entry of HPV1 E4-expressing cells into S phase are both abrogated upon alanine replacement of arginine 45 in the full-length E4 protein (E1;E4), implying that these two HPV1 E4 functions are linked. We hypothesize that HPV1 E4 inhibits competing host cell DNA synthesis in replication-activated suprabasal keratinocytes by suppressing licensing of cellular replication origins, thus modifying the phenotype of the infected cell in favor of viral genome amplification.     

Immunodominance of an antiviral cytotoxic T cell response is shaped by the kinetics of viral protein expression

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection induces a protective CTL response consisting of gp- and nucleoprotein (NP)-specific CTL. We find that a small load of LCMV led to immunodominance of NP-CTL, whereas a large viral load resulted in dominance of gp-CTL. This is the first study describing that immunodominance is not fixed after infection with a given pathogen, but varies with the viral load instead. We assumed higher Ag sensitivity for NP-CTL, which would explain their preferential priming at low viral load, as well as their overstimulation resulting in selective exhaustion at high viral load. The higher Ag sensitivity of NP-CTL was due to faster kinetics of NP-epitope presentation. Thus, we uncover a novel factor that impinges upon immunodominance and is related to the kinetics of virus protein expression. We propose that CTL against early viral proteins swiftly interfere with virus replication, resulting in efficient protection. If these "early" CTL fail in immediate virus control, they are activated in the face of higher viral load compared with "late" CTL and are therefore prone to be exhausted. Thus, the observed absence of early CTL in persistent infections might not be the cause, but rather the consequence of viral persistence.     

水分胁迫和氮肥对花生根系形态发育及叶片生理活性的影响

以"花育22号"花生为试验材料,在中度干旱胁迫和充足灌水两个水分条件下,分别设置不施氮肥(N0)、中氮(N1,90 kg·hm-2)、高氮(N2,180 kg·hm-2)3个施氮水平,研究不同土壤水分和氮肥条件对花生叶片生理活性及根系形态发育特征的影响.结果表明:与不施氮肥处理相比,两个水分条件下中氮处理均显著增加花生产量,但对收获指数无显著影响.干旱胁迫条件下,中氮处理对总根系生物量和总根长无显著影响,但显著增加花生总根系表面积;中氮和高氮处理均显著增加20~40 cm土层内根长和根系表面积,且高氮处理显著增加40 cm以下土层内根系生物量和根系表面积;施用氮肥显著提高叶片过氧化氢酶(CAT)和过氧化物酶(POD)活性,而丙二醛(MDA)含量随施氮量的增加而降低.正常供水条件下,施用氮肥显著降低了花生根系表面积和40 cm以下土层内根系生物量、根长和根系表面积,中氮处理可提高叶片保护酶活性.相关性分析表明,20~40 cm土层内根长和叶片超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、CAT、POD活性与产量呈显著相关.     

Generation of potent mouse monoclonal antibodies to self-proteins using T-cell epitope “tags”

Immunization of mice or rats with a "non-self" protein is a commonly used method to obtain monoclonal antibodies, and relies on the immune system''s ability to recognize the immunogen as foreign. Immunization of an antigen with 100% identity to the endogenous protein, however, will not elicit a robust immune response. To develop antibodies to mouse proteins, we focused on the potential for breaking such immune tolerance by genetically fusing two independent T-cell epitope-containing sequences (from tetanus toxin (TT) and diphtheria toxin fragment A (DTA)) to a mouse protein, mouse ST2 (mST2). Wild-type CD1 mice were immunized with three mST2 tagged proteins (Fc, TT and DTA) and the specific serum response was determined. Only in mice immunized with the T-cell epitope-containing antigens were specific mST2 serum responses detected; hybridomas generated from these mice secreted highly sequence-diverse IgGs that were capable of binding mST2 and inhibiting the interaction of mST2 with its ligand, mouse interleukin (IL)-33 (mIL-33). Of the hundreds of antibodies profiled, we identified five potent antibodies that were able to inhibit IL-33 induced IL-6 release in a mast cell assay; notably one such antibody was sufficiently potent to suppress IL-5 release and eosinophilia infiltration in an Alternaria alternata challenge mouse model of asthma. This study demonstrated, for the first time, that T-cell epitope-containing tags have the ability to break tolerance in wild-type mice to 100% conserved proteins, and it provides a compelling argument for the broader use of this approach to generate antibodies against any mouse protein or conserved ortholog.     

高原鼢鼠线粒体谱系地理学和遗传多样性

高原鼢鼠是一类地下独居啮齿动物,为青藏高原特有种之一。为研究该物种的谱系地理学和遗传多样性,本文测定了采自青藏高原东部3个地理种群8个小种群共37个个体的线粒体D-loop区序列变异。在长度为627bp的序列中,共发现50个变异位点,定义了26种单倍型。该物种的单倍型多样性（Haplotype diversity,H）较高和核苷酸多样性（Nucleotide diversity,πn）较低。谱系分析得到3个稳定的分支,分别与采集的地理种群相吻合：同一地理种群内单倍型之间遗传差异小,而不同地理来源的单倍型之间存在较大区别。距离隔离分析表明高原鼢鼠的遗传分化与地理距离呈正相关。AMOVA分析同样表明地理种群之间存在显著差异：地理种群间变异占遗传变异的80.45%。高原鼢鼠的这种遗传结构特点可能主要是由于第四纪气候变迁、该物种稳定的地下生活环境和有限的迁移能力造成的。