硅处理对甜瓜采后POD、PAL和呼吸强度的影响

以厚皮甜瓜玉金香作为实验材料,研究硅处理对甜瓜玉金香采后POD、PAL活性和呼吸强度的影响。实验表明:(1)不同硅剂处理对甜瓜玉金香的伤害差异很大,纳米硅对甜瓜玉金香不造成任何伤害;正硅酸乙酯即使在很低的浓度下(25mmol·L-1),也能造成产品严重伤害;硅酸钠在100mmol·L-1时可造成轻度的易恢复性伤害。(2)100mmol·L-1硅酸钠处理能显著提高甜瓜玉金香POD和PAL的活性,降低其呼吸强度。(3)200mmol·L-1纳米硅处理能降低甜瓜玉金香的呼吸强度,而对POD和PAL的活性无影响。(4)纳米氧化硅和硅酸钠处理后可明显提高表皮硅含量,且气孔部位硅含量有一个高峰;剖面接近表皮部位,硅含量也有一个高峰。     

胡萝卜光自养型愈伤组织的诱导培养及其光合特性

经诱导得到胡萝卜光自养型愈伤组织。以叶绿素为单位计算,获得的光自养型愈伤组织的光合活力达到甚至超过了整体植株叶片水平。同时测定愈伤组织光自养过程中光合特性的变化,结果表明其叶绿素含量逐渐上升、暗呼吸速率和Chl a/Chl b比值逐渐下降。并且用电子显微镜观察到愈伤组织中叶绿体结构逐渐发育的过程。     

HPO结构与受体结合功能关系的初步研究

肝细胞生成素(HPO)是一种新型细胞因子,在肝再生过程中具有重要的调控作用,研究发现在肝源细胞表面有其特异性受体。为了研究HPO结构与其受体结合功能的关系,构建并表达了HPO及其系列缺失体,利用流式细胞术检测了HPO及其系列缺失体与受体的结合能力。结果表明,在HPO的序列中可能有多个受体结合功能区,其N端的前10位氨基酸残基和C端的第11—20位氨基酸残基对于其受体结合能力是必需的,而C端前10位氨基酸残基对HPO与受体的结合有一定的抑制作用。此外HPO结构的完整性对于其受体结合功能也是必需的。     

Shedding light on health and disease using molecular beacons.

The detection and identification of pathogens is often painstaking due to the low abundance of diseased cells in clinical samples. The genomic sequences of the pathogen can be amplified through methods such as the polymerase chain reaction and nucleic acid sequence-based amplification, but the nucleic acid targets are often lost among other unintended products of amplification. Novel nucleic acid probes known as molecular beacons have been developed allowing for the rapid and specific detection of genetic markers of a disease. Molecular beacons are hairpin-forming oligonucleotides labelled at one end with a quencher and at the other end with a fluorescent reporter dye. In the absence of target, the fluorescence is quenched. In the presence of target, the hairpin structure opens upon beacon/target hybridisation, resulting in the restoration of fluorescence. The ability to transduce target recognition into a fluorescence signal with high signal-to-background ratio, coupled with an improved specificity, has allowed molecular beacons to enjoy a wide range of biological and biomedical applications. Here, we describe the basic features of molecular beacons, review their applications in disease detection and diagnosis and discuss some of the issues and challenges of in vivo studies. The aim of this paper is to foster the development of new molecular beacon-based assays and to stimulate the application of this technology in laboratory and clinical studies of health and disease.     

人类生精相关基因TSARG4的cDNA克隆

为了探索精子生成的分子机制 ,从人精子外部致密纤维蛋白相关基因SPAG4(spermantigen 4)和小鼠精母细胞中表达的AK0 0 62 2 5基因出发 ,找到两个人类EST ,BG72 0 5 64和AI70 0 45 4,其中BG72 0 5 64在人睾丸中表达。运用“间隙填充法”填平这两个EST之间的间隙 ,从人睾丸文库中快速克隆了同源于SPAG4和AK0 0 62 2 5基因的人类TSARG4基因 (testisandspermatogenesisrelatedgene 4) (GenBank登录号为AF40 13 5 0 ) ,并用RT PCR对该基因阅读框进行验证。TSARG4基因全长 12 5 2bp ,开放阅读框为 94～ 12 3 3bp ,定位于 2 0q11.2 ,推定编码 3 79个氨基酸 ,预计分子量为 43 0 81.45 ,等电点为 8.61,该基因与小鼠精母细胞基因AK0 0 62 2 5编码的氨基酸序列同源性 74% ,与人类SPAG4基因编码的氨基酸序列同源性 45 %。RT PCR表明人类TSARG4基因在多个组织中均有表达 ,而同源的小鼠AK0 0 62 2 5基因仅在睾丸中表达     

集胞蓝藻PCC6803含疏水亚基的NAD（P）H脱氢酶亚复合体的分离

利用离子交换与凝胶过滤层析 ,从n dodecylβ D maltoside(DM)处理的集胞蓝藻SynechocystisPCC6 80 3细胞粗提液中 ,首次分离到两个包含NDH疏水亚基NdhA的亚复合体。酶活性分析表明 ,分离到的NDH亚复合体具有NADPH 氮蓝四唑 (NBT)氧化还原酶活性 ,以NADPH为电子供体可以还原铁氰化钾、二溴百里香醌 (DBMIB)、二氯酚靛酚 (DCPIP)、duroquinone以及UQ 0等质醌类电子受体。     

A Robust Genome‐Wide Scan Statistic of the Wellcome Trust Case–Control Consortium

Summary In genome‐wide association (GWA) studies, test statistics that are efficient and robust across various genetic models are preferable, particularly for studying multiple diseases in the Wellcome Trust Case–Control Consortium ( WTCCC, 2007 , Nature 447 , 661–678). A new test statistic, the minimum of the p‐values of the trend test and Pearson's test, was considered by the WTCCC. It is referred to here as MIN2. Because the minimum of two p‐values is no longer a valid p‐value itself, the WTCCC only used it to rank single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) but did not report the p‐values of the associated SNPs when MIN2 was used for ranking. Given its importance in practice, we derive the asymptotic null distribution of MIN2, study some of its analytical properties related to GWA studies, and compare it with existing methods (the trend test, Pearson's test, MAX3, and the constrained likelihood ratio test [CLRT]) by simulations across a wide range of possible genetic models: the recessive (REC), additive (ADD), multiplicative (MUL), dominant (DOM), and overdominant models. The results show that MAX3 and CLRT have greater efficiency robustness than other tests when the REC, ADD/MUL, and DOM models are possible, whereas Pearson's test and MIN2 have greater efficiency robustness if the possible genetic models also include the overdominant model. We conclude that robust tests (MAX3, MIN2, CLRT, and Pearson's test) are preferable to a single trend test for initial GWA studies. The four robust tests are applied to more than 100 SNPs associated with 11 common diseases identified by the two WTCCC GWA studies.     

Neuroprotective Potential of Fasudil Mesylate in Brain Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury of Rats

We previously reported that inhibition of Rho-kinase (ROCK) by hydroxyl fasudil improves cognitive deficit and neuronal damage in rats with chronic cerebral ischemia (Huang et al., Cell Mol Neurobiol 28:757–768, 2008). In this study, fasudil mesylate (FM) was investigated for its neuroprotective potential in rats with ischemia following middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and reperfusion. The effect of fasudil mesylate was also studied in rat brain cortical and hippocampal slices treated with oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) injury. Gross anatomy showed that cerebral infarct size, measured with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining, was significantly smaller in the FM-treated than in the non-FM-treated ischemic rats. In the brain regions vulnerable to ischemia of ischemic rats, fasudil mesylate was also found to significantly restore the enzyme protein expression level of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which was decreased in ischemia. However, it remarkably reduced the protein synthesis of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) that was induced by ischemia and reperfusion. In rat brain slices treated with OGD injury, fasudil mesylate increased the neuronal cell viability by 40% for cortex and by 61% for hippocampus, respectively. Finally, in the presence of OGD and fasudil mesylate, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was increased by 50% for cortex and by 58% for hippocampus, compared to OGD only group. In conclusion, our in vivo study showed that fasudil mesylate not only decreased neurological deficit but also reduced cerebral infarct size, possibly and at least partially by augmenting eNOS protein expression and inhibiting iNOS protein expression after ischemia-reperfusion. Xian-Ju Huang contributed equally to this article.     

Combination of Dexamethasone and Aminoguanidine Reduces Secondary Damage in Compression Spinal Cord Injury

The study was performed to investigate the effect of combination therapy with aminoguanidine (AG) and dexamethasone (DEX) on the compression spinal cord injury (SCI) in rat. Compared to the control group, the combination therapy group with AG (75 mg/kg) and DEX (0.025 mg/kg) significantly reduced the degree of (1) spinal cord edema, (2) the permeability of blood spinal cord barrier (measured by ^99mTc-Albumin), (3) infiltration of neutrophils (MPO evaluation), (4) cytokines expression (tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β), and (5) apoptosis (measured by Bax and Bcl-2 expression). In addition, we have also clearly demonstrated that the combination therapy significantly ameliorated the recovery of limb function (evaluated by motor recovery score). Taken together, our results clearly indicated for the first time that strategies targeting multiple proinflammatory pathways may be more effective than a single effector molecule for the treatment of SCI.     

Proteome alteration of U251 human astrocytoma cell after inhibiting retinoic acid synthesis

Retinoic acid (Ra) is crucial for the patterning and neuronal differentiation in the central nervous system (CNS). Ra deficiency in animals disrupts the motor activities and memory abilities. The molecular mechanisms underlying these behavior abnormalities remain largely unknown. In the current study, we treated the astrocytoma cells with citral, an inhibitor of Ra synthesis. We analyzed the differences in the protein concentrations between the treated and untreated astrocytoma cells by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE), Imagemaster software, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). In total, 39 of 46 altered protein spots with significant mascot scores were identified representing 36 proteins, that were involved in significantly altered glutamate metabolism, lipid metabolism, mitochrondrial function, and oxidative stress response by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA). Altered 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) was also observed in western blot. These data provide some clues for explaining the behavioral changes caused by Ra deficiency, and support the hypothesis that Ra signaling is associated with some symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders and schizophrenia.