Roscovitine对C型尼曼-皮克病小鼠球状神经轴突形成的影响

目的探讨细胞周期依赖性蛋白激酶抑制剂roscovitine对C型尼曼-皮克病(NPC)小鼠(npc-/-)球状神经轴突形成的影响。方法采用不同浓度的roscovitine(72,144,300 and 600nmoles/day)对5.5周龄的npc-/-小鼠进行两周侧脑室灌注,以DMSO灌注的同龄npc-/-小鼠为对照。抗非磷酸化神经细丝蛋白抗体SMI32和抗有丝分裂期磷酸化表位抗体MPM-2免疫染色检测小鼠脑内球状神经轴突的数量,Western blot检测细胞骨架蛋白磷酸化程度的变化。结果Roscovitine组球状神经轴突数量较DMSO组显著减少,神经细丝和tau蛋白的过度磷酸化程度较对照组明显下降(P<0.05)。结论细胞周期依赖性蛋白激酶抑制剂能明显改善NPC的神经元细胞骨架损害。     

Comparative Analysis of the Mitochondrial Genomes of Callitettixini Spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) Confirms the Overall High Evolutionary Speed of the AT-Rich Region but Reveals the Presence of Short Conservative Elements at the Tribal Level

The present study compares the mitochondrial genomes of five species of the spittlebug tribe Callitettixini (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Cercopidae) from eastern Asia. All genomes of the five species sequenced are circular double-stranded DNA molecules and range from 15,222 to 15,637 bp in length. They contain 22 tRNA genes, 13 protein coding genes (PCGs) and 2 rRNA genes and share the putative ancestral gene arrangement of insects. The PCGs show an extreme bias of nucleotide and amino acid composition. Significant differences of the substitution rates among the different genes as well as the different codon position of each PCG are revealed by the comparative evolutionary analyses. The substitution speeds of the first and second codon position of different PCGs are negatively correlated with their GC content. Among the five species, the AT-rich region features great differences in length and pattern and generally shows a 2–5 times higher substitution rate than the fastest PCG in the mitochondrial genome, atp8. Despite the significant variability in length, short conservative segments were identified in the AT-rich region within Callitettixini, although absent from the other groups of the spittlebug superfamily Cercopoidea.     

RNAi干扰Ska2对H1299细胞增殖、迁移及侵袭能力的影响

Ska2（spindle and kinetochore associated complex subunit2）,又称FAM33A（family with sequence similarity33,member A）,是新近发现的一个与细胞周期调控和肿瘤发生发展紧密相关的基瓯且与该团队前期发现的新基NPRR11（proline rich 11）共享一个双向启动子。但是,Ska2在肺癌中的具体作用和分子机制仍不清楚。该研究选用肺癌细胞系H1299,采用RNAi技术构建Ska2基因沉默的稳定细胞株,并进行了细胞表型和潜在分子机制分析。RT-PCR和Western blot结果表明,Ska2在mRNA和蛋白质水平上的表达均被有效抑制。细胞增殖、细胞迁移和侵袭实验结果表明,与对照细胞相比,Ska2基因沉默稳定细胞株的细胞增殖能力、细胞迁移和侵袭能力均显著降低。此外,Ska2基因被沉默后,CCNA1基因的表达显著下调。该研究的结果提示,Ska2与其对侧基因PRR11的功能高度相关,可能与PRR11共同参与肺癌细胞增殖、迁移和侵袭行为的调节。     

Crystal structure of Thermus caldophilus phosphoglycerate kinase in the open conformation

Phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) is a key glycolytic enzyme that catalyzes the reversible transfer of a phosphate from 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate to ADP to form 3-phosphoglycerate and ATP in the presence of magnesium. During catalysis, a conformational change occurs that brings the N- and C-domains of PGK closer together. Here we present the 1.8A crystal structure of unliganded PGK from Thermus caldophilus (Tca). Comparison of the structure of TcaPGK (open conformation) with that of Thermotoga maritima (Tma) PGK (closed conformation) revealed that the conformational change reflects a change in the interaction between the domains. We identified Arg148 as a key residue involved in open-to-closed transition. The open conformation of TcaPGK is stabilized by an interdomain salt bridge between Arg148 and Glu375. The binding of 3-PG (or maybe 1,3-BPG) disrupts this salt bridge and, in ternary complex, the formation of new salt bridge between Arg60 and Asp197 stabilizes the closed conformation.     

Linking seed germination and plant height: a case study of a wetland community on the eastern Tibet Plateau

• Seed germination is the earliest trait expressed in a plant's life history, and it can directly affect the expression of post‐germination traits. Plant height is central to plant ecological strategies, because it is a major determinant of the ability of a species to compete for light. Thus, linking seed germination and plant height at the community level is very important to understanding plant fitness and community structure.
• Here, we tested storage condition and temperature requirements for germination of 31 species from a wetland plant community on the eastern Tibet Plateau and analysed correlation of germination traits with plant height in relation to storage condition.
• Germination percentage was positively related to plant height, and this relationship disappeared when seeds were incubated at a low temperature (i.e. 5 °C) or after they were stored under wet‐cold conditions. The response of seeds to dry+wet–cold storage was negatively related to plant height. Based on the scores of each species on the first two principal components derived from PCA, species were classified into two categories by hierarchical clustering, and there was a significant difference between germination and plant height of species in these two categories.
• These results suggest that the requirements for seed germination together with seasonal change in environmental conditions determine the window for germination and, in turn, plant growth season and resource utilisation and ultimately plant height.

     

Chronic restraint stress disturbs meiotic resumption through APC/C-mediated cyclin B1 excessive degradation in mouse oocytes

Psychological stress, which exerts detrimental effects on human reproduction, may compromise the meiotic competence of oocytes. Meiotic resumption, germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), is the first milestone to confer meiotic competence to oocytes. In the practice of assisted reproductive technology (ART), the timing for GVBD is associated with the rates of cleavage and blastocyst formation. However, whether chronic stress compromises oocyte competence by influencing GVBD and the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In the present study, a chronic restraint stress (CRS) mouse model was used to investigate the effects of stress on oocyte meiotic resumption, as well as the mechanisms. Following a 4-week chronic restraint stress in female mice, the percentage of abnormal bipolar spindles increased and indicated compromised oocyte competence in the CRS group. Furthermore, we identified a decreased percentage of GVBD and prolonged time of GVBD in the CRS mouse oocytes compared with the control group. CRS simultaneously reduced the expression of cyclin B1 (CCNB1), which represents a regulatory subunit of M-phase/mature promoting factor (MPF). However, MG132, an inhibitor of anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C), could rescue the prolonged time of GVBD and increase the expression level of CCNB1 of oocytes from the CRS mice. Collectively, our results demonstrated that stress disturbed meiotic resumption through APC/C-mediated CCNB1 degradation, thus providing a novel understanding for stress-related oocyte quality decline; moreover, it may provide a non-invasive approach to select high-quality gametes and novel targets for molecular therapy to treat stress-related female infertility.