不同林龄杉木氮素的获取策略

为了探讨不同林龄杉木人工林氮素获取策略,选择了江西千烟洲森林生态研究站红壤区的3种林龄杉木人工林(5年生幼龄林、13年生中龄林和30年生成熟林)作为研究对象,利用稳定性同位素~(15)N示踪技术研究了它们的氮素吸收策略。结果表明,杉木对硝态氮的吸收受林龄影响,成熟林的吸收速率最高,为(5.72±0.24)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1),而中龄林和幼龄林的吸收速率相当,分别为(1.57±0.13)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1)和(2.36±0.22)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1)。幼龄林((34.33±1.20)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1))和成熟林((34.18±2.32)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1))对铵态氮的吸收速率相似,均显著高于中龄林((23.33±1.39)μg N g~(-1)干重h~(-1))。杉木对甘氨酸的吸收不受林龄的影响。3种年龄的杉木均对铵态氮表现出强的获取能力,其中成熟林杉木对硝态氮的获取能力明显弱于对铵态氮的获取,但却强于对甘氨酸的获取。这样的结果反映了林龄能影响杉木人工林对无机氮的吸收,但未影响对有机氮的吸收;杉木偏好吸收铵态氮,对硝态氮和甘氨酸的吸收很少。如果能把氮素形态考虑进对杉木人工林的施肥管理当中,那么可能会极大地改善杉木的生产力。     

Toward a phylogeny and biogeography of Diaphanosoma (Crustacea: Cladocera)

Aquatic Ecology - Diaphanosoma s.l., with 40+? described species, is the largest genus of the Sididae and the Ctenopoda, similar in many ways to the anomopod genus Daphnia. Here, we offer a c...     

Microchip-based human serum atherogenic lipoprotein profile analysis

Owing to the mounting evidence of serum lipid changes in atherosclerosis, there has been increasing interest in developing new methods for analyzing atherogenic lipoprotein profiles. The separation of lipoprotein and lipoprotein subclasses has been demonstrated using a microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) system [Chromatographia 74 (2011) 799–805]. In contrast to this previous study, the current report demonstrates that sdLDL peak efficiencies can be improved dramatically by adding gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to the sample. Moreover, NBD C₆-ceramide was identified as a satisfactory dye for specific labeling and quantitation of individual serum lipoproteins. The accuracy of the method was evaluated by comparison with ultracentrifuge separated small, dense, low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL). A high correlation was observed between these two methods for sdLDL cholesterol. Lipid levels were investigated between atherosclerotic patients and healthy controls. The variation of serum atherogenic lipoprotein profiles for atherosclerotic patients pre- and post-treatment was assessed by microchip CE. This method has potential for the rapid and sensitive detection of different lipoprotein classes as well as their subclasses and, therefore, is suitable for routine clinical applications. Microchip-based atherogenic lipoprotein profile assays will greatly improve the analysis of risk factors in atherosclerosis and will provide useful information for monitoring the effect of therapies on atherosclerotic disease.     

A Novel Immunodiagnostic Assay to Detect Serum Antibody Response against Selected Soluble Egg Antigen Fractions from Schistosoma japonicum

Background

Schistosomiasis japonica remains a real threat to public health in China. The currently used immunodiagnostic assays are sensitive and have a certain degree of specificity, however, they all use complex crude antigens, are based on detection of schistosome-specific antibodies, and have been shown to cross-react with other parasitic diseases. Therefore, these assays cannot be used to evaluate chemotherapy efficacy. The development of highly sensitive and highly specific immunodiagnostic techniques that can monitor the decline of antibodies specific for S. japonica will be extremely valuable as part of the ongoing strategy to control schistosomiasis in endemic areas. Here we report on the identification of unique fraction antigens of soluble egg antigen (SEA) to which the antibodies disappear 7 weeks after effective treatment. Furthermore, we use these SEA fractions to develop a modified assay with both high sensitivity and specificity.

Methodology/Principal Findings

SEA of S. japonicum was fractionated by electrophoresis using 7.5% SDS-PAGE under non-reducing conditions. The SEA fraction antigens to which antibodies were decreased soon after treatment were collected and used as the detection antigens to establish the FA-ELISA. Sera from patients with acute and chronic schistosomiasis infection, healthy people, and those with other parasitic diseases, were used to evaluate their sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, sera from patients with chronic schistosomiasis infection were evaluated before and after treatment at different time points to evaluate their chemotherapeutic efficacy.

Conclusion/Significance

We demonstrated that this novel FA-ELISA provided high sensitivity and specificity, with very low cross-reactivity, and can serve as an effective tool to determine the efficacy of chemotherapy against S. japonicum.     

Analysis of substrate specificity and cyclin Y binding of PCTAIRE-1 kinase

PCTAIRE-1 (cyclin-dependent kinase [CDK] 16) is a highly conserved serine/threonine kinase that belongs to the CDK family of protein kinases. Little is known regarding PCTAIRE-1 regulation and function and no robust assay exists to assess PCTAIRE-1 activity mainly due to a lack of information regarding its preferred consensus motif and the lack of bona fide substrates. We used positional scanning peptide library technology and identified the substrate-specificity requirements of PCTAIRE-1 and subsequently elaborated a peptide substrate termed PCTAIRE-tide. Recombinant PCTAIRE-1 displayed vastly improved enzyme kinetics on PCTAIRE-tide compared to a widely used generic CDK substrate peptide. PCTAIRE-tide also greatly improved detection of endogenous PCTAIRE-1 activity. Similar to other CDKs, PCTAIRE-1 requires a proline residue immediately C-terminal to the phosphoacceptor site (+1) for optimal activity. PCTAIRE-1 has a unique preference for a basic residue at +4, but not at +3 position (a key characteristic for CDKs). We also demonstrate that PCTAIRE-1 binds to a novel cyclin family member, cyclin Y, which increased PCTAIRE-1 activity towards PCTAIRE-tide >100-fold. We hypothesised that cyclin Y binds and activates PCTAIRE-1 in a way similar to which cyclin A2 binds and activates CDK2. Point mutants of cyclin Y predicted to disrupt PCTAIRE-1-cyclin Y binding severely prevented complex formation and activation of PCTAIRE-1. We have identified PCTAIRE-tide as a powerful tool to study the regulation of PCTAIRE-1. Our understanding of the molecular interaction between PCTAIRE-1 and cyclin Y further facilitates future investigation of the functions of PCTAIRE-1 kinase.