乙型脑炎病毒sA14-14-2株NS1基因片段的克隆、测序与表达

以流行性乙型脑炎病毒减弱毒株SA14－14－2的基因组RNA为模板,采用RT－PCR技术扩增其NS1基因的cDNA,将其克隆到pMD18-T载体中,得到克隆质粒pMD18-T-NS1.pMD18-T-NS1经EcoRI和SalI酶切后,回收NS1片段克隆到原核表达载体pET-28a( )EcoRI/SalI位点,构建了重组原核表达质粒pET-28a（＋）－NS1。转化大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）,IPTG诱导诱导获得高效表达。产物经SDS－PAGE电泳结果显示,表达产物分子量约为45kD。Western blotting分析表明产物具有抗原活性。     

Systematics of a Kleptoplastidal Dinoflagellate,Gymnodinium eucyaneum Hu (Dinophyceae), and Its Cryptomonad Endosymbiont

New specimens of the kleptoplastidal dinoflagellate Gymnodinium eucyaneum Hu were collected in China. We investigated the systematics of the dinoflagellate and the origin of its endosymbiont based on light morphology and phylogenetic analyses using multiple DNA sequences. Cells were dorsoventrally flattened with a sharply acute hypocone and a hemispherical epicone. The confusion between G. eucyaneum and G. acidotum Nygaard still needs to be resolved. We found that the hypocone was conspicuously larger than the epicone in most G. eucyaneum cells, which differed from G. acidotum, but there were a few cells whose hypocone and epicone were of nearly the same size. In addition, there was only one site difference in the partial nuclear LSU rDNA sequences of a sample from Japan given the name G. acidotum and G. eucyaneum in the present study, which suggest that G. eucyaneum may be a synonym of G. acidotum. Spectroscopic analyses and phylogenetic analyses based on nucleomorph SSU rDNA sequences and chloroplast 23 s rDNA sequences suggested that the endosymbiont of G. eucyaneum was derived from Chroomonas (Cryptophyta), and that it was most closely related to C. coerulea Skuja. Moreover, the newly reported kleptoplastidal dinoflagellates G. myriopyrenoides and G. eucyaneum in our study were very similar, and the taxonomy of kleptoplastidal dinoflagellates was discussed.     

The terminal phase of cytokinesis in the Caenorhabditis elegans early embryo requires protein glycosylation

RNA interference (RNAi) was used to characterize the requirement of protein glycosylation for cell membrane stability during cytokinesis in the early embryo. This screen targeted 13 enzymes or components of polypeptide sugar transferases that initiate either N-glycosylation or three different pathways of O-glycosylation. RNAi of genes in the mucin-type and epidermal growth factor-fringe glycosylation pathways did not affect cytokinesis. However, embryos deficient in N-glycosylation exhibited a variable inability to complete cytokinesis. The most potent block in early embryonic cell division was obtained by RNAi of the polypeptide xylose transferase (ppXyl-T), which is required to initiate the proteoglycan modification pathway. Two generations of ppXyl-T RNAi-feeding treatment reduced the body size, mobility, brood size, and life span of adult animals. Embryos escaping ppXyl-T and Gal-T2 RNAi lethality develop to adulthood but have cytokinesis-deficient offspring, suggesting that glycosyltransferases in the proteoglycan pathway are maternal proteins in the early embryo. Gal-T2::GFP fusions and anti-Gal-T2 antibodies revealed a perinuclear staining pattern, consistent with the localization of the Golgi apparatus. RNAi in green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged strains to follow tubulin, PIE-1, and chromatin showed that deficient proteoglycan biosynthesis uncouples the stability of newly formed cell membranes from cytokinesis, whereas cleavage furrow initiation, mitotic spindle function, karyokinesis, and partitioning of intrinsic components are intact.     

Phase patterns of neuronal responses reliably discriminate speech in human auditory cortex

How natural speech is represented in the auditory cortex constitutes a major challenge for cognitive neuroscience. Although many single-unit and neuroimaging studies have yielded valuable insights about the processing of speech and matched complex sounds, the mechanisms underlying the analysis of speech dynamics in human auditory cortex remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the phase pattern of theta band (4-8 Hz) responses recorded from human auditory cortex with magnetoencephalography (MEG) reliably tracks and discriminates spoken sentences and that this discrimination ability is correlated with speech intelligibility. The findings suggest that an approximately 200 ms temporal window (period of theta oscillation) segments the incoming speech signal, resetting and sliding to track speech dynamics. This hypothesized mechanism for cortical speech analysis is based on the stimulus-induced modulation of inherent cortical rhythms and provides further evidence implicating the syllable as a computational primitive for the representation of spoken language.     

西南喀斯特地区石漠化时空演变过程分析

喀斯特地区石漠化对当地社会经济的可持续发展有严重的阻碍作用,因此,研究喀斯特石漠化时空特征及演变规律,对石漠化治理有着重要的意义。以西南八省为研究区,利用归一化差分植被指数（Normalized Difference Vegetation,NDVI）、净初级生产力（Net Primary Productivity,NPP）、地表反照率（Surface Albedo）和坡度（Slope）数据,借助ArcGIS等软件平台,分析石漠化在不同的坡度、土地利用和生态保护区内的变化。结果显示：（1）轻度和中度石漠化是西南主要的石漠化类型。从空间分布来看,石漠化发生分布面积最广的是贵州,其次为云南和广西。（2）从不同土地利用来看,2000-2015年间无石漠化面积最多,潜在石漠化次之。石漠化主要发生在耕地和林地两种土地类型上,其他用地上石漠化发生面积最少,但是极重度石漠化在其他用地上的发生比例很大,平均在11%左右。（3）从不同坡度来看,石漠化严重程度不随坡度的增加而加剧,在坡度6°-25°之间石漠化发生面积最大。（4）从生态保护区来看,2000和2015年西南喀斯特生态保护区是石漠化面积分布最多的区域,分别为27481.86 km²和21738.65 km²。最少的是大别山山地生态功能保护区,从变化量来看,增加最多的是三峡库区,增加1641.22 km²,减少最多的是西南喀斯特生态功能保护区,减少5743.22 km²。（5）利用NPP、NDVI、地表反照率和坡度能较精准的反演石漠化,其反演权重依次为0.33、0.42、0.15和0.1。研究时段内,西南生态环境逐渐得到改善。     

Prostaglandins as endogenous mediators of interleukin 1 production

We examined the role of cyclooxygenase (CO)-derived metabolites of arachidonic acid (AA) in the regulation of interleukin 1 (IL 1) production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine resident peritoneal macrophages. The use of LPS proved to be an efficacious probe, because it stimulated both IL 1 production and AA metabolism via only the CO pathway. The production of the CO metabolites prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and prostaglandin I2 (PGI2; measured as its stable metabolite 6-Keto prostaglandin F1 alpha) by LPS-stimulated macrophages was demonstrated by high pressure liquid chromatography and radioimmunoassay. The addition of exogenous PGE2 or PGI2 resulted in a dose-dependent suppression of macrophage IL 1 production. Inhibitors of the CO pathway (indomethacin, piroxicam, and ibuprofen) caused a dose-dependent augmentation in the LPS-induced IL 1 response. This augmentation directly correlated with the efficacy of the compounds as CO inhibitors. Similar results were found when macrophage-derived fibroblast growth factor was assessed. The addition of exogenous IL 1 to macrophage cultures caused an increase in the levels of PGE2, over a narrow dose range (0.05 to 0.6 IL 1 units). These studies provide detailed evidence that AA metabolites synthesized via the CO pathway can modulate the production of growth factors by LPS-stimulated macrophages. In addition, our data support the concept that IL 1, as with classical hormones, can regulate its own production through a self-induced inhibitor, PGE2.     

A Genome-Wide Scan Reveals Important Roles of DNA Methylation in Human Longevity by Regulating Age-Related Disease Genes

It is recognized that genetic factors contribute to human longevity. Besides the hypothesis of existence of longevity genes, another suggests that a lower frequency of risk alleles decreases the incidence of age-related diseases in the long-lived people. However, the latter finds no support from recent genetic studies. Considering the crucial role of epigenetic modification in gene regulation, we then hypothesize that suppressing disease-related genes in longevity individuals is likely achieved by epigenetic modification, e.g. DNA methylation. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the genome-wide methylation profile in 4 Chinese female centenarians and 4 middle-aged controls using methyl-DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing. 626 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were observed between both groups. Interestingly, genes with these DMRs were enriched in age-related diseases, including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. This pattern remains rather stable after including methylomes of two white individuals. Further analyses suggest that the observed DMRs likely have functional roles in regulating disease-associated gene expressions, with some genes [e.g. caspase 3 (CASP3)] being down-regulated whereas the others [i.e. interleukin 1 receptor, type 2 (IL1R2)] up-regulated. Therefore, our study suggests that suppressing the disease-related genes via epigenetic modification is an important contributor to human longevity.