The sex determination gene shows no founder effect in the giant honey bee, Apis dorsata

Background

All honey bee species (Apis spp) share the same sex determination mechanism using the complementary sex determination (csd) gene. Only individuals heterogeneous at the csd allele develop into females, and the homozygous develop into diploid males, which do not survive. The honeybees are therefore under selection pressure to generate new csd alleles. Previous studies have shown that the csd gene is under balancing selection. We hypothesize that due to the long separation from the mainland of Hainan Island, China, that the giant honey bees (Apis dorsata) should show a founder effect for the csd gene, with many different alleles clustered together, and these would be absent on the mainland.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We sampled A. dorsata workers from both Hainan and Guangxi Provinces and then cloned and sequenced region 3 of the csd gene and constructed phylogenetic trees. We failed to find any clustering of the csd alleles according to their geographical origin, i.e. the Hainan and Guangxi samples did not form separate clades. Further analysis by including previously published csd sequences also failed to show any clade-forming in both the Philippines and Malaysia.

Conclusions/Significance

Results from this study and those from previous studies did not support the expectations of a founder effect. We conclude that because of the extremely high mating frequency of A. dorsata queens, a founder effect does not apply in this species.     

药物筛选生物技术与抗细胞凋亡PI3K信号传导路径

细胞信号传导PI3K-Akt路径涉及细胞周期、再生、分化、衰老与凋亡的调控,采用高通量生物技术分析基因表达谱可用于抗肿瘤或抗衰老的基因与药物筛选.化学诱变剂甲磺酸乙酯(ethlmethane sulformate, EMS)处理CHO细胞,筛选到抗10 μM、20 μM浓度lovastatin的E10、E20突变细胞系,将E10细胞再经诱变剂EMS处理,筛选到抗70 μM浓度lovastatin的ZE70细胞系.Igf-2刺激基因突变的肌肉萎缩小鼠肌肉细胞系,Western免疫杂交试验结果显示,PI3K-Akt路径的Akt蛋白质磷酸化功能正常.生长因子Igf-2刺激肌肉细胞系C2C12的cDNA基因芯片实验表明,促细胞再生、分化相关的基因表达上调,细胞凋亡相关的基因表达下调.细胞的基因突变,激素、Igf-2等生长因子刺激,往往是肿瘤发生的病因;但是,Igf-2等可用于抗肌肉萎缩疾病,以及抗细胞凋亡与衰老的药物筛选.     

Bioleaching of chalcopyrite concentrate by a moderately thermophilic culture in a stirred tank reactor

A mixed culture of moderately thermophilic microorganisms was enriched from acid mine drainage samples collected from several chalcopyrite mines in China. Such mixed culture can be used to effectively extract copper from chalcopyrite. Furthermore, after being adapted to gradually increased concentration of chalcopyrite concentrate, the tolerance of the mixed culture to chalcopyrite concentrate was brought up to 80 g/L. The effects of several leaching parameters on copper recovery in stirred tank reactor also had been investigated. The results of the investigation show that it was possible to achieve a copper extraction rate of 75% in 44 days at a pulp density of 8%. The leaching rate of chalcopyrite concentrate tended to increase with dissolved total iron concentration. At low pH ranges, more microscopic counts of microorganisms were found in the solution. Furthermore, the analysis of leached residues indicates that the passivation of chalcopyrite concentrate was mainly due to a mass of jarosite and PbSO(4) on the mineral surface, other than the elemental sulphur layer. The bacterial community composition was analyzed by using Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis. Two moderately thermophilic bacteria species were identified as Leptospirillum ferriphilum and Acidithiobacillus caldus with abundance of 67% and 33% in the bio-pulp, respectively.     

制霉菌素抗性筛选高活性苎麻脱胶菌诱变菌株

利用制霉菌素抗性筛选高渗透性突变株,提高黑曲霉菌对苎麻纤维的脱胶能力,使微生物脱胶能用于工业生产实践之中.分别用紫外线、硫酸二乙酯、亚硝酸作为诱变剂对黑曲霉3.0.2菌株进行诱变处理.以制霉菌素抗性为遗传标记,从突变菌株中定向筛选得到一株高活性苎麻脱胶菌黑曲霉3.0.2-26.在以未经刮制的苎麻韧皮为主要碳源,0.7%(NH_4)_2SO_4为氮源,添加00.5%KCl;00.5%MgSO_4;0.1%K_2HPO_4; 0.1%酵母膏;Tween80 0.1%的培养液中,接入黑曲霉3.0.2-26,置30℃下,150 r/min处理30 h左右,脱胶苎麻纤维的残胶率平均为14.43%.     

推进组织学与胚胎学双语教学培养高素质医学人材——双语教学改革阶段性成果简介

经过两年多的组织学与胚胎学双语教学改革,我们在双语教学大纲编写、课程设置、教材建设、教学工作安排和学生考试等方面,已取得了阶段性的成果,达到了学校批准立项的教学改革专项（双语课程建设）研究课题预期目标,为我们进一步完善组织学与胚胎学双语教学改革打下了坚实的基础。     

昆虫消化酶抑制剂与害虫防治

生物源昆虫消化酶抑制剂主要包括蛋白酶抑制剂和淀粉酶抑制剂。昆虫消化酶抑制剂能通过降低或抑制昆虫蛋白酶或淀粉酶的活性,而影响昆虫的正常生长发育,使其生长缓慢,虚弱,甚至导致死亡。本文就生物源昆虫消化酶抑制剂对昆虫生化、生理代谢和生长发育的影响,消化酶抑制剂的作用机理,植物中昆虫消化酶抑制剂的诱导产生等进行了介绍。同时,探讨了生物源蛋白酶和淀粉酶抑制剂在害虫防治中的应用前景。     

Challenges for simultaneous nitrification, denitrification, and phosphorus removal in microbial aggregates: mass transfer limitation and nitrous oxide production

The microbial community composition and activity was investigated in aggregates from a lab-scale bioreactor, in which nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal occurred simultaneously. The biomass was highly enriched for polyphosphate accumulating organisms facilitating complete removal of phosphorus from the bulk liquid; however, some inorganic nitrogen still remained at the end of the reactor cycle. This was ascribed to incomplete coupling of nitrification and denitrification causing NO(3)(-) accumulation. After 2 h of aeration, denitrification was dependent on the activity of nitrifying bacteria facilitating the formation of anoxic zones in the aggregates; hence, denitrification could not occur without simultaneous nitrification towards the end of the reactor cycle. Nitrous oxide was identified as a product of denitrification, when based on stored PHA as carbon source. This observation is of critical importance to the outlook of applying PHA-driven denitrification in activated sludge processes.     

P-Selectin-mediated acute inflammation can be blocked by chemically modified heparin, RO-heparin

Selectins are carbohydrate-binding cell adhesion molecules that play a major role in the initiation of inflammatory responses. Heparin can bind to P-selectin, and its anti-inflammatory property is mainly due to inhibition of P-selectin. However, the strong anticoagulant activity of heparin limits its clinical use. We prepared periodate-oxidized, borohydride-reduced heparin (RO-heparin) by chemical modification and tested its anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory activities. Activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) assays showed that, compared with heparin, RO-heparin had greatly reduced anticoagulant activity. Intravenous administration of this compound led to reduction in the peritoneal infiltration of neutrophils in a mouse acute inflammation model. In vitro cell adhesion experiments demonstrated that the effect of RO-heparin on inflammatory responses was mainly due to inhibiting the interaction of P-selectin with its ligands. These results indicate that RO-heparin may be a safer treatment for inflammation than heparin, especially when selectin is targeted.     

Overview of the HUPO Plasma Proteome Project: results from the pilot phase with 35 collaborating laboratories and multiple analytical groups, generating a core dataset of 3020 proteins and a publicly-available database

HUPO initiated the Plasma Proteome Project (PPP) in 2002. Its pilot phase has (1) evaluated advantages and limitations of many depletion, fractionation, and MS technology platforms; (2) compared PPP reference specimens of human serum and EDTA, heparin, and citrate-anti-coagulated plasma; and (3) created a publicly-available knowledge base (www.bioinformatics.med.umich.edu/hupo/ppp; www.ebi.ac.uk/pride). Thirty-five participating laboratories in 13 countries submitted datasets. Working groups addressed (a) specimen stability and protein concentrations; (b) protein identifications from 18 MS/MS datasets; (c) independent analyses from raw MS-MS spectra; (d) search engine performance, subproteome analyses, and biological insights; (e) antibody arrays; and (f) direct MS/SELDI analyses. MS-MS datasets had 15 710 different International Protein Index (IPI) protein IDs; our integration algorithm applied to multiple matches of peptide sequences yielded 9504 IPI proteins identified with one or more peptides and 3020 proteins identified with two or more peptides (the Core Dataset). These proteins have been characterized with Gene Ontology, InterPro, Novartis Atlas, OMIM, and immunoassay-based concentration determinations. The database permits examination of many other subsets, such as 1274 proteins identified with three or more peptides. Reverse protein to DNA matching identified proteins for 118 previously unidentified ORFs. We recommend use of plasma instead of serum, with EDTA (or citrate) for anticoagulation. To improve resolution, sensitivity and reproducibility of peptide identifications and protein matches, we recommend combinations of depletion, fractionation, and MS/MS technologies, with explicit criteria for evaluation of spectra, use of search algorithms, and integration of homologous protein matches. This Special Issue of PROTEOMICS presents papers integral to the collaborative analysis plus many reports of supplementary work on various aspects of the PPP workplan. These PPP results on complexity, dynamic range, incomplete sampling, false-positive matches, and integration of diverse datasets for plasma and serum proteins lay a foundation for development and validation of circulating protein biomarkers in health and disease.