Clonal crayfish as biological model: a review on marbled crayfish

Since the mid-twentieth century, numerous vertebrates and invertebrates have been used as model organisms and become indispensable tools for exploring a broad range of biological and ecological processes. Crayfish seem to be adequate models which resulted in their involvement in research. In the two decades since its discovery, ongoing research has confirmed that the marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis Lyko, 2017) is an ideal taxon in this regard, especially due to its almost continuous asexual reproduction providing a source of genetically identical offspring. This review provides an overview of the occurrence, biology, ecology, ethology, and human exploitation of marbled crayfish with primary focus on its use as a laboratory model organism as well as potential risks to native biota in case of its introduction. Genetic uniformity, ease of culture, and a broad behaviour repertoire fosters the use of marbled crayfish in epigenetics and developmental biology, as well as physiological, ecotoxicological, and ethological research. Marbled crayfish could be further exploited for basic and applied fields of science such as evolutionary biology and clonal tumour evolution. However, due to its high invasive potential in freshwater environments security measures must be taken to prevent its escape into the wild.     

环境胁迫和抗坏血酸的氧化还原状态

为了解环境胁迫对植物体中抗坏血酸含量及氧化还原状态的影响,以不同强度的冰冻和干旱两种胁迫为例,研究了它们对沈阳几种针叶树离体叶抗坏血酸、脱氢抗坏血酸含量以及抗坏血酸-谷胱甘肽循环中4种酶活性的影响.结果表明,两种胁迫达到一定强度后,都能使还原态抗坏血酸含量下降而使脱氢抗坏血酸含量上升.冰冻使抗坏血酸过氧化酶和单脱氢抗坏血酸还原酶活性下降.轻度失水使这两种酶活性上升,失水加重后转而趋于下降.脱氢抗坏血酸还原酶和谷胱甘肽还原酶活性对两种胁迫反应均不如前两种酶敏感.结合以前的研究结果,认为这一H2O2清除系统在导致驯化(acclimation)的轻度胁迫作用下可以得到加强,而当胁迫强度过大时则其清除能力下降并使组织受到伤害.文中还报告了沈阳几种针叶树抗寒性和针叶中抗坏血酸含量及上述4种酶活性之间的相关关系.     

黄桃罐头产品质量Fuzzy综合鉴评

本文根据FuzzZ数学理论,运用多级模型的综合评判法,对国内20种黄桃罐头产品质量进行了优劣鉴评。并将其划分为一、二、三、四4个等级。从而为罐头产品质量鉴评,准确地汰劣遴优提供新方法。     

Immune modulation of effector CD4+ and regulatory T cell function by sorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a difficult to treat cancer characterized by poor tumor immunity with only one approved systemic drug, sorafenib. If novel combination treatments are to be developed with immunological agents, the effects of sorafenib on tumor immunity are important to understand. In this study, we investigate the impact of sorafenib on the CD4+CD25? effector T cells (Teff) and CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) from patients with HCC. We isolated Teff and Treg from peripheral mononuclear cells of HCC patients to determine immune reactivity by thymidine incorporation, ELISA and flow cytometry. Teff cultured alone or with Treg were supplemented with different concentrations of sorafenib. The effects of sorafenib on Teff responses were dose-dependent. Pharmacologic doses of sorafenib decreased Teff activation by down regulating CD25 surface expression. In contrast, sub-pharmacologic concentrations of sorafenib resulted in Teff activation. These low doses of sorafenib in the Teff cultures led to a significant increase in Teff proliferation, IL2 secretion and up-regulation of CD25 expression on the cell surface. In addition, low doses of sorafenib in the suppression Teff/Treg cocultures restored Teff responses by eliminating Treg suppression. The loss of Treg suppressive function correlated with an increase in IL2 and IL6 secretion. Our findings show that sub-pharmacologic doses of sorafenib impact subsets of T cells differently, selectively increasing Teff activation while blocking Treg function. In conclusion, this study describes novel immune activating properties of low doses of sorafenib by promoting immune responsiveness in patients with HCC.     

Protein Kinase LTRPK1 Influences Cold Adaptation and Microtubule Stability in Rice

Rice LTRPK1, which encodes a member of the casein kinase I family, has been reported to be involved in root development, hormone response, and metabolic processes. Here we further show that LTRPK1 participates in stress resistance by regulating cytoskeleton rearrangement and formation of cold tolerance and adaptation. Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed enhanced expression of LTRPK1 in plants subject to low-temperature stress at 4 °C, suggesting a role in low-temperature-related cell responses and signal transduction pathways. Further analysis of LTRPK1-deficient transgenic plants showed that under low-temperature treatment, the growth rate of transgenic plant primary roots, which is commonly used as an indicator for cold stress response abilities, was less inhibited than that of control plants. Moreover, damage to the plasma membrane of root cells in LTRPK1-deficient plants was greater than that of controls as measured by relative electrical conductivity (REC). The malondialdehyde (MDA) content of LTRPK1-deficient plants also increased over that of the control, indicating increased plasma membrane permeability. Further immunofluorescence localization observations indicated that microtubules of transgenic plants subject to low temperature disassembled more rapidly, whereas the control plant microtubules in most cells of the root elongation zone kept their normal habitus, which suggested that LTRPK1-deficient plants had reduced capacity to resist low-temperature stress through regulation of microtubule assembly. These results demonstrate involvement of LTRPK1 in low-temperature stress and provide new insight for rice breeding and germplasm innovation to improve crop cold tolerance.     

Beta-ionone is a functional plant volatile that attracts the parasitic wasp,Microplitis pallidipes

BioControl - The effects of plant volatiles on parasitoids are important with regards to the tri-trophic interactions among host plants, insect herbivores, and their natural enemies. However, the...     

Genetic Variants in Meiotic Program Initiation Pathway Genes Are Associated with Spermatogenic Impairment in a Han Chinese Population

Background

The meiotic program initiation pathway genes (CYP26B1, NANOS1 and STRA8) have been proposed to play key roles in spermatogenesis.

Objective

To elucidate the exact role of the genetic variants of the meiosis initiation genes in spermatogenesis, we genotyped the potential functional genetic variants of CYP26B1, NANOS1 and STRA8 genes, and evaluated their effects on spermatogenesis in our study population.

Design, Setting, and Participants

In this study, all subjects were volunteers from the affiliated hospitals of Nanjing Medical University between March 2004 and July 2009 (NJMU Infertile Study). Total 719 idiopathic infertile cases were recruited and divided into three groups according to WHO semen parameters: 201 azoospermia patients (no sperm in the ejaculate even after centrifugation), 155 oligozoospermia patients (sperm counts <20×10⁶/ml) and 363 infertility/normozoospermia subjects (sperm counts >20×10⁶/ml). The control group consisted of 383 subjects with normal semen parameters, all of which had fathered at least one child without assisted reproductive technologies.

Measurements

Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CYP26B1, NANOS1 and STRA8 genes were determined by TaqMan allelic discrimination assay in 719 idiopathic infertile men and 383 healthy controls.

Results and Limitations

The genetic variant rs10269148 of STRA8 gene showed higher risk of spermatogenic impairment in the groups of abnormospermia (including azoospermia subgroup and oligozoospermia subgroup) and azoospermia than the controls with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 2.52 (1.29–4.94) and 2.92 (1.41–6.06), respectively (P = 0.006, 0.002 respective). Notably, larger sample size studies and in vivo or in vitro functional studies are needed to substantiate the biological roles of these variants.

Conclusions

Our results provided epidemiological evidence supporting the involvement of genetic polymorphisms of the meiotic program initiation genes in modifying the risk of azoospermia and oligozoospermia in a Han-Chinese population.     

中国棉铃虫核型多角体病毒DNA聚合酶基因的克隆和序列分析

应用谷实夜蛾核型多角体病毒（ＨｚＳＮＰＶ）ＤＮＡ聚合酶基因ＨｉｎｄⅢ／ＰｓｔⅠ３５９６ｂｐ片段作探针,经Ｓｏｕｒｔｈｅｒｎｂｌｏｔ杂交,克隆了中国棉铃虫核型多角体病毒（ＨａＳＮＰＶ）完整的ＤＮＡ聚合酶基因,大小约为３．４ｋｂ。限制性内切酶分析表明,ＨａＳＮＰＶＤＮＡ聚合酶基因限制性内切酶图谱与ＨｚＳＮＰＶ相似。用双脱氧链终止法测定该基因部分核苷酸序列（８０５ｂｐ）,推导出编码区２０６ａ。序列同源性比较显示,ＨａＳＮＰＶＤＮＡ聚合酶与ＨｚＳＮＰＶ之间具有高度的同源性;与ＬｄＭＮＰＶ、ＡｃＭＮＰＶ、ＢｍＳＮＰＶ、ＣｆＭＮＰＶ和ＯｐＭＮＰＶ也具有一定的同源性     

Duplication and adaptive evolution of the chalcone synthase genes of Dendranthema (Asteraceae)

Chalcone synthase (CHS) is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of flavonoids, which are important for the pigmentation of flowers and act as attractants to the pollinators. Genes encoding CHS constitute a multigene family in which the copy number varies among plant species and functional divergence appears to have occurred repeatedly. Plants of the Dendranthema genus have white, yellow, and pink flowers, exhibiting considerable variation in flower color. In this article, 18 CHS genes from six Dendranthema species were sequenced. Two of them were found to be pseudogenes. The functional Dendranthema CHS genes formed three well-supported subfamilies: SF1, SF2, and SF3. The inferred phylogeny of the CHS genes of Dendranthema and Gerbera suggests that those genes originated as a result of duplications before divergence of these two genera, and the function of Dendranthema CHS genes have diverged in a similar fashion to the Gerbera CHS genes; i.e., the genes of SF1 and SF3 code for typical CHS enzymes expressed during different stages of development, whereas the genes of SF2 code for another enzyme that is different from CHS in substrate specificity and reaction. Relative rate tests revealed that the Dendranthema CHS genes significantly deviated from clocklike evolution at nonsynonymous sites. Maximum likelihood analysis showed that the nonsynonymous-synonymous (omega = d(N)/d(S)) rate ratio for the lineage ancestral to SF2 was much higher than for other lineages, with some sites having a ratio well above one. Positive selective pressure appears to have driven the divergence of SF2 from SF1 and SF3.