黑腹果蝇单胚培养技术的建立

过硬单胚培养十一项特殊的技术,运用此技术可以从果蝇单个原肠胚（同一基因型）中提取细胞进行体外培养,科观察到各种细胞的分化过程,从而能研究导致发生异常或致死突变的机制。通过反复摸索实验,我们在本实验室的条件下,建立了黑腹果蝇（D. melanogaster）单胚培养技术,并对野生型（Canton special, CS.）果蝇的单胚细胞进行体外培养,观察到了各种细胞,如肌肉细胞、神经细胞、脂肪细胞、以及成虫盘等的分化及其发生规律性,为今后研究突变奠定了基础。实验过程中,我们采用了载玻片法和培养皿法。两种方法各有特点及利弊,本文一并进行讨论。Abstract:We can culture the cells of single gastrula (the gene type of cells is same) in vitro,we now have cstablished the technique of single embryo culture in Drosophila.We have seen the differentiated state of myocytes, neurocytes,hemocyte cells,epithelical cells and imagical disk by this technique.     

因子Ⅷ基因突变的研究进展

凝血因子Ⅷ（FⅧ）是内源性凝血系统中一重要的辅助因子,由于基因缺陷而引起的Ａ型血友病是一种常见的遗传性出血性疾病.近几年来,由于FⅧ基因的阐明及成功的表达,从而使其基因突变的研究得以深入而广泛地展开.文章对这方面最新的研究进展及其采用的新技术作了较全面的介绍,这是迄今遗传性疾病基因缺陷研究中最深入、最完整的一个范例.     

Influence of the exclusion distance among trees on gap fraction and foliage clumping index of forest plantations

Key message

A hypergeometric model is proposed explicitly instead of two previous stochastic models (the Poisson model and Neyman-A model) to describe the topological relationship of trees and the influence of the exclusion distance on gap fraction and clumping index of forest plantation canopies.

Abstract

Gap fraction (GF) and clumping index (CI) play key roles in plant light interception, and therefore they have strong impacts on plant growth and canopy radiative transfer processes. Trees are usually assumed to be randomly distributed in natural forests in many previous studies. However, few studies have shown how trees are distributed in forest plantations and how these distribution patterns affect GF and CI in these forests. In this paper, a simple and general distance factor defined as relative allowable shortest distance between centers of two adjacent crowns divided by the mean diameter of the crowns (RASD) is proposed to describe quantitatively the degree of mutual exclusion among trees in forest plantations of various tree distribution patterns. A hypergeometric model is proposed instead of two previous stochastic tree distribution models (the Poisson model and Neyman-A model) to describe the topological relationship of trees and the influences of the exclusion distance on the GF and CI of the forest plantation canopies. The results show that: (1) the hypergeometric model is more suitable than the Poisson model and Neyman-A model for describing the topological relationship of trees in forest plantations; (2) the exclusion distance has strong impacts on GF and CI: there are significant differences between the results of the hypergeometric model and the Poisson model. Larger RASD causes lower GF and larger CI. The simulations are verified by field measurements in four forest plantation stands. Similarly, impacts of RASD on GF and CI are also found for other two crown shapes (prolate and oblate ellipsoids).

     

New insights into the history of domesticated and wild apricots and its contribution to Plum pox virus resistance

Studying domesticated species and their wild relatives allows understanding of the mechanisms of population divergence and adaptation, and identifying valuable genetic resources. Apricot is an important fruit in the Northern hemisphere, where it is threatened by the Plum pox virus (PPV), causing the sharka disease. The histories of apricot domestication and of its resistance to sharka are however still poorly understood. We used 18 microsatellite markers to genotype a collection of 230 wild trees from Central Asia and 142 cultivated apricots as representatives of the worldwide cultivated apricot germplasm; we also performed experimental PPV inoculation tests. The genetic markers revealed highest levels of diversity in Central Asian and Chinese wild and cultivated apricots, confirming an origin in this region. In cultivated apricots, Chinese accessions were differentiated from more Western accessions, while cultivated apricots were differentiated from wild apricots. An approximate Bayesian approach indicated that apricots likely underwent two independent domestication events, with bottlenecks, from the same wild population. Central Asian native apricots exhibited genetic subdivision and high frequency of resistance to sharka. Altogether, our results contribute to the understanding of the domestication history of cultivated apricot and point to valuable genetic diversity in the extant genetic resources of wild apricots.     

Rotavirus-encoded virus-like small RNA triggers autophagy by targeting IGF1R via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway

Rotaviruses are double-stranded RNA viruses that are a major cause of viral diarrhea in infants. Examining virus–host cell interaction is important for elucidating mechanisms of virus proliferation in host cells. Viruses can create an environment that promotes their survival and self-proliferation by encoding miRNAs or miRNA-like molecules that target various host cell. However, it remains unclear whether RNA viruses encode viral miRNAs, and their regulation mechanisms are largely unknown. We previously performed deep sequencing analysis to investigate rotavirus-encoded miRNAs, and identified the small RNA molecule Chr17_1755, which we named RV-vsRNA1755. In our present study, we determined that RV-vsRNA1755 is encoded by the rotavirus NSP4 gene and that it targets the host cell IGF1R, which is part of the PI3K/Akt pathway. We further explored the biological characteristics and functions of RV-vsRNA1755.Our results suggest that rotavirus adapts to manipulate PI3K/Akt signaling at early phases of infection. RV-vsRNA1755 targets IGF1R, blockading the PI3K/Akt pathway and triggering autophagy, but it ultimately inhibits autophagy maturation. A mechanism through which rotavirus encodes a virus-like small RNA (RV-vsRNA1755) that triggers autophagy by targeting the host cell IGF1R gene was revealed. These data provide a theoretical basis for therapeutic drug screening targeting RV-vsRNA1755.