沙打旺组织培养中脱分化细胞的超微结构及细胞核的动态变化

对沙打旺的下胚轴、子叶、幼叶组织培养中脱分化细胞进行了超微结构观察,并着重讨论了细胞核的动态变化。脱分化细胞的细胞质中线粒体墙加,嵴明显;多聚核糖体增多;高尔基体增加;质体中积累淀粉。核仁与核内异染色质之间有一个动态过程。此过程暂称“核仁物质喷射“现象。在致有以下：１．核体出现,半嵌在增大的核仁上,核内异染色质沿核膜凝聚;２．异染色质移向核仁,并与核仁接触,核体消失,部分异质进入核仁;３．核仁物质     

The C9orf72-SMCR8-WDR41 complex is a GAP for small GTPases

ABSTRACT

Massive expansions of the hexanucleotide in C9orf72 are the primary genetic origins of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontal temporal dementia (FTD). Current studies have found that this repeat sequence participates in the disease process by producing neurotoxic substances and reducing the level of C9orf72 protein; however, the progress in the functional study of C9orf72 is slow. Recently, a stable complex, consisting of C9orf72, SMCR8, and WDR41, has been implicated in regulating membrane trafficking and macroautophagy. We reported the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the C9orf72-SMCR8-WDR41 complex (CSW complex), unveiling that the CSW complex is a dimer of heterotrimers. Intriguingly, in the heterotrimer of the C9orf72-SMCR8-WDR41, C9orf72 interacts with SMCR8 in a manner similar to the FLCN-FNIP2 complex. Nevertheless, WDR41 is connected to the DENN domain of SMCR8 through its N-terminal β-strand and C-terminal helix but does not directly interact with C9orf72. Notably, the C9orf72-SMCR8 complex was demonstrated to act as a GAP for RAB8A and RAB11A in vitro.     

An ITS-based phylogenetic framework for the genus Vorticella: finding the molecular and morphological gaps in a taxonomically difficult group

Vorticella includes more than 100 currently recognized species and represents one of the most taxonomically challenging genera of ciliates. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Vorticella has been performed so far with only sequences coding for small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA); only a few of its species have been investigated using other genetic markers owing to a lack of similar sequences for comparison. Consequently, phylogenetic relationships within the genus remain unclear, and molecular discrimination between morphospecies is often difficult because most regions of the SSU rRNA gene are too highly conserved to be helpful. In this paper, we move molecular systematics for this group of ciliates to the infrageneric level by sequencing additional molecular markers—fast-evolving internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions—in a broad sample of 66 individual samples of 28 morphospecies of Vorticella collected from Asia, North America and Europe. Our phylogenies all featured two strongly supported, highly divergent, paraphyletic clades (I, II) comprising the morphologically defined genus Vorticella. Three major lineages made up clade I, with a relatively well-resolved branching order in each one. The marked divergence of clade II from clade I confirms that the former should be recognized as a separate taxonomic unit as indicated by SSU rRNA phylogenies. We made the first attempt to elucidate relationships between species in clade II using both morphological and multi-gene approaches, and our data supported a close relationship between some morphospecies of Vorticella and Opisthonecta, indicating that relationships between species in the clade are far more complex than would be expected from their morphology. Different patterns of helix III of ITS2 secondary structure were clearly specific to clades and subclades of Vorticella and, therefore, may prove useful for resolving phylogenetic relationships in other groups of ciliates.     

Protein molecular dynamics with electrostatic force entirely determined by a single Poisson-Boltzmann calculation

The electrostatic force including the intramolecular Coulombic interactions and the electrostatic contribution of solvation effect were entirely calculated by using the finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann method (FDPB), which was incorporated into the GROMOS96 force field to complete a new finite difference stochastic dynamics procedure (FDSD). Simulations were performed on an insulin dimer. Different relative dielectric constants were successively assigned to the protein interior; a value of 17 was selected as optimal for our system. The simulation data were analyzed and compared with those obtained from 500-ps molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with explicit water and a 500-ps conventional stochastic dynamics (SD) simulation without the mean solvent force. The results indicate that the FDSD method with GROMOS96 force field is suitable to study the dynamics and structure of proteins in solution if used with the optimal protein dielectric constant.     

An eukaryotic translation initiation factor,AteIF5A‐2, affects cadmium accumulation and sensitivity in Arabidopsis

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most toxic elements and can be accumulated in plants easily; meanwhile, eIF5A is a highly conserved protein in all eukaryotic organisms. The present work tried to investigate whether eIF5A is involved in Cd accumulation and sensitivity in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana L.) by comparing the wild‐type Columbia‐0 (Col‐0) with a knockdown mutant of AteIF5A‐2, fbr12‐3 under Cd stress conditions. The results showed that the mutant fbr12‐3 accumulated more Cd in roots and shoots and had significantly lower chlorophyll content, shorter root length, and smaller biomass, suggesting that downregulation of AteIF5A‐2 makes the mutant more Cd sensitive. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction revealed that the expressions of metal transporters involved in Cd uptake and translocation including IRT1, ZIP1, AtNramp3, and AtHMA4 were significantly increased but the expressions of PCS1 and PCS2 related to Cd detoxification were decreased notably in fbr12‐3 compared with Col‐0. As a result, an increase in MDA and H₂O₂ content but decrease in root trolox, glutathione and proline content under Cd stress was observed, indicating that a severer oxidative stress occurs in the mutant. All these results demonstrated for the first time that AteIF5A influences Cd sensitivity by affecting Cd uptake, accumulation, and detoxification in Arabidopsis.     

Optimal dispatching of multipriority jobs to two heterogeneous workstations

The general problem scenario of this paper is the following: Jobs of various priorities, stationed in a common storage area, are waiting to be dispatched to two non-identical workstations. Any of the waiting jobs can be accessed from the storage at any given time. Each job can be processed on either of the workstations, but once a job has been assigned it may not be preempted. By job priority it is meant that a higher priority job has disptach preference over a lower priority job. The processing time of a job on a given workstation is assumed to be random, the distribution being dependent on the job type and the configuration of the workstation. Specifically, the first problem studied considers only two classes of jobs: (1) “hot” jobs, whose processing is to be expedited and thus have the higher dispatch priority, and (2) “routine” jobs which may be assigned to an available workstation only if the workstation has been rejected by all “hot” jobs. The processing times are assumed to be exponentially distributed with means depending on the job class and workstation. We assume that, on the average, one workstation is faster than the other with regard to processing any job. The dispatching objective for each job class is to minimize its expected flowtime. It is shown that threshold dispatching policies are optimal for this problem. That is, the faster processor should be utilized whenever possible, and for each class there exists an explicit threshold such that when the number of jobs of that class in the buffer exceeds this threshold then a job of that class is dispatched to the slower processor, otherwise these jobs wait for the faster processor to become available. For the higher priority jobs, this threshold is shown to be a function only of the various processing rates of the two workstations. For the lower priority jobs, the threshold also depends on the number of higher priority jobs in the buffer. The results is extended to a system with n priority classes. Again, it is shown that when the processing times are exponentially distributed with different rates and the dispatching objective for each class is to minimize its expected flowtime, the optimal dispatching policies are of threshold type. Explicit thresholds are easily derived.     

Concepts and analysis of mass extinction with the late Ordovician event as an example

Twelve groups of fossils, including graptolites, brachiopods, nautiloids, trilobites, corals, crinoids, bryozoans, conodonts, ostracods, gastropods, chitinozoans, and acritarchs expired in different but substantial magnitude and global extent during the late Caradoc to latest Ashgill. It indicates a multiple‐episodic mass extinction containing the possible Prologue (late Caradoc), Climax episode (Rawtheyan) and Epilogue (late Hirnantian). The main causes of this mass extinction are recognized as a global sea‐level lowering in the climax and remarkable rapid rise at the final, and global cooling. The Chinese data, especially from the South China Paleoplate, are evaluated first. They are significant for explaining this global bioevent.     

Metabonomics study of the acute graft rejection in rat renal transplantation using reversed-phase liquid chromatography and hydrophilic interaction chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry

Acute graft rejection is one of the most common and serious post complications in renal transplantation, noninvasive diagnosis of acute graft rejection is essential for reducing risk of surgery and timely treatment. In this study, a non-targeted metabonomics approach based on ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS) is used to investigate the effect of acute graft rejection in rat renal transplantation on metabolism. To collect more metabolite information both hydrophilic interaction chromatography and reversed-phase liquid chromatography were used. Using the partial least squares-discriminant analysis, we found that the change of metabonome in a sham-operated group and a non-graft rejection group had a similar trend, while that of the acute graft rejection group was clearly different. Several discriminating metabolites of the acute graft rejection were identified, including creatinine, phosphatidyl-cholines, lyso-phosphatidylcholines, carnitine C16:0, free fatty acids and indoxyl sulfate etc. These discriminating metabolites suggested that acute graft rejection in renal transplantation can lead to the accumulation of creatinine in the body, and also the abnormal metabolism of phospholipids. These findings are useful to understand the mechanisms of the rejection, it also means that a UPLC-MS metabonomic approach is a suitable tool to investigate the metabolic abnormality in the acute graft rejection in renal transplantation.