Identification and characterization of FHL3 as a novel angiogenin-binding partner

Angiogenin (Ang) is known to induce cell proliferation and inhibit apoptosis by cellular signaling pathways and by direct nuclear functions of Ang, but the mechanism of action for Ang is not yet clear. The aim of present study was to identify novel binding partner of Ang and to explore the underlying mechanism. With the use of yeast two-hybrid screening system, Ang was used as the bait to screen human fetal hepatic cDNA library for interacting proteins. Four and a half LIM domains 3 (FHL3) was identified as a novel Ang binding partner. The interaction between Ang and the full length FHL3 was further confirmed by yeast two-hybrid assay, co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down assays. Furthermore, FHL3 was required for Ang-mediated HeLa cell proliferation and nuclear translocation of Ang. These findings suggest that the interaction between Ang and FHL3 may provide some clues to the mechanisms of Ang-regulated cell growth and apoptosis.     

多重RT-PCR一步法技术同时检测猪瘟病毒和蓝耳病病毒方法的建立以及初步应用

猪瘟病毒和蓝耳病病毒均能导致猪繁殖障碍,对养猪生产影响很大。根据猪瘟病毒(CSFV)和猪蓝耳病(PRRS)的基因保守序列设计了2对针对这2种病毒的特异引物,并建立了多重RT-PCR方法,分别对其最佳反应条件、特异性及敏感性进行了测定,结果表明能同时扩增得到2条与试验设计相符的167bp(CSFV)和320bp(PRRS)特异性条带,同时具有较好的特异性;敏感性检测结果表明,临床阳性的样品提取的核酸稀释1000倍后仍能检测出CSFV和PRRSV。本方法的建立对于这2种病毒病的早期快速检测具有十分重要的意义。     

Comprehensive peptidome analysis of mouse livers by size exclusion chromatography prefractionation and nanoLC-MS/MS identification

Peptidome analysis has received increasing attention in recent years. Cancer diagnosis by serum peptidome has also been reported by peptides' profiling for discovery of peptide biomarkers. Tissue, which may have a higher biomarker concentration than blood, has not been investigated extensively by means of peptidome analysis. Here, a method for the peptidome analysis of mouse liver was developed by the combination of size exclusion chromatography (SEC) prefractionation with nano-liquid chromatography-tamdem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS) analysis. The extracted peptides from mouse liver were separated according to their molecular weight using a size exclusion column. MALDI-TOF MS was used to characterize the molecular weight distribution of the peptides in fractions eluted from the SEC column. The low molecular weight (LMW) (MW < 3000 Da) peptides in the collected fractions were directly analyzed by LC-MS/MS which resulted in the identification of 1181 unique peptides (from 371 proteins). The high molecular weight (HMW) (MW > 3000 Da) peptides in the early two fractions from the SEC column were first digested with trypsin, and the resulted digests were then analyzed by LC-MS/MS, which led to the identification of 123 and 127 progenitor proteins of the HMW peptides in fractions 1 and 2, respectively. Analysis of the peptides' cleavage sites showed that the peptides are cleaved in regulation, which may reflect the protease activity and distribution in body, and also represent the biological state of the tissue and provide a fresh source for biomarker discovery.     

Variation in the ribosomal internal transcribed spacers and 5.8S rDNA among five species of Acropora (Cnidaria; Scleractinia): patterns of variation consistent with reticulate evolution

The ITS sequences of Acropora spp. are the shortest so far identified in any metazoan and are among the shortest seen in eukaryotes; ITS1 was 70-80 bases, and ITS2 was 100-112 bases. The ITS sequences were also highly variable, but base composition and secondary structure prediction indicate that divergent sequence variants are unlikely to be pseudogenes. The pattern of variation was unusual in several other respects: (1) two distinct ITS2 types were detected in both A. hyacinthus and A. cytherea, species known to hybridize in vitro with high success rates, and a putative intermediate ITS2 form was also detected in A. cytherea; (2) A. valida was found to contain highly (29%) diverged ITS1 variants; and (3) A. longicyathus contained two distinct 5.8S rDNA types. These data are consistent with a reticulate evolutionary history for the genus Acropora.      

乳链球菌SB900胞壁肽聚糖的部分生物学活性

对乳链球菌（Streptococcuslactis）SB900胞壁肽聚糖（简称为LABPG）进行了分离纯化及化学成分分析,并测定了其部分生物学活性．结果表明,LABPG蛋白质含量为9．84％,NAG0．871μmol／mg,NAM1．14μmol／mg;氨基酸分析结果表明,Ala、Glu、Asp含量较高,分别为1．046、0．775、0．304μmol／mg。以小鼠为实验材料进行动物学实验,对LABPG的生物学活性测定结果表明,LANPG无毒、安全可靠;腹腔注射LABPG后,PMΦ数目增多,吞噬功能明显增强,血清溶菌酶活性增强;YC-花环实验表明,腹腔注射LABPG的小鼠PMΦ表面C3b受体活性增强,YC-花环形成率较高,统计学分析有显著差别。说明LABPG对于MΦ有一定的激活作用,可作为机体的免疫激活剂。     

Melatonin Regulates the Viability and Differentiation of Rat Midbrain Neural Stem Cells

(1) Neurogenesis driven by neural stem cells (NSCs) is regulated by physiological and pathological factors. Melatonin (MT) has profound neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects. Hence, we studied the role of MT in regulating the viability and differentiation of NSCs derived from rat ventral midbrain. (2) NSCs were isolated from the rat ventral midbrain. The viability of NSCs was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-ulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium assay. The differentiation of NSCs was examined by analyzing the expression of the neural markers, MT receptors, brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) with semi-quantitative RT-PCR, immunofluorescence cytochemistry, and Western blot. (3) Our results showed that MT could promote the viability of NSCs. In addition, MT could significantly elevate the mRNA and protein levels of tyroxine hydroxylase (TH), a marker of dopaminergic neurons, and decrease the expression of the astrocytes maker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). MT also increased the production of BDNF and GDNF in the cultured NSCs. Meanwhile, we first found that two subtypes of MT receptors, MT1 and MT2, were expressed in the ventral midbrain NSCs. (4) These results demonstrated that MT could induce NSCs to differentiate into dopaminergic neurons and decrease astrocyte production. These findings also suggest that MT could offer a beneficial tool in guiding directional differentiation of NSCs.     

Cell Surface Beta 1, 4-galactosyltransferase 1 promotes apoptosis by inhibiting epidermal growth factor receptor pathway

Our previous studies have shown that overexpression of β1,4-galactosyltransferase1 (β1,4GT1) leads to increased apoptosis induced by cycloheximide (CHX) in SMMC-7721 human hepatocarcinoma cells. However, the role of β1,4GT1 in apoptosis remains unclear. Here we demonstrated that cell surface β1,4GT1 inhibited the autophosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) especially at Try 1068. The phosphorylation of protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase1/2 (ERK1/2), which are downstream molecules of EGFR, were also reduced in cell surface β1,4GT1-overexpressing cells. Furthermore, the translocations of Bad and Bax that are regulated by PKB/Akt and ERK1/2 were also increased in these cells. As a result, the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol was increased and caspase-3 was activated. In contrast, RNAi-mediated knockdown of β1,4GT1 increased the autophosphorylation of EGFR. These results demonstrated that cell surface β1,4GT1 may negatively regulate cell survival possibly through inhibiting and modulating EGFR signaling pathway.     

青海锡铁山矿区铅、锌的植物地球化学特征及其与矿的关系

 通过青海锡铁山铅、锌矿区植物群落和植物中铅,锌含量特征的调查研究表明：该区植被为荒漠植被类型。矿带上的植物群落与非矿带上的相比较,群落中种属数目更少,覆盖度更低,植物生长更低矮。植物灰分中的锌含量(平均)为125.9—1144ppm。膜果麻黄(Ephedra przewalskii)含量最高,变化范围最大,为86.11—5871.88ppm。植物中的铅含量为31.32—1129.6ppm。黑柴(Sympegma regelii)含量较高,变化最大,平均为746ppm,极值为14.3—5561.70ppm。在矿带上含量最高,非矿带对照区含量最低。植物及其生长的土壤中金属元素含量之间的关系,无论是铅还是锌含量都有很好的线性关系。膜果麻黄、黑柴、优若藜(Eurotia ceratoides)和中亚紫菀木(Asterothamnus centrali-asiaticus)等植物相关系数均达显著相关水平(α≤0.05)。 这在植物地球化学勘探上是非常有用的。例如中亚紫菀木和琵琶柴(Reaumuria soongorica)中铅的植物地球化学异常,准确地圈出了铅、锌矿的位置,衬度高,异常范围与矿化区基本吻合。     

粘合材料及其在生物医学中的应用：进展与展望

粘合材料作为一种重要的辅助材料,在工业包装、海洋工程以及生物医药等多个领域都有广泛的应用需求。天然存在的粘合剂如贻贝足丝粘合蛋白等具有良好的生物相容性和生物可降解性,但因其来源受限及在生理环境下较弱的粘合性能,因此在生物医药领域的应用受到了限制。从自然生物的粘合现象中汲取灵感,各种利用化学或生物合成方法制备的仿生粘合材料应运而生,针对生物医药领域的特定需求,一些新兴粘合材料在生物相容性、生物可降解性以及组织粘附等方面都表现出在医药领域应用的潜力。展望未来,受自然粘合材料兼具环境响应、自我再生和自修复等特征的启迪,各种生物灵感和生物仿生粘合材料的开发势必是未来的发展热点,而合成生物学技术为创建具有上述特征的活体粘合材料提供了新的可能。