Spatial phylogenetics of the Chinese angiosperm flora provides insights into endemism and conservation

The flora of China is well known for its high diversity and endemism. Identifying centers of endemism and designating conservation priorities are essential goals for biodiversity studies.However, there is no comprehensive study from a rigorous phylogenetic perspective to understand patterns of diversity and endemism and to guide biodiversity conservation in China. We conducted a spatial phylogenetic analysis of the Chinese angiosperm flora at the generic level to identify centers of neo-and pale...     

Participation of lipopolysaccharide in hyperplasic adipose expansion: Involvement of NADPH oxidase/ROS/p42/p44 MAPK‐dependent Cyclooxygenase‐2

Obesity is a world‐wide problem, especially the child obesity, with the complication of various metabolic diseases. Child obesity can be developed as early as the age between 2 and 6. The expansion of fat mass in child age includes both hyperplasia and hypertrophy of adipose tissue, suggesting the importance of proliferation and adipogenesis of preadipocytes. The changed composition of gut microbiota is associated with obesity, revealing the roles of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on manipulating adipose tissue development. Studies suggest that LPS enters the circulation and acts as a pro‐inflammatory regulator to facilitate pathologies. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms behind LPS‐modulated obesity are yet clearly elucidated. This study showed that LPS enhanced the expression of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2), an inflammatory regulator of obesity, in preadipocytes. Pretreating preadipocytes with the scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS) or the inhibitors of NADPH oxidase or p42/p44 MAPK markedly decreased LPS‐stimulated gene expression of COX‐2 together with the phosphorylation of p47^phox and p42/p44 MAPK, separately. LPS activated p42/p44 MAPK via NADPH oxidase‐dependent ROS accumulation in preadipocytes. Reduction of intracellular ROS or attenuation of p42/p44 MAPK activation both reduced LPS‐mediated COX‐2 expression and preadipocyte proliferation. Moreover, LPS‐induced preadipocyte proliferation and adipogenesis were abolished by the inhibition of COX‐2 or PEG₂ receptors. Taken together, our results suggested that LPS enhanced the proliferation and adipogenesis of preadipocytes via NADPH oxidase/ROS/p42/p44 MAPK‐dependent COX‐2 expression.     

松材线虫伴生细菌多样性的宏基组分析

摘要：【目的】松材线虫是松材线虫病的病原,且与其伴生细菌之间存在互作关系,它们构成一个微生态系统。本研究旨在揭示松材线虫-伴生细菌群落细菌多样性。【方法】采用16S rRNA基因文库和454测序对伴生细菌群落的宏基因组进行初步分析。【结果】依据97％序列相似性划分OTU（Operational Taxonomic Unit）,构建的16S rRNA文库包含25个OTU,分别属于Alphaproteobacteria、Betaproteobacteria、Gammaproteobacteria和Bacter     

保护三峡工程影响的珍稀濒危生物的经济价值评估

运用条件价值评估法, 基于三峡工程对珍稀濒危生物影响的现状和采取的保护措施, 设计了支付卡式调查问卷。通过调查我国31个省(自治区、直辖市)以国有单位为主的职工的支付意愿, 评估了保护三峡工程影响的珍稀濒危生物白鳍豚(Lipotes vexillifer)、白鲟(Psephurus gladius)、达氏鲟(Acipenser dabryanus)、胭脂鱼(Myxocyprinus asiaticus)、中华鲟(Acipenser sinensis)和荷叶铁线蕨(Adiantum reniforme var. sinense)、疏花水柏枝(Myricaria laxiflora)、川明参(Chuanminshen violaceum)的经济价值。回收有效问卷1,036份, 有70.08%的有效问卷反馈者愿意为保护三峡工程影响的这些珍稀濒危生物而支付费用, 平均支付意愿值为127.82元/年。同时采用列联表及卡方独立性检验方法重点分析了总样本各因素对支付意愿值的影响, 结果显示年龄、文化程度、从事职业、个人收入、对三峡工程的了解、对三峡工程的关注、对三峡工程对生物影响的了解等因素与支付意愿值显著相关。最后计算得出保护三峡工程影响的这些珍稀濒危生物的经济价值为82.19×10⁸元/年。以上结果为进一步制定相关保护政策提供了依据。     

原生质体融合技术选育分解草酸乳酸菌菌株的研究

将具有草酸分解能力的乳双歧杆菌和具有耐氧特性的嗜酸乳杆菌进行原生质体融合,其最佳条件为:50%的PEG6000,融合温度30℃,融合时间为7 min,CaCl2浓度为0.02 mol/L,MgCl2浓度为0.5 mol/L,在此条件下融合率可达7.6%。从中筛选出同时具有耐氧特性和草酸分解能力的融合子,草酸分解率为13.4%。     

超临界CO2技术萃取蛋黄磷脂

采用新型物理分离技术──超临界CO₂萃取法,提取天然蛋黄粉中的磷脂.在40MPa,先去除蛋黄粉中甘油三酯和胆固醇,再萃取磷脂.结果显示,磷脂纯度为95%,N/P比值为1.003,λ_max=214nm,薄层层析显示磷脂着色点清晰,并去除了绝大部分甘油三酯和胆固醇.此法操作简单、产品质量高、安全和不污染环境,还可得到天然纯蛋黄油和蛋白.     

Lithium Doping to Enhance Thermoelectric Performance of MgAgSb with Weak Electron–Phonon Coupling

Despite the unfavorable band structure with twofold degeneracy at the valence band maximum, MgAgSb is still an excellent p‐type thermoelectric material for applications near room temperature. The intrinsically weak electron–phonon coupling, reflected by the low deformation potential E_def ≈ 6.3 eV, plays a crucial role in the relatively high power factor of MgAgSb. More importantly, Li is successfully doped into Mg site to tune the carrier concentration, leading to the resistivity reduction by a factor of 3 and a consequent increase in power factor by ≈30% at 300 K. Low lattice thermal conductivity can be simultaneously achieved by all‐scale hierarchical phonon scattering architecture including high density of dislocations and nanoscale stacking faults, nanoinclusions, and multiscale grain boundaries. Collectively, much higher average power factor ≈25 μW cm^?1 K^?2 with a high average ZT ≈ 1.1 from 300 to 548 K is achieved for 0.01 Li doping, which would result in a high output power density ≈1.56 W cm^?2 and leg efficiency ≈9.2% by calculations assuming cold‐side temperature T_c = 323 K, hot‐side temperature T_h = 548 K, and leg length = 2 mm.     

Determining the involvement of two aminopeptidase Ns in the resistance of Plutella xylostella to the Bt toxin Cry1Ac: cloning and study of in vitro function

The cloning, expression in vitro, and characterization of two aminopeptidase Ns (APN5s and APN2s) isolated from the midgut of Cry1Ac-resistant (R) and susceptible (S) strains of Plutella xylostella larvae are presented in this paper. The deduced amino acid sequences of APN5s included C-terminal GPI-modification sites, the gluzincin aminopeptidase motif GATEN, and three N-glycosylated sites; those of APN2s had no GPI-modification sites, had gluzincin aminopeptidase motif GAMEN, and had four N-glycosylated sites. O-glycosylated sites were not predicted for either APN. Because APN2R and APN2S cDNAs contained the same nucleotides, only full-length cDNAs encoding APN5R and APN5S were expressed in Trichoplusia ni cells. Far-Western blotting showed that the expressed receptor APN5 bound to the Cry1Ac toxin. An enzyme-specific activity experiment also showed that APN5 genes were expressed in T. ni cells. ELISA revealed no differences in the binding of expression proteins from the resistant and susceptible strain with Cry1Ac.