2006—2017年长白山阔叶红松林木本植物种子雨的时空动态

种子是森林更新的基础.为研究长白山阔叶红松林种子雨组成及时空变化,在长白山阔叶红松林25 hm²样地内设置150个面积为0.5 m²的收集器.自2006年5月至2017年12月收集252次,共收集到成熟、未成熟种子764299粒,隶属12科17属27种,其中,主林层树种13种704231粒,占总数的90%以上.种子最多的4个树种依次为紫椴、水曲柳、色木槭、假色槭,每年各个收集器都收集到这4个树种的种子;种子雨大爆发现象在各林层树种均存在,次林层和林下层较主林层树种滞后1~2年;各林层树种集中在秋季产生种子,各树种的种子雨都存在较大的时空变异性,相对而言,多数树种的空间变异性大于时间变异性;与科罗拉多岛(BCI)热带森林样地和浙江古田山亚热带常绿林样地种子产量的年际变异系数相比,长白山阔叶红松林种子产量年际变异系数较大,支持高纬度地区种子产量变异性高于低纬度地区的假说.     

CMTM6, the newly identified PD-L1 regulator,correlates with PD-L1 expression in lung cancers

Modulation of Immune check point regulators, especially the PD-1/PD-L1 axis, plays a critical role in successful management of a small proportion of lung cancer patients, but not so effective in the rest of lung cancer patients. A better understanding of immunotherapy non-responsive or resistant patients therefore warranted for future development of novel therapeutics. The newly identified regulator CMTM6 (CKLF-like MARVEL transmembrane domain containing 6) has been reported to serves as the stabilizer of PD-L1 and enhances the inhibitory effect of PD-L1 on immune system in both cell line and animal models, but its clinical relevance associated with PD-L1 is unknown and the current study is designed to address this question. The study using immunohistochemistry demonstrated that CMTM6 positivity from 15 out of 19 types of cancers with our in-house tissue microarray, and PD-L1 expression is always found only in CMTM6 positive cancers. CMTM6 and PD-L1 expression were analyzed in 81 lung cancer patient sample, and we observed that CMTM6 expression correlated with cancer histotypes and inversely correlated with cancer metastases, but not with patients’ age and gender. No PD-L1 expression was observed in negative CMTM6 samples. Higher expression PD-L1 is also associated with higher CMTM6 expression. In summary, CMTM6 expression is associated with PD-L1 expression, as well as lung cancer histotypes and metastasis. The results thus for the first time confirmed earlier reports on CMTM6/PD-L1 connection, from a clinical aspect of analysis.     

Tissue Transglutaminase and Its Product Isopeptide Are Increased in Alzheimer’s Disease and APPswe/PS1dE9 Double Transgenic Mice Brains

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by intracellular and extracellular protein aggregates, including microtubule-associated protein tau and cleavage product of amyloid precursor protein, β-amyloid (Aβ). Tissue transglutaminase (tTG) is a calcium-dependent enzyme that cross-links proteins forming a γ-glutamyl-ε-lysine isopeptide bond. Highly resistant to proteolysis, this bond can induce protein aggregation and deposition. We set out to determine if tTG may play a role in pathogenesis of AD. Previous studies have shown that tTG and isopeptide are increased in advanced AD, but they have not addressed if this is an early or late feature of AD. In the present study, we measured tTG expression levels and enzyme activity in the brains of individuals with no cognitive impairment (NCI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD, as well as a transgenic mouse model of AD. We found that both enzyme expression and activity were increased in MCI as well as AD compared to NCI. In the transgenic model of AD, tTG expression and enzyme activity increased sharply with age and were relatively specific for the hippocampus. We also assessed overlap of isopeptide immunoreactivity with neurodegeneration-related proteins with Western blots and found neurofilament, tau, and Aβ showed co-localization with isopeptide in both AD and transgenic mice. These results suggest that tTG might be a key factor in pathogenesis of abnormal protein aggregation in AD.     

Optical Response of Plasmonic Nanohole Arrays: Comparison of Square and Hexagonal Lattices

Nanohole arrays in metal films allow extraordinary optical transmission (EOT); the phenomenon is highly advantageous for biosensing applications. In this article, we theoretically investigate the performance of refractive index sensors, utilizing square and hexagonal arrays of nanoholes, that can monitor the spectral position of EOT signals. We present near- and far-field characteristics of the aperture arrays and investigate the influence of geometrical device parameters in detail. We numerically compare the refractive index sensitivities of the two lattice geometries and show that the hexagonal array supports larger figure-of-merit values due to its sharper EOT response. Furthermore, the presence of a thin dielectric film that covers the gold surface and mimics a biomolecular layer causes larger spectral shifts within the EOT resonance for the hexagonal array. We also investigate the dependence of the transmission responses on hole radius and demonstrate that hexagonal lattice is highly promising for applications demanding strong light transmission.     

Three-dimensional structure of manganese superoxide dismutase from Bacillus halodenitrificans,a component of the so-called "green protein"

A so-called "green protein" has been purified from a moderate halophilic eubacterium, Bacillus halodenitrificans (ATCC 49067), under anaerobic conditions. The protein, which might play an important role in denitrification, dissociates mainly into two components after exposure to air: a manganese superoxide dismutase (GP-MnSOD) and a nucleoside diphosphate kinase. As a first step in elucidating the overall structure of the green protein and the role of each component, the 2.8-A resolution crystal structure of GP-MnSOD was determined. Compared with other manganese dismutases, GP-MnSOD shows two significant characteristics. The first is that the entrance to its substrate channel has an additional basic residue-Lys38. The second is that its surface is decorated with an excess of acidic over basic residues. All these structural features may be related to GP-MnSOD's high catalytic activity and its endurance against the special cytoplasm of B. halodenitrificans. The structure of GP-MnSOD provides the basis for recognizing its possible role and assembly state in the green protein.     

接触二氧化硫后小麦叶片中逆境乙烯的生物合成

AVG和AOA强烈抑制二氧化硫处理小麦叶片中乙烯产生和ACC合成,对MACC的形成也有一定的抑制作用。CoGl_2明显抑制乙烯产生,而ACC大量积累,MACC含量则未因ACC增加而相应增加。DNP和CCCP也抑制乙烯产生,但前者引起ACC大量积累,后者引起ACC含量下降。CHI对乙烯产生和ACC形成均显示强烈的抑制作用,同时也明显抑制MACC形成。这表明小麦叶片接触SO_2引起的逆境乙烯也是循蛋氨酸→SAM→ACC→乙烯途径。     

The Insect Peptide CopA3 Increases Colonic Epithelial Cell Proliferation and Mucosal Barrier Function to Prevent Inflammatory Responses in the Gut

The epithelial cells of the gut form a physical barrier against the luminal contents. The collapse of this barrier causes inflammation, and its therapeutic restoration can protect the gut against inflammation. EGF enhances mucosal barrier function and increases colonocyte proliferation, thereby ameliorating inflammatory responses in the gut. Based on our previous finding that the insect peptide CopA3 promotes neuronal growth, we herein tested whether CopA3 could increase the cell proliferation of colonocytes, enhance mucosal barrier function, and ameliorate gut inflammation. Our results revealed that CopA3 significantly increased epithelial cell proliferation in mouse colonic crypts and also enhanced colonic epithelial barrier function. Moreover, CopA3 treatment ameliorated Clostridium difficile toxin As-induced inflammation responses in the mouse small intestine (acute enteritis) and completely blocked inflammatory responses and subsequent lethality in the dextran sulfate sodium-induced mouse model of chronic colitis. The marked CopA3-induced increase of colonocyte proliferation was found to require rapid protein degradation of p21^Cip1/Waf1, and an in vitro ubiquitination assay revealed that CopA3 directly facilitated ubiquitin ligase activity against p21^Cip1/Waf1. Taken together, our findings indicate that the insect peptide CopA3 prevents gut inflammation by increasing epithelial cell proliferation and mucosal barrier function.     

利用基因芯片技术筛选HIV-1F亚型基因限制性显示探针

为筛选限制性显示技术制备的HIV 1F亚型基因探针 ,应用基因芯片打印仪将其有序地打印在玻片上制备基因芯片 .在随机引物延伸的过程中进行HIV样品的荧光标记 ,然后与芯片进行杂交 .杂交后清洗玻片并干燥 ,对芯片进行扫描 ,分析各探针的杂交信号 .从中筛选了 14个基因片段作为芯片下一步研究的探针 .实验证明 ,限制性显示技术是一种制备基因芯片探针的实用方法