南北样带温带区栎属树种种子化学组成与气候因子的关系

选取南北样带温带区8个核心分布区的7种优势栎属树种作为对象,通过检测种子的化学组成,包括淀粉、蛋白质、油脂、可溶性总糖、单宁和脯氨酸,分析其化学组成与气候因子之间的关系,结果发现:在气候因子中,温度是影响种子化学组成的主要因素,日照时数次之,而降水没有明显影响.在南北样带温带区,随纬度的增加,温度降低,年日照时数增加,生长积温减少,生长季缩短,淀粉含量积累下降,并趋向于水解为可溶性糖类;同时,从南到北,为适应低温的环境条件,栎属树种通过增加种子蛋白质、可溶性总糖和脯氨酸的含量,以提高种子的抗寒性.栎属树种种子的化学组成之间存在一定的相互关系,可溶性总糖、蛋白质和脯氨酸之间呈正相关关系,它们三者与淀粉均为负相关,种子化学组成之间的这种相互关系是植物对环境适应的生态策略.     

血小板活化因子对大鼠黄体细胞孕酮分泌及血管内皮生长因子表达的作用

本文旨在研究血小板活化因子(platelet-activating factor,PAF)对大鼠黄体细胞孕酮分泌及血管内皮生长因子(vascularendothelial growth factor,VEGF)mRNA表达的作用.将未成年(25～28 d)Sprague-Dawley雌性大鼠颈部皮下注射50 IU孕马血清促性腺激素(pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin,PMSG),48 h后注射25 IU人绒毛膜促性腺激素(human chorionicgonadotrophin.hCG)诱导卵泡发育和黄体生成,第6天(hCG注射日为第1天)收集卵巢黄体细胞,体外培养24 h后,不加或加入不同剂量(0.1 μg/mL、1 μg/mL、10 μg/mL)PAF,37℃、5%CO2培养箱内培养24 h.用放射免疫方法测定培养液中孕酮的含量,流式细胞仪和RT-PCR方法检测黄体细胞凋亡以及VEGF mRNA的表达.结果显示,PAF促进黄体细胞孕酮分泌,1 μg/mL PAF作用最强(P<0.05);PAF促进黄体细胞凋亡无明显剂量依赖性,但10 μg/mL PAF显著促进大鼠黄体细胞凋亡(P<0.05):PAF刺激黄体细胞VEGF mRNA表达,1 μg/mL PAF效果最显著(P<0.01).结果提示,PAF可通过调节黄体细胞孕酮的分泌和VEGF mRNA的表达来促进黄体形成.     

Fast seedling root growth leads to competitive superiority of invasive plants

The competitive superiority of invasive plants plays a key role in the process of plant invasions, enabling invasive plants to overcome the resistance of local plant communities. Fast aboveground growth and high densities lead to the competitive superiority of invasive species in the competition for light. However, little is understood of the role belowground root competition may play in invasion. We conducted an experiment to test the effect of root growth on the performance of an invasive shrub Cassia alata, a naturalized, non-invasive shrub Corchorus capsularis, and a native shrub Desmodium reticulatum. We compared seedling growth of the three species and their competitive ability in situ. The roots of the C. alata seedlings grew much faster than those of C. capsularis and D. reticulatum during the entire growth period although C. alata had shorter shoots than D. reticulatum. Furthermore, C. alata showed an apparent competition advantage compared to the other two species as evidenced by less biomass reduction in intraspecific competition and higher competitive effects in interspecific competition. Our study reveals that fast seedling root growth may be important in explaining the competitive advantages of invasive plants. Future studies should pay more attention to the belowground traits of invasive plants, the trade-off between shoot and root growth, and the role of root competition in affecting the population dynamics of invasive plants and the structures of invaded communities.     

Effects of sap velocity on the daytime increase of stem CO2 efflux from stems of Schima superba trees

Stem CO₂ efflux (E _s) has been estimated from a temperature-related equation, but sap flux often affects measurements of E _s, which leads to misunderstanding real stem respiration. In order to observe the relationship between E _s and stem temperature and to analyze the effect of sap velocity on E _s, stem temperature, E _s and sap flux were measured from a subtropical Schima superba plantation in South China on three trees for consecutive 3 days in July and October 2009. Stem temperature, E _s and sap velocity were significantly higher in July than in October. Stem temperature could explain 17–41 and 54–75% variations of E _s in July and October, respectively. A negative relationship between E _s and stem temperature was found during 1800–2300 hours in July. The daytime E _s was 9.2, 4.3 and 2.4% higher than the predicted for three trees in July, and this occurred only on Tree 1 in October. Sap velocity was positively correlated with E _s for three trees in July, and the increase of E _s with the increase of sap velocity was only observed on Tree 1 in October. These results demonstrated that the occurrence of sap flux could account for the increase of daytime E _s, and the effect of sap velocity on E _s varied with the seasons from the S. superba stem.     

Novel mutations in ADAMTS13 CUB domains cause abnormal pre-mRNA splicing and defective secretion of ADAMTS13

Hereditary thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is an autosomal recessive thrombosis disorder, caused by loss-of-function mutations in ADAMTS13. Mutations in the CUB domains of ADAMTS13 are rare, and the exact mechanisms through which these mutations result in the development of TTP have not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, we identified two novel mutations in the CUB domains in a TTP family with an acceptor splice-site mutation (c.3569−1, G>A, intron 25) and a point missense mutation (c.3923, G>A, exon 28), resulting in a glycine to aspartic acid substitution (p.G1308D). In vitro splicing analysis revealed that the intronic mutation resulted in abnormal pre-mRNA splicing, and an in vitro expression assay revealed that the missense mutation significantly impaired ADAMTS13 secretion. Although both the patient and her brother displayed significantly reduced ADAMTS13 activity and increased levels of ultra-large VWF (ULVWF) multimers in plasma, only the female developed acute episodes of TTP. Our findings indicate the importance of the CUB domains for the protein stability and extracellular secretion of ADAMTS13.     

Epidemiological Characteristics of Influenza A and B in Macau, 2010–2018

Virologica Sinica - Influenza is one of the major respiratory diseases in humans. Macau is a tourist city with high density of population and special population mobility. The study on the...     

Diffusive greenhouse gases fluxes from the surface of the Three Gorges Reservoir: Study at a site in Fuling

To investigate the water-air diffusive greenhouse gases (GHGs) fluxes from the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), a field experiment on carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) fluxes from water surface was carried out from March 2011 to August 2012 by floating static chamber method. The results showed that CO₂ was released to the atmosphere all the time and was less in autumn than in other seasons (P < 0.05). CH₄ was also released to the atmosphere throughout the year but more in summer than other three seasons (P < 0.05). N₂O flux was higher in autumn than other seasons (P < 0.05), and N₂O was absorbed from the atmosphere mainly in summer. Moreover, correlation analysis illustrated that CO₂ flux had significantly negative correlation with wind velocity (P < 0.05), whereas positive correlation with pH (P < 0.01) had been found. There was no significant correlation between CH₄ (or N₂O) flux and the measured environmental variables respectively (P > 0.05). Additionally, the annual fluxes of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O were 140.45 ± 12.57 mg CO₂·m^?2 h^?1, 1.35 ± 0.14 mg CH₄·m^?2 h^?1 and 34.34 ± 11.64 μg N₂O·m^?2 h^?1, respectively. When compared to other reservoirs worldwide, the CO₂ and N₂O fluxes from TGR were higher than those from boreal and temperate reservoirs, but much lower than those from tropical reservoirs. CH₄ flux was lower than those from boreal, temperate and most tropical reservoirs. In our study, the surface area of the TGR emitted 1.42 × 10⁶ t CO₂, 1.19 × 10⁴ t CH₄ and 589.93 t N₂O in a year. The total GWP was 17.68 t CO₂-eq ha^?1 yr^?1, of which CO₂ flux was dominant (74.38%). Therefore, CO₂ was the main contributor of GHGs fluxes in our study and thus future researches should focus on how to reduce CO₂ fluxes from the surface of the TGR. TGR has a considerable contribution to regional GHG emissions.