Computational identification of harmful mutation regions to the activity of transposable elements

Background

Transposable elements (TEs) are interspersed DNA sequences that can move or copy to new positions within a genome. TEs are believed to promote speciation and their activities play a significant role in human disease. In the human genome, the 22 AluY and 6 AluS TE subfamilies have been the most recently active, and their transposition has been implicated in many inherited human diseases and in various forms of cancer. Therefore, understanding their transposition activity is very important and identifying the factors that affect their transpositional activity is of great interest. Recently, there has been some work done to quantify the activity levels of active Alu TEs based on variation in the sequence. Given this activity data, an analysis of TE activity based on the position of mutations is conducted.

Results

A method/simulation is created to computationally predict so-called harmful mutation regions in the consensus sequence of a TE; that is, mutations that occur in these regions decrease the transpositional activity dramatically. The methods are applied to the most active subfamily, AluY, to identify the harmful regions, and seven harmful regions are identified within the AluY consensus with q-values less than 0.05. A supplementary simulation also shows that the identified harmful regions covering the AluYa5 RNA functional regions are not occurring by chance. This method is then applied to two additional TE families: the Alu family and the L1 family, to computationally detect the harmful regions in these elements.

Conclusions

We use a computational method to identify a set of harmful mutation regions. Mutations within the identified harmful regions decrease the transpositional activity of active elements. The correlation between the mutations within these regions and the transpositional activity of TEs are shown to be statistically significant. Verifications are presented using the activity of AluY elements and the secondary structure of the AluYa5 RNA, providing evidence that the method is successfully identifying harmful mutation regions.

     

Genotype-environment interaction for quantitative trait loci affecting life span in Drosophila melanogaster

The nature of genetic variation for Drosophila longevity in a population of recombinant inbred lines was investigated by estimating quantitative genetic parameters and mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) for adult life span in five environments: standard culture conditions, high and low temperature, and heat-shock and starvation stress. There was highly significant genetic variation for life span within each sex and environment. In the analysis of variance of life span pooled over sexes and environments, however, the significant genetic variation appeared in the genotype x sex and genotype x environment interaction terms. The genetic correlation of longevity across the sexes and environments was not significantly different from zero in these lines. We estimated map positions and effects of QTL affecting life span by linkage to highly polymorphic roo transposable element markers, using a multiple-trait composite interval mapping procedure. A minimum of 17 QTL were detected; all were sex and/or environment-specific. Ten of the QTL had sexually antagonistic or antagonistic pleiotropic effects in different environments. These data provide support for the pleiotropy theory of senescence and the hypothesis that variation for longevity might be maintained by opposing selection pressures in males and females and variable environments. Further work is necessary to assess the generality of these results, using different strains, to determine heterozygous effects and to map the life span QTL to the level of genetic loci.     

Vertical distribution of bacterial community structure in the sediments of two eutrophic lakes revealed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and multivariate analysis techniques

Vertical distribution of bacterial community structure was investigated in the sediments of two eutrophic lakes of China, Lake Taihu and Lake Xuanwu. Profiles of bacterial communities were generated using a molecular fingerprinting technique, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) followed by DNA sequence analysis, and the results were interpreted with multivariate statistical analysis. To assess changes in the genetic diversity of bacterial communities with changing depth, DGGE banding patterns were analysed by cluster analysis. Distinct clusters were recognized in different sampling stations of Lake Taihu. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was carried out to infer the relationship between environmental variables and bacterial community structure. DGGE samples collected at the same sampling site clustered together in both lakes. Total phosphorus, organic matter and pH were considered to be the key factors driving the changes in bacterial community composition.     

生物基分子介导纳米金属材料的制备及其应用

纳米金属材料具有纳米晶强化效应、光吸收率大、较高的表面能和单磁畴性能等优点,因其在医药、化学催化、抗菌抑毒等方面发挥着越来越重要的作用而受到人们广泛关注.近年来,随着全球石化资源消耗与曰俱增,环境污染加剧,基于可再生资源的生物基分子介导纳米材料的制备研究方兴未艾.生物基分子是指直接或间接来源于生物质的小分子或大分子物质...     

植被综合生态质量时空变化动态监测评价模型

为了能掌握全国植被综合生态质量的高低及其时空变化,构建了既能反映植被生产力又能反映植被覆盖度的植被综合生态质量指数,建立了植被综合生态质量指数年际对比和多年变化趋势评价模型。利用构建的指数和评价模型,以2017年作为监测评价的当年,以2000—2017年作为评价的多年时段,对全国植被综合生态质量时空变化进行了监测评价。结果表明：（1）2017年全国大部地区植被综合生态质量指数高于2000—2016年多年平均值,生态质量偏好;2017年福建、广西、海南、广东、云南植被综合生态质量位居全国前五位,构建的植被综合生态质量指数及其年际对比模型可以定量反映全国植被综合生态质量的空间差异和年际差异。（2）全国有90.7%的区域2000—2017年植被综合生态质量指数呈提高趋势,东北地区西部、内蒙古东部、华北大部、西北地区东部、西南地区东部、华南西部等地生态质量指数提升明显,构建的植被综合生态质量指数多年变化趋势评价模型可以定量反映植被生态质量的多年变化趋势和幅度。（3）南方大部地区2000—2017年平均年植被综合生态质量指数在50.0以上,北方大部地区在50.0以下;我国中东部大部地区在20.0以上,西部大部地区在20.0以下,表明南方大部地区年植被生态质量好于北方、中东大部好于西部。可见,构建的植被综合生态质量指数及其年际对比和多年变化趋势评价模型,能够监测评价当年和多年全国植被综合生态质量的时空变化,可为掌握全国植被生态质量动态提供模型和方法。     

基于外溢生态系统服务价值的区域生态补偿机制研究

由于不同的区域存在着资源分配、经济发展的不平等性,区域间的生态补偿日益受到关注。但区域生态补偿的依据一直存在争议,中国尚没有完善的区域综合生态补偿机制。提出了一种生态系统服务外溢理论,以扣除当地生态服务使用量后外溢的生态价值作为生态补偿依据,建立了区域综合生态补偿框架,同时考虑区域生态服务外溢占用情况和经济发展水平,有针对性地制定了9种补偿方案。由于生态系统服务具有流动性,生态补偿的受偿方和补偿方并非一一对应的关系,所以各行政区域之间进行补偿资金的。横向转移需要在全省或全国层面进行统筹和保障,最后统筹结果的少量盈缺再由中央财政或地方政府通过纵向转移支付辅助调平。构建了生态补偿模型和方案,针对现有生态系统服务价值评估结果,利用综合生态补偿机制分别分析了2015年长江流域上海、江西、四川等6个典型地区的生态补偿支付方案。结果表示需要接受生态补偿的地区有青海、四川、湖南和江西,应分别得到横向转移支付资金32.26亿元、153.3亿元、59.08亿元、67.1亿元;需要提供生态补偿的地区有浙江、上海,应该分别支付横向转移支付资金1.97亿元和47.31亿元。建立的补偿框架提高了各区域的参与度,对促进生态建设、统筹区域的协调发展、体现社会公平性有重要意义。     

A Multifunctional Integrated Design of Simultaneous Unity Absorption and Polarization Conversion

Plasmonics - Herein, an integrated multifunctional design for simultaneous perfect absorption and polarization conversion is proposed that worked in the Ku band: the proposed structure consisted of...     

Genetic variation and differentiation of Gekko gecko from different populations based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences and karyotypes

Black-spotted and red-spotted tokay geckos are distributed in different regions and have significant differences in morphological appearance, but have been regarded as the same species, Gekko gecko, in taxonomy. To determine whether black-spotted and red-spotted tokay geckos are genetically differentiated, we sequenced the entire mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (1147 bp) from 110 individuals of Gekko gecko collected in 11 areas including Guangxi China, Yunnan China, Vietnam, and Laos. In addition, we performed karyotypic analyses of black-spotted tokay geckos from Guangxi China and red-spotted tokay geckos from Laos. These phylogenetic analyses showed that black-spotted and red-spotted tokay geckos are divided into two branches in molecular phylogenetic trees. The average genetic distances are as follows: 0.12-0.47% among six haplotypes in the black-spotted tokay gecko group, 0.12-1.66% among five haplotypes in the red-spotted tokay gecko group, and 8.76-9.18% between the black-spotted and red-spotted tokay geckos, respectively. The karyotypic analyses showed that the karyotype formula is 2n = 38 = 8m + 2sm + 2st + 26t in red-spotted tokay geckos from Laos compared with 2n = 38 = 8m + 2sm + 28t in black-spotted tokay geckos from Guangxi China. The differences in these two kinds of karyotypes were detected on the 15th chromosome. The clear differences in genetic levels between black-spotted and red-spotted tokay geckos suggest a significant level of genetic differentiation between the two.