Suppression of tomato bacterial wilt by anaerobic soil disinfestation and associations with production of antagonistic compounds

Plant and Soil - Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) has been proven to be an effective and environmentally friendly method for controlling soil-borne plant diseases. Mechanisms of ASD-mediated...     

酵母RNA聚合酶II羧基端结构域激酶CTDK-I及其亚基的结构与功能

RNA聚合酶Ⅱ最大亚基Rpb1的羧基端结构域（carboxyl-terminal repeat domain,CTD）是RNA聚合酶Ⅱ发挥转录延伸功能所必需的,对其执行精确的转录调节功能至关重要。酵母细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶CTDK-I（carboxyl-terminal repeat domain kinase,CTDK-I）由CTK1、CTK2和CTK3组成,作用于RNA聚合酶Ⅱ羧基端结构域,动态磷酸化CTD的七肽重复序列（YSPTSPS）来调控转录和翻译。酵母中的特异性蛋白CTK3与特殊的细胞周期蛋白CTK2结合形成异二聚体,再与CTDK-I的催化亚基CTK1结合以调节其活性。CTK1作为细胞周期蛋白CDK（cyclin dependent kinase,CDK）的同源蛋白,其结构与功能的研究可拓展人们对CDK蛋白家族的认识;CTK2-CTK3复合物对CTK1调控机制的研究也可为细胞周期蛋白抑制剂的研发提供新的思路。本文简述了酵母CTDK-I的功能特点及其亚基的结构与功能以及亚基间的相互作用,并展望了CTDK-I复合物的研究前景。     

九龙江河口浮游动物的群落结构和时空变动

2009年春(5月)、夏(8月)、秋(11月)在九龙江河口进行浮游动物采样调查,分析了九龙江河口浮游动物的种类组成、群落结构、丰度和生物量的时空变化。调查共发现浮游动物119种,其中,含桡足类(35种)和水母类(31种)是最主要的类群。主要优势种有火腿许水蚤(Schmackeria poplesia)、中华假磷虾(Pseudeuphausia sinica)、弗洲指突水母(Blackfordia virginica)、短尾类蚤状幼虫 (Zoea larvae)和长尾类幼虫 (Macrura larva)。其中,春季以火腿许水蚤、弗洲指突水母、中华假磷虾以主;夏季则以短尾类蚤状幼虫和长尾类幼虫为主;秋季则以火腿许水蚤和中华异水蚤(Acaritella sinensis)为主,季节变化明显。浮游动物丰度和生物量春季最高,平均值分别为3 377.8 ind/m³和3 209.4 mg/m³,秋季最低,但空间分布不均,从春季到秋季其密集中心从近海区逐渐转移到邻近河口区。与过去同期的调查资料相比,20年来九龙江河口浮游动物总丰度、优势种的组成和排序发生了显著的变化。本次浮游动物的总丰度平均值(以秋季为例)为历次调查最低,主要优势种也明显不同, 推测,浮游动物有朝着小型化发展的趋势。     

Clinical and Microbiological Investigation of Fungemia from Four Hospitals in China

In this study, fungemia cases from four tertiary hospitals located in Shanghai and Anhui province in China from March 2012 to December 2013 were enrolled to investigate clinical features, species distribution, antifungal susceptibility and strain relatedness. During the study period, 137 non-duplicate cases and their corresponding isolates were collected. Six different genera of fungi were identified, of which Candida spp. were the most common (126/137, 91.97 %), with C. albicans predominating (48/137, 35.03 %). The non-Candida fungi rate reached 8.03 % (11/137), and Pichia spp. was the most common (5/137, 3.65 %). Compared with C. albicans, non-C. albicans fungi-associated fungemia was more likely in younger (p = 0.004) and male patients (χ ² = 6.2618, p = 0.0123) and patients from ICUs (χ ² = 6.3783, p = 0.0116). Overall, the susceptible/WT rates of common Candida spp. to fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, flucytosine, amphotericin B and caspofungin were 74.63, 92.31, 93.16, 96.58, 100 and 95.69 %, respectively. C. tropicalis and C. guilliermondii had a low susceptibility to fluconazole: 79.95 and 77.78 %, respectively. No isolates were resistant/WT to caspofungin, but C. parapsilosis and C. guilliermondii had high MIC₉₀ values; 1 and 2 mg/L, respectively. In terms of genotyping, MLST was taken for C. glabrata and C. tropicalis, while microsatellite marker analysis was used for C. albicans and C. parapsilosis. C. glabrata was predominantly clone ST7, accounting for 75 %, while the other isolates showed genetic diversity. Considering the increased proportion of non-C. albicans fungi and the presence of endemic clones of C. glabrata, it is essential to undertake additional surveillance of fungemia.     

核酸适配体介导的多药耐药性肿瘤的治疗

化疗是目前肿瘤治疗最常见的方法。然而,肿瘤细胞的多药耐药（multidrug resistance,MDR）常导致临床化疗失败及患者的死亡。因此,干预和逆转肿瘤多药耐药,提高化疗效果,对于肿瘤的治疗具有重要的意义。核酸适配体是一种短的单链寡核苷酸,通过折叠形成特定空间结构从而与靶标特异性结合。靶向肿瘤的核酸适配体可以选择性地将治疗性物质（抗癌药物,siRNA,miRNA）和药物载体递送至肿瘤中,对肿瘤进行靶向杀伤。利用核酸适配体靶向多药耐药性肿瘤,能够特异性干预甚至逆转肿瘤的多药耐药性。本文概述了核酸适配体介导的干预与逆转肿瘤多药耐药性的研究进展。     

Neuroprotective Effects of Paeoniflorin on 6-OHDA-Lesioned Rat Model of Parkinson’s Disease

Paeoniflorin (PF) is the main active component extracted from the roots of Paeonialactiflora, a traditional Chinese medicine used for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, especially Parkinson’s disease (PD). The degeneration of dopaminergic (DA-) neurons in PD may be caused by pathological activation of acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs). Thus, we designed a series of experiments to evaluate the therapeutic effects of PF and to test whether its effects are related to its inhibitory effect on ASIC1a. We found that systemic administration of PF or ASICs blockers (psalmotoxin-1 and amiloride) improved behavioral symptoms, delayed DA-neuronal loss and attenuated the reduction of dopamine (DA) and its metabolites in a rat model of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced PD. In addition, our data showed that PF, like ASICs blockers, regulated the expression of ASIC1a, decreased the level of α-synuclein (α-SYN), and improved autophagic dysfunction. Further experiments showed that ASIC1a knockdown down-regulated the α-SYN level and alleviated the autophagic injury in the 6-OHDA-treated ASIC1a-silenced PC12 cells. In summary, these findings indicate that PF enhanced the autophagic degradation of α-SYN and, thus, protected DA-neurons against the neurotoxicity caused by 6-OHDA. These findings also provide experimental evidence that PF may be a neuroprotectant for PD by acting on ASIC1a and that ASIC1a may be involved in the pathogenesis of PD.     

In vitro propagation of Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp., a potential natural anti-hypertension medicinal plant

A rapid clonal propagation system for Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp. (Verbenaceae), a anti-hypertension folk medicinal shrub has been developed. A range of cytokinins has been investigated for multiple shoot induction with shoot apex, axillary shoot, leaf, petiole and root explants. Optimum shoot induction occurred with axillary buds using 6-benzyladenine where an average of 21 shoots were produced per explant in 6 weeks. Subculturing the newly produced shoots, by separating into groups of five shoots, produced an average of 43 new shoots per culture within 4 weeks. In vitro rooting and weaning of over 200 plantlets was completely successful. Cytological studies revealed no visible abnormalities in chromosome number.Abbreviations 2iP 2-isopentenyladenine - BA 6-benzyladenine - LSD Least Significant Difference - NAA 1-naphthaleneacetic acid - TDZ thidiazuron - WPM Woody Plant Medium (Lloyd & McCown 1980) basal medium     

A unique tetrameric structure of deer plasma haptoglobin--an evolutionary advantage in the Hp 2-2 phenotype with homogeneous structure

Similar to blood types, human plasma haptoglobin (Hp) is classified into three phenotypes: Hp 1-1, 2-1 and 2-2. They are genetically inherited from two alleles Hp 1 and Hp 2 (represented in bold), but only the Hp 1-1 phenotype is found in almost all animal species. The Hp 2-2 protein consists of complicated large polymers cross-linked by alpha2-beta subunits or (alpha2-beta)n (where n>or=3, up to 12 or more), and is associated with the risk of the development of diabetic, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. In the present study, we found that deer plasma Hp mimics human Hp 2, containing a tandem repeat over the alpha-chain based on our cloned cDNA sequence. Interestingly, the isolated deer Hp is homogeneous and tetrameric, i.e. (alpha-beta)4, although the locations of -SH groups (responsible for the formation of polymers) are exactly identical to that of human. Denaturation of deer Hp using 6 m urea under reducing conditions (143 mmbeta-mercaptoethanol), followed by renaturation, sustained the formation of (alpha-beta)4, suggesting that the Hp tetramers are not randomly assembled. Interestingly, an alpha-chain monoclonal antibody (W1), known to recognize both human and deer alpha-chains, only binds to intact human Hp polymers, but not to deer Hp tetramers. This implies that the epitope of the deer alpha-chain is no longer exposed on the surface when Hp tetramers are formed. We propose that steric hindrance plays a major role in determining the polymeric formation in human and deer polymers. Phylogenetic and immunochemical analyses revealed that the Hp 2 allele of deer might have arisen at least 25 million years ago. A mechanism involved in forming Hp tetramers is proposed and discussed, and the possibility is raised that the evolved tetrameric structure of deer Hp might confer a physiological advantage.     

Allelopathic impact of artificially applied coumarin on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fusarium oxysporum</Emphasis> f.sp. <Emphasis Type="Italic">niveum</Emphasis>

Watermelon production is threatened by fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum (FON) in continuous cultivation system. Some elements, mainly allelochemicals, released from living roots or decayed plants might be associated with the disease. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the possible impact of coumarin, one kind of watermelon allelochemical, on FON. Furthermore, possible new mechanisms might be investigated during the ecological interactions of plant-microbe. Results showed that coumarin strongly inhibited growth of FON leading to a decrease in its biomass, dry weight of mycelia of FON in a liquid culture. The dry weight was decreased by 62.9% compared with control. The hyphal growth of FON on plates was stopped at high (>400 mg l⁻¹) concentrations of coumarin. At 320 mg l⁻¹, sporulation and enzyme activities of FON were also severely suppressed by coumarin. The yield of conidia, and the activities of proteinase, cellulase, and amylase were reduced by 98.9%, 79.7%, 29.8% and 15.9% respectively. However, conidial germination and mycotoxin (MT) production of FON were greatly stimulated, being increased by 55.7% and 14.9 fold at 320 mg l⁻¹ respectively. We conclude that coumarin acted as an allelochemical substance to inhibit growth and pathogenic enzyme activities of FON but to stimulate mycotoxin production and conidial germination. It was suggested that coumarin acted as a signal transduction element bridging plant and pathogen in the process of plant-microbe interactions.