Investigations of interaction mechanism and conformational variation of serum albumin affected by artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin

In this work, binding interactions of artemisinin (ART) and dihydroartemisinin (DHA) with human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were investigated thoroughly to illustrate the conformational variation of serum albumin. Experimental results indicated that ART and DHA bound strongly with the site I of serum albumins via hydrogen bond (H-bond) and van der Waals force and subsequently statically quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of serum albumins through concentration-dependent manner. The quenching abilities of two drugs on the intrinsic fluorescence of HSA were much higher than the quenching abilities of two drugs on the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA. Both ART and DHA, especially DHA, caused the conformational variation of serum albumins and reduced the α-helix structure content of serum albumins. DHA with hydrophilic hydroxyl group bound with HSA more strongly, suggesting the important roles of the chemical polarity and the hydrophilicity during the binding interactions of two drugs with serum albumins. These results reveal the molecular understanding of binding interactions between ART derivatives and serum albumins, providing vital information for the future application of ART derivatives in biological and clinical areas.     

Do Geographically Isolated Grasslands Follow the Principle of Island Biogeography in a Landscape Scale? Taking Poyang Lake Grassland as an Example

As one of the basic theories of biodiversity conservation, island biogeography has been widely accepted in the past decades. Originally, island biogeography was put forward and applied in oceanic environments. But later on, it was found out that the application was not only limited to oceanic islands, but also in terrestrial environments with relatively isolated conditions. In terms of biodiversity level, island biogeography generally focuses on a small scale, such as species diversity and genetic diversity. The studies of biodiversity on a large-scale based on island biogeography, such as ecosystem and landscape scales, were seldomly conducted. Taking Poyang Lake, the largest fresh water lake in China as case study area, 30 grasslands were randomly selected to study whether island biogeography can be applied to grasslands at a landscape level from three island attributes (area, distance and shape), and the most important ecological variable (flooding) in Poyang Lake. The results showed that in general, grasslands have the property of an island, and follow the basic principle of island biogeography. We found the area and flooding duration were the two most important determinants of landscape diversity. There was a significant positive correlation between the grassland area and the landscape diversity, which could be well expressed by logarithmic function model (R² = 0.73). There was a negative correlation between flooding duration and landscape diversity, which could be described by an inverse model (R² = 0.206). The distance to mainland and the shape of grassland were correlated with landscape diversity, but the fitting result of the models was not as good as expected. The possible reason could be that Poyang Lake is a seasonal lake, the water level varies with hydrological conditions, so that the grasslands are not strongly isolated and their shape is not stable enough required by island biogeography. Furthermore, it indicates that besides area, distance and shape attributes, flooding strongly affects the biodiversity of grassland vegetation, and should not be ignored when applying island biogeography theory to Poyang Lake. This study is expected to be a supplement for island biogeography in terrestrial environments, and the results are expected to benefit for the biodiversity conservation in Poyang Lake.     

Seed Priming with Gibberellin Regulates the Germination of Cotton Seeds Under Low-Temperature Conditions

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Exogenous substances play an important role in the response of cotton to low-temperature conditions during the germination stage, but little is known about the...     

谷子不育系及其相应可育系小孢子发育的细胞学观察

以谷子2个品种的不育系及其保持系为材料,对其小孢子发育的细胞形态学进行了观察研究。结果表明:昭盟A花药的外部形态及花粉母细胞的发育过程与昭盟B相似,能形成外观正常的三核花粉,但其花药不能开裂散粉。石炮A表现出了败育时间和方式的多样性,且不育系与保持系间在花药长度上有显著差异。此外,两种不育系的维管束都表现出不同程度的发育不良。不良程度与药囊退化程度相关。     

NaCl胁迫下宁夏枸杞光合作用相关基因差异表达分析

宁夏枸杞是著名的耐盐药用植物,该研究通过室内水培试验,利用高通量测序技术和qRT-PCR技术检测了不同浓度NaCl胁迫(0、100、200、300 mmol/L)下宁夏枸杞叶片光合作用相关基因差异表达,并分析了其叶绿素含量、净光合速率、Rubisco活性的变化,以揭示宁夏枸杞在盐胁迫条件下光合机构及光合作用相关基因差异表达规律,为深入解析宁夏枸杞响应盐胁迫的光合机理奠定基础。结果表明：(1)用100、200、300 mmol/L NaCl胁迫处理7 d时宁夏枸杞分别有14、26、55个光合作用相关基因差异表达,且随着NaCl胁迫程度的增加下调表达基因多于上调表达基因。(2)qRT-PCR结果显示,宁夏枸杞的3个光合作用相关基因ATPε、CLH2、Lhcb3的相对表达量均随着NaCl胁迫程度的加深总体呈显著下降的趋势,qRT-PCR验证结果与RNA-seq测序结果基本一致。(3)随着NaCl胁迫程度的增加,宁夏枸杞叶片中的叶绿素a和叶绿素b含量以及净光合速率和Rubisco活性均呈显著下降的趋势,而类胡萝卜素含量变化不显著。研究认为,宁夏枸杞能通过诱导光合作用相关基因的差异表达来调控叶片...