Development of hepatic acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase in hormone-treated chicks.

It has been suggested that the carbohydrate-rich diet of chicks after hatching is responsible for the emergence of hepatic enzymes involved in lipogenesis; the injection of glucose to newly hatched chicks gives rise to an appreciable elvation on the activities of acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase and fatty acid synthetase. The present study shows that during the first hours after hatching, there is a natural elevation of glycemia which parallels the increase in acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase activity. However, the administration of hormones which alter the blood glucose levels considerably (insulin, tolbutamide, glucagon and hydrocortisone) did not influence the enzyme activity. The administration of thyroxine, estradiol and cyclic AMP, was also without effect. These results do not support the theory that the increased amount of blood glucose is the natural effector of the induction acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase. They also show that different lipogenic enzymes are not regulated via the same 'operon' since thyroxine or glucagon which alter the level of some enzymes on this pathway did not modify that of the acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase.     

Large, rapidly evolving intergenic spacers in the mitochondrial DNA of the salamander family Ambystomatidae (Amphibia: Caudata)

We report the presence, in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of all of the sexual species of the salamander family Ambystomatidae, of a shared 240- bp intergenic spacer between tRNAThr and tRNAPro. We place the intergenic spacer in context by presenting the sequence of 1,746 bp of mtDNA from Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum, describe the nucleotide composition of the intergenic spacer in all of the species of Ambystomatidae, and compare it to other coding and noncoding regions of Ambystoma and several other vertebrate mtDNAs. The nucleotide substitution rate of the intergenic spacer is approximately three times faster than the substitution rate of the control region, as shown by comparisons among six Ambystoma macrodactylum sequences and eight members of the Ambystoma tigrinum complex. We also found additional inserts within the intergenic spacers of five species that varied from 87-444 bp in length. The presence of the intergenic spacer in all sexual species of Ambystomatidae suggests that it arose at least 20 MYA and has been a stable component of the ambystomatid mtDNA ever since. As such, it represents one of the few examples of a large and persistent intergenic spacer in the mtDNA of any vertebrate clade.      

大熊猫DNA序列变异及其遗传多样性研究

测定了来自马边、美姑、越西、宝兴、平武、青川、南坪和白水江等地40只大熊猫336～444bp的线粒体tRNA基因和D环区序列.在21个创立者中共检出9种线粒体DNA单倍型.发现大熊猫的遗传分化程度很低,地理群体间无显著的遗传隔离.大熊猫现生群体可能源于晚更新世,并受瓶颈效应的影响.在此之后,其遗传多样性得到了一定程度的恢复.     

Physical organization of the major duplication on Brassica oleracea chromosome O6 revealed through fluorescence in situ hybridization with Arabidopsis and Brassica BAC probes.

The close relationship between Brassica oleracea and Arabidopsis thaliana has been used to explore the genetic and physical collinearity of the two species, focusing on an inverted segmental chromosome duplication within linkage group O6 of B. oleracea. Genetic evidence suggests that these segments share a common origin with a region of Arabidopsis chromosome 1. Brassica oleracea and Arabidopsis bacterial artificial chromosome probes have been used for fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of B. oleracea pachytene chromosomes to further characterize the inverted duplication. This has been highly effective in increasing the local resolution of the cytogenetic map. We have shown that the physical order of corresponding genetic markers is highly conserved between the duplicated regions in B. oleracea and the physical lengths of the regions at pachytene are similar, while the genetic distances are considerably different. The physical marker order is also well conserved between Arabidopsis and B. oleracea, with only one short inversion identified. Furthermore, the relative physical distances between the markers in one segment of B. oleracea and Arabidopsis have stayed approximately the same. The efficacy of using fluorescence in situ hybridization, together with other forms of physical and genetic mapping, for elucidating such issues relating to synteny is discussed.     

Hemagglutinin Stalk Immunity Reduces Influenza Virus Replication and Transmission in Ferrets

We assessed whether influenza virus hemagglutinin stalk-based immunity protects ferrets against aerosol-transmitted H1N1 influenza virus infection. Immunization of ferrets by a universal influenza virus vaccine strategy based on viral vectors expressing chimeric hemagglutinin constructs induced stalk-specific antibody responses. Stalk-immunized ferrets were cohoused with H1N1-infected ferrets under conditions that permitted virus transmission. Hemagglutinin stalk-immunized ferrets had lower viral titers and delayed or no virus replication at all following natural exposure to influenza virus.