中国东北样带(NECT):十年集成与未来挑战

Northeast China Transect (NECT), one of the fifteen International Biosphere-Geosphere Programme (IGBP) terrestrial transects, has been established for 10 years by Prof. Zhang Xin-Shi, through a core project of the IGBP - the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE). This transect is located in the mid-latitude semi-arid region, ranging 42-46°N latitude and 110-132癊 longitude. The primary driving force for global change is precipitation and the secondary one is land use intensity. Research progresses have been performed during the past decade in the following aspects: ecological database development, climate and its variability, ecophysiological response of plants to environments, vegetation and landscape changes, biodiversity patterns and their changes, plant functional types and traits with relation to climatic gradient, productivity and carbon dynamics, pollen-vegetation relationship, trace gas emissions, land use and land cover changes, as well as biogeographical and biogeochemical modelling. In order to achieve the higher level of integrated research, the NECT needs the consistent basic data sets within the same framework, further field experiments and observations, integrated simulations of vegetation structure, process and function from patch, landscape to biome scales, intercomparisons of results and simulations within the transect and to other IGBP transects, multidisciplinary research, national and international co-ordinates, and full scientific plan and implementation strategy.     

Antigenic relatedness between human lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase and phospholipases of the A2 family

A monoclonal antibody, B10, generated against pure human lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.43) caused the inhibition of the esterolytic and cholesterol esterifying activities of the enzyme. This antibody also reacted with a number of pancreatic and snake venom phospholipases A2 species but not phospholipase A1. A concentration-dependent inhibition of phospholipase A2 was also seen in the presence of B10. Treatment of lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase or B10-reacting phospholipases with phenacyl bromide, a reagent known to interact with the active site of phospholipase A2, inhibited both their esterolytic activity and their capacity to bind to B10. A dimeric phospholipase A2 species with a known occluded active site did not cross-react with B10. Thus, lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase and some enzymes of the phospholipase A2 family share a common antigenic determinant which is probably located near or at their esterolytic active site.     

甘肃东大山自然保护区岩羊生态行为的初步观察

2004年7月和8月,通过样线调查、野外直接跟踪观察和瞬间取样的方法,对东大山自然保护区岩羊(Pseudois nayaur)的种群结构和生态行为进行了初步研究。在观察到的720只岩羊中,719只组成了50个群,最大的群82只,最小的群2只,平均群大小(14.38±15.83)只(n=50)。雌雄性比为1∶0.63,成年雌体、亚成体和幼体之比是1∶0.4∶0.24。岩羊的昼间活动中,上午和下午各有一个瞬间觅食高峰,分别在6:30时和15:30时,中午有一段较长时间的休息期。通过对一个46只岩羊群连续12 d的野外跟踪观察,发现该岩羊群昼间的活动范围基本上在1.47 km2内。对152个自然死亡的雄性岩羊头骨的分析表明,东大山雄性岩羊的自然死亡年龄在7.5~11.5龄,其中9.5龄是其自然死亡的高峰。     

利用序列保守模体和局部构象信息预测转录因子结合位点

转录因子结合位点的计算预测是研究基因转录调控的重要环节,但常用的位置特异得分矩阵方法预测特异性偏低.通过深入分析结合位点的生物特征,提出了一种综合利用序列保守模体和局部构象信息的结合位点预测方法,以极大相关得分矩阵作为保守模体的描述模型,并根据二苷参数模型计算位点序列的局部构象,将两类信息得分组合为多维特征向量,在二次判别分析的框架下进行训练和滑动预测.预测过程中还引入了位置信息量以优化似然得分和过滤备选结果.针对大肠杆菌CRP和Fis结合位点数据的留一法测试结果表明,描述模型的改进和多种信息的融合能有效地改善预测方法的性能,大幅度提高特异性.     

XeCl准分子激光辐照对溶菌酶结构的影响

利用荧光光谱、SDS-PAGE和NMR方法,考察308 nm XeCl准分子激光辐照对溶菌酶结构与活性的影响。使用能量密度为0.3 mJ/mm2的激光辐照溶菌酶,脉冲数分别为25、50、100、200、600、1200、1800、3600和7200。结果表明,用低强度激光辐照(低于200个脉冲)时,溶菌酶的活性出现增高趋势。随着激光辐照脉冲数的进一步增大,溶菌酶的活性又开始逐步降低。激光辐照处理后,溶菌酶的荧光强度发生了与生物活性相对应的先增高再降低现象,说明溶菌酶的高级结构发生了显著变化。SDS-PAGE结果显示,经激光辐照后,溶菌酶出现了分子间的聚合。分析溶菌酶的1H-NMR谱发现,辐照后,溶菌酶色氨酸(Trp)111、Trp63和Trp62的化学位移发生了变化,此结果进一步说明,激光辐照使溶菌酶的高级结构发生了变化。该实验可为激光辐照诱导蛋白质去折叠的研究提供参考。     

Modeling pulsatile flow in aortic aneurysms: effect of non-Newtonian properties of blood

Pulsatile flow in an axisymmetric rigid-walled model of an abdominal aorta aneurysm was analyzed numerically for various aneurysm dilations using physiologically realistic resting waveform at time-averaged Reynolds number of 300 and peak Reynolds number of 1607. Discretization of the governing equations was achieved using a finite element scheme based on the Galerkin method of weighted residuals. Comparisons with previously published work on the basis of special cases were performed and found to be in excellent agreement. Our findings indicate that the velocity fields are significantly affected by non-Newtonian properties in pathologically altered configurations. Non-Newtonian fluid shear stress is found to be greater than Newtonian fluid shear stress during peak systole. Further, the maximum shear stress is found to occur near the distal end of AAA during peak systole. The impact of non-Newtonian blood flow characteristics on pressure compared to Newtonian model is found insignificant under resting conditions. Viscous and inertial forces associated with blood flow are responsible for the changes in the wall that result in thrombus deposition and dilation while rupture of AAA is more likely determined by much larger mechanical stresses imposed by pulsatile pressure on the wall of AAA.     

三种植物与紫红链霉菌组合灭螺效果

探讨了不同植物与紫红链霉菌组合的灭螺效果,为研制高效低毒植物灭螺剂提供依据。将天名精（Carpesium abrotanoides）、苍耳子（Xanthium sibiricum）、青蒿（Artemisia carvifolia）3种植物水浸液分别与紫红链霉菌液（Streptomyces violaceoruber）组合后对钉螺进行浸杀对比实验,并比较了相同植物与紫红链霉菌液的复合颗粒灭螺剂的灭螺效果。结果表明：天名精、苍耳子与紫红链霉菌复合颗粒灭螺剂7 d钉螺死亡率分别比其1%混合液提高17.6%（P=0.019）和5.3%(P=0.362);青蒿与链霉菌复合颗粒灭螺剂7 d钉螺死亡率比其1%混合液降低6.7%(P=0.022);天名精、苍耳子和链霉菌复合颗粒灭螺剂较其混合液具有一定的增效作用。     

Metagenomics analysis of the fecal microbiota in Ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) and Green pheasants (Phasianus versicolor) using next generation sequencing

Pheasant reintroduction and conservation efforts have been in place in Pakistan since the 1980 s, yet there is still a scarcity of data on pheasant microbiome and zoonosis. Instead of growing vast numbers of bacteria in the laboratory, to investigate the fecal microbiome, pheasants (green and ring neck pheasant) were analyzed using 16S rRNA metagenomics and using IonS5TMXL sequencing from two flocks more than 10 birds. Operational taxonomic unit (OTU) cluster analysis and phylogenetic tree analysis was performed using Mothur software against the SSUrRNA database of SILVA and the MUSCLE (Version 3.8.31) software. Results of the analysis showed that firmicutes were the most abundant phylum among the top ten phyla, in both pheasant species, followed by other phyla such as actinobacteria and proteobacteria in ring necked pheasant and bacteroidetes in green necked pheasant. Bacillus was the most relatively abundant genus in both pheasants followed by Oceanobacillus and Teribacillus for ring necked pheasant and Lactobacillus for green necked pheasant. Because of their well-known beneficial characteristics, these genus warrants special attention. Bird droppings comprise germs from the urinary system, gut, and reproductive sites, making it difficult to research each anatomical site at the same time. We conclude that metagenomic analysis and classification provides baseline information of the pheasant fecal microbiome that plays a role in disease and health.     

Glucose Regulates Hypothalamic Long-chain Fatty Acid Metabolism via AMP-activated Kinase (AMPK) in Neurons and Astrocytes

Hypothalamic controls of energy balance rely on the detection of circulating nutrients such as glucose and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) by the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH). LCFA metabolism in the MBH plays a key role in the control of food intake and glucose homeostasis, yet it is not known if glucose regulates LCFA oxidation and esterification in the MBH and, if so, which hypothalamic cell type(s) and intracellular signaling mechanisms are involved. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of glucose on LCFA metabolism, assess the role of AMP-activated Kinase (AMPK), and to establish if changes in LCFA metabolism and its regulation by glucose vary as a function of the kind of LCFA, cell type, and brain region. We show that glucose inhibits palmitate oxidation via AMPK in hypothalamic neuronal cell lines, primary hypothalamic astrocyte cultures, and MBH slices ex vivo but not in cortical astrocytes and slice preparations. In contrast, oleate oxidation was not affected by glucose or AMPK inhibition in MBH slices. In addition, our results show that glucose increases palmitate, but not oleate, esterification into neutral lipids in neurons and MBH slices but not in hypothalamic astrocytes. These findings reveal for the first time the metabolic fate of different LCFA in the MBH, demonstrate AMPK-dependent glucose regulation of LCFA oxidation in both astrocytes and neurons, and establish metabolic coupling of glucose and LCFA as a distinguishing feature of hypothalamic nuclei critical for the control of energy balance.     

微生物肥料及其生产应用中的问题

微生物肥料和微生物制剂是新世纪实行绿色农业的重要技术保障,关键是因其中含有大量的有效微生物的生命活动产生特定的肥效或其他生理功能,导致增产,微生物肥料包括根瘤菌肥,解磷菌肥、解钾菌肥、5406菌肥,植物根际促生菌,VA菌根等等,有机肥料堆制剂中含有多种降解农业有机废料的菌种,可缩短堆肥周期,提高养份利用率,由于微生物本身的特殊性,相关市场监督机制不健全,微生物肥料的生产,应用领域存在很多问题,甚至出现明显的伪科学,科研、生产、行政各有关部门应加强基础研究,提高全民科普水平,健全市场监督机制,依靠专家设计严格试验,优选可靠技术,保证良好的经济效益和社会效益。