中国紫草科天芥菜亚科花粉形态及其系统学意义

为了深入研究紫草科Boraginaceae的分类问题,用光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜观察了中国紫草科天芥菜亚科Heliotropioideae天芥菜属Heliotropium 6种,砂引草属Messerschmidia 2种和紫丹属Tournefortia 1种植物的花粉形态.它们的花粉为长球形,赤道面观为椭圆形,极面观为六裂圆形或八裂圆形,少数为三角形.萌发孔有三种类型:(1)三孔沟与三假沟交替排列;(2)四孔沟和四假沟交替排列;(3)三孔沟.外壁表面具微弱的小穿孔,皱波状纹饰或表面近光滑.上述结果表明天芥菜亚科三个属之间有密切的亲缘关系.花粉特征表明紫丹属在天芥菜亚科中可能是比较原始的,天芥菜属的演化水平比紫丹属和砂引草属要高,而砂引草属介于其他两个属之间.花粉形态特征显示天芥菜亚科是厚壳树亚科Ehretioideae到紫草亚科Boraginaceae的过渡类型.紫丹属的花粉具三孔沟的萌发孔类型表明天芥菜亚科与破布木亚科Cordioideae有一定的亲缘关系.     

香蕉Maasr1基因表达产物的亚细胞定位

利用SSH分离香蕉果实采后差异表达基因,获得香蕉的ASR基因,并将其命名为Maasr1。对该基因与香蕉采后成熟衰老进行相关性研究,发现其在果实采后早期表达上调。通过对Maasr1基因进行生物信息学分析表明,Maasr1基因编码的蛋白可能作为转录因子定位于细胞核或细胞质中。为进一步深入研究该基因功能,构建了香蕉Maasr1基因与绿色荧光蛋白基因融合的植物表达载体pCAMBIA1304-Maasr1。利用基因枪转化法将重组载体转入洋葱表皮细胞瞬时表达,荧光显微镜检测结果表明,Maasr1基因表达产物定位在细胞核中,符合转录因子特性。     

人体体表超弱光发射的测量

研制了一种能在室温下正常工作的高灵敏度并具有极低暗计数的光子计数器。用它来研究人体体表超弱光的发射。测量结果表明：人体不同部位体表发光强度是很不一致的：手指发光最强、掌心次之、然后是面颊、前额、小臂、上臂、胸腹部等依次减弱。先照对体表的发光有很大影响。体表不同部位因光照引起发光强度的增加值差异很大;避光后先强的衰减速度也不同。体表的发光强度随体表温度的升高而增强。某些物质接触体表可以使体表发光强度发生很大变化。     

胆汁三烯结合蛋白在大肠杆菌中的表达、复性与纯化

目的：合成胆汁三烯结合蛋白（BBP）基因并在大肠杆菌中表达,获得重组BBP纯化制品。方法：根据天然BBP的基因序列和大肠杆菌偏好密码子设计并合成BBP基因的引物,PCR扩增优化的BBP基因序列,克隆至载体pEasy-T3;测序正确后,将该序列克隆至表达载体pET-32a上,构建表达质粒,转化至大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）pLysS,在IPTG诱导下表达融合蛋白;采用Ni柱纯化融合蛋白。结果：PCR扩增获得了优化后的BBP基因序列,构建了表达载体pET-32a-BBP;SDS-PAGE分析表明表达的融合蛋白相对分子质量为20×10^3,以包涵体形式存在,占全菌蛋白的40%以上;变性、复性后经Ni2＋柱纯化,获得纯度达98%以上的重组蛋白。结论：优化并合成了BBP全基因序列,获得了高纯度重组融合蛋白,为进一步鉴定其生物活性及筛选小分子的研究奠定了基础。     

中华白海豚雄性生殖系统组织学初步研究

采用组织学和形态学方法研究了中华白海豚(Sousa chinensis)的雄性生殖系统。以睾丸和附睾中是否存在精母细胞及精子细胞等作为判断雄性中华白海豚性成熟的标准,通过比较不同个体睾丸和附睾的组织结构特征,发现成熟个体的生精小管和附睾的组织学结构与未成熟个体间存在显著差异。通过测量样本睾丸的2个形态参数:生精小管直径和生精小管的相对面积,得到性成熟个体的生精小管直径为(118.3±12.8)μm,生精小管相对面积为0.52;未成熟个体的生精小管直径(47.4±3.5)～(60.3±6.0)μm,生精小管相对面积为0.27～0.40。     

High-resolution chromosomal microarray analysis of early-stage human embryonic stem cells reveals an association between X chromosome instability and skewed X inactivation

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is a dosage compensation mechanism that silences the majority of genes on one X chromosome in each female cell via a random process. Skewed XCI is relevant to many diseases, but the mechanism leading to it remains unclear. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocyst-stage embryos have provided an excellent model system for understanding XCI initiation and maintenance. Here, we derived hESC lines with random or skewed XCI patterns from poor-quality embryos and investigated the genome-wide copy number variation (CNV) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) patterns at the early passages of these two groups of hESC lines. It was found that the average size of CNVs on the X chromosomes in the skewed group is twice as much as that in the random group. Moreover, the LOH regions of the skewed group covered the gene locus of either XIST or XACT, which are master long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) effectors of XCI in human pluripotent stem cells. In conclusion, our work has established an experimentally tractable hESC model for study of skewed XCI and revealed an association between X chromosome instability and skewed XCI.     

Nutrition Concerns of Insufficient and Excessive Intake of Dietary Minerals in Lactating Women: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Three Cities of China

Objective

Objectives of this study were 1) to investigate the mineral intake by Chinese lactating women, 2) to explore the dietary source of minerals, and 3) the ratios between different dietary minerals.

Methods

A total of 468 lactating women in 5–240 days post-partum participated in this study. Food intakes by participants were measured using one time of 24-hour dietary recall, and minerals from food were calculated based on the Chinese Food Composition Table, second edition.

Results

In post-partum, women had inadequate food intake. 81.0% of women’s daily intake of dairy products was lower than 300g, and 97.1% of women’s daily intake of salt over 6g. For mineral intake, there were 81.8%, 59.0%, 47.6%, 45.7% and 66.8% of women’s calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and selenium intake lower than the estimated average requirement, respectively, and 91.7% of women’s excessive intake of sodium. The calcium/phosphorus and sodium/potassium ratios were 0.41±0.26/1 and 3.13±2.89/1, respectively. Considering the dietary sources of minerals, 27.3%, 25.3% and 30.1% of iron, zinc and calcium were from animal-based food, respectively, and 60.3%, 66.1% and 58.0% of iron, zinc and calcium were from plant-based food, respectively. The phosphorus-protein ratio was 0.014±0.003/1. Lactation stage was associated with nutrient intake. Women within 30 days post-partum and the ones who live in Guangzhou had a significantly lower intake of certain minerals, while women with a high education experience had a high intake of calcium, potassium, iron and zinc. Productive age, whether obese or not, and delivery ways were not associated with mineral intakes (P all >0.05).

Conclusion

Chinese women in three studied cities had an inappropriate food intake and resulted in both insufficient and excessive intakes of certain minerals.     

Human glutamylcysteine synthetase protects HEK293 cells against UV-induced cell death through inhibition of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase

Human glutamylcysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC) is the rate-limiting enzyme for glutathione synthesis. The heavy subunit possesses all the catalytic activities. UV irradiation (UV-C, 30 J/m(2)) induced apoptosis in HEK293 cells, but the morphological changes were inhibited significantly by expression of GCLC. MTS assay and flow cytometry results also indicated that GCLC and JNK1(APF) expression enhanced cellular resistance to UV irradiation. Western blotting showed that irradiation strongly activated the c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinases (JNKs) and caspase-3 as well as p38 in HEK293 cells. Interestingly, existing data show that GCLC blocks JNK1 phosphorylation but does not affect p38 phosphorylation. Therefore, overexpression of GCLC protected HEK293 cells against UV irradiation-induced cell death by inhibiting the phosphorylation and activation of JNK1, concomitantly with the inhibition of caspase-3 activation and p21(WAF1)-luciferase activity downstream of JNK.     

石山巴豆枝叶的化学成分研究

石山巴豆( Croton euryphyllus)为大戟科( Euphorbiaceae)巴豆属( Croton)植物,主要分布于西南各省的岩溶石山地区,民间用于杀虫和治疗跌打损伤。为了阐明其化学物质基础,该研究采用硅胶柱层析、Sephadex LH-20、HPLC等方法对石山巴豆枝叶醇提物进行分离纯化。结果表明：共分离得到16个化合物,分别鉴定为异毛叶巴豆萜(1), jatrophoidin (2),山藿香定(3),异山藿香素(4),山藿香素(5),赖百当-13-烯-8,15-二醇(6),7-酮基-β-谷甾醇(7),(22E)-5α,8β-表二氧麦角甾-6,22-二烯-3β-醇(8),豆甾烷-4-烯-6β-醇-3-酮(9),齐墩果烷-12-烯-2α,3β-二醇(10),东莨菪内酯(11),催吐萝芙木醇(12), lyratol F (13),罗布麻酚A (14),芹菜素(15),金色酰胺醇酯(16)。所有化合物均为首次从该植物中分离得到,其中化合物8－16为首次从巴豆属中发现。