我国禽流感研究进展及成就

禽流感不仅严重危害养禽业,而且给公共卫生造成巨大威胁。为了科学认识和积极防控禽流感,我国科学家进行了大量且富有成效的研究,取得了举世瞩目的成果。通过长期的监测,基本掌握了禽流感在我国的流行情况和进化规律;利用反向遗传操作技术和蛋白质组学技术,发现了影响流感病毒致病力、传播力和受体结合能力的部分关键位点,阐释了其作用机制;通过对传统技术的改进和先进方法的应用,不断成功建立禽流感诊断、检测技术;新型禽流感疫苗不断涌现并逐步被推广和应用,取得了良好的免疫效果。上述成果为我国禽流感的防控奠定了良好的基础,也为后续研究提供了依据。但是禽流感的防控形势依然严峻,2013年新型H7N9病毒的出现,使禽流感的防控面临新的挑战。     

Oxidative stress induces meiotic defects of oocytes in a mouse psoriasis model

Psoriasis, an immune-mediated inflammatory disease, is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes. Emerging evidence indicates that these defects are likely attributed to compromised oocyte competence. Nevertheless, little is known about the underlying associated mechanisms between psoriasis and poor oocyte quality. In this study, we construct an imiquimod-induced chronic psoriasis-like mouse model to review the effects of psoriasis on oocyte quality. We discover that oocytes from psoriasis-like mice display spindle/chromosome disorganization, kinetochore-microtubule mis-attachment, and aneuploidy. Importantly, our results show that melatonin supplement in vitro and in vivo not only increases the rate of matured oocytes but also significantly attenuates oxidative stress and meiotic defects by restoring mitochondrial function in oocytes from psoriasis-like mice. Altogether, our data uncover the adverse effects of psoriasis symptoms on oocytes, and melatonin supplement ameliorates oxidative stress and meiotic defects of oocytes from psoriatic mice.Subject terms: Meiosis, Immunology     

The progress of multimodal imaging combination and subregion based radiomics research of cancers

In recent years, with the standardization of radiomics methods; development of tools; and popularization of the concept, radiomics has been widely used in all aspects of tumor diagnosis; treatment; and prognosis. As the study of radiomics in cancer has become more advanced, the currently used methods have revealed their shortcomings. The performance of cancer radiomics based on single-modality medical images, which based on their imaging principles, only partially reflects tumor information, has been necessarily compromised. Using the whole tumor as a region of interest to extract radiomic features inevitably leads to the loss of intra-tumoral heterogeneity of, which also affects the performance of radiomics. Radiomics of multimodal images extracts various aspects of information from images of each modality and then integrates them together for model construction; thus, avoiding missing information. Subregional segmentation based on multimodal medical image combinations allows radiomics features acquired from subregions to retain tumor heterogeneity, further improving the performance of radiomics. In this review, we provide a detailed summary of the current research on the radiomics of multimodal images of cancer and tumor subregion-based radiomics, and then raised some of the research problems and also provide a thorough discussion on these issues.     

Whole-genome sequencing to detect mutations associated with resistance to insecticides and Bt proteins in Spodoptera frugiperda

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is a major pest native to the Americas that has recently invaded the Old World. Point mutations in the target-site proteins acetylcholinesterase-1 (ace-1), voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) and ryanodine receptor (RyR) have been identified in S. frugiperda as major resistance mechanisms to organophosphate, pyrethroid and diamide insecticides respectively. Mutations in the adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette transporter C2 gene (ABCC2) have also been identified to confer resistance to Cry1F protein. In this study, we applied a whole-genome sequencing (WGS) approach to identify point mutations in the target-site genes in 150 FAW individuals collected from China, Malawi, Uganda and Brazil. This approach revealed three amino acid substitutions (A201S, G227A and F290V) of S. frugiperda ace-1, which are known to be associated with organophosphate resistance. The Brazilian population had all three ace-1 point mutations and the 227A allele (mean frequency = 0.54) was the most common. Populations from China, Malawi and Uganda harbored two of the three ace-1 point mutations (A201S and F290V) with the 290V allele (0.47–0.58) as the dominant allele. Point mutations in VGSC (T929I, L932F and L1014F) and RyR (I4790M and G4946E) were not detected in any of the 150 individuals. A novel 12-bp insertion mutation in exon 15 of the ABCC2 gene was identified in some of the Brazilian individuals but absent in the invasive populations. Our results not only demonstrate robustness of the WGS-based genomic approach for detection of resistance mutations, but also provide insights for improvement of resistance management tactics in S. frugiperda.     

钙对花生幼苗生长、活性氧积累和光抑制程度的影响

为探讨钙元素对花生幼苗生长的影响,以花育22为试材,用改良的Hoagland溶液进行培养,培养液钙离子(Ca2+)浓度分别为0、6和12 mmol/L(依次简称为CK、C6和C12),研究了不同Ca2+浓度培养下花生幼苗生长以及根系和叶片活性氧(ROS)的积累情况。结果表明,Ca2+显著提高花生植株的株高和鲜重,并降低根冠比,而且正常培养条件下,Ca2+显著提高根系活力、降低叶片和根系的ROS积累,而且C12幼苗的生理状态要好于C6。花生幼苗功能叶在高温(42℃)强光(1200μmol m-2s-1)胁迫处理下,与CK植株相比,C6和C12叶片的过氧化氢(H2O2)和超氧阴离子(O-2)的积累水平低、其叶片PSⅡ最大光化学效率(Fv/Fm)高、光系统Ⅱ(PSⅡ)的关闭程度低,而且C12幼苗的活性氧积累和光抑制程度都明显低于C6,表明高温强光胁迫下,Ca2+有利于减轻花生幼苗叶片的光抑制和ROS积累。C6和C12叶片的部分ROS清除酶活性以及有关渗透调节物质的含量明显高于CK,丙二醛(MDA)的含量明显低于CK,表明胁迫条件下Ca2+通过提高ROS清除酶活性和渗透调节物质含量降低ROS的积累和危害,保护花生类囊体膜从而保证花生正常生长。     

SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein causes acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like pathological damages and constitutes an antiviral target

Cytokine storm and multi-organ failure are the main causes of SARS-CoV-2-related death. However, the origin of excessive damages caused by SARS-CoV-2 remains largely unknown. Here we show that the SARS-CoV-2 envelope (2-E) protein alone is able to cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like damages in vitro and in vivo. 2-E proteins were found to form a type of pH-sensitive cation channels in bilayer lipid membranes. As observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells, heterologous expression of 2-E channels induced rapid cell death in various susceptible cell types and robust secretion of cytokines and chemokines in macrophages. Intravenous administration of purified 2-E protein into mice caused ARDS-like pathological damages in lung and spleen. A dominant negative mutation lowering 2-E channel activity attenuated cell death and SARS-CoV-2 production. Newly identified channel inhibitors exhibited potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity and excellent cell protective activity in vitro and these activities were positively correlated with inhibition of 2-E channel. Importantly, prophylactic and therapeutic administration of the channel inhibitor effectively reduced both the viral load and secretion of inflammation cytokines in lungs of SARS-CoV-2-infected transgenic mice expressing human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE-2). Our study supports that 2-E is a promising drug target against SARS-CoV-2.Subject terms: Cell death, Molecular biology     

TEB/POLQ plays dual roles in protecting Arabidopsis from NO-induced DNA damage

Nitric oxide (NO) is a key player in numerous physiological processes. Excessive NO induces DNA damage, but how plants respond to this damage remains unclear. We screened and identified an Arabidopsis NO hypersensitive mutant and found it to be allelic to TEBICHI/POLQ, encoding DNA polymerase θ. The teb mutant plants were preferentially sensitive to NO- and its derivative peroxynitrite-induced DNA damage and subsequent double-strand breaks (DSBs). Inactivation of TEB caused the accumulation of spontaneous DSBs largely attributed to endogenous NO and was synergistic to DSB repair pathway mutations with respect to growth. These effects were manifested in the presence of NO-inducing agents and relieved by NO scavengers. NO induced G2/M cell cycle arrest in the teb mutant, indicative of stalled replication forks. Genetic analyses indicate that Polθ is required for translesion DNA synthesis across NO-induced lesions, but not oxidation-induced lesions. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that Polθ bypasses NO-induced base adducts in an error-free manner and generates mutations characteristic of Polθ-mediated end joining. Our experimental data collectively suggests that Polθ plays dual roles in protecting plants from NO-induced DNA damage. Since Polθ is conserved in higher eukaryotes, mammalian Polθ may also be required for balancing NO physiological signaling and genotoxicity.