NKG2D discriminates diverse ligands through selectively mechano‐regulated ligand conformational changes

Stimulatory immune receptor NKG2D binds diverse ligands to elicit differential anti‐tumor and anti‐virus immune responses. Two conflicting degeneracy recognition models based on static crystal structures and in‐solution binding affinities have been considered for almost two decades. Whether and how NKG2D recognizes and discriminates diverse ligands still remain unclear. Using live‐cell‐based single‐molecule biomechanical assay, we characterized the in situ binding kinetics of NKG2D interacting with different ligands in the absence or presence of mechanical force. We found that mechanical force application selectively prolonged NKG2D interaction lifetimes with the ligands MICA and MICB, but not with ULBPs, and that force‐strengthened binding is much more pronounced for MICA than for other ligands. We also integrated steered molecular dynamics simulations and mutagenesis to reveal force‐induced rotational conformational changes of MICA, involving formation of additional hydrogen bonds on its binding interface with NKG2D, impeding MICA dissociation under force. We further provided a kinetic triggering model to reveal that force‐dependent affinity determines NKG2D ligand discrimination and its downstream NK cell activation. Together, our results demonstrate that NKG2D has a discrimination power to recognize different ligands, which depends on selective mechanical force‐induced ligand conformational changes.     

Genome-wide variants of Eurasian facial shape differentiation and a prospective model of DNA based face prediction

It is a long-standing question as to which genes define the characteristic facial features among different ethnic groups. In this study, we use Uyghurs, an ancient admixed population to query the genetic bases why Europeans and Han Chinese look different. Facial traits were analyzed based on high-dense 3D facial images; numerous biometric spaces were examined for divergent facial features between European and Han Chinese, ranging from inter-landmark distances to dense shape geometrics. Genome-wide association studies(GWAS) were conducted on a discovery panel of Uyghurs. Six significant loci were identified, four of which, rs1868752, rs118078182, rs60159418 at or near UBASH3B, COL23A1, PCDH7 and rs17868256 were replicated in independent cohorts of Uyghurs or Southern Han Chinese. A prospective model was also developed to predict 3D faces based on top GWAS signals and tested in hypothetic forensic scenarios.     

人源类溶菌酶蛋白6在毕赤酵母中的重组表达及活性分析

利用毕赤酵母(Pichia pastoris)重组表达人源类溶菌酶蛋白6(human lysozyme-like protein6,h Lyzl6),对其酶学性质进行分析。根据毕赤酵母密码子偏爱性设计并人工合成h Lyzl6基因,将其连接至含有乙醇氧化酶启动子(AOX1)的p PIC9K质粒构建重组表达载体p PIC9K-hlyzl6;重组表达载体经线性化后电转化入毕赤酵母GS115感受态细胞,经G418筛选获得高拷贝重组菌株后进行甲醇诱导表达。经甲醇诱导72 h后发酵液上清中酶活性达到最高值,发酵液上清经SDSPAGE检测在14.8 k Da处有重组h Lyzl6蛋白条带,分子量符合预期,通过甲壳素亲和层析可对其进行纯化;采用比浊法测定h Lyzl6酶学活性,结果表明h Lyzl6对溶壁微球菌(Micrococcus lysodeikticus)有较好的杀灭作用,最适反应温度为40℃,最适p H为5.5,其酶活力为54 700U/mg,Cu2+对其活性有明显抑制,EC50为30.2799 mg/L。采用基因工程方法首次在毕赤酵母GS115成功表达了重组h Lyzl6,证实其在体外具有杀菌活性,初步揭示h Lyzl6在男性生殖系统先天性免疫中发挥了一定作用,为进一步研究h Lyzl6的功能和应用开发奠定了基础。     

非人灵长类的杀婴行为及其适应意义

杀婴现象普遍存在于非人灵长类种类中,本文通过综述目前已知的21 种非人灵长类的69 例杀婴行为记
录,探讨了非人灵长类杀婴行为的适应性意义。大多数雄性杀婴行为符合雄性繁殖策略假说,既满足以下3 个
条件:(1)杀婴雄性与受害婴仔没有父子关系;(2)失去婴猴的母亲会提前进入发情状态;(3)受害雌性随后
可能与杀婴雄性交配。不过有些个别的杀婴现象与雄性繁殖利益无关,文中进一步介绍了误伤假说、减少未来
竞争者假说、肉食假说和病态行为假说。杀婴无疑会对受害母亲造成巨大的损失。雌性防范杀婴的策略包括直
接抵抗、回避接触雄性、积极发情、依靠保护雄性和改变繁殖群组成等多种方式。但是雄性杀婴现象不会完全
消失,因为出现该行为的根本原因是雌性防范雄性杀婴的难度较大,而雄性实施杀婴行为的风险较低、利益较
高。     

Identifying Neural Patterns of Functional Dyspepsia Using Multivariate Pattern Analysis: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Background

Previous imaging studies on functional dyspepsia (FD) have focused on abnormal brain functions during special tasks, while few studies concentrated on the resting-state abnormalities of FD patients, which might be potentially valuable to provide us with direct information about the neural basis of FD. The main purpose of the current study was thereby to characterize the distinct patterns of resting-state function between FD patients and healthy controls (HCs).

Methodology/Principal Findings

Thirty FD patients and thirty HCs were enrolled and experienced 5-mintue resting-state scanning. Based on the support vector machine (SVM), we applied multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate the differences of resting-state function mapped by regional homogeneity (ReHo). A classifier was designed by using the principal component analysis and the linear SVM. Permutation test was then employed to identify the significant contribution to the final discrimination. The results displayed that the mean classifier accuracy was 86.67%, and highly discriminative brain regions mainly included the prefrontal cortex (PFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), supplementary motor area (SMA), temporal pole (TP), insula, anterior/middle cingulate cortex (ACC/MCC), thalamus, hippocampus (HIPP)/parahippocamus (ParaHIPP) and cerebellum. Correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between ReHo values in certain regions of interest (ROI) and the FD symptom severity and/or duration, including the positive correlations between the dmPFC, pACC and the symptom severity; whereas, the positive correlations between the MCC, OFC, insula, TP and FD duration.

Conclusions

These findings indicated that significantly distinct patterns existed between FD patients and HCs during the resting-state, which could expand our understanding of the neural basis of FD. Meanwhile, our results possibly showed potential feasibility of functional magnetic resonance imaging diagnostic assay for FD.     

白菜型冬油菜HDACs基因家族的鉴定及表达分析北大核心CSCD

为了研究HDACs(组蛋白去乙酰化酶)在白菜型冬油菜响应低温胁迫中的影响,该研究采用强抗寒品种‘陇油7号’、耐寒品种‘天油4号’和弱抗寒品种Lenox等白菜型冬油菜,分析HDACs抑制剂曲古抑菌素A(TSA)处理后白菜型冬油菜种子的萌发,及低温胁迫下抗氧化酶活性和渗透调节物质含量变化,并全基因组鉴定HDACs的基因家族,分析其在不同抗寒性白菜型冬油菜中的表达特性。结果表明:(1)1μmol/L和3μmol/L的TSA对3个品种的根长均具有抑制作用,不同温度下外源喷施TSA均可增加抗氧化酶活性和渗透调节物质含量。(2)在白菜型冬油菜中共鉴定出21个HDACs;系统发育分析显示,HDACs可分为3个亚家族,所有基因不均等分布在8条染色体上,但7号和8号染色体上没有基因分布;HDACs启动子序列中包含胁迫响应、光响应、激素应答等相关的作用元件。(3)组织表达结果显示,大部分基因在生长锥中表达量明显高于其他组织部位,BrapaHDA19、BrapaHDA6-1、BrapaHDA8和BrapaHDA7-2在白菜型冬油菜花中表达量较高,且BrapaHDA5-2在‘天油4号’的茎生叶、角果、新基叶和老基叶中的表达量较高,而BrapaHDA7-2在Lenox的花中表达量较高。(4)低温胁迫表达结果显示,BrapaHDA8、BrapaHDA14、BrapaHDA2、BrapaHDT2-2和BrapaHDA15-1在3个抗寒性不同的材料中呈现出差异表达。研究推测,所鉴定的这些基因可能在白菜型冬油菜生长发育及抗寒性方面发挥重要功能。     

Effects of chicken intestinal antimicrobial peptides on humoral immunity of chickens and antibody titres after vaccination with infectious bursal disease virus vaccine in chicken

Sixty chickens were randomly divided into two groups (30 chickens in each group) to determine the effect of oral administration of chicken intestinal antimicrobial peptides (CIAMP) on the humoral immune response. Chickens of both groups were fed the same diet. In the treatment group chickens received drinking water supplemented with CIAMP (1 microg/ml) right after hatching. Samples of blood, bursa of Fabricus, spleen and intestine were taken at day 1, 4, 7, 10 and 17 of experiment. CIAMP supplementation enhanced the content of IgG and IgM in serum from day 4-10 and day 10-17, respectively, (p < 0.05), IgM-forming cells in bursa of Fabricus and spleen at the age of 7 days (p < 0.05) and IgG-forming cells in bursa of Fabricus at the age of 4 days (p < 0.05). In addition, CIAMP enhanced the IgA-forming cells in caecal tonsils diffuse area at day 4 (p < 0.05). Furthermore, CIAMP enhanced the antibody response to infectious bursal disease virus vaccine (IBDV) in chickens 21 days following IBDV vaccine administration (p < 0.05). These results suggested that CIAMP could modulate the humoral immune response of chickens and increased the antibody titres of infectious bursal disease virus vaccine.     

Deletion mapping of homoeologous group 6-specific wheat expressed sequence tags

To localize wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) ESTs on chromosomes, 882 homoeologous group 6-specific ESTs were identified by physically mapping 7965 singletons from 37 cDNA libraries on 146 chromosome, arm, and sub-arm aneuploid and deletion stocks. The 882 ESTs were physically mapped to 25 regions (bins) flanked by 23 deletion breakpoints. Of the 5154 restriction fragments detected by 882 ESTs, 2043 (loci) were localized to group 6 chromosomes and 806 were mapped on other chromosome groups. The number of loci mapped was greatest on chromosome 6B and least on 6D. The 264 ESTs that detected orthologous loci on all three homoeologs using one restriction enzyme were used to construct a consensus physical map. The physical distribution of ESTs was uneven on chromosomes with a tendency toward higher densities in the distal halves of chromosome arms. About 43% of the wheat group 6 ESTs identified rice homologs upon comparisons of genome sequences. Fifty-eight percent of these ESTs were present on rice chromosome 2 and the remaining were on other rice chromosomes. Even within the group 6 bins, rice chromosomal blocks identified by 1-6 wheat ESTs were homologous to up to 11 rice chromosomes. These rice-block contigs were used to resolve the order of wheat ESTs within each bin.