亚热带森林乔木树种DNA条形码研究——以哀牢山自然保护区为例

作为新一代植物志iFlora的重要组成部分,DNA条形码已经成为物种鉴定中重要且有效的方法。本研究以亚热带森林的乔木树种为研究对象,开展了DNA条形码的尝试性工作。为评估DNA条形码对鉴定亚热带森林树种的有效性,收集并研究了来自哀牢山自然保护区内5l科111属中204个树种的525个乔木个体。结果显示,所选4个DNA片段（rbcL,matK,trnH-psbA和ITS）的PCR扩增成功率都超过90％;测序成功率rbcL和matK最高,分别为90．7％和90．5％,trnH-psbA次之（83．6％）,ITS最低（73．5％）,表明4个片段在亚热带森林乔木中都具有较好的通用性。应用BLAST与NJ Tree两种方法,对物种和属水平的鉴别成功率进行统计,发现单片段中ITS最高,分别为68．4％-81．3％和99．0％～100％,核心条码rkL和matK组合的成功率是52．8％～60．2％和86．7％～90．5％,再与补充条码trnH-psbA和ITS联合,可以成功鉴别74．7％～79．6％哀牢山自然保护区亚热带森林中的乔木物种。由于ITS片段在亚热带森林部分重要树种类群（樟科和壳斗科等）中的测序成功率较差,所以对这些植物类群采用trnH-psbA作为DNA条形码是一个更好的选择。     

干旱与盐胁迫对花生根际土壤细菌群落结构和花生产量的影响

以花生品种花育25号为试验材料,采用盆栽试验研究了开花期干旱和盐分胁迫对花生生长发育和荚果产量的影响,并运用高通量测序技术分析干旱、盐胁迫及旱盐双重胁迫下,花生根际土壤细菌群落结构的变化特征。结果表明: 不同胁迫处理花生根际土壤细菌群落均以变形菌门、放线菌门、Saccharibacteria、绿弯菌门、蓝藻菌门和酸杆菌门为主。干旱、盐胁迫及旱盐双重胁迫均不同程度降低了变形菌门和放线菌门的相对丰度,但显著提高了蓝藻菌门的含量,且旱盐双重胁迫较其单一胁迫引起的根际蓝藻菌门丰度变化更显著。土壤细菌功能预测分析显示,信号转导机制、防御机制及翻译后修饰、蛋白质周转和分子伴侣等相关功能在旱盐双重胁迫的细菌中活性更强,可能对花生生长及胁迫应答具有重要影响。统计学分析显示,开花期干旱、盐胁迫和旱盐双重胁迫严重影响花生生长发育,并显著降低产量。研究结果可为通过改良土壤微生物环境来提高植物胁迫耐受性提供参考。     

病毒融合蛋白的结构和功能

病毒融合蛋白可以分为三种类型,不同类型的病毒融合蛋白的结构差异很大,但是会采用相似的"发卡"构象实现融合.在一定条件下,病毒融合蛋白的疏水结构域,融合环或融合肽插入靶膜中,通过其自身折叠形成发卡使病毒和宿主的膜靠近.与此同时,融合蛋白构象变化会释放出足够的能量将双方膜打破并完成融合.本文中,我们总结了三种类型病毒融合蛋白的特征,并对其中央发卡三聚体结构域、跨膜结构域以及近膜结构域在融合过程中的作用进行了论述.     

Rapid evolution of a consumer stoichiometric trait destabilizes consumer–producer dynamics

Recent studies have shown that adaptive evolution can be rapid enough to affect contemporary ecological dynamics in nature (i.e. ‘rapid evolution’). These studies tend to focus on trait functions relating to interspecific interactions; however, the importance of rapid evolution of stoichiometric traits has been relatively overlooked. Various traits can affect the balance of elements (carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus) of organisms, and rapid evolution of such stoichiometric traits will not only alter population and community dynamics but also influence ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling. Multiple environmental changes may exert a selection pressure leading to adaptation of stoichiometrically important traits, such as an organism's growth rate. In this paper, we use theoretical approaches to explore the connections between rapid evolution and ecological stoichiometry at both the population and ecosystem level. First, we incorporate rapid evolution into an ecological stoichiometry model to investigate the effects of rapid evolution of a consumer's stoichiometric phosphorus:carbon ratio on consumer–producer population dynamics. We took two complementary approaches, an asexual clonal genotype model and a quantitative genetic model. Next, we extended these models to explicitly track nutrients in order to evaluate the effect of rapid evolution at the ecosystem level. Our model results indicate rapid evolution of the consumer stoichiometric trait can cause complex dynamics where rapid evolution destabilizes population dynamics and rescues the consumer population from extinction (evolutionary rescue). The model results also show that rapid evolution may influence the level of nutrients available in the environment and the flux of nutrients across trophic levels. Our study represents an important step for theoretical integration of rapid evolution and ecological stoichiometry.     

Lipid droplet de novo formation and fission are linked to the cell cycle in fission yeast

Cells sequester neutral lipids in bodies called lipid droplets. Thus, the formation and breakdown of the droplets are important for cellular metabolism; unfortunately, these processes are difficult to quantify. Here, we used time-lapse confocal microscopy to track the formation, movement and size changes of lipid droplets throughout the cell cycle in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In theory, the number of lipid droplets in these cells must increase for daughter cells to have the same number of droplets as the parent at a reference point in the cell cycle. We observed stable droplet formation events in G2 phase that were divided evenly between de novo formation of nascent droplets and fission of preexisting droplets. The observations that lipid droplet number is linked to the cell cycle and that droplets can form via fission were both new discoveries. Thus, we scrutinized each fission event for multiple signatures to eliminate possible artifacts from our microscopy. We augmented our time-lapse confocal microscopy with electron microscopy, which showed lipid droplet 'intermediates': droplets shaped like dumbbells that are potentially in transition states between two spherical droplets. Using these complementary microscopy techniques and also dynamic simulations, we show that lipid droplets can form by fission.     

地表火对红花尔基沙地樟子松种群空间分布格局的影响

利用全林木定位的方法, 对地表火干扰1年后的樟子松(Pinus sylvestris L. var. mongolica Litv.)林进行调查, 并通过假设检验和成对相关函数对其林火及林分结构特征和空间格局进行分析。结果表明, 林火强度相似的同一场地表火干扰下, 不同林分的密度均大大降低, 胸高断面积仅略有下降, 林分结构特征则有趋同的态势。不同林分的空间格局也有相似的变化趋势, 烧死木均表现为显著的双尺度聚集分布及显著的正相关, 活立木也表现出显著的正相关; 地表火干扰前后, 樟子松林的空间格局均为显著的聚集分布, 但地表火干扰后其聚集分布的尺度范围变小; 存活林木中, 大树和幼树则呈现出相互独立或略微排斥的关系。显然, 地表火驱动下, 不同樟子松林的空间格局呈现出相似的变化趋势, 并推动其向着成熟林方向演替, 这对天然樟子松林的资源保护和经营管理有着重要意义。     

Micro‐CT evaluation of murine fetal skeletal development yields greater morphometric precision over traditional clear‐staining methods

Traditional techniques for quantification of murine fetal skeletal development (gross measurements, clear‐staining) are severely limited by specimen processing, soft tissue presence, diffuse staining, and unclear landmarks between which to make measurements. Nondestructive microcomputed tomography (micro‐CT) imaging is a versatile, well‐documented tool traditionally used to generate high‐resolution 3‐D images and quantify microarchitectural parameters of trabecular bone. Although previously described as a tool for phenotyping fetal murine specimens, micro‐CT has not previously been used to directly measure individual fetal skeletal structures. Imaging murine fetal skeletons using micro‐CT enables the researcher to nondestructively quantify fetal skeletal development parameters including limb length, total bone volume, and average bone mineral density, as well as identify skeletal malformations. Micro‐CT measurement of fetal limb lengths correlates well with traditional clear‐staining methods (83.98% agreement), decreases variability in measurements (average standard errors: 6.28% for micro‐CT and 10.82% for clear‐staining), decreases data acquisition time by eliminating the need for tissue processing, and preserves the intact fixed fetus for further analysis. Use of the rigorous micro‐CT technique to generate 3‐D images for digital measurement enables isolation of skeletal structures based on degree of mineralization (local radiodensity), eliminating the complications of blurred stain boundaries and soft tissue inclusion that accompany clear‐staining and gross measurement techniques. Microcomputed tomography provides a facile, accurate, and nondestructive method for determining the developmental state of the fetal skeleton using not only limb lengths and identification of malformations, but total skeletal bone volume and average skeletal mineral density as well. Birth Defects Res (Part B) 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

人体动脉血气信号波浪式变化及连续动脉逐搏取血血气分析方法的建立*

目的: 建立动脉逐搏取血血气分析法,在人体实验中验证呼吸调控核心信号——PaO₂,PaCO₂和[H⁺]a是受呼吸影响的周期性、波浪式变化信号,而不是传统理念上误认的稳定水平信号。方法: 选择心功能正常、Allen试验阴性需要监测动脉血流动力学变化的患者6例。在左侧桡动脉穿刺,连接肝素化塑化管（3 mm×1 000 mm）,注满血液并计数血液注满所需心跳次数。用止血钳将塑化管钳闭成与心跳次数相对应的分段后,迅速置于冰水中,立即进行血气分析。选取每位患者的2个典型波浪式周期,用于分析2对最高-最低和最低-最高共4个测定值,取平均值。对相邻最高和最低值作统计学配对t检验。结果: 血液注满塑化管需要16±2次心跳,均覆盖超过2个呼吸周期。每个呼吸周期是5±0.6次心跳。PaO₂、PaCO₂、[H⁺]a和SaO₂都呈现出明显的波浪式变化（相邻高点与低点比较,P<0.05）,PaO₂、PaCO₂、[H⁺]a和SaO₂的波浪幅度分别是（11.28±1.13）mmHg,（1.77±0.89）mmHg,（1.14±0.35）nmol/L和（0.52±0.44）%;波浪幅度分别是其平均值的（7.7±1.1）%,（5.1±2.5）%,（3.1±1.0）%和（0.5±0.4）%。结论: 动脉延长管连续取血,按心跳次数分隔血样,血气分析法简单易行,为验证动脉血气受呼吸影响的周期性波浪式信号提供了可靠证据。本方法为原创,技术操作层面仍需提高熟练程度,增加志愿者和试验样本的数量进一步探索此类信号的临床检测可靠性及其与临床疾病的关系。     

中国森林生物量的估算：对Fang et al.

 Science杂志于2001年发表了方精云等人关于中国森林植被碳库及其变化的论文(Fang et al., 2001, 291: 2320～2322)。该文利用大量的生物量实测数据,结合使用中国50年来的森林资源清查资料及相关的统计资料,基于生物量换算因子连续函数法,研究了中国森林植被碳库及其时空变化。这是一个大时空尺度的工作,涉及一些大尺度生态学研究的原理、方法以及尺度转换问题。由于篇幅所限,论文并未详细说明这些问题。为了帮助理解大尺度生态学研究的方法和思路,本文给出了论文中涉及生物量计算的理论基础,对     

编码锌指蛋白的人类新基因TFL76的电子克隆

目的：根据基因同源同功原理电子克隆人类新基因。方法：利用基于基因识别软件Genescan和EST拼接的同源基因克隆法得到人类新基因序列TFL76,再利用生物信息学数据库和软件对其进行功能的预测和分析。结果：TFL76的cDNA序列长2268bp,开放阅读框编码677个氨基酸残基,含12个连续的C2H2型锌指基序,其分子量为76kDa。编码区序列被4个内含子分割。染色体定位于19q13．4。此位点存在很多与胃癌、膀胱癌、乳腺癌等癌症相关的基因。TFL76的N末端含有多种蛋白激酶的磷酸化位点和核定位信号。结论：TFL76可能是一个和癌症相关的核转录因子。