酵母多糖影响人朗格汉斯细胞C型凝集素受体的研究

探究酵母多糖（Zymosan）对人朗格汉斯细胞（Langerhans cells, LCs）C型凝集素受体（C-type lectin receptors, CLRs）的影响。收集健康志愿者血液样本,Ficoll淋巴细胞分离液分离外周血单个核细胞,CD14磁珠分选CD14⁺细胞,用含有GM-CSF（1 000 U/mL）、IL-4（1 000 U/mL）、TGFβ-1（10 ng/mL）的培养液诱导培养LCs, Zymosan刺激LCs,8、24 h后收集细胞。提取Zymosan实验组和对照组细胞RNA,实时RT PCR分析5种CLRs（Dectin-1、Dectin-2、DC-SIGN、Mincle、MRC-2） mRNA的水平,扩增产物测序鉴定。共检测10个个体来源LCs在酵母多糖刺激后其CLRs mRNA变化的情况。在10组样本中,有6组Dectin 2受体mRNA较对照组增加（变化倍数≥2）,其中3组增加明显（变化倍数≥5）,最大增加倍数为20.91;有5组Mincle受体mRNA较对照组增加（变化倍数≥2）,其中4组增加明显（变化倍数≥5）,最大增加倍数为19.98;有1组MRC-2受体mRNA较对照组明显增加（变化倍数≥5）。Dectin-1和DC-SIGN受体mRNA没有增加。Zymosan能增加部分个体来源LCs内Dectin-2、Mincle和MRC-2受体mRNA的水平,而对Dectin-1和DC-SIGN受体mRNA的水平没有影响。本研究结果完善了Zymosan调节机体免疫功能的作用机制。     

Identification and Epigenetic Analysis of a Maternally Imprinted Gene Qpct

Most imprinted genes are concerned with embryonic development, especially placental development. Here, we identified a placenta-specific imprinted gene Qpct. Our results show that Qpct is widely expressed during early embryonic development and can be detected in the telecephalon, midbrain, and rhombencephalon at E9.5–E11.5. Moreover, Qpct is strikingly expressed in the brain, lung and liver in E15.5. Expression signals for Qpct achieved a peak at E15.5 during placental development and were only detected in the labyrinth layer in E15.5 placenta. ChIP assay results suggest that the modification of histone H3K4me3 can result in maternal activating of Qpct.     

Climate‐driven speedup of alpine treeline forest growth in the Tianshan Mountains,Northwestern China

Forest growth is sensitive to interannual climatic change in the alpine treeline ecotone (ATE). Whether the alpine treeline ecotone shares a similar pattern of forest growth with lower elevational closed forest belt (CFB) under changing climate remains unclear. Here, we reported an unprecedented acceleration of Picea schrenkiana forest growth since 1960s in the ATE of Tianshan Mountains, northwestern China by a stand‐total sampling along six altitudinal transects with three plots in each transect: one from the ATE between the treeline and the forest line, and the other two from the CFB. All the sampled P. schrenkiana forest patches show a higher growth speed after 1960 and, comparatively, forest growth in the CFB has sped up much slower than that in the ATE. The speedup of forest growth at the ATE is mainly accounted for by climate factors, with increasing temperature suggested to be the primary driver. Stronger water deficit as well as more competition within the CFB might have restricted forest growth there more than that within the ATE, implying biotic factors were also significant for the accelerated forest growth in the ATE, which should be excluded from simulations and predictions of warming‐induced treeline dynamics.