Non‐dormant Axillary Bud 1 regulates axillary bud outgrowth in sorghum

Tillering contributes to grain yield and plant architecture and therefore is an agronomically important trait in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). Here, we identified and functionally characterized a mutant of the Non‐dormant Axillary Bud 1 (NAB1) gene from an ethyl methanesulfonate‐mutagenized sorghum population. The nab1 mutants have increased tillering and reduced plant height. Map‐based cloning revealed that NAB1 encodes a carotenoid‐cleavage dioxygenase 7 (CCD7) orthologous to rice (Oryza sativa) HIGH‐TILLERING DWARF1/DWARF17 and Arabidopsis thaliana MORE AXILLARY BRANCHING 3. NAB1 is primarily expressed in axillary nodes and tiller bases and NAB1 localizes to chloroplasts. The nab1 mutation causes outgrowth of basal axillary buds; removing these non‐dormant basal axillary buds restored the wild‐type phenotype. The tillering of nab1 plants was completely suppressed by exogenous application of the synthetic strigolactone analog GR24. Moreover, the nab1 plants had no detectable strigolactones and displayed stronger polar auxin transport than wild‐type plants. Finally, RNA‐seq showed that the expression of genes involved in multiple processes, including auxin‐related genes, was significantly altered in nab1. These results suggest that NAB1 functions in strigolactone biosynthesis and the regulation of shoot branching via an interaction with auxin transport.     

社会竞争失败病因学的抑郁症树鼩模型

抑郁症是一种常见精神疾病,主要表现为持续两周以上的情绪低落。世界卫生组织预测在2030年抑郁症的疾病负担将高居所有疾病、伤残总负担的榜首。抑郁症面临三大难题:1)发病机理不完全清楚,因而缺乏有效的预测预防途径和生物学诊断;2)现有单胺类抗抑郁症药物起效慢,也可能导致患者自杀风险增加;3)缺乏副作用小的非单胺类快速起效抗抑郁症药物。针对这三大难题,长期以来,应用抑郁症啮齿类模型的众多研究并未取得实质性进展,至少部分因素归咎于啮齿类与人类大脑功能的极大种属差异。树鼩是灵长类近亲,具有更接近于人类的大脑功能。本文针对抑郁症发病机理假说、临床表象和抗抑郁症药物疗效等内容,综述了社会竞争失败病因学的抑郁症树鼩模型可能会具有更好的疾病同源性、表象一致性和药物预见性。这一被长期忽视的抑郁症树鼩模型尽管还需要进一步完善,但对其进一步深入研究可能为解决抑郁症的三大难题提供了一条新途径。     

Synthesis,evaluation and CoMFA/CoMSIA study of nitrofuranyl methyl N-heterocycles as novel antitubercular agents

A series of novel nitrofuranyl methyl N-heterocycles based on the structure of IIIM-MCD-211 were designed and synthesized. Compounds 6d, 8b and 12a show excellent activity against MTB H37Rv strain (MIC: 0.031–0.062?μg/mL) roughly comparable to INH and IIIM-MCD-211. In addition, a three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) study was performed on the above mentioned chemical series employing comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity index analysis (CoMSIA) techniques. The developed CoMFA and CoMSIA models display high external predictability (r²_pred of 0.954 and 0.935, respectively) and good statistical robustness. More importantly, the newly designed compounds 16a and 16b (MIC: <0.016?μg/mL) based on the two models, as expected, were found to be more active than 12a and IIIM-MCD-21. Design and synthesis of more potent nitrofuranyl methyl N-heterocycles as anti-TB agents are currently in progress.     

Predictive value of circulating miR-328 and miR-134 for acute myocardial infarction

MicroRNA (miRNAs) is demonstrated to be present in the blood of humans and has been increasingly suggested as a novel biomarker for various pathological processes in the heart, including myocardial infarction, myocardial remodeling and progression to heart failure. In this study, we aim to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of circulating miR-328 and miR-134 in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Circulating levels of miR-328 and miR-134 were detected by quantitative real-time PCR in plasma samples from 359 AMI patients and 30 healthy volunteers. Concentrations of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) were measured using electrochemiluminescence-based methods. MiRNAs were assessed for discrimination of a clinical diagnosis of AMI and for association with primary clinical endpoint defined as a composite of cardiogenic death and development of heart failure within 6 months after infarction. Results showed that levels of plasma miR-328 and miR-134 were significantly higher in AMI patients than in healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed significant diagnostic value of miR-328 and miR-134 for AMI. However, neither of them was superior to hs-cTnT for the diagnosis. Additionally, increased miRNA levels were strongly associated with increased risk of mortality or heart failure within 6 months for miR-328 (OR 7.35, 95 % confidence interval 1.07–17.83, P < 0.001) and miR-134 (OR 2.28, 95 % confidence interval 1.03–11.32 P < 0.001). In conclusion, circulating miR-328 and miR-134 could be potential indicators for AMI, and the miRNA levels are associated with increased risk of mortality or development of heart failure.     

Allele-specific targeting of hsa-miR-657 to human IGF2R creates a potential mechanism underlying the association of ACAA-insertion/deletion polymorphism with type 2 diabetes

The biological mechanism of a recent discovered association of type 2 diabetes with the ACAA-insertion/deletion polymorphism at the 3′UTR of the IGF2R gene has remained unclear. A very recently emerging novel polymorphic control layer by microRNAs (miRNAs) makes it possible to elucidate this issue. In this study, a prediction by web tools MicroInspector and miRanda demonstrated that DNA sequence polymorphism (DSPs) ACAA-insertion/deletion in IGF2R 3′UTR is located within the hsa-miR-657 and hsa-miR-453 binding sites. And luciferase reporter assay revealed that hsa-miR-657 acts directly at the 3′UTR of the IGF2R. Furthermore, ACAA-deletion exerted a further repression compared with ACAA-insertion, indicating that hsa-miR-657 regulates IGF2R gene expression in a polymorphic control manner. Importantly, we also demonstrated that hsa-miR-657 can translationally regulate the IGF2R expression levels in Hep G2 cells. Thus, our findings testify the possibility that the ACAA-insertion/deletion polymorphism may result in the change of IGF2R expression levels at least in part by hsa-miR-657-mediated regulation, contributing to the elucidation for the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and raise the possibility that miRNAs or in combination with functional DNA sequence polymorphism may be valuable in the treatment of human type 2 diabetes.     

根霉TC1653产纤维素酶提纯及酶学性质研究

对根霉所产纤维素酶酶系进行了分析并研究了部分酶学性质。实验选择超滤和凝胶柱分离相结合的方式提纯纤维素酶,结果显示根霉TC1653纤维素酶系是一个完全酶系,具有一个较为明显的内切葡聚糖酶组分。β-葡萄糖苷酶组分的最适反应温度为70℃,温度高于70℃时,活性迅速下降,但在这种高温下具有最高反应活性的酶很少见,很可能又是一种新的β-葡萄糖苷酶。     

分离自甘肃天祝五台岭土壤的放线菌拮抗性的初步研究

从甘肃天祝县土壤中分离到的27株放线菌,作为测试放线菌拮抗性的供试茵株.抗菌试验表明,14株放线菌对6株革兰氏阳性菌和阴性菌以及白色念殊菌等指示菌有抗性.菌株WTL-4、WTL-20和WTL-26抗菌谱最广,WTL-4能抗3种革兰氏阳性菌,WTL-20能抗革兰氏阳性的金黄色葡萄球菌和单增李斯特菌、革兰氏阴性的沙门氏菌及真菌白色念殊菌,WTL-26能抗革兰氏阳性的金黄色葡萄球菌和单增李斯特菌及革兰氏阴性的沙门氏菌.抗肿瘤试验表明,有8株菌株对肿瘤细胞有抑制作用,其中抑制率在60%以上的菌株占18.5%.对抗肿瘤活性较高的3株菌WTL-4、WTL-14和WTL-15以及没有抗菌和抗肿瘤活性的菌株WTL-27进行了系统发育分析.从系统发育树可以看出,4株菌均属于链霉菌属(Streptomyces).菌株WTL-4与Streptomyces viridochromoqenes的相似性为98%;菌株WTL-14和WTL-15的相似性达到99.2%,它们与S.flavolimosus 174457的相似性达到99.4%;WTL-27与S.mycroflavus的相似性为99%.     

不同盐碱类型胁迫对红地球/贝达葡萄植株离子分布的影响

以盆栽红地球/贝达葡萄为试材,定量浇灌NaCl、Na₂SO₄、NaHCO₃、NH₄Cl和(NH₄)₂SO₄,筛选导致葡萄叶片黄化的盐、碱离子,研究不同盐碱类型胁迫对葡萄植株离子分布的影响.结果表明： NaHCO₃对植株影响最大,叶片在处理14 d时出现黄化症状,而NaCl和NH₄Cl处理28 d时出现黄化症状.NaHCO₃和NaCl处理均显著增加了植株各器官中Na^+含量,NaHCO₃处理根中Na⁺含量是对照的 6.4倍;这两种盐处理均降低了除叶片外其他器官中的K⁺含量,NaHCO₃处理显著降低了各器官中K/Na,根中K/Na仅为0.1,NaCl处理降低了除茎外其他器官中K/Na;这两种盐处理还降低了Ca²⁺、Mg²⁺、Fe²⁺向地上部的运输.NH₄Cl、(NH₄)₂SO₄和Na₂SO₄处理降低了植株各器官中K/Na,以NH₄Cl处理显著.碱性盐NaHCO₃对葡萄叶片黄化影响最大,其次是中性盐NaCl,再次是NH₄Cl,而(NH₄)₂SO₄和Na₂SO₄影响较小.