分娩方式对婴儿出生后一年内肠道菌群的影响

目的探讨不同分娩方式对婴儿出生后1年内肠道菌群定植的影响。方法选取45例新生儿为研究对象,根据分娩方式分为自然分娩组(n=27)和剖宫产组(n=18)。收集婴儿出生后0(胎粪)、3、6和12个月的粪便标本,应用高通量测序技术分析肠道菌群多样性及组成。结果与自然分娩组比较,在0个月时剖宫产组婴儿粪便标本拟杆菌门的相对丰度显著降低(Z=-2.374 1,P=0.017 6)。2组研究对象中,除自然分娩组和剖宫产组0个月时婴儿粪便标本分别以埃希菌-志贺菌属和克雷伯菌属为优势菌属外,余下均以双歧杆菌属为优势菌属。相比于自然分娩组,在0个月时剖宫产组婴儿粪便标本埃希菌-志贺菌属和肠杆菌属所占比例显著降低(Z=-2.136 4,P=0.032 7;Z=-2.940 8,P=0.003 3),克雷伯菌属和罗氏菌属所占比例显著升高(Z=-2.642 4,P=0.008 2;Z=-2.299 4,P=0.021 5);6个月时罗氏菌属所占比例显著降低(Z=-2.045 0,P=0.040 9),肠球菌属所占比例显著升高(Z=-2.109 2,P=0.034 9)。结论不同分娩方式下的婴儿肠道菌群的构成存在显著差异。     

八个树种叶水力性状对水分条件的响应及其驱动因素

树木叶片的水力效率和安全性会对水分条件的改变做出一定的响应, 进而影响树木的生长和分布, 然而叶导水率(K_leaf)和叶水力脆弱性(P₅₀)对不同水分条件的响应模式及其影响因素尚不清楚。该研究选取了晋西北关帝山和黑茶山两种水分条件下的8种树种, 测量其水力性状、叶片导管和形态性状, 比较两地不同树种的K_leaf和P₅₀的变化, 分析叶片水力效率和安全性之间的权衡关系, 并探讨叶片水力性状在不同树种及水分条件下的响应模式及其驱动因素。结果表明: 对同一树种而言, 湿润的关帝山叶最大导水率(K_max)和P₅₀均高于干旱的黑茶山; 对同一地区而言, 从在高水分条件下生长的树种到在易干旱环境生长的树种, K_max和P₅₀均逐渐下降。K_max、P₅₀、膨压丧失点水势(TLP)之间均存在显著相关关系。两地叶片P₅₀与导管密度、导管塌陷预测值((t/b)³)、叶片厚度、比叶质量显著正相关, 与导管直径、叶面积显著负相关, 不同树种的K_leaf和P₅₀与叶导管性状的关系大于叶形态性状。同一树种的关帝山到黑茶山P₅₀变化量(δP₅₀)与比叶质量和叶干物质含量在两地的变化量显著正相关, 同一树种δP₅₀与叶形态性状变化量的关系大于与叶导管性状的。以上结果表明: 随着水分条件变差, 叶片水力效率降低, 水力安全性提高, 不同树种叶片水力效率与安全性之间存在一定的权衡关系, 不同树种叶水力性状的差别受叶导管性状影响的程度大于受叶形态性状的影响, 同一树种叶水力安全性对水分条件变化的响应主要依靠叶形态性状的驱动, 树木在提高自身叶水力安全的同时增加了叶构建的碳投资。     

片突菱纹叶蝉感染枣疯植原体与Wolbachia的检测及系统发育分析

[目的]探讨片突菱纹叶蝉Hishimonus lamellatus Cai et Kuo不同种群中枣疯植原体与沃尔巴克氏体Wolbachia的感染情况和Wolbachia在不同器官组织分布,明确枣园菱纹叶蝉中Wolbachia的感染类型和分类地位,为研究Wolbachia感染对枣疯植原体潜在介体叶蝉生物学及生态学影响奠定基础.[方法]通过枣疯植原体和Wolbachia的基因特异性引物对片突菱纹叶蝉田间自然种群和实验室种群进行分子检测和鉴定.[结果]田间采集的片突菱纹叶蝉成虫植原体感染率在55％-61％之间,而Wolbachia感染率为3％-4％.田间采集的片突菱纹叶蝉自然种群经室内饲养,在1-4龄若虫中检测到Wolbachia,2-5龄若虫中检测到了植原体.片突菱纹叶蝉实验室饲养无植原体种群在其卵巢、卵和若虫中发现感染Wolbachia,在其唾液腺和消化道也检测到了Wolbachia,感染率在58％-100％之间.基于Wolbachia的wsp基因构建系统发育树,发现片突菱纹叶蝉体内的2个Wolbachia株系同属于B大组,但不同于B大组其他株系,属于新株系wLam1和wLam2.[结论]片突菱纹叶蝉成虫采自田间种群可以感染枣疯植原体和Wolbachia,无植原体叶蝉实验室饲养种群成虫感染Wolbachia显著高于田间种群,片突菱纹叶蝉体内2个Wolbachia株系属于B大组.这一研究结果为Wolbachia作为介体叶蝉生物防治剂进一步利用提供了基础信息.     

稻飞虱嗅觉相关基因及功能的研究进展

稻飞虱是我国及亚洲各水稻产区的重大害虫,在我国成灾危害的种类主要为白背飞虱Sogatella furcifera、褐飞虱Nilaparvata lugens、灰飞虱Laodelphax striatellus.稻飞虱不仅通过韧皮部吸取汁液而且传播多种水稻病毒,对我国水稻每年产量巨大损失.目前,稻飞虱对多种常用化学杀虫剂产生了较高的抗性.因此,急需寻找新的绿色防治方法.当前,"反向化学生态"是化学防治的理想替代方案之一,即通过研究昆虫重要的嗅觉基因功能,揭示嗅觉感受机制,从而找到对昆虫具有吸引作用的小分子化合物,制备诱芯进行田间诱集的绿色防控方法.已有研究证实,嗅觉感受在稻飞虱对水稻植株的定位及危害中发挥重要作用,近年有关稻飞虱嗅觉感受分子机制研究方面也取得不少进展.本文对此进行综述和展望,以期为推动基于嗅觉感受的稻飞虱绿色防控技术的研发提供参考.     

Performance of diapausing parasitoid wasps,Habrobracon hebetor,after cold storage

The ectoparasitoid Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is an important potential biological control agent for lepidopterous pests of stored products. We investigated the effects of long-term cold storage of diapausing and nondiapausing H. hebetor on their performance after cold storage. Mortality during storage increased with increasing storage duration, and the mortality of diapausing females was lower than that of nondiapausing females after 8, 12, and 16 weeks of storage. Longevity, egg laying, number of progeny produced, and time to 50% egg laying were all reduced, as compared with the culture females when parasitoids were reared at conditions that do not induce diapause. But, for females reared at 20 °C at conditions that induce diapause, all of these quality parameters did not differ from those of culture insects when the storage duration was 8 weeks or less. The percentage of female F1 offspring was always lower for cold stored insects than for the culture insects. Presence of a male after cold storage did not impact any of the quality parameters measured. Thus, rearing parasitoids at 20 °C and 10L:14D and then storing them for up to 8 weeks at 5 °C would produce parasitoids that are similar to culture parasitoids, except that the percentage of females is lower than that in the cultures (36% vs. 52%).     

Construction of an Immunostimulatory Plasmid, pUCpGs10, and Research on its Immune Adjuvant Effect

In order to overcome the instability of CpG ODN in vivo, sequence diversity, and individual differences, eleven CpG ODN fragments were meticulously selected and linked to form a Multi-CpG, which were repeatedly inserted into the cloning vector pUC19 for constructing the recombinant plasmid pUCpGs10 containing ten of Multi-CpG. Using the multi-genotype HCV E1 and multi-epitope complex HCV-T as immunogens, and plasmid pUCpGs10 as the immune adjuvant, Balb/c mice were immunized through nasal and subcutaneous immunization. Strong-specific humoral and cellular immune response were induced, which can obviously inhibit the growth of homograft expressing HCV antigen. The immune adjuvant effect of pUCpGs10 closely matched that of Freund’s complete adjuvant. The plasmid pUCpGs10 can significantly improve IgA content in serum and different mucosal extract and systematical T-cell response via intranasal immunization. In conclusions, the newly constructed immunostimulatory plasmid pUCpGs10 is able to effectively activate the humoral and cellular immune activity, and possesses activation on mucosal immune response.     

Novel cytotoxic exhibition mode of antimicrobial peptide anoplin in MEL cells,the cell line of murine Friend leukemia virus‐induced leukemic cells

Anoplin is a recently discovered antimicrobial peptide (AMP) isolated from the venom sac of the spider wasp Anoplius samariensis, and it is one of the shortest α‐helical AMP found naturally to date consisting of only ten amino acids. Previous results showed that anoplin exhibits potent antimicrobial activity but little hemolytic activity. In this study, we synthesized anoplin, studied its cytotoxicity in Friend virus‐induced leukemia cells [murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells], and proposed its possible mechanism. Our results showed that anoplin could inhibit the proliferation of MEL cells in a dose‐dependent and time‐dependent manner via disrupting the integrity of cell membrane, which indicated that anoplin exerts its cytotoxicity efficacy. In addition, the cell cycle distribution of MEL cells was arrested in the G₀/G₁ phase significantly. However, anoplin could not induce obvious apoptosis in MEL cells, as well as anoplin could not induce visible changes on morphology and quantity in the bone marrow cells isolated from normal mice. All of these results indicate that anoplin, as generally believed, is a selective AMP, a value characteristic in the design of safe therapeutic agents. The cytotoxicity of anoplin on MEL cells was mainly attributable to the plasma membrane perturbation and also to the intracellular events such as the arrest of cell cycle. Although this is an initial study that explored the activity of anoplin in vitro rather than in vivo, with the increasing resistance of conventional chemotherapy, there is no doubt that anoplin has desirable feature to be developed as a novel and selective anticancer agent. Copyright © 2013 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In Vivo Epigenomic Profiling of Germ Cells Reveals Germ Cell Molecular Signatures

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Highlights? Modified small-scale ChIP-seq method applicable to small number of cells ? Genome-wide maps of H3K4me3, H3K27me3, H3K27ac, and H2BK20ac of germ cells in vivo ? Identification of active and inactive regulatory elements in germ cells in vivo ? Germ cell H3K27me3 regions are enriched for retrotransposon repeats     

Fossils from the Middle Jurassic of China shed light on morphology of Choristopsychidae (Insecta,Mecoptera)

Choristopsychidae, established by Martynov in 1937 with a single isolated forewing, is a little known extinct family in Mecoptera. Since then, no new members of this enigmatic family have been described. Based on 23 well-preserved specimens with complete body and wings from the Middle Jurassic of northeastern China, we report one new genus and three new species of Choristopsychidae, two new species of the genus Choristopsyche Martynov, 1937: Choristopsyche perfecta sp. n. and Choristopsyche asticta sp. n.; one new species of Paristopsyche gen. n.: Paristopsyche angelineae sp. n.; and re-describe Choristopsyche tenuinervis Martynov, 1937. In addition, we emend the diagnoses of Choristopsychidae and Choristopsyche. Analyzing the forewing length/width ratios of representative species in Mecoptera, we confirm that choristopsychids have the lowest ratio of forewing length/width, meaning broadest forewings. These findings, the first fossil choristopsychids with well-preserved body structure and the first record of Choristopsychidae in China, shed light on the morphology of these taxa and broaden their distribution from Tajikistan to China, while increasing the diversity of Mesozoic Mecoptera in China.