Silica-based cationic bilayers as immunoadjuvants

Background  

Silica particles cationized by dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB) bilayer were previously described. This work shows the efficiency of these particulates for antigen adsorption and presentation to the immune system and proves the concept that silica-based cationic bilayers exhibit better performance than alum regarding colloid stability and cellular immune responses for vaccine design.     

A molecular phylogeny and a revised classification of tribe Lepisoreae (Polypodiaceae) based on an analysis of four plastid DNA regions

Phylogenetic relationships within the palaeotropical tribe Lepisoroideae (Polypodiaceae) were investigated by studying sequence variation of four plastid DNA regions: rbcL, rps4 plus rps4‐trnS IGS, trnL intron plus trnL‐F IGS, rbcL‐atpB IGS plus part of atpB. In total, over 4000 nucleotides were sequenced for 39 species. Seven well‐supported clades were found in the analyses of the combined data set. We provide a new classification of Lepisoroideae by integrating phylogenetic results and known variation of morphological characters. The two small genera Neocheiropteris and Tricholepidium are supported as monophyletic, the genus Paragramma is resurrected and the genera Lepisorus, Neolepisorus, Lemmaphyllum and Lepidomicrosorium are re‐circumscribed. We proposed 14 new combinations, among which Caobangia is treated as a synonym of Lemmaphyllum. A key for identifying the recognized genera is presented. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 162 , 28–38.     

Evolution of the climatic niche in scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae,Polypodiopsida)

Although climatic niche conservatism has been assumed by a large number of studies focused on climatic niche evolution, there are examples of climatic niche diversification and adaptation to changing climates. In this article, we reconstruct a climatic niche of scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae) using a rigorous analytical procedure which combines climatic niche modelling with reconstruction of continuous characters given a phylogenetic hypothesis. To estimate the limits to climatic niches of species, we used climate envelope modelling and ordination. Ancestral climatic niches of species were reconstructed by maximum likelihood and least‐squares analyses. We observed a trend towards niche conservatism with occasional events of niche transformations in scaly tree ferns. We discuss the implications of our study with respect to the potential and limitations for applications of niche modelling to evolutionary studies. We suggest that future studies of evolution of climatic niches could be considerably improved by employing approaches enabling reconstruction of continuous response to climatic gradients. Further progress may also be achieved by exploring models of character evolution other than the Brownian motion model. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 165 , 1–19.     

丙型肝炎病毒NS3/4A丝氨酸蛋白酶瞬时表达小鼠模型的建立

目的:建立丙型肝炎病毒NS3/4A丝氨酸蛋白酶体内活性评价模型。方法:利用NS4A/B是NS3/4A丝氨酸蛋白酶作用底物的特性,构建融合基因NS3/NS4A/B-SEAP,底物片段NS4A/B插在NS3/4A和人分泌性碱性磷酸酶(SEAP)之间,融合基因表达后SEAP的分泌依赖于有活性的NS3/4A在NS4A/B位点的切割。将含融合基因的质粒NS3/4A(△4AB)SEAP通过水动力转染技术转染到小鼠体内,检测小鼠血清中SEAP的活性,高活性的SEAP是该评价体系成立的证据。结果与结论:在瞬时表达NS3/4A的小鼠血清中检测到了高活性的SEAP,建立了可用于评价抗NS3/4A的小鼠体内瞬时模型。