ISPpy1, a novel mobile element of the ancient Psychrobacter maritimus permafrost strain: translocations in Escherichia coli K-12 cells and formation of composite transposons

It was shown that IS element ISPpyl isolated earlier in the permafrost strain Psychrobacter maritimus MR29-12 has a high level of functional activity in cells of the heterologous host Escherichia coli K-12. ISPpyl can be translocated in E. coli cells by itself and mobilize adjacent genes and can also form composite transposons flanked by two copies of this element. Apart from translocations between different plasmids, the composite ISPpyl-containing transposon Tn5080a is capable of translocation from the plasmid into the E. coli chromosome with high frequency and from the chromosome into the plasmid. Among products of Tn5080a transposition into plasmid R388, simple insertions were predominantly formed together with cointegrates. Upon mobilization of adjacent genes with the use of one ISPpyl copy, only cointegrates arise.     

蓖麻籽提取液对福寿螺毒杀效果及作用机制

采用生物浸泡法, 以草本植物蓖麻籽提取液制备植物源毒杀剂, 研究不同提取液浓度(0、0.5、1.5、3.0、4.5、6.0 g/L)对福寿螺(Pomacea canaliculata Lam)毒杀作用效果, 并通过福寿螺在亚致死浓度1.58(LC₂₅)、3.82(LC₅₀)和6.05 g/L(LC₇₅) 处理条件下的肝脏组织生理生化指标及其相关性, 进一步分析其毒杀作用机制。结果表明: 在提取液处理48h后, 福寿螺死亡率随着时间延长和浓度的增加而增加, 且各浓度处理下福寿螺死亡率差异显著(P<0.05)。福寿螺在亚致死浓度处理48h后, 其肝胰腺组织中蛋白质含量(TP)、丙二醛(MDA)含量和过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性与对照组均存在差异, 过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性与丙二醛(MDA)含量呈显著负相关关系(P<0.05)。蓖麻籽提取液通过影响福寿螺肝脏组织中蛋白质含量(TP)和丙二醛(MDA)含量, 及过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性, 导致螺肝脏组织损伤, 机体代谢紊乱, 从而达到毒杀效果。     

江西玉山上奥陶统凯迪阶三衢山组的丛花海绵(Corymbospongia)*

串管海绵在中–晚奥陶世经历了的首次辐射演化事件, 在北美、新南威尔士、哈萨克斯坦、西伯利亚和中国西北等地的上奥陶统地层中皆有报道, 但研究程度较低。本文系华南奥陶系串管海绵首次系统古生物学的报道, 详细描述江西玉山上奥陶统凯迪阶三衢山组的Corymbospongia (丛花海绵属)化石, 并基于C. amplia Rigby, Karl, Blodgett & Baichtal, 2005和C. mica Rigby & Potter, 1986的标本展示该属化石外壁的微孔等特征性结构, 这2个种具有跨板块的生物地理分布。综合串管海绵产出层的碳酸盐岩微相以及伴生钙藻和珊瑚化石等群落分子的指相参照, 识别C. amplia和C. mica均具有明显的生态专属性: C. amplia为造礁生物, 在小型微生物岩中出现; C. mica则代表适应于更浅水生境的平地群落代表。本研究将为从底栖生物群落角度开展扬子区生物地层学及古地理重建提供进一步的依据。     

植物逆境胁迫耐受性启动子的研究进展

逆境胁迫如干旱、极端温度、损伤等非生物胁迫和病虫害等生物胁迫严重影响植物的生长发育及产量。逆境胁迫耐受性启动子能够接受逆境条件下的诱导信号,激活植物体内胁迫应答基因的表达,使植物感知并适应逆境。本文对逆境胁迫耐受性启动子的克隆及功能研究情况进行综合分析,主要包括抗旱、耐盐、耐高温、抗冻、耐损伤、抗病和抗虫基因启动子。     

Functional annotation signatures of disease susceptibility loci improve SNP association analysis

Background

Genetic association studies are conducted to discover genetic loci that contribute to an inherited trait, identify the variants behind these associations and ascertain their functional role in determining the phenotype. To date, functional annotations of the genetic variants have rarely played more than an indirect role in assessing evidence for association. Here, we demonstrate how these data can be systematically integrated into an association study’s analysis plan.

Results

We developed a Bayesian statistical model for the prior probability of phenotype–genotype association that incorporates data from past association studies and publicly available functional annotation data regarding the susceptibility variants under study. The model takes the form of a binary regression of association status on a set of annotation variables whose coefficients were estimated through an analysis of associated SNPs in the GWAS Catalog (GC). The functional predictors examined included measures that have been demonstrated to correlate with the association status of SNPs in the GC and some whose utility in this regard is speculative: summaries of the UCSC Human Genome Browser ENCODE super–track data, dbSNP function class, sequence conservation summaries, proximity to genomic variants in the Database of Genomic Variants and known regulatory elements in the Open Regulatory Annotation database, PolyPhen–2 probabilities and RegulomeDB categories. Because we expected that only a fraction of the annotations would contribute to predicting association, we employed a penalized likelihood method to reduce the impact of non–informative predictors and evaluated the model’s ability to predict GC SNPs not used to construct the model. We show that the functional data alone are predictive of a SNP’s presence in the GC. Further, using data from a genome–wide study of ovarian cancer, we demonstrate that their use as prior data when testing for association is practical at the genome–wide scale and improves power to detect associations.

Conclusions

We show how diverse functional annotations can be efficiently combined to create ‘functional signatures’ that predict the a priori odds of a variant’s association to a trait and how these signatures can be integrated into a standard genome–wide–scale association analysis, resulting in improved power to detect truly associated variants.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-398) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

妇肤康喷雾剂对阴道常见微生物增殖影响的体外研究

目的体外了解妇肤康喷雾剂溶液对阴道常见的益生乳杆菌和致病菌的影响,为阴道感染疾病提供药物应用的理论依据,指导临床用药。方法对从中国健康妇女阴道分离的乳杆菌、ATCC阴道来源的加德纳菌和白色念珠菌进行体外培养,以中药制剂妇肤康喷雾剂作为培养基,通过绘制生长曲线,评价妇肤康溶液对阴道常见微生物的影响。结果妇肤康实验组中,乳杆菌和白色念珠菌生长曲线随着时间延长轻微下降。加德纳菌在15h后可完全杀灭。结论体外培养时,妇肤康溶液轻微抑制乳杆菌生长,其能够抑制白色念珠菌生长,可以杀灭加德纳菌。     

单瓣茉莉花发育过程中香精油成分及含量的变化

为探讨单瓣茉莉(Jasminum sambac‘Unifoliatum’)花发育过程中的香精油成分和含量的变化,采用顶空固相微萃取(HSSPME)和气相色谱-质谱联用(GC-MS)技术进行分析。结果表明,单瓣茉莉花在不同发育时期的香精油成分及含量差异明显,花蕾初期、花蕾成熟期、微开期、盛开期和盛开末期分别鉴定出7、25、27、23和16种化学成分。萜烯类化合物是花蕾初期的主要香精油成分,花蕾成熟期、微开期和盛开期的萜烯类、酯类和醇类化合物的含量均较高,是主要的香精油成分,但化合物种类和含量存在较大差异。盛开末期的主要香精油成分是萜烯类和杂环类化合物。单瓣茉莉鲜花的主要化学成分或前体物质在花蕾成熟期基本形成,大部分芳香成分在微开期的含量最高。因此,生产中提取茉莉花精油或熏茶时,应选择微开期的鲜花进行采摘,但在不能及时窨制花茶或提取香精油的情况下,选择花蕾成熟期的花采摘更为合适。     

Granular cell tumour of the soft tissues: a case report and literature review

Granular cell tumours (GCT) of the soft tissues are rare benign tumours but some time may be difficult to distinguish from malignant neoplasms. It is important that clinicians are aware of their existence. We present a new case of GCT of the soft tissues followed by a brief review of literature.     

Radiation induced angiosarcoma a sequela of radiotherapy for breast cancer following conservative surgery

Radiation induced angiosarcomas (RIA) can affect breast cancer patients who had radiotherapy following conservative breast surgery. They are very rare tumors and often their diagnosis is delayed due to their benign appearance and difficulty in differentiation from radiation induced skin changes. Therefore it is very important that clinicians are aware of their existence. We report here a case of RIA followed by discussion and review of literature.     

Isolation and characterization of microsatellites in giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Microsatellite loci were characterized in a freshwater prawn from enriched genomic library using six biotinylated probes: (AG)₁₀, (TG)₁₀, (CAA)₁₀, (CAG)₁₀, (GAT)₁₀ and (TAC)₁₀. Primers for DNA amplification were designed and synthesized for 20 loci. Ten loci were polymorphic with the number of alleles ranging from five to 17 alleles per locus and the observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.27 to 0.83 per locus. Developed microsatellite primers should prove useful for selective breeding programs and population genetic studies of freshwater prawn.