在同源二聚体转录因子识别螺旋相对运动中发现平面摆动现象

目的:考察同源二聚体转录因子的2个识别螺旋在自由状态下和结合状态下相对运动的特征。方法:从蛋白质结构数据库(PDB)得到1R4I、3JXB、1KB2、1LE8等4个复合物结构文件,分别在自由状态和结合状态下用NAMD进行16 ns分子动力学模拟,将2个识别螺旋所成角分解为垂直偏移角和水平偏移角,并做散点图。结果:2个中心对称结合的同源二聚体转录因子在2种状态下,2个偏移角都相等;串联结合的同源二聚体在结合状态下2个偏移角相等。结论:同源二聚体转录因子识别螺旋相对运动存在平面摆动现象。     

大熊猫胃肠道内分泌细胞分布型的研究

本文用ＰＡＰ法对３只大熊猫胃底,幽门腺区、十二脂肠,空肠,回肠、结肠和直肠的五羟色胺,生长抑素,胃素,胆囊收缩囊,神经降压素、胃动素、抑胃多肽、胰高血糖素、血管活性肠肽和内啡肽的ＩＲ细胞进行了研究。结果表明,大熊猫胃肠道粘膜上皮中具有前八种ＩＲ细胞。对７年龄个体胃肠各段相对数量的比较和各段内分布情况的观察结果表明,除五羟色胺ＩＲ细胞在空肠分布较多外,大多数种类的ＩＲ细胞集中分布于幽门区和十二指肠,     

Surface Temperature Distribution of a Breast With and Without Tumour

Abstract

Breast cancer is a common and dreadful disease in women. Regular screening helps in its early detection. At present the most common methods of screening are by self examination and mammography. The surface temperature distribution of the breast can also provide some information on the presence of tumour. This distribution has a relation to the size and location of tumour and can be seen using thermography, where the infrared radiation emitted from the surface of the breast is recorded and a thermal pattern obtained. Thermography is a non-invasive and an inexpensive tool which could be used for early detection. In order to simulate the surface temperature distribution, a two-dimensional model of female breast with and without a carcinoma is considered. The breast is modelled with varying layer thickness close to the actual shape and numerically solved using finite element analysis. Temperature profiles are obtained for a normal breast and for a malignant one by varying the tumour size, location and the blood flow rates. The results show that the surface temperature for a malignant breast is higher than that of a normal one. In addition the size and location of the tumour do have an effect on the surface temperature distribution. It can also be seen that tumour of different sizes placed at the same location would yield the same maximum temperature depending on the blood perfusion rate.     

A saturated SSR/DArT linkage map of Musa acuminata addressing genome rearrangements among bananas

Background

The orderly progression through mitosis is regulated by the Anaphase-Promoting Complex (APC), a large multiprotein E₃ ubiquitin ligase that targets key cell-cycle regulators for destruction by the 26 S proteasome. The APC is composed of at least 11 subunits and associates with additional regulatory activators during mitosis and interphase cycles. Despite extensive research on APC and activator functions in the cell cycle, only a few components have been functionally characterized in plants.

Results

Here, we describe an in-depth search for APC subunits and activator genes in the Arabidopsis, rice and poplar genomes. Also, searches in other genomes that are not completely sequenced were performed. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that some APC subunits and activator genes have experienced gene duplication events in plants, in contrast to animals. Expression patterns of paralog subunits and activators in rice could indicate that this duplication, rather than complete redundancy, could reflect initial specialization steps. The absence of subunit APC7 from the genome of some green algae species and as well as from early metazoan lineages, could mean that APC7 is not required for APC function in unicellular organisms and it may be a result of duplication of another tetratricopeptide (TPR) subunit. Analyses of TPR evolution suggest that duplications of subunits started from the central domains.

Conclusions

The increased complexity of the APC gene structure, tied to the diversification of expression paths, suggests that land plants developed sophisticated mechanisms of APC regulation to cope with the sedentary life style and its associated environmental exposures.     

Symbiosome-like intracellular colonization of cereals and other crop plants by nitrogen-fixing bacteria for reduced inputs of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers

It has been forecast that the challenge of meeting increased food demand and protecting environmental quality will be won or lost in maize, rice and wheat cropping systems, and that the problem of environmental nitrogen enrichment is most likely to be solved by substituting synthetic nitrogen fertilizers by the creation of cereal crops that are able to fix nitrogen symbiotically as legumes do. In legumes, rhizobia present intracellularly in membrane-bound vesicular compartments in the cytoplasm of nodule cells fix nitrogen endosymbiotically. Within these symbiosomes, membrane-bound vesicular compartments, rhizobia are supplied with energy derived from plant photosynthates and in return supply the plant with biologically fixed nitrogen, usually as ammonia. This minimizes or eliminates the need for inputs of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Recently we have demonstrated, using novel inoculation conditions with very low numbers of bacteria, that cells of root meristems of maize, rice, wheat and other major non-legume crops, such as oilseed rape and tomato, can be intracellularly colonized by the non-rhizobial, non-nodulating, nitrogen fixing bacterium, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus that naturally occurs in sugarcane. G. diazotrophicus expressing nitrogen fixing (nifH) genes is present in symbiosome-like compartments in the cytoplasm of cells of the root meristems of the target cereals and non-legume crop species, somewhat similar to the intracellular symbiosome colonization of legume nodule cells by rhizobia. To obtain an indication of the likelihood of adequate growth and yield, of maize for example, with reduced inputs of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, we are currently determining the extent to which nitrogen fixation, as assessed using various methods, is correlated with the extent of systemic intracellular colonization by G. diazotrophicus, with minimal or zero inputs.     

Pressure effects on the ensemble dynamics of ubiquitin inspected with molecular dynamics simulations and isotropic reorientational eigenmode dynamics

According to NMR chemical shift data, the ensemble of ubiquitin is a mixture of “open” and “closed” conformations at rapid equilibrium. Pressure perturbations provide the means to study the transition between the two conformers by imposing an additional constraint on the system's partial molar volume. Here we use nanosecond-timescale molecular dynamics simulations to characterize the network of correlated motions accessible to the conformers at low- and high-pressure conditions. Using the isotropic reorientational eigenmode dynamics formalism to analyze our simulation trajectories, we reproduce NMR relaxation data without fitting any parameters of our model. Comparative analysis of our results suggests that the two conformations behave very differently. The dynamics of the “closed” conformation are almost unaffected by pressure and are dominated by large-amplitude correlated motions of residues 23-34 in the extended α-helix. The “open” conformation under conditions of normal pressure displays increased mobility, focused on the loop residues 17-20, 46-55, and 58-59 at the bottom of the core of the structure, as well as the C-terminal residues 69-76, that directly participate in key protein-protein interactions. For the same conformation, a pressure increase induces a loss of separability between molecular tumbling and internal dynamics, while motions between different backbone sites become uncorrelated.     

神经元限制性沉默因子在NTera2/CloneD1细胞向神经元分化模型中表达的检测

目的:建立NTera2/CloneD1细胞向神经元分化的模型,检测神经元限制性沉默因子(NRSF)经分化培养基诱导后表达的变化。方法:收集正常培养的NTera2/CloneD1细胞及经全反式维甲酸(RA)、阿糖胞苷(AraC)、尿苷分阶段诱导共28 d的细胞,显微镜下观察诱导前后细胞的形态学变化;免疫荧光法检测NTera2/CloneD1细胞诱导前后干性标志Nestin、Sox2和成熟神经元特异性标志NF-200、β-tubulinⅢ的表达情况;应用RT-PCR和免疫荧光法对NRSF进行mRNA和蛋白水平的检测。结果:显微镜下观察到正常培养的NTera2/CloneD1细胞呈克隆样生长,经分化培养基诱导后的NTera2/CloneD1细胞表现出典型的神经元样细胞形态。免疫荧光检测表明,未诱导的NTera2/CloneD1细胞表达神经干细胞的标志Sox2、Nestin,不表达成熟神经元特异性蛋白NF-200、β-tubulinⅢ;而经RA等诱导分化的细胞则不表达Sox2、Nestin,表达NF-200、β-tubulinⅢ。RT-PCR和免疫荧光检测显示,NRSF在诱导分化后的NTera2/CloneD1细胞中的表达量显著降低。结论:建立了NTera2/CloneD1细胞向神经元分化的模型,NRSF在诱导后的NTera2/CloneD1细胞中表达量显著下调,提示NTera2/CloneD1细胞在诱导过程中可能通过下调NRSF,使受到NRSF负性调控的神经元特异性蛋白启动表达并上调,进而实现NTera2/CloneD1细胞向神经元的定向分化。     

圈养大熊猫性情、饲养管理和社群-性行为的关系

以往研究表明,许多成年雄性大熊猫在圈养状态下不能表达正常的社群性行为。我们设计了一个实验来研究大熊猫正常社群性行为与性情特征、展示、以及饲养管理的关系。通过调查获得大熊猫展示和饲养管理的数据,询问饲养员得知2001年繁殖季节中大熊猫的社群性行为发生频次,然后评估社群性行为能力。研究对象是分布在中国4个繁育中心的37头(12头雄性和25头雌性)成体大熊猫。通过提供新物品和气味来评估大熊猫情绪反应状况。情绪反应分为3类:畏惧、访问和访问玩耍。在有饲养员陪同玩耍的一组里,雌、雄大熊猫的"访问玩耍"的分值都较高。"畏惧"类的雌性大熊猫气味标记行为少,表达的性行为也少,并且更多地攻击接近它们的雄性,或者不理睬雄性。在繁殖季节前就接近雄性大熊猫围栏的雌性,表现出更多的气味标记行为和性行为。这些雌性的"访问玩耍"分值也高。"访问"分值高的雄性大熊猫,接近雌性的行为更多。那些与饲养员接触时间少的雄性大熊猫倾向于攻击雌性,与那些攻击性小的雄性相比,这些雄性倾向于能够接受丰富性低的环境。这些结果表明,应该采取措施减少大熊猫的畏惧,在大熊猫和饲养员之间建立积极的关系,在繁殖季节之前,增加雌性和雄性之间的熟悉程度。