Five New Guaiane Sesquiterpenes from the Endophytic Fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647 of Azadirachta indica

Five new guaiane sesquiterpenes, 1 – 5 , were isolated from the culture broth of the endophytic fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647, isolated from Azadirachta indica A. Juss . The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, and their inhibitory activities against five pathogenic fungi were evaluated. All guaiane sesquiterpenes showed moderate or weak antifungal activities in a broth microdilution assay.     

Comparison of three ELISA kits for the differentiation of foot-and-mouth disease virus-infected from vaccinated animals

A study was performed to validate 3 FMDV 3ABC-I-ELISA kits developed in China for the differentiation of FMDV infected and vaccinated animals. Sets of sera from naive and vaccinated cattle as well as from cattle that had been infected were tested for antibodies against nonstructural proteins (NSPs) of FMDV by commercial diagnosis kits, Ceditest® FMDV-NS (Ceditest® kit), UBI® FMDV NONSTRUCTURAL PROTEIN ELISA DIRECTION INSERT (UBI® kit) and a FMDV 3ABC-I-ELISA kit developed at the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute. The test parameters (sensitivity and specificity) of the three kits were determined, and the result obtained from FMD 3ABC-I-ELISA kit was compared with that obtained from two foreign kits. The results indicated that the coincidence rate between the FMDV 3ABC-I-ELISA and Ceditest® kits was 98.05%, and the coincidence rate between the FMDV 3ABC-I-ELISA and UBI® kits was 94.4%; the sensitivity of both Ceditest® and FMDV 3ABC-I-ELISA kit was 100%. However, the sensitivity of the UBI® kit was only 81.8%. With sera from naive or vaccinated non-infected animals, the specificity of all tests exceeded 90%.     

苏云金芽孢杆菌Cry1Ac杀虫晶体蛋白及其分子设计

cry1Ac编码的杀虫晶体蛋白是苏云金芽孢杆菌(Bt)产生的多种杀虫晶体蛋白中对鳞翅目昆虫有很高毒性的蛋白.第一个Cry1Ac杀虫晶体蛋白最早在库斯塔克亚种HD73中以伴胞晶体形式分离获得,其编码区为3 534 bp,编码蛋白分子量为133 kD,含1 178个氨基酸,等电点为4.84.自此以来,Cry1Ac杀虫晶体蛋白结构、功能以及应用研究一直是Bt杀虫晶体蛋白研究的重要方向.本文介绍了苏云金芽孢杆菌中应用最广泛的Cry1Ac杀虫晶体蛋白家族的结构、功能及其基因分类,并进一步就基于苏云金芽孢杆菌Cry1Ac杀虫晶体蛋白的基因工程研究做了分析,提出了持续利用BtCry1Ac杀虫晶体蛋白的一些见解.     

Spindlin1, a novel nuclear protein with a role in the transformation of NIH3T3 cells

spindlin1, a novel human gene recently isolated by our laboratory, is highly homologous to mouse spindlin gene. In this study, we cloned cDNA full-length of this novel gene and send it to GenBank database as spindlin1 (Homo sapiens spindlin1) with Accession No. AF317228. In order to investigate the function of spindlin1, we studied further the subcellular localization of Spindlin1 protein and the effects of spindlin1 overexpression in NIH3T3 cells. The results showed that the fusion protein pEGFP-N1-spindlin1 was located in the nucleus and the C-terminal is correlated with nuclear localization of Spindlin1 protein. NIH3T3 cells which could stably express spindlin1 as a result of RT-PCR analysis compared with the control cells displayed a complete morphological change; made cell growth faster; and increased the percentage of cells in G2/M and S phase. Furthermore, overexpressed spindlin1 cells formed colonies in soft agar in vitro and formed tumors in nude mice. Our findings provide direct evidence that spindlin1 gene may contribute to tumorigenesis.     

植酸酶及其热稳定性研究进展

植酸酶能降解植物性饲料中的植酸盐类,释放出无机磷酸,对于提高饲料中磷的利用率,减轻畜禽高磷排泄物对环境的污染以及促进单胃动物对饲料中矿质营养的吸收利用有重要作用,因此植酸酶的研究有重要的科学和实用价值。获得高活性高热稳定性的植酸酶是近年来植酸酶工业的研究热点和难点,综述了植酸酶及其热稳定性研究的现状和提高植酸酶热稳定性方法的最新进展 。     

苏云金芽孢杆菌S1478-1分离株的特性鉴定及cry1Ac同源基因克隆

本研究对从海南岛尖峰岭热带雨林自然保护区的土壤样品中分离出的Bt菌株S1478-1进行了特性鉴定,研究表明S1478-1分离株菌落形态和生长特征和Bt参照菌株HD73极其相似.16S rDNA序列分析表明,S1478-1分离株与其它B.thuringiensis、B.cereus和B.anthracis的16S rDNA序列相似性达到99%.分离株能产菱形伴胞晶体,SDS-PAGE蛋白电泳分析表明,菌株在生长后期,形成芽孢同时分泌130 kD大小的晶体蛋白.生物测定表明S1478-1分离株对小菜蛾具有很高的毒杀活性,LC50卯值高达5.159 ×108cfu/mL.初步显示S1478-1分离株可作为防治鳞翅目害虫的生物农药菌株.利用PCR-RFLP方法鉴定S1478-1分离株含有cry1Ac同源基因,以PCR粘性端克隆方法扩增全长基因,序列测定表明该基因ORF为3 537bp,编码1178个氨基酸,推定的编码蛋白分子量为133.3 kD,与其它cry1Ac基因序列最高达到99%同源,因此,该基因可作为杀虫工程菌及培育转基因抗虫作物的候选基因.     

茉莉酸类与植物地下贮藏器官的形成

茉莉酸类化合物(茉莉酸及其衍生物)可能参与了马铃薯、薯蓣、菊芋的块茎,甘薯的块根以及洋葱、大蒜的鳞茎形成。JA及MeJA均可诱导离体条件下马铃薯块茎的形成和马铃薯髓部细胞的膨大。JA诱导细胞膨大是由于蔗糖积累导致渗透压增加以及细胞壁结构变化,从而使其伸展性增加,纤维素的合成起了重要作用,细胞骨架也是JA诱导细胞膨大所必需的。但迄今为止,尚未确定块茎形成的直接诱导物。     

A Passive Anti-icing Strategy Based on a Superhydrophobic Mesh with Extremely Low Ice Adhesion Strength

Although superhydrophobic materials have attracted much research interest in anti-icing,some controversy still exists.In this research,we report a cost-effective method used to verify the contribution of area fraction to ice adhesion strength.We tried to partially-embed siliea nanopnarticles into microscale fabrics of a commercial polyamide mesh.Then,the area fraction could be determined by altering the mesh size.Generally,the ice adhesion strength decreases as the area fraction decreases.An ice adhesion strength of~1.9 kPa and a delayed freezing time of~1048 s can be obtained.We attribute the low ice adhesion strength to the combination of superhydro-phobicity and stress concentration.The superhydrophobicity prohibits the water from penetrating into the voids of the meshes,and the small actual contact area leads to stress concentration which promotes interfacial crack propagation.Moreover,our superhydrophobic mesh simultaneously exhibis a micro-nano hierarchical structure and a partally-cmbedded structure.Therefore,the as-prepared superhydrophobic mesh retained the ieephobicity after 20 icingldeicing cycles,and maintained its superhydrophobicity even afier 60 sandpaper-abrasion cycles and a 220"C thermal treatment.     

The anti-fibrotic effect of betulinic acid is mediated through the inhibition of NF-κB nuclear protein translocation

The purpose of the study was to investigate the anti-fibrotic effect and the potential mechanisms of action of betulinic acid (BA) against hepatic fibrosis in vivo and in vitro. BA is an active compound isolated from the bark of the birch tree Betula spp. (Betulaceae). Liver fibrosis was induced by intraperitoneal injections of thioacetamide (TAA, 200mg/kg) twice weekly for 6weeks in Wistar rats. The administration of BA (20 or 50mg/kg) was started following TAA injections and was continued for 6 or 8weeks to evaluate both the preventive and the protective effects. BA demonstrated great efficacy in preventing and curing hepatic fibrosis via attenuating the TAA-mediated increases in liver tissue hydroxyproline and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). In vitro, BA effectively decreased the HSC-T6 cell viability induced by TNF-α and showed low toxicity in normal human chang liver cells. Moreover, BA significantly attenuated the expression of α-SMA and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) and increased the levels of matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-13. BA also inhibited the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) and the activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in a time-dependent manner. This study provides evidence that BA exerts a significant anti-fibrosis effect by modulating the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway.