Why Does Rhinopithecus bieti Prefer the Highest Elevation Range in Winter? A Test of the Sunshine Hypothesis

Environmental factors that affect spatiotemporal distribution patterns of animals usually include resource availability, temperature, and the risk of predation. However, they do not explain the counterintuitive preference of high elevation range in winter by the black-and-white snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti). We asked whether variation of sunshine along with elevations is the key driving force. To test this hypothesis, we conducted field surveys to demonstrate that there was a statistically significant pattern of high elevation use during winter. We then asked whether this pattern can be explained by certain environmental factors, namely temperature, sunshine duration and solar radiation. Finally, we concluded with a possible ecological mechanism for this pattern. In this study, we employed GIS technology to quantify solar radiation and sunshine duration across the monkey's range. Our results showed that: 1) R. bieti used the high altitude range between 4100-4400 m in winter although the yearly home range spanned from 3500-4500 m; 2) both solar radiation and sunshine duration increased with elevation while temperature decreased with elevation; 3) within the winter range, the use of range was significantly correlated with solar radiation and sunshine duration; 4) monkeys moved to the areas with high solar radiation and duration following a snowfall, where the snow melts faster and food is exposed earlier. We concluded that sunshine was the main factor that influences selection of high elevation habitat for R. bieti in winter. Since some other endotherms in the area exhibit similar winter distributional patterns, we developed a sunshine hypothesis to explain this phenomenon. In addition, our work also represented a new method of integrating GIS models into traditional field ecology research to study spatiotemporal distribution pattern of wildlife. We suggest that further theoretical and empirical studies are necessary for better understanding of sunshine influence on wildlife range use.     

Derivation and characterization of ovine embryonic stem-like cell lines in semi-defined medium without feeder cells

Domestic animal embryonic stem (ES) cells would provide an invaluable research tool for genetic breeding and the production of transgenic animals. Unfortunately, authentic domestic animals ES cells have not been established despite progress made over more than two decades. Here, we show that ovine ES-like cells can be efficiently derived and propagated in a semi-defined medium that contains N2, B27, GSK3 inhibitor (CHIR99021), and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). These ovine ES-like cells had a characteristic three-dimensional appearance, showed a bFGF dose-dependence, expressed specific markers such as alkaline phosphatase (AP), Oct-4, Sox2, Nanog and can be maintained for 30 passages. Moreover, these cells differentiated in vitro into neuronal cells, and formed teratomas containing a variety of different tissues including cartilage and neural tissue when injected into kidney capsules of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. But the cell lines fail to contribute to embryonic development upon blastocyst transplantation. To our knowledge, this is the first experiment to use semi-defined medium without feeder-cells to derive ES-like cells from ovine blastocysts, and opens the door to deriving authentic ES cells from domesticated ungulates.     

脂环酸芽孢杆菌D-1的耐盐内切葡聚糖酶基因克隆、表达与酶学性质北大核心CSCD

【目的】克隆温泉中嗜热嗜酸的脂环酸芽孢杆菌D-1(Alicyclobacillus tengchongensis CGMCC1504)的内切葡聚糖酶基因gluE1,并对该酶进行序列分析和重组酶的酶学特性分析。【方法】通过全基因组测序获得gluE1全长,并对其氨基酸序列(GluE1)进行分析。将gluE1重组到载体p EASY-E2中并转化到大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中异源表达,利用组氨酸标签纯化GluE1并进行酶学性质分析。【结果】gluE1与NCBI数据库中GH5的内切葡聚糖酶具有较高的相似性,全长1020 bp,GC含量50.5%,编码339个氨基酸(40.45 k Da)。GluE1与数据库中序列的最高一致性为97%,与其余纤维素酶的一致性<60%。GluE1可水解CMC-Na、可溶性淀粉和大麦β-葡聚糖,表观最适pH为6.5,pH 5.0–10.0稳定并维持60%以上的酶活性。GluE1的表观最适温度为55℃,在37℃下稳定。在55℃ pH 6.5条件下,GluE1对大麦β-葡聚糖的K_m、V_(max)和k_(cat)分别为8.58 mg/mL、416.67 U/mg和280.90 s^(–1)。GluE1受Ag^+、Hg^(2+)及SDS抑制,β-巯基乙醇、Pb^(2+)、Mg^(2+)、Ca^(2+)和Na^+对GluE1有微弱的促进作用,NaCl对GluE1的影响不大,加入30%的NaCl,仍有64%以上的酶活性;经30%的NaCl在37℃下处理60 min,仍能保持93%以上的活性。【结论】首次报道从Alicyclobacillus属的细菌中克隆得到内切葡聚糖酶基因并对其酶学性质进行研究,GluE1具有良好的pH稳定性和有较强的耐盐性,可能具有更大应用潜力。     

Ecological restoration design of a stream on a college campus in central Ohio

Straightened stream channels and altered and drained wetlands have adversely impacted streams and rivers throughout Midwestern USA, where some of the most dense drainage and riparian ecosystem alteration in the world have occurred. A segment of Grave Creek on The Ohio State University's Marion (OSU Marion) campus in Ohio, USA, with its lack of riparian ecosystems, illustrates the transformation of a natural fluvial ecosystem to an unstable and “simplified” aquatic environment that requires continued maintenance and provides little value to the surrounding landscape or to the university. However, the straight ditch, available adjacent riparian land and existing hydric soil give OSU Marion a great opportunity to demonstrate a project of stream and wetland restoration on a college campus. To restore the natural ecological stability of OSU Marion's “back yard” and to provide habitat improvement to Grave Creek and its surrounding landscape on the OSU Marion campus, we have designed a restoration of 1.1 km of Grave Creek meandering to the east of the existing sewer, using the two-stage channel techniques, and about 0.6–0.8 ha of adjacent wetland. We estimate that restoration on this scale will cost about US$ 200,000–300,000, not including monitoring of the results. To fulfill this project, it is likely that an opportunity for using this restoration in a stream/wetland loss mitigation will present itself in this region of Ohio while a long-term pre- and post-construction monitoring plan and more detailed design would be expected as the next step.     

Biosorption of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn from aqueous solutions by the fruiting bodies of jelly fungi (Tremella fuciformis and Auricularia polytricha)

In this study, dried and humid fruiting bodies of Tremella fuciformis and Auricularia polytricha were examined as cost-effective biosorbents in treatment of heavy metals (Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Zn²⁺) in aqueous solution. The humid T. fuciformis showed the highest capacity to adsorb the four metals in the multi-metal solutions. The Pb²⁺ adsorption rates were 85.5%, 97.8%, 84.8%, and 91.0% by dried T. fuciformis, humid T. fuciformis, dried A. polytricha, and humid A. polytricha, respectively. The adsorption amount of Pb²⁺ by dried and humid T. fuciformis in Cd²⁺ + Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺ + Pb²⁺, Pb²⁺ + Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺ + Cu²⁺ + Pb²⁺, and Cd²⁺ + Zn²⁺ + Pb²⁺ solutions were not lower than that in Pb²⁺ solutions. The results suggested that in humid T. fuciformis, Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Zn²⁺ promoted the Pb²⁺ adsorption by the biomass. In the multi-metal solutions of Cd²⁺ + Cu²⁺ + Pb²⁺ + Zn²⁺, the adsorption amount and rates of the metals by all the test biosorbents were in the order of Pb²⁺ > Cu²⁺ > Zn²⁺ > Cd²⁺. Compared with the pseudo first-order model, the pseudo second-order model described the adsorption kinetics much better, indicating a two-step biosorption process. The present study confirmed that fruiting bodies of the jelly fungi should be useful for the treatment of wastewater containing Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Zn²⁺.     

Multiple induced mutagenesis for improvement of ethanol production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kluyveromyces marxianus</Emphasis>

Kluyveromyces marxianus GX-15 was mutated multiple times by alternately treatment with UV irradiation and NTG for two cycles. Four mutant strains with improved ethanol yield were obtained. The maximum ethanol concentration, ethanol yield coefficient and theoretical ethanol yield of the best mutant strain, GX-UN120, was 69 g/l, 0.46 g/g and 91%, respectively, when fermenting 150 g glucose/l at 40°C. The corresponding values for GX-15 were 58 g/l, 0.39 g/g and 76%, respectively. GX-UN120 grew well in 11% (v/v) of ethanol, while GX-15 could not grow when ethanol was greater than 8% (v/v).     

Chemiluminescent immunoassay of thyroxine enhanced by microchip electrophoresis

A homogeneous chemiluminescent immunoassay of thyroxine (T4) enhanced by microchip electrophoresis separation has been developed. The method deployed the competitive immunoreaction of T4 and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled T4 (HRP-T4) with anti-T4 mouse monoclonal antibody (Ab). HRP-T4 and the HRP-T4-Ab complex were separated and quantified by using microchip electrophoresis (MCE) with chemiluminescence (CL) detection. Highly sensitive CL detection was achieved by means of HPR-catalyzed luminol-H₂O₂ reaction. Due to the effective MCE separation, the CL analytical signal was less prone to sample matrix interference. Under the selected assay conditions, the MCE separation was accomplished within 60 s. The linear range for T4 was 5-250 nM with a detection limit of 2.2 nM (signal/noise ratio = 3). The current method was successfully applied for the quantification of T4 in human serum samples. It was demonstrated that the current MCE-CL-enhanced competitive immunoassay was quick, sensitive, and highly selective. It may serve as a tool for clinical analysis of T4 to assist in the diagnosis of thyroid gland functions.     

Improved Cardiac Contractility of Human Recombinant Growth Hormone on the Congestive Heart Failure of Pig

1Introduction Congestiveheartfailureisamultipleaetiology,high prevalence,cardiovasculardisorderwithpoorprognosis. Medicaltreatmentofdilatedcardiomyopathyisaimedat alleviatingthesymptomsofheartfailure.Diuretics,ACE inhibitorsandbeta blockershavefavourableeffectson symptoms,exercisecapacityandmortality[1-3].Growth hormone(GH)andinsulin likegrowthfactor(IGF) 1 areinvolvedinseveralphysiologicalprocessessuchas thecontrolofmusclemassandfunction,bodycomposi tionandtheregulationofnutrientmetaboli…