人工辅助投食对滇金丝猴肠道微生物群落的影响

【背景】肠道菌群与宿主的消化吸收、免疫抵抗和行为等息息相关,并受宿主的饮食、生活环境等因素影响。【目的】人工辅助投食能增加野生动物的营养摄入,但对其肠道菌群影响的研究较少。【方法】以云南白马雪山国家级自然保护区内的野生和人工辅助投食滇金丝猴群的新鲜粪便为材料,通过高通量测序探究人工辅助投食对猴群肠道菌群的影响。【结果】人工辅助投食的猴群肠道菌群丰富度、均匀度及谱系多样性更高,并且个体间群落组成差异更小。通过多级物种差异判别分析(linear discriminant analysis effect size, LEfSe)分析发现,人工辅助投食对20种不同分类水平的细菌相对丰度有影响,包括提升了厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)等8种类群的相对丰度,降低了变形菌门(Proteobacteria)、拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)等12种类群的相对丰度。通过构建微生物相关网络发现,野生猴群肠道菌群网络结构更加复杂,鲁棒性更高。京都基因与基因组百科全书(Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes, KEGG)功能预测结果表明,人工辅助投食降低了猴群肠...     

单链抗体展示系统研究进展

单链抗体(single chain antibody fragment,scFv)是由抗体重链可变区(variable region of heavy chain,VH)和轻链可变区(variable region of light chain,VL)通过柔性短肽连接组成的小分子,是具有完整抗原结合活性的最小功能片段,包含抗体识别及抗原结合部位。相比于其他抗体,scFv具有分子量小、穿透性强、免疫原性弱、易构建表达等优点。目前,scFv最常用的展示系统主要有噬菌体展示系统、核糖体展示系统、mRNA展示系统、酵母细胞表面展示系统和哺乳动物细胞展示系统等。近年来,随着scFv在医学、生物学、食品安全学等领域的发展,使得其在生物合成和应用研究方面备受关注。本文对近年来scFv展示系统的研究进展作一综述,以期为scFv的筛选及应用提供理论基础。     

Non-specific phospholipase C4 hydrolyzes phosphosphingolipids and phosphoglycerolipids and promotes rapeseed growth and yield

Phosphorus is a major nutrient vital for plant growth and development, with a substantial amount of cellular phosphorus being used for the biosynthesis of membrane phospholipids. Here, we report that NON-SPECIFIC PHOSPHOLIPASE C4 (NPC4) in rapeseed (Brassica napus) releases phosphate from phospholipids to promote growth and seed yield, as plants with altered NPC4 levels showed significant changes in seed production under different phosphate conditions. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (Cas9)-mediated knockout of BnaNPC4 led to elevated accumulation of phospholipids and decreased growth, whereas overexpression (OE) of BnaNPC4 resulted in lower phospholipid contents and increased plant growth and seed production. We demonstrate that BnaNPC4 hydrolyzes phosphosphingolipids and phosphoglycerolipids in vitro, and plants with altered BnaNPC4 function displayed changes in their sphingolipid and glycerolipid contents in roots, with a greater change in glycerolipids than sphingolipids in leaves, particularly under phosphate deficiency conditions. In addition, BnaNPC4-OE plants led to the upregulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism, phosphate release, and phosphate transport and an increase in free inorganic phosphate in leaves. These results indicate that BnaNPC4 hydrolyzes phosphosphingolipids and phosphoglycerolipids in rapeseed to enhance phosphate release from membrane phospholipids and promote growth and seed production.     

Genome-wide RAD sequencing data suggest predominant role of vicariance in Sino-Japanese disjunction of the monotypic genus Conandron (Gesneriaceae)

Disjunct distribution is a key issue in biogeography and ecology, but it is often difficult to determine the relative roles of dispersal vs. vicariance in disjunctions. We studied the phylogeographic pattern of the monotypic Conandron ramondioides (Gesneriaceae), which shows Sino-Japanese disjunctions, with ddRAD sequencing based on a comprehensive sampling of 11 populations from mainland China, Taiwan Island, and Japan. We found a very high degree of genetic differentiation among these three regions, with very limited gene flow and a clear Isolation by Distance pattern. Mainland China and Japan clades diverged first from a widespread ancestral population in the middle Miocene, followed by a later divergence between mainland China and Taiwan Island clades in the early Pliocene. Three current groups have survived in various glacial refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum, and experienced contraction and/or bottlenecks since their divergence during Quaternary glacial cycles, with strong niche divergence between mainland China + Japan and Taiwan Island ranges. Thus, we verified a predominant role of vicariance in the current disjunction of the monotypic genus Conandron. The sharp phylogenetic separation, ecological niche divergence among these three groups, and the great number of private alleles in all populations sampled indicated a considerable time of independent evolution, and suggests the need for a taxonomic survey to detect potentially overlooked taxa.     

Critical roles of non-coding RNAs in lifecycle and biology of Marek’s disease herpesvirus

Science China Life Sciences - Over the past two decades, numerous non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been identified in different biological systems including virology, especially in large DNA viruses...