种子脱水耐性及其与种子类型和发育阶段的相关性

种子脱水耐性是种子发育过程中获得的综合特性,是判断种子贮藏持性的一个重要依据。当种子获得脱水耐性时,生理,形态和结构会发生相应的变化,包括糖,蛋白质,脂类和抗氧化系统等保护性物质的合成,各种保护性物质不是单独作用的,而是协同调节种子的脱水耐性。不同的植物种子,其脱水耐性不同,并且随着种子的发育而变化。关于种子脱水耐性的获得,主要有2种观点,一种认为是数量性状,另一种认为是突变性状。种子库收集种子保存时,适时采集和适度脱水才能有效地延长种子的贮藏寿命。     

Lenalidomide overcomes suppression of human natural killer cell anti-tumor functions by neuroblastoma microenvironment-associated IL-6 and TGFβ1

Background

Treatment for children with high-risk neuroblastoma with anti-disialoganglioside mAb ch14.18, IL-2, and GM-CSF plus 13-cis-retinoic acid after myeloablative chemotherapy improves survival, but 40 % of patients still relapse during or after this therapy. The microenvironment of high-risk neuroblastoma tumors includes macrophages, IL-6, and TGFβ1. We hypothesized that this microenvironment suppresses anti-tumor functions of natural killer (NK) cells and that lenalidomide, an immune-modulating drug, could overcome suppression.

Methods

Purified NK cells were cultured with IL-2, neuroblastoma/monocyte-conditioned culture medium (CM), IL-6, TGFβ1, and lenalidomide in various combinations and then characterized using cytotoxicity (direct and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity), cytokine, flow cytometry, and Western blotting assays. Anti-tumor activity of NK cells with lenalidomide, ch14.18, or both was evaluated with a xenograft model of neuroblastoma.

Results

CM from neuroblastoma/monocyte co-cultures contains IL-6 and TGFβ1 that suppress IL-2 activation of NK cell cytotoxicity and IFNγ secretion. IL-6 and TGFβ1 activate the STAT3 and SMAD2/3 pathways in NK cells and suppress IL-2 induction of cytotoxicity, granzymes A and B release, perforin expression, and IFNγ secretion. Lenalidomide blocks IL-6 and TGFβ1 activation of these signaling pathways and inhibits their suppression of NK cells. Neuroblastoma cells in NOD/SCID mice exhibit activated STAT3 and SMAD2/3 pathways. Their growth is most effectively inhibited by co-injected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) containing NK cells when mice are treated with both ch14.18 and lenalidomide.

Conclusion

Immunotherapy with anti-tumor cell antibodies may be improved by lenalidomide, which enhances activation of NK cells and inhibits their suppression by IL-6 and TGFβ1.     

兔抗人NESTIN抗血清的制备与鉴定(简报)

巢蛋白(nestin)属Ⅵ类中等纤维蛋白。最初在神经系统发育早期发现有该蛋白的表达。后在正常神经系统中发现仅在未分化的神经前体细胞中有nestin的短暂表达,分化后在神经元和神经胶质细胞中分别被NF(neurofilament,神经丝)和GFAP(Glial fibrillary acidic protein,神经胶质元纤维酸性蛋白)所代替。所以nestin的表达通常被视为神经前体细胞的标志之一。就我们所知,目前商品化nestin的抗体都是鼠抗鼠(克隆Rat401)的抗体,而人鼠之间该蛋白序列的同源性仅为50%左     

Tracking current and forecasting future land-use impacts of agricultural value chains. 67th Discussion Forum on Life Cycle Assessment, 3rd of November 2017, Zurich,Switzerland

The 67th Discussion Forum on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), organised by partners of the European project RELIEF (RELIability of product Environmental Footprints), focused on methods for better understanding the impacts of land use linked to agricultural value chains. The first session of the forum was dedicated to methods that help in retrospective tracking of land use within complex supply chains. Novel approaches were presented for the integration of increasingly available spatially located land use data into LCA. The second session focused on forward-looking projections of land use change and included emerging, predictive methods for the modelling of land change. The third session considered impact assessment methods related to the use of land and their application together with land change modelling approaches. Discussions throughout the day centred on opportunities and challenges arising from integrating spatially located land use information into Life Cycle Assessment. Increasing amounts of spatially located land use data are becoming available and this could potentially increase the robustness and specificity of Life Cycle Assessment. However, the use of such data can be computationally expensive and requires the development of skills (i.e. use of geographical information systems (GIS) and model coding) within the LCA community. Land change modelling and ecosystem service modelling are associated with considerable uncertainty which must be communicated appropriately to stakeholders and decision-makers when interpreting results from an LCA. The new approaches were found to challenge aspects of the traditional LCA approach—particularly the division between the life cycle inventory and impact assessment and the assumption of linearity between scale and impacts when deriving characterisation factors. The presentations from the DF-67 are available for download (www.lcaforum.ch), and video recordings can be accessed online (http://www.video.ethz.ch/events/lca/2017/autumn/67th.html).     

A male sterility-associated cytotoxic protein ORF288 in Brassica juncea causes aborted pollen development

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is a widespread phenomenon in higher plants, and several studies have established that this maternally inherited defect is often associated with a mitochondrial mutant. Approximately 10 chimeric genes have been identified as being associated with corresponding CMS systems in the family Brassicaceae, but there is little direct evidence that these genes cause male sterility. In this study, a novel chimeric gene (named orf288) was found to be located downstream of the atp6 gene and co-transcribed with this gene in the hau CMS sterile line. Western blotting analysis showed that this predicted open reading frame (ORF) was translated in the mitochondria of male-sterile plants. Furthermore, the growth of Escherichia coli was significantly repressed in the presence of ORF288, which indicated that this protein is toxic to the E. coli host cells. To confirm further the function of orf288 in male sterility, the gene was fused to a mitochondrial-targeting pre-sequence under the control of the Arabidopsis APETALA3 promoter and introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana. Almost 80% of transgenic plants with orf288 failed to develop anthers. It was also found that the independent expression of orf288 caused male sterility in transgenic plants, even without the transit pre-sequence. Furthermore, transient expression of orf288 and green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a fused protein in A. thaliana protoplasts showed that ORF288 was able to anchor to mitochondria even without the external mitochondrial-targeting peptide. These observations provide important evidence that orf288 is responsible for the male sterility of hau CMS in Brassica juncea.     

小报春不同授粉组合亲和性研究

利用小报春‘红星’、‘紫霞’、‘罗兰香’3个品种分别设置8种授粉组合,统计了不同授粉组合的结实情况和单果种子数量,并对‘红星’品种部分授粉组合的花粉萌发与花粉管伸长过程进行荧光显微观察。结果显示:(1)3个品种的结实率和单果种子数量均表现为异型植株授粉>长花柱同型异株授粉、长花柱自交>短花柱同型异株授粉、短花柱自交,不同授粉组合间单果种子数量差异极显著,异型植株授粉类型结实率均达到100%,单果种子数量为44～181粒,显著高于自交组合和同型异株杂交组合;以异型致死花粉作为蒙导对短花柱同型异株授粉组合的结实有一定促进作用,但对长花柱同型异株授粉组合的结实没有一致的促进作用;3个品种中‘红星’的结实率和单果种子数量最高。(2)荧光显微观察表明,异型授粉组合花粉在柱头上大量萌发并在花柱中伸长,授粉144h后花粉管开始进入子房;同型授粉组合授粉12h后花粉开始萌发,但直到授粉后144h花粉管还没有进入花柱;自交授粉组合授粉后144h仍无花粉萌发。实验结果说明,小报春存在明显的自交不亲和性,且短花柱类型的自交不亲和性比长花柱类型强。     

Construction of a robust prognostic model for adult adrenocortical carcinoma: Results from bioinformatics and real-world data

This study aims to construct a robust prognostic model for adult adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) by large-scale multiomics analysis and real-world data. The RPPA data, gene expression profiles and clinical information of adult ACC patients were obtained from The Cancer Proteome Atlas (TCPA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Integrated prognosis-related proteins (IPRPs) model was constructed. Immunohistochemistry was used to validate the prognostic value of the IPRPs model in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) cohort. 76 ACC cases from TCGA and 22 ACC cases from GSE10927 in NCBI’s GEO database with full data for clinical information and gene expression were utilized to validate the effectiveness of the IPRPs model. Higher FASN (P = .039), FIBRONECTIN (P < .001), TFRC (P < .001), TSC1 (P < .001) expression indicated significantly worse overall survival for adult ACC patients. Risk assessment suggested significantly a strong predictive capacity of IPRPs model for poor overall survival (P < .05). IPRPs model showed a little stronger ability for predicting prognosis than Ki-67 protein in FUSCC cohort (P = .003, HR = 3.947; P = .005, HR = 3.787). In external validation of IPRPs model using gene expression data, IPRPs model showed strong ability for predicting prognosis in TCGA cohort (P = .005, HR = 3.061) and it exhibited best ability for predicting prognosis in GSE10927 cohort (P = .0898, HR = 2.318). This research constructed IPRPs model for predicting adult ACC patients’ prognosis using proteomic data, gene expression data and real-world data and this prognostic model showed stronger predictive value than other biomarkers (Ki-67, Beta-catenin, etc) in multi-cohorts.     

In vivo inhibition of megakaryocyte and platelet production by platelet factor 4 in mice.

The in vivo effect of human platelet factor 4 (PF4) on murine megakaryocytopoiesis and thrombopoiesis was studied. Administration of PF4 induced a dose-dependent decrease in the numbers of megakaryocytes and their progenitor cells (CFU-MK), continuing for 1 week after the injection. However, the size of megakaryocytes and their colonies was not changed following PF4 injection. Platelet levels were significantly decreased at days 3-4. The number of CFU-GM was decreased at days 1-2. White blood cells and hemoglobin were unaffected by PF4. These data indicate that PF4 inhibits megakaryocyte and platelet production in vivo by acting on the early stage of megakaryocyte development.     

哺乳动物Hippo信号通路:肿瘤治疗的新标靶

Hippo信号通路是首次在果蝇中发现具有调节细胞增殖与凋亡作用的信号通路。最近发现果蝇Hippo信号通路的组成、分子作用机制和生物学功能在进化过程中高度保守。Hippo信号通路在胚胎发育中对细胞的生长分化、组织器官形成以及成体干细胞的维持和自稳态的保持等方面具有重要作用。同时,Hippo信号通路与Wnt信号通路、Notch信号通路等相互作用、密切联系,在肿瘤的发生、发展过程中也起到关键作用。文章综述了哺乳动物Hippo信号通路的作用机理、与其他信号通路和蛋白质因子的相互联系及与肿瘤的关系,对于肿瘤的诊断、预防和治疗具有一定的参考价值。