新疆哈密七角井遗址2019年调查新发现

七角井是新疆地区最早发现的细石器遗址,位于新疆维吾尔自治区哈密地区西北部、天山南麓东段的一处山间小盆地内。2019年调查首次在该遗址发现原生地层和一处保存较完整的活动面遗迹,遗址出土石制品847件,年代为1.1万年。分析显示,该遗址石制品以优质燧石为原料生产小石叶和细石叶,多为生产过程中的副产品;工具加工简单,体现出明显的权宜性特征;这些迹象表明遗址为一处打制石器的临时性活动场所。这一发现为探讨更新世末到全新世初中亚干旱区古人类适应方式与文化交流提供了重要材料。     

Prediction of enhancer-promoter interactions via natural language processing

Background

Precise identification of three-dimensional genome organization, especially enhancer-promoter interactions (EPIs), is important to deciphering gene regulation, cell differentiation and disease mechanisms. Currently, it is a challenging task to distinguish true interactions from other nearby non-interacting ones since the power of traditional experimental methods is limited due to low resolution or low throughput.

Results

We propose a novel computational framework EP2vec to assay three-dimensional genomic interactions. We first extract sequence embedding features, defined as fixed-length vector representations learned from variable-length sequences using an unsupervised deep learning method in natural language processing. Then, we train a classifier to predict EPIs using the learned representations in supervised way. Experimental results demonstrate that EP2vec obtains F1 scores ranging from 0.841~?0.933 on different datasets, which outperforms existing methods. We prove the robustness of sequence embedding features by carrying out sensitivity analysis. Besides, we identify motifs that represent cell line-specific information through analysis of the learned sequence embedding features by adopting attention mechanism. Last, we show that even superior performance with F1 scores 0.889~?0.940 can be achieved by combining sequence embedding features and experimental features.

Conclusions

EP2vec sheds light on feature extraction for DNA sequences of arbitrary lengths and provides a powerful approach for EPIs identification.

     

广东英德青塘遗址黄门岩2号洞地点2016年度的发掘

英德青塘遗址系岭南地区一组含晚更新世晚期至全新世初期堆积的洞穴遗址。2016年夏对其中的黄门岩2号洞地点进行首次正式发掘,该地点发现有连续多层的文化堆积,探方出土以及地表采集了大量砾石制品、种类丰富的动物遗存、以及若干件早期陶片,部分胶结地层堆积中可见包含了大量螺蚌壳。文化遗存中的砾石石器多选用河滩砾石,使用硬锤在砾石的一端或一侧单面陡刃加工的技术特点突出,有望为探讨中国岭南地区与东南亚大陆地区晚更新世晚期至全新世初期的砾石石器工业之联系提供新证据。     

THE IMPACT OF NONPHOTOCHEMICAL QUENCHING OF FLUORESCENCE ON THE PHOTON BALANCE IN DIATOMS UNDER DYNAMIC LIGHT CONDITIONS1

The nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) of fluorescence is an important photoprotective mechanism in particular under dynamic light conditions. Its photoprotective potential was suggested to be a functional trait of algal diversity. In the present study, the influence of the photoprotective capacity on the growth balance was investigated in two diatoms, which possess different NPQ characteristics. It was hypothesized that under fluctuating light conditions Cyclotella meneghiniana Kütz. would benefit from its large and flexible NPQ potential, whereas the comparably small NPQ capacity in Skeletonema costatum (Grev.) Cleve should exert an unfavorable impact on growth. The results of the study clearly falsify this hypothesis. Although C. meneghiniana possesses a fast NPQ component, this diatom was not able to recover its full NPQ capacity under fluctuating light. On the other hand, the induction of NPQ at relatively low irradiance in S. costatum resulted in rather small differences in the fraction of energy dissipation by the NPQ mechanism in the comparison of both diatoms. Larger differences were found in the metabolic characteristics. Both diatoms differed in their biomass composition, with a higher content of lipids in C. meneghiniana but higher amounts of carbohydrates in S. costatum. Finally, the lower degree of reduction in the biomass compensated for the higher respiration rates in S. costatum and resulted in a higher quantum efficiency of biomass production. An indirect correlation between the photoprotective and the metabolic capacity is discussed.     

Immunological enhancement action of endotoxin-free tilapia heat shock protein 70 against Streptococcus iniae

The immunological effects of heat shock proteins (HSPs) had been found in humans and mice, but scarce data of endotoxin-free Hsp70 were reported in tilapia. In the current study, we reported that tHsp70 alone and antigen-tHsp70 compound increased the proliferations of lymphocytes and macrophages, significantly increased the NO release and phagocytotic ability of macrophages (p < 0.05), and enhanced the levels of immune-related genes in lymphocytes and macrophages in a dose- and/or time-dependent manner. On the other hand, tHsp70 not only helped to reduce the proliferation inhibitions induced by the ECP treatment, but also assisted antigens to enhance the vaccine-induced protection against Streptococcus iniae (p < 0.05). We described, for the first time, a critical role of endotoxin-free tHsp70 on activation of tilapia lymphocytes and macrophages post S. iniae exposure and its up-regulation effects on vaccine-induced protection. Our research highlights the immunological enhancement action of Hsp70 in teleost immunity.     

不同银杏无性系叶药用成分差异及聚类分析

运用HPLC技术分析了54个银杏(Ginkgo biloba)无性系叶总黄酮和萜内酯及其组分含量的差异,并进行了聚类。结果表明,银杏无性系间叶中总黄酮、萜内酯及其组分含量存在遗传变异,且萜内酯及其组分含量的变异系数明显高于总黄酮及其组分。总黄酮含量较高的无性系有18、42、32和50号,其槲皮素、异鼠李素、山奈酚含量均较高。萜内酯含量较高的无性系为13、42、33、51和65号,其银杏内酯A(GA)、银杏内酯B(GB)、银杏内酯C(GC)及白果内酯(BB)含量均较高。通过对总黄酮-萜内酯进行联合复选,显示叶中总黄酮和萜内酯含量均较高的无性系为13、65、33、51、18、32和42号。这些无性系可通过嫁接、扦插直接在银杏采叶园进行推广种植,或作为叶用银杏新品种的育种材料。     

Na2SO4和Na2CO3胁迫下苦楝幼苗的形态及光合生理特性

为探索苦楝应对盐胁迫的响应机制,该文以1年生苦楝(Melia azedarach)实生苗为材料,在盆栽条件下设置中性盐Na_2SO_4和碱性盐Na_2CO_33个盐浓度(200、400、600 mmol·L~(-1))处理40 d,研究苦楝的抗盐碱水平及在不同程度盐碱胁迫条件下的生长及光合生理变化。结果表明:随着盐浓度的提高,苦楝的苗高、地径和生物量的增长量均呈现下降趋势,且碱性盐胁迫条件下降程度更大,盐胁迫提高苦楝的根冠比。处理10 d时,苦楝幼苗的所有光合指标随中性盐和碱性盐浓度的提高呈相似的下降特征,碱性盐胁迫条件下的降低幅度显著大于中性盐胁迫,且随处理时间的增加,中性盐和碱性盐处理下苦楝幼苗的净光合速率和蒸腾速率显著降低。随着盐浓度的提高,苦楝的叶绿素含量呈现下降趋势,200 mmol·L~(-1)盐胁迫对叶绿素含量影响较小,400、600 mmol·L~(-1)盐胁迫均对叶绿素含量有显著影响。600 mmol·L~(-1)碱性盐胁迫条件下,苦楝叶片相对电导率和饱和水分亏缺最高,显著高于其余处理。同等浓度下,碱性盐胁迫的苦楝叶片相对电导率和饱和水分亏缺显著高于中性盐胁迫处理。综上结果认为,苦楝具有一定的耐盐碱能力,碱性盐比中性盐对苦楝幼苗的影响更大。