Combinatorial interplay of promoter elements constitutes the minimal determinants for light and developmental control of gene expression in Arabidopsis.

Higher plants are able to integrate environmental and endogenous signals to regulate gene expression for optimal development. To define the minimal sequence requirement sufficient to integrate light and developmental signals in controlling promoter activity, we carried out a systematic analysis of the roles of four well-conserved 'light-responsive elements (LREs)' common to many nuclear-encoded photosynthetic genes. A gain-of-function assay using basal promoter-reporter fusions in stable transgenic Arabidopsis was employed to demonstrate that pairwise combinations of the LREs, but not the individual elements alone, can confer light-inducible expression to the reporter gene independently of the basal promoter context and the light-triggered morphological changes. The activity of the synthetic promoters with the paired LREs can be modulated at least by the phytochrome system. Further, those synthetic light-regulated promoters confer a photosynthetic cell-specific expression pattern and respond to the chloroplast development state. Our data suggest that distinct combinatorial interactions of LREs can serve as minimal autonomous promoter determinants which integrate light and developmental signals and modulate promoter activity.     

High-titer bicistronic retroviral vectors employing foot-and-mouth disease virus internal ribosome entry site.

Bicistronic retroviral vectors were constructed containing the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) internal ribosome entry site (IRES) followed by the coding region of beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) or therapeutic genes, with the selectable neomycin phosphotransferase gene under the control of the viral long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter. LNFX, a vector with a multiple cloning site 3' to foot-and-mouth disease virus IRES, was used to construct vectors encoding rat erythropoietin (EP), rat granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), human adenosine deaminase (ADA) and beta-gal. In transduced primary rat vascular smooth muscle cells the cytokines were expressed at high levels, similar to those obtained from vectors employing the viral LTR promoter. LNFZ, a vector encoding beta-gal, had a 10-fold increase in titer over that of LNPoZ, a comparable vector containing the poliovirus (Po) internal ribosome entry site. Primary canine vascular smooth muscle cells infected with LNFZ and LNPoZ expressed similar activities of beta-gal and neomycin phosphotransferase (NPT). Overall, these vectors had titers between 10(6) and 2 x 10(7) c.f.u./ml, indicating that foot-and-mouth disease virus IRES provides high-titer bicistronic vectors with high-level two gene expression.     

生物复苏——大绝灭后生物演化历史的第一幕

生命史是一部生物界短期,快速剧变与长期,慢速稳定相互交替的历史。大绝灭（即集群绝灭）事件反映了全球环境的大突变,点断了地质历史中的生命记录及其发展历程,预示着生物界的演化出现了最有意义的飞跃,近年来尝试研究大绝灭后全球生物界的残存－复苏及其基本型式,并探索复苏的控制因素,标志着地质科学中一个重心的转移（即从大绝灭转向其后的生物残存与复苏的研究）。生物复苏揭示了大绝灭后生物演化历史的第一幕,其研究的     

Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism and phylogenetic relationships inHevea brasiliensis

Using fourteen random mitochondrial DNA probes, we have examined restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in wild and cultivatedHevea brasiliensis. A total of 395 accessions, including 345 from various prospectings collected in Brazil, Colombia and Peru and 50 cultivated clones, were analyzed. Two other species (H. benthamiana andH. pauciflora) were also included in the study for comparison. The high level of mitochondrial polymorphism allowed us to divide all the accessions analyzed into 212 distinct genotypes. The genetic variability of cultivated clones was limited to four genotypes forming two clusters. In contrast, considerable genetic variation was found in the wild collections. In almost all cases, accessions displaying the same RFLP profile were restricted to the same geographical area (same or neighbor administrative districts). In addition, accessions whose genetic closeness was predicted by RFLP profiles were also clustered according to geographical origin. In a few cases, however, similar RFLP profiles were found for accessions originating from geographically distant districts. This discrepancy can be explained either by seed dispersion (by river) or possibly by similar genetic events occurring independently in different geographical locations. Chloroplast DNA RFLP was also analyzed in 217 accessions, representative of 126 distinct mitochondrial genotypes. Very few differences were found, indicating that the chloroplast genome is more highly conserved than the mitochondrial genome.     

籼稻232蜡质基因转录起始位点的鉴定

Ｎｏｒｔｈｅｒｎｂｌｏｔ杂交分析和蜡质基因ｃＤＮＡ的序列分析表明水稻蜡质基因的转录本可能延伸到翻译起始密码子（ＡＴＧ）上游１２ｋｂ处。据此设计了２１Ｎｔ的寡核苷酸引物,并以籼稻２３２胚乳ＲＮＡ为模板,以引物延伸法确定籼稻２３２蜡质基因的转录起始点,籼稻蜡质基因的转录起始旁邻顺序ＣＴＣＡＣＣＡ与高等植物基因的转录起始点一致顺序ＣＴＣＡＴＣＡ仅相差１个碱基。通过顺序比较,对东乡野生稻蜡质基因中的转录起始位点的位置,以及对此两稻种中ＴＡＴＡ盒的可能顺序进行了讨论。     

中国马兜铃属植物的细胞分类学初步研究

本文报道了中国马兜铃属１２种植物的染色体数目和核型分析,发现并确定了ｘ＝８为本属染色体基数之一。本属染色体的共同特征是：小型;以中部（ｍ）,近中部（ｓｍ）着丝点染色体为主;核型类型为１Ａ,２Ａ,３Ａ,１Ｂ,２Ｂ;随体一般处在染色体的长臂上。     

银杏叶的研究开发概况

本文对银杏叶的化学、药理、临床和制剂等进行了综述。     

锈寄生菌对落叶松褐锈病的抑制效应

目测及镜检结果表明,褐锈菌被锈寄生菌寄生后,夏孢子堆由桔红渐变为灰褐,后期夏孢子失去发芽力,孢子堆原基处只存有寄生菌的分生孢子器．锈寄生菌的发酵液代谢产物含有３种抗性物质．自７月中下旬至９月中旬,分生孢子的发生量多于褐锈菌的孢子量,表明落叶松褐锈病的发生程度随着锈寄生菌寄生率的增加而减轻．     

杉木,火力楠纯林及混交林细根周转的研究

系统研究了杉木、火力楠纯林及混交林细根生物量、生产力及年周转率。结果表明,杉木、火力楠纯林及混交林活细根生物量分别为８８０、３０３５和１５６０ｋｇ．ｈａ＾－１;死细根生物量为２３５、３９８和５６５ｋｇ．ｈａ＾－１;细根年周转率为１．２９、１．４２和１．４０;年生产量为１１３７、４３１８和２１７９ｋｇ．ｈａ＾－１;年死亡量为４９７．５９５和１１４９ｋｇ．ｈａ＾－１,分别相当于林分枯枝落叶年凋落量为３