AP2功能基因在植物花发育中的重要作用

AP2基因作为调控植物花发育的功能基因,参与花分生特性建立、花器官的特性特化以及形成调控。所编码的AP2/EREBP转录因子的主要特征是都至少含有一个由60到70个左右的氨基酸组成高度保守的DNA结合区,称作AP2结合域。按其所含的AP2结构域的数目分为3个亚族,即AP2亚家族、EREBP亚家族和RAV亚家族,每个亚家族都有各自的作用。AP2基因不但自身调控着花、胚珠的发育,而且与其他因子相互协作,参与到复杂的花发育调控网络。将对AP2基因的特征和分类及其在花发育中的作用进行概述。     

组胺对大鼠小脑皮层浦肯野细胞的兴奋作用

在离体大鼠小脑脑片上观察了组胺对小脑皮层第Ⅹ小叶浦肯野细胞的作用。组胺（３～１００μｍｏｌ／Ｌ）主要引起浦肯野细胞的兴奋反应（９４４％,５１／５４）,在少数细胞上也观察到组胺所引起的放电抑制现象（５６％,３／５４）。用低Ｃａ２＋／高Ｍｇ２＋人工脑脊液灌流脑片,不能取消浦肯野细胞对组胺的兴奋反应（ｎ＝４）。Ｈ２受体对抗剂ｒａｎｉｔｉｄｉｎｅ（０１～５μｍｏｌ／Ｌ）能够阻断浦肯野细胞对组胺的兴奋反应（ｎ＝２０）,而Ｈ１受体对抗剂ｔｒｉｐｒｏｌｉｄｉｎｅ（０５～５μｍｏｌ／Ｌ）不能够（ｎ＝９）或仅轻微地（ｎ＝４）阻断浦肯野细胞对组胺的兴奋反应。这些结果提示,组胺可能主要通过Ｈ２受体的介导对浦肯野细胞起兴奋性调节作用,下丘脑小脑组胺能神经通路可能参与了小脑的某些躯体的和非躯体的功能调节。     

8—MOP对体外培养人癌细胞的光敏灭活作用

本文根据MTT只能被活的增殖细胞中线粒体切断形成紫色甲(?)的原理,测定了8—甲氧基补骨脂素(8—MOP)对体外培养人癌细胞系HCT、KB和BEL细胞的光敏灭活作用。结果表明,8—MOP和UVA光照对这几种人癌细胞有肯定的灭活作用,该作用与8—MOP剂量和光照时间以及细胞种类有关;MTT法可以作为光敏剂活性检测的一种快捷方法。     

Separation of allelopathy from resource competition using rice/barnyardgrass mixed-cultures

Plant-plant interference is the combined effect of allelopathy, resource competition, and many other factors. Separating allelopathy from resource competition is almost impossible in natural systems but it is important to evaluate the relative contribution of each of the two mechanisms on plant interference. Research on allelopathy in natural and cultivated plant communities has been hindered in the absence of a reliable method that can separate allelopathic effect from resource competition. In this paper, the interactions between allelopathic rice accession PI312777, non-allelopathic rice accession Lemont and barnyardgrass were explored respectively by using a target (rice)-neighbor (barnyardgrass) mixed-culture in hydroponic system. The relative competitive intensity (RCI), the relative neighbor effect (RNE) and the competitive ratio (CR) were used to quantify the intensity of competition between each of the two different potentially allelopathic rice accessions and barnyardgrass. Use of hydroponic culture system enabled us to exclude any uncontrolled factors that might operate in the soil and we were able to separate allelopathy from resource competition between each rice accession and barnyardgrass. The RCI and RNE values showed that the plant-plant interaction was positive (facilitation) for PI312777 but that was negative (competition) for Lemont and barnyardgrass in rice/barnyardgrass mixed-cultures. The CR values showed that one PI312777 plant was more competitive than 2 barnyardgrass plants. The allelopathic effects of PI312777 were much more intense than the resource competition in rice/barnyardgrass mixed cultures. The reverse was true for Lemont. These results demonstrate that the allelopathic effect of PI312777 was predominant in rice/barnyardgrass mixed-cultures. The most significant result of our study is the discovery of an experimental design, target-neighbor mixed-culture in combination with competition indices, can successfully separate allelopathic effects from competition.     

西藏米拉卡黑白仰鼻猴的栖息地变化

黑白仰鼻猴(Rhinopithecus bieti)分布在我国金沙江和澜沧江之间的横断山脉的一个狭小区域内(26°14′N-29°20′N,99°15′E-99°37′E),海拔分布范围2600(南部)-4200m(北部);目前大约有15群,约1700只。本文所研究的西藏米拉卡猴群分布在我国西藏藏族自治区芒康县的南部,数量约50只。基于野外调查和过去的报道,此地的暗针叶林和针阔叶混交林是猴群的适宜栖息地,而由于人口数量增加所导致的夏季牧场和农田面积不断扩增正在逐渐侵蚀着这里的暗针叶林。为了评估该猴群的栖息地现状、变化趋势和变化原因,我们通过野外调查工作,利用GIS和RS技术,分别解译了当地过去5年(1986-2006年)冬季的Landsat TM卫星影像,并对解译结果进行了分析和计算,得到了该猴群栖息地的主要结果有:1)2006年暗针叶林面积是13600hmP2P,夏季牧场面积是4900hmP2P,农田面积是3300hmP2P;2)在过去20年(1986-2006年),暗针叶林面积减少了15.5%(2500hmP2P),牧场面积增加了58.1%(1800hmP2P),农田面积增加了17.8%(500hmP2P);3)暗针叶林的斑块数量增加了75.6%,平均斑块面积下降了51.8%(从1986年的15.3hmP2P到2006年的7.4hmP2P),最大斑块指数下降了54.7%;景观丰富度并没有变化,但Shannon多样性指数和Shannon均匀度指数分别增加了4.0%;4)暗针叶林面积变化与当地的人口数量呈显著负相关(r=?1.000),而夏季牧场和农田面积分别和当地人口呈显著正相关(r=1.000)。表明黑白仰鼻猴米拉卡猴群栖息地的丧失和破碎化程度较为严重;栖息地丧失和破碎化是当地传统生产方式和人口增长共同作用的结果。     

The thymic stromal cell line MTSC4 induced thymocyte apoptosis in a non-MHC-restricted manner

Mouse thymic stromal cell line 4 (MTSC4) is one of the stromal cell lines established in our laboratory. While losing the characteristics of epithelial cells, they express some surface markers shared with thymic dendritic cells (TDCs). To further study the biological functions of these cells, we compared the capability of MTSC4 with TDCs in the induction of thymocyte apoptosis, using thymic reaggregation culture system. Apoptosis of thymocytes induced by MTSC4 and TDCs was measured by Annexin V and PI staining and analyzed by flow cytometry. We found that MTSC4 selectively augmented the apoptosis of CD4^ 8^ (DP) thymocytes. This effect was Fas/FasL independent and could not be blocked by antibodies to MHC class I and class II molecules. In addition, MTSC4 enhanced the apoptosis of DP thymocytes from different strains of mice, which implies that MTSC4-induced thymocyte apoptosis is not mediated by the TCR recognition of self peptide/MHC molecules. In contrast to MTSC4, thymocyte apoptosis induced by TDCs was MHC-restricted. Thus, MHC-independent fashion of stromal-DP thymocyte interaction may be one of the ways to induce thymocyte apoptosis in thymus. Our study has also shown that the interaction of MTSC4 stromal cells and thymocytes is required for the induction of thymocyte apoptosis.     

Long non‐coding RNA highly up‐regulated in liver cancer promotes epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition process in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is an oral and maxillofacial malignancy that exhibits high incidence worldwide. In diverse human cancers, the long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA) highly up‐regulated in liver cancer (HULC) is aberrantly expressed, but how HULC affects OSCC development and progression has remained mostly unknown. We report that HULC was abnormally up‐regulated in oral cancer tissues and OSCC cell lines, and that suppression of HULC expression in OSCC cells not only inhibited the proliferation, drug tolerance, migration and invasion of the cancer cells, but also increased their apoptosis rate. Notably, in a mouse xenograft model, HULC depletion reduced tumorigenicity and inhibited the epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition process. Collectively, our findings reveal a crucial role of the lncRNA HULC in regulating oral cancer carcinogenesis and tumour progression, and thus suggest that HULC could serve as a novel therapeutic target for OSCC.     

Screening and production of erythritol by newly isolated osmophilic yeast-like fungi

Twenty-eight erythritol-producing strains were isolated from pollen, honey and high sugar food samples collected in Taiwan. Amongst these, six strains (166-2, 262-1, 278-3, 440, 441 and 442) were high erythritol-producers with a yield higher than 30% for 30% glucose. The erythritol productivity of these strains ranged from 90.9 to 116.4 g l⁻¹. ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR analyses confirmed that the fermentation product was erythritol. The results of morphological and physiological studies indicate that strains 166-2, 262-1, 278-3, 440, and 442 may be members of the genus Moniliella. More studies are required to determine the taxonomic position of strain 441. The use of a medium containing 30% glucose and 1% yeast extract gave the highest erythritol productivity. On batch fermentation in a 5-l fermentor using strain 166-2, a maximal erythritol productivity of 111.0 g l⁻¹ was obtained after cultivation for 144 h.     

Antitumor mechanism of Se-containing polysaccharide, a novel organic selenium compound

Recent studies on the inhibition of tumor growth by Se-containing polysaccharide were reviewed. Meanwhile, the possible molecular mechanisms of the inhibition of tumor cell growth through antioxidation, induction of tumor cell apoptosis, blockade of cell cycle, and enhancement of immunity by Se-containing polysaccharide were proposed. In the end, the potential application of Se-containing polysaccharide in the prevention and treatment of tumor was elucidated.     

基因工程生物的生态影响及其评价

随着基因工程技术的迅速发展,基因工程产生的生物将被广泛地应用于非受控的自然环境中,这将带来诸多的环境和生态方面的问题。本文概述了基因工程生物在非受控环境下可能产生的生态影响,提出了“基因工程生态学”这一新的应用生态学分支领域,探讨了该分支学科的概念、主要研究内容和目标,以及当前应采取的研究策略,并就发展基因工程生态学的有关问题提出了建议。