Diverse flowering responses subjecting to ambient high temperature in soybean under short-day conditions

Flowering time is one of important agronomic traits determining the crop yield and affected by high temperature. When facing high ambient temperature, plants often initiate early flowering as an adaptive strategy to escape the stress and ensure successful reproduction. However, here we find opposing ways in the short-day crop soybean to respond to different levels of high temperatures, in which flowering accelerates when temperature changes from 25 to 30 °C, but delays when temperature reaches 35 °C under short day. phyA-E1, possibly photoperiodic pathway, is crucial for 35 °C-mediated late flowering, however, does not contribute to promoting flowering at 30 °C. 30 °C-induced up-regulation of FT2a and FT5a leads to early flowering, independent of E1. Therefore, distinct responsive mechanisms are adopted by soybean when facing different levels of high temperatures for successful flowering and reproduction.     

Ribosomal protein L22-like1 promotes prostate cancer progression by activating PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignancies in men. Ribosomal protein L22-like1 (RPL22L1), a component of the ribosomal 60 S subunit, is associated with cancer progression, but the role and potential mechanism of RPL22L1 in PCa remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of RPL22L1 in PCa progression and the mechanisms involved. Bioinformatics and immunohistochemistry analysis showed that the expression of RPL22L1 was significantly higher in PCa tissues than in normal prostate tissues. The cell function analysis revealed that RPL22L1 significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of PCa cells. The data of xenograft tumour assay suggested that the low expression of RPL22L1 inhibited the growth and invasion of PCa cells in vivo. Mechanistically, the results of Western blot proved that RPL22L1 activated PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in PCa cells. Additionally, LY294002, an inhibitor of PI3K/Akt pathway, was used to block this pathway. The results showed that LY294002 remarkably abrogated the oncogenic effect of RPL22L1 on PCa cell proliferation and invasion. Taken together, our study demonstrated that RPL22L1 is a key gene in PCa progression and promotes PCa cell proliferation and invasion via PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, thus potentially providing a new target for PCa therapy.     

基于遗传算法的土地利用优化：NSGA-Ⅱ和NSGA-Ⅲ的对比研究

土地利用优化通常要兼顾不同群体的多种要求,理论上是复杂的超多目标(4个及以上)优化问题。但实际操作中却往往被简化为多目标(2—3个)优化问题,通过一种流行的多目标优化算法第Ⅱ代非支配排序遗传算法(NSGA-Ⅱ)求解。究其原因是对超多目标优化算法认知的缺失和与多目标优化算法理论对比的匮乏。对NSGA系列中应用最广泛的多目标优化算法NSGA-Ⅱ和最新提出、面向超多目标优化的算法NSGA-Ⅲ进行探究,从理论和实验两方面对Ⅲ和Ⅱ进行对比,从而探究二者进行土地利用优化时的优劣。在理论上,对比两种算法原理的异同。在实验中,分别设计多目标(3个目标)和超多目标(13个目标)土地利用优化问题,利用两种算法进行求解。对实验结果采用四层架构、六大指标进行全面评价,以对比两种算法的可用性。理论对比发现,两个算法只有种群多样性保护的方法不同,其中NSGA-Ⅲ是基于与固定的参考点的距离,而NSGA-Ⅱ则是基于相邻解间的距离。通过实验对比发现,NSGA-Ⅲ在超多目标优化时运算速度快,且产生的最优方案实用价值更高,NSGA-Ⅱ在算法的有效性方面更有优势。     

生长抑素受体2的小鼠时空组织表达谱

生长抑素(somatostatin, SST)作为一种抑制性多肽激素,在多种生物过程中发挥重要的功能。生长抑素受体2 (somatostatin receptor 2, SSTR2)作为生长抑素表达最广泛的受体在多种组织中表达,但其表达的具体细胞类型尚不清楚。本研究在小鼠不同发育阶段的多种组织中鉴定了SSTR2蛋白表达的细胞类型。通过多色免疫荧光在小鼠胚胎期15.5 d、出生后1 d、7 d、15 d、3个月和6个月的脑、骨、肺、肠道、皮肤、胃、脾和肾等组织中检测了Sstr2基因的表达。结果发现Sstr2在不同发育阶段的多种组织的特定细胞类型中表达,包括脑神经元和星形胶质细胞,骨的间充质基质细胞、造血细胞和B细胞,肺的巨噬细胞、Ⅱ型肺泡上皮细胞和气道纤毛细胞,肠道的上皮细胞和神经元,皮肤的毛囊细胞,胃体的上皮细胞,脾的造血干细胞、造血祖细胞和神经纤维,肾的肾小管上皮细胞等。本研究确定了小鼠多组织不同发育阶段Sstr2表达的细胞类型,为生长抑素与生长抑素受体2的生理功能研究提供了新的线索。     

壳聚糖酶结构与功能的研究进展

壳聚糖酶是一类对壳聚糖具有较高催化活性而几乎不水解几丁质的糖苷水解酶,其可将高分子量的壳聚糖转化为低分子量的功能性壳寡糖。近年来,对壳聚糖酶的相关研究取得了显著进展,因此,本文对其生化性质、晶体结构、催化机制和蛋白质工程改造进行总结和探讨,并对酶法制备壳寡糖纯品进行展望,这将加深研究者对壳聚糖酶作用机制的认识,推动壳聚糖酶的工业应用。     

Two genes present on a transposon-like structure in Lactococcus lactis are involved in a Clp-family proteolytic activity

The lactose-protease plasmid pUCL22 of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strain CNRZ270 contained two inverted copies of IS 1076 flanking a region of 3.7 kb. This internal region was sequenced and found to contain two large open reading frames, ORF1 and ORFP in opposite orientations. ORF1 consists of 2289 bp; the deduced 763-amino-acid sequence is similar to the ATPases of the ClpA family. It contains two well-conserved consensus ATP-binding sites. It was named ClpL. ORFP consists of 930 bp encoding a protein of 310 amino acids. No similarity with any known protein was found in GenBank data for ORFP. Increased ATP-dependent proteolytic activity was detected in extracts from Escherichia coli cells expressing the clpL and ORFP genes.     

PDGF-AA activates AKT and ERK signaling for testicular interstitial Leydig cell growth via primary cilia

Testes control the development of male reproductive system. The testicular interstitial Leydig cells (Leydig cells) synthesize testosterone for promoting spermatogenesis and secondary sexual characteristics. Type A platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-AA) is one of the most important growth factors in regulating Leydig cell growth and function. Knockout of PDGF-AA or its congenital receptor PDGFR-α leads to poor testicular development caused by reducing Leydig cell numbers, supporting PDGF-AA/PDGFR-α signaling regulates Leydig cell development. Primary cilium is a cellular antenna that functions as an integrative platform to transduce extracellular signaling for proper development and differentiation. Several receptors including PDGFR-α are observed on primary cilia for initiating signaling cascades in distinct cell types. Here we showed that PDGF-AA/PDGFR-α signaling promoted Leydig cells growth, migration, and invasion via primary cilia. Upon PDGF-AA treatment, AKT and ERK signaling were activated to regulate these cellular events. Interestingly, active AKT and ERK were detected around the base of primary cilia. Depletion of ciliary genes (IFT88 and CEP164) alleviated PDGF-AA-activated AKT and ERK, thus reducing Leydig cell growth, migration, and invasion. Thus, our study not only reveals the function of PDGF-AA/PDGFR-α signaling in maintaining testicular physiology but also uncovers the role of primary cilium and downstream signaling in regulating Leydig cell development.     

北美水貂和欧亚水獭在东北地区的分布与生态位重叠

作为入侵物种,北美水貂(Neovison vison)在欧洲引起了一系列生态问题,侵占了欧亚水獭(Lutra lutra)的生态空间,其入侵性对当地生物多样性和生态系统构成了严重威胁。水貂引入我国东北地区已有70多年的历史,然而国内对其野外种群却鲜有研究。掌握水貂种群的入侵范围、入侵影响因素以及与本地具有相似生态位的欧亚水獭之间的竞争关系,对水貂的入侵管理和东北地区的生物多样性保护具有重要意义。本研究利用实地调查和文献资料获取的分布信息,通过集合模型识别水貂和水獭的潜在分布区,评估水貂对水獭在地理空间上的入侵风险,并通过主成分分析(principal component analysis,PCA)评估其生态位重叠和影响因素。结果表明:(1)我国东北地区水貂的潜在分布区面积为61,944.57 km²,水獭的潜在分布区面积为83,590.94 km²,两者重叠区域面积为50,544.21 km²,占水獭潜在分布区面积的60.47%;(2)从各省分布情况来看,黑龙江省水獭受水貂入侵的风险最高,潜在分布区重叠的比例达到78.9...     

固相萃取与气相色谱⁃质谱法联用测定食用植物油和含脂肪食品中氯丙醇酯的方法验证研究

氯丙醇酯是国际上广泛关注的食品加工过程污染物,其水解产物氯丙醇对人体（特别是婴幼儿）危害风险较大。采用固相萃取与气相色谱-质谱（gas chromatography-mass spectrometry,GC-MS）联用技术,对食用植物油和含脂食品中的氯丙醇酯[3-氯-1,2-丙二醇脂肪酸酯（简称3-MCPD酯）和2-氯-1,3-丙二醇脂肪酸酯（简称2-MCPD酯）]进行检测。该方法准确度高（3-MCPD酯和2-MCPD酯的平均回收率分别为98.9%和96.5%)、灵敏度高(3-MCPD酯和2-MCPD酯的检出限分别为0.042 mg·kg^-1和0.058 mg·kg^-1)、重现性好(相对标准偏差均低于5%)。76批次监测样品中,3-MCPD酯和2-MCPD酯的含量分别为0.042~4.865 mg·kg^-1(平均值为0.773 mg·kg^-1)和0.058~2.592 mg·kg^-1(平均值为0.469 mg·kg^-1)。经机构间的协同验证和英国FAPAS样的能力验证,2种氯丙醇酯在0.200~3.000 mg·kg^-1范围内线性良好,为进一步研究奠定了基础,同时也为食品加工企业严格控制生产过程建立了一种可行的检测方法。