深圳市红火蚁婚飞规律研究

本研究利用自制红火蚁Solenopsis invicta Buren收集装置对红火蚁婚飞规律进行研究,结果表明:本试验过程中共观察到婚飞273次,无论大、中、小蚁巢均有有翅蚁婚飞现象;共收集到有翅蚁10 618头,雌雄比为2.1:1;单次婚飞有翅蚁均为雌虫的有167次,均为雄虫的有25次,单次婚飞有翅蚊既有雌虫又有雄虫(雌虫+雄虫)的共81次;同一蚁巢可以发生多次婚飞,同一蚁巢不同次婚飞的有翅蚁性别比也会发生变化;除2009年11月和2010年2月未收集到有翅蚁,其余各月均可观察到有翅蚁婚飞,婚飞最高峰期为2010年4月和5月,其次是2009年6-9月,婚飞次数和收集到的有翅蚁数量成明显的正向相关关系;8:30-15:00均有有翅蚁婚飞,而婚飞高峰期为11:30-13:30,婚飞一般持续30～150 min.婚飞一般发生在雨后晴天或相对低温后气温快速回升以后.     

Tetrahymena: An Alternative Model Host for Evaluating Virulence of Aeromonas Strains

An easier assessment model would be helpful for high-throughput screening of Aeromonas virulence. The previous study indicated the potential of Tetrahymena as a permissive model to examine virulence of Aeromonas hydrophila. Here our aim was to assess virulence of Aeromonas spp. using two model hosts, a zebrafish assay and Tetrahymena-Aeromonas co-culture, and to examine whether data from the Tetrahymena thermophila model reflects infections in the well-established animal model. First, virulence of 39 Aeromonas strains was assessed by determining the 50% lethal dose (LD₅₀) in zebrafish. LD₅₀ values ranging from 1.3×10² to 3.0×10⁷ indicated that these strains represent a high to moderate degree of virulence and could be useful to assess virulence in the Tetrahymena model. In Tetrahymena-Aeromonas co-culture, we evaluated the virulence of Aeromonas by detecting relative survival of Aeromonas and Tetrahymena. An Aeromonas isolate was considered virulent when its relative survival was greater than 60%, while the Aeromonas isolate was considered avirulent if its relative survival was below 40%. When relative survival of T. thermophila was lower than 40% after co-culture with an Aeromonas isolate, the bacterial strain was regarded as virulent. In contrast, the strain was classified as avirulent if relative survival of T. thermophila was greater than 50%. Encouragingly, data from the 39 Aeromonas strains showed good correlation in zebrafish and Tetrahymena-Aeromonas co-culture models. The results provide sufficient data to demonstrate that Tetrahymena can be a comparable alternative to zebrafish for determining the virulence of Aeromonas isolates.     

DNA barcoding the Dioscorea in China, a vital group in the evolution of monocotyledon: use of matK gene for species discrimination

Background

Dioscorea is an important plant genus in terms of food supply and pharmaceutical applications. However, its classification and identification are controversial. DNA barcoding is a recent aid to taxonomic identification and uses a short standardized DNA region to discriminate plant species. In this study, the applicability of three candidate DNA barcodes (rbcL, matK, and psbA-trnH) to identify species within Dioscorea was tested.

Methodology/Principal Findings

One-hundred and forty-eight individual plant samples of Dioscorea, encompassing 38 species, seven varieties and one subspecies, representing majority species distributed in China of this genus, were collected from its main distributing areas. Samples were assessed by PCR amplification, sequence quality, extent of specific genetic divergence, DNA barcoding gap, and the ability to discriminate between species. matK successfully identified 23.26% of all species, compared with 9.30% for rbcL and 11.63% for psbA-trnH. Therefore, matK is recommended as the best DNA barcoding candidate. We found that the combination of two or three loci achieved a higher success rate of species discrimination than one locus alone. However, experimental cost would be much higher if two or three loci, rather than a single locus, were assessed.

Conclusions

We conclude that matK is a strong, although not perfect, candidate as a DNA barcode for Dioscorea identification. This assessment takes into account both its ability for species discrimination and the cost of experiments.     

基于特征片段信息的PH domain-like barrel 蛋白质折叠类型分类方法

蛋白质折叠类型分类是蛋白质分类研究的重要内容。以SCOP数据库中的 PH domain-like barrel 折叠类型为研究对象,选择序列相似度小于25%的61个样本为检验集,通过结构特征分析,确定了该折叠类型的模板及其对应的特征参数,利用模板与待测蛋白的空间结构比对信息,提出了一个新的折叠类型打分函数Fscore,建立了基于Fscore的蛋白质折叠类型分类方法并用于该折叠类型的分类。用此方法对Astral1.75中序列相似度小于95%的16711个样本进行检验,分类结果的特异性为99.97%。结果表明:特征参数抓住了折叠类型的本质,打分函数Fscore及基于Fscore建立的分类方法可用于 PH domain-like barrel 蛋白质折叠类型自动分类。     

一种适用于双向电泳的水稻磷酸化蛋白富集方法——酚提取法结合固相金属离子亲和层析法

磷蛋白在植物信号传导和胁迫响应中有着非常重要的作用,磷蛋白质组学研究已经成为蛋白质组学研究领域中备受瞩目的一个部分．本研究用酚提取法以水稻日本晴苗期叶片为材料提取叶片总蛋白,提取率达3.5%;用固相金属离子亲和层析柱纯化富集磷蛋白,得到磷蛋白占总蛋白约6.4%．对过柱洗涤液、不同阶段洗脱液等各个组分进行SDS-PAGE,粗略检测其蛋白含量,并根据单向SDS PAGE结果对总蛋白、高峰段磷蛋白、非高峰段磷蛋白以及富集后再纯化的总磷蛋白进行双向电泳,比较其中的蛋白差异．本研究提出的方法和程序可在7 cm聚丙烯酰胺凝胶上检测到多达856个磷蛋白,是一种非常有效的磷蛋白富集、纯化和分离鉴定的方法．     

Cryptic dioecy in Mussaenda pubescens (Rubiaceae): a species with stigma-height dimorphism

Background and Aims

Evolutionary transitions from heterostyly to dioecy have been proposed in several angiosperm families, particularly in Rubiaceae. These transitions involve the spread of male and female sterility mutations resulting in modifications to the gender of ancestral hermaphrodites. Despite sustained interest in the gender strategies of plants, the structural and developmental bases for transitions in sexual systems are poorly understood.

Methods

Here, floral morphology, patterns of fertility, pollen-tube growth and floral development are investigated in two populations of the scandent shrub Mussaenda pubescens (Rubiaceae), native to southern China, by means of experimental and open-pollinations, light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy combined with paraffin sectioning.

Key Results

Mussaenda pubescens has perfect (hermaphroditic) flowers and populations with two style-length morphs but only weak differentiation in anther position (stigma-height dimorphism). Experimental pollinations demonstrated that despite morphological hermaphroditism, the species is functionally dioecious. The long-styled (L) morph possesses sterile pollen and functions as a female, whereas the short-styled (S) morph is female sterile and functions as a male. Self- and intra-morph pollinations of the S-morph were consistent with those expected from dimorphic incompatibility. The two populations investigated were both S-morph (male) biased. Investigations of early stages of floral development indicated patterns typical of hermaphroditic flowers, with no significant differences in organ growth between the floral morphs. Meiosis of microspore mother cells was of the simultaneous type with tetrads isobilateral in shape. The tapetal cells in anther walls of the L-morph became vacuolized during meiosis I, ahead of the uninucleate microspore stage in the S-morph. In the L-morph, the microspore nucleus degenerated at the tetrad stage resulting in male sterility. Microsporogenesis and male gametophyte development was normal in the S-morph. Failure in the formation of megaspore mother cells and/or the development of megagametophytes resulted in female sterility in the S-morph, compared with normal megasporogenesis in the L-morph.

Conclusions

In M. pubescens, cryptic dioecy has evolved from stigma-height dimorphism as a result of morph-specific sterility mutations.     

Screening and construction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with improved multi-tolerance and bioethanol fermentation performance

In this study, a systemic analysis was initially performed to investigate the relationship between fermentation-related stress tolerances and ethanol yield. Based on the results obtained, two elite Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, Z8 and Z15, with variant phenotypes were chosen to construct strains with improved multi-stress tolerance by genome shuffling in combination with optimized initial selection. After three rounds of genome shuffling, a shuffled strain, YZ1, which surpasses its parent strains in osmotic, heat, and acid tolerances, was obtained. Ethanol yields of YZ1 were 3.11%, 10.31%, and 10.55% higher than those of its parent strains under regular, increased heat, and high gravity fermentation conditions, respectively. YZ1 was applied to bioethanol production at an industrial scale. Results demonstrated that the variant phenotypes from available yeast strains could be used as parent stock for yeast breeding and that the genome shuffling approach is sufficiently powerful in combining suitable phenotypes in a single strain.     

Drug resistance marker-aided genome shuffling to improve acetic acid tolerance in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis>

Acetic acid existing in a culture medium is one of the most limiting constraints in yeast growth and viability during ethanol fermentation. To improve acetic acid tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, a drug resistance marker-aided genome shuffling approach with higher screen efficiency of shuffled mutants was developed in this work. Through two rounds of genome shuffling of ultraviolet mutants derived from the original strain 308, we obtained a shuffled strain YZ2, which shows significantly faster growth and higher cell viability under acetic acid stress. Ethanol production of YZ2 (within 60 h) was 21.6% higher than that of 308 when 0.5% (v/v) acetic acid was added to fermentation medium. Membrane integrity, higher in vivo activity of the H⁺-ATPase, and lower oxidative damage after acetic acid treatment are the possible reasons for the acetic acid-tolerance phenotype of YZ2. These results indicated that this novel genome shuffling approach is powerful to rapidly improve the complex traits of industrial yeast strains.     

野生大豆P5CS基因的克隆及对盐胁迫反应

逆境下植物大量积累脯氨酸是减轻胁迫伤害的一种自我保护机制。本研究应用同源克隆方法从NaCl处理的野生大豆中克隆获得一个脯氨酸合成酶(P5CS)基因,命名为GsP5CS。该基因核苷酸序列全长2.232 kb,含一个2148bp开放阅读框,编码715个氨基酸,包含有高等植物P5CS蛋白质的5个主要功能域,与菜豆PvP5CS1基因核苷酸序列相似性高达98.79%。Real Time PCR分析显示该基因受轻度盐胁迫诱导上调表达,根中表达高峰出现在200 mmol/L NaCl处理下,相对表达量为对照的5.83倍;叶片中表达高峰出现在300 mmol/L NaCl处理条件下,相对表达量为对照的12.78倍。并且该基因在根和叶片中的表达模式和脯氨酸含量的变化模式相同。上述结果说明,GsP5CS可能参与野生大豆脯氨酸合成。