短嘴金丝燕回声定位叫声特征

2012年6月,对湖南省石门县壶瓶山国家级自然保护区神景洞短嘴金丝燕的回声定位叫声进行研究,在黑暗山洞内使用录音仪器录制其自由飞行状态的声音后使用声音软件进行分析.短嘴金丝燕捕食归巢时,快速飞入洞口,在洞内有光区域不发声,到达洞内黑暗区域后开始发出回声定位叫声,且飞行速度减慢.声音分析结果表明其回声定位叫声为双脉冲组的噪声脉冲串型(noise burst),组内脉冲间隔很短[(6.6±0.42)ms],组间脉冲间隔较长[(99.3±3.86) ms],两者差异显著(P＜0.01).对比第一、第二脉冲声音参数发现,主频和脉冲时程差异不显著,第一、第二脉冲主频分别为(6.2±0.08) kHz和(6.2±0.10) kHz (P＞0.05);脉冲时程分别为(2.9±0.12) ms和(3.2±0.17) ms (P＞0.05);最高和最低频率差异显著,第一、第二脉冲最高频率分别为(20.1±1.10) kHz和(15.4±0.98) kHz (P＜0.01),最低频率分别为(3.7±0.12) kHz和(4.0±0.09)kHz (P＜0.05);第一脉冲频宽((16.5±1.17) kHz)宽于第二脉冲((11.4±1.01) kHz) (P＜0.01);且第一脉冲能量[(-32.5±0.60) dB]高于第二脉冲[(-35.2±0.94) dB] (P＜0.05).另外,短嘴金丝燕在黑暗山洞内的回声定位叫声还包含了部分超声波,最高频率可达33.2 kHz.     

微生物1,3-1,4-β-葡聚糖酶蛋白质改造及工业应用研究进展

1,3-1,4-β-葡聚糖酶(E.C.3.2.1.73)是一种重要的工业用酶,其可以通过特异性切割毗邻β-1,3-糖苷键的β-1,4-糖苷键将β-葡聚糖或地衣多糖降解为纤维三糖和纤维四糖。微生物β-葡聚糖酶属于糖苷水解酶家族16,其三维结构为卷心蛋糕状的逆向β-片层结构。文中综述了近些年来β-葡聚糖酶在工业上的应用情况及酶蛋白质工程改造的研究进展,并对其研究前景进行了展望。     

A novel carbonyl reductase from Pichia stipitis for the production of ethyl (S)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate

An NADPH-dependent carbonyl reductase (PsCR) gene from Pichia stipitis was cloned. It contains an open reading frame of 849 bp encoding 283 amino acids whose sequence had less than 60% identity to known reductases that produce ethyl (S)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoates (S-CHBE). When expressed in Escherichia coli, the recombinant PsCR exhibited an activity of 27 U/mg using ethyl 4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate (COBE) as a substrate. Reduction of COBE to (S)-CHBE by transformants in an aqueous mono-phase system for 18 h, gave a molar yield of 94% and an optical purity of the (S)-isomer of more than 99% enantiomeric excess.     

黑线仓鼠CRH基因的编码序列及系统进化分析

为探究黑线仓鼠(Cricetulus barabensis)繁殖功能与促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素(CRH)基因结构的关系,参考近缘种的cDNA序列设计引物,采用RT-PCR法克隆得到了黑线仓鼠CRH基因的部分序列,克隆得到长度为1 112bp,为外显子1和外显子2的部分序列,包括全部编码区序列564 bp;编码区共编码187个氨基酸,GenBank登录号为JQ416143.利用编码区序列构建系统进化树,结果显示,黑线仓鼠与大鼠、小鼠亲缘关系最近,与其他哺乳动物亲缘关系较近,而与原鸡亲缘关系最远,此结果与物种的进化关系相一致.同时对其编码的蛋白质进行一级结构分析及二级、三级结构预测,得到了CRH的信号肽序列和41个氨基酸组成.本研究首次报道了黑线仓鼠的CRH基因序列,为进一步探究CRH基因奠定基础,对系统分析CRH的功能具有重要的参考价值,同时该cDNA序列可作为物种亲缘关系或遗传距离研究的理想标记.     

Diallyl trisulfide induces apoptosis and inhibits proliferation of A549 cells in vitro and in vivo

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality all over the world. In recent years, pulmonary adenocarcinoma has surpassed squamous cell carcinoma in frequency and is the predominant form of lung cancer in many countries. Epidemiological investigations have shown an inverse relationship between garlic (Allium sativum) consumption and death rate from many cancers. Diallyl trisulfide (DATS) is one of the garlic-derived compounds (also known as: organosulfer compounds, OSC). DATS can induce apoptosis and inhibit the growth of many cancer cell lines. Our study demonstrated that the apoptotic incidents induced by DATS were a mitochondria-dependent caspase cascade through a significant decrease of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 that resulted in up-regulation of the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and the activity of caspase-3, -8, and -9. Eventually, DATS induced the apoptosis and inhibited the proliferation in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, by establishing an animal model of female BALB/c nude mice with A549 xenografts, we found that oral gavage of DATS significantly retarded growth of A549 xenografts in nude mice without causing weight loss or any other side effects compared with the control group. All the evidence both in vitro and in vivo suggested that DATS could be an ideal anti-cancer drug.     

鸡减蛋综合征病毒（EDSV—76）末端前体蛋白的基因结构分析

从中国发病鸡群中分离的鸡减蛋综合征病毒弱毒株ＡＡ－２,经常规方法提取其病毒核酸后,组建了完整的限制性内切酶ＰｓｔＩ及ＨｉｎｇⅢ水解片段的基因文库,并对其中ＨｉｎｄⅢ,－ＳａｃⅠ进行了序列测定。同源比较分析证明：其Ｌ链含编码病毒末端前体蛋白,容量为５８０个氨基酸残基的开放读码框架。     

菌株DN2对烟草薄片制备液中烟碱的降解

使用O.intermedium DN2降解烟草薄片制备液中的烟碱。研究了各种工艺参数对烟碱降解的影响,单因素考察结果表明烟草薄片制备液中烟碱降解的最适条件是:添加0.1%的酵母膏,使用氨水将pH调节到7.0,接种15%种子液,培养温度30oC。在上述条件下,采用30L发酵罐对烟草薄片制备液进行3个批次的半连续发酵,烟碱的平均降解速率为140.55mg/L/h,高于其他烟碱降解菌株。该结果表明菌株DN2可以用来降低烟草薄片中的烟碱含量。     

Synchrotron-based infrared and X-ray imaging shows focalized accumulation of Cu and Zn co-localized with beta-amyloid deposits in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the misfolding and plaque-like accumulation of a naturally occurring peptide in the brain called amyloid beta (Abeta). Recently, this process has been associated with the binding of metal ions such as iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn). It is thought that metal dyshomeostasis is involved in protein misfolding and may lead to oxidative stress and neuronal damage. However, the exact role of the misfolded proteins and metal ions in the degenerative process of AD is not yet clear. In this study, we used synchrotron Fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy (FTIRM) to image the in situ secondary structure of the amyloid plaques in brain tissue of AD patients. These results were spatially correlated with metal ion accumulation in the same tissue sample using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SXRF) microprobe. For both techniques, a spatial resolution of 5-10 microm was achieved. FTIRM results showed that the amyloid plaques have elevated beta-sheet content, as demonstrated by a strong amide I absorbance at 1625cm(-1). Using SXRF microprobe, we find that AD tissue also contains "hot spots" of accumulated metal ions, specifically Cu and Zn, with a strong spatial correlation between these two ions. The "hot spots" of accumulated Zn and Cu were co-localized with beta-amyloid plaques. Thus for the first time, a strong spatial correlation has been observed between elevated beta-sheet content in Abeta plaques and accumulated Cu and Zn ions, emphasizing an association of metal ions with amyloid formation in AD.