Somaclonal variation does not preclude the use of rice transformants for genetic screening

Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the world's most important crops. Rice researchers make extensive use of insertional mutants for the study of gene function. Approximately half a million flanking sequence tags from rice insertional mutant libraries are publicly available. However, the relationship between genotype and phenotype is very weak. Transgenic plant assays have been used frequently for complementation, overexpression or antisense analysis, but sequence changes caused by callus growth, Agrobacterium incubation medium, virulence genes, transformation and selection conditions are unknown. We used high‐throughput sequencing of DNA from rice lines derived from Tainung 67 to analyze non‐transformed and transgenic rice plants for mutations caused by these parameters. For comparison, we also analyzed sequence changes for two additional rice varieties and four T‐DNA tagged transformants from the Taiwan Rice Insertional Mutant resource. We identified single‐nucleotide polymorphisms, small indels, large deletions, chromosome doubling and chromosome translocations in these lines. Using standard rice regeneration/transformation procedures, the mutation rates of regenerants and transformants were relatively low, with no significant differences among eight tested treatments in the Tainung 67 background and in the cultivars Taikeng 9 and IR64. Thus, we could not conclusively detect sequence changes resulting from Agrobacterium‐mediated transformation in addition to those caused by tissue culture‐induced somaclonal variation. However, the mutation frequencies within the two publically available tagged mutant populations, including TRIM transformants or Tos17 lines, were about 10‐fold higher than the frequency of standard transformants, probably because mass production of embryogenic calli and longer callus growth periods were required to generate these large libraries.     

The association between glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta polymorphisms and Parkinson's disease susceptibility: A meta-analysis

Previous studies on the association between glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3-β) polymorphisms (rs334558 and rs6438552) and Parkinson's disease (PD) susceptibility remained inconsistent. Thus, the goal of this study was to re-examine their exact association by a meta-analysis. All eligible studies were identified by a systematic literature search of multiple databases. Six studies (3105 cases and 4387 controls) on rs334558 and six studies (2579 cases and 4091 controls) on rs6438552 were included. The quality of these studies was generally good according to the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS). The meta-analysis showed null association between the two variants and PD susceptibility in all genetic models from the overall or Caucasian population. However, the analysis of rs334558 revealed that the risk of PD decreased in heterozygote, dominant or additive models (OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.48, 0.74; OR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.51, 0.78; OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.71, 0.94, respectively) from the Eastern Asian population. Moreover, the analysis on the homozygote, heterozygote, dominant or additive models suggested that rs6438552 also reduced the PD risk (OR = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.84; OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.97; OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.87; OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.49, 0.88, respectively) in the Eastern Asian population. Together, the findings suggest that the two variants both reduced the risk of PD in the Eastern Asian subgroup but not in the overall and Caucasian populations, which should be cautiously interpreted because of limited number of included studies.     

水体污染生物监测

在水体污染评价和控制过程中,生物监测具有理化监测所不具备的优势。概述了细菌、原生动物、藻类、大型底栖无脊椎动物、鱼类和两栖类对水体污染的监测作用,探究了当前生物监测存在的问题及今后的研究方向。     

微生物分析方法测定保健食品中维生素B6的含量

称取保健强化食品样品,以0.22 mol/L H2SO4、121 ℃高压蒸汽锅水解、吸取合适浓度的检测样品到吡哆醇Y培养基中,接种卡尔斯伯(Saccharomyces Carlsberyensis)酵母菌,于(30±0.5) ℃恒温箱中培养18～22 h,用分光光度计在550 nm波长下测定酵母菌的生长,对应标准生长曲线求得样品中维生素B6(VB6)的含量,同时以同样的方法检测加标回收量.实验结果表明,该方法准确、回收率高、重复性好,便于实验室开展.     

Effects and mechanism of Chinese tarantula toxins on the Kv2.1 potassium channels

Three neurotoxins, Jingzhaotoxin-I, -III, and -V (JZTX-I, -III, and -V), isolated from the venom of the Chinese tarantula Chilobrachys Jingzhao, are 29-36-amino acid peptides. Electrophysiological recordings carried out in Xenopus laevis oocytes show that these toxins acted as gating modifier of voltage-dependent K+ channels. They slow the rate of Kv2.1 channel activation and increase the tail current deactivation, suggesting that toxin-bound channels can still open but are modified. JZTX-III selectively inhibits Kv2.1 channels, and JZTX-V exhibits a higher affinity to Kv4.2 channels than to Kv2.1 channels, whereas JZTX-I inhibits Kv2.1 and Kv4.1 channels with low affinity. Structure-function analysis indicates that electrostatic interactions can benefit for toxin affinity and the feature of electrostatic anisotropy may be correlated with the different affinity of the toxins for the Kv2.1 and Kv4.1 channels. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of these and other gating modifiers provides clues for the exploration of toxin-channel interaction.     

Building Electron/Proton Nanohighways for Full Utilization of Water Splitting Catalysts

Low electron/proton conductivities of electrochemical catalysts, especially earth‐abundant nonprecious metal catalysts, severely limit their ability to satisfy the triple‐phase boundary (TPB) theory, resulting in extremely low catalyst utilization and insufficient efficiency in energy devices. Here, an innovative electrode design strategy is proposed to build electron/proton transport nanohighways to ensure that the whole electrode meets the TPB, therefore significantly promoting enhance oxygen evolution reactions and catalyst utilizations. It is discovered that easily accessible/tunable mesoporous Au nanolayers (AuNLs) not only increase the electrode conductivity by more than 4000 times but also enable the proton transport through straight mesopores within the Debye length. The catalyst layer design with AuNLs and ultralow catalyst loading (≈0.1 mg cm^?2) augments reaction sites from 1D to 2D, resulting in an 18‐fold improvement in mass activities. Furthermore, using microscale visualization and unique coplanar‐electrode electrolyzers, the relationship between the conductivity and the reaction site is revealed, allowing for the discovery of the conductivity‐determining and Debye‐length‐determining regions for water splitting. These findings and strategies provide a novel electrode design (catalyst layer + functional sublayer + ion exchange membrane) with a sufficient electron/proton transport path for high‐efficiency electrochemical energy conversion devices.     

西藏雅鲁藏布大峡谷国家级自然保护区金猫的色型类别与活动节律

2013-2018年间采用红外相机技术对西藏雅鲁藏布大峡谷国家级自然保护区的金猫(Catopuma temminckii)进行长期监测, 累计布设70个点位, 14,071个相机工作日。共收集金猫独立照片101张, 其中60张可识别色型, 占金猫独立照片总数的59.40%。共记录到4种不同色型的金猫个体, 拍摄频次比例为麻褐色型:红棕色型:黑色型:灰色型 = 46:7:4:3; 其中灰色型为我国野生金猫实体首次记录。不同色型的个体可同域分布, 而以雅鲁藏布大峡谷自然保护区为代表的藏东南地区是我国金猫色型变异最丰富的地区。基于红外相机照片对金猫的共性形态特征和不同色型的独特形态特征进行了详细的图文描述, 以期为该物种的深入研究提供详实的基础资料。活动节律的分析结果显示, 研究区内金猫以昼行性活动为主, 10:00-12:00为其最强的活动高峰。不同月份的日活动差异指数(daily-discrepancy index) α和昼行性指数(diurnal-nocturnal index) β均存在显著差异, 且活动强度具有明显的季节性变化, 不同季节的活动峰型存在显著差异。本研究为东喜马拉雅生物多样性热点区动物多样性本底的完善积累了基础资料, 也为后续的猫科动物色型多样性的形成机制研究提供了基础信息与参考。     

角鲨烯合成酶特异性mU6-siRNA真核表达载体的构建及鉴定

利用RNA干扰技术靶向构建角鲨烯合成酶基因ERG9特异性真核表达载体。将针对粟酒裂殖酵母(Schizosaccharomyces pombe Linder)ERG9不同部位所设计的3对siRNA序列通过重组技术克隆到质粒mU6 pro中构建真核表达重组体mU6 ERG9 siRNA1、2、3,转化DH5α菌株扩增,提取质粒通过限制性酶切和测序分析对重组表达载体进行鉴定,分析结果表明3个表达载体的设计基因插入正确,成功构建了ERG9特异性真核表达载体mU6 ERG9 siRNA,重组体的成功构建为在裂殖酵母细胞中靶向RNA干扰角鲨烯的合成从而提高辅酶Q10合成途径的代谢通量打下基础。     

木质素降解酶及相关基因研究进展

生物质的高效综合利用已成为全球关注的热点问题。生物质的主要成分是木质素、纤维素和半纤维素,其利用的关键是如何去除木质素,从而提高纤维素和半纤维素的得率。其中利用真菌的生物预处理方法因条件温和、无二次污染等优点符合全球经济可持续发展需要,受到研究者的普遍关注。综述了近年国内外真菌分泌的主要木质素降解酶,包括木质素过氧化物酶(Li P)、锰过氧化物酶(Mn P)、漆酶(laccase)和多功能过氧化物酶(VP)的主要特点,总结了木质素降解相关酶的基因工程、基因组学的研究成果,并对其发展前景进行了展望。     

改变乙型肝炎病毒核心抗原基因3′端序列对其在原核细胞中表达的影响

乙型肝炎病毒(HBV)的核心抗原基因(C基因)编码185个氨基酸残基,在原核细胞或痘苗病毒系统中能表达并装配成27nm大小的核心抗原(HBcAg)多聚体颗粒。已证实HBV C基因3′端编码近40个氨基酸的碱基序列,不是表达形成HBcAg颗粒所必需的。用外源基因替换这部分序列,已表达出表面带有外源基因产物的杂合颗粒,它具有很好的免疫原性,成为新型的基因工程多决定簇颗粒载体疫苗。但我们的实验中发现,用另外的外源基因替换3′端序列能显著影响HBV C基因在大肠杆菌中的表达,不同组成的外源基因其影响程度有所不同。