Structural basis of EZH2 recognition by EED

The WD-repeat domain is a highly conserved recognition module in eukaryotes involved in diverse cellular processes. It is still not well understood how the bottom of a WD-repeat domain recognizes its binding partners. The WD-repeat-containing protein EED is one component of the PRC2 complex that possesses histone methyltransferase activity required for gene repression. Here we report the crystal structure of EED in complex with a 30 residue peptide from EZH2. The structure reveals that the peptide binds to the bottom of the WD-repeat domain of EED. The structural determinants of EZH2-EED interaction are present not only in EZH2 and EZH1 but also in its Drosophila homolog E(Z), suggesting that the recognition of ESC by E(Z) in Drosophila employs similar structural motifs. Structure-based mutagenesis identified critical residues from both EED and EZH2 for their interaction. The structure presented here may provide a template for understanding of how WD-repeat proteins recognize their interacting proteins.     

Is Yield Increase Sufficient to Achieve Food Security in China?

Increasing demand for food, driven by unprecedented population growth and increasing consumption, will keep challenging food security in China. Although cereal yields have substantially improved during the last three decades, whether it will keep thriving to meet the increasing demand is not known yet. Thus, an integrated analysis on the trends of crop yield and cultivated area is essential to better understand current state of food security in China, especially on county scale. So far, yield stagnation has extensively dominated the main cereal-growing areas across China. Rice yield is facing the most severe stagnation that 53.9% counties tracked in the study have stagnated significantly, followed by maize (42.4%) and wheat (41.9%). As another important element for production sustainability, but often neglected is the planted area patterns. It has been further demonstrated that the loss in productive arable land for rice and wheat have dramatically increased the pressure on achieving food security. Not only a great deal of the planted areas have stagnated since 1980, but also collapsed. 48.4% and 54.4% of rice- and wheat-growing counties have lost their cropland areas to varying degrees. Besides, 27.6% and 35.8% of them have retrograded below the level of the 1980s. The combined influence (both loss in yield and area) has determined the crop sustainable production in China to be pessimistic for rice and wheat, and consequently no surprise to find that more than half of counties rank a lower level of production sustainability. Therefore, given the potential yield increase in wheat and maize, as well as substantial area loss of rice and wheat, the possible targeted adaptation measures for both yield and cropping area is required at county scale. Moreover, policies on food trade, alongside advocation of low calorie diets, reducing food loss and waste can help to enhance food security.     

烤烟品种资源的RAPD分析

从156个随机引物中筛选出30个引物,对来自国内外的31个烤烟品种进行了遗传多样性和亲缘关系的RAPD分析。在检测的246个位点中,127个位点为多态位点（52％）。聚类分析表明,不同烤烟品种之间存在明显差异,31个品种基本上可分为4大类,品种最多的第一大类（19个）主要由来自美国的Orinoco烤烟选育而成,反映了我国现在推广的烤烟品种遗传基因比较狭窄。研究结果表明,RAPD技术可用于烤烟品种的鉴别和纯度测定。研究为烤烟杂种育种中亲本的选配提供了一定的理论依据。     

PAGE活性染色法分析D.radiodurans过氧化氢酶和超氧化物歧化酶

用PAGE活性染色法分析了D．rndiodurans过氧化氢酶（Cat）和超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)._2种同种异型D．radiodurans（RI和Sark）的Cat在电泳带型上存在差异,两者Kat均可分为A、B和C3条带,但各带所占比例明显不同。SOD的分析结果表明,D.radioduransSOD以Fe2 和Mn2 离子的嵌合体形式存在,其中Fe－SOD成分占90％以上。PAGE活性染色法可检出Cat和SOD的最低菌体总蛋白量分别为1.2和2.0μg。     

Growth patterns in brooding dinosaurs reveals the timing of sexual maturity in non-avian dinosaurs and genesis of the avian condition

The timing of sexual maturation in non-avian dinosaurs is not known. In extant squamates and crocodilians it occurs in conjunction with the initial slowing of growth rates as adult size is approached. In birds (living dinosaurs) on the other hand, reproductive activity begins well after somatic maturity. Here we used growth line counts and spacing in all of the known brooding non-avian dinosaurs to determine the stages of development when they perished. It was revealed that sexual maturation occurred well before full adult size was reached-the primitive reptilian condition. In this sense, the life history and physiology of non-avian dinosaurs was not like that of modern birds. Palaeobiological ramifications of these findings include the potential to deduce reproductive lifespan, fecundity and reproductive population sizes in non-avian dinosaurs, as well as aid in the identification of secondary sexual characteristics.     

细胞因子在脑缺血损伤中的作用研究进展

脑缺血一旦发生,往往引起不同程度的脑损伤。缺血脑组织会产生一系列复杂的病理生理学改变。一组称为细胞因子的多肽调节物质在脑缺血损伤过程中起着关键的作用。包括神经细胞在内的多种细胞能够产生和分泌细胞因子,它们的表达时相性和作用各不相同。脑缺血引起TNF-α、IL-1、IL-6、IL-8、IL-10和FKN等多种细胞因子的表达和释放,进而触发有关损伤和修复的应答。这些参与脑缺血损伤的细胞因子能通过复杂的细胞因子网络对中枢神经系统发挥着毒性或保护效应。探究它们在脑缺血损伤中的确切作用将有助于神经系统疾病的临床治疗。现对几种关键的细胞因子综述如下。     

Radially Oriented Single‐Crystal Primary Nanosheets Enable Ultrahigh Rate and Cycling Properties of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 Cathode Material for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Ni‐rich Li[Ni_xCo_yMn_1?x?y]O₂ (x ≥ 0.8) layered oxides are the most promising cathode materials for lithium‐ion batteries due to their high reversible capacity of over 200 mAh g^?1. Unfortunately, the anisotropic properties associated with the α‐NaFeO₂ structured crystal grains result in poor rate capability and insufficient cycle life. To address these issues, a micrometer‐sized Ni‐rich LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ secondary cathode material consisting of radially aligned single‐crystal primary particles is proposed and synthesized. Concomitant with this unique crystallographic texture, all the exposed surfaces are active {010} facets, and 3D Li⁺ ion diffusion channels penetrate straightforwardly from surface to center, remarkably improving the Li⁺ diffusion coefficient. Moreover, coordinated charge–discharge volume change upon cycling is achieved by the consistent crystal orientation, significantly alleviating the volume‐change‐induced intergrain stress. Accordingly, this material delivers superior reversible capacity (203.4 mAh g^?1 at 3.0–4.3 V) and rate capability (152.7 mAh g^?1 at a current density of 1000 mA g^?1). Further, this structure demonstrates excellent cycling stability without any degradation after 300 cycles. The anisotropic morphology modulation provides a simple, efficient, and scalable way to boost the performance and applicability of Ni‐rich layered oxide cathode materials.     

Axial resolution enhancement of light‐sheet microscopy by double scanning of Bessel beam and its complementary beam

The side lobes of Bessel beam will create significant out‐of‐focus background when scanned in light‐sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM), limiting the axial resolution of the imaging system. Here, we propose to overcome this issue by scanning the sample twice with zeroth‐order Bessel beam and another type of propagation‐invariant beam, complementary to the zeroth‐order Bessel beam, which greatly reduces the out‐of‐focus background created in the first scan. The axial resolution can be improved from 1.68 μm of the Bessel light‐sheet to 1.07 μm by subtraction of the two scanned images across a whole field‐of‐view of up to 300 μm × 200 μm × 200 μm. The optimization procedure to create the complementary beam is described in detail and it is experimentally generated with a spatial light modulator. The imaging performance is validated experimentally with fluorescent beads as well as eGFP‐labeled mouse brain neurons.