Association between PIN1 promoter polymorphisms and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Peptidylprolyl cis/trans isomerase, NIMA-interacting 1 (PIN1) plays an important role in cell transformation and oncogenesis. Association between PIN1 promoter polymorphisms and cancer risk was reported in several cancers. This study aimed to evaluate the association between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, ?667T>C, rs2233679 and ?842G>C, rs2233678) on PIN1 promoter and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The two SNPs were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in a total of 334 native Chinese subjects consisting of 178 cases and 156 controls. The results indicated that the ?667CT heterozygote and ?667CC homozygote exhibited a significantly decreased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma when compared with ?667TT homozygote (OR = 0.639, 95 % CI = 0.452–0.903, p = 0.011 for ?667CT; and OR = 0.441, 95 % CI = 0.213–0.915, p = 0.038 for ?667CC, respectively). In the ?842G>C polymorphism, compared with ?842GG homozygote, only ?842CG heterozygote but not ?842CC homozygote had a significantly decreased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (OR = 0.465, 95 % CI = 0.249–0.871, p = 0.010). Genotype in the two SNPs in patients showed no significant associations with the clinicopathologic features examined. Our study showed that the minor genotypes of PIN1 promoter (?667CT, ?667CC and ?842CG) were associated with decreased risk of NPC in a Chinese population, suggested that PIN1 promoter polymorphisms might play an important role in NPC carcinogenesis.     

电化学发光PCR技术检测转基因植物

随着转基因植物种类的增多,转基因植物的检测也成了当今的热门话题.电化学发光法是将电化学与化学发光两种高灵敏度方法相结合,实现了检测的高效、准确、无毒害.电化学发光PCR法首次将电化学发光技术、PCR技术和双探针杂交技术结合起来,用于检测CaMV(cauliflower mosaic virus)35 S启动子,从而判断其是否含有转基因成分.PCR产物与生物素标记的探针杂交,可以起到筛选的作用;与三联吡啶钌标记的探针杂交则可用于电化学发光检测.两种探针同时与转基因样品PCR产物杂交,使结果避免假阳性的影响而更加准确.实验表明：此方法可以准确地检测到35 S启动子的存在.该方法灵敏度高,可靠性强,操作简便,结果准确,有望成为一种高效的转基因检测方法.     

Do higher resource capture ability and utilization efficiency facilitate the successful invasion of native plants?

The great damage caused by native invasive species on natural ecosystems is prompting increasing concern worldwide. Many studies have focused on exotic invasive species. In general, exotic invasive plants have higher resource capture ability and utilization capacity, and lower leaf construction cost (CC) compared to noninvasive plants. However, the physiological mechanisms that determine the invasiveness of native plants are poorly understood. We hypothesized that native invaders, like exotic invaders, may have higher resource capture ability and utilization efficiency compared to native noninvaders. To test this hypothesis, ecophysiological traits including light-saturated photosynthetic rate (A_max), specific leaf area (SLA), photosynthetic nitrogen use-efficiency (PNUE), photosynthetic energy-use efficiency (PEUE), and mass-based and area-based leaf construction cost (CC_mass and CC_area) were measured. We compared the above traits between three pairs of native invasive and noninvasive native species, and between three pairs of exotic invasive and noninvasive species in Guangzhou, southern China. Our results showed that the native invaders had higher A_max, SLA, PNUE, PEUE and lower CC_mass, CC_area, compared to native noninvaders and that these traits were also found in the exotic invaders. PNUE and PEUE in the native invaders were 150.3 and 129.0% higher, respectively, than in noninvasive native species, while these same measures in exotic invaders were 43.0 and 94.2% higher, respectively, than in exotic noninvasive species. The results indicated that native invaders have higher resource capture ability and resource utilization efficiency, suggesting that these traits may be a common biological foundation underlying successful invasion by both native and exotic invasives.     

Tracing the Genetic Legacy of the Tibetan Empire in the Balti

The rise and expansion of Tibetan Empire in the 7th to 9th centuries AD affected the course of history across East Eurasia, but the genetic impact of Tibetans on surrounding populations remains undefined. We sequenced 60 genomes for four populations from Pakistan and Tajikistan to explore their demographic history. We showed that the genomes of Balti people from Baltistan comprised 22.6–26% Tibetan ancestry. We inferred a single admixture event and dated it to about 39–21 generations ago, a period that postdated the conquest of Baltistan by the ancient Tibetan Empire. The analyses of mitochondrial DNA, Y, and X chromosome data indicated that both ancient Tibetan males and females were involved in the male-biased dispersal. Given the fact that the Balti people adopted Tibetan language and culture in history, our study suggested the impact of Tibetan Empire on Baltistan involved dominant cultural and minor demic diffusion.     

中国汉族人群中RELN基因rs7341475位点与精神分裂症的相关性分析

精神分裂症是一种常见的复杂精神疾病.大量的实验证据表明,遗传因素在精神分裂症的发生中起到了重要的作用.截至目前,有报道称至少100个基因与精神分裂症相关,但它们在不同人群中的重复性不好.在这些基因中,RELN在多个人群中都被证实与精神分裂症相关,表明它可能是一个真实的易感基因.目前,在RELN基因上有很多个单核苷酸多态性位点被证实与精神分裂症相关,其中研究最多的是通过全基因组关联分析发现的在RELN基因第四个内含子中的单核苷酸多态性位点rs7341475,它被证明与精神分裂症的发生相关.为了验证该位点在中国人群中是否与精神分裂症相关,作者对来自中国玉溪的病例——对照样本(400位患者和400位正常人)进行了遗传分析.结果显示,在该样本中rs7341475与精神分裂症不相关,这表明rs7341475在中国人群中可能不是致病多态性位点.     

发酵过程中原花色素对酵母氧化状态的影响

【目的】研究葡萄酒发酵过程中原花色素对酿酒酵母氧化状态的影响。【方法】以一株商业酵母和一株实验室筛选酵母为研究对象, 向模拟葡萄汁培养基中添加0.1、1.0 g/L原花色素, 考察发酵末期酵母活菌数和存活率, 以及不同时期酵母超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)的活性和丙二醛(MDA)的含量。【结果】原花色素可以提高发酵末期活菌的数量及存活率, 同时会提高胞内SOD和CAT的活性, 降低胞内MDA的含量, 而且原花色素含量越高作用越明显。【结论】在发酵过程中原花色素可以清除细胞内活性氧, 对细胞产生保护作用, 进而保证发酵顺利进行。