野葛藤茎的异黄酮类化学成分

从野葛Pueraria lobata(Willd.)Ohwi藤茎中分离得到5个异黄酮类化合物,分别鉴定为:大豆甙元(daidzein),芒柄花异黄酮(formononetin),6,7-二甲氧基-3’,4’-次甲二氧基异黄酮(6,7-dimethoxy-3’,4’-methlenedioxyisoflavone),大豆甙(daidzin)和葛根素(puerarin).     

Protective effects of mitochondrion-targeted peptide SS-31 against hind limb ischemia-reperfusion injury

Hind limb ischemia-reperfusion injury is an important pathology in vascular surgery. Reactive oxygen species are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of hind limb ischemia-reperfusion injury. SS-31, which belongs to a family of mitochondrion-targeted peptide antioxidants, was shown to reduce mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production. In this study, we investigated whether the treatment of SS-31 could protect hind limb from ischemia-reperfusion injury in a mouse model. The results showed that SS-31 treatment either before or after ischemia exhibited similar protective effects. Histopathologically, SS-31 treatment prevented the IR-induced histological deterioration compared with the corresponding vehicle control. SS-31 treatment diminished oxidative stress revealed by the reduced malondialdehyde level and increased activities and protein levels of Sod and catalase. Cellular ATP contents and mitochondrial membrane potential increased and the level of cytosolic cytC was decreased after SS-31 treatment in this IR model, demonstrating that mitochondria were protected. The IR-induced increase of levels of inflammatory factors, such as Tnf-α and Il-1β, was prevented by SS-31 treatment. In agreement with the reduced cytosolic cytC, cleaved-caspase 3 was kept at a very low level after SS-31 treatment. Overall, the effect of SS-31 treatment before ischemia is mildly more effective than that after ischemia. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that SS-31 confers a protective effect in the mouse model of hind limb ischemia-reperfusion injury preventatively and therapeutically.     

Long-Range Correlations of Global Sea Surface Temperature

Scaling behaviors of the global monthly sea surface temperature (SST) derived from 1870–2009 average monthly data sets of Hadley Centre Sea Ice and SST (HadISST) are investigated employing detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The global SST fluctuations are found to be strong positively long-range correlated at all pertinent time-intervals. The value of scaling exponent is larger in the tropics than those in the intermediate latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres. DFA leads to the scaling exponent α = 0.87 over the globe (60°S~60°N), northern hemisphere (0°N~60°N), and southern hemisphere (0°S~60°S), α = 0.84 over the intermediate latitude of southern hemisphere (30°S~60°S), α = 0.81 over the intermediate latitude of northern hemisphere (30°N~60°N) and α = 0.90 over the tropics 30°S~30°N [fluctuation F(s) ~ s^α], which the fluctuations of monthly SST anomaly display long-term correlated behaviors. Furthermore, the larger the standard deviation is, the smaller long-range correlations (LRCs) of SST in the corresponding regions, especially in three distinct upwelling areas. After the standard deviation is taken into account, an index χ = α * σ is introduced to obtain the spatial distributions of χ. There exists an obvious change of global SST in central east and northern Pacific and the northwest Atlantic. This may be as a clue on predictability of climate and ocean variabilities.     

Monitoring Hip and Elbow Dysplasia Achieved Modest Genetic Improvement of 74 Dog Breeds over 40 Years in USA

Hip (HD) and Elbow Dysplasia (ED) are two common complex developmental disorders of dogs. In order to decrease their prevalence and severity, the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) has a voluntary registry of canine hip and elbow conformation certified by boarded radiologists. However, the voluntarily reports have been severely biased against exposing dogs with problems, especially at beginning period. Fluctuated by additional influential factors such as age, the published raw scores barely showed trends of improvement. In this study, we used multiple-trait mixed model to simultaneously adjust these factors and incorporate pedigree to derive Estimated Breeding Values (EBV). A total of 1,264,422 dogs from 74 breeds were evaluated for EBVs from 760,455 hip scores and 135,409 elbow scores. These EBVs have substantially recovered the reporting bias and the other influences. Clear and steady trends of genetic improvement were observed over the 40 years since 1970. The total genetic improvements were 16.4% and 1.1% of the phenotypic standard deviation for HD and ED, respectively. The incidences of dysplasia were 0.83% and 2.08%, and the heritabilities were estimated as 0.22 and 0.17 for hip and elbow scores, respectively. The genetic correlation between them was 0.12. We conclude that EBV is more effective than reporting raw phenotype. The weak genetic correlation suggested that selection based on hip scores would also slightly improve elbow scores but it is necessary to allocate effort toward improvement of elbow scores alone.     

SCFFbxw15 Mediates Histone Acetyltransferase Binding to Origin Recognition Complex (HBO1) Ubiquitin-Proteasomal Degradation to Regulate Cell Proliferation

Histone acetyltransferase binding to origin recognition complex (HBO1) plays a crucial role in DNA replication licensing and cell proliferation, yet its molecular regulation in cells is relatively unknown. Here an uncharacterized protein, Fbxw15, directly interacts with HBO1, a labile protein (t_½ = ∼3 h), to mediate its ubiquitination (Lys³³⁸) and degradation in the cytoplasm. Fbxw15-mediated HBO1 depletion required mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (Mek1), which was sufficient to trigger HBO1 phosphorylation and degradation in cells. Mek1 ability to produce HBO1 degradation was blocked by Fbxw15 silencing. Lipopolysaccharide induced HBO1 degradation, an effect abrogated by Fbxw15 or Mek1 cellular depletion. Modulation of Fbxw15 levels was able to differentially regulate histone H3K14 acetylation and cellular proliferation by altering HBO1 levels. These studies authenticate Fbxw15 as a ubiquitin E3 ligase subunit that mediates endotoxin-induced HBO1 depletion in cells, thereby controlling cell replicative capacity.     

Rhizobium qilianshanense sp. nov., a novel species isolated from root nodule of Oxytropis ochrocephala Bunge in China

During a study of the diversity and phylogeny of rhizobia isolated from root nodules of Oxytropis ochrocephala grown in the northwest of China, four strains were classified in the genus Rhizobium on the basis of their 16S rRNA gene sequences. These strains have identical 16S rRNA gene sequences, which showed a mean similarity of 94.4 % with the most closely related species, Rhizobium oryzae. Analysis of recA and glnA sequences showed that these strains have less than 88.1 and 88.7 % similarity with the defined species of Rhizobium, respectively. The genetic diversity revealed by ERIC-PCR fingerprinting indicated that the isolates correspond to different strains. Strain CCNWQLS01^T contains Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone. The major fatty acids were identified as feature 8 (C18: 1ω7c and/or C18: 1ω6c; 67.2 %). Therefore, a novel species Rhizobium qilianshanense sp. nov. is proposed, and CCNWQLS01^T (= ACCC 05747^T = JCM 18337^T) is designated as the type strain.     

Effects of grassland conversion to cropland and forest on soil organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon in the farming-pastoral ecotone of Inner Mongolia

Effects of grassland conversion to cropland and forest on soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the farming-pastoral ecotone of Inner Mongolia were investigated by direct field sampling. SOC content and DOC content in soil decreased after grassland were shifted to forest or cropland, in the sequence of grassland soil > forest soil > cropland soil. SOC stock declined by 18% after grassland shifted from to forest. Reclamation of cropland for 10 years, 15 years and 20 years lost SOC in 0–30 cm soil layer, by 34%, 14% and 18%, respectively, compared with that of grassland. DOC in 3 soil layers was within 21.1–26.5 mg/L in grassland, 12.1–14.6 mg/L in forest soil, and 8.0–14.0 mg/L in cropland soil. Correlation analysis indicated that SOC content and DOC content were positively dependent on total nitrogen content (p < 0.05), but negatively on bulk density or land use type (p < 0.05). DOC was positively correlated SOC (p < 0.01). Moreover, SOC content could be quantitatively described by a linear combination of land use types (p = 0.000, r² = 0.712), and DOC content by a linear combination of two soil-related variables, land use types and SOC (p = 0.000, r² = 0.861).     

家蚕多聚泛素基因的电子克隆、序列分析及表达谱预测

具选择性蛋白质降解功能的泛素在昆虫生长发育过程中起着重要的调控作用。本研究采用电子克隆的方法钓取家蚕基因组中多聚泛素基因序列,命名为Bm-polyUB(GenBank登录号:AADK01019318),并进行序列分析和电子表达谱预测。序列分析表明,该编码区长3426bp,编码1141个氨基酸残基的15聚体,预测分子量和等电点分别为127.97kD和7.33,二级结构中α-螺旋、延伸带、β-转角和无规则卷曲各占17.09%、32.78%、14.37%和35.76%,亚细胞定位于细胞质、细胞核和线粒体各占43.5%、34.8%和21.7%,无前导肽、信号肽和跨膜区;多重序列比对显示,15个泛素单体基因序列间同源性和遗传距离分别介于89.0%～100.0%和0.000～0.120,其中Bm-UB3与Bm-UB10、Bm-UB5与Bm-UB7及Bm-UB10与Bm-UB14的序列相同;遗传多样性分析可见,共检出33个多态性位点,共生成12个单倍型,单倍型多样性(Hd=0.962)、平均核苷酸差异数(K=7.495)、核苷酸多样性(Pi=0.03287)、密码子有效值(ENC=41.62361)、偏爱指标(CBI=0.4960)和χ2检验计算(χ2=0.713)显示泛素单体间遗传多样性较丰富且呈现较强的密码子偏爱性;电子表达谱预测结果表明Bm-polyUB基因在家蚕中高表达的组织和发育阶段所占比例显著高于低表达。本文的研究结果可为进一步开展该基因进化机制、表达特性和生理功能等方面的实验研究提供基础资料。     

Architectural roles of Cren7 in folding crenarchaeal chromatin filament

Archaea have evolved various strategies in chromosomal organization. While histone homologues exist in most archaeal phyla, Cren7 is a chromatin protein conserved in the Crenarchaeota. Here, we show that Cren7 preferentially binds DNA with AT‐rich sequences over that with GC‐rich sequences with a binding size of 6~7 bp. Structural studies of Cren7 in complex with either an 18‐bp or a 20‐bp double‐stranded DNA fragment reveal that Cren7 binds to the minor groove of DNA as monomers in a head‐to‐tail manner. The neighboring Cren7 monomers are located on the opposite sides of the DNA duplex, with each introducing a single‐step sharp kink by intercalation of the hydrophobic side chain of Leu28, bending the DNA into an S‐shape conformation. A structural model for the chromatin fiber folded by Cren7 was established and verified by the analysis of cross‐linked Cren7‐DNA complexes by atomic force microscopy. Our results suggest that Cren7 differs significantly from Sul7, another chromatin protein conserved among Sulfolobus species, in both DNA binding and deformation. These data shed significant light on the strategy of chromosomal DNA organization in crenarchaea.