Community species diversity mediates the trade‐off between aboveground and belowground biomass for grasses and forbs in degraded alpine meadow,Tibetan Plateau

Although many empirical experiments have shown that increasing degradation results in lower aboveground biomass (AGB), our knowledge of the magnitude of belowground biomass (BGB) for individual plants is a prerequisite for accurately revealing the biomass trade‐off in degraded grasslands. Here, by linking the AGB and BGB of individual plants, species in the community, and soil properties, we explored the biomass partitioning patterns in different plant functional groups (grasses of Stipa capillacea and forbs of Anaphalis xylorhiza). Our results indicated that 81% and 60% of the biomass trade‐off variations could be explained by environmental factors affecting grasses and forbs, respectively. The change in community species diversity dominated the biomass trade‐off via either direct or indirect effects on soil properties and biomass. However, the community species diversity imparted divergent effects on the biomass trade‐off for grasses (scored at −0.72) and forbs (scored at 0.59). Our findings suggest that plant communities have evolved two contrasting strategies of biomass allocation patterns in degraded grasslands. These are the “conservative” strategy in grasses, in which plants with larger BGB trade‐off depends on gigantic roots for soil resources, and the “opportunistic” strategy in forbs, in which plants can adapt to degraded lands using high variation and optimal biomass allocation.     

家蚕30 kD特异性变应原的分析、纯化与质谱鉴定

以Coca's提取液分别提取到不同时期家蚕Bombyx mori的粗浸液,利用SDS-PAGE和Western blotting鉴定其特异性变应原,然后用DEAE-52离子交换层析及切胶纯化出30 kD的特异性变应原,再经MALDI-TOF在线联机分析,所得质谱数据进入网站搜索分析。结果显示：1～5龄家蚕均有20条左右蛋白带,其中 5龄家蚕有23条蛋白带,主带有11条（82、79、60、51、46、38、32、30、28、24和18 kD）。选用家蚕过敏患者阳性血清进行免疫印迹,1～4龄家蚕均显示出82和79 kD的特异性变应原;但只有5龄家蚕的30 kD蛋白为特异性变应原,通过离子交换层析和经切胶纯化出30 kD蛋白,再经MALDI-TOF-MS鉴定该蛋白为外膜蛋白。提示家蚕不同时期抗原成分有所变化,5龄家蚕新出现的30 kD蛋白为特异性变应原。     

卵形鲳鯵对刺激隐核虫的免疫应答和免疫保护研究

用刺激隐核虫(Cryptocaryon irritans)的幼虫对卵形鲳鯵(Trachinotus ovatus)进行腹腔注射和体表感染,然后每隔一周用阻动试验(Immobilization assay)检测免疫鱼的抗血清和皮肤培养液对刺激隐核虫幼虫的阻动效价,在第14周中,分别用亚致死剂量和致死剂量的刺激隐核虫幼虫对免疫鱼攻毒以检测所产生的免疫保护力。实验结果显示:两种免疫方法都能让卵形鲳鯵的血清和皮肤生成阻动刺激隐核虫幼虫的特异性抗体,并能使被免疫鱼获得明显的免疫保护,但是体表感染免疫组的血清和皮肤培养液的阻动效价都要比腹腔注射免疫组高,所获得的免疫保护力也更强。同时还发现,免疫鱼血清和皮肤培养液中的抗体存在明显的差异:两者的最初生成时间、达到峰值的时间、变化规律以及阻动效价等都不一致。因此,我们推测鱼类的系统免疫应答和皮肤黏膜免疫应答有可能是相互独立的,或者是不同步的。鱼类的体液免疫应答,特别是黏膜免疫应答对抵御刺激隐核虫的感染起了重要的作用,采用刺激隐核虫虫体疫苗可能成为预防海水鱼类白点病的一种选择。       

着丝粒结构与功能研究的新进展

着丝粒是真核生物染色体的显著特征。在细胞有丝分裂和减数分裂中, 着丝粒作为保证染色体正常分裂并分离到子细胞的结构和功能元件, 参与了同源染色体配对、姐妹染色单体黏合、分离及分裂后期启动的调控等。本文对近年来着丝粒结构和功能研究的新进展进行了概述。     

青藏高原草地生态系统服务功能的季节动态变化

根据生态系统服务功能理论,利用RS和GIS技术,以生长季为时间单元,对青藏高原研究区草地生态系统服务功能的动态过程进行有效分析和评价.结果表明:提供生物量功能呈现上升—下降—上升的过程,在5月和9月分别出现两个高峰值,其中5月为最高峰值.影响该功能的主要因子为光合有效辐射值、水分状况和地下生物量的季节变化;碳蓄积和氧释放功能呈现上升—下降—上升的弱“N”型趋势;土壤养分保持功能也呈弱“N”型趋势,并在5月份出现最高值;草地保持土壤水分的功能在生长季内呈较强的阶段性变化,这主要与草地植物生长的季节性耗水变化规律有关.     

Cardiac Wnt5a and Wnt11 promote fibrosis by the crosstalk of FZD5 and EGFR signaling under pressure overload

Progressive cardiac fibrosis accelerates the development of heart failure. Here, we aimed to explore serum Wnt5a and Wnt11 levels in hypertension patients, the roles of Wnt5a and Wnt11 in cardiac fibrosis and potential mechanisms under pressure overload. The pressure overload mouse model was built by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Cardiac fibrosis was analyzed by Masson’s staining. Serum Wnt5a or Wnt11 was elevated and associated with diastolic dysfunction in hypertension patients. TAC enhanced the expression and secretion of Wnt5a or Wnt11 from cardiomyocytes (CMs), cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), and cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs). Knockdown of Wnt5a and Wnt11 greatly improved cardiac fibrosis and function at 4 weeks after TAC. In vitro, shWnt5a or shWnt11 lentivirus transfection inhibited pro-fibrotic effects in CFs under mechanical stretch (MS). Similarly, conditional medium from stretched-CMs transfected with shWnt5a or shWnt11 lentivirus significantly suppressed the pro-fibrotic effects induced by conditional medium from stretched-CMs. These data suggested that CMs- or CFs-derived Wnt5a or Wnt11 showed a pro-fibrotic effect under pressure overload. In vitro, exogenous Wnt5a or Wnt11 activated ERK and p38 (fibrotic-related signaling) pathway, promoted the phosphorylation of EGFR, and increased the expression of Frizzled 5 (FZD5) in CFs. Inhibition or knockdown of EGFR greatly attenuated the increased FZD5, p-p38, and p-ERK levels, and the pro-fibrotic effect induced by Wnt5a or Wnt11 in CFs. Si-FZD5 transfection suppressed the increased p-EGFR level, and the fibrotic-related effects in CFs treated with Wnt5a or Wnt11. In conclusion, pressure overload enhances the secretion of Wnt5a or Wnt11 from CMs and CFs which promotes cardiac fibrosis by activation the crosstalk of FZD5 and EGFR. Thus, Wnt5a or Wnt11 may be a novel therapeutic target for the prevention of cardiac fibrosis under pressure overload.Subject terms: Heart failure, Translational research     

UPA, a universal protein array system for quantitative detection of protein–protein, protein–DNA, protein–RNA and protein–ligand interactions

Protein–protein interactions have been widely used to study gene expression pathways and may be considered as a new approach to drug discovery. Here I report the development of a universal protein array (UPA) system that provides a sensitive, quantitative, multi-purpose, effective and easy technology to determine not only specific protein–protein interactions, but also specific interactions of proteins with DNA, RNA, ligands and other small chemicals. (i) Since purified proteins are used, the results can be easily interpreted. (ii) UPA can be used multiple times for different targets, making it economically affordable for most laboratories, hospitals and biotechnology companies. (iii) Unlike DNA chips or DNA microarrays, no additional instrumentation is required. (iv) Since the UPA uses active proteins (without denaturation and renaturation), it is more sensitive compared with most existing methods. (v) Because the UPA can analyze hundreds (even thousands on a protein microarray) of proteins in a single experiment, it is a very effective method to screen proteins as drug targets in cancer and other human diseases.     

重组人血清白蛋白在Pichia pastoris中分泌表达影响因素的研究

为获得高产稳产重组人血清白蛋白的Ｐｉｃｈｉａ ｐａｓｔｏｒｉｓ细胞株用于高密度发酵,构建了多种分泌表达载体,在Ｐｉｃｈｉａ ｐａｓｔｏｒｉｓ中作表达,研究表达载体构建等因素对表达量的影响。发现采用酿酒酵母α性成熟因子前导肽比人血清白蛋白天然前导肽作为分泌信号肽的表达量要高１０％左右。而载体整合方式、整合拷贝数、５’非翻译区的改造和甲醇利用表型等对表达量无规律性影响。筛选到的高表达株经高密度发酵,细     

二十碳五烯酸的菌种选育及发酵条件

利用含亚麻子油的斜面培养基连续传代和逐渐降低培养温度,诱导筛选的方法,从大量丝状真菌中选育到一株产二十碳五烯酸（all－cis－5、8、11、14、17－eicosopnthenoicacid）较高的被孢霉菌（Motierellasp．）SM481。研究得到最适培养基及最适培养条件。在最适培养及产二十碳五烯酸条件下,细胞干重和二十碳五烯酸产量分别为28．8g／L和0.127g／L。     

基因组数据库简介

本文以北京大学生物信息中心安装的3个国际著名基因组数据库GDB、GenoList和Ensembl为基础,介绍目前常用的基因组数据库,包括这些数据数据库的内容、数据格式、使用方法,以及用于构建上述数据库的数据库管理系统。 Abstract:A brief introduction to the genome databases GDB,GenoList and Ensembl is given.These databases,mirrored and maintained at the Centre of Bioinformatics,Peking University,provide useful information for genome research.