Effect of different immunosuppressive drugs on calcineurin and its mutants

Several mutants in Loop7 region and near Loop7 region of calcineurin A (CN A) subunit have been constructed and purified using site-directed mutagenesis.Their phosphatase activity and the corresponding solution conformation were examined.Their phosphatase activities between wild-type CN and mutants were compared to identify the interaction of different immunosuppressive drugs with CN.The results showed that the phosphatase activities of the mutants at Loop7 were much higher than the one of wild-type CN.Furthermore,circular dichroism spectra of the mutants revealed that their solution conformations gave rise in changes in native structure of the protein.Cyclophilin-CyclosporinA (CyP-CsA) significantly inhibited the phosphatase activity of wild-type CN,and had no effects on the phosphatase activity of mutants in Loop7 region,which indicates that the site-directed mutagenesis at Loop7 region made a significant change in the interaction between CyP-CsA and CN.Examination of the activities of these mutants resulted in the presence of immunosuppressive component from traditional Chinese drugs.The component of Chinese drug,ZIP1,could directly inhibit both CN and CN mutants without drug binding protein.These results suggest that the Loop7 region is an important structural area involved in the inhibition by CyP-CsA.It is valuable to further study the inhibition by ZIP1.     

Peripheral endothelial cells are not reliable in differentiating primary benign and malignant hepatocellular lesions in fine needle aspirates of the liver

The distinction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from benign lesions of the liver in fine needle aspiration (FNA) specimens can be problematic. In an attempt to separate well-differentiated HCC from benign hepatocellular lesions, the presence of tissue fragments displaying peripheral endothelial cells (PE) has been proposed in a previous study as a useful feature in favour of malignancy. In this study, we evaluated slides from 59 cases of liver masses undergoing FNA (19 HCC, 40 benign) and evaluated them for the presence of tissue fragments containing PE. We found that 90% of cases of HCC contained tissue fragments in which PE were either focally present or abundant. However, 68% of cases containing only benign hepatocytes also contained tissue fragments in which PE were at least focally present. In addition, it appears that within the group of benign lesions, the presence of PE was related to the overall cellularity of the specimen rather than the specific nature of the lesion. Thus, the presence of PE in tissue fragments does not, in isolation, appear to be a useful morphological feature for the separation of benign and malignant hepatocellular lesions in FNA material.     

在全基因组范围内筛选酵母中砷抗性相关基因

砷化物是广泛应用的抗癌药物,特别是对白血病有显著疗效.然而,治疗过程中病人会因对砷化物具有耐药性而影响治疗效果,而目前对于砷抗性机制尚缺全面深入的研究.利用酵母作为模式生物,使用不同浓度的砷对由4757个酵母缺失型突变体组成的菌株库进行筛查.共鉴定出104个基因/开放阅读框(ORF),其缺失导致酵母对砷的抗性增加.生物信息学分析结果提示,这些基因与mRNA分解代谢、应激反应、组蛋白乙酰化和蛋白质合成及分解代谢等功能有关.同时这些基因中多于半数具有哺乳动物同源类似物.所以,进一步研究这些基因有望为人类砷化物的耐药性及毒性机制研究提供富有价值的新线索.     

Changes in biodiversity and ecosystem function during the restoration of a tropical forest in south China

Tropical forests continue to vanish rapidly, but few long-term studies have ever examined if and how the lost forests can be restored. Based on a 45-year restoration study in south China, we found that a tropical rain forest, once completely destroyed, could not recover naturally without deliberate restoration efforts. We identified two kinds of thresholds that must be overcome with human ameliorative measures before the ecosystem was able to recover. The first threshold was imposed primarily by extreme physical conditions such as exceedingly high surface temperature and impoverished soil, while the second was characterized by a critical level of biodiversity and a landscape context that accommodates dispersal and colonization processes. Our three treatment catchments (un-restored barren land, single-species plantation, and mixed-forest stand) exhibited dramatically different changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning over 4 decades. The mixed forest, having the highest level of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, possesses several major properties of tropical rain forest.These findings may have important implications for the restoration of many severely degraded or lost tropical forest ecosystems.     

The study of neighboring nucleotide composition and transition/transversion bias

Base substitution is one of the raw fuels that produce genetic variation and drive evolution. Recent studies have shown that the genome components affect mutation patterns to some extent. In order to infer the correlation between the Transition/Transversion ratio (Ts/Tv) and the number of immediately adjacent A&T nucleotides, we investigated 3611007 Oryza sativa SNPs (including 45462 coding SNPs, and 242811 intronic SNPs) and 32019 Arabidopsis SNPs. The results show that Ts/Tv is negatively correlated with the number of immediately adjacent A&T in O. Sativa and Arabidopsis. We further calculated AT₂ (the number of SNPs whose immediately adjacent nucleotides are either A or T) and AT₀ (the number of SNPs whose immediately adjacent nucleotides are either C or G) for all 6 types of SNPs. C/G SNP of O. sativa and Arabidopsis has the highest AT₂/AT₀, which denotes C/G SNP may be influenced by the adjacent A&T nucleotides mostly. For SNPs in O. sativa, the neighboring effect of A&T nucleotides is limited to 2 nucleotides on both sides; for SNPs in Arabidopsis, the effect extends no more than 4 nucleotides on both sides.     

日本血吸虫单性感染雄虫和双性感染雄虫差异表达蛋白的筛选与鉴定

采用双向凝胶电泳和质谱技术对日本血吸虫单性感染雄虫和双性感染雄虫蛋白质表达谱进行分析，并在mRNA水平进行验证；观察差异表达SJCHGC蛋白重组真核表达质粒pEGFP-C1/SJCHGC在COS-7细胞中的表达和亚细胞定位，并分析其表达产物的抗原性. 成功鉴定了9个日本血吸虫雌雄合抱差异表达蛋白，其中在日本血吸虫雄虫合抱前表达上调的蛋白质有6个；而有3个蛋白质在日本血吸虫雄虫合抱后表达明显上调. 大多数差异蛋白功能涉及血吸虫的生长发育、生殖、营养、运动、信号传递等过程. 重组质粒pEGFP-C1/SJCHGC 融合基因真核表达载体在真核细胞COS-7中获得了表达,可用荧光显微镜直接观察其表达情况及亚细胞定位,细胞所表达的融合蛋白具有血吸虫抗原性. 研究结果为揭示日本血吸虫雌雄合抱机制、研制抗血吸虫雌雄合抱疫苗提供了理论依据.     

飞蝗(`Locusta migratoria manilensis ``Meyen)蝻期各龄外部形态上的区别

一.前言 飞蝗(Locusta migratoria manilensis Meyen)是我国农业生产中最严重的害虫。自从中央人民政府成立以後,由於政府的重视,各研究机关的配合研究,治蝗工作得到了迅速发展,并确定了“掌握有利时机,消灭於三龄之前”的防治方针。     

蚊虫抗药性的研究——Ⅲ.淡色库蚊幼虫对敌百虫抗性选育的试验

本工作系以实验室里饲养了6年迄未接触过杀虫剂的南京敏感性淡色库蚊 Culex pipienspallens Coquillett(NS)4龄早期幼虫,用甲基敌百虫浸液处理进行选育以及对666及DDT抗性蚊的杀灭试验,简要如下: 1.以NS幼虫用甲基敌百虫浸液处理,从母代开始累代选育到第40世代。经测定它们每一世代4龄早期幼虫对该杀虫剂的致死中浓度的幅度在0.04-0.09ppm之间,与NS幼虫的相接近,说明它们未产生抗性;交互抗性测定证明,它们对666及DDT两种氯化烃类杀虫剂也未产生交互抗性。 2.666及DDT抗性幼虫,分别用甲基敌百虫浸液处理选育了9及13个世代,它们对该杀虫剂的致死中浓度也都在NS幼虫对甲基敌百虫的致死中浓度的幅度之内,说明甲基敌百虫对杀灭该两种抗性蚊有良好的毒效。     

厚壁毛竹快速高生长期竹秆ATP酶超微细胞化学定位

采用电镜细胞化学技术对厚壁毛竹(Phyllostachys edulis ‘Pachyloen’)快速高生长期竹秆节间的伸长发育过程（包括：分生细胞期、伸长初期、快速伸长期和成熟期四个阶段）进行ATP酶超微细胞化学定位,以揭示竹秆节间快速伸长的细胞学基础。结果表明：分生细胞期,细胞质膜、核膜、细胞器膜系统上等均有很强的ATP酶活性。伸长初期,节间上部基本组织细胞质膜上ATP酶活性较强,且短细胞质膜上的ATP酶活性更强,节间基部各细胞均未观察到ATP酶活性。快速伸长期,节间基部基本组织ATP酶活性较节间上部高,细胞质膜、运输小泡膜、胞间隙及胞间连丝上均有ATP酶活性。成熟期,仅节间上部基本组织质膜上有较弱的ATP酶活性。ATP酶在节间伸长过程中主要参与新细胞壁物质的分泌和共质体运输,促进新细胞壁的形成,晶体和淀粉粒体外膜上ATP酶活性的存在表明其具有贮存物质的作用。节隔缺失节的节间基部未观察到ATP酶活性,节部韧皮结细胞ATP酶活性较高,节隔的缺失引起节部与节间与物质运输有关结构的变化,进而影响节间伸长生长。