中国大鲵研究进展

中国大鲵是我国特有濒危的两栖物种,是研究生物进化、生物多样性、性别决定分子机制等问题的好材料。近年来,人们对它的研究力度不断加大,著述颇多。本文对大鲵的生态保护、解剖发育、生理生化、遗传进化等方面的近期研究资料进行了整理和回顾,也简要探讨了今后大鲵研究的主要工作,以期为研究者们提供有价值的资料。     

miR-10a Regulates Proliferation of Human Cardiomyocyte Progenitor Cells by Targeting GATA6

microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in cardiogenesis. The altered expression of miRNAs can result in cardiac malformations by inducing abnormalities in the behavior of cardiac cells. However, the role of miR-10a in the regulation of cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CMPCs) remains undetermined. In the present study, we found that up- or down-regulation of miR-10a inhibited or promoted the proliferation of human CMPCs, respectively, without affecting their differentiation toward cardiomyocytes. miR-10a bound to GATA6 directly and reduced GATA6 expression. Over-expression of GATA6 greatly attenuated the miR-10a-mediated inhibitory effect on the proliferation of human CMPCs. Thus, our results indicate that miR-10a could effectively modulate the proliferation of human CMPCs by targeting GATA6. The finding provides novel insights into the potency of miR-10a during heart development.     

生物转化生产D-塔格糖的食品级菌种选育及L-阿拉伯糖异构酶的克隆表达

L-阿拉伯糖异构酶(L-arabinose isomerase,L-AI)是一种可以催化D-半乳糖为D-塔格糖的胞内异构化酶。随着塔格糖在食品工业中越来越广泛的应用,能够将半乳糖转化为塔格糖的食品级微生物以及食品级来源的L-AI受到更大的关注。文中从各种酸奶制品、泡菜及其他一些食品中采集不同的样品,筛选出1株具有L-AI酶活的食品级菌株,经过生理生化鉴定以及16S rDNA序列测定,确定该菌株为戊糖片球菌,命名为Pediococcus pentosaceus PC-5。以该菌基因组为模板,克隆L-AI基因,并在大肠杆菌BL21成功地异源表达。表达产物经粗提取后,在40℃下加入Mn2+,使D-半乳糖转化为D-塔格糖的转化率为33%。     

微卫星DNA及其在鱼类中的应用

生物的遗传可变性和多态性是生物自组织管理中的重要一环,也正是这一环使得生物得以适应变化的环境,为了更有效的管理和利用生物资源,就必须在遗传多态的水平上对生物种群进行认识和分析。这种分析需要有遗传标记,即需要生物体的某些性状和物质,它们能够稳定的遗传且方式简单,可用以反映生物个体或群体的特征。尽管现在已经有一些分子水平的遗传标记方法可以采用,但是对于一些濒危物种的研究和保护而言,仍需要多态信息含量更大的分子标记体系。       

The intrinsic mechanisms underlying the maturation of programming sequential spikes at cerebellar Purkinje cells

Cerebellum is involved in the motion coordination and working memory, to which the programming of sequential spikes at Purkinje cells is essential. It is not clear about the intrinsic mechanisms underlying spike capacity and timing precision as well as their postnatal maturation. We investigated the programming and intrinsic property of sequential spikes at Purkinje neurons during postnatal development by whole-cell recording in cerebellar slices. Cerebellar Purkinje neurons demonstrate the increasing of spike capacity and timing precision, as well as the lowering of refractory periods and threshold potentials during the postnatal maturation. In addition, the correlation between spike parameters and intrinsic properties converts to be more linear. This postnatal plasticity of neuronal intrinsic properties improves the timing precision and capacity of spike programming at cerebellar Purkinje neurons.     

转基因高γ-亚麻酸大豆油抗肿瘤作用的研究

γ-亚麻酸(GLA)是人体和动物饮食中具有营养作用的重要的多烯不饱和脂肪酸,在大多数油料作物种子中不含有GLA,而含有其前体物亚油酸。△⁶-脂肪酸脱氢酶可将亚油酸转化为γ-亚麻酸,为了能够在传统的油料作物大豆中产生GLA,将从深黄被孢霉中克隆的△⁶-脂肪酸脱氢酶基因,与植物表达载体pBIl21连接,构建了重组质粒pBIM16,采用农杆菌介导的大豆子叶节转化系统,成功地将该基因导入到栽培大豆吉林47品种中,获得一批转基因植株。经PCR检测和Southern杂交分析,证明外源基因已导入并整合到大豆的基因组中。通过气相色谱(GC)对大豆种子进行脂肪酸成分分析,结果表明,产生了GLA,其含量最高可达36．585％。将高GLA的转基因大豆油口服给药,结果表明,其对小鼠S180肉瘤、肝癌H22和Ehrlich癌实体型的抑瘤率分别为32．63％、31．91％和34．34％。其肿瘤抑制率均>30％,与对照组比较有显著差异(p<0．01),表现初步的抗肿瘤作用。     

Modelling intravascular delivery from drug-eluting stents with biodurable coating: investigation of anisotropic vascular drug diffusivity and arterial drug distribution

In-stent restenosis occurs in coronary arteries after implantation of drug-eluting stents with non-uniform restenosis thickness distribution in the artery cross section. Knowledge of the spatio-temporal drug uptake in the arterial wall is useful for investigating restenosis growth but may often be very expensive/difficult to acquire experimentally. In this study, local delivery of a hydrophobic drug from a drug-eluting stent implanted in a coronary artery is mathematically modelled to investigate the drug release and spatio-temporal drug distribution in the arterial wall. The model integrates drug diffusion in the coating and drug diffusion with reversible binding in the arterial wall. The model is solved by the finite volume method for both high and low drug loadings relative to its solubility in the stent coating with varied isotropic–anisotropic vascular drug diffusivities. Drug release profiles in the coating are observed to depend not only on the coating drug diffusivity but also on the properties of the surrounding arterial wall. Time dependencies of the spatially averaged free- and bound-drug levels in the arterial wall on the coating and vascular drug diffusivities are discussed. Anisotropic vascular drug diffusivities result in slightly different average drug levels in the arterial wall but with very different spatial distributions. Higher circumferential vascular diffusivity results in more uniform drug loading in the upper layers and is potentially beneficial in reducing in-stent restenosis. An analytical expression is derived which can be used to determine regions in the arterial with higher free-drug concentration than bound-drug concentration.     

Intentionally introduced species: more easily invited than removed

Alien species are brought into countries world wide on a massive scale for agricultural production, ex situ conservation, landscape aesthetics, gardens, and ecosystem restoration. Unfortunately, some of these species have escaped and adversely impacted on regional as well as global biodiversity conservation and agricultural production. To reduce such risks, it is necessary to implement specific and effective measures. Since various government departments and institutions are involved in the management of alien species, it is difficult to prevent native and agroecosystems from being invaded by invited species. We propose the establishment of a supervision and inspection continuum over intentional species introduction, similar to that which exists in some countries over unintentional species introductions. Namely, a justification of the necessity to import, a risk assessment, assurances as to provision of an adequate containment facility assessment, and a damage-limitation protocol should that need to be invoked. These requirements should be satisfied before an alien species is knowingly imported, and the necessary follow-up supervision is important post- importation.