Mitogenomes provide new insights of evolutionary history of Boreheptagyiini and Diamesini (Diptera: Chironomidae: Diamesinae)

Mitogenomes have been widely used for phylogenetic reconstruction of various Dipteran groups, but specifically for chironomid, they have not been carried out to resolve the relationships. Diamesinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) are important bioindicators for freshwater ecosystem monitoring, but its evolutionary history remains uncertain for lack of information. Here, coupled with one previously published and 30 new mitogenomes of Diamesinae, we carried out comparative mitogenomic analysis and phylogenetic analysis. Mitogenomes of Diamesinae were conserved in structure, and all genes arranged in the same order as the ancestral insect mitogenome. All protein‐coding genes in Diamesinae were under stronger purifying selection than those of other nonbiting midge species, which may exhibit signs of adaptation to life at cold living conditions. Phylogenetic analyses strongly supported the monophyly of Diamesinae, with Boreheptagyiini deeply nested within Diamesini. In addition, phylogenetic relationship of selected six genera was resolved, except Sympotthastia remained unstable. Our study revealed that the mitogenomes of Diamesinae are highly conserved, and they are practically useful for phylogenetic inference.     

Chromosome-level genome assembly and characterization of Sophora Japonica

Sophora japonica is a medium-size deciduous tree belonging to Leguminosae family and famous for its high ecological, economic and medicinal value. Here, we reveal a draft genome of S. japonica, which was ∼511.49 Mb long (contig N50 size of 17.34 Mb) based on Illumina, Nanopore and Hi-C data. We reliably assembled 110 contigs into 14 chromosomes, representing 91.62% of the total genome, with an improved N50 size of 31.32 Mb based on Hi-C data. Further investigation identified 271.76 Mb (53.13%) of repetitive sequences and 31,000 protein-coding genes, of which 30,721 (99.1%) were functionally annotated. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that S. japonica separated from Arabidopsis thaliana and Glycine max ∼107.53 and 61.24 million years ago, respectively. We detected evidence of species-specific and common-legume whole-genome duplication events in S. japonica. We further found that multiple TF families (e.g. BBX and PAL) have expanded in S. japonica, which might have led to its enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress. In addition, S. japonica harbours more genes involved in the lignin and cellulose biosynthesis pathways than the other two species. Finally, population genomic analyses revealed no obvious differentiation among geographical groups and the effective population size continuously declined since 2 Ma. Our genomic data provide a powerful comparative framework to study the adaptation, evolution and active ingredients biosynthesis in S. japonica. More importantly, our high-quality S. japonica genome is important for elucidating the biosynthesis of its main bioactive components, and improving its production and/or processing.     

A Human Active Lower Limb Model for Chinese Pedestrian Safety Evaluation

A subsystem impactor test for pedestrian lower limb injury evaluation has been brought in China New Car Assessment Protocol(CNCAP).Concerning large anthropometr...     

七种我国昆虫病原线虫共生菌的分离与鉴定

昆虫病原线虫共生菌是一类具有广阔发展前景的生物防治资源,由于这类菌的分类鉴定工作起步晚,存在分类混乱和不系统的现象,在本土资源十分丰富的我国尤为突出.本文对本实验室分离的7个共生菌菌株进行了分类描述,建立了以生理形态,生化特征为分类基础,结合16 SrDNA序列分析的有效鉴定方法.     

Using genetic variation to disentangle the complex relationship between food intake and health outcomes

Diet is considered as one of the most important modifiable factors influencing human health, but efforts to identify foods or dietary patterns associated with health outcomes often suffer from biases, confounding, and reverse causation. Applying Mendelian randomization in this context may provide evidence to strengthen causality in nutrition research. To this end, we first identified 283 genetic markers associated with dietary intake in 445,779 UK Biobank participants. We then converted these associations into direct genetic effects on food exposures by adjusting them for effects mediated via other traits. The SNPs which did not show evidence of mediation were then used for MR, assessing the association between genetically predicted food choices and other risk factors, health outcomes. We show that using all associated SNPs without omitting those which show evidence of mediation, leads to biases in downstream analyses (genetic correlations, causal inference), similar to those present in observational studies. However, MR analyses using SNPs which have only a direct effect on the exposure on food exposures provided unequivocal evidence of causal associations between specific eating patterns and obesity, blood lipid status, and several other risk factors and health outcomes.     

SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein causes acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like pathological damages and constitutes an antiviral target

Cytokine storm and multi-organ failure are the main causes of SARS-CoV-2-related death. However, the origin of excessive damages caused by SARS-CoV-2 remains largely unknown. Here we show that the SARS-CoV-2 envelope (2-E) protein alone is able to cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like damages in vitro and in vivo. 2-E proteins were found to form a type of pH-sensitive cation channels in bilayer lipid membranes. As observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells, heterologous expression of 2-E channels induced rapid cell death in various susceptible cell types and robust secretion of cytokines and chemokines in macrophages. Intravenous administration of purified 2-E protein into mice caused ARDS-like pathological damages in lung and spleen. A dominant negative mutation lowering 2-E channel activity attenuated cell death and SARS-CoV-2 production. Newly identified channel inhibitors exhibited potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity and excellent cell protective activity in vitro and these activities were positively correlated with inhibition of 2-E channel. Importantly, prophylactic and therapeutic administration of the channel inhibitor effectively reduced both the viral load and secretion of inflammation cytokines in lungs of SARS-CoV-2-infected transgenic mice expressing human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE-2). Our study supports that 2-E is a promising drug target against SARS-CoV-2.Subject terms: Cell death, Molecular biology     

两种麻疯树苗对盐胁迫的生理生态响应

研究两种不同基因型麻疯树苗(南油2、3号)在不同NaCl浓度下生理生态响应特征,并比较不同基因型麻疯树苗的耐盐差异性。结果表明:①用25、50 mmo.lL-1NaCl处理,南油2号全株干重与对照无显著差异,而南油3号全株干重比对照显著降低。用100 mmol.L-1l或以上浓度的NaCl处理,随着盐度增加,两种树苗全株干重皆比对照显著降低,且3号苗降低的幅度大于2号苗。②在用200 mmol.L-1或以下浓度的NaCl处理,南油2、3号叶片相对含水量(RWC)皆与对照无显著差异,而在用300 mmol.L-1NaCl处理,则分别比对照显著降低5%和8%。③用25、50 mmol.L-1NaCl处理,南油2号可溶性糖(SS)含量比对照显著降低,3号与对照无显著差异;用200、300 mmo.lL-1NaCl处理后,两者SS含量均比对照显著降低。同时,2号苗可溶性蛋白(SP)含量比对照显著增加,3号苗SP含量与对照无显著差异。④随着盐度增加,南油2号苗超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性先增加后降低。用300 mmol.L-1NaCl处理,比对照显著降低。随着盐度增加,3号苗的SOD活性递减,皆显著低于对照。用25、50 mmo.lL-1NaCl处理,两种树苗的过氧化物酶(POD)活性与对照无显著差异。随着盐度增加,2号苗的POD活性比对照显著增加,而3号苗比对照显著降低。用25、50 mmo.lL-1NaCl处理,两种树苗的过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性皆比对照显著增加,且随着盐度增加,其变化趋势如SOD活性。结果表明,麻疯树幼苗具有较好的耐盐性,且南油2号比南油3号具有更高的耐盐性,因为前者具有更高的保护酶活性、叶片保水能力和叶片SP含量。     

FERONIA is involved in phototropin 1-mediated blue light phototropic growth in Arabidopsis

Plant shoot phototropism is triggered by the formation of a light-driven auxin gradient leading to bending growth. The blue light receptor phototropin 1(phot1) senses light direction, but how this leads to auxin gradient formation and growth regulation remains poorly understood. Previous studies have suggested phot1’s role for regulated apoplastic acidification, but its relation to phototropin and hypocotyl phototropism is unclear. Herein, we show that blue light can cause phot1 to interact with...     

长江江豚感染铜绿假单胞菌肺炎的诊治

本文记录了一例患急性铜绿假单胞菌肺炎的长江江豚诊断、治疗和预后观察过程。病原学鉴定采用鲜血琼脂平板对该江豚鼻腔拭子,在37℃下进行细菌需氧、厌氧培养和分离,并对所分离的细菌种类进行细菌学鉴定,结合血常规和血生化的检测结果,判定病原为铜绿假单胞菌（Pseudomonas aeruginosa,PA）。依据病原菌的药敏试验结果对患病江豚进行治疗,预后良好。通过对整个过程的资料分析以及预后观察,得到如下提示：1）应做好饲养环境的消毒措施,防止江豚出现获得性PA感染;2）对江豚日常呼吸道和粪便中PA的检测,有利于疾病的早期预防和控制;3）江豚呼吸系统疾病的治愈依赖于准确的病原鉴定和及时的治疗,药敏试验对于PA感染的治疗非常必要;4）行为学的改变在江豚呼吸道疾病发病初期以及预后有重要的指示作用。