纳米银在水-沉积物中的迁移机制研究

为研究纳米银(Ag NPs)在水体中的迁移、水-沉积物中的分配及转化机制,采用武汉东湖湖水及沉积物开展模拟实验,以硝酸银(Ag NO3)为参照,研究了Ag NPs和聚乙烯吡咯烷酮包裹纳米银[Poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-coated silver nanoparticles(PVP-Ag NPs)]在上覆水中的沉降、在沉积物中的迁移和形态分布、以及扰动释放过程。结果表明,上覆水银初始浓度均为75 mg/L的Ag NO3、Ag NPs及PVP-Ag NPs在120h后分别为0.086、0.957和2.770 mg/L,显示纳米银和硝酸银进入水体后120h内大部分沉入沉积物中,且经过包裹的纳米银比未包裹的纳米银在水中停留时间稍长;60d后三种银均主要分布在表层沉积物中,Ag NO3体系银含量随深度的增加而逐渐降低,Ag NPs和PVP-Ag NPs体系银在2 cm以上随深度的增加而增高,随后逐渐降低,表明纳米银比硝酸银具有更强的迁移能力。此外,PVP-Ag NPs在2—3 cm层中的银含量占总量的24.6%,而Ag NPs在同一层中含量仅为2.6%,说明前者的迁移能力更强。在沉积物中,硫化物和有机物是银的主要结合相。释放实验结果表明,沉积物中纳米银的释放量远小于硝酸银的释放量,表明纳米银一旦与沉积物结合就难以再次释放。以上实验结果为评价纳米银的生态安全提供了科学依据。     

圈养条件下犬蝠对陌生食物首次取食行为的研究

动物在觅食过程中,尝试取食陌生食物会给其带来潜在的风险或是利益。许多动物在首次遇到陌生食物时,不会立即对其进行取食,甚至感到恐惧而避开,这是动物应对陌生食物和环境的一种恐新行为(neophobia)。2010年10—12月,对广东省四会市圈养条件下的犬蝠Cynopterus sphinx取食行为进行研究。结果发现,在实验中犬蝠首次面对陌生食物(苹果)刺激时表现出2种不同的行为,14只实验个体中,6只在首次面对陌生食物时直接对其进行取食,定义其为探索者(explorer);而另外8只对陌生食物表现出了恐新行为,定义其为恐新者(coward)。在人为施加的环境压力下,恐新者经过反复试探,首次成功取食陌生食物后才接纳陌生食物。雌雄个体间(Mann-Whitney U test:雌性31.3 min±8.5 min,n=6,雄性122.8 min±16.2 min,n=5,U=721.0,P<0.001)及亚成体与成体间(Mann-Whitney U test:亚成体20.9 min±10.9 min,n=3,成体72.9 min±9.7 min,n=11,U=901.0,P<0.001)在首次取食行为上的差异均有统计学意义,雌性和亚成体个体更易于接受陌生食物。本文研究结果表明,犬蝠对陌生食物首次取食的这2种行为差异各自有其生态学意义,探索者的行为利于拓宽取食食物源,以应对野外多变的环境;而恐新者的行为可防止摄入过多有毒或营养过剩的食物。雌性倾向于探索陌生食物,可能与其在种群中的繁殖地位有关;亚成体积极探索陌生食物的行为则体现出其取食经验上的缺乏,同时也利于将陌生食物引入种群食谱中。行为的多样性利于种群繁衍,本文探讨了2种取食策略各自的利弊关系。     

三峡库区典型支流浮游细菌的生态分布及其影响因素

2013年夏季对三峡库区3条典型支流朱衣河、梅溪河、草堂河进行了采样调查,分析了浮游细菌丰度的分布特征及其与环境因子的关系。结果表明:浮游细菌丰度在调查的水体中存在明显空间差异,变化范围为0.53×105~10.55×105个·m L-1,平均值为2.71×105个·m L-1;平均细菌丰度从大到小依次为梅溪河、朱衣河、长江干流和草堂河;3条支流浮游细菌丰度垂向分布特征均表现为表层中层底层。相关性分析表明,溶解氧、p H、叶绿素a与浮游细菌丰度具有显著的相关性,为该水域浮游细菌丰度空间分布的主要限制因子。根据浮游细菌丰度,各调查水域均处于富营养状态。     

Ci antagonizes Hippo signaling in the somatic cells of the ovary to drive germline stem cell differentiation

Many stem cell populations are tightly regulated by their local microenvironment (niche), which comprises distinct types of stromal cells. However, little is known about mechanisms by which niche subgroups coordinately determine the stem cell fate. Here we identify that Yki, the key Hippo pathway component, is essential for escort cell (EC) function in promoting germline differentiation in Drosophila ovary. We found that Hedgehog (Hh) signals emanating primarily from cap cells support the function of ECs, where Cubitus interruptus (Ci), the Hh signaling effector, acts to inhibit Hippo kinase cascade activity. Mechanistically, we found that Ci competitively interacts with Hpo and impairs the Hpo-Wts signaling complex formation, thereby promoting Yki nuclear localization. The actions of Ci ensure effective Yki signaling to antagonize Sd/Tgi/Vg-mediated default repression in ECs. This study uncovers a mechanism explaining how subgroups of niche cells coordinate to determine the stem cell fate via Hh-Hippo signaling crosstalk, and enhances our understanding of mechanistic regulations of the oncogenic Yki/YAP signaling.     

Meta-analysis of Correlated Traits via Summary Statistics from GWASs with an Application in Hypertension

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many genetic variants underlying complex traits. Many detected genetic loci harbor variants that associate with multiple—even distinct—traits. Most current analysis approaches focus on single traits, even though the final results from multiple traits are evaluated together. Such approaches miss the opportunity to systemically integrate the phenome-wide data available for genetic association analysis. In this study, we propose a general approach that can integrate association evidence from summary statistics of multiple traits, either correlated, independent, continuous, or binary traits, which might come from the same or different studies. We allow for trait heterogeneity effects. Population structure and cryptic relatedness can also be controlled. Our simulations suggest that the proposed method has improved statistical power over single-trait analysis in most of the cases we studied. We applied our method to the Continental Origins and Genetic Epidemiology Network (COGENT) African ancestry samples for three blood pressure traits and identified four loci (CHIC2, HOXA-EVX1, IGFBP1/IGFBP3, and CDH17; p < 5.0 × 10⁻⁸) associated with hypertension-related traits that were missed by a single-trait analysis in the original report. Six additional loci with suggestive association evidence (p < 5.0 × 10⁻⁷) were also observed, including CACNA1D and WNT3. Our study strongly suggests that analyzing multiple phenotypes can improve statistical power and that such analysis can be executed with the summary statistics from GWASs. Our method also provides a way to study a cross phenotype (CP) association by using summary statistics from GWASs of multiple phenotypes.