A trade-off between guerrilla and phalanx growth forms in Leymus secalinus under different nutrient supplies

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A phalanx growth form enables clonal plants to make better use of resource-rich patches, whereas a guerrilla growth form provides them with opportunities to escape from resource-poor sites. Leymus secalinus produces both spreading (guerrilla form) and clumping ramets (phalanx form). Here, the hypothesis that a trade-off between the two growth forms in L. secalinus exists under different resource levels is tested. METHODS: Ramets of L. secalinus were grown under three levels of nutrient supply. KEY RESULTS: With increasing nutrient supply, the proportion of clumping ramets (in total number of ramets) increased, whereas that of spreading ramets decreased. With increasing nutrient supply, the number of buds increased, whereas biomass per bud decreased. A trade-off between bud number and size further supports the above hypothesis because larger buds were more likely to develop into spreading ramets, and smaller buds into clumping ramets. Mean spacer length between spreading ramets was significantly smaller under the high than under the medium nutrient supply. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a trade-off between the two growth forms in L. secalinus exists under different nutrient supplies. Such a trade-off together with plasticity in spacer morphology may enable L. secalinus to make better use of small-scale heterogeneity in resource supply.     

Measuring environmental phenols and chlorinated organic chemicals in breast milk using automated on-line column-switching-high performance liquid chromatography-isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry

Breast milk is one possible route of exposure to environmental chemicals, including phenols and chlorinated organic chemicals for breast-fed infants. We developed a highly sensitive method of analyzing breast milk for triclocarban (3,4,4'-trichlorocarbanilide) and eight phenolic compounds: bisphenol A (BPA), 4-tert-octylphenol (4-tOP), ortho-phenylphenol (OPP), 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,5-dichlorophenol, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, and 2-hydroxy-4-metoxybenzophenone (BP-3). The method includes adding a solution containing a stable isotope of each chemical, enzymatic hydrolysis of the conjugated chemicals in the milk, and on-line solid-phase extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. It can also be used to measure the free (unconjugated) species by omitting the enzymatic deconjugation step. The method, validated using pooled breast milk samples, has inter-day coefficient of variations ranging from 4.8 to 18.9% for most analytes, and spiked recoveries generally about 100%. Detection limits for most analytes are below 1 ng/mL in 100 microL of breast milk. We tested the usefulness of the method by measuring concentrations of these nine compounds in 20 breast milk samples. BPA, OPP, and BP-3 were detected in more than 60% of the samples tested. The free species of these compounds appear to be most prevalent in milk.     

Geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase in fission yeast is a heteromer of farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPS), Fps1, and an FPS-like protein, Spo9, essential for sporulation

Both farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPS) and geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPS) are key enzymes in the synthesis of various isoprenoid-containing compounds and proteins. Here, we describe two novel Schizosaccharomyces pombe genes, fps1(+) and spo9(+), whose products are similar to FPS in primary structure, but whose functions differ from one another. Fps1 is essential for vegetative growth, whereas, a spo9 null mutant exhibits temperature-sensitive growth. Expression of fps1(+), but not spo9(+), suppresses the lethality of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae FPS-deficient mutant and also restores ubiquinone synthesis in an Escherichia coli ispA mutant, which lacks FPS activity, indicating that S. pombe Fps1 in fact functions as an FPS. In contrast to a typical FPS gene, no apparent GGPS homologues have been found in the S. pombe genome. Interestingly, although neither fps1(+) nor spo9(+) expression alone in E. coli confers clear GGPS activity, coexpression of both genes induces such activity. Moreover, the GGPS activity is significantly reduced in the spo9 mutant. In addition, the spo9 mutation perturbs the membrane association of a geranylgeranylated protein, but not that of a farnesylated protein. Yeast two-hybrid and coimmunoprecipitation analyses indicate that Fps1 and Spo9 physically interact. Thus, neither Fps1 nor Spo9 alone functions as a GGPS, but the two proteins together form a complex with GGPS activity. Because spo9 was originally identified as a sporulation-deficient mutant, we show here that expansion of the forespore membrane is severely inhibited in spo9Delta cells. Electron microscopy revealed significant accumulation membrane vesicles in spo9Delta cells. We suggest that lack of GGPS activity in a spo9 mutant results in impaired protein prenylation in certain proteins responsible for secretory function, thereby inhibiting forespore membrane formation.     

Sphingolipids with neuritogenic activity from Euphorbia sororia

Two groups of sphingolipids 1 and 2 were isolated from the aerial parts of Euphorbia sororia. On the basis of spectroscopic data, chemical methods and GC-MS analysis, the structures of 1 and 2 were characterized as 1-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S,3S,4R,8Z)-2-[(2'R)-2'-hydroxydocosanoyl approximately hexacosanoyl, octacosanoyl amino]-1,3,4-octadecanetriol-8-ene and (2S,3S,4R,8E)-2-[(2'R)-2'-hydroxyeicosanoyl approximately hexacosanoyl amino]-1,3,4-octadecanetriol-8-ene, respectively. Both of them exhibited marked neuritogenic activity on the rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cell line.     

RNAi knockdown of Oryza sativa root meander curling gene led to altered root development and coiling which were mediated by jasmonic acid signalling in rice

Jasmonic acid (JA) is a well-known defence hormone, but its biological function and mechanism in rice root development are less understood. Here, we describe a JA-induced putative receptor-like protein (OsRLK, AAL87185) functioning in root development in rice. RNA in situ hybridization revealed that the gene was expressed largely in roots, and a fusion protein showed its localization on the plasma membrane. The primary roots in RNAi transgenic rice plants meandered and curled more easily than wild-type (WT) roots under JA treatment. Thus, this gene was renamed Oryza sativa root meander curling (OsRMC). The transgenic primary roots were shorter, the number of adventitious roots increased and the number of lateral roots decreased as compared to the WT. As well, the second sheath was reduced in length. Growth of both primary roots and second sheaths was sensitive to JA treatment. No significant change of JA level appeared in the roots between the transgenic rice line and WT. Expression of RSOsPR10, involved in the JA signalling pathway, was induced in transgenic rice. Western blotting revealed OsRMC induced by JA. Our results suggest that OsRMC of the DUF26 subfamily involved in JA signal transduction mediates root development and negatively regulates root curling in rice.     

Structural Brain Changes after Traditional and Robot-Assisted Multi-Domain Cognitive Training in Community-Dwelling Healthy Elderly

The purpose of this study was to investigate if multi-domain cognitive training, especially robot-assisted training, alters cortical thickness in the brains of elderly participants. A controlled trial was conducted with 85 volunteers without cognitive impairment who were 60 years old or older. Participants were first randomized into two groups. One group consisted of 48 participants who would receive cognitive training and 37 who would not receive training. The cognitive training group was randomly divided into two groups, 24 who received traditional cognitive training and 24 who received robot-assisted cognitive training. The training for both groups consisted of daily 90-min-session, five days a week for a total of 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the changes in cortical thickness. When compared to the control group, both groups who underwent cognitive training demonstrated attenuation of age related cortical thinning in the frontotemporal association cortices. When the robot and the traditional interventions were directly compared, the robot group showed less cortical thinning in the anterior cingulate cortices. Our results suggest that cognitive training can mitigate age-associated structural brain changes in the elderly.

Trial Registration

ClnicalTrials.gov NCT01596205     

不同酿酒酵母菌株来源异麦芽糖酶IMA1的克隆、表达及表征

[目的]异麦芽糖酶IMA1在充分利用含有α-1,6-O-糖苷键的低聚糖中起着关键作用。[方法]在本研究中,对来自4株酿酒酵母菌株（包括3株嗜酸性菌株）来源的异麦芽糖酶IMA1进行克隆、表达、纯化和表征。[结果]研究发现,4种异麦芽糖酶IMA1表现出类似的pH和温度依赖性,但表现出不同的动力学参数和热稳定性。IMA1-A对α-MG（α-甲基葡糖苷）表现出最高的结合亲和力、转换数、催化效率和热稳定性。结构和序列分析表明,2个远离活性位点和底物结合位点的氨基酸的差异对异麦芽糖酶IMA1的动力学参数和热稳定性有重要影响。[结论]本研究结果对进一步研究异麦芽糖酶IMA1的结构-功能关系奠定了基础。     

Direct and potent regulation of gamma-secretase by its lipid microenvironment

gamma-Secretase is an unusual and ubiquitous aspartyl protease with an intramembrane catalytic site that cleaves many type-I integral membrane proteins, most notably APP and Notch. Several reports suggest that cleavage of APP to produce the Abeta peptide is regulated in part by lipids. As gamma-secretase is a multipass protein complex with 19 transmembrane domains, it is likely that the local lipid composition of the membrane can regulate gamma-activity. To determine the direct contribution of the lipid microenvironment to gamma-secretase activity, we purified the human protease from overexpressing mammalian cells, reconstituted it in vesicles of varying lipid composition, and examined the effects of individual phospholipids, sphingolipids, cholesterol, and complex lipid mixtures on substrate cleavage. A conventional gamma-activity assay was modified to include a detergent-removal step to facilitate proteoliposome formation, and this increased baseline activity over 2-fold. Proteoliposomes containing sphingolipids significantly increased gamma-secretase activity over a phosphatidylcholine-only baseline, whereas the addition of phosphatidylinositol significantly decreased activity. Addition of soluble cholesterol in the presence of phospholipids and sphingolipids robustly increased the cleavage of APP- and Notch-like substrates in a dose-dependent manner. Reconstitution of gamma-secretase in complex lipid mixtures revealed that a lipid raft-like composition supported the highest level of activity compared with other membrane compositions. Taken together, these results demonstrate that membrane lipid composition is a direct and potent modulator of gamma-secretase and that cholesterol, in particular, plays a major regulatory role.     

Virological survey of rhesus monkeys in China

A virological survey of rhesus monkeys captured in China for 13 viruses and/or antibodies was performed. Antigens used were SFV, SF40, HSV-1, Sa11, measles, vaccinia, epidemic or simian hemorrhagic fever, Langat, Kunming, poliomyelitis, HIV, SV41 and rubella. Monkeys were from Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. Antibody was detected to all the listed viruses except HIV, SV41 and rubella. Both SFV and SV40 were recovered from monkeys, but H. simiae, LCM and coxsackieviruses were not.