Replication Study of ESCC Susceptibility Genetic Polymorphisms Locating in the ADH1B-ADH1C-ADH7 Cluster Identified by GWAS

China was one of the countries with highest esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) incidence and mortality worldwide. Alcohol drinking has been identified as a major environmental risk-factor related to ESCC. The alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) family are major enzymes involved in the alcohol-metabolizing pathways, including alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) and ADH1C. Interestingly, ADH1B and ADH1C genes locate tandemly with ADH7 in a genomic segment as a gene cluster, and are all polymorphic. Several ESCC susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the ADH1B-ADH1C-ADH7 cluster have been identified previously through a genome-wide association study (GWAS). In the study, we examined the association between five ADH1B-ADH1C-ADH7 cluster SNPs (rs1042026, rs17033, rs1614972, rs1789903 and rs17028973) and risk of developing ESCC. Genotypes were determined in two independent case-control sets from two regions of China. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by logistic regression. Our data demonstrated that these ADH1B-ADH1C-ADH7 cluster SNPs confer susceptibility to ESCC in these two case-control sets, which were consistent to results of the previous GWAS.     

Population size estimation in a two-list surveillance system with a discrete covariate

Summary .   Capture–recapture methods are widely adopted to estimate sizes of populations of public health interest using information from surveillance systems. For a two-list surveillance system with a discrete covariate, a population is divided into several subpopulations. A unified framework is proposed in which the logits of presence probabilities are decomposed into case effects and list effects. The estimators for the whole population and subpopulation sizes, their adjusted versions, and asymptotic standard errors admit closed-form expressions. Asymptotic and bootstrap individual and simultaneous confidence intervals are easily constructed. Conditional likelihood ratio tests are used to select one from three possible models. Real examples are investigated.     

Compensatory role for Rad52 during recombinational repair in Ustilago maydis

A single Rad52-related protein is evident by blast analysis of the Ustilago maydis genome database. Mutants created by disruption of the structural gene exhibited few discernible defects in resistance to UV, ionizing radiation, chemical alkylating or cross-linking agents. No deficiency was noted in spontaneous mutator activity, allelic recombination or meiosis. GFP-Rad51 foci were formed in rad52 cells following DNA damage, but were initially less intense than normal suggesting a possible role for Rad52 in formation of the Rad51 nucleoprotein filament. A search for interacting genes that confer a synthetic fitness phenotype with rad52 after DNA damage by UV irradiation identified the genes for Mph1, Ercc1 and the Rad51 paralogue Rec2. Testing known mutants in recombinational repair revealed an additional interaction with the BRCA2 orthologue Brh2. Suppression of the rec2 mutant's UV sensitivity by overexpressing Brh2 was found to be dependent on Rad52. The results suggest that Rad52 serves in an overlapping, compensatory role with both Rec2 and Brh2 to promote and maintain formation of the Rad51 nucleoprotein filament.     

甲壳动物精子学研究概况Ⅱ. 精子发生与精子的生化组成

在前文阐述了甲壳动物精子形态和结构的基础上,本文着重概述其精子发生与精子的生化组成.     

耐热性碱性磷酸酯酶作为非放射性标记物的研究

通过生物素与亲和素－酶复合物系统或地高辛与抗地高辛－酶复合物系统可把酶间接标记到探针上．Ｒｅｎｚ等通过不同的化学方法直接把酶标记到探针上［１～３］．耐热性碱性磷酸酯酶ＦＤ－ＴＡＰ（ｔｈｅｒｍｏｓｔａｂｌｅａｌｋａｌｉｎｅｐｈｏｓｐｈａｔａｓｅ）具有耐...     

miR319在植物器官发育中的调控作用

microRNAs(miRNAs)是一类内源性的、21~25个碱基长度的小分子非编码RNA,它通过指导剪切或者抑制翻译等方式调节植物基因的表达,参与调控植物生长发育各个方面。大量研究表明,miR319通过靶向TCPs转录因子控制植物叶、花等器官的生长命运,并参与调控部分激素生物合成和信号传导通路,在植物发育过程中发挥重要生物学功能。文章综述了miR319在植物叶形态建成、生长发育以及叶衰老和花器官发育等过程中的重要调控作用。     

An Improved Method of Gene Synthesis Based on DNA Works Software and Overlap Extension PCR

A bottleneck in recent gene synthesis technologies is the high cost of oligonucleotide synthesis and post-synthesis sequencing. In this article, a simple and rapid method for low-cost gene synthesis technology was developed based on DNAWorks program and an improved single-step overlap extension PCR (OE-PCR). This method enables any DNA sequence to be synthesized with few errors, then any mutated sites could be corrected by site-specific mutagenesis technology or PCR amplification-assembly method, which can amplify different DNA fragments of target gene followed by assembly into an entire gene through their overlapped region. Eventually, full-length DNA sequence without error was obtained via this novel method. Our method is simple, rapid and low-cost, and also easily amenable to automation based on a DNAWorks design program and defined set of OE-PCR reaction conditions suitable for different genes. Using this method, several genes including Manganese peroxidase gene (Mnp) of Phanerochaete chrysosporium (P. chrysosporium), Laccase gene (Lac) of Trametes versicolor (T. versicolor) and Cip1 peroxidase gene (cip 1) of Coprinus cinereus (C. cinereus) with sizes ranging from 1.0 kb to 1.5 kb have been synthesized successfully. Bingxue Dong and Runqian Mao contributed equally to this work.     

光质、光强和光期对水母雪莲愈伤组织生长和黄酮生物合成的影响

白光、蓝光、红光和远红光等不同光质照射及不同的白光强度对水母雪莲愈伤组织生长、苯丙氨酸氨基裂解酶（ＰＡＬ） 活性及黄酮合成有不同的影响。红光明显促进愈伤组织的生长,但强烈抑制ＰＡＬ活性和黄酮的合成。蓝光对愈伤组织生长无明显影响,但显著提高ＰＡＬ 活性和黄酮的合成。白光的作用介于红光和蓝光之间。远红光的作用与蓝光相似,但作用比较弱。每天１６ ｈ 蓝光加８ ｈ 白光和８ ｈ 蓝光加１６ ｈ 白光的组合产生最高的黄酮含量和黄酮生产率。     

Caspase细胞凋亡通路及其在水生无脊椎动物的研究进展

半胱天冬氨酸酶(caspase)普遍存在于真核生物,在细胞凋亡中具有重要作用,广泛参与胚胎发育、炎症反应、器官发生、变态过程及自稳态维持等多种生理过程。caspase级联反应将细胞外信号传递到细胞内,水解底物蛋白或激活转录因子发挥作用。目前,细胞凋亡通路在哺乳动物的作用机制已有大量的报道,但对水生无脊椎的研究相对较少。综述caspase细胞凋亡通路及其在水生无脊椎动物的研究进展。