Functional Compartmentalization within Starburst Amacrine Cell Dendrites in the Retina

1. Download high-res image (153KB)
2. Download full-size image

     

A New Functional Site W115 in CdtA Is Critical for Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans Cytolethal Distending Toxin

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, a specific pathogen of localized aggressive periodontitis, produces a cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) that arrests eukaryotic cells irreversibly in G0/G1 or G2/M phase of the cell cycle. Although structural studies show that the aromatic patch region of CdtA plays an important role in its biological activity, the functional sites of CdtA have not been firmly established. In this study, site-specific mutagenesis strategy was employed for cdtA point mutations construction so as to examine the contributions of individual amino acids to receptor binding and the biological activity of holotoxin. The binding ability was reduced in CdtA^Y181ABC holotoxin and the biological function of CDT was not weaken in CdtA^Y105ABC, CdtA^Y125ABC, CdtA^F109ABC and CdtA^S106NBC holotoxin suggesting that these sites were not critical to CDT. But the binding activity and cell cycle arrest ability of holotoxin complexes were inhibited in CdtA^W115GBC. And this site did not affect the holotoxin assembly by size exclusion chromatography. Therefore, W115 might be a critical site of CdtA binding ability. These findings suggest that the functional sites of CdtA are not only in the aromatic patch region. W115, the new functional site is critical for receptor binding and cell cycle arrest, which provides potential targets for pharmacological disruption of CDT activity.     

MD Simulations and first principles to evaluate the role of binary Fe–V alloys layer on the radiation resistance in the alpha-iron

Radiation damage in reactor materials caused by the collision of the fast neutrons has a great impact on the reliability and safety of nuclear reactors. The element vanadium has attracted interest in many fields due to its advantageous properties in alloys. Thus, molecular dynamics simulation (MD) and first-principles calculation have been executed here to explore the radiation-resistant properties of five materials adding a layer in the bulk (pure iron and four types of Fe–V alloys containing 10%-40% V). The following results were inferred from these simulations. Firstly, the number of Frenkel pairs (FPs) at the stable quenching stage in the bulk decreases when the Fe–V alloy is added as an anti-radiation layer to the bulk. These benefits are evident for the Fe₈₀V₂₀ and alloy layers with more vanadium. The main reason is that the Fe–V binding energy is greater than the Fe-Fe binding energy, which can make the Primary Knock-On atom (PKA) lose more energy at the Fe–V alloy layer. Secondly, the average value of point-defect, cluster and defect clustered fractions in the bulk of Fe–V alloy is smaller than that in the pure iron at the stable quenching stage, especially for the Fe₈₀V₂₀ alloy.     

Infestation and Related Ecology of Chigger Mites on the Asian House Rat (Rattus tanezumi) in Yunnan Province,Southwest China

This paper is to illustrate the infestation and related ecological characteristics of chigger mites on the Asian house rat (Rattus tanezumi). A total of 17,221 chigger mites were collected from 2,761 R. tanezumi rats, and then identified as 131 species and 19 genera in 2 families. Leptotrombidium deliense, the most powerful vector of scrub typhus in China, was the first major dominant species on R. tanezumi. All the dominant mite species were of an aggregated distribution among different individuals of R. tanezumi. The species composition and infestations of chiggers on R. tanezumi varied along different geographical regions, habitats and altitudes. The species-abundance distribution of the chigger mite community was successfully fitted and the theoretical curve equation was Ŝ (R)=37e^−(0.28R)². The total chigger species on R. tanezumi were estimated to be 199 species or 234 species, and this further suggested that R. tanezumi has a great potential to harbor abundant species of chigger mites. The results of the species-plot relationship indicated that the chigger mite community on R. tanezumi in Yunnan was an uneven community with very high heterogeneity. Wide geographical regions with large host samples are recommended in the investigations of chigger mites.     

Pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial diversity in 14 wastewater treatment systems in china

To determine if there is a core microbial community in the microbial populations of different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and to investigate the effects of wastewater characteristics, operational parameters, and geographic locations on microbial communities, activated sludge samples were collected from 14 wastewater treatment systems located in 4 cities in China. High-throughput pyrosequencing was used to examine the 16S rRNA genes of bacteria in the wastewater treatment systems. Our results showed that there were 60 genera of bacterial populations commonly shared by all 14 samples, including Ferruginibacter, Prosthecobacter, Zoogloea, Subdivision 3 genera incertae sedis, Gp4, Gp6, etc., indicating that there is a core microbial community in the microbial populations of WWTPs at different geographic locations. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) results showed that the bacterial community variance correlated most strongly with water temperature, conductivity, pH, and dissolved oxygen (DO) content. Variance partitioning analyses suggested that wastewater characteristics had the greatest contribution to the bacterial community variance, explaining 25.7% of the variance of bacterial communities independently, followed by operational parameters (23.9%) and geographic location (14.7%). Results of this study provided insights into the bacterial community structure and diversity in geographically distributed WWTPs and discerned the relationships between bacterial community and environmental variables in WWTPs.     

棉花抗逆相关基因GhDr1的克隆及生物信息学分析

通过TAIL-PCR的方法从棉花中克隆到未知功能的新基因GhDr1,生物信息学分析结果表明,GhDr1的预测蛋白含有酪氨酸激酶和蛋白酶C磷酸化位点、潜在的锌指类功能模块、MAPK磷酸化位点及MAPK相互作用识别位点;与GhDr1同源基因位于同一基因簇的基因多为参与逆境信号转导的蛋白。推测GhDr1基因可能在逆境信号转导途径的磷酸化级联反应中被调节,参与棉花逆境应答的生理过程。     

肾缺血增强大鼠延髓腹外侧头端区神经元电话动和Fos蛋白表达

在67只切断两侧缓冲神经的麻醉Sprague-Dawley大鼠,应用细胞外记录的电生理方法和免疫组织化学技术,分别观察肾缺血对延髓腹外侧头端区巨细胞旁外侧核神经元自发放电活动和Fos蛋白表达的影响.所得结果如下(1)左肾动脉阻断后,28个单位的放电频率由11.40±1.08增至21.1±1.74spikes/s(P<0.001),血压和心率无明显变化(P>0.05);(2)在17个放电单位中,应用腺苷受体拮抗剂8-苯茶碱(8-phenyltheophylline,10mg/kg)可明显抑制肾缺血的兴奋效应(P<0.05);(3)肾缺血后,延髓腹外侧头端区的Fos蛋白样免疫反应神经元显著增加(P<0.01);(4)预先应用8-苯茶碱可明显减弱肾缺血所激活的Fos蛋白表达反应(P<0.05).以上结果提示肾缺血增强延髓腹外侧头端区神经元的放电活动和Fos蛋白表达,而此作用可能与肾脏缺血所产生的腺苷激活肾内感受器有关.     

心房利钠肽样免疫反应神经元在大鼠中脑和脑桥中某些锥体外系神经核内的分布

采用PAP免疫组织化学方法对大鼠中脑和脑桥内心房利钠肽(ANP)样免疫反应神经元的分布进行了研究,结果显示阳性神经元除存在于其他作者报导过的导水管周围灰质、Edinger-Westphal核、中缝核、脚间核和蓝斑核外,还存在于属于锥体外系的红核、黑质和脑桥核内,因此,推测脑内的ANP可能在锥外系对躯体运动的调节中起着一种神经递质或神经调质的作用。这为脑内ANP可能具有与液体和电解质平衡以及心血管功能的调节无关的其它作用提供了部分形态学证据。     

卵巢肿瘤中P-糖蛋白、谷胱甘肽S转移酶-π的表达及临床意义

目的研究P-糖蛋白(P-gp)、谷胱甘肽S转移酶π(GST-π)在卵巢肿瘤中的表达及其临床意义。方法采用S-P免疫组化方法,检测57例卵巢恶性肿瘤、8例正常卵巢与4例良性肿瘤中P-gp、GST-π的表达。结果P-gp在卵巢恶性肿瘤与正常卵巢及良性肿瘤中的表达有显著性差异,P-gp表达与恶性肿瘤分期、分级无关,而与组织学类型及化疗有关。GST-π的表达在卵巢恶性肿瘤与正常卵巢及良性肿瘤中的表达有显著性差异,与化疗有关,而与组织学类型、分期、分级无关。结论卵巢恶性肿瘤中存在着原发耐药,P-gp及GST-π的表达与化疗耐药高度相关。