Indexing serum and mucous biochemical parameters of endangered Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis with implications for health assessment

The Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) is a critically endangered aquatic fish. Health monitoring and welfare assessments are critical for the conservation of Chinese sturgeon. In this study, biochemical parameters of serum and skin mucus in Chinese sturgeon were examined to evaluate the potential biomarkers. Serum and mucous samples were obtained from Chinese sturgeon, and the levels of total protein (TP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), lactic acid (LD), acid phosphatase (ACP), lysozyme (LYZ), glucose (GLU), and cortisol were determined. The concentrations of ALT, AST, cortisol, and LYZ were significantly higher in the mucous group than those in the serum group (p < 0.05). In addition, the concentrations of ALP, ACP, LD, LDH, CK, and TP were significantly higher level in the serum group than those in the mucous group (p < 0.05). Moreover, the correlations between serum and mucous biochemical parameters were established. Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation between serum and skin mucous markers (ACP, cortisol, and LYZ). AST versus ALT in serum and mucus showed a significant positive correlation (p < 0.01). A significant positive correlation was found between cortisol and CK in mucus (p < 0.01). Moreover, LD versus LDH in serum showed a significant but weak positive correlation (p < 0.01). Principal component analysis revealed a complete separation between the serum and mucous groups, with the biomarkers that contributed the most being ALP, TP, ALT, and AST. This study provides baseline data and reference intervals for serum and mucous biochemical parameters in presumably healthy Chinese sturgeons. The current study has important implications for the development of conservation strategies and the conservation status of critically endangered species.     

腈转化酶在精细化学品生产中的应用

腈化合物是一类重要的用于合成多种精细化学品的化合物,它们容易制备,并且可以合成多种化合物。传统化学水解方法将腈化合物转化为相应的羧酸或酰胺通常需要高温、强酸、强碱等相对苛刻的条件,腈转化酶(腈水解酶、腈水合酶和酰胺酶)由于其生物催化过程具有高效、高选择性、条件温和等特点,在精细化学品的合成中越来越受到人们的关注。许多腈转化酶已经被开发出来并用于精细化学品的生产。以下介绍了腈转化酶在医药及中间体、农药及中间体、食品与饲料添加剂等精细化学品生产中的应用。随着研究的不断深入,将会有更多的腈转化酶被开发出来并用于精细化学品的生产。     

Dysfunction of CYC2g is responsible for the evolutionary shift from radiate to disciform flowerheads in the Chrysanthemum group (Asteraceae: Anthemideae)

Evolutionary shifts among radiate, disciform and discoid flowerheads have occurred repeatedly in a number of major lineages across the Asteraceae phylogeny; such transitions may also appear within evolutionarily young groups. Although several studies have demonstrated that CYC2 genes partake in regulating floral morphogenesis in Asteraceae, the evolution of capitulum forms within a recently diverging lineage has remained poorly understood. Here, we study the molecular regulation of the shift from a radiate to a disciform capitulum within the Chrysanthemum group. This is a recently radiating group mainly comprising two genera, Chrysanthemum and Ajania, that are phylogenetically intermingled but distinct in flowerhead morphology: Chrysanthemum spp. with radiate capitula and Ajania spp. with disciform capitula. We found that the morphogenesis of zygomorphy in the marginal floret in Ajania was disrupted soon after floral primordium emergence; CYC2g, one of the CYC2 copies that was expressed prominently in the ray floret of Chrysanthemum was not expressed in flowerheads of Ajania. Weakening the expression of ClCYC2g in Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium led to the gradual transition of a ray flower toward the disc-like form. Molecular evolutionary analyses indicated that the disciform capitulum might have evolved only once, approximately 8 Mya, arising from dysfunction of the CYC2g orthologs. A 20-nt deletion, including a putative TATA-box of the Ajania-type CYC2g promoter, appeared to inhibit the expression of the gene. Considering the divergent habitats of Chrysanthemum and Ajania, we propose that the shift from radiate to disciform capitulum must have been related to changes in pollination strategies under selective pressure.     

华东稻麦轮作生态系统的N2O排放研究

根据对华东稻麦轮作周期的N2 O排放及其影响因子的连续观测结果 ,分析了N2 O排放时间变化以及施肥、灌溉、温度、土壤湿度和土壤速效N素含量对N2 O排放的影响 ,同时还比较分析了稻田N2 O和CH4排放 .研究结果表明 ,稻麦轮作周期内 ,水稻生长季的N2 O排放量仅占 30 % ,稻田持续淹水可比常规灌溉增加CH4排放量 2 6% ,减少N2 O排放量 1 1～ 2 6% .     

Biophysical and molecular mechanisms underlying the modulation of heteromeric Kir4.1-Kir5.1 channels by CO2 and pH

CO2 chemoreception may be related to modulation of inward rectifier K+ channels (Kir channels) in brainstem neurons. Kir4.1 is expressed predominantly in the brainstem and inhibited during hypercapnia. Although the homomeric Kir4.1 only responds to severe intracellular acidification, coexpression of Kir4.1 with Kir5.1 greatly enhances channel sensitivities to CO2 and pH. To understand the biophysical and molecular mechanisms underlying the modulation of these currents by CO2 and pH, heteromeric Kir4. 1-Kir5.1 were studied in inside-out patches. These Kir4.1-Kir5.1 currents showed a single channel conductance of 59 pS with open-state probability (P(open)) approximately 0.4 at pH 7.4. Channel activity reached the maximum at pH 8.5 and was completely suppressed at pH 6.5 with pKa 7.45. The effect of low pH on these currents was due to selective suppression of P(open) without evident effects on single channel conductance, leading to a decrease in the channel mean open time and an increase in the mean closed time. At pH 8.5, single-channel currents showed two sublevels of conductance at approximately 1/4 and 3/4 of the maximal openings. None of them was affected by lowering pH. The Kir4.1-Kir5.1 currents were modulated by phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) that enhanced baseline P(open) and reduced channel sensitivity to intracellular protons. In the presence of 10 microM PIP2, the Kir4.1-Kir5.1 showed a pKa value of 7.22. The effect of PIP2, however, was not seen in homomeric Kir4.1 currents. The CO2/pH sensitivities were related to a lysine residue in the NH2 terminus of Kir4.1. Mutation of this residue (K67M, K67Q) completely eliminated the CO2 sensitivity of both homomeric Kir4.1 and heteromeric Kir4.1-Kir5.1. In excised patches, interestingly, the Kir4.1-Kir5.1 carrying K67M mutation remained sensitive to low pHi. Such pH sensitivity, however, disappeared in the presence of PIP2. The effect of PIP2 on shifting the titration curve of wild-type and mutant channels was totally abolished when Arg178 in Kir5.1 was mutated. Thus, these studies demonstrate a heteromeric Kir channel that can be modulated by both acidic and alkaline pH, show the modulation of pH sensitivity of Kir channels by PIP2, and provide information of the biophysical and molecular mechanisms underlying the Kir modulation by intracellular protons.     

Dielectric screening effect of electronic polarization and intramolecular hydrogen bonding

Recent site‐resolved hydrogen exchange measurements have uncovered significant discrepancies between simulations and experimental data during protein folding, including the excessive intramolecular hydrogen bonds in simulations. This finding indicates a possibility that intramolecular charge–charge interactions have not included sufficient dielectric screening effect of the electronic polarization. Scaling down peptide atomic charges according to the optical dielectric constant is tested in this study. As a result, the number of intramolecular hydrogen bonds is lower than using unscaled atomic charges while reaching the same levels of helical contents or β‐hairpin backbone hydrogen bonds, because van der Waals interactions contribute substantially to peptide folding in water. Reducing intramolecular charge–charge interactions and hydrogen bonding increases conformational search efficiency. In particular, it reduces the equilibrium helical content in simulations using AMBER force field and the energy barrier in folding simulations using CHARMM force field.     

Improved detection of small deletions in complex pools of DNA

About 40% of the genes in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have homologs in humans. Based on the history of this model system, it is clear that the application of genetic methods to the study of this set of genes would provide important clues to their function in humans. To facilitate such genetic studies, we are engaged in a project to derive deletion alleles in every gene in this set. Our standard methods make use of nested PCR to hunt for animals in mutagenized populations that carry deletions at a given locus. The deletion bearing animals exist initially in mixed populations where the majority of the animals are wild type at the target. Therefore, the production of the PCR fragment representing the deletion allele competes with the production of the wild type fragment. The size of the deletion fragment relative to wild type determines whether it can compete to a level where it can be detected above the background. Using our standard conditions, we have found that when the deletion is <600 bp, the deletion fragment does not compete effectively with the production of the wild type fragment in PCR. Therefore, although our standard methods work well to detect mutants with deletions >600 bp, they do not work well to detect mutants with smaller deletions. Here we report a new strategy to detect small deletion alleles in complex DNA pools. Our new strategy is a modification of our standard PCR based screens. In the first round of the nested PCR, we include a third PCR primer between the two external primers. The presence of this third primer leads to the production of three fragments from wild type DNA. We configure the system so that two of these three fragments cannot serve as a template in the second round of the nested PCR. The addition of this third primer, therefore, handicaps the amplification from wild type template. On the other hand, the amplification of mutant fragments where the binding site for the third primer is deleted is unabated. Overall, we see at least a 500-fold increase in the sensitivity for small deletion fragments using our new method. Using this new method, we report the recovery of new deletion alleles within 12 C.elegans genes.     

地衣芽孢杆菌2709碱性蛋白酶编码序列的PCR扩增、克隆及序列测定

在地衣芽孢杆菌NCIB 6816菌株碱性蛋白酶基因已知序列的基础上,通过设计合适的引物,利用PCR(Polymerase Chain Reaction)技术从地衣芽孢杆菌2709菌株的柒色体DNA中扩增了2709碱性蛋白酶的编码序列。对两个克隆的PCR片段的全序列分析结果显示,2709碱性蛋白酶的编码序列同相应的NCIB 6816序列相比有3％左右的碱基组成差异。由此推定的2709碱性蛋白酶的氨基酸序列肯定了2709碱性蛋白酶属典型的subtilisin Carlsberg类,同时还表明来源于不同地衣芽孢杆菌菌株的subtilisin Carlsberg存在着若干氨基酸组成上的差异。