Tagging and mapping the thermo-sensitive genic male-sterile gene in rice (Oryza sativa L.) with molecular markers

The thermo-sensititve genic male-sterile (TGMS) gene in rice can alter fertility in response to temperature and is useful in the two-line system of hybrid rice production. However, little is known about the TGMS gene at the molecular level. The objective of this study was to identify molecular markers tightly linked with the TGMS gene and to map the gene onto a specific rice chromosome. Bulked segregant analysis of an F₂ population from 5460s (a TGMS mutant line) x Hong Wan 52 was used to identify RAPD markers linked to the rice TGMS gene. Four hundred RAPD primers were screened for polymorphisms between the parents and between two bulks representing fertile and sterile plants; of these, 4 primers produced polymorphic products. Most of the polymorphic fragments contained repetitive sequences. Only one singlecopy sequence fragment was found, a 1.2-kb fragment amplified by primer OPB-19 and subsequently named TGMS1.2. TGMS1.2 was mapped on chromosome 8 with a RIL population and confirmed by remapping with a DHL population. Segregation analysis using TGMS1.2 as a probe indicated that TGMS1.2 both consegregated and was lined with the TGMS gene in this population. It is located about 6.7 cM from the TGMS gene. As TGMS1.2 is linked to the TGMS gene, the TGMS gene must be located on chromosome 8.This research was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and China National High-Tech Research and Development Program. The first author is a Rockefeller Career Fellow at Texas Tech University     

正常人各年龄组染色体着丝粒点(Cd)研究

本文运用本室改良的Cd-NOR银染技术对80例4个年龄组的正常中国人的Cd变化进行了较系统的研究, 结果表明:(1)正常人随年龄增加,Cd消失的频率、Cd变异及Cd-NOR融合频率也相应增加,特别是Ⅲ、Ⅳ组(中、老年组)增加的频率尤为显著;(2)首次对Cd消失的过程提出了独特的观点,即Cd消失首先表现为Cd变小, 随着变小程度的加大,最终导致Cd消失;(3)在本研究中首次观察到单个Cd的现象,作者认为是细胞分裂中期染色体着丝一分为二的延迟现象。各年龄组间单Cd出现频率无统计学差异,同一年龄组中,2号染色体和1号染色体上单Cd出现频率显著高于理论值;(4)随年龄增高,Cd各项观察值的增高在男性与女性间未见明显的差异。 Abstract:The Cd variation of human chromosome in four groups of different age has been investigated.The result shows that the frequencies of Cd disappearing,size variation and Cd-NOR fusion increased with the age rising,especially in the group of aged people.We suggest that the variation of Cd shows the size changes first,and then disappears completely.We also observed some cells in which a few chromosomes shows only a single Cd in centromeric region.Cd variation in different age groups has no significant difference between the male and the female.     

Analysis of the loop-helix interaction in bundle motif protein structures

Molecular dynamics simulations and energy analysis have been carried out to study the structural mobility and stability of the four -helix bundle motifs. The simulation results as well as the X-ray data show that the atomic RMS fluctuation is larger at the loop region for four representative proteins investigated: methemerythrin, cytochrome b-562, cytochrome c, and bovine somatotropin. The loop-loop, helix-helix, and loop-helix interactions are computed for the unfolded and folded proteins. In the folded and solvated protein structures the loop-helix interaction is stronger than the helix-helix interaction, especially in the electrostatic component. But the stabilization energies of both the loop-helix and the helix-helix interactions relative to the those of an unfolded structure are of the same order of magnitude. The stabilization due to protein-solvent interaction is greater in the helix region than in the loop region. The percentage of hydrophilic solvent accessible area for the four proteins studied was calculated with the method of Eisenberg and McLachlan. The percentage of the hydrophilic area is greater in the loops than in the helices. A Poisson-Boltzmann calculation shows that the potential from the loops acting on a helix is generally more negative than that from other helices.     

周口店地区仓鼠材料的重新观察

经重新鉴定,周口店地区第四纪期间共有4属7种仓鼠,包括大型种类Allocricetus ehiki、A. teilhardi sp. nov. 及Cricetinus varians和小型种类Cricetulus longicaudatus, C. barabensis griseus, C. b. obscurus, C. cf. migratorius, Phodopus sp.其中A. ehiki-A. teilhardi sp. nov.,C. varians-现生种“C.”triton及小型仓鼠可能分别和中国新第三纪晚期的Sinocricetus, Kowalskia等有较密切的亲缘关系。     

Mitotic arrest and enhanced nuclear protein phosphorylation in human leukemia K562 cells by okadaic acid, a potent protein phosphatase inhibitor and tumor promoter.

We investigated the effects of the non-phorbol tumor promoter okadaic acid on human leukemia K562 cells. It was found that okadaic acid potently and reversibly inhibited cell growth, with a nearly complete inhibition of thymidine uptake seen at about 10 nM. The cytotoxicity of okadaic acid was characterized by a marked mitotic arrest of the cells exhibiting scattered chromosomes and abnormal anaphase-like structures, a phenomenon distinct from the typical metaphase arrest caused by colchicine. Okadaic acid (10-1,000 nM) greatly stimulated phosphorylation of a number of nuclear proteins in K562 cells. Phosphorylation of many of the same proteins was also stimulated by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-O-acetate, a protein kinase C activator. The present findings, consistent with recent reports that okadaic acid is a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A (PP1 and PP2A) shown to be essential for normal mitosis, provided evidence for the first time that okadaic acid inhibition of PP1/PP2A resulted in enhanced nuclear protein phosphorylation and subsequent mitotic arrest.     

Tyr60 variants of Flp recombinase generate conformationally altered protein-DNA complexes. Differential activity in full-site and half-site recombinations

The tyrosine at position 60 of the Flp recombinase of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae plasmid, 2 mu circle, is invariant among site-specific recombinases of the "yeast plasmid family". Alterations of this residue give rise to Flp variants that show no recombination activity when assayed in vivo in Escherichia coli. Upon purification, they bind substrate, execute DNA cleavage and catalyze recombination. The efficiency of strand cleavage follows the order: Flp(Y60F) greater than Flp greater than Flp(Y60S) greater than Flp(Y60D); efficiency of recombination between Flp sites on a linear substrate and a circular one follows the order: Flp greater than Flp(Y60F) greater than Flp(Y60S) greater than Flp(Y60D). Methylation footprints of the DNA-protein complexes formed by two of the Flp variants, Flp(Y60S) and Flp(Y60D), do not show hypermethylation of the G residues within the substrate core that is characteristic of complexes formed by wild-type Flp. The third variant, Flp(Y60F), causes significant distortion (although less than wild-type Flp) of the substrate core, as indicated by enhanced G-methylation. Binding profiles with circularly permuted substrates indicate that Flp(Y60S) and Flp(Y60D), but not Flp(Y60F), are defective in bending substrate DNA. In recombination between two Flp half-sites, the variant proteins are significantly more active than in normal full-site recombination.     

人源性流行性出血热病毒的形态特征

本文报道流行性出血热病毒(汉坦病毒)H-114株的电镜形态。发现形态发生以内质网膜和胞浆膜芽生为主。病毒颗粒为圆形或卵圆形。具有双层膜结构,大小为90～120nm。提出了汉坦病毒形态发生的理论观点。     

甲肝病毒在人血白细胞中体外连续传代和在分类白细胞中增殖的研究

1985年我们采用间接免疫荧光法(IF法)检测出甲肝患者外周血白细胞中有甲肝抗原(HAAg)存在,继而又将HAAg阳性白细胞直接种入PLC/PRF/5细胞,分离到两株甲肝病毒(HAV)NJ—3株和H—1株。为了弄清白细胞所携带的病毒究竟仅为吸附吞饮,抑或能在其中复制增殖,我们将分离到的HAV用正常人血白细胞进行体外增殖试验,现将结果报告如下。