B lymphocytes in renal interstitial fibrosis

Fibrosis is defined as an excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM), which leads to the destruction of organ structure and impairment of organ function. Fibrosis occurs not only in kidney but also in lung, liver, heart, and skin. Common pathways of fibrosis are thought to exist. Renal interstitial fibrosis is a complex process that involves multiple molecular signaling and multiple cellular components, in which B cells appear to be one of the emerging important players. B cells may affect fibrosis through cytokine production and through interaction with other cells including fibroblasts, macrophages and T cells. This review summarizes recent research findings of B cells in fibrosis and provides an insight of how the future therapeutics of fibrosis could be developed from a B-cell point of view.     

华东三省转Bt基因棉花种植对边际水体中Cry1Ab/c蛋白残留的影响

为调查转基因棉花种植地区边际水体中的Cry1Ab/c蛋白残留情况, 在华东地区的山东、江苏、安徽三省棉田设置采样点, 连续3年在棉花的花铃期和收获季节, 对棉区地块内部及周围边际水体随机采样, 进行去杂及纯化处理后, 利用ELISA (酶联免疫吸附测定)方法检测水样中的Cry1Ab/c蛋白含量。结果表明: (1)在花铃期和收获季前后两周, 分别在5个布控点边际水体中检出Cry1Ab/c蛋白, 其中1个布控点阳性蛋白残留浓度最高达到0.4 ppb, 另外4个布控点检测出的阳性蛋白量均在0.04 ppb以下; (2)距离棉田越近, 蛋白检出阳性率越高, 其中棉田内水渠阳性率为13.3%; (3)连续种植时间超过7年的田地周围水体中蛋白阳性率为12.4%。在所有取样时间点中, 与花铃期相比, 收获季更容易检测到阳性结果。这表明在转基因棉花产区, 应在收获季进行适当的指导和监控, 以预防和降低转基因棉花中Cry1Ab/c蛋白对边际水体的潜在影响。     

Modeling habitat distribution of Cornus officinalis with Maxent modeling and fuzzy logics in China

Aims Predicting suitable habitat distribution is an effective way to protect rare or endangered medicinal plants. Cornus officinalis is a perennial tree growing in forest edge and its air-dried pericarp is one of the traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) with significant medicinal values. In recent years, C. officinalis has undergone severe degeneration of its natural habitat owing to growing market demands and unprecedented damage to the forests. Moreover, the degeneration of suitable habitat has threatened the supply of medicinal materials, and even led to the extinction of some engendered medicinal plant species. In this case, there is a great risk to introduce and cultivate medicinal plants if planners determine the suitable cultivation regions based on personal subjective experience alone. Therefore, predicting suitable potential habitat distribution of medicinal plants (e.g. C. officinalis) and revealing the environmental factors determining such distribution patterns are important to habitat conservation and environmental restoration.Methods In this article, we report the results of a study on the habitat distribution of C. officinalis using maximum entropy (Maxent) modeling and fuzzy logics together with loganin content and environmental variables. The localities of 106 C. officinalis in China were collected by our group and other researchers and used as occurrence data. The loganin content of 234 C. officinalis germplasm resources were tested by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and used as content data. 79 environmental variables were selected and processed with multicollinearity test by using Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r) to determine a set of independent variables. The chosen variables were then processed in the fuzzy linear model according to the cell values (maximum, minimum) of localities with estimated loganin content. The SDMtoolbox was used to spatially rarefy occurrence data and prepare bias files. Furthermore, combined Maxent modeling and fuzzy logics were used to predict the suitable habitat of C. officinalis. The modeling result was validated using null-model method.Important findings As a result, six environmental factors including tmin3, prec3, bio4, alt, bio12 and bio3 were determined as key influential factors that mostly affected both the habitat suitability and active ingredient of C. officinalis. The highly suitable regions of C. officinalis mainly distribute in a 'core distribution zone' of the east-central China. The statistically significant AUC value indicated that combined Maxent modeling and fuzzy logics could be used to predict the suitable habitat distribution of medicinal plants. Furthermore, our results confirm that ecological factors played critical roles in assessing suitable geographical regions as well as active ingredient of plants, highlighting the need for effective habitat rehabilitation and resource conservation.     

拟南芥根毛衰老死亡过程的PCD检测

根毛是植物体吸收养分的重要器官, 自然条件下根毛的寿命很短, 仅能存活2–3周, 随即脱落死亡。以模式植物拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)根毛为材料, 对根毛死亡的细胞学特征进行了报道。结果发现, 根毛衰老死亡后细胞内的原生质体发生了收缩, 并在胞质中观察到凝集物的出现; 通过原位末端标记(TUNEL)检测, 发现幼根上的根毛细胞核DNA发生了片段化。上述结果表明, 拟南芥根毛的衰老死亡很可能是植物体自主调控的程序性细胞死亡(PCD)。另外, 当根毛衰老死亡后,细胞核大多会迁移到靠近根毛基部的位置, 且正常的长管状根毛发生旋转扭曲。     

林木分布格局多样性测度方法: 以阔叶红松林为例

林木分布格局是森林结构的重要组成部分, 直接影响森林生态系统的健康与稳定, 维持森林结构多样性被认为是保护生物多样性的最佳途径。本研究探讨了林木分布格局多样性的测度方法, 以期为揭示森林结构多样性提供理论依据。格局多样性研究的关键在于选择合适的生物多样性测度方法和具有分布属性的格局指数。本研究通过统计角尺度分布频率和Voronoi多边形边数分布频率, 运用Simpson指数分别计算角尺度多样性和Voronoi多边形边数分布多样性, 作为表达林木分布格局多样性指数的方法, 并以我国东北吉林蛟河的3个100 m × 100 m的阔叶红松(Pinus koreansis)林长期定位监测标准地为例, 分析了林木分布格局的多样性。结果表明: 无论是角尺度分布还是Voronoi多边形的边数分布都接近正态分布, 角尺度分布中随机分布林木的频数最多, 占55%以上; Voronoi多边形的类型多达10个以上, 50%以上的林木有5-6株最近相邻木。利用Simpson指数衡量林木格局多样性, 角尺度分布与Voronoi多边形的边数分布都显示出聚集分布的林分比随机分布林分的格局多样性高。研究还发现, 两种格局判定方法得出的Simpson指数值有所不同, 角尺度分布的多样性数值明显低于Voronoi多边形的边数分布的多样性数值, 主要原因是二者的等级数量不同。可见, 林木分布格局多样性研究应选择具有分布属性的格局指数, 但由于各指数反映的角度不同, 所以在分析比较不同林分格局多样性时应采用相同的分析方法。     

Reproductive isolation between sympatric sister species,Mussaenda kwangtungensis and M. pubescens var. alba

Reproductive isolation de fi nes the biological species concept and plays a key role in the formation and maintenance of species. The relative contributions of different isolating stages has been suggested to be closely associated with phylogenetic relatedness. Few studies have focused on the relative contributions of pre- versus postzygotic mechanisms, and even fewer have been conducted under strict phylogenetic frameworks. Pre- and post-zygotic reproductive isolation stages have been investigated in the sister species Mussaenda kwangtungensis and M. pubescens var. alba. The two species have partly overlapping distribution ranges and fl owering times, while the principal pollinators differed strikingly for them, demonstrating strong pre-zygotic isolations. Natural hybrids were detected by simple sequence repeat markers and their maternal parents were identi fi ed based on chloroplast gene sequences. Five out of 81 individuals were suggested to be hybrids that fall into the categories F2, BC1, and BC2 by theNew Hybrids analysis. Interspeci fi c crossings resulted in signi fi cantly reduced fruit set and seed germination rates.Phylogenetic analysis revealed short Kimura-2-parameter distance between M. kwangtungensis and M. pubescens var.alba. These fi ndings strongly supported the hypothesis that for species with a closer phylogenetic relationship, prezygotic isolation plays an important part in limiting gene exchange in sympatric areas.     

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing in human tripronuclear zygotes

Genome editing tools such as the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-associated system (Cas) have been widely used to modify genes in model systems including animal zygotes and human cells, and hold tremendous promise for both basic research and clinical applications. To date, a serious knowledge gap remains in our understanding of DNA repair mechanisms in human early embryos, and in the efficiency and potential off-target effects of using technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 in human pre-implantation embryos. In this report, we used tripronuclear (3PN) zygotes to further investigate CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing in human cells. We found that CRISPR/Cas9 could effectively cleave the endogenous β-globin gene (HBB). However, the efficiency of homologous recombination directed repair (HDR) of HBB was low and the edited embryos were mosaic. Off-target cleavage was also apparent in these 3PN zygotes as revealed by the T7E1 assay and whole-exome sequencing. Furthermore, the endogenous delta-globin gene (HBD), which is homologous to HBB, competed with exogenous donor oligos to act as the repair template, leading to untoward mutations. Our data also indicated that repair of the HBB locus in these embryos occurred preferentially through the non-crossover HDR pathway. Taken together, our work highlights the pressing need to further improve the fidelity and specificity of the CRISPR/Cas9 platform, a prerequisite for any clinical applications of CRSIPR/Cas9-mediated editing.