北京地区热力景观格局及典型城市景观的热环境效应

城市热环境是城市生态环境中的一个重要指标,将景观生态学理论融入到热环境研究中,尝试探讨北京地区热力景观格局及城市公园、道路景观的热环境效应。地表温度反演是分析热力景观格局及典型城市景观热环境效应的前提,论文以北京地区为例,首先利用两景ASTER影像数据采用TES算法定量反演地表温度。通过半变异函数分析地表温度空间异质性,确定最大采样尺度,然后在景观统计软件Fragstats中,计算不同粒度下的景观格局指数,分析热力景观格局及其尺度效应。通过景观斑块特征分析和缓冲区分析,探讨公园景观斑块、道路景观廊道特征的热环境效应。总体上公园景观对应的平均温度随着公园面积、边界长度的增加而减小,随着公园周长面积比增大而增大;随着距离公园渐远,地表温度升高,且升温趋势变缓。随着道路密度增加,道路平均温度显著升高,标准差显著降低,道路密度等级与道路平均温度的相关系数达到0.8021;随着距离道路中心线距离增加,缓冲区内的平均温度略有下降,但变化微弱。因此,应充分重视公园景观在缓解城市热环境方面的作用,合理布局城市道路。     

Synthesis and antioxidant evaluation of novel silybin analogues

In this work, we evaluated the antioxidant properties of the eight novel silybin analogues for their capacity to scavenge free radicals including superoxide anion radicals and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals in vitro. Compound 7d demonstrated an excellent antioxidant effect in scavenging superoxide anion free radical with an IC₅₀ value of 26.5 μM, while the IC₅₀ of quercetin (the reference compound) was 38.1 μM. Compounds 7b, 7e, 7h showed certain scavenging activities for both types of free radicals.     

Crystal structure of Drosophila melanogaster tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase reveals insights into substrate recognition and catalytic mechanism

Tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) catalyzes the oxidative cleavage of the indole ring of l-tryptophan to N-formylkynurenine in the kynurenine pathway, and is considered as a drug target for cancer immunotherapy. Here, we report the first crystal structure of a eukaryotic TDO from Drosophila melanogaster (DmTDO) in complex with heme at 2.7 Å resolution. DmTDO consists of an N-terminal segment, a large domain and a small domain, and assumes a tetrameric architecture. Compared with prokaryotic TDOs, DmTDO contains two major insertion sequences: one forms part of the heme-binding site and the other forms a large portion of the small domain. The small domain which is unique to eukaryotic TDOs, interacts with the active site of an adjacent monomer and plays a role in the catalysis. Molecular modeling and dynamics simulation of DmTDO-heme-Trp suggest that like prokaryotic TDOs, DmTDO adopts an induced-fit mechanism to bind l-Trp; in particular, two conserved but flexible loops undergo conformational changes, converting the active site from an open conformation to a closed conformation. The functional roles of the key residues involved in recognition and binding of the heme and the substrate are verified by mutagenesis and kinetic studies. In addition, a modeling study of DmTDO in complex with the competitive inhibitor LM10 provides useful information for further inhibitor design. These findings reveal insights into the substrate recognition and the catalysis of DmTDO and possibly other eukaryotic TDOs and shed lights on the development of effective anti-TDO inhibitors.     

绢丝丽蚌胚胎发育的研究

绢丝丽蚌卵为均黄卵,爱精卵在雌蚌外鳃中进行胚胎发育,其卵裂为不等完全卵裂。在秋季自然常湿（水温变幅为２４－８℃）时,胚胎发育历时５１ｄ,经过卵裂期、原肠期,发育为具有透明原壳、过钩、闭壳肌丝、内足丝、刚毛和外足丝的成熟钩介幼虫。胚胎发育的不同时期与外鳃特征具相关性。     

Spry1 and Spry4 Differentially Regulate Human Aortic Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype via Akt/FoxO/Myocardin Signaling

Background

Changes in the vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) contractile phenotype occur in pathological states such as restenosis and atherosclerosis. Multiple cytokines, signaling through receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) and PI3K/Akt and MAPK/ERK pathways, regulate these phenotypic transitions. The Spry proteins are feedback modulators of RTK signaling, but their specific roles in VSMC have not been established.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here, we report for the first time that Spry1, but not Spry4, is required for maintaining the differentiated state of human VSMC in vitro. While Spry1 is a known MAPK/ERK inhibitor in many cell types, we found that Spry1 has little effect on MAPK/ERK signaling but increases and maintains Akt activation in VSMC. Sustained Akt signaling is required for VSMC marker expression in vitro, while ERK signaling negatively modulates Akt activation and VSMC marker gene expression. Spry4, which antagonizes both MAPK/ERK and Akt signaling, suppresses VSMC differentiation marker gene expression. We show using siRNA knockdown and ChIP assays that FoxO3a, a downstream target of PI3K/Akt signaling, represses myocardin promoter activity, and that Spry1 increases, while Spry4 decreases myocardin mRNA levels.

Conclusions

Together, these data indicate that Spry1 and Spry4 have opposing roles in VSMC phenotypic modulation, and Spry1 maintains the VSMC differentiation phenotype in vitro in part through an Akt/FoxO/myocardin pathway.     

Protein meta-functional signatures from combining sequence, structure, evolution, and amino acid property information

Protein function is mediated by different amino acid residues, both their positions and types, in a protein sequence. Some amino acids are responsible for the stability or overall shape of the protein, playing an indirect role in protein function. Others play a functionally important role as part of active or binding sites of the protein. For a given protein sequence, the residues and their degree of functional importance can be thought of as a signature representing the function of the protein. We have developed a combination of knowledge- and biophysics-based function prediction approaches to elucidate the relationships between the structural and the functional roles of individual residues and positions. Such a meta-functional signature (MFS), which is a collection of continuous values representing the functional significance of each residue in a protein, may be used to study proteins of known function in greater detail and to aid in experimental characterization of proteins of unknown function. We demonstrate the superior performance of MFS in predicting protein functional sites and also present four real-world examples to apply MFS in a wide range of settings to elucidate protein sequence-structure-function relationships. Our results indicate that the MFS approach, which can combine multiple sources of information and also give biological interpretation to each component, greatly facilitates the understanding and characterization of protein function.     

外源木聚糖酶在枯草芽胞杆菌中信号肽筛选

[目的]本试验旨在筛选引导表达外源木聚糖酶基因高效分泌的信号肽,为枯草芽胞杆菌木聚糖酶高效分泌表达系统提供元件.[方法]构建信号肽筛选载体,载体是以含壮观霉素抗性基因的大肠-枯草穿梭载体为基本骨架,目标蛋白为耐碱性木聚糖酶,可在麦芽糖启动子Pglv诱导下表达.从枯草芽胞杆菌A1747基因组中扩增获得24个Sec途径信号肽,并将其全部链接到至筛选载体上,并在枯草芽胞杆菌WB700中实现表达分泌.重组菌在3%麦芽糖诱导下培养24h后用DNS法测定上清酶活.[结果]成功构建信号肽筛选载体pGPSX及24个表达载体,实现木聚糖酶表达分泌.且不同信号肽对于引导外源木聚糖酶分泌能力不同,其中YnfF信号肽引导分泌目标蛋白效率最高,上清酶活为37.2IU/mL.[结论]试验证明在枯草杆菌中对外源蛋白进行信号肽筛选是提高其分泌的有效途径,并获得了针对木聚糖酶高效分泌信号肽YnfF.     

A NEW AND PRACTICAL ARTIFICIAL DIET FOR THE COTTON BOLL-WORM*

Abstract A new and practical artificial diet for the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), containing canned tomato paste has been developed. The developmental duration of larvae fed on the diet was greatly shortened because most of them only went through 5 stadia before pupation. To add certain amount of mung bean flour to partly substitute for wheat germ in the diet was beneficial to the adult reproduction. During rearing period of 12 successive generations, 87. 5%-98. 7% of the larvae survived and only less than 5 % of the pupae failed to emerge. The number of egg laid by the adults of the 11th generation averaged about 1 000/female, with a hatching rate of 86. 5%. These results suggested that the vitality of the cotton bollworm did not decline obviously after reared with the diet for two years.