《细胞》：DNA突变开启细胞程序性死亡

耶鲁大学医学院，浙江大学遗传学研究院的研究人员发表了题为”Mitoehondrial Stress Engages E2F1 Apoptotie Signaling to Cause Deafnesstt的文章，发现线粒体DNA突变能开启一种信号级联放大过程，从而导致细胞程序性死亡，这揭示了母系遗传学耳聋的病理分子途径，相关成果公布在2月17日Cell杂志上。     

鞘脂代谢关键酶丝氨酸棕榈酰转移酶的结构、功能及其相关疾病

鞘脂(sphingolipids)是生物细胞中最主要的膜脂之一，同时也作为信号分子介导细胞生长、增殖、迁移及死亡等重要的生理反应，异常鞘脂代谢经常与心血管疾病、糖尿病、癌症、神经变性病以及自身免疫性疾病等相关。丝氨酸棕榈酰转移酶(serine palmitoyltransferase, SPT)及其复合物是鞘脂从头合成途径的起始酶和关键酶，催化L-丝氨酸与棕榈酰辅酶A缩合形成3-酮二氢鞘氨醇，之后再经过一系列反应生成神经酰胺和其它重要的鞘脂，在鞘脂代谢和稳态调节方面发挥重要作用。本文基于国内外对SPT的研究，综述了SPT的构型、活性位点、底物结合位点等关键的结构信息，尤其近2年的研究发现，SPT是一种组成极其复杂的酶，各个亚基之间存在错综复杂的相互作用和高度调控。SPT具有重要的生物学功能，包括参与胚胎发育、调节内环境稳态、诱导细胞凋亡和参与机体免疫调节等。SPT还可以通过调节酶活性影响鞘脂代谢，进而影响血管疾病和肿瘤的发生发展，并有潜力成为肿瘤诊断和治疗的关键分子。此外，SPT突变体与神经变性病密切相关，本文着重介绍了遗传性感觉与自主神经病变1型(hereditary sensory...     

带偏差变元的时滞微分模型的全局吸引性

本文考虑带偏差变元的红血球生存模型获得了其正平衡N~*是全局吸引子的充分条件，它推广和改进了文献〔2〕，〔3〕和〔4〕的结果．     

海底玄武岩玻璃中蚀变微结构:探索海洋深地生物圈的新材料

玄武岩玻璃中的生物蚀变微结构为微生物摄取玄武岩玻璃中营养成分,通过新陈代谢产生有机酸溶解玄武岩玻璃而形成的微米级孔洞或钻穴.生物蚀变微结构在现代海洋洋壳及代表古老洋壳残片的蛇绿岩和绿岩带中广泛存在.研究玄武岩玻璃中蚀变微结构的形态特征、形成机制及其时空分布,不仅对探索地球早期生命起源和演化具有重要启示意义,也为研究海洋...     

Mechano-Stimulation Triggers Turgor Changes Associated with Trap Closure in the Darwin Plant Dionaea muscipula

The Darwin plant, also known as the Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, has fascinated people since Darwin＇s time. The plant lives in nutrient-poor habitats but has been able to overcome the limitations of its surroundings by evolving a carnivorous lifestyle, particularly by modifying its leaves into active traps to catch animals. When flies, ants, or other small animals touch mechano-sensitive hairs protruding from the inner surface of the bi-lobed trap, it shuts within a fraction of a second.     

A splice variant of PGRP-LC required for expression of antimicrobial peptides in Anopheles gambiae

Members of the peptidoglycan recognition protein （PGRP） family play essential roles in different manifestations of immune responses in insects. PGRP-LC, one of seven members of this family in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae produced several spliced variants. Here we show that PGRP-LC, and not other members of the PGRP family nor the six members of the Gram-negative binding protein families, is required for the expression of antimicrobial peptide genes （such as CEC1 and GAM1） under the control of the Imd-Rel2 pathway in an A. gambiae cell line, 4a3A. PGRP-LC produces many splice variants that can be classified into three sub-groups （LC1, LC2 and LC3）, based on the carboxyl terminal sequences. RNA interference against one LC1 sub-group resulted in dramatic reduction of CEC1 and GAM1. Over-expression of LCla and to a lesser extent LC3a （a member of the LC1 and LC3 sub-group, respectively） in the 4a3A cell line enhances the expression of CEC1 and GAM1. These results demonstrate that the LC1-subgroup splice variants are essential for the expression of CEC1 and GAM1 in A. gambiae cell line.