Association between VDR ApaI Polymorphism and Hip Bone Mineral Density Can Be Modified by Body Mass Index： A Study on Postmenopausal Chinese Women

Osteoporosis is a major public health problem for old people. Genetic factors are considered to be major contributors to the pathogenesis of postmenopausal osteoporosis. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is a prominent candidate gene for the regulation of postmenopausal bone mass; however, despite extensive studies, controversy remains regarding its association with postmenopausal body mineral density (BMD) variation. In this study, a total of 260 healthy postmenopausal Chinese women were genotyped at the VDR ApaI locus using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Raw hip BMD was significantly associated with VDR ApaI polymorphism with and without adjusting for age (P=0.015 and 0.040, respectively). This genetic effect can explain 3.32% of hip BMD variation. However, the significant association vanished after correcting for both age and body mass index (BMI) (P=0.169). In addition, we observed a significant association between VDR ApaI polymorphism with unadjusted BMI(P=0.042) or BMI adjusted for age (P=0.049). The raw hip BMD was also found to be significantly correlated with BMI (r=0.517, P=0.0001), with BMI explaining 26.35% of the variation of hip BMD. All of these facts prompt us to conclude that the significant association between the VDR ApaI genotype and hip BMD may be modified by BMI in postmenopausal Chinese women. Our findings may partially explain the earlier inconsistent association results concerning the VDR gene and BMD, and highlight the importance of incorporating covariates such as BMI into osteoporosis association studies.     

系统发生分析发现牛病毒性腹泻病病毒新基因亚型

本研究对我国首次分离获得的牛源牛病毒性腹泻病毒(BVDV)毒株Changchun 184(CC-184)和猪源牛病毒性腹泻病毒ZM-95进行了遗传衍化关系研究.选择主要抗原E2基因为研究对象,首先应用RT-PCR及套式PCR克隆得到CC-184和ZM-95的E2片段,通过序列测定发现CC-184和ZM-95 E2基因长度分别为1,122bp和1,125bp,各自编码374和375个氨基酸残基.核酸序列同源性比较和系统发生分析表明2株病毒均属于BVDV-1,CC-184与Osloss亲缘关系最近,都属于已有的b基因亚型,其E2基因同源性达91.8%.而ZM-95的E2基因有一个特征性的变异区,包含一个密码子序列插入,这一变异区编码了一段有别于其他瘟病毒的五肽氨基酸序列HYKKK.结果还表明ZM-95与BVDV-1现有的5个基因亚型的亲缘关系均较远,E2基因同源性最高(与Oregonc24v)只有72.4%.而BVDV 1亚型内毒株间的同源性大于85%,亚型间的同源性在69%～75%之间,充分说明ZM-95是BVDV-1中一个新发现的基因亚型.通常认为猪源BVDV来源于牛,应该与牛源BVDV有十分近的遗传关系,但是本研究发现ZM-95与其他已知牛源BVDV较低的基因同源性说明猪源BVDV还具有独立的遗传衍化与传播来源的可能性.     

Identification and categorization of horizontally transferred genes in prokaryotic genomes

Horizontal gene transfer （HGT）, a process through which genomes acquire genetic materials from distantly related organisms, is believed to be one of the major forces in prokaryotic genome evolution.However, systematic investigation is still scarce to clarify two basic issues about HGT： （1） what types of genes are transferred; and （2） what influence HGT events over the organization and evolution of biological pathways. Genome-scale investigations of these two issues will advance the systematical understanding of HGT in the context of prokaryotic genome evolution. Having investigated 82 genomes, we constructed an HGT database across broad evolutionary timescales. We identified four function categories containing a high proportion of horizontally transferred genes： cell envelope, energy metabolism, regulatory functions, and transport/binding proteins. Such biased function distribution indicates that HGT is not completely random;instead, it is under high selective pressure, required by function restraints in organisms. Furthermore, we mapped the transferred genes onto the connectivity structure map of organism-specific pathways listed in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG）. Our results suggest that recruitment of transferred genes into pathways is also selectively constrained because of the tuned interaction between original pathway members. Pathway organization structures still conserve well through evolution even with the recruitment of horizontally transferred genes. Interestingly, in pathways whose organization were significantly affected by HGT events, the operon-like arrangement of transferred genes was found to be prevalent. Such results suggest that operon plays an essential and directional role in the integration of alien genes into pathways.     

化感水稻种质资源鉴定及基因定位研究进展与展望

稻种资源化感作用的鉴定评价与深入研究是化感水稻品种选育的基础.本文概要介绍了化感水稻种质资源鉴定评价方法、化感作用生理生化机理以及化感特性遗传与基因定位方面的主要研究进展,并进一步讨论了水稻化感作用研究与利用的发展方向.     

Identification of a positive Cis-element upstream of human NKX3.1 gene

NKX3.1 is a prostate-specific homeobox gene related to prostate development and prostate cancer. In this work, we aimed to identify precisely the functional cis-element in the 197 bp region （from -1032 to -836 bp） of the NKX3.1 promoter （from -1032 to ＋8 bp）, which was previously identified to present positive regulatory activity on NKX3.1 expression, by deletion mutagenesis analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assay （EMSA）. A 16 bp positive cis-element located between -920 and -905 bp upstream of the NKX3.1 gene was identified by deletion mutation analysis and proved to be a functional positive cis-element by EMSA. It will be important to further study the functions and regulatory mechanisms of this positive cis-element in NKX3.1 gene expression.