A comparison of the efficiencies of the shotgun and the bow in neotropical forest hunting

Whenever introduced into Amazonia and its neighboring regions, the shotgun has quickly replaced the bow and arrow and other aboriginal weapons of the hunt. The quick and widespread adoption of the shotgun is plainly a matter of its superiority over most aboriginal weapons. This paper compares the hunting efficiencies of the shotgun and the bow by means of a controlled field experiment among the Ye'kwana and Yanomamö Indians of the Upper Orinoco River of southern Venezuela. It also examines the impact of the shotgun on local animal populations and the economic changes brought about by the need to cash-crop in order to purchase Western hunting technology.Funds for the research and writing of this paper were made possible by an NIMH predoctoral fellowship to Napoleon A. Chagnon, Grant No. NIMH 5 R01 MH 26008-SSR.     

SCAR分子标记技术在香菇菌株鉴定上的应用研究

为了建立一套基于DNA分子标记技术快速鉴定香菇菌株的有效方法,本研究首先通过对生产上常用的14个香菇菌株进行RAPD多态性分析,从香菇菌株162中扩增获得了一个片段长为1166bp的特异RAPD标记XG1166,随之利用分子克隆技术将该特异RAPD标记成功转化为稳定的SCAR标记。用同样的方法,本研究又从另一香菇菌株申香10号中获得了一段长度为347bp的特异SCAR标记SX347。试验结果表明,利用本研究获得的香菇菌株162和申香10号的特异SCAR标记,能在一天时间内准确鉴定出香菇菌株162或申香10号菌株的真伪。由此可见,SCAR分子标记是一种快速、稳定、准确鉴定香菇菌株的新方法, 可应用于食用菌种质资源保护利用、品种分类与鉴定和假种辨别。     

关帝山森林景观异质性及其动态的研究

以４期航片为基础资料,在ＡＲＣ／ＩＮＦＯ支持下,应用地理信息系统（ＧＩＳ）技术,通过景观要素优势度指数、景观多样性指数、景观斑块密度、景观边缘密度、景观镶嵌度指数和景观聚集度指数５类指标,对关帝山林区５０年代末以来的景观异质性及其动态特征进行了全面分析,并介绍了各指标的数据来源和计算方法,分析了各指标的实用性．在ＧＩＳ支持下,上述各指标可以从不同侧面描述和反映景观异质结构特征,用于景观异质性动态变化规律的研究．研究表明,自５０年代末以来,关帝山森林景观受环境异质性、植被自然演替和人为活动的共同控制,总体异质性发生了很大变化,３个时期表现出不同的动态特征．对人为活动频繁的次生林区的森林景观异质性动态变化的基本规律和控制因素进行了讨论     

The use of biosensor technology for the engineering of antibodies and enzymes

Recently developed scientific instrumentation featuring surface plasmon resonance detection allows the detection of biomolecular interactions in real time and without chemical modification of the binding partners. These biosensors are proving invaluable tools in protein engineering, particularly in research aimed at the isolation and improvement of protein binders and catalysts from macromolecular repertoires containing billions of individual members. This article reviews the use of biosensor technology for the isolation and characterization of engineered antibodies and enzymes. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

猴头菌子实体超临界流体技术萃取活性物质初探

以猴头菌子实体为原料,萃取物得率作为指标,采用CO₂超临界流体萃取技术,以萃取压力和CO₂流量等参数为考察因素,结合正交试验获得优化的萃取工艺：萃取压力为30MPa,温度为45℃,时间为1.5h,CO₂流量为20g/min,夹带剂（乙醇）与猴头菌子实体的物料比为5:1（mL:g）,在此条件下,萃取物得率为2.78%。与猴头菌子实体的醇提物相比,猴头菌子实体超临界萃取物具有更好的体外抗氧化能力和抗肿瘤活性,本研究结果为合理地开发和利用猴头菌子实体超临界萃取物产品提供科学的数据。     

Synthetic genome engineering forging new frontiers for wine yeast

Over the past 15 years, the seismic shifts caused by the convergence of biomolecular, chemical, physical, mathematical, and computational sciences alongside cutting-edge developments in information technology and engineering have erupted into a new field of scientific endeavor dubbed Synthetic Biology. Recent rapid advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing and DNA synthesis techniques are enabling the design and construction of new biological parts (genes), devices (gene networks) and modules (biosynthetic pathways), and the redesign of biological systems (cells and organisms) for useful purposes. In 2014, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae became the first eukaryotic cell to be equipped with a fully functional synthetic chromosome. This was achieved following the synthesis of the first viral (poliovirus in 2002 and bacteriophage Phi-X174 in 2003) and bacterial (Mycoplasma genitalium in 2008 and Mycoplasma mycoides in 2010) genomes, and less than two decades after revealing the full genome sequence of a laboratory (S288c in 1996) and wine (AWRI1631 in 2008) yeast strain. A large international project – the Synthetic Yeast Genome (Sc2.0) Project – is now underway to synthesize all 16 chromosomes (～12?Mb carrying ～6000 genes) of the sequenced S288c laboratory strain by 2018. If successful, S. cerevisiae will become the first eukaryote to cross the horizon of in silico design of complex cells through de novo synthesis, reshuffling, and editing of genomes. In the meantime, yeasts are being used as cell factories for the semi-synthetic production of high-value compounds, such as the potent antimalarial artemisinin, and food ingredients, such as resveratrol, vanillin, stevia, nootkatone, and saffron. As a continuum of previously genetically engineered industrially important yeast strains, precision genome engineering is bound to also impact the study and development of wine yeast strains supercharged with synthetic DNA. The first taste of what the future holds is the de novo production of the raspberry ketone aroma compound, 4-[4-hydroxyphenyl]butan-2-one, in a wine yeast strain (AWRI1631), which was recently achieved via metabolic pathway engineering and synthetic enzyme fusion. A peek over the horizon is revealing that the future of “Wine Yeast 2.0” is already here. Therefore, this article seeks to help prepare the wine industry – an industry rich in history and tradition on the one hand, and innovation on the other – for the inevitable intersection of the ancient art practiced by winemakers and the inventive science of pioneering “synthetic genomicists”. It would be prudent to proactively engage all stakeholders – researchers, industry practitioners, policymakers, regulators, commentators, and consumers – in a meaningful dialog about the potential challenges and opportunities emanating from Synthetic Biology. To capitalize on the new vistas of synthetic yeast genomics, this paper presents wine yeast research in a fresh context, raises important questions and proposes new directions.     

Development and characterization of EST‐SSR markers in an East Asian temperate plant genus Diabelia (Caprifoliaceae)

A set of expressed sequence tag (EST) simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed and characterized using next‐generation sequencing technology for the genus Diabelia (Caprifoliaceae). De novo assembly of RNA‐seq reads resulted in 58 669 contigs with the N50 length of 1211 bp. A total of 2746 contigs were identified to harbor SSR motifs, of which 48 primer pairs were designed and 11 were shown to be polymorphic across three morphospecies of Diabelia. When evaluated with 30 individuals, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 11 and the expected heterozygosity varied from 0.399 to 0.873, respectively. Distance‐based clustering indicated that the EST‐SSR markers can provide sufficient power to distinguish the three species (or populations). These markers will be useful for evaluating the range‐wide genetic diversity of each species and examining genetic divergence and gene flow between the three species.     

Loss of CpSRP54 function leads to a truncated light-harvesting antenna size in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii truncated light-harvesting antenna 4 (tla4) DNA transposon mutant has a pale green phenotype, a lower chlorophyll (Chl) per cell and a higher Chl a/b ratio in comparison with the wild type. It required a higher light intensity for the saturation of photosynthesis and displayed a greater per chlorophyll light-saturated rate of oxygen evolution than the wild type. The Chl antenna size of the photosystems in the tla4 mutant was only about 65% of that measured in the wild type. Molecular genetic analysis revealed that a single plasmid DNA insertion disrupted two genes on chromosome 11 of the mutant. A complementation study identified the “chloroplast signal recognition particle 54” gene (CpSRP54), as the lesion causing the tla4 phenotype. Disruption of this gene resulted in partial failure to assemble and, therefore, lower levels of light-harvesting Chl-binding proteins in the C. reinhardtii thylakoids. A comparative in silico 3-D structure-modeling analysis revealed that the M-domain of the CpSRP54 of C. reinhardtii possesses a more extended finger loop structure, due to different amino acid composition, as compared to that of the Arabidopsis CpSRP54. The work demonstrated that CpSRP54 deletion in microalgae can serve to generate tla mutants with a markedly smaller photosystem Chl antenna size, improved solar energy conversion efficiency, and photosynthetic productivity in high-density cultures under bright sunlight conditions.