93份贵州地方辣椒资源品质性状分析

对93份贵州地方辣椒资源的品质性状进行了分析,结果表明:粗纤维含量在22.99%~44.06%之间,牛角椒含量最高,为33.71%;粗脂肪含量在11.49%~27.46%之间,锥形椒含量最高,为21.55%;蛋白质含量在12.81%~22.97%之间,指形椒含量最高,为18.78%;辣椒素含量在0.28~7.61 mg/g之间,指形椒含量最高,为4.47 mg/g;4个指标的平均隶属度值在0.21~0.68之间,超过0.60的辣椒资源有S106、S103、S072和S016;聚类分析表明,93份辣椒资源按平均隶属度大小可分为四大类型,即高品质型、中品质型、一般品质型和特殊品质型。贵州地方辣椒种质资源品质性状分析可为辣椒种质资源的创新利用、新品种的选育奠定基础。     

Electrostatic effects in unfolded staphylococcal nuclease

Structure-based calculations of pKa values and electrostatic free energies of proteins assume that electrostatic effects in the unfolded state are negligible. In light of experimental evidence showing that this assumption is invalid for many proteins, and with increasing awareness that the unfolded state is more structured and compact than previously thought, a detailed examination of electrostatic effects in unfolded proteins is warranted. Here we address this issue with structure-based calculations of electrostatic interactions in unfolded staphylococcal nuclease. The approach involves the generation of ensembles of structures representing the unfolded state, and calculation of Coulomb energies to Boltzmann weight the unfolded state ensembles. Four different structural models of the unfolded state were tested. Experimental proton binding data measured with a variant of nuclease that is unfolded under native conditions were used to establish the validity of the calculations. These calculations suggest that weak Coulomb interactions are an unavoidable property of unfolded proteins. At neutral pH, the interactions are too weak to organize the unfolded state; however, at extreme pH values, where the protein has a significant net charge, the combined action of a large number of weak repulsive interactions can lead to the expansion of the unfolded state. The calculated pKa values of ionizable groups in the unfolded state are similar but not identical to the values in small peptides in water. These studies suggest that the accuracy of structure-based calculations of electrostatic contributions to stability cannot be improved unless electrostatic effects in the unfolded state are calculated explicitly.     

SPF级封闭群SD大鼠血清生化值及凝血酶原时间值的测定

目的建立SPF级（屏障系统）封闭群SD大鼠血液生化及凝血酶原时间正常参考值,为药物长期毒性试验研究者提供参考。方法采用全自动血液生化分析仪检测19周和31周大鼠血液生化值,采用紫外可见分光光度计检测K＋、Na＋、Cl-值和凝血酶原时间值。结果取得19周和31周龄SD大鼠血清生化值和凝血酶原平均值。CR、TG、TC生化指标受年龄及性别因素影响,CR、TG、TC随年龄增长而逐步升高。TBIL、CR、TG、TC、CK、TP、BUN、ALB、AST、K＋、ALP指标雌雄间差异显著（P＆lt;0.05）。结论在药物长期毒性试验中,同一周龄雌、雄SD大鼠K＋、Cl-、Na＋、凝血酶原时间值可合并统计;雌、雄SD大鼠血液生化指标不宜合并统计。在比对正常参考值时应考虑到性别与年龄的因素。     

Consequences of Domain Insertion on the Stability and Folding Mechanism of a Protein

SlyD, the sensitive-to-lysis protein from Escherichia coli, consists of two domains. They are not arranged successively along the protein chain, but one domain, the “insert-in-flap” (IF) domain, is inserted internally as a guest into a surface loop of the host domain, which is a prolyl isomerase of the FK506 binding protein (FKBP) type. We used SlyD as a model to elucidate how such a domain insertion affects the stability and folding mechanism of the host and the guest domain. For these studies, the two-domain protein was compared with a single-domain variant SlyDΔIF, SlyD* without the chaperone domain (residues 1-69 and 130-165) in which the IF domain was removed and replaced by a short loop, as present in human FKBP12. Equilibrium unfolding and folding kinetics followed an apparent two-state mechanism in the absence and in the presence of the IF domain. The inserted domain decreased, however, the stability of the host domain in the transition region and decelerated its refolding reaction by about 10-fold. This originates from the interruption of the chain connectivity by the IF domain and its inherent instability. To monitor folding processes in this domain selectively, a Trp residue was introduced as fluorescent probe. Kinetic double-mixing experiments revealed that, in intact SlyD, the IF domain folds and unfolds about 1000-fold more rapidly than the FKBP domain, and that it is strongly stabilized when linked with the folded FKBP domain. The unfolding limbs of the kinetic chevrons of SlyD show a strong downward curvature. This deviation from linearity is not caused by a transition-state movement, as often assumed, but by the accumulation of a silent unfolding intermediate at high denaturant concentrations. In this kinetic intermediate, the FKBP domain is still folded, whereas the IF domain is already unfolded.     

Estimation of non-linear growth models by linearization: a simulation study using a Gompertz function

A method based on Taylor series expansion for estimation of location parameters and variance components of non-linear mixed effects models was considered. An attractive property of the method is the opportunity for an easily implemented algorithm. Estimation of non-linear mixed effects models can be done by common methods for linear mixed effects models, and thus existing programs can be used after small modifications. The applicability of this algorithm in animal breeding was studied with simulation using a Gompertz function growth model in pigs. Two growth data sets were analyzed: a full set containing observations from the entire growing period, and a truncated time trajectory set containing animals slaughtered prematurely, which is common in pig breeding. The results from the 50 simulation replicates with full data set indicate that the linearization approach was capable of estimating the original parameters satisfactorily. However, estimation of the parameters related to adult weight becomes unstable in the case of a truncated data set.     

Assessment of quality of three marine benthic habitat types in northern Baltic Sea

The European Union Habitats Directive (HD) obliges member states to assess the conservation status of marine habitat types but no explicit methodologies for assessing the quality of habitats have been stated in the directive or accompanying documents. In this study, a system was developed to assess the structure and functioning of three important marine habitat types in the Estonian sea area: sandbanks (HD code 1110), mudflats (1140), and reefs (1170). The assessment system includes a list of ecological criteria and favourable reference values together with procedural rules and field sampling locations. The habitat types listed in the HD are broadly defined and may encompass different communities depending upon distinct environmental gradients. By considering these environmental gradients the habitat types reefs and sandbanks were zoned and the assessment criteria and corresponding favourable reference values were defined separately for each zone. A set of several metrics like benthos indices, community variables, presence of sensitive or typical species, proportions of functional or taxonomic groups were tested as potential criteria for determining habitat quality. The most appropriate criteria were selected for incorporation into the assessment system based on ecological eligibility, suitability to local conditions, occurrence rates of benthic species, responses to disturbances, statistical properties of distribution of measured values, and practical considerations. Extensive benthos database (records from the whole Estonian sea area, 1995–2014) was used to calculate values of criteria to support the selection of criteria and to derive reference values. In order to fully take into account their crucial role in maintaining the structure and functioning of habitats, the criteria on habitat-forming species were assigned higher hierarchical order in the assessment scheme compared to other criteria. Special field works were carried out to assess the status of the three habitat types in 2015. The quality of all three monitored habitats was assessed to be in a favourable status. Additionally, the distributions of the three habitat types were mapped. To date, this is the first study in the Baltic Sea region that formulates HD compliant explicit criteria, reference values, and assessment procedures for several marine habitat types. The main challenges of the study were to derive assessment criteria and favourable reference values that are ecologically relevant and practically feasible.     

From evidence to practice: development of web-based Dutch lipid reference values

IntroductionIn the Netherlands, the total number of yearly measured lipid profiles exceeds 500,000. While lipid values are strongly affected by age and sex, until recently, no up-to-date age- and sex-specific lipid reference values were available. We describe the translation of big-cohort lipid data into accessible reference values, which can be easily incorporated in daily clinical practice.MethodsLipid values (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides) from all healthy adults and children in the LifeLines cohort were used to generate age- and sex-specific percentiles. A combination of RStudio, Cascading Style Sheets and HyperText Markup Language was used to interactively display the percentiles in a responsive web layout.ResultsAfter exclusion of subjects reporting cardiovascular disease or lipid-lowering therapy at baseline, 141,611 subjects were included. On the website, input fields were created for age, sex and all main plasma lipids. Upon input of these values, corresponding percentiles are calculated, and output is displayed in a table and an interactive graph for each lipid. The website has been made available in both Dutch and English and can be accessed at www.lipidtools.com.ConclusionWe constructed the first searchable, national lipid reference value tool with graphical display in the Netherlands to use in screening for dyslipidaemias and to reduce the underuse of lipid-lowering therapy in Dutch primary prevention. This study illustrates that data collected in big-cohort studies can be made easily accessible with modern digital techniques and preludes the digital health revolution yet to come.     

Generation model of positional values as cell operation during the development of multicellular organisms

Many conventional models have used the positional information hypothesis to explain each elementary process of morphogenesis during the development of multicellular organisms. Their models assume that the steady concentration patterns of morphogens formed in an extracellular environment have an important property of positional information, so-called “robustness”. However, recent experiments reported that a steady morphogen pattern, the concentration gradient of the Bicoid protein, during early Drosophila embryonic development is not robust for embryo-to-embryo variability. These reports encourage a reconsideration of a long-standing problem in systematic cell differentiation: what is the entity of positional information for cells? And, what is the origin of the robust boundary of gene expression? To address these problems at a cellular level, in this article we pay attention to the re-generative phenomena that show another important property of positional information, “size invariance”. In view of regenerative phenomena, we propose a new mathematical model to describe the generation mechanism of a spatial pattern of positional values. In this model, the positional values are defined as the values into which differentiable cells transform a spatial pattern providing positional information. The model is mathematically described as an associative algebra composed of various terms, each of which is the multiplication of some fundamental operators under the assumption that the operators are derived from the remarkable properties of cell differentiation on an amputation surface in regenerative phenomena. We apply this model to the concentration pattern of the Bicoid protein during the anterior-posterior axis formation in Drosophila, and consider the conditions needed to establish the robust boundary of the expression of the hunchback gene.     

A sensitivity study of conductivity values in the passive bidomain equation

There is a complex interplay between the four conductivity values used in the bidomain equation and the resulting electric potential distribution in cardiac tissue arising from subendocardial ischaemia. Based on the three commonly used experimentally derived conductivity data sets, a non-dimensional formulation of the passive bidomain equation is derived, which gives rise naturally to several dimensionless conductivity ratios. The data sets are then used to define a parameter space of these ratios, which is studied by considering the correlation coefficients between different epicardial potential distributions.From this study, it is shown that the ratio of the intracellular longitudinal conductivity to the intracellular transverse conductivity is the key parameter in explaining the differences between the epicardial potential distributions observed with these three data sets.