Fern species richness along a central Himalayan elevational gradient, Nepal

Aim The study explores fern species richness patterns along a central Himalayan elevational gradient (100–4800 m a.s.l.) and evaluates factors influencing the spatial increase and decrease of fern richness. Location The Himalayas stretch from west to east by 20°, i.e. 75–95° east, and Nepal is located from 80 to 88° east in this range. Methods We used published data of the distribution of ferns and fern allies to interpolate species elevational ranges. Defining species presence between upper and lower elevation limit is the basis for richness estimates. The richness pattern was regressed against the total number of rainy days, and gradients that are linearly related to elevation, such as length of the growing season, potential evapotranspiration (PET, energy), and a moisture index (MI = PET/mean annual rainfall). The regressions were performed by generalized linear models. Results A unimodal relationship between species richness and elevation was observed, with maximum species richness at 2000 m. Fern richness has a unimodal response along the energy gradients, and a linear response with moisture gradients. Main conclusions The study confirms the importance of moisture on fern distributions as the peak coincides spatially with climatic factors that enhance moisture levels; the maximum number of rainy days and the cloud zone. Energy‐related variables probably control species richness directly at higher elevations but at the lower end the effect is more probably related to moisture.     

人A组轮状病毒地方株外壳蛋白VP4的原核表达

目的：制备轮状病毒外壳蛋白VP4。方法：从病人粪便中分离的毒株中提取病毒dsRNA为模板,经RT—PCR获得编码VP4截短蛋白基因片段cDNA(1—1253bp),将VP4基因片段克隆于pGEX-4T-2融合表达载体中,经dot印迹筛出阳性重组子,重组质粒转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)。工程菌经IPTG诱导,11％聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳。结果：Western印迹分析表明,工程菌能正确表达VP4蛋白片段,且具有良好的抗原性。结论：为研制轮状病毒重组疫苗、亚单组疫苗、转基因植物口服疫苗做了前期准备。     

牛血清中27kDa蛋白的免疫学特性研究

为探讨牛血清中存在的HBsAg样蛋白的性质,给HBV的发病机制、治疗、预防等研究提供依据,我们采集93份牛血清,以SDS-PAGE、Westem Blot对血清中HBsAg样蛋白进行研究,发现其分子量约为27kDa：以SDS-PAGE分离牛血清中的HBsAg样蛋白,经皮下多点免疫小鼠,可产生与人HBV编码蛋白HBsAg反应的抗体。表明该27kDa蛋白可能存在与HBsAg相似的免疫学特性。     

鳜传染性脾肾坏死病毒主要衣壳蛋白基因的原核表达

根据鳜鱼传染性脾肾坏死病毒(Infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus,ISKNV)丰要衣壳蚩白(Major Capsid protein,MCP)基因(mcp)序列设计引物,PCR扩增得到一长约1400bp的DNA片段,将其克隆到pGEM-T Easy Vector。氨基酸亲水性分析表明,在150—250位氨基酸之间亲水性很高,可构成主要抗原决定簇及形成跨膜区。mcp基因经PCR改造后克隆至原核表达裁体pBV220,构建表达MCP的大肠杆菌基因工程菌,该工程菌经42℃诱导,SDS—PAGE检测,在约50kDa处有一特异蛋白带,含量约为菌体总蛋白的23％。用纯化和复性后的蛋白免疫新西兰大白兔制备抗血清,Western—blotting分忻显示,重组MCP制备的抗血清能与ISKNV MCP特异结合,说明表达产物具有与ISKNV MCP相似的抗原特性。     

脱氧雪腐镰刀菌烯醇对人外周血单个核细胞 HLA-I分子表达的影响

研究探讨了脱氧雪腐镰刀菌烯醇(DON)对人外周血单个核细胞HLA-I(human leucocyte cyte antigen I)分子表达影响.采用流式细胞术(FCM)和免疫印迹方法研究了不同剂量DON对体外培养人外周血单个核细胞表面HLA-I分子表达的影响及其量效关系.FCM定量检测结果表明,不同浓度DON处理均可一定程度降低人外周血单个核细胞表面HLA-I分子的表达,DON 50ng/mL、100ng/mL、1000 ng/mL和2000 ng/mL组HLA-I类分子的平均表达量分别为6.92±0.68、6.64±0.69、5.95±0.48和5.48±0.77,在50～2000ng/mL范围内随着DON浓度增加,外周血单个核细胞HLA-I分子表达降低,两者呈显著负相关(r=0.737,P＜0.01).Western印迹结果显示,大剂量DON(1000ng/mL和2000ng/mL)组人外周血单个核细胞HLA-I分子表达明显减弱.研究结果表明脱氧雪腐镰刀菌烯醇可剂量依赖地抑制体外培养的人外周血单个核细胞HLA-I分子的表达.     

Rabbit antibody detection with RNA aptamers

Antibody-based detection systems are widely used, but in the cases of immunoprecipitations and enzyme-linked immunoassays, they can be laborious. These techniques require the preparation of at least two kinds of non-cross-reactive immunoglobulin Gs (IgGs), usually made from different species against the single target molecule. Aptamers composed of nucleic acids possess strict recognition ability for the target molecule's three-dimensional structure and, thus, are considered to act like IgG. In this study, experimental trials were designed to combine the advantages of IgG and aptamers. For this purpose, aptamers against rabbit IgG were identified by in vitro selection. One of the obtained aptamers had a dissociation constant lower than 15 pM to the rabbit IgG. It bound specifically to the constant region of the rabbit IgG, and no binding was observed with mouse or goat IgG. Moreover, this aptamer recognized only the native form of rabbit IgG and could not bind the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-denatured form. These features show the advantage of using the aptamer as a secondary probing agent rather than the usual secondary antibodies.     

A monoclonal antibody (1D12) defines novel distribution patterns of prion protein (PrP) as granules in nucleus

A monoclonal antibody (mAb) panel to bovine prion protein (PrP) was studied by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry for scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. A mAb panel recognized both normal (PrP^C) and abnormal (PrP^Sc) isoforms of PrP in murine, ovine and bovine brain tissues. Interestingly, an anti-bovine PrP mAb, 1D12, prepared by immunizing PrP gene-knockout mice with a synthetic polypeptides corresponding to codons 153-166 of the bovine PrP gene showed novel patterns of reactivity for prion-uninfected neuronal cells. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-mapping of the mAb epitopes resulted in a reaction of monoclonal 1D12 to YEDRY and M corresponding to amino acids 156-160 and 165 of bovine PrP. Several patterns of bovine PrP^C distribution in PrP-deficient neuronal cells (HpL3-4) transfected with bovine PrP were observed after different fixation methods. Stained cell surface was observed after formalin fixation by immunofluorescent assay of 1D12 with confocal microscopy, whereas granules in nucleus were stained after acetone fixation. No reactivity in the nucleus was observed to HpL3-4, or HpL3-4mPrP cells expressing mouse PrP. This is the first paper that has reported the detection of the PrP^C at both cell surface and nuclei of prion-uninfected cell line.     

Mapping of phosphorylation-dependent anti-tau monoclonal antibodies in immunoblots using human tau-constructs synthesized by native chemical ligation

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD) neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) are formed by hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated tau protein. It is still a matter of controversy which phosphorylation sites are AD-specific and how these might be linked to the cause or progress of the disease. Whereas most research projects in this field rely on phosphorylation-dependent tau-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), the phosphorylation patterns recognized by these mAbs are often not characterized in detail. Therefore, we synthesized unphosphorylated, two monophosphorylated (pThr231, pSer235), and the bisphosphorylated (pThr231 + pSer235) tau226-240 peptides. The phosphopeptides were ligated via an N-terminal cysteine to the thioester-activated C-terminus of human aldo/keto reductase AKR1A1. After purification by preparative gel electrophoresis, the ligation products were analyzed by Western blotting and probed with phosphorylation-dependent anti-tau mAbs HPT-101, HPT-103, HPT-104, and HPT-110. The obtained specificities were very similar to the data obtained by ELISA, showing that ELISA-based epitope mapping studies are also valid for immunoblot analyses.     

Nmi及其变异体在大肠杆菌中表达、抗体制备及其细胞分布

 为了检测细胞内源性Nmi和变异体Nmi s的表达、亚细胞分布以及可能形成的信号转导蛋白复合物 ,成功构建并表达了异源Nmi和Nmi s 获得纯化异源蛋白 ,用以制备兔源抗Nmi(Nmi s)多克隆抗体 .Western印迹在多种细胞株HL 60 ,K562 ,2 93T细胞中检测到Nmi(Nmi s)高表达 .在不同的细胞系中 ,Nmi表现为不同的蛋白复合物迁移带 ;Nmi(Nmi s)在胞浆和胞核均存在 ,而核内荧光更强 .Nmi(Nmi s)通过与多种蛋白相互作用行使其生物学功能 ,在不同细胞中可能与不同的蛋白相互作用 ,发挥不同的功能 .     

Clinal variation in body size and sexual dimorphism in an Indian fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae)

Geographic variation in body size and sexual dimorphism of the short‐nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx) was investigated in peninsular India. Bats were sampled at 12 localities along a 1200 km latitudinal transect that paralleled the eastern flanks of the Western Ghats. The geographic pattern of variation in external morphology of C. sphinx conforms to the predictions of Bergmann's Rule, as indicated by a steep, monotonic cline of increasing body size from south to north. This study represents one of the first conclusively documented examples of Bergmann's Rule in a tropical mammal and confirms that latitudinal clines in body size are not exclusively restricted to temperate zone homeotherms. Body size was indexed by a multivariate axis derived from principal components analysis of linear measurements that summarize body and wing dimensions. Additionally, length of forearm was used as a univariate index of structural size to examine geographic variation in a more inclusive sample of bats across the latitudinal transect. Multivariate and univariate size metrics were strongly and positively correlated with body mass, and exhibited highly concordant patterns of clinal variation. Stepwise multiple regression on climatological variables revealed that increasing size of male and female C. sphinx was associated with decreasing minimum temperature, increasing relative humidity, and increasing seasonality. Although patterns of geographic size variation were highly concordant between the sexes, C. sphinx also exhibited a latitudinal cline in the magnitude and direction of sexual size dimorphism. The size differential reversed direction across the latitudinal gradient, as males averaged larger in the north, and females averaged larger in the south. The degree of female‐biased size dimorphism across the transect was negatively correlated with body size of both sexes. Canonical discriminant analysis revealed that male‐ and female‐biased size dimorphism were based on contrasting sets of external characters. Available data on geographic variation in the degree of polygyny in C. sphinx suggests that sexual selection on male size may play a role in determining the geographic pattern of sexual size dimorphism.