Detection and analysis of QTLs based on RAPD markers for polygenic resistance to Plasmodiophora brassicae Woron in Brassica oleracea L.

Resistance to Plasmodiophora brassicae Woron, the causal fungus of clubroot, was examined in an F₂ population of a cross between a clubroot-resistant kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala) and a susceptible cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis). QTL detection was performed with RAPD markers. Two resistance notations, carried out at different times after inoculation, were used. Three markers were associated with these two notations and three were specifically linked to only one notation. QTL analysis suggests the existence of at least two genetic mechanisms implicated in the resistance phenomenon.     

Mixed connective tissue disease. A clinico-serological study of 17 cases

Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) was described as a distinct clinical syndrome in 1972. Since then many cases have been reported in the literature worldwide. In this study we present our experience with a group of 17 Mexican patients with this syndrome, and we analyze their clinical and serological features, as well as the causes of death in these patients. The patients are Mexican mestizos living in Guadalajara and most of them have been followed-up at Hospital General de Occidente for a period of 1–10 years. The female/male ratio was 16:1, and their age ranged from 14–55 years with a mean of 29 years. The disease duration has ranged from 1–17 years, with a mean of 6 years. Among the clinical manifestations we have found a high frequency of lymphadenopathy when compared with published series (13/17 or 76%), and the laboratory findings in our patients included a very high polyclonal increase of gammaglobulins (93%), lymphopenia (76%), direct immunofluorescence speckled nuclear epidermal deposits in skin biopsies (75%) and positive rheumatoid factor (65%). Other clinical and serological features were similar to those reported in other series of patients with MCTD. Six of the 17 patients have died (35%), and in 3 of them (17.5%) the cause of death was due to an infectious disease that suddenly presented, and apparently was not related to a concomitant high dose of steroids or malnutrition in the patients. It seems that in addition to the already well known autoimmune abnormalities that occur in MCTD, there are other features like the presence of lymphadenopathy, the high polyclonal increase of gammaglobulins, and the lymphopenia, that reflect the profound disturbance of the immune system in this syndrome, possibly contributing to the sudden appearance of a severe infectious disease in some of our patients.Abbreviations ANA antinuclear antibody - CIE counterimmunoelectrophoresis - MCTD mixed connective tissue disease - PHA passive hemagglutination - PM polymyositis - RF rheumatoid factor - SLE systemic lupus erythematosus - SS systemic sclerosis (SS)     

Alfalfa mosaic and cucumber mosaic virus infection in chickpea and lentil: incidence and seed transmission

Samples collected in 1994 and 1995 from commercial crops of chickpeas and lentils growing in the agricultural region of south-west Western Australia were tested for infection with alfalfa mosaic (AMV) and cucumber mosaic (CMV) viruses, and for members of the family Potyviridae using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In 1994 no virus was detected in the 21 chickpea crops tested but in 1995, out of 42 crops, AMV was found in two and CMV in seven. With lentils, AMV and/or CMV was found in three out of 14 crops in 1994 and 4 out of 13 in 1995, both viruses being detected in two crops in each year. Similar tests on samples from chickpea and lentil crops and plots growing at experimental sites, revealed more frequent infection with both viruses. No potyvirus infection was found in chickpeas or lentils in agricultural areas either in commercial crops or at experimental sites. However, bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV) was detected along with AMV and CMV in irrigated plots of chickpeas and lentils at a site in Perth. When samples of seed from infected crops or plots of chickpeas and lentils were germinated and leaves or roots of seedlings tested for virus infection by ELISA, AMV and CMV were found to be seed-borne in both while BYMV was seed-borne in lentils. The rates of transmission found through seed of chickpea to seedlings were 0.1–1% with AMV and 0.1–2% with CMV. Seed transmission rates with lentil were 0.1–5% for AMV, 0.1–1% for CMV and 0.8% for BYMV. Individual seed samples of lentil and chickpea sometimes contained both AMV and CMV. With both species, infection with AMV and CMV was sometimes found in commercial seed stocks or seed stocks from multiplication crops of advanced selections nearing release as new cultivars. Seed-borne virus infection has important practical implications, as virus sources can be re-introduced every year to chickpea and lentil crops or plots through sowing infected seed stocks leading to spread of infection by aphid vectors, losses in grain yield and further contamination of seed stocks.     

牛肝提取物提高仔鸡免疫力的研究

将牛肝提取物注射到第13日龄和第15日龄鸡胚中能显著提高孵出后仔鸡的抗SRBC血清抗体的效价,促进脾和法氏囊淋巴细胞增殖、分化。同时,牛肝提取物与雏鸡法氏囊粗提取液,抗鸡法氏囊病毒抗体均有增强仔鸡抵抗传染性法氏囊病的能力。实验结果表明牛肝提取物中可能含有类似法氏囊素的物质。     

The Ca2+ influx induced by β-amyloid peptide 25–35 in cultured hippocampal neurons results from network excitation

Although a neurotoxic role has been postulated for the β-amyloid protein (βAP), which accumulates in brain tissues in Alzheimer's disease, a precise mechanism underlying this toxicity has not been identified. The peptide fragment consisting of amino acid residues 25 through 35 (βAP25-35), in particular, has been reported to be toxic in cultured neurons. We report that βAP25-35, applied to rat hippocampal neurons in culture, caused reversible and repeatable increases in the intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i), as measured by fura 2 fluorimetry. Furthermore, βAP25-35 induced bursts of excitatory potentials and action potential firing in individual neurons studied with whole cell current clamp recordings. The βAP25-35–induced [Ca²⁺]_i elevations and electrical activity were enhanced by removal of extracellular Mg²⁺, and they could be blocked by tetrodotoxin, by non-N-methyl-D -aspartate (NMDA) and NMDA glutamate receptor antagonists, and by the L-type Ca²⁺ channel antagonist nimodipine. Similar responses of bursts of action potentials and [Ca²⁺]_i increases were evoked by βAP1-40. Responses to βAP25-35 were not prevented by pretreatment with pertussis toxin. Excitatory responses and [Ca²⁺]_i elevations were not observed in cerebellar neuron cultures in which inhibitory synapses predominate. Although the effects of βAP25-35 depended on the activation of glutamatergic synapses, there was no enhancement of kainate- or NMDA-induced currents by βAP25-35 in voltage-clamp studies. We conclude that βAP25-35 enhances excitatory activity in glutamatergic synaptic networks, causing excitatory potentials and Ca²⁺ influx. This property may explain the toxicity of βAP25–35. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

酪氨酸羟化酶基因载体－pCMVTH 质粒的构建及在大鼠骨骼肌内的表达

为用转基因方法治疗巴金森氏病大鼠模型,本研究采用分子克隆技术,将合成多巴胺的关键酶－酪氨酸羟化酶（ＴＨ）的基因,克隆进入以巨细胞病毒ＣＭＶ为启动子的载体质粒内,经限制性内切酶定位分析证实该重组的ＤＮＡ质粒的可靠性。携带ＴＨ基因的ＰＣＭＶＴＨ质粒以ＬＩＰＯ－ＦＥＣＴＩＮ介导,在培养的原代骨骼肌细胞中高效表达。本研究为进一步用转基因的细胞植入脑内以治疗巴金森氏病打下一定基础。     

葱兰黄化病病原类菌原体的研究

葱兰为石蒜科(Amaryllidaceae)草本植物,是一种在我国各地普遍栽培的多年生观赏花卉.葱兰黄化病是1992年在杭州发现的一种新病害,该病对葱兰的生长和观赏价值有严重影响.罹病株(丛)最初表现为深红色斑点,逐渐扩大为鲜红色条斑或斑块并转为亮黄色,最后整株叶片大部分转为鲜艳的黄色,呈现典型的系统侵染.发病1—2月后整株(丛)地上部分枯死.发病一般始于早春(3月上旬),春末夏初有一个发病高峰期;秋末有另一个发病期,但病状较轻;感染株有恢复现象,即在下一个生长季能从地下部分重新生长出叶片,但病株叶片明显细小,有丛簇现象,病株开花少且花期短.作者从1992年春起,对该病害进行了病原分离、生物学测定和病组织超薄切片电镜检查,发现该病害可能与类菌原体有关,现将研究结果报告如下.1 材料和方法1.1 样品感病植株分别于1992年4月采自浙江农业大学校园和1992年6月采自杭州花圃,用盆栽保存于防虫温室中,同时采取健株作为对照.1.2 用病株分离病原和接种     

The relationship between colonisation and crown rot symptoms in strawberry plants infected with Phytophthora cactorum

Strawberry tissues infected with Phytophthora cactorum were comminuted and plated in a selective antibiotic agar medium to determine levels of tissue colonisation as indicated by the number of colony forming units (CFU) recovered per gramme of infected tissue. The number of CFU recovered per gramme of tissue increased logarithmically with the amount of necrosis in infected crown, leaf and petiole tissues. Under the conditions of enhanced susceptibility to infection and colonisation caused by cold storage treatments, this relationship between colonisation and necrosis was not significantly altered in the susceptible cv. Tamella. A recovery index was used to determine the effect of infected tissues on the recovery of CFU. This indicated that increasing levels of host colonisation stimulated CFU recovery and may partly explain the large increase in CFU g^-1 with larger amounts of necrosis. The amount of tissue colonisation was greater in inoculated plants of the susceptible cv. Tamella than in less susceptible cv. Cambridge Favourite, although the necrotic tissues of the latter contained more CFU g^-1, indicating a greater level of tolerance to colonisation. In cv. Tamella small amounts of colonisation were capable of causing wilt symptoms, although no wilted plants contained less than 200 CFU g^-1. Conversely, plants containing more than 1000 CFU g^-1 always wilted. In the early stages of infection, low levels of colonisation could be detected in strawberry crowns in the absence of symptoms. Dormant strawberry plants of cv. Tamella were readily infected by P. cactorum zoospore inoculations but, unlike actively growing plants, the majority of infections remained latent. These latent infections exhibited little or no symptoms and CFU recoveries from infected tissues were always below 100 CFU g^-1.     

Cerebrospinal Fluid Nitrite/Nitrate Levels in Neurologic Diseases

Abstract: Nitric oxide has been proposed to mediate cytotoxic effects in inflammatory diseases. To investigate the possibility that overproduction of nitric oxide might play a role in the neuropathology of inflammatory and noninflammatory neurological diseases, we compared levels of the markers of nitric oxide, nitrite plus nitrate, in the CSF of controls with those in patients with various neurologic diseases, including Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and HIV infection. We found that there were no significant increases in the CSF levels of these nitric oxide metabolites, even in patients infected with HIV or in monkeys infected with poliovirus, both of which have significantly elevated levels of the neurotoxin quinolinic acid and the marker of macrophage activation, neopterin. However, CSF quinolinic acid, neopterin, and nitrite/nitrate levels were significantly increased in a small group of patients with bacterial and viral meningitis.