蜜蜂大脑的分区与功能

蜜蜂Apis mellifera L.是神经生物学研究的重要模式生物。尽管工蜂脑的体积不足1mm3,包含的神经元数量不到百万,但却拥有丰富的个体和社会行为,甚至还有学习、记忆、认知等高级行为。如此微小的大脑也是通过不同结构分区来实现其丰富复杂的行为。本文对蜜蜂大脑的精细解剖结构以及脑区功能研究进行了综述,为昆虫科学和神经生物学研究提供参考。     

The computer program structure for assigning individuals to populations: easy to use but easier to misuse

The computer program Structure implements a Bayesian method, based on a population genetics model, to assign individuals to their source populations using genetic marker data. It is widely applied in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, human genetics and conservation biology for detecting hidden genetic structures, inferring the most likely number of populations (K), assigning individuals to source populations and estimating admixture and migration rates. Recently, several simulation studies repeatedly concluded that the program yields erroneous inferences when samples from different populations are highly unbalanced in size. Analysing both simulated and empirical data sets, this study confirms that Structure indeed yields poor individual assignments to source populations and gives frequently incorrect estimates of K when sampling is unbalanced. However, this poor performance is mainly caused by the adoption of the default ancestry prior, which assumes all source populations contribute equally to the pooled sample of individuals. When the alternative ancestry prior, which allows for unequal representations of the source populations by the sample, is adopted, accurate individual assignments could be obtained even if sampling is highly unbalanced. The alternative prior also improves the inference of K by two estimators, albeit the improvement is not as much as that in individual assignments to populations. For the difficult case of many populations and unbalanced sampling, a rarely used parameter combination of the alternative ancestry prior, an initial ALPHA value much smaller than the default and the uncorrelated allele frequency model is required for Structure to yield accurate inferences. I conclude that Structure is easy to use but is easier to misuse because of its complicated genetic model and many parameter (prior) options which may not be obvious to choose, and suggest using multiple plausible models (parameters) and K estimators in conducting comparative and exploratory Structure analysis.     

Structural analysis based on state-space modeling.

A new method has been developed to compute the probability that each amino acid in a protein sequence is in a particular secondary structural element. Each of these probabilities is computed using the entire sequence and a set of predefined structural class models. This set of structural classes is patterned after Jane Richardson''s taxonomy for the domains of globular proteins. For each structural class considered, a mathematical model is constructed to represent constraints on the pattern of secondary structural elements characteristic of that class. These are stochastic models having discrete state spaces (referred to as hidden Markov models by researchers in signal processing and automatic speech recognition). Each model is a mathematical generator of amino acid sequences; the sequence under consideration is modeled as having been generated by one model in the set of candidates. The probability that each model generated the given sequence is computed using a filtering algorithm. The protein is then classified as belonging to the structural class having the most probable model. The secondary structure of the sequence is then analyzed using a "smoothing" algorithm that is optimal for that structural class model. For each residue position in the sequence, the smoother computes the probability that the residue is contained within each of the defined secondary structural elements of the model. This method has two important advantages: (1) the probability of each residue being in each of the modeled secondary structural elements is computed using the totality of the amino acid sequence, and (2) these probabilities are consistent with prior knowledge of realizable domain folds as encoded in each model. As an example of the method''s utility, we present its application to flavodoxin, a prototypical alpha/beta protein having a central beta-sheet, and to thioredoxin, which belongs to a similar structural class but shares no significant sequence similarity.     

Social structure and facultative mating systems of hoary marmots (Marmota caligata)

Mate-choice theory predicts different optimal mating systems depending on resource availability and habitat stability. Regions with limited resources are thought to promote monogamy. We tested predictions of monogamy in a social rodent, the hoary marmot (Marmota caligata), at the northern climatic extreme of its distribution. Mating systems, social structure and genetic relationships were investigated within and among neighbouring colonies of marmots within a 4 km(2) valley near Kluane National Park, Yukon, Canada, using 21 microsatellite loci. While both monogamous and polygynous populations of hoary marmots have been observed in the southern reaches of this species' range; northern populations of this species are thought to be predominantly monogamous. Contrary to previous studies, we did not find northern hoary marmot social groups to be predominantly monogamous; rather, the mating system seemed to be facultative, varying between monogamy and polygyny within, as well as among, social groups. These findings reveal that the mating systems within colonies of this species are more flexible than previously thought, potentially reflecting local variation in resource availability.     

Mn/Fe superoxide dismutase interaction fingerprints and prediction of oligomerization and metal cofactor from sequence

Fe- and Mn-containing superoxide dismutase (sod) enzymes are closely related and similar in both amino acid sequence and structure, but differ in their mode of oligomerization and in their specificity for the Fe or Mn cofactor. The goal of the present work is to identify and analyze the sequence and structure characteristics that ensure the cofactor specificities and the oligomerization modes. For that purpose, 374 sod sequences and 17 sod crystal structures were collected and aligned. These alignments were searched for residues and inter-residue interactions that are conserved within the whole sod family, or alternatively, that are specific to a given sod subfamily sharing common characteristics. This led us to define key residues and inter-residue interaction fingerprints in each subfamily. The comparison of these fingerprints allows, on a rational basis, the design of mutants likely to modulate the activity and/or specificity of the target sod, in good agreement with the available experimental results on known mutants. The key residues and interaction fingerprints are furthermore used to predict if a novel sequence corresponds to a sod enzyme, and if so, what type of sod it is. The predictions of this fingerprint method reach much higher scores and present much more discriminative power than the commonly used method that uses pairwise sequence comparisons.     

阳离子脂质体运载基因的跨膜机制

阳离子脂质体等非病毒载体以其制备简单、低毒性、低免疫原性、可生物降解等优点,成为近年来基因转运中的常用载体。理解阳离子脂质体运载基因的机制对阳离子脂质体的研究具有重要意义。从跨膜机制和信号调控的角度,介绍了脂质体/DNA复合体以特定构象避免细胞外基质中核酸酶的降解,跨越细胞膜进入细胞的过程;阐明了DNA在信号调控的作用下,逃离溶酶体并安全释放的机制;讨论了基因穿过核被膜进入到细胞核的方式,为进一步阐明阳离子脂质体运载基因的分子机制奠定基础。     

自然越冬期间茶树叶片生理生化指标和解剖结构的变化

为探讨自然越冬条件下茶树〔Camellia sinensis(Linn.)O.Ktze.〕叶片的生理生化指标和解剖结构变化,以种植于南京的茶树品种'龙井长叶'('Longjingchangye')的10年生植株为研究对象,对自然越冬期间(2012年11月15日至2013年3月31日)其叶片的叶绿素、可溶性蛋白质、可溶性糖、游离脯氨酸和丙二醛(MDA)含量,超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)和过氧化物酶(POD)活性,以及上表皮、下表皮、栅栏组织和海绵组织厚度及上表皮厚度与海绵组织厚度的比值进行了比较分析.结果表明:自然越冬期间,叶片的叶绿素含量随时间推移呈现先降低后升高的变化趋势,而叶片的可溶性蛋白质、可溶性糖、游离脯氨酸和MDA含量以及SOD、CAT和POD活性则总体上呈现先升高后降低的变化趋势,并且均在2013年1月15日达到其各自的最低值或最高值.与入冬前相比,越冬后叶片的叶绿素和可溶性糖含量显著降低,MDA含量略降低,可溶性蛋白质含量显著升高,游离脯氨酸含量及SOD、CAT和POD活性均略升高.自然越冬期间,叶片的上表皮、下表皮、栅栏组织和海绵组织厚度随时间推移总体上呈现先降低后升高的变化趋势,上表皮和栅栏组织厚度在2013年2月15日达到最低值,而下表皮和海绵组织厚度则在2013年1月30日达到最低值;上表皮厚度与海绵组织厚度的比值呈波动变化趋势.与入冬前相比,入冬后叶片的上表皮、下表皮、栅栏组织和海绵组织厚度均显著降低,而上表皮厚度与海绵组织厚度的比值略降低.研究结果显示:自然越冬条件下,茶树具有一定的耐寒能力,为了减轻低温对其机体的伤害可通过增加可溶性蛋白质、可溶性糖和游离脯氨酸合成及提高相关抗氧化酶活性来调解越冬期间的代谢平衡.     

武汉东湖颗粒悬浮物的结构与元素组成

本研究于1989-1990对武汉东湖营养水平不同的二个湖区的颗粒悬浮物的干物质结构和元素组成进行了分析。综合平均值表明,浮游动物的现存量约为浮游植物的1/4,浮游动物群落以小型的原生动物和轮虫占优势。从年平均值来看,浮游生物的干重占颗粒悬浮物干物质的2.5-7.6%,浮游生物碳量占颗粒悬浮物碳量的4.0-9.8%;颗粒悬浮物的碳/氮比与一般浮游植物的比值相似,但明显大于多数浮游动物;颗粒悬浮物的碳与干物重之比约为一般浮游生物的3/4;颗粒悬浮物的灰分含量约为45%,显着高于除硅藻以外的其它浮游生物。从数量上来看,有机碎屑是东湖生态系统颗粒悬浮物最重要的组成部分,而活体浮游生物只占颗粒悬浮物很小的一部分(<10%);这意味着在东湖来自以浮游植物为核心的食物网的有机碎屑的形成速率显着大于有机碎屑的矿化速率。       

中国稻田蜘蛛群落结构研究初报

通过近３０ａ的调查研究，中国稻田蜘蛛群落的物种组成，经不断分类鉴定，有２２科、１０８属、３７５种，其中已定出种名的有３３７种，未定种名的３８种。２２科中有优势科８个，优势属１３个，及１７个优势种，但优势科中不一定都含有优势属或优势种。