Wingbeat frequency, temperature and body size in bees and flies

ABSTRACT. This paper describes the relationship between ambient temperature and wingbeat frequency in bees and flies of different sizes, and presents new data from insects in free fight. The slope of the relationship changes with the size of the insect, and was different for insects in hovering flight compared with individuals of the same species in forward flight.     

Is CD36 gene polymorphism in region encoding lipid-binding domain associated with early onset CAD?

CD36 is a fatty acid translocase in striated muscle cells and cardiomyocytes. Some study suggested that alterations in CD36 gene may be associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) risk. The aim of the current study was to compare the frequency of CD36 variants in region encoding lipid-binding domain in Caucasian patients with early-onset CAD, no-CAD adult controls and neonates. The study group comprised 100 patients with early onset CAD. The genetic control groups were 306 infants and 40 no-CAD adults aged over 70 years. Exons 4, 5 and 6 including fragments of flanking introns were studied using the denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography technique and direct sequencing. Changes detected in analyzed fragment of CD36: IVS3-6 T/C (rs3173798), IVS4-10 G/A (rs3211892), C311T (Thr104Ile, not described so far) in exon 5, G550A (Asp184Asn, rs138897347), C572T (Pro191Leu, rs143150225), G573A (Pro191Pro, rs5956) and A591T (Thr197Thr, rs141680676) in exon 6. No significant differences in the CD36 genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies were found between the three groups. Only borderline differences (p = 0.066) were found between early onset CAD patients and newborns in the frequencies of 591T allele (2.00% vs 0.50%) and CGCGCGT haplotype (2.00% vs 0.50%) with both IVS3-6C and 591T variant alleles. In conclusion, CD36 variants: rs3173798, rs3211892, rs138897347, rs5956, rs143150225 rs141680676 and C311T do not seem to be involved in the risk of early-onset CAD in Caucasian population.     

食用菌灭活原生质体电融合及属间融合产物的鉴定分析

食用菌因其显著的营养、保健、药用及综合利用价值受到世人青睐。原生质体融合技术则为食用菌的育种和遗传学研究提供了一条很好的途径。食用菌的种内、种间乃至属间、目间的原生质体融合均已有过报道,但这些工作大多利用营养缺陷型标记的亲株,采用化学融合法完成。这种融合的效率较低,对亲株的标记繁琐费时,甚至会对菌株性状产生不良影响。最近,一种具有较高融合效率的物理融合法——电融合法以及非遗传性标记法分别被一些研究者所采用。本研究将原生质体电融合法与灭活标记法相结合来获得食用菌的属间融合产物,并采用包括同工酶分析和RAPD(或AP-PCR)方法在内的分子生物学方法,对食用菌属间杂交后代的遗传学特性进行初步探讨。1 材料和方法     

When should we expect early bursts of trait evolution in comparative data? Predictions from an evolutionary food web model

Conceptual models of adaptive radiation predict that competitive interactions among species will result in an early burst of speciation and trait evolution followed by a slowdown in diversification rates. Empirical studies often show early accumulation of lineages in phylogenetic trees, but usually fail to detect early bursts of phenotypic evolution. We use an evolutionary simulation model to assemble food webs through adaptive radiation, and examine patterns in the resulting phylogenetic trees and species' traits (body size and trophic position). We find that when foraging trade-offs result in food webs where all species occupy integer trophic levels, lineage diversity and trait disparity are concentrated early in the tree, consistent with the early burst model. In contrast, in food webs in which many omnivorous species feed at multiple trophic levels, high levels of turnover of species' identities and traits tend to eliminate the early burst signal. These results suggest testable predictions about how the niche structure of ecological communities may be reflected by macroevolutionary patterns.     

Secretory type of recombinant thioredoxin h induces ER stress in endosperm cells of transgenic rice

Thioredoxin h (TRX h) functions as a reducing protein and is present in all organisms. As a new approach for inducing the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, TRX h (OsTRX23) was expressed as a secretory protein using the endosperm-specific glutelin GluB-1 promoter and a signal peptide. In transgenic rice seeds, the majority of the recombinant TRX h accumulated in the ER but some was also localized to the protein body IIs (PB-IIs). The rice grain quality was dependent on the TRX h accumulation level. Increased TRX h expression resulted in aberrant phenotypes, such as chalky and shriveled features, lower seed weight and lower seed protein content. Furthermore, the accumulation of some seed storage proteins (SSPs) was significantly suppressed and the morphology of the protein bodies (PB-Is and PB-IIs) changed according to the level of TRX h. SSPs, such as 13 kDa prolamin and GluA, were specifically modified via the reducing action of TRX h. These changes led to the activation of the ER stress response, which was accompanied by the expression of several chaperone proteins. Specifically, the ER stress markers BiP4 and BiP5 were significantly up-regulated by an increase in the level of TRX h. These results suggest that changes in the conformation of certain SSPs via the action of recombinant TRX h lead to an induced ER stress response in transgenic rice seeds.     

昆虫体内储存蛋白的研究进展

储存蛋白是昆虫体内普遍存在的一种特异性血淋巴蛋白 ,通常在幼虫的脂肪体内合成 ,释放进入血淋巴中。化蛹时 ,又被脂肪体选择性吸收 ,作为氨基酸的贮存库对成虫变态发育和雌性卵发育起着重要的作用。该文介绍了昆虫体内储存蛋白的特性、功能、及调节机制。     

布莱克韦尔虫草的生物活性评价及其子实体的人工培育

虫草在世界范围内广泛分布,具有多种生物活性及较高的食药用价值。为进一步丰富虫草真菌资源,本研究对从广东韶关丹霞山采集到的一份野生虫草样品进行了菌株的分离鉴定、生物活性评价和子实体的诱导培养。通过形态学和系统发育分析,将菌株ZYJ0835鉴定为布莱克韦尔虫草Cordyceps blackwelliae。利用5种不同的培养基进行液体发酵培养,发现该菌株的发酵上清液和菌丝体均具有抗氧化和纤溶活性。此外,该菌株还具有一定的抑菌活性。利用大米、小麦、柞蚕蛹3种培养基质,均成功诱导出子实体,并且人工培养的子实体也具有抗氧化和纤溶活性。本研究首次在中国境内报道布莱克韦尔虫草的分布,为进一步开发利用该虫草资源提供了理论依据。     

ESCRT proteins and cell signalling

Subunits of the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) were identified as components of a molecular machinery that sorts ubiquitinated membrane proteins into the intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) of multivesicular endosomes (MVEs) for subsequent delivery to the lumen of lysosomes or related organelles. As many of the membrane proteins that undergo ESCRT-mediated sorting are signalling receptors that are ubiquitinated in response to ligand binding, ESCRT subunits have been hypothesized to play a crucial role in attenuation of cell signalling by mediating ligand-induced receptor degradation. Here we discuss this concept based on the examples from loss-of-function studies in model organisms and cell lines. The emerging picture is that ESCRTs are indeed involved in downregulation of receptor signalling pathways associated with cell survival, proliferation and polarity. In addition, the recent discovery of a positive role for the ESCRT pathway in Wnt signalling through sequestration of an inhibitory cytosolic component into MVEs illustrates that ESCRTs may also control signalling in ways that are independent of degradative receptor sorting.     

Developmental Deformity Due to scalloped Non‐Function in Drosophila Brain Leads to Cognitive Impairment

Neural identity and wiring specificity are fundamental to brain function. Factors affecting proliferation of the progenitor cells leading to an expansion or regression of specific neuronal clusters are expected to challenge the process of formation of precise synaptic connections with their partners and their further integration to result in proper functional neural circuitry. We have investigated the role of scalloped, a Hippo pathway gene in Drosophila brain development and have shown that its function is critical to regulate proliferation of Mushroom Body Neuroblasts and to limit the neuronal cluster size to normal in the fly brain. Here we investigate the consequent effect of the anatomical phenotype of mutant flies on the brain function, as exemplified by their cognitive performance. We demonstrate that the neural expansion in important neural clusters of the olfactory pathway, caused due to Scalloped inactivation, imparts severe disabilities in learning, short‐term memory and long‐term memory. Scalloped knockdown in αβ Kenyon Cell clusters drastically reduces long‐term memory performance. Scalloped deficiency induced neural expansion in antennal lobe and ellipsoid body neurons bring down short‐term memory performance significantly. We also demonstrate that the cognitive impairments observed here are not due to a problem in memory formation or execution in the adult, but are due to the developmental deformities caused in the respective class of neurons. Our results strongly indicate that the additional neurons generated by Scalloped inactivation are not synergistically integrated into, but rather perturb the formation of precise functional circuitry.     

文心兰原球茎液体增殖培养研究

以茎尖诱导形成的原球茎(protocorm-like bodies,PLBs)为外殖体,采用液体培养方式比较了不同浓度的激素配比、蔗糖浓度和添加不同量的新鲜椰汁对文心兰PLBs增殖的影响,并比较了相同培养基成分时液体培养PLBs增殖、分化成苗和固体培养PLBs增殖和分化成苗的差异。试验结果表明:不同浓度的外源激素及其配比对文心兰PLBs增殖生长影响较大,6-BA0.5 mg/L Ad 0.05 mg/L NAA0.05 mg/L的激素组合比较适合文心兰PLBs增殖;蔗糖浓度对文心兰PLBs增殖的影响也较大,适合文心兰PLB在液体培养条件下增殖的蔗糖浓度为7.5 g/L;添加5%新鲜椰汁不仅对文心兰PLBs增殖有促进作用,而且能改善PLBs的质量;适合文心兰PLBs增殖的培养基为MS 6-BA0.5 mg/L Ad 0.05 mg/L NAA0.05 mg/L 5%椰汁 蔗糖7.5 g/L。文心兰PLBs在5周内的增殖生长曲线呈倒"V"字形,第3周的增殖速度达最高峰,而固体培养基PLBs增殖速度较慢,生长曲线几乎成直线。液体增殖的PLBs分化成苗较固体培养增殖的PLBs差。