非水介质中脂肪酶催化的手性拆分研究进展

脂肪酶催化的外消旋体动力学拆分是不对称催化领域中极具吸引力且发展非常迅速的重要技术。对这一领域的最新研究进展进行了调研,并将注意力集中于脂肪酶在非水溶剂中的应用。引用最近五年中的一些文献案例,说明了脂肪酶作为立体选择性生物催化剂在外消旋体拆分中的多样化功能和应用。     

AUXOSPORE FORMATION AND THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE INITIAL CELL OF THE MARINE ARAPHID DIATOM GEPHYRIA MEDIA (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE)1

Recent studies have led to a rapid increase in knowledge of auxospore formation in diatoms. However, these studies have been limited to centric and raphid pennate diatoms, and there is still very little information for the araphid pennate diatoms. Using LM and SEM, we studied the development of the auxospore and the initial cell of the marine epiphytic diatom Gephyria media Arnott. Auxospores were bipolar and curved in side view, as in many other pennate diatoms. SEM revealed many transverse perizonial bands, all of which were incomplete rings. There was an elongate, sprawling, silicified structure beneath the ventral suture of the transverse perizonial bands. This structure is presumably equivalent to the longitudinal perizonial band in other pennate diatoms, although we could not determine the homologous relationship between the two features. Scales were found both in the inner wall of the perizonium and around the primary perizonial bands. The presence or absence of scales may be of phylogenetic significance in diatoms, only during the final stages of auxospore formation because scales are found in early spherical stages. The distinctive finger‐like structures observed throughout all stage of G. media have not been observed before in the other diatom taxa.     

Involvement of estrogen receptor alpha, beta and oxytocin in social discrimination: A detailed behavioral analysis with knockout female mice

Social recognition, processing, and retaining information about conspecific individuals is crucial for the development of normal social relationships. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) is necessary for social recognition in male and female mice, with its effects being modulated by estrogens in females. In previous studies, mice whose genes for the estrogen receptor-alpha (alpha-ERKO) and estrogen receptor-beta (beta-ERKO) as well as OTKO were knocked out failed to habituate to a repeatedly presented conspecific and to dishabituate when the familiar mouse is replaced by a novel animal (Choleris et al. 2003, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100, 6192-6197). However, a binary social discrimination assay, where animals are given a simultaneous choice between a familiar and a previously unknown individual, offers a more direct test of social recognition. Here, we used alpha-ERKO, beta-ERKO, and OTKO female mice in the binary social discrimination paradigm. Differently from their wild-type controls, when given a choice, the KO mice showed either reduced (beta-ERKO) or completely impaired (OTKO and alpha-ERKO) social discrimination. Detailed behavioral analyses indicate that all of the KO mice have reduced anxiety-related stretched approaches to the social stimulus with no overall impairment in horizontal and vertical activity, non-social investigation, and various other behaviors such as, self-grooming, digging, and inactivity. Therefore, the OT, ER-alpha, and ER-beta genes are necessary, to different degrees, for social discrimination and, thus, for the modulation of social behavior (e.g. aggression, affiliation).     

基于云班课的研究生医学分子生物学文献阅读与讨论教学模式的整合与评价

研究生教育注重培养学生的科学研究和创新能力.文献阅读与讨论(literature reading and discussion,LRD)对研究生创新思维和批判性思维的培养发挥积极的作用.然而,在传统的分子生物学课堂上,如何有效地实施大规模的集体LRD是一个巨大的挑战.云班课是一款专门针对教学而设计的免费移动教学APP,...     

我国网络平台本土兰科植物贸易状况

我国兰科植物物种丰富, 很多具有极高的药用和观赏价值。随着网络平台的迅速发展, 兰科植物的线上交易越来越普遍。为了解国内网络平台的本土兰科植物贸易情况, 本文利用PyCharm Community软件爬取网络交易信息和人工浏览收集的方法, 分析了淘宝网、拼多多和中兰网的兰科植物贸易情况。调查发现: 网络贸易的本土兰科植物共计84属339种(含3变种), 包含45个中国特有种, 兰属(Cymbidium)和石斛属(Dendrobium)是最大的贸易对象。其中, 仅以观赏用途作为卖点的兰科植物309种(91.1%), 仅以药用价值作为卖点的兰科植物5种(1.5%), 以双用途作为卖点的兰科植物25种(7.4%)。本次调查共记录到336种(99.1%)野生兰科植物销售信息, 并发现部分销售者刻意包装野生兰科植物的现象。大部分淘宝网和拼多多的兰科植物最大销售量对应的价位为10-49元, 其中拼多多的价格更低且集中, 位于15-35元的占57.5%。商品货源地较集中, 主要包括云南省、广东省、广西壮族自治区、浙江省、福建省和四川省。进一步对本次记录的兰科植物进行濒危等级统计后发现: 受威胁兰科植物188种(55.5%), 其中极危(Critically Endangered, CR) 23种(6.8%), 濒危(Endangered, EN) 85种(25.1%), 易危(Vulnerable, VU) 80种(23.6%)。为加强我国野生兰科植物多样性保护, 强烈建议各网络平台依据最新《国家重点保护野生植物名录》制定兰科植物商品信息发布规则, 重点监督货源地集中的地区, 同时加强对公众的宣传教育, 相关部门应利用网络平台加强兰科资源的信息交流, 共同保护野生兰科植物。     

Fish and fisheries in hot water: What is happening and how do we adapt?

Rapid climate changes are currently driving substantial reorganizations of marine ecosystems around the world. A key question is how these changes will alter the provision of ecosystem services from the ocean, particularly from fisheries. To answer this question, we need to understand not only the ecological dynamics of marine systems, but also human adaptation and feedbacks between humans and the rest of the natural world. In this review, we outline what we have learned from research primarily in continental shelf ecosystems and fishing communities of North America. Key findings are that marine animals are highly sensitive to warming and are responding quickly to changes in water temperature, and that such changes are often happening faster than similar processes on land. Changes in species distributions and productivity are having substantial impacts on fisheries, including through changing catch compositions and longer distances traveled for fishing trips. Conflicts over access to fisheries have also emerged as species distributions are no longer aligned with regulations or catch allocations. These changes in the coupled natural-human system have reduced the value of ecosystem services from some fisheries and risk doing so even more in the future. Going forward, substantial opportunities for more effective fisheries management and operations, marine conservation, and marine spatial planning are likely possible through greater consideration of climate information over time-scales from years to decades.     

Brain serotonin deficiency leads to social communication deficits in mice

A deficit in brain serotonin is thought to be associated with deteriorated stress coping behaviour, affective disorders and exaggerated violence. We challenged this hypothesis in mice with a brain-specific serotonin depletion caused by a tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) deficiency. We tested TPH2-deficient (Tph2^−/–) animals in two social situations. As juveniles, Tph2^−/− mice displayed reduced social contacts, whereas ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) were unchanged within same-sex same-genotype pairings. Interestingly, juvenile females vocalized more than males across genotypes. Sexually naive adult males were exposed to fresh male or female urine, followed by an interaction with a conspecific, and re-exposed to urine. Although Tph2^−/− mice showed normal sexual preference, they were hyper-aggressive towards their interaction partners and did not vocalize in response to sexual cues. These results highlight that central serotonin is essential for prosocial behaviour, especially USV production in adulthood, but not for sexual preference.     

The risk‐return trade‐off between solitary and eusocial reproduction

Social insect colonies can be seen as a distinct form of biological organisation because they function as superorganisms. Understanding how natural selection acts on the emergence and maintenance of these colonies remains a major question in evolutionary biology and ecology. Here, we explore this by using multi‐type branching processes to calculate the basic reproductive ratios and the extinction probabilities for solitary vs. eusocial reproductive strategies. We find that eusociality, albeit being hugely successful once established, is generally less stable than solitary reproduction unless large demographic advantages of eusociality arise for small colony sizes. We also demonstrate how such demographic constraints can be overcome by the presence of ecological niches that strongly favour eusociality. Our results characterise the risk‐return trade‐offs between solitary and eusocial reproduction, and help to explain why eusociality is taxonomically rare: eusociality is a high‐risk, high‐reward strategy, whereas solitary reproduction is more conservative.     

Is Female Visual Signaling to Male Song Socially Regulated in Brown‐headed Cowbirds?

This research focused on how adult female brown‐headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater, regulate social feedback on a group level to shape the development of male song. Specifically, females produce rapid wing movements in response to male song, termed ‘wing strokes,’ which have been shown to shape male song and predict song quality. These effects have been documented in captive dyads and triads, but not in more naturalistic flocks, where song development actually occurs. Here, we studied wing stroking in small seminatural flocks of differing female‐to‐male ratios. Despite differences in the number of females and their social selectivity, the same pattern of female feedback emerged in seven of eight flocks: One female produced the majority of wing strokes to male song, making her the primary wing stroker in her flock. Previous studies on large flocks have demonstrated females to facilitate male song improvisation and development if they exhibited higher social selectivity by approaching immature males less. Here, we found that primary wing strokers were indeed more socially selective than non‐primary wing strokers. This research is the first to document social stimulation being facilitated at the group level to ensure that more highly selective females deliver the most feedback.