褐飞虱EST资源的微卫星信息分析

表达序列标签（expressed sequence tags,ESTs）是开发微卫星标记的一个重要的资源。褐飞虱Nilaparvata lugens （Stål） EST序列的公布为开发EST-SSRs提供了宝贵的数据资源,本研究利用生物信息学对NCBI公共数据库中的37 398条褐飞虱ESTs序列进行EST-SSRs特征分析,得到全长为7 619 324 kb的无冗余EST 9 852条。按照3个不同的查找标准在这些序列中搜索SSR。查找结果显示：褐飞虱EST-SSRs主要重复基元以1～3碱基为主,占总EST-SSR的95％以上。在单碱基重复基元中,A/T是占优势的重复基元,在二相重复类型中,AG/CT重复基元出现的频率最多,而AAG/CTT是三相重复中占绝对优势的重复基元。在褐飞虱EST-SSRs中未查找到GC重复基元。以100 bp为参照,在3种查找标准下含有SSR的EST序列中两端侧翼序列均≥100 bp的序列分别为738,89和42个。通过分析褐飞虱EST-SSRs标记可以为褐飞虱和近缘种的SSR标记的开发提供信息,同时通过分析褐飞虱EST-SSRs的分布频率和分布特征可以为昆虫EST-SSRs的研究提供借鉴和参考。     

A simple workflow to increase MS2 identification rate by subsequent spectral library search

Searching a spectral library for the identification of protein MS/MS data has proven to be a fast and accurate method, while yielding a high identification rate. We investigated the potential to increase peptide discovery rate, with little increase in computational time, by constructing a workflow based on a sequence search with Phenyx followed by a library search with SpectraST. Searching a consensus library compiled from the search results of the prior Phenyx search increased the number of confidently matched spectra by up to 156%. Additionally matched spectra by SpectraST included noisy spectra, spectra representing missed cleaved peptides as well as spectra from post‐translationally modified peptides.     

Subtractive phage display technology identifies zebrafish marcksb that is required for gastrulation

In the present study, we used a phage display technique to screen differentially expressed proteins from zebrafish post-gastrula embryos. With a subtractive screening approach, 6 types of single-chain Fv fragments (scFvs) were screened out from an scFv antibody phage display library by biopanning against zebrafish embryonic homogenate. Four scFv fragments (scFv1, scFv3, scFv4 and scFv6) showed significantly stronger binding to the tailbud embryos than to the 30%-epiboly embryos. A T7 phage display cDNA library was constructed from zebrafish tailbud embryos and used to identify the antigens potentially recognized by scFv1, which showed the highest frequency and strongest binding against the tailbud embryos. We acquired 4 candidate epitopes using scFv1 and the corresponding genes showed significantly higher expression levels at tailbud stage than at 30%-epiboly. The most potent epitope of scFv1 was the clone scFv1-2, which showed strong homology to zebrafish myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate b (Marcksb). Western blot analysis confirmed the high expression of marcksb in the post-gastrula embryos, and the endogenous expression of Marcksb was interfered by injection of scFv1. Zebrafish marcksb showed dynamic expression patterns during embryonic development. Knockdown of marcksb strongly affected gastrulation movements. Moreover, we revealed that zebrafish marcksb is required for cell membrane protrusion and F-actin alignment. Thus, our study uncovered 4 types of scFvs binding to zebrafish post-gastrula embryos, and the epitope of scFv1 was found to be required for normal gastrulation of zebrafish. To our knowledge, this was the first attempt to combine phage display technique with the embryonic and developmental study of vertebrates, and we were able to identify zebrafish marcksb that was required for gastrulation.     

High mortality and female‐biased operational sex ratio result in low encounter rates and moderate polyandry in a spider

The taxonomy of the Old World bat genus Otomops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) has been the subject of considerable debate. The failure of classical morphological studies to provide consistent patterns regarding interspecific relationships within Otomops has limited any understanding of the evolutionary history of the genus. We used traditional and geometric morphometric approaches to establish the species limits of taxa from sub‐Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Madagascar. Morphometric data supported the recent recognition of three distinct Afrotropical taxa: Otomops madagascariensis from Madagascar; Otomops martiensseni s.s. from southern, eastern, central, and western Africa; and an undescribed taxon from north‐east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Analyses of craniodental measurements and landmark‐based data showed significant cranial size and shape divergence between the three taxa. Cranial size and shape variation within Afro‐Arabian Otomops were strongly influenced by altitude, seasonality of precipitation, and precipitation in the driest month. Based on morphometric patterns and molecular divergence estimates, we suggest that morphological evolution within Afro‐Arabian Otomops occurred in response to the fluctuating climate during the Pleistocene on the one hand, and the increasing aridity and seasonality over north‐eastern Africa on the other. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, •• , ••–••.     

参数序列比对算法研究

序列比对是生物信息学中的一项重要任务,通过序列比对可以发现生物序列中的功能、结构和进化的信息。序列比对结果的生物学意义与所选择的匹配、不匹配、插入和删除以及空隙的罚分函数密切相关。现介绍一种参数序列比对方法,该方法把最佳比对作为权值和罚分的函数,可以系统地得到参数的选择对最佳比对结果的影响。然后将其应用于RNA序列比对,分析不同的参数选择对序列比对结果的影响。最后指出参数序列比对算法的应用以及未来的发展方向。     

Sources of information controlling motor patterns in arthropod local search orientation

Search orientation is controlled by information that is stored genetically, idiothetically or through learning and that is gained from internal and external sensory systems. Sources of variation in motor patterns could derive from any of the types of information, or could originate during the execution of the instructions derived from orientation information. Local search after resource utilization in the flies Musca demestica and Drosophila melanogaster can be addressed as an initial increase in turning rate and decrease in locomotory rate, followed by a transition in both measures to a lower turning rate and a higher locomotory rate characteristic of ranging. The search tactic of flies promotes accrual of discrete resources in a patch. A forward-moving tendency, combined with a “noisy” looping motor pattern, enhances resource-finding in both linear and non-linear resource patterns. The period before a fly leaves a patch—its giving-up-time—is a function of current resource density and the slope of the transition from local search to ranging: once a fly switches to the relatively straight path characteristic of ranging, the chances of it leaving the patch depends on whether or not another resource is encountered. Duration of local search is dependent on the genotype of an individual, level of starvation or satiation, resource quality (sucrose concentration) and quantity (patch size) and presence of resource-specific sensory information.