Genome-wide analysis of ACO and ACS genes in pear (Pyrus ussuriensis)

The “Nanguo” pear is a typically climacteric fruit and ethylene is the main factor controlling the ripening process of climacteric fruit. Ethylene biosynthesis has been studied clearly and ACC synthase (ACS) is the rate-limited enzyme. ACO (ACC oxidase) is another important enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis. By exploring the pear genome, we identified 13 ACS genes and 11 ACO genes, respectively, and their expression patterns in fruit and other organs were investigated. Among these genes, 11 ACS and 8ACO genes were expressed in pear fruits. What’s more, 4 ACS and 3ACO genes could be induced by Ethephon and inhibited by 1-MCP treatment. This study is the first time to explore ACS and ACO genes at genome-wide level and will provide new data for research on pear fruit ripening.

     

Understanding the mechanism of beta-hairpin folding via phi-value analysis

The folding kinetics of a 16-residue beta-hairpin (trpzip4) and five mutants were studied by a laser-induced temperature-jump infrared method. Our results indicate that mutations which affect the strength of the hydrophobic cluster lead to a decrease in the thermal stability of the beta-hairpin, as a result of increased unfolding rates. For example, the W45Y mutant has a phi-value of approximately zero, implying a folding transition state in which the native contacts involving Trp45 are not yet formed. On the other hand, mutations in the turn or loop region mostly affect the folding rate. In particular, replacing Asp46 with Ala leads to a decrease in the folding rate by roughly 9 times. Accordingly, the phi-value for D46A is determined to be approximately 0.77, suggesting that this residue plays a key role in stabilizing the folding transition state. This is most likely due to the fact that the main chain and side chain of Asp46 form a characteristic hydrogen bond network with other residues in the turn region. Taken together, these results support the folding mechanism we proposed before, which suggests that the turn formation is the rate-limiting step in beta-hairpin folding and, consequently, a stronger turn-promoting sequence increases the stability of a beta-hairpin primarily by increasing its folding rate, whereas a stronger hydrophobic cluster increases the stability of a beta-hairpin primarily by decreasing its unfolding rate. In addition, we have examined the compactness of the thermally denatured and urea-denatured states of another 16-residue beta-hairpin, using the method of fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Our results show that the thermally denatured state of this beta-hairpin is significantly more compact than the urea-denatured state, suggesting that the very first step in beta-hairpin folding, when initiated from an extended conformation, probably corresponds to a process of hydrophobic collapse.     

Isolation and functional analysis of MxNAS3 involved in enhanced iron stress tolerance and abnormal flower in transgenic Arabidopsis

Metal trace elements, such as Fe, Zn, and Mn, are necessary micronutrients required by all plants. In this study, the MxNAS3 gene was cloned from Malus xiaojinensis and MxNAS3 was localized in the cytoplasmic membrane. The expression level of MxNAS3 in root and new leaf was higher than in mature leaf and phloem, which was greatly influenced by high and low Fe stresses, IAA and ABA treatments in M. xiaojinensis. Over-expression of MxNAS3 in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana contributed to enhanced Fe stress tolerance, as well as higher levels of root length, fresh weight, concentrations of chlorophyll, nicotianamine, Fe, Zn, and Mn, especially under high and low Fe stresses. More importantly, it was the first time for us to find that higher expression of MxNAS3 in transgenic A. thaliana contributed to misshappen flowers. Moreover, the MxNAS5-OE A. thaliana had increased expression levels of flowering-related genes (AtYSL1, AtYSL3, AtAFDL, AtAP1, ATMYB21, and AtSAP).     

葛洲坝下游中华鲟产卵场的水文状况及其与繁殖活动的关系

国家一级保护动物中华鲟为江海溯河产卵的洄游性鱼类,1981年即葛洲坝截流前,其产卵场分布在金沙江下游和长江上游的约600km江段。葛洲坝水电工程阻断了其产卵洄游通道,调查发现自1982年以来,中华鲟在葛洲坝下游江段的狭小范围成功产卵。对中华鲟繁殖季节葛洲坝下中华鲟产卵场的水温、流速、流量、含沙量和水位等水文数据进行了分析,并对其与中华鲟产卵的关系进行了探讨。结果表明,葛洲坝截流后,宜昌中华鲟产卵场江段10～11月份的月平均流速及11月份的月平均含沙量发生明显变化（P〈0．001）,而月平均水位、流量及水温的变化不明显。多年观察结果显示,中华鲟产卵时,5种水文因子的参数均有一定的变动范围。1983～2004年期问,37次中华鲟产卵时的日平均水温范围为16．10～20．60℃,平均为18．63℃;日平均水位范围为40．69～47．32m（黄海高程）,平均为43．91m;日平均流量范围为7170～26000m^3／s,平均为13908m^3／s;1983～2000年31次中华鲟产卵时的日平均含沙量范围为0．10～1．32kg／m。,平均为0．46kg／m。;日平均流速为0．81～1．98m／s,平均为1．30m／s。分析得到较适宜中华鲟产卵的水温是18．0～20．0℃,流量是14100m^3／s,水位是42．0～45．0m,含沙量是0．2～0．3kg／m^3,底层流速是1．0～1．7m／s。水温是中华鲟产卵的必备条件,水温适宜的情况下,水位、流速和含沙量出现逐渐从高位下降的趋势、而且各水文要素值均达到其适宜范围时,中华鲟即产卵繁殖。三峡工程运行后,下游江段水温的变化可能会对中华鲟的性腺发育和产卵繁殖产生不利影响,而江水含沙量下降对其产卵繁殖较有利。