胚乳性状的遗传模型和世代平均数

谷类作物的胚乳是三倍体组织,胚乳性状受3N遗传控制。本文分析了胚乳性状的遗传特征,建立了相应的遗传模型,推导了世代群体的平均数分量,并提出了研究胚乳性状基因效应的一些简单的交配设计。     

Interfacial Solar‐to‐Heat Conversion for Desalination

Solar desalination is a promising and sustainable solution for water shortages in the future. Interfacial solar‐to‐heat conversion for desalination has attracted increasing attention in the past decades, due to the heat localization induced high thermal efficiency, simple structure, and low cost. In this review, the authors summarize and analyze the critical processes involved in such a solar desalination system, including the thermal conversion and transport, salt dissipation, and vapor manipulation. Mathematical models of heat transfer and salt dissipation are also built for quantitative analysis of systematic performance relative to properties of employed materials and system designs. Recent efforts devoted to improving the overall thermal efficiency, salt rejection, and water yield are then summarized. Based on the analysis and previous results, opportunities for further interfacial solar desalination development are highlighted.     

Th2 polarization in target organs is involved in the alleviation of pathological damage mediated by transplanting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-primed donor T cells

Acute graft-versus-host disease(a GVHD) is caused by allo-activated donor T cells infiltrating target organs. As a regulator of immune function, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor(G-CSF) has been demonstrated to relieve the a GVHD reaction.However, the role of G-CSF-primed donor Tcells in specific target organs is still unknown. In this study, we employed a classical MHC-mismatched transplantation mouse model(C57BL/6 into BALB/c) and found that recipient mice transplanted with GCSF-primed T cells exhibited prolonged survival compared with that of the PBS-treated group. This protective function against GVHD mediated by G-CSF-primed donor T cells was further confirmed by decreased clinical and pathological scores in this a GVHD mouse model, especially in the lung and gut. Moreover, we found that Tcells polarized towards Th2 cells and regulatory T cells were increased in specific target organs. In addition, G-CSF treatment inhibited inducible co-stimulator(ICOS) expression and increased the expression of tolerance-related genes in recipient mice. Our study provides new insight into the immune regulatory effects of G-CSF on T cell-mediated a GVHD, especially for its precise regulation in GVHD target organs.     

Bis(heptalene) “submarine” metal dimer sandwich compounds (C12H10)2M2 (M = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni)

The bis(heptalene)dimetal complexes (C₁₂H₁₀)₂M₂ of the first row transition metals from Ti to Ni are predicted by density functional theory to exhibit “submarine” sandwich structures with a pair of metal atoms sandwiched between the two heptalene rings. For the early transition metal derivatives (C₁₂H₁₀)₂M₂ (M = V, Cr) there are two types of such structures. In one structural type the metals are sandwiched between two heptahapto heptalene rings with metal-metal distances (3.5–3.8 Å) too long for direct metal-metal bonding. The other type of (C₁₂H₁₀)₂M₂ (M = V, Cr, Mn) structure has a pair of bonded metal atoms sandwiched between a fully bonded heptalene ligand and a heptalene ligand bonded to the metals only through an eight-carbon heptafulvene subunit, leaving an uncomplexed cis-1,3-diene unit. The formal metal-metal bond orders in these latter structures are 3, 2, and 1 for M = V, Cr, and Mn with predicted bond lengths of 2.5, 2.7, and 2.8 Å, respectively. For (C₁₂H₁₀)₂Fe₂ a singlet structure with each iron atom sandwiched between a hexahapto and a tetrahapto heptalene ring is energetically preferred over an alternate structure with ferrocene-like iron atoms sandwiched between two pentahapto heptalene rings. Partial bonding of each heptalene ring to the metal atoms occurs in the late transition metal derivatives (C₁₂H₁₀)₂M₂ (M = Co, Ni). This leads to an unsymmetrical structure for the cobalt derivative and a structure for the nickel derivative with each nickel atom sandwiched between a trihapto ligand and a tetrahapto ligand.

A Field Evaluation of an External and Neutrally Buoyant Acoustic Transmitter for Juvenile Salmon: Implications for Estimating Hydroturbine Passage Survival

Turbine-passed fish are exposed to rapid decreases in pressure which can cause barotrauma. The presence of an implanted telemetry tag increases the likelihood of injury or death from exposure to pressure changes, thus potentially biasing studies evaluating survival of turbine-passed fish. Therefore, a neutrally buoyant externally attached tag was developed to eliminate this bias in turbine passage studies. This new tag was designed not to add excess mass in water or take up space in the coelom, having an effective tag burden of zero with the goal of reducing pressure related biases to turbine survival studies. To determine if this new tag affects fish performance or susceptibility to predation, it was evaluated in the field relative to internally implanted acoustic transmitters (JSATS; Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System) used widely for survival studies of juvenile salmonids. Survival and travel time through the study reach was compared between fish with either tag type in an area of high predation in the Snake and Columbia rivers, Washington. An additional group of fish affixed with neutrally-buoyant dummy external tags were implanted with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and recovered further downstream to assess external tag retention and injury. There were no significant differences in survival to the first detection site, 12 river kilometers (rkm) downstream of release. Travel times were also similar between groups. Conversely, externally-tagged fish had reduced survival (or elevated tag loss) to the second detection site, 65 rkm downstream. In addition, the retention study revealed that tag loss was first observed in fish recaptured approximately 9 days after release. Results suggest that this new tag may be viable for short term (<8 days) single-dam turbine-passage studies and under these situations, may alleviate the turbine passage-related bias encountered when using internal tags, however further research is needed to confirm this.     

科尔沁草甸生态系统水分利用效率及影响因素

生态系统水分利用效率(WUE)是衡量碳水循环耦合程度的重要指标。利用科尔沁温带草甸草地碳水通量观测数据,对该生态系统总初级生产力水分利用效率(WUEGPP)的日季变化规律及对环境和生理因子的响应进行分析。结果表明:(1)WUEGPP日变化呈下降-稳定-上升的变化趋势,最大值出现在日出后1—2 h,阴天条件下WUEGPP高于晴天,生长中期WUEGPP高于生长初期和末期;(2)总初级生产力、总蒸散和WUEGPP季节变化均呈夏季高、春秋低的形式,生长季平均值分别为0.57 mg m-2s-1、0.08 g m-2s-1和5.97 mg/g,最大值分别为1.49 mg m-2s-1、0.16 g m-2s1和13.62 mg/g;(3)总初级生产力与饱和差、气温和叶面积指数均呈二次曲线关系,与冠层导度呈对数曲线关系;总蒸散与气温呈二次曲线关系,与饱和差、叶面积指数和冠层导度相关性均不显著;(4)WUEGPP与饱和差、气温和叶面积指数均呈二次曲线关系,与冠层导度呈对数曲线关系,饱和差、冠层导度和叶面积指数分别为2.0 k Pa、0.0015 m/s和4.2是控制WUEGPP增加的阈值;(5)净生态系统生产力水分利用效率(WUENEP)和净初级生产力水分利用效率(WUENPP)季节变化规律与WUEGPP一致,均值分别为3.47和5.47 mg/g。     

Effect of N-Guanyl Modifications on Early Steps in Catalysis of Polymerization by Sulfolobus solfataricus P2 DNA Polymerase Dpo4 T239W

Translesion DNA polymerases are more efficient at bypass of many DNA adducts than replicative polymerases. Previous work with the translesion polymerase Sulfolobus solfataricus Dpo4 showed a decrease in catalytic efficiency during bypass of bulky N²-alkyl guanine (G) adducts with N²-isobutylG showing the largest effect, decreasing ∼ 120-fold relative to unmodified deoxyguanosine (Zhang, H., Eoff, R. L., Egli, M., Guengerich, F. P. Versatility of Y-family Sulfolobus solfataricus DNA polymerase Dpo4 in translation synthesis past bulky N²-alkylguanine adducts. J. Biol. Chem. 2009; 284: 3563-3576). The effect of adduct size on individual catalytic steps has not been easy to decipher because of the difficulty of distinguishing early noncovalent steps from phosphodiester bond formation. We developed a mutant with a single Trp (T239W) to monitor fluorescence changes associated with a conformational change that occurs after binding a correct 2′-deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (Beckman, J. W., Wang, Q., Guengerich, F. P. Kinetic analysis of nucleotide insertion by a Y-family DNA polymerase reveals conformational change both prior to and following phosphodiester bond formation as detected by tryptophan fluorescence. J. Biol. Chem. 2008; 283: 36711-36723) and, in the present work, utilized this approach to monitor insertion opposite N²-alkylG-modified oligonucleotides. We estimated maximal rates for the forward conformational step, which coupled with measured rates of product formation yielded rate constants for the conformational step (both directions) during insertion opposite several N²-alkylG adducts. With the smaller N²-alkylG adducts, the conformational rate constants were not changed dramatically (<  3-fold), indicating that the more sensitive steps are phosphodiester bond formation and partitioning into inactive complexes. With the larger adducts (≥  (2-naphthyl)methyl), the absence of fluorescence changes suggests impaired ability to undergo an appropriate conformational change, consistent with previous structural work.     

黑曲霉固态发酵及酶解玉米皮

以玉米提取淀粉后的玉米皮渣为主要原料,采用黑曲霉固态发酵法产酶再酶解的二步法降解玉米皮中纤维素类物质。经Plackett-Burman法及响应面设计优化发酵条件得:温度30℃,接种量10%,初始水分体积分数60%,物料厚度2.47 cm,初始pH 5.79,发酵时间6 d;滤纸比酶活可达11.01 U/g,较原始酶活提高了40.61%;产酶结束后加入pH 4.8醋酸-醋酸钠缓冲液,置于50℃下酶解144 h,中性洗涤纤维与酸性洗涤纤维降解率分别为46.09%、48.82%,还原糖质量分数达到9.02%。     

Oligonucleotide-based microarray for DNA methylation analysis: principles and applications

Gene silencing via promoter CpG island hypermethylation offers tumor cells growth advantages. This epigenetic event is pharmacologically reversible, and uncovering a unique set of methylation-silenced genes in tumor cells can bring a new avenue to cancer treatment. However, high-throughput tools capable of surveying the methylation status of multiple gene promoters are needed for this discovery process. Herein we describe an oligonucleotide-based microarray technique that is both versatile and sensitive in revealing hypermethylation in defined regions of the genome. DNA samples are bisulfite-treated and PCR-amplified to distinguish CpG dinucleotides that are methylated from those that are not. Fluorescently labeled PCR products are hybridized to arrayed oligonucleotides that can discriminate between methylated and unmethylated alleles in regions of interest. Using this technique, two clinical subtypes of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, mantle cell lymphoma, and grades I/II follicular lymphoma, were further separated based on the differential methylation profiles of several gene promoters. Work is underway in our laboratory to extend the interrogation power of this microarray system in multiple candidate genes. This novel tool, therefore, holds promise to monitor the outcome of various epigenetic therapies on cancer patients.