长江口不同水域浮游动物数量特征比较

为了分析长江口浮游动物与环境的关系,从2004年到2006年分别于5月份(平水期)和8月份(枯水期)在长江口水域共设22个观测站进行6次海洋调查.结果显示:长江口浮游动物丰度8月份高于5月份,北支略大于南支,长江口口外大于口内. 在大多数情况下,5月份丰度近海略大于咸淡交错水域,8月份相反.长江口浮游动物丰度和分布具有不确定性,水团的季节变化,外海水和冲淡水交汇的位置是影响长江口浮游动物分布特征的重要因素.对长江口南支水域而言,5月份中华华哲水蚤(Sinocalanus sinensis), 8月份火腿许水蚤(Schmackeria poplesia)是最主要的优势种;咸淡交错水域和北支优势种种类较多,真刺唇角水蚤(Labidocera euchaeta)在5月份和8月份都是主要优势种,其次是小拟哲水蚤(Paracalanus parvus).针刺拟哲水蚤(Paracalanus aculeatus),背针胸刺水蚤(Centropages dorsispinatus),太平洋纺锤水蚤(Acartia pacifica)和火腿许水蚤仅为8月份的主要优势种.对近海而言,中华哲水蚤(Calanus sinicus)是主要的优势种,其次是五角水母(Muggiaea atlantica)和肥胖箭虫(Sagitta enflata).     

Mapping and characterization of major QTL for spike traits in common wheat

Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants - The spike traits of wheat can directly affect yield. F2 and F2:3 lines derived from the cross of the multi-spikelet female 10-A and the uni-spikelet...     

多肽∶N-寡糖酶在小鼠人工隐睾中表达下调

真核多肽∶N-寡糖酶（peptide∶N-glycanase或PNGase）可切除错误折叠糖蛋白上的N-寡糖链,并可与内质网关联降解（endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation, ERAD）途径中的多种关键成分相结合.然而,对于PNGase的生理功能及其与疾病的关系尚无明确报道.本研究利用重组技术表达和纯化了包含人PNGase N末端片段的融合蛋白,并经融合蛋白免疫与亲和层析纯化家兔抗血清,制备了PNGase的特异性抗体.利用该抗体和Western 印迹技术研究了PNGase在小鼠组织中的表达.结果显示PNGase在7种小鼠组织（脑、心、肺、肝、脾、肾、睾丸）中均有不同程度的表达,其中表达量最高者为睾丸;PNGase表达水平在不同品系小鼠（C57BL/6N、BALB/cAnN和昆明小鼠）间有显著差异.在小鼠单侧隐睾模型中首次观察到,与对照侧阴囊内的正常睾丸相比,隐睾内PNGase含量明显下降,提示PNGase在睾丸生精过程中可能有重要作用.     

Characterization of a novel variant HMW-glutenin gene from Elymus canadensis

High molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits (GS) play a key role in the determination of end-use quality of wheat and other cereal crops. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of both promoter region and ORF of novel HMW-GS allele 1St1.3 from a perennial Triticeae species, Elymus canadensis. The amino acid (AA) sequences of E. canadensis 1St1.3 were deduced as 434 aa. Its protein primary structure comprises a signal peptide with a conserved N-terminal domain, a central repetitive domain and a C-terminal domain. E. canadensis 1St 1.3 possesses several distinct characteristics which are different from those of wheat HMW-GSs. The N-terminal domains of E. canadensis 1St 1.3 resemble that of y-type subunits, while their C-terminal domains are more similar to x-type subunits. The deletion of 85 bp fragment has been observed in promoter region of 1St 1.3, however which has not interrupted the expression of this gene. Our results indicate that 1St 1.3 is novel HMW-GS variants which will be valuable for enhancing our understanding of structural differentiation and the evolutionary relationship among HMW-GSs in Triticeae species.     

Identification, localization, and characterization of putative USP genes in barley

The universal stress proteins (USPs) play an important role in enhancing survival rate during prolonged exposure to heat shock, nutrient starvation, or stressors from agents that arrest cell growth or damage DNA structures. Searching the HarvEST database of barley resulted in 25 putative USP cDNA sequences. Of these, 16 could translate into intact proteins (putative USPs). The alignments of multiple amino acid sequences between the putative barley USPs with those of Arabidopsis and Methanococcus jannaschii resulted in a set of common residues involved in ATP-binding. The 16 putative USPs in barley and the 21 in Arabidopsis were clustered into seven groups, which were distinct from those of E. coli. The genes in these different groups have different intron/exon structures. Nine putative USP genes of barley were cloned successfully based on their sequence characteristics, and they contain two or three introns each. Two of these introns were present in all the genes, one located between β2 and α2, and the other between β4 and α4. Five sets of primers were successfully developed for these putative USP genes. Two of them were mapped on chromosome 1H and the other three were located on three different chromosomes, 2H, 3H and 6H, respectively. Expression analyses were carried out for nine of these putative USP genes. The expression for two of them was undetectable within 27 h following exposure to salt stress. Six of the other seven were expressed in both root and leaf, and the remaining one was expressed in root only. The majority of these genes was expressed more in the salt-sensitive variety, Morex, than in the more tolerant variety, Steptoe.     

Genome-wide identification and evaluation of novel internal control genes for Q-PCR based transcript normalization in wheat

To accurately quantify gene expression using quantitative PCR amplification, it is vital that one or more ideal internal control genes are used to normalize the samples to be compared. Ideally, the expression level of those internal control genes should vary as little as possible between tissues, developmental stages and environmental conditions. In this study, 32 candidate genes for internal control were obtained from the analysis of nine independent experiments which included 333 Affymetrix GeneChip Wheat Genome arrays. Expression levels of the selected genes were then evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR with cDNA samples from different tissues, stages of development and environmental conditions. Finally, fifteen novel internal control genes were selected and their respective expression profiles were compared using NormFinder, geNorm, Pearson correlation coefficients and the twofold-change method. The novel internal control genes from this study were compared with thirteen traditional ones for their expression stability. It was observed that seven of the novel internal control genes were better than the traditional ones in expression stability under all the tested cDNA samples. Among the traditional internal control genes, the elongation factor 1-alpha exhibited strong expression stability, whereas the 18S rRNA, Alpha-tubulin, Actin and GAPDH genes had very poor expression stability in the range of wheat samples tested. Therefore, the use of the novel internal control genes for normalization should improve the accuracy and validity of gene expression analysis.     

Transposon insertion resulted in the silencing of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Wx-B1n</Emphasis> in Chinese wheat landraces

Key message

A novel Wx-B1 allele was characterized; a transposon insertion resulted in the loss of its function, which is different from the previously reported gene silencing mechanisms at the Wx-B1 locus.

Abstract

The waxy protein composition of 53 Chinese wheat landraces was analyzed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis; of these, 10 did not show the expression of Wx-A1 (four accession) or Wx-B1 (six accessions) protein. The results of molecular marker detection revealed that the Wx-B1 allele (Wx-B1n) showed normal expression, inconsistent with the findings of SDS-PAGE for the Xiaobaipi accession. Further cloning of the 9160-bp region covering the Wx-B1 coding region and 3′-downstream region revealed that a 2178-bp transposon fragment had been inserted at 2462 bp within the tenth exon of Wx-B1n ORF, leading to the absence of Wx-B1 protein. Sequence analysis indicated that the insertion possessed the structural features of invert repeat and target repeat elements, we deduced that it was a transposon. Further PCR analysis revealed that this fragment had moved, but not copied itself, from 3B chromosome to the current location in Wx-B1n. Therefore, the reason for the inactivation of Wx-B1n was considerably different from those for the inactivation of Wx-B1b, Wx-B1k, and Wx-B1m; to our knowledge, this kind of structural mutation has never been reported in Wx-B1 alleles. This novel allele is interesting, because it was not associated with the deletion of other quality-related genes included in the 67 kb region lost with the common null allele Wx-B1b. The null Wx-B1n might be useful for investigating gene inactivation and expression as well as for enriching the genetic resource pool for the modification of the amylose/amylopectin ratio, thereby improving wheat quality.

     

Phylogenetic analysis of the dimeric alpha-amylase inhibitor sequences from an orthologous region in 21 different genomes of the tribe Triticeae (Poaceae)

Six hundred and thirty gene sequences from 21 different genomes in Triticeae tribe were obtained and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. The sequences showed high homology in both nucleotide sequences and length variation, and had a common conserved cysteine skeleton C–Xn–C–Xn–C–Xn–CC–Xn–C–X–C–Xn–C–Xn–C–Xn–C. The sequences from common wheat formed three clusters; two were close to Aegilops tauschii and Aegilops speltoides sequences, respectively, and the third cluster was complex with sequences from Ae. speltoides, Aegilops searsii, and Aegilops bicornis. Different S genome(s) of Aegilops contributed α-amylase inhibitor loci to polyploid wheat by gene introgression in interspecific hybridizations. No sequence from common wheat was similar to that from einkorn wheat. We conclude that the occurrence of multiple chromosomal translocations or inversions in the different genomes of Triticeae had not dramatically affected the primary structure of dimeric α-amylase inhibitors. The results revealed important information on genome shaping events and processes occurring at the dimeric α-amylase inhibitor genes loci and their bearing on the phylogenetic relationships in the tribe Triticeae (Poaceae).     

XIAP is a predictor of cisplatin-based chemotherapy response and prognosis for patients with advanced head and neck cancer

Background

Approximately 60–80% of patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) die within five years after diagnosis. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is the most commonly used palliative treatment for these patients. To evaluate the prognostic value of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) level as a potential biomarker in these patients, we investigated the relationship between XIAP expression and cisplatin response of these patients and their prognosis.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Sixty patients with advanced HNSCC were recruited in this study. Expression of XIAP was examined both before and after chemotherapy and was correlated with chemotherapy response, clinicopathology parameters and clinical outcomes of the patients. We found that XIAP was expressed in 17 (20.83%) of the 60 advanced HNSCC samples and the expression was significantly associated with cisplatin resistance (P = 0.036) and poor clinical outcome (P = 0.025). Cisplatin-based chemotherapy induced XIAP expression in those post-chemotherapy samples (P = 0.011), was further associated with poorer clinical outcome (P = 0.029). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that only alcohol consumption, lymph node metastasis and XIAP level were independently associated with the prognosis of advanced HNSCC patients. Inhibiting XIAP expression with siRNA in XIAP overexpressed HNSCC cells remarkably increased their sensitivity to cisplatin treatment to nearly a 3 fold difference.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results demonstrate that XIAP overexpression plays an important role in the disease course and cisplatin-resistance of advanced HNSCC. XIAP is a valuable predictor of cisplatin-response and prognosis for patients with advanced head and neck cancer. Down-regulation of XIAP might be a promising adjuvant therapy for those patients of advanced HNSCC.