Astaxanthin preparation by fermentation of esters from Haematococcus pluvialis algal extracts with Stenotrophomonas species

Natural astaxanthin (Ax) is an additive that is widely used because of its beneficial biochemical functions. However, the methods used to produce free Ax have drawbacks. Chemical saponification methods produce several by‐products, and lipase‐catalyzed hydrolysis methods are not cost effective. In this study, a bacterial strain of Stenotrophomonas sp. was selected to enzymatically catalyze the saponification of Ax esters to produce free all‐trans‐Ax. Through single‐factor experiments and a Box–Behnken design, the optimal fermentation conditions were determined as follows: a seed culture age of 37.79 h, an inoculum concentration of 5.92%, and an initial broth pH of 6.80. Under these conditions, a fermentation curve was drawn, and the optimal fermentation time was shown to be 60 h. At 60 h, the degradation rate of the Ax esters was 98.08%, and the yield of free all‐trans‐Ax was 50.130 μg/mL. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:649–656, 2016     

p53 suppression overwhelms DNA polymerase eta deficiency in determining the cellular UV DNA damage response

Xeroderma pigmentosum variant (XP-V) cells lack the damage-specific DNA polymerase eta and have normal excision repair but show defective DNA replication after UV irradiation. Previous studies using cells transformed with SV40 or HPV16 (E6/E7) suggested that the S-phase response to UV damage is altered in XP-V cells with non-functional p53. To investigate the role of p53 directly we targeted p53 in normal and XP-V fibroblasts using short hairpin RNA. The shRNA reduced expression of p53, and the downstream cell cycle effector p21, in control and UV irradiated cells. Cells accumulated in late S phase after UV, but after down-regulation of p53 they accumulated earlier in S. Cells in which p53 was inhibited showed ongoing genomic instability at the replication fork. Cells exhibited high levels of UV induced S-phase gammaH2Ax phosphorylation representative of exposed single strand regions of DNA and foci of Mre11/Rad50/Nbs1 representative of double strand breaks. Cells also showed increased variability of genomic copy numbers after long-term inhibition of p53. Inhibition of p53 expression dominated the DNA damage response. Comparison with earlier results indicates that in virally transformed cells cellular targets other than p53 play important roles in the UV DNA damage response.     

关于中西方旧石器文化中的软锤技术

关于中西方旧石器文化中的软锤技术林圣龙（中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所．北京１０００４４）软锤技术是旧石器时代早期石器打制技术进步的主要标志之一．在西方,从阿舍利文化开始,软锤技术即已逐渐得到较普遍的使用,而在中国旧石器文化中,是否广泛使用过软锤...     

杂交后代中转基因小麦外源1Ax1基因的遗传

高分子量麦谷蛋白亚基1Ax1基因是决定小麦加工品质的主效基因之一,在小麦胚乳中增加1Ax1基因的表达量可以提高其加工品质,这对于小麦的品质改良具有重要意义。采用外源1Ax1基因超量表达的转基因小麦‘B102-1-2’为父本,常规小麦品种‘鄂麦12’和‘川89-107’为母本进行杂交试验。采用SDS-PAGE技术检测并分析各组合亲本、F1代、F2代的HMW-GS组成,从而研究转基因小麦‘B102-1-2’中外源品质基因1Ax1表达的遗传规律。研究结果表明:外源基因有效地整合进入主栽小麦的基因组中,并且正确表达,在F2代中表现出15∶1的分离比,遵循孟德尔遗传模式,这对于杂交育种策略的选择制订具有指导意义。     

Inheritance and Expression of Copies of Transgenes 1Dx5 and 1Ax1 in Elite Wheat （Triticum aestivum L.） Varieties Transferred from Transgenic Wheat through Conventional Crossing

To study the inheritance and expression of multiple copies of transgenes from transgenic wheat lines, three crosses between transgenic wheat lines B72-8-11b and B102-1-2 and Chinese elite wheat varieties Chuan89-107 and Email 8 were carried out. Chuan89-107×B72-8-11b, Chuan89-107×B102-1-2 and Email 8×B72-8-11b, and F_1 plants were selfed or backcrossed to obtain different generation populations. Protein analysis in grains of F_1 and F_2 and backcross progenies of BC_1F_1, BC_1F_2, BC_1F_3, BC_2F_1, BC_2F_2 and BC_2F_3 by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the transgenes lDx5 and lAx1 were expressed and segregated in the target wheat according to Mendelian laws. A range of lDx5 expression levels were observed in the progenies of Chuan89-107×B72-8-11b and Emai 18×B72-8-11b, but the expression levels of lAx1 in progenies of Chuan89-107×B102-1-2 rarely changed. It suggested that the two foreign genes had different mechanisms of expression in the cross progeny, even though they were produced in the same way and the foreign lDx5 gene of 5-10 copies had the more complicated expression mechanism than the lAx1 gene of 4-5 copies.     

Functions of the water soluble chlorophyll-binding protein in plants

Functional aspects of water soluble chlorophyll-binding protein (WSCP) in plants were investigated during the courses of leaf senescence, chlorophyll biogenesis, stress response and photoprotection. The cDNA sequence encoding WSCP from cauliflower was cloned into a binary vector to facilitate Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation of Nicotiana tabacum. The resultant transgenic tobacco plants overexpressed the CauWSCP gene under the control of a 35S-promoter. Analyses of protein and pigment contents indicate that WSCP overexpression does not enhance chlorophyll catabolism in vivo, thus rendering a role of WSCP in Chl degradation unlikely. Accumulation of higher levels of protochlorophyllide in WSCP overexpressor plants corroborates a proposed temporary storage and carrier function of WSCP for chlorophyll and late precursors. Although WSCP overexpressor plants did not show significant differences in non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence, they are characterized by significantly lower zeaxanthin accumulation and peroxidase activity at different light intensities, even at high light intensities of 700-900 μmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹. These results suggest a photoprotective function of the functional chlorophyll binding-WSCP tetramer by shielding of chlorophylls from molecular oxygen.     

杂交后代中转基因小麦外源1Ax1基因的遗传

高分子量麦谷蛋白亚基1Ax1基因是决定小麦加工品质的主效基因之一,在小麦胚乳中增加1Ax1基因的表达量可以提高其加工品质,这对于小麦的品质改良具有重要意义。采用外源1Ax1基因超量表达的转基因小麦‘B102-1-2’为父本,常规小麦品种‘鄂麦12’和‘川89-107’为母本进行杂交试验。采用SDS-PAGE技术检测并分析各组合亲本、F₁代、F₂代的HMW-GS组成,从而研究转基因小麦‘B102-1-2’中外源品质基因1Ax1表达的遗传规律。研究结果表明:外源基因有效地整合进入主栽小麦的基因组中,并且正确表达,在F₂代中表现出15:1的分离比,遵循孟德尔遗传模式,这对于杂交育种策略的选择制订具有指导意义。     

无载体框架序列转基因小麦中外源1Ax1基因表达框的遗传分析

为了研究无载体框架序列转基因小麦中转基因表达框的遗传规律,选育稳定表达的转基因株系,利用基因枪介导1Ax1基因的最小表达框转化得到了转基因小麦,对其后代转基因植株中1Ax1基因表达框的遗传进行了分析,结果表明：无载体框架结构的1Ax1基因在转基因后代中稳定遗传,在T1代中呈现3:1的分离,遵从孟德尔遗传模式;SDS－PAGE分析表明其中部分转基因后代分离出新的高分子量蛋白亚基分子量略低于1Dx5亚基。     

Mechanism and regulation of the violaxanthin cycle: The role of antenna proteins and membrane lipids

The violaxanthin cycle describes the reversible conversion of violaxanthin to zeaxanthin via the intermediate antheraxanthin. This light-dependent xanthophyll conversion is essential for the adaptation of plants and algae to different light conditions and allows a reversible switch of photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes between a light-harvesting state under low light and a dissipative state under high light. The photoprotective functions of zeaxanthin have been intensively studied during the last decade, but much less attention has been directed to the mechanism and regulation of xanthophyll conversion. In this review, an overview is given on recent progress in the understanding of the role of (i) xanthophyll binding by antenna proteins and of (ii) the lipid properties of the thylakoid membrane in the regulation of xanthophyll conversion. The consequences of these findings for the mechanism and regulation of xanthophyll conversion in the thylakoid membrane will be discussed.