Arable acronyms analysed – a review of integrated arable farming systems research in Western Europe

Arable production has come under increasing economic and environmental pressures, especially in the last decade. These have derived from over-production, decreased farm incomes and a concern with the possible environmental effects of intensive pesticide use associated with such intensive cultivation. A number of long-term research programmes on integrated farming systems and their sustainability have recently been completed or are currently under way. In the UK, these include the ‘Boxworth’ project, ‘SCARAB’, TALISMAN’, RISC, ‘LINK Integrated Farming Systems’, ‘LIFE’ and the demonstration-only programme ‘LEAF’. These projects are reviewed in terms of their objectives, designs and results to date, and are compared with some parallel programmes in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France.     

植物异黄酮合酶研究进展

植物异黄酮是一类具有增强植物抗病、诱导根瘤形成以及预防激素相关肿瘤发生、缓解女性更年期综合症的活性次生代谢产物,其合成关键酶是异黄酮合酶(IFS)。介绍了IFS的催化机理、基因克隆与表达调控的研究进展,讨论了开展IFS代谢工程研究对提高植物抗病虫害能力和改善农作物营养保健功效的意义。     

大豆异黄酮合酶基因的克隆及序列分析

目的:大豆异黄酮是多酚类混合物,有防治肿瘤发生,提高机体免疫力等多种保健功能。异黄酮合酶(isoflavone synthase,IFS)是合成异黄酮的关键酶。本文为了利用异黄酮的特有生物学功能,从大豆中克隆了该基因。方法:采用PCR扩增从大豆[Glycine max(Linn.)Merr.]总RNA中分离了异黄酮合酶基因,并将其克隆到pUCm-T载体并测序。结果:得到全长1583bp的片段。以期用于构建诱导表达基因敲除系统,并用于无性繁殖植物的无标记基因转化。结论:序列分析表明,异黄酮合酶基因(IFS1)含1583个核苷酸,与已报道的序列比较,核苷酸的同源性为92%。     

Adenine recognition: a motif present in ATP-, CoA-, NAD-, NADP-, and FAD-dependent proteins.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) plays an essential role in energy transfer within the cell. In the form of NAD, adenine participates in multiple redox reactions. Phosphorylation and ATP-hydrolysis reactions have key roles in signal transduction and regulation of many proteins, especially enzymes. In each cell, proteins with many different functions use adenine and its derivatives as ligands; adenine, of course, is present in DNA and RNA. We show that an adenine binding motif, which differs according to the backbone chain direction of a loop that binds adenine (and in one variant by the participation of an aspartate side-chain), is common to many proteins; it was found from an analysis of all adenylate-containing protein structures from the Protein Data Bank. Indeed, 224 protein-ligand complexes (86 different proteins) from a total of 645 protein structure files bind ATP, CoA, NAD, NADP, FAD, or other adenine-containing ligands, and use the same structural elements to recognize adenine, regardless of whether the ligand is a coenzyme, cofactor, substrate, or an allosteric effector. The common adenine-binding motif shown in this study is simple to construct. It uses only (1) backbone polar interactions that are not dependent on the protein sequence or particular properties of amino acid side-chains, and (2) nonspecific hydrophobic interactions. This is probably why so many different proteins with different functions use this motif to bind an adenylate-containing ligand. The adenylate-binding motif reported is present in "ancient proteins" common to all living organisms, suggesting that adenine-containing ligands and the common motif for binding them were exploited very early in evolution. The geometry of adenine binding by this motif mimics almost exactly the geometry of adenine base-pairing seen in DNA and RNA.     

Cross-talk interactions of sucrose and Fusarium oxysporum in the phenylpropanoid pathway and the accumulation and localization of flavonoids in embryo axes of yellow lupine

This study investigated the effects of cross-talk interactions of sucrose and infection caused by a pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lupini on the regulation of the phenylpropanoid pathway, i.e. the level of expression of genes encoding enzymes participating in flavonoid biosynthesis, as well as cell location and accumulation of these compounds in embryo axes of Lupinus luteus L. cv. Polo. Embryo axes, both non-inoculated and inoculated, were cultured for 96 h on Heller medium with 60 mM sucrose (+Sn and +Si) or without it (−Sn and −Si). Real-time RT-PCR to assess expression levels of the flavonoid biosynthetic genes, phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL), chalcone synthase (CHS), chalcone isomerase (CHI) and isoflavone synthase (IFS) were used. Sucrose alone strongly stimulated the expression of these genes. There was a very high expression level of these genes in +Si embryo axes in the early phase of infection. Signal amplification by sucrose and the infection was most intense in the 48-h +Si axes, resulting in the highest level of expression of flavonoid biosynthetic genes. In −Si tissues, the expression level of these genes increased at 48 and 72 h after inoculation relative to 24 h; however, the relative level of expression was much lower than in +Si axes, except at 72 h for PAL and CHS.Moreover, at 48 h of culture, considerably higher activity of CHI (EC 5.5.1.6) was observed in axes with a high level of sucrose than in those with a sucrose deficit. CHI activity in +Si axes at 48 and 96 h post-inoculation was over 1.5 and 2 times higher than that in +Sn axes, as well as higher than in −Si axes.Observations of yellow lupine embryo axes under a confocal microscope showed an increased post-infection accumulation of flavonoids, particularly in cells of embryo axes infected with F. oxysporum and cultured on a medium containing sucrose (+Si). Up to 48 h post-infection in +Si axes, a very intensive emission of green fluorescence was observed, indicating high accumulation of these compounds in whole cells. Moreover, a nuclear location of flavonoids was recorded in cells. Strong staining of flavonoid end products in +Si embryo axes was consistent with the expression of PAL, CHS, CHI and IFS.These results indicate that, in the early phase of infection, the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway is considerably enhanced in yellow lupine embryo axes as a strong signal amplification effect of sucrose and the pathogenic fungus F. oxysporum.     

重金属对HeLa细胞中热激蛋白70(HSP70)表达的影响

热激蛋白(HSPs)是受热等因素刺激后而诱导产生的蛋白质,是一类可以调节应激反应并且保护机体防止细胞损伤的蛋白质,在机体的应激反应中具有重要作用。它们作为一般标志物被广泛应用于环境监测中。CdCl2,Cu2+,Zn2+这三种重金属是普遍存在的环境污染物,对人体和动物的一些主要器官造成损伤。以HeLa细胞(子宫肿瘤细胞)为材料,采用不同浓度的CdCl2,Cu2+,Zn2+三种重金属物质诱导细胞,并利用免疫荧光染色(IFS),SDS-PAGE,Western blotting和RT-PCR四种手段分别从基因和蛋白质的水平来研究重金属对HSP70表达的影响。结果表明,三种金属对HSP70表达的影响程度为CdCl2>Zn2+>Cu2+,且HSP70的产生量与重金属的浓度呈正相关。通过研究,以建立一种对HSPs的表达更有效的检测手段用于以后的研究。     

大豆异黄酮生物合成关键酶及其代谢工程研究进展

异黄酮是一类具有C-6/C-3/C-6骨架的二次代谢产物,具有抗氧化和抗肿瘤活性。异黄酮与黄酮类物质具有相似的苯丙烷生物合成途径。天然的绝大部分异黄酮分布在豆科植物中,目前在大豆中已经发现了超过12个异黄酮(苷)。大豆异黄酮的生物合成主要涉及三个关键的酶查尔酮合酶(CHS)、查尔酮异构酶(CHI)和异黄酮合酶(IFS)。总结了大豆异黄酮的提取分离方法和生物合成途径,着重综述了CHI、CHS、IFS生物学特征和功能及异黄酮的代谢工程研究。     

Iterated function systems in the hippocampal CA1

How does the information of spatiotemporal sequence stemming from the hippocampal CA3 area affect the postsynaptic membrane potentials of the hippocampal CA1 neurons? In a recent study, we observed hierarchical clusters of the distribution of membrane potentials of CA1 neurons, arranged according to the history of input sequences (Fukushima et al Cogn Neurodyn 1(4):305–316, 2007). In the present paper, we deal with the dynamical mechanism generating such a hierarchical distribution. The recording data were investigated using return map analysis. We also deal with a collective behavior at population level, using a reconstructed multi-cell recording data set. At both individual cell and population levels, a return map of the response sequence of CA1 pyramidal cells was well approximated by a set of contractive affine transformations, where the transformations represent self-organized rules by which the input pattern sequences are encoded. These findings provide direct evidence that the information of temporal sequences generated in CA3 can be self-similarly represented in the membrane potentials of CA1 pyramidal cells.