Science in China. Series C, Life Sciences / Chinese Academy of Sciences最新文献

Iron is an essential nutrient for plant metabolism such that Fe-limited plants display chlorosis and suffer from reduced photosynthetic efficiency. Differential display previously identified genes whose expression was elevated in Fe-deficient maize roots. Here, we describe the functional characterization of one of the genes identified in the screen, ZmFDR3 (Zea maize Fe-deficiency-related). Heterologous functional complementation assays using a yeast iron uptake mutant showed that ZmFDR3 functions in iron transport. ZmFDR3 contains a domain found in FliN-proteins of the type III secretion system and is predicted to localize to the thylakoid of plastids. Fluorescence immunocytochemistry showed that ZmFDR3 is localized in the plastids of roots, stems and leaves, with high expression found in guard cell chloroplasts. Transgenic tobacco expressing a 35S-ZmFDR3 construct contains elevated iron content, displays well arranged thylakoid membranes and has photosynthetic indices that are higher than those of the wild type. Together, these results suggest that ZmFDR3 functions in chloroplast iron transport.

To investigate the therapeutic effect of dendritic cells pulsed with lysates of heat-treated CT26 colon carcinoma cells. Bone marrow-derived DCs were pulsed with lysates of heat-treated tumor cells and were used to immunize BALB/c mice with established colon carcinoma. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response was detected. The therapeutic effect induced by DCs was observed by tumor weight and survival time. DCs pulsed with lysates of heat-treated tumor cells markedly induced specific cytotoxic activity of CTLs. Tumor growth in the immunized BALB/c mice was significantly inhibited and the survival time of the tumor-bearing mice was prolonged. DCs pulsed with lysates of heat-treated tumor cells have an observable therapeutic effect on established colon carcinoma-bearing mice.

Verticillium wilt is a destructive disease with international consequences for cotton production. Breeding broad-spectrum resistant cultivars is considered to be one of the most effective means for reducing crop losses. A resistant cotton cultivar, 60182, was crossed with a susceptible cultivar, Junmian 1, to identify markers for Verticillium resistance genes and validate the mode of its inheritance. Genetic segregation analysis for Verticillium wilt resistance was evaluated based upon infected leaf percentage in the seedling stage using major gene-polygene mixed inheritance models and joint analysis of P(1), P(2), F(1), B(1), B(2) and F(2) populations obtained from the cultivar cross. We found that resistance of upland cotton cultivar 60182 to isolates BP2, VD8 and T9, and their isoconcentration mixture was controlled by two major genes with additive-dominance-epistatic effects, and the inheritance of the major gene was dominant. Furthermore, a genetic linkage map was constructed using F(2) segregating population and resistance phenotypic data were obtained using F(2:3) families inoculated with different isolates and detected in different developmental stages. The genetic linkage map with 139 loci was comprised of 31 linkage groups covering 1165 cM, with an average distance of 8.38 cM between two markers, or 25.89% of the cotton genome length. From 60182, we found 4 QTL on chromosome D7 and 4 QTL on D9 for BP2, 5 QTL on D7 and 9 QTL on D9 for VD8, 4 QTL on D7 and 5 QTL on D9 for T9 and 3 QTL on D7 and 7 QTL on D7 for mixed pathogens. The QTL mapping results revealed that QTL clusters with high contribution rates were screened simultaneously on chromosomes D9 and D7 by multiple interval mapping (CIM), whether from resistance phenotypic data from different developmental stages or for different isolates. The result is consistent with the genetic model of two major genes in 60182 and suggests broad-spectrum resistance to both defoliating isolates of V. dahliae and nondefoliating isolates. The markers associated with resistance QTL may facilitate the use of Verticillium wilt resistance genes in improving breeding programs for cotton.

Although worldwide concern has been raised since the large-scale outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds at Qinghai Lake, China in 2005, the factors responsible for the ability to kill waterfowl remain unclear. The why and how questions of the H5N1 virus species-jump into its reservoir host need to be answered. In this report we test the pathogenicity and adaptation of Qinghai Lake (Clade 2.2) isolate to Muscovy ducks for further understanding of this virus. The isolate was highly pathogenic in ducks and retained its high pathogenicity even after 20 generations of passage in ducks. During the process of serial passages, only the NS gene developed non-synonymous substitutions, which caused two mutations in NS1 protein (Val23Ala and Leu207Pro) and one in NS2 (Phe55Leu). These mutations persisted immutably through all subsequent passages and the pathogenicity remained high, implying that highly pathogenic H5N1 virus remains stable in aquatic birds through oral transmission. Although the exact functions of these mutations are not known, our results provide an important foundation for further understanding the characteristics of the Qinghai Lake isolates.

The distribution and ultrastructure of Merkel cells were described in detail in piscivorous bats through immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The findings indicated that Merkel cells are commonly found in raised-domes, hair follicles and in the basal epidermis of the skin from their back, abdomen, intercrural membranes, wing membranes and footpads. However, the density of Merkel cells is significantly higher in the footpad than in other places. These results suggested that there may be a link between Merkel cells and tactile sense, and also might imply that raised-domes with air-flow sensitive hairs played an important role in adjusting flying gestures by monitoring the air flow around the body. The ultrastructure of Merkel cells is similar to other vertebrates except having more intermediate filaments and larger granules.

In mammals, the ribbon synapses of cochlear inner hair cells are a synaptic structure of the first sensory nerve in the pathway of acoustical signal transmission to the acoustic center, and it is directly involved in voice coding and neurotransmitter release. It is difficult to quantitatively analyze the ribbon synaptic number only using an electron microscope, because the ribbon synaptic number is relatively limited and their location is deep. In this study, the specific presynaptic structure-RIBEYE, and non-specific postsynaptic structure-GluR 2 & 3 in C57BL/6J mouse basilar membrane samples were treated by immunofluorescent labeling. Serial section was performed on the samples using a laser scanning confocal microscope, and then the serial sections were used to build three-dimensional models using 3DS MAX software. Each fluorescein color pair indicates one synapse, so the number of ribbon synapses of inner hair cells is obtained. The spatial distribution and the number of ribbon synapses of cochlear inner hair cells were clearly shown in this experiment, and the mean number of ribbon synapses per inner hair cell was 16.10+/-1.03. Our results have demonstrated the number of ribbon synapses is accurately calculated by double immunofluorescent labeling to presynaptic and postsynaptic structures, serial sections obtained using a laser scanning confocal microscope, and three-dimensional modeling obtained using 3DS MAX software. The method above is feasible and has important significance for further exploring the mechanism of sensorineural deafness.

Chemotherapy is one of the major treatments of malignant carcinomas. However, its efficiency is affected by both intrinsic and acquired resistance to anticancer drugs. The cellular mechanisms of drug resistance include the overexpression of energy-dependent transporters that eject anticancer drugs from cells such as p-glycoprotein and multidrug resistance related protein (MRP), the mutation of drug targets, the activation of DNA repair pathways, the defects in cellular death pathways and so on. The genetic and epigenetic changes of these genes can lead to cancer drug resistance. Among these mechanisms, microRNAs (miRNAs) which are critical and essential for many important processes such as development, differentiation, and even carcinogenesis have been reported to regulate the chemo-sensitivity of tumor cells. In this paper we briefly review the relationship between miRNA and cancer drug resistance.

It is well established that the protein serine/threonine phosphatase 2A (PP2A) plays very important roles in many different cellular processes, including cell proliferation and differentiation, gene expression, neurotransmission, apoptosis, and aging. PP2A consists of three heterogenic subunits: the scaffold subunit A, the catalytic subunit C, and the regulatory subunit B. While both the scaffold and the catalytic subunits contain only two forms, at least four families of the regulatory subunits, B, B', B'', and B''' have been identified. These regulatory subunits from different families are encoded by different genes and bear other functions besides directing the specificity of PP2A. To study the functions of the regulatory subunits of PP2A in lower vertebrates, we have cloned the full-length cDNA sequence of the gene encoding the regulatory subunit B'delta of PP2A from gold fish, Carassius auratus using 3'-RACE and 5'-RACE cloning strategies. Our results revealed that the full-length B'delta cDNA contains 2415 bp and encodes a protein of 555 amino acids. The B'delta protein displays a very high level of sequence identity with the B'delta regulatory subunit from other species of vertebrates. Regarding its expression pattern, RT-PCR revealed that the highest level of mRNA was detected in brain, a less level detected in liver, spermary, ovary, kidney and gill, and the lowest level detected in the fin. During different developmental stages of gold fish, the highest level of mRNA expression was detected at the stages of two-cell, multiple-cell, blastula and gastrula, and a decreased level of B'gamma mRNA was detected in other developmental stages. At the protein level, the highest expression level of B'delta protein was found in spermary, ovary, brain and heart, a less amount found in liver and the lowest level detected in kidney, gill and fin. Developmentally, B'delta protein was strongly expressed at the stages of two-cell, multiple-cell, blastula, gastrula, neurula, and optic vesicle, and then decreased at the stages of brain differentiation and eye pigmentation. These results suggest that B'delta appears to play a very important role during gold fish development and also in adult tissue homeostasis.

In order to find evidence of consistent sequence conservation or the base correlation degree in miRNA, some important sites in the sequences of reported miRNA and their precursors (pre-miRNA) were investigated via information entropy analysis. Twelve different groups of sites were obtained from special locations (head, tail) in miRNAs of different sources according to taxonomy (animal, plant and virus) and then analyzed by measuring the single base information redundancy (D(1)(L)) and the adjacent base related information redundancy (D(2)(L)). The results showed that D(2)(L) has more information than D(1)(L), though D(1)(L) changes roughly consistently with D(2)(L) in each group. Viral pre-miRNAs are more conservative than those belonging to animals or plants. In addition, U is dominant in most sites compared with other nucleotides. It was also found that in the middle of several groups, there were sites where miRNAs were cut down from pre-miRNAs by Enzyme Dicer which were significantly conservative. This phenomenon shows that the conservatism is an aspect of the of miRNA and may be involved in the recognition and cutting by the Dicer. Those results provided another perspective for understanding more about the primary structure of pre-miRNA.