Melatonin Regulates the Viability and Differentiation of Rat Midbrain Neural Stem Cells

(1) Neurogenesis driven by neural stem cells (NSCs) is regulated by physiological and pathological factors. Melatonin (MT) has profound neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects. Hence, we studied the role of MT in regulating the viability and differentiation of NSCs derived from rat ventral midbrain. (2) NSCs were isolated from the rat ventral midbrain. The viability of NSCs was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-ulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium assay. The differentiation of NSCs was examined by analyzing the expression of the neural markers, MT receptors, brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) with semi-quantitative RT-PCR, immunofluorescence cytochemistry, and Western blot. (3) Our results showed that MT could promote the viability of NSCs. In addition, MT could significantly elevate the mRNA and protein levels of tyroxine hydroxylase (TH), a marker of dopaminergic neurons, and decrease the expression of the astrocytes maker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). MT also increased the production of BDNF and GDNF in the cultured NSCs. Meanwhile, we first found that two subtypes of MT receptors, MT1 and MT2, were expressed in the ventral midbrain NSCs. (4) These results demonstrated that MT could induce NSCs to differentiate into dopaminergic neurons and decrease astrocyte production. These findings also suggest that MT could offer a beneficial tool in guiding directional differentiation of NSCs.     

腺相关病毒与人多药耐药基因重组载体的构建及在NIH3T3细胞中的表达

腺相关病毒 (adeno- associated virus,AAV)属细小病毒科 ,是一种最小的动物病毒 .具有其他病毒载体所没有的优点 ,在基因治疗中日益受到瞩目 .以 AAV的一种多克隆载体为基础 ,构建了携带 MDR1基因的重组腺相关病毒载体 (r AAV- MDR1 ) ,经 2 93细胞包装成重组病毒 .将重组质粒、重组病毒分别转染和感染 NIH3T3细胞 ,用 PCR和 MTT法检测了人 MDR1基因的转导及表达 .为 MDR1基因用于临床和腺相关病毒载体在基因治疗中的应用提供了依据     

角蛋白酶基因gm2886在密旋链霉菌ACT12中的表达及鉴定

通过生物信息学分析,在本实验室分离得到的1株羽毛高效降解菌微白黄链霉菌Fea-10基因组中发现基因gm2886(GenBank Accession Number:KY368946)可能编码一新的角蛋白酶,通过在该基因5'端和3'端分别连接红霉素抗性基因启动子(PermE)和组氨酸标签编码序列并构建在大肠杆菌-链霉菌穿梭质粒pSET152上,接合转入密旋链霉菌Streptomyces pactum ACT12,从而实现了异源表达,蛋白纯化后对其酶学性质进行了研究。实验结果表明,带有组氨酸标签编码序列的gm2886在密旋链霉菌ACT12中可以表达分泌得到1个大小约为36 kDa的蛋白。多种底物检测表明异源表达得到的重组蛋白GM2886-His6具有蛋白酶活性,可以降解水不溶性的天青角蛋白和羽毛粉;其最适温度和pH分别为50℃和pH 10.0。PMSF可抑制GM2886-His6的酶活,而EDTA不能,说明该酶为丝氨酸蛋白酶。本研究为从分子水平上解析羽毛高效降解菌Fea-10的活性机理,从而进一步开发其应用潜力提供了基础,同时可为该类蛋白酶的研究提供借鉴。     

西藏蓝钟花属一新变型——白花裂叶蓝钟花

描述了桔梗科蓝钟花属裂叶蓝钟花(Cyananthus lobatus Wall.ex Benth.)的一个新变型——白花裂叶蓝钟花(Cyananthus lobatus Wall.ex Benth.f.albiflorus J.Luo et S.L.Wang)。原变型的花冠为紫蓝色至淡蓝色,而新变型花冠为白色。     

High-throughput fluorescence assay for small-molecule inhibitors of autophagins/Atg4

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process for catabolizing damaged proteins and organelles in a lysosome-dependent manner. Dysregulation of autophagy may cause various diseases, such as cancer and neurodegeneration. However, the relevance of autophagy to diseases remains controversial because of the limited availability of chemical modulators. Herein, the authors developed a fluorescence-based assay for measuring activity of the autophagy protease, autophagin-1(Atg4B). The assay employs a novel reporter substrate of Atg4B composed of a natural substrate (LC3B) fused to an assayable enzyme (PLA(2)) that becomes active upon cleavage by this cysteine protease. A high-throughput screening (HTS) assay was validated with excellent Z' factor (>0.7), remaining robust for more than 5 h and suitable for screening of large chemical libraries. The HTS assay was validated by performing pilot screens with 2 small collections of compounds enriched in bioactive molecules (n = 1280 for Lopac? and 2000 for Spectrum? library), yielding confirmed hit rates of 0.23% and 0.70%, respectively. As counterscreens, PLA(2) and caspase-3 assays were employed to eliminate nonspecific inhibitors. In conclusion, the LC3B-PLA(2) reporter assay provides a platform for compound library screening for identification and characterization of Atg4B-specific inhibitors that may be useful as tools for interrogating the role of autophagy in disease models.     

Inhibition of Trichoderma reesei cellulase by sugars and solvents

Inhibition of Trichoderma reesei cellulase by sugars (glucose, delta-gluconolactone, and cellobiose) and solvents (ethanol, butanol, and acetone) was studied using cellulose azure. Glucose, cellobiose, ethanol, and butanol were noncompetitive inhibitors, delta-gluconolactone was a mixed inhibitor, and acetone was a noncompetitive activator. Converting cellobiose to glucose reduces the effective inhibitor binding constant by 6 times and converting cellobiose to ethanol reduces it by 16 times.     

Production of L(+)-lactic acid with Rhizopus oryzae immobilized in polyurethane foam cubes

Summary Polyurethane foam cubes were employed as carriers to immobilize Rhizopus oryzae for L(+)-lactic acid production. The immobilizing capacity reached 450 g-fresh cell/l-cube. The production rate of L(+)-lactic acid could be threefold increased by using the immobilized R. oryzae. The immobilized cells could be steadily used in repetitive fermentations for more than 10 batches.     

水通道蛋白1-C末端肽段/GST融合蛋白的原核表达(简报)

水通道蛋白(Aquaporin,AQP)是一类选择性高效转运水分子的细胞膜通道蛋白,广泛存在于原核和真核生物细胞的细胞膜上,主要介导自由水分子的被动跨膜转运,对保持细胞内外液环境的稳态平衡起着重要的作用.     

大气CO2浓度升高对稻季土壤中麦秸降解及氮素分趋的影响

利用中国唯一的稻麦轮作FACE(free-air carbon dioxide enrichment,开放式空气CO2浓度增高)试验平台,研究大气CO2浓度升高对稻季土壤中小麦秸秆降解速率及其氮素分趋的影响.试验设置Ambient(目前空气对照)和FACE(Ambient+200 μmol·mol-1)两个CO2浓度以及低氮处理(LN,150 kg·hm-2)和高氮处理(HN,250 kg·hm-2)两个氮肥水平,在稻季之初按标记麦秸/土壤重量比0.3%添加15N标记小麦秸秆,根据水稻生长时期依次采样测定秸秆降解速率,并通过分析土壤全氮、植株全氮及其15N丰度来观察已降解秸秆的氮素分趋情况.结果发现,大气CO2浓度升高对高氮处理土壤中小麦秸秆降解速率没有显著影响,但显著促进了低氮处理土壤中小麦秸秆的降解(p < 0.05),使其提高到与高氮处理土壤相当水平;大气CO2浓度升高显著增加了已降解秸秆中氮素的流失,在高氮处理土壤中尤为严重,而对植物吸收已降解秸秆中的氮素没有显著影响.结果表明,大气CO2浓度升高在土壤氮素相对不足时会加速土壤中小麦秸秆的降解,而在土壤氮素相对充足时又会加大降解秸秆中氮素的流失.     

中国黏菌的三个新记录种

报道了采自内蒙古自治区的3个黏菌中国新记录种：榄色孔膜菌Enteridium olivaceum,疏网发丝菌Stemonaria laxiretis和硬网发菌Comatricha rigidireta。通过扫描电镜观察,描述了它们的形态特征,与相近种进行了比较和讨论。考证标本保存于吉林农业大学菌物标本馆（MHJAU）。