Induction of mesoderm by a viral oncogene in early Xenopus embryos

During frog embryogenesis, mesoderm is specified in the equatorial region of the early embryo by a signal from the vegetal hemisphere. Prospective ectodermal cells dissected from the animal hemisphere can be respecified to form mesodermal tissues by recombination with vegetal tissue or by treatment with any of several polypeptide growth factors or growth factor-like molecules. Together with the discovery that several developmental mutations in Drosophila are in genes with significant homology to mammalian mitogens and oncogenes, these observations suggest that early developmental signals may use similar transduction pathways to mitogenic signals characterized in cultured mammalian cells. Whether mesoderm can be induced by activation of intracellular signal transduction pathways implicated in mitogenesis and oncogenesis has been investigated with the viral oncogene polyoma middle T. Microinjection of middle T messenger RNA into early embryos results in the respecification of isolated prospective ectodermal tissue to form characteristic mesodermal structures. Middle T in frog blastomeres appears to associate with cellular activities similar to those observed in polyoma-transformed mouse cells, and transformation-defective middle T mutants fail to induce mesoderm. These results suggest that early inductive signals and mitogenic and oncogenic stimuli may share common signal transduction pathways.     

A mouse macrophage factor induces head structures and organizes a body axis in Xenopus

Soluble peptide factors have been implicated as the agents responsible for embryonic inductions in vertebrates. Here, a protein (PIF) secreted by a mouse macrophage cell line is shown to change the developmental fate of Xenopus embryonic cells. Exposure to PIF causes presumptive ectodermal explants to form anterior neural and mesodermal tissues, including brain and eye, instead of ciliated epidermis. In addition, the induced tissues are organized into a rudimentary embryonic axis. These results suggest that PIF or a closely related molecule is involved in inducing anterior structures and organizing the frog body plan.     

Ubiquitous expression of sevenless: position-dependent specification of cell fate

Specification of cell fate in the compound eye of Drosophila appears to be controlled entirely by cell interactions. The sevenless gene is required for the correct determination of one of the eight photoreceptor cells (R7) in each ommatidium. It encodes a transmembrane protein with a tyrosine kinase domain and is expressed transiently on a subpopulation of ommatidial precursor cells including the R7 precursors. It is shown here that heat shock-induced indiscriminate expression of a sevenless complementary DNA throughout development can correctly specify R7 cell identity without affecting the development of other cells. Furthermore, discontinuous supply of sevenless protein during eye development leads to the formation of mosaic eyes containing stripes of sevenless+ and sevenless- ommatidia, suggesting that R7 cell fate can be specified only within a relatively short period during ommatidial assembly. These results support the hypothesis that the specification of cell fate by position depends on the interaction of a localized signal with a receptor present on many undifferentiated cells, and that the mere presence of the receptor alone is not sufficient to specify cell fate.     

Cell line segregation during peripheral nervous system ontogeny

The peripheral nervous system of vertebrates arises from the neural crest and the ectodermal placodes. Construction of quail-chick chimaeras has provided significant information on the migration and fate of the neural crest and placodal cells. Transplantation of neural crest tissue to various sites in these chimaeras has demonstrated that the differentiation of neural crest cells is controlled by environmental influences during their migration and, particularly, during gangliogenesis. Experiments with in vitro and monoclonal antibody techniques have shown that these environmental cues act on a heterogeneous population of neural crest cells whose developmental potencies are partly restricted to definite differentiation pathways.     

Extruded Soybean Samples for Mechnical Oil Expression

Soybean is generally recognized as a source of edible and the deoiled meal is seen as a source of protein in animal feed.In recent years.However,more interest has been directed toward using soy meal as a protein souce for human consumption.Extrusion-expelling of soybean provides an opportunity in this direction.The main focus of this study was to maximize the oil recovery from extruded soybean processed using three different kinds of extrudates and processing conditions.These extruded samples were later pressed uniaxially in a specifically designed test-cell and the oil recovery was recorded over time.The effects of process variables,including applied pressure,pressing temperature and sample height,were investigated.Results indicated that over 90% of the available oil could be recovered from pressing of extruded soy samples.The information generated is likedly to be useful in interpreting the effect of precess variables and extruding equipment for pretreatment of soybean for subsequent mechanical oil expression.     

甜菜夜蛾胚胎发育的研究(Ⅲ)——呼吸、消化、神经、生殖系统的发育

详细研究了甜菜夜蛾[Spodoptera exigua(Huebner)]在胚胎发育中呼吸、消化、神经、生殖系统的发育过程及特点。呼吸系统由中、后胸及1～8腹节外胚层内陷而成，到发育后期，中胸气门移至前胸，后胸气门退化；前肠、后肠分别来自原口陷和原肛陷，前肠分化为食道、嗉囊和前胃，后肠分化为前后肠和直肠，中肠来自中肠前基和中肠后基两群内胚层细咆，6条马氏管的末端插入直肠后端的肠壁内形成“隐肾”；腹神经索呈梯状，口道神经系出现额神经节和嗉囊神经节两大细胞群；原始生殖细胞来自极细胞，分两团移至胚胎腹部侧背面，被中胚层细胞包裹，形成生殖脊。     

长春花碱对鼠单卵裂球染色体标本制备的影响

为了研究长春花碱对鼠单卵裂球染色体标本制备的影响。以长春花碱为纺锤体中期阻断剂,以CZB为基础培养液,研究不同的阻断培养浓度和时间对小鼠4、8-细胞期胚胎单卵裂球中期分裂相数的影响。0.5μg/ml浓度、阻断培养10 h组的4-细胞卵裂球中期分裂相检出率最高,而只有0.5μg/ml浓度6、h组,0.1μg/ml浓度8、h组,0.3μg/ml浓度、8 h组,0.7μg/ml浓度、8 h组,0.1μg/ml浓度、10 h组和0.3μg/ml浓度1、0 h组与最高值组差异不显著;0.5μg/ml浓度、阻断培养10 h组的8-细胞卵裂球中期分裂相检出率最高,而只有0.1μg/ml浓度1、0 h组和0.7μg/ml浓度1、0 h组与最高值组差异不显著;0.1μg/ml浓度8、h阻断培养的4-细胞单卵裂球的中期分裂相的检出率与0.1μg/ml浓度1、0 h阻断培养的8-细胞单卵裂球的差异不显著,其染色体标本的制备质量评分分别为2.7和1.90为确定适宜小鼠早期胚胎单卵裂球的长春花碱处理浓度和阻断培养时间提供了科学依据。     

Plasticity and differentiation of embryonic retinal cells after terminal mitosis

The relation between terminal mitosis and the events that determine the developmental fate of embryonic precursor cells is not well understood. This relation has now been investigated with [3H]thymidine autoradiography to determine the time of cell birth and with a culture system that allows the testing of the developmental potential of cells isolated from the chick embryo retina. Contrary to the situation in vivo, where neuronal differentiation always precedes photoreceptor differentiation, photoreceptor differentiation occurs prematurely and precedes neuronal differentiation when precursor cells are isolated from the retina at early embryonic stages. Thus, cells born by embryonic day 5 (ED-5) give rise predominantly to photoreceptors when isolated for culture on ED-6 but develop mainly as neurons when isolated on ED-8. This suggests that retinal precursor cells retain after terminal mitosis the capacity to develop either as neurons or as photoreceptors. Moreover, photoreceptor differentiation appears to represent a constitutive or "default" pathway that precursor cells follow in the absence of neuron-inducing signals.     

畜禽粪对抗生素的吸持作用

抗生素是畜禽养殖业中常用的一类兽药,经饲料添加用量大,体内代谢率低,主要通过粪便排出体外。当畜禽粪便在养殖场周边堆放或施入农田后,会对生态环境造成一定的污染危害,而这种影响与畜禽粪对其的吸附强弱密切有关。研究了猪粪和鸡粪对土霉素、泰乐菌素、磺胺二甲嘧啶和恩诺沙星等4种常用抗生素的吸附能力。结果表明,畜禽粪对抗生素的吸附强度因抗生素种类的不同可有很大的变化,吸附强度大小为：土霉素>恩诺沙星>泰乐菌素>磺胺二甲嘧啶;鸡粪对抗生素的吸附强度略高于猪粪;从畜禽粪中分离的胶体物质对抗生素的吸附高于相应的畜禽粪。由此可以推断,当畜禽粪便在养殖场周边堆放或施入农田时,磺胺二甲嘧啶与畜禽粪结合较弱,以可溶态形式流失的风险较大,而土霉素、恩诺沙星和泰乐菌素以可溶态的流失风险较小,但它们也可呈胶体结合态随地表径流流失。     

绵羊8—16细胞胚胎的超微结构

利用透射电镜技术研究了绵羊８－１６细胞胚胎的超微结构，并与２细胞胚胎作了比较．结果表明，８－１６细胞胚胎卵裂球间以间隙连接联系，胞质主要成分是一种带有界膜的囊泡，线粒体丰富，以带帽线粒体为主，也有少量横嵴线粒体，１６细胞胚胎中，后者的比例高于８细胞胚胎．与２细胞胚胎相比，８─１６细胞胚胎的高尔基体发达．但滑面内质网数量减少、８细胞胚胎卵裂球具有数个致密的球形或环形核仁前体，１６细胞胚胎的核仁中出现次级小泡腔，标志着ｒＲＮＡ开始合成．     

Expression of an epidermal antigen used to study tissue induction in the early Xenopus laevis embryo

A monoclonal antibody (Epi 1) has been produced that recognizes an antigen expressed in epidermal cells of Xenopus laevis embryos. The Epi 1 antigen appears in embryonic epidermis at the end of gastrulation and is not expressed in nonepidermal structures derived from ectoderm (for example, neural tube or cement gland). The capacity to express the Epi 1 antigen is restricted to cells of the animal hemisphere prior to the midblastula stage of development (stage 8), and tissue interactions during gastrulation inhibit the expression of the Epi 1 antigen in neural ectoderm. This epidermal antigen will be a valuable marker for studies of ectodermal commitment.     

我国畜禽粪便中氮素养分资源及其分布状况

根据2002年的畜禽统计数量、畜禽粪便排泄量和氮素养分含量等数据,通过实际计算畜禽粪便中的氮素养分量的方法,分析了我国不同省区的各种畜禽粪便中氮素养分资源量、分布和去向。结果表明,各种畜禽相比,牛粪中的氮素养分量最大;省区间河南省的畜禽粪便中氮素养分量最多;据估算,畜禽粪便中有50%的氮素养分流失,50%的氮素养分回田利用;部分省区的单位面积畜禽粪便的氮素承载量已经超出了欧盟制订的农田有机肥氮的限制标准170 kg/hm2。     

The segmentation clock: converting embryonic time into spatial pattern

In most animal species, the anteroposterior body axis is generated by the formation of repeated structures called segments. In vertebrate segmentation, a specialized mesodermal structure called the somite gives rise to skeletal muscles, vertebrae, and some dermis. Formation of the somites is a rhythmic process that involves an oscillator--the segmentation clock--driven by Wnt and Notch signaling. The clock ticks in somite precursors and halts when they reach a specific maturation stage defined as the wavefront, established by fibroblast growth factor and Wnt signaling. This process converts the temporal oscillations into the periodic spatial pattern of somite boundaries. The study of somite development provides insights into the spatiotemporal integration of signaling systems in the vertebrate embryo.     

Tandem calling: a new kind of signal in ant communication

Leptothorax acervorum, L. muscorum, and L. nylanderi recruit nest mates to a new food source by tandem running, with only one nest mate being recruited at a time. This technique is initiated by a special "tandem calling" behavior; the recruiter slants its gaster upward and discharges poison gland secretions from the extruded sting. Nest mates are attracted, and as soon as one of them touches the calling ant, tandem running starts. Further details of the full recruitment sequence are provided. Evidence is presented to suggest that tandem running is the evolutionary precursor of odor-trail communication and sex attraction within certain phylogenetic lines of myrmicine ants.     

Deconstructing the hedgehog pathway in development and disease

The Hedgehog (Hh) family of secreted signaling proteins is a master regulator of cell fate determination in metazoans, contributing to both pattern formation during embryonic development and postembryonic tissue homeostasis. In a universally used mode of action, graded distribution of Hh protein induces differential cell fate in a dose-dependent manner in cells that receive Hh. Though much of this pathway has been elucidated from genetically based studies in model organisms, such as Drosophila and mice, the importance of Hh-mediated signaling in humans is clearly evident from malformations and a broad range of cancers that arise when the pathway is corrupted.     

Activin A特异性对人胚胎干细胞向限定性内胚层诱导分化的促进作用

【目的】研究Activin A对人胚胎干细胞（hESCs）向限定性内胚层（DE）诱导分化的促进作用及其信号通路分子,为hESCs向DE诱导分化体系的优化提供参考。【方法】在人饲养层体系培养的hESCs中,收集100 ng/mL Activin A分别诱导0,6,12,24,48,72,96,120 h的细胞,用实时荧光定量RT-PCR检测原条标记Gsc和Mixl1、中内胚层共同前体标记Brachyury、内胚层标记Foxa2和Sox17、中胚层标记Flk1、外胚层基因Pax6、多能性相关基因Oct4与Nanog表达水平的变化,用细胞免疫荧光检测Brachyury和Sox17蛋白表达水平的变化。【结果】在人饲养层（HEF）培养体系上,高浓度Activin A能更快地促进中内胚层基因的表达并提高其表达水平;Brachyury和Sox17蛋白的细胞免疫荧光检测表明,Activin A诱导12和48 h就可检测二者的表达明显增加,且二者的表达水平分别在诱导48和96 h时达到高峰;hESCs高效分化为限定性内胚层细胞,DE细胞分化率为（81.7±5.4）%,并且体外的内胚层分化过程遵循从原条开始、经过中内胚层共同前体阶段、再到内胚层的发育过程,与体内发育规律相似。【结论】Activin A能特异性地诱导人胚胎干细胞向限定性内胚层分化,转录调控Brachyury和Sox17蛋白的表达。