Mental rotation of the neuronal population vector

A rhesus monkey was trained to move its arm in a direction that was perpendicular to and counterclockwise from the direction of a target light that changed in position from trial to trial. Solution of this problem was hypothesized to involve the creation and mental rotation of an imagined movement vector from the direction of the light to the direction of the movement. This hypothesis was tested directly by recording the activity of cells in the motor cortex during performance of the task and computing the neuronal population vector in successive time intervals during the reaction time. The population vector rotated gradually counterclockwise from the direction of the light to the direction of the movement at an average rate of 732 degrees per second. These results provide direct, neural evidence for the mental rotation hypothesis and indicate that the neuronal population vector is a useful tool for "reading out" and identifying cognitive operations of neuronal ensembles.     

Movement of neural activity on the superior colliculus motor map during gaze shifts

The superior colliculus contains neurons that cause displacements of the visual axis (gaze shifts). These cells are arranged topographically in a motor map on which the vector (amplitude and direction) of the coded movement varies continuously with location. How this spatial representation becomes a temporal code (frequency and duration) in the motoneurons is unknown. During a gaze shift, a zone of neural activity moved continuously on the map from an initial location, defining the vector of the desired gaze shift, to a final "zero" position containing neurons that were active during fixation. Thus, the spatial-temporal transformation may be accomplished by control of gaze throughout the spatial trajectory of activity on the motor map.     

Control of octopus arm extension by a peripheral motor program

For goal-directed arm movements, the nervous system generates a sequence of motor commands that bring the arm toward the target. Control of the octopus arm is especially complex because the arm can be moved in any direction, with a virtually infinite number of degrees of freedom. Here we show that arm extensions can be evoked mechanically or electrically in arms whose connection with the brain has been severed. These extensions show kinematic features that are almost identical to normal behavior, suggesting that the basic motor program for voluntary movement is embedded within the neural circuitry of the arm itself. Such peripheral motor programs represent considerable simplification in the motor control of this highly redundant appendage.     

Differential representation of perception and action in the frontal cortex

A motor illusion was created to separate human subjects' perception of arm movement from their actual movement during figure drawing. Trajectories constructed from cortical activity recorded in monkeys performing the same task showed that the actual movement was represented in the primary motor cortex, whereas the visualized, presumably perceived, trajectories were found in the ventral premotor cortex. Perception and action representations can be differentially recognized in the brain and may be contained in separate structures.     

Cortical mechanisms of human imitation

How does imitation occur? How can the motor plans necessary for imitating an action derive from the observation of that action? Imitation may be based on a mechanism directly matching the observed action onto an internal motor representation of that action ("direct matching hypothesis"). To test this hypothesis, normal human participants were asked to observe and imitate a finger movement and to perform the same movement after spatial or symbolic cues. Brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. If the direct matching hypothesis is correct, there should be areas that become active during finger movement, regardless of how it is evoked, and their activation should increase when the same movement is elicited by the observation of an identical movement made by another individual. Two areas with these properties were found in the left inferior frontal cortex (opercular region) and the rostral-most region of the right superior parietal lobule.     

牛肌肉生长抑制素基因敲除打靶载体的构建

【目的】构建两套用于牛肌肉生长抑制素（myostation,MSTN）基因敲除的置换型打靶载体。【方法】设计并合成含有限制性内切酶酶切位点的引物,利用聚合酶链式反应（polymerase chain reaction,PCR）以牛耳皮肤组织基因组DNA为模板分别扩增出两套打靶载体的同源短臂和长臂,再分别插入到两套打靶专用基础载体pMCS-PLP和PⅢ中,构建两套用于牛MSTN基因敲除的置换型打靶载体pPLP-MSTN和PⅢ-MSTN。【结果】经过PCR、T载体连接和DNA测序,证实载体pPLP-MSTN包含2.8 kb同源短臂和4.0 kb同源长臂,载体PⅢ-MSTN包含1.3 kb同源短臂和6.8 kb同源长臂;经过限制性内切酶酶切鉴定,证实两套载体的同源臂分别正确插入到基础载体内。【结论】两套牛MSTN基因敲除打靶载体pPLP-MSTN和PⅢ-MSTN构建成功,载体pPLP-MSTN为不含负筛选标记的传统基因敲除打靶载体,载体PⅢ-MSTN为不含负筛选标记的荧光蛋白启动子捕获打靶载体。     

Neuronal correlates of subjective visual perception

Neuronal activity in the superior temporal sulcus of monkeys, a cortical region that plays an important role in analyzing visual motion, was related to the subjective perception of movement during a visual task. Single neurons were recorded while monkeys (Macaca mulatta) discriminated the direction of motion of stimuli that could be seen moving in either of two directions during binocular rivalry. The activity of many neurons was dictated by the retinal stimulus. Other neurons, however, reflected the monkeys' reported perception of motion direction, indicating that these neurons in the superior temporal sulcus may mediate the perceptual experience of a moving object.     

Coding the location of the arm by sight

Area 5 in the parietal lobe of the primate brain is thought to be involved in monitoring the posture and movement of the body. In this study, neurons in monkey area 5 were found to encode the position of the monkey's arm while it was covered from view. The same neurons also responded to the position of a visible, realistic false arm. The neurons were not sensitive to the sight of unrealistic substitutes for the arm and were able to distinguish a right from a left arm. These neurons appear to combine visual and somatosensory signals in order to monitor the configuration of the limbs. They could form the basis of the complex body schema that we constantly use to adjust posture and guide movement.     

Brain stem neurons in modified pathways for motor learning in the primate vestibulo-ocular reflex

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) stabilizes retinal images by generating smooth eye movements that are equal in amplitude and opposite in direction to head turns. Whenever image motion occurs persistently during head turns, the VOR undergoes motor learning; as a result image stability is gradually restored. A group of brain stem neurons that are in the modified pathways has now been described. The neurons express changes in firing in association with motor learning in the VOR and receive monosynaptic inhibition from the flocculus of the cerebellum. The changes in firing have an appropriate magnitude and are expressed at the correct latency to account for the altered VOR. The response properties of the neurons point to their brain stem vestibular inputs for further investigation of the site of motor learning.     

X-ray microdiffraction images of antiferromagnetic domain evolution in chromium

Magnetic x-ray diffraction combined with x-ray focusing optics was used to image individual antiferromagnetic spin density wave domains in a chromium single crystal at the micron scale. The cross section for nonresonant magnetic x-ray scattering depends on the antiferromagnetic modulation vector and spin polarization direction and allows these quantities to be extracted independently. The technique was used to show that the broadening of the nominally first-order "spin-flip" transition at 123 kelvin, at which the spins rotate by 90 degrees C, originates at the walls between domains with orthogonal modulation vectors. During cooling, the transition begins at these walls and progresses inward. The modulation vector domains are themselves unchanged.     

大麦黄矮病毒运动蛋白形成同型二聚体的功能研究

[目的]利用荧光双分子互补技术研究大麦黄矮病毒运动蛋白（BYDV-PAV,MP）形成二聚体的可能性,并研究MP同型二聚体与病毒运动之间的关系。[方法]将双分子荧光互补载体中包含多克隆位点、35S启动子及终止子的DNA片段构建到拷贝数较高的植物表达载体pCAMBIA1300上,然后以BYDV-PAV的全长cDNA为模板,根据GenBank中登记的BYDV-MP的基因序列设计引物,通过PCR扩增得到目的基因片段BYDV-MP,克隆到经过改造的双分子荧光互补载体pCAMBIA1300-NE、pCAMBIA1300-CE上,得到了重组的双分子荧光互补载体。电击转化农杆菌,利用农杆菌渗透注射技术注射到烟草叶片,荧光显微镜下观察植物体内的蛋白互作现象。[结果]农杆菌渗透注射后,2～5d观察双分子荧光互作现象,MP蛋白互作组及正对照组叶片产生黄色荧光,负对照组未有荧光现象。[结论]BYDV-MP在植物体内形成同源二聚体,该研究结果为进一步深入开展BYDV运动过程和机理等研究提供了理论依据。     

果树病毒载体研究进展

植物病毒载体作为重要的研究工具被广泛运用于蛋白表达、基因沉默等研究,当前普遍使用的是以烟草花叶病毒载体等为代表的草本植物病毒载体,但其大多不能侵染果树,且稳定性较差,容易丢失插入的外源基因,因此该类载体无法满足果树等多年生植物研究的需要。近年来新兴的果树病毒载体可解决这些难题,为此作者对果树病毒载体的研究进展和发展方向进行综述。当前国内外取得的研究成果主要包括：（1）通过掌握柑橘衰退病毒、柑橘叶斑病毒、李痘病毒、苹果潜隐球形病毒、葡萄病毒A和葡萄卷叶伴随病毒等果树病毒的传播途径、寄主范围、致病力分化、基因功能和表达策略等特性,采用体外转录或农杆菌介导的方式获得了上述果树病毒的全长侵染性克隆。在此基础上,通过在病毒外壳蛋白基因与其邻近的上游基因之间插入外源基因（包括荧光蛋白基因和β-葡萄糖醛酸酶基因等报告基因）,并用该病毒外壳蛋白基因的启动子或其他异源启动子驱动外源基因表达的方式,将上述6种果树病毒的全长侵染性克隆改造成为病毒载体;（2）运用果树病毒载体明确了柑橘衰退病毒、柑橘叶斑病毒、李痘病毒、苹果潜隐球形病毒和葡萄卷叶伴随病毒在植株中的分布、移动规律,及其在细胞中的定位。探寻了柑橘衰退病毒在大翼来檬上产生茎陷点症状的原因,以及交叉保护防治柑橘衰退病的主要机理。果树病毒载体还被作为病毒诱导的基因沉默载体用于基因功能和防病研究;（3）通过选用本地已经存在,且无虫传能力的弱毒株,以及对控制病毒致病和媒介传播能力的基因进行敲除、突变可以解决果树病毒载体研发过程中所遇到的安全风险。由于有些果树病毒仅分布于植株的韧皮部,因此限制了其作为病毒载体在植株中表达外源基因的范围,但由这类果树病毒构建的病毒载体稳定性极高,并且通过添加分泌信号肽基因等方式可以扩大表达产物在植株中的分布和作用范围,因此其在果树病毒研究方面仍然具有很高的应用价值。此外,采用不同病毒来源的异源启动子代替同源重复区来驱动外源基因的表达,可以进一步提高果树病毒载体的稳定性。     

Differential regulation of dynein and kinesin motor proteins by tau

Dynein and kinesin motor proteins transport cellular cargoes toward opposite ends of microtubule tracks. In neurons, microtubules are abundantly decorated with microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) such as tau. Motor proteins thus encounter MAPs frequently along their path. To determine the effects of tau on dynein and kinesin motility, we conducted single-molecule studies of motor proteins moving along tau-decorated microtubules. Dynein tended to reverse direction, whereas kinesin tended to detach at patches of bound tau. Kinesin was inhibited at about a tenth of the tau concentration that inhibited dynein, and the microtubule-binding domain of tau was sufficient to inhibit motor activity. The differential modulation of dynein and kinesin motility suggests that MAPs can spatially regulate the balance of microtubule-dependent axonal transport.     

耿马甘蔗白叶病植原体昆虫介体调查与检测

为探明云南蔗区甘蔗白叶病植原体的昆虫介体及优势种群,丰富甘蔗植原体病害相关理论和技术基础,制定适用于甘蔗白叶病的综合防控措施,2019年采用寻集法和扫网法对甘蔗白叶病发病最为严重的云南省临沧市耿马蔗区进行甘蔗白叶病植原体昆虫介体调查和巢式PCR检测分析。调查检测结果显示,采集到的大青叶蝉(Tettigoniella viridis)和条纹平冠沫蝉(Clovia conifer)2种昆虫介体均被检测为阳性,是甘蔗白叶病植原体的自然携带者,说明2种叶蝉可能为甘蔗白叶病植原体潜在昆虫介体;大青叶蝉若虫呈强阳性,初步确定为优势种群。鉴于目前云南蔗区甘蔗白叶病植原体传播方式主要是带毒蔗种和叶蝉类昆虫介体,建议建立甘蔗无病健康种苗繁育基地,及时杀灭蔗园中叶蝉类昆虫介体,从源头上控制甘蔗白叶病的扩散蔓延,降低田间自然传播速度。     

Putamen: activity of single units during slow and rapid arm movements

The activity of putamen neurons was studied in a monkey during the performance of both slow and rapid arm movements. More than half of all movement-related units discharged preferentially in relation to slow movements and less than 10 percent in relation to rapid movements. These findings indicate that at least a portion of the basal ganglia (the putamen) is primarily involved in the control of slow movements and are consistent with the hypothesis of Kornhuber that the primary motor function of the basal ganglia is to generate slow ("ramp") rather than rapid ("ballistic") movements.     

同源臂长度对CRISPR/Cas9介导hLF基因打靶山羊β-乳球蛋白位点效率的影响

【目的】探究同源臂长度对CRISPR/Cas9系统介导人乳铁蛋白基因（hLF）打靶山羊β-乳球蛋白基因（BLG）座位点效率的影响,为今后体细胞核移植制备BLG -/hLF +基因打靶山羊提供科学依据,也为CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑系统介导BLG基因或其他基因座位点定向精准分子修饰的遗传育种提供借鉴。【方法】针对山羊BLG基因第一外显子区域设计构建sgBLG/Cas9载体,电转染山羊胎儿成纤维细胞,PCR验证BLG基因座位点致突变活性;以BLC14乳腺特异性表达载体为基础构建3种同源臂长度（6.0、3.5和1.2 kb）的hLF基因打靶载体,分别与sgBLG/Cas9载体共转染山羊胎儿成纤维细胞,经500 μg/mL G418筛选后,采用PCR检测基因打靶情况。【结果】sgBLG/Cas9载体在山羊胎儿成纤维细胞BLG基因座附近切割DNA双链的致突变活性效率在30%~35%。构建获得3种同源臂长度的hLF基因打靶载体（BLC14-1、BLC14-2和BLC14-3）,对应的同源臂长度分别为6.0、3.5和1.2 kb;将3种hLF基因打靶载体与sgBLG/Cas9载体共转染山羊胎儿成纤维细胞,经5次电转染和G418筛选,分别获得83、77和86株药物抗性细胞,经PCR同源重组检测最终获得42、38和44株BLG -/hLF +基因打靶细胞株,即hLF基因在山羊胎儿成纤维细胞BLG基因座的平均打靶效率分别为50.6%（42/83）、49.4%（38/77）和51.2%（44/86）。3种不同长度同源臂构建的hLF基因打靶载体在山羊BLG基因座位点的打靶效率在统计学上无显著差异（P>0.05）,表明同源臂长度对CRISPR/Cas9介导hLF基因打靶山羊BLG基因座位点无显著影响。【结论】利用CRISPR/Cas9系统介导hLF基因打靶山羊胎儿成纤维细胞BLG基因座位点能成功获得多株hLF +/BLG -基因打靶细胞株（BLG基因座定点打靶hLF基因）,但打靶载体同源臂长度对CRISPR/Cas9系统介导BLG位点定向整合hLF基因的打靶效率无明显影响。     

Cortical neurons encoding path and place: where you go is where you are

We recorded neuronal activity in monkey medial superior temporal (MST) cortex during movement on a motorized sled. Most neurons showed a preferred heading direction, but some responded only when that heading was part of a particular path. Others responded only when the animal was at a certain place in the room, regardless of its path to that place. Video simulations of the self-movement scene evoked path, but not place, responses. Stationary positioning in the room revealed location preferences that matched place preferences recorded during movement. We conclude that MST encodes heading, path, and place information to support visuospatial orientation.     

Motor cortex reflexes associated with learned movement

In primates, sensory input can generate reflex motor cortex output in association with learned movement when the sensory input has a strong and direct connection to the motor cortex-for example, when a stimulus calling for repositioning of the hand consists of a perturbation of hand position. This finding supports the proposal that neurons of primate motor cortex may function in a transcortical servo-loop.     

基于小波包和Elman神经网络的异步电机转子断条 故障诊断方法

提出了一种基于小波包分析（WPA）和Elman神经网络的异步电机转子断条故障诊断方法.针对异步电机转子断条故障时定子电流出现的边频分量进行小波包分析,提取动态条件下各频带能量作为故障特征向量,削弱了负载变化及噪声对诊断准确性的影响.采用Elman神经网络对故障进行识别,并对Elman网络进行改进,在关联层增加了自反馈增益因子,提高了网络性能.以频带能量作为Elman神经网络识别故障的特征向量,建立从特征向量到电机转子断条故障之间的映射.试验结果表明：基于小波包分析提取的故障特征明显,由WPA和Elman神经网络构成的诊断系统,能有效地识别出转子断条故障,故障诊断准确率高.