Interstitial collagenase is a Brownian ratchet driven by proteolysis of collagen

We show that activated collagenase (MMP-1) moves processively on the collagen fibril. The mechanism of movement is a biased diffusion with the bias component dependent on the proteolysis of its substrate, not adenosine triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis. Inactivation of the enzyme by a single amino acid residue substitution in the active center eliminates the bias without noticeable effect on rate of diffusion. Monte Carlo simulations using a model similar to a "burnt bridge" Brownian ratchet accurately describe our experimental results and previous observations on kinetics of collagen digestion. The biological implications of MMP-1 acting as a molecular ratchet tethered to the cell surface suggest new mechanisms for its role in tissue remodeling and cell-matrix interaction.     

Rapid regulation of light harvesting and plant fitness in the field

We used Arabidopsis thaliana mutants to examine how a photosynthetic regulatory process, the qE-type or DeltapH-dependent nonphotochemical quenching, hereafter named feedback de-excitation, influences plant fitness in different light environments. We show that the feedback de-excitation is important for plant fitness in the field and in fluctuating light in a controlled environment but that it does not affect plant performance under constant light conditions. Our findings demonstrate that the feedback de-excitation confers a strong fitness advantage under field conditions and suggest that this advantage is due to the increase in plant tolerance to variation in light intensity rather than tolerance to high-intensity light itself.     

The needle length of bacterial injectisomes is determined by a molecular ruler

Size determination represents a fundamental requirement for multicomponent biological structures. Some pathogenic bacteria possess a weapon derived from the flagellum. Like the flagellum, this type-III secretion apparatus, called the injectisome, has a transmembrane basal body, but the external component is a needle-like structure instead of a hook and a filament. Here, we provide evidence that the length of this needle is determined by the size of a protein, YscP, acting as a molecular ruler.     

Nest inheritance is the missing source of direct fitness in a primitively eusocial insect

Animals that cooperate with nonrelatives represent a challenge to inclusive fitness theory, unless cooperative behavior is shown to provide direct fitness benefits. Inheritance of breeding resources could provide such benefits, but this route to cooperation has been little investigated in the social insects. We show that nest inheritance can explain the presence of unrelated helpers in a classic social insect model, the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes dominulus. We found that subordinate helpers produced more direct offspring than lone breeders, some while still subordinate but most after inheriting the dominant position. Thus, while indirect fitness obtained through helping relatives has been the dominant paradigm for understanding eusociality in insects, direct fitness is vital to explain cooperation in P. dominulus.     

外来有害生物红火蚁在广西蔓延的可能性及防控措施

为了对近年来入侵华南地区及港台地区且危害严重的外来有害生物红火蚁[Solenopsis invicta Buren(Hymenoptera:Formicidae)]有更为详细的了解,文章对红火蚁的地理分布、分类地位、形态特征、生活习性以及危害特性作了介绍,同时根据国内外有关研究结果与经验提出了红火蚁在广西蔓延的可能性及相关防控措施,为广西防控红火蚁提供参考依据。     

Rapid evolution of a geographic cline in size in an introduced fly

The introduction and rapid spread of Drosophila subobscura in the New World two decades ago provide an opportunity to determine the predictability and rate of evolution of a geographic cline. In ancestral Old World populations, wing length increases clinally with latitude. In North American populations, no wing length cline was detected one decade after the introduction. After two decades, however, a cline has evolved and largely converged on the ancestral cline. The rate of morphological evolution on a continental scale is very fast, relative even to rates measured within local populations. Nevertheless, different wing sections dominate the New versus Old World clines. Thus, the evolution of geographic variation in wing length has been predictable, but the means by which the cline is achieved is contingent.     

Rapid increase of phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase by environmental stress in an inbred mouse strains

The activity of-phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase in mice of the C57Bl/Ka strain was determined after a 4 degrees C stress. The enzyme activity increased 1.2-fold at the end of 3 hours and by 1.4-fold by the end of 6 hours of the stress. The results are in contrast to those from other species with intact animals in which the enzyme changes only after several days of chronic stress. Cycloheximide prevents the rise in enzyme activity, suggesting the increase may be due to protein synthesis. The increase may provide a model system for studying regulation of catecholamine biosynthetic enzymes.     

土著B[a]P降解菌群的富集及最佳降解条件研究

为了获得能够降解苯并[a]芘(BaP)的微生物菌群,为生物修复多环芳烃污染的土壤提供菌种资源,本试验从长期石油污染的土壤中,富集了一个能够降解BaP的微生物菌群,并研究了其最佳降解条件,通过高通量测序研究了其群落结构。该菌群可以在15 d内将30 mg·L^-1的BaP降解33.34%。高通量测序的结果表明,该菌群主要由Bacillus、Zobellella、Gordonia和Rheinheimera组成,其中Bacillus是主要的降解菌。试验结果表明,该菌群的最佳降解条件为1%盐度,酵母浓度为80 mg·L^-1,pH值7.0。该菌群对芘、菲、荧蒽等多环芳烃也有一定的降解效果,其中荧蒽的降解效果最好,降解率达到99%。试验结果表明,该菌群在实际应用中具有很大的潜力。     

Rapid erasure of long-term memory associations in the cortex by an inhibitor of PKM zeta

Little is known about the neuronal mechanisms that subserve long-term memory persistence in the brain. The components of the remodeled synaptic machinery, and how they sustain the new synaptic or cellwide configuration over time, are yet to be elucidated. In the rat cortex, long-term associative memories vanished rapidly after local application of an inhibitor of the protein kinase C isoform, protein kinase M zeta (PKMzeta). The effect was observed for at least several weeks after encoding and may be irreversible. In the neocortex, which is assumed to be the repository of multiple types of long-term memory, persistence of memory is thus dependent on ongoing activity of a protein kinase long after that memory is considered to have consolidated into a long-term stable form.     

细菌A007菌株脂肪酶的纯化及性质研究

微生物产生的脂肪酶种类繁多、pH和温度的适应范围广,有十分广泛的应用。细菌在油脂培养基中30℃培养24 h,经1次硫酸铵沉淀和2次Sephadex G-75排阻层析得到电泳纯脂肪酶。经SDS-PAGE测得其分子量为29.5 ku,经酶促反应测定最适温度为40℃,最适pH为8.0,表现出较好的温度和pH稳定性。     

雌性食蟹猴去卵巢(OVX)诱导骨质疏松动物模型建立及评价

为了探索建立食蟹猴骨质疏松模型的可行性并评价阿仑膦酸钠(ALN)的治疗效果,将12只成年雌性食蟹猴随机分为卵巢切除(OVX)模型组、OVX阳性组、假手术(Sham)组。造模1个月后,OVX模型组和Sham组口服生理盐水(10 mL/周),OVX阳性组口服ALN(5 mg/周)。结果表明:OVX术后1个月,血清雌二醇(E2)水平较术前下降。OVX模型组血清骨代谢物骨特异性碱性磷酸酶(sALP)、I型胶原羧基末端肽(CTx-I)明显高于OVX阳性组和Sham组(P0.01)。OVX模型组骨密度(BMD)明显低于OVX阳性组和Sham组(P0.01)。骨组织形态计量学分析显示OVX模型组骨体积分数、骨小梁厚度及骨小梁数量均减少,骨小梁分离度增大,与OVX阳性组和Sham组相比差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。OVX阳性组的松质骨骨强度参数明显低于OVX模型组(P0.05)。以上结果表明,雌性食蟹猴去卵巢后因雌激素降低导致的骨质疏松,与人类临床上绝经后女性骨质疏松的各项指标相符。本研究成功建立了雌性食蟹猴去卵巢(OVX)后诱导建立骨质疏松动物模型,并通过经阿仑膦酸钠治疗效果的评价验证。此模型为研究绝经后骨质疏松发病机理、评价药物疗效等提供重要的基础。     

基于轮毂电机驱动的山地林果茶园轮式运输车设计与试验

针对南方丘陵山地林果茶园复杂的地形地貌特点,在集中式电机驱动运输车基础上,开发了以轮毂电机驱动的山地林果茶园运输车;该运输车以36 V铅酸蓄电池为能源,采用双后轮独立驱动方式并具备电子差速转向系统。运输车最大爬坡度、续驶里程试验、差速及制动性能等关键指标性能试验结果显示：运输车满载最大爬坡度为15°,最小转弯半径为2 395 mm,空载和满载状态下以常用车速 20 km/h 行驶时平均里程分别可达 66.97和46.33 km;满载时运输车分别以初速度25、20、15、10 km/h行驶时的紧急制动距离分别为5.83、4.11、2.68、1.57 m,试验值与理论值的最大相对误差为8.2%;运输车还具备良好的差速转向性能。     

A yeast actin-binding protein is encoded by SAC6, a gene found by suppression of an actin mutation

The protein encoded by SAC6, a gene that can mutate to suppress a temperature-sensitive defect in the yeast actin gene, has been identified as a 67-kilodalton actin-binding protein (ABP 67) that associates with all identifiable actin structures. This finding demonstrates the in vivo functional importance of the actin-ABP 67 interaction previously established in vitro and illustrates the use of suppressor analysis to identify physically interacting proteins.     

建立健全以工促农、以城带乡长效机制的探讨

在分析建立健全以工促农、以城带乡长效机制的必要性和紧迫性后,系统地提出从6个方面建立健全以工促农、以城带乡长效机制及其对策建议.     

烟草快速繁殖及培养的研究

 通过对比试验,探讨了烟草组织培养快速繁殖种苗的最佳途径,对组培过程中激素的组成和数量对种苗的生长影响进行研究.结果表明:以K326、红大、G-28这3种烟草的茎尖为外植体接种在MS+6-BA 0.3+IBA 0.05的培养基上,芽的萌发势较好,继代增殖在MS+6-BA 3+IBA 0.2的培养基上经35d的振动液体培养,每芽可增殖近50个幼芽,增殖芽在1/2MS生根培养基上培养30d,能长成健壮完整的植株,本试验还进行了一系列降低成本、简化培养方面的研究.     

Reproductive development in a female songbird: differential stimulation by quality of male song

Female canaries exposed to playback of large repertoires of male songs built nests faster and laid more eggs than did those females exposed to smaller song repertoires: females are attentive to attributes of male song, and their choices have played a role in the evolution of oscine singing behaviors.     

美国就业驱动之高等教育评估的经验及借鉴

以NSSE和Alumni Survey为代表的美国就业驱动之高等教育评估对毕业生就业能力和高校教育质量起到提升作用。我国高等教育大众化的实现,使高等教育不可避免的出现了教育质量的滑坡和毕业生就业形势严峻的问题。借鉴美国就业驱动之教育评估的经验,我国需要实施就业导向的高校教育改革、建立毕业生就业评估机制,并提供毕业生职业指导服务。     

微波消解批量快速测定植物中的汞

[目的]探索植物中汞的快速测定方法。[方法]以纯硝酸为介质,将样品进行微波消解,采用氢化物发生原子荧光光谱法测定植物中的汞含量,探索微波消解样品的最佳条件。[结果]方法的相对标准偏差(除玉米为推荐值)均小于1.03%,试验中的最低检出限为0.009μg/kg。[结论]微波消解法简便、快速、准确、灵敏度高,适用于植物中汞的批量快速测定。