Independent and parallel recruitment of preexisting mechanisms underlying C₄ photosynthesis

C? photosynthesis allows increased photosynthetic efficiency because carbon dioxide (CO?) is concentrated around the key enzyme RuBisCO. Leaves of C? plants exhibit modified biochemistry, cell biology, and leaf development, but despite this complexity, C? photosynthesis has evolved independently in at least 45 lineages of plants. We found that two independent lineages of C? plant, whose last common ancestor predates the divergence of monocotyledons and dicotyledons about 180 million years ago, show conserved mechanisms controlling the expression of genes important for release of CO(2) around RuBisCO in bundle sheath (BS) cells. Orthologous genes from monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous C? species also contained conserved regulatory elements that conferred BS specificity when placed into C? species. We conclude that these conserved functional genetic elements likely facilitated the repeated evolution of C? photosynthesis.     

The Xist RNA gene evolved in eutherians by pseudogenization of a protein-coding gene

The Xist noncoding RNA is the key initiator of the process of X chromosome inactivation in eutherian mammals, but its precise function and origin remain unknown. Although Xist is well conserved among eutherians, until now, no homolog has been identified in other mammals. We show here that Xist evolved, at least partly, from a protein-coding gene and that the loss of protein-coding function of the proto-Xist coincides with the four flanking protein genes becoming pseudogenes. This event occurred after the divergence between eutherians and marsupials, which suggests that mechanisms of dosage compensation have evolved independently in both lineages.     

植物干旱胁迫下水分代谢、碳饥饿与死亡机理

植物在生长发育过程中受众多环境因子共同作用。随着全球气候变化,气温升高、降水量下降等问题频繁出现。目前气象学家一致预测未来环境变暖会使干旱更加频繁剧烈,这一环境改变使植物死亡更加严重。植物在水分胁迫、特别是干旱胁迫条件下,体内水分代谢与碳代谢会发生失衡现象:光合速率降低、蒸腾速率降低,带来生长降低;为维持植物新陈代谢,植物呼吸作用必然下调。在长期干旱胁迫条件下植物体内碳水化合物储存发生失衡现象,这种失衡使植物陷入碳饥饿现象。另外,由于水分失衡而出现的木质部栓塞和空穴会进一步加剧水分运输障碍,而修复空穴则需要大量非结构性碳水化合物(NSC),这使植物陷入两难选择。总结了植物干旱胁迫下,碳饥饿与水分代谢、植物死亡关系的相关研究,对未来的研究方向和重点提出建议,以期对未来的植物死亡研究提供帮助。     

Phase change and the regulation of shoot morphogenesis in plants

The shoot system of higher plants passes through several different phases during its development. Each of these phases is characterized by a unique set of morphological and physiological attributes. The intermediate character of the structures produced during phase changes and the phenotypes of mutations that affect this process demonstrate that these phases are specified by independently regulated, overlapping developmental programs. Transitions between phases appear to be initiated by factors extrinsic to the shoot apical meristem; the ability of the shoot to respond to such factors and to remain in a particular phase of development is regulated by factors intrinsic to the meristem. The possibility that developmental phases are maintained by epigenetic cell states and the role of DNA methylation in this process are discussed.     

Influence of phylogeny on fungal community assembly and ecosystem functioning

Ecology seeks to explain species coexistence and its functional consequences, but experimental tests of mechanisms that simultaneously account for both processes are difficult. We used an experimental mycorrhizal plant system to test whether functional similarity among closely related species (phylogenetic conservatism) can drive community assembly and ecosystem functioning. Communities were constructed with the same number of fungal species, but after 1 year of growth, realized species richness was highest where the starting species were more distantly related to each other. Communities with high realized species richness also stimulated plant productivity more than those with low realized species richness. Our findings suggest that phylogenetic trait conservatism can promote coexistence because of reduced competition between distinct evolutionary lineages and enhance ecosystem function because of functional complementarity among those same lineages.     

Role of microRNAs in plant and animal development

Small RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), are key components of an evolutionarily conserved system of RNA-based gene regulation in eukaryotes. They are involved in many molecular interactions, including defense against viruses and regulation of gene expression during development. miRNAs interfere with expression of messenger RNAs encoding factors that control developmental timing, stem cell maintenance, and other developmental and physiological processes in plants and animals. miRNAs are negative regulators that function as specificity determinants, or guides, within complexes that inhibit protein synthesis (animals) or promote degradation (plants) of mRNA targets.     

水稻浆片颖壳化突变体(gll)的鉴定和精细定位

【目的】鉴定和克隆水稻花器官突变体新基因,对了解水稻花器官发育的分子遗传机理和分子信号调控途径有着重要的作用。【方法】采用田间种植鉴定、突变体和野生型的花器官对比、杂交后代的表型分离统计及基于图位克隆法的基因定位等方法,对自然突变产生的突变体gll的表现型、遗传和基因精细图位开展研究。【结果】表型鉴定认为gll突变体小穗上的颖花变异主要表现为浆片颖壳化和外颖增加。通过杂交F1、F2及F3的表型分离个体χ2测验结果表明,该突变体表型分离符合1对隐性核基因的比例。配制突变体和日本晴的杂交种及其F2分离群体,在F2和F3群体中获得gll表型株作为基因定位群体。利用均匀分布于水稻12条染色体上的156对多态性分子标记,检测gll定位群体中的408株突变体表型个体,将GLL定位于水稻第1染色体上SSR标记RM1068和RM3482之间,遗传距离分别为4.6和2.3 cM。随后检测了4个新的SSR标记,进一步将GLL定位在108 kb的物理距离之内。【结论】水稻gll突变体的性状由1对隐性核基因控制,该基因位于第1染色体长臂的近下端SSR标记RM6097和RM6827之间108 kb范围内。     

Identifi cation of micro RNAs in two species of tomato,Solanum lycopersicum and Solanum habrochaites,by deep sequencing

Micro RNAs(mi RNAs) are ~21 nucleotide(nt), endogenous RNAs that regulate gene expression in plants. Increasing evidence suggests that mi RNAs play an important role in species-specific development in plants. However, the detailed mi RNA profile divergence has not been performed among tomato species. In this study, the small RNA(s RNA) profiles of Solanum lycopersicum cultivar 9706 and Solanum habrochaites species PI 134417 were obtained by deep sequencing. Sixty-three known mi RNA families were identified from these two species, of which 39 were common. Further mi RNA profile comparison showed that 24 known non-conserved mi RNA families were species-specific between these two tomato species. In addition, six conserved mi RNA families displayed an apparent divergent expression pattern between the two tomato species. Our results suggested that species-specific, non-conserved mi RNAs and divergent expression of conserved mi RNAs might contribute to developmental changes and phenotypic variation between the two tomato species. Twenty new mi RNAs were also identified in S. lycopersicum. This research significantly increases the number of known mi RNA families in tomato and provides the first set of small RNAs in S. habrochaites. It also suggests that mi RNAs have an important role in species-specific plant developmental regulation.     

Lineage-specific development of calcium currents during embryogenesis

The development of electrophysiological properties of isolated, identified ascidian blastomeres was followed from the fertilized egg to the neurula, and the stage at which cells of different lineages first express different functional ion channel populations was determined. Little has been known about such events because of the difficulties of making voltage-clamp recordings from small embryonic cells and of identifying their developmental fates in dissociated preparations. The problem of small cell size was circumvented by using the whole-cell patch clamp, and identification was facilitated by the use of a species of ascidian, Boltenia villosa, in which endogenous pigment marks cells of specific developmental fates. Within approximately 3 hours after gastrulation, muscle-lineage blastomeres in these embryos developed a voltage-dependent calcium current while surrounding blastomeres of other lineages did not. At about the same time, all cells developed delayed outward potassium currents and lost the inwardly rectifying potassium currents present at earlier stages.     

百合病害的研究综述

综述了百合真菌性病害、病毒性病害、细菌性病害、线虫病、生理性病害、螨害的研究进展,百合病害的种类繁多,以真菌性病害和病毒性病害研究较为普遍,但线虫病、细菌性病害和螨害的研究还较少,百合病害之间的关联及综合防治的研究有待于进一步深入、完善.     

植物茎端分生组织CLV/WUS信号途径的研究进展

高等植物的最终形态主要依赖于茎端分生组织的发育调控,拟南芥CLV/WUS途径是茎端分生组织最重要的调控机制之一。CLV途径促进器官发生,WUS途径诱导分生组织细胞增殖,它们构成了负反馈调节环,保证了拟南芥分生组织的正常增殖与分化。利用突变体基因克隆和系统发育比较,证实了CLV和WUS的同源基因也存在于以水稻和玉米为代表的禾本科作物中,说明CLV/WUS信号途径在禾本科作物中很可能是保守的。由于禾本科作物茎端分生组织的发育最终关系到作物的产量和品质,因此,深入研究禾本科作物的CLV/WUS信号途径将有助于禾本科作物的遗传改良。     

Phase change and the regulation of developmental timing in plants

Plants produce different types of organs at different times in shoot development. Along with the major changes in organ morphology that take place during developmental transitions, more gradual patterns of variation occur. The identity of organs produced at a particular position on the shoot is determined by interactions between several independently regulated, temporally coordinated processes. Two of these processes are organ production and the specification of organ identity. Coordination of these processes is accomplished in part by a thermal clock and by signal transduction pathways that mediate the response of plants to light.     

Molecular evidence for the early colonization of land by fungi and plants

The colonization of land by eukaryotes probably was facilitated by a partnership (symbiosis) between a photosynthesizing organism (phototroph) and a fungus. However, the time when colonization occurred remains speculative. The first fossil land plants and fungi appeared 480 to 460 million years ago (Ma), whereas molecular clock estimates suggest an earlier colonization of land, about 600 Ma. Our protein sequence analyses indicate that green algae and major lineages of fungi were present 1000 Ma and that land plants appeared by 700 Ma, possibly affecting Earth's atmosphere, climate, and evolution of animals in the Precambrian.     

Plasticity of the differentiated state

Heterokaryons provide a model system in which to examine how tissue-specific phenotypes arise and are maintained. When muscle cells are fused with nonmuscle cells, muscle gene expression is activated in the nonmuscle cell type. Gene expression was studied either at a single cell level with monoclonal antibodies or in mass cultures at a biochemical and molecular level. In all of the nonmuscle cell types tested, including representatives of different embryonic lineages, phenotypes, and developmental stages, muscle gene expression was induced. Differences among cell types in the kinetics, frequency, and gene dosage requirements for gene expression provide clues to the underlying regulatory mechanisms. These results show that the expression of genes in the nuclei of differentiated cells is remarkably plastic and susceptible to modulation by the cytoplasm. The isolation of the genes encoding the tissue-specific trans-acting regulators responsible for muscle gene activation should now be possible.     

植物表皮毛发育分子调控机制的研究进展

植物表皮毛在环境和植物相互作用中起到缓冲区域的重要作用,而细胞发育分化的独特性使其成为研究细胞发育调控和细胞命运决定等过程的最佳体系。近年来,随着分子生物学等技术的快速发展,植物表皮毛发育分子调控机制的研究发展较快。特别是模式植物拟南芥的部分关键的调控基因已经被克隆并获得其功能信息,为其他植物复杂表皮毛的研究和农业应用提供了理论指导。该研究主要以表皮毛发育时间的先后顺序综述该领域的研究进展、影响因素和其他植物表皮毛研究的现状,以期为大众和研究者提供比较全面的有关植物非分泌型表皮毛分子调控研究的进展信息。     

蜡梅科的花粉形态及其系统位置的探讨

在光学显微镜下和扫描电子显微镜下对蜡梅科Calycanthaceae7种花粉形态进行观察,结果表明本科花粉至少有下列3种不同类型:(1)花粉具穴状纹饰,亦道面观呈长方形,中央部位不扩大,如美国蜡梅,或中央部位扩大,如夏蜡梅和西南蜡梅;(2)花粉具蠕虫状纹饰,赤道面观呈长方形或近圆形,如蜡梅、柳叶蜡梅和突托蜡梅;(3)花粉具瘤状纹饰,赤道面观呈长圆形,如浙江蜡梅。并与蔷薇目Rosales、樟目Laurales和毛茛目尽anunculales内各科花粉进行了对比分析,结果认为本科花粉为独特类型,仅相似于Atherospermataceae,在被子植物花粉中罕见。Idiospermum应隶属于蜡梅科。仅从花粉形态提不出夏蜡梅成立新属Sinocalycanthus的依据。