Studies on the mechanism of vaccinal immunity to Marek''s disease

Current knowledge of the nature of the antigens and of the host immune responses in vaccinal immunity to Marek's disease is reviewed. It is suggested that a two-step mechanism of resistance operates. The first step involves humoral and cell-mediated responses directed against viral antigens; the second step occurs after challenge with Marek's disease virus and consists of cellmediated responses directed against tumour cells.     

Milk Protein Polymorphism in Kangayam Cattle

This paper reports the milk protein polymorphism, the allele frequencies of variants and the possible linkages among various combinations of milk protein phenotypes in the Kangayam cattle of south India. Milk samples from 156 Kangayam cows were typed by starch gel and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for caseins and whey proteins, respectively. All the four milk protein components studied, _s1-casein, -casein, -lactoglobulin and -lactalbumin, exhibited polymorphism with high allele frequencies of 0.9231±0.0151 for _s1-casein C, 0.9263±0.0148 for -casein A, 0.9135±0.0159 for -lactoglobulin B and a relatively high frequency of 0.6218±0.0275 for -lactalbumin A. The mean heterozygosity estimated over all the four milk protein loci was 0.2420. Genetic equilibrium was observed among all the loci studied, except -lactalbumin. Linkage analysis confirmed the non-independence between _s1- and -caseins and between caseins and -lactalbumin phenotypes.     

Foot-and-mouth disease virus

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is an aphthovirus of the family Picornaviridae and the etiological agent of the economically most important animal disease. As a typical picornavirus, FMD virions are nonenveloped particles of icosahedral symmetry and its genome is a single stranded RNA of about 8500 nucleotides and of positive polarity. FMDV RNA is infectious and it replicates via a complementary, minus strand RNA. FMDV RNA replication is error-prone so that viral populations consist of mutant spectra (quasispecies) rather than a defined genomic sequence. Therefore FMDV in nature is genetically and antigenically diverse. This poses important challenges for the diagnosis, prevention and control of FMD. A deeper understanding of FMDV population complexity and evolution has suggested requirements for a new generation of anti-FMD vaccines. This is relevant to the current debate on the adequacy of non-vaccination versus vaccination policies for the control of FMD.

Résumé

Le virus de la fièvre aphteuse est un aphtovirus de la famille des Picornaviridae et l'agent de la maladie animale la plus importante sur le plan économique. En tant que picornavirus typique, le virus de la fièvre aphteuse est nu, sous forme d'icosaèdre et son génome comprend un acide ribonucléique monobrin avec environ 8500 nucléotides et une polarité positive. L'acide ribonucléique de ce virus est infectieux et il se réplique par l'intermédiaire d'un brin d'ARN moins, complémentaire. La réplication de l'acide nucléique de ce virus conduit à des erreurs, de telle sorte que les populations virales comprennent un ensemble de mutants (quasi espèce) plutôt qu'une séquence génomique bien définie. Par suite, le virus de la fièvre aphteuse est génétiquement et antigéniquement varié. Ceci entraîne des difficultés importantes pour le diagnostic, la prévention et la maîtrise de la fièvre aphteuse. Une connaissance plus approfondie de la complexité et de l'évolution de la population de ce virus a conduit à des besoins pour une nouvelle génération de vaccines aphteux. Ceci est lié au débat actuel sur le choix d'une politique de vaccination ou de non-vaccination dans la lutte contre la fièvre aphteuse.     

果实特异启动子调控薄皮甜瓜ACC合成酶cDNA反义表达载体的构建

应用反义RNA技术抑制甜瓜成熟过程中内源乙烯的合成,从而培育耐贮运品种是解决甜瓜延熟保鲜难题的可行新方法。根据GenBank中甜瓜、黄瓜ACC合成酶基因氨基酸保守序列设计引物,从成熟的薄皮甜瓜(齐甜1号)果肉组织中提取总RNA,经RT-PCR扩增得到约0.7kb的ACC合成酶cDNA片段,将其克隆到质粒载体pGEM-TEasy中,测序表明,该基因为777bp,编码258个氨基酸;从番茄(东农706)叶片组织中提取总DNA,经PCR扩增得到约2.2kb的E8基因片段,将其克隆到质粒载体pGEM-TEasy中,测序表明,该基因为2192bp;以pCAM2301为起始植物表达载体,pCAM-GT为中间载体,成功构建了果实特异启动子(E8)调控薄皮甜瓜ACC合成酶cDNA反义表达载体,采用冻融法将其转入根癌农杆菌LBA4404,得到了完整的Ti质粒表达载体系统。     

杨梅酸性转化酶基因cDNA分离及表达分析

杨梅果实富含蔗糖,酸性转化酶是蔗糖代谢关键酶,根据植物酸性转化酶基因保守区序列设计引物,提取杨梅叶片RNA,逆转录获得cDNA,以此为模板通过PCR技术扩增到长度为516bp的基因片段,克隆入pMD18-T载体中,命名为MrIVR1(GenBank:DQ339699)。测序及同源性检索表明,该基因推导氨基酸序列与君子兰、葡萄、草莓、胡萝卜等酸性转化酶基因氨基酸序列同源性为60%～69%。运用ClustalX软件对植物转化酶基因进行了系统树分析,结果显示,MrIVR1编码的蛋白质属于细胞壁酸性转化酶。半定量RT-PCR表达分析显示,MrIVR1基因在杨梅果实发育早期表达量最高,随着果实的发育表达量下降,在成熟果实中表达水平较低。     

所有权概念探讨

在对比各国对所有权的不同界定的基础上,立足于我国国情,重新阐释了所有权的概念。     

振荡发酵生产球形细菌纤维素

采用振荡发酵生产球粒形细菌纤维素,以提供外观和口感新颖独特的纤维素产品.结果表明:培养基的碳源浓度、椰子水添加量、装瓶量、振荡速度等对纤维素颗粒的形状、产量影响较大.最佳发酵工艺为:15g/L蔗糖,(NH4)2SO43 g/L,KH2PO43g/L,MgSO4·7H2O 0.2 g/L,酵母粉0.5 g/L,20%(ν/ν)椰子水,20%(ν/ν)菠萝汁,500mL三角瓶装200mL发酵液(液高3.4 cm),初始pH4.5,150 r/min,30℃振荡培养10d.在此条件下,可得到粒形均匀(φ 0.8～1.0 cm)、产量较高(3.15 g/L)的球形细菌纤维素.这种新型纤维素球粒能满足食品工业和消费者多元化的需求.     

Spatial variability and change in soil organic carbon stocks in response to recovery following land abandonment and erosion in mountainous drylands

This research investigates the impact of human activities on carbon (C) dynamics in a mountainous and semi‐arid environment. Despite the low C status of drylands, soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest C pool in these systems and therefore may offer significant C sequestration potential in systems recovering from degradation. Nevertheless, quantification of this potential is limited by lack of knowledge concerning the magnitude of and controls on regional SOC stocks. Therefore, this study aimed to (i) investigate the variability of soil organic carbon in relation to recovery period and key soil and topographical variables, and (ii) quantify the effects of recovery period following abandonment on SOC stocks. Soil profiles were sampled in the Sierra de los Filabres (southeast Spain) in different land units along geomorphic and degradation gradients. SOC contents were modelled using recovery period and soil and topographical variables. Sample depth, topographic position, altitude, recovery period and stone content were identified as the main factors for predicting SOC concentrations. SOC stocks in 1 m depth of soil varied between 3.16 and 76.44 t/ha. Recovery period (years since abandonment), topographic position and altitude were used to predict and map SOC stocks in the top 0.2 m. The results show that C accumulates rapidly during the first 10–50 yr following abandonment; thereafter, the stocks evolve towards a steady‐state level. The erosion zones in the study area demonstrate greater potential to increase their SOC stocks when abandoned. Deposition zones have greater SOC values, although their C accumulation rate is lower compared with erosional landscapes in the first 10–50 yr following abandonment. Therefore, full understanding of the C sequestration potential of land use change in areas of complex topography requires knowledge of spatial variability in soil properties and in particular SOC.     

大豆疫霉菌多聚半乳糖醛酸酶pspg1基因的克隆及表达分析

大豆疫病严重影响我同及世界各国的农业生产,为探讨多聚半乳糖醛酸酶在大豆疫霉菌致病过程中的作用,采用PCR的方法从大豆疫霉菌中克隆了多聚半乳糖醛酸酶pspg1基因,并利用RT-PCR法对其在大豆中的表达进行了分析.结果表明:大豆疫霉菌pspg1基因开放阅读框长1236 bp,编码一个长412氨基酸的蛋白质.对其进化关系进行分析,发现该基因与其它卵菌的pg基因亲缘关系最近,形成一个独立的分支.RT-PCR分析表明:pspg1基因在接种大豆疫霉菌的大豆下胚轴中大量表达,而在健康大豆下胚轴中未检测到.克隆了大豆疫霉菌pspg1基因,并发现该基因在大豆疫霉菌侵染大豆过程中发挥重要作用.