诵读困难：与基因有关

一年前，科学家发现了一个能导致儿童诵读困难症（儿童的一系列严重的阅读问题）的有缺陷的基因。近日，随着基因组图谱排序的最新研究进展，科学家们发现了另外两个同样能引起诵读困难的秩序紊乱的基因。     

谷子精神：一种基于生物基因的文化基因

谷子是中华民族的哺育作物,“小米加步枪”曾为新中国的缔造立下了汗马功劳。谷子极强的生物抗逆性以及数千年漫长的粟文化,熔铸成了一种独特的民族精神--谷子精神。谷子精神是一种基于生物基因的民族文化基因,也是党与人民群众血肉联系的鲜明体现。加强对谷子精神的传承和弘扬,对于塑造国民健康的精神风貌、加强党风廉政建设、构建和谐社会、提高我国的文化软实力具有深远意义。     

基因兴奋剂：一半神奇一半魔鬼

“基因兴奋剂会出现在2008年北京奥运会上吗？”没有人能回答这个问题,但数年来,各种预测的声音都在强调：北京奥运会可能是基因兴奋剂登场的舞台。     

赵其坤：激活教育的艺术基因

这个寒假,赵其坤一直没闲着。2008年1月由他主持的上海市中小学教师艺术人文素养培养研究德育实训基地的第一期培训班结业了,他趁着假期抓紧设计第二期学员的招生计划和课程模块。此外,得知5月份将随文化部组织的艺术访问团赴法国参加“第八届中国文化艺术交流展”后,他利用假期闭门创作了两三幅新作品。     

一副球拍：注入创新基因

<正>这是一个关于球拍的故事。20世纪80年代的山东济宁,父母给男孩卢红伟带回了一副羽毛球拍。球拍在当时并不是常见玩意,但这拍柄与儿童手臂极不相称,因而球拍经常被打在地上,难逃折断的命运。这副球拍如同一粒种子,种在了卢红伟的心里。彼时的他不会想到,20余年后的他会成为一名大学教师,更不会想到,一款由他学生设计的、专供儿童使用的球拍会诞生在他的课堂上。     

基因编辑：将基因生物学用于植物育种的工具（英文）

人口不断增长给世界粮食安全带来了严峻的挑战,植物育种是应对这一挑战的最重要手段之一。过去三十年来,性状形成和调控的新知识(如功能基因组学)和新技术(如生物信息学和表型组学)极大地支持了植物育种的发展。基因编辑,特别是基于CRISPR/Cas技术和其衍生技术,已成为强有力的植物研究技术,可能直接改变植物育种的方法和策略。植物表型性状受编码基因和非编码基因的控制,在本文中,我们提出了编辑这两类基因的不同策略。对于编码基因,其编码蛋白的活性和数量可在转录和转录后水平以及翻译和翻译后水平加以调节,我们由此提出了创造基因功能性变异从而改变性状表型的基因编辑策略。对于非编码基因,则可以采用基因编辑技术对其转录水平或对靶基因的目标序列加以改造,达到产生新的性状的目的。此外,我们还提出了一种基于原生质体的基因编辑方案,使基因编辑技术更适合于植物育种。总之,本文提出了一系列可供植物育种者选择的将基因生物学知识转化为实用育种策略的方案,即基因编辑技术成为将基因生物学知识用于植物育种的技术。     

Controversial opinion: evaluation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">EGR1</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">LAMA2</Emphasis> loci for high myopia in Chinese populations

Functional studies have suggested the important role of early growth response 1 (EGR1) and Laminin α2-chain (LAMA2) in human eye development. Genetic studies have reported a significant association of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the LAMA2 gene with myopia. This study aimed to evaluate the association of the tagging SNPs (tSNPs) in the EGR1 and LAMA2 genes with high myopia in two independent Han Chinese populations. Four tSNPs (rs11743810 in the EGR1 gene; rs2571575, rs9321170, and rs1889891 in the LAMA2 gene) were selected, according to the HapMap database (http://hapmap.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), and were genotyped using the ligase detection reaction (LDR) approach for 167 Han Chinese nuclear families with extremely highly myopic offspring (<?10.0 diopters) and an independent group with 485 extremely highly myopic cases (<?10.0 diopters) and 499 controls. Direct sequencing was used to confirm the LDR results in twenty randomly selected subjects. Family-based association analysis was performed using the family-based association test (FBAT) software package (Version 1.5.5). Population-based association analysis was performed using the Chi-square test. The association analysis power was estimated using online software (http://design.cs.ucla.edu). The FBAT demonstrated that all four tSNPs tested did not show association with high myopia (P>0.05). Haplotype analysis of tSNPs in the LAMA2 genes also did not show a significant association (P>0.05). Meanwhile, population-based association analysis also showed no significant association results with high myopia (P>0.05). On the basis of our family- and population-based analyses for the Han Chinese population, we did not find positive association signals of the four SNPs in the LAMA2 and EGR1 genes with high myopia.     

bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 down-regulate expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx mori</Emphasis> fibroin light chain gene in vitro

Based on bioinformatic analysis, we selected two novel microRNAs (miRNAs), bmo-miR-0001 and bmomiR-0015, from high-throughput sequencing of the Bombyx mori larval posterior silk gland (PSG). Firstly, we examined the expression of bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 in 12 different tissues of the 5th instar Day-3 larvae of the silkworm. The results showed that the expression levels of both bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 were obviously higher in the PSG than in other tissues, implying there is a spatio-temporal condition for bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 to regulate the expression of BmFib-L. To test this hypothesis, we constructed pri-bmo-miR-0001 expressing the plasmid pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pri-bmo-miR-0001-SV40] and pri-bmo-miR-0015 expressing the plasmid pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pribmo-miR-0015-SV40]. Finally, the BmN cells were harvested and luciferase activity was detected. The results showed that luciferase activity was reduced significantly (P<0.05) in BmN cells co-transfected by pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pri-bmomiR-0001-SV40] or pcDNA3.0 [ie1-egfp-pri-bmo-miR-0015-SV40] with pGL3.0 [A3-luc-Fib-L-3′UTR-SV40], suggesting that both bmo-miR-0001 and bmo-miR-0015 can down-regulate the expression of BmFib-L in vitro.     

Improving the antioxidant activity and enriching salvianolic acids by the fermentation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salvia miltiorrhizae</Emphasis> with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geomyces luteus</Emphasis>

The antioxidant activities and total phenolic content of fermented Salvia miltiorrhiza with fungus Geomyces luteus were investigated. The results revealed that G. luteus fermentation could significantly improve the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of S. miltiorrhiza. The main antioxidant constituents were characterized by spectroscopic analysis as salvianolic acids. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantification also showed the enhanced content of salvianolic acid B after fermentation. The present study suggests that G. luteus fermentations are effective in the S. miltiorrhiza salvianolic acids’ enrichment process.     

中国地区孢子丝菌临床分离株的分子鉴定(英文)简

In this study, we investigated the molecular phylogeny of 64 clinical isolates which were identified as Sporothrix schenckii sensu lato by morphological identification. All of the strains were isolates from patients from several provinces in China. The phylogeny was inferred by DNA sequence analyses based on datasets of the ribo- somal internal transcribed spacer （ITS） and a combined ITS and partial 13-tubulin region. Reference sequences were retrieved from GenBank. Results showed that all of the isolates were clustered in a distinct clade with a type of Spo- rothrix globosa. Our analysis showed that S. globosa is the causal agent of the tested sporotrichosis in China, rather than S. schenckii that was generally believed to be the case. The existence of S. schenckii in China remains to be confirmed. This study improved our understanding of the distribution of the species in S. schenckii complex.     

A disputed evidence on obesity: comparison of the effects of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rcan2</Emphasis><Superscript>−/−</Superscript> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rps6kb1</Emphasis><Superscript>−/−</Superscript> mutations on growth and body weight in C57BL/6J mice

It is widely accepted that body weight and adipose mass are tightly regulated by homeostatic mechanisms, in which leptin plays a critical role through hypothalamic pathways, and obesity is a result of homeostatic disorder. However, in C57BL/6J mice, we found that Rcan2 increases food intake and plays an important role in the development of age- and diet-induced obesity through a leptin-independent mechanism. RCAN2 was initially identified as a thyroid hormone (T3)-responsive gene in human fibroblasts. Expression of RCAN2 is regulated by T3 through the PI3K-Akt/PKB-mTOR-Rps6kb1 signaling pathway. Intriguingly, both Rcan2^?/? and Rps6kb1^?/? mutations were reported to result in lean phenotypes in mice. In this study we compared the effects of these two mutations on growth and body weight in C57BL/6J mice. We observed reduced body weight and lower fat mass in both Rcan2^?/? and Rps6kb1^?/? mice compared to the wild-type mice, and we reported other differences unique to either the Rcan2^?/? or Rps6kb1^?/? mice. Firstly, loss of Rcan2 does not directly alter body length; however, Rcan2^?/? mice exhibit reduced food intake. In contrast, Rps6kb1^?/? mice exhibit abnormal embryonic development, which leads to smaller body size and reduced food intake in adulthood. Secondly, when fed a normal chow diet, Rcan2^?/? mice weigh significantly more than Rps6kb1^?/? mice, but both Rcan2^?/? and Rps6kb1^?/? mice develop similar amounts of epididymal fat. On a high-fat diet, Rcan2^?/? mice gain body weight and fat mass at slower rates than Rps6kb1^?/? mice. Finally, using the double-knockout mice (Rcan2^?/?Rps6kb1^?/?), we demonstrate that concurrent loss of Rcan2 and Rps6kb1 has an additive effect on body weight reduction in C57BL/6J mice. Our data suggest that Rcan2 and Rps6kb1 mutations both affect growth and body weight of mice, though likely through different mechanisms.     

Meta-analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">C242T</Emphasis> polymorphism in <Emphasis Type="Italic">CYBA</Emphasis> genes: risk of acute coronary syndrome is lower in Asians but not in Caucasians

Background

A lot of studies have demonstrated that C242T polymorphism in CYBA genes may play an important role in the pathological process of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, the results are not consistent. To further evaluate this debate, we performed a meta-analysis to determine the relationship between C242T polymorphism and ACS.

Methods and results

We screened PubMed/MEDLINE, EBSCIO, and EMBASE research reports until Mar. 2014 and extracted data from 10 studies involving 6102 ACS patients and 8669 controls. Subgroup analysis by ethnicity documented a significant decreased risk of ACS for C242T polymorphism in the Asian population under allelic comparison (odd ratio (OR) 0.73; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.64–0.83), dominant model (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.62–0.82), and homozygote comparison (OR 0.57; 95% CI 0.35–0.92). However, in the overall population and especially with Caucasians, no significant association was uncovered. Further meta-regression analysis revealed that the heterogeneity among studies was largely attributed to ethnicity. No publication bias was detected through a funnel plot and an Egger’s linear regression test.

Conclusions

Taken together, our results suggest that the C242T polymorphism might be a protective factor against developing ACS in the Asian population. Further researches will be needed to identify the confounding factors which modified the protective effect of T allele among Caucasians.

     

CIDE gene expression in adipose tissue,liver, and skeletal muscle from obese and lean pigs

The expression of the cell death-inducing DNA fragmentation factor α-like effector (CIDE) family including Cidea, Cideb, and Cidec was significantly increased in mouse and human models of obesity. However, there was less information on these genes’ expression in pigs. Here, we hypothesized that different fat accumulation between lean (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire gilts, DLY) and obese (Lantang) pigs was attributed to porcine CIDE-modulating lipid metabolism. Our data showed that Cidea and Cidec were expressed at a high level in adipose tissue, and at a relatively high level in skeletal muscle, whereas Cideb was mainly expressed in the liver in both breeds of pig. Lantang pigs had higher white adipose and skeletal muscle Cidea and Cidec mRNA abundance, and hepatic and muscle Cideb mRNA than DLY pigs. Lipid metabolism-related genes including sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c), hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α (HNF-4α), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), fatty acid synthase (FASN), diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), and DGAT2 showed a higher expression level in adipose tissue from obese pigs than in that from lean pigs. Lantang pigs exhibited higher mRNA abundance for liver SREBP-1c, HNF-4α, and PGC-1α, and higher skeletal muscle SREBP-1c, HNF-4α, PGC-1α, and DGAT2 expression, as compared with DLY pigs. However, the perlipin2 mRNA levels in adipose tissues, liver, and skeletal muscle were significantly lower in obese pigs than in their lean counterparts. Furthermore, plasma non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), glucose, and triacylglycerol (TAG) levels were greater in obese pigs than in lean pigs. Finally, data from correlation analysis further found that CIDE mRNA expression was positively correlated with back fat thickness (BFT), abdominal fat mass (AFM), and the levels of NEFA, TAG, and glucose in the two breeds. Collectively, these data revealed that the porcine CIDEs possibly modulated lipid metabolism and contributed to the development of fat deposition and obesity in Lantang pigs.