The mosaic structure of variation in the laboratory mouse genome

Most inbred laboratory mouse strains are known to have originated from a mixed but limited founder population in a few laboratories. However, the effect of this breeding history on patterns of genetic variation among these strains and the implications for their use are not well understood. Here we present an analysis of the fine structure of variation in the mouse genome, using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). When the recently assembled genome sequence from the C57BL/6J strain is aligned with sample sequence from other strains, we observe long segments of either extremely high (approximately 40 SNPs per 10 kb) or extremely low (approximately 0.5 SNPs per 10 kb) polymorphism rates. In all strain-to-strain comparisons examined, only one-third of the genome falls into long regions (averaging >1 Mb) of a high SNP rate, consistent with estimated divergence rates between Mus musculus domesticus and either M. m. musculus or M. m. castaneus. These data suggest that the genomes of these inbred strains are mosaics with the vast majority of segments derived from domesticus and musculus sources. These observations have important implications for the design and interpretation of positional cloning experiments.     

拓扑熵为＋∞的系统与拓扑熵映侵的连续性

文章构造一个拓扑熵为＋∞的系统,证明了拓扑熵映射ent(f)在一致性收敛诱导的拓扑空间：г＝{f|f∈C^0(I),f:I→I不变,f有常斜率λ＞1;↓Aλ∈R }。上是连续的,且存在不可为数映射集合г0属于г,↓Af∈г0,有ent(f)= ∞。     

“人是斩了首的上帝”——《探险家沃斯》中人之双重属性探析

在《探险家沃斯》中,怀特将人之本质属性诠释为＂人是斩了首的上帝＂,即人兼有神圣与世俗双重属性。人是上帝,喻示人具有内在神圣性;人会被＂斩首＂,意味着人具有现实的世俗性。怀特强调,世俗性是立身之基,但若为之所困,便会在物欲狂潮中失落对神圣与无限性的信仰和追求;现实生活需要神性的升华,但不应以逃避乃至牺牲现实生活为代价。现代人只有经由受难,正确体认双重属性的辩证统一,才有可能超越单维度生存困境,走向曼荼罗式的圆满与和谐。     

我国改革受阻深层原因分析

在改革过程中,我国利益表达主体多元化导致利益表达要求的多样性,利益表达客体角色错位引起利益表达信息的失真,利益表达能力的差异性及利益表达渠道畅通的有限性,利益表达效果与成本的不成比例性等,这些就是目前我国错综复杂的利益表达局面。它对处于攻坚阶段我国的改革产生一定阻力,并在一定程度上延缓了改革的进程。     

The medaka draft genome and insights into vertebrate genome evolution

Teleosts comprise more than half of all vertebrate species and have adapted to a variety of marine and freshwater habitats. Their genome evolution and diversification are important subjects for the understanding of vertebrate evolution. Although draft genome sequences of two pufferfishes have been published, analysis of more fish genomes is desirable. Here we report a high-quality draft genome sequence of a small egg-laying freshwater teleost, medaka (Oryzias latipes). Medaka is native to East Asia and an excellent model system for a wide range of biology, including ecotoxicology, carcinogenesis, sex determination and developmental genetics. In the assembled medaka genome (700 megabases), which is less than half of the zebrafish genome, we predicted 20,141 genes, including approximately 2,900 new genes, using 5'-end serial analysis of gene expression tag information. We found single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at an average rate of 3.42% between the two inbred strains derived from two regional populations; this is the highest SNP rate seen in any vertebrate species. Analyses based on the dense SNP information show a strict genetic separation of 4 million years (Myr) between the two populations, and suggest that differential selective pressures acted on specific gene categories. Four-way comparisons with the human, pufferfish (Tetraodon), zebrafish and medaka genomes revealed that eight major interchromosomal rearrangements took place in a remarkably short period of approximately 50 Myr after the whole-genome duplication event in the teleost ancestor and afterwards, intriguingly, the medaka genome preserved its ancestral karyotype for more than 300 Myr.     

电位移矢量D仅与自由电荷有关的条件

本文以静电场的高斯定理为基础,利用矢量分析的有关知识对电位移矢量D的一般形式作一些理论分析,并给出电位移矢量D仅与自由电荷有关的条件.     

Fringe is a glycosyltransferase that modifies Notch

Notch receptors function in highly conserved intercellular signalling pathways that direct cell-fate decisions, proliferation and apoptosis in metazoans. Fringe proteins can positively and negatively modulate the ability of Notch ligands to activate the Notch receptor. Here we establish the biochemical mechanism of Fringe action. Drosophila and mammalian Fringe proteins possess a fucose-specific beta1,3 N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase activity that initiates elongation of O-linked fucose residues attached to epidermal growth factor-like sequence repeats of Notch. We obtained biological evidence that Fringe-dependent elongation of O-linked fucose on Notch modulates Notch signalling by using co-culture assays in mammalian cells and by expression of an enzymatically inactive Fringe mutant in Drosophila. The post-translational modification of Notch by Fringe represents a striking example of modulation of a signalling event by differential receptor glycosylation and identifies a mechanism that is likely to be relevant to other signalling pathways.     

Xenoturbella is a deuterostome that eats molluscs

Xenoturbella bocki, first described in 1949 (ref. 1), is a delicate, ciliated, marine worm with a simple body plan: it lacks a through gut, organized gonads, excretory structures and coelomic cavities. Its nervous system is a diffuse nerve net with no brain. Xenoturbella's affinities have long been obscure and it was initially linked to turbellarian flatworms. Subsequent authors considered it variously as related to hemichordates and echinoderms owing to similarities of nerve net and epidermal ultrastructure, to acoelomorph flatworms based on body plan and ciliary ultrastructure (also shared by hemichordates), or as among the most primitive of Bilateria. In 1997 two papers seemed to solve this uncertainty: molecular phylogenetic analyses placed Xenoturbella within the bivalve molluscs, and eggs and larvae resembling those of bivalves were found within specimens of Xenoturbella. This molluscan origin implies that all bivalve characters are lost during a radical metamorphosis into the adult Xenoturbella. Here, using data from three genes, we show that the samples in these studies were contaminated by bivalve embryos eaten by Xenoturbella and that Xenoturbella is in fact a deuterostome related to hemichordates and echinoderms.