植物非编码RNA的研究进展与展望

非编码RNA是当今国际生物学研究的热点之一。包括miRNA和siRNA在内的小RNA和长非编码RNA(lncRNA)可以在转录和转录后水平调节基因表达,在植物生长、发育、生物和非生物逆境生理等方面起着重要的调控作用。我国在植物非编码RNA的机理和应用方面的研究起步较早,通过近10年的蓬勃发展,涌现了一批从事植物非编码RNA研究的优秀团队。这些团队在模式植物拟南芥及水稻等农作物非编码RNA的产生、工作机理和应用研究上取得了一系列的重要突破性进展,在某些研究方向上处于国际领先水平,为我国植物非编码RNA研究的进一步发展打下了扎实的基础。本文对近年来植物非编码RNA领域国内外的重要进展进行了简要概述,并展望了未来植物非编码RNA的研究方向和拟解决的科学问题。     

基因组考古学:从现存物种寻找祖先生活的遗迹

基于基因组中不仅存在着现在能够编码的基因,而且存在着大量非编码DNA序列的事实,作者认为:一个基因组中的基因和非编码DNA序列共同保留着该物种所经历的进化事件、外在环境的变迁和内在结构与功能的演变的信息。发明出适当的科学方法,就可以将这些信息逐步破译出来,从而创建一门不同于化石考古学和古分子考古学的基因组考古学新学科。     

日本血吸虫全基因组测序完成

血吸虫是一种可引起人类血吸虫病的寄生虫,在中国乃至世界造成了极大的危害,其种类主要包括流行于亚洲的日本血吸虫和流行于非洲、南美洲的曼氏血吸虫。我们所在的日本血吸虫基因组测序和功能分析协作组完成了对日本血吸虫的全基因组测序。结果显示,日本血吸虫基因组序列由近4亿个碱基组成,含有大量的重复序列(占基因组41%)。我们从中共识别出编码基因13469个,其中有首次发现的与血吸虫感染宿主密切相关的弹力蛋白酶(elastase)基因。在与具有同等大小基因组的非寄生生物比较中,我们发现虽然基因数量相似,但其功能基因的组成却有较大差别:日本血吸虫一方面丢失了很多与营养代谢相关的基因,如脂肪酸、氨基酸、胆固醇和性激素合成基因等,这些营养物质必须从哺乳动物宿主获得;另一方面,扩充了许多有利于蛋白消化的酶类基因家族的成员。这一变化充分体现了血吸虫适应寄生生活,与宿主协同进化的重要特性。血吸虫基因组学研究成果加深了我们对血吸虫生物学特点、分子寄生虫学、分子进化以及与宿主的相互作用等方面的认识。同时,也为血吸虫病的诊断、疫苗研制和新药研究奠定了重要基础。     

基因是否道出了生命的本质

遗传学思维强化了人们从个体的角度思考自己的行为方式，然而我们生活于其中的社会同样施加影响使基因传给我们的后代。教养和DNA一样决定着人们进化的命运，它们是指引进化路程的双重驱动力。人类有能力选择通过基因或者文化传播两种方式进行复制，这正是我们与动物的区别。     

逆转座在植物基因起源和基因组进化中的作用

多种多样的生物世界是生命经历长期进化的结果。在高等多细胞生物中,草本类植物具有最广泛和最强的适应性;除了我们随处可见的分布生境外,从高山到海底,从极地到沙漠,都能见到草类的生长。对人类而言,更为重要的是我们的主要粮食作物如水稻、小麦、玉米等都属于草本植物。草类植物到底具有什么样的遗传特质使其能有如此强的适应能力呢?生物适应和物种分化的过程在根本上是生物遗传变异的结果,其遗传基础是基因组中新结构如新基因不断涌现和进化的过程。近年来,随着基因组时代的到来,科学家对新基因产生和基因组进化的研究正在揭示着物种进化…     

研究称人类智力正不断衰退

我们的智力和行为需要大量的基因发挥最佳功能,而这又需要相当大的进化压力来维持。现在,美国斯坦福大学的一个科研团队提出一个极具挑战性的理论:我们的智力和情感能力正在损失,因为赋予我们脑力的错综复杂的基因网特别容易受基因突变的侵害,而这些基因突变的选择不是为了让我们迎战现     

黑死病“礼物” 700年前的黑死病影响今天人类的健康

<正>生命系统的进化从未停止，新事物的出现总是会伴随着旧事物的退出，甚至是消亡，基因正是如此。而任何事物都具有双面性，基因的进化也无法免于俗套。近期，来自麦克马斯特大学、芝加哥大学、巴斯德研究所等的研究人员通过对曾经保护人类免于黑死病的基因进行研究，发现这些基因如今跟克罗恩病、类风湿性关节炎等自身免疫性疾病的易感性增加有关。也就是说，基因的进化并不总是朝着有利的一面，其具有双面性。     

基因显示水母为人类祖先

正科学家长期以来一直认为人类是从海绵动物进化来的,但是新的基因研究显示,水母状动物可能才是为人类进化过程开启第一扇门的生物体。研究人员在试图填补栉水母基因组序列中空白时,发现这种动物与地球上的其他动物物种存在联系,以至于研究人员猜测     

向现代达尔文主义的挑战

生物是进化的。但生物究竟是如何进化的?自然选择学说是否是足以解释生物界一切进化现象的普遍真理?人类对生物进化的研究是否只能局限在一百多年前达尔文为我们建立的理论框架之内?围绕着这些问题,六十年代后期出现了非达尔文主义向达尔文主义的严峻挑战。     

昆虫为什么有六条腿

昆虫为什么会有6条腿?美国进化生物学家经过多年研究,最近对这个问题作出了回答.他们通过杀灭两个基因,迫使甲虫幼虫长出16条额外的腿,从而重新制造出其祖先早在大约4亿年前就丧失了的肢体来.     

译介术语演化分析

针对中国译介研究术语演化规律这一科学问题,采用文献计量方法对中国期刊全文数据库(1963—2016)中的译介研究关键词进行了统计分析。结果表明中国译介研究术语经历了三个演化阶段:第一阶段为1963—1982年,这期间相关研究论文的数量比较稀少,导致术语贫乏;第二阶段为1983—2000年,这期间发文量明显增多,多研究重心开始形成,新的术语不断产生;第三阶段为2001—2016年,这期间发文量大规模增长,研究重心发生迁移,术语呈现“百花齐放”态势。当前,中国译介研究方兴未艾,译介研究术语更多地被赋予了时代性、民族性、多样性的文化内涵。     

The Meaning of Life in a Developing Universe

The evolution of life on Earth has produced an organism that is beginning to model and understand its own evolution and the possible future evolution of life in the universe. These models and associated evidence show that evolution on Earth has a trajectory. The scale over which living processes are organized cooperatively has increased progressively, as has its evolvability. Recent theoretical advances raise the possibility that this trajectory is itself part of a wider developmental process. According to these theories, the developmental process has been shaped by a yet larger evolutionary dynamic that involves the reproduction of universes. This evolutionary dynamic has tuned the key parameters of the universe to increase the likelihood that life will emerge and produce outcomes that are successful in the larger process (e.g. a key outcome may be to produce life and intelligence that intentionally reproduces the universe and tunes the parameters of ‘offspring’ universes). Theory suggests that when life emerges on a planet, it moves along this trajectory of its own accord. However, at a particular point evolution will continue to advance only if organisms emerge that decide to advance the developmental process intentionally. The organisms must be prepared to make this commitment even though the ultimate nature and destination of the process is uncertain, and may forever remain unknown. Organisms that complete this transition to intentional evolution will drive the further development of life and intelligence in the universe. Humanity’s increasing understanding of the evolution of life in the universe is rapidly bringing it to the threshold of this major evolutionary transition.     

Comparing the Long-Term Evolution of ``Cognitive Invariances' in Physics with a Dynamics in States of Consciousness

It is shown that the evolution of physics canin several regards be described by elements of``regression', i.e., that within a certaintradition of ideas one begins with theconstruction of most ``plausible' statements(axioms) at hand, and then ``works onselfbackwards' with respect to developmental terms.As a consequence of this strategy, the furtherwork proceeds along such a ``regressive' path,the more one arrives at concepts andrelationships which are unexpected or evencounter-intuitive in terms of our everydayexperiences. However, a comparable phenomenology is wellknown from studies on states of consciousness.In particular, the evolutionary logic of theconstructions of major ``cognitive invariances'in physics, which is in part due to everincreasing rates of data processing, ismirrored in a logic of states of consciousnesswhich deviate from a ``normal' state of dailyroutine along increasing levels of centralnervous arousal. Examples are given from the evolution ofphysics, and future perspectives are brieflyoutlined on the basis thereof.     

Astrocladistics: A Phylogenetic Analysis of Galaxy Evolution I. Character Evolutions and Galaxy Histories

This series of papers is intended to present astrocladistics in some detail and evaluate this methodology in reconstructing phylogenies of galaxies. Being based on the evolution of all the characters describing galaxies, it is an objective way of understanding galaxy diversity through evolutionary relationships. In this first paper, we present the basic steps of a cladistic analysis and show both theoretically and practically that it can be applied to galaxies. For illustration, we use a sample of 50 simulated galaxies taken from the GALICS database, which are described by 91 observables (dynamics, masses and luminosities). These 50 simulated galaxies are indeed 10 different galaxies taken at 5 cosmological epochs, and they are free of merger events. The astrocladistic analysis easily reconstructs the true chronology of evolution relationships within this sample. It also demonstrates that burst characters are not relevant for galaxy evolution as a whole. A companion paper is devoted to the formalization of the concepts of formation and diversification in galaxy evolution.     

Minimal memetics and the Evolution of Patented Technology

The nature and status of cultural evolution and its connection with biological evolution are controversial in part because of Richard Dawkin’s suggestion that the scientific study of culture should include “memetics,” an analog of genetics in which genes are replaced by “memes”—the hypothetical units of cultural evolution. Memetics takes different forms; I focus on its minimal form, which claims merely that natural selection shapes to some extent the evolution of some aspects of culture. Advocates and critics of memetics disagree about the scientific status of memetics, but they agree that memetics must face the following fundamental problems. Problem 1: Cultural evolution differs too much from biological evolution. Problem 2: Culture is too complex. Problem 3: Memes are too difficult to identify and track. Problem 4: Memetics produces only trivial results. This paper examines these problems in the context of a minimal memetic analysis in one specific context: patented inventions. Technology is a special subset of culture, and patented inventions are a special subset of technology—not least because there is a detailed written record of every patent. I describe four recent empirical results on technological innovation derived from memetic analysis of the patent record. Result 1: Inkjet printing, PCR, and stents are key drivers of technological innovation. Result 2: Patent genealogies are tangled and incestuous. Result 3: Door-opening innovations drive the evolution of technology. Result 4: The evolving content of the drivers of innovation confirms the importance of inkjet printing, PCR, and stents, among other inventions. These results show that minimal memetics can provide a novel and illuminating analysis the evolution of patented technology. Furthermore, this memetic analysis can answer all of the main problems with memetics. Problem 1 can be dismissed because culture and biology can be quite disanalogous, provided that natural selection still operates in both. Problem 2 is a mirage, because memetic analysis of the patented inventions is consistent with the full richness and complexity of the evolution of technology. Problem 3 is easy to solve, because the patent record makes it trivial to identify and track patents and their key traits through lineages. Problem 4 can be fully answered only after memetic analysis becomes widespread, but the results reviewed here shows that minimal memetics does yield scientific results that are nontrivial and interesting.     

生态位视域中技术进化的经验研究

技术进化研究领域,基于生态位理论的经验分析,在方法论上给技术哲学的经验转向研究提供了有益的启发。战略生态位管理(SNM)理论是一种结合多学科而建立的典型的技术生态位进化模型,从技术生态位到市场利基及技术政体的微观考察,再到技术-社会地景的宏观分析,SNM理论有别于生物进化类比的经验分析,其独特视野具有实证有效性和简单性的特征。一些隐喻概念和归纳尚不够精确,但其思想方法拓展了技术进化研究的经验分析路径。     

传承性法律词（素）的词义及构词演变

摘要：传承性法律词（素）是法律词汇系统中的基本词汇,有较强的稳固性、能产性和传承性。随着社会的不断变迁,同一传承性法律词（素）在不同的时代,也往往会发生一些变化。或者词形保留,词义也得以保留;或者词形保留,词义发生部分变化;或者仅保留词形,词义完全发生转移。细致分析这批传承性法律词（素）的词形状况及其法律意义之间的历时演变状况,有助于为今后立法技术中法律语言的准确使用以及新法律术语的构词命名提供一些借鉴。     

传承性法律词(素)的词义及构词演变

传承性法律词(素)是法律词汇系统中的基本词汇,有较强的稳固性、能产性和传承性。随着社会的不断变迁,同一传承性法律词(素)在不同的时代,也往往会发生一些变化。或者词形保留,词义也得以保留;或者词形保留,词义发生部分变化;或者仅保留词形,词义完全发生转移。细致分析这批传承性法律词(素)的词形状况及其法律意义之间的历时演变状况,有助于为今后立法技术中法律语言的准确使用以及新法律术语的构词命名提供一些借鉴。     

The Future of Life and What it Means for Humanity

Vidal’s (Found Sci, 2010) and Rottiers’s (Found Sci, 2010) commentaries on my (2010) paper raised a number of important issues about the possible future trajectory of evolution and its implications for humanity. My response emphasizes that despite the inherent uncertainty involved in extrapolating the trajectory of evolution into the far future, the possibilities it reveals nonetheless have significant strategic implications for what we do with our lives here and now, individually and collectively. One important implication is the replacement of postmodern scepticism and relativism with an evolutionary grand narrative that can guide humanity to participate successfully in the future evolution of life in the universe.     

关于新型冠状病毒命名的思考与建议

2019年12月,一种由新型冠状病毒(2019-nCoV)引起的病毒性肺炎开始在武汉暴发流行。2020年2月11日,世界卫生组织(WHO)将新型冠状病毒肺炎命名为COVID-19(冠状病毒病2019),国际病毒分类学委员会(ICTV)的冠状病毒研究小组(CSG)建议把新型冠状病毒命名为SARS-CoV-2(严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2),既没有与疾病名称一致,也没有完全真实地显示该病毒本身的特征,因而立即引发关注和争议。基于COVID-19的病原学、流行病学和临床特征的基本信息,建议将新型冠状病毒命名为“人类冠状病毒2019”(human coronavirus 2019,简称HCoV-19)。文章回顾并评价了CSG的命名方法,指出他们使用基于基因序列信息进行病毒命名的方法并不合适,建议采用传统的联系疾病的病毒命名方法对具有明显疾病特点的病毒如2019-nCoV进行命名。