Successful establishment of Wolbachia in Aedes populations to suppress dengue transmission

Genetic manipulations of insect populations for pest control have been advocated for some time, but there are few cases where manipulated individuals have been released in the field and no cases where they have successfully invaded target populations. Population transformation using the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia is particularly attractive because this maternally-inherited agent provides a powerful mechanism to invade natural populations through cytoplasmic incompatibility. When Wolbachia are introduced into mosquitoes, they interfere with pathogen transmission and influence key life history traits such as lifespan. Here we describe how the wMel Wolbachia infection, introduced into the dengue vector Aedes aegypti from Drosophila melanogaster, successfully invaded two natural A. aegypti populations in Australia, reaching near-fixation in a few months following releases of wMel-infected A. aegypti adults. Models with plausible parameter values indicate that Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes suffered relatively small fitness costs, leading to an unstable equilibrium frequency <30% that must be exceeded for invasion. These findings demonstrate that Wolbachia-based strategies can be deployed as a practical approach to dengue suppression with potential for area-wide implementation.     

Rate-compensated synaptic events in antarctic fish: Consequences of homeoviscous cold-adaptation

Summary At ambient sub-zero temperatures, muscles from antarctic fish produce spontaneous postsynaptic currents (MEPCs) of significantly shorter duration than those of temperate fishes. Fast decay of antarctic MEPCs is a predictable consequence of the increased membrane fluidity attributable to fatty acid unsaturation in cold-adapted animals.We wish to thank the Antarctic Division of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the staff of Scott Base, without whom this work could not have been done. The work was supported financially by grants from the New Zealand University Grants Committee and from the Auckland University Research Committee. We are also grateful to members of the United States Antarctic Research Program, in particular Dr A. L. DeVries, for advice and assistance.     

A physical map of the human genome

The human genome is by far the largest genome to be sequenced, and its size and complexity present many challenges for sequence assembly. The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium constructed a map of the whole genome to enable the selection of clones for sequencing and for the accurate assembly of the genome sequence. Here we report the construction of the whole-genome bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) map and its integration with previous landmark maps and information from mapping efforts focused on specific chromosomal regions. We also describe the integration of sequence data with the map.     

Planetary science: are there active glaciers on Mars?

Head et al. interpret spectacular images from the Mars Express high-resolution stereo camera as evidence of geologically recent rock glaciers in Tharsis and of a piedmont ('hourglass') glacier at the base of a 3-km-high massif east of Hellas. They attribute growth of the low-latitude glaciers to snowfall during periods of increased spin-axis obliquity. The age of the hourglass glacier, considered to be inactive and slowly shrinking beneath a debris cover in the absence of modern snowfall, is estimated to be more than 40 Myr. Although we agree that the maximum glacier extent was climatically controlled, we find evidence in the images to support local augmentation of accumulation from snowfall through a mechanism that does not require climate change on Mars.     

Mutations in an oocyte-derived growth factor gene (BMP15) cause increased ovulation rate and infertility in a dosage-sensitive manner

Multiple ovulations are uncommon in humans, cattle and many breeds of sheep. Pituitary gonadotrophins and as yet unidentified ovarian factors precisely regulate follicular development so that, normally, only one follicle is selected to ovulate. The Inverdale (FecXI) sheep, however, carries a naturally occurring X-linked mutation that causes increased ovulation rate and twin and triplet births in heterozygotes (FecXI/FecX+; ref. 1), but primary ovarian failure in homozygotes (FecXI/FecXI; ref. 2). Germ-cell development, formation of the follicle and the earliest stages of follicular growth are normal in FecXI/FecXI sheep, but follicular development beyond the primary stage is impaired. A second family unrelated to the Inverdale sheep also has the same X-linked phenotype (Hanna, FecXH). Crossing FecXI with FecXH animals produces FecXI/FecXH infertile females phenotypically indistinguishable from FecXI/FecXI females. We report here that the FecXI locus maps to an orthologous chromosomal region syntenic to human Xp11.2-11.4, which contains BMP15, encoding bone morphogenetic protein 15 (also known as growth differentiation factor 9B (GDF9B)). Whereas BMP15 is a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) superfamily and is specifically expressed in oocytes, its function is unknown. We show that independent germline point mutations exist in FecXI and FecXH carriers. These findings establish that BMP15 is essential for female fertility and that natural mutations in an ovary-derived factor can cause both increased ovulation rate and infertility phenotypes in a dosage-sensitive manner.     

WTO背景下中部地区中小企业的人才战略

加入WTO后，我国经济进一步国际化，竞争不单单表现在产品上，更多是表现在人才的争夺上。中小企业要想在激烈的市场竞争中站稳脚跟，关键在于人才的管理。基于此，提出了中部地区中小企业应采取事业留人、待遇留人、感情留人、文化留人和发展战略吸引人的人才战略。     

Genome-wide association study identifies a common variant associated with risk of endometrial cancer

Endometrial cancer is the most common malignancy of the female genital tract in developed countries. To identify genetic variants associated with endometrial cancer risk, we performed a genome-wide association study involving 1,265 individuals with endometrial cancer (cases) from Australia and the UK and 5,190 controls from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. We compared genotype frequencies in cases and controls for 519,655 SNPs. Forty seven SNPs that showed evidence of association with endometrial cancer in stage 1 were genotyped in 3,957 additional cases and 6,886 controls. We identified an endometrial cancer susceptibility locus close to HNF1B at 17q12 (rs4430796, P = 7.1 × 10(-10)) that is also associated with risk of prostate cancer and is inversely associated with risk of type 2 diabetes.     

星座判别分析法及其在天气预报中的应用

本文把星座与Fisher判别分析结合起来,建立了两个数学模型,把多维点聚图投影到复平面上,(?)多元判别分类时很直观,并用于伏旱强度的客观预报,效果较好.     

基于NOAA/AVHRR数据的西部植被覆盖变化监测

应用图像差分技术、生物量变化线性方程斜率和主成分分析方法，对1981—2001年间西部植被的变化状况进行时间序列分析，并讨论了影响变化监测的因素．结果显示，1981—2001年的20年间，四川盆地和西部塔里木盆地周缘的耕地以及具有高NDVI的南方林区的生物量处于较好的持续增加状态；而内蒙古以及西藏东北部的草地出现大面积的退化现象．总体分析来看，西部的林地、草地都发生了高比例、大面积的退化，只有很小比例的植被得以改善，表现出局部改善、总体恶化的局面．