The R- and AR-indices： Complementing the h-index

Based on the foundation laid by the h-index we introduce and study the R- and AR-indices. These new indices eliminate some of the disadvantages of the h-index, especially when they are used in combina-tion with the h-index. The R-index measures the h-core’s citation intensity, while AR goes one step further and takes the age of publications into account. This allows for an index that can actually in-crease and decrease over time. We propose the pair (h, AR) as a meaningful indicator for research evaluation. We further prove a relation characterizing the h-index in the power law model.     

Localization of NOS-like protein in guard cells of Vicia faba L. and its possible function

Using the immuno-fluorescence and immuno-gold electron microscope technology, localization of ni- tric oxide synthase (NOS)-like proteins was determined in guard cells of Vicia faba L. NOS is mainly localized in nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplast, mitochondria and the cell wall of guard cells. Scorch and exogenous JA can enhance the level of nitric oxide (NO) and increase NOS activity in both leaf and epidermis, and the changing pattern of NOS activity was consistent with the change of NO. NOS in- hibitor, L-NAME, inhibited JA-induced NO generation. From the results, we presumed that NO genera- tion from NOS pathway is the main pathway in the stress and JA responses. The pharmacological ex- periment showed that increasing the Ca2 at a suitable concentration promoted leaf NOS activity and the NO level, indicating that NOS activity together with the distribution of NO is Ca2 -dependent. NOS and NO are possibly involved in the regulation of stomatal movement thus playing an important role in plant stress responses.     

Transpositional behaviour of the Ds element in the Ac/Ds system in rice

Insertional mutagenesis based on maize Activator/Dissociator (Ac/Ds) transposons is becoming a ma- jor approach used to produce a saturated mutant collection in rice. In this research, Ds-T-DNA trans- formed homozygotes were crossed with Ac-T-DNA transformed homozygotes in order to establish an Ac/Ds transposon system in rice. The successive investigation of Ds transposition from F1 to F5 gen- erations indicated that the frequencies of germinal transposition increased over successive genera- tions and reached 54.2% in F3 generation. The Ds transposition pattern revealed that a Ds transposition induced an approximately 170-bp deletion of T-DNA sequence and another Ds transposition carried a 272-bp T-DNA sequence. Using thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR (TAIL-PCR), some flanking se- quences of the Ds element were amplified. Analyses of 17 Ds-flanking sequences showed that five Ds were inserted into gene regions. The Ds could transpose not only to the linked sites but also to the unlinked sites. The frequency of inter-chromosomal transposition of Ds was 33.3%.     

Genetic and physical mapping of AvrPi7, a novel avirulence gene of Magnaporthe oryzae using physical position-ready markers

Rice blast, caused by the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most devastating crop diseases worldwide. The avirulence gene corresponding to rice blast resistance gene Pi7 in field isolate CHL346 was inherited as a single gene, designated AvrPi7, in a segregating population consisting of 189 ascospore progenies derived from a cross between field isolates CHL346 and CHL42. In order to determine the chromosomal location of the AvrPi7 locus, a total of 121 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were developed based on the whole-genome sequence of reference isolate 70-15 of M. oryzae. Linkage analysis of the locus with these SSR markers showed that eight SSR markers on chromosome 1 were linked to the locus, among which the closest flanking markers MS1-9 and MS1-15 were 3.2 and 16.4 cM from the locus, respectively. For fine mapping, additional PCR-based makers including eight SSR markers and three candidate avirulence gene (CAG) markers were developed in the region flanking both markers. The AvrPi7 locus was genetically delimited within a 1.6-cM region flanked by markers MS1-21 and MS1-22, and co-segregated with the marker CAG2. To construct a physical map of the AvrPi7 locus, molecular markers linked to the Avr gene were mapped on the supercontigs of the ref-erence isolate 70-15 through bioinformation analysis (BIA). Consequently, the AvrPi7 locus was delim-ited to a 75-kb interval flanked by markers MS1-21 and MS1-22 based on the reference sequence. Merodiploids observed in this study are also discussed.     

Osmotically stress-regulated the expression of glutathione peroxidase 3 in Arabidopsis

Gene expression of glutathione peroxidase 3 (ATGPX3) in response to osmotic stress was analyzed in Arabidopsis using ATGPX3 promoter-glucuronidase (GUS) transgenic plants. High levels of GUS ex- pression were detected under osmotic stress in ATGPX3 promoter-GUS transgenic plants. Compared with the wild type, the growth and development of ATGPX3 mutants (atgpx3-1) were more sensitive to mannitol. In addition, the expression of RD29A, ABI1, ABI2 and RbohD in atgpx3-1 was induced by ABA stress. These results suggest that ATGPX3 might be involved in the signal transduction of osmotic stress.     

dr1127： A novel gene of Deinococcus radiodurans responsible for oxidative stress

The functional analysis of dr1127,a novel gene in Deinococcus radiodurans was performed in this pa-per. The dr1127 gene was found occasionally in our microarray and 2-DE gel experiments. Mutation of the dr1127 gene decreased the γ-radiation and H2O2 resistance of D. radiodurans,and weakened the scavenging abilities of cell extracts for free radicals (superoxide anion,hydrogen peroxide,and hy-droxyl radical). Further oxidative damage assays demonstrated that the purified DR1127 protein of D. radiodurans could bind to double stranded DNA in vitro and protect DNA from oxidative damage in this way. These results suggest that the dr1127 gene is an important gene that can maintain γ-radiation and oxidative resistance in D. radiodurans and may take part in the oxidative stress process.     

Composition dependence of viscosity for Al（1-x）Mgx（0≤x≤0. 10） alloys

Viscosities of molten Al（1-x）Mgx（0≤x≤0. 10 alloys have been measured in the temperature range of 973 K--1173 K by a torsional oscillation cup method. The viscosity dependence on temperature for Al（1-x）Mgx（0≤x≤0. 10 melts obeys Arrhenius equation. The viscosity increases with increasing magnesium concentration in the investigated system. There is an important relationship between viscosity and its glass-forming ability for metallic melt.     

Transfer of a eubacteria-type cell division site-determining factor CrldfnD 8ene to the nucleus from the chloroplast genome in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

MinD is a ubiquitous ATPase that plays a crucial role in selection of the division site in eubacteria, chloroplasts, and probably Archaea. In four green algae, MesosUgma viride, Nephroselmis olivacea, Chlorella vulgaris and Prototheca wickerhamii, MinD homologues are encoded in the plastid genome. However, in Arabidopsis, MinD is a nucleus-encoded, chloroplast-targeted protein involved in chloroplast division, which suggests that MinD has been transferred to the nucleus in higher land plants. Yet the lateral gene transfer （LGT） of MinD from plastid to nucleus during plastid evolution remains poorly understood. Here, we identified a nucleus-encoded MinD homologue from unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a basal species in the green plant lineage. Overexpression of CrMinD in wild type E. coil inhibited cell division and resulted in the filamentous cell formation, clearly demonstrated the conservation of the MinD protein during the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes. The transient expression of CrMinD-egfp confirmed the role of CrMinD protein in the regulation of plastid division. Searching all the published plastid genomic sequences of land plants, no MinD homologues were found, which suggests that the transfer of MinD from plastid to nucleus might have occurred before the evolution of land plants.     

Molecular cloning, expression and biochemical property analysis of AtKP1, a kinesin gene from Arabidopsis thaliana

Kinesins are common in a variety of eukaryotic cells with diverse functions. A cDNA encoding a member of the Kinesin-14B subfamily is obtained using 3＇-RACE technology and named AtKP1 （for Arabidopsis kinesin protein 1）. This cDNA has a maximum open reading frame of 3.3 kb encoding a polypeptide of 1087 aa. Protein domain analysis shows that AtKP1 contains the motor domain and the calponin homology domain in the central and amino-terminal regions, respectively. The carboxyl-terminal region with 202 aa residues is diverse from other known kinesins. Northern blot analysis shows that AtKP1 is widely expressed at a higher level in seedlings than in mature plants. 2808 bp of the AtKP1 promoter region is cloned and fused to GUS. GUS expression driven by the AtKP1 promoter region shows that AtKP1 is mainly expressed in vasculature of young organs and young leaf trichomes, indicating that AtKP1 may participate in the differentiation or development of Arabidopsis thaliana vascular bundles and trichomes. A truncated AtKP1 protein containing the putative motor domain is expressed in E. coil and affinity-purified. In vitro characterizations indicate that the polypeptide has nucleotide-dependent microtubule-binding ability and microtubule-stimulated ATPase activity.     

Acid etching process for fabrication of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8＋x stack

We adopted a new method, acid etching process, to fabricate the intrinsic Josephson junctions based on the Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 x single crystals. By soaking the crystals into the dilute hydrochloric acid, we fabricated a junction stack successfully, and meantime made the surrounding area insulated. A certain concentration of hydrochloric acid was used to maintain the roughness of the modified layer. The cur-rent-voltage characteristic was achieved through the four terminal measurement. We could control the junctions' number by changing the concentration and the soaking time. We also found that the thick-ness of the stack was equal to the average height of the insulation layer. Such a simple, convenient and controllable fabrication method with a high yield might widen the applications of the intrinsic Joseph-son junctions.     

Mutagenesis of Ser24 of Cytochrome b559 α Subunit Affects PSII Acitivies in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

In order to study the functions of cytochrome b559 (Cyt b559) in photosystem two (PSII) activity, mutant S24F of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was constructed using site directed mutagenesis, in which Serine24 (Ser24) locating downstream of Histidine23 (His23) in α subunit of Cyt b559 was replaced by Phenylalanine (Phe). Physiological and biochemical analysis showed that mutant S24F could be grown photoautotrophically or photoheterotrophically. However, their growth rate was slower either on HSM or TAP medium than that of the control; Analysis of PSII activity revealed that its oxygen evolution was about 71% of wild type (WT); The Photochemical efficiency of PSII (Fv/Fm) of S24F was reduced 0.23 compared with WT; S24F was more sensitive to strong light irradiance than the wild type; Furthermore, SDS-PAGE and Western-blotting analysis indicated that the expression levels of α subunit of Cyt b559, LHCII and PsbO of S24F were a little less than those of the wild type. Overall, these data suggests that Ser24 plays a significant role in making Cyt b559 structure maintain PSII complex activity of oxygen evolution although it is not directly bound to heme group.     

B-Valued Dyadic Derivative

The principles of the new maximal operator H＊ we defined are discussed. We prove that it is bounded from martingale Hardy-Lorentz L^Xp.q[0,1） to the Lorentz L^Xp.q[0,1） for 1/2〈 p〈∞, 0〈~ q ≤ ∞, where X is any Banach space. When the Banach space X has the RN property, the sequence dnHnf converges to f a.e. Meanwhile the convergence in L^Xp norm for 1≤p〈∞ is a consequence of that the family functions K （n∈N） is an approximate identity.     

Functional analysis of the sbcD （dr1921 ） gene of the extremely radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans

In eukaryotes, the Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 (MRN) complex, which resides at the crossroads of DNA repair and checkpoint signaling, rapidly forms prominent foci at damage sites following double-strand break (DSB) induction. This complex carries out the initial processing of the DSB ends. Mutations in the genes that encode components of this complex result in DNA-damage hypersensitivity, genomic in- stability, telomere shortening, and aberrant meiosis. Therefore, the MR proteins are highly conserved during evolution. The bacterial orthologs of Mre11 and Rad50 are the SbcD and SbcC proteins, respec- tively. Deinococcus radiodurans, an extremely radioresistant bacterium, is able to mend hundreds of radiation-induced DSBs. The SbcD and SbcC proteins were identified as the products of the Dr1921 and Dr1922 genes. Disruption of the sbcD gene, by direct reverse-orientation insertional mutagenesis tech- nology, remarkably increases the cells’ sensitivity to various types of DNA damaging agents, such as ionizing radiation, ultraviolet irradiation, hydrogen peroxide, and mitomycin C. We also provide evidence that the drSbcD protein plays an important role in both growth and DNA repair in this organ- ism, especially in repair of DSBs generated after cellular exposure to 6000 Gy of IR. These results demonstrate that the drSbcD protein plays an important role in DSBs repair in D. radiodurans.     

On vector quasi-variational inequality problems in<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-space

The purpose to this paper is to study the existence problem of solutions to the vector quasivariational inequality for vector-valued functions inH-space. Foundation item: Supported by the Science Research Foundation of Xianning Teacher’s College (No. K9911) Biography: Mao Jian-feng (1960-), male, Lecturer, research direction: nonlinear functional analysis.     

Separation and Anti-Hantaan Virus Activity of Extracts from Alternanthera philoxcroides in vitro and in vivo

A water-soluble substance was extracted from the Chinese herb, Alternantheraphiloxcroides with hot water and alcohol. Aliquots of this initial extract were further fractionated by treatment with ether, ethyl acetate and alcohol respectively. The four extracts were assayed for anti-viral activity against three serum, Hantaan virus 114 （HV114）, HV435 and A9 strains. Results show that the four extracts are capable of inhibiting Hantaan virus propagation, of which extract No. 1 has the best efficiency. The three dosage of extract No. 1, which are used upon three Hantaan virus serum IC50, are 153, 157, 154 μg/mL. New-born mice were made to be infected with HV114 and then fed in vivo with extract No.l on the 3rd, 10th and 14th days after being infected by the virus. The treatment continued for 8 days with a dosage of 2.5 g/kg. Result shows that survival rates of mice were 75%, 50% and 0, respectively. The median time to death （MTDs） of the three groups were 37, 30, 23 days.