Effect of Nano red elemental selenium on GPx activity of broiler chick kidney cells<Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis>

A new selenium source, Nano red elemental selenium (Nano-Se) was used to study the effect on the GPx activity of broiler chick kidney cells (BCKC)in vitro, Sodium selenite (Na₂SeO₃) and seleno-1-methionine (Se-Met) were used as the controls. The results showed that the effects of three kinds of Se forms on the GPx activity of BCKC were accordant (p>0.05) compared with each other at 0.01. 0.05 and 0.10 μmol/L Se concentrations treatments. In the range of 0.00–0.10 μmol/L Se concentrations, the GPx activity increased with elevation of Se concentrations in medium. For the three kinds of Se forms, the GPx activity reached the climax at 0.10 μmol/L Se concentration. At 0.20 and 0.30 μmol/L Se concentrations, the influnces of three kinds of Se forms were not accordant with one another. For Nano-Se, the GPx activity at 0.20 and 0.30 μmoi/L Se concentrations remained the same as that at 0.10 μmol/L Se concentration treatment. For Se-Met, the GPx activity at 0.20 μmol/L Se concentration treatment remained the same with 0.10 μmol/L treatment; the GPx activity at 0.30 μmol/L Se concentration treatment was declined significantly (p<0.05) compared with 0.10 or 0.20 μmol/L treatment. For Na₂SeO₃, the GPx activity falled gradually with Se concentration increasing from 0.10 μmol/L to 0.30 μmol/L, and at 0.30 μmol/L Se concentration treatment, the GPx activity was less than the original of BCKC. The results implicated, on the GPx activity of BCKCin vitro, the ranking of width range of the most suitable Se concentration for nutrition curve of the three Se formes is Nano-Se>Se-Met>Na₂SeO₃. Foundation item: Supported by the Key Item of the Science and Technology Bureau of Zhejiang Province (021122680) Biography: Xu Bao-hua (1966-), male, Associate professor, Ph. D. research direction: nanobiology and animal nutrition.     

Effect of cadmium and herbicides on the growth,chlorophyll and soluble sugar content in rice seedlings

To investigate the combined effects of Cd^2＋ （ 0,10,100,500 μmol/L） , acetochlor （AC） （0,1.6,4.0,8.0μmol/L）, and bensulfuronmethyl （BSM） （ 0,0.16,0.40,0.80 μmol/L） on the biomass,leaf soluble sugar, total chlorophyll （chl） content, chl a/b ratio, and Cd content in roots and shoots in the rice seedlings, pot culture experiments were conducted with rice （Oryza sativa L. ） cultivar Jinyou 402. The results showed that the Cd and AC combined treatment （Cd＋ AC treatment） significantly inhibited the growth of the roots and shoots. The root dry weight/shoot dry weight （RDW/SDW） ratio, total chlorophyll content and chl a/b ratio decreased by 41%, 50%, 56% , respectively, in comparison with the control, as well as the leaf soluble sugar content, plant dry weight /plant fresh weight （PDW/PFW） ratio increased by 284% and 44% , respectively. Cd content in the roots and shoots had a decreasing tendency with the increasing concentration of AC under the Cd＋AC treatment. The Cd and BSM combined treatment （Cd＋BSM treatment） had a similar result to the Cd＋AC treatment. The results suggest that the toxicity of Cd to rice seedlings has been enhanced due to its combination with herbicides.     

不同浓度锰胁迫对向日葵幼苗叶片生理生化特性的影响

为研究锰胁迫对向日葵幼苗的影响,以向日葵幼苗为实验材料,通过沙培盆栽法研究不同Mn 2+浓度胁迫下向日葵生长和生理生化特性的变化.结果显示:随着Mn2+浓度的增加,向日葵幼苗叶片中丙二醛(MDA)、可溶性糖(SS)以及游离脯氨酸(Pro)的含量都呈现上升趋势;而幼苗叶片叶绿素、蛋白质(Pr)含量则呈现先升高再下降的趋势...     

玉米幼苗对NaCl胁迫的生理响应和耐受阈值分析

以水培华农5号玉米（Zea mays L.var Huanong 5）幼苗为材料,综合分析了NaCl胁迫条件下幼苗的生理反应变化及其不同组织和生理过程的胁迫耐受阈值.结果表明：玉米叶片对NaCl胁迫最为敏感,耐受阈值约为150 mmol/L,且主要影响因素是气孔限制,非气孔限制因素对NaCl耐受性较强.PSⅡ的耐盐阈值在200～300 mmol/L之间.     

Effect of Cl- on photosynthetic bicarbonate uptake in two cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa and Synechocystis PCC6803

Photosynthetic inorganic carbon utilization was investigated in two cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa and Synechocystis PCC6803 grown in standing culture. Photosynthetic rates for the two algae reached about 10 times the theoretical CO₂ supply rate at low dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) of 100 μmol/L, and the rates were unaffected by the addition of 20 mmol/L Na⁺, indicating that the two algae possessed Na+-independent HCO^-₃ utilization for photosynthesis under low DIC. Their photo- synthetic rates at low DIC were inhibited by higher Cl^- and the degrees of inhibition were increased with the rise of CI^- concentration, and in the presence of Diphenylamine-2-carboxylate (DPC), a reported Cl^- channel inhibitor, the rates decreased by 74%－82%, implying that putative DPC-sensitive Cl^- channels participate in Na+-independent HCO₃^- uptake for photosynthesis. The experiment of intracellular 14C-DIC accumulation for photosynthesis showed that internal DIC pools decreased by about 80% with 200 μmol/L DPC and by 64%－70% with 100 mmol/L Cl^-. The experiment of chlorophyll a fluorescence quenching showed that initial rates and extents of fluorescence quenching obviously decreased with 200 μmol/L DPC or 100 mmol/L Cl^-. The two experiments gave further evidence that putative DPC-sen- sitive Cl^- channels participate in Na+-independent HCO^-₃ uptake for photosynthesis in the two algae grown in standing culture.     

Effect of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> concentrations on the activity of photosynthetic CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> fixation and extracelluar carbonic anhydrase in the marine diatom <Emphasis Type="Italic">Skeletonema costatum</Emphasis>

The growth and activity of photosynthetic CO2 uptake and extracellular carbonic anhydrase (CAext) of the marine diatom Skeletonema costatum were investigated while cultured at different levels of CO2 in order to see its physio-logical response to different CO2 concentrations under either a low (30 靘ol·m-2·s-1) or high (210 靘ol·m-2·s-1) irradiance. The changes in CO2 concentrations (4—31 靘ol/L) affected the growth and net photosynthesis to a greater extent under the low than under the high light re-gime. CAext was detected in the cells grown at 4 mol/L CO2 but not at 31 and 12 靘ol/L CO2, with its activity being about 2.5-fold higher at the high than at the low irradiance. Photo- synthetic CO2 affinity (1/ K1/2(CO2)) of the cells de-creased with increased CO2 concentrations in culture. The cells cultured under the high-light show significantly higher photosynthetic CO2 affinity than those grown at the low-light level. It is concluded that the regulations of CAext activity and photosynthetic CO2 affinity are dependent not only on CO2 concentration but also on light availability, and that the de-velopment of higher CAext activity and CO2 affinity under higher light level could sufficiently support the photosyn-thetic demand for CO2 even at low level of CO2.     

Effect of fatty acids on polyamine contents and Na+/H+ antiport activity in PM vesicles isolated from roots of barley under salt stress

With 200 mmol/L NaCl treatment on barley cultivar “Jian 4” (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. J4) seedlings for 6 d, the contents of covalently and noncovalently conjugated polyamines (PAs) and activities of H⁺-ATPase in plasma membrane (PM) vesicles isolated from the roots decreased remarkably. Moreover, the activity of Na⁺/H⁺ antiport was detected first in PM vesicles. The results showed that the decrease in the contents of membrane phospholipid, noncovalently conjugated PAs and activity of H⁺-ATPase caused by NaCl could be restored partially by application of 1 mmol/L stearie acid (C_16:0) and linoleic acid (C_18:2), and C_18:2 was more effective than C_16:0 In addition, a reduction in the contents of covalently conjugated PAs was only reversed partially in the presence of C_18:2 Furthermore, Na⁺/H⁺ antiport activity was strengthened by exogenous C_16:0 and C_18:2 and C_18:2 was more effective than C_16:0. The correlative analysis suggested that, after application of C_16:0 and C_18:2 under salt stress, there was a significant positive correlation existing among phospholipid content, noncovalently conjugated PA levels, H⁺-ATPase activities and Na⁺/H⁺ antiport activities, indicating that one of the mitigative mechanisms of exogenous fatty acids on salt injury was to improve membrane phospholipid and PA contents, leading to an enhance in membrane integrity and a change in charge status of PM vesicles, so the activity of membrane-associated enzyme H⁺-ATPase was increased and synthesis of Na⁺/H⁺ antiport protein was activated.     

Research at channel level on the effect of LaCl3 on Radish (Raphanus satirus L.) vacuolar membrane

We recorded slow vacuolar (SV-type) channel currents of Radish vacuoles successfully for the first time by using the whole-vacuolar patch-clamp recording mode. SV- type currents would increase and threshold potentials of activation would shift towards more negative values with the increase of concentrations of cytosolic Ca²⁺. When 2.5 mmol/ L LaCl₃ and 4 mmol/L EGTA were added to bath solutions, SV-type currents were suppressed remarkably. Then adding LaCl₃ with different concentrations to pipette solutions, we found that LaCl₃ with higher concentrations (＞4 ´ 10^-7 mol/L) had a strong inhibitory effect on SV-type currents, while LaCl₃ with lower concentrations (≤4 ´ 10^-7 mol/L) promoted channel currents. This promoting effect provides an important basis at channel level for researching further the effects of rare earth on physiological activities of plants and the production-increase effects of rare earth fertilizers on crops.     

Determination of some carbonyl carboxylic acids using chemiluminescent reaction of Ru(bipy)3 2+−Ce(IV)

A coupled chemiluminescence method for the determination of some carboxylic acids was developed, based on their enhancement the chemiluminescence light emission of the reaction of tirs (2,2′-bipyridine) ruthenium(II) and Ce(IV) in sulfuric acid medium. The conditions for their determination were optimized. The following detection limits were obtained: oxalic acid, 2.67×10⁻⁸ mol/L; propandioic acid, 1.20×10⁻⁶ mol/L; pyruvic acid, 1.35×10⁻⁸ mol/L; citric acid, 5.10×10⁻⁸ mol/L; barbituric acid, 2.48×10⁻⁷ mol/L. The proposed method was successfully applied to determination of oxalic acid. The coupled chemiluminescent reaction mechanism and rate equation are proposed. Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province Biography: HAN He-you (1962-), male, Associate professor, phD, graduate candidate     

Sequence modification of merB gene and high organomercurial resistance of transgenic tobacco plants

Mercury pollution has caused severe damage to environment and great attention has been paid to its control. Phytoremediation may become one of the most efficient measures to recover the polluted soil since it is economical, highly efficient and friendly to environment. In this report, plant genetic engineering methods were employed to modify the DNA sequence of merB genes that catalyze the conversion of organomercurals into ionic mercury. The modified merBhe genes were introduced into tobacco by Agrobacterium, and the resultant transgenic plants were verified by Southern and Northern hybridization. High level of organomercurial resistance was detected on progenies of transgenic plants, some of which were resistant to PMA (phenyl mercury acetate) of 2.5 μmol/L whereas 0.1 μmol/L PMA killed the seedlings of wild-type tobacco in soiless culrure. With the increase of PMA concentration, the inhibition of the seedling growth became apparent. This result makes it possible to breed mercury-resistant tobacco for phytoremediation of mercury-polluted soil.     

Chemiluminescence determination of thiourea using tris (1,10-phenanthroline)-ruthenium (II) KMnO4 system

The light emission produced by thiourea in oxidation process by permanganate in acidic solution in the presence of Ru(phen) ₂ ^{3 +} is used to determine 1.0×10⁻⁵ −1.0×10⁻⁵ mol/L thiourea. The limit of detection is 9.8×10⁻⁹ mol/L and the relative standard deviation is 1.1% for a 1.0×10⁻⁵ mol/L thiourea solution (n=10). The method was applied satisfactorily to the determination of thiourea. Foundation item, Support by Ministry of Education, Wuhan University and Alumni Association of it Biography: Wu Feng-wu(1963-), Male, Ph. D, research direction: analytical chemistry.     

Degradation of the antibiotic sulfamonomethoxine sodium in aqueous solution by photo-Fenton oxidation

In this study, photo-Fenton oxidation was applied to degradation of sulfamonomethoxine sodium (SMMS) in aqueous solution. The operation parameters of pH, temperature, and concentrations of H2O2, Fe2+ and SMMS were investigated. The optimum conditions for the photo-Fenton process were determined as follows: [SMMS]=4.53 mg/L, pH 4.0, [H2O2]=0.49 mmol/L, [Fe2+]= 19.51 μmol/L and T=25°C. Under these conditions 98.5% of the SMMS degraded. The kinetics were also studied, and degradation of SMMS by the photo-Fenton process could be described by first-order kinetics. The apparent activation energy was calculated as 23.95 kJ/mol. Mineralization of the process was investigated by measuring the chemical oxygen demand (COD), and the COD decreased by 99% after 120 min. This process could be used as a pretreatment method for wastewater containing sulfamonomethoxine sodium.     

Bis(7)-Tacrine, a promising anti-Alzheimer's agent, attenuates glutamate-induced cell injury in primary cultured cerebrocortical neurons of rats

The effects of bis(7)-tacrine, a novel dimeric acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor, on glutamate-induced cell injury were investigated in primary cerebral cortical neurons of rats. Exposure of cultured neurons (12 days after plating) to 0.5 mmol/L glutamate for 30 min resulted in significant cell damage. Pretreatment with bis(7)-tacrine (0.03–1.0 μmol/L) reduced the glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in a concentration dependent manner and the maximal response was seen at 1 μmol/L with approximately, 30% protection. A receptor binding assay showed that bis(7)-tacrine can completely displace MK-801 binding to rat cortical membrane with an IC₅₀ of 0.57 μmol/L. These findings suggest that bis(7)-tacrine can directly interact with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor channel complex, which may contribute to the inhibitor's protective effects against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. Thus, it is possible that anti-glutamate/anti-AChE synergism is responsible for potentially better Alzheimer's therapy of bis(7)-tacrine relative to tacrine. Biography: Zhang Bai-fang (1974-), female, Ph. D. candidate, research direction: Alzheimer's disease and ischemia     

Coral reef ecosystems in the South China Sea as a source of atmospheric CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> in summer

Field measurements of air-sea CO2 exchange in three coral reef areas of the South China Sea (i.e. the Yongshu Reef atoll of the Nansha Islands, southern South China Sea (SCS); Yongxing Island of Xisha Islands, north-central SCS; and Luhuitou Fringing Reef in Sanya of Hainan Island, northern SCS) during the summers of 2008 and 2009 revealed that both air and surface seawater partial pressures of CO2 (pCO2) showed regular diurnal cycles. Minimum values occurred in the evening and maximum values in the morning. Air pCO2 in each of the three study areas showed small diurnal variations, while large diurnal variations were ob-served in seawater pCO2. The diurnal variation amplitude of seawater pCO2 was ~70 μmol mol–1 at the Yongshu Reef lagoon, 420–619 μmol mol–1 on the Yongxing Island reef flat, and 264–579 μmol mol–1 on the reef flat of the Luhuitou Fringing Reef, and 324–492 μmol mol–1 in an adjacent area just outside of this fringing reef. With respect to spatial relations, there were large differences in air-sea CO2 flux across the South China Sea (e.g. ~0.4 mmol CO2 m–2 d–1 at Yongshu Reef, ~4.7 mmol CO2 m–2 d–1 at Yongxing Island, and ~9.8 mmol CO2 m–2 d–1 at Luhuitou Fringing Reef). However, these positive values suggest that coral reef ecosystems of the SCS may be a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere. Additional analyses indicated that diurnal variations of surface seawater pCO2 in the shallow water reef flat are controlled mainly by biological metabolic processes, while those of deeper water lagoons and outer reef areas are regulated by both biological metabolism and hydrodynamic factors. Unlike the open ocean, inorganic metabolism plays a significant role in influencing seawater pCO2 variations in coral reef ecosystems.     

Spectrofluorimetric determination of tetracycline using Eu3+ chelation and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide

The fluorescence of tetracycline was greatly enhanced by chelation with Eu³⁺ in Tris-HCl buffer (pH8.5). The addition of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, a cationic surfactant, further enhanced the fluorescence of tetracycline-Eu³⁺ chelates. This spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of tetracycline yielded a linear responses in the range of 10 nmol/L–10 μmol/L. The detection limit was 5 nmol/L (or 2.22 ng/mL). The recovery of tetracycline spiked in serum at levels of 1 and 0.09 μg/mL was 97.9% and 97.8%, respectively. This method is fast, sensitive and suitable for the determination of tetracycline in biological specimens. Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Biography: Huang Zu-yun (1963-), male, Ph D.     

水杨酸对Na2CO3胁迫玉米萌发的作用

Na2CO3胁迫条件下，外源水杨酸能够提高萌发玉米种子内的淀粉酶、过氧化物酶及超氧化物岐化酶活力，从而提高了玉米发芽的数量、速度和质量。在50mmol/L Na2CO3胁迫条件下，水杨酸对玉米种子萌发的最适作用浓度为1．0mmol/L。     

Cloning and molecular characterization of a gene encoding MAP kinase from maize and its expression in E. coli

A new MAPK gene, ZmSIMK1 （Zea mays L. salt-induced mitogen-activated protein kinase 1）, is isolatod from a maize eDNA library. The full-length ZmSIMK1 gene contains 1636 bp and an open reading frame of 1122 nucleotides capable of eneoding 373 amino acid polypeptides with a predicted molecular mass of 42.3 kda and pI of 6.01. The putative ZmSIMK1 protein contains all 11 conserved subdomains that are characteristics of serine/threonine protein kinases and the TEY motif, which is the putative phosphorylation site. Northern blot analysis shows that ZmSIMK1 is ubiquitously expressed in roots, stems, and leaves of maize seedlings and its mRNA accumulation is observed in maize seedlings treated with 30 mmol/L PEG-6000 and 137 mmol/L NaCl, but the expression of ZmSIMK1 is not significantly affected by 4℃ treatment. The expression vector pET-ZmSIMK1 is constructed by inserting the coding region of ZmSIMK1 eDNA into pET-42a（＋）, and transformed into E. coli strain BL21（DE3）. A 77kda fusion protein is induced by the further culture at 37℃ after addition of 1 mmol/L IPTG.     

Cloning,expression and binding specificity analysis of odorant binding protein 3 of the lucerne plant bug, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Adelphocoris lineolatus</Emphasis> (Goeze)

Credible evidence shows that odorant binding proteins (OBPs) are required for insect olfaction perception and play a key role in transporting hydrophobic odorants across the sensillum lymph to the olfactory receptors (ORs). In the present study, a novel OBP (AlinOBP3) gene from the lucerne plant bug, Adelphocoris lineolatus, was cloned and expressed. The expression pattern of AlinOBP3 was evaluated by qPCR, which indicated that AlinOBP3 was dominantly expressed in antennae. The binding properties of AlinOBP3 with 9 cotton volatiles and 5 sex pheromone analogs were measured by fluorescence competitive binding assays with the fluorescence probe 1-NPN. The results revealed that of 9 cotton volatiles, Myrcene, β-Ocimene and α-Phellandrene can bind with AlinOBP3. α-Phellandrene especially bound to AlinOBP3 with a high binding affinity, with a dissociation constant of 56.68 μmol/L. Of the 5 sex pheromone analogs, Hexyl butyrate had the strongest binding affinity with AlinOBP3, with a dissociation constant as 59.53 μmol/L. Butyl butyrate, trans-2-Hexenyl butyrate and Ethyl butyrate had medium binding affinities with AlinOBP3, with dissociation constants of 227.39, 108.77 and 143.47 μmol/L, respectively. The results suggest that AlinOBP3 might be a pheromone binding protein (PBP) with a dual-function for the perception of sex pheromones and plant volatiles.     

Synergistic effect of trace elements and flavonoids from Epimedium koreanum Nakai on primary osteoblasts

Several trace elements, particularly, manganese （Mn） and zinc （Zn）, are essential in bone metabolism as cofactors for specific enzymes. It has been reported that there exists the relationship between osteoporosis and trace element-deficiency and the efficacy of Ca, Mn and Zn supplementation on spinal bone mineral density in postmenopausal women. Traditional Chinese medicines （TCM）, such as Herba epimedii, were proved to be effective for prevention of osteoprosis in vivo; however, the efficacy of the main constituents and/or crude extract was not ideal in vitro, which suggested that they may work in another way. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the combination of icariin and total flavonoids （TF） from Herba epimedii with mineral elements, which were abundant in Herba epimedii, would have a more beneficial effect on the viability and differentiation of primary osteoblasts than either agent alone, and to analyze the dada for a possible synergistic, additive or antagonistic effect. The combinations of 10 μmol/L Zn, Ca and Mn with icariin and total flavonoids greatly improved the cell viability and meanwhile dramatically enhanced the alkaline phosphatase activity as compared to each agent alone. On the other hand, an increased cell growth inhibition was also observed by combining 0.1 μmol/L, 1 pmol/L Zn with 10μmol/L icariin, and 10 μmol/L Mn with 0.06 μg/mL total flavonoids. Meanwhile a decreased alkaline phosphatase activity was also found in several icariin-Zn/Mn and total flavonoids-Zn/Ca/Mn combinations. These results suggested that mineral elements （Zn, Ca, Mn） greatly enhanced the efficacy of icariin and total flavonoids from Herba epimedii on the viability and differentiation of primary osteoblasts by certain combinations.