（RE）BaCuO／Ag Composites： The Role of Silver in Bulk Materials and Joints

We have investigated the phase equilibria in (RE)BaCuO/Ag systems, the influence of Ag on the processing of (RE)BaCuO/Ag composites and the resulting properties. YBaCuO/Ag composites have been grown by the modified melt crystallization process with YBa2Cu3O7, Y2O3, Pt and Ag2O in the precursor. The improved strength of the YBaCuO/Ag composites compared with the conventional YBaCuO bulk material permitted us to magnetize these materials to achieve trapped fields up to 16 T (at 24 K) in the gap of a mini-magnet. The investigation of the microstructure revealed a remarkable increase of the spacing between micro-cracks especially of those perpendicular to a/b-planes when 12wt% Ag was added. In the case of SmBaCuO/Ag composites, Ag has a strong influence on processing and causes interactions between RE123 seeds and the sample. We show the growth of single-grain SmBaCuO/Ag composites in air and discuss the influence of post-annealing on increasing Tc and Jc. Furthermore, YBaCuO/Ag composites have been shown to be appropriate materials used as a solder to join large single grains to large arrays or to “repair” grain boundaries in arrays grown by a multiseeding technique.     

The development and application of silicon Neutron Transmutation Doping （NTD） technology in China

：The research and development history of silicon Neutron Transmutation Doping （NTD） technology and its applications at home and abroad are introduced in this paper. The advantages of NTD, compared with conventional technology of doping, are narrated. The principle of NTD as well as the implementation of the main procedures related to Si NTD is explained. The market demand tendency is prospected, and the advanced measures on NTD quality control are described.     

The Training and Culture Strategies in the CIMS Subject of China 863 Program（1986—2000）

Manpower is a key factor for the success of the CIMS Subject of China 863 Program. Many manpower strategies have been used in the CIMS Subject, which include elite strategies, training and practicing strategies, and culture strategies. This paper is mainly about the training and cul-ture strategies such as to pay attention to the training and the practice of the technical team, and to form a fine CIMS culture.     

The Theoretical Summary and Mathematics Expression on the Regulation of Life in Meridian（Jingluo经络）Science

The meridian（Jingluo经络）is a core principle of traditional Chinese medicine．The meridian plays a central role in the regulation of human health and vitality．In the past５０years,the scientific evidence has been gathered via our physiological experiments to confirm the biological basis of the human meridian pathway phenomenon．Meridian Science has been established as a new branch of natural science to advance and promote the study of this important phenomenon for human life．In this paper,the authors describe the theoretical concept of the meridian and mathematics expression,its relationship to an efficient meridian circadian cycle,and its significance to human life．     

The composition and distribution of metal clusters in the MoFe protein from a nifZ deletion strain （DJ 194） of Azotobacter vinelandii

Through the anaerobic chromatography on the columns of DEAE 52, Q-Sepharose and Sephacryl S-200, a nitrogenase MoFe protein (△nifZ Av1) was obtained from a nifZ deleted mutant of Azotobacter vinelandii (stain DJ194).The results of Western blotting after anoxic native electrophoresis and SDS-PAGE showed that △nifZ Av1 was similar to wild type MoFe protein (OP Av1) at the electrophoretic mobility, molecular weight and subunit composition. Furthermore, △nifZ Avl was also similar to OP Av1 at the molybdenum content, EPR signal (g≈4.3, 3.65 and 2.01), and the molar extinction coefficient (△ε) of circular dichroism (CD)at 660 nm region. All of these indicated that, besides having the same α2β2 composition as OP Av1, the △nifZ Av1 also contained equal amount of reductive FeMoco in the spin state of S=3/2 to OP Av1. However, the iron content and substrate (C2H2, H^ and N2)-reduction activity of △nifZ Av1 were 74% and 46%-50% of those of OP Av1, respectively. Furthermore, the △ε at around 450 nm, which reflects P-cluster in Av1, was obviously lower than that of OP Av1. It suggested that the difference between △nifZ Avl and OP Av1 resulted from P-cluster rather than FeMoco, and from the half number of P-cluster in △nifZ Av1, but the composition or redoxstate of P-cluster in △nifZ Av1 were not changed. Thus it could propose that △nifZ Av1 is composed of two different αβsubunit pairs. One is a FeMoco-and P-cluster-containing pair, and the other is a P-cluster-deficient but FeMoco-containing pair. Since the deletion of nifZ gene leads to the deficiency of only one of two P-clusters in a α2β2 tetramer, the assembly of P-cluster may not simply depend on one gene product, and so a possible mechanism of NifZ is supposed here.     

Cloning and expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">AtPLC6</Emphasis>, a gene encoding a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

A full-length cDNA clone corresponding to a putative phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C(PIPLC) was isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana by screening a cDNA library and using RT-PCR strategy.The cDNA,designated AtPLC6,encodes a putative polypeptide of 578 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 66251.84 D and a pI of 7.24. The sequence analysis indicates that the polypeptide contains X, Y, EF-hand and C2 domains.The overall structure of putative AtPLC6 protein, like other plant PI-PLCs,is most similar to that of mammalian PLCδ The recombinant AtPLC6 protein expressed in E. coil was able to hydrolyze phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biophosphate (PIP2) to generate inositol 1,4,5-trisphate (IP3) and 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG).The protein hydrolyzes PIP2 in a Ca^2 -dependent manner and the optimum concentration of Ca^2 is 10μmol/L.These results suggested that AtPLC6 gene encodes a genuine PIPLC.Northern blot analysis showed that the AtPLC6 gene is expressed at low level in all examined tissues, such as roots,stems,leaves,flowers,siliques and seedlings under normal growth conditions.The gene is strongly induced under low temperature and weakly induced under various stresses,such as ABA, high-salt stress and heat. These results suggested that AtPLC6 might be involved in the signal-transduction pathways of cold responses of the plants.     

Ethylene-induced nitric oxide production and stomatal closure in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis> depending on changes in cytosolic pH

We investigated changes in cytosolic pH and nitric oxide (NO) during ethylene-induced stomatal closure in Arabidopsis thaliana using pharmacological, laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), and spectrophotography techniques. Treatment with ethephon (a direct source of ethylene when applied to plants) and 1-aminocycloaminopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC, an ethylene precursor) resulted in a rapid accumulation of NO and cytosolic alkalinization in guard cells. Acetic acid (a weak acid) and sodium orthovanadate (NaVO3; a plasmalemma H+-ATPase inhibitor) reduced stomatal closure induced by ethylene and blocked ethylene-induced activity of nitrate reductase. However, 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (cPTIO), a NO scavenger, had no effect. These results suggest that NO production is downstream of the rise in cytosolic pH in A. thaliana.     

Characterization of a calmodulin binding protein kinase from<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thalian</Emphasis>

A full-length calmodulin binding protein kinase cDNA ,AtCBK1 ,from Arabidopsis has been isolated by screening of an Arabidopsis cDNA library and by 5′-RACE-Northern blot and in situ hybridization indicated that the expression of AtCBK1 was more abundant in the vascular bundles and the meristems than in other tissues,The phylogenetic analyses revenl that AtCBK1 is different from animal CaMKs and it falls into CRK subgroup,indicating that they may come from different ancestors,The result suggests that AtCBK1 encoldes a CaM-binding serine/threonine protein kinase.     

Characterization of a new mutant allele of the Arabidopsis Flowering Locus D （FLD） gene that controls the flowering time by repressing FLC

Flowering in higher plants is controlled by both the internal and environmental cues. In Arabidopsis, several major genetic loci have been defined as the key switches to control flowering. The Flowering Locus C （FLC） gene has been shown in the autonomous pathway to inhibit the vegetative-to-reproductive transition. FLC appears to be repressed by Flowering Locus D （FLD）, which encodes a component of the histone deacetylase complex. Here we report the identification and characterization of a new mutant allele f/d-5. Genetic analysis indicates that fld-5 （in the Wassilewskija background） is allelic to the previously characterized fld-3 and fld-4 （in the Colombia-0 background）. Genetic and molecular analyses reveal that fld-5 carries a frame-shift mutation, resulting in a premature termination of the FLD open reading frame. The FLC expression is remarkably increased in fld-5, which presumably attributes to the extremely delayed flowering phenotype of the mutant.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cis</Emphasis>-regulatory change and expression divergence between duplicate genes formed by genome duplication of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

As an index of functional divergence, expression divergence between duplicate gene copies has been observed and correlated with protein coding sequence divergence and bias in gene functional classes. However, the changes in the cis-regulatory region of the duplicate genes which is thought to have important role in expression divergence, has not been explored on the genome-wide scale. We analyzed functional genomics data for a large number of duplicated gene pairs formed by ancient polyploidy events in Arabidopsis thaliana. The divergence in cis-regulatory regions between two copies is positively correlated with the magnitude difference of expression. Moreover, we find that highly expressed duplicate gene pairs have a more diverged cis-regulatory region than weakly expressed gene pairs. We also show that the correlation between expression functional constraint and protein functional constraint is different in old and young duplicate pairs. Our results suggest that cis-regulatory sequence divergence contributes to the expression divergence of duplicate genes formed by genome-wide du-plication. Cis-regulatory region diverges faster in highly expressed duplicate pairs. The diversify selection strengths that act on cis-regulatory region and protein coding region are negatively correlated in young duplicate pairs under expression con-straint.     

Fermentation of xylose to produce ethanol by recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> strain containing <Emphasis Type="Italic">XYLA</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">XKS1</Emphasis>

Fermentation of the pentose sugar xylose to produce ethanol using lignocellulosic biomass would make bioethanol production economically more competitive. Saccharomyce cerevisise, an efficient ethanol producer, cannot utilize xylose because it lacks the ability to convert xylose to its isomer xylulose. In this study, XYLA gene encoding xylose isomerase (XI) from Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis MB4T and XKS1 gene encoding xylulokinase (XK) from Pichia stipitis were cloned and functionally coexpressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae EF-326 to construct a recombinant xylose-utilizing strain. The resulting strain S. cerevisiae EF 1014 not only grew on xylose as sole carbon source, but also produced ethanol under anaerobic conditions. Fermentations performed with different xylose concentrations at different temperatures demonstrated that the highest ethanol productivity was 0.11 g/g xylose when xylose concentration was provided at 50 g/L. Under this condition, 28.4% of xylose was consumed and 1.54 g/L xylitol was formed. An increasing fermentation temperature from 30℃ to 37℃ did not improve ethanol yield.     

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated Transformation of CryⅠA(b) gene to Trichoderma harzianum

In this study, Cry ⅠA(b) gene was successfully transferred into the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma harzianum with an efficiency of 60-180 transformants per 10^6 spores by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Putative transformants were analyzed to test the presence of Cry ⅠA(b) gene by Southern blot. Most transformants contained a single T-DNA copy. RT-PCR analysis showed that the Cry ⅠA(b) gene was transcribed. Antifungal activities and insecticidal activities of the transformants were examined. There was no obvious difference in antifungal activities between the transformants and their wild strains. The modified mortalities of the transformants T1 and T2 were 69.57% and 91.30%, respectively. The tranformation system mediated by A. tumefaciens proved to be a powerful tool for the filamentous fungi transformation and functional genomic study with its high transformation frequency, simplicity of T-DNA integration, and genetic stability of transformants.