Directionally selective calcium signals in dendrites of starburst amacrine cells

The detection of image motion is fundamental to vision. In many species, unique classes of retinal ganglion cells selectively respond to visual stimuli that move in specific directions. It is not known which retinal cell first performs the neural computations that give rise to directional selectivity in the ganglion cell. A prominent candidate has been an interneuron called the 'starburst amacrine cell'. Using two-photon optical recordings of intracellular calcium concentration, here we find that individual dendritic branches of starburst cells act as independent computation modules. Dendritic calcium signals, but not somatic membrane voltage, are directionally selective for stimuli that move centrifugally from the cell soma. This demonstrates that direction selectivity is computed locally in dendritic branches at a stage before ganglion cells.     

Cell-to-cell spread of calcium signals mediated by ATP receptors in mast cells.

Rat basophilic leukaemia cells, like mast cells from which they are derived, have surface Fc epsilon receptors that trigger secretion of inflammatory mediators when crosslinked. Both GTP-binding proteins and a rise in cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) are implicated in the secretory mechanism. Here we use a video-imaging technique to report that transient rises in [Ca2+]i initiated in an individual cell can spread from cell to cell in a wave-like pattern by means of a secreted intermediate, in the absence of gap-junctional communication. We find that the leukaemia cells, peritoneal mast cells and mucosal mast cells have cell-surface P2-type purinergic receptors that can trigger similar [Ca2+]i transients. We provide evidence that ATP is rapidly released, and that it can amplify [Ca2+]i signals and initial secretory responses during antigen-stimulation of rat basophilic leukaemia cells.     

钙离子信号及细胞调控信号网络动力学

钙离子(Ca²⁺)是细胞内广泛存在的一种重要的第二信使,参与并控制着几乎所有的生命活动过程.细胞信号分子网络对细胞正常和病理生理活动过程进行着精密调控,确保细胞各项生理功能有序地进行.本文综述了近些年本课题组关于细胞内钙信号及细胞信号网络动力学模型方面的研究进展,包括集团化钙离子通道释放局域钙信号、细胞全局钙波信号、内质网和线粒体钙微域调控钙信号和钙信号调控细胞凋亡信号网络动力学,以及细胞信号调控网络动力学等.这些理论工作为研究钙信号和蛋白质信号网络调控细胞复杂生命过程的动力学机制提供了方向和思路.     

非合作直扩信号伪码及信息序列联合盲估计

研究了短码直接序列扩频信号扩频序列及信息序列联合盲估计问题。在已知码片速率和扩频码周期的前提下,对接收信号以2倍伪码周期进行分段构造信号矩阵,然后对其进行奇异值分解,对最大和次大左奇异向量进行线性变换,得到信息序列;利用自相关函数从最大和次大右奇异向量中得到扩频码序列。该算法在失步时间未知的情况下能够同时估计出伪码序列及信息码序列,避免了传统特征值分解盲估计算法利用2个矢量空间组合扩频序列时存在的相位模糊问题。同时,在引入了矩阵的线性变换后,避免了不同时延估计结果存在模糊的问题,提高了盲估计性能。通过理论分析和计算机仿真结果表明：该算法能够有效估计扩频序列,并且具有精确度高、性能不受时延大小影响等优点。     

Splicing signals in the human hemoglobin genes at the sequence and folding levels

Identification of the splice sites is a critical and tough issue in eukaryotic genome annotation. Here, a statistical study is introduced for detecting the splicing signals in the human hemoglobin (Hb) pre-mRNAs by using the approaches of regional pairwise alignment, splicing weight matrix scoring, and dynamic extended folding. First, the regional pairwise alignment results show that the coding regions of the human Hb genes are at a high level for both conservation and fluctuation. Second, the weighted matrix scoring results indicate that, although the authentic splicing motifs are always scored the highest in a sequence, the sequence motif alone is inadequate to precisely define the splice sites. Finally, we deduce the RNA frame structures by applying an extended folding approach to analyze the stable folding elements. We find out that the splice sequences tend to take stretching and partially paired conformations, which benefit recognition and competitive binding of the splicing factors. These results indicate that precise splicing is an integrated effect of multiple mechanisms of signal recognition at the level of sequence and structure.     

A new method for splice site prediction based on the sequence patterns of splicing signals and regulatory elements

It is of significance for splice site prediction to develop novel algorithms that combine the sequence patterns of regulatory elements such as enhancers and silencers with the patterns of splicing signals. In this paper, a statistical model of splicing signals was built based on the entropy density profile （EDP） method, weight array method （WAM） and K test; moreover, the model of splicing regulatory elements was developed by an unsupervised self-learning method to detect motifs associated with regulatory elements. With two models incorporated, a multi-level support vector machine （SVM） system was devised to perform ab initio prediction for splice sites originating from DNA sequence in eukaryotic genome. Results of large scale tests on human genomic splice sites show that the new method achieves a comparative high performance in splice site prediction. The method is demonstrated to be with at least the same level of performance and usually better performance than the existing SpliceScan method based on modeling regulatory elements, and shown to have higher accuracies than the traditional methods with modeling splicing signals such as the GeneSplicer. In particular, the method has evident advantage over splice site prediction for the genes with lower GC content.     

A novel type of cardiac calcium channel in ventricular cells

Calcium influx is vital for several aspects of cardiac activity, so it is important to ask if heart cells possess a single or multiple types of Ca channel. Only one Ca channel type has been identified in patch-clamp studies of unitary current, despite suggestions to the contrary from whole-cell recordings in heart cells and unitary recordings from other cells. Here we describe a novel type of cardiac Ca channel with several properties that distinguish it from the hitherto-identified Ca channel in heart cells. Its conductance in isotonic Ba is small (8 pS), and is no larger in Ba than in Ca. It activates and inactivates at relatively negative potentials and remains functional long after patch excision. It is insensitive to dihydropyridines such as nimodipine and the Ca agonist Bay K 8644, and is more resistant to block by external Cd than the previously described type of cardiac Ca channel.     

糖汁pH值对清汁钙盐含量的影响机理研究

探讨了糖汁清净的加灰pH值与清汁钙盐含量关系的机理，分别导出了pH值对溶液中碳酸钙、亚硫酸钙、磷酸氢钙含量影响的理论方程和相应的糖汁实验数据回归方程，即钙盐含量与其溶液的pH值呈二次函数关系，并讨论了这些方程对生产操作的重要意义。     

A lethal mutation in mice eliminates the slow calcium current in skeletal muscle cells

Contraction of a vertebrate skeletal muscle fibre is triggered by electrical depolarization of sarcolemmal infoldings termed transverse-tubules (t-tubules), which in turn causes the release of calcium from an internal store, the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). The mechanism that links t-tubular depolarization to SR calcium release remains poorly understood. In principle, this link might be provided by the prominent slow calcium current that has been described in skeletal muscle cells of adult frogs and rats. However, blocking this current does not abolish the depolarization-induced contractile responses of frog muscle, and the function of this slow calcium current is unknown. Here we describe measurements of calcium currents in developing skeletal muscle cells of normal rats and mice, and of mice with muscular dysgenesis, a mutation that causes excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling to fail. We find that a slow calcium current is present in skeletal muscle cells of normal animals but absent from skeletal muscle cells of mutant animals. The effect of the mutation is specific to the slow calcium current of skeletal muscle; a fast calcium current is present in developing skeletal muscle cells of both normal and mutant animals, and slow calcium currents are present in cardiac and sensory neurones of mutant animals. We believe this to be the first report of a mutation affecting calcium currents in a multicellular organism. The effects of the mutation raise important questions about the relationship between the slow calcium current and skeletal muscle E-C coupling.     

A common somitic origin for embryonic muscle progenitors and satellite cells

In the embryo and in the adult, skeletal muscle growth is dependent on the proliferation and the differentiation of muscle progenitors present within muscle masses. Despite the importance of these progenitors, their embryonic origin is unclear. Here we use electroporation of green fluorescent protein in chick somites, video confocal microscopy analysis of cell movements, and quail-chick grafting experiments to show that the dorsal compartment of the somite, the dermomyotome, is the origin of a population of muscle progenitors that contribute to the growth of trunk muscles during embryonic and fetal life. Furthermore, long-term lineage analyses indicate that satellite cells, which are known progenitors of adult skeletal muscles, derive from the same dermomyotome cell population. We conclude that embryonic muscle progenitors and satellite cells share a common origin that can be traced back to the dermomyotome.     

Notch signals control the fate of immature progenitor cells in the intestine

The Notch signalling pathway plays a crucial role in specifying cellular fates in metazoan development by regulating communication between adjacent cells. Correlative studies suggested an involvement of Notch in intestinal development. Here, by modulating Notch activity in the mouse intestine, we directly implicate Notch signals in intestinal cell lineage specification. We also show that Notch activation is capable of amplifying the intestinal progenitor pool while inhibiting cell differentiation. We conclude that Notch activity is required for the maintenance of proliferating crypt cells in the intestinal epithelium.     

BOC调制长码扩频信号的组合码盲估计*

针对BOC长码扩频信号的盲估计问题,本文提出了一种酉矩阵变换方法对组合码(扩频序列和副载波序列的组合)进行估计。该方法可以消除矩阵与信号子空间的相位模糊关系,首先将将信息序列与组合码序列的长码直扩模型建模于虚拟多用户模型,然后计算信号的自相关矩阵,并通过搜索该矩阵Frobenius范数最大值的位置来确定接收信号的失步点,然后将接收信号连续采样,按组合码周期将信号分段,对各个分段进行自相关运算,对得到的自相关矩阵进行累加平均后,进行矩阵分解,最后利用酉矩阵变换方法确定信号子空间与特征向量的关系,得到出各个信息位对应的组合码部分,对各个部分的组合码进行结合可以得出完整的组合码序列。仿真分析表明,该方法能够在较低的信噪比下达到较精确的估计性能。     

Sodium and calcium action potential in pituitary cells

Several endocrine cells or their neoplastic derivatives generate action potentials similar to those seen in neurones, and in the adrenal chromaffin cell such regenerative potentials depend primarily on a sodium mechanism. Kidokoro has described action potentials in the GH3 rat pituitary cell line which seem to depend on a calcium mechanism. We have re-investigated the action potential in GH3 cells and found that it results from combined Na and Ca mechanisms in physiological conditions. In addition, we have recorded similar electrical excitability from two human pituitary tumours grown in vitro.     

Identification of selenocysteine insertion sequence (SECIS) element in eukaryotic selenoproteins by RNA Draw program

The computer program RNA Draw was used to identify the secondary structures in the 3′ untranslated regions (3′UTRs) of the mRNAs from 46 eukaryotic selenoproteins among 7 species. The program found one or two possible SECIS elements in these selenoproteins. The SECIS element consists of a stem-loop or hairpin structure with three conserved sequences of AUGA-(A)AA-GA. SECIS element was not found by the RNA Draw program in randomly selected non-selenoproteins. The results showed that SECIS element is the unique character of the genes of eukaryotic selenoproteins. Thus it is possible to use RNA Draw to search the SECIS elements in gene bank for potential new selenoproteins.