A genetic pathway for the specification of the vulval cell lineages of Caenorhabditis elegans

Twenty-three genes have been assigned to particular steps in a genetic pathway for the specification of the vulval cell lineages of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Mutations in most of these genes cause homoeotic transformations in the fates of individual cells, suggesting that these lineages may be specified by a series of decisions that distinguish between alternative cell fates. Fifteen of the genes function in a system involved in the intracellular response to the extracellular signal that induces vulval formation.     

A mutation that changes cell movement and cell fate in the zebrafish embryo

The study of developmental patterning has been facilitated by the availability of mutations that produce changes in cell fate, in animals such as Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. We now describe a zygotic lethal mutation in the zebrafish, Brachydanio rerio, that also changes how particular embryonic cells develop. Severe pattern deficiencies are observed that are restricted to a single body region, the trunk. The mutation may directly affect mesoderm, as somites do not form in the trunk. Head and tail structures, including tail somites, are relatively undisturbed. The earliest detected expression of the mutation is during gastrulation, when movements of mesodermal cells occur incorrectly. We injected prospective trunk mesodermal cells with lineage tracer dye and observed that in mutants these cells may enter a new body region, the tail, and there may express a new fate appropriate for the changed position.     

The Ter mutation in the dead end gene causes germ cell loss and testicular germ cell tumours

In mice, the Ter mutation causes primordial germ cell (PGC) loss in all genetic backgrounds. Ter is also a potent modifier of spontaneous testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) susceptibility in the 129 family of inbred strains, and markedly increases TGCT incidence in 129-Ter/Ter males. In 129-Ter/Ter mice, some of the remaining PGCs transform into undifferentiated pluripotent embryonal carcinoma cells, and after birth differentiate into various cells and tissues that compose TGCTs. Here, we report the positional cloning of Ter, revealing a point mutation that introduces a termination codon in the mouse orthologue (Dnd1) of the zebrafish dead end (dnd) gene. PGC deficiency is corrected both with bacterial artificial chromosomes that contain Dnd1 and with a Dnd1-encoding transgene. Dnd1 is expressed in fetal gonads during the critical period when TGCTs originate. DND1 has an RNA recognition motif and is most similar to the apobec complementation factor, a component of the cytidine to uridine RNA-editing complex. These results suggest that Ter may adversely affect essential aspects of RNA biology during PGC development. DND1 is the first protein known to have an RNA recognition motif directly implicated as a heritable cause of spontaneous tumorigenesis. TGCT development in the 129-Ter mouse strain models paediatric TGCT in humans. This work will have important implications for our understanding of the genetic control of TGCT pathogenesis and PGC biology.     

Requirement for mast cell growth factor for primordial germ cell survival in culture.

Mast-cell growth factor (MGF) is encoded by the murine steel (Sl) locus and is a ligand for the tyrosine kinase receptor protein encoded by the proto-oncogene c-kit at the murine dominant white spotting (W) locus. Mutations at both these loci affect mast cells, primordial germ cells (PGCs), haemopoietic stem cells and melanocytes. In many Sl and W mutants, the rapid proliferation of PGC that normally occurs between day 7 and 13.5 of embryonic development fails to occur. As c-kit is expressed in PGCs while MGF is expressed in the surrounding mesenchyme, MGF might promote the proliferation of PGCs. Here we report that MGF is essential for PGC survival in culture, but does not stimulate PGC proliferation. Moreover, whereas both the transmembrane and soluble proteolytic cleavage forms of MGF stimulate mast-cell proliferation, soluble MGF has a relatively limited ability to support survival of PGCs in culture, thus explaining the sterility in mice carrying the steel-dickie (Sld) mutation, which encodes only a soluble form of MGF, and providing a functional role for a transmembrane growth factor.     

小鼠睾丸发育全过程中生精细胞的自发性凋亡

 以17组出生后不同发育阶段的昆明种正常小鼠睾丸组织为材料,采用TDT原位末端标记法在其石蜡组织切片上进行凋亡细胞原位检测,探讨小鼠睾丸发育全过程中生精细胞的自发性凋亡规律.结果发现:小鼠生精细胞从生后开始就存在自发性凋亡现象,生后1~15 d,凋亡精原细胞数目不断增加;至生后第15天时达到峰值,且15 d起个别初级精母细胞也开始出现凋亡;至27 d时,极少数次级精母细胞和精子细胞出现凋亡;至30 d时凋亡细胞基本为精原细胞;而33 d时各类型生精细胞均存在凋亡现象;至36 d时凋亡细胞又重新集中于精原细胞,并延续于此后各期.上述结果表明:小鼠睾丸发育过程中凋亡细胞主要为精原细胞;自发性凋亡活跃期发生于生后1~33 d,与生精细胞的首次发育成熟过程同步.     

含分布式发电的输电扩展规划

分布式发电是增加输电扩展规划灵活性的有效措施。提出了一种新的输电扩展规划方法,考虑了分布式发电带来的这种投资灵活性,评估了输电扩展投资过程的实物期权价值。对于不可逆的大型输电投资项目,通过算例说明了不同的投资选择所带来的灵活性而产生的这种实物期权经济价值。     

A positive-feedback-based bistable 'memory module' that governs a cell fate decision

The maturation of Xenopus oocytes can be thought of as a process of cell fate induction, with the immature oocyte representing the default fate and the mature oocyte representing the induced fate. Crucial mediators of Xenopus oocyte maturation, including the p42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and the cell-division cycle protein kinase Cdc2, are known to be organized into positive feedback loops. In principle, such positive feedback loops could produce an actively maintained 'memory' of a transient inductive stimulus and could explain the irreversibility of maturation. Here we show that the p42 MAPK and Cdc2 system normally generates an irreversible biochemical response from a transient stimulus, but the response becomes transient when positive feedback is blocked. Our results explain how a group of intrinsically reversible signal transducers can generate an irreversible response at a systems level, and show how a cell fate can be maintained by a self-sustaining pattern of protein kinase activation.     

Ovulated oocytes in adult mice derive from non-circulating germ cells

Decades of research in reproductive biology have led to the generally accepted belief that in female mammals, all surviving germ cells enter meiosis at the end of fetal development and as a result, the postnatal ovary harbours a limited supply of oocytes that cannot be replenished or regenerated if lost to injury or disease. However, recent reports have challenged this view, suggesting instead that oocyte production is maintained through continual seeding of the ovary by circulating, bone-marrow-derived germ cells. To test directly the physiological relevance of circulating cells for female fertility, we established transplantation and parabiotic mouse models to assess the capacity of circulating bone marrow cells to generate ovulated oocytes, both in the steady state and after induced damage. Our studies showed no evidence that bone marrow cells, or any other normally circulating cells, contribute to the formation of mature, ovulated oocytes. Instead, cells that travelled to the ovary through the bloodstream exhibited properties characteristic of committed blood leukocytes.     

Frizzled regulation of Notch signalling polarizes cell fate in the Drosophila eye

The Drosophila eye, a paradigm for epithelial organization, is highly polarized with mirror-image symmetry about the equator. The R3 and R4 photoreceptors in each ommatidium are vital in this polarity; they adopt asymmetrical positions in adult ommatidia and are the site of action for several essential genes. Two such genes are frizzled (fz) and dishevelled (dsh), the products of which are components of a signalling pathway required in R3, and which are thought to be activated by a diffusible signal. Here we show that the transmembrane receptor Notch is required downstream of dsh in R3/R4 for them to adopt distinct fates. By using an enhancer for the Notch target gene Enhancer of split mdelta, we show that Notch becomes activated specifically in R4. We propose that Fz/Dsh promotes activity of the Notch ligand Delta and inhibits Notch receptor activity in R3, creating a difference in Notch signalling capacity between R3 and R4. Subsequent feedback in the Notch pathway ensures that this difference becomes amplified. This interplay between Fz/Dsh and Notch indicates that polarity is established through local comparisons between two cells and explains how a signal from one position (for example, the equator in the eye) could be interpreted by all ommatidia in the field.     

Multiple modes of engrailed regulation in the progression towards cell fate determination

The engrailed gene product of Drosophila specifies the fate of a subset of cells in each segment. Our studies of engrailed regulation suggest that fate determination is an elaborate, multistep process. At the time in embryogenesis when the engrailed-dependent cell fate is probably determined, four modes of control act in an overlapping progression to govern engrailed expression. After activation by pair-rule genes, both an extracellular signal, wingless, and autoregulation are required for engrailed expression. Autoregulation graduates to wingless independence, but is transient, and is superseded by an engrailed-independent mode of maintenance.     

一种新的布尔规格测试用例生成算法

为提高布尔规格测试用例生成的效率,对常用的循环赋值方法进行了改进,将检测条件转换为类似合取范式(CNF)的表达式并对各子表达式进行了循环赋值.针对布尔表达式中文字否定错误(LNF)及文字引用错误(LRF)等2种类型的变异,该方法从语法树中发生变异的叶结点处进行回溯,将检测条件分解成子表达式,并分别对各子表达式进行循环从而生成其可满足赋值,最后将上述赋值组合形成测试用例.实验数据显示:该方法有效地减少了测试用例生成时所需的循环赋值次数,且测试用例生成时间的缩减与循环次数的减少呈近似线性关系;相对LNF,该方法对LRF时间的缩减更为明显.研究表明检测条件的分解循环能有效降低总循环次数,从而提高了测试用例的生成效率.     

Induction of germ cell formation by oskar.

The oskar gene directs germ plasm assembly and controls the number of germ cell precursors formed at the posterior pole of the Drosophila embryo. Mislocalization of oskar RNA to the anterior pole leads to induction of germ cells at the anterior. Of the eight genes necessary for germ cell formation at the posterior, only three, oskar, vasa and tudor, are essential at an ectopic site.     

电子书包终端技术规范设计研究

随着信息技术的发展,电子书包已然成为数字化教育的一个热门应用研究领域.本文通过概念演变、关注度转变及教育应用发展三个层面重识电子书包,并聚焦于电子书包标准化工作之一——电子书包终端技术规范的设计.在调研国内外建设现状基础之上,关注用户使用习惯、教育应用安全、终端可靠性、普适设计等问题,从终端硬件、操作系统和标配教学功能三方面构建电子书包终端技术规范.最后,分别从生产厂商、电子书包相关产业和教育变革三个角度展望电子书包终端技术规范的建设意义.