A mouse gene related to Distal-less shows a restricted expression in the developing forebrain.

Many genes known to be involved in embryogenesis and morphogenesis of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster encode proteins with a highly conserved region of 60 amino acids called the homeodomain. Mammalian counterparts for most of these genes have been identified, including those homologous to the Drosophila homeotic genes or to genes such as evenskipped, engrailed or caudal. We have isolated a murine homeobox gene that encodes a homeodomain similar to that encoded by the Drosophila Distalless (Dll) gene. Dll has a crucial role in Drosophila limb morphogenesis, partially specifying pattern along the proximo-distal axis of the limb. The murine counterpart is expressed in a restricted region of the developing brain, within the diencephalon and the adjacent telencephalic regions.     

The cost of inbreeding in Arabidopsis

Population geneticists have long sought to estimate the distribution of selection intensities among genes of diverse function across the genome. Only recently have DNA sequencing and analytical techniques converged to make this possible. Important advances have come from comparing genetic variation within species (polymorphism) with fixed differences between species (divergence). These approaches have been used to examine individual genes for evidence of selection. Here we use the fact that the time since species divergence allows combination of data across genes. In a comparison of amino-acid replacements among species of the mustard weed Arabidopsis with those among species of the fruitfly Drosophila, we find evidence for predominantly beneficial gene substitutions in Drosophila but predominantly detrimental substitutions in Arabidopsis. We attribute this difference to the Arabidopsis mating system of partial self-fertilization, which corroborates a prediction of population genetics theory that species with a high frequency of inbreeding are less efficient in eliminating deleterious mutations owing to their reduced effective population size.     

用于果蝇唾腺染色体实验材料的培养方法

果蝇唾腺染色体观察是遗传学实验教学中的一个主要项目，培养适宜的果蝇用于其染色体观察对实验成败十分关键。文章从培养基的组成与制备，培养条件与培养过程，培养的果蝇唾腺染色体的特点等方面，对用于唾腺染色体观察的果蝇的培养作了详细介绍，以期促进果蝇唾腺染色体观察的实验教学。     

家蚕非编码RNA Bm-152功能初探

Bm-152是前期研究中发现的一个在家蚕丝腺中高表达的非编码RNA.采用实时荧光定量PCR技术对Bm-152在家蚕5龄到预蛹期不同发育天数丝腺中的表达谱进行检测.同时,在个体中过表达Bm-152,检测Bm-152可能参与的信号通路.结果显示,Bm-152在家蚕5龄幼虫丝腺发育过程中无明显的变化规律,但在吐丝第1天表达量较高,随后表达量又下降.通过在血淋巴中注射2μg piggyBac[A3-EGFP-A3-Bm-152]过表达载体,48h后发现Bm-152在丝腺组织中无明显过表达,但在非丝腺组织中可实现明显过表达,且表达量上调1.66倍;蜕皮激素信号通路基因Usp在非丝腺组织中上调1.95倍,E75A在非丝腺组织中上调2.26倍,保幼激素信号通路基因Met在非丝腺组织中上调1.79倍.表明非编码RNA Bm-152可能通过蜕皮激素和保幼激素信号通路参与家蚕发育,该结果为进一步探索Bm-152的功能提供了方向.     

Cu（Ⅱ） effect on the conformation of regenerated silk fibroin in dilute aqueous solution

Much attention has been paid to the natural mechanism of silkworm spinning due to the impressive mechanical properties of the natural fibers. In this work, we studied the effect of Cu（Ⅱ） ions on the secondary structure of Bombyx mori regenerated silk fibroin （SF） in dilute solution by circular dichroism （CD）. The results indicate that a given amount of Cu（Ⅱ） induces the SF conformational transition from random coil to β-sheet, however, further addition of Cu（Ⅱ） is unfavorable for this conversion. Meanwhile, the conformational changes induced by Cu（Ⅱ） follow a nucleation-dependent aggregation mechanism, which is similar to that found in Prion protein （PrP） denaturation and Aβ-peptide aggregations, leading to the neurodegenerative disease. This work would help one understand further the natural spinning process of silkworm. Additionally, it would be significant for the study of the nervous system diseases, because silk fibroin, extracted in large amounts from Bombyx mori silkworm gland, could be a proper model to study PrP denaturation and Aβ-peptide aggregations.     

Isolation of the dorsal locus of Drosophila

The establishment of embryonic polarity is a crucial step in pattern formation and morphogenesis. In the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, embryonic polarity depends primarily on genes expressed in the female during oogenesis. Mutations in these 'maternal effect' genes can lead to major disruptions in normal pattern formation. Two classes of maternal genes essential for the establishment of polarity in the embryo have been identified. Lesions in one class, the 'bicaudal' genes, disrupt the anterior-posterior axis; lesions in the other class disrupt dorsal-ventral polarity, and in the most extreme cases embryos fail to form any ventral or lateral structures. Genetic studies suggest that the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes may be independent as the defects observed in mutants from each class seem to be restricted to one axis only. The dorsal (dl) locus is one of the maternal effect genes involved in the establishment of dorsal-ventral polarity. Homozygous dl females produce embryos exhibiting the mutant phenotype--complete lack of dorsal-ventral polarity in the strongest alleles--irrespective of the genotype of the father. Although dl is a maternal effect locus and must be expressed during oogenesis, the gene product, or a substance depending on the normal function of the dl gene, seems to be active early in embryogenesis, as the dl phenotype can be partially rescued by injection of cytoplasm from wild-type cleavage-stage embryos. Here we report the molecular cloning of the dorsal locus and a study of its expression.     

Pigmentation and mate choice in Drosophila

Many species of the fruitfly Drosophila are either sexually dimorphic for abdominal pigmentation (the posterior segments in males are black and those of females have thin dark stripes) or sexually monomorphic for this pigmentation (both sexes show striping). Kopp et al. report a correlation in two Drosophila clades between the expression of the bric-à-brac (bab) gene, which represses male-specific pigmentation in D. melanogaster females, and the presence of sexually dimorphic pigmentation. They suggest that sexual selection acted to produce sexual dichromatism in Drosophila by altering the regulation of bab, on the grounds that D. melanogaster males show a strong mate preference for females with lightly pigmented abdomens, and that this discrimination helps to maintain sexual dichromatism by preventing males from wasting time by courting other (darkly pigmented) males. Here we show that the mate discrimination observed by Kopp et al. may in fact have resulted from the nature of the strains and comparisons they used in their study and so could be irrelevant to mate choice in nature.     

Surprising strength of silkworm silk

Commercial silkworm silk is presumed to be much weaker and less extensible than spider dragline silk, which has been hailed as a 'super-fibre'. But we show here that the mechanical properties of silkworm silks can approach those of spider dragline silk when reeled under controlled conditions. We suggest that silkworms might be able to produce threads that compare well with spider silk by changing their spinning habits, rather than by having their silk genes altered.     

Butterfly genome reveals promiscuous exchange of mimicry adaptations among species

The evolutionary importance of hybridization and introgression has long been debated. Hybrids are usually rare and unfit, but even infrequent hybridization can aid adaptation by transferring beneficial traits between species. Here we use genomic tools to investigate introgression in Heliconius, a rapidly radiating genus of neotropical butterflies widely used in studies of ecology, behaviour, mimicry and speciation. We sequenced the genome of Heliconius melpomene and compared it with other taxa to investigate chromosomal evolution in Lepidoptera and gene flow among multiple Heliconius species and races. Among 12,669 predicted genes, biologically important expansions of families of chemosensory and Hox genes are particularly noteworthy. Chromosomal organization has remained broadly conserved since the Cretaceous period, when butterflies split from the Bombyx (silkmoth) lineage. Using genomic resequencing, we show hybrid exchange of genes between three co-mimics, Heliconius melpomene, Heliconius timareta and Heliconius elevatus, especially at two genomic regions that control mimicry pattern. We infer that closely related Heliconius species exchange protective colour-pattern genes promiscuously, implying that hybridization has an important role in adaptive radiation.     

家蚕丝素溶液的粘弹性研究

采用Coucttc流变仪对家蚕丝素溶液的粘弹性进行研究。对于生丝丝素溶液,当丝素浓度较稀时(如4w/v％),溶液表现出牛顿流动行为;当丝素浓度较高时(如25W/V％),溶液表现出复杂的非牛顿流动行为。成烈的家蚕丝腺中的丝素,在剪切速率大于0.25s~1时,能引起纤维化。     

Neuroanatomy: brain asymmetry and long-term memory

The asymmetrical positioning of neural structures on the left or right side of the brain in vertebrates and in invertebrates may be correlated with brain laterality, which is associated with cognitive skills. But until now this has not been illustrated experimentally. Here we describe an asymmetrically positioned brain structure in the fruitfly Drosophila and find that the small proportion of wild-type flies that have symmetrical brains with two such structures lack a normal long-term memory, although their short-term memory is intact. Our results indicate that brain asymmetry may be required for generating or retrieving long-term memory.     

家蚕核膜部分消失现象的电镜观察与研究

应用电镜技术，对重要经济昆虫——家蚕后部丝腺细胞中核膜的超微结构在5龄期间的变化，进行了连续观察与研究。结果发现，家蚕后部丝腺细胞除具有典型的真核细胞核膜的精细结构外，还在5龄48h至144h反复出现核膜部分消失的奇特现象，并认为这一现象与核内外特别旺盛的生物合成作用密切相关。     

The Drosophila clock gene per affects intercellular junctional communication

The per locus of Drosophila has been implicated in the control of behavioural rhythms. In fruitfly embryos and larvae per is expressed in salivary glands. Per mutations have striking effects on intercellular communication in salivary glands: gap junction channels are modulated so that their conductance varies inversely with the period of behavioural rhythms in the mutants. A similar effect on junctional communication in the nervous system may explain how per influences behavioural rhythms.     

Sleep in Drosophila is regulated by adult mushroom bodies

Sleep is one of the few major whole-organ phenomena for which no function and no underlying mechanism have been conclusively demonstrated. Sleep could result from global changes in the brain during wakefulness or it could be regulated by specific loci that recruit the rest of the brain into the electrical and metabolic states characteristic of sleep. Here we address this issue by exploiting the genetic tractability of the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, which exhibits the hallmarks of vertebrate sleep. We show that large changes in sleep are achieved by spatial and temporal enhancement of cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activity specifically in the adult mushroom bodies of Drosophila. Other manipulations of the mushroom bodies, such as electrical silencing, increasing excitation or ablation, also alter sleep. These results link sleep regulation to an anatomical locus known to be involved in learning and memory.     

外源基因在转基因动物乳腺中的特异性表达研究

动物基因工程研究最大的突破就是转基因动物研究的进展,自八十年代初第一批转基因小鼠问世以来,转基因动物的研究已从方法学研究步入了应用性研究阶段,转基因动物除作为研究工具广泛应用于发育生物学、免疫学、遗传学以及医学等生命科学领域外,外源基因在转基因动物的特异性表达,尤其是在乳腺的表达,又可将转基因用作生物反应器进行了生物活性蛋白的生产而于商业生产,在转基因动物乳腺的特异性表达研究中,寻找乳蛋白基因调控