基于叶绿体rbcL等3个基因的木灵藓科植物属的系统发育

以木灵藓科21属33种植物为内类群,以缩叶藓科（Ptycomitriaceae）、虎尾藓科（Hedwigiaceae）、树生藓科（Erpodiaceae）、蕨藓科（Pterobryaceae）、平藓科（Neckeriaceae）、蔓藓科（Meteoriaceae）、刺果藓科（Symphyodontaceae）、油藓科（Hookeriaceae）、灰藓科（Hypnaceae）和金发藓科（Poltrichaceae）为外类群,以NADH脱氢酶亚基〖STBX〗5〖STB3〗基因、叶绿体rbcL基因和tRNA-Leu基因为分析指标,从Genbank获得它们的碱基序列,通过Clustalx对碱基比对,使用Winclada 软件对木灵藓科植物进行了分支系统学分析.结果显示: (1) 木灵藓科是一个明确的单系类群;(2) 支持将木灵藓科分为两个亚科: 木灵藓亚科（Orthotrichoideae）和蓑藓亚科（Macromitrioideae）;(3) 马他属（Bryomaltaea）归为蓑藓亚科为宜.     

Thromboxane molecules do not adopt the prostaglandin hairpin conformation.

The hairpin conformational hypothesis has been proposed to rationalise much of the structure-activity and receptor-binding data which have accumulated for the prostaglandin (PG) hormones. The hairpin conformation, thought to be necessary for PG activity, requires that the alpha- and omega-chains of the molecule be extended and in parallel alignment, separated by a van der Waals contact distance for the full length of the chains, with the ends of the chains approximately 5.5 A apart. The similarity between the structures of the thromboxanes (TXs) and the PGs suggests that the profile of activity of TXs, like that of PGs, centres on subtle conformational variation of the hairpin geometry. Thromboxane B2 (TXB2) is a stable hydrolysis product of a highly reactive, short-lived intermediate, thromboxane A2 (TXA2), which is formed from the prostaglandin endoperoxide (PGH2) as indicated in Fig. 1. An examination of molecular models of TXA2 and TXB2 suggests that the structural differences between the ring moieties may have much less influence in altering the side-chain conformation of TXs than do substitutents on the relatively more flexible cyclopentane ring of a PG molecule. We report here the first diffraction analysis of a thromboxane structure and note that the molecular conformation is not hairpin shaped.     

种植转Bt水稻对固氦细菌多样性和固氮酶铁蛋白基因nifH的水平转移的影响

通过对具有不同种植年限和不同种植强度的转Bt基因水稻与非转Bt基因水稻土壤中的细菌以及固氮细菌群落结构进行研究,发现转Bt水稻的种植可能会影响土壤中微生物群落的多样性,但是这种影响的可能只是暂时的,通过对测量种植水稻的芽长实验也得出相似的结论．另外,根据16SrDNA基因构建的系统发育进化树揭示了本实验分离的固氮细菌的遗传多样性,发现实验土壤中的固氮细菌主要分为放线菌门（Actinobacteria）（92％）和α-变形菌门（α-Pro—teobacteria）两大类．分离出的8株典型的固氮菌株,其16SrDNA基因和固氮基因nifH的序列两者的分布不一致,nifH的分布更为紧凑,为固氮基因可能发生了原位水平基因转移提供了证据．     

Evidence for lateral gene transfer between Archaea and bacteria from genome sequence of Thermotoga maritima.

The 1,860,725-base-pair genome of Thermotoga maritima MSB8 contains 1,877 predicted coding regions, 1,014 (54%) of which have functional assignments and 863 (46%) of which are of unknown function. Genome analysis reveals numerous pathways involved in degradation of sugars and plant polysaccharides, and 108 genes that have orthologues only in the genomes of other thermophilic Eubacteria and Archaea. Of the Eubacteria sequenced to date, T. maritima has the highest percentage (24%) of genes that are most similar to archaeal genes. Eighty-one archaeal-like genes are clustered in 15 regions of the T. maritima genome that range in size from 4 to 20 kilobases. Conservation of gene order between T. maritima and Archaea in many of the clustered regions suggests that lateral gene transfer may have occurred between thermophilic Eubacteria and Archaea.     

Repeated, recent and diverse transfers of a mitochondrial gene to the nucleus in flowering plants

A central component of the endosymbiotic theory for the bacterial origin of the mitochondrion is that many of its genes were transferred to the nucleus. Most of this transfer occurred early in mitochondrial evolution; functional transfer of mitochondrial genes has ceased in animals. Although mitochondrial gene transfer continues to occur in plants, no comprehensive study of the frequency and timing of transfers during plant evolution has been conducted. Here we report frequent loss (26 times) and transfer to the nucleus of the mitochondrial gene rps10 among 277 diverse angiosperms. Characterization of nuclear rps10 genes from 16 out of 26 loss lineages implies that many independent, RNA-mediated rps10 transfers occurred during recent angiosperm evolution; each of the genes may represent a separate functional gene transfer. Thus, rps10 has been transferred to the nucleus at a surprisingly high rate during angiosperm evolution. The structures of several nuclear rps10 genes reveal diverse mechanisms by which transferred genes become activated, including parasitism of pre-existing nuclear genes for mitochondrial or cytoplasmic proteins, and activation without gain of a mitochondrial targeting sequence.     

应用线粒体Cytb基因序列探讨果蝇科部分属间的系统发育关系

通过PCR产物直接测序的方法获得了果蝇科(Drosophilidae)果蝇属(Genus Drosophila)[包括条纹果蝇亚属(Subgenus Dorsilopha)、果蝇亚属(Subgenus Drosophila)和水果果蝇亚属(Subgenus Sophophora)]、条果蝇属(Genus Phorticella)、姬果蝇属(Genus Scaptomyza)和花果蝇属(Genus Scaptodrosophila)的5个种6个单雌系的线粒体Cytb基因的部分DNA序列,用最大似然法、邻接法和Bayesian法分别构建系统树．研究结果表明：在选取的所有属和亚属中,花果蝇属的分化是最早的,其次是条纹果蝇亚属;姬果蝇属与果蝇亚属是近源的,条果蝇属同姬果蝇属和果蝇亚属形成的并系群是近源的;水果果蝇亚属早于果蝇亚属分化,水果果蝇亚属形成的支系是果蝇亚属和其它属(花果蝇属和姬果蝇属)形成的支系的姐妹分类单位．结果还表明线粒体Cytb基因可以作为有效的分子标记探讨高阶元的果蝇系统发育关系．     

Antibodies to paired helical filaments in Alzheimer's disease do not recognize normal brain proteins

During ageing of the human brain, and particularly in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (AD), many neurones progressively accumulate abnormal cytoplasmic fibres, called paired helical filaments (PHF). Each such fibre consists of a pair of intermediate (10 nm) filaments twisted into a double helix with a periodicity of 160 nm. PHF accumulate in large perikaryal masses, called neurofibrillary tangles, and are also found in degenerating cortical neurites that form neurite plaques. The density of PHF-containing neurites and cell bodies correlates with the degree of dementia and the extent of loss of cholinergic neurotransmitter function in AD. Recently, we demonstrated that PHF from human cerebral cortex are large, rigid polymers with unusual molecular properties, including insolubility in SDS, urea and other denaturing solvents and apparent resistance to protease digestion. These properties have so far prevented complete purification and analysis of the constituents of PHF. Based on their insolubility, we have developed a new method of preparing highly enriched PHF fractions and have raised an antiserum that is highly specific for PHF. We report here that this antiserum specifically labels PHF, free of any associated normal fibrous proteins and, unexpectedly, it reacts with neither neurofilaments nor any other normal cytoskeletal protein in brain sections or on immunoblotted gels. These anti-PHF antibodies have been used for the specific detection of Alzheimer-type PHF and in the search for cross-reacting antigens in various tissues, and are suitable for immunoaffinity purification of PHF. Our results indicate that PHF contain determinants that are not shared with normal neuronal fibrous proteins.     

A ubiquitin ligase transfers preformed polyubiquitin chains from a conjugating enzyme to a substrate

In eukaryotic cells, many short-lived proteins are conjugated with Lys 48-linked ubiquitin chains and degraded by the proteasome. Ubiquitination requires an activating enzyme (E1), a conjugating enzyme (E2) and a ligase (E3). Most ubiquitin ligases use either a HECT (homologous to E6-associated protein C terminus) or a RING (really interesting new gene) domain to catalyse polyubiquitination, but the mechanism of E3 catalysis is poorly defined. Here we dissect this process using mouse Ube2g2 (E2; identical at the amino acid level to human Ube2g2) and human gp78 (E3), an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated conjugating system essential for the degradation of misfolded ER proteins. We demonstrate by expressing recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli that Ube2g2/gp78-mediated polyubiquitination involves preassembly of Lys 48-linked ubiquitin chains at the catalytic cysteine of Ube2g2. The growth of Ube2g2-anchored ubiquitin chains seems to be mediated by an aminolysis-based transfer reaction between two Ube2g2 molecules that each carries a ubiquitin moiety in its active site. Intriguingly, polyubiquitination of a substrate can be achieved by transferring preassembled ubiquitin chains from Ube2g2 to a lysine residue in a substrate.     

Small G proteins are expressed ubiquitously in lymphoid cells and do not correspond to Bcl-2

The bcl-2 gene is consistently associated with t(14; 18) chromosomal translocations observed in a large fraction of human B-cell lymphomas. The t(14; 18) translocation results in deregulated expression of the bcl-2 gene and synthesis of inappropriately high levels of the Bcl-2 protein. Gene transfer studies suggest a role for Bcl-2 in cell survival, growth enhancement and oncogenic transformation. To test the suggestion that GTP-binding by Bcl-2 may mediate its biological effects we characterized the GTP-binding proteins in lymphoid cells expressing Bcl-2. Expression of several small GTP-binding proteins was found to be ubiquitous and did not vary with levels of Bcl-2. By using immunological, electrophoretic and cell-fractionation techniques, we separated Bcl-2 from G proteins of small relative molecular mass (Mr) and showed that it is incapable of binding GTP. Our results show that small Mr G proteins are widely expressed in lymphoid cells and that Bcl-2 is not a novel member of this GTP-binding protein family.