Tat-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes select for SIV escape variants during resolution of primary viraemia

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infections are characterized by early peaks of viraemia that decline as strong cellular immune responses develop. Although it has been shown that virus-specific CD8-positive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) exert selective pressure during HIV and SIV infection, the data have been controversial. Here we show that Tat-specific CD8-positive T-lymphocyte responses select for new viral escape variants during the acute phase of infection. We sequenced the entire virus immediately after the acute phase, and found that amino-acid replacements accumulated primarily in Tat CTL epitopes. This implies that Tat-specific CTLs may be significantly involved in controlling wild-type virus replication, and suggests that responses against viral proteins that are expressed early during the viral life cycle might be attractive targets for HIV vaccine development.     

A transgenic insertion upstream of sox9 is associated with dominant XX sex reversal in the mouse

In most mammals, male development is triggered by the transient expression of the Y-chromosome gene, Sry, which initiates a cascade of gene interactions ultimately leading to the formation of a testis from the indifferent fetal gonad. Several genes, in particular Sox9, have a crucial role in this pathway. Despite this, the direct downstream targets of Sry and the nature of the pathway itself remain to be clearly established. We report here a new dominant insertional mutation, Odsex (Ods), in which XX mice carrying a 150-kb deletion (approximately 1 Mb upstream of Sox9) develop as sterile XX males lacking Sry. During embryogenesis, wild-type XX fetal gonads downregulate Sox9 expression, whereas XY and XX Ods/+ fetal gonads upregulate and maintain its expression. We propose that Ods has removed a long-range, gonad-specific regulatory element that mediates the repression of Sox9 expression in XX fetal gonads. This repression would normally be antagonized by Sry protein in XY embryos. Our data are consistent with Sox9 being a direct downstream target of Sry and provide genetic evidence to support a general repressor model of sex determination in mammals.     

酚与4,4′-联吡啶π-π叠加作用的核磁氢谱研究

通过核磁氢谱法研究酚类化合物与4,4′-联吡啶季铵盐π-π叠加作用,研究了吡啶环上α-H,β-H及氧乙基上的α′-H,β′-H的化学位移值及其改变的情况.结果表明,β-萘酚、α-萘酚、对苯二酚、间苯二酚及苯酚使上述氢的化学位移降低,其化学位移降低次序为:β萘酚>α-萘酚>对苯二酚、间苯二酚>苯酚.而8-羟基喹啉和间硝基苯酚导致上述氢的化学位移稍升高.