GCC box in<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis PDF1.2</Emphasis> promoter is an essential and sufficient cis-acting element in response to MeJA treatment

The expression of Arabidopsis PDF1.2 gene isregulated by jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET). It also has been well documented that GCC box is an element responsive to ET, however, the responsive mechanism of JA in such plant defense gene expression is unclear. In this paper, the authors define the essential cis-acting element in PDF1.2 promoter responsive to methyl jasmonate (MeJA) through fragment deletions and site-directed mutageneses combiningAgrobacterium-mediated transient reporter gene expression in tobacco leaves. Firstly, the MeJA inducible expression o fPDF1.2 was confirmed by using the upstream -1.86 kb fragment of PDFI.2 gene. Secondly, the upstream -300— -243 bp fragment of the promoter was evidenced to respond to MeJA. To further characterize this promoter region, three point mutations were introduced into the -300— -243 bp fragment of the promoter. This result showed that the mutation of GCC box abolished MeJA induction, whereas the mutations of the G box-like and the imperfect palindrome sequence did not significantly decrease MeJA inducible effect, indicating that GCC box in PDFI.2 is essential for MeJA induction. The sufficient responsiveness to MeJA of this GCC box was further investigated by 4xGCC fused upstream to the CaMV 35S minimal promoter. This result suggested that the fused promoter was able to activate reporter gene expression in response to MeJA. Thus these results indicate that the GCC box in PDFI.2 is an essential and sufficient element to confer MeJA induction.     

Comparison of summer thermohaline field and circulation structure of the Bohai Sea between 1958 and 2000

TheBohaiSea(37°07′—41°N,117°35′—121°10′E)isashallowsemi-enclosedsea.SincetheBohaiSeaistheonlyinnerseaofChinaandalsoanimportantstra-tegicsea,itisoneofthemostinvestigatedseasinChina.Alargenumberofstudiesonthetideandthetidalcurrentaswellasnumericalsimulationofcirculationhavebeencarriedout,enhancingourunderstandingoftheBohaiSea.Long-termvariationsoftheseasurfacesalinity(SSS)andseasurfacetemperature(SST)oftheBohaiSeawereanalyzed.Linetal.[1]foundthatthepositivetrendsoftheannualmeanS…     

Concentrations of “elemental carbon” in samples from the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian and the possibility of their application in the development of evidence for the use of fire by humans

Elemental carbon?EC) is a C-rich, O-H-S-N-depleted substance that is necessarily produced in the process of combustion. Due to the logn-term use of fire by cave-inhabiting ape-men, considerable amounts of 揺lemen-tal carbon?would be necessarily left behind in the corre-sponding strata inside the cave. The sepaation of EC was effected by the chemical method and the contents of carbon were determined on an element analyser and a self-made measuring system. The concentration of Ec in the hearth,the exhibited ash samples collected from near the hearth un-earthed in the 1930s, and the three samples of accumulated material collected from the tenth bed are 43.74%, 1.77%,3.88%,1.87% and 1.11%,respectively; those of the equivalent samples from the tenth bed outside the cave and samples from the fourth and seventh beds are at least one order of magnitude lower than the former抯. The above re-sults show that the sampling location of the tenth bed may be close to the hearth. Sampling over a wider range may lead to the finding of a location where the concentrations of EC are corresponding to the maximum values of EC in the hearth. The determination and study of EC may provide new evi-dence for the use of fire by Peking Man.     

An exact solution for a normal point source problem

This paper presents an exact algebraic solution for a normal point source problem on elastic half-space due to impact pulse by adopting the Cagniard-Hoop method and improving Pekeris‘ partial fraction decomposition means.     

K-rich lamellar exsolution in clinopyroxene： Constraint on the depth of peridotite source at Zhimafang

The oriented lamellar K-rich exsolutions within clinopyroxene host were recognized in garnet peridotite massif at Zhimafang in the Sulu ultrahigh pressure metamorphic terrane, eastern China. EMP and TEM analyses revealed that the composition and the index of electron diffraction for this exsolution are corresponding with phlogopite, and the shape is the lamellae with 1 μm in width and 5 to 30 μm in length. Moreover, the topotaxy is that the (001) of K-rich exsolution parallels to (I00) of the clinopyroxene host. The electron diffraction analyzing shows the exsolution is of a 1M polymorphism. The high-resolution lattice fringe image displays the stack features along [001], which only a layer mineral shows. We conclude that the clinopyroxene with IM and K-rich exsolution was probably derived from mantle depths over 240 km, thus resulting from decompressional exsolution in the initial stage of slab exhumation.     

Blue emission from hydrogen-containing a-Si：H／SiO2 multilayers and the investigation of its mechanism

A series of hydrogen-containing a-Si:H/SiO2 multilayers with different a-Si:H sublayer thickness were fabricated by layer-by-layer deposition and in situ plasma oxidation in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system (PECVD). Optical induced blue emission from the samples was observed by the naked eye at room temperature, which has never been reported in the luminescence study of Si/SiO2 multilayers up to now. Both the photoluminescence (PL) peak and the absorption edge show a blue shift as the a-Si:H sublayer thickness decreases. The origin of the blue emission and the effect of hydrogen are discussed.     

A proteomic analysis of bacterial strain<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sinorhizobium fredii</Emphasis> RT19 subjected to salt shock

Sinorhizobium fredii RT19, a strain of freeliving bacteria, was subjected to salt shock and its protein expression profiles were analyzed by differential display proteome approaches. The results of separation by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE) showed that the number of resolved proteins was 481, 465 and 424, corresponding to salt-free control, 5 and 50 min 1 mol/L salt treatment, respectively. Among the resolved proteins, 82 in total had altered expression in response to salt-shock stress. 26 out of the 82 proteins were induced and 23 were completely inhibited, while 12 were up-regulated and 21 down-regulated in response to salt shock. In addition, the appearance of differentially displayed proteins responding to different salt shock periods is also reported. The identity of the 26 induced proteins was revealed by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) followed by database searching. Among them, 20 were assigned to proteins with known functions. Their roles in response to salt shock stress are discussed.     

The outbreak pattern of the SARS cases in Asia

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused tremendous damage to many Asia countries, especially China. The transmission process and outbreak pattern of SARS is still not well understood. This study aims to find a simple model to describe the outbreak pattern of SARS cases by using SARS case data commonly released by governments. The outbreak pattern of cumulative SARS cases is expected to be a logistic type because the infection will be slowed down due to the increasing control effort by people and/or due to depletion of susceptible individuals. The increase rate of SARS cases is expected to decrease with the cumulative SARS cases, as described by the traditional logistical model, which is widely used in population dynamic studies. The instantaneous rate of increases were significantly and negatively correlated with the cumulative SARS cases in mainland of China (including Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi,the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia) and Singapore. The basic reproduction number R0 in Asia ranged from 2.0 to 5.6 (except for Taiwan, China). The R0 of Hebei and Tianjin were much higher than that of Singapore, Hongkong, Beijing, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, indicating SARS virus might have originated differently or new mutations occurred during transmission. We demonstrated that the outbreaks of SARS in many regions of Asia were wall described by the logistic model, and the control measures implemented by governments are effective. The maximum instantaneous rate of increase, basic reproductive number, and maximum cumulative SARS cases were also calculated by using the logistic model.     

Possible developmental mechanisms underlying the origin of the crown lineages of arthropods

The extraordinarily preserved, diverse arthropod fauna from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shale, central Yunnan (southwest China), represents different evolutionary stages stepping from stem lineages towards crown arthropods (also called euarthropods), which makes this fauna extremely significant for discussion of the origin and early diversification of the arthropods. Anatomical analyses of the Maotianshan shale arthropods strongly indicate that