Blast fungus-induction and developmental and tissue-specific expression of a rice P450<Emphasis Type="Italic">CYP72A</Emphasis> gene cluster

Cytochrome P450 gene superfamily is widely involved in diverse processes of plant development and environmental responses including defense response to pathogens.We previously isolated a rice cDNA fragment in a DD-PCR screening for blast fungus-induced genes. In the current study, we isolated a CYP72A gene cluster consisting of 7 P450 CYP72A genes (CYP72A17-23) with the conserved cDNA sequence through the public rice genome data. There are total 14 putative CYP72A members in the rice genome, with high diversity at N-terminal sequences while high homology at C-terminal sequences of those 14 putative proteins. We analyzed expression profiles of the cloned 7 CYP72A genes during pathogen infection and development. The results showed that expression of CYP72A18, 19, 22 and 23 was differentially regulated in the incompatible and compatible interactions between rice and blast fungus. Except CYP72A20, a pseudogene, other 6 CYP72A genes also exhibited temporal and spatial expression patterns, respectively.These findings provide fundamental data for rice P450 gene function analysis.     

Transfer of bacterial blight resistance from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza meyeriana</Emphasis> to <Emphasis Type="Italic">O. sativa</Emphasis> L. by asymmetric somatic hybridization

Asymmetric somatic hybrid plants were produced between cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) and wild species [O. meyeriana (Zoll. etMor, exSteud.)] with high resistance to rice bacterial blight. X-ray-irradiated protoplasts of the wild species were used as donor and chemically fused with iodoacetamide-inactivated protoplasts of rice cv. 02428 to produce hybrids. Seventy-two plants were regenerated from 623 calli based on metabolic complementation. The morphological characters of the plants closely resembled that of the rice. Simple sequence repeats were employed to identify their hybridity. Cytological analysis of root-tips revealed that their chromosome number varied in the range of 27--38. The somatic hybrids were inoculated with strains of Xanthamonas oryzae pv. oryzae at adult growth stage and demonstrated the resistance to bacterial blight introgression from the O. meyeriana.     

Direct observation of the clockwise light-driven rotation of F<Subscript>0</Subscript>F<Subscript>1</Subscript>-ATP synthase complex

The purified thermophilic bacterium PS3 F₁ β _10×His-tag is inserted into the F_oF₁-ATP synthases of chro-matophores isolated from photosynthetic bacteria Rhodo-spirillum rubrum. The studies of biochemical properties of the hybrid chromatophores show that they have both protons-driving capability and photophosphorylation. The fluorescent actin filaments, as a marker of its orientation by video-microscopic experiment, are connected via Maleimido-C₃-NTA to the reconstituted β_10×His-tag of F_oF₁-ATP synthases. The clockwise rotation of F_oF₁-ATP synthases driven by light is observed directly when viewed from the F_o side to F₁. This system should be valuable for further studying the coupling property of F_oF₁-ATP synthase.     

Possible solar forcing of climate variability in the past 4000 years inferred from a proxy record at the southern margin of Tarim Basin

A ca. 4000a decadal-resolution climate proxy record of the mean grain-size from a lake (or mash) sediment at the southern margin of the Tarim Basin, correlates visually with the atmospheric 14C record from tree ring (residual △^14C, solar proxy) and the GISP2 ice core δ^18O record (temperature proxy). In general, △^14C maxima (solar minima) are coincident with cold (wet) periods in the study area and cold periods in the Greenland ice core. Power spectrum analysis revealed statistically significant periodicities of 196a, 121a, 97a, 62a, 45a and 33--30a, which are similar to those principal solar-oscillation periods as inferred from the atmospheric radiocarbon and other proxy records. Possible solar forcing is addressed to be the main driving forcing of climate change in the southern margin of Tarim Basin.     

C-peptide fragments stimulate glucose utilization in diabetic rats

Studies of C-peptide cellular effects show that not only the full-length native peptide but also specific C-terminal fragments are biologically active in in vitro systems. In the present study, the effect of five C-peptide fragments and the native peptide on whole-body glucose turnover was studied in streptozotocin diabetic rats using the insulin clamp technique. Insulin was infused intravenously at 18 pmol kg^–1 min^–1 for 90 min and blood glucose concentration was clamped at 8 and 4 mM in diabetic and non-diabetic animals. A steady state was reached during the last 30 min of the study period. Rat C-peptide II and fragments comprising residues 27–31 and 28–31 were effective in augmenting glucose turnover in diabetic rats (+100% to 150%), while no significant effects were seen for segments 1–26, 11–19 and 11–15. The metabolic clearance rate for glucose during infusion of C-peptide or fragments 27–31 and 28–31 in diabetic rats was similar to that seen in non-diabetic animals. We conclude that C-terminal tetra- and pentapeptides, but not fragments from the middle segment of C-peptide, are as effective as the full-length peptide in stimulating whole-body glucose turnover in diabetic rats.Received 18 December 2003; received after revision 19 January 2004; accepted 21 January 2004     

Ca^2＋ is involved in muscarine-acetylcholine-receptor-mediated acetylcholine signal transduction in guard cells of Vicia faba L.

Acetyicholine (ACh) is an important neuro-chemical transmitter in animals; it also exists in plants and plays a significant role in various kinds of physiological functions in plants. ACh has been known to induce the stomatal opening. By monitoring the changes of cytusolic Ca^2 with fluorescent probe Fiuo-3 AM under the confocal microscopy, we found that exogenous ACh increased cytosolic Ca^2 concentration of guard cells of Vicia faba L. Muscarlne, an agonist of muscarine acetyicholine receptor (mAChR), could do so as well. In contrast, atropine, the antagonist of mAChR abolished the ability of ACh to increase Ca^2 in guard cells. This mechanism is similar to mAChR in animals. When EGTA was used to chelate Ca^2 or ruthenium red to block Ca^2 released from vacuole respectively, the results showed that the increased cytosolic Ca^2 mainly come from intracellular Ca^2 store. The evidence supports that Ca^2 is involved in guard-cell response to ACh and that Ca^2 sigual is coupled to mAChRs in ACh signal transduction in guard cells.     

JWA protein binds to α-tubulin in PC12 cells

Our previous study elucidated that JWA protein was a newly identified microtubule-associated protein (MAP), which combined to and co-localized with α-tubulin. In the present study, we designed a series of experiments to explore if any interactions between JWA protein and α-tubulin existed and how JWA protein would functionally link to α-tubulin, especially in cell mitosis. Results of coimmnnoprecipitation, gene transfection and immnnoflnores-cence microscopy from PC12 and HEK293 cells provided strong evidence for a linkage between JWA protein and α-tubulin. Our data showed that JWA protein bound to α-tubulin stably no matter whether α-tubulin was polymerized or not. In addition, by using antisense oligonncleotides, cell cycle blocking agents and hypothermia disposal techniques, we also found the interaction between JWA protein and α-tubulin. The further analysis using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy showed that both proteins co-existed in PC12 cells and were independent on the cell cycle. In conclusion, JWA protein is a newly identified microtnbnle-associated protein, binds to α-tubulin, and probably plays an important role in regulation of microtnbnlar stability.     

The mechanism for the self-adaptation behavior in the evolutionary minority game model

In this paper, we shall present our studies of a generalized evolutionary minority game model in which the agents are divided into several groups. The performance of the individual agent is averaged in each group. We find that there are three different effects in this generalized model, i.e.(1) group averaging effect, (2) left-right asymmetric effect, and (3) self-interaction effect. The former two effects favor the cautious agents, while the last one favors the extreme agents. In most cases, both the analytic results and the numericul simulations demonstrate that the group averaging effect is dominantly important and therefore the performance of the cautious agents is better than that of the extreme agents. However, when the number of groups is sufficiently large, the generalized model can be somehow reduced to the conventional evolutionary minority game model. As the parameters vary in the generalized model, the importance of the above three effects is exchangeable and different types of population distribution emerge.     

SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of the Jinchuan ultramafic intrusion and its geological significance

The Jinchuan ultramafic intrusion is located in the Longshoushan Uplift on the southwestern margin of the Alxa Block, to the north of the Northern Qilian Orogenic Belt (Fig.1). It is broadly dyke-like, and was intruded into a Paleoproterozoic sequence of migmatites, gneisses and marbles (Baijiazhuizi Formation). The intrusion is northwest-elongated, -6500 m long and 20-527 m wide, and     

Tuning the lowest excited- states of platinum (Ⅱ) terpyridyl acetylide complex bearing azacrown moiety: Stimulated by transition metal ions

The development of molecular sensor with high stability and sensitivity has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Of particular interest lies in the molecules which show dramatic color changes in the visible or infrared regions upon exposure to specific substrates. In general, host molecule can selectively recognize the specific guest molecules at their receptor site and produce a measurable change. A number of organic molecular sen