Genome-wide association studies of 14 agronomic traits in rice landraces

Uncovering the genetic basis of agronomic traits in crop landraces that have adapted to various agro-climatic conditions is important to world food security. Here we have identified ～ 3.6 million SNPs by sequencing 517 rice landraces and constructed a high-density haplotype map of the rice genome using a novel data-imputation method. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for 14 agronomic traits in the population of Oryza sativa indica subspecies. The loci identified through GWAS explained ～ 36% of the phenotypic variance, on average. The peak signals at six loci were tied closely to previously identified genes. This study provides a fundamental resource for rice genetics research and breeding, and demonstrates that an approach integrating second-generation genome sequencing and GWAS can be used as a powerful complementary strategy to classical biparental cross-mapping for dissecting complex traits in rice.     

Lysosomal chymotrypsin B potentiates apoptosis via cleavage of Bid

We have reported that chymotrypsin B (CtrB) is not just a digestive enzyme but is also stored in lysosomes. Herein, we demonstrated a broad distribution of CtrB and explored the involvement of CtrB in apoptosis. Exposure of RH-35 cells to H₂O₂ or palmitate induced the redistribution of lysosomal CtrB into the cytoplasm as a result of lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP). Suppression of CtrB significantly blocked apoptosis, while overexpression of CtrB sensitized apoptosis markedly. CtrB could cleave Bid under neutral conditions. In RH-35 cells with Bid silenced, apoptosis induced by CtrB protein was attenuated, suggesting that CtrB mediates apoptosis of RH-35 cells mainly through processing Bid. Our data also suggest that LMP occurs earlier than mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization; Bid activation initiated by caspase-8 might be reinforced by CtrB in consequence of LMP, which causes a positive feedback loop leading to the accumulation of tBid, and results in lysosome- and mitochondrion-dependent apoptosis.     

月地高速再入返回飞行器陀螺在轨自主标定技术研究及实现

针对包含非正交安装陀螺的捷联惯导平台轻量化自主对准问题,建立了非正交陀螺组误差模型,提出一套基于最小二乘法的标定算法和地面试验验证方法,在计算能力受限的情况下完成了高精度在轨标定.地面数学仿真和试验验证结果表明,该方法与扩展卡尔曼滤波法精度相当,计算量却大幅减小.在此基础上,通过对标定算法进行逻辑设计,实现了在轨多组陀螺同步容错和标定.该方法已成功应用于探月工程三期月地高速再入返回飞行器的实际飞行,实现了2套惯性导航平台的高精度初始姿态同步对准.     

Genome-wide association study of flowering time and grain yield traits in a worldwide collection of rice germplasm

A high-density haplotype map recently enabled a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a population of indica subspecies of Chinese rice landraces. Here we extend this methodology to a larger and more diverse sample of 950 worldwide rice varieties, including the Oryza sativa indica and Oryza sativa japonica subspecies, to perform an additional GWAS. We identified a total of 32 new loci associated with flowering time and with ten grain-related traits, indicating that the larger sample increased the power to detect trait-associated variants using GWAS. To characterize various alleles and complex genetic variation, we developed an analytical framework for haplotype-based de novo assembly of the low-coverage sequencing data in rice. We identified candidate genes for 18 associated loci through detailed annotation. This study shows that the integrated approach of sequence-based GWAS and functional genome annotation has the potential to match complex traits to their causal polymorphisms in rice.     

Genome-wide association study identifies a new melanoma susceptibility locus at 1q21.3

We performed a genome-wide association study of melanoma in a discovery cohort of 2,168 Australian individuals with melanoma and 4,387 control individuals. In this discovery phase, we confirm several previously characterized melanoma-associated loci at MC1R, ASIP and MTAP-CDKN2A. We selected variants at nine loci for replication in three independent case-control studies (Europe: 2,804 subjects with melanoma, 7,618 control subjects; United States 1: 1,804 subjects with melanoma, 1,026 control subjects; United States 2: 585 subjects with melanoma, 6,500 control subjects). The combined meta-analysis of all case-control studies identified a new susceptibility locus at 1q21.3 (rs7412746, P = 9.0 × 10(-11), OR in combined replication cohorts of 0.89 (95% CI 0.85-0.95)). We also show evidence suggesting that melanoma associates with 1q42.12 (rs3219090, P = 9.3 × 10(-8)). The associated variants at the 1q21.3 locus span a region with ten genes, and plausible candidate genes for melanoma susceptibility include ARNT and SETDB1. Variants at the 1q21.3 locus do not seem to be associated with human pigmentation or measures of nevus density.     

Frequent mutations of chromatin remodeling genes in transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder

Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is the most common type of bladder cancer. Here we sequenced the exomes of nine individuals with TCC and screened all the somatically mutated genes in a prevalence set of 88 additional individuals with TCC with different tumor stages and grades. In our study, we discovered a variety of genes previously unknown to be mutated in TCC. Notably, we identified genetic aberrations of the chromatin remodeling genes (UTX, MLL-MLL3, CREBBP-EP300, NCOR1, ARID1A and CHD6) in 59% of our 97 subjects with TCC. Of these genes, we showed UTX to be altered substantially more frequently in tumors of low stages and grades, highlighting its potential role in the classification and diagnosis of bladder cancer. Our results provide an overview of the genetic basis of TCC and suggest that aberration of chromatin regulation might be a hallmark of bladder cancer.     

Behavior Model Construction for Client Side of Modern Web Applications

Most of the behavior models with respect to Web applications focus on sequencing of events,without regard for the changes of parameters or elements and the relationship between trigger conditions of events and Web pages.As a result,these models are not sufficient to effectively represent the dynamic behavior of the Web2.0 application.Therefore,in this paper,to appropriately describe the dynamic behavior of the client side of Web applications,we define a novel Client-side Behavior Model(CBM) for Web applications and present a user behavior trace-based modeling method to automatically generate and optimize CBMs.To verify the effectiveness of our method,we conduct a series of experiments on six Web applications according to three types of user behavior traces.The experimental results show that our modeling method can construct CBMs automatically and effectively,and the CBMs built are more precise to represent the dynamic behavior of Web applications.     

混合约束非凸规划拟锥条件下的同伦方法

使用同伦算法研究混合约束的非凸非线性规划问题. 当规划问题为混合约束（带有等式约束）时, 可行域变成一个边界区域, 并没有内点. 通过对可行域定义新的拟锥条件, 给出相应同伦方程, 并证明此同伦算法在此拟锥条件下具有全局收敛性.     

基于自然特征的增强现实注册算法

增强现实标志点注册算法需在场景中叠加各种标志,系统构造复杂.文中在深入研究机器人视觉伺服系统的基础上,提出了利用虚拟视觉伺服技术、基于自然特征的增强现实注册算法.利用特征点和图像矩作为图像特征,推导出了图像特征变化量与虚拟摄像机相对位姿变化量之间的关系矩阵(即图像的雅可比矩阵),实现了基于自然特征的三维注册算法.与混合跟踪注册算法、共面四点注册算法相比,文中方法具有更高的精度.     

不同工作模式下激光熔化沉积过程熔池演变数值研究

激光熔化沉积工艺中有连续波(continuous-wave,CW)和脉冲波(pulse-wave,PW)两种激光模式.基于Fluent针对熔池瞬态运动和传热传质建立了三维对称数值模型,通过求解VOF(volume of fluid)连续方程追踪沉积层自由表面,分析了不同激光工作模式下熔池的演变过程及上表面波动规律,对熔...