Horizontal gene transfer from Eukarya to Bacteria and domain shuffling: the α-amylase model

-Amylases are present in all kingdoms of the living world. Despite strong conservation of the tertiary structure, only a few amino acids are conserved in interkingdom comparisons. Animal -amylases are characterized by several typical motifs and biochemical properties. A few cases of such -amylases have been previously reported in some eubacterial species. We screened the bacterial genomes available in the sequence databases for new occurrences of animal-like -amylases. Three novel cases were found, which belong to unrelated bacterial phyla: Chloroflexus aurantiacus, Microbulbifer degradans, and Thermobifida fusca. All the animal-like -amylases in Bacteria probably result from repeated horizontal gene transfer from animals. The M. degradans genome also contains bacterial-type and plant-type -amylases in addition to the animal-type one. Thus, this species exhibits -amylases of animal, plant, and bacterial origins. Moreover, the similarities in the extra C-terminal domains (different from both the -amylase domain C and the starch-binding domain), when present, also suggest interkingdom as well as intragenomic shuffling.Received 17 October 2003; accepted 6 November 2003     

Apoptotic cell death in the lactating mammary gland is enhanced by a folding variant of α-lactalbumin

Apoptosis is essential to eliminate secretory epithelial cells during the involution of the mammary gland. The environmental regulation of this process is however, poorly understood. This study tested the effect of HAMLET (human -lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells) on mammary cells. Plastic pellets containing HAMLET were implanted into the fourth inguinal mammary gland of lactating mice for 3 days. Exposure of mammary tissue to HAMLET resulted in morphological changes typical for apoptosis and in a stimulation of caspase-3 activity in alveolar epithelial cells near the HAMLET pellets but not more distant to the pellet or in contralateral glands. The effect was specific for HAMLET and no effects were observed when mammary glands were exposed to native a-lactalbumin or fatty acid alone. HAMLET also induced cell death in vitro in a mouse mammary epithelial cell line. The results suggest that HAMLET can mediate apoptotic cell death in mammary gland tissue.Received 30 January 2004; received after revision 5 March 2004; accepted 16 March 2004     

高校写作教学内容与中小学写作教学内容的衔接对策

长期以来,高校写作教学内容的设置,不以现有中小学写作教学内容为参照,同中小学写作教学内容多有重复,没有建立起合理的教学结构,使得高校写作教学效益不高。通过对二者之间的重复进行比较、分析,提出高校写作教学同中小学写作教学内容衔接的相应对策。     

Integrated semantic similarity model based on ontology

To solve the problem of the inadequacy of semantic processing in the intelligent question answering system. an integrated semantic similarity model which calculates the semantic similarity using the geometric distance and informarion content is presented in this paper. With the help of interrelationship between concepts, the information content ofconcepts and the strength of the edges in the ontology network. we can calculate the semantic similarity between two concepts and provide information for the further calculation of the semantic similarity between user‘s question and answers in knowlegdge base. The results of the experiments on the prototype have shown that the semantic problem in natural language processing can also be solved with the help of the knowledge and the abundant semantic information in ontology. More than 90% accuracy with less than 50 ms average searching time in the intelligent question answering prototype system based on ontology has been reached. The result is vety satisfied.     

"奖优罚劣"的动态多指标灰色关联度模型研究

针对动态多指标系统决策特点 ,利用灰色关联分析方法提出了一种新的“奖优罚劣”的动态多指标决策模型。该模型不仅对指标进行初始化处理时使用了“奖优罚劣”原则 ,而且通过构造相关矩阵 ,利用特征根、特征向量的性质 ,构造最优指标体系 ,并由此确定最优指标体系中各指标的权重。通过计算决策对象与理想矩阵、负理想矩阵的关联度 ,进而得到决策对象的排序结果。模型中充分考虑了指标的成长特性 ,将其整个系统的成长特性进行比较 ,作为关联度的一部分。在经济决策的实际问题中应用该模型 ,取得较好的效果     

Supergene mobility of noble metal elements in black rock series

In order to discuss the supergene mobility of noble metal elements in black rock series, measurements have been conducted with ICP-MS method for the contents of Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Pt, Au and Ag in the primary jordisite-rich black shale ore, in the supergene leached jordisite-rich black shale ore, in the pyrite-rich black shale ore and in the water of pit, well and stream of the mining area near Zhongnan Village, Zunyi District of Guizhou Province. The temperature, pH, electric conductivity, dissolved oxygen of the water were also measured. The pit water is acidic with high electrical conductivity and low dissolved oxygen. The total content of platinum group elements in the primary pyrite-rich black shale ore is only 1/13 of that in the primary jordisite-rich black shale ore. The Ag content in the former is only a half of that in the latter while the Au contents in the two kinds of ores are almost the same. Being leached under supergene condition, the contents of most of the noble metal elements except Au in the jordisite-rich black shale ore greatly decrease; the leaching rates of Rh, Pd, Pt, the total platinum group elements and Ag reach as high as 66.72%～74.79%, revealing that under supergene condition, platinum group elements and Ag can migrate along with water; the ratios of Ag/Au, Pd/Ru, Pt/Ir and(Pt+Pd)/(Ru+Rh+Ir) are remarkably decreased, displaying that Pt and Pd relative to Ru, Rh and Ir, Ag relative to Au bear more active mobility. The noble metal elements in the black rock series near Zhongnan Village might be mobilized and migrate under the procession of "cold water" rich in [SO4]2- with pH value being about 2.4 at a temperature below 50 ℃.     

禀经酌伟 弥纶一代－《中国现代寓言史纲》读后

《中国现代寓言史纲》是陈蒲清先生《中国古代寓言史》的续篇,是又一部填补空白 的著作。他的问世,不仅完成了他中国寓言史的宏大建构,而且,通过对我国现代寓言史的全面、深入地探究、总结,将会极大地推动我国当代的寓言研究与寓言创作向前发展。     

Role of Cys221 and Asn116 in the zinc-binding sites of the Aeromonas hydrophila metallo-β-lactamase

The CphA metallo--lactamase produced by Aeromonas hydrophila exhibits two zinc-binding sites. Maximum activity is obtained upon binding of one zinc ion, whereas binding of the second zinc ion results in a drastic decrease in the hydrolytic activity. In this study, we analyzed the role of Asn116 and Cys221, two residues of the active site. These residues were replaced by site-directed mutagenesis and the different mutants were characterized. The C221S and C221A mutants were seriously impaired in their ability to bind the first, catalytic zinc ion and were nearly completely inactive, indicating a major role for Cys221 in the binding of the catalytic metal ion. By contrast, the binding of the second zinc ion was only slightly affected, at least for the C221S mutant. Mutation of Asn116 did not lead to a drastic decrease in the hydrolytic activity, indicating that this residue does not play a key role in the catalytic mechanism. However, the substitution of Asn116 by a Cys or His residue resulted in an approximately fivefold increase in the affinity for the second, inhibitory zinc ion. Together, these data suggested that the first zinc ion is located in the binding site involving the Cys221 and that the second zinc ion binds in the binding site involving Asn116 and, presumably, His118 and His196.Received 3 March 2003; received after revision 4 August 2003; accepted 25 August 2003