A novel cell division factor from tobacco 2B-13 cells that induced cell division in auxin-starved tobacco BY-2 cells

Effects of auxin as plant hormones are widespread; in fact in almost all aspects of plant growth and development auxin plays a pivotal role. Although auxin is required for propagating cell division in plant cells, its effect upon cell division is least understood. If auxin is depleted from the culture medium, cultured cells cease to divide. It has been demonstrated in this context that the addition of auxin to auxin-starved nondividing tobacco BY-2 cells induced semisynchronous cell division. On the other hand, there are some cell lines, named habituated cells, that can grow without auxin. The cause and reason for the habituated cells have not been clarified. A habituated cell line named 2B-13 is derived from the tobacco BY-2 cell line, which has been most intensively studied among plant cell lines. When we tried to find the difference between two cell lines of BY-2 and 2B-13 cells, we found that the addition of culture filtrated from the auxin-habituated 2B-13 cells induced semisynchronous cell division in auxin-starved BY-2 cells. The cell division factor (CDF) that is responsible for inducing cell division in auxin-starved BY-2 cells was purified to near-homogeneity by sequential passage through a hydroxyapatite column, a ConA Sepharose column and a Sephadex gel filtration column. The resulting purified fraction appeared as a single band of high molecular weight on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gels by silver staining and was able to induce cell division in auxin-starved BY-2 cells. Identification of the protein by MALD-TOF-MS/MS revealed that it is structurally related to P-glycoprotein from Gossypioides kirkii, which belongs to ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-transporters. The significance of CDF as a possible ABC-transporter is discussed in relationship to auxin–autotrophic growth and auxin-signaling pathway.     

Quinone-mediated decolorization of sulfonated azo dyes by cells and cell extracts from Sphingomonas xenophaga

The effects of various quinone compounds on the decolorization rates of sulfonated azo dyes by Sphingomonas xenophaga QYY were investigated. The results showed that anthraquinone-2-sulfonate (AQS) was the most effective redox mediator and AQS reduction was the rate-limited step of AQS-mediated decolorization of sulfonated azo dyes. Based on AQS biological toxicity tests, it was assumed that AQS might enter the cells to kill them. In the cytoplasmic extracts from strain QYY, AQS effectively increased decolorization rates of sulfonated azo dyes than other quinone compounds. In addition, we found a NADH/FMN-dependent AQS reductase using nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Native-PAGE).     

Detection and isolation of fetal cells from maternal blood using the flourescence-activated cell sorter (FACS)

The presence of fetal cells in the maternal circulation during pregnancy has been suggested by repeated observations of small numbers of cells containing Y chromatin or a Y chromosome in the blood of pregnant women. With the fluorescence-activitated cell sorter (FACS), we have used antibodies to a paternal cell surface (HLA) antigen, not present in the mother, to select fetal cells from the lymphocyte fractions of a series of maternal blood samples, collected as early as 15 weeks of gestation. These sorted cells have been examined for a second paternal genetic marker, Y chromatin. Y chromatin-containing cells were found among the sorted cells from prenatal maternal blood specimens in 8 pregnancies subsequently producing male infants whose lymphocytes reacted with the same antibodies to paternal antigen used for sorting with the FACS. In each of 17 pregnancies resulting in male infants who failed to inherit the antigen detected by the antibodies used for cell sorting, Y chromatin-containing cells were not found prenatally. The use of two paternal genetic markers, a cell surface antigen and nuclear Y chromatin, to identify fetal cells in maternal blood permits us to conclude that these cells are present in the mother's circulation, as early as 15 weeks gestation. Further development of the techniques reported here could lead to widespread screening of maternal blood samples during pregnancy for detection of fetal genetic abnormalities.     

废水脱氮与沼气脱硫耦联菌株的驯化和分离

在不接种污泥、接种厌氧污泥和接种好氧污泥的条件下,采用鼓泡反应器研究猪场废水脱氮与沼气脱硫耦联反应器的启动及关键微生物.试验前期(第26 d前),接种污泥反应器的脱氮脱硫率为50%～64%,而不接种污泥反应器的脱氮脱硫率只有11%～14%.到驯化结束时(第56 d),3个反应器的脱氮效率为90%左右,脱硫效率达到70%以上.结果表明,不接种污泥反应器经过一段时间驯化后也可以达到同样的脱氮脱硫效果,只是启动时间比接种污泥的反应器稍长.在反应器启动期间,于不同时段分别进行了微生物种群动态变化检测,结果显示微生物种群数量变化与3个反应器的脱氮脱硫效果变化趋势基本一致.在驯化成功的反应器中,分离筛选出氮硫去除率同时达到60%以上的菌株2株,初步鉴定为脱氮硫杆菌(Thiobacillus denitrificans)和假单胞菌属(Pseudomonas)细菌.     

The prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidines in frozen solution

Most prebiotic syntheses depend on the reaction of concentrated precursor compounds to produce bio-organic molecules. It is now believed that the early Earth’s atmosphere was not reducing enough to have permitted copious synthesis of precursor molecules. Freezing allows reaction to occur even from dilute solution. This reaction has been demonstrated for the purines but not for the pyrimidines. It is shown here that dilute solutions of simple prebiotic molecules produce the biological pyrimidines cytosine and uracil upon freezing. Cold environments may have allowed synthesis of all of the RNA bases even from low organic yielding atmospheres, such as those of the early Earth, Mars, Titan and Europa.     

江浙沪地区稻田CH4排放及减排措施

根据ＩＰＣＣ Ｇｕｉｄｅｌｉｎｅｓ（１９９５）提供的方法，对１９９０年江浙沪地区水稻田的ＣＨ４排放统计计算，并所得数据进行评估和分析。通过计算得到江浙沪地区水稻田ＣＨ４排放为１．７７Ｔｇ，占总ＣＨ４排放的５３．６％，提出了该地区减少水稻田ＣＨ４排放的措施。     

Synchronization of cells from higher plants

The Science of Nature -     

多分散颗粒悬浊液声传播衰减模型研究

利用Bouguer-Lambert-Beer-Law理论,推导出了多分散颗粒悬浊液声传播衰减模型,并在实验室利用配制的玻璃微珠和二氧化钛悬浊液进行了5个频率下的声衰减测量.结果与衰减模型进行的数值模拟吻合.通过对渤海某淤积港口的声衰减测量验证,该模型同样适用于浑浊海域的声传播衰减计算.这对于浑浊海域的声纳探测和设计具有重要的工程价值.     

Enrichment of fetal cells from maternal blood by high gradient magnetic cell sorting (double MACS) for PCR-based genetic analysis

For simple and effective isolation of fetal cells from peripheral maternal blood, we combined depletion of maternal cells and enrichment of fetal cells by high-gradient magnetic cell separation (MACS). First CD45⁺ and CD14⁺ cells were depleted from maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells by MACS. From the depleted fraction, CD71⁺ erythroid cells were enriched up to 80 per cent by MACS. This ‘double-MACS’ procedure yielded an average depletion rate of 780-fold and an average enrichment rate of 500-fold, with approximate recovery rates of 40–55 per cent. For paternity testing, cells from unseparated blood and the various fractions were analysed for polymorphism of the HLA-DQ-A1 locus and D1S80 locus by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In CD45⁻/CD71⁺ sorted cells from maternal blood, but not in unfractionated cells from maternal blood or CD45⁻/CD14⁻ cells, paternal alleles could be detected. In the CD45⁻/CD71⁺ fraction, the relative frequency of paternal alleles compared with maternal alleles ranged from 1 in 20 to 1 in 200 (determined by titration and depending on the quality of separation and biological variation). In 7 out of 11 cases, between weeks 12 and 25 of gestation, we could identify paternal alleles by PCR, either HLA-DQ-A1 or D1S80. This double-MACS procedure is simple, fast, efficient, and reliable for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis.     

Cultivated cells from mid-trimester amniotic fluids. IV. Cell type identification via one and two-dimensional electrophoresis of clonal whole cell homogenates

Clones of cultivated amniotic fluid cells that have distinct morphologic and growth characteristics (F, AF and E-type) were examined by one-dimensional SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and by two-dimensional electrophoresis employing isoelectric focusing and SDS-PAGE (IEF-PAGE). No qualitative differences in band pattern were observed in SDS-PAGE between the various amniotic fluid cell types, but consistent quantitative differences in the ratios of four bands of presumed filamentous proteins provided good distinction between amniotic fluid cells and postnatal skin fibroblast-like cells. By adding separation on the basis of electrical charge to that of molecular size (IEF-PAGE), we observed reproducible qualitative differences in the protein spot patterns between F and both AF and E-type amniotic fluid cells. At least eight discrete proteins appear not to be synthesized by prenatal F-type cells in comparison with their isogenic AF and E counterparts under identical culture conditions. The two-dimensional electrophoretic patterns thus confirm that F and AF amniotic cells, in spite of their morphologic and growth kinetic similarities, are developmentally distinct cell types that retain their differentiated states in culture.     

厌氧出水培养好氧颗粒污泥及其微生物多样性分析

以处理黄连素废水的厌氧折流板反应器(ABR)出水为进水基质,在序批式反应器(SBR)中培养好氧颗粒污泥,反应器运行80 d后形成粒径在2~10 mm间的成熟稳定的颗粒污泥。采用扫描电镜(SEM)和聚合酶链式反应-变性梯度凝胶电泳(PCR-DGGE)技术对好氧污泥颗粒化进行分析,考察微生物形态、群落演替和多样性,并对优势菌种进行了分析。DGGE图谱表明,好氧污泥颗粒化进程中,微生物种群呈明显演替变化,好氧颗粒污泥菌群多样性较强。克隆测序结果表明,好氧颗粒污泥反应器优势菌群主要为未分类bacteria、CFB group bacteria和Bacteroidetes。