Science China Life Sciences

https://link.springer.com/journal/11427

List of Papers (Total 1,279)

Virus-induced gene silencing and its application in plant functional genomics

Virus-induced gene silencing is regarded as a powerful and efficient tool for the analysis of gene function in plants because it is simple, rapid and transformation-free. It has been used to perform both forward and reverse genetics to identify plant functional genes. Many viruses have been developed into virus-induced gene silencing vectors and gene functions involved in...

Identification of the novel recessive gene pi55(t) conferring resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae

The elite rice cultivar Yuejingsimiao 2 (YJ2) is characterized by a high level of grain quality and yield, and resistance against Magnaporthe oryzae. YJ2 showed 100% resistance to four fungal populations collected from Guangdong, Sichuan, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang Provinces, which is a higher frequency than that shown by the well-known resistance (R) gene donor cultivars such as...

Viral suppression of RNA silencing

Gene silencing (RNA silencing) plays a fundamental role in antiviral defense in plants, fungi and invertebrates. Viruses encode proteins that suppress gene silencing to counter host defense. Viral suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs) have been identified from almost all plant virus genera and some viruses of insects and mammals. Recent studies have revealed that VSRs counter host...

Biomechanism of adhesion in gecko setae

The study of the adhesion of millions of setae on the toes of geckos has been advanced in recent years with the emergence of new technology and measurement methods. The theory of the mechanism of adhesion by van der Waals forces is now accepted and broadly understood. However, this paper presents limitations of this theory and gives a new hypothesis of the biomechanism of gecko...

Immunocamouflage of latex surfaces by grafted methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG): Proteomic analysis of plasma protein adsorption

Grafting of methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) to cells and biomaterials is a promising non-pharmacological immunomodulation technology. However, due to the labile nature of cells, surface-plasma interactions are poorly understood; hence, a latex bead model was studied. PEGylation of beads resulted in a density and molecular weight dependent decrease in total adsorbed protein...

Interaction between temperature and photoperiod in regulation of flowering time in rice

Photoperiod and temperature are two pivotal regulatory factors of plant flowering. The floral transition of plants depends on accurate measurement of changes in photoperiod and temperature. The flowering time of rice (Oryza sativa) as a facultative short-day (SD) plant is delayed under long-day (LD) and/or low temperature conditions. To elucidate the regulatory functions of...

Cell orientation of swimming bacteria: From theoretical simulation to experimental evaluation

The motion of small bacteria consists of two phases: relatively long runs alternate with intermittent stops, back-ups, or tumbles, depending on the species. In polar monotrichous bacteria, the flagellum is anchored at the cell pole inherited from the parent generation (old pole) and is surrounded by a chemoreceptor cluster. During forward swimming, the leading pole is always the...

Characterizing the induction of diabetes in juvenile cynomolgus monkeys with different doses of streptozotocin

Juvenile (2–23 years old) cynomolgus monkeys are frequently used as recipients in non-human primate islet transplantation studies. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of different doses of streptozotocin (STZ), and find the optimal dose for inducing diabetes in these monkeys. Fifteen juvenile (2–3 years old) cynomolgus monkeys were separated into three groups and...

Induction of seed germination in Orobanche spp. by extracts of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs

The co-evolution of Orobanche spp. and their hosts within the same environment has resulted in a high degree of adaptation and effective parasitism whereby the host releases parasite germination stimulants, which are likely to be unstable in the soil. Our objective was to investigate whether extracts from non-host plants, specifically, Chinese medicinal plants, could stimulate...

Establishment of a transgenic mouse model with liver-specific expression of secretory immunoglobulin D

Mutation of mevalonate kinase (MVK) is thought to account for most cases of hyperimmunoglobulinemia D syndrome (HIDS) with recurrent fever. However, its mechanism and the relationship between elevated serum immunoglobulin D (IgD) and the clinical features of HIDS are unclear. In this study, we generated by fusion PCR a vector to express high levels of chimeric secretory IgD...

Sulfolobus tokodaii RadA paralog, stRadC2, is involved in DNA recombination via interaction with RadA and Hjc

Rad51/RadA paralogs found in eukaryotes and euryarchaea play important roles during recombination and repair, and mutations in one of the human Rad51 paralogs, Rad51C, are associated with breast and ovarian cancers. The hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus tokodaii encodes four putative RadA paralogs and studies on these proteins may assist in understanding the functions of...

Mineralization regulation and biological influence of bioactive glass-collagen-phosphatidylserine composite scaffolds

Biomimetic scaffolds are appealing products for the repair of bone defects using tissue engineering strategies. In the present study, novel biomimetic composite scaffolds, with similar properties to natural bone, were prepared, blended and cross-linked with bioactive glass, type I collagen and phosphatidylserine. When exposed to cell culture solution in the absence of a cellular...

Functions of chromatin remodeling factors in heterochromatin formation and maintenance

Heterochromatin is characteristically more compact than euchromatin in the eukaryotic genome. The establishment of heterochromatin is mediated by special histone modifications, recruitment and propagation of heterochromatin specific proteins, as well as formation of special primary and high order structures of chromatin. Chromatin remodeling factors are ATPases that can alter the...

AURKB and MAPK involvement in the regulation of the early stages of mouse zygote development

Aurora kinases have become a hot topic for research as they have been found to play an important role in various stages of mitotic cell division and to participate in malignant conversions of tumors. The participation of Aurora kinases in the regulation of oocyte meiosis has been recently reported, but their participation in mammalian early embryonic development remained unclear...

Functional study of hyperpolarization activated channel (I h ) in Drosophila behavior

Hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated and cation-nonselective ion channels (I h channels, or HCN channels) are known to play important roles in mammals. Their physiological functions in invertebrate remain largely unclear. Here, we report our studies with I h channel in Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila Ih channel mutants are found with several defects by...

Target deletion of the AAA ATPase PpCDC48II in Physcomitrella patens results in freezing sensitivity after cold acclimation

CDC48 is a highly conserved protein in eukaryotes and belongs to the AAA (ATPase associated with a variety of cellular activities) superfamily. It can interact with many different co-factors and form protein complexes that play important roles in various cellular processes. According to the Physcomitrella patens database, one member of the ATPases, the cell cycle gene PpCDC48II...

Screening for differentially expressed genes in Anoectochilus roxburghii (Orchidaceae) during symbiosis with the mycorrhizal fungus Epulorhiza sp.

Mycorrhizal fungi promote the growth and development of plants, including medicinal plants. The mechanisms by which this growth promotion occurs are of theoretical interest and practical importance to agriculture. Here, an endophytic fungus (AR-18) was isolated from roots of the orchid Anoectochilus roxburghii growing in the wild, and identified as Epulorhiza sp. Tissue-cultured...

The role of virus-derived small interfering RNAs in RNA silencing in plants

Antiviral defense is one of the important roles of RNA silencing in plants. Virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) are found in the infected host cells, indicating that the host RNA silencing machinery can target viral RNAs for destruction. With the development of high-throughput sequencing of vsiRNAs, recent genetic studies have shed light on the origin and composition...

Identification of a suitable endogenous control gene in porcine blastocysts for use in quantitative PCR analysis of microRNAs

To obtain reliable results in quantitative PCR (qPCR) reactions, an endogenous control (EC) gene is needed to correct for systematic variations. In this study, a TaqMan low density array was used to quantify the expression levels of microRNA (miRNA) genes in in vivo fertilized, in vitro fertilized, parthenogenetic and somatic cell nuclear transfer blastocysts. The aim was to...

Development of a colorimetric assay for rapid quantitative measurement of clavulanic acid in microbial samples

We developed a colorimetric assay to quantify clavulanic acid (CA) in culture broth of Streptomyces clavuligerus, to facilitate screening of a large number of S. clavuligerus mutants. The assay is based on a β-lactamase-catalyzed reaction, in which the yellow substrate nitrocefin (λmax=390 nm) is converted to a red product (λmax=486 nm). Since CA can irreversibly inhibit...

Transient silencing mediated by in vitro synthesized double-stranded RNA indicates that PsCdc14 is required for sporangial development in a soybean root rot pathogen

In many eukaryotic organisms, Cdc14 phosphatase regulates multiple biological events during anaphase and is essential for mitosis. It has been shown that Cdc14 is required for sporulation in the potato blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans; however, the role that the Cdc14 homolog (PsCdc14) plays in the soil-borne soybean root rot pathogen P. sojae remains ambiguous. PsCdc14 is...

MicroRNAs in neural cell development and brain diseases

MicroRNAs play important roles in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by inhibiting protein translation and/or promoting mRNA degradation. Importantly, biogenesis of microRNAs displays specific temporal and spatial profiles in distinct cell and tissue types and hence affects a broad spectrum of biological functions in normal cell growth and tumor development...

Genotypic variation in phosphorus acquisition from sparingly soluble P sources is related to root morphology and root exudates in Brassica napus

Genotypic variations in the adaptive response to low-phosphorus (P) stress and P-uptake efficiency have been widely reported in many crops. We conducted a pot experiment to evaluate the P-acquisition ability of two rapeseed (Brassica napus) genotypes supplied with two sparingly soluble sources of P, Al-P and Fe-P. Then, the root morphology, proton concentrations, and carboxylate...