Comparative genomics of trypanosomatid parasitic protozoa     

El-Sayed NM  Myler PJ  Blandin G  Berriman M  Crabtree J  Aggarwal G  Caler E  Renauld H  Worthey EA  Hertz-Fowler C  Ghedin E  Peacock C  Bartholomeu DC  Haas BJ  Tran AN  Wortman JR  Alsmark UC  Angiuoli S  Anupama A  Badger J  Bringaud F  Cadag E  Carlton JM  Cerqueira GC  Creasy T  Delcher AL  Djikeng A  Embley TM  Hauser C  Ivens AC  Kummerfeld SK  Pereira-Leal JB  Nilsson D  Peterson J  Salzberg SL  Shallom J  Silva JC  Sundaram J  Westenberger S  White O  Melville SE  Donelson JE  Andersson B  Stuart KD  Hall N 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2005,309(5733):404-409

A comparison of gene content and genome architecture of Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Leishmania major, three related pathogens with different life cycles and disease pathology, revealed a conserved core proteome of about 6200 genes in large syntenic polycistronic gene clusters. Many species-specific genes, especially large surface antigen families, occur at nonsyntenic chromosome-internal and subtelomeric regions. Retroelements, structural RNAs, and gene family expansion are often associated with syntenic discontinuities that-along with gene divergence, acquisition and loss, and rearrangement within the syntenic regions-have shaped the genomes of each parasite. Contrary to recent reports, our analyses reveal no evidence that these species are descended from an ancestor that contained a photosynthetic endosymbiont.  相似文献   

Phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein by viral protein with cyclin-dependent kinase function     

Hume AJ  Finkel JS  Kamil JP  Coen DM  Culbertson MR  Kalejta RF 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2008,320(5877):797-799

As obligate intracellular parasites, viruses expertly modify cellular processes to facilitate their replication and spread, often by encoding genes that mimic the functions of cellular proteins while lacking regulatory features that modify their activity. We show that the human cytomegalovirus UL97 protein has activities similar to cellular cyclin-cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) complexes. UL97 phosphorylated and inactivated the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor, stimulated cell cycle progression in mammalian cells, and rescued proliferation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae lacking CDK activity. UL97 is not inhibited by the CDK inhibitor p21 and lacks amino acid residues conserved in the CDKs that permit the attenuation of kinase activity. Thus, UL97 represents a functional ortholog of cellular CDKs that is immune from normal CDK control mechanisms.  相似文献   

Frequent recombination in a saltern population of Halorubrum     

Papke RT  Koenig JE  Rodríguez-Valera F  Doolittle WF 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2004,306(5703):1928-1929

Sex and recombination are driving forces in the evolution of eukaryotes. Homologous recombination is known to be the dominant process in the divergence of many bacterial species. For Archaea, the only direct evidence bearing on the importance or natural occurrence of homologous recombination is anecdotal reports of mosaicism from comparative genomic studies. Genetic studies, however, reveal that recombination may play a significant role in generating diversity among members of at least one archaeal group, the haloarchaea. We used multi-locus sequence typing to demonstrate that haloarchaea exchange genetic information promiscuously, exhibiting a degree of linkage equilibrium approaching that of a sexual population.  相似文献   

Amplification of acetylcholine-binding catenanes from dynamic combinatorial libraries     

Lam RT  Belenguer A  Roberts SL  Naumann C  Jarrosson T  Otto S  Sanders JK 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2005,308(5722):667-669

Directed chemical synthesis can produce a vast range of molecular structures, but the intended product must be known at the outset. In contrast, evolution in nature can lead to efficient receptors and catalysts whose structures defy prediction. To access such unpredictable structures, we prepared dynamic combinatorial libraries in which reversibly binding building blocks assemble around a receptor target. We selected for an acetylcholine receptor by adding the neurotransmitter to solutions of dipeptide hydrazones [proline-phenylalanine or proline-(cyclohexyl)alanine], which reversibly combine through hydrazone linkages. At thermodynamic equilibrium, the dominant receptor structure was an elaborate [2]-catenane consisting of two interlocked macrocyclic trimers. This complex receptor with a 100 nM affinity for acetylcholine could be isolated on a preparative scale in 67% yield.  相似文献   

Nest inheritance is the missing source of direct fitness in a primitively eusocial insect     

Leadbeater E  Carruthers JM  Green JP  Rosser NS  Field J 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2011,333(6044):874-876

Animals that cooperate with nonrelatives represent a challenge to inclusive fitness theory, unless cooperative behavior is shown to provide direct fitness benefits. Inheritance of breeding resources could provide such benefits, but this route to cooperation has been little investigated in the social insects. We show that nest inheritance can explain the presence of unrelated helpers in a classic social insect model, the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes dominulus. We found that subordinate helpers produced more direct offspring than lone breeders, some while still subordinate but most after inheriting the dominant position. Thus, while indirect fitness obtained through helping relatives has been the dominant paradigm for understanding eusociality in insects, direct fitness is vital to explain cooperation in P. dominulus.  相似文献   

Appendage regeneration in adult vertebrates and implications for regenerative medicine     

Brockes JP  Kumar A 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2005,310(5756):1919-1923

The regeneration of complex structures in adult salamanders depends on mechanisms that offer pointers for regenerative medicine. These include the plasticity of differentiated cells and the retention in regenerative cells of local cues such as positional identity. Limb regeneration proceeds by the local formation of a blastema, a growth zone of mesenchymal stem cells on the stump. The blastema can regenerate autonomously as a self-organizing system over variable linear dimensions. Here we consider the prospects for limb regeneration in mammals from this viewpoint.  相似文献   

Chemistry. Getting the farm out of pharma for heparin production     

Turnbull JE 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2011,334(6055):462-463

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Carbon storage and spatial distribution patterns of paddy soils in China   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Hongjie Wang  Qinghua Liu  Xuezheng Shi  Dongsheng Yu  Yongcun Zhao  Weixia Sun  Jeremy Landon Darilek 《Frontiers of Agriculture in China》2007,1(2):149-154

Carbon storage in agricultural soils plays a key role in terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycles. Paddy soil is one of the major cultivated soil types in China and is of critical significance in studies on soil carbon sequestration. This paper estimated the organic and inorganic carbon density and storage in paddy soils, and analyzed the paddy soil stock spatial distribution patterns in China based on subgroups and regions using the newly compiled 1:1 000 000 digital soil map of China as well as data from 1 490 paddy soil profiles. Results showed that paddy soils in China cover an area of about 45.69 Mhm², accounting for 4.92% of total soil area in China. Soil organic and inorganic carbon densities of paddy soils in China showed a great heterogeneity. Paddy soil organic carbon densities (SOCD) in soil profile ranged from 0.53 to 446.2 kg/m² (0 to 100 cm) while the paddy soil inorganic carbon densities (SICD) ranged from 0.05 to 90.03 kg/m². Soil organic carbon densities of paddy soils in surface layer ranged from 0.17 to 55.38 kg/m² (0 to 20 cm), with SICD of paddy soils ranging from 0.01 to 21.85 kg/m². Profile based and surface layer based paddy soil carbon storages (SCS) are 5.39 Pg and 1.79 Pg, respectively. Paddy soil organic carbon storage (SOCS) accounts for 95% of the total carbon storage. Profile based and surface layer based SOCS of paddy soils are 5.09 Pg and 1.72 Pg, respectively. Soil inorganic carbon storage (SICS) of paddy soils accounts for 5% of the total carbon storage in China. Profile based and surface layer based paddy SICS are 0.30 Pg and 0.07 Pg respectively. Among all the eight paddy soil subgroups, hydromorphic, submergenic and percogenic paddy soils account for 85.2% of the total paddy soil areas all over China. Consequently, profile based carbon storages of these three subgroups account for 78.1% of the total profile based paddy SCS in China. Most paddy soils in China are distributed in the East-China, South-China and South-west China regions, therefore, 92.6% of China’s profile based paddy SCS focuses on these three regions. The estimates of soil carbon stocks in paddy soils will help to identify areas or soil subgroups which are of particular interest for soil carbon gains and losses. Translated from Ecology and Environment, 2006, 15(4): 659–664 [译自: 生态环境]  相似文献   

The unusual nature of recent snowpack declines in the North American cordillera     

Pederson GT  Gray ST  Woodhouse CA  Betancourt JL  Fagre DB  Littell JS  Watson E  Luckman BH  Graumlich LJ 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2011,333(6040):332-335

In western North America, snowpack has declined in recent decades, and further losses are projected through the 21st century. Here, we evaluate the uniqueness of recent declines using snowpack reconstructions from 66 tree-ring chronologies in key runoff-generating areas of the Colorado, Columbia, and Missouri River drainages. Over the past millennium, late 20th century snowpack reductions are almost unprecedented in magnitude across the northern Rocky Mountains and in their north-south synchrony across the cordillera. Both the snowpack declines and their synchrony result from unparalleled springtime warming that is due to positive reinforcement of the anthropogenic warming by decadal variability. The increasing role of warming on large-scale snowpack variability and trends foreshadows fundamental impacts on streamflow and water supplies across the western United States.  相似文献   

Using DNA from museum specimens to preserve the integrity of evolutionarily significant unit boundaries in threatened species     

Justyna Zofia Paplinska  David A. Taggart  Tony Corrigan  Mark D.B. Eldridge  Jeremy J. Austin 《Biological conservation》2011,(1):290-297

Use of DNA from museum samples is a powerful tool to directly establish historical ESU boundaries in areas where populations of a species have been extirpated. The brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) has suffered extensive reductions in range and population size since European settlement in Australia. Populations of this species have been grouped into three putative evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) which were likely once contiguous along the south-east coast of Australia. However, there is currently a gap of ∼320 km between extant populations of the southern and central ESUs. Conservation plans for the brush-tailed rock-wallaby include re-introductions of animals to locations within their former range. In order to preserve the historic geographic integrity of the genetic lineages within the species, it is necessary to map the boundary between the southern ESU and central ESU to allow more informed management decisions about which lineages should be used to re-stock specific geographic locations. We have extracted DNA from samples from museum specimens that come from locations between the southernmost extant colony of the central ESU and the remaining wild colony of the southern ESU. We sequenced a 177 bp interval of the left domain of the mitochondrial DNA control region and used phylogenetic analysis to group obtained sequences with previously published sequences belonging to the three ESUs. We have extended the range of the central ESU southwards and the range of the southern ESU northwards such that the gap between the ESUs is now approximately 160 km. We recommend that, where suitable historical museum collections exist, this technique be incorporated into re-introduction plans for other threatened species.  相似文献