The function of stomata in plants is controlling gas exchange and modulating water balance. The distribution pattern of stomata in most vascular plants follows a certain regulation with at least one normal epidermal c...The function of stomata in plants is controlling gas exchange and modulating water balance. The distribution pattern of stomata in most vascular plants follows a certain regulation with at least one normal epidermal cell between two stomata. However, some plants restricted in several genera of vascular plants have stomatal clusters in which more than one stoma is adjacently arranged with no epidermal cells among them. The developmental process of stomatal clusters in plants, especially in non-mutant (wild type) vascular plants, has rarely been documented, and very few studies concerning the distribution pattern of stomatal clusters on leaf epidermis have been carried out. We reported the developmental mechanism and distribution pattern of stomatal clusters in Begonia peltatifolia Li native to China. The results indicated that the clustered arrangement of meristemoids at the juvenile stage of the leaf development contributed greatly to the pattern of stomatal clusters. Additionally, satellite meristemoids derived from subsidiary cells around the mature stomata also had an impact on the development as well as the pattern of stomatal clusters. Regarding stomatal cluster and singly occurring stoma both as a stomatal unit, we found that the stomatal unit density (i.e., number of stomatal unit per area) increased gradually from the middle part to the edge and the apex of the leaf, while stomatal unit size (i.e., number of stomata per stomatal unit) decreased. The possible reason of this pattern was discussed.展开更多
Gas vesicles are hollow, air-filled polyprotein structures that provide the buoyancy to cells. They are found in a variety of prokaryotes. In this study, we isolated a partial gas vesicle protein gene cluster containi...Gas vesicles are hollow, air-filled polyprotein structures that provide the buoyancy to cells. They are found in a variety of prokaryotes. In this study, we isolated a partial gas vesicle protein gene cluster containing gvpA and gvpC20ψ from Planktothrix rubescens, and inserted it into an expression vector and expressed it in E. coli. The gas vesicle was developed in bacterial cells, which made bacterial cells to float on medium surface. We also amplified gvpA and gvpC20ψ separately and synthesized an artificial operon by fusing these two genes with the standardized gene expression controlling elements of E. coli. The artificial operon was expressed in E. coli, forming gas vesicles and floating bacteria cells. Our findings verified that the whole set of genes and the overall structure of gas vesicle gene cluster are not necessary for developing gas vesicles in bacteria cells. Two genes, gvpA and gvpC20ψ, of the gas vesicle gene cluster are sufficient for synthesizing an artificial operon that can develop gas vesicles in bacteria cells. Our findings provided a wide range of applications including easing the harvest of cultured microalgae and bacteria, as well as enriching and remediating aquatic pollutants by constructing gas vesicles in their ceils.展开更多
The diffusion dynamics of small two-dimensional atomic clusters Cux （1≤x≤8） on Cu（lll） surface were studied using the molecular dynamics simulations and a modified analytic embedded-atom method in the temperatur...The diffusion dynamics of small two-dimensional atomic clusters Cux （1≤x≤8） on Cu（lll） surface were studied using the molecular dynamics simulations and a modified analytic embedded-atom method in the temperature range from 200 K to 800 K. The cluster size and temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficients and migration energies are presented. Our simulations show that the diffusion migration energy of the CuT cluster is the highest and the prefactor for the CuT cluster is almost three orders of magnitude larger than that for single atom diffusion. This conclusion is consistent with the experimental results for similar metals. In addition, the dependence of cluster diffusion on film growth is also discussed.展开更多
Gibberellin 3-oxidase catalyzes the conversion of inactive gibberellin(GA) species into GAs with biological activity and it is subjected to strict developmental controls in the life cycle of a plant. In this study, 33...Gibberellin 3-oxidase catalyzes the conversion of inactive gibberellin(GA) species into GAs with biological activity and it is subjected to strict developmental controls in the life cycle of a plant. In this study, 33 gene sequences, encoding the gibberellin 3-oxidase(GA3ox) from Dasypyrum villosum and its dwarf mutant, were obtained. Each contained a 1 107 bp coding sequence(CDS) that encoded a putative protein containing 369 amino acids. The GA3ox protein showed 77% to 97% homology and shared the major conserved structural domains of GA3ox proteins with rice, sorghum bicolor, oat, barley, and wheat. Sequence alignment showed that there were 20 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) and 22 Insertion/deletions(In Dels) among these sequences, which could be divided into 2 haplotypes, haplotypes Ⅰ and Ⅱ. Haplotype Ⅰ was found in the wild type and was1 495 bp in length, and haplotype Ⅱ was found in the dwarf mutant and was 1 485 bp in length. The Q-PCR results showed that GA3ox was expressed in the leaves, roots, internodes, and stem nodes, and that there was a significant difference in the transcript level of the GA3ox between the wild type and dwarf mutant. The transcript levels of GA3ox in the leaves at the seedling stage, stem elongation stage and the heading stage, in the root and stem nodes at the stem elongation stage and in the internodes at the heading stage of the wild type, were significantly higher than those in the dwarf mutant. However, GA3ox expression in the rest of the wild type tissues at the 3 stages was slightly higher than or not different from the dwarf mutant.The results suggested that the wild type and mutant allele sequences of GA3ox in D. villosum showed 2 amino acid changes in exons and variations in the lengths of introns or the SNPs in introns, which most probably impaired the function of the enzyme,affected the GA3ox expression level, and eventually gave rise to dwarfing.展开更多
The reactions of [PPh4][(5-C5Me5)WS3] with equimolar Hg2Cl2 in DMF produced syn-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2]?.5anti-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2] 1. The structure of 1 was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis....The reactions of [PPh4][(5-C5Me5)WS3] with equimolar Hg2Cl2 in DMF produced syn-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2]?.5anti-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2] 1. The structure of 1 was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. 1 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P (No. 2) with a = 8.400(2), b = 8.729(2), c = 23.329(8) ? ?= 93.329(8), ?= 93.446(2), ?= 96.673(1)? V = 1725.1(5) ?, Z = 2, C30H45S6W3, Mr = 1149.60, Dc = 2.213 g/cm3, F(000) = 1086, (MoK? = 10.37 cm-1 and T = 193 K. With the use of 6199 observed reflections (I > 3.0(I)), the structure was refined to R = 0.053 and wR = 0.065. 1 consists of one syn-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2] and one-half of anti-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2]. Both syn- and anti-isomer contain a four-membered W2(-S)2 ring. The WW distances of the syn and anti forms are 2.8973(5) and 2.9113(8) ? respectively.展开更多
In this work, we proposed a novel three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanostructure based on porous graphene/nickel foam (GNF) and gas-phase deposited Ag nanoparticles (NPs). Ag NPs with high density were directly deposi...In this work, we proposed a novel three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanostructure based on porous graphene/nickel foam (GNF) and gas-phase deposited Ag nanoparticles (NPs). Ag NPs with high density were directly deposited on the surface of 3D GNF by performing a novel cluster beam deposition approach. In comparison with traditional Ag substrate (SiO2/Ag), such hot-spots enriched 3D nanostructure showed extremely high electromag-netic field enhancement under incident light irradiation which could be used as a sensitive chemical sensor based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed nanostructure showed superior SERS performance in terms of Raman signal reproducibility and sensitivity for the probe molecules. 3D full-wave simulation showed that the enhanced SERS performance in this 3D hierarchical plasmonic nanostructure was mainly obtained from the hot-spots between Ag NPs and the near-field coupling between Ag NPs and GNF sca olds. This work can provide a novel assembled SERS substrate as a SERS-based chemical sensor in practical applications.展开更多
Objectives To evaluate the expression profile of myoD microRNA-29 （miR-29） family in L6 myoblast differentiated to myotube or L6 myotube treated by glucose and insulin, and to further probe the molecular mechanism o...Objectives To evaluate the expression profile of myoD microRNA-29 （miR-29） family in L6 myoblast differentiated to myotube or L6 myotube treated by glucose and insulin, and to further probe the molecular mechanism of myoD regulating the expression of miR-29 clusters.展开更多
Uniform clusters of Pt have been deposited on the surface of capping-agent-free CeO2 nanooctahedra and nanorods using electron beam （e-beam） evaporation. The coverage of the Pt nanocluster layer can be controlled by...Uniform clusters of Pt have been deposited on the surface of capping-agent-free CeO2 nanooctahedra and nanorods using electron beam （e-beam） evaporation. The coverage of the Pt nanocluster layer can be controlled by adjusting the e-beam evaporation time. The resulting e-beam evaporated Pt nanocluster layers on the CeO2 surfaces have a clean surface and clean interface between Pt and CeO2. Different growth behaviors of Pt on the two types of CeO2 nanocrystals were observed, with epitaxial growth of Pt on CeO2 nanooctahedra and random growth of Pt on CeO2 nanorods. The structures of the Pt clusters on the two different types of CeO2 nanocrystals have been studied and compared by using them as catalysts for model reactions. The results of hydrogenation reactions clearly showed the clean and similar chemical surface of the Pt clusters in both catalysts. The support- dependent activity of these catalysts was demonstrated by CO oxidation. The Pt/CeO2 nanorods showed much higher activity compared with Pt/CeO2 nanooctahedra because of the higher concentration of oxygen vacancies in the CeO2 nanorods. The structure-dependent selectivity of dehydrogenation reactions indicates that the structures of the Pt on CeO2 nanorods and nanooctahedra are different. Thes differences arise because the metal deposition behaviors are modulated by the strong metal-metal oxide interactions.展开更多
In order to obtain nanomaterials with superparamagnetism and high saturation magnetization, Mn-doped or Zn-doped superparamagnetic ferrite nanoclusters(Mn-FNs or Zn-FNs) were prepared by microwave-assisted solvotherma...In order to obtain nanomaterials with superparamagnetism and high saturation magnetization, Mn-doped or Zn-doped superparamagnetic ferrite nanoclusters(Mn-FNs or Zn-FNs) were prepared by microwave-assisted solvothermal method in this study. Preliminary investigations were performed by transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and dynamic light scattering(DLS) instrument to observe the morphology and measure the particle size, respectively. Afterwards, Zn-FNs were chosen to be further characterized in vitro due to their better morphology and dispersity than Mn-FNs. The subsequent characterizations included crystalline phase, metal content and magnetic properties by X-ray diffractometer(XRD), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry(ICP-MS) and vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM), respectively. The results showed that Zn-FNs had a cluster-like structure assembled by multiple nanoparticles. Zn-FNs were spherical in shape with good dispersity and relatively uniform particle size. Zn was successfully doped in Zn-FNs which demonstrated spinel structure and excellent magnetic properties. Therefore, Zn-FNs had a favorable application prospect as a new type of magnetic nanomaterial.展开更多
The growth of Fe nanoclusters oN the Ge（001） surface has been studied using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy （STM） and density functional theory （DFT） calculations. STM results indicate that Fe nucl...The growth of Fe nanoclusters oN the Ge（001） surface has been studied using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy （STM） and density functional theory （DFT） calculations. STM results indicate that Fe nucleates on the Ge（001） surface, forming well-ordered nanoclusters of uniform size. Depending on the preparation conditions, two types of nanoclusters were observed having either four or sixteen Fe atoms within a nanocluster. The results were confirmed by DFT calculations. Annealing the nanoclusters at 420 K leads to the formation of nanorow structures, due to cluster mobility at such temperature. The Fe nanoclusters and nanorow structures formed on the Ge（001） surface show a superparamagnetic behaviour as measured by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism.展开更多
Spatial expression patterns of homeobox （HOX） genes delineate positional identity of primary fibroblasts from different topo- graphic sites. The molecular mechanism underlying the establishing or maintaining of HOX ...Spatial expression patterns of homeobox （HOX） genes delineate positional identity of primary fibroblasts from different topo- graphic sites. The molecular mechanism underlying the establishing or maintaining of HOX gene expression pattern remains an attractive developmental issue to be addressed. Our previous work suggested a critical role of CTCF/cobesin-mediated high- er-order chromatin structure in RA-induced HOXA activation in human teratocarcinoma NT2/D1 cells. This study investigated the recruitment of CTCF and cohesin, and the higher-order chromatin structure of the HOXA locus in fetal lung and adult foreskin fibroblasts, which display complementary HOXA gene expression patterns. Chromatin contacts between the CTCF-binding sites were observed with lower frequency in human foreskin fibroblasts. This observation is consistent with the lower level of cohesin recruitment and 5＇ HOXA gene expression in the same cells. We also showed that CTCF-binding site A56 （CBSA56） related chromatin structures exhibit the most notable changes in between the two types of cell, and hence may stand for one of the key CTCF-binding sites for cell-type specific chromatin structure organization. Together, these results im- ply that CTCF/cohesin coordinates HOXA cluster higher-order chromatin structure and expression during development, and provide insight into the relationship between cell-type specific chromatin organization and the spatial collinearity.展开更多
Streptothricins (STs) are used commercially to treat bacterial and fungal diseases in agriculture. Mining of the sequenced microbial genomes uncovered two cryptic ST clusters from Streptomyces sp. C and Streptomyces s...Streptothricins (STs) are used commercially to treat bacterial and fungal diseases in agriculture. Mining of the sequenced microbial genomes uncovered two cryptic ST clusters from Streptomyces sp. C and Streptomyces sp. TP-A0356. The ST cluster from S. sp. TP-A0356 was verified by successful heterologous expression in Streptomyces coelicolor M145. Two new ST analogs were produced together with streptothricin F and streptothricin D in the heterologous host. The ST cluster was further confirmed by inactivation of gene stnO, which was proposed encoding an aminomutase supplying -lysines for the poly-β-Lys chain formation. A putative biosynthetic pathway for STs is proposed based on bioinformatics analyses of the ST genes and experimental evidence.展开更多
文摘The function of stomata in plants is controlling gas exchange and modulating water balance. The distribution pattern of stomata in most vascular plants follows a certain regulation with at least one normal epidermal cell between two stomata. However, some plants restricted in several genera of vascular plants have stomatal clusters in which more than one stoma is adjacently arranged with no epidermal cells among them. The developmental process of stomatal clusters in plants, especially in non-mutant (wild type) vascular plants, has rarely been documented, and very few studies concerning the distribution pattern of stomatal clusters on leaf epidermis have been carried out. We reported the developmental mechanism and distribution pattern of stomatal clusters in Begonia peltatifolia Li native to China. The results indicated that the clustered arrangement of meristemoids at the juvenile stage of the leaf development contributed greatly to the pattern of stomatal clusters. Additionally, satellite meristemoids derived from subsidiary cells around the mature stomata also had an impact on the development as well as the pattern of stomatal clusters. Regarding stomatal cluster and singly occurring stoma both as a stomatal unit, we found that the stomatal unit density (i.e., number of stomatal unit per area) increased gradually from the middle part to the edge and the apex of the leaf, while stomatal unit size (i.e., number of stomata per stomatal unit) decreased. The possible reason of this pattern was discussed.
基金supported by Undergraduate Institution of Marine Biological Science, Ocean University of China (OUC)
文摘Gas vesicles are hollow, air-filled polyprotein structures that provide the buoyancy to cells. They are found in a variety of prokaryotes. In this study, we isolated a partial gas vesicle protein gene cluster containing gvpA and gvpC20ψ from Planktothrix rubescens, and inserted it into an expression vector and expressed it in E. coli. The gas vesicle was developed in bacterial cells, which made bacterial cells to float on medium surface. We also amplified gvpA and gvpC20ψ separately and synthesized an artificial operon by fusing these two genes with the standardized gene expression controlling elements of E. coli. The artificial operon was expressed in E. coli, forming gas vesicles and floating bacteria cells. Our findings verified that the whole set of genes and the overall structure of gas vesicle gene cluster are not necessary for developing gas vesicles in bacteria cells. Two genes, gvpA and gvpC20ψ, of the gas vesicle gene cluster are sufficient for synthesizing an artificial operon that can develop gas vesicles in bacteria cells. Our findings provided a wide range of applications including easing the harvest of cultured microalgae and bacteria, as well as enriching and remediating aquatic pollutants by constructing gas vesicles in their ceils.
基金ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported Natural Science Foundation by the Hunan Provincial of China （No.06JJ2100）.
文摘The diffusion dynamics of small two-dimensional atomic clusters Cux （1≤x≤8） on Cu（lll） surface were studied using the molecular dynamics simulations and a modified analytic embedded-atom method in the temperature range from 200 K to 800 K. The cluster size and temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficients and migration energies are presented. Our simulations show that the diffusion migration energy of the CuT cluster is the highest and the prefactor for the CuT cluster is almost three orders of magnitude larger than that for single atom diffusion. This conclusion is consistent with the experimental results for similar metals. In addition, the dependence of cluster diffusion on film growth is also discussed.
文摘Gibberellin 3-oxidase catalyzes the conversion of inactive gibberellin(GA) species into GAs with biological activity and it is subjected to strict developmental controls in the life cycle of a plant. In this study, 33 gene sequences, encoding the gibberellin 3-oxidase(GA3ox) from Dasypyrum villosum and its dwarf mutant, were obtained. Each contained a 1 107 bp coding sequence(CDS) that encoded a putative protein containing 369 amino acids. The GA3ox protein showed 77% to 97% homology and shared the major conserved structural domains of GA3ox proteins with rice, sorghum bicolor, oat, barley, and wheat. Sequence alignment showed that there were 20 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) and 22 Insertion/deletions(In Dels) among these sequences, which could be divided into 2 haplotypes, haplotypes Ⅰ and Ⅱ. Haplotype Ⅰ was found in the wild type and was1 495 bp in length, and haplotype Ⅱ was found in the dwarf mutant and was 1 485 bp in length. The Q-PCR results showed that GA3ox was expressed in the leaves, roots, internodes, and stem nodes, and that there was a significant difference in the transcript level of the GA3ox between the wild type and dwarf mutant. The transcript levels of GA3ox in the leaves at the seedling stage, stem elongation stage and the heading stage, in the root and stem nodes at the stem elongation stage and in the internodes at the heading stage of the wild type, were significantly higher than those in the dwarf mutant. However, GA3ox expression in the rest of the wild type tissues at the 3 stages was slightly higher than or not different from the dwarf mutant.The results suggested that the wild type and mutant allele sequences of GA3ox in D. villosum showed 2 amino acid changes in exons and variations in the lengths of introns or the SNPs in introns, which most probably impaired the function of the enzyme,affected the GA3ox expression level, and eventually gave rise to dwarfing.
文摘The reactions of [PPh4][(5-C5Me5)WS3] with equimolar Hg2Cl2 in DMF produced syn-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2]?.5anti-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2] 1. The structure of 1 was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. 1 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P (No. 2) with a = 8.400(2), b = 8.729(2), c = 23.329(8) ? ?= 93.329(8), ?= 93.446(2), ?= 96.673(1)? V = 1725.1(5) ?, Z = 2, C30H45S6W3, Mr = 1149.60, Dc = 2.213 g/cm3, F(000) = 1086, (MoK? = 10.37 cm-1 and T = 193 K. With the use of 6199 observed reflections (I > 3.0(I)), the structure was refined to R = 0.053 and wR = 0.065. 1 consists of one syn-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2] and one-half of anti-[(5-C5Me5)2W2(S)2(-S)2]. Both syn- and anti-isomer contain a four-membered W2(-S)2 ring. The WW distances of the syn and anti forms are 2.8973(5) and 2.9113(8) ? respectively.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.11604161)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No.BK20160914)+2 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (No.16KJB140009)the Foundation from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunication (No.NY216012)the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sk lodowska-Curie Grant (No.752102)
文摘In this work, we proposed a novel three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanostructure based on porous graphene/nickel foam (GNF) and gas-phase deposited Ag nanoparticles (NPs). Ag NPs with high density were directly deposited on the surface of 3D GNF by performing a novel cluster beam deposition approach. In comparison with traditional Ag substrate (SiO2/Ag), such hot-spots enriched 3D nanostructure showed extremely high electromag-netic field enhancement under incident light irradiation which could be used as a sensitive chemical sensor based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed nanostructure showed superior SERS performance in terms of Raman signal reproducibility and sensitivity for the probe molecules. 3D full-wave simulation showed that the enhanced SERS performance in this 3D hierarchical plasmonic nanostructure was mainly obtained from the hot-spots between Ag NPs and the near-field coupling between Ag NPs and GNF sca olds. This work can provide a novel assembled SERS substrate as a SERS-based chemical sensor in practical applications.
基金Supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China(81100608 and 30901342)
文摘Objectives To evaluate the expression profile of myoD microRNA-29 （miR-29） family in L6 myoblast differentiated to myotube or L6 myotube treated by glucose and insulin, and to further probe the molecular mechanism of myoD regulating the expression of miR-29 clusters.
文摘Uniform clusters of Pt have been deposited on the surface of capping-agent-free CeO2 nanooctahedra and nanorods using electron beam （e-beam） evaporation. The coverage of the Pt nanocluster layer can be controlled by adjusting the e-beam evaporation time. The resulting e-beam evaporated Pt nanocluster layers on the CeO2 surfaces have a clean surface and clean interface between Pt and CeO2. Different growth behaviors of Pt on the two types of CeO2 nanocrystals were observed, with epitaxial growth of Pt on CeO2 nanooctahedra and random growth of Pt on CeO2 nanorods. The structures of the Pt clusters on the two different types of CeO2 nanocrystals have been studied and compared by using them as catalysts for model reactions. The results of hydrogenation reactions clearly showed the clean and similar chemical surface of the Pt clusters in both catalysts. The support- dependent activity of these catalysts was demonstrated by CO oxidation. The Pt/CeO2 nanorods showed much higher activity compared with Pt/CeO2 nanooctahedra because of the higher concentration of oxygen vacancies in the CeO2 nanorods. The structure-dependent selectivity of dehydrogenation reactions indicates that the structures of the Pt on CeO2 nanorods and nanooctahedra are different. Thes differences arise because the metal deposition behaviors are modulated by the strong metal-metal oxide interactions.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.81571779).
文摘In order to obtain nanomaterials with superparamagnetism and high saturation magnetization, Mn-doped or Zn-doped superparamagnetic ferrite nanoclusters(Mn-FNs or Zn-FNs) were prepared by microwave-assisted solvothermal method in this study. Preliminary investigations were performed by transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and dynamic light scattering(DLS) instrument to observe the morphology and measure the particle size, respectively. Afterwards, Zn-FNs were chosen to be further characterized in vitro due to their better morphology and dispersity than Mn-FNs. The subsequent characterizations included crystalline phase, metal content and magnetic properties by X-ray diffractometer(XRD), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry(ICP-MS) and vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM), respectively. The results showed that Zn-FNs had a cluster-like structure assembled by multiple nanoparticles. Zn-FNs were spherical in shape with good dispersity and relatively uniform particle size. Zn was successfully doped in Zn-FNs which demonstrated spinel structure and excellent magnetic properties. Therefore, Zn-FNs had a favorable application prospect as a new type of magnetic nanomaterial.
基金This work was supported by Science Foundation Ireland （Principal Investigator grant No. 06/IN.1/191 and Research Frontiers Programme grant No. 07/ RFP/MASF185）. The authors wish to thank Trinity College High Performance Cluster, funded by the Higher Education Authority under the Program for Research in Third Level Institutes, for the use of their computing facilities.
文摘The growth of Fe nanoclusters oN the Ge（001） surface has been studied using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy （STM） and density functional theory （DFT） calculations. STM results indicate that Fe nucleates on the Ge（001） surface, forming well-ordered nanoclusters of uniform size. Depending on the preparation conditions, two types of nanoclusters were observed having either four or sixteen Fe atoms within a nanocluster. The results were confirmed by DFT calculations. Annealing the nanoclusters at 420 K leads to the formation of nanorow structures, due to cluster mobility at such temperature. The Fe nanoclusters and nanorow structures formed on the Ge（001） surface show a superparamagnetic behaviour as measured by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31030026)the National Basic Research Program(2011CB-965203)the PUMC Youth funds(3332013138)
文摘Spatial expression patterns of homeobox （HOX） genes delineate positional identity of primary fibroblasts from different topo- graphic sites. The molecular mechanism underlying the establishing or maintaining of HOX gene expression pattern remains an attractive developmental issue to be addressed. Our previous work suggested a critical role of CTCF/cobesin-mediated high- er-order chromatin structure in RA-induced HOXA activation in human teratocarcinoma NT2/D1 cells. This study investigated the recruitment of CTCF and cohesin, and the higher-order chromatin structure of the HOXA locus in fetal lung and adult foreskin fibroblasts, which display complementary HOXA gene expression patterns. Chromatin contacts between the CTCF-binding sites were observed with lower frequency in human foreskin fibroblasts. This observation is consistent with the lower level of cohesin recruitment and 5＇ HOXA gene expression in the same cells. We also showed that CTCF-binding site A56 （CBSA56） related chromatin structures exhibit the most notable changes in between the two types of cell, and hence may stand for one of the key CTCF-binding sites for cell-type specific chromatin structure organization. Together, these results im- ply that CTCF/cohesin coordinates HOXA cluster higher-order chromatin structure and expression during development, and provide insight into the relationship between cell-type specific chromatin organization and the spatial collinearity.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170037)Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2013CB734003)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2013M530755)
文摘Streptothricins (STs) are used commercially to treat bacterial and fungal diseases in agriculture. Mining of the sequenced microbial genomes uncovered two cryptic ST clusters from Streptomyces sp. C and Streptomyces sp. TP-A0356. The ST cluster from S. sp. TP-A0356 was verified by successful heterologous expression in Streptomyces coelicolor M145. Two new ST analogs were produced together with streptothricin F and streptothricin D in the heterologous host. The ST cluster was further confirmed by inactivation of gene stnO, which was proposed encoding an aminomutase supplying -lysines for the poly-β-Lys chain formation. A putative biosynthetic pathway for STs is proposed based on bioinformatics analyses of the ST genes and experimental evidence.
