VISUALIZATION OF THE CHROMOSOME SCAFFOLD IN A PRIMITIVE EUKARYOTE DINOFLAGELLATE CRYPTHECOAINIUM-COHNII

The chromosome scaffolds in higher eukaryotic nuclei have been described elsewhere. But it is unknown when they evolved. The dinoflagellates are the primitive organisms that may be the intermediate between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Combining chromosome scaffold preparation methods with embedment-free section microscopy, we demonstrate that the dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii chromosome retains a protein scaffold after the depletion of DNA and soluble proteins. This scaffold preserves the morphology characteristic of the chromosome. Two-dimensional electrophoreses show that the chromosome scaffolds are mainly composed of acidic proteins. Our results suggest that a framework similar to the chromosome scaffold in the mammalian cell appeared in the primitive eukaryote. We propose that the chromosome scaffold possibly originated from the early stages of eukaryote evolution.

Motilin and ghrelin gene experienced episodic evolution during primitive placental mammal evolution

Motilin and ghrelin, members of a structure-function-related hormone family, play important roles in gastrointestinal function, regulation of energy homeostasis and growth hormone secretion. We observed episodic evolution in both of their prehormone gene sequences during primitive placental mammal evolution, during which most of the nonsynonymous changes result in radical substitution. Of note, a functional obestatin hormone might have only originated after this episodic evolution event. Early in placental mammal evolution, a series of biology complexities evolved. At the same time the motilin and ghrelin prehormone genes, which play important roles in several of these processes, experienced episodic evolution with dramatic changes in their coding sequences. These observations suggest that some of the lineage-specific physiological adaptations are due to episodic evolution of the motilin and ghrelin genes.

一篇探索真核细胞核起源的力作——读李靖炎先生的长篇近作“The primitive nucleus model and the origin of the cell nucleus”

《胞内共生与细胞研究》( 《Endocytobiosis and Cell Research》)是由国际胞内共生学会(International Society of Endocytobiology, ISE)主办的期刊, 它主要发表有关内共生物(endosy mbioses)和真核细胞的起源、发展、分化、进化和系统发育的研究论文. 在胞内共生和真核细胞的起源进化研究领域享有声誉. 去年该杂志发表了我国学者李靖炎先生的长篇论著“The primitive nucleus model and the origin of the cell nucleus(原始细胞核的模型与细胞核的起源)”(见1999, 13(1-3):1-86). 国外一家 SCI 收录的专业性刊物为中国学者发表一篇长达86页的 Review, 实不多见, 是我国学者在此领域的殊荣。

Nuclear matrix of the most primitive eukaryote Archezoa

Accumulating evidence suggests that unicellular Archezoa are the most primitive eukaryotes and their nuclei are of significance to the study of evolution of the eukaryotic nucleus. Nuclear matrix is an ubiquitous important structure of eukaryotic nucleus; its evolution is certainly one of the most important parts of the evolution of nucleus. To study the evolution of nuclear matrix, nuclear matrices of Archezoa are investigated. Giardia lamblia cells are extracted sequentially. Both embedment-free section EM and whole mount cell EM of the extracted cells show that, like higher eukaryotes, this species has a residual nuclear matrix in its nucleus and rich intermediate filaments in its cytoplasm, and the two networks connect with each other to form a united network. But its nuclear matrix does not have nucleolar matrix and its lamina is not as typical as that of higher eukaryotes; Western blotting shows that lamina of Giardia and two other Archezoa Entamoeba invadens and Trichomonas vaginali all contain only one polypeptide each which reacts with a mammalia anti-lamin polyclonal serum and is similar to lamin B (67 ku) of mammlia in molecular weight. According to the results and references, it is suggested that nuclear matrix is an early acquisition of the eukaryotic nucleus, and it and the "eukaryotic chromatin" as a whole must have originated very early in the process of evolution of eukaryotic cell, and their origin should be an important prerequisite of the origin of eukaryotic nucleus; in the iamin (gene) family, B-type lamins (gene) should be the ancestral type and that A-type lamins (gene) might derive therefrom.

Sequence variations of the S7 ribosomal protein gene in primitive cyprinid fishes: Implication on phylogenetic analysis

Cyprinidae is the largest fish family in the world and contains about 210 genera and 2010 species. Appropriate DNA markers must be selected for the phylogenetic analyses of Cyprinidae. In present study, the 1st intron of the S7 ribosomal protein (r-protein) gene is first used to examine the relationships among cyprinid fishes. The length of the 1st intron obtained by PCR amplification ranges from 655 to 859 by in the 16 cyprinid species investigated, and is 602 by in Myxocyprinus asiaticus. Out of the alignment of 925 nucleotide sites obtained, the parsimony informative sites are 499 and occupy 54% of the total sites. The results indicate that the 1st intron sequences of the S7 r-protein gene in cyprinids are rich in informative sites and vary remarkably in sequence divergence from 2.3% between close species to 66.6% between distant species. The bootstrap values of the interior nodes in the NJ (neighbor-joining) and MP (most-parsimony) trees based on the present S7 r-protein gene data are higher than those based on cytochrome b and the d-loop region respectively. Therefore, the 1st intron sequences of the S7 r-protein gene in cyprinids are sensitive enough for phylogenetic analyses, and the 1st intron is an appropriate genetic marker for the phylogenetic reconstruction of the taxa in different cyprinid subfamilies. However, attempts to discuss whether the present S7 r-protein gene data can be applied to the phylogeny of the taxa at the level of the family or the higher categories in Cypriniformes need further studies.

Sequences of cytochrome b gene for primitive cyprinid fishes in East Asia and their phylogenetic concerning

1140 bp of cytochrome b gene were amplified and sequenced from 14 species of primitive cyprinid fishes in East Asia. Aligned with other ten cytochrome b gene sequences of cyprinid fish from Europe and North America retrieved from Gene bank, we obtained a matrix of 24 DNA sequences. A cladogram was generated by the method of Maximum likelihood for the primitive cyprinid fishes. The result indicated that subfamily Leuciscinae and Danioninae do not form a monophyletic group. In the subfamily Danioninae, Opsariichthys biden and Zacco platypus are very primitive and form a natural group and located at the root. But the genera in subfamily Danioninae are included in different groups and have not direct relationship. Among them, Aphyocypris chinensis and Yaoshanicus arcus form a monophyletic group. Tanichthys albonubes and Gobiocypris rarus have a close relation to Gobioninae. The genus Danio is far from other genera in Danioninae, In our cladogram, the genera in Leuciscinae were divided into two groups that have no direct relationship. The genera in Leuciscinae distributed in Europe, Sibera and North America, including Leuciscus, Rutilus, Phoxinus, N. crysole, Opsopoeodus emilae, form a monophyletic group. And the Leuciscinae in southern China including Ctenopharyngodon idellus, Mylopharyngodon piceus, Squalibarbus and Ochetobius elongatus have a common origination.

环境变迁在中国文明形成中的作用

The formation of civilization, one of great marks in the history of human's society development, has been remained one of the hottest topics in the world. Many theories have been put ford to explain its causes and mechanisms. Although more attentions have been paid to its development, the role of environmental change should not be ignored. In this paper, the level of ancient farming productivity was analyzed, the mechanisms and the process of Chinese ancient civilization formation was explored, and some causes why Chinese ancient civilization shows many different features from other 5 ancient civilizations of the world was analyzed. The main results and conclusions are presented as followed. 1. Compared with the productivity level of other five ancient civilizations, the productivity of ancient China characterized by a feature of extensive not intensive cultivation was lower than that of other five ancient civilizations whose agriculture were based on irrigation. 2. The 5 5000 a B.P. cold event may have facilitated the formation of Egypt and Mesopotamian ancient civilizations and also have had an influence on the development of Neolithic culture in China. 3. The 4 000 a B.P. cold event, which may be the coldest period since the Younger Dryas cold event and signifies the changes from the early Holocene Climate Optimum to late Holocene in many regions of the world, resulted in the great migration of the Indo-European peoples from north Europe to other part of the World and the collapses of ancient civilizations in Egypt, Indus and the Mesopotamian and the collapse of five Neolithic cultures around central China. More important than that is the emergence of Chinese civilization during the same period. Many theories have been put ford to explain why it was in Zhongyuan area not other places whose Neolithic cultures seem more advanced that gave rise to civilization. For now no theory could explain it satisfiedly. Archaeological evidence clearly demonstrate that war was prevailed the whole China especially during the late Longshan culture period, so it seemed war has played a very important role in the emergence of China ancient civilization. Carneiro sees two conditions as essential to the formation of complex societies in concert with warfare, i.e. population growth and environmental circumscription. It was generally through that China couldn't evolved into the environmental circumscription and population pressure because China has extensive areas to live, but that depends on situations. The environmental circumscription area was formed due to the 4000a B.P. cold event and companied flooding disasters, while the population pressure is formed due to three factors; 1) population grow rapidly because of the suitable environment provided by the Holocene Optimum and thus laid its foundations for the ancient human population; 2) population pressure is also related to the primitive agricultural level characterized by extensive not intensive cultivation; 3) population pressure was mainly related to the great migrations of people to the same areas; 4) population pressure was also related to productivity decrease due to the 4 000a B.P. cold event. 4. When population pressure is formed, war is the most possible way to solve the intensions between population and the limited cultivated land and then resulted in the formation of civilization. In this way the climate change during the 4 000a B.P. cold event may have facilitated the emergence of Chinese ancient civilization. Their detailed relations could also be further understood in this way: The first birth places of China ancient civilization could be in Changjiang areas or (and) Daihai area, Shandong province rather than in central China and the emergence time of ancient civilization formed in central China should be delayed if the 4 000a B.P. cold event and companied flooding disasters didn't occurred.