Phylogeny of east Asian bufonids inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences (Anura : Amphibia)

We investigated the relationships of Asian bufonids using partial sequences of mitochondrial DNA genes. Twenty-six samples representing 14 species of Bufo from China and Vietnam and 2 species of Torrentophryne from China were examined. Three samples of Bufo viridis from Armenia and Georgia were also sequenced to make a comparison to its sibling tetraploid species B. danatensis. Bufo americanus, from Canada, was used as the outgroup. Sequences from the 12S ribosomal RNA, 16S ribosomal RNA, cytochrome b, and the control region were analyzed using parsimony. East Asian bufonids were grouped into two major clades. One clade included B. andrewsi, B. bankorensis, B. gargarizans, B. tibetanus, B. tuberculatus, its sister clade B. cryptotympanicus, and the 2 species of Torrentophryne. The second clade consisted of B. galeatus, B. himalayanus, B. melanostictus, and a new species from Vietnam. The placement of three taxa (B. raddei B. viridis, and its sister species, B. danatensis) was problematic. The genus Torrentophryne should be synonymized with Bufo to remove paraphyly. Because B. raddei does not belong to the clade that includes B. viridis and B. danatensis, it was removed from the viridis species group. The species status of B bankorensis from Taiwan is evaluated. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

Additional angles to calculate the deformation of RNA helices induced by bulge loops

Bulges are common features of folded RNA structures. The RNA axial kinking caused by bulges has been confirmed by many experiments. Usually, a kinking angle zeta and a bending angle theta are used to describe the kinking and twisting of RNA molecules containing bulges. Here, we present two additional angles (twist angle zeta(1), twist angle zeta(2)) to describe the deformation of RNA helices induced by bulge loops because only two angles (a kinking angle zeta and a bending angle theta) are not enough to define the deformation of RNA induced by bulges. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Dynamics of RNA with A6 bulge loop

In order to understand the behavior of RNAs with large bulges In solution, molecular dynamics was performed on the RNA molecule in water with A6 bulge. The result of simulation showed that nonstacked conformation Is the main conformation in large bulges, and the backbone of large bulge is of great conformational flexibility, but bulges-induced bends are relatively rigid. The fluctuation in bulge has little influence on the bend angle of RNAs.

Stable RNA hairpins in 88 coding regions of human mRNA

RNA hairpins containing UNCG, GNRA, CUUG (N = A, U, C or G, R = G or A) loops are unusually thermodynamic stable and conserved structures. The structural features of these hairpin loops are very special, and they play very important roles in vivo. They are prevalent in rRNA, catalytic RNA and non-coding mRNA. However, the 5' C(UUCG)G 3' hairpin is not found in the folding structure of 88 human mRNA coding regions. It is also different from rRNA in that there is no preference for certain sequences among tetraloops in these 88 mRNA folding structures.

Statistical correlation between protein secondary structure and messenger RNA stem-loop structure

Anew integrated sequence-structure database, called IADE (Integrated ASTRAL-DSSP-EMBL), incorporating matching mRNA sequence, amino acid sequence, and protein secondary structural data, is constructed. It includes 648 protein domains. Based on the IADE database, we studied the relation between RNA stem-loop frequencies and protein secondary structure. It was found that the alpha-helices and beta-strands on proteins tend to be preferably "coded" by mRNA stem region, while the coils on proteins tend to be preferably "coded" by mRNA loop region. These tendencies are more obvious if we observe the structural words (SWs). An SW is defined by a four-amino-acid-fragment that shows the pronounced secondary structural (alpha-helix or beta-strand) propensity. It is demonstrated that the deduced correlation between protein and mRNA structure can hardly be explained as the stochastic fluctuation effect. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cardioviral RNA structure logo analysis: entropy, correlations, and prediction

In recent years, there has been an increased number of sequenced RNAs leading to the development of new RNA databases. Thus, predicting RNA structure from multiple alignments is an important issue to understand its function. Since RNA secondary structures are often conserved in evolution, developing methods to identify covariate sites in an alignment can be essential for discovering structural elements. Structure Logo is a technique established on the basis of entropy and mutual information measured to analyze RNA sequences from an alignment. We proposed an efficient Structure Logo approach to analyze conservations and correlations in a set of Cardioviral RNA sequences. The entropy and mutual information content were measured to examine the conservations and correlations, respectively. The conserved secondary structure motifs were predicted on the basis of the conservation and correlation analyses. Our predictive motifs were similar to the ones observed in the viral RNA structure database, and the correlations between bases also corresponded to the secondary structure in the database.

细胞色素b和12S rRNA基因序列变异与东方鲀属鱼类系统发育

东方鲀属鱼类是一个区域性分布类群,该属目前包括22个有效种,主要分布区域从日本海西部到中国沿海.本研究通过联合17种(21尾)东方鲀属鱼类的细胞色素b(1137bp)和12SrRNA(952bp)基因全序列研究了东方鲀属鱼类的系统发育关系.采用了邻接法(NJ)、最大简约法(MP)、最大似然法(ML)和Baysian方法构建了分子系统树.结果表明:(ⅰ)东方鲀属鱼类为一单系类群;(ⅱ)基于分子系统发育分析,东方鲀属鱼类可划分为6个亚群;(ⅲ)在分子水平上,本属各鱼类物种的遗传距离比较接近,这显示了其物种间分

RNA干扰在抗病毒研究中的应用

国家自然科学基金海外杰出青年基金(30428024)资助

双链RNA病毒诱导的牙鲆胚胎细胞差减cDNA文库的构建

以紫外线灭活的dsRNA病毒草鱼出血病病毒(GCHV)诱导和模拟诱导的牙鲆胚胎细胞为材料,利用抑制性差减杂交(SSH)技术,成功构建了双链RNA病毒诱导的牙鲆胚胎细胞(FEC)差减cDNA文库。以管家基因αtub lin作为差减指标,经检测,该文库差减效率达210倍,表明经病毒诱导后某些差异表达基因也得到了相应倍数的富集。将获得的cDNA片段连接到pGEM T载体,PCR检测显示差减片段在250bp~2 000bp之间。该差减cDNA文库的构建为从分子水平研究牙鲆培养细胞对dsRNA病毒的免疫反应、以及进

用mtDNA 12S rRNA序列变异检验鲤形目鱼类系统发育关系(英文)

通过对鲤形目鱼类 5个科的代表类群的完整线粒体 12SrRNA进行测序和分析 ,以检验目前的形态学假说。经序列比对后 ,有 10 0 0个位点 ,其中 467个位点在茎区 ,53 3个在环区 ;有 3 95个位点为变化位点 ,其中 2 67个为系统发育信息位点。采用邻接法和最大简约法进行了系统发育分析 ,其结果支持鲤科鱼类成为一个单系群 ,非鲤科的鲤形目鱼类成为另一个单系群的观点 ,这与Siebert提出的假说相一致。鲤科鱼类包含 3个主要的分支 ,即鱼丹系、鲤系和雅罗鱼系 ;但在非鲤科鲤形目鱼类中 ,其

草鱼呼肠孤病毒RNA聚合酶基因的表达与产物纯化

草鱼呼肠孤病毒是引起草鱼出血病的主要病原,隶属于呼肠孤病毒科水生呼肠孤病毒属。序列分析表明,GCRV S2 片段长为3 877核苷酸,编码一个分子量为138kDa 的蛋白VP2,具有RNA聚合酶性质。为进一步了解该病毒 RNA聚合酶特性,本研究在对GCRV RNA聚合酶基因(GCRV-RdRp)保守区(约1.5kb)重组质粒pR/RRp高效表达的基础上,分别构建了编码GCRV RNA聚合酶保守区N端与C端部分基因的 pR/RRpN及pR/RRpC重组表达载体,并在原核细胞中获得成功表达。筛选的重组表达菌株

草鱼呼肠孤病毒RNA聚合酶基因功能区在原核细胞中的表达

国家自然科学基金资助项目 ( 30 170 730 )

RNA剪接和剪接调控

ＲＮＡ剪接和剪接调控桂建芳（中国科学院水生生物研究所武汉４３００７２）基因是遗传的功能单位，蛋白是由基因表达的行使生理功能的主体。７０年代以前，人们对基因和蛋白的了解主要是来自于对细菌研究的认识，认为基因、ｍＲＮＡ和蛋白之间是一种线性关系，即基因上的...

鲤鱼白肌中RNA/DNA值与其生长的关系

鲤鱼白肌中核糖核酸与脱氧核糖核酸的比值(RNA/DNA)可作为种群生长的生理指标,并用此指标预测和评价生态环境、饲养条件的优劣对其生长可能产生的影响。鱼体白肌中RNA/DAN值与其生长率呈正相关(r=0.8994);鱼体增重率和RNA/DNA值的季节变动规律基本一致,都是在9-10月最高,4月次之,11-12月最低。鲤鱼生长良好时,RNA/DNA值大于2.0;反之,低于2.0;Hg~(2+)浓度达到0.005mg/l时,才对鲤鱼的生长产生显著影响,并在RNA/DNA值上显示出来。用RNA/DNA值评价鱼的