Assessment of contaminant body burdens and histopathology of fish and shellfish species frequently used for subsistence food by Alaskan Native communities

Subsistence food items can be a health concern in rural Alaska because community members often rely on fish and wildlife resources not routinely monitored for persistent bioaccumulative contaminants and pathogens. Subsistence activities are a large part of the traditional culture, as well as a means of providing protein in the diets for Tribal members. In response to the growing concerns among Native communities, contaminant body burden and histopathological condition of chum and sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus keta and Oncorhynchus nerka) and the shellfish cockles and softshell clams (Clinocardium nuttallii and Mya arenaria) were assessed. In the Spring of 2010, the fish and shellfish were collected from traditional subsistence harvest areas in the vicinity of Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Seldovia, AK, and were analyzed for trace metals and residues of organic contaminants routinely monitored by the NOAA National Status & Trends Program (NS&T). Additionally, the fish and shellfish were histologically characterized for the presence, prevalence and severity of tissue pathology, disease, and parasite infection. The fish and shellfish sampled showed low tissue contamination, and pathologic effects of the parasites and diseases were absent or minimal. Taken together, the results showed that the fish and shellfish were healthy and pose no safety concern for consumption. This study provides reliable chemistry and histopathology information for local resource managers and Alaska Native people regarding subsistence fish and shellfish use and management needs.

Abundance of cetaceans in the oceanic northern Gulf of Mexico from 2003 and 2004 ship surveys

The Gulf of Mexico (GMx) is a subtropical marginal sea of the western North Atlantic Ocean with a diverse cetacean community. Ship-based, line-transect abundance surveys were conducted in oceanic waters (>200 m deep) of the northern GMx within U.S. waters (380,432 square km) during summer 2003 and spring 2004. Data from these surveys were pooled and minimum abundance estimates were based on 10,933 km of effort and 433 sightings of at least 17 species.The most commonly sighted species (number of groups) were pantropical spotted dolphin, Stenella attenuata (115); sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus (85); dwarf/pygmy sperm whale, Kogia sima/breviceps (27); Risso’s dolphin, Grampus griseus (26); and bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus (26). The most abundant species (number of individuals; coefficient of variation) were S. attenuata (34,067; 0.18); Clymene dolphin, S. clymene (6,575; 0.36); T. truncatus (3,708; 0.42); and striped dolphin, S. coeruleoalba (3,325; 0.48). The only large whales sighted were P. macrocephalus (1,665; 0.20) and Bryde’s whale, Balaenoptera edeni (15; 1.98). Abundances for other species or genera ranged from 57 to 2,283 animals. Cetaceanswere sighted throughout the oceanic northern GMx, and whereas many species were widely distributed, some had more regional distributions. Compared to abundance estimates for this area based on 1996-2001 surveys, the estimate for S. attenuata was significantly smaller (P <0.05) and that for the spinner dolphin, S. longirostris, appeared much smaller. Also, P. macrocephalus estimates were based on less negatively biased estimates of group-size using 90-minute counts during 2003 and 2004.

东灵山森林生态系统若干水分问题的研究

东灵山地区年均降水量659.7mm，单次降水以雨量小、雨强低的降水为主。水汽压（年均17.7mb）、相对湿度（年均66％）的季节变化呈现生长季高、冬季低的趋势。年均蒸发量1019.5mm;气温、风速、日照时间和水压与月蒸发量和日蒸量相关显著;气温、日照时间和水压分别在11-6月、7－8月和9－10月为决定蒸发量的首要因子。枯枝落叶层、土壤层湿度主要受前十日降水量和坡向影响。 植物体含水量生长季节较高，冬季较低;含水量随径级的增大而降低。六个灌木树种的平均含水量大小顺序为：毛榛（48.62%）最高荆条（36.32%）最低;七个乔木树种水分含量为油松，56.14%;蒙椴，54.19%;华北落叶松，52.91%;五角枫，43.64%;辽东栎，41.87%;棘皮桦，41.13%;大叶白腊，37.79%。几种植被类型的储水量为：辽东栎林，82.08mm;华北落叶松林，47.35mm;混交林，34.60mm;油松林，31.33mm;灌丛，12.40mm。各树种叶片日最低水势的季节均值为：辽东栎，-16.1bar;五角枫，-15.8bar;大叶白腊，-15.1bar;糠椴，-13.4bar;棘皮桦，-12.3bar;蒙椴，-12.2bar。叶片水势的日间变化均呈一“V”形曲线;光照在叶片水势的日间变化中起着决定性作用。 96年各树种平均单株树干茎流量为辽东栎，30.3mm(4.19%);华北落叶松，16.1mm(2.22%);油松，8.9mm(1.23%);棘皮桦，2.9mm(0.40%)。两个生长季各林分冠层的水量平衡为：辽东栎林，树干流茎量101.87mm(9.18%)，穿透降水量823.08mm(74.15%)，截留量185.05mm(16.67%);华北落叶松林，树干径流量66.88mm(6.03%)，穿透降水量836.92mm(75.40%)，截留量206.20mm(18.58);混交林，树干径流量50.13(4.52%)，穿透降水量846.78mm(76.29%)，截留量212.20mm(19.12%);油松林，树干径流量33.90mm(3.05%)，穿透降水量934.88mm(84.22%)，截留量141.22mm(12.72%)。多元回归分析表明，树干流茎量S与降水量P和前24小时降水量P_1呈显著正相关关系;穿透降水量T与降水量P和最大雨强M正相关显著。附加截留量与降水时间成正比。 枯枝落叶层的生物量为：油松林，25.56t/hm~2;华北落叶松林20.01t/hm~2;辽东栎林，8.31t/hm~2;混交林，7.98t/hm~2。枯枝落叶层的平均实际持水量和有效持水量均以油松林最大，其次是华北落叶松林，而混交林和辽东栎林较低;枯枝落叶层的实际持水量和有效持水量的季节变化分别与前十日降水量P10成正相关和负相关关系。枯枝落叶层的截留量为油松林＞华北落叶松林＞辽东栎林＞混交林;油松林（145.632mm和90.800mm）混交林(61.816mm和54.504mm)。油松林、辽东栎林、混交林和华北落叶松林去除枯枝落叶层后，土壤入渗量比对照平均降低100mm以上;表层土壤含水量分别比对照土壤下降了6.26、18.26、15.06和15.07个百分点。地表径流量分别增加了，辽东栎林34.299mm(603%)和15.816mm(525%);油松林14.593mm(732%)和10.584mm(1321%);混交林12.004mm(181%)和7.275mm(364%);华北落叶松林3.555mm(118%)，3.275mm(229%)。96年生长季，各土壤流失量分别增加了：油松林172.751t/hm~2(124倍);辽东栎林836.500t/hm~2(119倍);混交林172.499t/hm~2(47倍);华北落叶松林11.557t/hm~2(11倍)。表层土壤容重分别增加了：油松林15.0%和20.6%，辽东栎林18.4%和28.2%，混交林11.5%和38.5%，华北落叶松林4.3%和17.1%。 0-60cm深度土壤容重平均值的大小顺序为：草地>灌丛>辽东栎林>油松林>混交林>华北落叶松林;而土壤孔隙度的大小顺序为华北落叶松林>混交林>油松林>辽东栎林>灌丛>草地。两个生长季为土壤实际储水量的均值：油松林，124.45mm，78.62mm;辽东栎林，131.23mm，87.72mm;混交林，180.41mm，113.90mm;华北落叶松林，165.53mm，127.95mm;灌丛，172.50mm，89.81mm;草地，152.92mm，89.59 mm分别比干旱年份97年高出45.83mm、43.51mm、51.63mm、37.58mm、82.69mm和63.33mm。两个生长季的地表径流量为草地，30.930mm(2.79%);灌丛，16.321mm(147%);油松林，2.911mm(0.26%);辽东栎林，8.703mm(0.78%);混交林，8.625mm(0.78%);华北落叶松林，4.447mm(0.40%)。油松林、混交林和华北落叶松林地表径流量与降水量P(mm)和最大雨强(mm/h)正相关显著;而辽东栎林、灌丛和草地的地表径流量则与降水量P(mm)、平均雨强Q(mm/hr)和最大雨强M(mm/hr)三者之间呈显著正相关关系。与草地相比(1220.093kg/hm~2，100％)，灌丛、辽东栎林、混交林、油松林和华北落叶松林96年生长季的土壤流失量分别降低了85.05%、94.26%、96.99%、98.86和99.14%。 降水量是影响小流域径流量时间变化的主要因素;南沟和马牙石沟96年的径流量分别是97年的8.19倍和7.87倍，而径流深(46.25mm，52.75mm)分别比97年(5.65mm,6.70mm)高出40.60mm和46.05mm。两个小流域由于面积的差异而使南沟两年的径流量分别比马牙石沟高出2773.136m~3(13.15%)和235.434m~3(8.79%)。96年和97年马牙石沟径流深比南沟高出6.5mm(14.05%)和1.05mm(18.58%)。在地处大陆性季风气候区的东灵山地区，用0.010m~3/min/km~2/hr能较好地分割小流域的洪峰和基流。在五次暴雨水文曲线中，马牙石沟的快速径流量分别比南沟高出25.00%到143.33%。五次洪水水文响应R的平均值南沟为0.218%，马牙石沟为0.404%;与海洋性气候地区相比，东灵山地区小流域的R值要低一到两个数量级。马牙石沟洪峰流量Qp的平均值为418.772L/min要比南沟(281.191L/min)大48.9%。东灵山地区小流域的洪水径流过程可分为三种类型。

RNAi沉默光合膜磷脂合成酶基因的研究

磷脂是动物和植物非光合组织细胞膜系统的主要组成成分，在细胞生命过程中扮演着重要角色。尽管绿色植物光合膜的的甘油脂主要是糖脂，但是它仍然含有大约10％的磷脂，说明磷脂在光合膜的结构和功能中起重要作用。构成生物膜的磷脂有多种，但是，光合膜只含有磷脂酰甘油（PG）一种磷脂。光合膜中的PG有其特殊性，即：在PG的sn-2位上总连着一个棕榈酸（16:0）或者反式十六碳烯酸（16:1trans），说明了这种具有特殊结构的甘油脂在维持类囊体膜的结构和功能方面具有重要的作用。 叶绿体中有两个重要酶参与了PG的生物合成，它们分别是胞嘧啶二脂酰甘油合成酶（CDS）和磷脂酰甘油合成酶（PGS）。本实验以烟草和马铃薯为材料，利用RNAi技术，对CDS和PGS基因的表达进行抑制，通过PG缺失突变体，研究其功能。 对转含有PGS片段的沉默结构的转基因烟草叶片膜脂进行了分析，结果表明，与野生型烟草相比较，其PG含量下降了约20%，同时，SQDG和PC的含量增加。PG含量的降低没有引起MGDG和DGDG含量的变化。另外，我们还对转基因植株目的基因片段的RNA表达水平进行了RT-PCR分析，发现其表达量大幅度降低。这些结果表明，在转基因株系中，PGS基因的表达受到了抑制，说明我们获得了PG部分缺失的烟草PGS突变体。 对烟草PG缺失体的PG脂肪酸组成进行分析，表明其特征性脂肪酸反式十六碳烯酸含量明显下降，比野生型降低了44%，C18:0、C18:1和C18:2的相对含量增加，整个变化与总脂脂肪酸变化基本一致。 为了研究PG缺失对光合作用的影响，我们分析了多种光合指标。对叶绿素含量的分析表明，PG含量的降低影响了光合色素的组成。PG部分缺失的转基因烟草中的叶绿素总的含量下降，其中叶绿素b含量下降更为明显，结果，叶绿素a与叶绿素b的比值较野生型高。转基因植株净光合速率下降，二氧化碳利用率降低;PSII的最大光化学效率（Fv/Fm）和实际光化学效率（фPSII）降低，光化学猝灭下降，非光化学猝灭增加，尤其老叶的变化更为明显。这些结果说明了PG的部分缺失影响了植株的光合能力，捕光色素蛋白复合体的结构受到了影响，PSII功能遭受损伤。 同时，我们根据已经报道的马铃薯CDS基因，克隆了一个片段，构建沉默结构，并对沉默结构进行了转化。通过抗性基因的筛选以及RT-PCR检测，证明了沉默结构转化成功，目的基因的表达受到抑制，获得了马铃薯CDS转基因植株。 对马铃薯野生型和CDS转基因植株进行膜脂和脂肪酸分析表明，转基因植株叶片的PE、PG和PC等磷脂含量降低，SQDG和DGDG含量增加;C16:1（3t）、C16:2、C16:3、C18:1和C18:2含量下降，C16:0和C18:3含量增加，而C16:1和C18:0变化不明显。马铃薯CDS转基因植株的叶绿素荧光分析表明，PSII最大光化学效率降低，从野生型的0.82下降到0.77。

云南松口蘑的遗传多样性研究

对分布于云南省9个地市13个县的56个松口蘑(Tricholoma matsutake)子实体进行了ITS序列、IGS序列和反转录转座子PCR图谱比较分析,发现ITS序列只有一种单倍型,IGS序列有3种单倍型,反转录转座子PCR图谱群体间的多态性不显著.对比我国东北和日本松口蘑的研究结果发现,云南松口蘑的遗传多样性较低,云南松口蘑和日本松口蘑同源,但松口蘑可能不是起源于云南

Is there a close relationship between synonymous codon bias and codon-anticodon binding strength in human genes?

Synonymous codon bias has been examined in 78 human genes (19967 codons) and measured by relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU). Relative frequencies of all kinds of dinucleotides in 2,3 or 3,4 codon positions have been calculated, and codon-anticodon bin