摘要：Advertisement calls play an important role in influencing female mate choice and are regarded as one of the key characters responsible for reproductive isolation and speciation events in frogs and toads. The black-spined toad, Bufo melanostictus, is one of the most common amphibians in Southeast Asia and is frequently observed in human habitations throughout its distributional range. The advertisement calls of the toad have not been well described. Here, we report the advertisement calls of this species from Lishui, Zhejiang, China during its breeding season. The advertisement calls of B. melanostictus are composed of single notes with a single harmonic frequency emitted sporadically. The call parameters recorded in this study were highly variable across recording times and with different body sizes. Dominant frequency was negatively correlated with body size. Comparing the calls of the B. melanostictus population from Lishui with the populations from five other localities(Bangkok, Thailand; Coorg, India; Burma, Myanmar; Bali, Indonesia; Halimun-Salak National Park, Indonesia), we found that call structure was similar among five different populations with no harmonics, while the Halimun-Salak National Park population contained two clear harmonics. Dominant frequency was similar between Bali(1.56 kHz) and Coorg(1.6 kHz) populations, while it was highly variable among other populations. Besides call duration, call interval and pulse/call rate may also be significantly different among the comparing populations. Pooling the available data, we observed some similarities and differences in call parameters among the six populations.

摘要：Pollination biology provides new insight for understanding the evolutionary mechanism and process of the existing diversity in floral design of angiosperms. Evolutionary biologists have established some rules and models to try to explain the ubiquitous relationship between pollination system and floral evolution. However, as new techniques have been applied and more and more new pollination events found in recent years, the relationship between pollination system and floral evolution has become less clear. Researchers realized that floral evolution is more complicated and idiosyncratic than simple adaptive models. The traditional viewpoints of pollinator mediated floral design urgently need new reevaluation. This paper attempts to make a brief review of such main opinions and introduce their new insights according to recent studies. Finally, we also give some suggestions for future study by reviewing several new viewpoints about floral evolution.

摘要：The green alga Tetraselmis subcordiformis has been widely used as a quality live food for aquaculture species, and also has been studied as a model organism for the photo-biological production of hydrogen. We attempted to quantify the relationship between T. subcordiformis specific growth rate （SGR） and three important environmental factors （temperature, salinity, and pH） using the central composite design and response surface method under laboratory conditions. The results showed that the linear effects of temperature and salinity were significant （P〈0.05）, and they were equally important in impacting T. subcordiformis specific growth; the linear effect of pH was not significant （P〉0.05）; the interactive effect of temperature and pH was significant （P〈0.05）, whereas the temperature ~ salinity and salinity x pH interactions were not significant （P〉0.05）; all of the quadratic effects of the three factors were significant （P〈0.05）. A model equation for specific growth rate with the three factors was established, with the unadjusted and predictive R2 as high as 0.990 and 0.921, respectively, suggesting that the model was a very good fit and that it could be used to predict SGR. Through optimizing the reliable model, an optimal 3-factor combination of 25~C/35 of salinity/pH 7.9 was obtained, at which the maximum specific growth rate （0.65） was recorded, with a desirability value of 93.8%. These experimental results could serve as guidelines for increasing T. subcordiformis production efficiency.

摘要：Based on the strategies of receptor structure-guided neonicotinoid design, a series of novel cis-nitenpyram analogues bearing diglycine esters were designed and synthesized. Preliminary bioassays indicated that the insecticidal spectra of the target compounds were expanded compared with our previous work, while all the target compounds presented excellent insecticidal activities against Nilaparvata lugens and Aphis medicagini at 100 mg/L. Among these analogues, 6b showed 100% mortality against Nilaparvata lugens (LC 50 = 0.163 mg/L) and 90% against Aphis medicagini at 4 mg/L. SARs suggested that the insecticidal potency of our designed cis-nitenpyram analogues was dual-controlled by the size and species of the ester groups. The molecular docking simulations revealed that the structural uniqueness of these analogues may lead to a unique molecular recognition and binding mode compared with the previously designed compounds. Introduction of the peptide bond gave rise to more significant hydrogen bonds between the nitenpyram analogues bonding with the amino acid residues of insect nAChRs. The docking results explained the SARs observed in vitro, and shed light on the novel insecticidal mechanism of these cis-nitenpyram analogues.

摘要：Computational design of proteins is a relatively new field, where scientists search the enormous sequence space for sequences that can fold into desired structure and perform desired functions. With the computational approach, proteins can be designed, for example, as regulators of biological processes, novel enzymes, or as biotherapeutics. These approaches not only provide valuable information for understanding of sequence-structure-function relations in proteins, but also hold promise for applications to protein engineering and biomedical research. In this review, we briefly introduce the rationale for computational protein design, then summarize the recent progress in this field, including de novo protein design, enzyme design, and design of protein-protein interactions. Challenges and future prospects of this field are also discussed.

摘要：4,5-Dihydro-3-methylbenzo[1,2-b]furan-4,5-dione（4） was identified as a novel and potent inhibitor of caspase-3 through structural modification of an existing drug, sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate（STS）. Compound 4 showed high potency against caspase-3 in vitro（ICso=0. 13μmol/L）. Molecular docking study further provided an insight into the interaction of compound 4 with activated caspase-3. Hence, this small-molecule caspase-3 inhibitor could be a oromising theraoeutic candidate against diseases caused by abnormally up-regulated apptosis.

摘要：Contamination of soil and water by arsenic is a global problem. In Australia, the dipping of cattle in arsenic-containing solution to control cattle ticks in last centenary has left many sites heavily contaminated with arsenic and other toxicants. We had previously isolated five soil bacterial strains （CDB 1-5） highly resistant to arsenic. To understand the resistance mechanism, molecular studies have been carried out. Two chromosome-encoded arsenic resistance （ars） gene clusters have been cloned from CDB3 （Bacillus sp.）. They both function in Escherichia coli and cluster i exerts a much higher resistance to the toxic metalloid. Cluster 2 is smaller possessing four open reading frames （ORFs） arsRorf2BC, similar to that identified in Bacillus subtilis Skin element. Among the eight ORFs in cluster 1 five are analogs of common ars genes found in other bacteria, however, organized in a unique order arsRBCDA instead of arsRDABC. Three other putative genes are located directly downstream and designated as arsTIP based on the homologies of their theoretical translation sequences respectively to thioredoxin reductases, iron-sulphur cluster proteins and protein phosphatases. The latter two are novel of any known ars operons. The arsD gene from Bacillus species was cloned for the first time and the predict protein differs from the well studied E. coli ArsD by lacking two pairs of C-terminal cysteine residues. Its functional involvement in arsenic resistance has been confirmed by a deletion experiment. There exists also an inverted repeat in the intergenic region between arsC and arsD implying some unknown transcription regulation.

摘要：Manipulation of gene expression through targeting specific DNA or RNA sequences is a significant challenge, tn the past decade, transcription activator-like （TAL） effectors and zinc fingers （ZFs） have been successfully developed into useful tools for DNA recognition （Bogdanove and Voytas, 2011; Deng et al., 2012a, 2012b）. However, little progress has been made in the realm of RNA targeting due to the lack of understanding about the modular RNA recognition mechanism.

摘要：Although the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)on host plants have been well documented,whether the effects of AMF on parental generations affect offspring performance is not fully *** conducted a common garden experiment to determine whether AMF status of host plants(Medicago truncatula)affects phenotype and transcriptome expression of their *** from four type parental treatments(low-phosphorus(P)soil without AMF,low-P soil with AMF,high-P soil without AMF and high-P soil with AMF)were grown under low-P(LPS)and normal-P soil(OHS)*** fowering pattern of LP offspring was similar to their parents,such that plants with AMF fowered earlier than those without AMF under OHS condition but were opposite under LPS *** transcriptome differential analysis showed that some differential transcripts(45 for parental plants growing under low-P condition and 3 for parental plants growing under high-P condition)expression patterns between offspring were comparable,and that only affected by parental AMF status regardless of the P environment that offspring was ***(146 for parental plants growing under low-P condition and 2 for parental plants growing under high-P condition),however,were affected both by the parental AMF status and the offspring P *** addition,the number of differential transcripts between offspring whose parental plants grew under high-P condition was far less than under low-P *** results indicate that AMF may not only affect the current generation of host plants but also affect the offspring especially when their parents have experienced a stressful environment.

摘要：To find new lead compounds with high antifungal activity, a series of new thiourea derivatives containing 1,3,4-thiadiazole and thioether skeleton was designed via linking the active sub-structures. The target compounds were prepared via three steps from the commercially available thiosemicarbazide. Their structures were characterized by means of HRMS, IH NMR, 13C NMR and IR spectroscopy. The preliminary results indicate that the title compounds show various antifungal activity against the tested fungi. Compounds 4c, 4g, 4h, 4k, 4n, 4o, 4p, 4q and 4r display excellent antifungal activities against one or more tested fungi with inhibitory efficiencies of 90%--100% at 200 μg/mL. Especially, compound 4o shows the best inhibitory effect against Curvularia lunata, Cotton Fusarium Wilt, P P var nicotianae and Fusarium spp. with the EC50 values of 28.12, 30.41, 15.2 and 6.22 μg/mL, respectively, which are even superior to those of triadimefon（98.73, 96.58, 105.37 and 102.18 μg/mL）. The preliminary structure-activity relationship indicates that allyl and aromatic groups are favorable to their antifungal activities.