Loading...

Table of Content

    25 February 2017, Volume 39 Issue 1
    Invited Special Paper
    Water in the mantle connects with important geological events and processes
    XIA Qunke
    2017, 39(1):  1-4.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.001
    Asbtract ( 739 )   PDF (1098KB) ( 1270 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    Minerals in the Earth’s mantle are nominally anhydrous. Although the water content in their structural defects is low with ppm level (H2O, wt.), it can greatly affect the physical and chemical properties of the mantle minerals and thus the rock systems. Water in the mantle is, therefore, tightly connected with many important geological events and processes. Exploring the relationship between mantle water and geological events and processes is expected to be a right point to develop basic theories in geosciences.

    Structure, function and organization of mitochondrial respiratory chain
    GUO Runyu, YANG Maojun
    2017, 39(1):  5-11.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.002
    Asbtract ( 1072 )   PDF (2865KB) ( 1537 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    Metabolism, including substance metabolism and energy metabolism, is one of the basic features of all living creatures.The mechanism and executor of energy metabolism were the tempting high spots of biochemical and structural researches, which have been gratifyingly accumulating through a long span of history. From identifying the respiratory chain elements to recognize the respirasome, which is believed to be the executor of cell respiration, scientists have gradually unveiled the secrets of energy metabolism. Most recently, Professor Yang from Tsinghua University has solved the 5.4 Å resolution structure of respirasome from porcine heart, assigning firstly the accurate position of most amino acid residues, presenting the detailed interaction within this huge molecular machine and providing important structural information for drug design and screening. In this review, the detoured history of respirasome recognition is introduced, and the amazing structure of respirasome is then described.

    Review Article
    Why we are born to be different: starting from epigenetics
    YU Wenqiang
    2017, 39(1):  12-18. 
    Asbtract ( 874 )   PDF (4024KB) ( 869 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    Why we are born to be different? Canonical genetics believes that it is gene which determines phenotypes. However, it can not explain why identical twins with nearly the same sets of genes are still different in various characteristics. Emerging evidences support that what makes us different is epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to the study of stably heritable phenotype resulting from changes in chromatin without alterations in the DNA sequence, including DNA methylation, histone covalent modification and non-coding RNAs, etc. This review paper introduces the core concepts and contents of epigenetics vividly, depicting the roles that epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation and histone modification) play in the early embryonic development emphatically, which help us to better understand the role of epigenetics in the new life development.

    DNA vs. RNA: Who has the final saying
    DUAN Hongchao
    2017, 39(1):  19-24.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.004
    Asbtract ( 687 )   PDF (2520KB) ( 1036 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    “Central dogma” is the theoretical basis of modern biology. In most cases, the genetic information is encoded by DNA. It flows from DNA to RNA via transcription, and from RNA to protein via translation. With the in-depth study, people have realized that RNA is likely the core of the central dogma. It not only acts as a bridge for genetic information from DNA to protein, but also tunes genes expression in more precise and efficient manners via post-transcriptional regulation. RNA modification plays the leading role in post-transcriptional regulation. The research on all kinds of RNA modifications and their modifiers, de-modifiers and binding proteins has been one of the most attractive area in biological science, known as RNA epigenetics or epitranscriptomics. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the best studied RNA modification so far. This article introduces the regulatory role of m6A in stem cell pluripotency and
    differentiation, virus infection and self-replication, and fruit fly sex determination. Meanwhile, the role of RNA modification in the regulation of other life processes is being revealed constantly, indicating that the research of RNA modification will affect the development of medical, pharmaceutical, even agriculture.

    Mechanisms of X chromosome inactivation
    LU Qi
    2017, 39(1):  25-30.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.005
    Asbtract ( 3875 )   PDF (1980KB) ( 6691 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    In female mammals’ body cells, one of the X-chromosomes is inactivated as heterochromatin to balance the expression of X-linked genes in females and males. This is so called X chromosome inactivation, the biological basis of many biological phenomena and diseases. Here, we briefly review the phenomena, the basic knowledge of the X chromosome inactivation and the connections to disease.

    Dual roles of miRNAs: functions of activation and inhibition
    LIANG Ying
    2017, 39(1):  31-36.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.006
    Asbtract ( 1763 )   PDF (1860KB) ( 2418 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    Since the American scientist Victor Ambros found the first miRNA (short for microRNA) lin-4 in C.elegans in 1993, the research for miRNA has been elapsed more than twenty years. miRNAs are a group of small non-coding RNAs of approximately 22 nucleotides in length which are endogenous and single-stranded. Existed evidence showed that miRNAs are involved in the proliferation, migration and invasion of many tumor cells, hence it is of great theoretical and applicable significance to understand the molecular mechanism of miRNA for the clinical diagnosis purpose. Traditionally, miRNAs are thought to inhibit mRNA translation
    or degradation and then play a negative regulatory role in gene expression by binding the targeted 3’UTR in the cytoplasm. However, it is difficult to explain many miRNAs located in the nucleus which may play a positive role in regulating gene expression. Does miRNA localization affect the function of miRNAs? What are the differences between miRNA located in the nucleus and cytoplasm respectively?

    Progress
    Relaxor-based ferroelectric single crystals with giant piezoelectric properties and their applications in medical ultrasound transducers
    CAO Wenwu, SUN Enwei, YANG Bin
    2017, 39(1):  37-42.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.007
    Asbtract ( 764 )   PDF (1622KB) ( 1458 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    Piezoelectric materials, which have the ability to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy or vice versa, have been widely used in making electromechanical devices and in the field of electro-acoustics. The advancement in broadband ultrasonic transducers, high sensitivity sensors, and large strain actuators need the piezoelectric materials to have larger piezoelectric constants and higher electromechanical coupling factors. A relaxor-based ferroelectric single crystal (1-x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-xPT or PMN-PT) and its modified version (commonly referred as relaxor-based ferroelectric single crystals) fulfilled such demands, which have giant piezoelectric coefficients and very high electromechanical coupling factors. For example, the piezoelectric constant and electromechanical coupling factor of PMN-33%PT are 2 800 pC/N and 94%, respectively. This article intends to provide an overview
    on the development of relaxor-based ferroelectric single crystals and their applications in medical ultrasound transducers.

    Distributed energy supply complemented gas turbine with renewable energy
    CHEN Zhe, TIAN Feng, Lü Xiaojing, WENG Yiwu
    2017, 39(1):  48-53.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.009
    Asbtract ( 708 )   PDF (3245KB) ( 747 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    The distributed energy supply is complemented gas turbine with renewable energy. Its features are the large supply range adjusted by natural gas distributed energy and the high energy utilization rate. The advantage is the full consumption of renewable energy at local. We introduce the development of combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) of gas turbine, then analyze a variety of complementary energy for distributed energy technology. Finally, the prospect of distributed energy supply complemented gas turbine with renewable energy is presented.

    A beautiful piece of “watch”in Tiangong-2: space atomic clock
    QIAO Yongjun,LIU Wuming
    2017, 39(1):  54-61.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.010
    Asbtract ( 668 )   PDF (2432KB) ( 1745 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics

    The space atomic clock, a beautiful piece of “watch” in Tiangong two, looks up at the deep space, overlooks the earth, explores the vast universe following the golden rule, and gives a detailed description of every inch of the earth mother. It is the first space atomic clock to carry out scientific research of the space laboratory in the world, its precision is also unprecedented with error less than one second in thirty million years. This atomic clock is gestated and developed by Chinese scientists taking a dozen years, which carries our positioning, deep space exploration, verification of general relativity and other research assignments.

    Science Review
    The unfinished game
    GUAN Yi
    2017, 39(1):  62-70.  doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2017.01.011
    Asbtract ( 662 )   PDF (2116KB) ( 592 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Science and Art
[an error occurred while processing this directive]