Temporomandibular joint and Giant Panda's (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) adaptation to bamboo diet.

Here, we present new evidence that evolutionary adaptation of the Ailuripodinae lineage to bamboo diet has taken place by morphological adaptations in the masticatory system. The giant panda in the wild and in captivity removes without an exception the outer skin of all bamboo shoots, rich in abrasive and toxic compounds, by the highly adapted premolars P3 and P4. The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) allows sidewise movement of the jaw and the premolars can, in a cusp-to-cusp position, remove the poorly digestible outer skin of the bamboo before crushing the bamboo with molars. Based on the evidence presented here, we suggest that adaptation of TMJ to lateral movement for enabling cusp-to-cusp contact of premolars is the crucial evolutionary factor as which we consider the key to understand the Ailuropodinae lineage adaptive pathway to utilize the bamboo resource.

Cloning and expression of the σC gene of avian reovirus / 中国兽医学报

The σC gene of ARV S1133 was designed to amplify by reverse transcription chain reaction(RTPCR).The σC gene was inserted into the vector pMD19-T,identified by PCR method and restriction enzyme,and sequenced.It showed that the insert cloned gene fragment was the σC gene of ARV.Then the gene was inserted intc the pET32a(+) and indicated that fusion expression vector pET32a-σC was constructed.The recombinant fusion protein was highly expressed in E.coli BL21 induced by 1.0 mmol/L IPTG for 5 hours in the form of inclusion bodies.The weight of recombinant fusion protein molecular is 54 000.Western-blot with ARV antibodies against the fusion protein showed the recombinant protein has a favourable reactivity.