白喉毒素A链基因在植物中的表达能抑制蛋白质合成

利用原生质体瞬间表达系统证实,即使用大量蓖麻毒素Ａ链基因ＤＮＡ导入诸葛菜原生质体,基蛋白质合成仍不被抑制。但是诸葛菜和灰叶烟草原生质体的蛋白质合成却容易被表达的白喉毒素Ａ链所抑制。     

从带烟草花叶病毒外壳蛋白亚基因组启动子的负链RNA产生正链RNA

克隆了能在植物中表达白喉毒素Ａ链基因（ＤＴＡ）负链ＲＮＡ的基因ＴＣＤＴＡＮ,这个基因的读码框５′端上游带有ＴＭＶ外壳蛋白基因５′端上游６３１个碱基,它的ＤＮＡ和ＴＭＶ－ＲＮＡ共转化烟草原生质体后,能抑制同时导入原生持体的堪因的表达,ＣＡＴ基因表达的抑制,是ＴＣＤＴＡＮ基因产生白喉毒素Ａ链蛋白的结果,ＴＣＤＴＮＡ基因上ＴＭＶ外壳蛋白基因５′端上游片段,是产生白喉毒素Ａ链ｍＲＮＡ的必要条件,只有用多量     

用毒蛋白控制植物病毒病害的基因工程设想

本文提出利用抑制植物蛋白质合成的毒蛋白基因读码框和植物病毒亚基因组启动子组成嵌合基因,预先在植物中表达负链RNA,在病毒侵染细胞中变为正链毒蛋白RNA,产生毒蛋白,迅速中止该细胞蛋白质合成,从而达到完全控制植物病毒病的植物基因工程工程设想。白喉毒素A链基因读码框是一种对多种植物有用的适合于本设想的毒蛋白基因读码框。烟草中负链毒蛋白RNA不会自动变为正链RNA。TMV外壳蛋白亚基因组是按BMV RNA_4的方式生成;它的启动子可以用作TMV的启动开关,使植物细胞中白喉毒素A链负链RNA特异地转变为毒蛋白mRNA。     

人胰岛素A、B链基因的合成、克隆及其在大肠杆菌中的表达

根据人胰岛素A、B链的多肽顺序,设计并用一种简便快速的多肽基因合成了A、B链基因。合成的A 链和B 链基因分别克隆到pWR590质粒上,构建了表达型质粒pWR590-HIA和pWR 590-HIB,它们能够表达由β-半乳糖苷酶N-端约590个氨基酸残基与A 链或B 链组成的融合蛋白(两者之间由Met 连接)。A 链或B 链融合蛋白经BrCN 降解,磺化及分离纯化等步骤,得到了磺化A、B 链。磺化A、B链体外重组得到人胰岛素。     

杀伤血管内皮生长因子受体 1 阳性细胞的靶向毒素

白喉毒素 (diphtheria toxin DT) 是棒状白喉杆菌被β噬菌体感染后分泌的一种外毒素. 它可以阻断真核细胞的蛋白质合成,杀死细胞. 血管内皮生长因子 (VEGF) 的 R82A, K84A, H86A 突变体可以和肿瘤血管上高表达的 VEGF 受体 1 (VEGFR-1) 特异性结合. 首先从白喉杆菌中提取基因组 DNA,扩增出白喉毒素 C 区、 T 区基因. 并运用点突变技术,制成 VEGF 的 R82A, K84A, H86A 突变体. 利用这个可以和肿瘤血管上特异性受体相结合的 VEGF 的突变体,代替白喉毒素上的受体结合区,制成了针对 VEGFR-1 的靶向融合毒素——— DT391-mVEGF. 以去除了受体结合区的 DT391 为阴性对照,细胞实验表明,融合毒素对 VEGFR-1 阳性的肿瘤细胞有特异性杀伤作用.     

黑暗链霉菌DNA转移系统的建立

研究了黑暗链霉菌的基因转移系统,探索了通过PEG介导的原生质体转化、接合转移向黑暗链霉菌中转入外源DNA的可能性。多次尝试用质粒pIJ702转化黑暗链霉菌9904原生质体均未成功。对原生质体进行“热处理”后转化、利用单链DNA转化等都不能将质粒导入黑暗链霉菌中,表明黑暗链霉菌对外源DNA有很强的限制修饰作用。利用接合转移将具有oriT的大肠杆菌链霉菌穿梭质粒pHZ132转入大肠杆菌ET12567(pUZ8002)中,获得供体菌ET12567(pUZ8002,pHZ132)。将供体菌与预萌发的黑暗链霉菌9904的孢子进行接合转移,成功地将pHZ132转入黑暗链霉菌9904中。质粒pHZ132经黑暗链霉菌自身修饰后也可转入黑暗链霉菌9904菌株的原生质体中,转化率约为103/μg DNA(pHZ132)。     

大麦幼苗活性氧与其他叶绿体信号的关系

以普通大麦幼苗为材料,用除草剂、光合电子传递链抑制剂、H2O2、活性氧清除剂、强光或叶绿素合成前体物质浸根处理,通过过氧化氢和超氧阴离子染色和rbcS基因Northern杂交检测,研究了活性氧在大麦叶绿体信号传导中的作用.结果显示:除草剂20μmol/L norflurazon(NF)处理明显造成大麦幼苗活性氧染色加重和rbcS基因受抑制,同时用活性氧的清除剂处理可以部分逆转rbcS基因的下调;光合电子传递链的抑制剂也明显造成活性氧染色加重和rbcS基因受抑制,同时用活性氧的清除剂处理可以完全逆转rbcS基因的下调;光合电子传递链抑制剂对糖饥饿诱导的rbcS基因上调有抑制作用,同时用活性氧的清除剂处理可以完全逆转此抑制作用;高浓度糖或叶绿体蛋白质合成抑制剂都不能引发活性氧,但可以显著抑制核编码光合基因.可见,除草剂NF引发的信号是镁原卟啉信号与活性氧信号的叠加,光合电子传递链的氧化还原状态改变引发的信号绝大部分可以归结为活性氧信号,而高浓度糖和叶绿体蛋白质合成引发的叶绿体信号与活性氧没有直接联系.     

伪狂犬病毒立即早期基因5'端特异性反义RNA对病毒增殖的影响

伪狂犬病毒(Pseudorabies virus,PRV)属疱疹病毒科α-疱疹病毒亚科,基因组为线状双链DNA,长约150kb,至少可编码70～100种蛋白质.根据伪狂犬病毒感染细胞后DNA转录、表达时间的先后可将PRV基因分为立即早期基因(Immediateearly gene),早期基因(Early gene)和晚期基因(Late gene),这三类基因依此以级联方式调节[1].第一个被转录的基因是立即早期基因,它的转录即使在细胞蛋白质合成被放线菌酮(Cycloheximide)抑制的情况下也能进行.     

链霉菌和大肠杆菌穿梭质粒载体的构建

本文报道了链霉菌和大肠杆菌穿梭质粒载体pSE-3的构建;把具有双启动子的大肠杆菌的质粒pGEM-3与新霉素抗性基因启动子缺失的链霉菌的探针质粒pIJ486分别用BamHI和BglⅡ酶切,T4 DNA连接酶连接后转化到E.coli HB101(Amp(?),Neo(?)),所得重组质粒能强启动pIJ486质粒上的氨基糖苷磷酸转移酶基因(aph),并使新霉素抗性基因在大肠杆菌中得到强表达。此重组质粒被命名为pSE-3,当其转化到变青链霉菌TK54(Tsr(?),Neo(?))的原生质体前,新霉素抗性基因亦能得到强表达。酶切结果表明,构建的具有两个启动子的穿梭质粒载体pSE-3上有HindⅢ和EcoRI的单酶位点,拷贝数约为39。经再转化和传代50代等研究表明,穿梭质粒载体pSE-3在链霉菌和大肠杆菌中均是稳定的。为某些有应用价值的目的基因在大肠杆菌和链霉菌中的克隆与表达提供了一个有价值的穿梭质粒载体。     

水稻几丁质酶基因RCH8创伤诱导转录及启动子功能分析

高等植物几丁质酶基因受病害侵染、真菌激发子、乙烯、机械创伤等因素诱导转录。我们已经测定过水稻(Oryza sativa L.cv.IR 36)Ⅰ类几丁质酶基因RCH 8的DNA序列。为了研究水稻中与防卫反应有关的几丁质酶基因启动子的活性、功能和表达调控,我们以RCH 8几丁质酶基因保守的编码区序列为探针,分别在创伤处理2—24h后提取水稻(Oryza sativa L.cv.IR 36)叶片的总RNA作Northern杂交,发现创伤处理6h可以检测到几丁质酶基因的表达,12h表达水平最高。合成了一个与RCH8翻译起始密码附近反义链DNA序列互补的21-mer的寡核苷酸引物(5'-GCTCTCA-TGGTGGCAATGCAA-3')作引物延伸实验,表明RCH8基因的转录受创伤诱导,RCH8转录起始位点位于翻译起始位点上游第42碱基A。在pUC 19载体质粒中构建了一组5'端不同程度缺失的RCH8基因启动子与GUS报告基因翻译融合的重组质粒,用PEG法转入烟草原生质体中,通过测定GUS酶活性发现RCH8启动子-1016-676之间的DNA序列缺失后表达活力显著下降,缺失到-68碱基处的启动子仅有很低的活力。     

重组蓖麻毒素A链与几种天然单链核糖体失活蛋白的活性研究

采用ｐＥｘＳｅｃⅠ载体系统进行了蓖麻毒素Ａ链的原核表达,经ＣＭ－Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ一步纯化后,获得了纯度约８０％的重组蓖麻毒素Ａ链．将其与几种天然单链核糖体失活蛋白进行了超螺旋ＤＮＡ裂解研究和无细胞体系中蛋白合成抑制试验,结果表明,重组蓖麻毒素Ａ链具有类似于天然单链核糖体失活蛋白的活性,但两种测活方法之间没有明显的相关性     

蓖麻毒素A链突变体的设计、表达与活性研究

利用蛋白质结构同源模建并结合表观静电势分析,设计了拟具有生物学活性的蓖麻毒素A链的突变体.将PCR扩增的突变体基因,导入pKK223-3载体中,于大肠杆菌(E.coli)中获得高效、可溶性表达,而且,确证了表达产物具有预期的生物学活性.     

High-level expression and simplified purification of recombinant ricin A chain.

Ricin toxin is a glycoprotein which catalytically inactivates eukaryotic ribosomes by depurination of a single adenosine residue from the 28S ribosomal RNA. The enzymatic activity is present in the A chain of the toxin molecule, whereas the B chain contains two binding sites for galactose. Since it is highly potent in inhibiting protein synthesis, the A chain is used to prepare cytotoxic conjugates effective against tumor cells. Such chimeric proteins are highly selective and have a wide range of clinical applications. Extensive preclinical studies on these conjugates require large amounts of purified A chain. Native ricin A chain is heterogeneous, since plants produce a number of isoforms of ricin toxin. Purified, native preparations often contain two types of ricin A chain which differ in the extent of glycosylation. By cloning and expressing the gene of A chain, one could obtain homogeneous toxin molecules devoid of carbohydrates. In addition, structural changes in the toxin polypeptide could be introduced by in vitro mutagenesis, which can improve the pharmacological properties and antitumor activity. Earlier methods of expression strategies using Escherichia coli have yielded only moderate levels of expression. In the present study, the coding region of ricin A chain was cloned into pET3b, a high-level expression vector under the control of the T7 promoter. Recombinant ricin A chain produced by this construct has an additional 14 amino acid residues at the NH2 terminus. Subsequently, a NdeI site was created at the 5' end of the gene by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. The modified fragment was then introduced into pET3b vector to produce toxin polypeptide identical to the native sequence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

重组蓖麻毒素A链蛋白的可溶性表达、纯化与抗原性分析

用PCR方法从克隆质粒pUC19-RTA中扩增出蓖麻毒素A(RTA)链基因,序列分析正确后,亚克隆到原核表达质粒pET-His中,构建重组表达质粒pET-HisRTA,再转化到E.coliBL21(DE3)plysS中获得表达工程菌株BL21/pET-HisRTA。该工程菌在30℃经0.4mmol／LIPTG诱导4h后获得可溶性表达的目的蛋白,约占菌体总蛋白的18.45％,SDS-PAGE分析显示表达的蛋白区带与RTA相对分子量相符,约32kDa左右。表达产物经Ni-NTA亲和层析法一步纯化,蛋白纯度约达97.53％,并可得到约18mg/L重组RTA蛋白。Western印迹和间接ELISA结果证明,重组RTA蛋白与抗天然蓖麻毒素多抗可发生特异性的抗原抗体反应,具有良好的抗原性,这为制备RT特异性抗体及建立RT的检测方法奠定了基础。     

重组蓖麻、相思子毒素A链嵌合突变体的制备与分析

目的:构建蓖麻毒素(RIC)、相思子毒素(ABR)A链突变体的嵌合体蛋白,实现嵌合体蛋白的可溶性表达、纯化及抗原性分析。方法:采用柔性linker连接RIC A链突变体(mRICAD75AV76MY80A)和ABR A链突变体(mABRAE164AR167L),构建嵌合体基因mRICA/mABRA,将该嵌合体基因亚克隆至原核载体pQE80L构建表达质粒pQE80L-mRICA/mABRA,再转化至大肠杆菌M15获得表达工程菌株M15/pQE80L-mRICA/mABRA,工程菌在18℃经0.1 mmol/L的IPTG诱导14 h,表达的嵌合体蛋白经Ni-NTA亲和层析柱纯化,通过ELISA和Western印迹检测嵌合体蛋白的抗原性。结果:所获得的mRICA/mABRA嵌合体基因经一致性比对分析,与预计嵌合基因的序列一致性为100%,其开放读框全长1572 bp,编码524个氨基酸残基;重组表达质粒pQE80L-mRICA/mABRA经PCR及双酶切鉴定证明构建正确,嵌合体蛋白相对分子质量约为62×103,与预测相符,可溶性的嵌合体蛋白经Ni-NTA亲和层析柱纯化,纯度可达99%;间接ELISA和Western印迹结果表明,嵌合体蛋白能同时与抗RIC多克隆抗体和抗ABR多克隆抗体发生特异的抗原抗体反应。结论:得到的mRICA/mABRA嵌合体蛋白具有良好的抗原性,为研制新型RIC和ABR双价疫苗奠定了重要基础。     

Enhancement of diphtheria toxin-induced apoptosis in Vero cells by combination treatment with brefeldin A and okadaic acid

In the present study, we compared the abilities of ricin and diphtheria toxin to induce apoptosis in Vero cells. The cytolysis and DNA fragmentation by ricin paralleled its protein synthesis inhibitory activity. However, unlike ricin, diphtheria toxin could induce neither cytolysis nor DNA fragmentation in Vero cells up to very high concentration, in spite of the fact that Vero cells were even more sensitive to protein synthesis inhibition by diphtheria toxin than ricin. Interestingly, coexistence of brefeldin A (BFA) and okadaic acid (OA) significantly enhanced diphtheria toxin-mediated cytolysis and DNA fragmentation without affecting the activity of protein synthesis inhibition. Ammonium chloride almost completely abolished the ability of diphtheria toxin to induce apoptosis in the presence of BFA and OA as well as the protein synthesis inhibitory activity. The mutant CRM 197, which does not catalyze the ADP ribosylation of elongation factor-2 (EF-2), failed to induce apoptosis in Vero cells even in the presence of BFA and OA. Thus, translocation of diphtheria toxin into the cytosol and subsequent enzymatic inactivation of EF-2 may be necessary steps to induce apoptosis. Taken together our results suggest that protein synthesis inhibition by toxins is not sufficient to induce apoptosis, and underlying mechanisms of apoptosis induction may be distinct between ricin and diphtheria toxin. Since a morphological change in the Golgi complex was observed in Vero cells treated with BFA and OA, modulation of the Golgi complex by these reagents may be partly responsible for enhanced apoptosis induction by diphtheria toxin.     

Structure of recombinant ricin A chain at 2.3 A.

The plant cytotoxin ricin is a heterodimer with a cell surface binding (B) chain and an enzymatically active A chain (RTA) known to act as a specific N-glycosidase. RTA must be separated from B chain to attack rRNA. The X-ray structure of ricin has been solved recently; here we report the structure of the isolated A chain expressed from a clone in Escherichia coli. This structure of wild-type rRTA has and will continue to serve as the parent compound for difference Fouriers used to assess the structure of site-directed mutants designed to analyze the mechanism of this medically and commercially important toxin. The structure of the recombinant protein, rRTA, is virtually identical to that seen previously for A chain in the heterodimeric toxin. Some minor conformational changes due to interactions with B chain and to crystal packing differences are described. Perhaps the most significant difference is the presence in rRTA of an additional active site water. This molecule is positioned to act as the ultimate nucleophile in the depurination reaction mechanism proposed by Monzingo and Robertus (1992, J. Mol. Biol. 227, 1136-1145).     

Comparison of protein synthesis inhibition kinetics and cell killing induced by immunotoxins

Immunotoxins comprised of a monoclonal antibody covalently coupled to recombinant ricin A chain or to a binding-defective form of diphtheria toxin were compared with respect to their rates of protein synthesis inhibition and efficiencies of killing target cells. Protein synthesis inhibition rates were established by measuring the incorporation of L-[14C]leucine in toxin-treated cells relative to untreated cells at several times after exposure of cells to an immunotoxin. Cell killing was assessed by a limiting dilution assay which measures the number of cells surviving toxin treatment relative to untreated cells. At equivalent protein concentrations, the diphtheria toxin immunotoxin inhibited protein synthesis significantly more rapidly than the ricin A immunotoxin but, contrary to previous predictions, achieved a significantly lower cell kill. Thus, the kinetics of protein synthesis inactivation do not necessarily correlate with killing efficiencies. Possible explanations for these results are that the effect of the diphtheria toxin immunotoxin on protein synthesis is partially reversible or that the diphtheria toxin immunotoxin enters the cytosol at a faster rate than the ricin A immunotoxin but also is degraded at a faster rate.     

Dual effects of the ricin A chain on protein synthesis in rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Inhibition of initiation and translocation

Ricin A chain caused inhibition of protein synthesis by reticulocyte lysate with concomitant depurination of 28S rRNA. The partial reaction(s) of protein synthesis inhibited was investigated by following the appearance of [35S]methionine from initiator [35S]Met-tRNA into 40S ribosomal subunits, 80S monosomes and polysomes. Ricin A chain caused an accumulation of [35S]Met in monosomes which did not enter polysomes. In these respects the effects of the ricin A chain resembled those of diphtheria toxin, an inhibitor of elongation-factor-2-catalyzed translocation. This is consistent with the previously proposed site of action of ricin as an inhibitor of elongation. However, the inhibitory effects of the ricin A chain and diphtheria toxin are not equivalent because we observed that the rate of formation of the 80S initiation complex was reduced approximately sixfold with the ricin A chain relative to diphtheria toxin. Analysis of methionine-containing peptides bound to 80S monosomes in ricin-A-chain-inhibited and diphtheria-toxin-inhibited lysates, programmed with globin mRNA, revealed a predominance of Met-Val, suggesting that the elongation cycle is inhibited at the translocation step. Translocation was also implicated as the step blocked in both the ricin-A-chain-inhibited and diphtheria-toxin-inhibited lysates, by the finding that nascent peptide chains were unreactive towards puromycin. It is concluded that ricin-A-chain-modified ribosomes are deficient in two protein synthesis partial reactions: the formation of the 80S initiation complex during initiation and the translocation step of the elongation cycle.     

A method for detecting the expression of a toxic gene in cultured cells.

We have devised a rapid method for examining the expression of a toxin gene following in vitro transfection using a bacterial beta-galactosidase (lacZ) gene as a reporter gene. Ricin A chain DNA and the lacZ gene, both under the control of the immunoglobulin gene promoter and enhancer, were transfected into mouse fibroblast cells (L cells). Transient expression of the lacZ gene was detected 2 days after transfection by histochemical staining of the transfectants with 5-bromo-3-indolyl-beta-D-galactoside. Cotransfection of the ricin A chain gene resulted in a progressive reduction in the number of lacZ transfectants as the expressed toxin killed the cells. A ricin construct with the intervening sequence from the human beta-actin gene required 4 days instead of 2 days to produce the toxic effect. This is a useful method for examining the expression of toxin gene in a cell.