生物体内的纳米机器——分子马达

分子马达是生物体内具有马达功能的一类蛋白质大分子纳米机器,可以执行完成生命体内的一切活动,包括肌肉的收缩、细胞内部物质的运输、遗传物质(DNA)的复制、细胞的分裂等等。按照分子马达的不同种类,介绍了各类线性分子马达(如驱动蛋白、动力蛋白和肌球蛋白)的结构、运动方式、主要功能等生物特征,并介绍了旋转分子马达(如ATP合酶)的生物特征,最后进行总结,展望未来。     

基于DNA分子导线的纳米生物传感器

DNA分子导线具有独特的导电性能和塞贝克(Seebeck)效应,它是构筑电化学纳米生物传感器和热电偶生物传感器的理想材料。文章简要介绍了DNA分子导线的制备方法及导电机理,以及基于DNA分子导线的纳米生物传感器的分子识别机制,着重分析了基于DNA分子导线的纳米生物传感器的传感原理。文章还介绍了基于DNA分子导线的纳米生物传感器在基因分析、单碱基突变检测等方面的应用。     

pRNA的结构、功能及其研究近况

在噬菌体phi29中, 基因组DNA的包装需要由病毒基因组编码的pRNA参与, 6个pRNA分子通过由pRNA分子间相互作用形成的六聚体来启动DNA转运马达, 这个过程由ATP提供能量。RNA纳米技术将pRNA与siRNA、核酶、反义RNA等分子稳定结合, pRNA作为一种载体把它们准确运输到癌细胞和病毒感染细胞的作用靶点, 从而发挥它们各自的功能。作为一种非编码RNA, 对pRNA的深入研究将有助于我们了解生命起源问题, 并有着广阔的应用前景。     

构建“小”的艺术——从分子开关到分子马达

生物体的复杂结构和功能为我们提供了启发和挑战,即如何在分子水平构建纳米结构,并控制它的功能。通过＂自下而上＂的路线,我们着重在以下方面进行了探索：组装对外界刺激具有响应性的纳米体系,其中关键是在分子和超分子水平控制它的动态过程。分子开关是受外界刺激控制的单元,并可作为分子存储和电子元件。本文介绍了一类受光控制的分子开关,由于光控的简单性和高效性,此类光分子开关有望在分子水平的信息存储领域展现重要的应用价值。此外,通过将另一类光分子开关螺吡喃与通道蛋白结合,成功实现了蛋白孔的光控开关,可以被称为＂分子阀门＂,对未来的可控药物释放提供了很好的模型。分子马达是对纳米科学的巨大挑战,并将是未来分子机器的核心组成部分。本文介绍了新型的光驱动分子马达,对外界能量的利用使马达能够进行循环的定向运动,并且对马达分子结构的设计,能够构建出速度更快的第二代光驱动分子马达。然后,通过化学方法能够将该马达固定在纳米颗粒以至宏观界面的表面上,马达仍然能够受光驱动而高效运行。最后,本文展示了分子马达的一些应用,例如,马达的运动能够引起与之结合的高分子体系、液晶,甚至宏观物体的变化。     

纳米生物技术

纳米生物技术将纳米技术和生物技术有机集成 ,将成为现代生物工程的重要组成部分 ,简要介绍纳米生物技术中的纳米生物材料 ,生物芯片、分子马达、纳米探针等方面的最新进展。     

细菌鞭毛马达——一种卓越的分子机器

鞭毛马达(flagellar motor)是一种分子旋转马达,它在细菌鞭毛的结构与功能中起着中心作用.鞭毛马达的结构已基本清楚,主要由Mot A、Mot B、Fli G、Fli M和Fli N 5种蛋白组成定子(stator)和转子(rotor),其驱动力来自于跨膜的H⁺或Na⁺流.目前对鞭毛马达的旋转动力学及旋转力矩产生机制已有初步的了解.鞭毛马达可作为研究分子旋转马达的理想模型,对其深入研究将有助于认识生物能量转化利用及细胞运动的机制并具有广泛的生物学意义.     

纳米孔测序信号处理及其在DNA数据存储的应用

随着高通量测序技术的不断更新,可以在单个分子水平读取核苷酸序列的第三代测序技术迅速发展,纳米孔测序技术是其具有代表性的单分子测序技术,该技术通过检测DNA单链分子穿过纳米孔时引起的跨膜电流信号的变化,实现碱基识别。纳米孔测序仪在便携性、碱基读取速度、测序读段长度等方面较传统的第一代与第二代测序技术都有明显优势。随着纳米孔测序技术的不断发展成熟,与其配套的各种信号处理与生物信息处理工具也迅速涌现,碱基识别和模型仿真是其中两个较为关键的研究方向。首先介绍纳米孔测序基本原理与信号处理流程,探讨其目前面临的挑战,归纳近年来在碱基识别与纳米孔模型仿真两个方面的主要进展与发展趋势,并用实测数据比较了不同碱基识别方法的性能。继而搭建了纳米孔测序集成仿真平台,为信号处理算法的评估提供支撑。进一步,随着全球数据量的爆发式增长,DNA数据存储正成为未来非常有潜力的海量数据存储方式,采用纳米孔测序读出是一种非常有效的方法。总结了纳米孔测序技术在DNA数据存储中的应用进展,分析了其可行性。分析了基于纳米孔测序实现的人工染色体数据存储的快速读出方法,探讨了与实际测序数据结合的纳米孔测序读段仿真在DNA数据存储中的应用,为开发适合DNA数据存储的方案提供参考。     

DNA纳米舱可逆开关的性质与应用

由于生物大分子的一些特殊物理、化学属性,蛋白质、核酸等一类生物分子被广泛应用于制备各种纳米结构与器件,但是基于生物分子集体动力学性质的纳米器件还没有真正开发出来。本文讨论一种在表面上自组装形成的具有可逆开关性质的DNA纳米舱结构。由于DNA杂交动力学集体行为的一些特性,此纳米舱可以对小分子进行有效的禁闭和释放,从而可能被应用于开发DNA序列检测芯片的基本元件。我们的研究表明,根据此纳米舱的工作原理制造的DNA检测器件可以探测到一个碱基对的错配,其选择性远高于传统的DNA芯片,同时检测灵敏度也有一定的提高。这个研究结果开创了发展不需要荧光标记的DNA芯片的新思路。     

单分子纳米操纵及其生物学应用

本文以单分子纳米操纵为主题,介绍物理学与生物学交叉研究的重要领域之一——纳米生物学和纳米生物技术等新领域,着重讨论了单个DNA分子的纳米操纵以及它的可能应用。     

纳米孔测序技术应用于食品微生物检测的可行性分析

近些年来DNA测序技术发展迅速,已经从第一代生化测序发展到第三代单分子测序。作为第三代测序技术中的一种不同于当前流行的其他测序技术,纳米孔测序技术是基于电信号的一种物理方法测序。许多研究者通常将高通量测序技术应用于食品微生物的研究,但是将纳米孔测序技术应用于食品中微生物的检测却鲜有报道。Oxford Nanopore Technologies(牛津纳米孔科技公司)研发的DNA测序仪MinION,是世界首例用于商业测序的纳米孔测序仪,经过不断完善,近年来MinION在DNA测序中被广泛应用。MinION 测序一次需要的DNA量约1μg,其标准识别速度为一秒钟识别250个碱基,平均读长可至13kb~20kb,测序准确率可以达到98%。纳米孔测序的高识别速度和高准确率,完全满足快速检测的要求,将其应用于食品中微生物检测是完全可行的。     

Sequential action of ATPase, ATP, ADP, Pi and dsDNA in procapsid-free system to enlighten mechanism in viral dsDNA packaging

Many cells and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses contain an AAA⁺ ATPase that assembles into oligomers, often hexamers, with a central channel. The dsDNA packaging motor of bacteriophage phi29 also contains an ATPase to translocate dsDNA through a dodecameric channel. The motor ATPase has been investigated substantially in the context of the entire procapsid. Here, we report the sequential action between the ATPase and additional motor components. It is suggested that the contact of ATPase to ATP resulted in its conformational change to a higher binding affinity toward dsDNA. It was found that ATP hydrolysis led to the departure of dsDNA from the ATPase/dsDNA complex, an action that is speculated to push dsDNA to pass the connector channel. Our results suggest that dsDNA packaging goes through a combined effort of both the gp16 ATPase for pushing and the channel as a one-way valve to control the dsDNA translocation direction. Many packaging models have previously been proposed, and the packaging mechanism has been contingent upon the number of nucleotides packaged per ATP relative to the 10.5 bp per helical turn for B-type dsDNA. Both 2 and 2.5 bp per ATP have been used to argue for four, five or six discrete steps of dsDNA translocation. Combination of the two distinct roles of gp16 and connector renews the perception of previous dsDNA packaging energy calculations and provides insight into the discrepancy between 2 and 2.5 bp per ATP.     

Common mechanisms of DNA translocation motors in bacteria and viruses using one-way revolution mechanism without rotation

Biomotors were once described into two categories: linear motor and rotation motor. Recently, a third type of biomotor with revolution mechanism without rotation has been discovered. By analogy, rotation resembles the Earth rotating on its axis in a complete cycle every 24 h, while revolution resembles the Earth revolving around the Sun one circle per 365 days (see animations http://nanobio.uky.edu/movie.html). The action of revolution that enables a motor free of coiling and torque has solved many puzzles and debates that have occurred throughout the history of viral DNA packaging motor studies. It also settles the discrepancies concerning the structure, stoichiometry, and functioning of DNA translocation motors. This review uses bacteriophages Phi29, HK97, SPP1, P22, T4, and T7 as well as bacterial DNA translocase FtsK and SpoIIIE or the large eukaryotic dsDNA viruses such as mimivirus and vaccinia virus as examples to elucidate the puzzles. These motors use ATPase, some of which have been confirmed to be a hexamer, to revolve around the dsDNA sequentially. ATP binding induces conformational change and possibly an entropy alteration in ATPase to a high affinity toward dsDNA; but ATP hydrolysis triggers another entropic and conformational change in ATPase to a low affinity for DNA, by which dsDNA is pushed toward an adjacent ATPase subunit. The rotation and revolution mechanisms can be distinguished by the size of channel: the channels of rotation motors are equal to or smaller than 2 nm, that is the size of dsDNA, whereas channels of revolution motors are larger than 3 nm. Rotation motors use parallel threads to operate with a right-handed channel, while revolution motors use a left-handed channel to drive the right-handed DNA in an anti-chiral arrangement. Coordination of several vector factors in the same direction makes viral DNA-packaging motors unusually powerful and effective. Revolution mechanism that avoids DNA coiling in translocating the lengthy genomic dsDNA helix could be advantageous for cell replication such as bacterial binary fission and cell mitosis without the need for topoisomerase or helicase to consume additional energy.     

Role of channel lysines and the "push through a one-way valve" mechanism of the viral DNA packaging motor

Linear double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses package their genomes into preformed protein shells via nanomotors using ATP as an energy source. The central hub of the bacteriophage φ29 DNA-packaging motor contains a 3.6-nm channel for dsDNA to enter during packaging and to exit during infection. The negatively charged interior channel wall is decorated with a total of 48 positively charged lysine residues displayed as four 12-lysine rings from the 12 gp10 subunits that enclose the channel. The standard notion derived from many models is that these uniquely arranged, positively charged rings play active roles in DNA translocation through the channel. In this study, we tested this prevailing view by examining the effect of mutating these basic lysines to alanines, and assessing the impact of altering the pH environment. Unexpectedly, mutating these basic lysine residues or changing the pH to 4 or 10, which could alter the charge of lysines, did not measurably impair DNA translocation or affect the one-way traffic property of the channel. The results support our recent findings regarding the dsDNA packaging mechanism known as the "push through a one-way valve".     

An ATP hydrolysis sensor in the DNA packaging motor from bacteriophage T4 suggests an inchworm-type translocation mechanism

Tailed bacteriophages and large eukaryotic viruses employ powerful molecular motors to translocate dsDNA into a preassembled capsid shell. The phage T4 motor is composed of a dodecameric portal and small and large terminase subunits assembled at the special head-tail connector vertex of the prohead. The motor pumps DNA through the portal channel, utilizing ATP hydrolysis energy provided by an ATPase present in the large terminase subunit. We report that the ATPase motors of terminases, helicases, translocating restriction enzymes, and protein translocases possess a common coupling motif (C-motif). Mutations in the phage T4 terminase C-motif lead to loss of stimulated ATPase and DNA translocation activities. Surprisingly, the mutants can catalyze at least one ATP hydrolysis event but are unable to turn over and reset the motor. This is the first report of a catalytic block in translocating ATPase motor after ATP hydrolysis occurred. We suggest that the C-motif is an ATP hydrolysis sensor, linking product release to mechanical motion. A novel terminase-driven mechanism is proposed for translocation of dsDNA in viruses.     

A conformational switch in bacteriophage p22 portal protein primes genome injection

Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses such as herpesviruses and bacteriophages infect by delivering their genetic material into cells, a task mediated by a DNA channel called "portal protein." We have used electron cryomicroscopy to determine the structure of bacteriophage P22 portal protein in both the procapsid and mature capsid conformations. We find that, just as the viral capsid undergoes major conformational changes during virus maturation, the portal protein switches conformation from a procapsid to a mature phage state upon binding of gp4, the factor that initiates tail assembly. This dramatic conformational change traverses the entire length of the DNA channel, from the outside of the virus to the inner shell, and erects a large dome domain directly above the DNA channel that binds dsDNA inside the capsid. We hypothesize that this conformational change primes dsDNA for injection and directly couples completion of virus morphogenesis to a new cycle of infection.     

Pumps, paradoxes and ploughshares: mechanism of the MCM2-7 DNA helicase

In eukaryotes, numerous lines of evidence have coalesced into a convincing case that the MCM2-7 complex - a heterohexameric ATPase - is the replicative DNA helicase. However, almost nothing is known about how this enzyme functions in a cellular context. Some models for the mechanism of the MCM2-7 helicase envision that it translocates along single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), whereas, more recently, it is has been suggested that it pumps double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) through its central channel. In particular, one model in which a double hexamer of MCM2-7 pumps dsDNA towards the hexamer interface and extrudes ssDNA laterally as a result of torsional strain is gaining popularity. Here, we discuss existing models and propose a new variation in which a single hexamer is the functional unit of the helicase. Duplex DNA is pumped into MCM2-7 and, as it emerges from the complex, a rigid protein that we term the 'ploughshare' splits the duplex.     

Structural basis for DNA strand separation by a hexameric replicative helicase

Hexameric helicases are processive DNA unwinding machines but how they engage with a replication fork during unwinding is unknown. Using electron microscopy and single particle analysis we determined structures of the intact hexameric helicase E1 from papillomavirus and two complexes of E1 bound to a DNA replication fork end-labelled with protein tags. By labelling a DNA replication fork with streptavidin (dsDNA end) and Fab (5′ ssDNA) we located the positions of these labels on the helicase surface, showing that at least 10 bp of dsDNA enter the E1 helicase via a side tunnel. In the currently accepted ‘steric exclusion’ model for dsDNA unwinding, the active 3′ ssDNA strand is pulled through a central tunnel of the helicase motor domain as the dsDNA strands are wedged apart outside the protein assembly. Our structural observations together with nuclease footprinting assays indicate otherwise: strand separation is taking place inside E1 in a chamber above the helicase domain and the 5′ passive ssDNA strands exits the assembly through a separate tunnel opposite to the dsDNA entry point. Our data therefore suggest an alternative to the current general model for DNA unwinding by hexameric helicases.     

Large Terminase Conformational Change Induced by Connector Binding in Bacteriophage T7

During bacteriophage morphogenesis DNA is translocated into a preformed prohead by the complex formed by the portal protein, or connector, plus the terminase, which are located at an especial prohead vertex. The terminase is a powerful motor that converts ATP hydrolysis into mechanical movement of the DNA. Here, we have determined the structure of the T7 large terminase by electron microscopy. The five terminase subunits assemble in a toroid that encloses a channel wide enough to accommodate dsDNA. The structure of the complete connector-terminase complex is also reported, revealing the coupling between the terminase and the connector forming a continuous channel. The structure of the terminase assembled into the complex showed a different conformation when compared with the isolated terminase pentamer. To understand in molecular terms the terminase morphological change, we generated the terminase atomic model based on the crystallographic structure of its phage T4 counterpart. The docking of the threaded model in both terminase conformations showed that the transition between the two states can be achieved by rigid body subunit rotation in the pentameric assembly. The existence of two terminase conformations and its possible relation to the sequential DNA translocation may shed light into the molecular bases of the packaging mechanism of bacteriophage T7.