菌紫质质子泵机理的研究进展

菌紫质(bR）是嗜盐菌紫膜中的唯一蛋白,具有光驱动的质子泵功能,迄今为止对于光循环和质子泵的具体分子机理仍未弄清楚,作者概述了近几年来关于bP质子泵机理的研究进展,介绍了两个较新的模型。     

蜂毒对菌紫质(bR)光循环中间体M_(412)和质子泵的影响

蜂毒对菌紫质(bR)光循环中间体M_(412)及质子泵的动力学过程有较大影响.表现在M_(412)慢衰减组分(M_(412~S))和质子的半衰期增大及产出量的减小,说明蜂毒分子的介入抑制了M_(412)的生成和衰减过程,同时也阻碍了紫膜的质子泵功能.但似乎对M_(412)快衰减组分影响不大.以上结果支持了M_(412~S)与质子泵功能有关的说法.实验结果同时反映出蜂毒除与膜脂分子存在强烈作用外还与bR本身直接作用.因此,蜂毒是一种研究膜脂蛋白相互作用及膜蛋白功能的较好材料.     

紫膜蛋白(菌紫质)的应用前景

简要综述了紫膜蛋白(菌紫质)作为光驱动质子泵,光电换能器及光敏材料等方面的应用前景;谈到了通过基因工程和生化手段可优化设计菌紫质的物理和化学特性,将其应用在信号的存储和处理中的可能性,并探讨了菌紫质在实际应用中可能存在的问题.     

紫膜Langmuir-Blodgett膜的光电压

八十年代生物分子电子学和生物计算机研究的兴起,嗜盐菌紫膜蛋白菌紫质由于其结构稳定,当受到光照时,能发生同素异构变化,具有光色互变和光驱动质子泵功能、双稳态特性以及皮秒到毫秒级的光电响应特性,使其成为目前国内外关注的研究生物分子电子器件的理想材料之一,应用前途是发展生物分子器件和生物芯片等。由于紫膜具有不对称性而菌紫质的光驱动质子泵具有方向性,因而必须有序组装而且可以有序组装。紫膜     

菌紫质研究的新进展

菌紫质(BR)是嗜盐菌紫膜中的唯一蛋白质,野生型的BR分子含有248个氨基酸残基,其中一个视黄醛通过希夫碱基连结在第216位赖氨酸上,它具有质子泵的功能．光照下,BR进行光循环,光循环又与质子泵过程相关联．菌紫质的结构和功能方面的研究已有很大进展,但其光循环途径和质子泵的机理还不太清楚．文章概述了近年来对菌紫质结构,光循环和质子泵机理研究的进展,尤其对争论较大的菌紫质光循环途径的四类模型作了较详细的介绍．     

“正常”膜蛋白取向的细菌视紫红质脂质体制备及其瞬态光学响应

细菌视紫红质 (bR)是嗜盐菌质膜上的一种跨膜蛋白质 ,有其独特的光驱质子泵功能 ,可以被定向组装到磷脂脂质体膜上 ,并且表现出和细胞膜上相反的取向。通过细菌培养和细胞膜分离 ,获得了含bR蛋白质的紫膜悬浮体系 ,在pH =2 .5时将bR悬浮液和两亲性的DPPC磷脂混合、通过自组装的方式形成了含bR膜蛋白的磷脂脂质体 ,并通过瞬态光学响应测量考察了bR的取向和质子泵生物活性。结果表明 ,bR膜蛋白可以被整合到DPPC的脂质体膜上 ;蛋白质的质子泵运行规律的测量进一步验证了在酸性条件下所制备的脂质体上bR保持了不寻常的择优取向 ,与细胞膜上的“正常”取向一致 ,而与绝大多数文献报道的中性条件下制备的脂质体质子泵取向相反。     

蜂毒突变体对紫膜质子泵功能的影响

具有光驱动质子泵功能的嗜盐菌紫膜是一种被广泛研究的生物膜系统。利用毫秒级闪光动力学谱仪研究蜂毒不同突变体对紫膜质子泵功能的影响。实验采用对硝基苯酚（ｐ－ｎｉｔｒｏｐｈｅｎｏｌ）作为ＰＨ敏感染料来研究紫膜蛋白－菌紫质（Ｂａｃｔｅｒｉｏｒｈｏｄｏｐｓｉｎ,简称）的光反应和质子泵功能。在初步的实验中发现,在一定的温度范围内,光循环过程随着温度的升高而加快,质子泵功能却基本保持不变。另外,由于蜂毒突变体具有不同的插膜特性和不同的电荷量,通过比较它们对ＢＲ质子泵功能的影响,揭示了蜂毒小肽Ｃ端和Ｎ端的不同带电状态对质子泵功能所起的作用不同。实验结果有力地证实了蜂毒或其突变体与菌紫质蛋白具有直接的相互作用,这种相互作用的强弱与蜂毒突变体电荷的多少密切相关     

菌紫质光生物分子器件及其超快过程

菌紫质是嗜盐菌紫膜中的一种光能转换蛋白.它具有光致色变和光驱动质子泵功能,其原初光异构化过程极其迅速,可在430fs内完成.由于菌紫质具有一系列独特的光电和光学特性,如对光强的微分响应,高的空间分辨率,高的光灵敏度,高循环次数等,使得它在光电探测,仿视觉系统,人工神经网络,非线性光学及光学信息记录和处理方面有很多重要应用.利用超短脉冲激光技术,高时间分辨光谱学技术及高速取样探测技术,对菌紫质的光循环,原初光异构化,激发态动力学,质子泵机制等方面的研究已取得了许多有意义的结果.     

酰化菌紫质的动力学光谱及光电特性研究

用人工双分子膜(BLM)技术及动力学光谱研究了赖氨酸残基在紫膜的结构和功能中所起的作用.酰化基团与菌紫质(bR)分子中的赖氨酸残基的ε氨基作用,使光照后bR的跨膜质子迁移信号及膜的充放电速度变慢,光循环中间产物M412的产量下降,半衰期延长.但UV/Vis吸收光谱表明酰化并未破坏bR中视黄醛的构象环境.在高pH或高盐浓度下,酰化的影响降低.这些结果表明:赖氨酸残基并不是泵出质子的提供者,没有直接参与质子的跨膜输运,而是通过表面电位来影响bR的质子泵功能.     

酶切菌紫质(bR)C端对紫膜光循环和质子泵效率的影响

本文研究紫膜悬浮液经低剂量木瓜蛋酶处理去掉菌紫质(Bacteriorhodopsin简写bR)分子C-末端后。其光循环产物和质子泵效率的变化。实验发现经酶切后,M_(412)产物中慢衰减组份M_(412)降低了20％,O_(640)降低了50％,而质子泵效率降低了70％。双光脉冲实验表明酶解作用并不影响光循环周期。这些事实说明了去C-端所引起的质子泵效率降低,不是通过光循环的途径而产生的。介质中离子强度对正常紫膜和酶解紫膜的质子泵效率有明显不同的影响 说明了C端在不同盐浓度中的构象对质子泵行为有很重要的作用。     

A Unique Protease Cleavage Site Predicted in the Spike Protein of the Novel Pneumonia Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Potentially Related to Viral Transmissibility

正Dear Editor,In December 2019, a novel human coronavirus caused an epidemic of severe pneumonia(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China(Wu et al. 2020; Zhu et al. 2020). So far, this virus has spread to all areas of China and even to other countries. The epidemic has caused 67,102 confirmed infections with 1526 fatal cases     

Curcuminoids as inhibitors of thioredoxin reductase: A receptor based pharmacophore study with distance mapping of the active site

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric that interacts irreversibly forming an adduct with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an enzyme responsible for redox control of cell and defence against oxidative stress. Docking at both the active sites of TrxR was performed to compare the potency of three naturally occurring curcuminoids, namely curcumin, demethoxy curcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin. Results show that active sites of TrxR occur at the junction of E and F chains. Volume and area of both cavities is predicted. It has been concluded by distance mapping of the most active conformations that Se atom of catalytic residue SeCYS498, is at a distance of 3.56 from C13 of demethoxy curcumin at the E chain active site, whereas C13 carbon atom forms adduct with Se atom of SeCys 498. We report that at least one methoxy group in curcuminoids is necessary for interation with catalytic residues of thioredoxin. Pharmacophore of both active sites of the TrxR receptor for curcumin and demethoxy curcumin molecules has been drawn and proposed for design and synthesis of most probable potent antiproliferative synthetic drugs.     

Comparative morphology of the carpel in the Liliaceae: Hewardieae, Petrosavieae, and Tricyrteae

The young pistils in the melanthioid tribes, Hewardieae, Petrosavieae and Tricyrteae, are uniformly tricarpellate and syncarpous. They lack raphide idioblasts. All are multiovulate, with bitegmic ovules. The Petrosavieae are marked by the presence of septal glands and incomplete syncarpy. Tepals and stamens adhere to the ovary in the Hewardieae and the Petrosavieae but not in the Tricyrteae. Two vascular bundles occur in the stamens of the Hewartlieae and Tricyrtis latifolia. Ventral bundles in the upper part of the ovary of the Hewardieae are continuous with compound septal bundles and placental bundles in the lower part. Putative ventral bundles occur in the alternate position in the Tricyrteae and putative placental bundles in the opposite. position in the Petrosavieae. The dichtomously branched stigma in each carpel of the Tricyrteae is supplied by a bifurcated dorsal bundle.     

Selection with two alleles and complete dominance

For a plant selection model with frequency-independent viabilities, fertilities and selfing rates, it is shown that apart from global fixation, for certain parameter combinations a protected polymorphism and facultative fixation (either allele may become fixed according to initial frequencies) may both occur. Facultative fixation requires different selling rates for the dominant and recessive type. Protection of the polymorphism requires resource allocation for male and female function. In this connection the problem of purely genetically caused population extinction is discussed.
For general frequency dependence and regular segregation, the chances for establishment of a completely recessive gene are compared to those of a completely dominant gene. It is proven that the process of establishment of the recessive gene, despite a fitness advantage, may be considerably endangered by drift effects if random mating prevails. The recessive gene may reach the same effectivity in establishment as a dominant gene, only if the recessive homozygote mates exclusively with its own type during the period of establishment.     

Composition and diversity of bird communities in Swedish farmland–forest mosaic landscapes

CapsuleThe amount of forest (at local and landscape scales) and occurrence of residual habitats at the local scale are shown to be the major factors influencing bird community composition in farmland–forest landscapes in central Sweden.

Aims To investigate the importance of local habitat and landscape structure for breeding birds in farmland–forest landscapes in central Sweden.

Methods Breeding birds were censused at 292 points. A detailed habitat mapping was made within 300 m of the points. Within a 300–600 m radius only two major habitats (forests and arable fields) were identified.

Results Cluster analyses of bird communities identified three site types that also differed in habitat composition: (i) partially forested sites in forested landscapes; (ii) heterogeneous sites with residual habitats in mosaic landscapes; and (iii) field-dominated farmland sites in open landscapes. A total of 19 of 25 farmland bird species (restricted to farmland or using both farmland and forest) had the highest abundance in farmland sites with mosaics of forest and farmland, while only six farmland species had the highest abundance in field-dominated sites. The bird community changed from being dominated by farmland species to being dominated by forest species (common in forest landscapes without farmland) at small proportions (10–20%) of forest at the local scale. A major difference in habitat composition between heterogeneous and field-dominated sites was the occurrence of different residual habitats (e.g. shrubby areas and seminatural grasslands). These habitats seemed to influence bird community composition more than land-use, despite covering <10% of the area. Seminatural grasslands were important for bird community composition and species-richness, but grazing seemed to be less important. Among different land-use types, cereal crops were the least preferred fields. Set-asides with tall vegetation and short rotation coppices were positively associated with species-richness of farmland birds.

Conclusion In general, the composition of the landscape was important for bird community composition, although amount and distribution of forests, occurrence of residual habitats and land-use of fields at the local scale had the strongest influence on bird community composition. The possible implications of these patterns for managing farmland–forest landscapes are discussed.     

Chemical constituents from the fruits of Rhus typhina L. and their chemotaxonomic significance

This work describes the isolation and characterization of twenty-nine compounds from the fruits of Rhus typhina L., including eleven flavonoids (1–11), eleven phenols (12–22), two pentacyclic triterpenes (23–24), two organic acids (25–26), one lumichrome (27), one courmarin (28) and one pyrimidine (29) on the basis of their spectroscopic data. Compounds apigenin (1), daidzein (4), orobol (5), 3′, 5, 5′, 7-tetrahydroxyflavanone (6), naringenin (7), butein (8), (-)-catechin (9), quercetin-3-O-α-L-(3″-O-galloyl)-rhamnoside (11), 2-hydroxybenzoic acid (13), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (14), vanillin (15), methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (16), 3,5-dihydroxybenzamide (18), tyrosol (19), caffeic acid (20), 3-(2,4,6-trihydroxyphenyl)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propan-1-one (21), phlorizin (22), friedelin (23), oleanolic acid (24), 4,4-dimethyl-heptanedioic acid (25), anthranilic acid (26), lumichrome (27), scoparone (28) and uracil (29) have not been recorded before in this plant. This is the first report on the occurrence of compounds 4–7, 9, 11, 13–14, 16, 18–21, 25–29 from the genus Rhus. Moreover, the chemotaxonomic significance of these isolated compounds was also summarized.