结核分枝杆菌Rv1168c蛋白的基因表达、纯化及结构分析

【目的】应用原核表达体系对结核分枝杆菌PPE蛋白家族Rv1168c进行高效表达,进一步进行蛋白纯化和结构分析。【方法】以结核分枝杆菌H37Rv基因组为模板,扩增Rv1168c基因,构建pET32a-Rv1168c重组质粒;转化重组质粒到大肠杆菌DH5α并在BL21(DE3)诱导表达,通过十二烷基硫酸钠-聚丙烯酰胺电泳(SDS-PAGE)鉴定Rv1168c在大肠杆菌中的表达情况;Ni-NTAHis﹡Bind Resin纯化重组蛋白Rv1168c;SDS-PAGE和质谱分析测定相对分子量后,用圆二色光谱(CD)和同源模建方法分析和检测重组蛋白Rv1168c的二级和三级结构。【结果】成功克隆了971bp的目的基因Rv1168c,并获得了高纯度的重组蛋白Rv1168c。重组蛋白的分子量为51.5kDa(含载体蛋白)。25℃时重组蛋白Rv1168c的二级结构包括34.4%α螺旋,33.7%β转角,31.9%无规则卷曲,它的三维模型显示为(β/α)5结构。【结论】成功得到高纯度的重组目的Rv1168c蛋白,并初步进行了结构分析,为进一步对Rv1168c结构和功能研究奠定了基础。     

START家族Rv0164蛋白在耻垢分枝杆菌中的表达及垂钓互作蛋白

【目的】START家族蛋白的突变或者错误表达使哺乳动物产生肾上腺皮质增生、乳腺癌和结肠癌等疾病;START家族蛋白是植物发育过程中重要的调节因子;尚未阐明START家族蛋白作为细菌必需基因的作用机制。结核分枝杆菌必需基因Rv0164属于START家族,功能未知,研究Rv0164作用机制将为START家族分子机制增添新理论。【方法】生物信息学方法分析Rv0164序列特征;模式菌耻垢分枝杆菌中表达Rv0164并分析蛋白的细胞定位;Co-immunoprecipitation(Co-IP)方法垂钓Rv0164的相互作用蛋白,质谱鉴定互作蛋白,酵母双杂交和Pull down验证蛋白相互作用。【结果】Rv0164的N端17个氨基酸在分枝杆菌中不保守;Rv0164无信号肽;Rv0164定位在细胞质中,受蛋白降解机制调控,该机制在细菌生长平台期比对数期活性弱;N端缺失使Rv0164在平台期和对数期均不稳定;Rv0164结合多个胞内蛋白。【结论】Rv0164的N端肽段增加了蛋白的稳定性;Rv0164是一个胞内蛋白;Rv0164能够结合细菌生存必需蛋白。     

高致病性2型猪链球菌毒素-抗毒素系统SezAT的鉴定与活性研究

【目的】对我国高致病性2型猪链球菌05Z33基因组的89K毒力岛序列进行生物信息学分析,发现存在一对与化脓链球菌Epsilon-zeta(ε-ζ)同源的Ⅱ型毒素-抗毒素系统(Toxin-antitoxin system,TA)——SezAT,推测该系统具有稳定89K毒力岛使其不易丢失的作用。验证SezAT为有活性的TA系统。【方法】对SezAT进行了生物信息学分析;RT-PCR验证SezAT共转录特性;在大肠杆菌中选择性地诱导表达毒素蛋白SezT和抗毒素蛋白SezA;最后通过同源重组技术敲除SezAT系统。【结果】sezAT由同一操纵子控制,SezT可抑制细菌生长,SezA可中和SezT的毒性作用,同源重组成功获得sezT敲除突变株。【结论】证实SezAT为一对有活性的毒素-抗毒素(TA)系统,为进一步研究SezAT可能发挥稳定89K毒力岛的功能,同时获得89K毒力岛缺失突变株并深入认识89K在我国高致病性SS2中的作用奠定了基础。     

结核分枝杆菌Rv1884c基因的克隆及其原核表达

目的:构建结核分枝杆菌Rv1884c基因的原核表达质粒,获得结核分枝杆菌Rv1884c基因的表达蛋白。方法:制备结核分枝杆菌基因组DNA,采用聚合酶链反应技术扩增目的基因片段;通过pGEX-4T-1构建质粒载体pGEX-4T-1-Rv1884c,经序列测定证实正确后转化大肠杆菌DH5α,再经IPTG诱导表达GST-1884融合蛋白;用聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳分析重组蛋白的相对分子质量及表达形式。结果:扩增出了结核分枝杆菌Rv1884c基因,构建了具有正确基因序列的质粒载体pGEX-4T-1-Rv1884c,转化大肠杆菌DH5α后经诱导产生了高水平的表达产物。结论:构建了pGEX-4T-1-Rv1884c质粒载体,并诱导表达了GST-1884融合蛋白,为进一步研究Rv1884c蛋白的活性及其功能,探讨结核分枝杆菌快速促生长作用奠定了基础。     

副溶血弧菌染色体上毒素-抗毒素系统YefM-YoeB的鉴定

【背景】副溶血弧菌是一种重要的食源性病原菌,给公众健康带来严重危害。毒素-抗毒素系统广泛存在于细菌和古生菌基因组中,具有重要的生物学功能。【目的】在副溶血弧菌中鉴定新的毒素-抗毒素系统,为从毒素-抗毒素系统角度探讨该菌致病性和耐药性的分子机制奠定基础。【方法】通过在线工具预测副溶血弧菌染色体上的假定II型毒素-抗毒素系统;通过生长曲线分析和稀释点板实验检测假定毒素对大肠杆菌的毒性作用及相应抗毒素的抗毒性作用;通过反转录PCR确定毒素和抗毒素基因是否共转录;通过生物信息学分析确定新鉴定毒素-抗毒素系统的同源蛋白;通过LacZ报告实验确定抗毒素及毒素-抗毒素复合物对自身启动子的调控作用。【结果】副溶血弧菌染色体中编码6个假定II型毒素-抗毒素系统;基因vp1820的表达产物(VP1820)对大肠杆菌具有杀菌活性,vp1821的表达产物(VP1821)能中和VP1820的毒性;基因vp1821和vp1820共转录;vp1821-vp1820编码YefM-YoeB毒素-抗毒素系统;抗毒素YefM正调控启动子,YefM-YoeB复合物负调控启动子。【结论】在副溶血弧菌中鉴定了一个新的II型毒素-抗毒素系统,即YefM-YoeB,为进一步研究该系统对副溶血弧菌致病性和耐药性的影响奠定了基础。     

假结核耶尔森氏菌中Phd-Doc毒素-抗毒素系统的功能鉴定

【背景】毒素-抗毒素系统在微生物体内广泛存在,在微生物对抗外界不良环境方面发挥重要作用。【目的】以模式细菌假结核耶尔森氏菌(Yersinia pseudotuberculosis,Yptb)为材料,探究其编码的Phd-Doc毒素-抗毒素系统的作用机制和生物学功能。【方法】通过生物信息学方法预测Yptb中编码的Phd-Doc毒素-抗毒素系统,通过毒性分析、基因表达分析及蛋白相互作用对其进行鉴定;通过抗生素胁迫、氧胁迫、生物被膜形成等实验研究Phd-Doc在体内发挥的生物学功能。【结果】生物信息学分析鉴定出一对Phd-Doc毒素-抗毒素系统,发现二者共转录且相互作用;毒素蛋白Doc能够引起大肠杆菌形态发生变化并抑制其生长,抗毒素蛋白Phd能中和Doc的毒性;Phd-Doc毒素-抗毒素系统具有自调控抑制效应;phd-doc的缺失对Yptb自身的生长无影响,而且毒素蛋白Doc在野生型Yptb内过表达并未显示毒性;phd-doc在转录水平上响应了抗生素胁迫和氧胁迫,其中,对氯霉素胁迫最为敏感,但并不影响Yptb的生长;同时,Phd-Doc能够影响Yptb的生物被膜形成能力。【结论】Yptb中Phd-Doc毒素-抗毒素系统的功能鉴定对于更好地了解在多变的外部环境下微生物的定殖和响应机制具有重要意义。     

结核分枝杆菌毒素-抗毒素系统 maz EF6缺失突变株的构建及其表型的初步探讨

为构建结核分枝杆菌毒素‐抗毒素系统 m azEF6缺失突变株,并对其表型进行初步探讨,首先用聚合酶链反应（PCR）分别从H37Rv标准株和PUC‐19K质粒扩增出 mazEF6基因的同源臂及卡那霉素抗性基因kan ;然后应用融合PCR技术将 mazEF6基因的同源臂与 kan基因进行杂交拼接,获得目的融合片段,将该融合片段克隆于pMD‐19T（simple）载体形成自杀质粒pMD‐19T‐ΔmazEF6‐kan ,并将自杀质粒转化至大肠埃希菌DH5α中;最后利用电穿孔技术将自杀质粒电转至H37Rv标准株中,在卡那霉素抗性改良罗氏培养基上筛选H37Rv ΔmazEF6缺失突变株单个菌落,提取阳性菌株全基因组DNA为模板,PCR扩增克隆片段并测序。将所获得的H37Rv ΔmazEF6缺失突变株进行遗传稳定性检测后,对其表型进行初步研究。结果显示,该缺失株在15代内未发生回复性突变;与野生株相比,缺失株生长速度缓慢且细菌形态短小。本研究证实,融合PCR技术便于快速获得结核分枝杆菌缺失突变株;结核分枝杆菌在缺失毒素‐抗毒素系统 m azEF6基因后生存能力下降,这为进一步研究毒素‐抗毒素系统的作用奠定了基础。     

结核杆菌活动期高表达基因Rv1776c的克隆及其在耻垢分枝杆菌中的表达

目的构建表达结核分枝杆菌Rv1776c基因的重组耻垢分支杆菌,并鉴定该基因在重组耻垢分支杆菌中的活性。方法采用PCR技术克隆结核分枝杆菌Rv1776c基因,构建大肠埃希菌-分支杆菌穿梭表达质粒pMV-Rv1776c,通过酶切和测序鉴定其正确性,用电穿孔法将重组质粒转染到耻垢分支杆菌mc^2155中。以SDS-PAGE及Western blot检测证实Rv1776c蛋白在重组耻垢分支杆菌内的表达。结果重组耻垢分支杆菌构建成功,生长曲线说明重组质粒不会影响耻垢分支杆菌的体外生长;SDSPAGE及Western blot检测证实Rv1776c在耻垢分枝杆菌内表达出相对分子量约56kD的Rv1776c蛋白。结论成功构建了Rv1776c基因的穿梭质粒pMV-Rv1776c,且该质粒在耻垢分枝杆菌内具有生物活性,为进一步研究其表达产物的功能提供基础。     

定量蛋白质组学分析链霉素耐药和敏感结核分枝杆菌临床分离株

[目的]发现结核分枝杆菌(Mycobacterium tuberculosis)链霉素耐药相关的潜在菌体蛋白.[方法]以结核分枝杆菌临床分离链霉素敏感株01105和结核分枝杆菌H37Rv为对照,采用iTRAQ技术和生物信息学鉴定并相对定量结核分枝杆菌临床分离链霉素耐药株01108菌体蛋白,并通过WEGO功能注释聚类分析01108菌株差异表达蛋白的细胞组分、分子功能和生物进程.[结果]01108菌株分别与01105菌株和H37Rv菌株比较差异表达蛋白为194个和146个,01108菌株与01105菌株和H37Rv比较均差异表达蛋白121个(共同差异表达蛋白).差异表达蛋白理论相对分子量和等电点分布广泛,其生物进程主要参与中间代谢、呼吸作用和脂质代谢,分子功能主要为催化活性功能和结合功能.共同差异表达蛋白:7个核糖体蛋白(Rv2785c,Rv0056,Rv0641,Rv0652,Rv0701,Rv1630和Rv2442c)在01108菌株中表达下调;7个蛋白在01108菌株中显著差异表达(上调大于1.20倍或下调小于0.55倍),分别为巯基过氧化物酶(Rv1932)、酰基载体蛋白脱氢酶(Rv0824c)、30S核糖体蛋白S15 (Rv2785c)、丙酮酸脱氢酶E2部分(Rv2215)、双组份转录调控蛋白(Rv3133c)以及假定未知蛋白(Rv2466c和Rv2626c).[结论]iTRAQ发现了链霉素耐药结核分枝杆菌相对于链霉素敏感结核分枝杆菌和H37Rv共同差异表达蛋白,为进一步探讨结核分枝杆菌链霉素耐药机制奠定了基础.     

相对定量分析异烟肼、链霉素单耐药与多耐药结核分枝杆菌临床分离株的蛋白质组差异

【目的】探讨异烟肼(isoniazid,INH)、链霉素(streptomycin,SM)单耐药结核分枝杆菌(Mycobacterium tuberculosis,MTB)与INH/SM多耐药MTB蛋白质组差异。【方法】应用i TRAQ结合Nano LC-MS/MS定量蛋白质组学技术,分析临床分离INH、SM或INH/SM耐药MTB与H37Rv标准株间均表达差异蛋白;并以INH/SM耐药MTB与H37Rv比值为对照,相对定量分析单耐药与多耐药MTB蛋白表达差异倍数;运用DAVID 6.7分析差异蛋白生物功能;STITCH 5.0分析差异蛋白与INH和SM相互作用。【结果】与H37Rv标准株比较,58个蛋白在INH、SM耐药与INH/SM耐药MTB间均有表达差异,共同差异蛋白生物功能主要为氧化还原酶活性和转移酶活性;主要参与丙酸代谢信号通路。共同差异蛋白中,与INH/SM耐药MTB比较,Rv2986c和Rv1908c在INH、SM耐药MTB均表达上调1.25倍;Rv3133c和Rv0577则均表达下调0.7倍;生物信息学预测发现以上4种蛋白可直接或间接与INH、SM进行相互作用。【结论】INH、SM单耐药和INH/SM多耐药MTB蛋白表达谱有较大差异,蛋白Rv2986c、Rv1908c、Rv3133c和Rv0577表达水平及相互作用可能与INH和SM耐药有关。     

The discovery of mRNA interferases: implication in bacterial physiology and application to biotechnology

Escherichia coli contains a large number of suicide or toxin genes, whose expression leads to cell growth arrest and eventual cell death. This raises intriguing questions as to why E. coli contains so many toxin genes and what are their roles in bacterial physiology. Among these, MazF has been shown to be a sequence-specific endoribonuclease, which cleaves mRNAs at ACA sequences to completely inhibit protein synthesis. MazF is therefore called mRNA interferase. A number of other mRNA interferases with different cleavage specificities have been discovered not only in E. coli, but also in other bacteria including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Induction of MazF in the cell leads to cellular dormancy termed quasi-dormancy. In spite of complete cell growth inhibition, cells in the quasi-dormant state are fully capable of energy metabolism, amino acids and nucleic acids biosynthesis and RNA and protein synthesis. The quasi-dormancy may be implicated in cell survival under stress conditions and may play a major role in pathogenicity of M. tuberculosis. The quasi-dormant cells provide an intriguing novel biotechnological system producing only a protein of interest in a high yield. MazF causing Bak-dependent programmed cell death in mammalian cells may be used as a tool for gene therapy against cancer and AIDS. The discovery of a novel way to interfere with mRNA function by mRNA interferases opens a wide variety of avenues in basic as well as applied and clinical sciences.     

Characterization of mRNA interferases from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

mRNA interferases are sequence-specific endoribonucleases encoded by the toxin-antitoxin systems in the bacterial genomes. MazF from Escherichia coli has been shown to be an mRNA interferase that specifically cleaves at ACA sequences in single-stranded RNAs. It has been shown that MazF induction in E. coli effectively inhibits protein synthesis leading to cell growth arrest in the quasidormant state. Here we have demonstrated that Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains at least seven genes encoding MazF homologues (MazF-mt1 to -mt7), four of which (MazF-mt1, -mt3, -mt4, and -mt6) caused cell growth arrest when induced in E. coli. MazF-mt1 and MazF-mt6 were purified and characterized for their mRNA interferase specificities. We showed that MazF-mt1 preferentially cleaves the era mRNA between U and A in UAC triplet sequences, whereas MazF-mt6 preferentially cleaves U-rich regions in the era mRNA both in vivo and in vitro. These results indicate that M. tuberculosis contains sequence-specific mRNA interferases, which may play a role in the persistent dormancy of this devastating pathogen in human tissues.     

Large Mg(2+)-dependent currents are associated with the increased expression of ALR1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Mycobacteria adapt to a decrease in oxygen tension by entry into a non-replicative persistent phase. It was shown earlier that the two-component system, DevR-DevS, was induced in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis BCG cultures during hypoxia, suggesting that it may play a regulatory role in their adaptation to oxygen limitation. The presence of a homologous genetic system in Mycobacterium smegmatis was predicted by scanning its unfinished genome sequence with devR and devS genes of M. tuberculosis. Rv3134c, which is cotranscribed with devR-devS in M. tuberculosis, was also present in M. smegmatis at a similar location upstream from devR. The expression of all three genes was induced at the RNA and protein levels in M. smegmatis cultures grown under microaerobic and anaerobic conditions. The M. smegmatis genome also contained the hspX gene, encoding chaperone alpha-crystallin, Acr, that was induced during hypoxia. The similarity in sequences and hypoxia-responsive behaviour of devR-devS, Rv3134c and hspX genes in M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis suggests that the molecular mechanisms involved in the dormancy response are likely conserved in these two species. M. smegmatis could therefore serve as a useful model for the delineation of the hypoxia response in general and DevR-DevS regulated pathways in particular.     

The mRNA interferases, MazF-mt3 and MazF-mt7 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis target unique pentad sequences in single-stranded RNA

mRNA interferases are sequence-specific endoribonucleases encoded by toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems in bacterial genomes. Previously, we demonstrated that Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains at least seven genes encoding MazF homologues (MazF-mt1 to -mt7) and determined cleavage specificities for MazF-mt1 and MazF-mt6. Here we have developed a new general method for the determination of recognition sequences longer than three bases for mRNA interferases with the use of phage MS2 RNA as a substrate and CspA, an RNA chaperone, which prevents the formation of secondary structures in the RNA substrate. Using this method, we determined that MazF-mt3 cleaves RNA at UU˘CCU or CU˘CCU and MazF-mt7 at U˘CGCU (˘indicates the cleavage site). As pentad sequence recognition is more specific than those of previously characterized mRNA interferases, bioinformatics analysis was carried out to identify M. tuberculosis mRNAs that may be resistant to MazF-mt3 and MazF-mt7 cleavage. The pentad sequence was found to be significantly underrepresented in several genes, including members of the PE and PPE families, large families of proteins that play a role in tuberculosis immunity and pathogenesis. These data suggest that MazF-mt3 and MazF-mt7 or other mRNA interferases that target longer RNA sequences may alter protein expression through differential mRNA degradation, a regulatory mechanism that may allow adaptation to environmental conditions, including those encountered by pathogens such as M. tuberculosis during infection.     

Rv2358 and FurB: two transcriptional regulators from Mycobacterium tuberculosis which respond to zinc

In a previous work, we demonstrated that the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv2358-furB operon is induced by zinc. In this study, the orthologous genes from Mycobacterium smegmatis mc(2)155 were inactivated and mutants analyzed. Rv2358 protein was purified and found to bind upstream of the Rv2358 gene. Binding was inhibited by Zn(2+) ions.     

Nucleotide sequence analysis and serologic characterization of the Mycobacterium intracellulare homologue of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis 19 kDa antigen

Disseminated Mycobacterium avium/Mycobacterium intracellulare complex (MAC) disease is a frequent complication in patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). In this report, we present the nucleotide sequence of the M. intracellulare MI22 gene. Computer sequence comparisons reveal that the MI22 gene, which encodes a serologically active protein, has 78% DNA sequence identity and 77% protein sequence identity with the seroreactive 19 kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis lipoprotein antigen. Southern blot hybridizations indicate that an MI22 gene probe binds similar-sized restriction fragments in M. tuberculosis and M. intracellular genomic DNA. In addition, immunoblot analyses demonstrate that MI22 is recognized by sera from tuberculosis patients. These data further support the existence of 19 kDa MAC and M. tuberculosis protein homologues. Phase partitioning experiments and the presence of a consensus lipid modification site in the deduced MI22 protein sequence strongly suggest that M122 is also a lipoprotein. Comparative analyses of these mycobacterial antigenic homologues may provide the basis for the design of species-specific diagnostic reagents.     

Functional analysis of novel multidrug transporters from human pathogens

Proteins of the Smr family are the smallest multidrug transporters, about 110 amino acids long, that extrude various drugs in exchange with protons, thereby rendering bacteria resistant to these compounds. One of these proteins, EmrE, is an Escherichia coli protein, which has been cloned based on its ability to confer resistance to ethidium and methyl viologen and which has been extensively characterized. More than 60 genes coding for Smr proteins have been identified in several bacteria based on amino acid sequence similarity to the emrE gene. In this work we have analyzed the sequence similarity among these homologues and identified some distinct signature sequence elements and several fully conserved residues. Five of these homologues, from human pathogens Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bordetella pertussis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and from Escherichia coli, were cloned into an E. coli expression system. The proteins were further characterized and show varying degrees of methyl viologen uptake into proteoliposomes and [(3)H]TPP binding in solubilized membranes. The homologues can also form mixed oligomers with EmrE that exhibit intermediate binding characteristics. A comparative study of various homologous proteins provides a tool for deciphering structure-function relationship and monomer-monomer interaction in multidrug transporters and in membrane proteins in general.