水溞基因组P450基因家族的分析

利用水溞基因组mRNA和氨基酸数据库对P450基因进行搜索和分析．结果显示：在水溞基因组中发现71个P450基因,它们分别属于15个P450家族和17个亚家族．是一个典型的多基因家族。以氨基酸相似度大于60％为标准对水溞P450基因进行分组．则71个P450基因中．16个为孤儿基因,不能被归入任何一组：其余55个可归入12个组,其中8个组,包含47条序列适合于正选择和基因转换分析。结果表明：有3个组,含22个基因显著受到正选择压力作用．其中的2个组．含18个基因有正选择概率大于95％的氨基酸位点228E或277T．228E和277T分别位于底物识别位点SRS2和SRS5;有5个组,包含19个基因显示显著的基因转换事件;既显著受到正选择压力作用,又参与基因转换的基因共12个：相反．检测出既没有受到显著的正选择压力作用．又没有基因转换的基因18个。可见．发生基因转换的基因与受到显著正选择的基因有高度的相关性：发生过基因转换的基因中63．2％都受到显著的正选择压力作用,同时,受正选择压力作用的基因中有54．5％发生了基因转换。此外．鉴定出20个不同的基序．其中有5条基序在90％以上的基因中出现。     

豌豆蚜基因组P450基因家族的分析

细胞色素P450在各种内源和外源物质代谢中起着非常重要的作用。利用豌豆蚜Acyrthosiphon pisum基因组mRNA和氨基酸数据库研究P450基因功能的进化规律。通过生物信息学方法对豌豆蚜全基因组P450进行分析, 结果显示: 在豌豆蚜基因组中发现69个P450基因, 它们分别属于13个P450家族和18个亚家族, 是一个典型的多基因家族。进一步将这些基因与豌豆蚜ESTs数据库进行了比对分析, 其中39个候选基因有EST证据, 证明了这些P450基因在转录水平的真实性。以氨基酸相似度大于60%为标准对豌豆蚜基因组中P450基因进行分组, 69个P450基因中, 除18个基因序列因差异太大, 不能被归入任何一组, 其余51个可归入10个组, 其中8个组(包含47条序列)适合于正选择和基因转换分析。正选择和基因转换分析结果表明: 仅有1个组(含9个基因)显著受到正选择压力作用, 正选择概率大于95%的氨基酸位点分别是20T和27N, 20T位于底物识别位点SRS1, 27N位于D. helix; 有3个组(包含8个基因）显示显著的基因转换事件。 参与基因转换的基因均为CYP4家族成员, 分别是CYP4C, CYP4G和CYP4V亚家族。 参与基因转换的成员之间的蛋白相似度较高（70％~95％）, 且XM_001944991与XM_001951794同存在于SCAFFOLD12542上, XM_001945510与XM_001944057同存在于SCAFFOLD7010上。这可能暗示豌豆蚜P450基因通过基因复制, 然后通过基因转换使P450获得新的功能, 以适应多变的生存环境。此外, 鉴定出20个不同的基序, 其中有5条基序在90％以上的基因中出现。      

全基因组甲基化差异分析发现OSBPL5甲基化异常可能在Silver-Russell综合征中有致病作用

Silver-Russell综合征(SRS)是一组临床和遗传异质性疾病.主要临床表现为低出生体重、严重矮小、极低BMI、三角脸、肢体不对称等. SRS是表观遗传疾病的典型代表. 38%~62%患者有染色体11p15 IGF2-H19基因簇印记控制区1 (ICR1)低甲基化, 7%~10%患者有第7号染色体母源单亲二倍体(UPD7(mat)).另有约40%病因不清.本研究通过Illumina Methylation 450K芯片检测全基因组甲基化差异分析,旨在了解是否存在与SRS致病性相关的未知基因或印记基因,以及能否通过全基因组甲基化检测精细定位SRS低甲基化位置.选取临床确诊的7例SRS患儿,其中MLPA方法发现甲基化异常2例、未发现异常5例.年龄匹配的正常儿童5例作对照,通过Illumina 450K Infinium Methylation BeadChip芯片检测全基因组甲基化位点,并用经典的焦磷酸盐测序及数字PCR定量2种方法进行验证.甲基化位点探针筛选差异位点的标准同时满足:Adjust Pval≤0.05,如果Adjust Pval≥0.05,则参考校正之前的Pval,该数值需要≤0.05; case vs. control Beta-Difference不小于0.2.即|Beta-Difference|≥0.2.在484821个探针位点中共筛选出116个差异性甲基化位点.通过GO Pathway功能分析,本芯片研究再次证实经典的H19/IGF2低甲基化特征是SRS主要的表观遗传改变.并且发现1个位于染色体11p14印记基因OSBPL5的cg25963939位点,在实验组与正常对照组有最显著的甲基化差异(P=0.023,β值-0.243).经用经典焦磷酸盐测序及数字PCR定量分析两种方法进行验证,证实实验组与对照组OSBPL5的cg25963939位点的甲基化存在差异,提示与SRS致病性相关.本研究还发现, TGFβ3, HSF1, GAP43, NOTCH4, MYH14上述5个基因在实验组与对照组存在明显的甲基化差异,通过GO pathway功能分析,有可能与SRS致病相关.本研究通过全基因组甲基化芯片检测,焦磷酸盐测序及数字PCR定量两种方法验证,发现11p14的印记基因OSBPL5 5′UTR区cg25963939位点,有可能为SRS发病机制之一.本研究通过Illumina 450K Infinium高密度微阵列甲基化水平检测,再次证实SRS最主要的表观遗传甲基化改变最主要定位于11p1区.     

哺乳动物细胞色素P450酶中底物识别位点与功能的进化关系

细胞色素P450(cytochrome P450,CYP)酶存在于所有哺乳动物中,它们从共同的祖先通过基因倍增进化而来,以一种"爆炸性"的趋势形成了庞大的超家族。除代谢脂质等内源性物质外,部分CYP酶还在药物等外源性物质的代谢方面起到重要作用。通过收集和注释哺乳动物CYP酶的序列发现,家族规模发生显著变化的七个活跃亚家族均属于CYP1~4家族,相比之下,非CYP1~4家族的家族规模则基本保持稳定。基于二级结构的预测结果,六段底物识别位点(substrate recognition sites,SRSs)的进化速率在CYP1~4家族中,特别是活跃的亚家族中,也显著快于非CYP1~4家族。同时,SRS1~3的进化速率显著快于SRS4~6,说明SRS1-3在更大程度上决定了CYP酶在进化过程中所获得的新功能。     

家蚕细胞色素P450的基因组学分析

细胞色素P450参与许多基础代谢过程, 确保有机体避免外源复合物对它们的伤害. 将预测的家蚕基因同已知的P450基因进行蛋白质序列比对, 在家蚕基因组中发现86个可能的细胞色素P450基因, 初步将它们归于32个P450亚家族. 通过比较基因组学分析, 发现细胞色素P450基因在果蝇与家蚕中的分布规律具有总体上的相似性, 但在某些P450基因家族中的分布也有差异. 特别是在CYP4A, CYP4C, CYP4D, CYP6A, CYP6AE, CYP6B和CYP9A等7个亚家族中P450s差异分布更明显. 进一步将这些P450基因的DNA序列与家蚕ESTs进行核酸序列比对, 其中49个可能P450基因发现有ESTs证据, 证明了这些基因在转录水平的真实性.     

中华按蚊OCT家族基因的多样性及序列特征

【目的】在全基因组水平鉴定、分类和命名中华按蚊Anopheles sinensis有机阳离子转运体(organic cation transporter, OCT)家族基因,为昆虫OCT基因提供信息框架。【方法】从NCBI, VectorBase和EMBL数据库下载冈比亚按蚊An. gambiae、黑腹果蝇Drosophila melanogaster和秀丽隐杆线虫Caenorhabditis elegans已知的OCT氨基酸序列作为询问序列,基于中华按蚊基因组与转录组测序数据,通过本地Blast搜索鉴定中华按蚊基因组上OCT基因;运用生物信息学方法预测中华按蚊OCT基因的基因结构、Scaffold定位和保守基序等特征,通过最大似然法构建中华按蚊OCT基因的系统发育树。【结果】中华按蚊共有54个OCT家族基因,分属于OCTA, OCTB和OCTC 3个亚家族,分别有33, 15和6个基因。除AsOCTA20和AsOCTB2外,其余OCT基因编码的氨基酸序列均具有MFS_1和Sugar_tr跨膜结构域(transmembrane domain, TMD),大多数OCT氨基酸序列有12个TMD。所有OCT氨基酸序列都有GRK-(PT)-VL, PES-(APVS)和EQFPT-(VI)-RN 3个保守基序,各亚家族还有各自的保守基序。4对基因(AsOCTB4a和AsOCTB4b, AsOCTA10a和AsOCTA10b, AsOCTA19a和AsOCTA19b,以及AsOCTA23a和AsOCTA23b)源自基因重复事件。AsOCTC基因较为原始,AsOCTB基因较为进化,都是明显的单系; AsOCTA基因介于两者之间,进化关系较为复杂。【结论】本研究丰富了中华按蚊基因组数据,为后续中华按蚊OCT基因功能特别是杀虫剂抗性机制方面的功能研究奠定了基础。     

甘薯基因组TCP转录因子鉴定与逆境胁迫表达分析

基于甘薯(Ipomoea batatas(L.)Lam.)全基因组序列,利用生物信息学方法鉴定筛选了全基因组中的TCP(teosinte branched1/cincinnata/proliferating cell factor)转录因子,并分析了甘薯苗期在蔓割病菌胁迫及块根储藏期低温胁迫下TCP基因的表达差异。结果显示,甘薯基因组中共有27个TCP转录因子,其中ClassⅠ13个、ClassⅡ(CIN)8个、ClassⅡ(CYC/TB1)6个。甘薯TCP以单个基因或基因簇的形式不均匀分布在15条染色体上,其中6对基因存在潜在复制关系。甘薯ClassⅡ(CYC/TB1)转录因子含有R结构域,其氨基酸序列较为保守。在TCP家族中共发现10个保守基序(motif),基序的氨基酸序列长度为15~60个,其中motif 1含有TCP结构域,motif 3含有R结构域,TCP转录因子的保守基序种类在组间存在一定差异。逆境胁迫下甘薯的转录组数据分析结果表明,TCP转录因子在苗期受蔓割病侵染后有2个差异表达基因;在块根储藏期受低温胁迫下有11个差异表达基因。     

稻瘟菌Magnaporthe oryzae P-ATPases基因家族分析

利用TCDB(Transporter Classification Database)网站数据库中的P-ATPases氨基酸序列对稻瘟菌全基因组表达序列(Coding Sequence,CDS)数据库进行搜索和分析,共发现23个P-ATPases基因,进化树分析表明这23个基因分属于4个家族和7个亚家族。构建了本地ESTs数据库,通过P-ATPases基因CDS序列与EST序列比对分析发现,在这些基因中有20个存在EST同源体,另外3个基因没有发现EST同源体,因此这20个基因是真实P-ATPases基因的可能性更高。运用MEME程序分析了这些P-ATPases蛋白结构域的基序,有6种基序在90%以上的基因氨基酸序列中出现,属保守基序。对这23个P-ATPases基因GC含量的分析表明,它们的平均GC含量在0.519-0.628之间,稍高于稻瘟菌整个基因组GC平均含量(0.516),同时这些基因内各区段GC含量变化不大,没有明显的梯度变化。本文结果为下一步深入研究稻瘟菌中P-ATPases基因家族的功能奠定了基础。     

H5N1禽流感病毒血凝素基因密码子的变异

应用固定效应似然模型研究了作用于H5N1禽流感病毒血凝素基因的选择压力．研究发现,除2000年以外,1997—2007年,H5N1病毒的血凝素基因都受到正选择压力的作用．东南亚、中国香港和中国大陆的血凝素序列氨基酸多态性最复杂,并且具有相似的非同义突变模式．大部分地区的H5N1病毒血凝素基因的一些位点受到正选择压力的影响,并且其中一些位点在不同地区的病毒中具有不同的氨基酸模式．另外,正选择压力对分离自欧洲、非洲和俄罗斯以及不同宿主类型的H5N1病毒产生了不同的影响．一个位点只在取自人类的病毒中被发现受到正选择压力的影响．尽管一些受到正选择压力的位点的功能尚不清楚,但是本文的分析提供了H5N1禽流感病毒适应不同时间、地点和寄主的遗传证据．     

Unc5基因家族多样性进化的研究

Uncoordinated-5(Unc5)基因家族属于经典的轴突导向基因家族。为了探讨Unc5的进化和分化规律,首先通过序列比对和蛋白质结构预测鉴定了Unc5基因家族成员的起源和分布,再利用PAML和DIVERGE软件分析了各基因亚型的进化选择压力和功能歧化。结果表明,Unc5基因家族在脊椎动物中受到了不同程度的选择压力,其中Unc5C基因型受到了纯化选择作用,而Unc5A、Unc5B和Unc5D基因型受到了正选择作用,并且在这3个基因型中分别检测到了8个、1个和6个正选择位点。此外,DIVERGE软件检测出38个I型功能歧化位点和97个Ⅱ型功能歧化位点。这些正选择位点和功能分歧位点为进一步研究Unc5蛋白的结构和功能提供了参考和依据。     

Point mutations with positive selection were a major force during the evolution of a receptor-kinase resistance gene family of rice

The rice (Oryza sativa) Xa26 gene, which confers resistance to bacterial blight disease and encodes a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor kinase, resides at a locus clustered with tandem homologous genes. To investigate the evolution of this family, four haplotypes from the two subspecies of rice, indica and japonica, were analyzed. Comparative sequence analysis of 34 genes of 10 types of paralogs of the family revealed haplotype polymorphisms and pronounced paralog diversity. The orthologs in different haplotypes were more similar than the paralogs in the same haplotype. At least five types of paralogs were formed before the separation of indica and japonica subspecies. Only 7% of amino acid sites were detected to be under positive selection, which occurred in the extracytoplasmic domain. Approximately 74% of the positively selected sites were solvent-exposed amino acid residues of the LRR domain that have been proposed to be involved in pathogen recognition, and 73% of the hypervariable sites detected in the LRR domain were subject to positive selection. The family is formed by tandem duplication followed by diversification through recombination, deletion, and point mutation. Most variation among genes in the family is caused by point mutations and positive selection.     

Divergent structures of Caenorhabditis elegans cytochrome P450 genes suggest the frequent loss and gain of introns during the evolution of nematodes

The Caenorhabditis elegans genome contains more than 60 cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes. The exon-intron organizations of all of the available and potentially active C. elegans CYP genes were inferred by a newly developed program for predicting protein-coding exons based on the alignment of a genomic DNA sequence and a protein profile. From the predicted amino acid sequences, all of the C. elegans CYP genes except one were classified into three groups, which were closely related to the mammalian drug-metabolizing P450 gene families CYP2, CYP3, and CYP4. The gene structures were strikingly divergent within each group; 20, 10, and 5 unique gene organizations were identified among 40, 18, and 5 genes in the CYP2-, CYP3-, and CYP4-related groups, respectively. The degrees of divergence in gene organization were strongly correlated with those in the amino acid sequences of encoding proteins, and the minimum rate of change in an intron insertion site was estimated to be about 90 times less frequent than amino acid substitutions. Parsimonious analyses suggested that frequent loss and gain of introns has occurred during the evolution of CYP genes in each group after the divergence of nematodes, arthropods, and deuterostomia. Few, if any, incidents of intron sliding were evident, and a model that did not allow intron insertions was highly inconsistent with the observations. All of these findings are explained better by the intron-late view than by the intron-early view.     

Comparative Analysis of P450 Signature Motifs EXXR and CXG in the Large and Diverse Kingdom of Fungi: Identification of Evolutionarily Conserved Amino Acid Patterns Characteristic of P450 Family

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) are heme-thiolate proteins distributed across the biological kingdoms. P450s are catalytically versatile and play key roles in organisms primary and secondary metabolism. Identification of P450s across the biological kingdoms depends largely on the identification of two P450 signature motifs, EXXR and CXG, in the protein sequence. Once a putative protein has been identified as P450, it will be assigned to a family and subfamily based on the criteria that P450s within a family share more than 40% homology and members of subfamilies share more than 55% homology. However, to date, no evidence has been presented that can distinguish members of a P450 family. Here, for the first time we report the identification of EXXR- and CXG-motifs-based amino acid patterns that are characteristic of the P450 family. Analysis of P450 signature motifs in the under-explored fungal P450s from four different phyla, ascomycota, basidiomycota, zygomycota and chytridiomycota, indicated that the EXXR motif is highly variable and the CXG motif is somewhat variable. The amino acids threonine and leucine are preferred as second and third amino acids in the EXXR motif and proline and glycine are preferred as second and third amino acids in the CXG motif in fungal P450s. Analysis of 67 P450 families from biological kingdoms such as plants, animals, bacteria and fungi showed conservation of a set of amino acid patterns characteristic of a particular P450 family in EXXR and CXG motifs. This suggests that during the divergence of P450 families from a common ancestor these amino acids patterns evolve and are retained in each P450 family as a signature of that family. The role of amino acid patterns characteristic of a P450 family in the structural and/or functional aspects of members of the P450 family is a topic for future research.     

Molecular Evolution of the Odorant and Gustatory Receptor Genes in Lepidopteran Insects: Implications for Their Adaptation and Speciation

Lepidoptera (comprised of butterflies and moths) is one of the largest groups of insects, including more than 160,000 described species. Chemoreception plays important roles in the adaptation of these species to a wide range of niches, e.g., plant hosts, egg-laying sites, and mates. This study investigated the molecular evolution of the lepidopteran odorant (Or) and gustatory receptor (Gr) genes using recently identified genes from Bombyx mori, Danaus plexippus, Heliconius melpomene, Plutella xylostella, Heliothis virescens, Manduca sexta, Cydia pomonella, and Spodoptera littoralis. A limited number of cases of large lineage-specific gene expansion are observed (except in the P. xylostella lineage), possibly due to selection against tandem gene duplication. There has been strong purifying selection during the evolution of both lepidopteran odorant and gustatory genes, as shown by the low ω values estimated through CodeML analysis, ranging from 0.0093 to 0.3926. However, purifying selection has been relaxed on some amino acid sites in these receptors, leading to sequence divergence, which is a precursor of positive selection on these sequences. Signatures of positive selection were detected only in a few loci from the lineage-specific analysis. Estimation of gene gains and losses suggests that the common ancestor of the Lepidoptera had fewer Or genes compared to extant species and an even more reduced number of Gr genes, particularly within the bitter receptor clade. Multiple gene gains and a few gene losses occurred during the evolution of Lepidoptera. Gene family expansion may be associated with the adaptation of lepidopteran species to plant hosts, especially after angiosperm radiation. Phylogenetic analysis of the moth sex pheromone receptor genes suggested that chromosomal translocations have occurred several times. New sex pheromone receptors have arisen through tandem gene duplication. Positive selection was detected at some amino acid sites predicted to be in the extracellular and transmembrane regions of the newly duplicated genes, which might be associated with the evolution of the new pheromone receptors.     

Functional characterization of medaka CYP3A38 and CYP3A40: kinetics and catalysis by expression in a recombinant baculovirus system

Phylogenic analysis of the teleost genomic lineages has demonstrated the precedent for multiple genome duplications. Among many of the genes duplicated, cytochrome P450 genes have undergone independent diversification, which can be traced to a single ancestral gene. In teleosts, cytochrome P450s, from all major families, have been identified. Among these, the CYP3A family has been cloned in several teleost species and demonstrated to contain multiple paralogs differing in gene expression patterns and tissue distribution. Herein we characterized the catalytic and kinetic activities of two medaka CYP3A paralogs (CYP3A38 and CYP3A40) with benzyloxyresorufin (BFC), a fluorescent 3A-selective substrate, and testosterone, a known metabolic substrate for CYP3A enzymes. Recombinant CYP3A was produced using the baculovirus expression vector system in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) and Trichoplusia ni (Tn5) insect cells and accounted for up to 24% of total cellular protein. Following addition of a heme-albumin conjugate to log phase cells, spectral P450 content reached a maximum of 560 and 2350 pmol/mg microsomal protein for CYP3A38 and CYP3A40, respectively. Incubations containing recombinant CYP3A, human NADPH-cytochrome P-450 oxidoreductase reductase, human cytochrome b5, and a NADPH generation system catalyzed the dealkylation of BFC and hydroxylation of testosterone with a high degree of stereoselectivity. However, efficiencies and specificities were significantly different between the two isoforms. Km and Vmax activities based on BFC-catalysis were 0.116 and 0.363 muM, and 7.95 and 7.77 nmol/min/nmol P450 for CYP3A38 and CYP3A40, respectively. CYP3A38 preferentially catalyzed testosterone hydroxylation at the 6beta-, 2beta- and 16beta-positions with minor hydroxylation at other positions within the steroid nucleus. Testosterone catalysis with CYP3A40 was limited predominantly to the 6beta- and 2beta-positions. Putative identification of CYP3A substrate recognition sites (SRS) 1-6 indicates that 12 of the 49 amino acid differences between CYP3A38 and CYP3A40 OFRs occur in SRS regions previously known to be associated with steroid hydroxylation. We suggest that differences in kinetics and catalytic activities are a result of amino acid substitutions in SRS regions 1, 3 and 5 within the CYP3A38 and CYP3A40 protein sequence.     

Rapid birth-death evolution specific to xenobiotic cytochrome P450 genes in vertebrates

Genes vary greatly in their long-term phylogenetic stability and there exists no general explanation for these differences. The cytochrome P450 (CYP450) gene superfamily is well suited to investigating this problem because it is large and well studied, and it includes both stable and unstable genes. CYP450 genes encode oxidase enzymes that function in metabolism of endogenous small molecules and in detoxification of xenobiotic compounds. Both types of enzymes have been intensively studied. My analysis of ten nearly complete vertebrate genomes indicates that each genome contains 50-80 CYP450 genes, which are about evenly divided between phylogenetically stable and unstable genes. The stable genes are characterized by few or no gene duplications or losses in species ranging from bony fish to mammals, whereas unstable genes are characterized by frequent gene duplications and losses (birth-death evolution) even among closely related species. All of the CYP450 genes that encode enzymes with known endogenous substrates are phylogenetically stable. In contrast, most of the unstable genes encode enzymes that function as xenobiotic detoxifiers. Nearly all unstable CYP450 genes in the mouse and human genomes reside in a few dense gene clusters, forming unstable gene islands that arose by recurrent local gene duplication. Evidence for positive selection in amino acid sequence is restricted to these unstable CYP450 genes, and sites of selection are associated with substrate-binding regions in the protein structure. These results can be explained by a general model in which phylogenetically stable genes have core functions in development and physiology, whereas unstable genes have accessory functions associated with unstable environmental interactions such as toxin and pathogen exposure. Unstable gene islands in vertebrates share some functional properties with bacterial genomic islands, though they arise by local gene duplication rather than horizontal gene transfer.     

竹亚科lea3基因的进化分析

选取竹亚科中两个超族、六个族和三个亚族的10个竹种为材料,分别是泰竹、凤尾竹、青皮竹、大叶慈、慈竹、野龙竹、毛竹、香竹、苦竹、菲白竹,分离克隆了它们的lea3基因,并将它们与外类群物种水稻进行序列比对和进化分析。结果发现在分支模型与分支位点模型的检测中,不同竹种所含lea3基因承受了不同的正选择压力,清除选择作用在lea3基因编码区中占主导地位（ω<1）。在位点模型的检测中,共检测出了18个显著性正选择位点,占总氨基酸数目的111%。对这18个显著性正选择位点进行定位后,发现其中的15个位于11个氨基酸串联重复序列附近。这说明lea3基因中的11个氨基酸串联重复序列区比基因其它区域更容易受自然选择作用影响。同时,在位点模型检测结果的基础上,通过对强烈清除选择位点的定位,发现在11个氨基酸串联重复序列区内存在一长段无强烈清除位点的序列区。