中华鳖Dmrt1基因的克隆、表达及在性逆转中的变化分析

在大部分脊椎动物中,Dmrt1基因在雄性性别决定和性腺分化中起重要的调控作用.本文从m RNA和蛋白水平分析Dmrt1基因的组织差异性表达、在不同发育阶段性腺中的细胞定位及在性逆转中的表达变化,研究Dmrt1基因在中华鳖性别分化中的调控作用.Rapid-amplification of c DNA ends(RACE)结果显示,Dmrt1基因c DNA序列全长2409 bp,其中5′非编码区为230 bp,3′非编码区为1072 bp,开放阅读框为1107 bp,编码368个氨基酸,具有一个高度保守的DM结构域.荧光定量PCR和免疫组化结果显示,Dmrt1在性腺分化之前的第16期雄性性腺中开始表达,先于Amh和Sox9基因表达.随着性腺的发育,Dmrt1蛋白主要定位于性腺Sertoli细胞的细胞核上,在雌性性腺发育过程中并未见其表达.此外,在雌二醇诱导的雄性转雌性性逆转胚胎性腺中,Dmrt1表达显著下调;在芳香化酶抑制剂诱导的雌性转雄性性腺中,Dmrt1表达则显著上升.上述研究表明,Dmrt1基因是中华鳖雄性特异性基因,参与雄性性腺的发育过程,可能在中华鳖早期性别决定中起重要的调控作用.     

鲤鱼中Sox9b基因的克隆和表达

Sox9基因是一个重要的转录调控因子,参与性别决定及软骨等多种组织和器官的发育过程。本研究利用简并引物扩增鲤鱼基因组DNA,首次发现在鲤鱼中存在两种形式的Sox9基因。二者在保守盒区编码的氨基酸序列相同,并都存在一个内含子,但内含子序列差异很大,分别长704bp和616bp。在此基础上采用RACE技术克隆了鲤鱼Sox9b基因的5’端和3’端,通过拼接获得了2447bp 的全长cDNA序列,编码428个氨基酸。其中96-174位共79个氨基酸为HMG保守盒。将鲤鱼Sox9b基因与三刺鱼等九种动物的氨基酸序列相比较发现,它们的同源性高达75%以上,显示Sox9 基因在进化中较保守。应用半定量RT-PCR技术对成体鲤鱼不同组织中Sox9b基因的表达进行了分析,结果表明该基因广泛表达,尤以脑及精巢中表达最为丰富。     

四川裂腹鱼脑型芳香化酶Cyp19b基因组织分布及温度对其表达水平的影响

为研究脑型芳香化酶基因Cyp19b在四川裂腹鱼(Schizothorax kozlovi)早期性别分化中的作用,采用RACE方法从四川裂腹鱼脑中扩增得到该基因c DNA全长序列,并应用荧光定量RT-PCR技术测定该基因m RNA的相对表达量,探讨该基因在不同规格四川裂腹鱼鳃、脑、心、肝、脾、肾、肌肉、精巢、卵巢组织中的表达差异,以及温度对其早期仔鱼阶段该基因表达的影响。四川裂腹鱼Cyp19b基因的c DNA全长序列共3 021 bp,共编码507个氨基酸,属于脑型芳香化酶基因;四川裂腹鱼Cyp19b基因编码的氨基酸序列与其他鱼类脑型芳香化酶基因编码的氨基酸序列同源性可达70%以上,而与性腺型芳香化酶基因编码的氨基酸序列同源性较低,为64%左右;四川裂腹鱼Cyp19b基因仅在脑组织中表达,具有比较高的组织特异性,且随着个体的增长,逐渐呈现显著的雌雄差异;对不同温度处理12日龄仔鱼6 d后,低温(10℃和14℃)能显著促进Cyp19b基因表达量的升高,但高温(26℃)却对其表达量无显著影响。由此推测,脑型芳香化酶基因Cyp19b可能在低温导致四川裂腹鱼雌性化过程中发挥着重要作用。     

鲤鱼中Sox9b基因的克隆和表达

Sox9基因是一个重要的转录调控因子,参与性别决定及软骨等多种组织和器官的发育过程。本研究利用简并引物扩增鲤鱼基因组DNA,首次发现在鲤鱼中存在两种形式的Sox9基因。二者在保守盒区编码的氨基酸序列相同,并都存在一个内含子,但内含子序列差异很大,分别长704bp和616bp。在此基础上采用RACE技术克隆了鲤鱼Sox9b基因的5’端和3’端,通过拼接获得了2447bp的全长cDNA序列。编码428个氨基酸。其中96—174位共79个氨基酸为HMG保守盒。将鲤鱼Sox9b基因与三刺鱼等九种动物的氨基酸序列相比较发现。它们的同源性高达75％以上,显示soz9基因在进化中较保守。应用半定量RT—PCR技术对成体鲤鱼不同组织中Sox9b基因的表达进行了分析。结果表明该基因广泛表达,尤以脑及精巢中表达最为丰富。     

蚯蚓Sox2基因的克隆及其在再生进程中的表达

为了解Sox2基因在赤子爱胜蚓(Eisenia foetida)再生进程中的作用,本研究采用c DNA末端快速扩增(RACE)方法成功克隆并得到了完整的赤子爱胜蚓Sox2基因序列(Gen Bank登录号:KP637161),其c DNA序列全长2 354 bp,其中包括367 bp的5′端非翻译区,844 bp的3′端非翻译区和编码380个氨基酸残基的1 143 bp开放阅读框。通过实时荧光定量PCR检测了Sox2基因在发育成熟的赤子爱胜蚓不同体段(头部、环带和尾部)以及在尾部体段再生进程中的表达特征。结果显示:Sox2在不同体段中(头部、环带、尾部)的表达差异不显著。在尾部断肢后再生进程中,随着时间推移,Sox2的表达量明显上调,其中,截断后12 h,Sox2基因表达量达到峰值,是截断初期(0 h)的22倍。研究结果表明,Sox2基因可能与蚯蚓的再生进程有关。     

玉米亚硫酸氧化酶基因的克隆及其结构与表达分析

为明确亚硫酸氧化酶(sulfite oxidase,SO)基因的结构特征和进化关系及其在玉米不同组织器官发育过程中的表达和分布特性,采用RACE技术克隆了玉米SO基因(ZmSO)的全长cDNA。序列分析表明,获得的ZmSO全长1 492bp,其中5′-UTR 160bp,3′-UTR 138bp,开放阅读框为1 194bp,编码397个氨基酸组成的蛋白质。对该基因编码氨基酸保守结构域的分析发现,ZmSO包含1个钼辅因子结合域、1个自身二聚化域和1个过氧化物体靶信号序列。系统进化分析显示,SO在进化上较为保守,玉米与其它植物的SO相似性较高。荧光定量RT-PCR分析表明,在玉米成株期,根、茎、叶、雄花和幼穗中,ZmSO在根部表达丰度最低,在叶片和幼穗中表达量较高。酶活性测定结果显示,不同器官中SO活性与其mRNA转录水平上的表达趋势相似。     

翘嘴鳜性腺型芳香化酶基因CYP19a的克隆及表达研究

采用同源克隆与SMART RACE技术首次分离和克隆了翘嘴鳜性腺型芳香化酶基因CYP19a的c DNA全长,并通过实时荧光定量PCR(real-time quantitative PCR,q PCR)技术分析了其在翘嘴鳜成体不同组织及性腺不同发育时期的表达特点。序列分析结果显示,CYP19a基因全长1 873 bp(Gen Bank登录号为KX911988),其中开放阅读框长1 581 bp,编码526个氨基酸。通过多序列比对,发现该基因编码的蛋白质具有P450arom A特定的功能保守序列,包括I-螺旋区、Ozol肽区、亚铁血红素结合区域以及芳香化酶特异性结合区域;同时,CYP19a基因序列的同源性分析结果显示,其在脊椎动物中较为保守。此外,q PCR检测结果显示,CYP19a基因在翘嘴鳜成体组织中的表达存在显著差异(P0.05),主要在性腺中表达,其次在脑和肝脏有少量表达;而且CYP19a基因在繁殖期性腺中的表达量显著低于非繁殖期性腺中的表达量(P0.05)。以上研究表明,CYP19a基因在鱼类性腺形成及发育过程中具有重要作用。     

翘嘴鲌Sox9基因的克隆及CpG岛甲基化与基因表达的关系

为了揭示翘嘴鲌(Culter alburnus)性别决定与分化的作用机制, 进而更好地发展性别控制育种技术, 研究重点分析了Sox9基因在翘嘴鲌性腺分化过程中的作用。通过RT-PCR和RACE方法获得了翘嘴鲌2个旁系同源基因Sox9a和Sox9b的cDNA序列: Sox9a全长1642 bp, 编码458个氨基酸; Sox9b全长1673 bp, 编码456个氨基酸。序列分析表明两者相似度达到73.95%, 编码HMG盒区域极其保守。蛋白质次级结构预测显示Sox9a和Sox9b除了保守的HMG盒结构域外, 还存在2个核定位信号; 两者的三维结构都存在多个螺旋结构。系统进化树分析发现翘嘴鲌Sox9a与罗非鱼关系最近, 但Sox9b形成单独的一支。利用实时荧光定量PCR技术分析了翘嘴鲌Sox9a和Sox9b基因在各成体组织中的表达水平, 结果显示Sox9a在脑和精巢中表达量最高, 其次是肌肉、鳍条、眼睛和卵巢, 在肾脏、脾脏、肝脏中相对较低; Sox9b只在脑、鳍条、眼睛和精巢中检测到一定水平的表达。通过重亚硫酸氢盐DNA测序方法分析了翘嘴鲌性腺组织Sox9a启动子CpG岛甲基化修饰模式, 结果显示在精巢中CG位点几乎不发生甲基化, 然而卵巢中的甲基化程度非常高。这些结果表明启动子CpG甲基化可以调控Sox9a的性别异形表达, 表观遗传修饰在翘嘴鲌性腺发育过程中可能具有重要的生物学功能。     

簸箕柳AP3同源基因SsMADS的克隆与特性分析

用cDNA末端快速扩增(rapid-amplification of cDNA ends,RACE)方法从簸箕柳雄花序中克隆了一个AP3同源基因的cDNA,长826 bp,包括完整的编码区、5′-UTR和3′-UTR,并将其相应的基因命名为SsMADS。该基因由7个外显子和6个内含子组成,编码区长723 bp,编码241个氨基酸,其N-端具有典型的MADS保守结构域。序列分析表明,SsMADS编码的氨基酸序列与毛果杨(Populus trichocarp)AP3同源蛋白有95.7%相似性,与其他几种柳属植物的AP3同源蛋白相似性达96.1%～99.6%。实时定量RT-PCR表明,SsMADS在叶、茎和根中表达量极低,在花序中表达量较高,并且其表达量在花器官的早中期发育阶段逐步提高,说明该基因在簸箕柳花器官的发育中起作用。     

新疆盐穗木GRAS转录因子基因克隆及表达分析

利用抑制消减杂交法从藜科盐穗木属盐生植物盐穗木中分离得到了一个盐胁迫响应的表达序列标签(EST)片段,结合SMARTTMRACE技术获得了盐穗木GRAS转录因子基因的cDNA。序列分析表明,该基因全长2 090bp,含有1 635bp的阅读框,294bp的5′-UTR和161bp的3′-UTR,编码544个氨基酸,分子质量为61.503kD,理论等电点为6.1。系统进化树和Blast同源序列比对分析结果显示,该基因编码的蛋白具有GRAS家族特有的C端保守结构域,并与葡萄GRAS家族蛋白VvSCL13聚集在一起,故将该基因命名为HcSCL13(GenBank登录号KC68640)。实时荧光定量qRT-PCR分析表明,HcSCL13基因在盐胁迫后表达呈明显上调,初步推测Hc-SCL13基因可能与盐穗木的耐盐性相关。     

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.     

Enterovirus 71 3C proteolytically processes the histone H3 N-terminal tail during infection

Highlights
1. The N-terminal tail of histone H3 is specifically cleaved during EV71 infection.
2. Viral protease 3C is identified as a protease responsible for proteolytically processing the N-terminal H3 tail.
3. Our finding reveals a new epigenetic regulatory mechanism for Enterovirus 71 in virus-host interactions.     

Detection of EBV and HHV6 in the Brain Tissue of Patients with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis

Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE) is a rare pediatric neurological disorder, and the exact etiology is not clear. Viral infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of RE, but conflicting results have reported. In this study, we evaluated the expression of both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV) 6 antigens in brain sections from 30 patients with RE and 16 control individuals by immunohistochemistry. In the RE group, EBV and HHV6 antigens were detected in 56.7% (17/30) and 50% (15/30) of individuals, respectively. In contrast, no detectable EBV and HHV6 antigen expression was found in brain tissues of the control group. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in 20.0% (6/30) of individuals. In particular, a 4-year-old boy had a typical clinical course, including a medical history of viral encephalitis, intractable epilepsy, and hemispheric atrophy. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in neurons and astrocytes in the brain tissue, accompanied by a high frequency of CD8⁺ T cells. Our results suggest that EBV and HHV6 infection and the activation of CD8⁺ T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of RE.     

Perinatal Vertical Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in Ruili,a Town on the Border between China and Myanmar

正Dear Editor,Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus in the family of Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, is transmitted by the A.aegyptii or A. albopictus mosquito, and causes disease in humans characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgia (Silva and Dermody 2017; Suhrbier 2019). It was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and caused only a few outbreaks and sporadic cases in Africa and Asia in last century. However, in the epidemic in 2004, CHIKV acquired mutations that conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito(Schuffenecker et al. 2006). Since then, it has successively caused outbreaks in Africa, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, the South America, and Europe (Zeller et al. 2016).     

Development of a Novel Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2

In conclusion, the novel visual RT-LAMP assay is a simple, rapid, and sensitive approach for detection of SARS-CoV-2, and it is ready for application in primary care and community hospitals or health care centers, and even patients' own houses in response to the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic because the assay does not require sophisticated equipment and skilled personnel. Furthermore, it is also ready to be used in fields for screening samples from wild animals and environments to facilitate the identification of potential intermediate hosts that mediate the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans.