脂质组学在毒理学研究中的应用

脂质作为细胞的主要组成部分,在细胞内物质运输、信号转导、细胞凋亡等多种生命活动中发挥重要作用。脂质组学通过对生物体内的脂质进行系统分析,从而了解其相互作用以及与其他生物分子之间的作用。主要介绍了脂质组学的研究方法,包括样品前处理方法、检测方法和仪器设备以及数据分析方法。同时,综述了脂质组学技术在神经毒性、肝脏毒性、免疫毒性以及内分泌干扰毒性中的研究进展,以期为研究化合物毒性作用机制提供思路和参考。最后,提出未来应利用脂质组学技术开展不同化合物的联合毒性作用研究,通过脂质组学筛选获得相关脂质生物标志物,为联合毒性作用的风险预警和相关毒性作用机制分析提供科学依据。     

植物脂质应答逆境胁迫生理功能的研究进展

脂质是生命有机体中一类重要的化合物,可以参与并调节多种生命活动,并且在植物应答非生物胁迫(盐胁迫、干旱胁迫和温度胁迫等)过程中发挥着重要生理功能。但长期以来,对于脂质的研究多集中于动物细胞和医学领域,却疏于关注植物研究领域。借助于"组"学思想和生物技术的快速发展,脂质组学由于可以深层次、全面地揭示脂质的组分与功能,近年来备受关注。基于此,文中通过对脂质的功能与分类、脂质组学技术进展、植物脂质响应干旱胁迫、盐胁迫和温度胁迫生理功能进展等的国内外现有研究进行了归纳与总结,并提出了不足与展望,为探索脂质在植物抗逆过程的生理功能和脂质组学等领域深入研究提供一定的基础。     

脂质组学研究方法及其应用

脂质不仅是生物膜的骨架成分和能量贮存物质, 越来越多的证据表明, 脂质也参与细胞的许多重要功能。脂质组学是代谢组学的一个重要分支, 主要研究生物体内所有的脂质分子的特性以及它们在蛋白质表达和基因调控过程中的作用。脂质组学是依赖技术驱动的科学。近年来, 随着人们对脂质研究的重视, 脂质组学研究方法和策略有了突破性进展, 在动物上开发出的脂质组学分析方法已经扩展应用到植物上。该文重点介绍脂质组学的研究方法及其应用, 以期推动脂质组学,特别是植物脂质组学的进一步发展。     

脂质组学研究方法及其应用

脂质不仅是生物膜的骨架成分和能量贮存物质,越来越多的证据表明,脂质也参与细胞的许多重要功能。脂质组学是代谢组学的一个重要分支,主要研究生物体内所有的脂质分子的特性以及它们在蛋白质表达和基因调控过程中的作用。脂质组学是依赖技术驱动的科学。近年来,随着人们对脂质研究的重视,脂质组学研究方法和策略有了突破性进展,在动物上开发出的脂质组学分析方法已经扩展应用到植物上。该文重点介绍脂质组学的研究方法及其应用,以期推动脂质组学,特别是植物脂质组学的进一步发展。     

基于电喷雾电离串联质谱技术的植物脂质组学研究进展

研究表明,脂质不但参与植物的信号转导、小泡运输、细胞骨架重组等多种细胞过程,而且在植物的生长发育和胁迫反应中具有重要作用．但是脂质本身的多样性、复杂性、以及分析手段的滞后限制了人们对脂质的深入认识．电喷雾电离串联质谱(ESI-MS/MS)技术作为一种直接进样的高通量分析技术,能够在短时间内对大多数脂质的不同分子种进行定量分析,极大地方便了人们了解植物因环境变化和生长发育引起的组织内脂质分子种的微量变化．近年来,该技术在植物上的成功应用,推动植物脂质组学研究取得了重要进展,揭示出脂质在植物的逆境胁迫反应、防御反应中的多种功能,促进了植物脂质代谢相关基因的鉴定．而且,该技术与其他脂质分析技术结合,促使人们在脂质的分布、运输、转化和新脂质种类的鉴定方面有新的进展．概要介绍了ESI-MS/MS技术的特点,重点综述了该技术在植物脂质组学研究中的应用进展,并展望了该技术今后的发展方向.     

组学技术在产油微生物中的应用

微生物油脂是未来燃料和食品用油的重要潜在资源。近年来,随着系统生物学技术的快速发展,从全局角度理解产油微生物生理代谢及脂质积累的特征成为研究热点。组学技术作为系统生物学研究的重要工具被广泛用于揭示产油微生物脂质高效生产的机制研究中,这为产油微生物理性遗传改造和发酵过程控制提供了基础。文中对组学技术在产油微生物中的应用概况进行了综述,介绍了产油微生物组学分析常用的样品前处理及数据分析方法,综述了包括基因组、转录组、蛋白(修饰)组及代谢(脂质)组等在内的多种组学技术,以及组学数据基础上的数学模型在揭示产油微生物脂质高效生产机制中的研究,并对未来发展和应用进行了展望。     

糖生物信息学数据库

糖生物信息学是在糖生物学和糖组学发展的基础上,结合计算机技术,对生命活动过程中,参与糖链及与其相互作用的蛋白质等分子研究所产生的数据进行获取、储存、解析、模拟以及预测等内容的综合学科.糖生物信息学数据库是糖生物信息学发展到一定阶段,对糖组学等研究中产生的数据进行专门储藏与查询的应用工具.目前国际互联网中存在近百个糖生物信息学相关数据库,涉及内容包括糖链结构、参与糖链合成的基因或者蛋白质、糖结合蛋白、代谢通路、糖链或相互作用蛋白质等分子三维结构,或糖组学实验结果等领域.本文将归纳总结糖生物信息学数据库,为现有研究提供帮助.     

系统生物学视野下的功能氨基酸组学

传统营养学将氨基酸作为蛋白质的构建单元来研究蛋白质和氨基酸。近年来的研究表明,氨基酸在物质代谢和免疫功能调控等方面亦发挥重要作用,并提出功能性氨基酸的概念。随着各种组学技术的不断发展,通过系统生物学的理念与方法整合组学数据,系统地分析功能氨基酸的分子作用机制、药效学、体内动态过程成为可能。为此,本文提出功能氨基酸组学的概念,指出功能氨基酸组学领域的科学问题,提出功能氨基酸组学的研究内容。研究结果可用于朝向特定目标的氨基酸组合设计。     

中国科学院光合作用与环境分子生理学重点实验室简介

中国科学院光合作用与环境分子生理学重点实验室成立于2001年12月,由光合作用研究中心、分子发育生物学研究中心和信号转导与代谢组学研究中心组成。主要研究方向是利用基因组学、蛋白质组学和代谢组学方法研究光合作用过程中的传能转能机理、植物对环境应答、植物生长发育、信号转导的分子调控及其在农业生物工程上的应用等。实验室成立以来已在Nature、The Plant Cell、Plant Physiology、The Plant Journal以及Proteomics等国际著名刊物发表论文多篇。实验室在光合膜蛋白复合体结构与功能研究、光合作用对环境适应的机理研究、水稻根系发育功能基因研究、植物干细胞维持、花粉发育囊泡运输、青蒿素生物合成的分子调控等领域取得了一批重要成果。     

胃肠道微生物及其分子生态学技术研究进展

由于与人类健康和疾病密切相关,胃肠道微生物研究已成为当今的热点研究领域。目前研究的分子手段已经从单纯的分析微生物群落结构组成,发展到通过宏转录组学、宏蛋白组学和代谢组学等"组学"技术揭示胃肠道微生物群落的相应功能。本文结合我们的研究工作,综述了国内外胃肠道微生物及其分子生态学技术的研究进展。     

Membrane lipid therapy: Modulation of the cell membrane composition and structure as a molecular base for drug discovery and new disease treatment

Nowadays we understand cell membranes not as a simple double lipid layer but as a collection of complex and dynamic protein–lipid structures and microdomains that serve as functional platforms for interacting signaling lipids and proteins. Membrane lipids and lipid structures participate directly as messengers or regulators of signal transduction. In addition, protein–lipid interactions participate in the localization of signaling protein partners to specific membrane microdomains. Thus, lipid alterations change cell signaling that are associated with a variety of diseases including cancer, obesity, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular pathologies, etc. This article reviews the newly emerging field of membrane lipid therapy which involves the pharmacological regulation of membrane lipid composition and structure for the treatment of diseases. Membrane lipid therapy proposes the use of new molecules specifically designed to modify membrane lipid structures and microdomains as pharmaceutical disease-modifying agents by reversing the malfunction or altering the expression of disease-specific protein or lipid signal cascades. Here, we provide an in-depth analysis of this emerging field, especially its molecular bases and its relevance to the development of innovative therapeutic approaches.     

Lipidomics: when apocrypha becomes canonical

Lipidomics is a branch of the field of metabolomics. Although only about a decade since its inception, lipidomics has already had a major influence on the way in which questions about lipid metabolism and signaling are posed. The field is intertwined in the culture and rich history of mass spectrometry. Early work emphasized analytical issues such as limits of detection and numbers of molecular species quantitated in single injections. Increased sophistication in applications of lipidomic analysis and emerging technologies, such as imaging mass spectrometry, are facilitating the study of lipid metabolism and signaling species in cellular functions and human diseases. In the coming years we anticipate a richer understanding of how specific lipid species mediate complex biological processes and interconnections between cellular pathways that were thought to be disparate.     

How T lymphocytes recognize lipid antigens

Recognition of lipid antigens by T lymphocytes is well established. Lipids are recognized by T cells when presented in association with CD1 antigen-presenting molecules. Both microbial and self lipids stimulate specific T lymphocytes, thus participating in immune reactions during infections and autoimmune diseases. The immune system uses a variety of strategies to solubilise lipid antigens, to facilitate their internalization, processing, and loading on CD1 molecules. Recent studies in the field of lipid antigen presentation have revealed new mechanisms which allow the immune system to sense lipids as stimulatory antigens.     

Lipidomics as a Principal Tool for Advancing Biomedical Research

Lipidomics,which targets at the construction of a comprehensive map of lipidome comprising the entire lipid pool within a cell or tissue,is currently emerging as an independent discipline at the interf...     

Visceral obesity and the heart

Obesity and particularly its deleterious form, visceral adiposity, has reached a high prevalence in the industrialized world owing to the lack of exercise and the widely available energy-dense diet. As a consequence, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders are afflicting an unprecedented number of individuals at a world-wide scale. Over the last decades, investigations have established firm links between visceral obesity and the development of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, studies in the field of lipid partitioning have demonstrated that inadequacy of homeostatic mechanism ensuring adequate handling of energy surplus is associated with accumulation of visceral fat and lipid overload of internal organs, which are participating to the development of heart diseases. Visceral obesity and its metabolic consequences often referred to as the metabolic syndrome is associated with the production of an atherosclerosis prone milieu. In this review, clinical implications of visceral obesity on the development of cardiovascular disorders are reviewed along with important mechanisms participating to the development of these disorders. Implications and failure of lipid partitioning and some of the potential pathways mediating development of heart diseases are also covered in view of recent development of therapeutic options.     

Lipid peroxides and human diseases

Development of a simple and reliable method to determine the lipid peroxide level in human serum or plasma has made it possible to survey the levels in human diseases. Since in some human diseases lipid peroxides are increased in various organs or tissues and leak into the bloodstream, the increased lipid peroxide level in the blood aids the diagnosis of such diseases. Furthermore, determination of the level provides useful information as to their prognosis, since the increased lipid peroxides in the blood primarily attack the endothelial cells of vessels and then intact organs or tissues as well. The present paper describes a method to determine the lipid peroxide level in human serum or plasma and its profile of change in several human diseases. Intervention of lipid peroxides in the pathogenesis of certain diseases is also mentioned.     

The biology and chemistry of hyperlipidemia

Coronary arterial diseases are responsible for more deaths than all other associated causes combined. Elevated serum cholesterol levels leading to atherosclerosis can cause coronary heart disease (CHD). Reduction in serum cholesterol levels reduces the risk for CHD, substantially. Medicinal chemists all around the world have been designing, synthesizing, and evaluating a variety of new bioactive molecules for lowering lipid levels. This review summarizes the disorders associated with elevation of lipids in blood and the current strategies to control them. The emphasis has been laid in particular on the new potential biological targets and the possible treatments as well as the current ongoing research status in the field of lipid lowering agents.     

New applications of mass spectrometry in lipid analysis

Mass spectrometry has emerged as a powerful tool for the analysis of all lipids. Lipidomic analysis of biological systems using various approaches is now possible with a quantitative measurement of hundreds of lipid molecular species. Although availability of reference and internal standards lags behind the field, approaches using stable isotope-labeled derivative tagging permit precise determination of specific phospholipids in an experimental series. The use of reactivity of ozone has enabled assessment of double bond positions in fatty acyl groups even when species remain in complex lipid mixtures. Rapid scanning tandem mass spectrometers are capable of quantitative analysis of hundreds of targeted lipids at high sensitivity in a single on-line chromatographic separation. Imaging mass spectrometry of lipids in tissues has opened new insights into the distribution of lipid molecular species with promising application to study pathophysiological events and diseases.     

Lipid trafficking sans vesicles: where, why, how?

Eukaryotic cells possess a remarkable diversity of lipids, which distribute among cellular membranes by well-characterized vesicle trafficking pathways. However, transport of lipids by alternate, or "nonvesicular," routes is also critical for lipid synthesis, metabolism, and proper membrane partitioning. In the past few years, considerable progress has been made in characterizing the mechanisms of nonvesicular lipid transport and how it may go awry in particular diseases, but many fundamental questions remain for this rising field.     

Recognition of lipid antigens by T cells

Recent studies have shown that the recognition of lipid antigens by the immune system is important for defence against infection and other diseases, and that lipid-specific responses occur at higher frequencies than previously suspected. Thanks to several recent advances in this field, we now have a better appreciation of the molecular and cellular requirements of T-cell stimulation by lipids. These findings have raised new questions about the mechanisms of lipid presentation, the priming and clonal expansion of lipid-specific T cells, and their differentiation into memory cells. A greater understanding of lipid-specific T cells and the molecular mechanisms of lipid immunogenicity should facilitate the development of lipid-based vaccines.