合成生物学时代基于非模式细菌的工业底盘细胞研究现状与展望

工业微生物底盘细胞的开发将为工业生物技术的发展提供优良的细胞工厂,有利于实现环境保护及经济可持续发展。基于合成生物学"设计-构建-测试-学习"(Design-Build-Test-Learn,DBTL)策略,对底盘细胞进行多维度的理性或半理性改造是实现"建物致知"以及"建物致用"目标的重要手段。文中简述了合成生物学DBTL策略中各步骤相关的重要技术方法;概述了部分重要模式微生物底盘细胞的策略与研究进展;重点比较介绍了工业生物技术领域具有特殊生理功能、利用一碳化合物及高效生产平台化合物的部分非模式细菌;同时也提出了实现优良、安全合成微生物细胞工厂构建与应用的策略。这些方法策略包括依靠合成生物学技术方法,综合模式与非模式微生物优势,开发应用经济、高效的高通量智能装备,建立分子组学与表型组学研究平台,推动多层次系统生物学与表型组学大数据的解析、整合、模拟与可视化,以及建立高质量的数字细胞模型和基因组优化的底盘细胞,推动高效、优良工业细胞工厂的理性设计、构建与应用。     

整合转录组学数据的代谢网络研究进展

高通量测序技术的快速发展催生了涵盖各层次细胞生命活动的组学数据,如转录组学数据、蛋白质组学数据和互作组学数据等。同时,全基因组代谢网络模型在不断完善和增多。整合组学数据,对生物细胞的代谢网络进行更深入的模拟分析成为目前微生物系统生物学研究的热点。目前整合转录组学数据进行全基因组代谢网络分析的方法主要以流量平衡分析(FBA)为基础,通过辨识不同条件下基因表达的变化,进而优化目标函数以得到相应的流量分布或代谢模型。本文对整合转录组学数据的FBA分析方法进行总结和比较,并详细阐述了不同方法的优缺点,为分析特定问题选择合适的方法提供参考。     

微生物代谢组学及其在工业中的应用

微生物代谢组学是系统生物学的重要组成部分,其与基因组学、转录组学和蛋白质组学相互补充,近年来受到越来越多人的重视。其主要对细胞生长或生长周期某一时刻细胞内外所有低分子量代谢物进行定性和定量分析,直接反映了细胞的生理状态,对理解细胞功能十分重要。由于代谢物的复杂性,研究者需根据不同的目的及对象选择合适的分析方法。对微生物代谢组学近年来的研究方法进行综述,包括样品处理、分析手段、数据分析,并讨论了微生物代谢组学在工业中的应用及所面临的挑战。     

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。     

系统生物技术在工业(药用)微生物菌种选育与高通量筛选中的应用

系统生物学时代,各种高通量组学技术产生了大量数据。一些旨在挖掘数据和整合信息的计算机建模技术也逐渐用于系统水平定量分析细胞代谢。模型有助于指导实验设计,实验结果反过来检验和优化模型,虚实结合,有利于在系统层面认识复杂的代谢过程。根据这些信息,可以设计、优化工业微生物代谢特征,高表达目标代谢物。本文综述了系统生物技术在工业(药用)微生物育种和高通量筛选中的最新应用进展。     

现代代谢组学平台建设及相关技术应用

代谢组作为生命科学研究的5个层面(基因组、转录组、蛋白质组、代谢组和表型组)之一越来越受到科研工作者的关注。色谱–质谱联用技术由于其高分离能力、高灵敏度等优点在代谢组学(定性和定量)领域发挥重要的作用,基于色谱–质谱联用技术的代谢组学已成功应用于代谢表型差异研究、基因功能鉴定和转基因生物安全性评价等多个研究方向。本文以中国科学院遗传与发育生物学研究所代谢组学平台为例,详细介绍了现代代谢组学平台色谱–质谱联用仪器的硬件组成,以及不同技术平台在现在系统生物学研究中的具体应用。     

微生物遗传多样性的挖掘和代谢工程应用

随着近年来系统生物学研究的深入,微生物的基因组、转录组、蛋白组及代谢组等不同层次的组学信息不断增加。我国具有丰富的微生物多样性,但目前对多样性的研究大多集中在物种多样性及生态多样性方面,对微生物菌株水平遗传多样性的研究还刚刚起步。以酿酒酵母和链霉菌为例,结合本课题组的成果,总结了近年来利用其基因组序列及转录组蛋白质等功能基因组信息,开发利用其遗传多样性的研究进展。在工业酿酒酵母中发现了多个独特的功能基因,包括絮凝基因及与环境胁迫耐性相关的调节蛋白基因,还发现了独特的启动子序列。此外,在海洋放线菌基因组中也发现了独特的调节基因。对微生物遗传多样性的挖掘利用,不仅有助于深入理解微生物不同菌株中独特的调节方式,也为微生物的代谢工程改造提供了大量新的可利用的遗传组件。     

基于热力学原理约束的代谢网络模型研究进展及其应用

高通量组学技术为人们研究生命系统组件提供了细节数据,通过对基因组、转录组、蛋白质组及代谢组等不同生命层级间相互作用的研究,推动了生化反应网络的重建——基因组规模代谢网络模型(genome scale of metabolic network model,GSMM).GSMM作为系统生物学领域中研究生命系统的基本手段,表...     

2014工业生物技术专刊序言

工业生物技术是解决人类目前面临的资源、能源及环境危机的有效手段。本期专刊结合第七届中国工业生物技术发展高峰论坛,报道了我国工业生物技术领域专家学者在生物信息学、微生物细胞工厂的模拟设计与构建、工业发酵工程、工业酶的改造与应用、高通量筛选方法等领域取得的最新研究进展。     

黑曲霉组学研究进展

黑曲霉作为重要的工业发酵菌株,被广泛用于多种有机酸和工业用酶的生产。随着组学技术的日益发展和成熟,黑曲霉的基因组、转录组、蛋白质组、代谢组等组学数据不断增长,宣告着黑曲霉生物过程研究大数据时代的到来。从单一组学的数据分析、多组学的比较到以基因组代谢网络模型为中心的多组学整合研究,人们对黑曲霉高效生产机制的理解不断深入和系统,这为通过遗传改造和过程调控对菌株的生产性能进行理性的全局优化提供了可能。本文回顾和总结了近年来黑曲霉的组学研究进展,并提出黑曲霉组学研究未来的发展方向。     

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.