鼠疫菌毒力调控研究

鼠疫菌通过一系列转录调控子(如CRP、PhoP、RovA和Fur)控制着一些关键毒力因子(如Pla、强毒力岛、III型分泌系统等)的基因表达。鼠疫菌可感应宿主体内信号刺激,紧密调控毒力因子的表达。在这个紧密调控过程中,调控子、毒力相关基因构成了一个动态网络。鼠疫菌在从假结核菌祖先演化的进程中,基因表达调控网络的重塑在鼠疫菌毒力进化过程中发挥着不可取代的作用。     

PHA-767491抑制多种肿瘤细胞生长

Cdc7激酶抑制剂PHA-767491是最新发现的一类抗肿瘤新药.本实验利用不同浓度的PHA-767491对肿瘤细胞进行抑制研究.实验结果显示,PHA-767491对肿瘤细胞有很强的生长抑制作用,且抑制效果随着药物浓度或时间的增加而增强;通过和化疗药物5-氟尿嘧啶对比发现,PHA-767491只需较低剂量就能发挥出抑制肿瘤的作用,且疗效远高于5-氟尿嘧啶.研究进一步还发现,PHA-767491可通过促使PARP和casepase3蛋白的剪切诱导肿瘤细胞凋亡,同时PHA-767491还可以引起肿瘤细胞自噬.综上研究表明,PHA-767491可以通过诱导细胞凋亡和引起细胞自噬作用对多种肿瘤细胞有较好的治疗效果,而对正常细胞毒性很低.因此该实验研究为今后抗肿瘤新药PHA-767491的进一步应用于癌症的临床治疗提供了重要的实验依据.     

Islet1基因与心脏发育

心脏发育及心脏疾病干细胞的治疗要求对心脏发育过程中的控制细胞增殖及分化的相关基因的作用机制进行深入了解.Islet1基因(Isl1基因)含有6个外显子和5个内含子,定位于人类5号染色体5q11.2.该基因在基因组内约占12kb,目前所知其最长可读框(ORF)至少由5个外显子组成,编码一个由384个氨基酸组成的转录因子蛋白.最近研究发现,不同的心脏细胞可能源于同一种多能心脏祖细胞—Isl1+细胞,心脏的这一发育模式与血液细胞的形成模式非常相像.另外有研究结果显示,Isl1是与心脏发育密切相关的转录因子之一,其表达随着心脏发育成熟而逐渐下调.虽然针对Isl1基因做了较多的研究工作,但是它表达调控的具体模式及发挥功能的详细作用机制目前仍未完全清楚,本文对最近几年Isl1基因的研究进展作一综述.     

影响动物细胞有丝分裂方向的因素应力纤维在纺锤体定位中的作用

细胞的有丝分裂与细胞的增殖、分化及胚胎发育、组织器官形成、损伤组织的修复和疾病的发生有关.各种物理因素、细胞所处的微环境(包括细胞外基质、细胞粘附)等,以及胞内的多种信号因子均能对细胞的有丝分裂方向产生影响.大量文献表明,应力纤维的排列为有丝分裂中心粒分离和定位提供轨道,最终影响纺锤体和有丝分裂的定向.本实验室的micro-pattern和静态单轴拉伸应变实验进一步提示了应力纤维的排布方式是影响有丝分裂方向的重要因素.本文围绕着应力纤维的排布对有丝分裂方向的影响这一研究观点,综述分析了整合素介导的细胞外粘附-黏着斑的组装-应力纤维的排布-有丝分裂纺锤体定向等一系列影响贴壁哺乳动物细胞有丝分裂定向的过程.并根据酵母模型,对哺乳动物细胞有丝分裂定向过程的分子机制进行了介绍;在该过程中肌球蛋白、动力蛋白和kar9等蛋白质起到重要作用.     

在笼型蛋白和脂筏介导的两种内吞途径中nephrin的磷酸化修饰动力学不同

研究肾小球裂隙膜的主要成分nephrin分子在细胞内的转运途径及不同转运途径对nephrin磷酸化的影响.分别应用笼型蛋白介导的内吞(clathrin-mediated endocytosis,CME)和脂筏介导的内吞(raft-mediated endocytosis,RME)标记物转铁蛋白和霍乱毒素B亚基对nephrin的内吞过程进行分析,并进一步应用两种内吞途径阻断物EPS15Δ和Dyn2aK44A,研究阻断nephrin的内吞途径对其磷酸化水平的影响.结果显示,nephrin通过笼型蛋白和脂筏介导的两种内吞途径以不同速率进行内吞;与Src酪氨酸激酶家族成员Fyn共表达时,细胞内nephrin酪氨酸磷酸化被增强,而在Src家族激酶抑制剂PP2的作用下,nephrin酪氨酸磷酸化被减弱,表明nephrin的磷酸化过程是Fyn依赖的;内吞20min时,笼型蛋白介导的内吞途径的特异性阻断物EPS15Δ降低了nephrin磷酸化水平、笼型蛋白和脂筏介导的内吞途径的通用抑制剂Dyn2aK44A则增加了nephrin的磷酸化水平,综上结果表明:单独阻断脂筏介导的内吞可引起nephrin的磷酸化水平增加,脂筏介导的内吞对nephrin磷酸化过程起下调作用.     

VicRK(YycFG)双组分调节系统

细菌双组分调节系统,或称之为双组分信号转导系统,是细菌感应外界多变环境,维持自身存活和生长繁衍的重要感应系统.在这些调节系统中,最早发现于枯草芽孢杆菌的VicRK(YycFG)系统因与细胞存活密切相关而倍受关注.该系统存在于少数低G+C含量的革兰氏阳性菌中,包括金黄色葡萄球菌和肺炎链球菌等致病菌,高度保守.许多证据显示,VicRK(YycFG)具有调控细胞壁合成与代谢、胞膜完整、细胞分裂、脂类代谢、多糖合成与被膜形成以及细菌毒力等多种功能,参与细胞的生长、分裂与感染.该系统异常可导致细菌生活力严重下降,甚至死亡,因而成为防治该类病原菌的重要靶标.     

Proinsulin C-peptide activates α-enolase: implications for C-peptide--cell membrane interaction

Proinsulin C-peptide shows beneficial effects on microvascular complications of Type 1 diabetes. However, the possible occurrence of membrane C-peptide receptor(s) has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to identify and characterize membrane proteins to which C-peptide binds. The enzyme α-enolase was co-immunoprecipitated with C-peptide after chemical cross-linking to HL-60 cell surface proteins and identified by mass spectrometry. Recombinant α-enolase activity was modulated by C-peptide, with a significant decrease in K(m) for 2-phosphoglycerate without affecting V(max). The enzyme modulation by C-peptide was abolished when C-terminal basic lysine residue (K434) of the enzyme was replaced by neutral alanine or acidic glutamate, but not with basic arginine. The enzyme modulation by C-peptide was reproduced with the C-peptide fragments containing glutamate corresponding to position 27 (E27) of the full-length C-peptide. Addition of a lysine analogue to the assay and A31 cell culture abrogated the enzyme modulation and MAP kinase activation by C-peptide, respectively. The results indicate that C-peptide has the capacity to activate α-enolase through a specific interaction between E27 of the peptide and K434 of the enzyme. Since α-enolase plays a role as a cell surface receptor for plasminogen, it may conceivably also serve as a receptor for C-peptide in vivo.     

Separate origins of group I introns in two mitochondrial genes of the katablepharid Leucocryptos marina

Mitochondria are descendants of the endosymbiotic α-proteobacterium most likely engulfed by the ancestral eukaryotic cells, and the proto-mitochondrial genome should have been severely streamlined in terms of both genome size and gene repertoire. In addition, mitochondrial (mt) sequence data indicated that frequent intron gain/loss events contributed to shaping the modern mt genome organizations, resulting in the homologous introns being shared between two distantly related mt genomes. Unfortunately, the bulk of mt sequence data currently available are of phylogenetically restricted lineages, i.e., metazoans, fungi, and land plants, and are insufficient to elucidate the entire picture of intron evolution in mt genomes. In this work, we sequenced a 12 kbp-fragment of the mt genome of the katablepharid Leucocryptos marina. Among nine protein-coding genes included in the mt genome fragment, the genes encoding cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cob and cox1) were interrupted by group I introns. We further identified that the cob and cox1 introns host open reading frames for homing endonucleases (HEs) belonging to distantly related superfamilies. Phylogenetic analyses recovered an affinity between the HE in the Leucocryptos cob intron and two green algal HEs, and that between the HE in the Leucocryptos cox1 intron and a fungal HE, suggesting that the Leucocryptos cob and cox1 introns possess distinct evolutionary origins. Although the current intron (and intronic HE) data are insufficient to infer how the homologous introns were distributed to distantly related mt genomes, the results presented here successfully expanded the evolutionary dynamism of group I introns in mt genomes.