ERF转录因子调控生物胁迫反应的研究进展

ERF家族是植物所特有的APETALA2/乙烯响应因子(APETALA2/ethylene-responsive factor,AP2/ERF)转录因子家族的一个主要亚家族,其成员结构特点是仅含有1个58-60个氨基酸组成的AP2/ERF结构域。有关该家族成员的大多数研究集中在与寒、旱等非生物胁迫方面,最近越来越多的研究表明ERF在植物抵御病虫侵害等生物胁迫方面也发挥着重要作用。ERF亚家族成员通过结合下游互作基因启动子区域的GCC box元件,从而激活或抑制这些病程相关基因的表达。同时ERFs参与水杨酸(salicylic acid,SA)、茉莉酸(jasmonic acid,JA)、乙烯(ethylene,ET)及过氧化氢(H2O2)等多种激素的信号途径,通过相互促进/拮抗高效协调体内不同激素抵御病原菌的入侵,提高植物的抗病、抗虫性。本文综述了ERF转录因子的结构功能特点、在不同植物抗生物胁迫中的调控方式,以及其通过协调不同激素信号途径相互作用来提高植物抗病虫的最新研究进展,并对其应用前景进行了展望。     

酿酒酵母酚类抑制物耐受性脂质组学研究

通过脂质组学分析方法从细胞膜磷脂分布方面探究适应进化酿酒酵母酚酸耐受性机制。主要利用高效液相色谱-质谱(LC-MS)对酚酸胁迫下适应进化菌株和原始菌株脂质成分检测并进行统计学比较分析。检测出565种脂质代谢物,包含细胞膜磷脂185种。相比初始菌株,适应进化菌株细胞膜中磷脂酰胆碱(PC)、磷脂酰乙醇胺(PE)和磷脂酰肌醇(PI)类磷脂分子相对含量增加,含有长链(C32-C36)和双不饱和脂酰链的磷脂分子含量增加。统计学分析表明显著性差异磷脂分子主要为含有长链不饱和脂酰链的PC和PE类磷脂分子。推测适应进化菌株通过膜磷脂重塑提高细胞膜完整性,对酚类抑制物起到选择性屏障作用,从而保持细胞活性。     

紫苏对医院绿地土真菌群落组成及生态功能群结构的影响

医院绿地土壤是医院人体病原真菌或潜在人体病原真菌重要的物种储存库。这些携带真菌孢子的土粒和灰尘在空气中的传播增加了医院院内真菌感染的风险,已成为一个日趋严重的公共卫生问题。现研究表明,不少高等植物,尤其是药用植物具很强的抗真菌特性。基于高通量测序及模拟盆栽试验,本研究观察了种植药用植物紫苏Perilla frutescens对医院绿地土壤真菌群落组成及生态功能群结构的影响。研究结果表明,医院绿地土壤真菌群落优势类群随紫苏生育期变化而发生明显变化。优势属由原初医院土（PTS）的绿僵菌属Metarhizium（60.94%）,依次变为紫苏生长期样本（GZS）的被孢霉属Mortierella（21.34%）、开花期样本（FZS）的亚隔孢壳科Didymellaceae中一未定属（47.22%）和枯萎期样本（WZS）的粪壳菌目Sordariales中一未定属（12.67%）。经FUNGuild平台对序列数据集作进一步解析发现,种植紫苏后能够驱动医院绿地土壤真菌生态功能群发生明显变化,一些分类单元由动物病原向腐生型和/或共生型生态功能群转变。动物病原菌群（包括人体潜在病原）相对丰度,由原初医院土（PTS）的61.36%,下调至紫苏生长期样本（GZS）的2.48%、开花期样本（FZS）的1.40%和枯萎期样本（WZS）的6.09%。研究揭示紫苏对医院绿地土壤真菌群落组成及相对丰度具有一定调控作用,尤其是可降低其中人体潜在病原相对丰度以减轻对人类健康的威胁,为引种药用植物增强医院绿地土壤健康水平及维护医院院内公共卫生安全提供了参考。     

野生鸡油菌子实体可培养微生物多样性及其功能分析

采用多种培养基对采自贵州省贵阳市3个样地的鸡油菌Cantharellus cibarius子实体内细菌和真菌进行分离、培养、鉴定和多样性分析。利用FAPROTAX和FUNGuild数据库分别对其功能类群进行注释,从而探究微生物群对鸡油菌生长发育的影响。结果表明,鸡油菌子实体内共分离获得细菌49株,分属于2门、4纲、6目、9科、12属和27种,其中,优势属为假单胞菌属Pseudomonas;真菌90株,分属于3门、7纲、12目、26科、32属和44种,优势属为蜡蚧菌属Lecanicillium。功能分析结果显示,细菌主要集中于潜在氮代谢、芳香性气味物质代谢,以及难溶性化学物质的溶解等方面;真菌主要集中于分解复杂有机物、辅助菌根真菌与植物根系建立共生,以及潜在抑制虫害、病原菌侵染等方面。     

嗜角蛋白真菌耐药性研究进展

嗜角蛋白真菌感染能引起人体皮肤浅表和深部疾病,其感染发生率近年来呈逐年增加趋势。广谱抗生素是目前广泛用于治疗嗜角蛋白真菌感染的药物种类之一,但由于可选择药物种类有限,因此多数嗜角蛋白真菌感染患者存在长期、过度使用单一广谱抗生素的情形,这可能直接或间接导致嗜角蛋白真菌耐药性形成,严重制约嗜角蛋白真菌感染疾病治疗效果,从而加重嗜角蛋白真菌感染疾病的传染风险,成为影响全球公共卫生健康的重大威胁因素之一。本文就嗜角蛋白真菌致病类型、常用药物、药物作用机理、耐药性形成及影响因素方面的研究进展进行综述,并提出了嗜角蛋白真菌耐药性未来的研究内容及方向。以期为嗜角蛋白真菌感染治疗、真菌耐药性形成机理及预防真菌感染提供新的思路和参考。     

环境温度和体型大小对花绒寄甲成虫死亡率及产卵量的影响

[目的]花绒寄甲Dastarcus helophoroides是天牛类林木蛀干害虫的主要天敌昆虫,为提升花绒寄甲的人工繁育技术和繁育质量,在不同环境温度下,测试了不同体型大小的花绒寄甲对成虫死亡率和产卵量的影响.[方法]按成虫体型大小将花绒寄甲分成较大、较小和中等3组,根据前期不同温度下的饲养经验,分别测试成虫在20、24和28℃下的存活率和产卵量.[结果]体型相同的个体随环境温度升高死亡率增加;20℃时体型小的死亡率高,24℃和28℃各组死亡率无显著性差异;中等个体组在24℃和28℃下的产卵量大于在20℃下的产卵量;同一温度条件下,体型显著影响雌虫的产卵量,体型大者产卵量高.[结论]体型大小对成虫死亡率影响不明显,但对产卵量有较大影响.     

A Fast Workflow for Identification and Quantification of Proteomes

The current in-depth proteomics makes use of long chromatography gradient to get access to more peptides for protein identification, resulting in covering of as many as 8000 mammalian gene products in 3 days of mass spectrometer running time. Here we report a fast sequencing (Fast-seq) workflow of the use of dual reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) with a short gradient to achieve the same proteome coverage in 0.5 day. We adapted this workflow to a quantitative version (Fast quantification, Fast-quan) that was compatible to large-scale protein quantification. We subjected two identical samples to the Fast-quan workflow, which allowed us to systematically evaluate different parameters that impact the sensitivity and accuracy of the workflow. Using the statistics of significant test, we unraveled the existence of substantial falsely quantified differential proteins and estimated correlation of false quantification rate and parameters that are applied in label-free quantification. We optimized the setting of parameters that may substantially minimize the rate of falsely quantified differential proteins, and further applied them on a real biological process. With improved efficiency and throughput, we expect that the Fast-seq/Fast-quan workflow, allowing pair wise comparison of two proteomes in 1 day may make MS available to the masses and impact biomedical research in a positive way.The performance of mass spectrometry has been improved tremendously over the last few years (1–3), making mass spectrometry-based proteomics a viable approach for large-scale protein analysis in biological research. Scientists around the world are striving to fulfill the promise of identifying and quantifying almost all gene products expressed in a cell line or tissue. This would make mass spectrometry-based protein analysis an approach that is compatible to the second-generation mRNA deep-seq technique (4, 5).Two liquid chromatography (LC)-MS strategies have been employed to achieve deep proteome coverage. One is a single run with a long chromatography column and gradient to take advantage of the resolving power of HPLC to reduce the complexity of peptide mixtures; the other is a sequential run with two-dimensional separation (typically ion-exchange and reverse phase) to reduce peptide complexity. It was reported by two laboratories that 2761 and 4500 proteins were identified with a 10 h chromatography gradient on a dual pressure linear ion-trap orbitrap mass spectrometer (LTQ Orbitrap Velos)(6–8). Similarly, 3734 proteins were identified using a 8 h gradient on a 2 m long column with a hybrid triple quadrupole - time of flight (Q-TOF, AB sciex 5600 Q-TOF)(9) mass spectrometer. The two-dimensional approach has yielded more identification with longer time. For example, 10,006 proteins (representing over 9000 gene products, GPs)¹ were identified in U2OS cell (10), and 10,255 proteins (representing 9207 GPs) from HeLa cells (11). It took weeks (for example, 2–3 weeks) of machine running time to achieve such proteome coverage, pushing proteome analysis to the level that is comparable to mRNA-seq. With the introduction of faster machines, human proteome coverage now has reached the level of 7000–8500 proteins (representing 7000–8000 GPs) in 3 days (12). Notwithstanding the impressive improvement, the current approach using long column and long gradient suffers from inherent limitations: it takes long machine running time and it is challenging to keep reproducibility among repeated runs. Thus, current throughput and reproducibility have hindered the application of in-depth proteomics to traditional biological researches. A timesaving approach is in urgent need.In this study, we used the first-dimension (1D) short pH 10 RP prefractionation to reduce the complexity of the proteome (13), followed by sequential 30 min second-dimension (2D) short pH 3 reverse phase-(RP)-LC-MS/MS runs for protein identification (14). The results demonstrated that it is possible to identify 8000 gene products from mammalian cells within 12 h of total MS measurement time by applying this dual-short 2D-RPLC-MS/MS strategy (Fast sequencing, Fast-seq). The robustness of the strategy was revealed by parallel testing on different MS systems including quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometer (Q-Exactive), hybrid Q-TOF (Triple-TOF 5600), and dual pressure linear ion-trap orbitrap mass spectrometer (LTQ-Orbitrap Velos), indicating the inherent strength of the approach as to merely taking advantage of the better MS instruments. This strategy increases the efficiency of MS sequencing in unit time for the identification of proteins. We achieved identification of 2200 proteins/30 mins on LTQ-Orbitrap Velos, 2800 proteins/30 mins on Q-Exactive and Triple-TOF 5600 respectively. We further optimized Fast-seq and worked out a quantitative-version of the Fast-seq workflow: Fast-quantification (Fast-quan) and applied it for protein abundance quantification in HUVEC cell that was treated with a drug candidate MLN4924 (a drug in phase III clinical trial). We were able to quantify > 6700 GPs in 1 day of MS running time and found 99 proteins were up-regulated with high confidence. We expect this efficient alternative approach for in-depth proteome analysis will make the application of MS-based proteomics more accessible to biological applications.     

Different Distribution of HIV-1 Subtype and Drug Resistance Were Found among Treatment Na?ve Individuals in Henan,Guangxi, and Yunnan Province of China

Yunnan, Guangxi and Henan are the provinces with the most severe HIV epidemic in China, which were also among the first group of areas providing free ART in 2004. However, little comprehensive data are available on prevalence of HIV subtype and baseline drug resistance in drug-naïve populations. In this study, 1746 treatment-naïve HIV-positive individuals were randomly selected from new-reported cases in Henan, Guangxi and Yunnan. Among of them, subtypes and drug resistance of 1159 strains were determined by amplifying and sequencing full-length pol genes. Significantly different distributions of HIV subtypes prevalent in three provinces were identified (P<0.01). CRF08_BC was found dominant in Yunnan (59.8%), while CRF01_AE was dominant in Guangxi (77.3%) and subtype B was dominant in Henan province (93.9%). The total prevalence of drug resistance was 7.1%. The highest prevalence of HIV drug resistance was found in Henan (12.2%), followed by Yunnan (5.6%) and Guangxi (3.3%). The results of this study suggest that genetic drug-resistance should be tested before initiation of ART in China, especially in Henan province. Furthermore, the prevalence of HIV drug resistant strains should be considered separately in different areas in China before the change of different free ART regimens.     

Neuropeptide Y Is Produced by Adipose Tissue Macrophages and Regulates Obesity-Induced Inflammation

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is induced in peripheral tissues such as adipose tissue with obesity. The mechanism and function of NPY induction in fat are unclear. Given the evidence that NPY can modulate inflammation, we examined the hypothesis that NPY regulates the function of adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) in response to dietary obesity in mice. NPY was induced by dietary obesity in the stromal vascular cells of visceral fat depots from mice. Surprisingly, the induction of Npy was limited to purified ATMs from obese mice. Significant basal production of NPY was observed in cultured bone marrow derived macrophage and dendritic cells (DCs) and was increased with LPS stimulation. In vitro, addition of NPY to myeloid cells had minimal effects on their activation profiles. NPY receptor inhibition promoted DC maturation and the production of IL-6 and TNFα suggesting an anti-inflammatory function for NPY signaling in DCs. Consistent with this, NPY injection into lean mice decreased the quantity of M1-like CD11c⁺ ATMs and suppressed Ly6c^hi monocytes. BM chimeras generated from Npy^−/− donors demonstrated that hematopoietic NPY contributes to the obesity-induced induction of Npy in fat. In addition, loss of Npy expression from hematopoietic cells led to an increase in CD11c⁺ ATMs in visceral fat with high fat diet feeding. Overall, our studies suggest that NPY is produced by a range of myeloid cells and that obesity activates the production of NPY in adipose tissue macrophages with autocrine and paracrine effects.