Genomic concatemerization/deletion in rotaviruses: a new mechanism for generating rapid genetic change of potential epidemiological importance.

Three variants of group A rotavirus with large changes in their gene 5 structures have been analyzed at the molecular level. The first of these, P9 delta 5, was obtained during plaque purification undertaken as part of the biological cloning of a field isolate of virus. The gene 5 homolog in this isolate migrated just ahead of the normal segment 6 RNA, giving an estimated size of 1,300 bp. Molecular cloning and sequencing of this homolog revealed it to have a single 308-bp deletion in the center of the normal gene 5 sequence extending between nucleotides 460 and 768 of the normal gene sequence. This deletion caused a frameshift in the gene such that a stop codon was encountered 8 amino acids downstream of the deletion point, giving a predicted size for the protein product of this gene of 150 amino acids compared with the 490 amino acids of its normal-size counterpart. Attempts to detect this shortened protein in virus-infected cells were not successful, indicating that it was much less stable than the full-length protein and/or had suffered a large change in its antigenicity. The second two variants, brvA and brvE, were generated in an earlier study following the high-multiplicity passage of the UKtc strain of bovine rotavirus. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of these nondefective variants showed that brvA had a gene 5 homolog approximately equal in size to the normal RNA segment 2 (approximately 2,700 bp) and that brvE had a size of approximately 2,300 bp. Both variants showed changes in their gene 5 protein products, with brvA mimicking P9 delta 5 in failing to produce a detectable product whereas brvE produced a new virus-specific protein approximately 80 kDa in size. Full-length cDNA clones of the brvE gene 5 homolog were isolated, and analysis of their structure revealed a head-to-tail concatemerization of the normal gene 5 sequence with the first copy of the concatemer covering nucleotides 1 to 808 and the second covering nucleotides 92 to 1579, giving a total length of 2,296 bp. Sequencing across the junction region of the two copies of the gene showed that they were joined in frame to give a predicted combined open reading frame of 728 amino acids with the amino-terminal region consisting of amino acids 1 to 258 fused at the carboxy terminus to amino acids 21 to 490.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

低剂量CO2激光对茄子,青椒叶绿体超微结构影响的初步观察

本试验用功率密度为825mw/cm~2的CO_2激光照射茄子干种子(含水量8.33％)13s、青椒干种子(含水量5.4％)3s,分别以Os为对照(ck)。照射后播于生长箱内,出苗10天分苗于玻璃温室内,于四叶期取样观察成熟叶片叶绿体的超微结构。发现激光照射处理的茄子、青椒的叶绿体的基质片层、基粒片层有明显的吸胀现象。     

用HPLC证实单糖在酸性处理中的变化

<正> 在碱性条件下,醛糖与酮糖之间会发生结构互变。然而美国学者Feather M S等经过十多年的研究,发现在酸性条件下,葡萄糖、甘露糖和果糖之间也有分子内的互变,并应用~3H放射标记等技术,提出了互变的反应机理,这一互变的存在给寡糖及多糖的组份分析带来了一个问题,即用酸性条件水解寡糖或多糖后,如何确定其中的葡萄糖、甘露糖或果糖     

大鼠血小板中的神经肽Y及其对血管收缩的影响

特异性放射免疫分析显示大鼠血小板与富血小板血浆(PRP)分别含NPY免疫活性物质90±16ng/10~7血小板与93±19ng/ml,大大高于普通血浆(1.2±0.1ng/ml)与贫血小板血浆(PPP)(1.7±0.3 ng/ml)中的含量(P<0.001)。血小板样品HPLC各馏分的NPY放免活性峰位与标准NPY的峰位相符。PRP经胶原最大程度聚集后,血小板内的NPY浓度降为34±5 ng/10~7血小板,而PPP中的NPY浓度则升高到26±4 ng/ml。1.6 ml PRP经胶原作用产生最大程度聚集,由此分离所得的PPP引起离体灌流大鼠尾动脉收缩,张力上升380±80 mg;上述PPP经NPY抗血清处理后引起尾动脉收缩的幅度显著减小(190±40 mg,P<0.001)。而1 nmol/L人工合成NPY并不引起血管收缩。结果表明大鼠血小板中含有大量NPY,在不可逆聚集时可以释放,释放的NPY可能参与血小板聚集时释放物质的缩血管效应。     

古菌RecJ蛋白的研究进展

RecJ蛋白属于aspartate-histidine-histidine (DHH)磷酸酯酶超家族,存在于细菌、真核生物和古菌中。细菌RecJ蛋白是一种5′→3′ssDNA外切酶,参与错配修复、同源重组、碱基切除修复等生物学过程。真核生物cell division cycle 45 (Cdc45)蛋白是细菌RecJ核酸酶的同源物,但不具有核酸酶活性。Cdc45蛋白能够与minichromosomemaintenance(MCM)和Go-Ichi-Ni-San(GINS)形成Cdc45-MCM-GINS (CMG)复合物,是真核生物DNA复制的重要组分。在古菌中,几乎所有基因组已测序的古菌均编码一种或多种RecJ蛋白同源物。与细菌RecJ核酸酶不同,古菌RecJ蛋白具有多样化的核酸酶活性,并且能够与MCM和GINS形成类似于真核生物CMG的复合物。因此,古菌RecJ蛋白是参与古菌DNA复制、修复和重组的重要成分。基于目前古菌RecJ蛋白的研究报道,本文综述了古菌RecJ蛋白的活性、结构与功能方面的研究进展,聚焦于不同古菌RecJ蛋白以及它们与细菌RecJ核酸酶和真核生物RecJ同源物的...     

核酸去甲基酶AlkB在毕赤酵母中的表达纯化及在tRNA相关研究中的应用

[目的]核酸的甲基化修饰是一种常见的化学修饰形式,具有重要的生物学功能,却也在一定程度上给一些核酸研究过程带来了技术难度。tRNA上具有的大量甲基化修饰会阻碍逆转录进程,从而降低荧光定量PCR (real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction,RT-qPCR)和高通量测序对其的检测效率。来自大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)的AlkB蛋白是一种多功能的脱烷基化酶,可以去除DNA和RNA上多种甲基化为代表的修饰,有望解决以上问题。[方法]针对大肠杆菌来源的AlkB,分别尝试在大肠杆菌和毕赤酵母(Pichia pastoris)表达系统中进行诱导表达和纯化,对纯化获得的AlkB进行酶学性质测定。最后以tRNA_UAU^Ile等两种tRNA为代表,研究AlkB的处理对于荧光定量PCR法检测tRNA表达水平的影响。[结果]AlkB在大肠杆菌中表达时多以包涵体形式存在,但是在毕赤酵母中可以成功分泌表达。使用镍柱分离纯化后获得了纯度高于95%的AlkB蛋白,其酶学性质参数如...     

生物淋洗修复钒污染土壤的性能与机理研究

【目的】土壤重金属污染问题日益受到关注,其中钒污染逐渐成为研究热点。淋洗是土壤修复的重要手段,但存在污染大、成本高的缺点。生物淋洗技术因其经济高效且环保的特点能够应用于土壤的修复,但其对钒污染土壤的修复,认识仍非常有限。【方法】本研究采用嗜酸性氧化亚铁硫杆菌对钒污染土壤进行了生物淋洗试验,通过影响因素试验探究了钒的最佳浸出条件,并应用扫描电子显微镜-能量色散X射线谱分析了钒在淋洗过程中的变化,最后对代谢产物进行了解析。【结果】微生物次生代谢产物能促进土壤中钒的溶出。氧化亚铁硫杆菌对土壤钒的浸出效率较高,生物淋洗20 d后土壤中钒的浸出率达到27.4%,进一步的影响因素试验表明,在固体浓度为3%、接种体积为10%、初始pH值为1.8、初始Fe²⁺的浓度为3.0 g/L的条件下,土壤中钒的浸出效果最佳。SEM-EDS分析证实生物淋洗后土壤中钒含量减少,其中以非残渣态形式存在的钒更容易被浸出。代谢组学分析显示氧化亚铁硫杆菌在浸出过程中产生了大量代谢产物来应对重金属胁迫。【结论】生物淋洗技术能够有效地实现土壤钒污染的修复,本研究为钒污染土壤提供了一种环境友好的修复方式。     

内生真菌印度梨形孢诱导小麦抗根腐病作用研究

【目的】明确印度梨形孢(Piriformospora indica)诱导小麦对根腐病产生抗性的作用机制。【方法】用印度梨形孢悬液浸种,以无菌培养液为对照,用病原菌禾谷镰孢菌(Fusarium graminearum)侵染小麦,对其相关生理生化指标及转录组变化进行分析。【结果】禾谷镰孢菌能诱导小麦产生过氧化氢,降低细胞内水含量,破坏细胞膜的稳定性;根部定殖印度梨形孢的小麦细胞内抗氧化酶活性增强,活性氧自由基含量降低,胞内水含量提高,细胞膜稳定性增强;印度梨形孢定殖能改变由于病原菌引起的mRNA转录组变化,抗性相关基因的表达增强。综合表明印度梨形孢定殖能有效地提高小麦对禾谷镰孢菌的抗性。【结论】研究结果为深入理解植物与微生物互作、开发新型高效环保抗根腐病生物制剂提供理论和实验依据。     

TaTPP-7A positively feedback regulates grain filling and wheat grain yield through T6P-SnRK1 signalling pathway and sugar–ABA interaction

Grain size and filling are two key determinants of grain thousand-kernel weight (TKW) and crop yield, therefore they have undergone strong selection since cereal was domesticated. Genetic dissection of the two traits will improve yield potential in crops. A quantitative trait locus significantly associated with wheat grain TKW was detected on chromosome 7AS flanked by a simple sequence repeat marker of Wmc17 in Chinese wheat 262 mini-core collection by genome-wide association study. Combined with the bulked segregant RNA-sequencing (BSR-seq) analysis of an F₂ genetic segregation population with extremely different TKW traits, a candidate trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase gene located at 135.0 Mb (CS V1.0), designated as TaTPP-7A, was identified. This gene was specifically expressed in developing grains and strongly influenced grain filling and size. Overexpression (OE) of TaTPP-7A in wheat enhanced grain TKW and wheat yield greatly. Detailed analysis revealed that OE of TaTPP-7A significantly increased the expression levels of starch synthesis- and senescence-related genes involved in abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene pathways. Moreover, most of the sucrose metabolism and starch regulation-related genes were potentially regulated by SnRK1. In addition, TaTPP-7A is a crucial domestication- and breeding-targeted gene and it feedback regulates sucrose lysis, flux, and utilization in the grain endosperm mainly through the T6P-SnRK1 pathway and sugar–ABA interaction. Thus, we confirmed the T6P signalling pathway as the central regulatory system for sucrose allocation and source–sink interactions in wheat grains and propose that the trehalose pathway components have great potential to increase yields in cereal crops.