The 21-nucleotide, but not 22-nucleotide, viral secondary small interfering RNAs direct potent antiviral defense by two cooperative argonautes in Arabidopsis thaliana

Arabidopsis thaliana defense against distinct positive-strand RNA viruses requires production of virus-derived secondary small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) by multiple RNA-dependent RNA polymerases. However, little is known about the biogenesis pathway and effector mechanism of viral secondary siRNAs. Here, we describe a mutant of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-Δ2b) that is silenced predominantly by the RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 (RDR6)-dependent viral secondary siRNA pathway. We show that production of the viral secondary siRNAs targeting CMV-Δ2b requires SUPPRESSOR OF GENE SILENCING3 and DICER-LIKE4 (DCL4) in addition to RDR6. Examination of 25 single, double, and triple mutants impaired in nine ARGONAUTE (AGO) genes combined with coimmunoprecipitation and deep sequencing identifies an essential function for AGO1 and AGO2 in defense against CMV-Δ2b, which act downstream the biogenesis of viral secondary siRNAs in a nonredundant and cooperative manner. Our findings also illustrate that dicing of the viral RNA precursors of primary and secondary siRNA is insufficient to confer virus resistance. Notably, although DCL2 is able to produce abundant viral secondary siRNAs in the absence of DCL4, the resultant 22-nucleotide viral siRNAs alone do not guide efficient silencing of CMV-Δ2b. Possible mechanisms for the observed qualitative difference in RNA silencing between 21- and 22-nucleotide secondary siRNAs are discussed.     

肌球蛋白X干涉载体的构建与鉴定

肌球蛋白X(Myosin X,Myo X)是近年来发现的在细胞运动中发挥重要功能的非传统型肌球蛋白,但其发挥功能的分子机制目前尚不明确,RNA干扰技术是目前研究基因功能常用的方法。构建针对鼠的Myo X基因mRNA的shRNA真核表达载体,并转染NLT细胞,观察其对Myo X表达的抑制效应。结果显示,shRNA-2能够有效地降低Myo X的蛋白表达水平,而shRNA-1则不能。进一步分析显示,转染shRNA-2的NLT细胞丝状伪足的形成受到抑制,表明shRNA-2是能够抑制Myo X表达的干涉载体,此干涉载体的构建为进一步研究Myo X的新功能,揭示其作用的分子机制奠定基础。     

刺参管足SMART cDNA文库构建及EST分析

以大连广鹿岛野生刺参的管足mRNA为材料,利用SMART cDNA Construction Kit构建了表达型cDNA文库.初始文库的滴度为1.3 × 106PFU/mL,蓝白斑估测量组率合格.扩增后获得96 mL文库,滴度为1.8 × 1010PFU/mL,从扩增文库中随机挑取200个噬菌斑进行PCR检测,电泳检测结果表明重组率大于90％,片段大小在0.25 -2.0 kb之间的插入片段占80.4％,文库构建成功.随机选择122个噬菌斑转化为质拉pTriplEx2并测序,测序成功率83.6％,软件处理后100 bp以上的clean ESTs有72条,测通的为65条,占成功测序样品的63.7％.72条序列经SeqMan软件拼接,获得48条conting/singletons,在线Blast比对发现其中26条具有同源序列并获得注释,另外20条可能为新基因,其功能和结构有待进一步利用生物信息学的方法进行分析和研究.     

绿色糖单孢菌木质素过氧化物酶的分离纯化及鉴定

木质素过氧化物酶是一种重要的具有工业应用前景的木质素降解酶,但已报道真菌来源的木质素过氧化物酶只能在酸性低温条件下发挥作用,限制了其进一步的工业应用.通过培养一株耐热耐碱放线茵——绿色糖单孢茵发酵产酶,采用DEAE-Cellulose,CM-Cellulose和Superdex 75凝胶过滤层析等分离纯化方法,得到一种具有耐热耐碱特性的木质素过氧化物酶.经凝胶电泳检测其为单一蛋白,分子量为41 kD.最终纯化倍数达到20倍,活性回收率为6％.采用LTQ法对纯酶进行蛋白质归类鉴定,得到其部分氨基酸片段,为该酶的进一步分子生物学研究奠定基础.     

水稻蛋白质组双向电泳优化流程及方法

双向电泳是分析蛋白质混合物的一种有力手段,已在蛋白质组研究中得到广泛应用。水稻（Oryzasativa）作为重要的粮食作物,对其蛋白质组学研究开展较早。但由于技术复杂,对实验操作要求高,初学的研究者很难在较短的时间内掌握该实验技术。该文介绍了水稻研究中适合多个组织的双向电泳实验方法和优化流程。该优化流程能使新的研究者逐步优化实验条件,更快更好地完成双向电泳实验。同时详细介绍了实验关键环节的操作方法。     

水稻短根毛突变体Ossrh2的表型分析与基因定位

在粳稻品种中花11为遗传背景的T-DNA突变体库中筛选获得一个遗传稳定的水稻（Oryzasativa）短根毛突变体Ossrh2（Oryza sativa short root hair2）。突变体在苗期表现为根毛数量减少,为野生型的61.4%,根毛长度明显变短,只有野生型的22.8%,同时根毛增粗,根毛形态也发生了变异,局部扭曲膨胀和分叉,除此之外突变体的地上部和根部生长情况与野生型相比没有显著差异。遗传分析表明,该突变性状受1对隐性单基因控制。通过对突变体T2和F2代的分子检测发现,该突变体表型非T-DNA插入引起。利用Ossrh2纯合体和籼稻品种Kasalath杂交构建的F2群体对OsSRH2进行基因定位,发现其与第10号染色体短臂上的SSR（simple sequence repeat）标记RM6370和RM474连锁,遗传距离分别为1.1cM和3.0cM。通过在两标记间发展3个新的STS（sequence-taggedsite）标记,将OsSRH2基因定位于标记S1227和S1531之间,物理距离约为304kb,为进一步克隆OsSRH2打下了基础。     

Mannan Binding Lectin (MBL) genotypes coding for high MBL serum levels are associated with rheumatoid factor negative rheumatoid arthritis in never smokers

Introduction  

Previous studies have provided inconsistent results on whether variants in the MBL2 gene, coding for the complement-activating mannan-binding lectin (MBL) protein, associate with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We re-evaluated this in context of the main environmental and genetic risk factors (smoking, HLA-DRB1 'shared epitope' (SE), PTPN22*620W), which predispose to rheumatoid factor (RF) and/or anti-citrullinated-protein antibody (ACPA)-positive RA.     

Horner syndrome after carotid sheath surgery in a pig: anatomic study of cervical sympathetic chain

In an experimental model, iatrogenic Horner syndrome developed after a right carotid sheath surgery in an infant pig (Sus scrofa). Horner syndrome is a classic clinical triad consisting of ipsilateral eyelid ptosis, pupil miosis, and facial anhydrosis. This syndrome results from cervical sympathetic chain (CSC) paresis and usually is acquired in humans. To determine whether the development of Horner syndrome in this situation could be attributed to pig anatomy, we compared the anatomy of the CSC in pigs and humans, by using 10 infant (age, 1 to 3 wk) pig cadavers. The CSC and cranial cervical sympathetic ganglion (CCG) were dissected bilaterally under a surgical microscope. These structures were consistently within the carotid sheaths of the pigs. In contrast, the CSC and CCG are outside the carotid sheath in humans. Awareness of the anatomic variation of the CSC and CCG within the carotid sheath in the pig and the possibility of the same variation in humans may help surgeons to identify and preserve important structures while performing cervical surgery in pigs and humans. Furthermore, this knowledge can aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of schwannoma.     

Optimum induction of recombinant thymidine phosphorylase and its application

Recombinant E. coli pDEOA was constructed and lactose can be used instead of IPTG to induce the expression of thymidine phosphorylase by pDEOA. The use of lactose at concentrations higher than 0.5 mmol/L had an induction effect similar to that of IPTG but resulted in a longer initial induction time and better cell growth. The thymidine phosphorylase induced by lactose was very stable at 50°C. Intact pDEOA cells induced by lactose can be used as a source of thymidine phosphorylase. Under standard reaction conditions, several deoxynucleosides were effectively produced from thymidine.     

Proteome dynamics and proteome function of cardiac 19S proteasomes

Myocardial proteasomes are comprised of 20S core particles and 19S regulatory particles, which together carry out targeted degradation of cardiac proteins. The 19S complex is unique among the regulators of proteasomes in that it affects both the capacity and specificity of protein degradation. However, a comprehensive molecular characterization of cardiac 19S complexes is lacking. In this investigation, we tailored a multidimensional chromatography-based purification strategy to isolate structurally intact and functionally viable 19S complexes from murine hearts. Two distinct subpopulations of 19S complexes were isolated based upon (1) potency of activating 20S proteolytic activity, and (2) molecular composition using a combination of immuno-detection, two-dimensional-differential gel electrophoresis, and MS-based approaches. Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) was identified to be characteristic to 19S subpopulation I. The physical interaction of Hsp90 with 19S complexes was demonstrated via multiple approaches. Inhibition of Hsp90 activity using geldanamycin or BIIB021 potentiated the ability of subpopulation I to activate 20S proteasomes in the murine heart, thus demonstrating functional specificity of Hsp90 in subpopulation I. This investigation has advanced our understanding of the molecular heterogeneity of cardiac proteasomes by identifying molecularly and functionally distinct cardiac 19S complexes. The preferential association of Hsp90 with 19S subpopulation I unveils novel targets for designing proteasome-based therapeutic interventions for combating cardiac disease.