冰岛硫化叶菌遗传操作体系的研究进展

冰岛硫化叶菌是古菌研究中常用的模式菌株,为人们研究古菌复制、细胞周期以及CRISPR-Cas系统等作出了巨大贡献。冰岛硫化叶菌遗传操作体系的建立与完善对古菌学的全面深入研究起至关重要的作用。本文介绍了冰岛硫化叶菌遗传操作体系所使用的质粒载体、筛选标记和转化方法,论述了目前广泛使用的两类冰岛硫化叶菌基因敲除体系。最后提出了现有冰岛硫化叶菌基因操作体系存在的主要问题,并对其发展方向进行了展望。     

基于多Agent仿真解析处理剩余污泥的微生物电解池种群互作关系

【背景】微生物电化学系统耦合了电化学反应和厌氧消化过程,在处理剩余污泥同时实现能源回收,成为具有应用前景的技术之一。揭示电活性生物膜和活性污泥种群互作机制,有助于进一步调控和强化系统性能。高通量核酸测序技术研究微生物群落具有投入大、耗时长和不可预测的缺点,开展微生物群落动态仿真可以更有效地预测群落结构与功能。【目的】研究厌氧消化和生物电化学系统的微生物种间热力学与动力学的演化规律。在考虑电子供体、电子受体、温度、pH值等生态条件下,分析底物的电子流向及微生物群落结构的动态变化。【方法】通过对剩余污泥处理的微生物电解池(Microbial electrolytic cell,MEC)建立一个多Agent仿真(Multi-agent-based simulation,MAS)模型,评估MEC对底物氧化电子转移的能量效率和传质效率,模拟微生物群落结构实时变化,同时耦合动力学和热力学分析;揭示影响MES运行的电子流向决定性因素及相应的微生物种群,为复杂污染物生物处理系统中种间互作和动力学研究提供基础依据。【结果】通过MAS模拟,确定MEC污泥处理工艺的最佳能量传递效率与传质效率为η=0.2,ε=0.5,MAS结合热力学与动力学参数模拟微生物的群落动态与实验组有较高的吻合性。在长期的运行中,微生物电化学系统中丙酮酸没有积累。【结论】证实了MAS结合热力学与动力学参数可以预测微生物的群落动态,并进行实时监测。研究表明多Agent仿真为微生物群落结构动态变化提供了一种新的研究方法,该方法与高通量核酸测序技术进行校验和联用,为人工和自然生态系统中微生物种群预测与评估研究提供一个新的手段。     

鼠伤寒沙门菌baeSR基因缺失株的构建及其对抗生素敏感性分析

【背景】沙门菌的多重耐药现象日渐严重,对其耐药机理的研究尤为迫切,双组分系统与细菌耐药性密切相关。【目的】构建鼠伤寒沙门菌baeSR基因缺失株及回补株,探究双组分系统BaeSR对鼠伤寒沙门菌耐药性的影响。【方法】以鼠伤寒沙门菌体外诱导耐药株CR为研究对象,通过自杀质粒p LP12介导的同源重组方法,以氯霉素抗性标记和阿拉伯糖诱导的致死基因vmt进行正、反向双重筛选,获得基因缺失株CRΔbaeSR,并将重组表达质粒pBAD-baeSR转化于CRΔbaeSR构建回补株CR CΔbaeSR。采用微量肉汤稀释法测定11种常见代表药物对野生株、缺失株及回补株的最小抑菌浓度(Minimum inhibitory concentration,MIC),并测定3株菌的生长曲线、运动性及生物膜形成能力。【结果】与野生株相比,环丙沙星(CIP)、恩诺沙星(ENR)、沙拉沙星(SAR)、头孢噻呋(CEF)、庆大霉素(GEN)、阿米卡星(AMK)、安普霉素(APR)对缺失株的MIC值有所下降;缺失株的生长速率稍显缓慢,且最终浓度也相对较低,但并无统计学上的显著差异(P0.05);缺失株的运动性(P0.05)及生物膜形成能力(P0.01)均显著下降。【结论】鼠伤寒沙门菌baeSR基因缺失后,可通过影响其运动性及生物膜形成能力而对抗生素的敏感性产生影响。     

CRISPR/Cas基因编辑系统在原核微生物细胞工厂构建中的开发与应用

随着能源和环境问题的日益突出,化学品以及燃料的合成方式正逐渐由传统的化学法合成转变为以细菌为基础的生物炼制过程,其中最关键问题是需要开发出合适的基因工程工具用于构建相应的产品生产菌株。成簇的规律间隔短回文重复序列(Clusteredregularlyinterspacedshortpalindromic repeats,CRISPR)/CRISPR相关蛋白(CRISPR-associated proteins,Cas)系统是一种存在于细菌和古细菌中的免疫系统,能够用于抵御病毒和外源质粒的入侵,近年来被开发成为一种高效、便捷、精确的基因编辑工具,显示出巨大的应用潜力。本文立足于CRISPR/Cas系统的原理与最新分类,结合实例综述了CRISPR/Cas基因编辑系统在原核微生物细胞工厂构建中的建立与优化策略,以及主要的应用方向,并探讨该系统所面临的主要问题并提出了一些可行的解决方案。     

Potential roles and targeted therapy of the CXCLs/CXCR2 axis in cancer and inflammatory diseases

The chemokine receptor CXCR2 and its ligands are implicated in the progression of tumours and various inflammatory diseases. Activation of the CXCLs/CXCR2 axis activates multiple signalling pathways, including the PI3K, p38/ERK, and JAK pathways, and regulates cell survival and migration. The CXCLs/CXCR2 axis plays a vital role in the tumour microenvironment and in recruiting neutrophils to inflammatory sites. Extensive infiltration of neutrophils during chronic inflammation is one of the most important pathogenic factors in various inflammatory diseases. Chronic inflammation is considered to be closely correlated with initiation of cancer. In addition, immunosuppressive effects of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) against T cells attenuate the anti-tumour effects of T cells and promote tumour invasion and metastasis. Over the last several decades, many therapeutic strategies targeting CXCR2 have shown promising results and entered clinical trials. In this review, we focus on the features and functions of the CXCLs/CXCR2 axis and highlight its role in cancer and inflammatory diseases. We also discuss its potential use in targeted therapies.     

Comparative genomic analysis of Pseudomonas amygdali pv. lachrymans NM002: Insights into its potential virulence genes and putative invasion determinants

Pseudomonas amygdali pv. lachrymans is currently of important plant pathogenic bacteria that causes cucumber angular leaf spot worldwide. The pathogen has been studied for its roles in pathogenicity and plant inheritance resistance. To further delineate traits critical to virulence, invasion and survival in the phyllosphere, we reported the first complete genome of P. amygdali pv. lachrymans NM002. Analysis of the whole genome in comparison with three closely-related representative pathovars of P. syringae identified the conservation of virulence genes, including flagella and chemotaxis, quorum-sensing systems, two-component systems, and lipopolysaccharide and antiphagocytosis. It also revealed differences of invasion determinants, such as type III effectors, phytotoxin (coronatine, syringomycin and phaseolotoxin) and cell wall-degrading enzyme, which may contribute to infectivity. The aim of this study was to derive genomic information that would reveal the probable molecular mechanisms underlying the virulence, infectivity and provide a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the P. syringae pathovars.     

Efficient clustering in collaborative filtering recommender system: Hybrid method based on genetic algorithm and gravitational emulation local search algorithm

The ultimate goal of the Recommender System (RS) is to offer a proposal that is very close to the user's real opinion. Data clustering can be effective in increasing the accuracy of production proposals by the RS. In this paper, single-objective hybrid evolutionary approach is proposed for clustering items in the offline collaborative filtering RS. This method, after generating a population of randomized solutions, at each iteration, improves the population of solutions first by Genetic Algorithm (GA) and then by using the Gravitational Emulation Local Search (GELS) algorithm. Simulation results on standard datasets indicate that although the proposed hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm requires a relatively high run time, it can lead to more appropriate clustering of existing data and thus improvement of the Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Coverage criteria.     

pLoc_bal-mGpos: Predict subcellular localization of Gram-positive bacterial proteins by quasi-balancing training dataset and PseAAC

Knowledge of protein subcellular localization is vitally important for both basic research and drug development. With the avalanche of protein sequences emerging in the post-genomic age, it is highly desired to develop computational tools for timely and effectively identifying their subcellular localization purely based on the sequence information alone. Recently, a predictor called “pLoc-mGpos” was developed for identifying the subcellular localization of Gram-positive bacterial proteins. Its performance is overwhelmingly better than that of the other predictors for the same purpose, particularly in dealing with multi-label systems in which some proteins, called “multiplex proteins”, may simultaneously occur in two or more subcellular locations. Although it is indeed a very powerful predictor, more efforts are definitely needed to further improve it. This is because pLoc-mGpos was trained by an extremely skewed dataset in which some subset (subcellular location) was over 11 times the size of the other subsets. Accordingly, it cannot avoid the bias consequence caused by such an uneven training dataset. To alleviate such bias consequence, we have developed a new and bias-reducing predictor called pLoc_bal-mGpos by quasi-balancing the training dataset. Rigorous target jackknife tests on exactly the same experiment-confirmed dataset have indicated that the proposed new predictor is remarkably superior to pLoc-mGpos, the existing state-of-the-art predictor in identifying the subcellular localization of Gram-positive bacterial proteins. To maximize the convenience for most experimental scientists, a user-friendly web-server for the new predictor has been established at http://www.jci-bioinfo.cn/pLoc_bal-mGpos/, by which users can easily get their desired results without the need to go through the detailed mathematics.     

In vitro and in vivo assessment of vitamin A encapsulation in a liposome–protein delivery system

Vitamin A (VA) is an essential nutrient needed in small amounts by humans and supports a wide range of biological actions. Retinol, the most common and most biologically active form of VA has also been found to inhibit peroxidation processes in membranes and it has been widely used as an ingredient with pharmaceutical and nutritional applications. VA is a lipophilic molecule, sensitive to air, oxidizing agents, ultraviolet light and low pH levels. For these reasons, it is necessary for VA to be protected against oxidation. Another disadvantage in the application of VA is its low solubility in aqueous media. Both issues (sensitivity and solubility) can be solved by employing encapsulation techniques. Liposomes can efficiently encapsulate lipid-soluble materials, such as VA. The encapsulated materials are protected from environmental and chemical changes. A new liposome/β-lactoglobulin formulation has been developed as a stable delivery system for VA. The aim of this study was the encapsulation of VA into β-lactoglobulin–liposome complexes, recently developed in our laboratory. The in vivo bioavailability characterization of VA was tested after administration in laboratory animals (mice). In this report, we demonstrate that VA could be efficiently entrapped and delivered in a phospholipid–sterol–protein membrane resembling system, a newly synthesized promising carrier. Based on this finding, the phospholipid–sterol–protein membrane resembling system may be one of the promising approaches to enhance VA absorption and to overcome the formulation difficulties associated with lipophilic means. The carrier system described here has huge potential in food fortification applications to treat VA deficiency.     

Aeroecology meets aviation safety: early warning systems in Europe and the Middle East prevent collisions between birds and aircraft

The aerosphere is utilized by billions of birds, moving for different reasons and from short to great distances spanning tens of thousands of kilometres. The aerosphere, however, is also utilized by aviation which leads to increasing conflicts in and around airfields as well as en‐route. Collisions between birds and aircraft cost billions of euros annually and, in some cases, result in the loss of human lives. Simultaneously, aviation has diverse negative impacts on wildlife. During avian migration, due to the sheer numbers of birds in the air, the risk of bird strikes becomes particularly acute for low‐flying aircraft, especially during military training flights. Over the last few decades, air forces across Europe and the Middle East have been developing solutions that integrate ecological research and aviation policy to reduce mutual negative interactions between birds and aircraft. In this paper we 1) provide a brief overview of the systems currently used in military aviation to monitor bird migration movements in the aerosphere, 2) provide a brief overview of the impact of bird strikes on military low‐level operations, and 3) estimate the effectiveness of migration monitoring systems in bird strike avoidance. We compare systems from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Israel, which are all areas that Palearctic migrants cross twice a year in huge numbers. We show that the en‐route bird strikes have decreased considerably in countries where avoidance systems have been implemented, and that consequently bird strikes are on average 45% less frequent in countries with implemented avoidance systems in place. We conclude by showing the roles of operational weather radar networks, forecast models and international and interdisciplinary collaboration to create safer skies for aviation and birds.