Novel whole-cell Reporter Assay for Stress-Based Classification of Antibacterial Compounds Produced by Locally Isolated Bacillus spp.

Reporter bacteria are beneficial for the rapid and sensitive screening of cultures producing peptide antibiotics, which can be an addition or alternative to the established antibiotics. This study was carried out to validate the usability of specific reporter strains for the target mediated identification of antibiotics produced by native Bacillus spp. isolated from different food sources. During preliminary classification, cell wall stress causing Bacillus isolates were screened by using reporter strain Bacillus subtilis BSF2470. The isolates which induced cell wall stress were further characterized for their specific mode of action by using other B. subtilis reporter strains (TMB 488, TMB 299 and TMB 279). The isolate B. licheniformis N12 was found to produce bacitracin confirmed by the response to reporter strain B. subtilis TMB 279 and by putative identification of bacitracin biosynthetic loci. The other isolate B. subtilis EC1 also induced B. subtilis TMB 279, but does not possess the bacitracin gene cluster indicating that it can be a novel, bacitracin like antibiotic. The different but related subsets of peptide antibiotics that bind the pyrophosphate moiety of the lipid carrier of cell wall biosynthesis can be identified using this whole cell based reporter strains.     

Transposable elements: not as quiet as a mouse

In this issue of Genome Biology, Nellåker et al. show massive purging of deleterious transposable element variants, through negative selection, in 18 mouse strains.     

我国商业化SPF级小鼠病原体污染分析

目的按现行国标《实验动物微生物学检测方法》和《实验动物寄生虫学检测方法》对我国商品化的无特殊病原体（specific pathogen free,SPF）小鼠进行微生物状况检测,为生产高质量的实验动物提供依据。方法对五家主要实验动物生产单位生产的ICR、KM、C57BL/6、BALB/c及BALB/c-nu品系的SPF级小鼠进行随机抽检。检测抽检小鼠所携带的微生物和寄生虫情况。结果在抽检的SPF级小鼠中,病毒污染主要包括呼肠孤病毒Ⅲ型（Reo-3）、小鼠肺炎病毒（PVM）和多瘤病毒（POLY）;主要细菌污染为肺炎克雷伯杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌和绿脓杆菌。这些微生物病原体中,除条件性致病菌绿脓杆菌外,其他病原体对小鼠本身和实验研究均具有一定的影响。     

妊娠晚期腹腔注射酸性磷酸缓冲液对两个近交系小鼠繁育生理影响的对比分析

目的对比分析妊娠晚期腹腔注射缓冲液对近交系SPF级C57BL/6J（B6）和BALB/c（B/c）小鼠繁育生理的影响。方法 B6和B/c小鼠随机、全同胞兄妹2∶1/1∶1（♀/♂）过夜同居交配,观察交配方式、阴栓与受孕率的关系;受孕鼠在妊娠的第17.5天（妊娠0d=交配后当天）接受腹腔注射酸性磷酸缓冲液,观察注射对母鼠及胚胎的作用及子鼠从离乳到8周的早期生长发育情况。结果 B6较B/c雌鼠的受孕率高（29.4%vs.21.1%[2∶1],33.2%vs.29.7%[1∶1]）;交配后10 d～14 d,根据雌鼠增大的腹部、结合体重来判断受孕较观察阴栓更为准确;比较而言,妊娠晚期腹腔注射对B6母鼠及胚胎的影响较大,表现在离乳子鼠数量减少（4.7±3.1 vs.6.1±2.1,P=0.231）,离乳时两性别的子鼠体重（g,雌性：11.7±1.1 vs.12.7±1.5;雄性：12.8±1.3 vs.13.6±1.5）显著降低（P均〈0.05）及两品系子鼠早期生长发育的方式显著不同（P=0.000）。结论近交系小鼠繁殖生理存在品系差异;两品系受孕鼠对妊娠晚期腹腔注射的耐受不同,并可能影响实验动物产后的哺乳过程及子鼠的早期生长发育。     

Molecular pathogenesis of sporadic prion diseases in man

The yeast, fungal and mammalian prions determine heritable and infectious traits that are encoded in alternative conformations of proteins. They cause lethal sporadic, familial and infectious neurodegenerative conditions in man, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS), kuru, sporadic fatal insomnia (SFI) and likely variable protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr). The most prevalent of human prion diseases is sporadic (s)CJD. Recent advances in amplification and detection of prions led to considerable optimism that early and possibly preclinical diagnosis and therapy might become a reality. Although several drugs have already been tested in small numbers of sCJD patients, there is no clear evidence of any agent’s efficacy. Therefore, it remains crucial to determine the full spectrum of sCJD prion strains and the conformational features in the pathogenic human prion protein governing replication of sCJD prions. Research in this direction is essential for the rational development of diagnostic as well as therapeutic strategies. Moreover, there is growing recognition that fundamental processes involved in human prion propagation – intercellular induction of protein misfolding and seeded aggregation of misfolded host proteins – are of far wider significance. This insight leads to new avenues of research in the ever-widening spectrum of age-related human neurodegenerative diseases that are caused by protein misfolding and that pose a major challenge for healthcare.     

Chronic wasting disease: Fingerprinting the culprit in risk assessments

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (prion diseases) in animals may be associated with a zoonotic risk potential for humans as shown by the occurrence of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the wake of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy epidemic. Thus, the increasing exposure of humans in North America to cervid prions of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in elk and deer has prompted comprehensive risk assessments. The susceptibility of humans to CWD infections is currently under investigation in different studies using macaques as primate models. The necessity for such studies was recently reinforced when disease-associated prion protein and its seeding activity were detected in muscles of clinically inconspicuous CWD-infected white-tailed deer (WTD). Increasing evidence points to the existence of different CWD strains and CWD prions may also change or newly emerge over time. Therefore, CWD isolates examined in macaques should be characterized as precisely as possible for their molecular identity. On this basis other CWD field samples collected in the past, present or future could be systematically compared with macaque-tested inocula in order to assess whether they are covered by the ongoing risk assessments in primates. CWD typing by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy of pathological prion protein may provide a method of choice for this purpose.     

Cell-free propagation of prion strains

Prions are the infectious agents responsible for prion diseases, which appear to be composed exclusively by the misfolded prion protein (PrP(Sc)). Disease is transmitted by the autocatalytic propagation of PrP(Sc) misfolding at the expense of the normal prion protein. The biggest challenge of the prion hypothesis has been to explain the molecular mechanism by which prions can exist as different strains, producing diseases with distinguishable characteristics. Here, we show that PrP(Sc) generated in vitro by protein misfolding cyclic amplification from five different mouse prion strains maintains the strain-specific properties. Inoculation of wild-type mice with in vitro-generated PrP(Sc) caused a disease with indistinguishable incubation times as well as neuropathological and biochemical characteristics as the parental strains. Biochemical features were also maintained upon replication of four human prion strains. These results provide additional support for the prion hypothesis and indicate that strain characteristics can be faithfully propagated in the absence of living cells, suggesting that strain variation is dependent on PrP(Sc) properties.     

The complete classification for dynamics in a homosexually-transmitted disease model

A sexually-transmitted disease model for two strains of pathogen in a one-sex, heterogeneously-mixing population was proposed by Li et al. in (J Math Biol 10:1037–1052, 1986). The sufficient and necessary conditions for coexistence and the sufficient conditions for stability of the boundary equilibria were provided. This paper will present a thorough classification of dynamics for this model in terms of the first and second so called reproductive numbers of infection in strains I and J. This classification not only solves a conjecture proposed in (Li et al., J Math Biol 10:1037–1052, 1986) but also gives the sufficient and necessary conditions for the competitive exclusion. Supported by the NSF of China grants 10531030 and 10671143.     

石油降解菌的分离鉴定及石油污染土壤的细菌多样性

从石油污染的土壤中分离筛选到28株石油降解菌,经鉴定分别为短杆菌属、假单胞菌属、邻单胞菌属和微球菌属;对4个石油不同程度污染的土壤样品中嗜油微生物分布状况进行分析,发现污染严重的土壤样品中嗜油菌的数量相对较多;用聚合酶链式反应(PCR)、变性梯度凝胶电泳(DGGE)和切胶测序相结合的方法对4个土壤样品中的细菌多样性进行分析,结果显示在受污染的土壤中,My cobacterium和B acillus在污染程度较低的样品中分布的较为集中,F lavobacterium和A zosp ira在污染程度较高的样品中丰度较高。属于B eta p roteobacterium类群的细菌在受污染的土壤中占有优势,同时还有一些不可培养的菌群存在。气质联用(GC-M S)分析结果表明石油污染程度及污染物中芳香烃类的含量对细菌多样性有着显著影响。在石油污染程度高,芳香烃类含量高的样品中细菌的多样性相对较低。     

重组Rhodobacter sphaeroides hemA表达的调控

RhodobactersphaeroideshemA编码5氨基乙酰丙酸合酶(ALAS),催化磷酸吡哆醛依赖性琥珀酰CoA和甘氨酸缩合成ALA.将R.spaeroideshemA导入E.coli进行表达,当hemA具有与lac启动子相同的转录方向时,ALAS有活性.lac启动子与hemA之间的距离会影响ALAS在不同培养基上的表达.E.coli宿主菌对ALAS表达、ALA产量有显著影响,在实验所用6种菌株中,E.coliDH1是最佳宿主菌(P<0.05).ALAS表达还与碳源有关,琥珀酸为碳源时,重组ALAS活性最高(P<0.05),以乳酸为碳源时,ALAS活性很低.重组ALAS活性也受培养基pH值影响,pH6.5时,活性最高(P<0.05).