人可溶性白介素4受体(sIL4R)在大肠杆菌中的表达和纯化

白细胞介素 4 (IL 4 )作为一种多功能的细胞因子在哮喘等变态性炎症反应中具有关键作用 .IL 4通过结合细胞表面的白介素 4受体 (IL 4R)发挥其生物学效应 .sIL 4R缺少跨膜和胞内结构域 ,结合IL 4后不能产生信号传递介导IL 4的生物学活性 ,但sIL 4R与IL 4结合的高度特异性和极高的亲和力使它非常适合作为理想的IL 4拮抗剂 ,应用于哮喘等疾病治疗 .采用RT PCR方法 ,以人单核细胞总RNA为模板扩增得到编码sIL 4R的基因片段 ,经测序确证后插入大肠杆菌高效表达质粒pBV2 2 0 ,得到重组质粒pBV2 2 0 sIL 4R ,重组质粒转化E .coliDH5α .重组菌经温度诱导后超声破碎得到包涵体 ,经SuperdexHR75分子筛柱和DEAE SepharoseFastFlow离子交换柱进行纯化 ,HPLC检测表明纯度达到 90 % .N端测序证明 ,重组sIL 4R与天然sIL 4RN端序列完全一致 .Western印迹、配基结合印迹对重组sIL 4R进行鉴定 .结果表明 ,重组sIL 4R具有结合IL 4的生物学活性     

酵母双杂交检测C17orf25蛋白与ADP-核糖焦磷酸水解酶NUDT9的相互作用

通过RACEPCR的方法从肝组织中分离得到C17orf2 5基因。利用酵母双杂交的方法以C17orf2 5为结合结构域筛选人HeLacDNA文库分离得到nudt9基因。NUDT9是一种焦磷酸酶 ,可以将ADP 核糖水解成AMP和核糖 5 磷酸。在大肠杆菌中直接表达了C17orf2 5蛋白、6×His tag与NUDT9的融合蛋白质 ,两者均以包涵体形式存在。蛋白质条带割胶纯化 ,并复性。之后的NTA Ni2 亲和柱层析实验表明这两种蛋白质在体外相互作用。将C17orf2 5与绿色荧光蛋白基因在SMMC772 1中融合表达 ,结果表明C17orf2 5蛋白可能定位在线粒体中 ,侧面印证了在细胞内与NUDT9作用的空间可能性。ADP 核糖在体内具有重要的生理作用 ,在细胞内的累积对细胞生长不利 ;同时 ,ADP 核糖化是一种重要的蛋白质修饰方式 ,与多种细胞凋亡的发生有关。因此从实验结果可以判断 ,C17orf2 5对细胞生长的抑制作用可能通过与NUDT9的相互作用来实现     

玉米S型CMS线粒体DNA R区及其orf77的表达研究

玉米S型CMS胞质育性基因被认为与其线粒体DNA高频重组R区相关。在多种S胞质不育材料中都观察到R区DNA的重组及其转录产物的变化。R区含orf55和orf77两个开放阅读框,其中orf77有3段与atp9同源。选用R区全长1．65kb DNA探针、254bp的orf77 DNA探针以及另外3个线粒体基因atp9、atp6和coxⅡ为探针,进行了Northern分析。研究发现：orf77与R区共转录;在不同核背景的S-Rf3rf3基因型试材的雄穗小花中,这两个探针均检测到2．8,1．6,1．1,0．9,0．7及0．4kb共6个转录本,而在恢复基因杂合的S-Rf3rf3基因型植株的雄穗小花中,2．8,1．6kb 2个转录本表达量减少或消失,1．1,0．9,0．7及0．4kb转录本则没有明显变化;另外T、C胞质材料的雄穗小花中则只检测到1．1,0．9,0．7及0．4kb4个转录本,没有2．8,1．6比2个转录本。以atp9为探针的Northern分析证明,所有以R区orf77为探针所检测到的1．1,0．9,0．7及0．4kb转录本实际上为atp9基因的转录产物,只有2．8,1．6kb的转录本为RNA区/orf77所特有。另外,atp6和coxⅡ探针在所有实验材料中均只检测到1种转录本,未发现RNA表达的差异。研究结果说明atp,atp6和coxⅡ基因与玉米S—CMS的形成没有关系,而R区或其中orf77是玉米S型CMS胞质育性基因的重要候选基因。     

单引物方法克隆盐角草orf25基因

采用单引物RT-PCR扩增的方法,从新疆野生植物盐角草（Salicornia europaea）中克隆获得了1.7kb的cDNA片段,经过测序和序列分析,发现基因片段包含了orf25基因完整的读码框架。采用序列同源性分析方法,结果显示新疆盐角草orf25基因与甜菜线粒体同源性高达98%,与烟草线粒体同源性达到95%,与小麦同源性为92%,与玉米同源性为88%,表明orf25基因在植物中是高度保守的一种基因,同时说明野生植物盐角草中也存在与农作物相似的雄性不育相关基因,orf25基因编码的功能性蛋白可能在影响植物雄性不育改良作物品种方面具有重要的意义。     

甘蓝型油菜细胞质雄性不育系301A线粒体不育基因片段分析

提取细胞质雄性不育系301A、212A和'陕3A'及其共同保持系'中双2号'线粒体DNA,根据已报道的Polima油菜细胞质雄性不育相关基因orf224序列设计引物,对3种不同来源的线粒体DNA PCR产物进行分析.结果显示,这3种甘蓝型油菜细胞质雄性不育材料所获得片段序列完全一致,且与已报道的Polima油菜线粒体中细胞质雄性不育相关基因orf224序列完全相同.研究表明,不育材料301A从分子角度讲属于Polima系统,不育系301A、212A和'陕3A'线粒体中与细胞质雄性不育相关线粒体基因片段orf224具有高度同源性.     

Distinct cell death pathways triggered by the adenovirus early region 4 ORF 4 protein

In transformed cells, induction of apoptosis by adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) early region 4 ORF 4 (E4orf4) correlates with accumulation of E4orf4 in the cell membrane-cytoskeleton fraction. However, E4orf4 is largely expressed in nuclear regions before the onset of apoptosis. To determine the relative contribution of nuclear E4orf4 versus membrane-associated E4orf4 to cell death signaling, we engineered green fluorescent fusion proteins to target E4orf4 to specific cell compartments. The targeting of Ad2 E4orf4 to cell membranes through a CAAX-box or a myristylation consensus signal sufficed to mimic the fast Src-dependent apoptotic program induced by wild-type E4orf4. In marked contrast, the nuclear targeting of E4orf4 abolished the early induction of extranuclear apoptosis. However, nuclear E4orf4 still induced a delayed cell death response independent of Src-like activity and of E4orf4 tyrosine phosphorylation. The zVAD.fmk-inhibitable caspases were dispensable for execution of both cell death programs. Nevertheless, both pathways led to caspase activation in some cell types through the mitochondrial pathway. Finally, our data support a critical role for calpains upstream in the death effector pathway triggered by the Src-mediated cytoplasmic death signal. We conclude that Ad2 E4orf4 induces two distinct cell death responses, whose relative contributions to cell killing may be determined by the genetic background.     

Cloning, expression, and purification of HLA-A2-BSP and beta-2m in Escherichia coli

Tetramer analysis is a novel technique in immunological research that has dramatically changed our knowledge of the immune response to pathogens, tumors and autoimmune disease. Through the formation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-peptide tetrameric complexes, it can provide accurate counts of antigen-specific T-cells and it allows their phenotypical and functional analysis. The tetramer is composed of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) heavy chain, beta-2 microglobulin (beta-2m), the nominal peptide, and streptavidin. The HLA heavy chain and the beta-2m are expressed in Escherichia coli. But up to now, all laboratories have been expressing these two proteins by using isopropyl beta-d-thiogalactopyranoside IPTG. IPTG is very expensive, and it is tedious and laborious to induce expression protein. So it is difficult to scale up to express the objective protein. To address this problem, extracellular fractions of HLA-A0201 and beta-2m (absent signal peptide) genes were cloned from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by RT-PCR. DNA coding for a Gly-Ser linker and a BSP (15-amino acid substrate peptide for BirA-dependent biotinylation) was added to the COOH-terminus of the extracellular fraction of HLA-A0201 by PCR, using an HLA-A0201 as the template. Then the HLA-A0201-BSP and beta-2m genes were cloned into pBV220 vector and expressed, respectively. The expressed proteins were purified and detected by ELISA and Western blot analyses. High-efficient expressions of HLA-A0201-BSP and beta-2m proteins lay a good foundation for further expression and purification in prokaryotic system and constructing MHC class I-peptide tetramer complexes to study the function of CTLs.     

Isolation and characterization of the cytoplasmic male sterility-associated <Emphasis Type="Italic">orf456</Emphasis> gene of chili pepper (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Capsicum annuum</Emphasis> L.)

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in plants is known to be associated with novel open reading frames (ORFs) that result from recombination events in the mitochondrial genome. In this study Southern and Northern blot analyses using several mitochondrial DNA probes were conducted to detect the presence of differing band patterns between male fertile and CMS lines of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). In the CMS pepper, a novel ORF, termed orf456, was found at the 3′-end of the coxII gene. Western blot analysis revealed the expression of an approximately 17-kDa product in the CMS line, and the intensity of expression of this protein was severely reduced in the restorer pepper line. To investigate the functional role of the ORF456 protein in plant mitochondria, we carried out two independent experiments to transform Arabidopsis with a mitochondrion-targeted orf456 gene construct by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. About 45% of the T₁ transgenic population showed the male-sterile phenotype and no seed set. Pollen grains from semi-sterile T₁ plants were observed to have defects on the exine layer and vacuolated pollen phenotypes. It is concluded that this newly discovered orf456 may represent a strong candidate gene – from among the many CMS-associated mitochondrial genes – for determining the male-sterile phenotype of CMS in chili pepper. GenBank accession number DQ116040 (orf456 genomic sequence), DQ126683 (pepper coxII genomic sequence)