羧甲基茯苓多糖的水媒法制备及其免疫活性研究

羧甲基茯苓多糖carboxymethyl-pachymaran（CMP）具有良好的免疫调节活性,传统方法使用两步工序在醇相体系中制得,有机溶剂消耗大、成本高。本研究报道一种新制备方法,将提取茯苓多糖以及茯苓多糖与氯乙酸的醚化反应整合在一个碱液体系中完成。动物实验表明,新方法制备的CMP能提高环磷酰胺诱导的免疫低下小鼠的细胞免疫和体液免疫功能,对S180肉瘤具有抑制活性。经口急性毒理结果显示CMP属于实际无毒物质,适合于功能性食品和保健食品开发应用。     

出芽短梗霉膨大细胞分选及产糖分析

本研究运用Percoll密度梯度离心的方法对出芽短梗霉Aureobasidium pullulans的两种细胞形态进行分选,并对两种形态的细胞进行多糖产量的分析。通过对转速、分选时间、Percoll分离液浓度的优化,确定了两种细胞形态分选效果最佳的条件是Percoll分离液浓度为60%、转速为5 000r/min、离心时间为30min。经过光学显微镜和透射电子显微镜观察发现上层为酵母状细胞（YL）、下层为膨大细胞（SC）,并发现膨大细胞外有明显的薄膜包被,且产大量多糖。也为今后在相应状态下研究出芽短梗霉膨大细胞的其他代谢机理提供了可行的方法,满足后续研究的需要。     

龙血树叶降血糖活性多糖的纯化及结构解析

龙血树(Dracaena Vandelli ex Linnaeus)是一种热带特有的珍稀药用植物。傣族贝叶经记载龙血树叶具有和血竭相似的医疗功效,且市场反馈显示对糖尿病有一定治疗效果,但其降血糖机制尚未揭示。将柬埔寨龙血树叶在L6大鼠成肌细胞降糖活性模型指导下,经热水浸提、醇沉制备粗多糖,再经Sevag法除蛋白、A-722MP阴离子交换树脂脱色后,上DEAE-52纤维素柱层析和Sephacryl S-100HR凝胶柱分离纯化,得到单一活性组分LZS,利用紫外、红外、核磁共振波谱以及HPAEC-PAD色谱法对LZS的结构进行鉴定。活性组分LZS为7种单糖和柠檬酸组成的一种多糖衍生物,单糖组成为:果糖、葡萄糖、半乳糖、阿拉伯糖、鼠李糖、甘露糖、木糖,摩尔比为54.3∶29.5∶6.9∶6.2∶2.1∶0.7∶0.4,主要由果糖和葡萄糖聚合而成,龙血树叶多糖结构新颖,具有明显的细胞活性。实验结果初步阐明了龙血树叶降糖活性的化学本质,为龙血树叶的利用提供了科学依据。     

Structural and Functional Comparison of Polysaccharide-Degrading Enzymes

Sugar molecules as well as enzymes degrading them are ubiquitously present in physiological systems, especially for vertebrates. Polysaccharides have at least two aspects to their function, one due to their mechanical properties and the second one involves multiple regulatory processes or interactions between molecules, cells, or extracellular space. Various bacteria exert exogenous pressures on their host organism to diversity glycans and their structures in order for the host organism to evade the destructive function of such microbes. Many bacterial organism produce glycan-degrading enzymes in order to facilitate their invasion of host tissues. Such polysaccharide degrading enzymes utilize mainly two modes of polysaccharide-degradation, a hydrolysis and a β-elimination process. The three-dimensional structures of several of these enzymes have been elucidated recently using X-ray crystallography. There are many common structural motifs among these enzymes, mainly the presence of an elongated cleft transversing these molecules which functions as a polysaccharide substrate binding site as well as the catalytic site for these enzymes. The detailed structural information obtained about these enzymes allowed formulation of proposed mechanisms of their action. The polysaccharide lyases utilize a proton acceptance and donation mechanism (PAD), whereas polysaccharide hydrolases use a direct double displacement (DD) mechanism to degrade their substrates.     

Unfolding of CBP21, a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase,without dissociation of its copper ion cofactor

Chitin-binding protein 21 (CBP21) from Serratia marcescens is a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase that contains a copper ion as a cofactor. We aimed to elucidate the unfolding mechanism of CBP21 and the effects of Cu²⁺ on its structural stability at pH 5.0. Thermal unfolding of both apo- and holoCBP21 was reversible. ApoCBP21 unfolded in a simple two-state transition manner. The peak temperature of the DSC curve, t_p, for holoCBP21 (74.4°C) was about nine degrees higher than that for apoCBP21 (65.6°C). The value of t_p in the presence of excess Cu²⁺ was around 75°C, indicating that Cu²⁺ does not dissociate from the protein molecule during unfolding. The unfolding mechanism of holoCBP21 was considered to be as follows: N∙Cu²⁺ ⇌ U∙Cu²⁺, where N and U represent the native and unfolded states, respectively. Urea-induced equilibrium unfolding analysis showed that holoCBP21 was stabilized by 35 kJ mol⁻¹ in terms of the Gibbs energy change for unfolding (pH 5.0, 25°C), compared with apoCBP21. The increased stability of holoCBP21 was considered to result from the structural stabilization of the protein-Cu²⁺ complex itself.     

肠道菌群多糖利用及代谢

宿主与肠道共生菌之间存在一种互利共生的关系。肠道共生菌可以代谢宿主自身不能消化的多糖。进入肠道内的多糖是影响肠道共生菌生理状态和组成的重要因素,这些多糖主要来自饮食和宿主的粘膜分泌物。人类饮食中含有几十种不同的膳食多糖,其中大多数不能被人类基因组中编码的酶降解,并进入大肠,供肠道共生菌利用。肠道共生菌将这些不易消化的多糖转化为短链脂肪酸,作为大肠细胞和其他肠道上皮细胞的营养物质。除此之外,短链脂肪酸对人体健康有着重要的影响。不同的肠道共生菌对进入肠道内的多糖具有不同的偏好性,表明摄入膳食多糖是一种可以直接影响肠道内共生菌物种平衡的策略。因此,研究肠道菌群的多糖代谢机制具有重要的意义。本文从肠道共生菌的组成、利用进入肠道内多糖的机制,以及产生的代谢产物可能对人体健康存在的潜在影响等方面进行了综述,并介绍了代表性的肠道共生菌如拟杆菌和双歧杆菌利用多糖的途径及特征。     

铜绿假单胞菌生物被膜组成及其受群体感应系统和c-di-GMP调控的研究进展

作为人类条件性感染的前三大病原菌之一的铜绿假单胞菌,是一种革兰氏阴性细菌,对免疫功能低下和囊性纤维化患者可以造成严重和持续性感染。造成这种持续感染的原因主要是由于细菌接收外界信号后,在自身调控网络的协同作用下,会依附于固体表面,并产生胞外多糖、基质蛋白和胞外DNA等大分子物质形成高度结构化的膜状复合物将自身包裹形成生物被膜群体结构。生物被膜可以有效帮助细菌定殖、提高细菌对抗菌物质和宿主免疫反应的抵抗能力、促进群落细菌的细胞-细胞之间的信号交流等,是临床治疗中病原菌慢性感染和反复感染最重要的原因之一。本篇综述重点介绍了铜绿假单胞菌生物被膜的各组成成分及其在生物被膜形成中的重要功能,并进一步阐述了群体感应系统(las、rhl、pqs与iqs)和c-di-GMP对铜绿假单胞菌生物被膜形成的调控作用。通过本篇综述可以更清晰地了解细菌生物被膜形成和调控的过程,为开发新的治疗生物被膜感染策略提供帮助。     

Phenotypic and genetic differences between opaque and translucent colonies of Vibrio alginolyticus

Many pathogens undergo phase variation between rugose and smooth colony morphology or between opaque and translucent colony morphology, which is mainly due to the variation in the surface polysaccharides. In this study, Vibrio alginolyticus ZJ-51 displayed phase variation between opaque, rugose colonies (Op) and translucent, smooth colonies (Tr). Unlike the vibrios reported previously, Tr cells of ZJ-51 enhanced biofilm formation and motility, but they did not differ from Op cells in the quantity of surface polysaccharides produced. Real time PCR was used to analyze the expression of the genes involved in polysaccharide biosynthesis, flagellar synthesis, and the AI-2 quorum-sensing system. The results revealed that the K-antigen capsule gene cluster (which consists of homologs to the cpsA-K in Vibrio parahaemolyticus) and O-antigen polysaccharide gene cluster (which contains homologs to the wza-wzb-wzc) were significantly more transcribed in Tr cells. The AI-2 quorum-sensing genes showed enhanced expression in the Tr variant which also exhibited greater expression of genes associated with polar flagellar biosynthesis. These results suggest that colony phase variation might affect the virulence and survival ability in the stressful environment inhabited by V. alginolyticus.     

Crystal structure of the capsular polysaccharide synthesizing protein CapE of Staphylococcus aureus

Enzymes synthesizing the bacterial CP (capsular polysaccharide) are attractive antimicrobial targets. However, we lack critical information about the structure and mechanism of many of them. In an effort to reduce that gap, we have determined three different crystal structures of the enzyme CapE of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. The structure reveals that CapE is a member of the SDR (short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase) super-family of proteins. CapE assembles in a hexameric complex stabilized by three major contact surfaces between protein subunits. Turnover of substrate and/or coenzyme induces major conformational changes at the contact interface between protein subunits, and a displacement of the substrate-binding domain with respect to the Rossmann domain. A novel dynamic element that we called the latch is essential for remodelling of the protein–protein interface. Structural and primary sequence alignment identifies a group of SDR proteins involved in polysaccharide synthesis that share the two salient features of CapE: the mobile loop (latch) and a distinctive catalytic site (MxxxK). The relevance of these structural elements was evaluated by site-directed mutagenesis.     

The comparison of immune-enhancing activity of sulfated polysaccharidses from Tremella and Condonpsis pilosula

Based on our previous research, four sulfated polysaccharide (sPSs) from Tremella and Condonpsis pilosula, sTPS_tp, sTPS_70c, sCPPS_tp and sCPPS_50c, were prepared and their effects on splenic lymphocytes proliferation in vitro and the immune response of ND vaccine in chicken were compared taking the unmodified polysaccharide (uPS) TPS_tp as control. The results showed that four sPSs could significantly or numerically stimulate splenic lymphocyte proliferation singly or synergistically with LPS in vitro, sTPS_70c and sCPPS_tp demonstrated better effect; promote peripheral lymphocytes proliferation and enhance serum HI antibody titer in chickens vaccinated with ND vaccine, the actions of sPSs were stronger than that of uPS, and sTPS_70c at medium dosage presented the best efficacy. These indicated that sulfation modification could improve the immune-enhancing activity of TPS and CPPS, sTPS_70c possessed the strongest activity and would be expected as a component of new-type immunopotentiator.