SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein causes acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like pathological damages and constitutes an antiviral target

Cytokine storm and multi-organ failure are the main causes of SARS-CoV-2-related death. However, the origin of excessive damages caused by SARS-CoV-2 remains largely unknown. Here we show that the SARS-CoV-2 envelope (2-E) protein alone is able to cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)-like damages in vitro and in vivo. 2-E proteins were found to form a type of pH-sensitive cation channels in bilayer lipid membranes. As observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells, heterologous expression of 2-E channels induced rapid cell death in various susceptible cell types and robust secretion of cytokines and chemokines in macrophages. Intravenous administration of purified 2-E protein into mice caused ARDS-like pathological damages in lung and spleen. A dominant negative mutation lowering 2-E channel activity attenuated cell death and SARS-CoV-2 production. Newly identified channel inhibitors exhibited potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity and excellent cell protective activity in vitro and these activities were positively correlated with inhibition of 2-E channel. Importantly, prophylactic and therapeutic administration of the channel inhibitor effectively reduced both the viral load and secretion of inflammation cytokines in lungs of SARS-CoV-2-infected transgenic mice expressing human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE-2). Our study supports that 2-E is a promising drug target against SARS-CoV-2.Subject terms: Cell death, Molecular biology     

Dengue virus 2 capsid protein chaperones the strand displacement of 5′-3′ cyclization sequences

By virtue of its chaperone activity, the capsid protein of dengue virus strain 2 (DENV2C) promotes nucleic acid structural rearrangements. However, the role of DENV2C during the interaction of RNA elements involved in stabilizing the 5′-3′ panhandle structure of DENV RNA is still unclear. Therefore, we determined how DENV2C affects structural functionality of the capsid-coding region hairpin element (cHP) during annealing and strand displacement of the 9-nt cyclization sequence (5CS) and its complementary 3CS. cHP has two distinct functions: a role in translation start codon selection and a role in RNA synthesis. Our results showed that cHP impedes annealing between 5CS and 3CS. Although DENV2C does not modulate structural functionality of cHP, it accelerates annealing and specifically promotes strand displacement of 3CS during 5′-3′ panhandle formation. Furthermore, DENV2C exerts its chaperone activity by favouring one of the active conformations of cHP. Based on our results, we propose mechanisms for annealing and strand displacement involving cHP. Thus, our results provide mechanistic insights into how DENV2C regulates RNA synthesis by modulating essential RNA elements in the capsid-coding region, that in turn allow for DENV replication.     

氮源NH4Cl浓度对粪产碱杆菌发酵生产热凝胶的影响

研究了利用粪产碱杆菌(Alcaligenes faecalis)发酵生产热凝胶的发酵条件,氮源是菌体生长的限制性底物,单纯地提高初始底物(氮源)浓度并不一定能促进细菌的生长和产物的合成.在分批发酵过程中,底物消耗导致培养环境pH的改变也是影响细菌进一步生长和产物合成的重要因素.通过增加培养基中初始氯化铵的浓度并同时控制发酵过程的pH条件,得到了较高的菌体浓度,热凝胶的合成水平也得到了显提高.当培养基中NH4Cl浓度提高到3.6g/L时,菌体浓度达到7.2g/L,热凝胶合成的产量可达30.5g/L,比原来NH4Cl浓度为1.1g/L时提高了51.7%.提高菌体浓度意味着需要提高溶氧水平来满足细菌的生长和代谢.初始氮源NH4Cl浓度的增加虽然能使菌体浓度得到提高,但发酵过程对溶氧的需求也相应增加,需要提高搅拌转速和通风以增加供氧水平.但高搅拌速率产生的高剪切力对热凝胶的凝胶性能将产生破坏作用,因此在发酵过程中需要综合考虑细菌培养密度对合成热凝胶产量和质量的影响.     

KcsA通道对Na+、K+及Rb+离子选择性的统计热力学研究

钾离了的通透率至少比钠离子的通透率大10000倍,这个问题至今没有很好地解决,为了存分子水平阐释钾离子通道的选择性机制,以KcsA钾通道X射线衍射结构为基础,采用密度泛函理论计算了不同离子在离子通道中的位能．计算结果表明,Rb^ 离子具有与K^ 离子相类似的位能曲线,但是其在通透过程遇到的位垒要比K^ 离子的位垒高,因而所对应的通透率也就小十钾离子的通透率,而钠离子的的通透率仅仅足钾离子通透率的0．0067％．文中所涉及的系统仪仅包含269个原子,而用分子动力学虽然也可以得到相近的结果,但是它的系统火小为41000个原子．     

抗人尿道高分化鳞癌单克隆抗体的研制

用本室建立的人尿道高分化鳞状上皮癌细胞株(Hus-98)免疫Balb/C小鼠,通过细胞杂交技术及ELISA方法进行筛选,SP免疫组织化学方法进行鉴定,获得10株能稳定分泌、选择性强、效价高的杂交瘤细胞株;同时从乳腺癌组织中提出肿瘤相关抗原行免疫印记实验(Western-blot)。结果6株经4次克隆能稳定分泌抗体Ig,免疫组化显示这些抗体是针对来源于上皮的鳞癌、腺癌细胞膜和细胞浆的,而癌旁正常组织及胎儿组织呈阴性反应;通过western-blot结果显示肿瘤相关抗原分子量为46.414kb。     

S-腺苷甲硫氨酸的研究现状及应用前景

介绍了S-腺苷甲硫氨酸的制备方法及稳定性研究现状,并对其临床应用及市场前景进行了分析。     

急性髓系白血病患者NF-κB p65和β-Catenin蛋白表达的临床研究

目的探讨NF-κB p65和β-catenin在急性髓系白血病(AML)患者中表达的临床意义及判断预后价值.方法 28例患者均进行6个以上疗程的化疗,应用免疫组织化学SABC法和图像分析系统对AML患者治疗前后骨髓细胞NF-κB p65和β-catenin进行了检测.结果 NF-κB p65和β-catenin在AML患者骨髓单个核细胞的胞质和胞核中表达,完全缓解和部分缓解患者在化疗后二者表达明显降低(P<0.05),未缓解组治疗前后无明显变化.结论 NF-κB p65和β-catenin表达与AML患者的化疗效果及预后有直接的联系,NF-κB p65和β-catenin共同表达情况可作为预测AML患者化疗敏感性的指标.     

Ⅲ类内含子及其对基因表达的影响

内含子是指断裂基因中的非编码区序列。根据内含子的核苷酸序列和RNA潜在折叠方式不同,可分成四种类型：Ⅰ类内含子、Ⅱ类内含子、Ⅲ类内含子和Ⅳ类内含子。Ⅲ类内含子为真核细胞前mRNA中的内含子。它可以启动某些基因的表达,影响基因的表达量;增加mRNA分子的稳定性;并通过选择性剪接调控基因的表达。Ⅲ类内含子可以提高转基因动物基因的表达效率。因此,基因工程中,为了提高表达效率,是选用基因组基因还是cDNA基因,应视具体基因而定。     

巴戟天挥发性成分研究

目的：研究巴戟天中的挥发性成分。方法：利用水蒸气蒸馏法提取巴戟天（Radix morindae offtcinalis）挥发油,用GC—MS进行测定,结合计算机检索技术对分离的化合物进行结构鉴定,应用色谱峰面积归一化法计算各成分的相对百分含量。结果：鉴定出34个化学成分,其中相对百分含量大于2％的分别确定为L-龙脑（Bomeol L）29．28％,α-姜烯（Alpha—Zingiberene）4．88％,2-甲基-6-对甲基苯基-2-庚烯（Ar-Cureumene）4．49％,1-己醇（1-Hexanol）3．40％,β-倍半水芹烯（beta—sesquiphellandrene）3．34％,2-戊基呋喃（2-Amylfuran）3．32％,正壬醛（n—nonanal）2．17％,樟脑（L—camphor）2．07％,β-没药烯（bete—Bisabolene）2．06％。结论：34个挥发性成分均为首次从该植物中得到。