研究生基因克隆与功能分析课程教学方式的探索与实践

基因工程是现代生物技术的重要核心。基因克隆与功能分析是生物化学与分子生物学专业硕士研究生的专业主干课,在生物技术人才的培养过程中起着重要的作用。时代的发展对研究生基因克隆与功能分析课程的教学模式提出了新的要求。本文探讨了翻转课堂教学法、研讨式教学法、案例式教学法、问题导向学习教学法、任务驱动教学法在研究生基因克隆与功能分析教学中的综合运用,以期提高人才培养质量。     

短链硫酯酶缺失对大肠杆菌合成聚羟基丁酸乳酸酯的影响

聚羟基脂肪酸酯 (Polyhydroxyalkanoates,PHAs) 是一种具有优质生物相容性的可降解生物基材料,其理化性质优越,具备替代石油基塑料的潜力。P(3HB-co-LA) 是PHAs的一种,融合了聚乳酸 (Polylactic acid,PLA) 和聚3-羟基丁酸 (poly(3-hydroxybutyrate),P(3HB)) 共同的优点,具有更好的韧性和透明度。文中首先在大肠杆菌MG1655中通过质粒表达外源基因phaA、phaB、phaCm和pctth,发酵生产出乳酸含量为23.8 mol%的P(3HB-co-LA),在此基础上缺失dld基因得到菌株WXJ01-03,其合成的聚合物中乳酸组分含量提升至37.2 mol%。当硫酯酶基因ydiI和yciA基因继续被敲除后,生产的共聚物中乳酸组分进一步提升至42.3 mol%和41.1 mol%。最后将3个基因dld、yciA和ydiI同时缺失得到重组菌株WXJ03-03,并通过该重组菌株获得了乳酸组分含量为46.1 mol%的共聚物。通过比较不同碳源的发酵结果得知,木糖有利于提高共聚物中乳酸组分含量。上述实验结果表明,在木糖发酵中短链硫酯酶基因缺失阻碍了大肠杆菌胞内的LA-CoA被降解,可有效提高聚合物中乳酸组分的摩尔百分比。     

山西襄汾洞门遗址发掘简报

洞门遗址位于山西省襄汾县新城镇沙女沟村东1 km处,西距丁村遗址5.1 km。2015年10月~2016年5月,山西省考古研究所进行了为期4个月的发掘,发掘面积27 m²。遗址地层自上而下依次为表土层、马兰黄土层（L₁）、棕红色古土壤层（S₁）。包括石制品、动物化石碎片、炭屑等在内的文化遗物均出土于S₁中。另外在遗址西侧100 m左右的L₁内采集石制品2件。石制品原料以角页岩为主,类型包括石核、石片、石器、断块等。与此同时,在沙女沟村东黄土台塬的S₁地层中发现多个类似的原地埋藏的石器地点,说明在末次间冰期丁村遗址群附近汾河东岸至大崮堆山之间的黄土塬区人类活动十分频繁,且持续较长时间。研究表明,洞门遗址是一个别于丁村遗址的河流相埋藏类型的临时营地,它的发现为进一步认识丁村人的活动范围、行为模式以及末次间冰期及末次冰期古人类活动提供了重要资料。     

Variation in the ratio of curli and phosphoethanolamine cellulose associated with biofilm architecture and properties

Bacterial biofilms are communities of bacteria entangled in a self‐produced extracellular matrix (ECM). Escherichia coli direct the assembly of two insoluble biopolymers, curli amyloid fibers, and phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) cellulose, to build remarkable biofilm architectures. Intense curiosity surrounds how bacteria harness these amyloid‐polysaccharide composites to build biofilms, and how these biopolymers function to benefit bacterial communities. Defining ECM composition involving insoluble polymeric assemblies poses unique challenges to analysis and, thus, to comparing strains with quantitative ECM molecular correlates. In this work, we present results from a sum‐of‐the‐parts ¹³C solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis to define the curli‐to‐pEtN cellulose ratio in the isolated ECM of the E. coli laboratory K12 strain, AR3110. We compare and contrast the compositional analysis and comprehensive biofilm phenotypes for AR3110 and a well‐studied clinical isolate, UTI89. The ECM isolated from AR3110 contains approximately twice the amount of pEtN cellulose relative to curli content as UTI89, revealing plasticity in matrix assembly principles among strains. The two parent strains and a panel of relevant gene mutants were investigated in three biofilm models, examining: (a) macrocolonies on agar, (b) pellicles at the liquid‐air interface, and (c) biomass accumulation on plastic. We describe the influence of curli, cellulose, and the pEtN modification on biofilm phenotypes with power in the direct comparison of these strains. The results suggest that curli more strongly influence adhesion, while pEtN cellulose drives cohesion. Their individual and combined influence depends on both the biofilm modality (agar, pellicle, or plastic‐associated) and the strain itself.     

Split-wrmScarlet and split-sfGFP: tools for faster,easier fluorescent labeling of endogenous proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans

We create and share a new red fluorophore, along with a set of strains, reagents and protocols, to make it faster and easier to label endogenous Caenorhabditis elegans proteins with fluorescent tags. CRISPR-mediated fluorescent labeling of C. elegans proteins is an invaluable tool, but it is much more difficult to insert fluorophore-size DNA segments than it is to make small gene edits. In principle, high-affinity asymmetrically split fluorescent proteins solve this problem in C. elegans: the small fragment can quickly and easily be fused to almost any protein of interest, and can be detected wherever the large fragment is expressed and complemented. However, there is currently only one available strain stably expressing the large fragment of a split fluorescent protein, restricting this solution to a single tissue (the germline) in the highly autofluorescent green channel. No available C. elegans lines express unbound large fragments of split red fluorescent proteins, and even state-of-the-art split red fluorescent proteins are dim compared to the canonical split-sfGFP protein. In this study, we engineer a bright, high-affinity new split red fluorophore, split-wrmScarlet. We generate transgenic C. elegans lines to allow easy single-color labeling in muscle or germline cells and dual-color labeling in somatic cells. We also describe a novel expression strategy for the germline, where traditional expression strategies struggle. We validate these strains by targeting split-wrmScarlet to several genes whose products label distinct organelles, and we provide a protocol for easy, cloning-free CRISPR/Cas9 editing. As the collection of split-FP strains for labeling in different tissues or organelles expands, we will post updates at doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3993663     

用于药物评价的体外心脏组织模型研究进展

候选药物对心脏的毒副作用是其在开发过程中被淘汰的重要原因之一.传统药物评价所采用的动物模型存在种属差异、成本高、效率低等缺陷.因此,近年来随着干细胞和生物打印等技术的快速发展,体外心脏组织模型的构建受到了越来越多地关注.本文追踪体外心脏模型构建的起源与发展,综述模型所利用的心肌细胞来源以及二维、三维模型构建的相关技术与方法,着重阐述心肌组织模型血管化的重要性及研究进展,并对该领域未来的发展方向进行展望,以期为体外心肌组织模型在药物评价方面的研究和应用提供新思路.     

葡萄VvIQD10果形相关基因定位及其互作研究

以葡萄6个不同果形品种盛花期花序为材料,通过荧光定量PCR方法分析比较葡萄IQ67结构域(IQ67 domain, IQD)基因家族成员VvIQD10的表达;从椭圆形葡萄品种‘天山’中克隆出VvIQD10基因编码区序列,对其进行生物信息学分析,采用亚细胞定位瞬时表达载体转化烟草的方法研究VvIQD10蛋白在细胞中的分布情况,并通过酵母双杂交实验和双分子荧光互补试验进行蛋白互作研究。结果表明:(1)VvIQD10基因在长果形葡萄品种中的表达量高于近圆形葡萄品种。(2)VvIQD10基因开放阅读框长度为1 401 bp,编码466个氨基酸。(3)VvIQD10蛋白为不稳定亲水性蛋白,无信号肽和跨膜区,但含保守的IQ67结构域,主要结构为α螺旋和随机卷曲,与猕猴桃IQD家族成员(PSS09955.1)亲缘关系最为接近。(4)VvIQD10蛋白主要定位于微管和质膜,并且直接与细胞骨架组织相关蛋白——钙调素类蛋白(VvCML)相互作用。研究认为,VvIQD10基因可能参与葡萄果形调控,葡萄VvCML蛋白从胞质到微管的募集依赖于VvIQD10,推测VvIQD10蛋白可能通过和钙调素类蛋白相结合来调控细胞骨架运动,进而参与葡萄果实形状的变化。     

干旱区湿地芦苇各器官生态化学计量对土壤因子的响应

了解植物养分浓度及其化学计量对土壤因子的响应,对预测脆弱而敏感生态系统对环境变化的响应至关重要。以敦煌阳关湿地优势种芦苇(Phragmites australis)为对象,通过野外调查与实验分析,研究芦苇不同器官生态化学计量特征及其影响因素。结果表明:芦苇各器官C、P含量为叶>根>茎,N含量及N∶P为叶>茎>根,C∶N为根>茎>叶,C∶P则为茎>根>叶。叶、根C含量显著高于茎(P<0.05),叶、根C含量之间无显著差异(P>0.05),根、茎和叶N、P含量及C∶N、C∶P和N∶P差异显著(P<0.05);芦苇根N∶P<14,叶片N∶P>16,茎N∶P介于14~16;C含量在各器官之间均无显著相关性(P>0.05),根与茎、叶N含量之间呈极显著正相关(P<0.01),根与茎P含量呈极显著正相关(P<0.01),茎与叶N含量呈显著正相关(P<0.05);土壤盐分与芦苇根和茎N含量呈极显著正相关(P<0.01),土壤P含量与茎P含量呈极显著正相关(P<0.01),土壤有效P与根、茎N含量呈极显著正相关(P<0.01);土壤P是影响芦苇根、茎化学计量的主要因素,土壤盐分是影响叶片化学计量的主要因素,芦苇趋向提高各器官N含量来应对高盐、低P的土壤环境。