重访乙型肝炎病毒感染肾脏的意义

乙型肝炎病毒(hepatitis B virus,HBV)嗜肝性主要由病毒与受体作用的特异性、支持共价闭合环状DNA(covalently closed circular DNA,cccDNA)形成的宿主因子和促进病毒RNA转录的核因子3种因素决定。人的肾脏很可能也提供这些要素,且许多研究发现HBV感染标记存在于慢性乙型肝炎患者的肾脏细胞中。本文探讨了HBV感染肾脏的可能性。由于目前血清乙型肝炎表面抗原(hepatitis B surface antigen,HBsAg)消失是功能性治愈慢性乙型肝炎的关键指标,如果肾脏也是HBV感染、表达和复制的另一靶器官,则肾脏在功能性治愈慢性乙型肝炎中的作用不可忽视。     

Sequence analysis of keratin-like proteins and cloning of intermediate filament-like cDNA from higher plant cells

Two keratin-like proteins of 64 and 55 ku were purified from suspension cells of Caucus carota L, and their partial amino acid sequences were determined. The homological analysis showed that the sequence from the 64 ku protein was highly homological to p-glucosidase, and that from the 55 ku protein had no significant homologue in GenBank. Using conservative sequence of animal IF proteins as primer, we cloned a cDNA fragment from Daucus carota L. Southern blot and Northern blot results indicated that this cDNA fragment was a single copy gene and expressed both in suspension cells and leaves. Homological analysis revealed that it had moderate homology to a variety of a-helical proteins. Our results might shed more light on molecular characterization of IF existence in higher plant.