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1.
The gas carbon dioxide (CO2) plays a critical role in microbial and mammalian respiration, photosynthesis in algae and plants, chemoreception in insects, and even global warming . However, how CO2 is transported, sensed, and metabolized by microorganisms is largely not understood. For instance, CO2 is known to induce production of polysaccharide capsule virulence determinants in pathogenic bacteria and fungi via unknown mechanisms . Therefore, we studied CO2 actions in growth, differentiation, and virulence of the basidiomycetous human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. The CAN2 gene encoding beta-carbonic anhydrase in C. neoformans was found to be essential for growth in environmental ambient conditions but dispensable for in vivo proliferation and virulence at the high CO2 levels in the host. The can2Delta mutant in vitro growth defect is largely attributable to defective fatty acid synthesis. CO2 was found to inhibit cell-cell fusion but not filamentation during sexual reproduction. The can2 mutation restored early mating events in high CO2 but not later steps (fruiting body formation, sporulation), indicating a major role for carbonic anhydrase and CO2/HCO3- in this developmental cascade leading to the production of infectious spores. Our studies illustrate diverse roles of an ancient enzyme class in enabling environmental survival of a ubiquitous human pathogen.  相似文献   

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Most Cryptococccus neoformans genes are interrupted by introns, and alternative splicing occurs very often. In this study, we examined the influence of introns on C. neoformans gene expression. For most tested genes, elimination of introns greatly reduces mRNA accumulation. Strikingly, the number and the position of introns modulate the gene expression level in a cumulative manner. A screen for mutant strains able to express functionally an intronless allele revealed that the nuclear poly(A) binding protein Pab2 modulates intron-dependent regulation of gene expression in C. neoformans. PAB2 deletion partially restored accumulation of intronless mRNA. In addition, our results demonstrated that the essential nucleases Rrp44p and Xrn2p are implicated in the degradation of mRNA transcribed from an intronless allele in C. neoformans. Double mutant constructions and over-expression experiments suggested that Pab2p and Xrn2p could act in the same pathway whereas Rrp44p appears to act independently. Finally, deletion of the RRP6 or the CID14 gene, encoding the nuclear exosome nuclease and the TRAMP complex associated poly(A) polymerase, respectively, has no effect on intronless allele expression.  相似文献   

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Spider silk fibers are produced from soluble proteins (spidroins) under ambient conditions in a complex but poorly understood process. Spidroins are highly repetitive in sequence but capped by nonrepetitive N- and C-terminal domains (NT and CT) that are suggested to regulate fiber conversion in similar manners. By using ion selective microelectrodes we found that the pH gradient in the silk gland is much broader than previously known. Surprisingly, the terminal domains respond in opposite ways when pH is decreased from 7 to 5: Urea denaturation and temperature stability assays show that NT dimers get significantly stabilized and then lock the spidroins into multimers, whereas CT on the other hand is destabilized and unfolds into ThT-positive β-sheet amyloid fibrils, which can trigger fiber formation. There is a high carbon dioxide pressure (pCO2) in distal parts of the gland, and a CO2 analogue interacts with buried regions in CT as determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Activity staining of histological sections and inhibition experiments reveal that the pH gradient is created by carbonic anhydrase. Carbonic anhydrase activity emerges in the same region of the gland as the opposite effects on NT and CT stability occur. These synchronous events suggest a novel CO2 and proton-dependent lock and trigger mechanism of spider silk formation.  相似文献   

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It has been reported that carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity in plant leaves is decreased by Zn deficiency. We examined the effects of Zn deficiency on the activity of CA and on photosynthesis by leaves in rice plants (Oryza sativa L.). Zn deficiency increased the transfer resistance from the stomatal cavity to the site of CO2 fixation 2.3-fold and, consequently, the value of the transfer resistance relative to the total resistance in the CO2-assimilation process increased from 10% to 21%. This change led to a reduced CO2 concentration at the site of CO2 fixation, resulting in an increased gradient of CO2 between the stomatal cavity and this site. The present findings support the hypothesis that CA functions to facilitate the supply of CO2 from the stomatal cavity to the site of CO2 fixation. We also showed that the level of mRNA for CA decreased to 13% of the control level during Zn deficiency. This decrease resembled the decrease in CA activity, suggesting the possible involvement of the CA mRNA level in the regulation of CA activity.  相似文献   

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Young bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv Seafarer) grew faster in air enriched with CO2 (1200 microliters per liter) than in ambient CO2 (330 microliters per liter). However, by 7 days when increases in overall growth (dry weight, leaf area) were visible, there was a significant decline (about 25%) in the leaf mineral content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) and a drop in the activity of two enzymes of carbon fixation, carbonic anhydrase and ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase under high CO2. Although the activity of neither enzyme was altered in young, expanding leaves during the acclimation period, in mature leaves the activity of carbonic anhydrase was reduced 95% compared with a decline of 50% in ambient CO2. The drop in RuBP carboxylase was less extreme with 40% of the initial activity retained in the high CO2 compared with 50% in the ambient atmosphere. While CO2 enrichment might alter the flow of carbon into the glycolate pathway by modifying the activities of carbonic anhydrase or RuBP carboxylase, there is no early change in the ability of photosynthetic tissue to oxidize glycolate to CO2.  相似文献   

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Increase of carbonic anhydrase activity was enhanced by decreasingthe O2 concentration when Chlorella vulgaris 11h cells grownunder 3% CO22 in ordinary air were transferred to low CO2 conditions.The carbonic anhydrase activity finally attained under the steadystate was dependent on the CO2 concentration, irrespective ofthe O2 concentration used. (Received April 24, 1988; Accepted February 23, 1988)  相似文献   

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The activity and intracellular compartmentation of carbonicanhydrase was examined in mesophyll protoplasts of several C3terrestrial species including wheat, since this enzyme may facilitatediffusion of inorganic carbon in solution by converting CO2to bicarbonate. Carbonic anhydrase was located in the mesophyllchloroplast with little or no activity in the cytosolic fraction.In wheat, carbonic anhydrase was absent in etiolated leavesand increased in the light during greening. Thus the enzymemay have a role in photosynthesis in the chloroplast but notin the cytosol of mesophyll cells of higher C3 plants. The amount of CO2 required for half maximum rates of photosynthesis(under low O2) was about two-fold higher for isolated protoplaststhan with isolated chloroplasts of wheat. The form of inorganiccarbon taken up by protoplasts, like that of chloroplasts, isCO2. The results are discussed in relation to a possible resistanceto CO2 transfer in the cytosol of mesophyll cells. (Received February 25, 1985; Accepted May 7, 1985)  相似文献   

11.
Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungal pathogen of humans, causes fatal meningitis in immunocompromised patients. Its virulence is mainly determined by the elaboration of a polysaccharide capsule surrounding its cell wall. During its life, C. neoformans is confronted with and responds to dramatic variations in CO2 concentrations; one important morphological change triggered by the shift from its natural habitat (0.033% CO2) to infected hosts (5% CO2) is the induction of capsule biosynthesis. In cells, CO2 is hydrated to bicarbonate in a spontaneous reaction that is accelerated by carbonic anhydrases. Here we show that C. neoformans contains two beta-class carbonic anhydrases, Can1 and Can2. We further demonstrate that CAN2, but not CAN1, is abundantly expressed and essential for the growth of C. neoformans in its natural environment, where CO2 concentrations are limiting. Structural studies reveal that Can2 forms a homodimer in solution. Our data reveal Can2 to be the main carbonic anhydrase and suggest a physiological role for bicarbonate during C. neoformans growth. Bicarbonate directly activates the C. neoformans Cac1 adenylyl cyclase required for capsule synthesis. We show that this specific activation is optimal at physiological pH.  相似文献   

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Carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes catalyze the chemical equilibration among CO2, HCO3 and H+. Intracellular CA (CAi) isoforms are present in certain types of cancer, and growing evidence suggests that low levels correlate with disease severity. However, their physiological role remains unclear. Cancer cell CAi activity, measured as cytoplasmic CO2 hydration rate (kf), ranged from high in colorectal HCT116 (∼2 s−1), bladder RT112 and colorectal HT29, moderate in fibrosarcoma HT1080 to negligible (i.e. spontaneous kf = 0.18 s−1) in cervical HeLa and breast MDA-MB-468 cells. CAi activity in cells correlated with CAII immunoreactivity and enzymatic activity in membrane-free lysates, suggesting that soluble CAII is an important intracellular isoform. CAi catalysis was not obligatory for supporting acid extrusion by H+ efflux or HCO3 influx, nor for maintaining intracellular pH (pHi) uniformity. However, in the absence of CAi activity, acid loading from a highly alkaline pHi was rate-limited by HCO3 supply from spontaneous CO2 hydration. In solid tumors, time-dependence of blood flow can result in fluctuations of CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) that disturb cytoplasmic CO2-HCO3-H+ equilibrium. In cancer cells with high CAi activity, extracellular pCO2 fluctuations evoked faster and larger pHi oscillations. Functionally, these resulted in larger pH-dependent intracellular [Ca2+] oscillations and stronger inhibition of the mTORC1 pathway reported by S6 kinase phosphorylation. In contrast, the pHi of cells with low CAi activity was less responsive to pCO2 fluctuations. Such low pass filtering would “buffer” cancer cell pHi from non-steady-state extracellular pCO2. Thus, CAi activity determines the coupling between pCO2 (a function of tumor perfusion) and pHi (a potent modulator of cancer cell physiology).  相似文献   

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Background

Genome variability can have a profound influence on the virulence of pathogenic microbes. The availability of genome sequences for two strains of the AIDS-associated fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans presented an opportunity to use comparative genome hybridization (CGH) to examine genome variability between strains of different mating type, molecular subtype, and ploidy.

Results

Initially, CGH was used to compare the approximately 100 kilobase MAT a and MATα mating-type regions in serotype A and D strains to establish the relationship between the Log2 ratios of hybridization signals and sequence identity. Subsequently, we compared the genomes of the environmental isolate NIH433 (MAT a) and the clinical isolate NIH12 (MATα) with a tiling array of the genome of the laboratory strain JEC21 derived from these strains. In this case, CGH identified putative recombination sites and the origins of specific segments of the JEC21 genome. Similarly, CGH analysis revealed marked variability in the genomes of strains representing the VNI, VNII, and VNB molecular subtypes of the A serotype, including disomy for chromosome 13 in two strains. Additionally, CGH identified differences in chromosome content between three strains with the hybrid AD serotype and revealed that chromosome 1 from the serotype A genome is preferentially retained in all three strains.

Conclusion

The genomes of serotypes A, D, and AD strains exhibit extensive variation that spans the range from small differences (such as regions of divergence, deletion, or amplification) to the unexpected disomy for chromosome 13 in haploid strains and preferential retention of specific chromosomes in naturally occurring diploids.  相似文献   

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大白菜碳酸酐酶基因的克隆与序列分析   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
以大白菜雄性不育系和保持系花蕾差异表达片段EST H9为信息探针,在GenBank数据库中进行同源EST序列检索,并对亲缘关系近的同源EST序列进行拼接,得到大白菜EST H9的5'-cDNA序列.根据拼接组装所得的5'-cDNA序列,进行3'-RACE引物的设计,经RACE扩增、测序,获得了大白菜α-碳酸酐酶3基因的cDNA全长序列并将其登录到GenBank(登录号为GU143061),命名为BrACA3.该cDNA全长998 bp,编码270个氨基酸.同源分析显示该cDNA序列推导的氨基酸序列与拟南芥α-碳酸酐酶3一致性达78%.氨基酸序列分析表明,该蛋白具备跨膜功能,在第19和20个氨基酸之间存在一个信号肽序列,存在丝氨酸、苏氨酸和酪氨酸磷酸化位点.在大白菜花蕾败育过程中α-碳酸酐酶3基因不表达,只在保持系B7的大花蕾时期表达.  相似文献   

20.
C4 photosynthesis has evolved multiple times from ancestral C3 species. Carbonic anhydrase (CA) catalyzes the reversible hydration of CO2 and is involved in both C3 and C4 photosynthesis; however, its roles and the intercellular and intracellular locations of the majority of its activity differ between C3 and C4 plants. To understand the molecular changes underlying the evolution of the C4 pathway, three cDNAs encoding distinct β-CAs (CA1, CA2, and CA3) were isolated from the leaves of the C3 plant Flaveria pringlei. The phylogenetic relationship of the F. pringlei proteins with other embryophyte β-CAs was reconstructed. Gene expression and protein localization patterns showed that CA1 and CA3 demonstrate high expression in leaves and their products localize to the chloroplast, while CA2 expression is low in all organs examined and encodes a cytosolic enzyme. The roles of the F. pringlei enzymes were considered in light of these results, other angiosperm β-CAs, and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) “omics” data. All three F. pringlei CAs have orthologs in the closely related C4 plant Flaveria bidentis, and comparisons of ortholog sequences, expression patterns, and intracellular locations of their products indicated that CA1 and CA2 have maintained their ancestral role in C4 plants, whereas modifications to the C3 CA3 gene led to the evolution of the CA isoform that catalyzes the first step in the C4 photosynthetic pathway. These changes included the loss of the chloroplast transit peptide and an increase in gene expression, which resulted in the high levels of CA activity seen in the cytosol of C4 mesophyll cells.  相似文献   

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