Characterization and overexpression of the Lactococcus lactis pepN gene and localization of its product, aminopeptidase N.

The chromosomal pepN gene encoding lysyl-aminopeptidase activity in Lactococcus lactis has been identified in a lambda EMBL3 library in Escherichia coli by using an immunological screening with antiserum against a purified aminopeptidase fraction. The pepN gene was localized and subcloned in E. coli on the basis of its expression and hybridization to a mixed-oligonucleotide probe for the previously determine N-terminal amino acid sequence of lysyl-aminopeptidase (P. S. T. Tan and W. N. Konings, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 56:526-532, 1990). The L. lactis pepN gene appeared to complement an E. coli strain carrying a mutation in its pepN gene. High-level expression of the pepN gene in E. coli was obtained by using the T7 system. The overproduction of the 95-kDa aminopeptidase N could be visualized on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels and immunoblots. Cloning of the pepN gene on a multicopy plasmid in L. lactis resulted in a 20-fold increase in lysyl-aminopeptidase activity that corresponded to several percent of total protein. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 5' region of the pepN gene allowed a comparison between the deduced and determined amino-terminal primary sequences of aminopeptidase N. The results show that the amino terminus of PepN is not processed and does not possess the characteristics of consensus signal sequences, indicating that aminopeptidase N is probably an intracellular protein. The intracellular location of aminopeptidase N in L. lactis was confirmed by immunogold labeling of lactococcal cells.     

Characterization and overexpression of the Lactococcus lactis pepN gene and localization of its product, aminopeptidase N.

The chromosomal pepN gene encoding lysyl-aminopeptidase activity in Lactococcus lactis has been identified in a lambda EMBL3 library in Escherichia coli by using an immunological screening with antiserum against a purified aminopeptidase fraction. The pepN gene was localized and subcloned in E. coli on the basis of its expression and hybridization to a mixed-oligonucleotide probe for the previously determine N-terminal amino acid sequence of lysyl-aminopeptidase (P. S. T. Tan and W. N. Konings, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 56:526-532, 1990). The L. lactis pepN gene appeared to complement an E. coli strain carrying a mutation in its pepN gene. High-level expression of the pepN gene in E. coli was obtained by using the T7 system. The overproduction of the 95-kDa aminopeptidase N could be visualized on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels and immunoblots. Cloning of the pepN gene on a multicopy plasmid in L. lactis resulted in a 20-fold increase in lysyl-aminopeptidase activity that corresponded to several percent of total protein. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 5' region of the pepN gene allowed a comparison between the deduced and determined amino-terminal primary sequences of aminopeptidase N. The results show that the amino terminus of PepN is not processed and does not possess the characteristics of consensus signal sequences, indicating that aminopeptidase N is probably an intracellular protein. The intracellular location of aminopeptidase N in L. lactis was confirmed by immunogold labeling of lactococcal cells.     

缺失氨肽酶N的变铅青链霉菌的构建和鉴定

用PCR方法扩增变铅青链霉菌(Streptomyces lividans)TK24氨肽酶N基因,体外插入卡那霉素抗性基因进行失活,然后利用不含链霉菌复制起点的重组质粒pPEPN-KAN进行同源重组,获得了氨肽酶N缺失的菌株PEPN-.突变株的胞外氨肽酶N活性与原株基本相同,而胞内氨肽酶N的活性明显低于原株,为原株的42.5±5.7%.     

Altered mRNA binding activity and decreased translational initiation in a nuclear mutant lacking translation of the chloroplast psbA mRNA.

Translational regulation has been identified as one of the key steps in chloroplast-encoded gene expression. Genetic and biochemical analysis with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has implicated nucleus-encoded factors that interact specifically with the 5' untranslated region of chloroplast mRNAs to mediate light-activated translation. F35 is a nuclear mutation in C. reinhardtii that specifically affects translation of the psbA mRNA (encoding D1, a core polypeptide of photosystem II), causing a photosynthetic deficiency in the mutant strain. The F35 mutant has reduced ribosome association of the psbA mRNA as a result of decreased translation initiation. This reduction in ribosome association correlates with a decrease in the stability of the mRNA. Binding activity of the psbA specific protein complex to the 5' untranslated region of the mRNA is diminished in F35 cells, and two members of this binding complex (RB47 and RB55) are reduced compared with the wild type. These data suggest that alteration of members of the psbA mRNA binding complex in F35 cells results in a reduction in psbA mRNA-protein complex formation, thereby causing a decrease in translation initiation of this mRNA.     

UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS Controls Meristem Identity and Organ Primordia Fate in Arabidopsis

A novel gene that is involved in regulating flower initiation and development has been identified in Arabidopsis. This gene has been designated UNUSUAL FLORAL ORGANS (UFO), with five corresponding nuclear recessive alleles designated ufo[middot]1 to ufo[middot]5. Under short day-length conditions, ufo homozygotes generate more coflorescences than do the wild type, and coflorescences often appear apical to the first floral shoot, resulting in a period of inflorescence development in which regions of floral and coflorescence shoots are produced alternately. ufo enhances the phenotype of weak leafy alleles, and the double mutant Ufo-1 Apetala1-1 produces only coflorescence-like shoots, suggesting that these two genes control different aspects of floral initiation. Floral development was also altered in Ufo plants. Ufo flowers have an altered organ number in all whorls, and organs in the first, second, and third whorls exhibit variable homeotic transformations. Ufo single and double mutant phenotypes suggest that the floral changes result from reduction in class B floral homeotic gene expression and fluctuations in the expression boundaries of class C function and FLO10. Surprisingly, in situ hybridization analysis revealed no obvious differences in expression pattern or level in developing Ufo flowers compared with that of the wild type for any class B or C gene studied. We propose that UFO acts in concert with known floral initiation genes and regulates the domains of floral homeotic gene function.     

Mechanism of regulating the expression of λN gene by ribosomal protein at translational level

In ribosomal protein S12 mutant or L24 mutant the expression of λN gene was depressed at translational level. To study its mechanism the λN gene region of λN -lacZ gene fusion was trimmed from its 5′ end to 3′ end with DNA exonuclease III (DNA cxoIII) in order to alter the TIR (translational initiation region) and the ding region of λN gene. After DNA sequencing 23 species of different λN-lacZ fused genes were obtained. The β-galactosidase activities of these deletants in ribosomal protein mutant were compared with that in wild type strain. The result indicated that (i) S12 mutant could affect 305 subunit’s binding to the TIR of λN gene messenger and cause the difficulty in forming 30s initiation complex and then decrease the efficiency of translational initiation; (ii) in S12 mutant the coding region of λN gene alw affected the expression λN gene; (iii) in L24 mutant the inhibition of λN gene expression was not related to translational initiation and the 5′ end of the coding region of λN gene, but related to the 3′ end of λN gene.     

λN gene expression regulated by translation termination in ribosome L24 mutant

Although the initiation and elongation steps of protein synthesis have been extensively char-acterized in Escherichia coli (E. coli), the translation termination is still less well understood. However, recent experiment result might have provided some hints for our deeper understanding of the termination mechanism. (i) Not only does the translation stop codon act as a signal for ter-mination, but also its context influences the translation termination[13]; (ii) the structure similar-ity betwee…     

46,XY女性性反转患者SRY基因启动子区一个新的点突变及其功能分析

通过ＤＮＡ序列测定在一名４６,ＸＹ女性性反转患者ＳＲＹ基因启动子区发现了一个新的突变：ｎｔ．－８１Ｇ→Ａ．该突变不见于正常男性,因此不是ＤＮＡ多态性．为了检测这一点突变对ＳＲＹ基因表达功能的影响,构建了分别由正常或突变的人ＳＲＹ基因启动子区片段调控氯霉素乙酰转移酶（ＣＡＴ）报告基因表达的两个质粒,寡核苷酸探针杂交证实该启动子片段正常或携带有Ｇ→Ａ突变．这两个质粒分别与ｐＳＶ－β－半乳糖苷酶内对照质粒共转染ＨｅＬａ细胞后,瞬间表达分析显示这一突变对ＣＡＴ酶活性水平无显著影响（０．５０＞Ｐ＞０．２０）．上述正常和突变的ＳＲＹ基因启动子片段与Ｋ５６２细胞核抽提物的凝胶阻滞实验也表明,突变对Ｋ５６２细胞核蛋白与ＳＲＹ基因启动子区的结合影响不大．研究ＳＲＹ基因的表达调控对阐明人的性别决定机制及性反转的病理机制具有重要意义     

The nucleotide sequence of the pepN gene and its over-expression in Escherichia coli

The complete nucleotide sequence has been determined for the pepN gene of Escherichia coli K-12. The product of this gene, peptidase N, is apparently 870 amino acids in length. The coding sequence is followed by a tandem pair of stop codons and then a sequence capable of forming a stem-and-loop structure in the pepN mRNA. In the process of subcloning the pepN gene we constructed a plasmid which causes peptidase N to be produced at a level of 50% of total protein. The peptidase is fully active and completely soluble and these overproducing cells appear otherwise normal.     

Accumulation of defective interfering viral particles in only a few passages in Vero cells attenuates mumps virus neurovirulence

Immunization programs have implemented live attenuated mumps vaccines which reduced mumps incidence ≥97%. Some of the vaccine strains were abandoned due to unwanted side effects and the genetic marker of attenuation has not been identified so far. Our hypothesis was that non-infectious viral particles, in particular defective interfering particles (DIPs), contribute to neuroattenuation. We showed that non-infectious particles of the mumps vaccine L-Zagreb attenuated neurovirulence of wild type mumps virus 9218/Zg98. Then, we attenuated recent wild type mumps virus MuVi/Zagreb.HRV/28.12 in Vero cells through 16 passages but already the fifth passage (p5) showed accumulation of DIPs and attenuated neurovirulence in a newborn rat model when compared to the second passage (p2). Sequence analysis of the p2 and p5 revealed a single mutation in the 5′ untranslated region of the HN gene. Analysis of the expression level of the HN protein showed that this mutation does not affect the expression of the protein. We conclude that the passages of MuVi/Zagreb.HRV/28.12 in Vero cells for only three passages accumulated DIPs which attenuate neurovirulence.These findings reveal DIPs as a very promising and general neuroattenuating factor which should be considered in the rational design of the new mumps vaccine.     

Differential Gene Expression in Response to Auxin Treatment in the Wild Type and rac,an Adventitious Rooting-Incompetent Mutant of Tobacco

Histological analyses of auxin-treated cuttings from the wild type and the rac mutant of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv Xanthii) previously revealed that some rac phloem parenchyma or inner cortical parenchyma cells form callus in response to exogenous auxin treatment but these cells never undergo the organized divisions associated with adventitious root initiation in the wild type. Here we report the effect of the rac mutation on the temporal and spatial expression patterns of three genes previously shown to be associated with adventitious root meristems, HRGPnt3, iaa4/5, and gh3. Using histochemical staining analyses of HRGPnt3-GUS transformant cuttings, we determined that the rac mutation blocks auxin activation of the HRGPnt3 promoter. Thus, activation of the HRGPnt3 promoter occurs specifically during adventitious root initiation in tobacco cuttings. Histochemical staining analyses of iaa4/5-GUS and gh3-GUS transformant cuttings revealed that the rac mutation does not repress the auxin activation of the iaa4/5 and gh3 promoters. Based on our histochemical staining analyses, we conclude that differential gene expression occurs in response to auxin treatment during adventitious root initiation in the wild type compared with callus formation in rac cuttings. We also determined that HRGPnt3 mRNA accumulation occurs in response to components of our root-induction protocol other than auxin, indicating that HRGPnt3 expression is regulated both developmentally and environmentally.     

肌钙蛋白I2与“孤儿”核受体ERRα1相互作用位点的鉴定

为深入研究肌钙蛋白I2（TNNI2）作为核受体相互作用蛋白参与核受体基因表达调控的分子机制,采用缺失突变联合酵母双杂交技术证明了TNNI2与ERRα1的相互作用位于TNNI2的1～128位氨基酸残基区域.该区域包括TNNI2蛋白的N末端、抑制肽段（96～116位氨基酸残基）和一个核受体结合位点LXXLL模序（即NR盒）.哺乳细胞瞬时共转染实验证实,TNNI21-128缺失突变体不具备辅助活化功能,并能作为负显性突变体完全抑制野生型TNNI2的辅活化作用.研究充分证明TNNI2与核受体的相互作用定位于TNNI2蛋白1～128氨基酸残基,并从侧面进一步证实了TNNI2能辅助核受体反式激活作用的功能.     

翻译起始区二级结构对荧光素酶基因在COS-7细胞中表达效率的影响

在荧光素酶基因起始密码子ATG下游插入4种串连重复的密码子(6×ATT ,3×ATT ,6×GCC与3×GCC) ,得到具有不同二级结构的翻译起始区(translationinitiationregion ,TIR) ,以研究TIR二级结构对该基因在COS 7细胞中表达的影响.Northern印迹结果显示,4种重组子mRNA的转录水平没有显著差异,而Western印迹与酶活性检测表明,与野生型结构相比,6×ATT与3×ATT能显著提高荧光素酶的表达量与活性,而6×GCC结构的表达量明显下降.使用计算机辅助分析软件,扫描上述TIR结构发现,TIR稳定性或二级结构复杂度是导致上述表达差异的主要原因.