粗糙脉孢菌中甾醇还原酶基因erg24对麦角甾醇合成的影响

粗糙脉孢菌为子囊菌中的高效纤维素降解菌,可以直接以纤维素为营养源进行生长。本研究以粗糙脉孢菌为实验对象,利用基因工程技术构建甾醇还原酶基因erg24的高表达菌株,分别以蔗糖、麦麸、玉米秸秆、小麦秸秆、杨树木屑、水稻秸秆6种物质的粉末为碳源培养野生型粗糙脉孢菌和erg24高表达菌株,利用半定量RT-PCR测定在不同培养条件下erg2、erg24和erg6 3个麦角甾醇合成相关基因的表达水平,采用HPLC方法测定不同培养条件下麦角甾醇的积累量。研究结果表明,分别以玉米秸秆、杨树木屑、水稻秸秆这3种粉末为碳源时,培养物中的erg2、erg24和erg6 3个基因表达量较高。在不同培养条件下erg24高表达菌株合成麦角甾醇量显著高于野生型粗糙脉孢菌的合成量,且以杨树木屑粉末为碳源培养时,所获得的麦角甾醇产量最高,为30.53μg/mg。结果表明erg24基因是粗糙脉孢菌合成麦角甾醇的关键基因之一,利用玉米秸秆、小麦秸秆、杨树木屑或水稻秸秆粉末为碳源培养粗糙脉孢菌时,可获得较高产量的麦角甾醇。研究结果为以农业废弃物为营养源,利用真菌生产麦角甾醇奠定了基础。     

Cloning and characterization of a novel human TEKTIN1 gene

Tektins comprise a family of filament-forming proteins that are known to be coassembled with tubulins to form ciliary and flagellar microtubules. A new member of the tektin gene family was cloned from the human fetal brain cDNA library. We hence named it the human TEKTIN1 gene. TEKTIN1 cDNA consists of 1375 bp and has a putative open reading frame encoding 418 amino acids. The predicted protein is 48.3 kDa in size, and its amino acid sequence is 82% identical to that of the mouse, rat, and dog. One conserved peptide RPNVELCRD was observed at position number 323–331 of the amino acid sequence, which is a prominent feature of tektins and is likely to represent a functionally important protein domain. TEKTIN1 gene was mapped to the human chromosome 17 by BLAST search, and at least eight exons were found. Northern blot analysis indicated that TEKTIN1 was predominantly expressed in testis. By in-situ hybridization analysis, TEKTIN1 mRNA was localized to spermatocytes and round spermatids in the seminiferous tubules of the mouse testis, indicating that it may play a role in spermatogenesis.     

RAD51 homologues in Xenopus laevis: two distinct genes are highly expressed in ovary and testis

The RAD51 gene is a eukaryotic counterpart of the Escherichia coli recA gene which is involved in genetic recombination. Two distinct Xenopus laevis RAD51 cDNA clones (XRAD51.1 and XRAD51.2) were isolated from an oocyte cDNA library using the human RAD51 cDNA (HsRAD51) as a probe. Sequence analysis revealed that 98.2% of the amino-acid residues were identical between XRAD51.1 and XRAD51.2, and that both were 95% identical to HsRAD51. Both of the XRAD51 genes were expressed at a higher level in ovary and testis than in other somatic tissues, suggesting their involvement in meiotic recombination. The expression of XRAD51.1 was about eightfold in excess of that of XRAD51.2 in all of the tissues examined. Analysis of the rates of synonymous substitution in the coding sequences of the two XRAD51 suggests that these two genes diverged about 50 million years ago. The structural similarities of the XRAD51 proteins to RecA in E. coli and Rad51 in yeasts or vertebrates are discussed.     

稀有鮈鲫HSP70基因启动子的克隆及功能分析

热休克蛋白70(HSP70)作为一种分子伴侣,在环境毒理学中受到广泛研究。前期研究表明稀有鮈鲫HSP70基因(GrHSP70)表达量与五氯酚(pentachlorophenol, PCP)处理的浓度和时间在肝脏中呈现剂量/时间-依赖效应。为探究启动子在热休克蛋白70表达调控中的作用,根据已知的GrHSP70 cDNA序列,采用染色体步移技术克隆了GrHSP70的5'侧翼区的核苷酸序列。生物信息学分析从预测的转录起始位点(C)起的5'侧翼区域共1 487bp,潜在的转录因子结合位点包括雌激素响应元件(ERE)、Sp1结合位点(Sp1)、糖皮质激素响应元件(GRE)、TATA结合蛋白(TBP)、CCAAT/增强子蛋白结合位点(C/EBP)、Oct-1结合位点(Oct-1)、GATA转录因子结合位点(GATA-1)等。实验构建了含有启动子缺失片段的萤火虫萤光素酶(firefly luciferase)和海肾萤光素酶(renilla luciferase)报告基因表达载体,瞬时转染HeLa细胞后,利用双荧光活性检测确定获得的GrHSP70启动子具有启动活性,其核心启动位点位于转录起始点上游-1 487~-1 093bp。同时,用不同浓度PCP暴露成功转染了重组质粒(pGL-HSP70 promoter-Luc+)的HeLa细胞,培养24h后检测双荧光活性,与对照相比,随PCP浓度的增加,荧光活性均显著增加。说明在稀有鮈鲫肝脏中PCP会通过激活GrHSP70启动子来诱导GrHSP70表达,但PCP在稀有鮈鲫体内通过何种机制来调节HSP70的合成,仍然需要进一步研究。     

Isolation of a functional copy of the human BRCA1 gene by transformation-associated recombination in yeast

The BRCA1 gene, mutations of which contribute significantly to hereditary breast cancer, was not identified in the existing YAC and BAC libraries. The gene is now available only as a set of overlapping fragments that form a contig. In this work we describe direct isolation of a genomic copy of BRCA1 from human DNA by transformation-associated recombination (TAR) cloning. Despite the presence of multiple repeats, most of the primary BRCA1 YAC isolates did not contain detectable deletions and could be stably propagated in a host strain with conditional RAD52. Similar to other circular YACs, 90 kb BRCA1 YACs were efficiently and accurately retrofitted into bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) with the Neo^R mammalian selectable marker and transferred as circular BAC/YACs in E. coli cells. The BRCA1 BAC/YAC DNAs were isolated from bacterial cells and were used to transfect mouse cells using the Neo^R gene as selectable marker. Western blot analysis of transfectants showed that BRCA1 YACs isolated by a TAR cloning contained a functional gene. The advantage of this expression vector is that the expression of BRCA1 is generated from its own regulatory elements and does not require additional promoter elements that may result in overexpression of the protein. In contrast to the results with cDNA expression vectors, the level of BRCA1 expression from this TAR vector is stable, does not induce cell death, maintains serum regulation, and approximates the level of endogenously expressed BRCA1 in human cells. The entire isolation procedure of BRCA1 described in this paper can be accomplished in approximately 10 days and can be applied to isolation of gene from clinical material. We propose that the opportunity to directly isolate normal and mutant forms of BRCA1 will greatly facilitate analysis of the gene and its contribution to breast cancer.     

Cloning and characterization of mouse Lmp3 cDNA, encoding a proteasome β subunit

We isolated and sequenced a cDNA encoding mouse proteasome subunit LMP3 from a macrophage cDNA library. The gene encodes a 264-amino-acid protein with a calculated molecular mass of 29.11 kDa and an isoelectric point (pl) of 5.44. Comparison of the predicted protein sequence with that of the human and rat homologues, N3, revealed 11 and eight changes, respectively, in the cleaved NH₂-terminal presequence of the precursor protein (pre-LMP3), and six and 10 changes, respectively, in the processed product. To corroborate the predicted molecular mass and pI, we analyzed LMP3 by immunoprecipitation with a mAb to human N3 that crossreacts with mouse LMP3. Precursor and processed forms of LMP3 were identified by 2D NEPHGE-PAGE, and their mobilities suggest the Lmp3 clone encodes the entire protein sequence.     

农杆菌介导海洋草酸青霉转化体系及聚酮合酶Pks生物学功能*

为研究南海柳珊瑚共附生草酸青霉SCSGAF0023的聚酮合酶(PKS)生物学功能,采用农杆菌介导法构建草酸青霉SCSGAF0023的Pks敲除株ΔPks,比较野生菌株及ΔPks的生长发育及环境适应性差异。以草酸青霉SCSGAF0023分生孢子为受体,p0380-hygB为双元载体,成功实现草酸青霉SCSGAF0023的遗传转化。结果表明:农杆菌浓度为OD₆₀₀=0.5,在200μmol/L 乙酰丁香酮(AS)诱导下与10⁷个/ml草酸青霉SCSGAF0023孢子于25℃共孵育时转化效率最高。基于上述转化体系,成功获得Pks敲除株ΔPks,并首次证实Pks正向调控草酸青霉SCSGAF0023产孢,但不影响其对环境的适应性。这为进一步系统研究真菌PKSs及聚酮化合物对真菌生长发育与环境适应性的影响提供素材。     

Mouse fatty acid transport protein 4 (FATP4): characterization of the gene and functional assessment as a very long chain acyl-CoA synthetase

FATP4 (SLC27A4) is a member of the fatty acid transport protein (FATP) family, a group of evolutionarily conserved proteins that are involved in cellular uptake and metabolism of long and very long chain fatty acids. We cloned and characterized the murine FATP4 gene and its cDNA. From database analysis we identified the human FATP4 genomic sequence. The FATP4 gene was assigned to mouse chromosome 2 band B, syntenic to the region 9q34 encompassing the human gene. The open reading frame was determined to be 1929 bp in length, encoding a polypeptide of 643 amino acids. Within the coding region, the exon-intron structures of the murine FATP4 gene and its human counterpart are identical, revealing a high similarity to the FATP1 gene. The overall amino acid identity between the deduced murine and human FATP4 polypeptides is 92.2%, and between the murine FATP1 and FATP4 polypeptides is 60.3%. Northern analysis showed that FATP4 mRNA was expressed most abundantly in small intestine, brain, kidney, liver, skin and heart. Transfection of FATP4 cDNA into COS1 cells resulted in a 2-fold increase in palmitoyl-CoA synthetase (C16:0) and a 5-fold increase in lignoceroyl-CoA synthetase (C24:0) activity from membrane extracts, indicating that the FATP4 gene encodes an acyl-CoA synthetase with substrate specificity biased towards very long chain fatty acids.     

青杄中sPPa1的cDNA序列克隆及其生物信息学分析

以青杄(Picea wilsonii)均一化cDNA文库为模板,通过RACE方法克隆得到青杄PPa1基因cDNA全长,对该cDNA序列、核苷酸序列的相似性、理化性质、疏水性、二级结构、三级结构及是否跨膜进行了分析预测;进行了多序列比对并构建了系统树,同时对PPa1在青杄各组织中的表达量进行了检测。结果表明:青杄PPa1基因共由216个氨基酸组成,分子量为24.55 kD,理论PI为5.83,属可溶性蛋白;二级结构主要由α-螺旋、不规则卷曲和β-折叠构成;PPa1在青杄花粉中表达量最高。研究为进一步研究青杄PPa1的功能奠定了基础。     

白菜型冬油菜β-1,3-葡聚糖酶基因在低温胁迫下的表达

为探明β-1,3-葡聚糖酶基因(β-1,3-glucanase)对油菜(Brassica campestris)抵御低温胁迫能力的作用,通过蛋白质谱分析得到β-1,3-葡聚糖酶蛋白,采用RT-PCR技术克隆白菜型冬油菜(B.rapa)陇油6号和天油4号β-1,3-葡聚糖酶的c DNA序列;并对该序列进行生物信息学分析;进而采用实时荧光定量PCR及半定量PCR检测β-1,3-葡聚糖酶基因在低温胁迫下的表达模式。结果获得长度为1 032 bp的陇油6号β-1,3-葡聚糖酶基因开放阅读框,编码343个氨基酸,相对分子量为38.102k Da,理论等电点为6.63,其与菜心(B.rapa subsp.chinensis)和甘蓝型油菜(B.napus)的蛋白质氨基酸序列同源性高达93.94%。该基因编码的酶是一个主要由α-螺旋组成的亲水性稳定蛋白,含有1个信号肽,存在2个跨膜结构域。该基因在进化上高度保守,其保守序列属于植物的糖基水解酶家族17特有的保守结构域。β-1,3-葡聚糖酶基因表达模式分析显示,4°C时该基因上调表达,继续低温(–4°C)胁迫处理,该基因上调表达至峰值,至–8°C时其表达下调。研究表明从白菜型冬油菜中克隆的β-1,3-glucanase在冬油菜品种陇油6号抗寒过程中发挥作用。     

澳洲坚果MiMYB2基因克隆及结构与功能分析

为研究R2R3-MYB转录因子家族成员在澳洲坚果生长发育和产量形成中的作用机制，利用PCR技术从澳洲坚果品种“桂热一号”叶片中克隆MiMYB2基因并采用生物信息学对其结构及功能进行分析。结果表明，克隆获得的MiMYB2（NCBI登录号：MN254976）基因cDNA序列全长1 210 bp，开放阅读框（ORF）1 002 bp，编码333个氨基酸。MiMYB2编码一个无跨膜结构、无信号肽且定位于细胞核的不稳定亲水蛋白，含两个SANT保守结构域，属于R2R3-MYB家族。BLAST分析发现MiMYB2与荷花NnMYB3-like氨基酸序列同源性最高。系统进化分析将MiMYB2与AtMYB17、AtMYB106和AtMYB16聚类为S9亚族。通过转录组数据分析MiMYB2基因在“桂热一号”和“695”品种澳洲坚果枝条、花和叶片中的表达模式，表明MiMYB2在“桂热一号”品种花中的表达量最低，“695”品种花中的表达量最高。推测MiMYB2与澳洲坚果花生长发育密切相关。本研究为阐明MiMYB2基因在澳洲坚果生长发育和产量形成中的作用机制提供理论参考。     

Infection of human cells by murine ecotropic viruses: retroviral vectors carrying the hygromycin resistance-encoding gene

The construction of a new retroviral vector, pSKV, is described. This vector carries two unique cloning sites, located between two Moloney leukemia virus-derived LTR, into which genes of interest may be introduced. The gene encoding hygromycin resistance (Hy^R) was subsequently introduced into one of the two sites, producing a second vector (pSKV/Hy^R) containing a unique SfiI site for the introduction of cDNA clones under the control of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter (P-CMV). The cDNA (mH13), encoding a protein that has been shown to serve as a murine ecotropic retroviral receptor in transient assays, was cloned into the SfiI site (pSKV/Hy^R/mH13). Both constructs can be packaged into retroviral particles following transfection into an appropriate packaging cell line.

Stable transfectants of the human glioblastoma cell line (U118MG) carrying each of these two constructs were generated by transfection and subsequent Hy selection. Clones expressing both the selectable marker and the mH13 gene, but not those expressing only the selectable marker, are shown to be susceptible to infection with murine ecotropic retroviral particles. These cells (Hy^R and mH13 positive) were then exposed to CRE/Xtk culture supernatant, a packaging cell line producing ecotropic retroviral particles carrying the HSV-TK (Herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase) and neo^R(neomycin-resistance) genes. Selection was in the presence of G418. In vitro growth of the U118MG/Hy^R/mH13/TK cells, but not that of the U118MG/HyR/mH13 cells, was inhibited by ganciclovir (GCV), indicating the successful transfer of HSV-TK by infection of human cells with murine retroviruses via the mH13 product.     

Use of differential display for the identification of touch-induced genes from an ethylene-insensitive Arabidopsis mutant and partial characterization of these genes

Touch has been shown to affect plant growth and development and ethylene has been shown to have similar effects. However, the mechanisms responsible for touch-induced responses remain unclear. Differential display PCR was used to identify touch-regulated genes from 3-week-light-grown ethylene-insensitive etr1-3 Arabidopsis (Columbia ecotype) mutant plants. The differential display PCR screening process yielded 32 cDNA fragments. Subsequent screening of the 32 fragments using northern analysis yielded three touch-inducible clones (A8A, G5A and G7F). These three cDNA were then used to screen a cDNA library. A 1.2 kb fragment for OPR3 was obtained from A8A screenings. This cDNA fragment encodes 12-oxophytodienoate-10, 11-reductase (OPR), an enzyme in the jasmonic acid biosynthetic pathway. OPR3 was found to be induced by touch, wounding, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), NaCl and CaCl₂ while ethylene and darkness had no effect. A 2 kb cDNA encoding a calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK32) was obtained with G5A screenings. CDPK32 was shown to be induced by touch, wounding, NaCl and darkness while ethylene and MeJA had little or no effect. A 1.4 kb cDNA encoding a novel protein was recovered from the cDNA library screenings with a G7F fragment. This cDNA had some sequence similarity to GDA1 and was designated GDL for GDA1-like cDNA. GDL was activated by touch, wounding, MeJA, NaCl and CaCl₂ while there was no induction with ethylene and darkness. Using differential display PCR we have successfully been able to identify three clones that are inducible by touch and not by ethylene.