Streptokinase mutations relieving Escherichia coli K-12 (prlA4) of detriments caused by the wild-type skc gene

A novel phenotype is described for Escherichia coli K-12 carrying the prlA4 allele determining a membrane component of the protein export mechanism. It is manifest as transformation deficiency for plasmids containing the cloned group C streptococcal streptokinase gene, skc. Streptokinase plasmid mutations relieving the prlA4 strain of this deficiency fell into three classes. Class 1 included skc::IS5 insertions, with IS5 integrated in a region encoding the Skc signal sequence and inactivating skc. Class 2 included IS1 insertions leaving skc intact but reducing skc expression, presumably by altering the function of the skc promoter as judged by an insertion site close to the -35 region. The most interesting class, 3, included skc deletions removing the entire signal sequence or a tetrapeptide from its hydrophobic core. The tetrapeptide deletion reduced the size, hydrophobicity, and predicted alpha-helicity of the central region of the Skc signal sequence but facilitated the export of mature Skc in both the wild type and the prlA4 mutant. These findings indicate that the incompatibility between prlA4 and skc is related to deleterious effects of the Skc signal sequence. The tetrapeptide deletion may function by altering the conformation of the signal sequence so as to render interaction with both the PrlA wild-type protein and the PrlA4 mutant protein less detrimental to the export mechanism. These findings also provide an explanation for the difficulties encountered in cloning streptokinase genes in E. coli plasmids and maintaining their structural stability.     

Duplication of the streptokinase gene in the chromosome of Streptococcus equisimilis H46A

The erythromycin resistance plasmid pSM752 carrying the cloned streptokinase gene, skc, was introduced by protoplast transformation into Streptococcus equisimilis H46A from which skc was originally cloned. Cells transiently supporting the replication of pSM752 gave rise to an erythromycin-resistant clone designated H46SM which was plasmid free and produced streptokinase at levels approximately twice as high as the wild type. Southern hybridization of total cell DNA with an skc-containing probe provided evidence for the duplication of the skc gene in the H46SM chromosome. The results, which have some bearing on industrial streptokinase production, can be best explained by a single cross-over event between the chromosome and the plasmid in the region of shared homology leading to the integration of pSM752 in a Campbell-like manner.     

Engineering and production of streptokinase in a Bacillus subtilis expression-secretion system.

Streptokinase is one of the major blood-clot-dissolving agents used in many medical treatments. With the cloned streptokinase gene (skc) available, production of the secreted streptokinase from various Bacillus subtilis strains was studied. The use of the six-extracellular-protease-deficient strain, WB600, greatly improved the production yield of the secreted streptokinase. A modified skc which has the original skc promoter and signal sequence replaced with the B. subtilis levansucrase promoter and signal sequence was also constructed. B. subtilis carrying either the wild-type or the modified skc produces streptokinase at a comparable level. Even with WB600 as the expression host, a C-terminally-processed streptokinase was also observed. Through region-specific combinatorial mutagenesis around the C-terminal processing sites, streptokinase derivatives resistant to C-terminal degradation were engineered. One of the derivatives showed a 2.5-fold increase in specific activity and would potentially be a better thrombolytic agent.     

Constitutive expression of Pasteurella multocida toxin

Abstract The introduction of a plasmid containing skc (streptokinase-coding gene) fused with ompA signal sequence into Escherichia coli K-12 strains, rendered the bacteria mucoid. Measurement of the synthesis of β-galactosidase from a cps-lacZ fusion ( lacZ fusion to a gene necessary for capsule synthesis) showed that the mucoid phenotype was due to induction of the capsular polysaccharide colanic acid synthesis. The introduction of a plasmid carrying skc fused with malE (gene encoding maltose-binding protein) also induced cps-lacZ expression, but intracellular expression of streptokinase in E. coli did not. The cps expression by secretion of streptokinase was diminished to the basal level in a cps-lacZ strain carrying a rcsC mutation. These results show that the secretion of streptokinase in E. coli induces colanic acid synthesis through the RcsC-dependent pathway.     

Novel shuttle vectors for improved streptokinase expression in streptococci and bacterial L-forms

Novel shuttle vectors of small size and increased copy number capable of replication in Escherichia coli, L-forms of Proteus mirabilis, and streptococci were constructed from a streptococcal erythromycin-resistant plasmid and an Escherichia coli phasmid. The streptokinase gene, skc, was inserted into one of them, and skc expression was studied in Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus lactis, and in an L-form strain (LVI) of Proteus mirabilis. The new streptokinase shuttle plasmid, pMLS10 (7.3 kb), specified higher Skc yields in all hosts when compared to pSM752 constructed previously. In particular Proteus mirabilis LVI(pMLS10) proved to be the most productive host, exhibiting complete secretion of the active protein at yields as high as 24000 unit per ml.     

转基因海带的研究现状

海带是海洋中一种极其重要的经济海藻。转基因技术在海带科研中的应用,将使海带的附加值得到进一步的提高。就海带遗传转化方法,以及转GUS基因、转lacZ基因、转CAT基因、转bar基因等报告基因和转HBsAg基因、转r-PA基因等功能基因海带的研究现状进行了综述。     

Identifying Gene Interaction Enrichment for Gene Expression Data

Gene set analysis allows the inclusion of knowledge from established gene sets, such as gene pathways, and potentially improves the power of detecting differentially expressed genes. However, conventional methods of gene set analysis focus on gene marginal effects in a gene set, and ignore gene interactions which may contribute to complex human diseases. In this study, we propose a method of gene interaction enrichment analysis, which incorporates knowledge of predefined gene sets (e.g. gene pathways) to identify enriched gene interaction effects on a phenotype of interest. In our proposed method, we also discuss the reduction of irrelevant genes and the extraction of a core set of gene interactions for an identified gene set, which contribute to the statistical variation of a phenotype of interest. The utility of our method is demonstrated through analyses on two publicly available microarray datasets. The results show that our method can identify gene sets that show strong gene interaction enrichments. The enriched gene interactions identified by our method may provide clues to new gene regulation mechanisms related to the studied phenotypes. In summary, our method offers a powerful tool for researchers to exhaustively examine the large numbers of gene interactions associated with complex human diseases, and can be a useful complement to classical gene set analyses which only considers single genes in a gene set.     

人α-心钠素全基因的化学合成

用固相亚磷酰胺法(solid-phase phosphoramidite method)合成了人α-心钠素(简称α-hANP)的全基因。合成的α-hANP基因全长为96bp,包括编码α-hANP的结构基因、基因5＇端的谷氨酸(作为表达产物用内肽酶Glu-C专一裂解的位点)密码子GAA、基因3＇端的终止信号TGA及基因两端的接头部分。基因分7个寡聚核苷酸片段在DNA合成仪上合成,然后一次性酶促连接成为完整的α—hANP双链基因。化学合成的基因克隆到M13载体上,经分子杂交鉴定筛选出的α-hANP基因克隆株,用双脱氧链终止法进行序列分析,证明核苷酸顺序正确。     

大绿蛙Sox基因和Dmrt基因的序列分析

Sox基因家族与Dmrt基因家族在胚胎发育及性别分化中起着重要作用。采用PCR方法,扩增了大绿蛙Sox基因和Dmrt基因的保守区,分别获得长约220 bp和140 bp的片段。序列分析表明,大绿蛙雌雄个体之间Sox基因、Dmrt基因序列没有差异,与人和其它动物的Sox基因、Dmrt基因有非常高的相似性,显示了Sox基因及Dmrt基因在系统进化上的高度保守性。本研究为探讨大绿蛙的性别决定机制及Sox基因与Dmrt基因的进化提供了分子资料。     

From gene trees to species trees II: species tree inference by minimizing deep coalescence events

When gene copies are sampled from various species, the resulting gene tree might disagree with the containing species tree. The primary causes of gene tree and species tree discord include incomplete lineage sorting, horizontal gene transfer, and gene duplication and loss. Each of these events yields a different parsimony criterion for inferring the (containing) species tree from gene trees. With incomplete lineage sorting, species tree inference is to find the tree minimizing extra gene lineages that had to coexist along species lineages; with gene duplication, it becomes to find the tree minimizing gene duplications and/or losses. In this paper, we present the following results: 1) The deep coalescence cost is equal to the number of gene losses minus two times the gene duplication cost in the reconciliation of a uniquely leaf labeled gene tree and a species tree. The deep coalescence cost can be computed in linear time for any arbitrary gene tree and species tree. 2) The deep coalescence cost is always not less than the gene duplication cost in the reconciliation of an arbitrary gene tree and a species tree. 3) Species tree inference by minimizing deep coalescence events is NP-hard.     

基因强化在难降解污染物生物处理和修复中的应用

基因强化通过强化降解基因在土著菌群中的水平迁移和传播, 促进土著降解菌群的进化, 改善基因工程菌生物强化作用的稳定性, 提高难降解污染物的生物去除效果。介绍了基因强化的原理-微生物群落内水平基因迁移, 讨论了基因载体、细胞接触条件和环境条件等影响基因强化的因素, 综述了目前基因强化在土壤生物修复和废水生物处理中的应用现状, 并提出了基因强化中存在的问题。