A genetic strategy for differential screening of meiotic germ-cell cDNA libraries

The goals of this work were to create germ-cell-stage-specific cDNA libraries from mouse spermatogenic cells and to employ a novel two-step genetic screen to identify gene sequences present during the critical meiotic stage of spermatogenesis. Highly enriched germ-cell fractions were prepared from adult and juvenile mouse testes, and purity of these fractions was extensively analyzed by light and electron microscopy. Standard techniques were used to prepare cDNA libraries from populations of mixed leptotene and zygotene (L/Z) spermatocytes, pachytene (P) spermatocytes, and round spermatids. These libraries were analyzed with respect to representation of sequences from ubiquitously expressed genes, and from genes expressed at specific germ-cell stages as well as from genes expressed in testicular somatic cells. For the first step of the screening procedure, testicular cDNA was prepared from mutant mice carrying the T(X;11)38H chromosomal translocation that causes spermatogenic arrest at early meiotic prophase. This mixed cDNA probe was used to screen the libraries from L/Z and P spermatocytes to detect sequences that failed to hybridize. The clones identified were characterized for ability to hybridize to various germ-cell-specific cDNAs to verify that they represented sequences present in normal spermatogenic meiotic cells. These clones were then subjected to a second screening with another mutant probe; this time the cDNA probe was from testes of sterile mice bearing the T(X;16)16H chromosomal translocation that causes spermatogenic arrest at late meiotic prophase. This screen identified 27 clones that were not represented in testicular cDNA from T38-bearing mice or from T16-bearing mice. These clones may represent sequences essential for normal completion of the genetic events of meiosis during spermatogenesis. Likewise, the secondary screen identified 19 clones that were not represented in testicular cDNA from T38-bearing mice but were represented in testicular cDNA of T16-bearing mice. These clones are thus gene sequences present in spermatogenic cells during the time from early meiotic prophase to mid-to-late prophase. This strategy represents the first use of genetic aberrations in differential screening to identify genes expressed at specific times during mammalian spermatogenesis. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

水稻穗瘟防卫反应相关基因的分离和鉴定

以遗传背景相近、对叶瘟抗性相同但对穗瘟抗性不同的两个水稻株系为材料,利用抑制消减杂交（SSH）技术构建穗瘟抗／感消减cDNA文库,经差异筛选及序列分析,共获得90个独立的差异表达cDNA克隆,根据与它们刚源的基因功能推测,这些克隆可能参与了对病原菌的防卫反应、信号传导和转录等一些重要的生物学过程。利ⅢRT-PCR分析了26个所筛选到的cDNA克隆在抗／感植株接种后的表达,17个基因的表达差异得到验证。对这螳差异表达基因在抗感株系接种后不同时间点的表达谱也进行了RT-PCR的分析。文章首次报道了什关水稻对穗瘟抗性在mRNA水平进行研究,为深入研究水稻对穗瘟抗性的遗传机理打下了基础。     

Screening and analysis of differentially expressed genes from an alien addition line of wheat Thinopyrum intermedium induced by barley yellow dwarf virus infection.

The alien addition line TAI-27 contains a pair of chromosomes of Thinopyrum intermedium that carry resistance against barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV). A subtractive library was constructed using the leaves of TAI-27, which were infected by Schizaphis graminum carrying the GAV strain of BYDV, and the control at the three-leaf stage. Nine differentially expressed genes were identified from 100 randomly picked clones and sequenced. Two of the nine clones were highly homologous with known genes. Of the remaining seven cDNA clones, five clones matched with known expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences from wheat and (or) barley whereas the other two clones were unknown. Five of the nine differentially expressed sequences (WTJ9, WTJ11, WTJ15, WTJ19, and WTJ32) were highly homologous (identities >94%) with ESTs from wheat or barley challenged with pathogens. These five sequences and another one (WTJ18) were also highly homologous (identities >86%) with abiotic stress induced ESTs in wheat or barley. Reverse Northern hybridization showed that seven of the nine differentially expressed cDNA sequences hybridized with cDNA of T. intermedium infected by BYDV. Three of these also hybridized with cDNA of line 3B-2 (a parent of TAI-27) infected by BYDV. The alien chromosome in TAI-27 was microdissected. The second round linker adaptor mediated PCR products of the alien chromosomal DNA were labeled with digoxygenin and used as the probe to hybridize with the nine differentially expressed genes. The analysis showed that seven differentially expressed genes were homologous with the alien chromosome of TAI-27. These seven differentially expressed sequences could be used as ESTs of the alien chromosome of TAI-27. This research laid the foundation for screening and cloning of new specific functional genes conferring resistance to BYDV and probably other pathogens.     

Construction of a full-length cDNA library from young spikelets of hexaploid wheat and its characterization by large-scale sequencing of expressed sequence tags

The polyploid nature of wheat is a key characteristic of the plant. Full-length complementary DNAs (cDNAs) provide essential information that can be used to annotate the genes and provide a functional analysis of these genes and their products. We constructed a full-length cDNA library derived from young spikelets of common wheat, and obtained 24056 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from both ends of the cDNA clones. These ESTs were grouped into 3605 contigs using the phrap method, representing expressed loci from each of the three genomes. Using BLAST, 3605 contigs were grouped into 1902 gene clusters, showing that loci of the three genomes are not always expressed. A homology search of these gene clusters against a wheat EST database (15964 gene clusters) and a rice full-length cDNA database (21447 gene clusters) revealed that a quarter of the wheat full-length cDNAs were novel. A protein database of Arabidopsis was used to examine the functional classification of these gene clusters. The GC-content in the 5 -UTR region of wheat cDNAs was compared to that of rice. Forty-three genes (3.5% of wheat cDNAs homologous to those of rice) possessed distinct GC-content in the 5 -UTR region, suggesting different breeding behaviors of wheat and rice.     

An in situ hybridization screen for the rapid isolation of differentially expressed genes

To rapidly isolate genes specifically expressed during medaka development we generated a cDNA library enriched for genes expressed in the head region of the developing embryo. Clones were spotted on filters automatically and preselected for abundantly expressed genes by hybridizing them with a probe derived from RNA of undifferentiated totipotent cells. Of the nonhybridizing clones 153 were chosen randomly and further analyzed by whole-mount in situ hybridization. There were 67 selected clones differentially expressed in the developing embryos, and 48 of these were expressed in the developing head. Differentially expressed genes were either of novel type or showed homology to known genes containing DNA binding motifs or to putative housekeeping genes. Received: 1 December 1998 / Accepted: 17 May 1999     

The FGFR pathway is required for the trunk-inducing functions of Spemann's organizer.

Xenopus laevis embryogenesis is controlled by the inducing activities of Spemann's organizer. These inducing activities are separated into two distinct suborganizers: a trunk organizer and a head organizer. The trunk organizer induces the formation of posterior structures by emitting signals and directing morphogenesis. Here, we report that the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signaling pathway, also known to regulate posterior development, performs critical functions within the cells of Spemann's organizer. Specifically, the FGFR pathway was required in the organizer cells in order for those cells to induce the formation of somitic muscle and the pronephros. Since the organizer influences the differentiation of these tissues by emitting signals that pattern the mesodermal germ layer, our data indicate that the FGFR regulates the production of these signals. In addition, the FGFR pathway was required for the expression of chordin, an organizer-specific protein required for the trunk-inducing activities of Spemann's organizer. Significantly, the FGFR pathway had a minimal effect on the function of the head organizer. We propose that the FGFR pathway is a defining molecular component that distinguishes the trunk organizer from the head organizer by controlling the expression of organizer-specific genes required to induce the formation of posterior structures and somitic muscle in neighboring cells. The implications of our findings for the evolutionarily conserved role of the FGFR pathway in the functions of Spemann's organizer and other vertebrate-signaling centers are discussed.     

Expression cloning screening of a unique and full-length set of cDNA clones is an efficient method for identifying genes involved in Xenopus neurogenesis

Functional screens, where a large numbers of cDNA clones are assayed for certain biological activity, are a useful tool in elucidating gene function. In Xenopus, gain of function screens are performed by pool screening, whereby RNA transcribed in vitro from groups of cDNA clones, ranging from thousands to a hundred, are injected into early embryos. Once an activity is detected in a pool, the active clone is identified by sib-selection. Such screens are intrinsically biased towards potent genes, whose RNA is active at low quantities. To improve the sensitivity and efficiency of a gain of function screen we have bioinformatically processed an arrayed and EST sequenced set of 100,000 gastrula and neurula cDNA clones, to create a unique and full-length set of approximately 2500 clones. Reducing the redundancy and excluding truncated clones from the starting clone set reduced the total number of clones to be screened, in turn allowing us to reduce the pool size to just eight clones per pool. We report that the efficiency of screening this clone set is five-fold higher compared to a redundant set derived from the same libraries. We have screened 960 cDNA clones from this set, for genes that are involved in neurogenesis. We describe the overexpression phenotypes of 18 single clones, the majority of which show a previously uncharacterised phenotype and some of which are completely novel. In situ hybridisation analysis shows that a large number of these genes are specifically expressed in neural tissue. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of a unique full-length set of cDNA clones for uncovering players in a developmental pathway.     

利用抑制差减杂交技术分离受水稻抗性调控的褐飞虱基因

为分离受水稻抗性调控的褐飞虱Nilaparvata lugens基因, 以取食感虫水稻台中1号和高抗水稻B5的2叶1芯秧苗24 h的褐飞虱4龄若虫为起始材料, 采用抑制差减杂交技术构建了两个群体间的正反向差减cDNA文库。通过斑点杂交从差减文库中筛选代表受水稻抗性调控的基因的cDNA克隆, 进行测序和功能分析, 挑选具功能的基因进行Northern杂交验证。结果表明, 通过斑点杂交筛选到的98个阳性克隆代表92个互不重复的单基因, 其中25个与动物的已知蛋白基因存在较高的同源性。Northern杂交表明, 这25个基因有11个表达上调, 8个表达下调, 提示它们可能在褐飞虱适应抗性水稻过程中发挥了重要作用。本研究结果为克隆上述新基因的全长cDNA序列及进一步研究其在褐飞虱与水稻互作中的功能奠定了基础。     

Generation and analysis of drought stressed subtracted expressed sequence tags from safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Drought is the most crucial environmental factor that limits productivity of many crop plants. Exploring novel genes and gene combinations is of primary importance in plant drought tolerance research. Stress tolerant genotypes/species are known to express novel stress responsive genes with unique functional significance. Hence, identification and characterization of stress responsive genes from these tolerant species might be a reliable option to engineer the drought tolerance. Safflower has been found to be a relatively drought tolerant crop and thus, it has been the choice of study to characterize the genes expressed under drought stress. In the present study, we have evaluated differential drought tolerance of two cultivars of safflower namely, A1 and Nira using selective physiological marker traits and we have identified cultivar A1 as relatively drought tolerant. To identify the drought responsive genes, we have constructed a stress subtracted cDNA library from cultivar A1 following subtractive hybridization. Analysis of?~1,300 cDNA clones resulted in the identification of 667 unique drought responsive ESTs. Protein homology search revealed that 521 (78?%) out of 667 ESTs showed significant similarity to known sequences in the database and majority of them previously identified as drought stress-related genes and were found to be involved in a variety of cellular functions ranging from stress perception to cellular protection. Remaining 146 (22?%) ESTs were not homologous to known sequences in the database and therefore, they were considered to be unique and novel drought responsive genes of safflower. Since safflower is a stress-adapted oil-seed crop this observation has great relevance. In addition, to validate the differential expression of the identified genes, expression profiles of selected clones were analyzed using dot blot (reverse northern), and northern blot analysis. We showed that these clones were differentially expressed under different abiotic stress conditions. The implications of the analyzed genes in abiotic stress tolerance are discussed in our study.     

Identification of taxol biosynthesis stage-enriched transcripts in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nodulisporium sylviforme</Emphasis>, using suppression subtractive hybridization

The endophytic fungus Nodulisporium sylviforme produces taxol, a diterpene alkaloid compound that has unique anti-neoplastic activity. In this study, suppression subtractive hybridization was performed to identify genes in N. sylviforme that were involved in the up-regulation of taxol production. A total of 91 clones represented the differentially expressed genes were selected based on reverse blotting results. These clones were then sequenced and analyzed using BLAST-X comparisons that revealed that about 37.8% of the ESTs were homologous to 17 different proteins with known function, 20.7% were homologous to nine hypothetical proteins and the remaining 41.5% had no identifiable homology; these may be novel genes. Two enzymatic genes involved in taxol production were found. The data presented in this study provide the first primary overview of a set of genes that are differentially expressed in N. sylviforme during taxol biosynthesis and form a solid foundation for the construction of high taxol-yielding genetically engineered strains.     

cDNA clones encoding rabbit immunoglobulin lambda chains. Evidence for length variation of the third hypervariable region and for a novel constant region.

Five cDNA clones designated pDH2, pDH8, pDH9, pDH31 and pDH101 encoding rabbit immunoglobulin lambda light chain sequences have been characterized. Comparison of the V lambda sequences suggests that, in addition to an increased divergence in all of the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), variable-region diversity is amplified by the length heterogeneity of the CDR3, at the V lambda-J lambda junction. An insertion of four codons at positions 48a-d has been noted in three cDNA sequences. This insert, not found in lambda nor kappa light chains of other species, has a variable sequence, suggesting its possible implication in expanding variability of the CDR2. One of the cDNA clones was shown to encode a novel C lambda region which differs by four amino acid substitutions from the C lambda region common to all the other clones. Thus, the rabbit can use two different C lambda genes, which might correlate with the expression of the two known allotypes of lambda chains, C7 and C21. Southern blotting experiments indicate a small number of germ-line V lambda genes and the cDNA nucleotide sequence data reported here suggest that several of these genes can be expressed. The possibility of at least two V-J-C gene clusters is discussed.     

Human chromosome 3: integration of 60 NotI clones into a physical and gene map

Sequence tagged sites generated for 60 NotI clones (NotI-STSs) from human chromosome 3-specific NotI-jumping and NotI-linking libraries were physically located using PCR screening of a radiation hybrid (RH) GeneBridge4 panel. The NotI map of chromosome 3 was generated using these RH-mapping data and those obtained earlier by FISH and sequencing of the corresponding NotI clones. The sequences of the NotI clones showed significant homologies with known genes and/or ESTs for 58 NotI-STSs (97%). These 58 NotI clones displayed 91-100% identity to 54 genes and 23 cDNA/EST clones. One known and two hypothetical protein-coding genes were localized for the first time and nine cDNA clones (unknown genes) were also carefully mapped only in this work. Three newly mapped genes are histone gene H1X (NR1-BK20C) and genes for hypothetical proteins THC1032178 and THC1024604 (NL1-243).     

Selection of Drosophila genes encoding secreted and membrane proteins

With the use of a yeast-based signal sequence trap (YSST) method, we screened a Drosophila cDNA library to isolate genes encoding secreted and membrane proteins. Of the 136 unique cDNA clones sequenced, 11 clones (8.1%) are identical to previously known Drosophila genes, 18 clones (13.2%) are homologous to other genes identified in various organisms, and 91 clones (66.9%) are novel. Most of these genes are secreted or membrane proteins, or appear to contain putative signal sequences at their amino termini. This indicates that YSST is an effective tool for the isolation and analysis of Drosophila genes that play roles in intercellular communication.     

抑制消减杂交分离肿瘤血管生成相关基因

为获得肿瘤血管生成相关基因 ,以便为抗血管形成治疗肿瘤的新策略提供有价值的靶位 ,采用人新鲜的肝癌、肺癌组织匀浆活化人脐静脉内皮细胞 (HUVEC) ,并构建了cDNA表达文库 .利用抑制消减杂交 (SSH)获得活化HUVEC高表达的基因片段 ,放射标记后筛选文库 .获得的阳性克隆进一步进行差异杂交筛选 ,去除假阳性 .共获得了 177个阳性克隆 ,对其中 74个克隆进行序列分析 ,发现它们代表 32个基因 ,其中多个与肿瘤血管生成相关 ,1个为与细胞色素c氧化酶亚单位Ⅲ同源的新基因 ,2个为功能未知的假定蛋白基因 .研究结果表明 ,用肿瘤组织匀浆模拟肿瘤内环境活化HUVEC ,并通过比较活化前后基因表达谱的差异可以分离到肿瘤血管生成相关的基因 .     

植入前期与分娩前期子宫差别表达基因筛选及表达

采用抑制消减杂交技术 (suppression subtractive hybridization , SSH) ,以 SD 大鼠为实验材料,选取妊娠过程中植入前期 ( 第 5 天, D5) 和分娩前期 ( 第 19 天, D19) 子宫分别作为驱动方 (driver) 和实验方 (tester) ,进行抑制消减杂交,获得的消减文库经差异筛选得到 70 个阳性克隆 . 序列测定和同源对比分析表明,这些克隆所代表的基因在大鼠基因库中分别与 8 个已知基因有 90 ％～ 100 ％不等的同源性 . 这些基因均差别表达于分娩前期子宫组织中,其中首次发现尿鸟苷蛋白和干扰素诱导蛋白 16 在 SD 大鼠妊娠子宫中有表达 . RT-PCR 及半定量分析显示,尿鸟苷蛋白基因在妊娠第 19 天子宫中的表达显著高于妊娠第 5 天 (P < 0.001) ,而干扰素诱导蛋白 16 差异表达不明显 . 在妊娠 D6 、 D9 和 D12 的子宫中尿鸟苷蛋白基因自胚泡植入后其表达逐渐上升,妊娠 D15 下降,在妊娠 D19 表达量最高 . 结果提示特异表达的尿鸟苷蛋白基因可能与分娩有关 .     

链状亚历山大藻生长衰亡相关基因的筛选

采用抑制性消减杂交(Suppression subtractive hybridization,SSH)技术构建了衰亡期的链状亚历山大藻(Alexandriumcatenella)特异表达的cDNA文库。共获得800个克隆,利用巢式引物进行PCR筛选,最终确定阳性克隆556个。利用斑点杂交技术对这些阳性克隆进行差异筛选,获得差异表达克隆160个。测序后得到片段125个,经过归类,获得21种序列,其中6种在NCBI中经Blast,获得功能基因与其匹配,这些功能基因分别是CHK1类似检测点蛋白(checkpoint-like protein)、核酸外切酶复合体、谷氧还蛋白、Na+/K+ATPase、叶绿体中的一个开放阅读框和pG1蛋白,其他blast无同源序列,可能为新基因。推测链状亚历山大藻的衰亡过程可能涉及到DNA损伤、mRNA降解过程、氧化还原状态的变化、离子动态平衡的变化以及叶绿体一些生理状况的变化等过程。