Properties of a novel carboxymethyl chitosan derived from silkworm pupa

In this study, a carboxymethyl chitosan derived from silkworm pupa (SP‐carboxymethyl chitosan) was prepared. The physical characteristics of the SP chitin, chitosan, and carboxymethyl chitosan were analyzed. The scanning electron microscopy results showed that the surfaces of the samples from SP were more uneven, with more surface fractures compared with those of the reference substance (RS). Thermal analysis, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis showed that the main molecular chain structures of SP samples and RSs had no substantial differences. However, the crystallinity and thermal decomposition temperature of the SP samples were lower compared with those of the RSs. All of these results provide a theoretical basis for the development of applications for the SP‐carboxymethyl chitosan.     

High level expression of a mutant (K151E, R154G) of single chain urokinase-type plasminogen activator in silkworm

A cDNA of a mutant (K151E, R154G) of single chain urokinase-type plasminogen activator (mscu-PA) was constructed to include the natural scu-PA signal peptide sequences and transferred into the genome of Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) by transfer vectors pBE284 (derived from BmNPV) and pVL1392 (from AcNPV), respectively. Both Bombyx mori (BmN) cells and silkworm larvae were infected with the two recombinant viruses. Fibrin-plate assay showed that the re-virus from pVL1392 increased the yield of mscu-PA three times compared with the re-virus from pBE284.     

High-efficient expression of porcine IL-2 with recombinant baculovirus infected silkworm,Bombyx mori

Biologically active porcine Interleukin-2(poIL-2) was produced fromin vitro andin vivo baculovirus expression systems, namely theAutographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV)-cell culture system and the Hybrid nuclear polyhedrosis virus (HyNPV)— silkworm larva system. The concentration of the recombinant poIL-2(rpoIL-2) in the larvae hemolymph was 1 to 3 mg/mL, which was about 7 to 20 times those of the cell culture systems. The level of this expression efficiency is equal to that with transgenic livestock, secretion products in milk.     

Expression and identification of mutated osteoprotegerin in culture cells and larvae of silkworm

Osteoprotegerin (OPG, or osteoclastogenesis inhibitoryfactor, OCIF) is a soluble member of the tumor-necrosisfactor receptor family discovered in 1997 that can inhibitosteoclastogenesis and prevent bone loss from resorption.Simonet et al. [1] reported tha…     

Bac-to-Bac/BmNPV杆状病毒在家蚕幼虫中表达重组鲎C因子

鲎C因子是鲎血细胞中一种对内毒素具有高亲和力的丝氨酸蛋白酶,被内毒素激活后可水解人工合成的三肽底物,因而能替代传统的鲎试剂用于内毒素检测。通过RT-PCR从东方鲎血细胞中扩增出鲎C因子基因(factor C)序列,利用Bac-to-Bac/BmNPV杆状病毒表达系统在家蚕幼虫中表达该蛋白,并对其进行活性测定。结果显示:被感染的家蚕血清稀释后能检测到Factor C活性,稀释500倍的血清可以用于内毒素检测,且其灵敏度能达到0.2 EU/mL,有望开发新型的、低成本的内毒素检测试剂。     

杆状病毒表达系统研究进展

介绍了杆状病毒表达系统的构建策略,载体发展情况及其表达外源基因的影响因素.杆状病毒表达系统在基因工程、药物开发、疫苗生产等方面发挥了越来越重要的作用,其表达效率高,表达产物与天然产物有相似的结构和活性,且对人畜无害,为当今基因工程研究中最有发展前途的表达系统.     

In vivo enzymatic digestion of HRV 3C protease cleavage sites-containing proteins produced in a silkworm-baculovirus expression system

Baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) has been recognized as a potent protein expression system in engineering valuable enzymes and vaccines. Various fusion tags facilitate protein purification, leaving the potential risk to influence the target protein''s biological activity negatively. It is of great interest to consider removing the additional tags using site-specific proteases, such as human rhinoviruses (HRV) 3C protease. The current study validated the cleavage activity of 3C protease in Escherichia coli and silkworm-BEVS systems by mixing the cell or fat body lysates of 3C protein and 3C site containing target protein in vitro. Further verification has been performed in the fat body lysate from co-expression of both constructs, showing remarkable cleavage efficiency in vivo silkworm larvae. We also achieved the glutathione-S-transferase (GST) tag-cleaved product of the VP15 protein from the White spot syndrome virus after purification, suggesting that we successfully established a coinfection-based recognition-and-reaction BEVS platform for the tag-free protein engineering.     

Gene expression analysis in the larval silk gland of the eri silkworm Samia ricini

Insects produce silk for a range of purposes. In the Lepidoptera, silk is utilized as a material for cocoon production and serves to protect larvae from adverse environmental conditions or predators. Species in the Saturniidae family produce an especially wide variety of cocoons, for example, large, golden colored cocoons and those with many small holes. Although gene expression in the silk gland of the domestic silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) has been extensively studied, considerably fewer investigations have focused on members of the saturniid family. Here, we established expression sequence tags from the silk gland of the eri silkworm (Samia ricini), a saturniid species, and used these to analyze gene expression. Although we identified the fibroin heavy chain gene in the established library, genes for other major silk proteins, such as fibroin light chain and fibrohexamerin, were absent. This finding is consistent with previous reports that these latter proteins are lacking in saturniid silk. Recently, a series of fibrohexamerin‐like genes were identified in the Bombyx genome. We used this information to conduct a detailed analysis of the library established here. This analysis identified putative homologues of these genes. We also found several genes encoding small silk protein molecules that are also present in the silk of other Lepidoptera. Gene expression patterns were compared between eri and domestic silkworm, and both conserved and nonconserved expression patterns were identified for the tested genes. Such differential gene expression might be one of the major causes of the differences in silk properties between these species. We believe that our study can be of value as a basic catalogue for silk gland gene expression, which will yield to the further understanding of silk evolution.     

Effect of silkworm hemolymph on N-linked glycosylation in two Trichoplusia ni insect cell lines

A recombinant N-linked glycoprotein, secreted human placental alkaline phosphatase (SEAP), was produced in two Trichoplusia ni insect cell lines using the baculovirus expression vector. Silkworm hemolymph (SH) was added to TNMFH + 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) medium to a concentration of 2.5% or 5%, and SEAP production and glycosylation in the presence of SH were compared with controls devoid of hemolymph. Growing Tn-4s cells in 5% SH-supplemented medium required progressive adaptation of the cells to SH, and adapted cells had a SEAP specific yield decreased by 2.5-fold compared with control cells not exposed to SH. Although SEAP produced in the control possessed little complex glycosylation (<1%), SEAP produced by SH-adapted cells in the presence of 5% SH possessed 8.7% sialylated structures, as well as unusual, asialylated, agalactosylated structures with a high degree of polymerization (DP). On the basis of enzymatic and mass-spectrometric analyses, we propose that these structures are glucosylated, high-mannose oligosaccharides. SEAP was also produced by Tn-4s cells without adaptation to SH when SH was added just prior to baculovirus infection, but SEAP specific yield was adversely affected (approximately fourfold reduction compared with control devoid of hemolymph), and glycosylation of SEAP produced under these conditions was characterized by large amounts of high-mannose and high-DP structures and an absence of complex structures. Similarly, Tn5B1-4 cells that were not adapted to SH had a SEAP specific yield reduced by approximately fivefold in SH-containing medium; however, these cells were able to produce 13.5% sialylated SEAP in the presence of 2.5% SH, whereas complex structures were not produced in the absence of SH. We propose that SH improves glycosylation either directly or indirectly by decreasing SEAP specific yield.     

人乙型肝炎病毒前表面抗原(preS)基因的突变及其在家蚕细胞中影响表达的研究

为探讨人乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV)前表面抗原 (preS)基因的表达调控机理 ,以实现高效表达 ,利用PCR方法在克隆的 preS基因的第 2、3位密码子引入同义突变 ,消除存在于 5 '端编码区保守的反向重复序列 ,将 preS基因及其突变形式 (MpreS)分别重组到转移载体 pBM0 30 ,获得 pBM preS和pBM MpreS。将 pBM preS和 pBM MpreS分别与野生型家蚕核型多角体病毒 (BmNPV)DNA共转染家蚕培养细胞 (BmN) ,经空斑筛选和杂交证实 ,分别获得重组病毒rBmNPV preS和rBmNPV MpreS。RNA点杂交和ELISA结果表明 :虽然在rBmNPV preS和rBmNPV MpreS感染的BmN细胞内都转录了 preS基因 ,但仅后者表达出 preS蛋白 ,提示preS基因的表达与基因内部起始区的反向重复序列密切相关。     

Purification,modification and inhibition mechanism of angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory peptide from silkworm pupa (Bombyx mori) protein hydrolysate

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide from silkworm pupa (Bombyx mori) was purified, modified, as well as inhibition mechanism by using molecular docking analysis. Silkworm pupa protein was hydrolyzed by neutral protease and the obtained hydrolysate was subjected to various types of chromatography to acquire peptide isolate. Then the molecular mass and amino acid sequence of the peptide was determined by MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. Subsequently, thermal and digestive stability of the peptide were explored through a high temperature processing and a simulated gastrointestinal digestion. Finally, the peptide was modified to smaller peptides and investigated their potentiate activities. Results showed that the peptide from silkworm pupa was determined to be Gly-Asn-Pro-Trp-Met (603.7 Da) with IC₅₀ 21.70 μM. Stability testing showed that ACE inhibitory activities were not significantly changed at temperature from 40 to 80 °C as well as during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. The inhibitory activity of four modified peptides were Trp-Trp > Gly-Asn-Pro-Trp-Trp > Asn-Pro-Trp-Trp > Pro-Trp-Trp, and the IC₅₀ of Trp-Trp was 10.76 μM Docking simulation revealed that the inhibitory activity was closely related to the spatial structure of peptide and zinc ions. The purified peptide and four modified peptides may be beneficial as functional food or drug for treating hypertension.     

An integrated database for the enhanced identification of silkworm gene resources

The National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS) has developed a web-based database to provide characterization information in silkworm. The silkworm database has four major function menus: variety searching, characterization viewing, general information and photo gallery. It provides 321 silkworm varieties characterization information for six different regions namely, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, European, Tropical and non-classified group. Additionally, the database provides 1,132 photo images regarding life cycle of various silkworm varieties. A specific characterization information table provides accession number, variety, strain and larval marking, blood color, cocoon color, cocoon shape, egg colors, remarks and image table provides photos which consist of shape and color in the different stages of larval, egg and cocoon stages. AVAILABILITY: The database is available for free at http://www.naas.go.kr/silkworm/english/     

转基因家蚕的研究进展及应用前景

转基因家蚕Bombyx mori是指利用分子生物学手段,将外源基因转移到家蚕染色体中, 使之出现先前不具有的性状和产物,并且可以保持传代,在个体水平可以体现外源基因的功能,使外源基因获得大量表达。目前转基因家蚕研究主要以piggyBac转座系统为常用载体, 绿色荧光蛋白(green fluorescent protein, GFP)基因为常用报告基因,经显微注射法获得转基因家蚕的成功率可达40%。通过转基因家蚕技术已经探明了家蚕外源导入核受体基因BmFtz-F1,调控家蚕体壁半透明的BmBLOS2基因、蜕皮启动激素(ecdysis-triggering hormone, ETH)基因以及家蚕抗菌肽CecB(cecropin B)基因的功能;获得了具有高品质、高细纤度、高拉伸强度和高弹性丝品种,能吐带绿色荧光或粉红色荧光的蚕丝品种, 抗家蚕核型多角体病毒(Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus, BmNPV)品种及抗藤黄微球菌的品种;成功表达纯化了人的Ⅲ型前胶原蛋白、 人碱性纤维生长因子、人血清蛋白、人脑源性神经营养因子、人胰岛素生长因子Ⅰ、猫干扰素、单克隆抗体等生物活性蛋白、疫苗及特殊的生物材料。随着家蚕转基因技术的深入研究, 转基因家蚕产物将在国防、 军工、 航天、 医药等方面有着更为广阔的应用前景。     

灰翅麦茎蜂蛹的发育分级研究

室内饲养了灰翅麦茎蜂Cephus fumipennis Eyersmann,对该种蛹的发育进行了研究.结果表明,灰翅麦茎蜂蛹期(30±2.08)d,根据蛹体色的显著变化分为5级(Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ,Ⅳ,Ⅴ),其历期依次为:(6.5±0.55)d、(3.9±0.48)d、(4.4±0.5)d、(4.6±0.49)d和(10.5±...     

The piRNA response to BmNPV infection in the silkworm fat body and midgut

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a DNA virus that causes huge losses to the silkworm industry but the piRNA responses during BmNPV infection in the silkworm remain uninvestigated. Here, silkworm piRNA profiles of uninfected and BmNPV-infected fat body and midgut were determined by high-through sequencing in the early stages of BmNPV infection. A total of 2675 and 3396 genome-derived piRNAs were identified from fat body and midgut, respectively. These genome-derived piRNAs mainly originated from unannotated instead of transposon regions in the silkworm genome. In total, 572 piRNAs were associated with 280 putative target genes in fat body and 805 piRNAs with 380 target genes in midgut. Compared to uninfected tissues, 322 and 129 piRNAs were significantly upregulated in BmNPV-infected fat body and midgut, respectively. In addition, 276 and 117 piRNAs were significantly downregulated. Moreover, differentially expressed (DE) piRNAs during BmNPV infection differed significantly between fat body and midgut. Putative DE piRNA–targeted genes were associated with “response to stimulus” and “environmental information processing” in fat body after infection with BmNPV, which may indicate an active piRNA response to BmNPV infection in fat body. This study may lay the foundation for future research of the potential roles of the piRNA pathway and specific piRNAs in BmNPV pathogenesis.     

Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infection in silkworm

Wolbachia naturally infects a wide variety of arthropods, where it plays important roles in host reproduction. It was previously reported that Wolbachia did not infect silkworm. By means of PCR and sequencing we found in this study that Wolbachia is indeed present in silkworm. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Wolbachia infection in silkworm may have occurred via transfer from parasitic wasps. Furthermore, Southern blotting results suggest a lateral transfer of the wsp gene into the genomes of some wild silkworms. By antibiotic treatments, we found that tetracycline and ciprofloxacin can eliminate Wolbachia in the silkworm and Wolbachia is important to ovary development of silkworm. These results provide clues towards a more comprehensive understanding of the interaction between Wolbachia and silkworm and possibly other lepidopteran insects.     

Baculoviral expression of correctly processed ADAMTS proteins fused with the human IgG-Fc region

A disintegrin-like and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS) is a novel family of extracellular proteases supposedly involved in inflammation, angiogenesis, development and coagulation. To overexpress the active ADAMTS proteins, we designed a chimeric molecule composed of a catalytic domain of ADAMTS-1 or -4 and the human IgG Fc region in a baculoviral expression system. Both ADAMTS-Fc fusions were produced efficiently in the baculovirus-infected insect cells. The purified fusions underwent cleavage at the predicted furin recognition site. Both ADAMTS-Fc fusions bound to alpha(2)-macroglobulin, further indicating that they were correctly processed with the catalytic activity in this system; however, they failed to digest the peptides derived from the aggrecan sequences known to be clipped by the native enzyme, possibly due to the lack of required multiple interactions existing between the native protease and physiological substrate. In conclusion, the high productivity and facilitated purification of the fusion proteins would offer the source of the biochemical, biophysical or structural studies on the catalytic domain of the ADAMTS proteins.     

Cultivation of Entomopathogenic Fungi for the Search of Antibacterial Compounds

Entomopathogenic fungi are a rich source of natural bioactive compounds. To establish cultivation conditions which facilitate the production of bioactive compounds and to select good genera among entomopathogenic fungi as the producer, 47 typical entomopathogenic fungi were tested for their ability to produce antibiotic activity. Thirty-eight strains (81%) and 30 strains (64%) of these fungi produced either anti-Bacillus compounds or anti-Staphylococcus compounds, respectively, indicating that the majority of the entomopathogenic fungi tested possessed the ability to produce antibacterial compounds. Using 9 representative strains (Aschersonia sp. HF724, Beauveria bassiana HF338, Cordyceps ramosopulvinata HF746, Metarhizium anisopliae HF293, Metarhizium flavoviride HF698, Nomuraea rileyi HF588, Paecilomyces fumosoroseus HF254, Paecilomyces tenuipes HF419, and Verticillium lecanii HF238), the cultivation conditions in liquid medium were surveyed with respect to the cultivation procedure and medium composition, particularly in terms of the presence or absence of insect-derived materials. At 26 °C, M. anisopliae HF293, N. rileyi HF588, and V. lecanii HF238 strains produced clear antibiotic activity against Bacillus and Saccharomyces, but only in the presence of insect-derived materials, suggesting that the production of antibacterial/antifungal compounds by entomopathogenic fungi is triggered by the presence of insect-derived materials.     

Effects of oral recombinant VP28 expressed in silkworm (Bombyx mori) pupa on immune response and disease resistance of Procambarus clarkii

The envelope protein VP28 of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) was overexpressed in the silkworm Bombyx mori, which was achieved by using a baculovirus (HyNPV) expression system and by making silkworm pupa as an alternative host, and then it was directly supplemented in diet at a dose of 20 g kg⁻¹ without purification. During a 30 day feeding period, the levels of phenoloxidase (PO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the haemolymph of the tested Procambarus clarkii increased greatly (P < 0.05) when compared to the control crayfish fed with wild-type HyNPV baculovirus-infected silkworms or normal silkworms. Compared with two controls, the crayfish which had been infected for 20 days showed a significantly lower (P < 0.05) mean cumulative mortality (15.6%), which respectively, resulted in relative percent survivals (RPS) of 83.7 and 84.4%. The efficacy to inhibition of viral infection was further studied by in situ hybridization with a WSSV-specific DNA probe. The high levels of PO and SOD might be important for developing resistance against WSSV in these crayfish.