橡胶树橡胶生物合成调控相关基因表达丰度比较

蛋白质是构成生命系统的基本元件之一,是大部分生物学功能的执行者.蛋白质丰度与其生物学功能息息相关,其丰度受基因表达过程中各环节严格精密的调控.其中,蛋白质丰度与其相应mRNA丰度存在较强的相关性,蛋白质丰度差异的40％可由mRNA丰度来解释.茉莉酸信号途径调节巴西橡胶树中的天然橡胶生物合成,但相关基因彼此间的表达丰度差...     

两种实验技术在蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用检测中的应用

蛋白质是生命活动的主要承担者.蛋白质种类繁多,结构多样,具有十分广泛的生物学功能,可作为载体蛋白、酶蛋白和信号肽等参与调控细胞内的各种代谢活动.生物体内蛋白质与其他分子的相互作用,尤其是蛋白质-蛋白质之间的相互作用,是蛋白质行使这些重要生物学功能的基础.通过研究可以相互作用的蛋白质形成的各种复合体,对揭示蛋白质的功能,...     

拟南芥蛋白质丰度与基因翻译效率关联分析

蛋白质的合成是一个复杂的过程,其中蛋白质丰度是衡量基因表达的一个最终指标,在生物体生命活动中具有重要作用的蛋白质通常都为高丰度蛋白质。通过对PaxDB网站拟南芥各组织器官蛋白质丰度的统计,并采用DAMBE和CodonW计算其对应基因的I_(TE)和CAI值,最后用R语言分析蛋白质丰度与I_(TE)的关系,并采用对数值替代原有的丰度值。结果表明,所使用的I_(TE)较原有CAI的分析方法更有效,在拟南芥的基因中高表达基因在不同的组织中有相似的表达水平,拟南芥蛋白质丰度与I_(TE)有很好的相关性,并且I_(TE)值能更好地拟合拟南芥蛋白质丰度值的变化。     

tRNA丰度与基因表达的关系

tRNA作为蛋白质合成过程中重要参与成分之一 ,其种类和含量的多少会在一定程度上直接或间接地影响到基因表达的速率和时空性 ,是生物在长期进化过程中调节和控制基因表达的主要手段之一。对tRNA丰度与基因表达的关系进行了综述 ,并指出其在基因工程中的重要地位。     

细胞质膜蛋白质组学

随着基于质谱的大规模蛋白质鉴定技术的建立,蛋白质组学得到迅速发展。同时由于质膜在细胞生命活动中的重要作用,质膜蛋白质组学逐渐兴起,并发展成为蛋白质组学研究中的重要组成部分。但由于膜蛋白尤其是内在膜蛋白的强疏水性、低丰度,造成蛋白质提取、分离和鉴定相对困难,使质膜蛋白质组成为蛋白质组研究中的一个技术难点。     

原核生物的蛋白质翻译后修饰

蛋白质翻译后修饰是调节蛋白质生物学功能的关键步骤之一,是蛋白质动态反应和相互作用的一个重要分子基础,同时,它也是细胞信号网络调控的重要靶点.目前,蛋白质翻译后修饰已经成为国际上蛋白质研究的一个极其重要的热点.在原核生物生命活动中,蛋白质的翻译后修饰具有十分重要的作用,如参与细胞信号传导、物质的代谢、蛋白质的降解、致病微生物的致病过程等.综述了经典原核生物蛋白质翻译后修饰的种类、机制和功能,同时介绍了最近发现的原核生物的全局性乙酰化修饰以及结核分枝杆菌中类泛素化修饰.     

长链非编码RNA在生物体中的调控作用

长链非编码RNA(Long non-coding RNA,lncRNA)的发现是基因组学和分子生物学研究领域的重要进展。lncRNA在生命活动中具有重要的调节功能,其表达紊乱与多种人类疾病的发生发展密切相关。研究表明,几乎所有的调控性lncRNA通过与不同种类的生物大分子,如DNA、RNA和蛋白质发生相互作用而行使其功能。文章概述了lncRNA在表观遗传学水平、转录水平及转录后水平调控基因表达的效应机制,并探讨了lncRNA如何在肿瘤发生和宿主防御过程中行使功能。不同于小分子ncRNA通过碱基互补配对调控靶基因的表达,大多数已鉴定的lncRNA通过调节蛋白质活性或维持蛋白质复合物的完整性发挥其生物学功能。因此,鉴定lncRNA-蛋白质相互作用可能是理解lncRNA功能的首要任务。     

磷酸化蛋白质组学的新进展及其在肝脏生理和病理机制中的应用

蛋白质磷酸化是最常见的蛋白质翻译后修饰形式。由于蛋白质的磷酸化形式可以被磷酸酶和磷酸激酶进行可逆的调控,所以在众多的生命活动过程中蛋白质的磷酸化修饰起着重要的调控作用,因此对生物体内蛋白质磷酸化修饰的系统研究对于揭示生命科学的奥秘显得十分重要。近年来,随着质谱技术和生物信息学软件以及磷酸化肽段富集方法的发展,利用质谱对生物体内蛋白质磷酸化修饰研究的技术逐渐成熟。肝脏作为人体最重要的代谢和免疫器官,深入研究肝脏细胞内蛋白质磷酸化修饰形式对于理解其功能具有重要指导意义。目前,迅速发展的磷酸化蛋白质组学技术已经被广泛应用到肝脏功能的生物学研究中。这些研究加深了人们对肝脏的生理及病理状态的分子生物学机制的了解。本文综述了当前磷酸化蛋白质组学的研究进展和磷酸化蛋白质组学在肝脏中的研究。     

蛋白质预算：合成生物学的成本标尺

合成生物学以创建人工生命体系为目的.实践中人们希望人工生命体系具有更强的生产能力、转化能力、环境适应与监测能力,从而获得更优质的生产方式.生命体系的优化涉及到多层次的调控网络,而根本上还是对细胞中蛋白质的含量、定位、活性的控制.在蛋白质表达水平上进行控制是合成生物学元件设计、模块组装以及适配性研究最核心的手段.类似于工厂中的成本计算,合成生物学创建的人工生命体系(人工细胞工厂)以蛋白质预算为依据.优化蛋白质预算的研究策略已经成功应用于合成生物学研究实践中.     

《PLoS综合》：研究发现多物种间蛋白质丰度整体分布规律

贺福初院士所领导的军事医学科学院放射与辐射医学研究所、北京蛋白质组研究中心、蛋白质组学国家重点实验室及复旦大学生物医学研究院科研团队近来在多物种间揭示了蛋白质丰度的整体分布与蛋白质的进化、结构和功能存在规律性的相关，     

Biogeography of parasite abundance: latitudinal gradient and distance decay of similarity in the abundance of fleas and mites,parasitic on small mammals in the Palearctic,at three spatial scales

We tested whether biogeographic patterns characteristic for biological communities can also apply to populations and investigated geographic patterns of variation in abundance of ectoparasites (fleas and mites) collected from bodies of their small mammalian hosts (rodents and shrews) in the Palearctic at continental, regional and local scales. We asked whether (i) there is a relationship between latitude and abundance and (ii) similarity in abundance follows a distance decay pattern or it is better explained by variation in extrinsic biotic and abiotic factors. We analysed the effect of latitude on mean intraspecific abundance using general linear models including proportional abundance of its principal host as an additional predictor variable. Then, we examined the relative effect of geographic distance, biotic and abiotic dissimilarities among regions, subregions or localities on the intraspecific dissimilarity in abundance among regions, subregions or localities using Generalized Dissimilarity Modelling. We found no relationship between latitude and intraspecific flea or mite abundance. In both taxa, environmental dissimilarity explained the largest part of the deviance of spatial variation in abundance, whereas the effect of the dissimilarity in the principal host abundance was of secondary importance and the effect of geographic distance was minor. These patterns were generally consistent across the three spatial scales, although environmental variation and dissimilarity in principal host abundance were equally important at the local scale in fleas but not in mites. We conclude that biogeographic patterns related to latitude and geographic distance do not apply to spatial variation of ectoparasite abundance. Instead, the geographic distribution of abundance in arthropod ectoparasites depends on their responses, mainly to the off-host environment and to a lesser extent the abundance of their principal hosts.     

Reduction in animal abundance and oxygen availability during and after the end-Triassic mass extinction

The end-Triassic biodiversity crisis was one of the most severe mass extinctions in the history of animal life. However, the extent to which the loss of taxonomic diversity was coupled with a reduction in organismal abundance remains to be quantified. Further, the temporal relationship between organismal abundance and local marine redox conditions is lacking in carbonate sections. To address these questions, we measured skeletal grain abundance in shallow-marine limestones by point counting 293 thin sections from four stratigraphic sections across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in the Lombardy Basin and Apennine Platform of western Tethys. Skeletal abundance decreased abruptly across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in all stratigraphic sections. The abundance of skeletal organisms remained low throughout the lower-middle Hettangian strata and began to rebound during the late Hettangian and early Sinemurian. A two-way ANOVA indicates that sample age (p < .01, η² = 0.30) explains more of the variation in skeletal abundance than the depositional environment or paleobathymetry (p < .01, η² = 0.15). Measured I/Ca ratios, a proxy for local shallow-marine redox conditions, show this same pattern with the lowest I/Ca ratios occurring in the early Hettangian. The close correspondence between oceanic water column oxygen levels and skeletal abundance indicates a connection between redox conditions and benthic organismal abundance across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. These findings indicate that the end-Triassic mass extinction reduced not only the biodiversity but also the carrying capacity for skeletal organisms in early Hettangian ecosystems, adding to evidence that mass extinction of species generally leads to mass rarity among survivors.     

Complex topology rather than complex membership is a determinant of protein dosage sensitivity

The ‘balance hypothesis’ predicts that non‐stoichiometric variations in concentrations of proteins participating in complexes should be deleterious. As a corollary, heterozygous deletions and overexpression of protein complex members should have measurable fitness effects. However, genome‐wide studies of heterozygous deletions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and overexpression have been unable to unambiguously relate complex membership to dosage sensitivity. We test the hypothesis that it is not complex membership alone but rather the topology of interactions within a complex that is a predictor of dosage sensitivity. We develop a model that uses the law of mass action to consider how complex formation might be affected by varying protein concentrations given a protein's topological positioning within the complex. Although we find little evidence for combinatorial inhibition of complex formation playing a major role in overexpression phenotypes, consistent with previous results, we show significant correlations between predicted sensitivity of complex formation to protein concentrations and both heterozygous deletion fitness and protein abundance noise levels. Our model suggests a mechanism for dosage sensitivity and provides testable predictions for the effect of alterations in protein abundance noise.     

Comparing expression level-dependent features in codon usage with protein abundance: an analysis of 'predictive proteomics'

Synonymous codon usage is a commonly used means for estimating gene expression levels of Escherichia coli genes and has also been used for predicting highly expressed genes for a number of prokaryotic genomes. By comparison of expression level-dependent features in codon usage with protein abundance data from two proteome studies of exponentially growing E. coli and Bacillus subtilis cells, we try to evaluate whether the implicit assumption of this approach can be confirmed with experimental data. Log-odds ratio scores are used to model differences in codon usage between highly expressed genes and genomic average. Using these, the strength and significance of expression level-dependent features in codon usage were determined for the genes of the Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Haemophilus influenzae genomes. The comparison of codon usage features with protein abundance data confirmed a relationship between these to be present, although exceptions to this, possibly related to functional context, were found. For species with expression level-dependent features in their codon usage, the applied methodology could be used to improve in silico simulations of the outcome of two-dimensional gel electrophoretic experiments.     

Differential protein expression in male and female human lumbar cerebrospinal fluid using iTRAQ reagents after abundant protein depletion

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has become one of the most frequently used biological medium for physiological studies for neurological disorders due to its proximity to the brain and clinical availability; however, before undertaking a rational approach to biomarker discovery or diagnostics, it is crucial to understand the underlying characteristics of CSF proteome in subpopulations. In this study, we examined the differential expression of proteins in pooled male and female CSF utilizing isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) reagents after the depletion of six high abundant proteins using a multiple affinity removal system (MARS). A total of 219 proteins were identified (95% confidence level), and 12 proteins showed difference in expression levels. Eleven out of 12 differentially expressed proteins showed ratios of male/female between 1.15 and 1.29 (duplicate average), indicating a remarkable similarity between male and female CSF. One notable exception was the slightly lower expression level of ceruloplasmin (ferroxidase) in male CSF (0.81), a copper containing protein that catalyzes the conversion of ferrous iron to ferric iron with antioxidant properties. We also examined the levels of ceruloplasmin in each individual patient sample which constituted the pooled CSF using Western blot analysis which confirmed the lower expression levels of ceruloplasmin in male CSF.     

Towards an understanding of the role of intrinsic protein disorder on plant adaptation to environmental challenges

Intrinsic protein disorder is an interesting structural feature where fully functional proteins lack a three-dimensional structure in solution. In this work, we estimated the relative content of intrinsic protein disorder in 96 plant proteomes including monocots and eudicots. In this analysis, we found variation in the relative abundance of intrinsic protein disorder among these major clades; the relative level of disorder is higher in monocots than eudicots. In turn, there is an inverse relationship between the degree of intrinsic protein disorder and protein length, with smaller proteins being more disordered. The relative abundance of amino acids depends on intrinsic disorder and also varies among clades. Within the nucleus, intrinsically disordered proteins are more abundant than ordered proteins. Intrinsically disordered proteins are specialized in regulatory functions, nucleic acid binding, RNA processing, and in response to environmental stimuli. The implications of this on plants’ responses to their environment are discussed.     

Connections between ecology,biogeography, and paleobiology: Relationship between local abundance and geographic distribution in fossil and recent molluscs

Summary We used data on Contemporary and Pleistocene molluscs at one site in the Gulf of California to evaluate and extend earlier ideas about the relationship between local abundance and geographic distribution. For each species whose shells occurred in one Recent and two Pleistocene deposits, we measured its abundance in the sample and relative latitudinal position within its contemporary geographic range. Species near the edges of their ranges showed uniformly low abundances, whereas those near the centres exhibited a wide range of abundances. Species near the edges of their ranges also appear to have exhibited greater changes in abundance, including more colonization and extinction events, between the Pleistocene interglacial sample and the Recent one. The constraint of location in the geographic range on maximal local and regional abundance appears to offer an example of a connection between patterns and processes on local, regional, and geographical scales. Characteristics of community structure, such as relative abundance of individual species and frequency of local co-existence of multiple species, may be influenced by the location of the sample site with respect to the geographic ranges of the constituent species. These results demonstrate emergent, statistical features of population ecology and community organization that are manifest over geographic space and evolutionary time.