噬藻体辅助代谢基因(AMGs)研究进展

噬藻体是一类广泛存在于海洋及淡水环境中以蓝藻为感染宿主的病毒,对蓝藻种群结构与多样性以及水生态环境具有重要的影响。噬藻体携带一系列与宿主新陈代谢相关的同源基因被称为辅助代谢基因。它们编码的蛋白在噬藻体感染蓝藻过程中,可参与宿主的光合作用、戊糖磷酸循环、营养物质摄取以及核苷酸生物合成等代谢活动。近年来,一些辅助代谢基因被作为噬藻体分子检测的靶标基因,并用于噬藻体遗传多样性及其与蓝藻间相互关系的研究。本文综述了国内外有关噬藻体辅助代谢基因的来源、生物学功能及其多样性等方面的研究进展。     

噬藻体生物多样性的研究动态

噬藻体(Cyanophage)是感染原核生物蓝藻(Cyanobacteria)的病毒,广泛分布于各种水生态系统中,对调控初级生产力、蓝藻种群密度及结构演替、微生物间基因转移以及全球生物地理化学循环等方面有重大影响。关注噬藻体的生物多样性,发现其感染相关基因,阐明噬藻体与宿主蓝藻的相互作用,将为藻华控制及认识病毒在复杂水环境中的功能提供重要信息。本文就噬藻体生物多样性,包括生态系统多样性、物种多样性及遗传多样性研究动态做一综述。     

蓝藻病毒(噬藻体)的研究进展

蓝藻(Bule-green algae)是一类原核生物,具有细菌的一些特征,因此又常称为蓝细菌(Cyanobacterium),相应地,把感染蓝细菌的病毒称为噬藻体(Cyanophage)[1～2],这是由于噬藻体与噬菌体非常相似的缘故.除蓝藻外,所有其它的藻类均是真核生物,通常将感染真核藻类的病毒称作"藻病毒"(Phycovirus)[3],它们的绝大多数是多角体的粒子(Polyhedral particles),只有个别如珊瑚轮藻(Chara corallina)病毒是杆状的[4].真核藻类病毒和病毒类粒子(VLPs)前文有过综述[4],蓝藻病毒或噬藻体则完全不同于真核藻类的病毒,二者是藻类病毒的重要组成部分,蓝藻病毒的研究情况有必要专门介绍.     

噬藻体和蓝藻间的基因转移及协同进化作用

生物物种之间的水平基因转移广泛存在于细菌、古生菌和真核生物中,并能造成同一生境中种群的快速协同进化。噬藻体是感染蓝藻的专一性病毒,近年研究表明其在蓝藻水华生消中发挥了重要作用,使人们认识到了噬藻体的重要生态地位。综述了物种间的水平基因转移,介绍了噬藻体遗传多样性研究中常用的光合作用基因、结构蛋白基因等靶标基因所介导的基因转移以及基因转移引起的病毒和宿主的协同进化,并介绍了研究基因转移所用到的试验技术以及今后所要面临的问题。     

纳帕海高原湿地噬藻体g20基因系统发育多样性分析

【背景】噬藻体是感染蓝藻的病毒,是水生系统的重要组成部分。它们对宿主种群死亡率有重要影响,是控制蓝藻水华生消的潜在因子,对蓝藻群落结构的调控具有重要意义。大量研究揭示了海洋和淡水环境中噬藻体的高度多样性,但目前对高原湿地中噬藻体的多样性知之甚少。【目的】阐明我国纳帕海高原湿地噬藻体g20基因的遗传多样性,为进一步开展高原湿地微生物资源及其生态功能研究提供理论基础。【方法】采集雨季的水体样品,以衣壳蛋白基因g20为标记基因,利用特异性引物Cps1和Cps8对其进行PCR扩增,得到26条不同的g20基因有效序列,并将其与其他生境中g20基因序列进行主坐标分析和系统发育分析。【结果】与其他海洋和淡水的噬藻体序列相比,纳帕海高原湿地中噬藻体的序列与其他稻田序列更为相近;但也存在部分序列单独聚簇,这可能为纳帕海高原湿地中独有的噬藻体类型。【结论】表明该地区的噬藻体较丰富,并具有一定的独特性。     

噬藻体PaV-LD主要衣壳蛋白、穿孔素和内肽酶基因的克隆及表达分析

最近阐明了水华蓝藻噬藻体PaV-LD (Planktothrix agardhii Virus isolated from Lake Donghu)的全基因组序列, 这是一个含有142个ORF的双链DNA噬藻体。在此, 我们对其主要衣壳蛋白基因073R, 内肽酶和穿孔素基因123L-124L(PaV-LD基因组中两个相邻的ORF)进行了基因克隆与表达分析。将073R克隆后构建原核表达质粒pET-32a-073R, 并用IPTG进行诱导表达, 073R融合蛋白经纯化后, 进行免疫小鼠制备抗体; 通过Western blot检测经噬藻体感染宿主细胞后073R的表达时序, 结果显示在宿主细胞裂解之初, 即PaV-LD感染48h以后073R开始表达, 表明073R是一个晚期基因; 同时073R推导的氨基酸序列与34株噬藻(菌)体及2株藻病毒(感染真核藻的病毒)的主要衣壳蛋白的氨基酸序列进行序列比对, 显示073R与无尾的藻病毒衣壳蛋白亲缘关系更近。PCR扩增内肽酶和穿孔素基因123L-124L, 并构建质粒pOP123L-124L, 将其转入模式藻集胞藻PCC6803细胞中, 质粒pOP123L-124L与藻集胞藻PCC6803基因组发生重组, 形成重组藻; 测定了重组藻与野生藻的生长速率, 并绘制生长曲线; 制备超薄切片, 进一步比较和观察重组藻与野生藻的超微结构的变化。结果显示重组藻与野生藻存在生长速率与超微形态的显著差异。       

噬藻体光合作用基因研究

感染原绿球藻和聚球藻的噬藻体基因组中普遍存在与psbA、psbD和hli等同源的基因,这些基因编码的蛋白参与光合作用,是光合成反应中心II(photosystem II,PSII)的重要组成成分,在噬藻体感染蓝藻过程中可能发挥着重要的作用。一些假说认为这些基因可能来自于宿主并发生共进化。因此,光合作用基因的功能、起源与演变及基因多样性分布引起了人们的关注。     

不同自然环境下噬藻体g20基因多样性研究进展北大核心CSCD

随着分子生物学技术发展与病毒基因组测序的推进,对地球上数量最大且广泛存在的病毒及其基因多样性的研究备受科学家们关注。迄今为止,仍未发现类似于细菌16S rDNA和真菌18S rDNA的病毒通用分子标记,但利用病毒某些家族的保守氨基酸序列设计简并性引物可研究环境中病毒多样性,并取得了一系列突破性成果。本文以编码噬藻体壳组装蛋白基因g20为目标,综述了噬藻体在海洋、湖泊和稻田中噬藻体基因多样性的研究进展,讨论了噬藻体g20基因分布与生存环境的相关性,发现不同的自然环境中都存在着独特的类群。同时指出了针对环境中噬藻体g20基因研究存在的问题及未来研究发展的趋势。     

噬藻体PP对野生宿主——丝状蓝藻的吸附率、裂解周期及释放量的影响

研究在日光光照条件下,以自然水体中存在的丝状蓝藻作为噬藻体PP的野生宿主,用离心法测定了噬藻体PP对野生宿主藻的吸附率,用一步生长曲线法获得了噬藻体PP对野生宿主藻的裂解周期及释放量。结果表明:噬藻体PP对野生宿主藻在60min时能够达到的吸附率为1.79‰,吸附系数为8.09%,噬藻体PP感染野生宿主藻的潜伏期介于45～75min之间,平均释放量为34.32PFU·Cell-1。上述结果一方面说明,噬藻体PP感染野生宿主藻的吸附系数、潜伏期及释放量均远小于以实验室培养的鲍氏织线藻作为宿主所得到的数据;另一方面也说明,噬藻体PP具有较强的吸附和裂解野生宿主的能力,这将有助于解释噬藻体PP在淡水富营养化水体中具有广泛分布的现象。     

大庆湿地可培养噬藻体的分离及其相关基因的系统进化分析

【目的】揭示大庆湿地可培养蓝藻噬菌体遗传基因多样性,分析其系统进化地位,为噬藻体生态学研究提供数据支持。【方法】以鱼腥藻(Anabaena PCC7120)为宿主,采用液体富集和双层平板法分离大庆湿地水体中可培养的噬藻体,提取噬藻体混合液的DNA,PCR扩增噬藻体编码衣壳组装蛋白的g20基因和编码T7型短尾病毒的核糖体聚合酶的pol基因,克隆测序,构建系统进化树,明确可培养噬藻体相关基因的系统进化地位。【结果】克隆测序获得1条g20基因序列,4条pol基因序列。系统进化分析表明,获得g20序列隶属于可培养噬藻体类群(Clusterδ)中。而3条pol基因与我国吉林碱性稻田水体噬藻体类群(PG-Pol-I和PG-Pol-II)更相近,另一条pol序列形成独立的进化分枝。【结论】这是首次调查大庆湿地水体侵染鱼腥藻的可培养噬藻体的g20和pol基因,初步确认以鱼腥藻(Anabaena PCC7120)为宿主的可培养噬藻体g20基因归属于Clusterδ中,而大庆湿地可培养噬藻体的pol基因与我国大安稻田水体pol基因相近。     

Identification of a diagnostic marker to detect freshwater cyanophages of filamentous cyanobacteria

Cyanophages are viruses that infect the cyanobacteria, globally important photosynthetic microorganisms. Cyanophages are considered significant components of microbial communities, playing major roles in influencing host community diversity and primary productivity, terminating cyanobacterial water blooms, and influencing biogeochemical cycles. Cyanophages are ubiquitous in both marine and freshwater systems; however, the majority of molecular research has been biased toward the study of marine cyanophages. In this study, a diagnostic probe was developed to detect freshwater cyanophages in natural waters. Oligonucleotide PCR-based primers were designed to specifically amplify the major capsid protein gene from previously characterized freshwater cyanomyoviruses that are infectious to the filamentous, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterial genera Anabaena and Nostoc. The primers were also successful in yielding PCR products from mixed virus communities concentrated from water samples collected from freshwater lakes in the United Kingdom. The probes are thought to provide a useful tool for the investigation of cyanophage diversity in freshwater environments.     

Genetic engineering of marine cyanophages reveals integration but not lysogeny in T7-like cyanophages

Marine cyanobacteria of the genera Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus are the most abundant photosynthetic organisms on earth, spanning vast regions of the oceans and contributing significantly to global primary production. Their viruses (cyanophages) greatly influence cyanobacterial ecology and evolution. Although many cyanophage genomes have been sequenced, insight into the functional role of cyanophage genes is limited by the lack of a cyanophage genetic engineering system. Here, we describe a simple, generalizable method for genetic engineering of cyanophages from multiple families, that we named REEP for REcombination, Enrichment and PCR screening. This method enables direct investigation of key cyanophage genes, and its simplicity makes it adaptable to other ecologically relevant host-virus systems. T7-like cyanophages often carry integrase genes and attachment sites, yet exhibit lytic infection dynamics. Here, using REEP, we investigated their ability to integrate and maintain a lysogenic life cycle. We found that these cyanophages integrate into the host genome and that the integrase and attachment site are required for integration. However, stable lysogens did not form. The frequency of integration was found to be low in both lab cultures and the oceans. These findings suggest that T7-like cyanophage integration is transient and is not part of a classical lysogenic cycle.Subject terms: Microbial ecology, Bacteriophages     

Identification of a Diagnostic Marker To Detect Freshwater Cyanophages of Filamentous Cyanobacteria

Cyanophages are viruses that infect the cyanobacteria, globally important photosynthetic microorganisms. Cyanophages are considered significant components of microbial communities, playing major roles in influencing host community diversity and primary productivity, terminating cyanobacterial water blooms, and influencing biogeochemical cycles. Cyanophages are ubiquitous in both marine and freshwater systems; however, the majority of molecular research has been biased toward the study of marine cyanophages. In this study, a diagnostic probe was developed to detect freshwater cyanophages in natural waters. Oligonucleotide PCR-based primers were designed to specifically amplify the major capsid protein gene from previously characterized freshwater cyanomyoviruses that are infectious to the filamentous, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterial genera Anabaena and Nostoc. The primers were also successful in yielding PCR products from mixed virus communities concentrated from water samples collected from freshwater lakes in the United Kingdom. The probes are thought to provide a useful tool for the investigation of cyanophage diversity in freshwater environments.     

也西湖噬藻体的分离与鉴定

【背景】噬藻体是一类特异性侵染蓝藻的病毒,广泛存在于淡水和海水水体中,参与调控宿主蓝藻的丰度和种群密度,被认为是潜在的蓝藻水华生物防控工具。但目前的研究多集中于海洋噬藻体,对淡水噬藻体的生物学特性和结构生物学等研究较少。【目的】分离更多种类的淡水噬藻体,为研究淡水噬藻体的三维结构、侵染机制、与宿主的共进化关系,及其在蓝藻水华防治中的应用提供理论基础。【方法】采集中国科学技术大学西校区内景观湖也西湖水华暴发水域的水样,利用液体培养基和双层固体平板法对17种宿主蓝藻进行筛选,通过NaCl-PEG沉淀法和氯化铯密度梯度离心分离和纯化噬藻体,并利用负染电镜观察噬藻体的形态,同时采用梯度稀释法测定裂解液的效价。【结果】发现也西湖的水样可特异性侵染本实验室分离自巢湖的一株拟鱼腥藻Pan。侵染后的裂解液中存在4株形态各异的噬藻体,包括1株短尾噬藻体和3株长尾噬藻体,其中包括首次发现的1株含有非典型长轴状头部结构的淡水噬藻体。【结论】也西湖作为巢湖流域的一个小型水体,具有与巢湖类似的水华蓝藻及其噬藻体分布谱,因此可以用于模拟大型湖泊进行相关分子生态学和生物防控的研究。     

Specialization versus adaptation: two strategies employed by cyanophages to enhance their translation efficiencies

Effective translation of the viral genome during the infection cycle most likely enhances its fitness. In this study, we reveal two different strategies employed by cyanophages, viruses infecting cyanobacteria, to enhance their translation efficiency. Cyanophages of the T7-like Podoviridae family adjust their GC content and codon usage to those of their hosts. In contrast, cyanophages of the T4-like Myoviridae family maintain genomes with low GC content, thus sometimes differing from that of their hosts. By introducing their own specific set of tRNAs, they appear to modulate the tRNA pools of hosts with tRNAs that fit the viral low GC preferred codons. We assessed the possible effects of those viral tRNAs on cyanophages and cyanobacterial genomes using the tRNA adaptation index, which measures the extent to which a given pool of tRNAs translates efficiently particular genes. We found a strong selective pressure to gain and maintain tRNAs that will boost translation of myoviral genes when infecting a high GC host, contrasted by a negligible effect on the host genes. Thus, myoviral tRNAs may represent an adaptive strategy to enhance fitness when infecting high GC hosts, thereby potentially broadening the spectrum of hosts while alleviating the need to adjust global parameters such as GC content for each specific host.     

新型聚球藻噬藻体Yong-L2-223的分离及基因组分析

【目的】噬藻体(cyanophages)是特异性侵染蓝藻(cyanobacteria)的病毒，广泛分布于各类水体中，在调节蓝藻种群动态和密度、推动生物地球水生生态系统循环中起着重要作用。本研究的目的在于分离、鉴定噬藻体。【方法】本研究以海洋聚球藻(Synechococcus sp.) PCC 7002为指示宿主，从淡水水样中分离培养一株新型噬藻体Yong-L2-223，对其进行了宿主范围实验、全基因组测序、基因功能注释和系统进化分析。【结果】针对31株供试蓝藻的宿主范围实验，结果除指示藻PCC 7002 [属于聚球藻目(Synechococcales)]外，Yong-L2-223能够感染2株淡水蓝藻，分别是来源于滇池的绿色微囊藻(Microcystis viridis) FACHB-1342 [属于色球藻目(Chroococcales)]和水华束丝藻(Aphanizomenon flos-aquae)FACHB-1209[属于念珠藻目(Nostocales)]。既可在高盐条件下感染海洋蓝藻，又可在低盐条件下感染淡水蓝藻，Yong-L2-223具有广盐性。透射电镜观察表明，Yong-L2...     

Crystal structure of a novel fold protein Gp72 from the freshwater cyanophage Mic1

Cyanophages, widespread in aquatic systems, are a class of viruses that specifically infect cyanobacteria. Though they play important roles in modulating the homeostasis of cyanobacterial populations, little is known about the freshwater cyanophages, especially those hypothetical proteins of unknown function. Mic1 is a freshwater siphocyanophage isolated from the Lake Chaohu. It encodes three hypothetical proteins Gp65, Gp66, and Gp72, which share an identity of 61.6% to 83%. However, we find these three homologous proteins differ from each other in oligomeric state. Moreover, we solve the crystal structure of Gp72 at 2.3 Å, which represents a novel fold in the α + β class. Structural analyses combined with redox assays enable us to propose a model of disulfide bond mediated oligomerization for Gp72. Altogether, these findings provide structural and biochemical basis for further investigations on the freshwater cyanophage Mic1.