反向PCR方法克隆腾冲嗜酸两面菌的分子伴侣基因

根据已知的Sulfolobus属的分子伴侣基因,设计简并引物,用PCR的方法从腾冲嗜酸两面菌（Acidianus tengchongensis）基因组DNA中分别克隆到了分子伴侣α亚基和β亚基的约500bp的基因片段。以它们为探针进行Southern杂交,确定了合适的限制性内切酶。以确定的限制性内切酶消化的基因组DNA环化物为模板,进行反向PCR反应,引物的延伸方向由已知序列出发沿环化分子向未知区域进行,扩增产物经测序表明为α亚基和β亚基基因。根据所得序列分别设计两对引物进行PCR,测序结果表明得到了α亚基和β亚基的完整基因。     

腾冲嗜酸热两面菌S5分子伴侣β亚基的表达、纯化和活性的初步分析

用NdeI和BamHI酶切回收腾冲嗜酸热两面菌S5的分子伴侣β亚基基因片段插入pET-23b的相应位置,并分别在BL21(DE3)和Rosetta-gami~(TM)B(DE3)pLysS中表达。表达的β亚基以可溶的形式存在。β亚基在Rosetta-gami~(TM)B(DE3)pLysS中表达较高,其占菌体总蛋白的16．2%,且以单体和聚体形式同时存在。表达的菌体经超声破碎、70℃热处理后,上清中β亚基蛋白含量达到30%,再经(NH_4)_2SO_4沉淀、Bio-Gel A-1．5m和DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B柱层析,得到在SDS-PAGE呈电泳均一的β亚基,Native-PAGE表明其为聚体,有弱的ATPase活性。     

反向PCR方法克隆腾冲嗜酸两面菌的分子伴侣基因*

根据已知的Sulfolobus属的分子伴侣基因,设计简并引物,用PCR的方法从腾冲嗜酸两面菌(Acidianus tengchongensis)基因组DNA中分别克隆到了分子伴侣α亚基和β亚基的约500bp的基因片段。以它们为探针进行Southern杂交,确定了合适的限制性内切酶。以确定的限制性内切酶消化的基因组DNA环化物为模板,进行反向PCR反应,引物的延伸方向由已知序列出发沿环化分子向未知区域进行,扩增产物经测序表明为α亚基和β亚基基因。根据所得序列分别设计两对引物进行PCR,测序结果     

万座嗜酸两面菌硫代谢相关膜蛋白基因的筛选

活性巯基在浸矿微生物硫代谢的过程中起着重要的作用,半胱氨酸残基作为蛋白质中活性巯基的提供者,为筛选硫代谢相关蛋白质基因提供了依据。本研究以极端嗜酸热古菌万座嗜酸两面菌Acidianus manzaensis为研究对象,基于其全基因组注释信息,筛选出编码富半胱氨酸残基的潜在硫代谢相关膜蛋白基因,并通过RT-qPCR实验对筛选出来的基因进行表达水平验证,同时利用生物信息学方法对其进一步分析。研究表明,与在亚铁中生长的细胞相比,单质硫培养下的细菌中与能量代谢相关的β-葡糖苷酶,与电子传递相关的ATP合成酶、NADH-辅酶Q氧化还原酶基因均表达上调,说明硫代谢途径可能与能量代谢和电子传递有着重要的联系。此外,还有三个假定蛋白基因表达上调,这三个假定膜蛋白中,ARM75161.1、ARM75436.1中的半胱氨酸都位于保守区域,且均有一个半胱氨酸残基暴露于膜外,而ARM75580.1中的半光氨酸不位于保守区域。其中ARM75436.1具有CXXXC结构域,且该结构域中半胱氨酸残基处于同一个β-折叠中。这些假定蛋白可能参与A. manzaensis中硫代谢途径。     

极端嗜酸热古菌S5菌株的重新分类研究

对已经鉴定的嗜酸热硫球菌 (Sulfosphaerellusthermoacidophilumgen.nov .sp .nov)S5菌株的进一步研究发现 ,它既能在好氧条件也能在厌氧条件下代谢元素硫进行化能自养生长 ,结合其 1 6SrRNA基因的分子系统学分析 ,S5菌株应归于Acidianus属。另外 ,S5菌株与Acidianus属中三个已知种基因组DNA的同源性分别仅有 44%、2 2 %和 2 3% ,DNA中G +Cmol%为 38,与已知种 31 0和 32 7有较大差异 ;而且 ,在代谢特性上S5菌株为专性化能无机营养型 ,与Acidianusbrierleyi有明显不同。因此S5菌株应是Acidianus属中一个新种 ,建议定名为 :腾冲嗜酸两面菌 (Acidianustengchongensessp .nov .)。     

极端环境下嗜热酸甲烷营养细菌研究进展

甲烷营养细菌能够将温室气体甲烷(CH4)转化为CO2或生物质,在碳生物地球化学循环及缓解由温室气体导致的全球气候变化方面发挥着重要的作用.甲烷营养细菌生存的条件范围较为广泛,但在中性pH (5～8)和中温(20～35℃)范围内生长最佳.系统进化分析认为,它们均属于γ-或α-变形菌门(Proteobacteria).最近3项独立完成的研究从极端热酸(pH接近1,温度高于50℃)环境中分离获得了具有甲烷氧化(营养)功能的微生物,经鉴定均属于疣微菌门(Verrucomicrobia).这些全新的、不同于以往的研究结果不仅是对现有关于甲烷营养细菌生态学认知的进一步拓展,同时也暗示着可能存在着新型的、由微生物介导的CH4氧化途径与机制. 因此,特就极端环境中嗜热嗜酸甲烷营养细菌的最新研究进展作一概述.     

嗜酸青霉酸性木聚糖酶产生特性及部分酶学性质

从煤矿酸性废水中分离到一株产木聚糖酶青霉,通过酸性液体培养研究了菌体生长对pH的响应及木聚糖酶的产生特征,并测定了木聚糖酶的部分应用性质.结果表明:实验菌株嗜酸,菌丝生长最适pH为2.0,孢子萌发生长适宜pH为3.0～4.0;木聚糖诱导菌体在生长稳定期大量产生木聚糖酶,蛋白胨是菌体产酶的适宜氮源;菌株所产木聚糖酶属于酸性木聚糖酶,反应最适pH 3.5、最适温度50 ℃～55 ℃,pH 2.0时酶活达到最高活力的72%,在最适反应条件下保温60 min,残余酶活接近70%,适用于较强酸性的高温加工环境.     

腾冲嗜酸热两面菌伴侣素ATcpnβ底物结合特性研究

嗜酸嗜热古菌腾冲嗜酸热两面菌(Acidianus tengchongensis)来源的Ⅱ型伴侣素ATcpnβ已获得晶体结构解析,其顶端结构域突触下端相应于Ⅰ型伴侣素GroEL的重要底物结合位点处的氨基酸多为极性氨基酸,将其突变为疏水性氨基酸时,突变体对变性底物的捕获能力显著增强.表面等离子共振研究表明,ATcpnβ对于化学变性底物的再折叠中间体的其捕获作用不依赖于Mg2+/ATP.前期对该伴侣素冷冻电镜观察和结构解析表明,ATP的存在并不能驱动ATcpnβ从开放构型向闭合构型转变,但是表面等离子共振研究表明,ATcpnβ对热变性过程中已经聚集的底物的捕获作用依赖于Mg2+/ATP,说明Mg2+/ATP可以介导ATcpnβ顶端结构域一定的构象变化,引起顶端结构域疏水残基的进一步暴露,从而能够与大分子聚集体紧密结合.两个方面的研究均表明,伴侣素蛋白与变性底物的结合仍然以疏水相互作用为主,并且伴侣素蛋白与变性底物的结合受Mg2+/ATP的结合调控,与伴侣素蛋白疏水面的暴露程度相关.     

嗜酸菌耐酸pH平衡机制及潜在应用

嗜酸菌是一类可以在极端酸性环境下生存的微生物,在生物整治以及耐热耐酸酶的提取等领域发挥着重要作用。一些嗜中性工程菌株在发酵过程中经常遇到自身环境酸化的问题,嗜酸菌独特的耐酸能力及其耐酸模块为构建耐酸能力强的嗜中性工程菌株提供了思路。因此,从细胞膜的稳定性及低渗透性,耐酸相关的能量代谢,生物大分子的修复以及胞内缓冲作用等方面对嗜酸菌的耐酸机制进行深入探讨,并展望了嗜酸菌在耐酸工程菌株合成生物学领域的作用。     

嗜酸红假单胞菌的分离与鉴定

A sabin P301 of Gram negative purple nonsulfur bacterium was isolatedfrom the ditch's mud collected in Fuzholl. Fujian. The cells are red-shaped.Mulhplication occur by budding without stalk formation. Growth optimum PH is 5.05.7. No growth faCtors required. The cells contain baCteriochlorophyll a Thephotosynthehc membrane system consistS of Palallel lamellae. According tO Bergey'sManual of Detendnahve Bacteriology, sib ed. (1974) and 9th ed. (1994),the stainwas identified to be Rhodopseudomonas acidophila. …     

Adaptation by hot spring phototrophs to reduced light intensities

Photosynthesis was measured by the ¹⁴C method on natural as well as low light adapted populations of Chloroflexus (a photosynthetic bacterium) and Synechococcus (a blue-green alga) from hot springs in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming U.S.A.), to test the ability of these phototrophs to photosynthesize at a variety of light intensities. The herbicide 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea (DCMU) was used to distinguish uptake of the blue-green alga from that of the photosynthetic bacterium, while measurements of chlorophyll a and bacterio-chlorophyll c served to quantitate the standing crops of these organisms.Natural populations of Synechococcus were found to be slightly inhibited by full sunlight intensities (summer values can surpass 90000 Lux), whereas the Chloroflexus populations were not. Populations of both phototrophs subjected to reduced light intensities through the use of neutral density filters were found to adapt to low light, and then become severely inhibited by high light intensities. Adaptation to various light regimes may be an important ecological phenomenon to the survival of these hot spring phototrophs.     

Bacterial strategies to inhabit acidic environments

Bacteria can inhabit a wide range of environmental conditions, including extremes in pH ranging from 1 to 11. The primary strategy employed by bacteria in acidic environments is to maintain a constant cytoplasmic pH value. However, many data demonstrate that bacteria can grow under conditions in which pH values are out of the range in which cytoplasmic pH is kept constant. Based on these observations, a novel notion was proposed that bacteria have strategies to survive even if the cytoplasm is acidified by low external pH. Under these conditions, bacteria are obliged to use acid-resistant systems, implying that multiple systems having the same physiological role are operating at different cytoplasmic pH values. If this is true, it is quite likely that bacteria have genes that are induced by environmental stimuli under different pH conditions. In fact, acid-inducible genes often respond to another factor(s) besides pH. Furthermore, distinct genes might be required for growth or survival at acid pH under different environmental conditions because functions of many systems are dependent on external conditions. Systems operating at acid pH have been described to date, but numerous genes remain to be identified that function to protect bacteria from an acid challenge. Identification and analysis of these genes is critical, not only to elucidate bacterial physiology, but also to increase the understanding of bacterial pathogenesis.     

Adaptation to new environments: microgravity

Review and analysis of the experiments with Wastar rats in microgravity onboard "Cosmos" biosatellites allows to conclude that adaptive potentials of mammals in space flights lasting up to 1/50 th of their life span are enough for rapid elimination of microgravity-induced metabolic and structural alterations on return to Earth, for maintenance of adequate reactions to acute and chronic stressors in the post-flight period, for normal reproductive function and life span. Consideration is given to individual differences in body responses to the micro-g environment.     

Adaptation to spatially heterogeneous modifying and adaptive environments

The development of an individual's phenotype is influenced by environmental factors (the modifying environment) which may differ from those factors (the adaptive environment) that decide on the adaptational value of the developed phenotype. The shapes of adaptationally optimal norms of reaction are therefore essentially determined by associations between these two environmental components together with the degree of adaptational sensitivity of the developed phenotypes. Two complementary aspects of optimality are accounted for: (a) environments can be optimal for a given norm of reaction and (b) norms of reaction can be optimal for a given environment. The results are obtained for random distribution of genotypes over environmental conditions and under the physiologically reasonable premise that fitness is a function of the costs of modification and adaptation. It turned out that the associations of adaptive and modifying environments are the primary sources of adaptational optimization. More specifically, it is shown that (i) independence between the two environmental components constitutes an adaptationally optimal environment only for norms of reaction in which all phenotypes are adaptively insensitive; (ii) if costs of modification do not depend on the environment, and if the two environmental components are not associated, adaptationally optimal norms of reaction can always be realized through phenogenetic invariance; (iii) as a rule, adaptively sensitive phenotypes developed under strong environmental associations necessitate phenogenetic plasticity for the optimal norm of reaction; (iv) a norm of reaction which is adaptationally optimal in its adaptationally optimal environment can always be realized through phenogenetic invariance, if costs of modification do not vary with the environment. These results reveal an important role of patterns of adaptive sensitivity of phenotypes, which may even surpass that of shapes of norms of reaction in adaptational processes.     

Extremophiles and their adaptation to hot environments.

Water-containing terrestrial, subterranean and submarine high temperature areas harbor a variety of hyperthermophilic bacteria and archaea which are able to grow optimally above 80 degrees C. Hyperthermophiles are adapted to hot environments by their physiological and nutritional requirements. As a consequence, cell components like proteins, nucleic acids and membranes have to be stable and even function best at temperatures around 100 degrees C. The chemolithoautotrophic archaeon Pyrolobus fumarii is able to grow at 113 degrees C and, therefore, represents the upper temperature border of life. For the first time, (vegetative) cultures of Pyrolobus and Pyrodictium are able to survive autoclaving.     

Adaptation of model proteins from cold to hot environments involves continuous and small adjustments of average parameters related to amino acid composition

The growth temperature adaptation of six model proteins has been studied in 42 microorganisms belonging to eubacterial and archaeal kingdoms, covering optimum growth temperatures from 7 to 103 degrees C. The selected proteins include three elongation factors involved in translation, the enzymes glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and superoxide dismutase, the cell division protein FtsZ. The common strategy of protein adaptation from cold to hot environments implies the occurrence of small changes in the amino acid composition, without altering the overall structure of the macromolecule. These continuous adjustments were investigated through parameters related to the amino acid composition of each protein. The average value per residue of mass, volume and accessible surface area allowed an evaluation of the usage of bulky residues, whereas the average hydrophobicity reflected that of hydrophobic residues. The specific proportion of bulky and hydrophobic residues in each protein almost linearly increased with the temperature of the host microorganism. This finding agrees with the structural and functional properties exhibited by proteins in differently adapted sources, thus explaining the great compactness or the high flexibility exhibited by (hyper)thermophilic or psychrophilic proteins, respectively. Indeed, heat-adapted proteins incline toward the usage of heavier-size and more hydrophobic residues with respect to mesophiles, whereas the cold-adapted macromolecules show the opposite behavior with a certain preference for smaller-size and less hydrophobic residues. An investigation on the different increase of bulky residues along with the growth temperature observed in the six model proteins suggests the relevance of the possible different role and/or structure organization played by protein domains. The significance of the linear correlations between growth temperature and parameters related to the amino acid composition improved when the analysis was collectively carried out on all model proteins.     

Exploration and isolation of novel thermophiles in frozen enrichment cultures derived from a terrestrial acidic hot spring

An isolation strategy, exploring novel microorganisms in frozen enrichment cultures (ENFE), which uses a combination of enrichment culture and 16S rRNA gene clone analysis, was evaluated for isolating uncultured thermophiles from a terrestrial acidic hot spring. The procedure comprised (a) multiple enrichment cultures under various conditions, (b) cryostorage of all enrichments, (c) microbial community analyses of the enrichments using 16S rRNA gene sequences, and (d) purification of microorganisms from enrichments containing previously uncultured microorganisms. The enrichments were performed under a total of 36 conditions, and 16 of these enrichments yielded positive microbial growth with the detection of three previously uncultured archaea. Two of the three previously uncultured archaea, strains HS-1 and HS-3, were successfully isolated. Strain HS-1 and HS-3 represented a novel lineage of the order Sulfolobales and novel species of the genus Sulfolobus, respectively. Although innovative isolation methods play strategic roles in isolating previously uncultured microorganisms, the ENFE strategy showed potential for characterizing and isolating such microorganisms using conventional media and techniques.