A Phylogenetic analysis of Heparanase (HPSE) gene

The Current Study aimed to investigate the possible role of Heparanase protein (HPSE-1, [Entrez Pubmed ref|NP_001092010.1|, heparanase isoform 1 preproprotein [Homo sapiens]) in evolution by studying the phylogenetic relationship and divergence of HPSE-1 gene using computational methods. The Human HPSE protein sequences from various species were retrieved from GenBank database and were compared using sequence alignment. Multiple sequence alignment was done using Clustal-W with defaults and phylogenetic trees for the gene were built using neighbor-joining method as in BLAST 2.2.26+ version. A total of 112 BLAST hits were found for the heparanase query sequence and these hits showed putative conserved domain, Glyco_hydro_79n superfamily. We then narrowed down the search by manually deleting the proteins which were not HPSE-1. These sequences were then subjected to phylogenetic analyses using the PhyML and TreeDyn software. Our study indicated that HPSE-1 is a conserved protein in classes Mammalia, Aves, Amphibia, Actinopterygii and Insecta emphasizing its importance in the physiology of cell membranes. Occurrence of this gene in evolution with conserved sites strengthens the role of HPSE-1 gene and helps in better understanding the biochemical processes that may lead to cancer.     

Phylogenetic analysis of cubilin (CUBN) gene

Cubilin, (CUBN; also known as intrinsic factor-cobalamin receptor [Homo sapiens Entrez Pubmed ref {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"NM_001081.3","term_id":"126091151","term_text":"NM_001081.3"}}NM_001081.3; {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"NG_008967.1","term_id":"212549718","term_text":"NG_008967.1"}}NG_008967.1; GI: 119606627]), located in the epithelium of intestine and kidney acts as a receptor for intrinsic factor – vitamin B12 complexes. Mutations in CUBN may play a role in autosomal recessive megaloblastic anemia. The current study investigated the possible role of CUBN in evolution using phylogenetic testing. A total of 588 BLAST hits were found for the cubilin query sequence and these hits showed putative conserved domain, CUB superfamily (as on 27^th Nov 2012). A first-pass phylogenetic tree was constructed to identify the taxa which most often contained the CUBN sequences. Following this, we narrowed down the search by manually deleting sequences which were not CUBN. A repeat phylogenetic analysis of 25 taxa was performed using PhyML, RAxML and TreeDyn softwares to confirm that CUBN is a conserved protein emphasizing its importance as an extracellular domain and being present in proteins mostly known to be involved in development in many chordate taxa but not found in prokaryotes, plants and yeast.. No horizontal gene transfers have been found between different taxa.     

Crystal structure of uroporphyrinogen III synthase from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000

Uroporphyrinogen III synthase (U3S) is one of the key enzymes in the biosynthesis of tetrapyrrole compounds. It catalyzes the cyclization of the linear hydroxymethylbilane (HMB) to uroporphyrinogen III (uro’gen III). We have determined the crystal structure of U3S from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (psU3S) at 2.5 Å resolution by the single wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) method. Each psU3S molecule consists of two domains interlinked by a two-stranded antiparallel β-sheet. The conformation of psU3S is different from its homologous proteins because of the flexibility of the linker between the two domains, which might be related to this enzyme’s catalytic properties. Based on mutation and activity analysis, a key residue, Arg219, was found to be important for the catalytic activity of psU3S. Mutation of Arg219 to Ala caused a decrease in enzymatic activity to about 25% that of the wild type enzyme. Our results provide the structural basis and biochemical evidence to further elucidate the catalytic mechanism of U3S.     

Congenital erythropoietic porphyria with two mutations of the uroporphyrinogen III synthase gene (Cys73Arg, Thr228Met)

Congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP) is an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism that results from the markedly deficient activity of uroporphyrinogen III synthase (UROS). We describe a 14-year-old girl with red urine since infancy, progressive blistering and scarring of the skin, and moderate hemolytic anemia. After years of skin damage, her face is mutilated; she has a bald patch on the scalp, hypertrichosis of the neck, areas of skin darkening, and limited joint movements of the hands. Total urine excretion and fecal total porphyrin were both markedly raised above normal levels. Sequencing of the UROS gene identified two mutations causing CEP (Cys73Arg, Thr228Met). The patient lesions are progressing. Bone marrow transplantation and/or gene therapy are proposed as the next steps in her treatment. In brief, we describe a CEP with confirmed two pathogenic mutations, severe phenotype and discuss the various treatment options available.     

Oxysterol binding proteins (OSBPs) and their encoding genes in Arabidopsis and rice

Cell wall deposition, biosynthesis of steroid hormones, and maintenance of membrane composition and integrity, are some of the crucial functions of sterols in plants. Followed by their synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum, the sterols accumulate in the plasma membrane. The concept of sterol trafficking in plant cell is not well understood. The oxysterol binding proteins are implicated in sterol transport in non-plant systems. In the study, the oxysterol binding proteins in Arabidopsis and rice are described and classified. The Arabidopsis genome encodes 12 oxysterol binding proteins-related proteins (ORPs) as compared to 6 oxysterol binding proteins (OSBPs/ORPs) in rice. The protein alignment studies reveal that amino acid sequences for oxysterol binding proteins are relatively well conserved in Arabidopsis and rice. The rice OSBPs are classified based on their phylogenetic relationship with Arabidopsis ORPs. The sequence LOGO built on LOC_Os03g16690 indicated presence of fingerprint region of amino acids “EQVSHHPP” for Arabidopsis and rice OSBPs/ORPs. The organization of pleckstrin homology domain is identified in several OSBPs/ORPs in Arabidopsis and rice. The Arabidopsis oligonucleotide array data is explored to understand the expression patterns of ORPs under 17 different experimental conditions. The analysis showed the expression of ORPs in Arabidopsis is necessarily under the control of biotic stress, chemical, elicitor, hormone, light intensity, abiotic stress, and temperature conditions. The linear mean signal values for Arabidopsis ORPs revealed their relative expression patterns in different developmental stages. The genes for ORP3C and ORP3B are highly expressed in all developmental stages that were analyzed. The present study thus indicates crucial functional role of the individual members of this gene family in different environmental stress conditions.     

Cloning and expression of zebrafish genes encoding the heme synthesis enzymes uroporphyrinogen III synthase (UROS) and protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO).

Heme is synthesized from glycine and succinyl CoA by eight heme synthesis enzymes. Although genetic defects in any of these enzymes are known to cause severe human blood diseases, their developmental expression in mammals is unknown. In this paper, we report two zebrafish heme synthesis enzymes, uroporphyrinogen III synthase (UROS) and protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) that are well conserved in comparison to their human counterparts. Both UROS and PPO formed pairs of bilateral stripes in the lateral plate mesoderm at the 15-somite stage. At 24 h post-fertilization (hpf), UROS and PPO were predominantly expressed in the intermediate cell mass (ICM) that is the major site of primitive hematopoiesis. The expression of UROS and PPO was drastically suppressed in the bloodless mutants cloche and vlad tepes/gata 1 from 15-somite to 24hpf stages, indicating that both cloche and vlad tepes/gata 1 are required for the induction and maintenance of UROS and PPO expression in the ICM.     

Characterization of His-tagged Rat Uroporphyrinogen III Synthase Wild-Type and Variant Enzymes

The structurally related tetrapyrrolic pigments are a group of natural products that participate in many of the fundamental biosynthetic and catabolic processes of living organisms. Urogen III synthase catalyzes a key step in the formation of urogen III, a common intermediate for tetrapyrrolic natural products. In the present study, we cloned, purified, and characterized His-tagged rat urogen III synthase. The mechanism of enzymatic reaction was studied through site-directed mutagenesis of eight highly conserved residues with functional side chains around the active site followed with activity tests. Lys10, Asp17, Glu68, Tyr97, Asn121, Lys147, and His173 have not been studied previously, which were found to be unessential for enzymatic reaction. Tyr168 was identified as an important residue for enzymatic reaction catalyzed by rat urogen III synthase. Molecular modeling suggests the hydroxyl group of Tyr168 side chain is 3.5 A away from the D ring, and is within hydrogen bond distance (1.9 A) with acetate side chain of the D ring.     

Biphenyl synthase,a novel type III polyketide synthase

Biphenyls and dibenzofurans are the phytoalexins of the Maloideae, a subfamily of the economically important Rosaceae. The carbon skeleton of the two classes of antimicrobial secondary metabolites is formed by biphenyl synthase (BIS). A cDNA encoding this key enzyme was cloned from yeast-extract-treated cell cultures of Sorbus aucuparia. BIS is a novel type III polyketide synthase (PKS) that shares about 60% amino acid sequence identity with other members of the enzyme superfamily. Its preferred starter substrate is benzoyl-CoA that undergoes iterative condensation with three molecules of malonyl-CoA to give 3,5-dihydroxybiphenyl via intramolecular aldol condensation. BIS did not accept CoA-linked cinnamic acids such as 4-coumaroyl-CoA. This substrate, however, was the preferential starter molecule for chalcone synthase (CHS) that was also cloned from S. aucuparia cell cultures. While BIS expression was rapidly, strongly and transiently induced by yeast extract treatment, CHS expression was not. In a phylogenetic tree, BIS grouped together closely with benzophenone synthase (BPS) that also uses benzoyl-CoA as starter molecule but cyclizes the common intermediate via intramolecular Claisen condensation. The molecular characterization of BIS thus contributes to the understanding of the functional diversity and evolution of type III PKSs.     

Phylogenetic relationships of rhizobia based on citrate synthase gene sequences

Partial nucleotide sequences of the citrate synthase (gltA) gene from different rhizobia genera were determined. Tree topologies based on this housekeeping gene were similar to that obtained using 16S rRNA sequences. However gltA appeared to be more reliable at determining phylogenetic relationships of closely related taxa. We propose gltA sequences as an additional tool to be used in molecular phylogenetic studies.     

Evolution study of the Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenases enzyme family: Functional importance of the highly conserved residues

Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) catalyze the transformation of linear and cyclic ketones into their corresponding esters and lactones by introducing an oxygen atom into a C–C bond. This bioreaction has numerous advantages compared to its chemical version; it does not induce the use of potentially harmful reagents (i.e., green chemistry) and displays significant better enantio- and regio-selectivity.     

Cloning and characterization of a type III polyketide synthase from Aspergillus niger

Type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) are the condensing enzymes that catalyze the formation of a myriad of aromatic polyketides in plant, bacteria, and fungi. Here we report the cloning and characterization of a putative type III PKS from Aspergillusniger, AnPKS. This enzyme catalyzes the synthesis of alkyl pyrones from C2 to C18 starter CoA thioesters with malonyl-CoA as an extender CoA through decaboxylative condensation and cyclization. It displays broad substrate specificity toward fatty acyl-CoA starters to yield triketide and tetraketide pyrones, with benzoyl-CoA as the most preferred starter. The optimal temperature and pH of AnPKS are 50°C and 8, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the enzyme shows the highest catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) of 7.4×10(5)s(-1)M(-1) toward benzoyl-CoA. Homology modeling and site-directed mutagenesis were used to probe the molecular basis of its substrate specificity. This study should open doors for further engineering of AnPKS as a biocatalyst for synthesis of value-added polyketides.     

Porphobilinogen deaminase and uroporphyrinogen III synthase: Structure,molecular biology,and mechanism

Porphobilinogen deaminase (hydroxymethylbilane synthase) and uroporphyrinogen III synthase (uroporphyrinogen III cosynthase) catalyze the transformation of four molecules of porphobilinogen, via the 1-hydroxymethylbilane, preuroporphyrinogen, into uroporphyrinogen III. A combination of studies involving protein chemistry, molecular biology, site-directed mutagenesis, and the use of chemically synthesized substrate analogs and inhibitors is helping to unravel the complex mechanisms by which the two enzymes function. The determination of the X-ray structure ofE. coli porphobilinogen deaminase at 1.76 Å resolution has provided the springboard for the design of further experiments to elucidate the precise mechanism for the assembly of both the dipyrromethane cofactor and the tetrapyrrole chain. The human deaminase structure has been modeled from theE. coli structure and has led to a molecular explanation for the disease acute intermittent porphyria. Molecular modeling has also been employed to simulate the spiro-mechanism of uroporphyrinogen III synthase.     

PKSIIIexplorer: TSVM approach for predicting Type III polyketide synthase proteins

PKSIIIexplorer, a web server based on 'transductive Support Vector Machine' allows fast and reliable prediction of Type III polyketide synthase proteins. It provides a simple unique platform to identify the probability of a particular sequence, being a type III polyketide synthases or not with moderately high accuracy. We hope that our method could serve as a useful program for the type III polyketide researchers. The tool is available at "http://type3pks.in/tsvm/pks3". ABBREVIATIONS: PKS - Polyketide synthase, CHS - Chalcone synthase, SVM - Support vector machine, MCC - Matthews Correlation Coefficient.     

基于核糖体DNA内转录间隔区ITS序列的广义蓼属及近缘属分子系统学研究

通过对广义蓼属及近缘属共32个代表种内转录间隔区ITS序列的分子系统学分析,尝试研究备受争议的广义蓼属及近缘属的物种族、属、组级的划分问题,结果显示,广义蓼属在系统发育树上并不能形成一个单系类群,这些物种共聚为3大支,分别对应春蓼族、蓼族及荞麦族,其中荞麦属与翅果蓼属形成了一支独立于春蓼族及蓼族之外的类群。在春蓼族中,冰岛蓼属与分叉蓼组形成一个单系类群。     

Phylogenetic utility of the nuclear gene malate synthase in the palm family (Arecaceae)

There is currently a shortage of DNA regions known to be useful for phylogenetic research in palms (Arecaceae). We report the development and use of primers for amplifying and sequencing regions of the nuclear gene malate synthase. In palms the gene appears to be single-copy, with exon regions that are phylogenetically informative within the family. We constructed a phylogeny of 45 palms and five outgroup taxa using 428 bp of malate synthase exon regions. We found that some major clades within the family were recovered, but there was a lack of resolution among the genera in subfamilies Arecoideae, Ceroxyloideae, Coryphoideae, and Phytelephantoideae. In a second analysis, malate synthase exon regions totaling 1002 bp were sequenced for 16 palms and two outgroup taxa. There was increased bootstrap support for some groups and for the placement of the monotypic genus Nypa as sister to the rest of the family. A comparison with data sets from noncoding regions of the chloroplast genome indicates that malate synthase sequences are more variable and potentially contain more phylogenetic information. We found no evidence of multiple copies of the malate synthase gene in palm genomes.     

苦荞查尔酮合酶基因FtCHS1启动子的克隆及分析

采用染色体步移技术,从苦荞（Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.）中克隆获得FtCHS1基因5'端侧翼序列,共1038 bp,将其命名为P_FtCHS1。生物信息学分析表明,P_FtCHS1中A/T碱基含量为63.5%,含有4个可能的转录起始位点,分别位于起始密码子上游-684~-734、-692~-742、-920~-970、-929~-979 bp处,该序列包含TATA-Box和CAAT-Box等启动子核心元件以及与光、低温和激素应答等相关的功能元件。本研究进一步构建了P_FtCHS1-pBI101植物表达载体,并瞬时转化拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana L.）叶片,结果显示该序列可驱动GUS报告基因的表达。低温（4℃）和光照（UV-B）处理苦荞幼芽后,采用荧光定量PCR技术分析FtCHS1基因的表达量,结果表明P_FtCHS1可响应低温和紫外环境胁迫,从而引起FtCHS1基因表达量发生变化。     

白鱀豚BDNF基因的扩增和序列分析

利用聚合酶链式反应,首次从白鱀豚基因组DNA 中扩增和克隆到脑源神经营养因子的编码区。在该段序列中含有一个长为747 bp 的开放阅读框,无内含子,编码一个由248 个氨基酸组成的蛋白质,预计分子量为27 953.7道尔顿。其中包括由18 个氨基酸残基组成的信号肽区,111 个氨基酸残基组成的前肽区及119 个氨基酸残基组成的成熟区。序列分析表明,白鱀豚脑源神经营养因子基因编码区的核苷酸序列与其它哺乳动物相似性超过90%,而与猪牛相似性相对较高（分别为95% 和94.7%）。氨基酸序列比较发现,白鱀豚BDNF 前体蛋白的氨基酸序列与其它哺乳动物具有94.5% ～99.5%的相似性,显示了极高的保守性。通过邻接法进行的系统发生分析中,鲸目和食肉目的物种分别聚为单系;与其它哺乳动物相比,鲸类与有蹄类的牛和猪的亲缘关系相对较近,这与鲸类和有蹄类之间具有相对较近的亲缘关系相符。
     

Purification and properties of uroporphyrinogen III synthase (co-synthetase) from Euglena gracilis.

Uroporphyrinogen III synthase (co-synthetase) purified from Euglena gracilis is a monomer of Mr 38 500 by gel-filtration studies and 31 000 by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. The pI is apparently in the range 4.8-5.1. No evidence for any cofactors was found, and folate derivatives were shown to be absent; no metal ions appear to be present in the enzyme. The Km for hydroxymethylbilane is in the range 12-40 microM, and the product, uroporphyrinogen III, is an inhibitor. Modification studies suggest that arginine residues are essential for the activity of co-synthetase; lysine residues may also be essential, but histidine, cysteine and tyrosine residues are not.     

基于matR基因序列分析的山茶科系统关系

通过线粒体matR基因序列分析探讨了山茶科的分类学范围和系统演化关系。结果显示,传统山茶科的两个核心——山茶亚科（Theoideae或Camellioideae）和厚皮香亚科（Ternstroemioideae）不构成姐妹群关系,山茶亚科是一个支持率很高的单系类群,厚皮香亚科没有形成单系;山茶亚科下可区分出3个明显的分支,基部的分支由紫茎属（Stewartia）和舟柄茶属（Hartia）组成,木荷属（Schima）、美洲荷属（Franklirda）和美国大头茶属（Gordonia）构成第2个分支,该分支与由山茶属（Camellia）、核果茶属（Pyrenaria）、多瓣核果茶属（Parapyrenaria）、石笔木属（Tutcheria）、大头荣属（Polyspora）和圆籽荷属（Aptersperma）组成的第3个分支互为姐妹群。研究结果很好地支持了Prince和Parks等学者提出的的狭义山茶科（仅含山茶亚科）和狭义大头茶属的概念以及科下3个族（紫茎族Stewartieae、大头茶族Gordonieae和山茶族Theeae）的划分。但本研究更为清晰地揭示了科下3个族间的系统关系,即紫茎族是最基部的分支,山茶族与大头茶族间有更近的亲缘关系。同时,本文认为,厚皮香（亚）科是否为单系类群值得进一步研究。