木聚糖酶和木聚糖酶抑制蛋白在植物-病原菌互作中的作用

植物病原菌靠分泌的多种细胞壁水解酶侵染植物组织,由于禾本类植物细胞壁的主要成分是半纤维素,因此认为木聚糖酶是禾本植物病原菌入侵宿主的物质基础,但对植物来说,病原菌木聚糖酶则可能作为激发子诱发植物的抗病防御反应,另外,植物体内也产生可抵抗木聚糖酶作用的蛋白质性质的抑制剂。本丈就病原菌木聚糖酶的这种双重作用和木聚糖酶抑制蛋白在植物防御系统中的作用研究进展作介绍。     

木聚糖酶分子进化的研究进展

木聚糖的降解需要多种水解酶的协同作用,其中βD1,4内切木聚糖酶是最关键的水解酶之一。同一家族木聚糖酶氨基酸序列间有较高的同源性和较近的亲缘关系,这标准通常用于酶的家族归类。不同来源的同种木聚糖酶在相同位置上的氨基酸残基起源于共同祖先或者具有相似的生物学功能,而在进化过程中,对酶分子结构、催化起重要作用的氨基酸残基往往高度保守。综述了木聚糖酶分子进化的研究进展及其应用前景 。     

分泌型蛋白介导白念珠菌与宿主相互作用分子机制的研究进展

白念珠菌是人类最常见的条件性致病真菌之一,主要定植于人体粘膜表面。在白念珠菌与宿主相互作用过程中,分泌型蛋白起着非常重要的作用。针对分泌蛋白功能及其作用机理的研究有助于阐明白念珠菌致病分子机制,并为诊断、预防和治疗真菌感染提供新的理论策略。本文综述了白念珠菌分泌型蛋白在介导病原与宿主相互作用分子机制方面的最新研究进展,概括了分泌蛋白在组织侵入损伤、营养获取、细胞壁维持以及免疫逃避等方面的功能,同时对未来值得重点关注的研究方向进行了探讨。     

巨噬细胞迁移抑制因子分子机制研究进展

巨噬细胞迁移抑制因子（macrophage migration inhibitory factor, MIF）是一类多效性的前炎症细胞因子,能够促进其他多种前炎症因子的分泌或表达。其基因在大多数哺乳动物基因组中具有90%的同源性。MIF启动子区含有能够与多种转录因子结合的DNA结合位点,同时含有与其表达水平相关的多态性位点。MIF发挥其生物学功能,一方面可以通过非受体介导的内吞作用,实现MIF与c-Jun激活结构域结合蛋白-1（JAB1）的相互作用;另一方面,受体依赖型的MIF能够激活包括PI3K/AKT、MAPK和G蛋白偶联受体相关的信号传导途径等。此外,MIF还能够通过直接或间接方式调节肿瘤抑制基因p53的功能。MIF已经被证实参与调解炎症、肿瘤生成和纤维化等生物学过程。从MIF表达、相关受体、涉及的信号通路与生物学过程等方面,对其分子功能的研究进展进行了总结,并对MIF相关的分子机理进行了综述,旨在为MIF相关疾病的诊断和治疗提供线索。     

FHL2通过相互作用抑制分化抑制蛋白家族成员的转录抑制活性

目的：探讨FHL2与Id（分化抑制蛋白）家族蛋白之间的相互作用及FHL2对Id蛋白功能的调控效应。方法：用GST-pulldown与免疫共沉淀（CoIP）方法检测FHL2与Id家族蛋白成员之间在体内外的相互作用;用共转染与报告基因驱动的萤光素酶方法检测FHL2对Id蛋白介导转录抑制效应的调控作用。结果：FHL2与Id家族的4个蛋白均存在直接的相互作用关系,表位分析结果显示FHL2蛋白中的第2个LIM结构域在FHL2/Id相互作用中是必需的,Id蛋白N端结构域在介导FHL2/Id相互作用中是必需的,FHL2/Id相互作用不依赖于Id蛋白中的螺旋-环-螺旋结构;通过相互作用,FHL2阻止了Id蛋白对碱性螺旋-环-螺旋转录因子E47转录活性的抑制作用。结论：FHL2是一个新识别的Id蛋白广谱的相互作用因子,通过对Id蛋白功能活性的抑制效应,FHL2可能参与Id介导的多种生物学效应以及肿瘤发生与进展。     

细菌中I型毒素蛋白与细胞膜相互作用机制的研究进展

I型毒素-抗毒素（TA）系统在细菌基因组中广泛存在,在细菌的生长、生存中发挥多种生物学功能,包括抗菌、红细胞毒性、促进持留菌形成、抑制细菌生长或导致细菌休眠等。绝大部分I型毒素蛋白以细胞膜作为靶标,目前已知的一种作用机制是在细胞膜上形成孔洞结构,造成膜电位的下降或细胞膜的破坏,从而抑制ATP的合成或导致细菌死亡;另一种可能的作用机制是毒素蛋白作用在细胞膜上,改变细胞的形状,导致细胞进入休眠状态。I型毒素蛋白-细胞膜作用机制的复杂性和生物功能的多样性远超预期。因此,解析I型毒素蛋白在不同细胞膜中的组装机制及其所形成结构特征就变得非常重要,这也是揭示其结构-功能关系的关键。本文通过综述已报道的I型TA系统的结构特征与生物学功能,结合对其跨膜结构域的预测,探讨了其可能在细胞膜中形成的不同结构及其对功能的影响,分析了影响作用机制的关键因素。这些研究既给耐药细菌的治疗带来机遇,又为新型抗菌药物的研发带来思路。     

噬菌体与细菌相互作用的分子机制研究进展

噬菌体与细菌是自然界中存在最广泛的两类微生物,两者在群体水平、个体水平以及分子水平上均存在复杂的相互作用关系.细菌能够影响溶原性噬菌体的溶原-裂解决策,而被噬菌体感染的细菌基因表达谱也会受到噬菌体影响,使宿主菌的代谢、应激、抵抗力、毒性等多种性状发生改变.现从细菌和噬菌体两者的角度,分别综述细菌抵抗噬菌体感染以及噬菌体...     

长时程抑制在学习记忆中的作用及其分子机制的研究进展

长时程抑制(long term depression,LTD)是突触可塑性的重要形式之一,并且与学习记忆存在着密切的关系。近10年有关LTD的研究表明：LTD诱导和维持过程所必需的许多分子在进化上具有高度的保守性,多种细胞膜受体、细胞信号转导通路级联成分、基因表达的转录调节因子与学习记忆的调控有关,这些研究结果为我们阐明脑的正常功能,治疗中枢系统神经疾病,提供了新的线索。     

SpA蛋白与磷脂单分子膜相互作用的研究

利用石英表面沉积ＬＢ膜的紫外吸收特性与ＣＤ谱特性研究了磷脂单分子膜与ＳｐＡ的相互作用,实验结果表明,单分子膜的疏密状态,蛋白质与膜表面的电荷特性及亚相Ｃａ＾２＋离子浓度均对该蛋白质与磷脂的相互作用有显著的影响,蛋白质在磷膜中的镶嵌与吸附作用为生物膜的重组提供了新的途径。     

造纸用木聚糖酶的基因工程研究进展

木聚糖酶用于造纸行业可以显著改善纸浆的性能,减少纸张处理过程中有害化学试剂的使用,从而减轻环境污染,提高纸张品质,因此在造纸工业中具有广阔的应用前景。本文从造纸用碱性木聚糖酶基因的克隆、分子改造、高效表达及在造纸行业的应用研究等方面出发,对造纸用碱性木聚糖酶的研究现状进行综述,为开发造纸用木聚糖酶提供了思路。     

Biochemical and structural characterization of TLXI,the Triticum aestivum L. thaumatin-like xylanase inhibitor

Thaumatin-like xylanase inhibitors (TLXI) are recently discovered wheat proteins. They belong to the family of the thaumatin-like proteins and inhibit glycoside hydrolase family 11 endoxylanases commonly used in different cereal based (bio)technological processes. We here report on the biochemical characterisation of TLXI. Its inhibition activity is temperature- and pH-dependent and shows a maximum at approximately 40°C and pH 5.0. The TLXI structure model, generated with the crystal structure of thaumatin as template, shows the occurrence of five disulfide bridges and three β-sheets. Much as in the structures of other short-chain thaumatin-like proteins, no α-helix is present. The circular dichroism spectrum of TLXI confirms the absence of α-helices and the presence of antiparallel β-sheets. All ten cysteine residues in TLXI are involved in disulfide bridges. TLXI is stable for at least 120 min between pH 1–12 and for at least 2 hours at 100°C, making it much more stable than the other two xylanase inhibitors from wheat, i.e. Triticum aestivum xylanase inhibitor (TAXI) and xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP). This high stability can probably be ascribed to the high number of disulfide bridges, much as seen for other thaumatin-like proteins.     

The xylanase inhibitor TAXI‐III counteracts the necrotic activity of a Fusarium graminearum xylanase in vitro and in durum wheat transgenic plants

The xylanase inhibitor TAXI‐III has been proven to delay Fusarium head blight (FHB) symptoms caused by Fusarium graminearum in transgenic durum wheat plants. To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the capacity of the TAXI‐III transgenic plants to limit FHB symptoms, we treated wheat tissues with the xylanase FGSG_03624, hitherto shown to induce cell death and hydrogen peroxide accumulation. Experiments performed on lemmas of flowering wheat spikes and wheat cell suspension cultures demonstrated that pre‐incubation of xylanase FGSG_03624 with TAXI‐III significantly decreased cell death. Most interestingly, a reduced cell death relative to control non‐transgenic plants was also obtained by treating, with the same xylanase, lemmas of TAXI‐III transgenic plants. Molecular modelling studies predicted an interaction between the TAXI‐III residue H395 and residues E122 and E214 belonging to the active site of xylanase FGSG_03624. These results provide, for the first time, clear indications in vitro and in planta that a xylanase inhibitor can prevent the necrotic activity of a xylanase, and suggest that the reduced FHB symptoms on transgenic TAXI‐III plants may be a result not only of the direct inhibition of xylanase activity secreted by the pathogen, but also of the capacity of TAXI‐III to avoid host cell death.     

Purification and characterization of barley-aleurone xylanase

Xylanase (-1,4-D-xylan xylanohydrolase; EC 3.2.1.8) from aleurone layers of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Himalaya) was purified and characterized. Purification was by preparative isoelectric focusing and a Sephadex G-200 column. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the enzyme showed a single protein band with an apparent molecular weight (Mr)=34000 daltons. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was 4.6. The enzyme had maximum activity on xylan at pH 5.5 and at 35° C. It was most stable between pH 5 and 6 and at temperatures between 0 and 4° C. The K_m was 0.86 mg xylan·ml^-1.Abbreviations GA₃ gibberellic acid - kDa kilodalton - SDS-PAGE sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis     

Purification and characterization of a XIP-type endoxylanase inhibitor from Rice (Oryza sativa)

A rice XIP-type inhibitor was purified by affinity chromatography with an immobilized Aspergillus aculeatus family 10 endoxylanase. Rice XIP is a monomeric protein, with a molecular mass of ca. 32?kDa and a pI of ca. 5.6. Its N-terminal amino acid sequence was identical to that of a rice chitinase homologue, demonstrating the difficulty when using sequence information to differentiate between endoxylanase inhibitors and (putative) chitinases in rice. Rice XIP inhibited different endoxylanases to a varying degree. In particular, it most strongly inhibited family 10 endoxylanases from A. niger and A. oryzae, while several family 11 enzymes from Bacillus subtilis, A. niger and Trichoderma sp. were not sensitive to inhibition. The above mentioned A. aculeatus endoxylanase was not inhibited either, although gel permeation chromatography revealed that it complexed rice XIP in a 1:1 molar stoichiometric ratio.     

Molecular identification of wheat endoxylanase inhibitor TAXI-I1, member of a new class of plant proteins

Triticum aestivum endoxylanase inhibitors (TAXIs) are wheat proteins that inhibit family 11 endoxylanases commonly used in different (bio)technological processes. Here, we report on the identification of the TAXI-I gene which encodes a mature protein of 381 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 38.8 kDa. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the recombinant protein had the specificity and inhibitory activity of natural TAXI-I, providing conclusive evidence that the isolated gene encodes an endoxylanase inhibitor. Bioinformatical analysis indicated that no conserved domains nor motifs common to other known proteins are present. Sequence analysis revealed similarity with a glycoprotein of carrot and with gene families in Arabidopsis thaliana and rice, all with unknown functions. Our data indicate that TAXI-I belongs to a newly identified class of plant proteins for which a molecular function as glycoside hydrolase inhibitor can now be suggested.     

Temperature influence on fluorescence intensity and enzyme activity of the fusion protein of GFP and hyperthermophilic xylanase

By constructing the expression system for fusion protein of GFPmut1 (a green fluorescent protein mutant) with the hyperthermophilic xylanase obtained from Dictyoglomus thermophilum Rt46B.1, the effects of temperature on the fluorescence of GFP and its relationship with the activities of GFP-fused xylanase have been studied. The fluorescence intensities of both GFP and GFP-xylanase have proved to be thermally sensitive, with the thermal sensitivity of the fluorescence intensity of GFP-xylanase being 15% higher than that of GFP. The lost fluorescence intensity of GFP inactivated at high temperature of below 60°C in either single or fusion form can be completely recovered by treatment at 0°C. By the fluorescence recovery of GFP domain at low temperature, the ratios of fluorescence intensity to xylanase activity (R _gfp/A _xyl) at 15°C and 37°C have been compared. Even though the numbers of molecules of GFP and xylanase are equivalent, the R _gfp/A _xyl ratio at 15°C is ten times of that at 37°C. This is mainly due to the fact that lower temperature is more conducive to the correct folding of GFP than the hyperthermophilic xylanase during the expression. This study has indicated that the ratio of GFP fluorescence to the thermophilic enzyme activity for the fusion proteins expressed at different temperatures could be helpful in understanding the folding properties of the two fusion partners and in design of the fusion proteins.     

Interaction of thrombin with antithrombin, heparin cofactor II, and protein C inhibitor

-Thrombin is a trypsin-like serine proteinase involved in blood coagulation and wound repair processes. Thrombin interacts with many macromolecular substrates, cofactors, cell-surface receptors, and blood plasma inhibitors. The three-dimensional structure of human -thrombin shows multiple surface exosites for interactions with these macromolecules. We used these coordinates to probe the interaction of thrombin's active site and two exosites, anion-binding exosite-I and -II, with the blood plasma serine proteinase inhibitors (serpins) antithrombin (AT), heparin cofactor II (HC), and protein C inhibitor (PCI). Heparin, a widely used anticoagulant drug, accelerates the rate of thrombin inhibition by AT, PCI, and HC. Thrombin Quick II is a dysfunctional thrombin mutant with a Gly 226 Val substitution in the substrate specificity pocket. We found that thrombin Quick II was inhibited by HC, but not by AT or PCI. Molecular modeling studies suggest that the larger Val side chain protrudes into the specificity pocket, allowing room for the smaller P1 side chain of HC (Leu) but not the larger P1 side chain of AT and PCI (both with Arg). _T ^–-Thrombin and thrombin Quick I (Arg 67 Cys) are both altered in anion-binding exosite-I, yet bind to heparin-Sepharose and can be inhibited by AT, HC, and PCI in an essentially normal manner in the absence of heparin. In the presence of heparin, inhibition of these altered thrombins by HC is greatly reduced compared to both AT and PCI. -Thrombin with chemically modified lysines in both anion-binding exosite-I and -II has no heparin accelerated thrombin inhibition by either AT or HC. Thrombin lysine-modified in the presence of heparin has protected residues in anion-binding exosite-II and the loss of heparin-accelerated inhibition by HC is greater than that by AT. Collectively, these results suggest differences in serpin reactive site recognition by thrombin and a more complicated mechanism for heparin-accelerated inhibition by HC compared to either AT or PCI.Abbreviations used: AT, antithrombin; HC, heparin cofactor II; PCI, protein C inhibitor; serpin(s), serine proteinase inhibitor(s); FPRck, D-Phe-Pro-Arg-chloromethyl ketone; FPLck, D-Phe-Pro-Leu-chloromethyl ketone; HEPES, (4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid); SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; HNP, 20mM HEPES, 150mM NaCl, 0.1% (w/v) poly(ethyleneglycol) (M_r = 8000) buffer atpH 7.4; Unp-PLPT, unprotected pyridoxal 5phosphate modified-thrombin; HPPLPT, heparin-protected pyridoxal 5phosphate modifiedthrombin.