浙江辐照对离体质粒DNA的断裂效应

利用低功率的Ｈｅ－Ｎｅ激光辐照离体质粒ＤＮＡ,并用离子束和紫外线为对照,分析了质粒ＤＮＡ的单双链断裂效应。结果表明：Ｈｅ－Ｎｅ激光辐照可诱发质粒ＤＮＡ断裂,且断裂频率辐照剂量增大而提高;Ｈｅ－Ｎｅ激光辐照后的质粒超螺旋双链的ＤＮＡ存活率剂量曲线不同于紫外线和氮离子束。Ｈｅ－Ｎｅ激光诱发双链断裂的频率低于氮离子束和紫外线。     

激光辐照对离体质粒DNA的断裂效应

利用低功率的Ｈｅ－ Ｎｅ 激光辐照离体质粒ＤＮＡ,并用离子束和紫外线为对照,分析了质粒ＤＮＡ的单双链断裂效应。结果表明：Ｈｅ－ Ｎｅ 激光辐照可诱发质粒ＤＮＡ 断裂,且断裂频率随辐照剂量增大而提高;Ｈｅ－ Ｎｅ 激光辐照后的质粒超螺旋双链ＤＮＡ存活率剂量曲线不同于紫外线和氮离子束。Ｈｅ－ Ｎｅ 激光诱发双链断裂的频率低于氮离子束和紫外线。     

HeNe激光辐照对离体质粒DNA损伤及诱发lacZ基因突变的研究

利用低功率ＨｅＮｅ激光辐照离体质粒ＤＮＡ,分析了质粒ＤＮＡ的损伤效应和ｌａｃＺ基因的突变。结果表明ＨｅＮｅ激光低剂量辐照可提高质粒转化活性,随着剂量增加可引起ＤＮＡ结构显著损伤,导致质粒失活,同时可诱发ｌａｃＺ基因突变,其最高突变率可达１０．５８×１０－４,且突变率的剂量效应曲线可用Ｙ＝ａ＋ｂｘ＋ｃｘ２来描述。与紫外线辐照相比,ＨｅＮｅ激光对ｌａｃＺ基因的诱变效率低于紫外线。     

质粒DNA物理形态和其它因素对获得可育转基因小麦的影响

本工作分析了不同形态质粒DNA和未成熟胚高渗透压处理对基因枪小麦转化体系的适用性.高渗处理对瞬间表达和转基因小麦的再生均有明显的促进作用.轰击之前对质粒DNA进行变性处理导致瞬间表达反应大幅度下降,但稳定转化频率(指从100个轰击未成熟胚得到的再生可育转基因植株数)与双链DNA相差不大.使用单链质粒DNA、线性双链质粒DNA和环状双链质粒DNA均可以得到转基因小麦植株.迄今已得到26个不同的转基因冬小麦株系和4个不同的转基因春小麦株系.这些转基因小麦大多数已产生种子,几个春小麦株系已获第二代种子.     

碳离子束辐照对质粒DNA的损伤效应

为了证明DNA双链断裂(DSB)片段分布与DNA序列有关的假设,采用32keV／μm的^12C^6 离子和45ke V／μm的^13C^6 离子分别辐照pUCl8质粒,结合限制性内切酶处理,进行琼脂糖凝胶电泳,分析DNA断裂和片段分布。结果表明,除了由一个DSB导致的线性DNA带外,还出现了一条新的、小分子量线性DNA带;限制性内切酶处理后,有另一条线性DNA带产生。证明重离子辐照诱导的DSB是非随机分布的,DNA分子上存在对电离辐射相对敏感的位点。     

Tris对高LET碳重离子辐照下质粒DNA链断裂的保护作用

利用100 keV/μm碳离子束(初始能量为290 MeV/u)照射溶解于纯水、10 mmol/L Tris、1 mmol/L EDTA及TE 缓冲液中的pUC19质粒DNA.通过琼脂糖凝胶电泳技术分析了不同溶液中各种形态DNA分子所占份额,并计算得到不同剂量下平均每个质粒分子中单链断裂(SSB)及双链断裂(DSB)的数目.发现Tris通过抑制SSB和DSB的产生对碳重离子辐照下的质粒DNA有明显的保护作用,而EDTA能够加剧SSB的产生而抑制DSB的形成.     

不同LET的重离子辐射对DSB诱导的影响

利用γ射线和不同LET的碳离子辐照小鼠B16黑色素瘤细胞的脱蛋白DNA,采用脉冲场凝胶电泳结合荧光扫描技术研究了DNA双链断裂（DSB）与LET之间的关系。结果表明：不同LET重离子诱导的PR都随剂量的增加而增加,并在超过一定的剂量之后逐渐趋于一个准阈值;而不同LET的重离子诱导的L值都与剂量呈线性关系;对于诱导DSB的RBE值则随着LET的增加先呈上升趋势,在LET超过100ke/μm后下降。     

一种简单的哺乳动物细胞附着体质粒CaCl2转化方法

目的:建立一种简单经济的哺乳动物细胞附着体质粒还原实验方法。方法:构建附着体载体,转染中国卵巢仓鼠(CHO)细胞和小鼠脑神经瘤细胞Neuro-2a,利用改良的赫特裂解法提取附着体质粒,CaCl2法转化附着质粒至宿主菌大肠杆菌DH5α,再次从DH5α中提取质粒,将转染前后质粒用KpnⅠ/BamHⅠ双酶切和BamHⅠ单酶切,并将转染前后的质粒进行DNA测序分析。结果:与最初转染的质粒相比,还原质粒双酶切和单酶切后的条带大小一致;DNA测序分析表明,转染前后质粒中的插入序列相同。结论:建立了可用于质粒还原实验的简单的CaCl2转化方法。     

单能质子辐射致质粒DNA链断裂的剂量效应

利用16.4 MeV的质子在不同的剂量下辐照质粒DNApUC19溶液。凝胶电泳技术的分析结果表明随着辐照剂量的增加,DNA损伤变得越来越严重,使线性DNA成分明显增加。当添加了自由基清除剂甘露醇后,DNA的损伤明显减轻,线性DNA片段不再出现,但开环形态DNA的变化依然明显。与较早的重离子7Li和γ射线致DNA损伤的研究结果相比较,表明质子辐射中还是存在着一定的直接作用,在此次实验的能量和LET值范围内,质子的直接电离作用是高于γ射线而低于7Li离子的。     

激光在农业领域应用研究进展

本文综述了近年来激光在农业领域的研究概况,如激光生物学刺激效应、激光诱变育种,激光辐照离体质粒DNA、激光微束转基因技术等,并对有待进一步研究解决的问题进行了讨论。     

Cell inactivation and DNA single- and double-strand breaks in cultured mammalian cells irradiated by a thermal neutron beam

The effects on the cellular viability and induction and repair kinetics of DNA strand breaks in HeLa cells were examined after exposure to a thermal neutron beam and compared with those after gamma-irradiation. The thermal neutron survival curve had no initial shoulder. The relative biological effectiveness (r.b.e.) value of the neutron beam was determined to be 2.2 for cell killing (ratio of D0 values), 1.8 and 0.89 for single strand breakage (ssb) by alkaline sedimentation and alkaline elution respectively, and for double strand breakage (dsb) 2.6 by neutral elution. No difference was observed between thermal neutrons and gamma-rays in the repair kinetics of ssb and dsb. It is suggested that the effect induced by the intracellular nuclear reaction, 14N(n,p)14C is mainly responsible for the high r.b.e. values observed.     

The relationship between human serum and human pancreatic DNase I.

Deoxyribonuclease (DNase) activities have been partially purified from human serum and pancreas. Several of their physical and enzymatic characteristics were determined and compared in order to evaluate their relatedness. Human serum deoxyribonuclease has an isoelectric point in the range of 3.9 to 4.3 and a molecular weight of 33,000 to 38,000. Optimal enzymatic activity at pH 7.0 was dependent on both Mg2+ and Ca2+, whereas a pH optimum of from 5.5 to 5.8 was observed in the presence of Mg2+ and ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA). The proportion of single strand or double strand breakage products at early stages of DNA digestion were variable functions of the composition of the buffers employed for the reactions. Single strand break age was predominant under all reaction conditions. Double strand breakage occurred with greatest frequency under neutral conditions in the presence of Mg2+ and Ca2+, was inhibited by the inclusion of 0.15 M NaCl, and did not occur at pH 5.8 in the presence of Mg2+, EGTA, and 0.15 M NaCl. Human pancreas deoxyribonuclease exhibited essentially the same physical properties and enzymatic characteristics as those of the human serum enzyme. Thus, human serum deoxyribonuclease may originate in this pancreas.     

DNA breakage of human leukemia cells by clomiphene, an ovulation-inducing agent

When HPB-ALL, human lymphoblastic leukemia cells were treated with clomiphene citrate, an ovulation-inducing agent, poly(ADP-ribose) synthesizing activity of the cells increased up to 4 fold. This stimulatory effect was almost comparable to that of bleomycin, a typical DNA strand breaking agent. Since the agents causing DNA breakage stimulate poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis in cells [Berger, N. A., Sikorski, G. W., Petzold, S. J., and Kurohara, K. K. J. Clin. Invest. 63, 1164-1171 (1979)], clomiphene citrate is suggested to damage DNA of the cells. In fact, an increase of single strand breakage of the DNA was detected by using alkaline sucrose density gradient centrifugation when the HPB-ALL cells were treated with increasing concentration of clomiphene. The inhibition of the cell growth by clomiphene citrate (IC50 = 5 micrograms/ml) appeared to be ascribable to its potent DNA-damaging effect. Although bleomycin activated purified poly(ADP-ribose) synthetase by cleaving covalently closed circular plasmid pBR322 DNA in vitro, clomiphene citrate per se did not.     

The extracellular nuclease of Serratia marcescens: studies on the activity in vitro and effect on transforming DNA in a groundwater aquifer microcosm

A quantitative endonuclease assay, which relies on the introduction of single and double strand breaks into supercoiled plasmid DNA, was used to study the activity of the extracellular nuclease of Serratia marcescens SM6 in buffer and in groundwater. The parallel enzyme concentration-dependent production of relaxed and linear plasmid molecules suggests that the nuclease produces single and double strand breaks in duplex DNA. Bovine serum albumin stimulated the nuclease activity towards DNA and RNA and increased the stability of the enzyme against thermal inactivation. The DNase activity at 4 °C and 50 °C was almost half of that at the optimum temperature (37 °C). The nuclease was active in groundwater, although the specific activity was lower than in buffer. In a groundwater aquifer microcosm, mineral-adsorbed transforming DNA was substantially less accessible to the nuclease than was dissolved DNA. The data suggest that the extracellular nuclease of Serratia marcescens may contribute to DNA turnover in the environment and that adsorption of DNA to minerals provides protection against the nuclease.Abbreviations GW groundwater GWA groundwater aquifer     

Iron-mediated DNA damage: sensitive detection of DNA strand breakage catalyzed by iron.

Oxidative DNA damage is involved in mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, aging, radiation effects, and the action of several anticancer drugs. Accumulated evidence indicates that iron may play an important role in those processes. We studied the in vitro effect of low concentrations of Fe(II) alone or Fe(III) in the presence of reducing agents on supercoiled plasmid DNA. The assay, based on the relaxation and linearization of supercoiled DNA, is simple yet sensitive and quantitative. Iron mediated the production of single and double strand breaks in supercoiled DNA. Iron chelators, free radical scavengers, and enzymes of the oxygen reduction pathways modulated the DNA damage. Fe(III)-nitrilotriacetate (NTA) plus either H2O2, L-ascorbate, or L-cysteine produced single and double strand breaks as a function of reductant concentration. A combination of 0.1 microM Fe(III)-NTA and 100 microM L-ascorbate induced detectable DNA strand breaks after 30 min at 24 degrees C. Whereas superoxide dismutase was inhibitory only in systems containing H2O2 as reductant, catalase inhibited DNA breakage in all the iron-mediated systems studied. The effect of scavengers and enzymes indicates that H2O2 and .OH are involved in the DNA damaging process. These reactions may account for the toxicity and carcinogenicity associated with iron overload.     

Impaired DNA double strand break repair in cells from Nijmegen breakage syndrome patients

Nijmegen breakage syndrome, caused by mutations in the NBS1 gene, is an autosomal recessive chromosomal instability disorder characterized by cancer predisposition. Cells isolated from Nijmegen breakage syndrome patients display increased levels of spontaneous chromosome aberrations and sensitivity to ionizing radiation. Here, we have investigated DNA double strand break repair pathways of homologous recombination, including single strand annealing, and non-homologous end-joining in Nijmegen breakage syndrome patient cells. We used recently developed GFP-YFP-based plasmid substrates to measure the efficiency of DNA double strand break repair. Both single strand annealing and non-homologous end-joining processes were markedly impaired in NBS1-deficient cells, and repair proficiency was restored upon re-introduction of full length NBS1 cDNA. Despite the observed defects in the repair efficiency, no apparent differences in homologous recombination or non-homologous end-joining effector proteins RAD51, KU70, KU86, or DNA-PK(CS) were observed. Furthermore, comparative analysis of junction sequences of plasmids recovered from NBS1-deficient and NBS1-complemented cells revealed increased dependence on microhomology-mediated end-joining DNA repair process in NBS1-complemented cells.     

Plasmid transformation of Streptococcus sanguis (Challis) occurs by circular and linear molecules

Summary Transformation of Streptococcus sanguis (Challis) by antibiotic resistance plasmids has shown that (a) competente developed with identical kinetics for chromosomal and plasmid DNA; (b) dependence of transformant yield on plasmid DNA concentration was second order; (c) open circular plasmid DNA transformed Challis, although at reduced frequency; (d) linearization of plasmid DNA by restriction enzymes cutting at unique sites inactivated the transforming capacity; (e) transforming activity was restored when linear plasmid molecules generated by different restriction enzymes were mixed; (f) restoration of transforming activity depended on the distance between the linearizing cuts, i.e. on the presence of sufficiently long overlapping homologous sequences; (g) when linear deletion mutants were mixed with linear parental plasmids the smaller plasmid was restored with significantly higher frequency.Based on these data, a model for plasmid transformation of Challis is proposed according to which circular plasmid is linearized during binding and uptake. One DNA strand enters the cell and restoration of circular plasmids inside the cell occurs by annealing of complementary single strands from two different donor molecules. Implications of this model for recombinant DNA experiments in streptococci are discussed.     

Single strand DNA cleavage reaction of duplex DNA by Drosophila topoisomerase II

A unique reaction for type II DNA topoisomerase is its cleavage of a pair of DNA strands in concert. We show however, that in a reaction mixture containing a molar excess of EDTA over Mg2+, or when Mg2+ is substituted by Ca2+, Mn2+, or Co2+, the enzyme cleaves only one rather than both strands. These results suggest that the divalent cations may play an important role in coordinating the two subunits of DNA topoisomerase II during the strand cleavage reaction. The single strand and the double strand cleavage reactions are similar in the following aspects: both require the addition of a protein denaturant, can be reversed by low temperature or high salt, and a topoisomerase II molecule is attached covalently to the 5' phosphoryl end of each broken DNA strand. Furthermore, the single strand cleavage sites share a similar sequence preference with double strand cleavage sites. There is, however, a strand bias for the single strand cleavage reaction. We show also that under single strand cleavage conditions, topoisomerase II still possesses a low level of double strand passage activity: it can introduce topological knots into both covalently closed or nicked DNA rings, and change the linking number of a plasmid DNA by steps of two. The implication of this observation on the sequential cleavage of the two strands of the DNA duplex during the normal DNA double strand passage process catalyzed by type II DNA topoisomerases is discussed.