核酸技术在真菌系统分类与鉴定中的应用

近年来以核酸操作为主要内容的分子生物学技术的崛起,为从核酸分子水平上研究真菌的遗传本质,为真菌的进化研究、系统分类和鉴定开辟了新的途径。本文对近几年在真菌系统分类与鉴定研究中应用较多的ＤＮＡ—ＤＮＡ杂交、限制性片段长度多态性分析、多聚酶链式反应技术和核酸测序等几种技术进行简要评述。     

实时荧光定量PCR在固氮酶基因检测中的应用

实时荧光定量PCR是近年发展起来的一种新的实时定量检测特定核酸技术,它是核酸探针技术、荧光共振能量传递技术和PCR技术的有机结合。与常规PCR相比,它具有特异性更强、能有效解决PCR污染问题、自动化程度高等特点,扩大了PCR的应用范围。概述实时荧光定量PCR技术在固氮酶(nifH)基因检测中的应用与研究进展,并探讨该技术的发展和应用前景。     

分子信标及其应用研究进展

分子信标作为一种核酸荧光探针,其最初的设计目的是用来检测核酸,特别是用作实时荧光PCR反应的探针。由于其特殊的发夹结构,决定的其具有多种的用途。不仅能在液相或固相对核酸进行定性、定量分析,还能用于多种DNA－蛋白质、DNA－DNA损伤试剂之间相互作用等的研究。     

功能核酸荧光免标记型定量统一化检测技术的研究进展

功能核酸是一类具有特定空间构象、执行特异生物功能的天然或者人工核酸序列,具有易于修饰、价格低廉、稳定性高、特异性强等优势,其搭载免标记荧光传感系统后,功能核酸可起到将多种靶物质统一转为较为稳定的核酸信号,以及通过核酸扩增对检测信号进行扩增等重要作用。而免标记荧光传感技术可以在检测中免去荧光标记时荧光、猝灭基团的筛选和标记过程的繁琐和成本,同时可保证与核酸的特异或非特异性结合后产生荧光信号变化。通过两种技术的优势结合,检测的灵敏度、实时性可进一步提高,逐渐被广泛应用于环境污染物检测、食品风险因子检测、疾病诊断等多个领域。首先明确功能核酸与荧光定量检测技术等相关概念,详细阐述了几种重要的荧光物质的特点以及其与功能核酸的分子识别、作用方式与发光机制,接着紧紧围绕该种传感技术的几个特点,从功能核酸荧光免标记型定量统一化检测技术与其实际应用角度进行分类介绍与评价对比,最后就功能核酸荧光免标记型定量统一化检测技术在多种领域的检测分析中的研究意义以及存在的问题进行讨论,并对未来的发展与应用作出展望。     

功能核酸荧光标记型定量统一化检测技术的研究进展

功能核酸是一类具有特定空间构象、执行特异生物功能的天然或者人工核酸序列,具有易于修饰、价格低廉、稳定性高、特异性强等优势,搭载荧光传感系统,组装成多种荧光生物传感器,被广泛应用于环境污染物检测、食品风险因子检测、疾病诊断等多个领域。首先明确功能核酸与荧光定量检测技术等相关概念,详细阐述了几种重要的荧光物质的特点以及其与功能核酸的分子识别、作用方式与发光机制,再主要从功能核酸荧光标记型定量统一化检测技术与其实际应用角度进行分类介绍与评价对比,最后就功能核酸荧光标记型定量统一化检测技术在多种领域的检测分析中的研究意义以及存在的问题进行讨论,并对未来的发展与应用作出展望。     

荧光偏振技术在生命科学中的研究进展

荧光偏振技术(FP)作为一种新的检测技术已经广泛应用于生命科学的各个方面.本文对荧光偏振技术在生命科学中的研究进展做了详细的评述.介绍了荧光偏振技术的原理,评述了荧光偏振技术在生命科学中的研究热点方向.     

应用双向热循环消减SELEX技术筛选胃癌血清核酸适配体

胃癌是发病率及死亡率均较高的消化道恶性肿瘤之一,严重威胁人类的生命健康。血清肿瘤标志物的检测对提高早期胃癌的检出率,改善胃癌的治疗有重要的意义。核酸适配体以其灵敏度高、靶向性强等优势显示出了较强的临床适用性。本研究以双向热循环消减指数富集式配基系统进化(systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment,SELEX)技术为支持,纳米（琼脂）磁珠材料为载体,胃癌血清及正常人血清为筛选靶标,结合高通量测序技术建立了快速高效的核酸适配体筛选方法。经过19轮双向筛选,获得高重复率的胃癌血清特异性核酸适配体序列10条及正常人血清特异性核酸适配体序列8条。将这些序列分别混合并制成检测试剂A、B,结合实时荧光定量PCR（quantitative real-time PCR,qPCR）技术,对100份临床血清样本进行特异性验证。通过比较分析,建立了快速高效的胃癌血清检测技术。结果显示,核酸适配体G AP1与N AP1的二级结构类似于抗体的“Y”型,且呈茎环状。检测试剂A、B对胃癌及正常人血清的检出率分别为92%和88%。表明本技术可以较准确地筛选得到高特异性和强亲和力的核酸适配体,体现了核酸适配体作为新型肿瘤标志物在临床检测及治疗的应用潜力。     

氚标记聚腺苷酸的制备

在现代生物学研究中,许多课题,都需要对核酸的结构、功能及其改造作深入探讨。而在核酸研究中,所用试剂(包括一系列工具酶)中,核酸水解酶的含量必须降低到不致影响所要研究的核酸量。因为所要研究的核酸来源困难,所以常采用放射性同位素技术来提高检测灵敏度,以降低核酸用量,同位素技术与常量操作相比,可以把核酸用量降低几个数量级。因此核酸研究工具酶中的杂酶(主要是核酸水解酶)含量也     

核酸技术在立枯丝核菌分类与生态学研究中的应用

立枯丝核菌是一种传播广、危害大的土传病原菌,对其展开的研究已涉及各个方面并逐渐深入,近几年借助于核酸技术对其所展开的研究更成为热点。对核酸技术在立枯丝核菌的分类学研究(主要包括G Cmol%含量测定、核酸杂交、各种DNA指纹技术、特异PCR扩增、测序DNA的序列分析)、监测群体动态变化的生态学研究(实时荧光PCR技术)中的应用作一简要的介绍。     

核酸定量检测方法研究进展

核酸相关的研究和应用广泛存在于各个学科领域,与之相关的核酸定量检测技术越来越受到研究人员的重视。本文对目前实验室广泛采用的和近几年进展迅速的核酸定量方法(包括紫外分光光度法、荧光染料法、实时荧光定量PCR法、数字PCR法等)进行介绍,着重阐述其检测原理和优缺点,为研究人员今后进行相关研究提供参考。     

Small organic probes as amyloid specific ligands - Past and recent molecular scaffolds

Molecular probes for selective staining and imaging of protein aggregates, such as amyloid, are important to advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying protein misfolding diseases and also for obtaining an early and accurate clinical diagnosis of these disorders. Since normal immunohistochemical reagents, such as antibodies have shown limitation for identifying protein aggregates both in vitro and in vivo, small organic probes have been utilized as amyloid specific markers. In this review, past and recent molecular scaffolds that have been utilized for the development of small organic amyloid imaging agents are discussed.     

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on maize metaphase chromosomes with quantum dot-labeled DNA conjugates

Semiconductor nanocrystals, also called quantum dots (QDs), are novel inorganic fluorophores which are brighter and more photostable than organic fluorophores. In the present study, highly dispersive QD-labeled oligonucleotide (TAG)₈ (QD-deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA]) conjugates were constructed via the metal-thiol bond, which can be used as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes. FISH analysis of maize metaphase chromosomes using the QD-DNA probes showed that the probes could penetrate maize chromosomes and nuclei and solely hybridized to complementary target DNAs. Compared with the conventional organic dyes such as Cy3 and fluorescein isothiocyanate, this class of luminescent labels bound with oligonucleotides is brighter and more stable against photobleaching on the chromosomes after FISH. These results suggest that QD fluorophores may be a more stable and useful fluorescent label for FISH applications in plant chromosome mapping considering their size-tunable luminescence spectra. Lu Ma and Sheng-Mei Wu contributed equally to this work.     

Exploring biologically relevant chemical space with metal complexes

Altering biological processes with small synthetic molecules is a general approach for the design of drugs and molecular probes. Medicinal chemistry and chemical biology are focused predominately on the design of organic molecules, whereas inorganic compounds find applications mainly for their reactivity (e.g. cisplatin as a DNA-reactive therapeutic) or imaging properties (e.g. gadolinium complexes as MRI diagnostics). In such inorganic pharmaceuticals or probes, coordination chemistry in the biological environment or at the target site lies at the heart of their modes of action. However, past and very recent results suggest that it is also worth exploring a different aspect of metal complexes: their ability to form structures with unique and defined shapes for the design of 'organic-like' small-molecule probes and drugs. In such metal-organic compounds, the metal has the main purpose to organize the organic ligands in three-dimensional space. It is likely that such an approach will complement the molecular diversity of organic chemistry in the quest for the discovery of compounds with superior biological activities.     

Mortalin imaging in normal and cancer cells with quantum dot immuno-conjugates

Quantum dots are the nanoparticles that are recently emerging as an alternative to organic fluorescence probes in cell biology and biomedicine, and have several predictive advantages. These include their ⑴broad absorption spectra allowing visualization with single light source, ⑵exceptional photo-stability allowing long term studies and ⑶narrow and symmetrical emission spectrum that is controlled by their size and material composition. These unique properties allow simultaneous excitation of different size of quantum dots with a single excitation light source, their simultaneous resolution and visualization as different colors. At present there are only a few studies that have tested quantum dots in cellular imaging. We describe here the use of quantum dots in mortalin imaging of normal and cancer cells. Mortalin staining pattern with quantum dots in both normal and cancer cells mimicked those obtained with organic florescence probes and were considerably stable.     

DBD dyes as fluorescent probes for sensing lipophilic environments

Small fluorescent organic molecules based on [1,3]dioxolo[4,5-f][1,3]benzodioxole (DBD) could be used as probes for lipophillic microenvironments in aqueous solutions by indicating the critical micelles concentration of detergents and staining cell organelles. Their fluorescence lifetime decreases drastically by the amount of water in their direct environment. Therefore they are potential probes for fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM).     

Detection of tumor marker CA125 in ovarian carcinoma using quantum dots

The fluorescent labeling of biological materials usingsmall-molecule organic dyes is widely employed in bio-logical imaging and clinical diagnosis. Organic fluoro-phores, however, have certain characteristics that limittheir advantages in some applications. These limitationsinclude narrow excitation bands and broad emissionbands with red spectral tails, which make the simultaneousevaluation of several light-emitting probes difficult due tospectral overlap. Also, many organic dyes exhibit highp…     

Catalyzed reporter deposition-fluorescent in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH) detection of Dehalococcoides

Members of the genus Dehalococcoides are well-known for their capacity to reductively dechlorinate chlorinated organic pollutants. The availability of quantitative and sensitive detection methods is of major interest for research on the ecology of those environmentally important micro-organisms. In this paper we describe the development of a Catalyzed Reporter Deposition-Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (CARD-FISH) for detection of Dehalococcoides cells in enrichment cultures using two oligonucleotide sequences which target two different lineages of Dehalococcoides as probes. Both sequences were previously applied in conventional FISH as probes. Conjugation of the probe to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) did not change the specificity of the probes and bright fluorescent signals were obtained. Despite the use of higher concentrations of probe and the application of longer exposure times in the conventional FISH procedure, CARD-FISH resulted in more intense signals. The CARD-FISH method was applied to a vinyl chloride (VC)-reductively-dechlorinating enrichment culture. Only the probe targeting the CBDB1 lineage of Dehalococcoides reacted with the sample which was in agreement with previous nucleic acid based analysis. The culture consisted of 51%+/-8% of Dehalococcoides cells. Furthermore, the CARD-FISH probes for detecting Dehalococcoides were combined with FISH probes for simultaneous detection of either Bacteria or Archaea which should allow rapid insight into the relative dynamics of the different members of dechlorinating communities as a response to environmental changes. Overall, CARD-FISH proved to be a rapid, reliable and convenient method to detect and quantify Dehalococcoides cells.     

Fluorescent probes for bioimaging applications

Fluorescent probes based on small organic molecules have become indispensable tools in modern biology because they provide dynamic information concerning the localization and quantity of the molecules of interest, without the need of genetic engineering of the sample. In this review, following a brief outline of the principle of fluorescence imaging, we recount some recent achievements in the field of small-molecular fluorescent probes. First, probes for metal cations, including those suitable for two-photon imaging, are introduced. Next, methodologies to visualize proteases are discussed, with special emphasis on activity-based probes for use in vivo. All these probes have been confirmed to be applicable to cellular or in vivo imaging.     

Detection of biological threats. A challenge for directed molecular evolution

The probe technique originated from early attempts of Anton van Leeuwenhoek to contrast microorganisms under the microscope using plant juices, successful staining of tubercle bacilli with synthetic dyes by Paul Ehrlich and discovery of a stain for differentiation of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria by Hans Christian Gram. The technique relies on the principle that pathogens have unique structural features, which can be recognized by specifically labeled organic molecules. A hundred years of extensive screening efforts led to discovery of a limited assortment of organic probes that are used for identification and differentiation of bacteria. A new challenge--continuous monitoring of biological threats--requires long lasting molecular probes capable of tight specific binding of pathogens in unfavorable conditions. To respond to the challenge, probe technology is being revolutionized by utilizing methods of combinatorial chemistry, phage display and directed molecular evolution. This review describes how molecular evolution methods are applied for development of peptide, antibody and phage probes, and summarizes the author's own data on development of landscape phage probes against Salmonella typhimurium. The performance of the probes in detection of Salmonella is illustrated by a precipitation test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and fluorescent, optical and electron microscopy.     

Ion selectivity of colicin E1: II. Permeability to organic cations

Channels formed by colicin E1 in planar lipid bilayers have large diameters and conduct both cations and anions. The rates at which ions are transported, however, are relatively slow, and the relative anion-to-cation selectivity is modulated over a wide range by the pH of the bathing solutions. We have examined the permeability of these channels to cationic probes having a variety of sizes, shapes, and charge distributions. All of the monovalent probes were found to be permeant, establishing a minimum diameter at the narrowest part of the pore of approximately 9 A. In contrast to this behavior, all of the polyvalent organic cations were shown to be impermeant. This simple exclusionary rule is interpreted as evidence that, when steric restrictions require partial dehydration of an ion, the structure of the channel is able to provide a substitute electrostatic environment for only one charged group at time.