日两家公司计划用基因重组菌工业生产酶

生化工业公司和天野制药公司分别向通产省提出把基因重组芽孢杆菌属(Bacillus)的菌用于酶的工业生产的计划书,符合所使用的设备,装置及其运转管理方法等“重组DNA工业化指南”,于5月27日得到了通产省的认可。 根据这次制造计划的认可,工业用酶的重组生产在日本将转向工业化。通产省还认可了在出售产品样品时也符合“重组DNA工业化指南”所规定的安全性标准。     

“人类基因组计划”自启动至“后基因组计划”的转折

“人类基因组计划”自启动至“后基因组计划”的转折杨焕明（中国医学科学院中国协和医科大学教授）（中国“人类基因组计划”重大项目秘书长）今年是“人类基因组计划”（ＨｕｍａｎＧｅｎｏｍｅＰｒｏｊｅｃｔ,ＨＧＰ）正式提出十周年。对这一可与“曼哈顿原子弹计划”、“阿波罗登月计划”相媲美的创举作一历史性的回顾,纵览十年来这一计划的成果、瞻望这一计划的前景,对于我国抓住机遇,接受挑战是很有必要的。     

中国汉族高原肺水肿易感基因的全基因组关联研究

高原肺水肿(High-altitude pulmonary edema, HAPE)是一种特发于高原低氧环境的肺水肿, 是遗传和环境因素共同作用的结果。为了寻找与中国汉族高原肺水肿相关的单核苷酸多态性(Single nucleotide polymorphism, SNP)位点及易感基因, 文章利用Affymetrix SNP Array 6.0芯片, 对2010年5月至2012年7月在青海省玉树地区执行援建任务时来自平原地区的40例HAPE患者和33例健康对照进行全基因组SNP分型, 通过PLINK软件对芯片结果进行全基因组关联分析(Genome-wide association study, GWAS), 筛选出在病例组和对照组中间有显著差异(P < 10E-7)的SNP位点57个, 通过对57个SNP位点附近74个基因进行GO与Pathway富集分析, 发现这些基因与“前列腺素代谢”、“四烯酸代谢”、“氮代谢”显著相关(adjust P < 0.05), 以上代谢过程与HAPE病理生理机制相关。结果表明, 高原肺水肿受遗传多态性影响, 与多个基因以及位点相关。     

重复顺序与真核生物的基因表达

真核生物的基因组中重复顺序的发现,是近年来分子生物学研究的重大成果之一。现在已知,几乎所有的真核生物基因组中都有大量的重复顺序。这些重复顺序以两种形式分布在DNA链上。一种是与单一顺序相间地排列的,另一种则是呈丛生状态集中地排列在DNA的某一段区域内的。基因组中相同的重复顺序称为一个“家族”。     

遗传易位-癌症的起因

近十年来对导致遗传变化的途径有了更进一步的认识。现在已经弄明遗传信息扩散不仅有出现于不同基因组同源区间的“合法”重组,也有出现于非同源区间(可能在基因组的不同部分甚至在不同的个体中)的“非法”重组。这后一种重组过程相当于染色休的重新排列并允许信息的某些组分(易位子)移来移去,以便新的基因重组能经受生存     

鱼类基因转移的研究战略

本文总结了八五年以来世界各实验室在鱼类基因转移研究方面的概况。指出生长激素(GH)基因转移已形成第一热点,分析了形成这一热点的原因,提出作为第一主攻方向应进一步解决启动子、“全鱼”基因和生长速度测定等问题。认为抗冻蛋白(AFP)基因转移已形成第二热点。但在我国应把珠蛋白基因转移作为第二主攻方向。文章最后提出了在重视“导弹”技术的同时,应重视和加强“霰弹”技术的研究,以加速鱼类基因转移技术的发展。     

DNA三十年

分子生物学似乎(无疑是暂时地)陷入了一种“困境”,这种困境曾给十九世纪初期的生物学带来过不好的名声。在高等生物的基因中“点缀”着至今表面看来尚无功能、被称之为内含子的DNA片段,这一认识看来已激起了人们的极大注意,使他们怀着强烈的神奇和惊异的心情专心致力于这一令人迷惑不解的难题。隐藏在这“扑朔迷离的迷宫”背后的信息将会对了解基因之为基因以及它们如何控制自己和相互控制的机理提供线索。     

植物成花调控的分子遗传学

对以拟南芥为主要对象进行的有关成花调控分子遗传学研究作了综述。该领域的研究已明确了对成花的调控没有单一的“成花万能基因”,而是有一群“成花时期基因”,并大致弄清了这些基因调控成花的模式。其结果是,成花调控途径具有多重性和冗长性,这些成花调控基因的参与量、基因之间的平衡都对成花起着重要的作用。     

顺式调控元件对“头对头”基因对共表达的影响

转录调控是生物学过程中最关键的环节之一, 其中顺式调控元件在基因表达调控中发挥了极其重要的作用. 本研究通过对公共顺式调控元件的活性和行为进行分析, 从而推断“头对头”基因对共表达的原理. 用网络组分分析法估测顺式调控元件在不同条件下对基因启动子及其活性的影响. 结果揭示了生物系统如何利用这些调控元件调控“头对头”基因对的表达模式和整个转录调控系统.     

再谈基因转移

新基因能被引入小鼠的生殖细胞,但是,要使转移基因在小鼠以及它们的后代中表达仍比较困难。 Mintz在最近的一次无性繁殖基因,在发育过程中表达的工作会议上曾说过:“令人惊讶的是外源遗传物质竟能如此容易地掺入哺乳动物的基因组。”这方面研究快速发展的明显标志,是建立了在其生殖细胞中携带外源基因并适于发育研究的小鼠新品系。     

基因是什么? 分子遗传学教学中的体会和理解

随着分子遗传学的飞速发展,基因概念也在不断更新。笔者从事分子遗传学、分子生物学、遗传学教学以及基因与基因表达调控方面研究多年,对基因的本质和概念有较深的理解和认识。回顾了经典基因概念的形成和发展过程,并讨论了真核生物中的RNA遗传和朊病毒复制现象,提出了新的基因概念。认为基因是携带遗传信息的、可遗传的核酸片段或者多肽分子,它们可以编码具功能的RNA分子或多肽分子。     

A review of current large‐scale mouse knockout efforts

After the successful completion of the human genome project (HGP), biological research in the postgenome era urgently needs an efficient approach for functional analysis of genes. Utilization of knockout mouse models has been powerful for elucidating the function of genes as well as finding new therapeutic interventions for human diseases. Gene trapping and gene targeting are two independent techniques for making knockout mice from embryonic stem (ES) cells. Gene trapping is high‐throughput, random, and sequence‐tagged while gene targeting enables the knockout of specific genes. It has been about 20 years since the first gene targeting and gene trapping mice were generated. In recent years, new tools have emerged for both gene targeting and gene trapping, and organizations have been formed to knock out genes in the mouse genome using either of the two methods. The knockout mouse project (KOMP) and the international gene trap consortium (IGTC) were initiated to create convenient resources for scientific research worldwide and knock out all the mouse genes. Organizers of KOMP regard it as important as the HGP. Gene targeting methods have changed from conventional gene targeting to high‐throughput conditional gene targeting. The combined advantages of trapping and targeting elements are improving the gene trapping spectrum and gene targeting efficiency. As a newly‐developed insertional mutation system, transposons have some advantages over retrovirus in trapping genes. Emergence of the international knockout mouse consortium (IKMP) is the beginning of a global collaboration to systematically knock out all the genes in the mouse genome for functional genomic research. genesis 48:73–85, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

分析植物应答环境因子的一种有效平台--DNA微阵列

随着植物基因组测序工程的迅速发展,大量的DNA序列不断地快速对外公布。如何把这庞大的核苷酸序列信息与植物的生命活动有机地联系起来?高通量的DNA微阵列技术是连接植物基因组序列信息和植物功能基因组的桥梁;而且,这一技术在分析基因表达谱和基因的功能上已经得到了应用。通过简要叙述DNA微阵列技术的几个特点,着重分析近几年来该技术在研究植物对环境胁迫的响应机制以及环境信号间相互作用方面的应用。     

TargeTron Technology Applicable in Solventogenic Clostridia: Revisiting 12 Years’ Advances

Clostridium has great potential in industrial application and medical research. But low DNA repair capacity and plasmids transformation efficiency severely delay development and application of genetic tools based on homologous recombination (HR). TargeTron is a gene editing technique dependent on the mobility of group II introns, rather than homologous recombination, which makes it very suitable for gene disruption of Clostridium. The application of TargeTron technology in solventogenic Clostridium is academically reported in 2007 and this tool has been introduced in various clostridia as it is easy to operate, time saving, and reliable. TargeTron has made great progress in solventogenic Clostridium in the aspects of acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation pathway modification, important functional genes identification, and xylose metabolic pathway analysis and reconstruction. In the review, 12 years’ advances of TargeTron technology applicable in solventogenic Clostridium, including its principle, technical characteristics, application, and efforts to expand its capabilities, or to avoid potential drawbacks, are revisisted. Some other technologies as putative competitors or collaborators are also discussed. It is believed that TargeTron combined with CRISPR/Cas‐assisted gene/base editing and gene‐expression regulation system will make a better future for clostridial genetic modification.     

GeoChip 4: a functional gene‐array‐based high‐throughput environmental technology for microbial community analysis

Micro‐organisms play critical roles in many important biogeochemical processes in the Earth's biosphere. However, understanding and characterizing the functional capacity of microbial communities are still difficult due to the extremely diverse and often uncultivable nature of most micro‐organisms. In this study, we developed a new functional gene array, GeoChip 4, for analysing the functional diversity, composition, structure, metabolic potential/activity and dynamics of microbial communities. GeoChip 4 contained approximately 82 000 probes covering 141 995 coding sequences from 410 functional gene families related to microbial carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulphur (S), and phosphorus (P) cycling, energy metabolism, antibiotic resistance, metal resistance/reduction, organic remediation, stress responses, bacteriophage and virulence. A total of 173 archaeal, 4138 bacterial, 404 eukaryotic and 252 viral strains were targeted, providing the ability to analyse targeted functional gene families of micro‐organisms included in all four domains. Experimental assessment using different amounts of DNA suggested that as little as 500 ng environmental DNA was required for good hybridization, and the signal intensities detected were well correlated with the DNA amount used. GeoChip 4 was then applied to study the effect of long‐term warming on soil microbial communities at a Central Oklahoma site, with results indicating that microbial communities respond to long‐term warming by enriching carbon degradation, nutrient cycling (nitrogen and phosphorous) and stress response gene families. To the best of our knowledge, GeoChip 4 is the most comprehensive functional gene array for microbial community analysis.     

T—DNA介导的基因诱捕技术及其在植物功能基因组学研究中的应用

T-DNA介导的基因诱捕技术是近年来发展起来的鉴定和分离基因的方法。在拟南芥和水稻基因组测序已经完成的今天,该技术将在两者基因功能的研究中扮演举足轻重的角色。本文就T—DNA介导的基因诱捕系统、基因克隆和突变体库构建的研究进展及其在植物功能基因组学上的应用等内容进行了综述,并讨论了该技术应用中的一些问题。     

Genetic resources offer efficient tools for rice functional genomics research

Rice is an important crop and major model plant for monocot functional genomics studies. With the establishment of various genetic resources for rice genomics, the next challenge is to systematically assign functions to predicted genes in the rice genome. Compared with the robustness of genome sequencing and bioinformatics techniques, progress in understanding the function of rice genes has lagged, hampering the utilization of rice genes for cereal crop improvement. The use of transfer DNA (T‐DNA) insertional mutagenesis offers the advantage of uniform distribution throughout the rice genome, but preferentially in gene‐rich regions, resulting in direct gene knockout or activation of genes within 20–30 kb up‐ and downstream of the T‐DNA insertion site and high gene tagging efficiency. Here, we summarize the recent progress in functional genomics using the T‐DNA‐tagged rice mutant population. We also discuss important features of T‐DNA activation‐ and knockout‐tagging and promoter‐trapping of the rice genome in relation to mutant and candidate gene characterizations and how to more efficiently utilize rice mutant populations and datasets for high‐throughput functional genomics and phenomics studies by forward and reverse genetics approaches. These studies may facilitate the translation of rice functional genomics research to improvements of rice and other cereal crops.