冷冻电镜技术在分子植物学研究中的应用

植物体的各项生理活动依赖于分子水平上多种植物蛋白质/蛋白质复合体的相互作用和动态变化,了解这些蛋白质/蛋白质复合体的结构和功能对于研究相关植物生理活动的分子机理至关重要.得益于最近的技术进步——包括直接电子探测器的发展和先进的图像处理算法,冷冻电镜技术已经逐步发展成为研究蛋白质/蛋白质复合体的重要技术手段,这也为深入理...     

鼻咽癌细胞系与永生化的鼻咽上皮细胞系蛋白质表达差异分析

鼻咽癌对我国南部居民的健康造成严重的威胁.为了研究鼻咽癌的发病机理,本研究采用了蛋白质组学技术分析和比较了鼻咽癌细胞系（HNE1和CNE1）与永生化的鼻咽上皮细胞系的蛋白质表达谱.采用双向凝胶电泳分离提取的全细胞蛋白质,通过PDQuest软件分析找出在肿瘤中表达变化的蛋白质点,用基质辅助激光解析电离飞行时间串联质谱(MALDI- TOF/TOF-MS)进行鉴定.共得到了15个在肿瘤细胞系中表达上调和18个在肿瘤细胞系中表达下调的蛋白质,并对其中一些蛋白质的表达进行免疫印迹的验证.这些表达差异的蛋白质与细胞的增殖和调亡、癌症的转移,细胞骨架,信号传导等有关.本研究鉴定了一批可能作为鼻咽癌治疗的药物靶标的蛋白质,并对研究鼻咽癌发病机理提供了相关的线索.     

大麦初生叶中质外体的蛋白、酯酶和苹果酸脱氢酶同工酶(英文)

把6天株龄的大麦(Hordeum vylgare L.)初生叶的下表皮剥去后,以含pH6.5的200mmol/L NaCl缓冲液真空渗洗叶片36min,获得的细胞间隙洗液含有水溶性或弱离子结合态的质外体蛋白质和酶。渗洗过的叶片用缓冲液磨成匀浆和离心后,上清液含原质体蛋白质和酶。用1mmol/L NaCl可溶解离子结合态的质外体蛋白质和酶,两条(25和31kD)和7条(22,28,30,51,55,60和71kD)蛋白质带只分别在含有200mmol/L和1mmol/L NaGl的质外体提取液中测得。机械创伤诱导两条(32和33kD)可溶于200mmol/L NaCl的质外体蛋白带,在质外体还测到3条可溶于200mmol/L NaCl和4条可溶于1mmol/L NaCl的苹果酸脱氢酶同工酶。在质外体和共质体两部分均发现有酯酶Ⅰ同工酶,但移向阴极的酯酶同工酶Ⅰ只见于溶在200mmol/L NaCl的质外体中。移向阳极的酯酶Ⅱ同工酶仅见于共质体中。     

天然产物梣酮对粘虫围食膜的影响

【目的】梣酮是从芸香科植物白鲜Diatamnus dasycarpus根皮中分离出的一种化合物, 对试虫表现出胃毒活性。本研究旨在检测梣酮对粘虫Mythimna separata 6龄幼虫中肠围食膜的影响, 从而进一步阐明梣酮的杀虫作用机理。【方法】经活体及离体处理, 通过生化分析和扫描电镜观察等方法, 研究了梣酮处理对粘虫幼虫中肠围食膜糖含量, 蛋白质含量和组分以及围食膜表面结构的影响。【结果】梣酮(20 mg/mL)活体处理降低了粘虫6龄幼虫围食膜的蛋白质含量, 却使糖含量升高。活体(20 mg/mL梣酮)及离体(8 mg/mL梣酮)处理条件下, 围食膜糖含量分别为对照组的1.75倍及2.17倍。SDS-PAGE结果显示, 离体及活体条件下经梣酮处理, 围食膜部分蛋白质降解。围食膜解剖扫描电镜观察表明, 梣酮处理可造成围食膜微纤丝排列紊乱。【结论】天然产物梣酮处理对粘虫中肠围食膜的糖含量及蛋白质含量和组分有影响,且改变了围食膜表面结构。本研究为深入地研究梣酮杀虫作用机理奠定了基础。     

内含肽介导的生物学效应及其应用

蛋白质翻译产物在成熟过程中剪切释放出来的一段氨基酸序列称为“intein”---即内含肽。它与前体蛋白以框内融合的形式共同翻译,并内嵌于前体蛋白序列中。内含肽的解离以及内含肽两侧氨基酸序列的连接是在内含肽自身催化作用下完成的。本文将从内含肽的发现、结构特征和作用机理等方面对这种具有特殊意义的蛋白质成熟机制进行较为全面的论述,同时介绍了近年来发展起来的以内含肽介导的蛋白质剪接为基础的蛋白质纯化和改造技术。     

HSP70分子伴侣系统研究进展

综述了HSP70分子伴侣系统的晶体结构、功能及作用机理方面的研究进展.HSP70分子伴侣能够帮助细胞内新生蛋白的折叠和跨膜运输、蛋白质多聚体结构的装配和解装配,并能在胁迫下维持蛋白质的特殊构象,防止未折叠的蛋白质变性和使聚集的蛋白质溶解复性.所有这些活性均依赖于ATP调节的HSP70与底物蛋白中的疏水片段的相互作用.     

包含体的体外复性研究进展

在大肠杆菌中大量表达的重组蛋白质常常形成无活性的、不溶性的包含体。包含体经过液固分离、洗涤、变性溶解后,经过一个合理的复性过程可重新折叠成有活性的蛋白质。本文概述了常用的包含体复性方法,并对近年来出现的色谱复性法和应用一些低分子量添加剂等来提高蛋白质复性的产率做了简述。     

几种植物贮藏器官淀粉质体蛋白质和总蛋白质的电泳分析

在质体范畴对淀粉质体蛋白质的分析资料非常缺乏,尤其是在淀粉质体遗传方面做了许多工作后〔1～5〕,在质体水平上研究它的蛋白质显得尤为重要。对此,我们选了3种不同类型的植物,有蛋白质含量高的豆科植物(蚕豆),水生植物莲和鳞茎植物百合,分别从贮藏器官中分离淀粉质体,对其蛋白质进行了电泳分析,试图在讨论淀粉质体遗传和淀粉质体蛋白质分析方面提供一些资料。1　材料和方法1蚕豆(VicafabaL.)取成熟种子的子叶。2莲(NelumbonuciferaGaertn)采受精后生长到21d的种子(25d成熟),去掉胚芽用子叶。3取兰州地区栽培的百合〔(Liliumdavidilvar.w…     

综述与专论：运动经外泌体防治肌少症的研究进展

肌少症（sarcopenia）是以骨骼肌质量和肌力进行性下降为特征的增龄性综合征,探究其发病机理对于肌少症的预防与治疗具有重要意义。研究表明,外泌体（exosomes）与肌少症关联密切,可能是一种有益的削弱/防治手段,但其机制尚未厘清。近期研究表明,外泌体富含运动因子/细胞因子,其不仅参与机体细胞与组织间的交互作用（cross talk）,亦介导了包括骨骼肌细胞增殖与分化在内的诸多病理生理过程。此外,运动可通过促进外泌体的释放并调节外泌体携带的miRNAs和/或蛋白质的表达,从而有效改善肌少症。本文就外泌体及其生物学特性以及外泌体与肌少症之间的关系进行归纳梳理,总结并分析运动对外泌体的影响及其可能机制,以期为肌少症的防治提供新的策略。     

甾体激素受体超家族的基因调控机制

甾体激素受体超家族是一类基因反式作用因子,对RNA聚合酶Ⅱ转录的某些蛋白质基因和RNA聚合酶Ⅰ转录的核糖体RNA基因均有正或负的转录调节作用.超家族对RNA polⅡ转录的基因调控的机理包括受体激活,相关蛋白解离,磷酸化,同源/异源二聚化,核转位,与正/负激素应答元件及相应转录蛋白作用,最终激活或抑制特异靶基因的转录.甾体激素对RNA polⅠ转录的基因的调节作用以及超家族中的经典受体和孤儿受体非配合的激活机制是目前研究的热点.     

Oligomerization of Chicken Acetylcholinesterase Does Not Require Intersubunit Disulfide Bonds

Abstract: Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is secreted from muscle and nerve cells and associates as multimers through intermolecular covalent and noncovalent bonds. The amino acid sequence of the C-terminus is thought to play an important role in these interactions. We generated mutants in the C-terminus of the catalytic T-subunit of chicken AChE to determine the importance of this region to oligomerization and to the amphipathic character of the protein. Wild-type recombinant chicken AChE secreted from human embryonic kidney 293 cells was assembled into dimers and tetramers exclusively. Mutants lacking the C-terminal Cys⁷⁶⁴, the only cysteine involved in interchain disulfide bonds, showed lower but significant levels of the secreted dimeric and tetrameric forms. A truncated mutant, lacking the C-terminal 39 amino acids, exhibited a severe decrease in content of the multimeric forms, yet small amounts of the dimer were detectable. The amphipathic character was dependent on the state of oligomerization. When analyzed by sucrose gradients, the sedimentation of tetramers was not affected by detergent, but monomers and dimers sedimented more slowly in the presence of detergent. Most of the recombinant wild-type enzyme, shown to be dimeric and tetrameric by sedimentation analysis, was monomeric when analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under nonreducing conditions, indicating that much of the secreted oligomeric AChE was not disulfide bonded. These data suggest that disulfide bonding of Cys⁷⁶⁴ is not required for the catalytic subunit of chicken AChE to form oligomers and that regions outside of the C-terminus contribute to the hydrophobic interactions that are important for stabilizing the oligomeric forms.     

Quantum chemical study of the structure and properties of citrinin

Detailed structures and electronic properties of three tautomeric forms of the toxin citrinin were investigated using several quantum calculation methods. Energetic preference of the predominant p- and o-quinone methide tautomeric forms is dependent on the method of calculation. A previously unstudied carboxylic acid enol tautomer was calculated to be surprisingly stable in vacuo, being within 2.5 kcal mol^? 1 at the B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p) level of theory. Despite differences in bond nature and connectivity of tautomers, the natural bond orbital analysis revealed that tautomeric forms share similar natural charges and natural electron configurations. Calculated bond lengths corresponded with experimentally observed values and assignments for the calculated infrared vibrational frequencies are reported.     

OX133, a monoclonal antibody recognizing protein-bound N-ethylmaleimide for the identification of reduced disulfide bonds in proteins

In vivo, enzymatic reduction of some protein disulfide bonds, allosteric disulfide bonds, provides an important level of structural and functional regulation. The free cysteine residues generated can be labeled by maleimide reagents, including biotin derivatives, allowing the reduced protein to be detected or purified. During the screening of monoclonal antibodies for those specific for the reduced forms of proteins, we isolated OX133, a unique antibody that recognizes polypeptide resident, N-ethylmaleimide (NEM)-modified cysteine residues in a sequence-independent manner. OX133 offers an alternative to biotin-maleimide reagents for labeling reduced/alkylated antigens and capturing reduced/alkylated proteins with the advantage that NEM-modified proteins are more easily detected in mass spectrometry, and may be more easily recovered than is the case following capture with biotin based reagents.     

分子黏附中的逆锁键研究进展

逆锁键是受体和配体蛋白质相互作用过程中的一种"反常"现象,属于受体-配体动态键的一种,在pN量级外力的影响下,其键寿命在特定范围内会随着所施加外力的增加而增加.逆锁键主要参与细胞黏附、细胞活化等过程,并与滑移键组成分子开关来调节各项与分子黏附相关的生命活动.其中,致病性大肠杆菌引发尿路感染、T细胞受体抗原识别、微丝解聚...     

Engineering of caseins and modulation of their structures and interactions

β-Casein (β-CN) is a milk protein widely used in food industries because of its mild emulsifying properties due to its amphiphilicity. However, the elements determining its micellization behavior in solution and interfacial behavior at the air–water interface are not well known. In order to study how the forced dimerisation influences functional properties of β-CN, recombinant wild-type β-CN was produced and distal cysteinylated forms of recombinant β-CN were engineered. We show that 1) cysteinylated β-CN formed mainly dimers bridged by disulfide bonds; 2) the process of dimerization adds to the micellization process with temperature and is poorly reversible; 3) covalent disulfide linkage forms at the air–water interface at a lower temperature than in bulk. In conclusion, the location of the cysteinylation in the C-terminus or N-terminus or both is of importance for the properties of β-CN.     

Structural and functional consequences of removal of the interdomain disulfide bridge from the isolated C-lobe of ovotransferrin

The interdomain disulfide bond present in the C-lobe of all the transferrins was postulated to restrict the domain movement resulting in the slow rate of iron uptake and release. In the present study, the conformational stability and iron binding properties of a derivative of the isolated C-lobe of ovotransferrin in which the interdomain disulfide bond, Cys478-Cys671 was selectively reduced and alkylated with iodoacetamide were compared with the disulfide intact form at the endosomal pH of 5.6. Pyrophosphate and chloride mediated iron release kinetics showed no difference between the disulfide-intact and disulfide-reduced/alkylated forms; the two protein forms yielded similar observed rate constants showing an apparent hyperbolic dependency for anion concentrations. The conformational stability evaluated by unfolding and refolding experiments was greater for the disulfide-intact form than for the disulfide-reduced/alkylated form: the deltaG(D)H2O values at 30 degrees C obtained by using urea were 9.0+/-0.8 and 6.0+/-0.4 kJ/mol for the former and latter protein forms, respectively, and the corresponding values obtained by using guanidine hydrochloride were 6.2+/-0.9 and 4.3+/-0.5 kJ/mol. The dissociation constant of iron (kd) was almost the same for the two protein forms, and it varied only subtly with urea concentrations but increased markedly with GdnHCl concentrations. The nonidentical values of deltaG(D)H2O and kd for urea and GdnHCl can be attributed to the ionic nature of the later denaturant, in which chloride anion may influence the structure and iron uptake-release properties of the ovotransferrin C-lobe. Taken together, we conclude that the interdomain disulfide bond has no effect on the iron uptake and release function but significantly decreases the conformational stability in the C-lobe.     

Spectroscopic, immunochemical, and thermodynamic properties of carboxymethyl(Cys6, Cys127)-hen egg white lysozyme

A three-disulfide form of hen egg white lysozyme with Cys⁶ and Cys¹²⁷ blocked by carboxymethyl groups was prepared, purified, and characterized for eventual use in protein folding experiments. Trypsin digestion followed by proline-specific endopeptidase digestion facilitated the unambiguous assignment of the disulfide bond pairings and the modified residues in this derivative. 3SS-lysozyme demonstrated nearly full enzymatic activity at itspH optimum,pH 5.5. The 3SS-lysozyme derivative and unmodified lysozyme were shown to be identical by CD spectroscopy atpH 3.6. Immunochemical binding assays demonstrated that the conformation of lysozyme was perturbed predominantly only locally by breaking and blocking the disulfide bond between Cys⁶ and Cys¹²⁷. Both 3SS-lysozyme and unmodified lysozyme exhibited reversible thermally induced transitions atpH 2.0 but theT _m of 3SS-lysozyme, 18.9°C, was found to be 34° lower than that of native lysozyme under the same conditions. The conformational chemical potential of the denatured form of unmodified lysozyme was determined from the transition curves to be approximately 6.7 kcal/mol higher than that of the denatured form of 3SS-lysozyme, atpH 2.0 and 35°C, if the conformational chemical potential for the folded forms ofboth 3SS-lysozyme and unmodified lysozyme is arbitrarily assumed to be 0.0 kcal/mol. A calculation of the increase in the theoretical loop entropy of denatured 3SS-lysozyme resulting from the cleavage of the Cys⁶-Cys¹²⁷ disulfide bond, however, yielded a value of only 5.4 kcal/mol for the difference in conformational chemical potential. This suggests that, in addition to the entropic component, there is also an enthalpic contribution to the difference in the conformational chemical potential corresponding to approximately 1.3 kcal/mol. Thus, it is concluded that the reduction and blocking of the disulfide bond between Cys⁶ and Cys¹²⁷ destabilizes 3SS-lysozyme relative to unmodified lysozyme predominantly by stabilizing the denatured conformation by increasing its chain entropy.Cornell Biotechnology Army Research Office Predoctoral Fellow, 1986–1989.     

Solution structure of Escherichia coli Par10: The prototypic member of the Parvulin family of peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerases

E. coli Par10 is a peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerase (PPIase) from Escherichia coli catalyzing the isomerization of Xaa-Pro bonds in oligopeptides with a broad substrate specificity. The structure of E. coli Par10 has been determined by multidimensional solution-state NMR spectroscopy based on 1207 conformational constraints (1067 NOE-derived distances, 42 vicinal coupling-constant restraints, 30 hydrogen-bond restraints, and 68 phi/psi restraints derived from the Chemical Shift Index). Simulated-annealing calculations with the program ARIA and subsequent refinement with XPLOR yielded a set of 18 convergent structures with an average backbone RMSD from mean atomic coordinates of 0.50 A within the well-defined secondary structure elements. E. coli Par10 is the smallest known PPIase so far, with a high catalytic efficiency comparable to that of FKBPs and cyclophilins. The secondary structure of E. coli Par10 consists of four helical regions and a four-stranded antiparallel beta-sheet. The N terminus forms a beta-strand, followed by a large stretch comprising three alpha-helices. A loop region containing a short beta-strand separates these helices from a fourth alpha-helix. The C terminus consists of two more beta-strands completing the four-stranded anti-parallel beta-sheet with strand order 2143. Interestingly, the third beta-strand includes a Gly-Pro cis peptide bond. The curved beta-strand forms a hydrophobic binding pocket together with alpha-helix 4, which also contains a number of highly conserved residues. The three-dimensional structure of Par10 closely resembles that of the human proteins hPin1 and hPar14 and the plant protein Pin1At, belonging to the same family of highly homologous proteins.     

The Formation Of Glycerol Monodecanoate By A Dehydration Condensation Reaction: Increasing The Chemical Complexity Of Amphiphiles On The Early Earth

Dehydration/condensation reactions between organic molecules in the prebiotic environment increased the inventory and complexity of organic compounds available for self-assembly into primitive cellular organisms. As a model of such reactions and to demonstrate this principle, we have investigated the esterification reaction between glycerol and decanoic acid that forms glycerol monodecanoate (GMD). This amphiphile enhances robustness of self-assembled membranous structures of carboxylic acids to the potentially disruptive effects of pH, divalent cation binding and osmotic stress. Experimental variables included temperature, water activity and hydrolysis of the resulting ester product, providing insights into the environmental conditions that would favor the formation and stability of this more evolved amphiphile. At temperatures exceeding 50 ^∘C, the ester product formed even in the presence of bulk water, suggesting that the reaction occurs at the liquid interface of the two reactants and that the products segregate in the two immiscible layers, thereby reducing hydrolytic back reactions. This implies that esterification reactions were likely to be common in the prebiotic environment as reactants underwent cycles of wetting and drying on rare early landmasses at elevated temperatures     

On the aggregation of bilirubinoids in solution as evidenced by VCD and ECD spectroscopy and DFT calculations

Vibrational and electronic circular dichroism (VCD and ECD) spectra of 3 optically active bilirubin analogs with propionic acid groups replaced by (1) 1‐(S)‐methylpropyl groups, (2) 3‐acetoxy‐1‐(S)‐methylpropyl groups, and (3) 1‐(S)‐2‐(R)‐dimethyl‐2‐(methoxycarbonyl)ethyl groups have been recorded at different concentrations in chloroform. The aliphatic chains attached to C‐8 and C‐12 of the 3 chosen mesobilirubins were modified so as to possess no OH group. The variation of the VCD spectra with concentration is consistent with the formation of dimers at high concentration. Density functional theory and time‐dependent density functional theory calculations on monomeric and dimeric forms support such a conclusion. Comparing with previous VCD (ECD) and IR (UV) studies of other mesobilirubin molecules, it is concluded that here, the key feature for aggregation is the missing OH groups on the propionic acid chains. The latter, in synergy with the polar groups of lactam moieties, appear to be involved in intramolecular phenomena and thus favor monomeric forms. Investigation of ECD and UV spectra of the same compounds in mixed DMSO/chloroform solutions provide further clues to the proposed picture.