Dual FRET assay for detecting receptor protein interaction with DNA

We present here a new assay that is based on the idea of the molecular beacon. This assay makes it possible to investigate two proteins interacting with DNA at two binding sites that are close to each other. The effectiveness of the test depends on the exclusive binding of three DNA fragments in the presence of two proteins, and the monitoring of the process depends upon observing the quenching of two independent fluorescence donors. As a model we used the components of the heterodimeric ecdysteroid receptor proteins ultraspiracle (Usp) and ecdysone receptor (EcR) from Drosophila melanogaster and a response element from the promoter of the hsp27 gene. The response element consists of two binding sites (half-sites) for the DNA binding domains (DBDs). We have shown that protein–protein interactions mediate cooperative binding of the ecdysteroid receptor DBDs to a hsp27_pal response element. The analysis of the microscopic dissociation constants obtained with the DMB led to the conclusion that there was increased affinity of UspDBD to the 5′ half-site in the presence of EcRDBD when the 3′ half-site was occupied, and increased affinity of EcRDBD to the 3′ half-site when the 5′ half-site was occupied.     

A strand exchange FRET assay for DNA

A new displacement hybridisation method is reported using a single strand DNA probe, labelled with an acceptor fluorophore (oregon green 488). Detection of double stranded sample target is shown, with discrimination between the probe, duplexed during the assay, and free single stranded probe DNA achieved through the FRET from a donor grove fluorophore (Hoechst 33258). A model for the kinetics of the displacement assay is presented and the course of the assay predicted according to probe/target ratios and sequence. The modelled predictions are consistent with the experimental data showing single base pair mismatch discrimination. The pattern of response according to the mismatch/perfect complement ratio in a mixed sample is also considered with an allele-discrimination ratio lying between the homozygous gene and total mismatch case, according to ratio. The assay is shown to be tolerant of different probe concentrations and ratios and through the dual wavelength recorded signals from donor and FRET acceptor, internal baseline correction is achieved with excellent noise reduction through ratiometric measurement.     

Exonuclease cycling assay: an amplified assay for the detection of specific DNA sequences.

An assay is described in which an oligonucleotide probe is specifically digested by lambda exonuclease only when it is annealed to its complementary sequence. In this assay, a cycling effect occurs whereby a small amount of target sequence acts as a specific co-factor in the enzymatic degradation of a larger number of molecules of an oligonucleotide probe. This amplification principle is demonstrated and the effect of the oligonucleotide probe sequence investigated. The necessary steps needed to convert this effect into a useful diagnostic tool are discussed.     

检测蜜蜂急性麻痹病毒TaqMan实时荧光RT-PCR方法的建立和初步应用

[背景] 蜜蜂急性麻痹病毒（Acute Bee Paralysis Virus,ABPV）是一种高毒力的蜜蜂病毒,可以引起蜜蜂的大批死亡和蜂群衰竭。[目的] 建立一种快速、灵敏的ABPV实时荧光RT-PCR检测方法。[方法] 根据ABPV衣壳蛋白基因保守序列设计引物和探针,通过对引物、探针浓度和退火温度等反应条件进行优化,建立基于TaqMan探针检测ABPV的实时荧光RT-PCR方法,并对方法的灵敏性、特异性和稳定性进行验证。[结果] ABPV实时荧光RT-PCR检测方法在9.8×10¹-9.8×10⁸ copies/μL之间呈现良好的线性关系,线性相关系数R²为0.998,扩增效率为103.8%。该方法的检测灵敏度为9.8 copies/μL;对其他蜜蜂病毒不发生交叉反应,具有良好的特异性;重复性试验结果显示组内和组间的变异系数分别为0.19%-0.80%和0.57%-1.07%,重复性良好。对2018年-2019年在福建地区采集的70份蜜蜂样品进行ABPV检测,阳性率为2.86%。[结论] 建立的ABPV实时荧光RT-PCR检测方法能用于该病的实验室检测、流行病学调查和疫情监测。     

应用改良庆大霉素保护试验检测肠炎沙门氏菌侵袭力表型

肠炎血清型沙门氏菌(Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis,SE)是引起肠炎和全身感染重要的沙门氏菌血清型之一,了解沙门氏菌侵袭力表型对阐明其感染致病机制至关重要。传统庆大霉素保护试验(GPA)存在通量低、重复性差等缺点。文中利用96孔细胞培养和多孔道移液的高通量优势,结合菌落分区微量滴板计数法改良了传统GPA试验方案。应用改良的GPA方法检测了16株SE菌株对非吞噬细胞(HT-29)的入侵表型和43株SE菌株对吞噬细胞(RAW264.7)的胞内复制表型。通过比较分析SE强、弱菌株JL228和LN248对吞噬细胞(RAW264.7)的侵袭力表型发现,改良的GPA得出的数据组内和组间变异系数低、数据重复性强,胞内复制表型也与显微观察结果相符。通过实践应用发现,改良的GPA方法具有通量高、重复性强、结果可靠兼具省时、省力等优点,可作为沙门氏菌菌株侵袭力表型检测的更新方案,为进一步阐明其致病机制提供了更科学有效的方法。     

Evolutionary optimization of fluorescent proteins for intracellular FRET

Fluorescent proteins that exhibit Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) have made a strong impact as they enable measurement of molecular-scale distances through changes in fluorescence. FRET-based approaches have enabled otherwise intractable measurements of molecular concentrations, binding interactions and catalytic activity, but are limited by the dynamic range and sensitivity of the donor-acceptor pair. To address this problem, we applied a quantitative evolutionary strategy using fluorescence-activated cell sorting to optimize a cyan-yellow fluorescent protein pair for FRET. The resulting pair, CyPet-YPet, exhibited a 20-fold ratiometric FRET signal change, as compared to threefold for the parental pair. The optimized FRET pair enabled high-throughput flow cytometric screening of cells undergoing caspase-3-dependent apoptosis. The CyPet-YPet energy transfer pair provides substantially improved sensitivity and dynamic range for a broad range of molecular imaging and screening applications.     

Specific DNA probe for detecting Legionella pneumophila

A fragment of the gene for cytolysin has been cloned. The product of the gene has been earlier identified as an immunoserological marker of Legionella pneumophila. Clones were selected by immunodetection of cytolysin gene product expression. An EcoRI 3.8 kb fragment of the genomic DNA from Legionella pneumophila strain Philadelphia-1 was used as a DNA probe that hybridized with the bacterial colonies of 20 Legionella pneumophila strains but not with the colonies of 10 other Legionella species or 8 other bacterial genera. The cloned fragment has been shown to be unique for Legionella pneumophila. The region of homology is suggested to be longer than a possible dimension of the cytolysin gene.     

Analysis of epidermal proteins for DNA-binding activity

A group of DNA-binding proteins from the soluble extract of newborn rat epidermis have been separated by chromatography using DNA-cellulose columns. The electrophoretogram of the DNA-binding proteins eluted from a single stranded DNA-cellulose column shows five major proteins of molecular weights ranging between 25K to 40K. Both the epidermal protein filaggrin and most keratins, except two high molecular weight keratins, do not show in vitro DNA-binding activity.     

Covalent labeling of cell-surface proteins for in-vivo FRET studies

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a powerful technique to reveal interactions between membrane proteins in live cells. Fluorescence labeling for FRET is typically performed by fusion with fluorescent proteins (FP) with the drawbacks of a limited choice of fluorophores, an arduous control of donor-acceptor ratio and high background fluorescence arising from intracellular FPs. Here we show that these shortcomings can be overcome by using the acyl carrier protein labeling technique. FRET revealed interactions between cell-surface neurokinin-1 receptors simultaneously labeled with a controlled ratio of donors and acceptors. Moreover, using FRET the specific binding of fluorescent agonists could be monitored.     

Improving membrane voltage measurements using FRET with new fluorescent proteins

We used two new coral fluorescent proteins as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) donor and acceptor to develop a voltage sensor, named Mermaid, that displays approximately 40% changes in emission ratio per 100 mV, allowing for direct visualization of electrical activities in cultured excitable cells. Notably, Mermaid has fast on-off kinetics at warm (approximately 33 degrees C) temperatures and can report voltage spikes comparable to action potentials.     

Kernel-based machine learning protocol for predicting DNA-binding proteins

DNA-binding proteins (DNA-BPs) play a pivotal role in various intra- and extra-cellular activities ranging from DNA replication to gene expression control. Attempts have been made to identify DNA-BPs based on their sequence and structural information with moderate accuracy. Here we develop a machine learning protocol for the prediction of DNA-BPs where the classifier is Support Vector Machines (SVMs). Information used for classification is derived from characteristics that include surface and overall composition, overall charge and positive potential patches on the protein surface. In total 121 DNA-BPs and 238 non-binding proteins are used to build and evaluate the protocol. In self-consistency, accuracy value of 100% has been achieved. For cross-validation (CV) optimization over entire dataset, we report an accuracy of 90%. Using leave 1-pair holdout evaluation, the accuracy of 86.3% has been achieved. When we restrict the dataset to less than 20% sequence identity amongst the proteins, the holdout accuracy is achieved at 85.8%. Furthermore, seven DNA-BPs with unbounded structures are all correctly predicted. The current performances are better than results published previously. The higher accuracy value achieved here originates from two factors: the ability of the SVM to handle features that demonstrate a wide range of discriminatory power and, a different definition of the positive patch. Since our protocol does not lean on sequence or structural homology, it can be used to identify or predict proteins with DNA-binding function(s) regardless of their homology to the known ones.     

Novel method for identifying sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins.

We developed a general method for the enrichment and identification of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins. A well-characterized protein-DNA interaction is used to isolate from crude cellular extracts or fractions thereof proteins which bind to specific DNA sequences; the method is based solely on this binding property of the proteins. The DNA sequence of interest, cloned adjacent to the lac operator DNA segment is incubated with a lac repressor-beta-galactosidase fusion protein which retains full operator and inducer binding properties. The DNA fragment bound to the lac repressor-beta-galactosidase fusion protein is precipitated by the addition of affinity-purified anti-beta-galactosidase immobilized on beads. This forms an affinity matrix for any proteins which might interact specifically with the DNA sequence cloned adjacent to the lac operator. When incubated with cellular extracts in the presence of excess competitor DNA, any protein(s) which specifically binds to the cloned DNA sequence of interest can be cleanly precipitated. When isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside is added, the lac repressor releases the bound DNA, and thus the protein-DNA complex consisting of the specific restriction fragment and any specific binding protein(s) is released, permitting the identification of the protein by standard biochemical techniques. We demonstrate the utility of this method with the lambda repressor, another well-characterized DNA-binding protein, as a model. In addition, with crude preparations of the yeast mitochondrial RNA polymerase, we identified a 70,000-molecular-weight peptide which binds specifically to the promoter region of the yeast mitochondrial 14S rRNA gene.