The evolutionary origins of modularity

A central biological question is how natural organisms are so evolvable (capable of quickly adapting to new environments). A key driver of evolvability is the widespread modularity of biological networks—their organization as functional, sparsely connected subunits—but there is no consensus regarding why modularity itself evolved. Although most hypotheses assume indirect selection for evolvability, here we demonstrate that the ubiquitous, direct selection pressure to reduce the cost of connections between network nodes causes the emergence of modular networks. Computational evolution experiments with selection pressures to maximize network performance and minimize connection costs yield networks that are significantly more modular and more evolvable than control experiments that only select for performance. These results will catalyse research in numerous disciplines, such as neuroscience and genetics, and enhance our ability to harness evolution for engineering purposes.     

The effect of salts on the activity and stability of Escherichia coli and Haloferax volcanii dihydrofolate reductases

The extremely halophilic Archae require near-saturating concentrations of salt in the external environment and in their cytoplasm, potassium being the predominant intracellular cation. The proteins of these organisms have evolved to function in concentrations of salt that inactivate or precipitate homologous proteins from non-halophilic species. It has been proposed that haloadaptation is primarily due to clustering of acidic residues on the surface of the protein, and that these clusters bind networks of hydrated ions. The dihydrofolate reductases from Escherichia coli (ecDHFR) and two DHFR isozymes from Haloferax volcanii (hvDHFR1 and hvDHFR2) have been used as a model system to compare the effect of salts on a mesophilic and halophilic enzyme. The KCl-dependence of the activity and substrate affinity was investigated. ecDHFR is largely inactivated above 1M KCl, with no major effect on substrate affinity. hvDHFR1 and hvDHFR2 unfold at KCl concentrations below approximately 0.5M. Above approximately 1M, the KCl dependence of the hvDHFR activities can be attributed to the effect of salt on substrate affinity. The abilities of NaCl, KCl, and CsCl to enhance the stability to urea denaturation were determined, and similar efficacies of stabilization were observed for all three DHFR variants. The DeltaG degrees (H(2)O) values increased linearly with increasing KCl and CsCl concentrations. The increase of DeltaG degrees (H(2)O) as a function of the smallest cation, NaCl, is slightly curved, suggesting a minor stabilization from cation binding or screening of electrostatic repulsion. At their respective physiological ionic strengths, the DHFR variants exhibit similar stabilities. Salts stabilize ecDHFR and the hvDHFRs by a common mechanism, not a halophile-specific mechanism, such as the binding of hydrated salt networks. The primary mode of salt stabilization of the mesophilic and halophilic DHFRs appears to be through preferential hydration and the Hofmeister effect of salt on the activity and entropy of the aqueous solvent. In support of this conclusion, all three DHFRs are similarly stabilized by the non-ionic cosolute, sucrose.     

Multilevel assessment of the Lacertid lizard cranial modularity

Different factors and processes that produce phenotypic variation at the individual, population, or interspecific level can influence or alter the covariance structure among morphological traits. Therefore, studies of the patterns of integration and modularity at multiple levels—static, ontogenetic, and evolutionary, can provide invaluable data on underlying factors and processes that structured morphological variation, directed, or constrained evolutionary changes. Our dataset, consisting of cranium shape data for 14 lizard species from the family Lacertidae, with substantial samples of hatchlings and adults along with their inferred evolutionary relationships, enabled us to assess modularity and morphological integration at all three levels. Five, not mutually exclusive modularity hypotheses of lizard cranium, were tested, and the effects of allometry on intensity and the pattern of integration and modularity were estimated. We used geometric morphometrics to extract symmetric and asymmetric, as well as allometric and nonallometric, components of shape variation. At the static level, firm confirmation of cranial modularity was found for hypotheses which separate anterior and posterior functional compartments of the skull. At the ontogenetic level, two alternative hypotheses (the “anteroposterior” and “neurodermatocranial” hypotheses) of ventral cranial modularity were confirmed. At the evolutionary level, the “neurodermatocranial” hypothesis was confirmed for the ventral cranium, which is in accordance with the pattern observed at the ontogenetic level. The observed pattern of static modularity could be driven by functional demands and can be regarded as adaptive. Ontogenetic modularity and evolutionary modularity show the same developmental origin, indicating conservatism of modularity patterns driven by developmental constraints.     

A test for patterns of modularity in sequences of developmental events

This study presents a statistical test for modularity in the context of relative timing of developmental events. The test assesses whether sets of developmental events show special phylogenetic conservation of rank order. The test statistic is the correlation coefficient of developmental ranks of the N events of the hypothesized module across taxa. The null distribution is obtained by taking correlation coefficients for randomly sampled sets of N events. This test was applied to two datasets, including one where phylogenetic information was taken into account. The events of limb development in two frog species were found to behave as a module.     

Studying morphological integration and modularity at multiple levels: concepts and analysis

Although most studies on integration and modularity have focused on variation among individuals within populations or species, this is not the only level of variation for which integration and modularity exist. Multiple levels of biological variation originate from distinct sources: genetic variation, phenotypic plasticity resulting from environmental heterogeneity, fluctuating asymmetry from random developmental variation and, at the interpopulation or interspecific levels, evolutionary change. The processes that produce variation at all these levels can impart integration or modularity on the covariance structure among morphological traits. In turn, studies of the patterns of integration and modularity can inform about the underlying processes. In particular, the methods of geometric morphometrics offer many advantages for such studies because they can characterize the patterns of morphological variation in great detail and maintain the anatomical context of the structures under study. This paper reviews biological concepts and analytical methods for characterizing patterns of variation and for comparing across levels. Because research comparing patterns across level has only just begun, there are relatively few results, generalizations are difficult and many biological and statistical questions remain unanswered. Nevertheless, it is clear that research using this approach can take advantage of an abundance of new possibilities that are so far largely unexplored.     

表达绿色荧光蛋白嵌合狂犬病病毒HEP-GFP株的拯救

狂犬病毒(Rabies Virus,RV)是人和犬、猫等多种动物狂犬病的病原,其基因组是单股负链RNA,基因组结构为3'-核蛋白(N)基因-磷蛋白(P)基因-基质蛋白(M)基因-糖蛋白(G)基因-大蛋白(L)基因-5'.     

两种人粒酶B嵌合基因的表达及对肿瘤细胞的杀伤作用

通过重组PCR构建了抗HER2单链抗体基因、绿脓杆菌外毒素 (PE)转位肽序列和活性型粒酶B(GrBa)基因相融合的sFv2 3e PEⅡ GrBa基因 ,以及N端包含PE部分转位肽序列的PEⅡ GrBa基因 .将这 2种粒酶B嵌合蛋白基因瞬时转染或稳定转染HeLa细胞及SKBR 3细胞 .通过间接免疫荧光、细胞计数、MTT、ELISA等方法 ,观察到细胞浆中表达的PEⅡ GrBa蛋白直接杀伤其表达细胞 ;而sFv2 3e PEⅡ GrBa表达后被分泌至细胞外 ,对产生它的细胞没有杀伤性 ,但能够特异识别并杀伤HER2阳性肿瘤细胞 .结果表明 ,抗肿瘤表面抗原的抗体能够介导靶向识别 ,转位结构域可以辅助效应分子活化、转位至细胞液并杀伤细胞 ,为肿瘤的靶向治疗提供了新的策略 .     

Morphological integration and modularity in the hyperkinetic feeding system of aquatic‐foraging snakes

The kinetic skull is a key innovation that allowed snakes to capture, manipulate, and swallow prey exclusively using their heads using the coordinated movement of eight bones. Despite these unique feeding behaviors, patterns of evolutionary integration and modularity within the feeding bones of snakes in a phylogenetic framework have yet to be addressed. Here, we use a dataset of 60 μCT‐scanned skulls and high‐density geometric morphometric methods to address the origin and patterns of variation and integration in the feeding bones of aquatic‐foraging snakes. By comparing alternate superimposition protocols allowing us to analyze the entire kinetic feeding system simultaneously, we find that the feeding bones are highly integrated, driven predominantly by functional selective pressures. The most supported pattern of modularity contains four modules, each associated with distinct functional roles: the mandible, the palatopterygoid arch, the maxilla, and the suspensorium. Further, the morphological disparity of each bone is not linked to its magnitude of integration, indicating that integration within the feeding system does not strongly constrain morphological evolution, and that adequate biomechanical solutions to a wide range of feeding ecologies and behaviors are readily evolvable within the constraint due to integration in the snake feeding system.     

Probing the modularity of megasynthases by rational engineering of a fatty acid synthase Type I

Modularity is a fundamental property of megasynthases such as polyketide synthases (PKSs). In this study, we exploit the close resemblance between PKSs and animal fatty acid synthase (FAS) to re‐engineer animal FAS to probe the modularity of the FAS/PKS family. Guided by sequence and structural information, we truncate and dissect animal FAS into its components, and reassemble them to generate new PKS‐like modules as well as bimodular constructs. The novel re‐engineered modules resemble all four common types of PKSs and demonstrate that this approach can be a powerful tool to deliver products with higher catalytic efficiency. Our data exemplify the inherent plasticity and robustness of the overall FAS/PKS fold, and open new avenues to explore FAS‐based biosynthetic pathways for custom compound design.     

Folding and Stability of Chimeric Immunofusion VL-Barstar

A chimeric protein VL-barstar that comprises the VL domain of anti-human ferritin monoclonal antibody F11 and barstar, the naturally occurring inhibitor of bacterial RNase barnase, has been constructed for study of structure-function characteristics of chimeric immunoglobulin fused proteins. Such chimeric constructs may be potentially employed for development of bivalent/bispecific antibodies on the basis of the high affinity interaction between barstar and barnase (the association constant is about 10(14) M(-1)). We have developed a protocol for VL-barstar expression in E. coli and purification and refolding from inclusion bodies that yields a homogeneous and soluble form of this protein. Differential scanning calorimetry in combination with fluorescence and CD spectroscopy revealed that the VL-barstar formed well-resolved ordered secondary and compact tertiary structures. However, partial loss of tertiary interactions resulted in low stability of the recombinant protein and the lack of functional activity of the two constituent modules. These conformational features suggest that the protein might be referred to the class of native molten globules, which comprises partially unfolded conformations stabilized under physiological conditions. Since individually expressed VL domain and barstar retain completely folded conformation and stable spatial structure, the incomplete folding of the chimeric protein may be attributed to interaction between heterologous domains, which appears at the folding stage preceding formation of a system of tertiary interactions in both structural modules. The results provide evidence for non-native interactions between heterologous modules that may occur in chimeric proteins composed of taxonomically distinct fusion partners.     

Genomic analysis reveals cryptic diversity in aphelids and sheds light on the emergence of Fungi

1. Download : Download high-res image (154KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

嵌合RNA检测和验证技术

嵌合RNA(chimeric RNA)是由来自不同基因的外显子片段组成的融合转录本。传统的嵌合RNA检测方法有染色体核型分析、荧光原位杂交（FISH）等,但这些技术的特异性、灵敏性和准确性较差。随着测序技术的发展,二代测序技术展现出强大的数据处理能力,可以通过高通量序列分析来检测嵌合RNA,目前基于高通量测序的检测方法有FusionCatcher、SOAPfuse、EricScript等。目前较为常用的对检测到的嵌合RNA的验证方法有聚合酶链反应（PCR）、核糖核酸酶保护实验（RPA）、琼脂糖凝胶电泳、Sanger测序等。多种检测技术的开发使得越来越多的嵌合RNA被发现,但现有的检测技术各有优劣,主要体现于检测成本、假阳性率、检测时间等方面的差异。本文对嵌合RNA的检测方法、验证方法及各方法的优劣性进行阐述。     

嵌合蛋白sTNFR II-IgG Fc的克隆、表达与活性分析

肿瘤坏死因子是一种重要的炎性细胞因子,目前已知许多免疫疾病与之相关,为了抑制TNF的生物学活性,将可溶性TNFR Ⅱ(sTNFR Ⅱ）和人IgG Fc分子通过柔性短肽相连,构建成一个嵌合蛋白,在大肠杆菌中进行表达,并获得了纯化蛋白。实验证明该嵌合蛋白能够自发形成聚合体,识别并结合TNF蛋白,同单体sTNFR Ⅱ相比,对TNF的中和活性得到了较大的提高。     

Evolution of an antibiotic resistance enzyme constrained by stability and activity trade-offs

Pressured by antibiotic use, resistance enzymes have been evolving new activities. Does such evolution have a cost? To investigate this question at the molecular level, clinically isolated mutants of the beta-lactamase TEM-1 were studied. When purified, mutant enzymes had increased activity against cephalosporin antibiotics but lost both thermodynamic stability and kinetic activity against their ancestral targets, penicillins. The X-ray crystallographic structures of three mutant enzymes were determined. These structures suggest that activity gain and stability loss is related to an enlarged active site cavity in the mutant enzymes. In several clinically isolated mutant enzymes, a secondary substitution is observed far from the active site (Met182-->Thr). This substitution had little effect on enzyme activity but restored stability lost by substitutions near the active site. This regained stability conferred an advantage in vivo. This pattern of stability loss and restoration may be common in the evolution of new enzyme activity.     

On the structural and functional modularity of glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferases

Glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferases (GARTs) are part of the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway, catalyzing the direct transfer of a formyl group from the tetrahydrofolate cofactor to the glycinamide ribonucleotide substrate. Despite the low amino acid-sequence identity between the GARTs from Escherichia coli and human, their tertiary structures are superimposable. As part of our functional studies of these enzymes, we have investigated the interchangeability of individual protein fragments or modules between the two enzymes and the functional properties of the resulting hybrids. The modular nature of GART facilitated the creation of combinatorial libraries of chimeras between the Escherichia coli and human enzymes, which were functionally selected through complementation of an auxotrophic Escherichia coli strain. From a pool of several dozen sequence distinct hybrids, six in vivo-functional fusion genes were selected, overexpressed, and purified to homogeneity. The kinetic analysis of these constructs and the comparison of their k(cat) and K(M) values to the parental enzymes suggest that the characteristic kinetic properties from the two parents are "modular encoded" and can be exchanged by domain swapping. The chimeras in general, however, are subject to temperature instability and misfolding; thus, they serve primarily as useful candidates for further rounds of optimization.     

The onion model, a simple neutral model for the evolution of diversity in bacterial biofilms

Bacterial biofilms are particularly resistant to a wide variety of antimicrobial compounds. Their persistence in the face of antibiotic therapies causes significant problems in the treatment of infectious diseases. Seldom have evolutionary processes like genetic drift and mutation been invoked to explain how resistance to antibiotics emerges in biofilms, and we lack a simple and tractable model for the genetic and phenotypic diversification that occurs in bacterial biofilms. Here, we introduce the 'onion model', a simple neutral evolutionary model for phenotypic diversification in biofilms. We explore its properties and show that the model produces patterns of diversity that are qualitatively similar to observed patterns of phenotypic diversity in biofilms. We suggest that models like our onion model, which explicitly invoke evolutionary process, are key to understanding biofilm resistance to bactericidal and bacteriostatic agents. Elevated phenotypic variance provides an insurance effect that increases the likelihood that some proportion of the population will be resistant to imposed selective agents and may thus enhance persistence of the biofilm. Accounting for evolutionary change in biofilms will improve our ability to understand and counter diseases that are caused by biofilm persistence.     

Multiple global suppressors of protein stability defects facilitate the evolution of extended-spectrum TEM β-lactamases

The introduction of extended-spectrum cephalosporins and β-lactamase inhibitors has driven the evolution of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) that possess the ability to hydrolyze these drugs. The evolved TEM ESBLs from clinical isolates of bacteria often contain substitutions that occur in the active site and alter the catalytic properties of the enzyme to provide an increased hydrolysis of extended-spectrum cephalosporins or an increased resistance to inhibitors. These active-site substitutions often result in a cost in the form of reduced enzyme stability. The evolution of TEM ESBLs is facilitated by mutations that act as global suppressors of protein stability defects in that they allow the enzyme to absorb multiple amino acid changes despite incremental losses in stability associated with the substitutions. The best-studied example is the M182T substitution, which corrects protein stability defects and is commonly found in TEM ESBLs or inhibitor-resistant variants from clinical isolates. In this study, a genetic selection for second-site mutations that could partially restore function to a severely destabilized primary mutant enabled the identification of A184V, T265M, R275Q, and N276D, which are known to occur in TEM ESBLs from clinical isolates, as suppressors of TEM-1 protein stability defects. Further characterization demonstrated that these substitutions increased the thermal stability of TEM-1 and were able to correct the stability defects of two different sets of destabilizing mutations. The acquisition of compensatory global suppressors of stability costs associated with active-site mutations may be a common mechanism for the evolution of novel protein function.     

重组蓖麻、相思子毒素A链嵌合突变体的制备与分析

目的:构建蓖麻毒素(RIC)、相思子毒素(ABR)A链突变体的嵌合体蛋白,实现嵌合体蛋白的可溶性表达、纯化及抗原性分析。方法:采用柔性linker连接RIC A链突变体(mRICAD75AV76MY80A)和ABR A链突变体(mABRAE164AR167L),构建嵌合体基因mRICA/mABRA,将该嵌合体基因亚克隆至原核载体pQE80L构建表达质粒pQE80L-mRICA/mABRA,再转化至大肠杆菌M15获得表达工程菌株M15/pQE80L-mRICA/mABRA,工程菌在18℃经0.1 mmol/L的IPTG诱导14 h,表达的嵌合体蛋白经Ni-NTA亲和层析柱纯化,通过ELISA和Western印迹检测嵌合体蛋白的抗原性。结果:所获得的mRICA/mABRA嵌合体基因经一致性比对分析,与预计嵌合基因的序列一致性为100%,其开放读框全长1572 bp,编码524个氨基酸残基;重组表达质粒pQE80L-mRICA/mABRA经PCR及双酶切鉴定证明构建正确,嵌合体蛋白相对分子质量约为62×103,与预测相符,可溶性的嵌合体蛋白经Ni-NTA亲和层析柱纯化,纯度可达99%;间接ELISA和Western印迹结果表明,嵌合体蛋白能同时与抗RIC多克隆抗体和抗ABR多克隆抗体发生特异的抗原抗体反应。结论:得到的mRICA/mABRA嵌合体蛋白具有良好的抗原性,为研制新型RIC和ABR双价疫苗奠定了重要基础。