杜氏盐藻硝酸盐还原酶基因5′上游序列的克隆与功能分析

目的:克隆杜氏盐藻硝酸盐还原酶（NR）基因5′上游序列序列,并对其功能进行分析。方法: 利用BamHI、EcoRI、HindIII、PstI、SalI、Xbal 6种限制性内切酶分别酶切盐藻基因组DNA,并与接头连接,构建成盐藻基因组步行文库。采用 LA-PCR方法,从上述盐藻步行基因组文库中扩增NR基因5′上游序列序列,测序并进行分析。为检测其表达特性,构建了该片段与GUS 嵌合基因的表达载体pNR-GUS, 通过电击法将所构建的重组表达载体转化盐藻,组织化学染色法观察GUS的表达。结果: 从盐藻基因组步行文库中扩增出约1200bp特异片段,序列分析表明5′上游序列含有启动子的特征性序列。GUS瞬时表达染色结果显示,该DNA 片段具有硝酸盐诱导和铵抑制的启动子活性。结论：所克隆的盐藻的5′上游序列可能是一种具有"开关"活性的可控性启动子。     

Hybrid protein thymidine kinase gene fusions: plasmid vectors for the study of transcription and translation initiation signals

The thymidine kinase (TK) gene (tk) from Herpes simplex virus type 1 has been used to form gene fusions encoding enzymatically active hybrid proteins. The promoter, translation initiation region, and the first three codons of the tk gene were removed and replaced with a series of DNA restriction sites. DNA fragments containing gene initiation regions were cloned into these sites and shown to synthesize enzymatically active proteins in Escherichia coli. These gene fusions were shown to complement an E. coli strain which is deficient in TK function. Gene initiation regions were used from the lac operon, the tnpR gene of Tn3, and the insA gene of ISl. TK synthesis was regulated by the control signals of the promoter fused to tk, and was dependent upon the phase alignment of the codons at the fusion joint. The size of the resulting protein was shown to be increased over the size of the original TK protein by the length of the coding region fused to TK. This demonstrated that the tk gene has non-essential N-terminal amino acids that can be replaced by other amino acid sequences with the retention of TK enzymatic activity. Such tk gene fusions are useful in situations where fusions with other genes cannot be conveniently selected or assayed.     

Molecular genetic studies of the DNA promotor regions in Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. galleriae 69-6. I. Structural and functional analysis

Three recombinant plasmids pPBT9, pPBT10 and pPBT74 carrying promoter-containing regions of DNA of Bacillus thuringiensis which are responsible for the expression of the promoterless tet gene, were studied. In the in vitro experiments, it had been shown that these promoter-active HindIII fragments of bacillar DNA contained RNA polymerase binding sites. The AluI subfragments that specifically bind to Escherichia coli RNA polymerase promote the tet gene expression, similar to the whole HindIII fragments. Sequence analysis revealed that the approximately 220 base pair AluI subfragment of the bacillar insertion of the pPBT10 plasmid contained sites typical for "-10" and "-35" homology regions of promoters specific for sigma 55-RNA polymerase from Bac. subtilis. The 1.45 kb HindII bacillar fragment of the plasmid pPBT9 had three AluI subfragments that bind to E. coli RNA polymerase. Only approximately 400 base pair AluI subfragment among these restored the tet gene expression in vivo. Bireplicon pBP plasmids were constructed that promoted the expression of the enterobacterial antibiotic resistance gene under the control of Bac. thuringiensis promoters in Bac. subtilis cells.