Decoding a Salmonella Typhi Regulatory Network that Controls Typhoid Toxin Expression within Human Cells

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一种基于基因表达模型识别酵母细胞周期条件特异调控子网的方法

由高通量微阵列技术产生的数据集可以用于解释生物系统基因调控的未知机制.生物过程是动态的,所以很有必要关注某些条件下特异的基因调控子网络.细胞周期是一个基本的细胞过程,识别酵母的细胞周期特异调控子网是理解细胞周期过程的基础,并且有助于揭示其他细胞条件的基因调控机理.使用一个基因表达微分方程模型(GEDEM),从静态网络中识别了动态的细胞周期相关调控关系.与已经报道的细胞周期相关调控相互作用相比,该方法识别了更多的真实存在的条件特异调控关系,取得了比当前的方法更好的性能.在大数据集上,GEDEM 识别了具有高敏感性和特异性的调控子网.组合调控的深入分析显示,条件特异调控子网的转录因子之间的相关性呈现出比静态网络中转录因子相关性更强,这说明条件特异网络比静态网络更加接近真实情况.另外,GEDEM 方法还识别更多潜在的共调控转录因子.     

A Negative Regulatory Loop between MicroRNA and Hox Gene Controls Posterior Identities in Caenorhabditis elegans

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been found to regulate gene expression across eukaryotic species, but the function of most miRNA genes remains unknown. Here we describe how the analysis of the expression patterns of a well-conserved miRNA gene, mir-57, at cellular resolution for every minute during early development of Caenorhabditis elegans provided key insights in understanding its function. Remarkably, mir-57 expression shows strong positional bias but little tissue specificity, a pattern reminiscent of Hox gene function. Despite the minor defects produced by a loss of function mutation, overexpression of mir-57 causes dramatic posterior defects, which also mimic the phenotypes of mutant alleles of a posterior Hox gene, nob-1, an Abd homolog. More importantly, nob-1 expression is found in the same two posterior AB sublineages as those expressing mir-57 but with an earlier onset. Intriguingly, nob-1 functions as an activator for mir-57 expression; it is also a direct target of mir-57. In agreement with this, loss of mir-57 function partially rescues the nob-1 allele defects, indicating a negative feedback regulatory loop between the miRNA and Hox gene to provide positional cues. Given the conservation of the miRNA and Hox gene, the regulatory mechanism might be broadly used across species. The strategy used here to explore mir-57 function provides a path to dissect the regulatory relationship between genes.     

Tri1 Encodes the Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenase for C-8 Hydroxylation during Trichothecene Biosynthesis in Fusarium sporotrichioides and Resides Upstream of Another New Tri Gene

Many Fusarium species produce one or more agriculturally important trichothecene mycotoxins, and the relative level of toxicity of these compounds is determined by the pattern of oxygenations and acetylations or esterifications on the core trichothecene structure. Previous studies with UV-induced Fusarium sporotrichioides NRRL 3299 trichothecene mutants defined the Tri1 gene and demonstrated that it was required for addition of the oxygen at the C-8 position during trichothecene biosynthesis. We have cloned and characterized the Tri1 gene from NRRL 3299 and found that it encodes a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase. The disruption of Tri1 blocks production of C-8-oxygenated trichothecenes and leads to the accumulation of 4,15-diacetoxyscirpenol, the same phenotype observed in the tri1 UV-induced mutants MB1716 and MB1370. The Tri1 disruptants and the tri1 UV-induced mutants do not complement one another when coinoculated, and the Tri1 gene sequence restores T-2 toxin production in both MB1716 and MB1370. The DNA sequence flanking Tri1 contains another new Tri gene. Thus, Tri1 encodes a C-8 hydroxylase and is located either in a new distal portion of the trichothecene gene cluster or in a second separate trichothecene gene cluster.     

Tri16 Is Required for Esterification of Position C-8 during Trichothecene Mycotoxin Production by Fusarium sporotrichioides

We previously characterized Tri1, a gene required for hydroxylation of the C-8 position during trichothecene mycotoxin biosynthesis in Fusarium sporotrichioides NRRL 3299. Sequence analysis of the region surrounding Tri1 revealed a gene, named Tri16, which could encode an acyltransferase. Unlike the wild-type parent strain NRRL 3299, which accumulates primarily T-2 toxin along with low levels of diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS) and neosolaniol (NEO) and trace amounts of 8-propionyl-neosolaniol (P-NEO) and 8-isobutyryl-neosolaniol (B-NEO), mutants containing a disruption of Tri16 were blocked in the production of the three C-8 esterified compounds T-2 toxin, P-NEO, and B-NEO and accumulated the C-8-hydroxylated compound NEO along with secondary levels of DAS. These data indicate that Tri16 encodes an acyltransferase that catalyzes the formation of ester side groups at C-8 during trichothecene biosynthesis. We also report the presence of a Tri16 ortholog in Gibberella pulicaris R-6380 that is likely linked to a presumably inactive ortholog for Tri1.     

A Novel Gene Controls a New Structure: PiggyBac Transposable Element-Derived 1, Unique to Mammals,Controls Mammal-Specific Neuronal Paraspeckles

Although new genes can arrive from modes other than duplication, few examples are well characterized. Given high expression in some human brain subregions and a putative link to psychological disorders [e.g., schizophrenia (SCZ)], suggestive of brain functionality, here we characterize piggyBac transposable element-derived 1 (PGBD1). PGBD1 is nonmonotreme mammal-specific and under purifying selection, consistent with functionality. The gene body of human PGBD1 retains much of the original DNA transposon but has additionally captured SCAN and KRAB domains. Despite gene body retention, PGBD1 has lost transposition abilities, thus transposase functionality is absent. PGBD1 no longer recognizes piggyBac transposon-like inverted repeats, nonetheless PGBD1 has DNA binding activity. Genome scale analysis identifies enrichment of binding sites in and around genes involved in neuronal development, with association with both histone activating and repressing marks. We focus on one of the repressed genes, the long noncoding RNA NEAT1, also dysregulated in SCZ, the core structural RNA of paraspeckles. DNA binding assays confirm specific binding of PGBD1 both in the NEAT1 promoter and in the gene body. Depletion of PGBD1 in neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) results in increased NEAT1/paraspeckles and differentiation. We conclude that PGBD1 has evolved core regulatory functionality for the maintenance of NPCs. As paraspeckles are a mammal-specific structure, the results presented here show a rare example of the evolution of a novel gene coupled to the evolution of a contemporaneous new structure.     

A型产气荚膜梭菌α毒素基因的高效表达

用NooI/EcoRI酶切含α毒素基因质粒pXCPA02,回收1.2kb的α毒素基因片段,通过T4 DNA连接酶,将回收的α毒素基因片段与经NcoI/Eco RI酶切的表达载体pET-28c连接,转化至受体菌BI21(DE3)中,经NcoI/EcoRI,BamHI/Eco RI和NcoI/BamHI/Eco RI酶切反应鉴定和核苷酸序列分析证实,获得的表达质粒aXETA02含有α毒素基因,而且阅读框架是正确的.重组菌株BL21(DE3),(pXETA02)经IPTG诱导后,其表达产物经ELISA检测和SDS-PAGE分析,结果表明重组菌株可以高效表达α毒素蛋白,该蛋白占菌体总蛋白相对含量的36.83%.     

成熟志贺毒素全长与截短A亚单位在E.coli中的表达及纯化

应用PCR技术从Ⅰ型痢疾志贺菌(Shigella dysenteriaetype I)中,扩增出约895 bp的成熟ShT-A基因片段,克隆至pGEM-T载体中,经蓝白斑筛选、PCR和双酶切鉴定正确后,命名为pGEM-TA2。测序结果表明,ShT-A与GenBank中ShT-A序列完全一致。用BamHⅠ和KpnⅠ双酶切克隆质粒,得到为895 bp成熟ShT-A与pQE30原核重组表达载体连接,构建原核重组表达质粒。经IPTG诱导,SDS-PAGE电泳观察,没有目的蛋白表达。DNAsis软件分析ShT-A基因序列,发现513 bp处有HindⅢ位点,故以ShT-A上游引物的BamHⅠ和HindⅢ从pGEM-TA2切出一个513 bp的截短片段,重新插入pQE30表达载体,得到pQE30-A513重组表达质粒,转化E.coliM15,经IPTG诱导,SDS-PAGE电泳观察,在20 ku处出现1条特异性的表达蛋白带,与截短ShT-A513分子量相符,表达量约占菌体总蛋白的37.4%,表达形式为包涵体。为抗体的制备提供了必要的物质基础。     

转基因烟草中Bt毒蛋白基因的表达行为

构建了高效植物表达载体ｐＢｉｎＭｏＢｃ,该载体携带超强表达复合启动子ＯＭ及Ω因子控制下的ＣｒｙＩＡ（ｃ）基因。采用根癌土壤杆菌（Ａｇｒｏｂａｃｔｅｒｕｍ ｔｕｍｅｆａｃｉｅｎｓ（Ｓｍｉｔｈ ｅｔ Ｔｏｗｎｓｅｎｄ）Ｃｏｎｎ）介导的方法转化烟草（Ｎｉｃｏｔｉａｎａ ｔａｂａｃｕｍ Ｌ．）,ＥＬＩＳＡ检测表明,大多数转基因烟草中ＣｒｙＩＡ（ｃ）基因表达量均超过０．１％,最高可达０．２５５％;转基因烟草     

转基因烟草中Bt毒蛋白基因的表达行为

Bt toxin genes were the insecticidal genes most widely used in genetic engineering of pest resistant plant, were of important significance to study their expression behavior in transgenic plants. In this work, a plant expression vector, pBinMoBc, was constructed. It contained the Cry IA(c) gene under control of chimeric OM promoter and the Ω factor. The vector was transferred into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plant via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. ELISA assay showed that the expression levels of the Cry IA(c) gene in transgenic tobacco plants were significantly higher than that in wild-type tobacco plants. The highest could be up to 0.255% of total soluble proteins; the expression level of CryIA(c) gene in transgenic tobacco plant was changeable during the development stages of tobacco plant. Bioassay showed that pBinMoBc transgenic tobacco plants had more notable insecticidal activity than the wild-type tobacco plants. The above results indicated that pBinMoBc was an effective pest-resistent plant expression vector. This study would be very helpful in screening transgenic cotton with high resistance to cotton bollworm (Heliothis armigeva Hubner).     

Agrobacterium tumefaciens ExoR Controls Acid Response Genes and Impacts Exopolysaccharide Synthesis,Horizontal Gene Transfer,and Virulence Gene Expression

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a facultative plant pathogen and the causative agent of crown gall disease. The initial stage of infection involves attachment to plant tissues, and subsequently, biofilms may form at these sites. This study focuses on the periplasmic ExoR regulator, which was identified based on the severe biofilm deficiency of A. tumefaciens exoR mutants. Genome-wide expression analysis was performed to elucidate the complete ExoR regulon. Overproduction of the exopolysaccharide succinoglycan is a dramatic phenotype of exoR mutants. Comparative expression analyses revealed that the core ExoR regulon is unaffected by succinoglycan synthesis. Several findings are consistent with previous observations: genes involved in succinoglycan biosynthesis, motility, and type VI secretion are differentially expressed in the ΔexoR mutant. In addition, these studies revealed new functional categories regulated by ExoR, including genes related to virulence, conjugation of the pAtC58 megaplasmid, ABC transporters, and cell envelope architecture. To address how ExoR exerts a broad impact on gene expression from its periplasmic location, a genetic screen was performed to isolate suppressor mutants that mitigate the exoR motility phenotype and identify downstream components of the ExoR regulatory pathway. This suppression analysis identified the acid-sensing two-component system ChvG-ChvI, and the suppressor mutant phenotypes suggest that all or most of the characteristic exoR properties are mediated through ChvG-ChvI. Subsequent analysis indicates that exoR mutants are simulating a response to acidic conditions, even in neutral media. This work expands the model for ExoR regulation in A. tumefaciens and underscores the global role that this regulator plays on gene expression.     

新型R-扁桃酸脱氢酶的基因挖掘及表达鉴定

R-扁桃酸脱氢酶在苯乙酮酸的生物合成中起着关键的作用,挖掘具有高催化活性及稳定性的新型R-扁桃酸脱氢酶具有重要的意义。为了获得理想的R-扁桃酸脱氢酶,采用了基因组挖矿技术从Lactobacillus harbinensis菌株中获得了一个新型的R-扁桃酸脱氢酶LhDMDH,重组LhDMDH的比酶活高达1264.3 U/mg,约为探针的4倍,在已报道的R-扁桃酸脱氢酶中处于领先水平。同时,考察了4个重组酶主要的酶学特性,它们的最适反应温度在25~30℃,最适反应pH在9.0~9.5。动力学参数的结果表明,LhDMDH对底物的K_(cat)值为30.28 S~(-1),明显高于其它重组酶。此外,底物谱分析的结果也表明LhDMDH在外消旋扁桃酸的手性拆分及苯乙酮酸的生物合成中更具优势。在R-扁桃酸脱氢酶基因挖掘方面取得了较为理想的结果,为进一步的改造及应用奠定了坚实的基础,也为其它酶的挖掘提供了可资借鉴的经验。     

Combining Ribosomal Engineering with Heterologous Expression of a Regulatory Gene to Improve Milbemycin Production in Streptomyces milbemycinicus A2079

Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology - Milbemycin, a group of 16-membered macrolide antibiotics produced by Streptomyces milbemycinicus, has been widely used as an insecticide and an anthelmintic....