噬菌蛭弧菌噬菌斑的鉴别与纯化的研究

本文报告了使用１／５００营养肉汤双层琼脂培养基,在含有宿主菌及寄生菌混合物的软琼脂层中,蛭弧菌、变形虫及鞭毛虫等均可形成噬菌斑,但其大小、形态、扩展速度不同。鉴别方法除依据噬菌斑形态特征外,主要靠相差显微镜下的形态学观察。蛭弧菌的纯化用单斑传代,一个直径为１ｍｍ的噬菌斑含有约１０^５－６ｐｆｕ／ｍｌ（每毫升噬菌斑形成单位）。     

噬菌斑电子图像的计算机处理及其自动计数

噬菌斑平板计数是微生物学理论研究与实际应用中常用的方法之一。但由于平板上噬菌斑与背景反差小,而且往往出现几个噬菌斑相连,计算机识别时出现较大的误差,因此噬菌斑计数目前仍为人工方法。本文以λ噬菌体为材料,感染E.coli宿主细胞,获得噬菌斑。然后将噬菌斑制成电子图像。抽取图像中有代表性的区域,利用分水岭算法对图像进行分割处理,将相连的噬菌斑分割成单独的噬菌斑,然后利用基于区域生长法进行计数,结果与人工计数完全相同,表明我们建立的新方法可以用于噬菌斑计算机自动计数。     

PCR筛选阳性克隆方法的改进

ＰＣＲ筛选阳性克隆具有简便、快速的优点,但常发生假阳性错误。用与载体匹配的引物和目的的基因引物组合进行ＰＣＲ,可以消除假阳性,同时可以判断插入目的基因的方向。     

噬菌体颗粒大小与其遗传控制的噬菌斑大小的关系

测定培养温度、琼脂浓度、感染系数、培养基丰度和时间等因子对形成噬菌斑大小的影响程度,从而排除了影响噬菌斑大小的非遗传本底。分析电镜下噬菌体颗粒大小和平板上噬菌斑大小两者之间的关系,发现在同一容量较恒定的细胞内,不向噬菌体其生物合成总量趋于相等,该原理解释了决定噬菌斑大小的主要遗传控制方式。计算并推导出在一定程度上可反映噬菌体颗粒大小的经验公式。     

从cDNA文库中筛选分析阳性克隆的简便方法

cDNA文库中阳性克隆的传统筛选分析法既费时又费力.利用微波炉加热的方法,简化了原位杂交中噬菌斑裂解、DNA变性与固定的程序;进一步运用PCR扩增技术,特异扩增克隆载体中插入的cDNA片段,加快了阳性克隆分析的进程.     

龈下菌斑涂片两种染色分类方法的比较

目的:用革兰染色和刚果红负染两种不同的染色方法对同一龈下菌斑样本进行分类计数,比较两种分类方法的优缺点,提出应用中的问题以及解决方法.方法:随机抽样采集40例牙周病患者的80个位点龈下菌斑,同一标本进行生理盐水涂片革兰染色和刚果红负染.光学显微镜油镜(15×100)镜检共计数200个细菌,包括5种不同形状细菌.采用SPSS 10.01统计软件,对数据进行分析.结果:两种染色分类方法计数统计结果为螺旋体、弯曲菌、梭形菌3种菌数值P＞0.05无统计学意义,而球菌、杆菌2种菌数值经统计P＜0.01有高度统计学意义.结论:刚果红负染简便易行,但龈下菌斑球菌、杆菌进行百分计数时,不适宜用刚果红负染法,应根据实验目的选择恰当的方法.     

一种从RNA Blot杂交膜上脱除探针的改进方法

目的：探讨脱除RNA Blot膜上的杂交探针的方法,解决杂交中RNA Blot膜重复使用的问题。方法：经NBT／BCIP化学显色的RNA Blot杂交膜先用二甲基甲酰胺在60℃处理90min,然后用脱探针溶液(50％去离子甲酰胺、50mmol/L Tris—HCl pH7．5、5％SDS)在80℃处理90min,经过处理的膜再次用于下一轮的杂交。结果：用这一改进的方法,可以完全脱除杂交膜上的地高辛标记的cDNA探针,RNA Blot膜可以重复杂交5轮以上,杂交带仍然保持清晰锐利。结论：该改进方法操作简便,能有效地脱除杂交膜上的地高辛标记的cDNA探针。     

一种浓缩噬藻体的反冲超滤技术

噬藻体(Cyanophage)是一类感染蓝藻的病毒,形态上同于噬菌体[1],近期的研究表明,噬藻体作为水体环境中活跃的动态因子,在控制水体初级生产力和有害藻类水华(Harmful Algal Bloom,HAB)方面可能发挥着重要的作用[2,3],甚至影响水体生态系统中食物链的结构[4],因此研究水体中噬藻体的生理生态学特性对于了解其生态功能是非常重要的,但是由于自然水体中的噬藻体浓度往往较低,难以直接对其进行定性或定量研究,所以对天然水样中的噬藻体进行高效、快速的浓缩是研究噬藻体生态地位和功能的关键和难点.     

一种浓缩噬藻体的反冲超滤技术

噬藻体(Cyanophage)是一类感染蓝藻的病毒,形态上同于噬菌体,近期的研究表明,噬藻体作为水体环境中活跃的动态因子,在控制水体初级生产力和有害藻类水华(Harmful Algal Bloom,HAB)方面可能发挥着重要的作用,甚至影响水体生态系统中食物链的结构,因此研究水体中噬藻体的生理生态学特性对于了解其生态功能是非常重要的,但是由于自然水体中的噬藻体浓度往往较低,难以直接对其进行定性或定量研究,所以对天     

A Plate Method to Screen for Microorganisms Producing Xylose Isomerase

A plate method was developed to screen for xylose isomerase–producing microorganisms based on the use of 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium as an indicator of D-xylulose, the D-xylose isomerization product. The use of this method allows microorganisms to be differentiated by the character of the enzyme synthesis (inducible or constitutive).     

An improved method to extract DNA from mango Mangifera indica

High quality genomic DNA is the first step in the development of DNA-based markers for fingerprinting and genetic diversity of crops, including mango (Mangifera indica L.), a woody perennial. Poor quality genomic DNA hinders the successful application of analytical DNA-based tools. Standard protocols for DNA extraction are not suitable for mango since the extracted genomic DNA often contains secondary metabolites that interfere with analytical applications. In this study, we employed an additional step to remove polysaccharides, polyphenols and secondary metabolites from genomic DNA extracted from young or mature leaf tissue; then a modified traditional cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method was applied. The use of 0.4 M glucose improved DNA quality and avoided contamination and browning by polyphenolics, relative to the traditional CTAB method. This is an easy and efficient method for genomic DNA extraction from both young and mature leaves of mango. The isolated DNA was free of polysaccharides, polyphenols, RNA and other major contaminants, as judged by its clear colour, its viscosity, A²⁶⁰/A²⁸⁰ ratio and suitability for PCR-based reactions. This modified protocol was also used to extract high quality genomic DNA from other woody perennials, including walnut, guava, lychee, pear, grape and sugarcane.     

碳酸钙沉淀法回收琼脂糖凝胶中DNA的探讨

采用碳酸钙沉淀法回收琼脂糖凝胶中的DNA,达到分离纯化目的,回收后的DNA可用于重组、PCR等研究。首先将含有目的DNA的琼脂糖凝胶用Nal溶液融解,然后加入cacl2,和NaHCO3,生成CaCO3,沉淀,DNA与cac03形成复合物,通过离心分离出沉淀复合物,利用稀酸溶解沉淀,再用无水乙醇沉降,即可回收目标DNA。利用该方法回收了质粒、毛白杨和转基因羊基因组DNA,同收率为20％～50％,0D260／OD280,为1．7～19,最大回收了21kb片段,最小回收250bp片段,回收后的DNA样品进行了PCR扩增和限制性内切酶反应,PCR可以扩增出目的片段,同时限制性内切酶可以将回收后的DNA切开,表明DNA质量良好。利用碳酸钙沉淀法可以回收琼脂糖凝胶中的DNA,此法简单、易行,较为有效。     

An Effective Method to Identify Heritable Components from Multivariate Phenotypes

Multivariate phenotypes may be characterized collectively by a variety of low level traits, such as in the diagnosis of a disease that relies on multiple disease indicators. Such multivariate phenotypes are often used in genetic association studies. If highly heritable components of a multivariate phenotype can be identified, it can maximize the likelihood of finding genetic associations. Existing methods for phenotype refinement perform unsupervised cluster analysis on low-level traits and hence do not assess heritability. Existing heritable component analytics either cannot utilize general pedigrees or have to estimate the entire covariance matrix of low-level traits from limited samples, which leads to inaccurate estimates and is often computationally prohibitive. It is also difficult for these methods to exclude fixed effects from other covariates such as age, sex and race, in order to identify truly heritable components. We propose to search for a combination of low-level traits and directly maximize the heritability of this combined trait. A quadratic optimization problem is thus derived where the objective function is formulated by decomposing the traditional maximum likelihood method for estimating the heritability of a quantitative trait. The proposed approach can generate linearly-combined traits of high heritability that has been corrected for the fixed effects of covariates. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated in simulations and by a case study of cocaine dependence. Our approach was computationally efficient and derived traits of higher heritability than those by other methods. Additional association analysis with the derived cocaine-use trait identified genetic markers that were replicated in an independent sample, further confirming the utility and advantage of the proposed approach.     

An improved experimental system for determining small folding entropy changes resulting from proline to alanine substitutions

Changes in protein stability can be achieved by making substitutions that increase or decrease the available conformations of the unfolded protein without altering the conformational freedom of the folded protein. Matthews and coworkers (1987) proposed that proline to alanine (P --> A) substitution would achieve this type of entropic destabilization. By comparing the Ramachandran area associated with alanine and proline residues, Matthews et al. estimated the unfolding entropy change resulting from P --> A substitution to be 4.8 cal mol(-1) K(-1). Although such an entropy difference would produce a substantial free energy change, accurately resolving such free energy changes into entropic and enthalpic components has been difficult. Here, we attempt to quantify the unfolding entropy change produced by P --> A substitution by amplifying the effect through multiple substitutions, and by decreasing the uncertainty in determining the unfolding entropy. Variants of a repeat protein, the Drosophila Notch ankyrin domain, were constructed with a varying number of P --> A substitutions at structurally conserved positions. Unfolding entropy values of the variants were determined from free energy measurements taken over a common temperature range using chemical denaturation. Our findings confirm the prediction that increasing the number of proline residues present in similar local environments increases the unfolding entropy. The average value of this increase in unfolding entropy is 7.7 +/- 4.2 cal mol(-1) K(-1), which is within error of the value estimated by Matthews et al. (1987).