灰树花gpd-Gf启动子的功能分析

利用从灰树花菌丝体中克隆的gpd-Gf（615bp）启动子片段串联于报告基因gfp上游,构建启动子功能活性检测表达质粒pGg-gfp。采用PEG介导法把表达质粒pGg-gfp与辅助质粒pCc1001（含有trp1基因）共转化进色氨酸营养缺陷型的灰盖鬼伞粉孢子的原生质体中。经过选择培养基筛选、假定转化子的分子鉴定以及GFP荧光检测, 结果表明：灰树花gpd-Gf启动子在灰盖鬼伞菌丝中具有较强驱动gfp基因表达的活性,在荧光显微镜和共聚焦显微镜下可以观察到转化子菌丝发出的强烈荧光。     

一种基于lacZ基因和pUC复制子的原核启动子报告系统的构建及评价

为构建一种具有广泛适用性的原核启动子报告系统,以质粒pFLX107为骨架,通过多克隆位点替换和序列改造,构建出基于lacZ基因和pUC复制子的pFGH系列报告载体,然后以lacZ基因缺失株MC4100为宿主菌筛选背景活性最低的质粒作为最终的报告系统,并利用诱导型启动子araBAD和组成型启动子rpsM分别对其进行测试。结果显示,在所构建的pFGH系列质粒中,pFGH06的背景活性显著低于同系列其他质粒,在28 ℃培养条件下甚至显著低于低拷贝参考质粒pRCL的活性 (P<0.01)。进一步的评估测试显示,质粒pFGH06可用于诱导型启动子或组成型启动子的克隆及活性测定,且在模拟应用于启动子筛选时,通过蓝白斑筛选即可实现对目标启动子的完全识别。与已报道的原核启动子报告系统相比,pFGH06具有体积小、克隆位点多、背景活性可调、对启动子筛选识别效率高等优点,具有广泛的应用前景。     

低温菌启动子探针质粒的构建

为了在宿主菌Acinetobacter sp.DWC6中构建低温菌蛋白表达载体,以pBR322质粒为基础,去除质粒上β-内酰胺酶基因的启动子片段,取而代之为来源于质粒pJRD215的卡那霉素抗性基因片段,并在pBR322中插入Acinetobacter菌属特异性ori的DNA片段,构建了能在Acinetobacter sp.DWC6和E.coli中正常复制的启动子探针质粒pBAP1。通过在质粒pBAP1中的β-内酰胺酶基因上游随机导入Acinetobacter sp.DWC6基因组片段,通过检测宿主细胞的氨苄青霉素抗性和β-内酰胺酶活性,来筛选强启动子片段,并分析了启动子探针质粒载体的功能及启动子的强度。     

细菌的β-1,4一内切葡聚糖酶基因在酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)中的表达

将大肠杆菌质粒pA2含气单孢菌（Aromonds.sp.212）的β-1,4-内切葡聚糖酶基因直接连干大肠杆菌／酵母菌穿梭载体pVC727组建成重组质粒,质粒PVC含强启动子。首先,通过菌落染色方法和Congo－Red染色方法筛选到大肠杆菌DH5α转化子,然后以重组质粒转化酿酒酵母BJ1991并得到表达。最后,对酶反应的最适pH和适宜温度进行了测定。     

嗜麦芽假单胞菌热休克基因dnaK启动子的亚克隆及其在大肠杆菌中功能的研究

通过聚合酶链式反应（PCR）得到了嗜麦芽假单胞菌（Pseudomonas maltophilia)热休克基因dnaK启动子的DNA片段dnaKp,将dnaKp的PCR的产物亚克隆在报道载体质粒pUCD615的LuxCDABE基因上游,成重组的具有启动子的质粒融合体pUCD615p。转化到大肠杆菌的pUCD615p启动子对热、有机化合物和重金属的诱导响应快速灵敏,表现出强的启动子功能,能启动LuxCDABE基因表达,使荧光酶活性提高。借助荧光敏活性的变化,可检测系统中一些有机物和重金属的存在,作为一种灵敏的环境污染生物检测工具。     

马立克氏病病毒pp38基因和1.8kb转录子之间双向启动子的特性研究

从马立克氏病病毒(MDV)基因组DNA复制原点区某一点,将介于MDVpp38基因和1 8kb转录子之间的双向启动子分割成两个单方向的启动子。以pp38为报告基因,pUC18质粒为载体,构建了含不同方向完整启动子序列的pProfpp38和pProrpp38质粒,以及含分割后单方向启动子序列的pdProfpp38和pdProrpp38质粒。4种质粒分别转染鸡胚成纤维细胞(Chickenembryofibroblast,CEF)后,均能检测到pp38基因的表达。进一步以氯霉素乙酰转移酶(Chloramphenicolacetyltransferase,CAT)为报告基因,构建了含不同方向完整双向启动子的pProfCAT和pProrCAT质粒,以及含分割后单方向启动子序列的pdProfCAT和pdProrCAT质粒。通过转染试验,定量分析了完整启动子和分割后启动子在两个方向上的启动活性。实验结果表明,分割后的启动子在两个方向上的启动活性均比相应方向上完整启动子的活性低,其中1 8kb转录子方向上的活性下降了4 1倍     

利用不相容质粒共转化大肠杆菌对Cre重组酶体内重组活性的可视检测

源自噬菌体P1的Cre重组酶可以识别 34bp的靶DNA序列loxP ,进行位点特异性的重组反应。为了简便地检测Cre酶在大肠杆菌中的重组活性 ,分别将cre基因和上下游带有loxP的绿色荧光蛋白基因 (gfp)克隆到具有不同抗性的两种不相容质粒中 ,然后将构建的原核表达载体pET30a Cre和pET2 3b loxGFP电击共转化大肠杆菌BL2 1(DE3) ,利用卡那霉素和氨苄青霉素双抗生素抗性进行筛选。通过直接观察转化子的绿色荧光 ,便可以显示Cre酶的体内重组活性 ,并进一步通过SDS PAGE分析、质粒酶切鉴定进行了验证。结果表明 :以gfp为报告基因、通过两种不相容质粒共转化大肠杆菌可以为研究和改进Cre loxP重组系统提供一种简便直观的检测方法     

短短小芽孢杆菌启动子筛选载体的构建

为了筛选短短小芽孢杆菌强启动子元件,应用PCR技术从枯草杆菌168中分离出α-淀粉酶基因,用其作为报告基因与质粒pUB110和pKF3一起构建了启动子筛选载体pKB/A.将短短小芽孢杆菌细胞壁蛋白基因启动子引入该载体构建成重组质粒pKB/PA,电穿孔法转化短短小芽孢杆菌50后发现α-淀粉酶以活性形式分泌表达.结果表明短短小芽孢杆菌启动子筛选载体构建成功.     

瘤胃微生物元基因组来源的新的组成型启动子获取

【目的】自极端环境来源的微生物的基因组中筛选新型的可用于合成生物学底盘细胞设计的启动子元件。【方法】本研究以含有绿色荧光蛋白结构基因和核糖体结合位点的探针型质粒pUC18-GFP为载体,通过构建瘤胃微生物元基因组质粒文库,从文库中快速高效筛选具有启动子功能的DNA片段。并且通过基于神经网络的启动子预测分析,获得可能的启动子区域。以绿色荧光蛋白和施氏假单胞菌Pseudomonas stutzeri来源的麦芽四糖淀粉酶作为报告基因验证所获得的新启动子片段的功能。【结果】我们从约3750个转化子中筛选到22条具有组成型启动子功能的DNA片段。这些片段与NCBI数据库中已报道的基因序列同源性较低,启动效率高低不等。我们通过启动子预测和亚克隆的方法获得两条全新的启动子片段RFa1p2 (76 bp)和RFb4p (547 bp)。此新的组成型启动子可以在不添加任何诱导剂的情况下启动异源蛋白在大肠杆菌基因工程菌中高效表达。     

链霉菌负调控因子突变筛选系统的构建

摘要:【目的】构建用于阻遏链霉菌隐性次级代谢基因簇表达的负调控因子筛选的报告系统。【方法】通过“REDIRECT (Rapid Efficient Directed Recombination Time Saving)”技术结合链霉菌温和噬菌体BT1整合酶的体内位点特异性重组技术,对链霉菌中多基因进行无痕敲除。以链霉菌隐性次级代谢基因簇中受阻遏的启动子驱动链霉菌中保守的inoA 构建报告质粒,针对阻遏次级代谢基因簇表达的负调控基因的突变进行检测,以验证报告系统的可行性。【结果】本研究首先通过对天蓝色链霉菌的肌醇从头合成途径关键酶基因inoA,及合成黄色聚酮类隐性抗生素(yellow cryptic polyketide,yCPK)的途径特异性负调控基因scbR2依次进行了无痕敲除,以构建进一步筛选所用的受体菌,再以scbR2阻遏的cpkO启动子控制inoA 的表达构建了报告质粒pIJ8660::PcpkO::inoA。结果显示沉默的cpkO 启动子在突变的受体菌中被激活并使inoA得到了表达,可以使inoA的光秃型突变表型在不添加肌醇的培养基上恢复到产孢的野生型表型。【结论】inoA可以作为新的链霉菌普遍适用的报告基因,可方便地通过表型变化的观察进行筛选,同时可针对性对负调控基因的突变进行检测,可应用于链霉菌隐性抗生素激活的研究。     

Novel whole-cell antibiotic biosensors for compound discovery

Cells containing reporters which are specifically induced via selected promoters are used in pharmaceutical drug discovery and in environmental biology. They are used in screening for novel drug candidates and in the detection of bioactive compounds in environmental samples. In this study, we generated and validated a set of five Bacillus subtilis promoters fused to the firefly luciferase reporter gene suitable for cell-based screening, enabling the as yet most-comprehensive high-throughput diagnosis of antibiotic interference in the major biosynthetic pathways of bacteria: the biosynthesis of DNA by the yorB promoter, of RNA by the yvgS promoter, of proteins by the yheI promoter, of the cell wall by the ypuA promoter, and of fatty acids by the fabHB promoter. The reporter cells mainly represent novel antibiotic biosensors compatible with high-throughput screening. We validated the strains by developing screens with a set of 14,000 pure natural products, representing a source of highly diverse chemical entities, many of them with antibiotic activity (6% with anti-Bacillus subtilis activity of 相似文献   

A novel high-throughput genetic screen for stress-responsive mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana reveals new loci involving stress responses

Activation sequence-1 (as-1) cognate promoter elements are widespread in the promoters of plant defense-related genes as well as in plant pathogen promoters, and may play important roles in the activation of defense-related genes. The as-1-type elements are highly responsive to multiple stress stimuli such as jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), H(2)O(2), xenobiotics and heavy metals, and therefore provide a unique opportunity for identifying additional signaling components and cross-talk points in the various signaling networks. A single as-1-type cis-element-driven GUS reporter Arabidopsis line responsive to JA, SA, H(2)O(2), xenobiotics and heavy metals was constructed for mutagenesis. A large-scale T-DNA mutagenesis has been conducted in the reporter background, and an efficient high-throughput mutant screen was established for isolating mutants with altered responses to the stress chemicals. A number of mutants with altered stress responses were obtained, some of which appear to identify new components in the as-1-based signal transduction pathways. We characterized a mutant (Delta8L4) with a T-DNA insertion in the coding sequence of the gene At4g24275. The as-1-regulated gene expression and GUS reporter gene expression were altered in the Delta8L4 mutant, but there was no change in the expression of genes lacking as-1 elements in their promoters. The phenotype observed with the Delta8L4 mutant was further verified using RNAi plants for At4g24275 (8L4-RNAi), suggesting the feasibility of use of this high-throughput mutant screening in isolating stress-signaling mutants.     

Regulation of gene expression in PC12 cells via an activator of dual second messengers: pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide.

In this study we demonstrate that the activator protein-1 (AP-1) DNA motif, initially considered to be unresponsive to cyclic AMP (cAMP), does function as a cAMP-response element in PC12 cells. A luciferase reporter gene driven by the collagenase promoter that contains the AP-1 motif is responsive to cAMP as well as phorbol esters when transfected in PC12 cells. We have recently shown that pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) has neurotrophic properties and activates both adenylylcyclase and the inositol lipid cascade in PC12 cells. Consistent with these actions, we demonstrate that PACAP is an effective activator of luciferase reporter genes whose promoters bear the AP-1 motif, as well as the related DNA element that binds the protein CREB. Both the cAMP and inositol lipid pathways appear to play a role in the activation of these motifs by PACAP. Mutation of the AP-1 motif and its juxtaposition to a heterologous promoter proves that the AP-1 motif is a locus for response to cAMP and PACAP. The luciferase reporter genes bearing the AP-1 motif are not cAMP responsive in HeLa tk- cells, indicating that the mode of second-messenger responsiveness is cell-type specific.     

A Novel Non-wounding Transient Expression Assay for Cereals Mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens

A novel Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transient expression assay (AmTEA) was developed for young plants of different cereal species and the model dicot Arabidopsis thaliana. AmTEA was evaluated using five promoters (six constructs) and two reporter genes, gus and egfp. The constitutive 35S promoter and the promoter of the rice glutaredoxin gene showed gus and egfp expression in the cereals analyzed in the present study. A promoter for the DEAD-box RNA helicase family protein gene from Arabidopsis showed similar expression patterns of reporter genes in stable transgenic lines as well as in transient expression lines of Arabidopsis. Agrobacterium tumefaciens co-cultivation and plant incubation times were optimized using 35S and the rice expressed protein gene promoter (R2-273). The possibility of non-specific expression of the reporter genes was ruled out by using the antibiotic carbenicillin and the comparison of expression of the reporter genes driven by full-length and truncated R2-273 promoters. AmTEA considerably reduced time, space, labor, and cost requirements. Ease of use with stress treatments is another major advantage of this method. AmTEA can be automated and used for large-scale studies to decipher promoter and gene functions with the ultimate goal to enhance the performance of cereal crops against biotic and abiotic stresses.     

Identification of the cadmium-inducible Hansenula polymorpha SEO1 gene promoter by transcriptome analysis and its application to whole-cell heavy-metal detection systems

The genomewide gene expression profiling of the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha exposed to cadmium (Cd) allowed us to identify novel genes responsive to Cd treatment. To select genes whose promoters can be useful for construction of a cellular Cd biosensor, we further analyzed a set of H. polymorpha genes that exhibited >6-fold induction upon treatment with 300 muM Cd for 2 h. The putative promoters, about 1,000-bp upstream fragments, of these genes were fused with the yeast-enhanced green fluorescence protein (GFP) gene. The resultant reporter cassettes were introduced into H. polymorpha to evaluate promoter strength and specificity. The promoter derived from the H. polymorpha SEO1 gene (HpSEO1) was shown to drive most strongly the expression of GFP upon Cd treatment among the tested promoters. The Cd-inducible activity was retained in the 500-bp deletion fragment of the HpSEO1 promoter but was abolished in the further truncated 250-bp fragment. The 500-bp HpSEO1 promoter directed specific expression of GFP upon exposure to Cd in a dose-dependent manner, with Cd detection ranging from 1 to 900 muM. Comparative analysis of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEO1 (ScSEO1) promoter revealed that the ScSEO1 promoter has a broader specificity for heavy metals and is responsive to arsenic and mercury in addition to Cd. Our data demonstrate the potential use of the HpSEO1 promoter as a bioelement in whole-cell biosensors to monitor heavy metal contamination, particularly Cd.     

Comparative genome analysis of potential regulatory elements in the ABCG5-ABCG8 gene cluster

The excretion of sterols from the liver and intestine is regulated by the ABCG5 and ABCG8 transporters. To identify potential regulatory elements, 152 kb of the human ABCG5-ABCG8 gene cluster was sequenced and comparative genome analysis was performed. The two genes are oriented in a head-to-head configuration and are separated by a 374-bp intergenic region, which is highly conserved among several species. Using a reporter construct, the intergenic region was found to act as a bidirectional promoter. A conserved GATA site in the intergenic region was shown by site-directed mutagenesis to act as a repressor for the ABCG5 promoter. The intergenic region was also shown to be partially responsive to treatment by LXR agonists. In summary, several potential regulatory elements were found for the ABCG5 and ABCG8 genes, and the intergenic region was found to act as a bidirectional promoter.