酿酒酵母人造纤维小体的研究进展

纤维素乙醇的统合生物加工过程(consolidated bioprocessing,CBP)是将(半)纤维素酶生产、纤维素水解和乙醇发酵过程组合,通过一种微生物完成的生物加工过程。CBP有利于降低生物转化过程的成本,受到研究者的普遍关注。酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)作为传统的乙醇生产菌株,是极具潜力的CBP底盘细胞。纤维小体是某些厌氧微生物细胞表面由纤维素酶系与支架蛋白组成的大分子复合物,它能高效降解木质纤维,在酿酒酵母表面展示纤维小体已成为构建CBP细胞的研究热点。笔者综述了人造纤维小体在酿酒酵母细胞表面展示组装的研究进展,重点阐述了纤维小体各元件的设计和改造,并针对酿酒酵母分泌途径的改造,提出提高人造纤维小体分泌组装的可能性策略。     

酿酒酵母人造纤维小体的研究进展简

纤维素乙醇的统合生物加工过程（consolidated bioprocessing,CBP）是将（半）纤维素酶生产、纤维素水解和乙醇发酵过程组合,通过一种微生物完成的生物加工过程。 CBP有利于降低生物转化过程的成本,受到研究者的普遍关注。酿酒酵母（ Saccharomyces cerevisiae）作为传统的乙醇生产菌株,是极具潜力的CBP底盘细胞。纤维小体是某些厌氧微生物细胞表面由纤维素酶系与支架蛋白组成的大分子复合物,它能高效降解木质纤维,在酿酒酵母表面展示纤维小体已成为构建CBP细胞的研究热点。笔者综述了人造纤维小体在酿酒酵母细胞表面展示组装的研究进展,重点阐述了纤维小体各元件的设计和改造,并针对酿酒酵母分泌途径的改造,提出提高人造纤维小体分泌组装的可能性策略。     

微生物降解利用木质纤维素的协同作用

木质纤维素复杂的结构组成,是制约高效降解利用这一资源、发展生物炼制的瓶颈。微生物的多酶(菌)体系可有效降解木质纤维素。除好氧微生物的游离酶协同系统之外,主要存在于厌氧细菌中的纤维小体也是有序、高效的协同降解纤维素的复合体系。近年来,在天然纤维小体研究的基础上,研究者们成功设计、构建了人工纤维小体,加深了对这一复合体系的组成单元的理性认识。另外,菌群共培养技术利用各组成菌株代谢途径的协同作用实现了木质纤维素的高效降解。最后,引入异源纤维素酶,可改造现有工程菌株的代谢网络,提高工程菌发酵生产终产物的能力。这些技术有利于实现一步转化生产乙醇的联合生物工艺,有助于提高生物炼制的产率、降低生产成本。     

蜈蚣草中砷超富集的分子机制研究进展

砷是一种毒性很强的类金属元素,土壤砷污染可引发一系列食品安全问题,进而威胁人类健康。蜈蚣草具有极强的富集砷的能力,在砷污染土壤的植物修复中具有重要的应用价值。深入阐释蜈蚣草超富集砷的分子机制是植物修复技术的核心理论基础。文中综述了蜈蚣草超富集砷的组学研究进展,以及目前鉴定到的砷富集过程中的重要分子元件,并对未来的研究方向和趋势进行了展望。     

E—钙粘蛋白复合体抑癌作用的分子机制研究进展

E—钙粘蛋白是一种重要的抑癌分子,它主要通过加强细胞问的黏附和抑制细胞增殖来发挥抑癌功能。E—钙粘蛋白复合体的异常是肿瘤发展过程中的重要事件。无论是E—钙粘蛋白本身或其他组分的改变均可能影响其功能的发挥．影响细胞间黏附和细胞生长周期。其失活机制包括基因变异、转录活性异常、E—钙粘蛋白复合体的解聚和E—钙粘蛋白的重新分布及从细胞表面脱落等。     

瘤胃纤维素降解细菌的研究进展

反刍动物瘤胃是自然界中最有效的纤维素降解系统，其纤维素降解能力主要源于寄居于其中的纤维素降解细菌、真菌和原虫。其中，瘤胃纤维素降解细菌因数量庞大、种类繁多以及代谢途径丰富，在木质纤维素降解及利用方面发挥着重要作用。本文综述了国内外瘤胃纤维素降解细菌的种类，分析了瘤胃纤维素降解细菌的特性；阐述了瘤胃纤维素降解细菌通过纤维小体对纤维素的降解过程，以及瘤胃微生物之间的相互作用和相互制约关系；简述宏组学技术在开发新纤维素降解菌和新纤维素酶方面的应用，旨在为进一步研究纤维素降解细菌的降解机理，开发新的纤维素菌种和酶资源提供新的思路。     

生物分子机器——甲烷单加氧酶的研究进展

甲烷氧化菌中的甲烷单加氧酶能够在生理条件下选择性地以甲烷和氧气为底物生成甲醇,麻省理工学院的Lippard教授称它为"神奇的生物分子机器"。本文重点对生物分子机器甲烷单加氧酶的结构、编码基因及调控机制、催化反应机理等进行了综述,此外也简要介绍了甲烷单加氧酶的产生菌甲烷氧化菌的研究历史及分类。生物分子机器甲烷单加氧酶可催化甲烷氧化成甲醇,不仅为甲醇的生产提供了一种新颖的生产方法,而且对生物分子机器的设计也有借鉴意义。     

含RGD三肽的骨基质非胶原蛋白在骨质疏松症中的研究进展

骨基质非胶原蛋白是对于骨的生长、再生、发育等有重要作用的蛋白质,其中包含一类在结构上都含有RGD(精氨酸-甘氨酸-天冬氨酸)三肽的蛋白.近来研究表明,RGD蛋白在骨基质的形成、矿化,以及介导细胞.细胞、细胞-基质的相互作用中发挥关键作用.本文对骨基质中主要的RGD蛋白的骨生物活性,以及与骨质疏松症关系方面的最新研究进展作一简述.     

典型产纤维小体梭菌的遗传改造及其在纤维素乙醇中的应用研究进展

以解纤维梭菌(Clostridium cellulolyticum)和热纤梭菌(Clostridium thermocellum)为代表的产纤维小体梭菌可以直接完成从木质纤维素原料到乙醇的生物转化,是用于通过整合生物加工技术生产纤维素乙醇的优良候选菌株。然而,这些产纤维小体梭菌的纤维素降解效率及乙醇产量尚不能满足工业化生产的要求,其遗传改造技术的不成熟严重制约了通过定向代谢工程改造提高生产性能的进程。针对这些典型的产纤维小体菌株,各国科学家近年来在基于二类内含子的嗜中温及嗜高温遗传改造平台建立方面取得了较大突破,并通过靶向代谢工程改造,显著提高纤维素乙醇的产量。笔者对这些前期研究工作以及国内外相关研究成果进行系统的总结,并对构建的遗传改造工具的应用前景进行展望。     

体外多酶分子机器的现状和最新进展

体外多酶分子机器遵循所设计的多酶催化路径,将若干种纯化或部分纯化的酶元件进行合理的优化与适配,高效地在体外将特定的底物转化为目标化合物。体外多酶分子机器反应系统呈现元件化和模块化的特点,在设计、组装和调控方面具有较高的自由度。近年来,体外多酶分子机器在实现反应过程的精准调控和提高产品得率方面的优势逐渐体现,展示了其在生物制造领域重要的应用潜力。对体外多酶分子机器的相关研究已成为合成生物学的一个重要分支领域,日益受到广泛的关注。文中系统地综述了基于酶元件/模块的体外多酶分子机器的构建策略,以及改善该分子机器中酶元件/模块之间适配性的研究进展,并分析了该生物制造平台的发展前景与挑战。     

Heterologous expression of a Clostridium minicellulosome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was genetically modified to assemble a minicellulosome on its cell surface by heterologous expression of a chimeric scaffoldin protein from Clostridium cellulolyticum under the regulation of the phosphoglycerate kinase 1 ( PGK1 ) promoter and terminator regulatory elements, together with the β-xylanase 2 secretion signal of Trichoderma reesei and cell wall protein 2 (Cwp2) of S. cerevisiae . Fluorescent microscopy and Far Western blot analysis confirmed that the Scaf3p is targeted to the yeast cell surface and that the Clostridium thermocellum cohesin domain is functional in yeast. Similarly, functionality of the C. thermocellum dockerin domain in yeast is shown by binding to the Scaf3 protein in Far Western blot analysis. Phenotypic evidence for cohesin–dockerin interaction was also established with the detection of a twofold increase in tethered endoglucanase enzyme activity in S. cerevisiae cells expressing the Scaf3 protein compared with the parent strain. This study highlights the feasibility to future design of enhanced cellulolytic strains of S. cerevisiae through emulation of the cellulosome concept. Potentially, Scaf3p-armed yeast could also be developed into an alternative cell surface display strategy with various tailor-made applications.     

Flexibility and specificity of the cohesin–dockerin interaction: implications for cellulosome assembly and functionality

Cellulosomes are highly elaborate multi-enzyme complexes of Carbohydrate Active enZYmes (CAZYmes) secreted by cellulolytic microorganisms, which very effectively degrade the most abundant polymers on Earth, cellulose and hemicelluloses. Cellulosome assembly requires that a non-catalytic dockerin module found in cellulosomal enzymes binds to one of the various cohesin domains located in a large molecular scaffold called Scaffoldin. A diversity of cohesin–dockerin binding specificities have been described, the combination of which may result in complex plant cell wall degrading systems, maximising the synergy between enzymes in order to improve catalytic efficiency. Structural studies have allowed the spatial flexibility inherent to the cellulosomal system to be determined. Recent progress achieved from the study of the fundamental cohesin and dockerin units involved in cellulosome assembly will be reviewed.     

Unusual binding properties of the dockerin module of Clostridium thermocellum endoglucanase CelJ (Cel9D-Cel44A)

Cellulosomes are cellulolytic complexes produced by anaerobic bacteria, and are composed of a scaffolding protein and several catalytic components. The complexes are formed by highly specific interactions of one of the reiterated cohesin modules of the scaffolding protein with a dockerin module of the catalytic components. The affinities of a dockerin module of Clostridium thermocellum CelJ (Cel9D-Cel44A) for several cohesin modules from C. thermocellum and Clostridium josui scaffolding proteins were quantitatively measured by surface plasmon resonance analysis. The recombinant CelJ dockerin-containing protein interacted with three recombinant C. josui cohesin proteins as well as recombinant C. thermocellum cohesin proteins beyond the so-called 'species specificity' of the dockerin and cohesin interactions. However, this protein did not recognize a second cohesin module from the C. josui scaffolding protein, suggesting that the catalytic components are not necessarily arranged randomly on a scaffolding protein in native cellulosomes.     

Insights into the structural determinants of cohesin-dockerin specificity revealed by the crystal structure of the type II cohesin from Clostridium thermocellum SdbA

The plant cell wall degrading enzymes expressed by anaerobic microorganisms form large multienzyme complexes (cellulosomes). Cellulosomes assemble by the Type I dockerins on the catalytic subunits binding to the reiterated Type I cohesins in the molecular scaffold, while Type II dockerin-cohesin interactions anchor the complex onto the bacterial cell surface. Type I and Type II cohesin, dockerin pairs show no cross-specificity. Here we report the crystal structure of the Type II cohesin (CohII) from the Clostridium thermocellum cell surface anchoring protein SdbA. The protein domain contains nine beta-strands and a small alpha-helix. The beta-strands assemble into two elongated beta-sheets that display a typical jelly roll fold. The structure of CohII is very similar to Type I cohesins, and the dockerin binding site, which is centred at beta-strands 3, 5 and 6, is likely to be conserved in the two proteins. Subtle differences in the topology of the binding sites and a lack of sequence identity in the beta-strands that comprise the core of the dockerin binding site explain why Type I and Type II cohesins display such distinct specificities for their target dockerins.     

Crucial Roles of Single Residues in Binding Affinity,Specificity, and Promiscuity in the Cellulosomal Cohesin-Dockerin Interface

Interactions between cohesin and dockerin modules play a crucial role in the assembly of multienzyme cellulosome complexes. Although intraspecies cohesin and dockerin modules bind in general with high affinity but indiscriminately, cross-species binding is rare. Here, we combined ELISA-based experiments with Rosetta-based computational design to evaluate the contribution of distinct residues at the Clostridium thermocellum cohesin-dockerin interface to binding affinity, specificity, and promiscuity. We found that single mutations can show distinct and significant effects on binding affinity and specificity. In particular, mutations at cohesin position Asn³⁷ show dramatic variability in their effect on dockerin binding affinity and specificity: the N37A mutant binds promiscuously both to cognate (C. thermocellum) as well as to non-cognate Clostridium cellulolyticum dockerin. N37L in turn switches binding specificity: compared with the wild-type C. thermocellum cohesin, this mutant shows significantly increased preference for C. cellulolyticum dockerin combined with strongly reduced binding to its cognate C. thermocellum dockerin. The observation that a single mutation can overcome the naturally observed specificity barrier provides insights into the evolutionary dynamics of this system that allows rapid modulation of binding specificity within a high affinity background.     

解纤维梭菌纤维小体黏附域与锚定域相互作用的差异性

黏附域(cohesin)与锚定域(dockerin)的相互作用是纤维素酶复合体-纤维小体(cellulosome)组装的基础,该作用是自然界已知最强的相互作用力之一。为解析纤维小体的装配机制,本研究以解纤维梭菌(Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum)纤维小体为研究对象,通过Pull-down和等温滴定量热(ITC)的方法,分析并比较不同簇的3个黏附域与7个锚定域之间的相互作用。结果表明,不同簇黏附域与锚定域的相互作用具有显著差异。其中,Coh1与Doc-0729的相互作用最强,K_a为10⁸ M^-1,Coh7与Doc-0729、0931作用力强,K_a为10⁷ M^-1,而Coh8与Doc-0931、1656、0752作用强,K_a也达到10⁷ M^-1。总之,Doc-0729、0931、1656与3个Coh的结合力均较高。本研究揭示了纤维小体黏附域与锚定域的组装具有偏爱性...     

Species-specificity of the cohesin-dockerin interaction between Clostridium thermocellum and Clostridium cellulolyticum: Prediction of specificity determinants of the dockerin domain

The cross-species specificity of the cohesin–dockerin interaction, which defines the incorporation of the enzymatic subunits into the cellulosome complex, has been investigated. Cohesin-containing segments from the cellulosomes of two different species, Clostridium thermocellum and Clostridium cellulolyticum, were allowed to interact with cellulosomal (dockerin-containing) enzymes from each species. In both cases, the cohesin domain of one bacterium interacted with enzymes from its own cellulosome in a calcium-dependent manner, but the same cohesin failed to recognize enzymes from the other species. Thus, in the case of these two bacteria, the cohesin–dockerin interaction seems to be species-specific. Based on intra- and cross-species sequence comparisons among the different dockerins together with their known specificities, we tender a prediction as to the amino-acid residues critical to recognition of the cohesins. The suspected residues were narrowed down to only four, which comprise a repeated pair located within the calcium-binding motif of two duplicated sequences, characteristic of the dockerin domain. According to the proposed model, these four residues do not participate in the binding of calcium per se; instead, they appear to serve as recognition codes in promoting interaction with the cohesin surface. Proteins 29:517–527, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Microbial Formation of l-Tryptophan from d-Tryptephan

The cellulolytic complex was isolated from the culture supernatant of Ruminococcus albus strain F-40 grown on cellulose by a Sephacryl S-300HR column chromatography. The molecular mass of the cellulolytic complex was found to be larger than 1.5×10⁶ Da. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis indicated that the cellulolytic complex contained at least 15 proteins with molecular weights from 40 kDa to 250 kDa. Among them, 11 proteins showed endoglucanase and/or xylanase activities on the zymograms. Immunological analysis using an antiserum raised against the dockerin domain of endoglucanase VII of R. albus (DocVII) suggested that at least 7 proteins in the cellulolytic complex contained a dockerin domain immunoreactive with the anti-DocVII antiserum. Furthermore, DocVII was shown to specifically interact with a 40-kDa protein of the cellulolytic complex by Far-Western blot analysis. These results strongly suggest that the cellulolytic complex produced by R. albus resembles the cellulosome specified for the cellulolytic complex of several clostridia such as Clostridium thermocellum and respective components are assembled into the cellulosome by the mechanism common in all of the cellulolytic clostridia, i.e., the cellulosome is formed by the interaction between a dockerin domain of catalytic components and a cohesin domain of a scaffolding protein.     

Modular Arrangement of a Cellulosomal Scaffoldin Subunit Revealed from the Crystal Structure of a Cohesin Dyad

The cellulosome complex is composed of a conglomerate of subunits, each of which comprises a set of interacting functional modules. Scaffoldin (Sca), a major cellulosomal subunit, is responsible for organizing the cellulolytic subunits into the complex. This is accomplished by the interaction of two complementary classes of modules—a cohesin (Coh) module on the Sca subunit and a dockerin module on each of the enzymatic subunits. Although individual Coh modules from different cellulosomal scaffoldins have been subjected to intensive structural investigation, the Sca subunit in its entirety has not, and there remains a paucity of information on the arrangement and interactions of Cohs within the Sca subunit. In the present work, we describe the crystal structure of a type II Coh dyad from the ScaB “adaptor” Sca of Acetivibrio cellulolyticus. The ScaB Cohs are oriented in an “antiparallel” manner relative to one another, with their dockerin-interacting surfaces (β-strands 8-3-6-5) facing the same direction—aligned on the same plane. A set of extensive hydrophobic and hydrogen-bond contacts between the Cohs and the short interconnecting linker segment between them stabilizes the modular orientation. This Coh dyad structure provides novel information about Coh-Coh association and arrangement in the Sca and further insight into intermodular linker interactions. Putative structural arrangements of a hexamodular complex, composed of the Coh dyad bound to two X-dockerin modules, were suggested.