产气荚膜梭菌α毒素在干酪乳杆菌中的诱导表达及其小鼠口服免疫力

[目的]构建产气荚膜梭菌(Clostridium perfringens,C.perfringents)α毒素基因的重组干酪乳杆菌口服疫苗,为产气荚膜梭菌毒素中毒的防治提供有效方法.[方法]将构建的重组产气荚膜梭菌α毒素基因细胞表面型载体pPG1及分泌表达载体pPG2电转化乳酸乳杆菌(Lactobacillus casei L.casei),获得阳性重组菌pPG1-α/L.case/393乳酸乳杆菌表面表达系统和pPG2-α/L.casei 393乳酸乳杆菌分泌表达系统.重组菌以1%乳糖为诱导物,在MRS培养基中进行诱导,通过Western-blot和间接免疫荧光方法鉴定,确定目的蛋白的表达.将重组菌口服免疫BALB/c小鼠,收集免疫小鼠粪便及眼冲洗液及外生殖道黏液样本测定小鼠产生抗α毒素的特异性slgA抗体水平,采集小鼠血液样本测定血清中抗α毒素的特异性lgG抗体水平.并对免疫小鼠进行α毒素的腹腔攻毒试验及对获得的抗血清进行α毒素中和试验测定.[结果]重组干酪乳杆菌pPG1-α/L.casei 393及pPG2-/L.casei 393免疫小鼠能够产生明显的抗α毒素的slgA和IgG抗体水平,其对α毒素中和试验结果为完全保护.腹腔攻毒实验结果为能抵抗3倍最小致死剂量(minimum lethal dose,MLD100)的α毒素攻击.[结论]表达产气荚膜梭菌α毒素免疫保护性抗原的重组乳酸乳杆菌口服免疫动物能够产生良好的局部和系统体液免疫应答和免疫中和效力.     

Genetic diversity in endangered Notopterygium forbesii Boissieu based on intraspecies sequence variation of chloroplast DNA and implications for conservation

A thorough understanding of the levels and partitioning of genetic variation across populations and geographical regions of endangered species is a prerequisite to ensure effective conservation and/or restoration activities. Here, we examined chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) trnH-psbA intergenic spacer sequences variation within Notopterygium forbesii, an endangered and endemic perennial herb in China. Sequence data obtained from 141 individuals in 14 populations revealed twenty-two haplotypes. A high level of haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.81) and low level of nucleotide diversity (Pi = 0.0047) were detected. Low genetic differentiation among populations and also among regions was consistently indicated by both hierarchical analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) and the structure of a neighbor-joining tree. Low level of population differentiation between populations or between regions in cpDNA sequences may be due to effects of the abundance of ancestral haplotype sharing and the high number of private haplotypes fixed for each population. Based on our results, we proposed some conservation strategies.     

K30, H150, and H168 Are Essential Residues for Coordinating Pyridoxal 5′-Phosphate of O-Acetylserine Sulfhydrylase from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase (OASS) is a key enzyme involved in the pathway of the cysteine biosynthesis. The gene of OASS from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans ATCC 23270 was cloned and expressed in E. coli, the soluble protein was purified by one-step affinity chromatography to apparent homogeneity. Colors and UV–vis scanning results of the recombinant protein confirmed that it was a pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP)-containing protein. Sequence alignment and site-directed mutation of the enzyme revealed that the cofactor PLP is covalently bound in Schiff base linkage with K30, as well as the two residues H150 and H168 were the crucial residues for PLP binding and stabilization.     

Expressed proteome analysis of human hepatocellular carcinoma in nude mice (LCI-D20) with high metastasis potential

We report for the first time an expressed proteome for human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in nude mice model. Most cases of human liver cancer are HCC with highly metastatic ability. Therefore, the early prediction or diagnosis and effective treatment are the key points of research. We have previously successfully established a human HCC nude mice model (LCI-D20) with high metastasis potential. To understand better the tumor biology of HCC it is worth to explore the relativity of all expressed protein profiles in the LCI-D20 HCC nude mice model. With advanced proteomics technologies, we have carried out a proteomic analysis with following stages: protein sample preparation of cancer tissue, including total cellular extraction and sequential fractionation, 2-DE and 2-D LC separation, ESI/MALDI-MS/MS identification, as well as data-dependent bioinformatics. The identified proteins were classified bioinformatically respective to their function, biological process and intracellular localization. Some important proteins found in HCC, e.g. metabolism enzymes, proteins regulating cell motility, signaling proteins, and heat shock proteins, are discussed in terms of their metastasis.     

The effect of decreasing alkalinity on microbial community dynamics in a sulfate-reducing bioreactor as analyzed by PCR-SSCP

PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and Southern blotting techniques were adopted to investigate microbial community dynamics in a sulfate-reducing bioreactor caused by decreasing influent alkalinity. Experimental results indicated that the sulfate-removal rate approached 87% in 25 d under the conditions of influent alkalinity of 4000 mg/L (as CaCO₃) and sulfate-loading rate of 4.8 g/(L·d), which indicated that the bioreactor started up successfully. The analysis of microbial community structure in this stage showed that Lactococcus sp., Anaerofilum sp. and Kluyvera sp. were dominant populations. It was found that when influent alkalinity reduced to 1000 mg/L, sulfate-removal rate decreased rapidly to 35% in 3 d. Then influent alkalinity was increased to 3000 mg/L, the sulfate-removal rate rose to 55%. Under these conditions, the populations of Dysgonomonas sp., Sporobacte sp., Obesumbacterium sp. and Clostridium sp. got to rich, which predominated in the community together with Lactococcus sp., Anaerofilum sp. and Kluyvera sp. However, when the alkalinity was decreased to 1500 mg/L, the sulfate-removal rate rose to and kept stable at 70% and populations of Dysgonomonas sp., Sporobacter sp. and Obesumbacterium sp. died out, while some strains of Desulfovibrio sp. and Clostridium sp. increased in concentration. In order to determine the minimum alkalinity value that the system could tolerate, the influent alkalinity was decreased from 1500 to 400 mg/L secondly. This resulted in the sulfate-removal rate, pH value and effluent alkalinity dropping quickly. The amount of Petrotoga sp., Prevotella sp., Kluyvera sp. and Neisseria sp. reduced obviously. The result data from Southern blotting indicated that the amount of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRBs) decreased with influent alkalinity dropping. Analysis of the microbial community structure and diversity showed that the SRBs populations were very abundant in the inoculated activated sludge and the alkalinity decrease caused the reduction of the populations noted. Most of resident populations in the bioreactor were fermentative acidogenic bacteria (FABs), among which the phylum Firmicute was in the majority, but SRBs were very few. This community structure demonstrates the cooperation between SRBs and FABs, which sustains the system’s high sulfate-removal and operation stability.     

Human skeletal muscle PPARalpha expression correlates with fat metabolism gene expression but not BMI or insulin sensitivity

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPARalpha) is a key regulator of fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle, but few data exist from humans in vivo. To investigate whether insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle and body mass index (BMI) were associated with skeletal muscle expression of PPARalpha and with important genes regulating lipid metabolism in humans in vivo, we undertook hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps and measured PPARalpha mRNA levels and mRNA levels of lipid regulating PPARalpha response genes in skeletal muscle biopsies. mRNA levels were measured in 16 men, using a novel highly sensitive and specific medium throughput quantitative competitive PCR that allows reproducible measurement of multiple candidate mRNAs simultaneously. mRNA levels of PPARalpha were positively correlated with mRNA levels of CD36 (r = 0.77, P = 0.001), lipoprotein lipase (r = 0.54, P = 0.024), muscle-type carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I (r = 0.54, P = 0.024), uncoupling protein-2 (r = 0.63, P = 0.008), and uncoupling protein-3 (r = 0.53, P = 0.026), but not with measures of insulin sensitivity, BMI, or GLUT4, which plays an important role in insulin-mediated glucose uptake. Thus our data suggest that in humans skeletal muscle PPARalpha expression and genes regulating lipid metabolism are tightly linked, but there was no association between both insulin sensitivity and BMI with PPARalpha expression in skeletal muscle.     

放牧对亚热带人工草地牧草构型及小格局的影响

对休牧后的亚热带人工草地及长期禁牧草地牧草种群的构型及小格局的研究结果表明。随着放牧强度的增加,鸭茅、红三叶株丛宽度逐渐变小．在对照及6只羊·hm^-2、7．5只羊·hm^-2、10只羊·hm^-2轮牧草地上,鸭茅基径的峰值分别介于6～8cm、2～4cm、0～2cm和0～2cm之间;红三叶则介于1～1．2cm、6～8cm、4～6cm和2～4cm之间;鸭茅丛密度分别为60、95．1、210．2和160丛·m^-1;单丛蘖数量分别为11．9、11．2、7．3、6．9蘖／丛．与禁牧草地相比,放牧草地鸭茅单丛蘖的数量明显减少,而丛密度则明显增加,白三叶节间长度因放牧强度增加而明显下降,为1．51～2．04cm,分枝角度则逐渐变大,介于46．5～77．3°,鸭茅、白三叶及红三叶在小格局水平上其格局规模均以1个样方(2cm×2cm)为主,并且随着放牧强度的提高,鸭茅、红三叶小格局规模进一步变小,白三叶构型及小格局的变化提高了牧草对环境资源的利用率。