Optimization of the production of Aspergillus niger α-glucosidase expressed in Pichia pastoris

The α-glucosidase (AGL) from Aspergillus niger has been applied to produce isomaltooligosaccharides. In the present study, various factors which affect the yield of recombinant AGL, produced by engineered Pichia pastoris, were investigated. The expression level reached 5.5 U ml^?1 in bioreactor after optimization of parameters of initial induction cell density, induction temperature and methanol concentration. In addition, it was found that coexpression of protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) inhibited the growth of the engineered P. pastoris strains and had an adverse effect on the production of AGL, while codon optimization of native A. niger α-glucosidase encoding gene (aglu) resulted in a significant enhancement of enzyme production, which reached 10.1 U ml^?1. We believe that yield of AGL is increased by codon optimization as a result of enhanced translation efficiency as well as more stable mRNA secondary structure. In contrast, PDI coexpression under the control of alcohol oxidase promoter (PAOX1) seems to be less efficient in helping disulfide bond formation in AGL while probably induce unfolded protein response, which further leads to cell apoptosis and increased protein degradation.     

一种新型蛋白类药物口服载体的海藻酸钠/巯基化果糖-壳聚糖复合水凝胶

壳聚糖经果糖修饰以改善其水溶性,再经半胱氨酸修饰得到巯基化果糖-壳聚糖。海藻酸钠与巯基化果糖-壳聚糖混合溶液经氯化钙及硫酸钠双重交联制得复合水凝胶珠。溶胀试验结果表明:该凝胶珠在pH值6.8及7.4时的溶胀率分别是pH值1.2时的7倍和10倍左右。牛血清白蛋白(BSA)包载试验结果表明:BSA重量为凝胶珠质量的20%时,包载率可达94%以上,随着巯基化果糖-壳聚糖在凝胶珠中比例增加,BSA包载率上升。BSA释放试验表明:pH值1.2时BSA的释放率很低,只有6%～10%的BSA从凝胶珠中释放出来,随后累积释放量基本不变;pH值6.8和pH值7.4时BSA的释放率迅速提高,因此这种复合水凝胶珠可作为一种潜在的口服蛋白类药物载体。     

维甲酸诱导的脊柱裂小鼠的脊髓全基因组表达谱分析(英文)

关于维甲酸胚胎病理学的研究很多,维甲酸受体在器官发生、发育及神经管闭合过程中发挥重要作用。但维甲酸影响这些过程的机制还不清楚。在本研究中,我们发现,小鼠怀孕8天时,给予母体连续3次维甲酸灌胃,将导致胎儿脊柱裂,发生率为96.77%。本研究应用微阵列技术,在维甲酸诱导的脊柱裂小鼠胎儿的脊髓组织中发现了134个差异表达在1.5倍以上的基因。基因富集分析显示,母亲暴露于维甲酸导致的胎儿脊柱裂,与促凋亡和抗凋亡、细胞增殖、迁徙、细胞骨架成分以及细胞或局部粘附等基因功能簇相关,提示这些细胞成分和生物学的功能缺陷促使脊柱发育异常。我们的研究提供了脊柱裂的全基因组基因表达模式,有助于理解神经管缺陷的病因和病理学。     

Plasminogen activators catalyse conversion of inhibitor from fibrosarcoma cells to an inactive form with a lower apparent molecular mass

Purified approximately 54 kDa plasminogen activator inhibitor from human fibrosarcoma cells was converted to an inactive form with slightly higher electrophoretic mobility by incubation with catalytic amounts of urokinase-type or tissue-type plasminogen activator. Serine proteinase inhibitors and a monoclonal antibody against urokinase-type plasminogen activator inhibited the conversion, indicating that it was caused by plasminogen activator-catalyzed proteolysis. These findings represent the first demonstration of a well-defined protein apart from plasminogen, constituting a substrate for plasminogen activators.     

Lipolysis drives expression of the constitutively active receptor GPR3 to induce adipose thermogenesis

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蛇伤胶囊对竹叶青蛇伤血管内皮细胞IL-8、VCAM-1、MIP-1α表达的影响

目的观察蛇伤胶囊对竹叶青蛇伤血管内皮细胞IL-8、VCAM-1、MIP-1α表达的影响。方法根据课题组前期实验方法制备蛇伤胶囊兔含药血清及复制竹叶青蛇伤细胞模型,设空白组(KB组)、模型组(MX组)和低、中、高浓度蛇伤胶囊药液治疗组(DY组、ZY组、GY组)5组,每组10个样本。在细胞实验中,KB组加入10%正常兔血清培养,MX组在KB组的基础上加入5μg/ml竹叶青蛇毒液培养,DY组、ZY组和GY组在MX组基础上培养6h后分别加入5%、10%和15%的含中药兔血清继续培养。各组分别培养72h后,收集细胞培养液,以酶联免疫吸附法检测细胞培养液中的IL-8、VCAM-1、MIP-1α含量。结果MX组的IL-8、VCAM-1及MIP-1α水平相对KB组均显著升高(均P0.01),蛇伤胶囊药液治疗组IL-8、VCAM-1及MIP-1α水平相对MX组均不同程度降低,其中ZY组变化有统计学意义(P0.01或P0.05)。结论蛇伤胶囊可通过降低IL-8、VCAM-1及MIP-1α表达治疗竹叶青蛇伤所致血管内皮炎症反应。     

Identification of NaCl and NaHCO3 stress responsive proteins in tomato roots using iTRAQ-based analysis

Soil salinity and alkalinity are common constraints to crop productivity in low rainfall regions of the world. However, the physiological difference of plant response to these two stresses was short of deep investigation. This study has identified a set of differentially expressed proteins of tomato root exploring to NaCl and NaHCO₃ stress by iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation) assay. A total of 313 proteins responsive to NaCl and NaHCO₃ were observed. Among these proteins, 70 and 114 proteins were up-regulated by salt and alkali stress, respectively. While down-regulated proteins were 80 in salt treatment and 83 in alkali treatment. Only 39 up-regulated proteins and 30 down-regulated proteins were shared by salt and alkali stresses. The majority of the down-regulated proteins accounted for metabolism and energy conversion, and the up-regulated proteins were involved in signaling or transport. Compared with salt stress, alkali stress down-regulated proteins related with the respiratory metabolism, fatty acid oxidative metabolism and nitrogenous metabolism of tomato roots, and up-regulated protein with the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and ion transport. This study provides a novel insight into tomato roots response to salt and alkali stress at a large translation level.     

细胞因子基因转导对人乳腺癌细胞MHC抗原及细胞膜糖蛋白表达的影响

为探讨细胞因子基因(人IL-2、IL-6)转导对于肿瘤细胞膜MHC抗原及细胞膜糖蛋白表达调控的影响,本文利用脂质体介导的方法,将含人IL-6、IL-2基因的逆转录病毒载体分别导入人乳腺癌细胞系MCF-7细胞中,采用间接免疫荧光染色流式细胞仪测定法,对基因转导的瘤细胞细胞膜糖蛋白及MHC抗原表达进行测定。结果表明经两种基因修饰的MCF-7细胞MHCⅠ型抗原表达均获得增强,此外,基因转导细胞可程度不同地表现出细胞膜多种糖蛋白表达的变化。提示肿瘤细胞膜抗原及糖蛋白表达的改变可能是细胞因子基因转导影响肿瘤细胞免疫原性的重要结构基础。     

Novel Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxin active against Locusta migratoria manilensis

A novel δ-endotoxin gene was cloned from a Bacillus thuringiensis strain with activity against Locusta migratoria manilensis by PCR-based genome walking. The sequence of the cry gene was 3,432 bp long, and it encoded a Cry protein of 1,144 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 129,196.5 kDa, which exhibited 62% homology with Cry7Ba1 in the amino acid sequence. The δ-endotoxin with five conserved sequence blocks in the amino-terminal region was designated Cry7Ca1 (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF486523","term_id":"1121787749","term_text":"EF486523"}}EF486523). Protein structure analysis suggested that the activated toxin of Cry7Ca1 has three domains: 227 residues forming 7 α-helices (domain I); 213 residues forming three antiparallel β-sheets (domain II); and 134 residues forming a β-sandwich (domain III). The three domains, respectively, exhibited 47, 44, and 34% sequence identity with corresponding domains of known Cry toxins. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis showed that Cry7Ca1, encoded by the full-length open reading frame of the cry gene, the activated toxin 1, which included three domains but without the N-terminal 54 amino acid residues and the C terminus, and the activated toxin 2, which included three domains and N-terminal 54 amino acid residues but without the C terminus, could be expressed in Escherichia coli. Bioassay results indicated that the expressed proteins of Cry7Ca1 and the activated toxins (toxins 1 and 2) showed significant activity against 2nd instar locusts, and after 7 days of infection, the estimated 50% lethal concentrations (LC₅₀s) were 8.98 μg/ml for the expressed Cry7Ca1, 0.87 μg/ml for the activated toxin 1, and 4.43 μg/ml for the activated toxin 2. The δ-endotoxin also induced histopathological changes in midgut epithelial cells of adult L. migratoria manilensis.     

血卟啉单甲醚在A549肺癌细胞内亚细胞分布的动态变化

目的:探讨血卟啉单甲醚(Hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether,HMME)在A549肺癌细胞内亚细胞分布的动态变化。方法:传代培养A549肺癌细胞,分别与光敏剂HMME孵育2 h和12 h。应用由荧光显微镜及电感耦合器材(Charge-coupled device,CCD)组成的高分辨率荧光显微成像系统,结合荧光探针标记技术,采用细胞器-细胞荧光强度比值法研究HMME在不同时间的亚细胞分布情况。结果:在2 h和12 h两个孵育时间点高尔基体的平均荧光强度比值(J1/J2)值都最高;随着孵育时间延长,A549细胞的四种细胞器J1/J2值都升高且溶酶体幅度最大。结论:孵育时间是影响HMME亚细胞分布的一个重要因素。随着孵育时间的延长,A549肺癌细胞各细胞器吸收HMME能力逐渐增强,尤以溶酶体显著。