Carbonylated protein changes between active germinated embryos and quiescent embryos give insights into rice seed germination regulation

Achyranthes bidentata contains a rich source of important pharmaceutically active triterpene acids including oleanolic acid (OA) as a major one. 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) is a key enzyme to provide mevalonate for biosynthesis of triterpene acids. In this study, in order to develop a sustainable source of OA, cell suspension cultures were established from shoot cultures of A. bidentata, and a full length cDNA encoding HMGR (designated as AbHMGR) was cloned and characterized. The cDNA contained 2078 nucleotides with a complete open reading frame of 1593 nucleotides, which was predicted to encode a peptide of 530 amino acids. Expression analysis by real-time PCR revealed that AbHMGR mRNA was abundant in A. bidentata roots, stems and leaves. When cultivated in Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 1.5 mg/L 1-naphthlcetic acid (NAA) and 1.5 mg/L 6-benzyladenine (6-BA), cells in suspension culture grew rapidly, yielding OA (100.9 mg/L) after 15 days. OA content in cell cultures was increased under the elicitation of methyl jasmonate (MeJA), yeast elicitor (YE) or cadmium chloride (CdCl₂). The ultrahigh production of OA was achieved to 371.8 mg/L, a 5.4-fold of the control after 2-day treatment of 0.2 mM MeJA in the cell cultures. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that AbHMGR was expressed at a higher level under the elicitation of MeJA or YE. Our results suggested that OA production may be the result of the up-regulated expression of AbHMGR under the treatment of various elicitors.     

墨脱四须鲃肌肉营养成分研究

墨脱四须鲃肉味鲜美、营养丰富,是雅鲁藏布江下游较大型鱼类。参照国标用常规方法分析墨脱四须鲃肌肉,结果发现：肌肉中粗蛋白含量占18.6%,粗脂肪占0.65%,水分占79.1%,灰分占1.4%;检测出16种氨基酸,其氨基酸评分(AAS)77.142,化学评分(CS)47.368,氨基酸指数(EAAI)86.157,第一限制氨基酸为甲硫氨酸（Met）+半胱氨酸（Cys）,氨基酸支/芳值（BCAA/AAA）2.434。检测出22种脂肪酸,必需脂肪酸占脂肪酸总量的38.4%,其致动脉粥样硬化指数（IA）及血栓形成指数（IT）值分别为0.352和0.230。因此,墨脱四须鲃的肌肉是一种极佳的蛋白质及脂肪源,墨脱四须鲃具有养殖及推广的潜力。     

Natural loss‐of‐function mutation of EDR1 conferring resistance to tomato powdery mildew in Arabidopsis thaliana accession C24

To screen for potentially novel types of resistance to tomato powdery mildew Oidium neolycopersici, a disease assay was performed on 123 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. Forty accessions were fully resistant, and one, C24, was analysed in detail. By quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of an F₂ population derived from C24 × Sha (susceptible accession), two QTLs associated with resistance were identified in C24. Fine mapping of QTL‐1 on chromosome 1 delimited the region to an interval of 58 kb encompassing 15 candidate genes. One of these was Enhanced Disease Resistance 1 (EDR1). Evaluation of the previously obtained edr1 mutant of Arabidopsis accession Col‐0, which was identified because of its resistance to powdery mildew Golovinomyces cichoracearum, showed that it also displayed resistance to O. neolycopersici. Sequencing of EDR1 in our C24 germplasm (referred to as C24‐W) revealed two missing nucleotides in the second exon of EDR1 resulting in a premature stop codon. Remarkably, C24 obtained from other laboratories does not contain the EDR1 mutation. To verify the identity of C24‐W, a DNA region containing a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) unique to C24 was sequenced showing that C24‐W contains the C24‐specific nucleotide. C24‐W showed enhanced resistance to O. neolycopersici compared with C24 not containing the edr1 mutation. Furthermore, C24‐W displayed a dwarf phenotype, which was not associated with the mutation in EDR1 and was not caused by the differential accumulation of pathogenesis‐related genes. In conclusion, we identified a natural edr1 mutant in the background of C24.     

Analysis of dynamic protein carbonylation in rice embryo during germination through AP‐SWATH

Seed germination is an important aspect of the plant life cycle, during which, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulate. The accumulation of ROS results in an increase in protein oxidation of which carbonylation is the most canonical one. However, there is insufficient information concerning protein oxidation, especially carbonylation and its contribution to seed germination. In this study, biotin hydrazide labeled chromatography combined with sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra (SWATH) method was used to analyze the dynamic pattern of protein carbonylation in rice embryos during germination. A total of 1872 unique proteins were quantified, among which 288 carbonylated peptides corresponding to 144 proteins were determined based on the filtering through mass shifts of modified amino acids. In addition, 66 carbonylated proteins were further analyzed based on their carbonylation intensity in four stages of germination. These identified carbonylated proteins were mainly involved in maintaining the levels of ROS, abscisic acid and seed reserves. Remarkably, a peroxiredoxin was found with 23 unique carbonylated peptides, and the expression of which was consistent with its increased activity. This study describes the dynamic pattern of carbonylated proteins during seed germination, and may help to further understand the biochemical mechanisms on this process.     

南方红豆杉内生真菌的分离鉴定及其细胞毒活性研究

采用平板培养法对采自广东省的南方红豆杉进行内生真菌的分离,并通过形态学和分子生物学方法进行分类鉴定;共分离鉴定内生真菌22株,主要为刺盘孢属(Colletotrichum)、球座菌属(Guignardia)、座腔菌属(Botryosphaeria)、节菱孢属(Arthrinium)、炭角菌属(Xylaria)、毛壳菌属(Chaetomium)、交链孢属(Alternaria)、拟茎点霉属(Phomopsis)、长蠕孢属(Helminthosporium)等属。还采用MTT法测定了这些内生真菌发酵粗提物的细胞毒活性,活性研究发现有6个菌株的粗提物在作用浓度为100μg/mL时,对至少1种受试肿瘤细胞株的抑制率在50%以上,其中菌株A223和A240对人乳腺癌细胞MCF-7的抑制率在90%以上。表明南方红豆杉内生真菌多样性丰富,有些菌株具有良好的细胞毒活性,值得进一步深入研究。     

miR-152 regulates the proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts by targeting <Emphasis Type="Italic">E2F3</Emphasis>

The development of skeletal muscle is a complex process involving the proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and changing of muscle fiber types in myoblasts. Many reports have described the involvement of microRNAs in the myogenesis of myoblasts. In this study, we found that the expression of miR-152 was gradually down-regulated during myoblast proliferation, but gradually up-regulated during the differentiation of myoblasts. Transfection with miR-152 mimics restrained cell proliferation and decreased the expression levels of cyclin E, CDK4, and cyclin D1, but promoted myotube formation and significantly increased the mRNA expression levels of MyHC, MyoD, MRF4, and MyoG in C2C12 myoblasts. However, treatment with miR-152 inhibitors promoted cell proliferation and restrained differentiation. Moreover, over-expression of miR-152 significantly decreased E2F3 production in C2C12 myoblasts. A luciferase assay confirmed that miR-152 could bind to the 3′ UTR of E2F3. In conclusion, this study showed that miR-152 inhibited proliferation and promoted myoblast differentiation by targeting E2F3.     

2-卤代酸脱卤酶研究进展

2-卤代酸脱卤酶(EC 3.8.1.X)催化2-卤代酸脱卤水解形成相应的2-羟基酸。该类酶不仅能够降解环境中的卤代污染物,而且具有宽广底物谱和高效手性拆分特性,因而在环保和手性中间体的绿色合成中具有广阔应用前景。目前已经对多种2-卤代酸脱卤酶进行生化特性表征,并对酶分子三维结构及催化机制进行了深入研究。文中从2-卤代酸脱卤酶的来源、蛋白质结构与催化反应机制、催化特性及应用方面等研究取得的新进展进行综述,并展望了2-卤代酸脱卤酶的进一步研究方向。     

Expression of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae major outer membrane protein PI in Escherichia coli

Summary To actively express an outer membrane protein, protein I (PI), from different strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in E.␣coli, PI gene fragments from two reference strains and four clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae were obtained with PCR amplification. They were cloned into the PCR cloning vector pBS-T to form pBS-T-PI and sequenced. Subsequently, they were cloned into an expression vector pET-30b (+) to generate pET-PI recombinants. After inducing with isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), the expressed PI proteins were analysed by SDS-PAGE, Western blotting and ELISA. The results implied that we had successfully constructed the PI gene recombinants from both reference strains and clinical isolates and obtained the recombinant proteins expressed in E. coli at relatively high levels, and the expressed proteins had the immunological activity with the corresponding antibodies. This research will be very helpful for the further study of these proteins in generating preventive vaccines on Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection and clinical diagnosis.