The pig genome project has plenty to squeal about

Significant progress on pig genetics and genomics research has been witnessed in recent years due to the integration of advanced molecular biology techniques, bioinformatics and computational biology, and the collaborative efforts of researchers in the swine genomics community. Progress on expanding the linkage map has slowed down, but the efforts have created a higher-resolution physical map integrating the clone map and BAC end sequence. The number of QTL mapped is still growing and most of the updated QTL mapping results are available through PigQTLdb. Additionally, expression studies using high-throughput microarrays and other gene expression techniques have made significant advancements. The number of identified non-coding RNAs is rapidly increasing and their exact regulatory functions are being explored. A publishable draft (build 10) of the swine genome sequence was available for the pig genomics community by the end of December 2010. Build 9 of the porcine genome is currently available with Ensembl annotation; manual annotation is ongoing. These drafts provide useful tools for such endeavors as comparative genomics and SNP scans for fine QTL mapping. A recent community-wide effort to create a 60K porcine SNP chip has greatly facilitated whole-genome association analyses, haplotype block construction and linkage disequilibrium mapping, which can contribute to whole-genome selection. The future 'systems biology' that integrates and optimizes the information from all research levels can enhance the pig community's understanding of the full complexity of the porcine genome. These recent technological advances and where they may lead are reviewed.     

花香的生物合成、调控及基因工程研究进展

花香能提高观赏植物的审美特性,并且在植物的繁衍中起着重要作用。近年来,随着分子生物学的发展,花香分子水平的研究呈现加速发展的趋势,已成为当前的一大研究热点。该文主要论述了花香的生物合成途径及关键酶基因、分子水平的调控和共调控探索、花香基因工程策略,以期为花香性状改良提供参考。     

Regulatory perspective of antibiotic biosynthesis in Streptomyces

<正>Streptomycetes are Gram-positive bacteria with high GC DNA content. They produce the most abundant secondary metabolites including over two-thirds of the clinically used antibiotics of natural origin (Barka et al., 2016), for example,the important broad-spectrum antimicrobials oxytetracycline(OTC) and chlortetracycline, which are the tetracycline antibiotics, produced by Streptomyces rimosus and Strepto-     

The plant glycosyltransferase clone collection for functional genomics

The glycosyltransferases (GTs) are an important and functionally diverse family of enzymes involved in glycan and glycoside biosynthesis. Plants have evolved large families of GTs which undertake the array of glycosylation reactions that occur during plant development and growth. Based on the Carbohydrate‐Active enZymes (CAZy) database, the genome of the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana codes for over 450 GTs, while the rice genome (Oryza sativa) contains over 600 members. Collectively, GTs from these reference plants can be classified into over 40 distinct GT families. Although these enzymes are involved in many important plant specific processes such as cell‐wall and secondary metabolite biosynthesis, few have been functionally characterized. We have sought to develop a plant GTs clone resource that will enable functional genomic approaches to be undertaken by the plant research community. In total, 403 (88%) of CAZy defined Arabidopsis GTs have been cloned, while 96 (15%) of the GTs coded by rice have been cloned. The collection resulted in the update of a number of Arabidopsis GT gene models. The clones represent full‐length coding sequences without termination codons and are Gateway^® compatible. To demonstrate the utility of this JBEI GT Collection, a set of efficient particle bombardment plasmids (pBullet) was also constructed with markers for the endomembrane. The utility of the pBullet collection was demonstrated by localizing all members of the Arabidopsis GT14 family to the Golgi apparatus or the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Updates to these resources are available at the JBEI GT Collection website http://www.addgene.org/ .     

Isolation of recombinant DNA clones carrying complete integrated proviruses of Moloney murine leukemia virus

EcoRI DNA fragments from a Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV)-infected mouse fibroblast line (M-MuLV clone A9) were cloned in lambda phage Charon 4A cloning vector to derive clones containing integrated M-MuLV proviral DNA. A 10- to 16-megadalton class of EcoRI fragments was chosen for cloning, based on (i) its ability to induce XC-positive virus upon transfection of NIH/3T3 cells, and (ii) its content of a 0.8-megadalton viral KpnI fragment diagnostic for M-MuLV. Six recombinant DNA clones were isolated which contain a complete M-MuLV provirus, as judged by (i) restriction endonuclease mapping and (ii) the fact that all of the clones gave rise to XC-positive, NB-tropic virus upon DNA infection in NIH/3T3 cells. The sizes of the inserts were 12.0 (for three clones) or 12.5 megadaltons (for three clones). Restriction mapping indicated that these six clones represent five different M-MuLV proviral integrations into different cellular DNA sites.     

苏云金芽孢杆菌和大肠杆菌穿梭质粒的构建和特性研究

将苏云金芽孢杆菌中的pHTA1030质粒与大肠杆菌中的pJH101质粒重组后,构建出pBHGA重组质粒。此质粒通过逐步酶切,缺失后重组得到了14个分子量大小不同的衍生重组质粒。经过对pBHG1重组穿梭质粒在E.coli HB101和B.subttlis 168受体中表达的分析,证明了它带有B.thuringiensis(简写作B.t.)质粒的启动区、启始复制区和对热分离稳定区基因片段,并能高频转化B.t.受体细胞和高表达外源cat基因,同时具有对热分离稳定的特性。为B.t.基因工程体系提供了高效转化表达载体。     

一株抗锰土壤芽胞杆菌的分离鉴定与生物学活性分析

从山东崅屿采集的黄棕壤中分离得到一株具有抗Mn(Ⅱ)和Mn(Ⅱ)氧化双重活性的芽胞杆菌,其最高Mn(Ⅱ)耐受浓度达到130mmol/L,对Mn(Ⅱ)的氧化活性为3.3μmol/(L·d)。通过个体形态与培养特征观测、生理生化反应、G+Cmol%测定和16SrDNA序列比对分析等鉴定,确定该菌株为巨大芽胞杆菌(Bacillus megaterium),命名为MB283。该菌株在添加Mn(Ⅱ)(10mmol/L)条件下比不添加Mn(Ⅱ)表现出相对较快的生长速率。采用高温培养并结合0.01%SDS处理,从MB283菌株筛选到一株发生内生质粒消除的突变株MB287,具有与野生菌株类似的锰耐受活性,且对Mn(Ⅱ)的氧化活性与野生菌株相比无明显改变,表明野生菌株MB283中与锰抗性和锰氧化相关的基因可能是定位于该菌的染色体上。     

多基因SNP位点及多种危险因素与老年汉族冠心病的关联分析

目的:探索老年冠心病多基因遗传易感性基础及相关的危险因素。方法:采用病例-对照研究方法,共入选老年汉族冠心病患者246例,非冠心病患者185例,纳入性别、年龄、吸烟,饮酒,高血压史、糖尿病史、高脂血症史、同型半胱氨酸、氨基末端脑钠肽前体、超敏C反应蛋白、抗凝血酶III、胆固醇、甘油三酯、高密度脂蛋白、低密度脂蛋白共15种危险因素与冠心病的关联性进行logistic回归分析。同时使用美国Sequenom高通量基因多态性分型技术研究了10种基因11个单核苷酸基因多态性(SNP)位点与冠心病的关联性。结果:15种危险因素中,发现增龄、高血压、抗凝血酶III(ATIII)下降是冠心病主要的危险因素,P<0.05。11个SNPs中3个SNP,血小板糖蛋白GP1BA rs2243093(-5T/C),血管紧张素转化酶ACE rs4332(547C/T)与ATIII rs2227589(893C/T)与老年汉族患者冠心病相关联。rs2243093(-5T/C)突变基因型CC与TT+AT比较,P=0.029(OR=3.41,CI:1.19-9.75);rs4332(547C/T)杂合型TC与CC+TT相比,P=0.003(OR=0.56,CI:0.38-0.82);rs2227589(893C/T),CT+CT与野生基因型CC相比较,P=0.003(OR=1.79,CI:1.22-2.63)。结论:增龄、抗凝血酶III下降、高血压是影响老年冠心病的主要危险因素,血小板、抗凝血系统、肾素-血管紧张素系统三种机制参与了老年冠心病的发生与发展。     

自絮凝酵母高浓度重复批次乙醇发酵

利用发酵性能优良的自絮凝酵母Saccharomyces cerevisiaeflo,研究开发了重复批次高浓度乙醇发酵系统,以节省下游加工过程的能耗。在终点乙醇浓度达到120g/L左右的条件下,发酵系统的乙醇生产强度达到8.2g/(L·h)。然而实验中发现,随着发酵批次的增多,自絮凝酵母沉降性能逐渐下降,从发酵液中沉降分离所需时间相应延长,导致发酵液中高浓度乙醇对酵母的毒害作用加剧,影响其发酵活性和发酵系统运行的稳定性,发酵装置运行11个批次后无法继续运行。实验结果表明,絮凝能力下降导致的酵母絮凝颗粒尺度减小是其沉降性能下降的主要原因。进一步研究发现,酵母的絮凝能力通过再培养可以恢复。在此基础上对发酵系统操作进行改进,每批发酵结束后可控采出一定比例菌体,调节系统的酵母细胞密度和乙醇生产强度以刺激酵母增殖,保持其絮凝能力。在达到相同发酵终点乙醇浓度条件下,虽然发酵系统的乙醇生产强度降低到4.0g/(L·h),但运行10d后絮凝颗粒酵母尺度趋于稳定,继续运行14d,未发现絮凝颗粒酵母尺度继续下降的现象,系统可以稳定运行。