Characterization and utilization of methyltransferase for apramycin production in Streptoalloteichus tenebrarius

A structurally unique aminoglycoside produced in Streptoalloteichus tenebrarius, Apramycin is used in veterinary medicine or the treatment of Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Pasteurella multocida infections. Although apramycin was discovered nearly 50 years ago, many biosynthetic steps of apramycin remain unknown. In this study, we identified a HemK family methyltransferase, AprI, to be the 7’-N-methyltransferase in apramycin biosynthetic pathway. Biochemical experiments showed that AprI converted demethyl-aprosamine to aprosamine. Through gene disruption of aprI, we identified a new aminoglycoside antibiotic demethyl-apramycin as the main product in aprI disruption strain. The demethyl-apramycin is an impurity in apramycin product. In addition to demethyl-apramycin, carbamyltobramycin is another major impurity. However, unlike demethyl-apramycin, tobramycin is biosynthesized by an independent biosynthetic pathway in S. tenebrarius. The titer and rate of apramycin were improved by overexpression of the aprI and disruption of the tobM2, which is a crucial gene for tobramycin biosynthesis. The titer of apramycin increased from 2227 ± 320 mg/L to 2331 ± 210 mg/L, while the titer of product impurity demethyl-apramycin decreased from 196 ± 36 mg/L to 51 ± 9 mg/L. Moreover, the carbamyltobramycin titer of the wild-type strain was 607 ± 111 mg/L and that of the engineering strain was null. The rate of apramycin increased from 68% to 87% and that of demethyl-apramycin decreased from 1.17% to 0.34%.     

干细胞在肝脏疾病治疗中的临床应用及分子机制

干细胞是指一群具有自我更新和多向分化潜能的细胞,是最有治疗潜力的细胞资源,已成为再生医学领域的研究热点。目前,已有多种干细胞用于肝脏疾病的治疗,能有效改善患者血清指标,减少并发症发生,并提高生活质量。这些干细胞在细胞来源、移植途径及治疗效果等多个方面各有特点,但其治疗肝脏疾病的机制尚不清楚。本文将对目前已用于肝病治疗的各种干细胞的临床应用以及可能的分子机制进展进行阐述。     

BMP2/7 heterodimer enhances osteogenic differentiation of rat BMSCs via ERK signaling compared with respective homodimers

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)2/7 heterodimer shows greater efficacy in enhancing bone regeneration. However, the precise mechanism and the role of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling network in BMP2/7-driven osteogenesis remain ambiguous. In this study, we evaluated the effects of BMP2/7 heterodimers on osteoblastic differentiation in rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), with the aim to elaborate how MAPKs might be involved in this cellular process by treatment of rat BMSCs with BMP2/-7 with a special signal-pathway inhibitor. We found that BMP2/7 heterodimer induced a much stronger osteogenic response in rat BMSCs compared with either homodimer. Most interestingly, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) demonstrated a highly sustained phosphorylation and activation in the BMP2/7 heterodimer treatment groups, and inhibition of ERK cascades using U0126 special inhibitor that significantly reduced the activity of ALP and calcium mineralization to a substantial degree in rat BMSCs treated with BMP2/7 heterodimers. Collectively, we demonstrate that BMP2/7 heterodimer shows a potent ability to stimulate osteogenesis in rat BMSCs. The activated ERK signaling pathway involved in this process may contribute partially to an increased osteogenic potency of heterodimeric BMP2/7 growth factors.     

金矮生苹果叶片气体交换参数对土壤水分的响应

 在黄土高原半干旱地区,通过测定10年生金矮生苹果（Malus pumila cv. Goldspur）叶片气体交换参数与土壤水分的定量关系,探讨了土壤水分胁迫对光合作用的影响规律,以确定苹果园节水灌溉适宜的土壤水分调控标准。结果表明：叶片的净光合速率（Pn）、蒸腾速率（Tr）、水分利用效率（WUE）、气孔导度（Gs）、细胞间隙CO2浓度（Ci）和气孔限制值（Ls）对土壤水分的变化具有明显不同的阈值反应。土壤含水量（SWC）大约在田间持水量的60%～86%范围内,Pn和Tr均保持较高的水平,小于田间持水量的60%～86%后,两者均随土壤湿度的减少而明显下降。维持较高叶片水分利用效率（WUE）的SWC约在田间持水量的50%～71%左右。当SWC小于田间持水量的48%以后,Gs和Ls明显降低,而Ci急剧增加,水分胁迫条件开始直接作用于叶肉细胞,导致光合速率下降,由气孔限制因素转变为非气孔因素。据此我们认为：在半干旱黄土高原地区,金矮生苹果园节水灌溉适宜的SWC范围大约在田间持水量的50%～71%左右,所允许的土壤水分亏缺程度为田间持水量的48%左右。     

硒对水稻的生态毒理效应及临界指标研究

通过土壤添加硒盆栽试验,研究了黄棕壤不同浓度Se对水稻生物量、叶绿素含量、抗氧化酶系统的影响.结果表明,低浓度Se(<8mg·kg^-1)对水稻根和地上生物量、叶绿素a含量、叶绿素a/b有促进作用,并整体提高了作物抗氧化酶系统,使MDA下降,SOD、CAT、POD、GSHPx活性相应提高.而高浓度Se(>16mg·kg^-1)对水稻根和地上生物量、叶绿素a含量、叶绿素a/b有明显的抑制作用,对抗氧化酶系统产生胁迫效应,使GSHPx明显上升,MDA上升,SOD、CAT、POD酶活性明显下降.各项生理指标与土壤Se处理浓度之间相关分析表明,土壤Se浓度与地上部干重相对百分率、根干重百分率、叶绿素a/b、MDA、SOD、CAT、POD之间有显著相关性.比较胁迫效应10%值的临界指标EC10值表明,作物地上部干重抑制率作为土壤临界值制定的依据更为可靠,EC10为21mg·kg^-1.     

小鼠对不同拓扑性质图形的识别

视觉感知的一系列研究都支持大范围拓扑感知的理论．拓扑性质作为整体性质,是视觉感知的基础．视觉对图形拓扑特征差异的感知要优先于对局部特征差异的感知．采用Y迷宫研究了小鼠对不同拓扑性质图形的识别．训练小鼠学习识别圆环和实心矩形这一对拓扑性质不同的图形,之后用拓扑特征相同或不同的其他图形测试小鼠,这些图形包括空心矩形、实心圆、缺口的圆环、缺口的空心矩形．实验结果表明,学会识别圆环(奖励)和实心矩形(无奖励)的小鼠无法区分实心圆和实心矩形以及圆环和空心矩形,但是能够分别从缺口圆环、缺口的空心矩形、实心圆与空心矩形组成的图形对中识别出空心矩形．因此证实了小鼠的视觉系统能够感知拓扑特征的差异并且具有对拓扑性质的概括能力．结果为拓扑知觉对视觉系统来说是基本的这一假设提供了证据．     

甜菜夜蛾羧酸酯酶基因cDNA的克隆、表达及序列分析

羧酸酯酶是昆虫体内重要的解毒酶系之一,与昆虫抗药性产生相关。利用粉纹夜蛾Trichoplusia ni (Hübner)肠粘蛋白多克隆抗体免疫筛选甜菜夜蛾Spodoptera exigua (Hübner)中肠cDNA表达文库,得到编码羧酸酯酶的全长cDNA克隆。该cDNA克隆全长1 812 bp(GenBank登录号EF580101),开放阅读框长1 605 bp,编码535个氨基酸。该蛋白活性中心包括3个氨基酸残基（催化三联体）： Ser186, Glu319和His443, 3个N-联糖基化位点,具备羧酸酯酶的结构特征,属羧酸酯酶家族（EC: 3.1.1.-）。将该基因与pQE30载体重组,经IPTG诱导,spot-blot鉴定,蛋白获得了表达;以α-醋酸萘酯为底物,检测表达的羧酸酯酶活性为1.3 nmol/100 μL酶液。     

趋磁细菌及磁小体在肿瘤治疗中的应用

提高抗肿瘤药物的靶向性是肿瘤治疗、降低药物副作用的重要手段。在肿瘤组织内部由于癌细胞的快速增殖致使其形成低氧区,低氧区会对多种肿瘤治疗方案产生耐受。趋磁细菌 (Magnetotactic bacteria, MTB) 是一类能在细胞内产生外包生物膜、纳米尺寸、单磁畴磁铁矿 (Fe3O4) 或硫铁矿 (Fe3S4) 晶体颗粒-磁小体的微生物的统称。在磁场的作用下,趋磁细菌可凭借鞭毛运动至厌氧区。趋磁细菌在动物体内毒性较低且生物相容性良好,其磁小体与人工合成的磁性纳米材料相比优势显著。文中在介绍趋磁细菌及其磁小体生物学特点、理化性能的基础上,综述了趋磁细菌作为载体偶联药物进入肿瘤内部,并通过感受低氧信号定位于肿瘤低氧区,以及趋磁细菌竞争肿瘤细胞铁源的研究进展,总结了磁小体运载化疗药物、抗体、DNA疫苗靶向结合肿瘤的研究进展,分析了趋磁细菌及磁小体肿瘤治疗中面临的问题,并对趋磁细菌和磁小体在肿瘤治疗中的应用进行了展望。