植物防御反应中活性氧的产生和作用

活性氧在植物抗病性中起着重要的作用。本文将对其在防御反应中的产生和作用进行简要的论述。     

Stress-induced RNASET2 overexpression mediates melanocyte apoptosis via the TRAF2 pathway in vitro

The recent genome-wide association study identified a link between vitiligo and genetic variants in the ribonuclease T2 (RNASET2) gene; however, the functional roles of RNASET2 in vitiligo pathogenesis or in melanocyte apoptosis have yet to be determined. The current study was designed to investigate the vitiligo-related expression pattern of RNASET2 and its molecular function involving apoptosis-related signaling proteins and pathways. The results showed overexpression of RNASET2 in epidermis specimens from 40 vitiligo patients compared with that from matched healthy controls. In addition, in vitro analyses indicated that overexpression of RNASET2 was inducible in cultured primary human melanocytes and keratinocytes by stress conditions, that is, exposure to UV irradiation, hydrogen peroxide, and inflammatory factors, respectively, and led to increased cell apoptosis via the tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2)–caspases pathway through the physical interaction of RNASET2 with TRAF2. Thus, RNASET2 may contribute to vitiligo pathogenesis by inhibiting TRAF2 expression and, as such, RNASET2 may represent a potential therapeutic target of vitiligo.     

聚苹果酸生产菌出芽短梗霉CCTCC M2012223的全基因组测序及序列分析

【目的】解析出芽短梗霉CCTCC M2012223的基因组序列信息,分析其代谢产物聚苹果酸、黑色素、普鲁兰多糖合成相关基因,为深入研究遗传多样性和代谢工程改造提供序列背景信息。【方法】使用Illumina Hi Seq高通量测序平台对出芽短梗霉CCTCC M2012223菌株进行全基因组测序,并对测序数据进行序列拼接,基因预测与功能注释,COG/GO聚类分析,比较基因组学分析等。下载其他5株出芽短梗霉基因组序列,比较分析6株菌的种内同源基因、全基因组进化以及代谢产物合成相关基因。【结果】出芽短梗霉CCTCC M2012223基因组序列全长30756831 bp,GC含量47.49%,编码9452个基因。比较基因组分析表明出芽短梗霉CCTCC M2012223的基因组组装长度最长,6株菌的同源基因数达到7092个,普鲁兰多糖和聚苹果酸合成相关基因的蛋白序列有很高的保守性。出芽短梗霉CCTCC M2012223和Aureobasidium pullulans var.melanogenum亲缘关系最近,而这2株菌的黑色素合成相关基因的蛋白序列有一些插入和突变。【结论】本研究解析了出芽短梗霉CCTCC M2012223的基因组序列信息,获得黑色素、普鲁兰多糖和聚苹果酸合成相关基因,为后续的代谢机制解析和改造提供相关依据。     

Rational modification of protein stability by the mutation of charged surface residues

Continuum methods were used to calculate the electrostatic contributions of charged and polar side chains to the overall stability of a small 41-residue helical protein, the peripheral subunit-binding domain. The results of these calculations suggest several residues that are destabilizing, relative to hydrophobic isosteres. One position was chosen to test the results of these calculations. Arg8 is located on the surface of the protein in a region of positive electrostatic potential. The calculations suggest that Arg8 makes a significant, unfavorable electrostatic contribution to the overall stability. The experiments described in this paper represent the first direct experimental test of the theoretical methods, taking advantage of solid-phase peptide synthesis to incorporate approximately isosteric amino acid substitutions. Arg8 was replaced with norleucine (Nle), an amino acid that is hydrophobic and approximately isosteric, or with alpha-amino adipic acid (Aad), which is also approximately isosteric but oppositely charged. In this manner, it is possible to isolate electrostatic interactions from the effects of hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions. Both Arg8Nle and Arg8Aad are more thermostable than the wild-type sequence, testifying to the validity of the calculations. These replacements led to stability increases at 52.6 degrees C, the T(m) of the wild-type, of 0.86 and 1.08 kcal mol(-)(1), respectively. The stability of Arg8Nle is particularly interesting as a rare case in which replacement of a surface charge with a hydrophobic residue leads to an increase in the stability of the protein.     

Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns

The Tibetan Plateau is an essential area to study the potential feedback effects of soils to climate change due to the rapid rise in its air temperature in the past several decades and the large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, particularly in the permafrost. Yet it is one of the most under-investigated regions in soil respiration (Rs) studies. Here, Rs rates were measured at 42 sites in alpine grasslands (including alpine steppes and meadows) along a transect across the Tibetan Plateau during the peak growing season of 2006 and 2007 in order to test whether: (1) belowground biomass (BGB) is most closely related to spatial variation in Rs due to high root biomass density, and (2) soil temperature significantly influences spatial pattern of Rs owing to metabolic limitation from the low temperature in cold, high-altitude ecosystems. The average daily mean Rs of the alpine grasslands at peak growing season was 3.92 μmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1), ranging from 0.39 to 12.88 μmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1), with average daily mean Rs of 2.01 and 5.49 μmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1) for steppes and meadows, respectively. By regression tree analysis, BGB, aboveground biomass (AGB), SOC, soil moisture (SM), and vegetation type were selected out of 15 variables examined, as the factors influencing large-scale variation in Rs. With a structural equation modelling approach, we found only BGB and SM had direct effects on Rs, while other factors indirectly affecting Rs through BGB or SM. Most (80%) of the variation in Rs could be attributed to the difference in BGB among sites. BGB and SM together accounted for the majority (82%) of spatial patterns of Rs. Our results only support the first hypothesis, suggesting that models incorporating BGB and SM can improve Rs estimation at regional scale.     

Purification of human chorionic gonadotrophin from urine by membrane filtration affinity chromatography with a positively charged membrane.

A new method of affinity chromatography, termed membrane filtration affinity chromatography (MFAC), has been developed and applied to purify HCG from urine. By filtrating urine through ZBM (HCG in urine would bind to the antibody on ZBM) and by dissociating the HCG from the antibody on ZBM in purified form, we developed the MFAC and purified HCG from urine of pregnant women by MFAC. The purified HCG showed a single band in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. ZBM (1 cm(2)) could harvest 90.3 microg HCG, which showed immunoactivity of 8554 IU/mg. The rate of recovery was 87%. CONCLUSION: MFAC with ZBM is an effective method, which is much easier and cheaper than conventional affinity chromatography for purification of proteins from solution, especially from highly diluted solution.     

Auxin-related gene families in abiotic stress response in Sorghum bicolor

Sorghum, a C4 model plant, has been studied to develop an understanding of the molecular mechanism of resistance to stress. The auxin-response genes, auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA), auxin-response factor (ARF), Gretchen Hagen3 (GH3), small auxin-up RNAs, and lateral organ boundaries (LBD), are involved in growth/development and stress/defense responses in Arabidopsis and rice, but they have not been studied in sorghum. In the present paper, the chromosome distribution, gene duplication, promoters, intron/exon, and phylogenic relationships of Aux/IAA, ARF, GH3, and LBD genes in sorghum are presented. Furthermore, real-time PCR analysis demonstrated these genes are differently expressed in leaf/root of sorghum and indicated the expression profile of these gene families under IAA, brassinosteroid (BR), salt, and drought treatments. The SbGH3 and SbLBD genes, expressed in low level under natural condition, were highly induced by salt and drought stress consistent with their products being involved in both abiotic stresses. Three genes, SbIAA1, SbGH3-13, and SbLBD32, were highly induced under all the four treatments, IAA, BR, salt, and drought. The analysis provided new evidence for role of auxin in stress response, implied there are cross talk between auxin, BR and abiotic stress signaling pathways.     

Antifungal constituents from the Chinese moss Homalia trichomanoides

Bioautographic assay on TLC plates was adopted to guide the fractionation of the Et2O extract of Homalia trichomanoides (Hedw.) B. S. G., which led to the isolation of the novel p-terphenyl derivative trichomanin (= 4,4'-dihydroxy-1,1':4',1'-terphenyl-2',3',5',6'-tetrayl tetrakis(phenylacetate); 1), together with five known compounds: 3alpha-methoxyserrat-14-en-21beta-ol (2), 3beta-methoxyserrat-14-en-21beta-ol (3), 3beta-methoxyserrat-14-en-21-one (4), atranorin (5), and methyl 2,4-dihydroxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoate (6). Their structures were determined on the basis of spectral data (1D- and 2D-NMR, MS), X-ray crystallographic analysis, and chemical transformation. Compounds 3, 5, and 6 exhibited antifungal activity against Candida albicans, with minimum inhibitory doses (MID) of 2.0, 2.0, and 0.6 microg, respectively.     

Overexpression of fucosyltransferase IV in A431 cell line increases cell proliferation

Fucosyltransferase IV is an essential enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of fucosylated oligosaccharides by transferring GDP-fucose to the terminal N-acetylglucosamine with the alpha1,3-linkage. Lewis Y oligosaccharide has a terminal alpha1,3-linked fucose residue and elevation of Lewis Y level is seen in many epithelial cancers. The mechanism of Lewis Y elevation in neoplastic cells is still largely unknown. To study the impact of fucosyltransferase IV on Lewis Y expression and its role on neoplastic cell proliferation, a pEGFP-N1-FUT4 recombinant plasmid was developed and stably transfected into A431 cells. We found that fucosyltransferase IV overexpression promoted cell proliferation and increased the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen that correlated with Lewis Y augmentation. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated that fucosyltransferase IV overexpression facilitated cell cycle progression. In conclusion, fucosyltransferase IV overexpression augments Lewis Y expression to trigger neoplastic cell proliferation. These studies suggest that fucosyltransferase IV may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of Lewis Y-positive epithelial cancers.