Apoptotic Effect of Outer-Membrane Proteins from Campylobacter jejuni on Chicken Lymphocytes

Campylobacter jejuni is a significant cause of food-borne diseases in humans. The bacterium is considered a commensal organism in chickens, and it can heavily colonize chickens without causing inflammation. Poultry may be the major reservoir for the human infection in developed countries. Here we show that an outer-membrane protein extract prepared from the bacteria caused apoptosis of chicken lymphocytes detected in vitro with the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay that preferentially labels individual apoptotic cells. Blood- and spleen-lymphocytes from different-aged chickens displayed a significantly greater percentage of apoptotic cells after culture with the outer-membrane proteins from C. jejuni than controls treated with phosphate-buffered saline, chicken ovalbumin, or outer-membrane proteins prepared from E. coli strain BL21. The C. jejuni extract also produced apoptosis of chicken lymphoblastoid tumor cell lines. Apoptosis was blocked by pretreating the extract with proteinase K or antiserum against outer-membrane proteins. The results suggest that C. jejuni may be capable of achieving immune avoidance in chickens by causing apoptosis of lymphocytes. Received: 13 October 1998 / Accepted: 27 November 1998     

Horizontal gene transfer in an acid mine drainage microbial community

Background

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has been widely identified in complete prokaryotic genomes. However, the roles of HGT among members of a microbial community and in evolution remain largely unknown. With the emergence of metagenomics, it is nontrivial to investigate such horizontal flow of genetic materials among members in a microbial community from the natural environment. Because of the lack of suitable methods for metagenomics gene transfer detection, microorganisms from a low-complexity community acid mine drainage (AMD) with near-complete genomes were used to detect possible gene transfer events and suggest the biological significance.

Results

Using the annotation of coding regions by the current tools, a phylogenetic approach, and an approximately unbiased test, we found that HGTs in AMD organisms are not rare, and we predicted 119 putative transferred genes. Among them, 14 HGT events were determined to be transfer events among the AMD members. Further analysis of the 14 transferred genes revealed that the HGT events affected the functional evolution of archaea or bacteria in AMD, and it probably shaped the community structure, such as the dominance of G-plasma in archaea in AMD through HGT.

Conclusions

Our study provides a novel insight into HGT events among microorganisms in natural communities. The interconnectedness between HGT and community evolution is essential to understand microbial community formation and development.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1720-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

PVP-coated graphene oxide for selective determination of ochratoxin A via quenching fluorescence of free aptamer

In this paper, we developed a simple method to detect fungi toxin (ochratoxin A) produced by Aspergillus Ochraceus and Penicillium verrucosumm, utilizing graphene oxide as quencher which can quench the fluorescence of FAM (carboxyfluorescein) attached to toxin-specific aptamer. By optimizing the experimental conditions, we obtained the detection limit of our sensing platform based on bare graphene oxide to be 1.9 μM with a linear detection range from 2 μM to 35 μM. Selectivity of this sensing platform has been carefully investigated; the results showed that this sensor specifically responded to ochratoxin A without interference from other structure analogues (N-acetyl-l-phenylalanine and warfarin) and with only limited interference from ochratoxin B. Experimental data showed that ochratoxin A as well as other structure analogues could adsorb onto the graphene oxide. As compared to the non-protected graphene oxide based biosensor, PVP-protected graphene oxide reveals much lower detection limit (21.8 nM) by two orders of magnitude under the optimized ratio of graphene oxide to PVP concentration. This sensor has also been challenged by testing 1% red wine containing buffer solution spiked with a series of concentration of ochratoxin A.     

An improved approach for extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of paraquat in human plasma

A simple, sensitive, reliable and economical HPLC method for quantifying paraquat concentration in human plasma has been developed, using diethyl paraquat as an internal standard. The drugs were extracted from the sample and separated on Xtimate C18 column with a mobile phase of 15% acetonitrile in 0.1M orthophosphoric acid containing SDS (150 mg/l). The pH of the mobile phase was adjusted to 3 with triethylamine and the detection wavelength was 256 nm for both paraquat and the internal standard. The average extraction recoveries were 91.9%. Good linearity (R(2)=0.9984) was observed throughout the range of 0.02-10 μg/ml in 0.5 ml plasma. The overall accuracy of this method was 97.6-107.3% and the lower limit of detection was 0.01 μg/ml. The intra- and inter-day variations were lower than 3.65% and 2.64%, respectively. We used this method to examine the paraquat concentrations of 53 patients with acute paraquat intoxication of whom 26 (49.1%) survived. In conclusion, this method was suitable for quantification of paraquat plasma concentration in toxicological samples. It was helpful in both assessing the severity of intoxication and predicting the outcome of paraquat poisoning.     

A dynamic model for functional mapping of biological rhythms

Functional mapping is a statistical method for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that regulate the dynamic pattern of a biological trait. This method integrates mathematical aspects of biological complexity into a mixture model for genetic mapping and tests the genetic effects of QTLs by comparing genotype-specific curve parameters. As a way of quantitatively specifying the dynamic behavior of a system, differential equations have proven to be powerful for modeling and unraveling the biochemical, molecular, and cellular mechanisms of a biological process, such as biological rhythms. The equipment of functional mapping with biologically meaningful differential equations provides new insights into the genetic control of any dynamic processes. We formulate a new functional mapping framework for a dynamic biological rhythm by incorporating a group of ordinary differential equations (ODE). The Runge-Kutta fourth order algorithm was implemented to estimate the parameters that define the system of ODE. The new model will find its implications for understanding the interplay between gene interactions and developmental pathways in complex biological rhythms.     

标记滞留细胞技术结合干细胞标记物检测小鼠子宫内膜干细胞

目的通过标记滞留细胞技术检测昆明小鼠子宫内膜干细胞的存在及其分布情况;观察P63和Musashi-1在不同周龄小鼠子宫内膜的表达以及两者与标记滞留细胞的关系,探讨P63和Musashi-1作为子宫内膜干细胞特异性标记物的可能性。方法出生3天雌性昆明小鼠皮下注射BrdU,分别在1w、2w、3w、4w、6w、8w和10w处死小鼠取其子宫。采用免疫组化法分别检测BrdU、P63和Musashi-1在各周龄小鼠子宫内膜的表达情况。结果标记后1w的小鼠,子宫内膜绝大部分的上皮和基质细胞都被BrdU标记。随着小鼠周龄的增加,子宫内膜BrdU阳性细胞百分率逐渐降低。至第8w时,仅在基质中有极少量的BrdU阳性细胞,主要位于基质与肌层交界处。早期小鼠子宫内膜组织中P63和Musashi-1阳性细胞数量较多,随着子宫内膜的逐渐发育成熟,P63和Musashi-1的表达逐渐减少,其表达规律及分布与标记滞留细胞基本一致。结论 (1)小鼠子宫内膜标记滞留细胞主要位于基质内膜与肌层交界处,这些细胞的分布与推测的子宫内膜干细胞的分布部位相符。(2)P63和Musashi-1是较特异的干细胞标记物。     

狂犬病病毒CVS株核蛋白基因的原核表达、纯化及鉴定

用KT-PCR技术对狂犬病病毒(RV)CVS株核蛋白(N)基因进行扩增,经克隆与序列分析,该基因编码450个氨基酸残基.将目的基因克隆到原核表达载体pET28a( )中,构建了重组质粒pET-N,将其转化表达菌BL21(DE3),于37℃1.0mmol/L IPTG条件下诱导表达.大肠杆菌菌体裂解产物经SDS-PAGE电泳分析,在分子量约为54kD处出现一新蛋白带,和预期的目的蛋白的分子量相符.质谱鉴定的结果表明成功表达了RV N蛋白,为狂犬病的进一步研究奠定了基础.     

Alpha‐fetoprotein accelerates the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma by promoting Bcl‐2 gene expression through an RA‐RAR signalling pathway

Previous studies have found that alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) can promote the proliferation of hepatoma cells and accelerate the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the exact mechanism of action remains unclear. Recent bioinformatics studies have predicted the possible interaction between AFP and retinoic acid receptors (RARs). Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanism through which AFP promotes tumour cell proliferation by interfering with the RA‐RAR signal pathway. Our data indicated that AFP could significantly promote the proliferation and weaken ATRA‐induced apoptosis of hepatoma cells. Besides, cytoplasmic AFP interacts with RAR, disrupting its entrance into the nucleus, which in turn affects the expression of the Bcl‐2 gene. In addition, knockdown of AFP in HepG2 cells was synchronously associated with an incremental increase of RAR binding to DNA, as well as down‐regulation of Bcl‐2; the opposite effect was observed in AFP gene‐transfected HLE cells. Moreover, a similar effect of AFP was detected in tumour tissues with high serum AFP, but not in adjacent non‐cancerous liver tissues, or HCC tissues with low serum AFP levels. These results indicate that AFP acts as signalling molecule and prevents RAR from entering into the nucleus by interacting with RAR, thereby promoting the expression of Bcl‐2. Our data reveal a novel mechanism through which AFP regulates Bcl‐2 expression and further suggest that AFP may be used as a novel target for treating HCC.