Genome shuffling筛选ε-聚赖氨酸高产菌及其对代谢流量分配的影响

【目的】从代谢流量分配的角度,探讨Genome shuffling导致链霉菌ε-聚赖氨酸合成量提升的原因。【方法】从葡萄糖耐受型的亲本菌株Streptomyces sp.AS32和ε-聚赖氨酸耐受型的亲本菌株Streptomyces albulus F15出发,进行三轮Genome shuffling,筛选得到ε-聚赖氨酸产量提高的链霉菌株Streptomyces sp.AF3-44,采用通量分析方法构建链霉菌ε-聚赖氨酸合成代谢网络,并对上述3株菌的代谢通量进行比较。【结果】AF3-44的ε-聚赖氨酸摇瓶产量为3.1 g/L,较AS32和F15分别提高了34%和29%。3株菌株中AS32三羧酸循环(TCA)的代谢通量最高;F15磷酸戊糖途径(PPP)代谢通量最高;AF3-44流向赖氨酸合成前体天冬氨酸以及ε-聚赖氨酸的通量最高,TCA和PPP通量位于两亲本菌株的中间水平,其中TCA中流向异柠檬酸的通量分别为AS32和F15的77%和116%,PPP中流向5-磷酸核酮糖的通量分别为AS32和F15的149%和92%。【结论】Genome shuffling导致了代谢流的重新分布,流向前体赖氨酸和ε-聚赖氨酸通量的增加,以及PPP和TCA通量配比的改变是链霉菌ε-聚赖氨酸合成量增加的重要因素。     

Eco-physiological responses of the declining population Spartina anglica to N and P fertilizer addition

Nitrogen and phosphorus are both important life elements. N, P and combined N-P fertilizers were added to the declining population Spartina anglica Hubbard in coastal China. Some growth parameters and eco-physiological responses of S. anglica to different fertilizer treatments (N, P and combined N-P fertilizer addition with high, medium and low levels, respectively) were measured. The fertilizer addition had a highly significant effect on the dynamics of its height-growth, number of leaves, number of roots and total biomass. Only N addition had a significant effect on leaf area and leaf thickness in all fertilizer treatments. On the dynamics of its height-growth, the effect of N addition was the most apparent, and the effect of N-P addition was not greater than those of N and P addition separately. The photosynthesis rate was enhanced and the yield was the highest with the highest N, the highest N-P and the medium P addition. The rates were higher than those of CK by 19.08 μmol·m^?2·s^?1, 15.47 μmol·m^?2·s^?1 and 11.23 μmol·m^?2·s^?1, respectively. The activity of SOD and POD increased with the treatments after freshwater stress for 14 days. Effects of medium N and P addition were significant for SOD activity. However, POD activity was significantly higher with the treatment of higher N and higher N-P addition. In a word, fertilizer addition improved the growth of the declining population S. anglica. The results indicated that the decline of S. anglica was correlated with the nutriment deficiency in soil, especially with the lack of N.     

Diallyl trisulfide induces apoptosis and inhibits proliferation of A549 cells in vitro and in vivo

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality all over the world. In recent years, pulmonary adenocarcinoma has surpassed squamous cell carcinoma in frequency and is the predominant form of lung cancer in many countries. Epidemiological investigations have shown an inverse relationship between garlic (Allium sativum) consumption and death rate from many cancers. Diallyl trisulfide (DATS) is one of the garlic-derived compounds (also known as: organosulfer compounds, OSC). DATS can induce apoptosis and inhibit the growth of many cancer cell lines. Our study demonstrated that the apoptotic incidents induced by DATS were a mitochondria-dependent caspase cascade through a significant decrease of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 that resulted in up-regulation of the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and the activity of caspase-3, -8, and -9. Eventually, DATS induced the apoptosis and inhibited the proliferation in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, by establishing an animal model of female BALB/c nude mice with A549 xenografts, we found that oral gavage of DATS significantly retarded growth of A549 xenografts in nude mice without causing weight loss or any other side effects compared with the control group. All the evidence both in vitro and in vivo suggested that DATS could be an ideal anti-cancer drug.     

Defining essential processes in plant pathogenesis with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 disarmed polymutants and a subset of key type III effectors

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and its derivatives cause disease in tomato, Arabidopsis and Nicotiana benthamiana. The primary virulence factors include a repertoire of 29 effector proteins injected into plant cells by the type III secretion system and the phytotoxin coronatine. The complete repertoire of effector genes and key coronatine biosynthesis genes have been progressively deleted and minimally reassembled to reconstitute basic pathogenic ability in N. benthamiana, and in Arabidopsis plants that have mutations in target genes that mimic effector actions. This approach and molecular studies of effector activities and plant immune system targets have highlighted a small subset of effectors that contribute to essential processes in pathogenesis. Most notably, HopM1 and AvrE1 redundantly promote an aqueous apoplastic environment, and AvrPtoB and AvrPto redundantly block early immune responses, two conditions that are sufficient for substantial bacterial growth in planta. In addition, disarmed DC3000 polymutants have been used to identify the individual effectors responsible for specific activities of the complete repertoire and to more effectively study effector domains, effector interplay and effector actions on host targets. Such work has revealed that AvrPtoB suppresses cell death elicitation in N. benthamiana that is triggered by another effector in the DC3000 repertoire, highlighting an important aspect of effector interplay in native repertoires. Disarmed DC3000 polymutants support the natural delivery of test effectors and infection readouts that more accurately reveal effector functions in key pathogenesis processes, and enable the identification of effectors with similar activities from a broad range of other pathogens that also defeat plants with cytoplasmic effectors.     

芳香植物广陈皮和山奈中有翅桃蚜驱避物质的化学鉴定

芳香植物广陈皮和山奈的挥发物对有翅桃蚜具有较强的驱避作用,本试验采用提取、浓缩、柱层析和GC-MS等技术鉴定了其中的活性成分。生物测定结果表明,索氏提取法能够保留原始材料的驱避效果,且广陈皮和山奈的索氏提取物存在加成效应或微弱的拮抗效应。分别采用梯度混合的石油醚-乙醚混合淋洗剂对两种材料的索氏提取物进行柱层析分离,发现广陈皮仅3∶7体积比的石油醚-乙醚洗脱液有活性;山奈层析物中驱避作用最强的是石油醚-乙醚等体积混合淋洗的馏分,驱避百分率达到45.56%,另外7∶3和2∶8体积比的石油醚-乙醚淋洗物也有相对较弱的驱避活性。GC-MS分析表明,广陈皮活性馏分的主要挥发物成分为D-柠檬烯(39.07%),山奈活性馏分的主要挥发物成分为反-对甲氧基肉桂酸乙酯(70.22%)和顺-对甲氧基肉桂酸乙酯(19.55%),两类化合物对桃蚜具有较强驱避活性,且两者之间仍表现为加成效应。     

中药益智的化学成分研究

采用正反相硅胶、Sephadex LH-20凝胶、MCI树脂等层析技术从中药益智95%乙醇提取物的乙酸乙酯部位分离得到13个化合物,运用现代波谱技术分别鉴定为:益智酮甲(1,yakuchinone A)、益智醇(2,oxyphyllacin-ol)、白杨素(3,chrysin)、rhamnocitrin(4)、oxyphyllenodiol A(5)、oxyphyllenodiol B(6)、nootkatone(7)、dehydro-noot-katone(8)、7-epi-teucrenone(9)、oxyphyllenone A(10)、oxyphyllenone B(11)、原儿茶酸(12,protocatechuic acid)和琥珀酸(13,succinic acid)。其中化合物4、13为首次从该植物中分得,化合物8为新的天然产物。     

Progesterone and DNA damage encourage uterine cell proliferation and decidualization through up-regulating ribonucleotide reductase 2 expression during early pregnancy in mice

Embryo implantation into the maternal uterus is a crucial step for the successful establishment of mammalian pregnancy. Following the attachment of embryo to the uterine luminal epithelium, uterine stromal cells undergo steroid hormone-dependent decidualization, which is characterized by stromal cell proliferation and differentiation. The mechanisms underlying steroid hormone-induced stromal cell proliferation and differentiation during decidualization are still poorly understood. Ribonucleotide reductase, consisting of two subunits (RRM1 and RRM2), is a rate-limiting enzyme in deoxynucleotide production for DNA synthesis and plays an important role in cell proliferation and tumorgenicity. Based on our microarray analysis, Rrm2 expression was significantly higher at implantation sites compared with interimplantation sites in mouse uterus. However, the expression, regulation, and function of RRM2 in mouse uterus during embryo implantation and decidualization are still unknown. Here we show that although both RRM1 and RRM2 expression are markedly induced in mouse uterine stromal cells undergoing decidualization, only RRM2 is regulated by progesterone, a key regulator of decidualization. Further studies showed that the induction of progesterone on RRM2 expression in stromal cells is mediated by the AKT/c-MYC pathway. RRM2 can also be induced by replication stress and DNA damage during decidualization through the ATR/ATM-CHK1-E2F1 pathway. The weight of implantation sites and deciduoma was effectively reduced by specific inhibitors for RRM2. The expression of decidual/trophoblast prolactin-related protein (Dtprp), a reliable marker for decidualization in mice, was significantly reduced in deciduoma and steroid-induced decidual cells after HU treatment. Therefore, RRM2 may be an important effector of progesterone signaling to induce cell proliferation and decidualization in mouse uterus.     

Arsenic degrades PML or PML-RARalpha through a SUMO-triggered RNF4/ubiquitin-mediated pathway

In acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), arsenic trioxide induces degradation of the fusion protein encoded by the PML-RARA oncogene, differentiation of leukaemic cells and produces clinical remissions. SUMOylation of its PML moiety was previously implicated, but the nature of the degradation pathway involved and the role of PML-RARalpha catabolism in the response to therapy have both remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate that arsenic-induced PML SUMOylation triggers its Lys 48-linked polyubiquitination and proteasome-dependent degradation. When exposed to arsenic, SUMOylated PML recruits RNF4, the human orthologue of the yeast SUMO-dependent E3 ubiquitin-ligase, as well as ubiquitin and proteasomes onto PML nuclear bodies. Arsenic-induced differentiation is impaired in cells transformed by a non-degradable PML-RARalpha SUMOylation mutant or in APL cells transduced with a dominant-negative RNF4, directly implicating PML-RARalpha catabolism in the therapeutic response. We thus identify PML as the first protein degraded by SUMO-dependent polyubiquitination. As PML SUMOylation recruits not only RNF4, ubiquitin and proteasomes, but also many SUMOylated proteins onto PML nuclear bodies, these domains could physically integrate the SUMOylation, ubiquitination and degradation pathways.     

TCR介导“inside-out”信号通路调控整合素的活化

整合素（integrin）是一类重要的跨膜黏附分子,在T细胞定向迁移到淋巴器官、感染或炎症部位以及T细胞与抗原呈递细胞（antigen presenting cell,APC）之间相互作用等过程中起重要作用。T细胞受到抗原或趋化因子等的刺激后,启动细胞内大量的信号传导分子,并形成＂inside-out＂信号通路,导致整合素构像的改变（conformation change）或促进整合素在细胞表面的聚集（integrinclustering）,最终增强整合素的affinity或avidity,促进其与配体结合的能力,提高淋巴细胞间的黏附。近年来的研究已经鉴定出调控整合素活化的多个关键的信号分子及其形成的信号转导复合体。该文主要阐述T细胞受到抗原刺激后,由T细胞受体（T cell receptor,TCR）介导的＂inside-out＂信号通路中关键的信号分子如ADAP、SKAP-55、RapL、Rap1、Talin和Kindlins等如何与上下游信号分子协同作用,调控整合素LFA-1活化的分子机制。     

Faster STORM using compressed sensing

In super-resolution microscopy methods based on single-molecule switching, the rate of accumulating single-molecule activation events often limits the time resolution. Here we developed a sparse-signal recovery technique using compressed sensing to analyze images with highly overlapping fluorescent spots. This method allows an activated fluorophore density an order of magnitude higher than what conventional single-molecule fitting methods can handle. Using this method, we demonstrated imaging microtubule dynamics in living cells with a time resolution of 3 s.