Diversity of telomere palindromic sequences and replication genes among Streptomyces linear plasmids

Streptomyces sp. linear plasmids and linear chromosomes usually contain conserved terminal palindromic sequences bound by the conserved telomeric proteins Tap and Tp, encoded by the tap and tpg genes, respectively, as well as plasmid loci required for DNA replication in circular mode when the telomeres are deleted. These consist of iterons and an adjacent rep gene. By using PCR, we found that 8 of 17 newly detected linear plasmids in Streptomyces strains lack typical telomeric tap and tpg sequences. Instead, two novel telomeres in plasmids pRL1 and pRL2 from the eight strains and one conserved telomere in pFRL1 from the other strains were identified, while multiple short palindromes were also found in the plasmids. The complete nucleotide sequence of pRL2 revealed a gene encoding a protein containing two domains, resembling Tap of Streptomyces and a helicase of Thiobacillus, and an adjacent gene encoding a protein similar to Tpg of Streptomyces and a portion of the telomere terminal protein pTP of adenoviruses. No typical iterons-rep loci were found in the three plasmids. These results indicate an unexpected diversity of telomere palindromic sequences and replication genes among Streptomyces linear plasmids.     

子宫颈糜烂病毒病因的探讨

491份宫颈拭子病毒分离结果表明:糜烂宫颈单纯疱疹病毒(HSV)分离阳性率(30.8％)是正常宫颈(2.6％)的11.8倍,用人干扰素治疗一个疗程后,病毒分离率下降至疗前的1/4.36例糜烂宫颈活体组织DNA分子杂交表明,乳头瘤病毒16型(HPV-16)阳性者占52.8和,HPV-18占17.9％,HPV-6B占28.1％,HPV-11占7.7％,251例宫颈糜烂患者经人(?)D型基因工程干扰素双盲对比治疗后,总有效率达93.8％,显效率达60％,分析临床疗效与HSV分离率的变化表明,临床有效病例中有35％(49/140)在治疗后病毒阴转,有57％在疗前疗后均未分离出HSV,有5％在疗前疗后保持阳性不变,有2.9％疗前阴性,疗后阳性,上述结果表明,HSV和HPV与慢性宫颈炎有一定关系。     

基于基因组序列的脑膜炎奈瑟菌分型方法

[目的]建立并评估1种适宜的脑膜炎奈瑟菌(Neisseria meningitidis,Nm)基因组分子分型方法.[方法]本研究以125株代表性Nm菌株的基因组序列为对象,建立了基于核心基因SNP的基因组分型方法,并与pubMLST网站公布的MLST和cgMLST分型方法进行比较.[结果]基于核心基因SNP的基因组分型...     

Mussaenda yunnanensis sp. nov. (Rubiaceae), a new functionally dioecious species from Yunnan,China

Mussaenda yunnanensis, a new dioecious species of Rubiaceae from Yunnan Province, China, is described and illustrated. The new species can be recognized by its slender stem, congested‐cymose inflorescences and long corolla tubes. Differences between M. yunnanensis and two morphologically similar species (M. pubescens and M. antiloga) are presented. We also provide a key to all dioecious species of Mussaenda in China. The delimitation of the new species is further supported by molecular phylogenetic analyses based on eight plastid loci.     

紫外辐射的细胞生物学效应及其机制

地球表面的生物体会受到来自阳光紫外辐射的照射。两极臭氧层空洞的形成使地球表面的紫外辐射水平,特别是UVB的水平增加,进而对生物体的危害日益加重。因此,深入研究紫外辐射生物学效应的信号转导机制并阐明其损伤机制和生物体的反应机制等具有重要意义,也可为紫外辐射损伤防护的研究提供新思路。本文综述了本领域近年来的相关研究,从紫外辐射所致生物学效应的信号转导机制(包括对DNA的直接损伤作用、细胞膜激酶和非激酶受体通路、细胞质通路以及microRNA)等方面对紫外辐射的损伤机制进行了比较系统的阐述和总结。     

微贮用植物乳杆菌固定化菌剂的制备

乳酸菌与纤维素降解菌因其可防止微贮饲料酸败、增加秸秆饲料的营养价值等优点,在秸秆微贮过程中起重要作用。但由于乳酸菌的繁殖会抑制纤维素降解菌的活性,如何实现微贮过程中两种微生物分时发挥功能是解决上述问题的关键。文中利用固定化技术将乳酸菌制备成含有玉米秸秆粉的固定化菌剂以达到缓释的目的。首先制作固定化空白小球得出复合固定化载体成球的最佳浓度,利用玉米芯吸附植物乳杆菌S1得到复合固定化载体,以对S1的包埋率、成球效果等为指标,通过对比两种固定化方法 (包埋法与包埋-交联法),得到固定化植物乳杆菌S1的最佳条件。研究表明,使用6%PVA+0.4%SA+0.3%CMC-Na进行包埋-交联时成球效果最好,使用1.2%SA+0.5%CMC-Na进行直接包埋时成球效果最好。通过对比5种固定化工艺,将1.2%SA+0.5%CMC-Na和吸附玉米粉组成的固定化载体混合物逐滴滴入4%氯化钙中直接包埋24 h得到的固定化小球其机械强度以及包埋率均优于其他工艺。因此,利用玉米芯吸附-海藻酸钠包埋的方法可以有效提高植物乳杆菌包埋效率,为使用固定化技术制备微贮饲料菌剂奠定基础。     

Aromatic‐interaction‐mediated inhibition of β‐amyloid assembly structures and cytotoxicity

Abnormal aggregation of β‐amyloid (Aβ) peptide plays an important role in the onset and progress of Alzheimer's disease (AD); hence, targeting Aβ aggregation is considered as an effective therapeutic strategy. Here, we studied the aromatic‐interaction‐mediated inhibitory effect of oligomeric polypeptides (K8Y8, K4Y8, K8W8) on Aβ42 fibrillization process. The polypeptides containing lysine as well as representative aromatic amino acids of tryptophan or tyrosine were found to greatly suppress the aggregation as evaluated by thioflavin T assay. Circular dichroism spectra showed that the β‐sheet formation of Aβ42 peptides decreased with the polypeptide additives. Molecular docking studies revealed that the oligomeric polypeptides could preferentially bind to Aβ42 through π–π stacking between aromatic amino acids and Phe19, together with hydrogen bonding. The cell viability assay confirmed that the toxicity of Aβ42 to SH‐SY5Y cells was markedly reduced in the presence of polypeptides. This study could be beneficial for developing peptide‐based inhibitory agents for amyloidoses. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decreased DMT1 and increased ferroportin 1 expression is the mechanisms of reduced iron retention in macrophages by erythropoietin in rats

Recycled iron from reticuloendothelial macrophages to erythroid precursors is important to maintain the iron homeostasis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying iron homeostasis in macrophages are poorly understood. In this study, male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo, 500 IU/day, s.c.) for 3 days. At the fifth day, peritoneal exudate macrophages were harvested, and then (55)Fe uptake and release were measured by liquid scintillation counting method. The expression of divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) and ferroportin 1 (FPN1) in peritoneal exudate macrophages was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. In order to exclude the direct effect of rHuEpo on macrophages, the parallel experiments were performed with incubation normal peritoneal exudate macrophages with rHuEpo (2 IU/ml). Our results showed rHuEpo injection reduced the peritoneal exudate macrophages iron retention. The uptake of Fe(II) was decreased via the suppression of DMT1 (+IRE) expression and the release of Fe(II) was increased with increasing the expression of FPN1 in macrophages. Moreover, the expression of HAMP mRNA was four times lower in rHuEpo-treated liver of rats than control group (CG). HAMP mRNA expression was increased; the synthesis of DMT1 had no significant change, whereas the FPN1 was decreased in normal peritoneal exudate macrophages after treatment with rHuEpo in vitro. We conclude that hepcidin may play a major, causative role in the change of FPN1 synthesis and that decreased the iron retention in macrophages of rHuEpo-treated rats.