Sequence motifs and antimotifs in beta-barrel membrane proteins from a genome-wide analysis: the Ala-Tyr dichotomy and chaperone binding motifs

Beta-barrel membrane proteins are found in the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria, mitochondria, and chloroplasts. Although sequence motifs have been studied in alpha-helical membrane proteins and have been shown to play important roles in their assembly, it is not clear whether over-represented motifs and under-represented anti-motifs exist in beta-barrel membrane proteins. We have developed probabilistic models to identify sequence motifs of residue pairs on the same strand separated by an arbitrary number of residues. A rigorous statistical model is essential for this study because of the difficulty associated with the short length of the strands and the small amount of structural data. By comparing to the null model of exhaustive permutation of residues within the same beta-strand, propensity values of sequence patterns of two residues and p-values measuring statistical significance are calculated exactly by several analytical formulae we have developed or by enumeration. We find that there are characteristic sequence motifs and antimotifs in transmembrane (TM) beta-strands. The amino acid Tyr plays an important role in several such motifs. We find a general dichotomy consisting of favorable Aliphatic-Tyr sequence motifs and unfavorable Tyr-Aliphatic antimotifs. Tyr is also part of a terminal motif, YxF, which is likely to be important for chaperone binding. Our results also suggest several experiments that can help to elucidate the mechanisms of in vitro and in vivo folding of beta-barrel membrane proteins.     

新疆地区拟埃蝗属一新种（直翅目：剑角蝗科）

记述采自新疆地区拟埃蝗属Pseudoeocyllina Liang一新种,即新疆拟埃蝗Pseudoeocyllin xinjiangensissp．nov．,模式标本保存于陕西师范大学动物研究所昆虫标本室。     

微卫星技术在大耳白黑眼兔近交系培育中的监测分析

利用微卫星技术监测大耳白黑眼兔(white hair black eyes rabbits,WHBE兔)近交培育中第五代(F5)、第六代(F6)和第七代(F7)的遗传多样性.选取21个微卫譬座位,筛选出扩增产物稳定并且具有多态性的11对微卫星引物用于本研究.结果表明,F5代WHBE兔在每个座位上的等位基因数(Na)为3～9个不等,11个座位的平均有效等位基因数(Ne)为1.81个,平均观察杂合度(Ho)和平均多态信息含量(PIC)分别为0.381和0.524,累积个体识别率(CDP)达到100%,累积非父排除概率(CPE)在双亲信息都是未知情况下的为0.926,而在得知任一亲本信息的情况F,CPE值为0.993.F6代WHBE兔在每个座位上的Na为3～8个不等,11个座位的平均Ne为1.68个,平均Ho和PIC值分别为0.356和0.548,CDP达到100%,CPE在双亲信息都是未知情况下的为0.931,而在得知任一亲本信息的情况下,CPE值为0.994.F7代WHBE兔在每个座位上的Na为2～6个不等,11个座位的Ne为1.51个,平均Ho和PIC值分别为0.287和0.498,CDP达到100%,CPE在双亲信息都是未知情况下的为0.891,而在得知任一亲本信息的情况下,CPE值为0.986.在近交系培育过程中,从F5代到F7代,WHBE兔的平均Ne和平均Ho 都呈下降趋势,提示随着近交代数的增加,WHBE兔的基因纯合度越来越高.     

Protein sequencing by mass analysis of polypeptide ladders after controlled protein hydrolysis

The characterization of protein modifications is essential for the study of protein function using functional genomic and proteomic approaches. However, current techniques are not efficient in determining protein modifications. We report an approach for sequencing proteins and determining modifications with high speed, sensitivity and specificity. We discovered that a protein could be readily acid-hydrolyzed within 1 min by exposure to microwave irradiation to form, predominantly, two series of polypeptide ladders containing either the N- or C-terminal amino acid of the protein, respectively. Mass spectrometric analysis of the hydrolysate produced a simple mass spectrum consisting of peaks exclusively from these polypeptide ladders, allowing direct reading of amino acid sequence and modifications of the protein. As examples, we applied this technique to determine protein phosphorylation sites as well as the sequences and several previously unknown modifications of 28 small proteins isolated from Escherichia coli K12 cells. This technique can potentially be automated for large-scale protein annotation.