Differential effect of three-repeat and four-repeat tau on mitochondrial axonal transport

Tau protein is present in six different splice forms in the human brain and interacts with microtubules via either 3 or 4 microtubule binding repeats. An increased ratio of 3 repeat to 4 repeat isoforms is associated with neurodegeneration in inherited forms of frontotemporal dementia. Tau over-expression diminishes axonal transport in several systems, but differential effects of 3 repeat and 4 repeat isoforms have not been studied. We examined the effects of tau on mitochondrial transport and found that both 3 repeat and 4 repeat tau change normal mitochondrial distribution within the cell body and reduce mitochondrial localization to axons; 4 repeat tau has a greater effect than 3 repeat tau. Further, we observed that the 3 repeat and 4 repeat tau cause different alterations in retrograde and anterograde transport dynamics with 3 repeat tau having a slightly stronger effect on axon transport dynamics. Our results indicate that tau-induced changes in axonal transport may be an underlying theme in neurodegenerative diseases associated with isoform specific changes in tau's interaction with microtubules.     

Ⅱ型糖尿病的红细胞膜GPA基因表达

为了研究Ⅱ型糖尿病（ＮＩＤＤＭ）患者红细胞膜血型糖蛋白Ａ（ＧＰＡ）的基因表达,采用不连续聚蔗糖（Ｐｅｒｃｏｌ）密度梯度法分离１５名正常人和２５例ＮＩＤＤＭ患者外周血的网织红细胞,提取其总ＲＮＡ,继以Ｎｏｒｔｈｅｒｎ斑点杂交观测此两组的红细胞膜ＧＰＡ基因的表达水平．采用碱性磷酸酶酶联免疫检测完成红细胞膜ＧＰ的Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎ印迹．结果表明,ＮＩＤＤＭ患者组红细胞膜ＧＰＡ的ｍＲＮＡ含量较正常人组显著增加（分别为１１．９２±１０．５和１０．１８±１．０８积分光密度,Ｐ＜０．０１）．免疫印迹图谱显示,有６例ＮＩＤＤＭ患者的区带３ａ、３ｂ界限模糊,３例的区带３ａ、３ｂ和４明显浅染．推测ＮＩＤＤＭ患者红细胞膜ＧＰＡ减少可能引起其基因表达呈代偿性增强,而障碍或许出现在翻译环节上,这些与ＮＩＤＤＭ患者红细胞变形能力（ＲＣＤ）的明显降低甚为相符．     

A review on fisheries and conservation status of Asian horseshoe crabs

Horseshoe crabs are the only extant xiphosurans and are believed to be morphologically unchanged for more than 200 million years. Of the four extant species namely, Limulus polyphemus, Tachypleus tridentatus, Tapinauchenius gigas and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, the latter three are found in Asian waters. Recent evidences showed that Asian horseshoe crabs are facing serious threats such as degradation of their spawning grounds and habitat, environmental pollution, overexploitation as a culinary delicacy and biomedical bleeding practices. Baseline data on the distribution and existing population of the wild horseshoe crabs remain poorly known in several Asian regions. Several studies have clearly revealed that pressure due to over-fishing of wild stock has increased tremendously in the last decade. Due to an increase in demand for Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate (TAL) analogous to Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) in the United States, there is an urgent need to comprehensively address their fishing and conservation measures in the Asian region. This review addresses the overall studies on three species of Asian horseshoe crabs in relation to their fishing practices, local exploitation of their wild stock either for human consumption (or) by biomedical industries. The authors have structured the discussion on an international scale to address the existing problems in fishing and conservation of horseshoe crabs. Since no specific regulatory force or legislative protection act or a policy to preserve their natural stock are available to this date, this paper strongly recommends representative countries to include horseshoe crabs under their wildlife protection act to avoid further unsustainable exploitation of their wild populations.     

草鱼胰岛素样生长因子-Ⅰ基因在大肠杆菌中的表达

 为构建草鱼 (Ctenopharyngodonidellus )胰岛素样生长因子 Ⅰ (IGF Ⅰ )大肠杆菌表达质粒 ,对已克隆到的草鱼IGF Ⅰ基因进行改造 .改造后的基因去除了原cDNA的信号肽和E区序列 ,并在基因的两端分别加入起始密码子和终止密码子 .将改造后的编码草鱼IGF Ⅰ成熟肽基因亚克隆到pBV 2 2 0中 ,构建成表达质粒pBVgIGF7.转化大肠杆菌 (Escherichiacoli)进行表达 .SDS PAGE显示 ,含重组表达质粒的菌株经热诱导后表达出一约 7 5kD的特异蛋白 .表达量占菌体总蛋白的2 0 0 3% ,表达产物主要以包涵体形式存在 .重组蛋白经纯化和复性后 ,采用MTT法测定其对草鱼吻端成纤维细胞PSF和草鱼卵巢细胞CO的促增殖作用 .结果表明 ,所获得的重组草鱼IGF Ⅰ具有生物活性     

Diversity and dynamics of the bacterial community involved in pig manure biodegradation in a microbial fermentation bed system

Overproduction of livestock manures with unpleasant odors causes significant environmental problems. The microbial fermentation bed (MFB) system is considered an effective approach to recycling utilization of agricultural byproducts and pig manure (PM). To gain a better understanding of bacterial communities present during the degradation of PM in MFB, the PM bacterial community was evaluated at different fermentation stages using 16S rRNA high throughput sequencing technology. The heatmap plot clustered five samples into short-term fermentation stage of 0–10 days and long-term fermentation stage of 15–20 days. The most abundant OTUs at the phylum level were Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria in the long-term fermentation stage of PM, whereas Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria predominated in the short-term fermentation stage of PM. At the genus level, organic degradation strains, such as Corynebacterium, Bacillus, Virgibacillus, Pseudomonas, Actinobacteria, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus were the predominate genera at the long-term fermentation stage, but were found only rarely in the short-term fermentation stage. C/N ratios increased and the concentration of the unpleasant odor substance 3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole (3-MI) decreased with prolonged period of fermentation. Redundancy analysis (RDA) demonstrated that the relative abundance of Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria had a close relationship with degradation of 3-MI and increasing C/N ratio. These results provide valuable additional information about bacterial community composition during PM biodegradation in animal husbandry.     

Expression of a cytotoxic cationic antibacterial peptide in Escherichia coli using two fusion partners

It has been reported that it is difficult to express cationic antibacterial peptides in engineered bacteria because such peptides are highly toxic to the host bacteria cells and sensitive to intracellular proteases. Antibacterial peptide CM4 (ABP-CM4) is a small cationic peptide with broad-spectrum activities against bacteria, fungi and tumor cells, which may possibly be used as an antimicrobial agent. Here we tried to express ABP-CM4 in Escherichia coli cells using either the GST fusion system or the intein-mediated fusion expression system. In order to investigate the possible use of these two fusion partners in cationic small peptide expression and purification, a mutant ABP-CMt, which is a highly positively charged peptide with +9 charges at neutral pH, was designed. In the present study, we have shown that both ABP-CM4 and ABP-CMt peptides can be expressed and purified by the intein-mediated expression system but not by the GST fusion expression system. Thus the intein-mediated peptide expression and purification system potentially could be employed for the production of recombinant protease-sensitive and cytotoxic peptides.     

A genetic overhaul of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> 424A(LNH-ST) to improve xylose fermentation

Robust microorganisms are necessary for economical bioethanol production. However, such organisms must be able to effectively ferment both hexose and pentose sugars present in lignocellulosic hydrolysate to ethanol. Wild type Saccharomyces cerevisiae can rapidly ferment hexose, but cannot ferment pentose sugars. Considerable efforts were made to genetically engineer S. cerevisiae to ferment xylose. Our genetically engineered S cerevisiae yeast, 424A(LNH-ST), expresses NADPH/NADH xylose reductase (XR) that prefer NADPH and NAD⁺-dependent xylitol dehydrogenase (XD) from Pichia stipitis, and overexpresses endogenous xylulokinase (XK). This strain is able to ferment glucose and xylose, as well as other hexose sugars, to ethanol. However, the preference for different cofactors by XR and XD might lead to redox imbalance, xylitol excretion, and thus might reduce ethanol yield and productivity. In the present study, genes responsible for the conversion of xylose to xylulose with different cofactor specificity (1) XR from N. crassa (NADPH-dependent) and C. parapsilosis (NADH-dependent), and (2) mutant XD from P. stipitis (containing three mutations D207A/I208R/F209S) were overexpressed in wild type yeast. To increase the NADPH pool, the fungal GAPDH enzyme from Kluyveromyces lactis was overexpressed in the 424A(LNH-ST) strain. Four pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) genes, TKL1, TAL1, RKI1 and RPE1 from S. cerevisiae, were also overexpressed in 424A(LNH-ST). Overexpression of GAPDH lowered xylitol production by more than 40%. However, other strains carrying different combinations of XR and XD, as well as new strains containing the overexpressed PPP genes, did not yield any significant improvement in xylose fermentation.     

猪链球菌荚膜多糖合成相关基因簇保守区的克隆与分析

【目的】为了解猪链球菌各血清型荚膜多糖合成相关基因保守区的功能与基因进化关系,【方法】在分析已知的猪链球菌1、2、7、9型荚膜多糖合成相关基因簇序列,及其各orf与猪链球菌33个血清型基因组DNA杂交结果的基础上,提出猪链球菌荚膜多糖合成相关基因簇具有与肺炎链球菌相似的盒样结构的假设。并采用PCR、测序和Southern印迹杂交等方法验证这些假设。【结果】结果显示,猪链球菌的荚膜多糖合成相关基因簇确存在与肺炎链球菌相似的盒样结构,5’端的前4个调节相关基因同源性极高,基因簇两端都有保守的侧翼基因,且在3’端的侧翼序列中找到了适于扩增荚膜多糖合成相关基因簇中血清型特异性区域的下游引物所在基因(aroA)。分析发现,各血清型的orfY、orfX、cpsA、cpsB、cpsC、cpsD和aroA的亲缘关系较近。     

用DDRT-PCR技术克隆小鼠早期胚胎发育相关基因

mRNA差异显示 (DDRT PCR)技术在哺乳动物早期胚胎发育相关基因研究中的应用 ,因获得足够量的早期胚胎材料困难而受到限制 .通过对DDRT PCR技术各种条件参数进行优化组合 ,并对某些环节进行改良 ,以小鼠的MⅡ卵、2 细胞胚胎和 4 细胞胚胎为材料进行差异显示 ,仅以相当于5 0个卵细胞的量为起始材料 ,便得到了理想的差示结果 .从差异条带中挑取感兴趣的差异条带进行回收、阳性鉴定、亚克隆、序列分析、并在反向Northern杂交基础上设计了鉴定实验 .结果发现 ,有一个片段差异显著且是阶段性特异表达 .经GenBank检索 ,发现该片段仅有同源的EST ,其全长及功能尚不清楚 ,是一个功能未知基因 ,将该片段命名为ed1.反向Northern杂交结果表明 ,ed1在 2 细胞期胚胎中有表达 ,而在MⅡ卵及 4 细胞胚胎中均不表达 .