冠心病患者TNF-a 水平及其基因多态性的研究

为了研究中国汉族人群中血清肿瘤坏死因子-a（TNF-a）水平及其-857、-863位点基因多态性与冠心病之间的相关性, 采用双抗体夹心ELISA法检测血清TNF-a水平,同时应用聚合酶链反应-限制性片段长度多态性（PCR-RFLP）技术检测TNF-a基因多态性。 冠心病组血清TNF-a水平显著高于对照组（P<0.05）,-863 位点基因多态性在两组间分布有显著差异(P<0.05),-857位点分布无差异。血清TNF-a水平显著升高提示炎性反应在冠心病病程中有重要作用,TNF-a的水平受其基因多态性的影响。     

日本沼虾ITS1序列分析及SNPs位点的筛选

研究采用直接测序法,分析日本沼虾(Macrobrachium nipponense)rDNA基因内转录间隔区ITS1的DNA序列,以筛选日本沼虾SNPs位点。共分析了32个太湖水域野生日本沼虾样本,结果表明,日本沼虾ITS1序列平均长度为1749.8bp,是迄今已报道的最长的ITS1序列,A、G、T和C的平均含量分别为29.9%、28.3%、27.7%、14.0%,G+C的含量平均为42.3%。通过序列比对,共筛选出22个SNPs位点,SNPs位点出现频率为0.0126,其中9个为C/T转换(占40.91%),4个为A/G转换(占18.18%),2个为A/T颠换(占9.09%),5个为T/G颠换(占22.73%),1个为A/C颠换(占4.55%),1个A/T或C颠换(占4.55%)。日本沼虾ITS1序列的22个SNP位点中,21个位点为2个等位基因,1个位点出现了3个等位基因,为复等位基因位点。日本沼虾ITS1序列中还发现3个具有多态性的微卫星位点、1个高度变异区以及大量的缺失、插入。研究首次对日本沼虾ITS1序列进行了分析,并发现了大量的SNP位点,为日本沼虾遗传育种研究提供了新的分子标记。       

Involvement of insulin/phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt signal pathway in 17 beta-estradiol-mediated neuroprotection

In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that 17beta-estradiol (betaE2) is a neuroprotectant in the retina, using two experimental approaches: 1) hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-induced retinal neuron degeneration in vitro, and 2) light-induced photoreceptor degeneration in vivo. We demonstrated that both betaE2 and 17alpha-estradiol (alphaE2) significantly protected against H(2)O(2)-induced retinal neuron degeneration; however, progesterone had no effect. betaE2 transiently increased the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activity, when phosphoinositide 4,5-bisphosphate and [(32)gammaATP] were used as substrate. Phospho-Akt levels were also transiently increased by betaE2 treatment. Addition of the estrogen receptor antagonist tamoxifen did not reverse the protective effect of betaE2, whereas the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 inhibited the protective effect of betaE2, suggesting that betaE2 mediates its effect through some PI3K-dependent pathway, independent of the estrogen receptor. Pull-down experiments with glutathione S-transferase fused to the N-Src homology 2 domain of p85, the regulatory subunit of PI3K, indicated that betaE2 and alphaE2, but not progesterone, identified phosphorylated insulin receptor beta-subunit (IRbeta) as a binding partner. Pretreatment with insulin receptor inhibitor, HNMPA, inhibited IRbeta activation of PI3K. Systemic administration of betaE2 significantly protected the structure and function of rat retinas against light-induced photoreceptor cell degeneration and inhibited photoreceptor apoptosis. In addition, systemic administration of betaE2 activated retinal IRbeta, but not the insulin-like growth factor receptor-1, and produced a transient increase in PI3K activity and phosphorylation of Akt in rat retinas. The results show that estrogen has retinal neuroprotective properties in vivo and in vitro and suggest that the insulin receptor/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is involved in estrogen-mediated retinal neuroprotection.     

Involvement of nitric oxide in elicitor-induced defense responses and secondary metabolism of Taxus chinensis cells

This work was to characterize the generation of nitric oxide (NO) in Taxus chinensis cells induced by a fungal elicitor extracted from Fusarium oxysporum mycelium and the signal role of NO in the elicitation of plant defense responses and secondary metabolite accumulation. The fungal elicitor at 10-100 microg/ml (carbohydrate equivalent) induced a rapid and dose-dependent NO production in the Taxus cell culture, which exhibited a biphasic time course, reaching the first plateau within 1 h and the second within 12 h of elicitor treatment. The NO donor sodium nitroprusside potentiated elicitor-induced H2O2 production and cell death but had little influence on elicitor-induced membrane K+ efflux and H+ influx (medium alkalinization). NO inhibitors Nomega-nitro-L-arginine and 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-imidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide partially blocked the elicitor-induced H2O2 production and membrane ion fluxes. Moreover, the NO inhibitors suppressed elicitor-induced activation of phenylalanine ammonium-lyase and accumulation of diterpenoid taxanes (paclitaxel and baccatin III). These results suggest that NO plays a signal role in the elicitor-induced responses and secondary metabolism activities in the Taxus cells.     

The thymic stromal cell line MTSC4 induced thymocyte apoptosis in a non-MHC-restricted manner

Mouse thymic stromal cell line 4 (MTSC4) is one of the stromal cell lines established in our laboratory. While losing the characteristics of epithelial cells, they express some surface markers shared with thymic dendritic cells (TDCs). To further study the biological functions of these cells, we compared the capability of MTSC4 with TDCs in the induction of thymocyte apoptosis, using thymic reaggregation culture system. Apoptosis of thymocytes induced by MTSC4 and TDCs was measured by Annexin V and PI staining and analyzed by flow cytometry. We found that MTSC4 selectively augmented the apoptosis of CD4^ 8^ (DP) thymocytes. This effect was Fas/FasL independent and could not be blocked by antibodies to MHC class I and class II molecules. In addition, MTSC4 enhanced the apoptosis of DP thymocytes from different strains of mice, which implies that MTSC4-induced thymocyte apoptosis is not mediated by the TCR recognition of self peptide/MHC molecules. In contrast to MTSC4, thymocyte apoptosis induced by TDCs was MHC-restricted. Thus, MHC-independent fashion of stromal-DP thymocyte interaction may be one of the ways to induce thymocyte apoptosis in thymus. Our study has also shown that the interaction of MTSC4 stromal cells and thymocytes is required for the induction of thymocyte apoptosis.     

Secreted antibody/granzyme B fusion protein stimulates selective killing of HER2-overexpressing tumor cells

Targeted cell killing is required for effective treatment of cancers. We previously described the generation of a chimeric immunocasp-3 protein and its potent selective antitumor activity (Jia, L. T., Zhang, L. H., Yu, C. J., Zhao, J., Xu, Y. M., Gui, J. H., Jin, M., Ji, Z. L., Wen, W. H., Wang, C. J., Chen, S. Y., and Yang, A. G. (2003) Cancer Res. 63, 3257-3262). Here we extend the repertoire of another chimeric pro-apoptotic protein immunoGrB, which comprises an anti-HER2 single-chain antibody, a Pseudomonas exotoxin A translocation domain and active granzyme B. Human lymphoma Jurkat cells transfected with the immunoGrB gene expression vector were able to produce and secrete the chimeric protein. The immunoGrB molecule selectively recognized and destroyed HER2-overexpressing tumor cells both in vitro and in nude mouse after intramuscular injection of the immunoGrB expression plasmid. Further in vivo study showed that intravenous administration of immunoGrB gene-modified lymphocytes led to suppression of HER2-overexpressing tumor growth and prolonged animal survival because of continuous secretion of immunoGrB molecules into blood and lymph fluid. These results demonstrate that the chimeric immunoGrB molecule, which is capable of antibody-directed targeting and granzyme B-mediated killing, has therapeutic potential against HER2 tumors, especially in cases in which caspase-dependent apoptosis is inhibited.     

基于转录组数据的密花香薷SSR位点特征分析

利用MISA软件对密花香薷转录组42362条Unigene进行SSR位点搜索,并对其SSR序列结构及分布特征进行了分析。结果表明:(1)密花香薷转录组Unigene序列中共检测到17564个SSR重复序列,分布于11903条Unigene上,出现频率为28.10%,平均每3200 bp出现一个SSR位点。(2)单、二、三核苷酸重复类型为密花香薷转录组SSR位点的主导基序类型,占总SSR位点的97.27%,3种主导基序类型中,单核苷酸所形成基元类型数量最多,共检测到169个基元类型(51.22%),单核苷酸(A/T)n基元类型占明显优势,二核苷酸重复类型(AG/CT)n基元类型占优,分别占总SSR位点的50.60%和12.17%。(3)单核苷酸SSR位点所包含重复次数最多(49),重复次数介于10~66,同一基序类型不同重复次数所形成的SSR位点数量差异较大,随重复次数的增加,SSR位点数呈下降趋势。(4)密花香薷转录组二至六核苷酸基序SSR序列长度集中在12~30 bp区间,共包含有8190个SSR位点,占所统计SSR位点的95.60%,1589(≥20 bp)个SSR序列具有极高的多态性,占所统计SSR位点的18.54%。综合出现频率、分布密度、基元重复次数和长度变异等多个研究结果发现,密花香薷转录组检索到的SSR序列表现出较高的多态性潜能,具有较大的开发价值。该研究为后续密花香薷SSR分子标记引物开发奠定了理论基础。     

多肽的α螺旋结构对多肽与钙调蛋白亲合力的影响

本文设计并采用固相法合成了4种钙调蛋白可结合多肽,这些多肽分成两组,每一组中两个多肽的碱性和疏水性相近,但形成α螺旋结构的倾向(预测)不同。研究了这些多肽与钙调蛋白的相互作用,在Ca~(2+)存在下,这些多肽与丹磺酰钙调蛋白结合,使丹磺酰钙调蛋白的荧光光谱发生显著变化,测定了多肽与钙调蛋白所形成的复合物的解离常数。结果表明,预测形成α螺旋结构倾向较大的多肽与钙调蛋白的亲合力也较大。     

Activation of antifreeze proteins from larvae of the beetle Dendroides canadensis

Summary Purified antifreeze proteins (AFPs) from the larvae of the beetle Dendroides canadensis do not produce the high levels of antifreeze activity seen in the hemolymph of overwintering larvae, even when the purified AFPs are assayed at very high concentrations. However, addition of certain proteins or agar (at concentrations sufficiently low that the gel state does not result) to the Dendroides AFP resulted in a 2–3-fold increase in activity. A 70-kDa protein with AFP-activating capabilities was purified from Dendroides larvae. Addition of this endogenous activator protein to a 4 mg·ml^-1 solution of AFP increased the activity of the AFPs to values comparable to those of the hemolymph of overwintering larvae. Data derived from a modified immunoblot technique demonstrate that the activators bind to the AFP, or vice versa. Formation of this association must allow the AFP to block ice crystal growth by binding to the surface of potential seed crystals in the normal fashion. However, because the AFP-activator complex is much larger than the AFP alone, the complex probably blocks a greater surface area of the crystal and is thus a more efficient antifreeze.Abbreviations AFP antifreeze protein - BSA bovine serum albumine - DEAE diethylaminoethyl - Ig immunoglubolin - LPIN lipoprotein ice nucleator - PIN protein ice nucleator - SDS sodium dodecyl sulfate - PAGE polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis - TH thermal hysteresis     

Construction of a SNP-based genetic linkage map in cultivated peanut based on large scale marker development using next-generation double-digest restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq)

Background

Cultivated peanut, or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), is an important oilseed crop with an allotetraploid genome (AABB, 2n = 4x = 40). In recent years, many efforts have been made to construct linkage maps in cultivated peanut, but almost all of these maps were constructed using low-throughput molecular markers, and most show a low density, directly influencing the value of their applications. With advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, the construction of high-density genetic maps has become more achievable in a cost-effective and rapid manner. The objective of this study was to establish a high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genetic map for cultivated peanut by analyzing next-generation double-digest restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) reads.

Results

We constructed reduced representation libraries (RRLs) for two A. hypogaea lines and 166 of their recombinant inbred line (RIL) progenies using the ddRADseq technique. Approximately 175 gigabases of data containing 952,679,665 paired-end reads were obtained following Solexa sequencing. Mining this dataset, 53,257 SNPs were detected between the parents, of which 14,663 SNPs were also detected in the population, and 1,765 of the obtained polymorphic markers met the requirements for use in the construction of a genetic map. Among 50 randomly selected in silico SNPs, 47 were able to be successfully validated. One linkage map was constructed, which was comprised of 1,685 marker loci, including 1,621 SNPs and 64 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The map displayed a distribution of the markers into 20 linkage groups (LGs A01–A10 and B01–B10), spanning a distance of 1,446.7 cM. The alignment of the LGs from this map was shown in comparison with a previously integrated consensus map from peanut.

Conclusions

This study showed that the ddRAD library combined with NGS allowed the rapid discovery of a large number of SNPs in the cultivated peanut. The first high density SNP-based linkage map for A. hypogaea was generated that can serve as a reference map for cultivated Arachis species and will be useful in genetic mapping. Our results contribute to the available molecular marker resources and to the assembly of a reference genome sequence for the peanut.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-351) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.