水溶性有机物电子转移能力及其生态效应

水溶性有机物(Dissolved organic matter,DOM)是生态系统最为活跃的有机物组分,参与众多物理、化学及生物过程.DOM具有电子转移能力,主要原因在于结构中包含的醌基官能团,通过醌、半醌和氢醌之间的可逆转化完成电子转移过程.DOM作为电子穿梭体,循环参与电子转移的能力是其发挥生态效应的重要体现.研究表明,DOM可以通过氧化还原反应介导环境中Cr(Ⅵ)、Hg(Ⅱ)等重金属及卤代烃、硝基芳香化合物等持久性有机污染物降解转化.综述了DOM电子转移能力机理、途径及可循环性,电子转移能力测定方法,以及DOM电子转移能力的生态效应并展望研究方向.     

食管组织和外周血中代谢和DNA修复相关基因的表达谱分析

目的:研究代谢酶和DNA修复相关基因在食管组织和外周血中的表达谱.方法:收集93例淮安地区食管癌病例的食管癌旁正常组织和外周血,采用实时荧光定量RT-PCR方法定量分析食管正常组织和外周血中的代谢酶和修复酶共计11个基因的mRNA水平.结果:11个代谢酶和修复酶基因在食管组织和外周血的表达水平有明显差异,食管组织中GSTPI＞NQOI、MGMT＞hMLH1、hMSH2、hOGG1、XRCC1、XPD,XPA、CYP2E1＞MTHFR;在外周血中GSTP1＞hMLH1、hMSH2、XPA、MGMT＞hOGG1、NQO1、CYP2E1、XRCC1、XPD＞MTHFR.食管组织基因表达水平与外周血相应基因的表达之间未发现有统计学意义的直线相关关系.结论:代谢酶和修复酶基因在食管组织和外周血的表达谱相似,但基因表达水平有差异,本分析为这些基因的研究提供了基础数据的支持.外周血和食管组织在肿瘤易感性和肿瘤发生相关的生物标志物研究中具有不同的应用价值.     

氧化应激对腺病毒E1A蛋白活化NF-κB转录活性的影响及其机制研究

目的:探讨腺病毒E1A蛋白对细胞内抗氧化物质谷胱甘肽(GSH)水平的影响及氧化应激对腺病毒E1A蛋白介导的核因子-κB(NF-κB)转录活化的影响。方法:构建稳定表达E1A蛋白的大鼠肺泡上皮细胞(E1A组)及对照质粒转染细胞(对照组),每组5×105个细胞,试验重复3次。采用H2O2刺激细胞,检测细胞内GSH水平。脂多糖(LPS)和肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)进行刺激,丁胱亚磺酰亚胺(BSO)进行干预,Western blot法检测NF-κB和AP-1蛋白的表达。结果:E1A+细胞内GSH基础水平与E1A-比较无显著差异,但在H2O2作用后没有诱导出GSH含量的上升,表现为下降而低平的趋势,去除氧化剂后,仍低于正常水平。E1A-细胞在氧化剂的作用后呈明显的上升趋势,去除氧化剂后仍高于基础水平。细胞内NF-κB蛋白表达(积分吸光度值):刺激前E1A+细胞分别为79.3±4.6和80.3±3.8,在LPS和TNF-α刺激后分别为81.8±3.9～89.9±1.6和94.1±1.9～99.8±1.6,均明显高于对照组(刺激前分别为68.3±3.8和69.4±4.3,刺激后分别为70.1±2.8～80.8±3.6和73.4±4.9～83.2±6.7)。给予BSO预处理后再用LPS和TNF-α刺激,E1A-细胞NF-κB蛋白表达的积分吸光度值(1.22±0.16和1.75±0.13)与LPS或TNF-α单独作用组(1.25±0.18和1.69±0.19)无明显差别;E1A+细胞NF-κB蛋白表达的积分吸光度值(1.75±0.10和2.26±0.21)明显高于LPS或TNF-α单独作用组(1.35±0.12和1.80±0.14)。结论:腺病毒潜伏感染持续表达E1A蛋白可以影响细胞GSH,降低细胞对氧化应激的耐受性,并可能通过此机制造成NF-κB异常转录活化,而GSH的降低又进一步放大了E1A介导的NF-κB转录活化作用。     

Identification of a novel peptide ligand of human vascular endothelia growth factor receptor 3 for targeted tumour diagnosis and therapy

Human vascular endothelia growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) is up-regulated in a variety of human cancers. It is a potentially rational target for drug delivery. To identify novel ligands with specific binding capabilities to VEGFR-3, we screened a phage display peptide library and found a consensus motif of the peptides which is displayed by the positive phages CSDxxHxWC (x is any amino acid). The phage displaying peptide CSDSWHYWC (designated as P1) exhibited the highest affinity to VEGFR-3 in phage ELISA and the chemically synthesized P1 could bind to VEGFR-3 specifically in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the flow cytometry assay and immunofluorescence showed that the FITC labelled P1 could bind to VEGFR-3 positive carcinoma cells with specificity. Our study suggests that P1 may be a homing peptide for treatment of tumours.     

Characterization of the genetic components of Streptomyces lividans linear plasmid SLP2 for replication in circular and linear modes

The nucleotide sequence of Streptomyces lividans linear plasmid SLP2 consists of 50,410 bp (C. H. Huang, C. Y. Chen, H. H. Tsai, C. Chen, Y. S. Lin, and C. W. Chen, Mol. Microbiol. 47:1563-1576, 2003). Here we report that the basic SLP2 locus for plasmid replication in circular mode resembles that of Streptomyces linear plasmids pSLA2 and SCP1 and comprises iterons(SLP2) and the adjacent rep(SLP2) gene. More efficient replication additionally required the 47-bp sequence between bp 581 and 628 upstream of the iterons. Replacement of either the iterons or the rep gene of SLP2 by the corresponding genes of pSLA2 or SCP1 still allows propagation in Streptomyces, although the transformation frequencies were 3 orders of magnitude lower than the original plasmids, suggesting that these plasmids share similar replication mechanisms. To replicate SLP2 in linear mode, additional SLP2 loci--either mtap(SLP2)/tpg(SLP2) or mtap(SLP2)/ilrA(SLP2)--were required. IlrA(SLP2) protein binds specifically to the iterons(SLP2) in vitro. Interactions were detected between these SLP2-borne replication proteins (Mtap(SLP2), Tpg(SLP2), and IlrA(SLP2)) and the telomeric replication proteins (TpgL, TapL, and TpgL) of the S. lividans chromosome, respectively, but the SLP2 proteins failed to interact. These results suggest that SLP2 recruits chromosomally encoded replication proteins for its telomere replication.     

Polymorphisms of coding region of BMPR-IB gene and their relationship with litter size in sheep

The bone morphogenetic protein receptor IB (BMPR-IB) was studied as a candidate gene for the prolificacy of sheep. Nine pairs of primers (P1-P9) were designed to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of exons 1-4 and 6-10 of the BMPR-IB gene in both high (Small Tail Han and Hu sheep) and low prolificacy breeds (Texel and Chinese Merino sheep) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). Only the products amplified by primers P2, P5, P6, P7, P8 and P9 displayed polymorphisms. The present study identified 22 SNPs in partial coding regions of ovine BMPR-IB, in which 20 SNPs were reported for the first time. In total of the 22 mutations, 18 DNA variations were originated from the Hu breed, three were found in the Small Tail Han breed (two of them were found in other sheep breeds), three in the Chinese Merino breed, and none in the Texel breed. These results preliminarily demonstrated that BMPR-IB is a major gene affecting the hyperprolificacy in Small Tail Han and Hu sheep, and could be used as a molecular genetic marker for early auxiliary selection for hyperprolificacy in sheep.     

丙型肝炎病毒功能基因在CHO细胞中的表达研究

丙型肝炎病毒(HCV)与宿主细胞因子的相互作用已经成为国内外研究的热点和难点。近期研究已经证实HCV的感染对宿主多种途径中基因的转录均能产生影响。为了进一步研究究竟是HCV中的哪些功能基因在与特定细胞因子的相互作用中起主导作用,构建了分别含有HCV Core、E1、E2、p7、NS2、NS3、NS4A、NS4B、NS5A和NS5B基因的真核表达质粒,分别转入宿主细胞CHO-K1中,在G418的选择压力下筛选获得稳定表达HCV单个蛋白的细胞系(10株)。PCR和RT-PCR可分别从稳定细胞系中检测到相应的HCV基因的DNA和mRNA,冻存和复苏不会造成HCV基因的丢失。Western-blot检测到稳定细胞系中表达E1,E2和NS5B蛋白,说明HCV基因在CHO-K1中已经形成稳定表达。薄层层析(TLC)结果显示,含有不同HCV基因的稳定传代细胞系中,UDP-葡萄糖神经酰胺葡萄糖基转移酶(UGCG)活性均发生了不同程度的变化,其中E2和p7的表达使胞内UGCG的活性提高了约1倍,NS2和NS5A则使UGCG的酶活提高了约0.6倍。该稳定细胞系的建立为研究病毒与宿主因子的相互作用及药物筛选奠定了基础。     

植物MicroRNA的特点与研究方法

MicroRNAs(miRNAs)是一类在植物、动物、单细胞藻类和病毒等中存在的具有调控基因表达作用的内源非编码小RNA(small RNAs).在植物中,miRNAs主要依靠与靶基因之间完全或近乎完全的互补配对切割靶基因或翻译抑制实现其调控功能.主要综述植物miRNA的特点,并介绍miRNA的获得方式、靶基因预测及验证方法.     

Predicting the coupling specificity of GPCRs to G-proteins by support vector machines

G-protein coupled receptors （GPCRs） represent one of the most important classes of drug targets for pharmaceutical industry and play important roles in cellular signal transduction. Predicting the coupling specificity of GPCRs to G-proteins is vital for further understanding the mechanism of signal transduction and the function of the receptors within a cell, which can provide new clues for pharmaceutical research and development. In this study, the features of amino acid compositions and physiochemical properties of the full-length GPCR sequences have been analyzed and extracted. Based on these features, classifiers have been developed to predict the coupling specificity of GPCRs to G-protelns using support vector machines. The testing results show that this method could obtain better prediction accuracy.     

p38对骨髓间充质干细胞成肌分化作用的研究

目的:以5-氮杂胞苷(5-Aza-CR)诱导骨髓间充质干细胞(MSCs)成肌分化,探讨生肌调控因子中Myf5的表达及信号转导通路p38在此分化过程中的作用.方法:分离、纯化MSCs,以10 μmol/L 5-Aza-CR诱导其向成肌细胞分化,RT-PCR测定Myf5的表达,免疫组化检测肌球蛋白(myosin)的表达,Western-blot检测p38信号通路特异抑制剂SB203580作用前后磷酸化p38的变化.结果:SB203580作用后,Myf5表达由6 h延迟至9 h,诱导12 d部分MSCs表达myosin,18 d表达的数量及程度明显增加;5-Aza-CR诱导后,磷酸化p38蛋白水平较作用前增强,但在SB203580抑制后明显受抑.结论:5-Aza-CR诱导后,MSCs表达生肌调控因子并向成肌细胞分化,p38在此分化过程中起着正向信号转导作用.