Disruption of Smad4 in neural crest cells leads to mid-gestation death with pharyngeal arch, craniofacial and cardiac defects

TGFβ/BMP signaling pathways are essential for normal development of neural crest cells (NCCs). Smad4 encodes the only common Smad protein in mammals, which is a critical nuclear mediator of TGFβ/BMP signaling. In this work, we sought to investigate the roles of Smad4 for development of NCCs. To overcome the early embryonic lethality of Smad4 null mice, we specifically disrupted Smad4 in NCCs using a Cre/loxP system. The mutant mice died at mid-gestation with defects in facial primordia, pharyngeal arches, outflow tract and cardiac ventricles. Further examination revealed that mutant embryos displayed severe molecular defects starting from E9.5. Expression of multiple genes, including Msx1, 2, Ap-2α, Pax3, and Sox9, which play critical roles for NCC development, was downregulated by NCC disruption of Smad4. Moreover, increased cell death was observed in pharyngeal arches from E10.5. However, the cell proliferation rate in these areas was not substantially altered. Taken together, these findings provide compelling genetic evidence that Smad4-mediated activities of TGFβ/BMP signals are essential for appropriate NCC development.     

肠炎沙门氏菌鸡源株ompR 基因缺失株的构建及生物学特性与亲本株的比较

【目的】为了探讨ompR基因在肠炎沙门氏菌生物被膜形成及毒力中的作用。【方法】以肠炎沙门氏菌作为母本,运用自杀性载体pGMB151构建了ompR基因缺失株,结晶紫染色法和扫描电镜观察测定缺失株的生物被膜形成能力,细胞的吸附和侵入及小鼠攻毒试验测定缺失株的毒力。【结果】RT-PCR和蛋白表达证明了ompR基因缺失株构建成功;该缺失株不表达纤维素和菌毛,不形成生物被膜;上皮细胞吸附和侵入试验表明缺失株与野生株具有相同的吸附和侵入率;BALB/c鼠腹腔感染性试验表明,缺失株的半数致死量为106.67CFU,而野生株的半数致死量小于2 CFU。【结论】ompR基因既是肠炎沙门氏菌生物膜形成的调控基因,又是重要的毒力基因。     

环境因子对沟金针虫呼吸代谢的影响

为了探讨沟金针虫Pleonomus canaliculatus对不同环境条件的适应性, 应用多通道昆虫呼吸仪测定了不同温度、O₂浓度、光照强度和湿度条件下沟金针虫的呼吸率。结果显示: 沟金针虫的呼吸模式为不规则波动型。温度和光照强度对沟金针虫的CO₂释放率影响突出, 不同处理间差异显著; 不同温度条件下, CO₂释放率最小和最大值分别为5℃时的7.22 μL/h和35℃时的180.74 μL/h, 两者间存在极显著差异（P<0.01）; 强光条件下的沟金针虫呼吸代谢强度大约是无光条件下的2倍（P<0.05）。不同的O₂浓度和空气相对湿度对沟金针虫的CO₂释放率无明显影响。同时确定了沟金针虫呼吸速率对温度的敏感性——Q₁₀值。结果表明沟金针虫在呼吸代谢过程中对温度和光照反应敏感, 对低氧和湿度环境的适应性较强。     

角蛋白酶基因gm2886在密旋链霉菌ACT12中的表达及鉴定

通过生物信息学分析,在本实验室分离得到的1株羽毛高效降解菌微白黄链霉菌Fea-10基因组中发现基因gm2886(GenBank Accession Number:KY368946)可能编码一新的角蛋白酶,通过在该基因5'端和3'端分别连接红霉素抗性基因启动子(PermE)和组氨酸标签编码序列并构建在大肠杆菌-链霉菌穿梭质粒pSET152上,接合转入密旋链霉菌Streptomyces pactum ACT12,从而实现了异源表达,蛋白纯化后对其酶学性质进行了研究。实验结果表明,带有组氨酸标签编码序列的gm2886在密旋链霉菌ACT12中可以表达分泌得到1个大小约为36 kDa的蛋白。多种底物检测表明异源表达得到的重组蛋白GM2886-His6具有蛋白酶活性,可以降解水不溶性的天青角蛋白和羽毛粉;其最适温度和pH分别为50℃和pH 10.0。PMSF可抑制GM2886-His6的酶活,而EDTA不能,说明该酶为丝氨酸蛋白酶。本研究为从分子水平上解析羽毛高效降解菌Fea-10的活性机理,从而进一步开发其应用潜力提供了基础,同时可为该类蛋白酶的研究提供借鉴。     

内蒙古中东部草原羽茅Epichlo属内生真菌的分布及rDNA-ITS序列系统发育

对内蒙古中东部地区分布的羽茅6个地理种群的染菌率进行了调查,采集种子并从中分离得到不同形态型的内生真菌,选取其中的19株进行rDNA-ITS片段的扩增、克隆、测序和系统发育分析。结果表明：（1）6个样地羽茅种群内生真菌感染率除西乌旗为96.7%外,其他5个样地均为100％,表明内生真菌侵染羽茅并非偶然现象,二者之间存在一种稳定的共生关系。（2）ITS和5.8S序列得到的N-J树显示,相对于Epichlo属的其他参考菌株,不同地理种群羽茅中的内生真菌聚为一类,形成一个具有97％支持强度的分支。由此推测,不同地理种群羽茅中的内生真菌具有相同的起源点。（3）结合形态观察结果和rDNA-ITS序列分析结果可以看出,羽茅内生真菌种群的优势种亲缘关系较近,可能起源于同一种内生真菌;但由于其地理分布广、气候差异大、群落类型差别也较大,从而造成不同地理种群内生真菌形态上的分化以及种群间明显的遗传分化和较高的遗传多样性。     

The Combination of RAD001 and MK-2206 Exerts Synergistic Cytotoxic Effects against PTEN Mutant Gastric Cancer Cells: Involvement of MAPK-Dependent Autophagic,but Not Apoptotic Cell Death Pathway

In the current study, we showed that the combination of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor RAD001 (everolimus) and Akt inhibitor MK-2206 exerted synergistic cytotoxic effects against low-phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) gastric cancer cells (HGC-27 and SNU-601 lines). In HGC-27 cells, RAD001 and MK-2206 synergistically induced G1/S cell cycle arrest, growth inhibition, cell death but not apoptosis. RAD001 and MK-2206 synergistically induced light chain 3B (LC3B) and beclin-1 expression, two important autophagy indicators. Meanwhile, the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) and chloroquine inhibited the cytotoxic effects by RAD001 and MK-2206, suggesting that autophagic, but not apoptotic cell death was important for the cytotoxic effects by the co-administration. We observed that the combination of RAD001 and MK-2206 exerted enhanced effects on Akt/mTOR inhibition, cyclin D1 down-regulation and ERK/MAPK(extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinases) activation. Intriguingly, MEK/ERK inhibitors PD98059 and U0126 suppressed RAD001 plus MK-2206-induced beclin-1 expression, autophagy induction and cytotoxicity in HGC-27 cells. In conclusion, these results suggested that the synergistic anti-gastric cancer cells ability by RAD001 and MK-2206 involves ERK-dependent autophagic cell death pathway.     

Design of novel analogues of short antimicrobial peptide anoplin with improved antimicrobial activity

Currently, novel antibiotics are urgently required to combat the emergence of drug‐resistant bacteria. Antimicrobial peptides with membrane‐lytic mechanism of action have attracted considerable interest. Anoplin, a natural α‐helical amphiphilic antimicrobial peptide, is an ideal research template because of its short sequence. In this study, we designed and synthesized a group of analogues of anoplin. Among these analogues, anoplin‐4 composed of d ‐amino acids displayed the highest antimicrobial activity due to increased charge, hydrophobicity and amphiphilicity. Gratifyingly, anoplin‐4 showed low toxicity to host cells, indicating high bacterial selectivity. Furthermore, the mortality rate of mice infected with Escherichia coli was significantly reduced by anoplin‐4 treatment relative to anoplin. In conclusion, anoplin‐4 is a novel anoplin analogue with high antimicrobial activity and enzymatic stability, which may represent a potent agent for the treatment of infection. Copyright © 2014 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.