Localization of neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity in the cat hypothalamus

The distribution pattern of neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity (NPY-Li) in cat hypothalamus was studied using avidin-biotin modification of immunocytochemical method. This study showed cell bodies containing NPY-Li in the periventricular and the infundibular nuclei and also a moderate number of neurons with NPY-Li in the ventromedial nucleus, an observation not reported in earlier studies. Fibers with NPY-Li were noted throughout the hypothalamus, but most prominently within the periventricular regions. The location of NPY cells within the hypothalamus suggests the possibility of an interaction with dopaminergic and other proopiomelanocortinergic neurons.     

70 Use of molecular probe to detect taste/odor-causing cyanobacteria in the phoenix drinking water distribution system

Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) is the largest lake in Oregon (area 287 km², avg. depth 4.2 m). It is naturally eutrophic and regularly suffers nuisance summer blooms of cyanobacteria, principally Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA). Sediment coring studies show that AFA was absent or minimal until about 1880 when a steady increase began, culminating in the blooms of recent decades. These studies show concomitant increases in sediment N (∼20%) and P (∼50%) along with shifts in the algal flora indicating increased eutrophication. These changes correlate with increased human impacts, such as deforestation, construction, roadbuilding etc., and especially the ditching, diking and draining of adjacent wetlands for conversion to agriculture. Agricultural nutrient runoff, especially P, has been often cited as the cause of the AFA blooms, and most attention has been focused on the dynamics of UKL during the summer bloom. We propose that a more significant factor may be the loss of early-season suppression of AFA because of the loss of the lake-associated wetlands, which originally constituted 42% of the lake area, and which have declined in area by 66.3% since the late 1800's. The melting of snow and ice in the spring would flush into the lake a surge of wetland plant decomposition products, most significantly organic acids and humic substances. We propose that formerly these wetland effluents caused a complex of effects on lake pH, solar UV transparency, photochemical interactions, nutrient availability, and Daphnia grazing dynamics, which would have combined to prevent the development of any AFA bloom.     

喀斯特小流域栓皮栎林土壤螨类群落结构特征

为比较石漠化环境与喀斯特森林土壤螨类的群落结构差异,对贵州喀斯特地区朝营小流域栓皮栎林的土壤螨类群落结构本底进行了研究,经2014年各季节的4次调查,共发现土壤螨类3目54科83属.对螨类属数、个体数量、个体密度、Shannon多样性指数(H)、Margalef丰富度指数(SR)、Pielou均匀性指数(J)、捕食性螨类成熟度指数(MI)、甲螨MGP类群和甲螨营养结构等进行了分析.结果表明:土壤螨类在类群属数和个体数量上均以甲螨亚目的属占优势,夏季和秋季具有丰富的属数、较高的个体密度与多样性,春季和秋季具有丰富的个体数量,群落分布具有明显的表聚性.捕食性螨类夏季生态类群以K选择型为主,其他季节以r选择型为主;甲螨生态类群主要为P型和O型,缝甲螨属、异珠足甲螨属和合若甲螨属等属构成了栓皮栎林土壤螨类的营养功能集团.研究表明,该区山毛榉林与其他地区山毛榉林、其他不同类型森林的土壤螨类主要类群存在差异,其中含丰富属组成的派伦螨科、厉螨科、奥甲螨科和单翼甲螨科以及多奥甲螨属、派伦满属、菌甲螨属和单翼甲螨属等数量上占优势的类群属可作为山毛榉林土壤环境的生物指示.     

Differential catalytic efficiency of allelic variants of human glutathione S-transferase Pi in catalyzing the glutathione conjugation of thiotepa.

Alkylating agents are extensively used in the treatment of cancer. The clinical usefulness of this class of anticancer drugs, however, is often limited by the emergence of drug-resistant tumor cells. Increased glutathione (GSH) conjugation through catalysis by GSH S-transferases (GSTs) is believed to be an important mechanism in tumor cell resistance to alkylating agents. In the present study, we report that the allelic variants of human Pi class GST (hGSTP1-1), which differ in their primary structures at amino acids in positions 104 and/or 113, exhibit significant differences in their activity in the GSH conjugation of alkylating anticancer drug thiotepa. Mass spectrometry revealed that the major product of the reaction between thiotepa and GSH was the monoglutathionyl-thiotepa conjugate. While nonenzymatic formation of monoglutathionyl-thiotepa was negligible, the formation of this conjugate was increased significantly in the presence of hGSTP1-1 protein. The hGSTP1-1-catalyzed GSH conjugation of thiotepa was time and protein dependent and followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The catalytic efficiency of hGSTP1-1(I104, A113) variant was approximately 1.9- and 2.6-fold higher compared with hGSTP1-1(V104,A113) and hGSTP1-1(V104,V113) isoforms, respectively. The results of the present study indicate that the hGSTP1-1 polymorphism may be an important factor in GST-mediated tumor cell resistance to thiotepa, and that subjects homozygous for the hGSTP1-1(I104,A113) allele, which is most frequent in human populations, are likely to be at a greater risk for developing GST-mediated resistance to thiotepa than heterozygotes or homozygotes with valine 104 background.     

HOPS复合体蛋白在细胞自噬过程中的功能研究

自噬(autophagy)是一种溶酶体依赖性的细胞内降解途径,其主要功能是将生物大分子(蛋白质、多糖等)或细胞器(线粒体等)回收至溶酶体中并将其降解为单糖、氨基酸等小分子以重复利用。发现HOPS复合体中的两个基因vps39和vps41的缺失会导致酵母内GFP-ATG8大量积累。进一步研究表明,积累的原因是GFP-ATG8与液泡不能发生融合。而在HOPS复合体中的另外两个基因vps16和vps18缺失的情况下,自噬融合没有受到影响;在vps16和vps18双敲除的菌株中,自噬融合同样没有受到影响。该实验结果为理解HOPS复合体的功能和自噬体与液泡融合的过程提供了新的线索。     

抗菌肽VIP在毕赤酵母中的高效表达及鉴定

基于人抗菌肽VIP(Vasoactive intestinal peptide)基因序列,按照毕赤酵母密码子偏好性设计引物;用SOE-PCR法扩增目的基因;然后将目的基因克隆至毕赤酵母分泌型表达载体pPICZαA上,构建VIP分泌表达菌株GS115-p PICZαA-vip。用甲醇诱导96 h收集上清,用质谱进行鉴定,结果显示分泌表达产物与人抗菌肽VIP理论值(3 326.82 Da)完全一致,表明人抗菌肽VIP成功得到分泌表达。琼脂糖凝胶扩散法实验结果显示,重组VIP对大肠杆菌Escherichia coli ATCC25922和金黄色葡萄球菌Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923都有很强的抗菌活性,MIC(Minimal inhibitory concentration)分别为8 mmol/L和16 mmol/L。进一步细胞毒性和溶血性实验结果显示,重组VIP对正常细胞NCM460和IPEC-J2没有毒性,其对SD大鼠红细胞不具有溶血活性。通过透射电镜观察了VIP的抗菌机制,结果显示VIP主要通过破坏细胞膜的方式抑杀细菌。本研究为人抗菌肽VIP的开发应用和大量生产奠定了基础。     

巴氏杆菌糖酵解酶的黏附作用研究

巴氏杆菌（主要是多杀性巴氏杆菌）可以引起多种动物疫病（巴氏杆菌病）,同时也引起人类感染发病。[目的] 研究巴氏杆菌糖酵解酶对宿主细胞（兔肾细胞）和两种常见分子[纤连蛋白（fibronectin,Fn）和血浆纤维蛋白溶解酶原（plasminogen,Plg）]的黏附作用。[方法] 采用原核表达系统对多杀性巴氏杆菌的糖酵解酶进行表达并纯化及制备多克隆抗体,通过菌体表面蛋白定位检测、黏附与黏附抑制等实验探究巴氏杆菌糖酵解酶的黏附作用。[结果] 菌体表面蛋白检测结果显示除烯醇化酶和丙酮酸激酶外的7个糖酵解酶在多杀性巴氏杆菌表面存在。这7个糖酵解酶均能黏附兔肾细胞,但仅有磷酸葡萄糖异构酶的多克隆抗体能对多杀性巴氏杆菌黏附宿主细胞产生抑制作用。Far Western blotting结果显示9个糖酵解酶均能结合宿主Fn和Plg。招募抑制实验结果显示磷酸葡萄糖异构酶、醛缩酶、磷酸甘油酸变位酶的抗体对多杀性巴氏杆菌结合Fn和Plg都有抑制作用,磷酸果糖激酶、丙糖磷酸异构酶、甘油醛-3-磷酸脱氢酶、磷酸甘油激酶抗体仅对多杀性巴氏杆菌结合Fn或Plg有抑制作用。[结论] 多杀性巴氏杆菌糖酵解酶成员葡萄糖异构酶、磷酸果糖激酶、醛缩酶、丙糖磷酸异构酶、甘油醛-3-磷酸脱氢酶、磷酸甘油激酶、磷酸甘油酸变位酶在多杀性巴氏杆菌黏附宿主细胞或分子过程中发挥作用。该研究的完成将加深巴氏杆菌病分子发病机制的认识,并为巴氏杆菌病的诊断标识筛选、新型疫苗创制和药物靶标筛选等提供基础数据。     

~（60）Co－γ射线诱变钝顶螺旋藻的研究

用不同剂量的６０Ｃｏ－γ射线诱变钝顶螺旋藻Ｓｐｉｒｕｌｉｎａｐｌａｔｅｎｓｉｓ出发株（Ｓｐ）ＩＳ－９００１０,筛选获得两株抗高光抑制突变株（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１０和（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１１,然后比较出发株和突变株的一般形态和生理生化特性。出发株和突变株的一般形态有较大的差异,与出发株相比,两个突变株藻丝体显著变短,螺旋数目大大减小。出发株是对高光敏感的品系,而突变株表现明显的抗高光抑制,１３０００ｌｘ光强下出发株和两个突变株的代时分别为２９．４、２０．８和２２．２ｈ。（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１１的光合作用和呼吸作用与出发株相似,而（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１０明显地表现出高光合、低呼吸作用。突变株和出发株都属于中温品系,最适温度为２８℃,具有较广的温度适应范围（２３～３５℃）以及相同的耐盐性,但突变株的生长速率比出发株快、代时短。此外三者的蛋白质含量、氨基酸组成差别不大：（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１１的可溶性多糖比出发株减少４０％。而在（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１０中其含量提高６０％。     

Rapid Engineering of the Geldanamycin Biosynthesis Pathway by Red/ET Recombination and Gene Complementation

Genetic manipulation of antibiotic producers, such as Streptomyces species, is a rational approach to improve the properties of biologically active molecules. However, this can be a slow and sometimes problematic process. Red/ET recombination in an Escherichia coli host has permitted rapid and more versatile engineering of geldanamycin biosynthetic genes in a complementation plasmid, which can then be readily transferred into the Streptomyces host from which the corresponding wild type gene(s) has been removed. With this rapid Red/ET recombination and gene complementation approach, efficient gene disruptions and gene replacements in the geldanamycin biosynthetic gene cluster have been successfully achieved. As an example, we describe here the creation of a ketoreductase 6 null mutation in an E. coli high-copy-number plasmid carrying gdmA2A3 from Streptomyces hygroscopicus NRRL3602 and the subsequent complementation of a gdmA2A3 deletion host with this plasmid to generate a novel geldanamycin analog.     

A review of methods for interpretation of glycopeptide tandem mass spectral data

Despite the publication of several software tools for analysis of glycopeptide tandem mass spectra, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the most effective and appropriate methods. In part, this reflects problems with applying standard methods for proteomics database searching and false discovery rate calculation. While the analysis of small post-translational modifications (PTMs) may be regarded as an extension of proteomics database searching, glycosylation requires specialized approaches. This is because glycans are large and heterogeneous by nature, causing glycopeptides to exist as multiple glycosylated variants. Thus, the mass of the peptide cannot be calculated directly from that of the intact glycopeptide. In addition, the chemical nature of the glycan strongly influences product ion patterns observed for glycopeptides. As a result, glycopeptidomics requires specialized bioinformatics methods. We summarize the recent progress towards a consensus for effective glycopeptide tandem mass spectrometric analysis.