Comparing the folding landscapes of evolutionarily divergent procaspase-3

All caspases evolved from a common ancestor and subsequently developed into two general classes, inflammatory or apoptotic caspases. The caspase-hemoglobinase fold has been conserved throughout nearly one billion years of evolution and is utilized for both the monomeric and dimeric subfamilies of apoptotic caspases, called initiator and effector caspases, respectively. We compared the folding and assembly of procaspase-3b from zebrafish to that of human effector procaspases in order to examine the conservation of the folding landscape. Urea-induced equilibrium folding/unfolding of procaspase-3b showed a minimum three-state folding pathway, where the native dimer isomerizes to a partially folded dimeric intermediate, which then unfolds. A partially folded monomeric intermediate observed in the folding landscape of human procaspase-3 is not well-populated in zebrafish procaspase-3b. By comparing effector caspases from different species, we show that the effector procaspase dimer undergoes a pH-dependent conformational change, and that the conformational species in the folding landscape exhibit similar free energies. Together, the data show that the landscape for the caspase-hemoglobinase fold is conserved, yet it provides flexibility for species-specific stabilization or destabilization of folding intermediates resulting in changes in stability. The common pH-dependent conformational change in the native dimer, which yields an enzymatically inactive species, may provide an additional, albeit reversible, mechanism for controlling caspase activity in the cell.     

RUS家族对植物生长发育的调控作用

叶绿体基因组编码许多参与光合作用和其他代谢过程的关键蛋白质,在叶绿体中合成的代谢物对于植物正常的生长发育至关重要。根对紫外线-B辐射敏感[Root-UVB (ultraviolet radiation B)-sensitive, RUS]蛋白属于叶绿体蛋白,由高度保守的DUF647结构域组成,在参与植物形态发生、物质运输和能量代谢等多种生命活动的调控中发挥作用。本文就近年来关于RUS家族在植物的胚胎发育、光形态建成、维生素B6稳态、生长素转运和花药发育等生长发育过程中的相关研究进行回顾和总结,为深入研究其在植物生长发育中的分子调控机制提供了参考。     

穿心莲ent-柯巴基焦磷酸合酶基因的克隆与生物信息学分析

旨在克隆穿心莲CPS的编码基因,并进行序列分析.通过RT-PCR和cDNA末端快速扩增的技术从穿心莲叶片中获得目的基因;并利用生物信息学的方法对其编码蛋白进行功能分析.结果显示,获得了全长2 499 bp的cDNA序列,编码一个833aa的蛋白.序列同源性比较表明,该蛋白与野甘草、咖啡等其他植物来源的CPS具有较高的同源性.保守功能结构域分析显示,该蛋白包含一个富含Asp残基的植物萜类合酶的共有保守功能域“DXDD”,归属于萜类生物合成酶Ⅰ类超级家族和顺式聚异戊二烯焦磷酸合酶超级家族.初步推测克隆得到了穿心莲CPS的编码基因(命名为ApCPS,GenBank登录号为JN216843.1).     

基于微滴式数字PCR检测肠癌病人游离环状DNA KRAS突变的新方法

基于微滴式数字聚合酶链式反应(Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction,dd PCR)设计一种检测肠癌游离循环DNA(Circulating cell free DNA,cf DNA)中KRAS(V-Ki-ras2 Kirsten ratsarcoma viral oncogene homolog)基因突变的新方法并评估其灵敏度和准确性。根据肠癌病人KRAS基因的突变类型设计并合成,采用dd PCR扩增并评估其灵敏度和准确性;根据AMRS-PCR引物设计原理设计KRAS基因的实时定量PCR扩增引物并评估其准确性,进而比较dd PCR和q PCR二者之间的优缺点;最后针对52例肠癌病人的cf DNA采用dd PCR进行检测,研究dd PCR在cf DNA KRAS基因突变检测的应用。成功使用dd PCR和q PCR两种方法对KRAS野生型及7种突变型建立检测方法,使用质粒标准品及实际样品验证该两种方法可行并对其假阳性率、线性范围及检测下限等性能进行了评价,最后成功对52例临床患者和20例正常人的血浆cf DNA样本进行检测,临床灵敏度为97.64%,临床特异性为81.43%。dd PCR的检测性能优于q PCR,LOD达到个位数DNA拷贝,最低可确认突变浓度达到0.01%–0.04%。样本提取效率在方法学建立中也十分重要,直接影响到灵敏度和Cut Off值的判定。临床患者检测结果显示其KRAS突变率接近报道水平。     

Chemotaxis is required for virulence and competitive fitness of the bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum

Ralstonia solanacearum, a soilborne plant pathogen of considerable economic importance, invades host plant roots from the soil. Qualitative and quantitative chemotaxis assays revealed that this bacterium is specifically attracted to diverse amino acids and organic acids, and especially to root exudates from the host plant tomato. Exudates from rice, a nonhost plant, were less attractive. Eight different strains from this heterogeneous species complex varied significantly in their attraction to a panel of carbohydrate stimuli, raising the possibility that chemotactic responses may be differentially selected traits that confer adaptation to various hosts or ecological conditions. Previous studies found that an aflagellate mutant lacking swimming motility is significantly reduced in virulence, but the role of directed motility mediated by the chemotaxis system was not known. Two site-directed R. solanacearum mutants lacking either CheA or CheW, which are core chemotaxis signal transduction proteins, were completely nonchemotactic but retained normal swimming motility. In biologically realistic soil soak virulence assays on tomato plants, both nonchemotactic mutants had significantly reduced virulence indistinguishable from that of a nonmotile mutant, demonstrating that directed motility, not simply random motion, is required for full virulence. In contrast, nontactic strains were as virulent as the wild-type strain was when bacteria were introduced directly into the plant stem through a cut petiole, indicating that taxis makes its contribution to virulence in the early stages of host invasion and colonization. When inoculated individually by soaking the soil, both nontactic mutants reached the same population sizes as the wild type did in the stems of tomato plants just beginning to wilt. However, when tomato plants were coinoculated with a 1:1 mixture of a nontactic mutant and its wild-type parent, the wild-type strain outcompeted both nontactic mutants by 100-fold. Together, these results indicate that chemotaxis is an important trait for virulence and pathogenic fitness in this plant pathogen.     

甘蔗幼叶切段培养中的体细胞胚胎发生

本文从形态学和组织学方面研究了甘蔗幼叶胚性愈伤组织发生及体细胞胚胎的形成过程。甘蔗幼叶片切段培养于含2.4—D1.5mg/1的MS培养基上,4—6天后切段开始形成愈伤组织,约10天后愈伤组织表面出现白色颗粒状结构。将含有白色颗粒状结构的愈伤组织转移至不含激素的培养基中,7—10天后可见有小植株长出。组织学和形态学观察表明,甘蔗离体再生植株是通过体细胞胚胎发生途径。     

沙葱萤叶甲成虫不同夏滞育阶段的转录组分析(英文)

【目的】本研究旨在揭示内蒙古草原新害虫沙葱萤叶甲Galeruca daurica专性夏滞育相关的重要基因以及代谢通路。【方法】应用RNA-Seq技术,对沙葱萤叶甲成虫不同夏滞育阶段［滞育前期(PD)、滞育期(D)及滞育后期(TD)］进行转录组测序、分析及基因功能预测,基于RNA-Seq数据筛选夏滞育不同阶段差异表达基因;利用qPCR对基于RNA-Seq数据筛选的10个差异表达基因的表达水平进行验证。【结果】从9个文库中获得202 770 198 clean reads,将12 078 060条转录本组装获得82 292 条unigene,平均长度为783.59 bp,N50为1 545 bp。沙葱萤叶甲D vs PD和TD vs D 比较组分别有2 395(2 119上调和277下调)和62(59上调和3下调)个差异基因。KEGG分析表明,D vs PD和TD vs D比较组差异表达基因分别显著富集于糖孝解/糖异生通路和脂肪酸生物合成通路;此外,许多与钙离子信号转导相关的基因在滞育期间差异表达。10个差异表达基因的qPCR分析表明,RNA-Seq与qPCR结果高度一致。【结论】糖孝解/糖异生、脂肪酸生物合成及钙离子信号通路可能在沙葱萤叶甲滞育调节中起着重要的作用。本研究为进一步研究沙葱萤叶甲成虫专性夏滞育的分子机理奠定了基础。     

江西忍冬属药用植物资源

报道了江西忍冬属药用植物种类、地理分布、临床疗效、化学成分等有关情况,对该属资源的开发利用提出了合理建议。