Quorum Sensing System Used as a Tool in Metabolic Engineering

Quorum sensing (QS) is a ubiquitous cell–cell communication mechanism in microbes that coordinates population‐level cell behaviors, such as biofilm production, virulence, swarming motility, and bacterial persistence. Efforts to engineer QS systems to take part in metabolic network regulation represent a promising strategy for synthetic biology and pathway engineering. Recently, design, construction, and implementation of QS circuits for programmed control of bacterial phenotypes and metabolic pathways have gained much attention, but have not been reviewed recently. In this article, the architectural organizations and genetic contributions of the naturally occurring QS components to understand the mechanisms are summarized. Then, the most recent progress in application of QS toolkits to develop synthetic networks for novel cell behaviors creation and metabolic pathway engineering is highlighted. The current challenges in large‐scale application of these QS circuits in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering fields are discussed and future perspectives for further engineering efforts are provided.     

Cys146-Cys146分子间二硫键在人瘦素二聚化过程中起主导作用

在前期研究中,已发现人瘦素（leptin）在体外再折叠过程中会形成稳定的二聚体,但其二聚化机制尚不清楚. 本研究旨在分析瘦素二聚体的结构特性,并重点研究体外再折叠过程中瘦素二聚化的机制. 相较与瘦素单体,瘦素二聚体保留了约75％免疫活性及15％受体结合活性,同时显示出明显慢的天然电泳迁移率. 圆二色性分析显示,二聚体基本保留了单体α螺旋索结构特征. 还原性及非还原性凝胶电泳分析和自由巯基测定结果表明,瘦素二聚体是由一对分子间二硫键连接2个单体而成的.为了确定瘦素二聚化过程中起主导作用的分子间二硫键,利用PCR定点突变技术构建了C96S和C146S两个突变体瘦素. 通过分析C96S及C146S突变体瘦素的体外再折叠特性及过程,并与野生型瘦素相比较,揭示C96S瘦素的二聚体显示出与野生型瘦素二聚体相似的特性,而C146S瘦素不能形成结构稳定的二聚体. 以上研究结果表明,Cys146-Cys146分子间二硫键在人瘦素二聚化过程中起主导作用.     

表观遗传学与人类表观基因组计划

表观遗传学已被用来描述许多生物学过程,成为生物学与医学领域中热点的学科之一.本文简要介绍表观遗传学与表观遗传基因组学的概念、人类表观基因组计划研究的目标与意义,并阐述DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰、染色质重塑和非编码微小RNA等表观遗传学调控基因表达的机制.我们已经认识到人类疾病基因缺损可能部分或完全与表观遗传有关.所以,研究疾病状态下非突变的、可逆的表观遗传调节,以及治疗的可能性具有重要实际意义.     

大肠杆菌中表达关键基因产异丁醇的研究

目的:改造大肠杆菌的代谢途径,使非生产菌株大肠杆菌具备产异丁醇的能力.方法:将乳脂乳球菌NIZO B1157的2-酮酸脱羧酶基因kdcA克隆到大肠杆菌中,使大肠杆菌产异丁醇;另外,采取两种方法过量表达alsS、ilvC、ilvD基因,增加前体物质酮酸的供应,以提高异丁醇的产量:一是与kdcA串联表达;二是在另一个相容质粒中表达.结果:大肠杆菌工程菌具备产异丁醇的能力,其中相关基因在一个质粒中串联表达的产量比其在两个相容质粒中共表达的产量高30倍,达到3g/L.结论:导入的酮酸合成途径与醇类生产途径结合,能使非生产菌株大肠杆菌生产异丁醇,并且单质粒表达代谢途径相关基因的效果优于双质粒表达.     

蓖麻和线虫的两种不同结构脂肪酸去饱和酶的原核表达

目的:通过在原核表达系统中表达蓖麻的可溶性脂肪酸去饱和酶基因和线虫的fat-1脂肪酸去饱和酶基因,为脂肪酸去饱和酶序列结构与功能的研究奠定基础。方法:将蓖麻RCD△9脂肪酸去饱和酶和线虫fat-1脂肪酸去饱和酶基因亚克隆到大肠杆菌BL21表达载体pET32a+中,获得重组表达载体pET32a+-R9,pET32a+- F1,并通过SDS-PAGE和Western Blotting鉴定蛋白的表达情况。结果:经PCR和测序鉴定,证实两个重组质粒含有目的基因片段;SDS-PAGE和Western Blotting证实两种蛋白在大肠杆菌中获得表达,但表达量具有明显的不同;Anthepro软件对蛋白跨膜结构的分析,验证蓖麻△9脂肪酸去饱和酶和线虫fat-1脂肪酸去饱和酶在结构上的不同。结论:蓖麻的RCD脂肪酸去饱和酶和线虫的fat-1脂肪酸去饱和酶都得到了表达,但线虫fat-1脂肪酸去饱和酶表达量偏低;这可能与fat-1脂肪酸去饱和酶是一类跨膜蛋白的性质直接相关。因此,对于线虫fat-1脂肪酸去饱和酶的基于蛋白纯化的结构分析有待进一步的研究。     

Inhibition of Filamin-A Reduces Cancer Metastatic Potential

Filamin-A cross-links actin filaments into dynamic orthogonal networks, and interacts with an array of proteins of diverse cellular functions. Because several filamin-A interaction partners are implicated in signaling of cell mobility regulation, we tested the hypothesis that filamin-A plays a role in cancer metastasis. Using four pairs of filamin-A proficient and deficient isogenic cell lines, we found that filamin-A deficiency in cancer cells significantly reduces their migration and invasion. Using a xenograft tumor model with subcutaneous and intracardiac injections of tumor cells, we found that the filamin-A deficiency causes significant reduction of lung, splenic and systemic metastasis in nude mice. We evaluated the expression of filamin-A in breast cancer tissues by immunohistochemical staining, and found that low levels of filamin-A expression in cancer cells of the tumor tissues are associated with a better distant metastasis-free survival than those with normal levels of filamin-A. These data not only validate filamin-A as a prognostic marker for cancer metastasis, but also suggest that inhibition of filamin-A in cancer cells may reduce metastasis and that filamin-A can be used as a therapeutic target for filamin-A positive cancer.     

Combinatorial signals of activin/nodal and bone morphogenic protein regulate the early lineage segregation of human embryonic stem cells

Cell fate commitment of pre-implantation blastocysts, to either the inner cell mass or trophoblast, is the first step in cell lineage segregation of the developing human embryo. However, the intercellular signals that control fate determination of these cells remain obscure. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) provide a unique model for studying human early embryonic development. We have previously shown that Activin/Nodal signaling contributes to maintaining pluripotency of hESCs, which are derivatives of the inner cell mass. Here we further demonstrate that the inhibition of Activin/Nodal signaling results in the loss of hESC pluripotency and trophoblast differentiation, similar to BMP4-induced trophoblast differentiation from hESCs. We also show that the trophoblast induction effect of BMP4 correlates with and depends on the inhibition of Activin/Nodal signaling. However, the activation of BMP signaling is still required for trophoblast differentiation when Activin/Nodal signaling is inhibited. These data reveal that the early lineage segregation of hESCs is determined by the combinatorial signals of Activin/Nodal and BMP.     

Production and Accumulation of Xylooligosaccharides with Long Chains by Growing Culture and Xylanase of a Mutant Strain of Bacillus pumilus X-6-19

Bacillus pumilus X-6-9 isolated from soil and subsequently identified, produced xylooligosacchatides with long chainsfrom xylan and accumulated them in the culture. By improving the culture conditions and mutating the bacterium, a 3.2-fold increasein the production of the xylooligosaccharides was established, when compared to the original culture conditions of B. pumilus X-6-19.The addition of D-glucose to the culture of the mutant swain U-3 of B. pumilus X-6-9 repressed the synthesis of β-xylosidase, but notxylanase. Thus, it was revealed that strain U-3 was a good organism for the production and accumulation of xylooligosaccharideswith long chains from xylan by a microbial culture. Xylanase produced by strain U-3 was purified to homogeneity and characterized.The hydrolyzates generated by the purified xylanase contained xylobiose, xylotrinse, xylotewaose, and xylopentaose, but not xylose.     

HCV E2蛋白诱导的体液免疫及CTL应答研究

应用PCR方法扩增出HCVE2基因编码417a．a-750a．a的DNA片段,克隆到原核表达载体pQE30 LacZ启动子下游,转化JM109菌株。在JM109菌株中诱导表达出N端含6个组氨酸的E2融合蛋白,用Ni-NTA-Superflow亲和层析柱纯化作为抗原免疫实验兔和BALB／c鼠。定期取兔血,采用间接ELISA方法检测兔子体内针对E2的抗体水平和维持规律。结果显示,距初次免疫14d兔子体内已有抗体产生,直至免疫第55d抗体水平持续上升,之后抗体水平保持稳定,抗体滴度达到1：3200。六周后,取鼠脾脏制各淋巴细胞,定向刺激扩增后与经过重组真核表达质粒pCE2转染的P815细胞作用,利用LDH释放试验检测作用效果。在E：T＝200：1的情况下,杀伤率超过30％。这些结果表明工程菌株表达的HCVE2蛋白具有良好的免疫原性,可以诱发免疫实验动物机体产生较高滴度的抗体及特异性CTL应答。由此我们认为E2蛋白是发展HCV预防工程蛋白疫苗的合适候选者。