禾本科植物单锌指家族基因对逆境应答的研究进展

转录调控是植物生长发育、逆境反应、信号转导、抗病性等一系列基因表达的最主要调控形式,转录因子是参与基因转录水平调控过程的重要反式因子。单锌指(DNA binding with one finger,DOF)转录因子是植物特有的一类转录因子,包含一个C_2-C_2锌指结构,其N-末端保守的DOF结构域是能与DNA和蛋白相互作用的双重功能域,在植物生长发育过程中参与多种生物学过程。尽管已有研究报道DOF家族基因参与植物抗逆响应,但其在禾谷类重要粮食作物中的作用机制还极不明确。本文通过对禾本科植物DOF家族基因系统进化分析及组织表达和诱导表达分析,综述了DOF家族基因参与植物胁迫应答方面的相关研究进展,为进一步深入了解禾本科植物抗逆机制提供重要参考。     

The biochemistry of blister fluid from pediatric burn injuries: proteomics and metabolomics aspects

Burn injury is a prevalent and traumatic event for pediatric patients. At present, the diagnosis of burn injury severity is subjective and lacks a clinically relevant quantitative measure. This is due in part to a lack of knowledge surrounding the biochemistry of burn injuries and that of blister fluid. A more complete understanding of the blister fluid biochemistry may open new avenues for diagnostic and prognostic development. Burn insult induces a highly complex network of signaling processes and numerous changes within various biochemical systems, which can ultimately be examined using proteome and metabolome measurements. This review reports on the current understanding of burn wound biochemistry and outlines a technical approach for ‘omics’ profiling of blister fluid from burn wounds of differing severity.     

Highly efficient production of <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">d</Emphasis>-lactic acid from chicory-derived inulin by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactobacillus bulgaricus</Emphasis>

Inulin is a readily available feedstock for cost-effective production of biochemicals. To date, several studies have explored the production of bioethanol, high-fructose syrup and fructooligosaccharide, but there are no studies regarding the production of d-lactic acid using inulin as a carbon source. In the present study, chicory-derived inulin was used for d-lactic acid biosynthesis by Lactobacillus bulgaricus CGMCC 1.6970. Compared with separate hydrolysis and fermentation processes, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) has demonstrated the best performance of d-lactic acid production. Because it prevents fructose inhibition and promotes the complete hydrolysis of inulin, the highest d-lactic acid concentration (123.6 ± 0.9 g/L) with a yield of 97.9 % was obtained from 120 g/L inulin by SSF. Moreover, SSF by L. bulgaricus CGMCC 1.6970 offered another distinct advantage with respect to the higher optical purity of d-lactic acid (>99.9 %) and reduced number of residual sugars. The excellent performance of d-lactic acid production from inulin by SSF represents a high-yield method for d-lactic acid production from non-food grains.     

Rapid quantitation of monoclonal antibody N-glyco-occupancy and afucosylation using mass spectrometry

N-glyco-occupancy and afucoslyation level are two important quality attributes associated with N-glycosylation of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). We report here a fast mass spectrometry-based workflow for quantification of N-glycan site-occupancy and afucoslyation level of mAbs with improved throughput, precision, sensitivity and robustness. This method uses the deglycosylation after the first GlcNAc and inter-chain reduction of the mAbs, followed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. The entire process can be completed within one hour, which provides a rapid quantitation of N-glyco-occupancy and afucosylation to support high-throughput cell line selection and process development for mAb biopharmaceuticals.     

The focal adhesion protein Hic-5 is highly expressed in the rat myometrium during late pregnancy and labour and co-localizes with FAK

Background  

Myometrial growth and remodeling of the cytoskeleton and focal adhesions during late pregnancy may be critical aspects of myometrial activation and thus labour. Yet our understanding of these aspects is inhibited by the paucity of information concerning the components of focal adhesions in the myometrium. The focal adhesion protein hydrogen peroxide-inducible clone-5 (Hic-5) has recently been found in mononuclear smooth muscle but was not examined in the myometrium during pregnancy. Thus, the goal of this study was to characterize Hic-5 mRNA and protein expression in the rat myometrium during pregnancy and labour.     

Cloning and characterization of two types of ubiquitin genes from Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis (Gracilariales, Rhodophyta)

Two types of ubiquitin genes were isolated from the marine red alga Gracilaria lemaneiformis: a ubiquitin-52 amino acid fusion protein gene, and a 6-unit polyubiquitin gene. Alignment of polyubiquitins among three red algae (Gracilaria lemaneiformis, Gracilaria verrucosa, Aglaothamnion neglectum) and other species revealed that there were six ubiquitin repeats in all three red algae polyubiquitins, and that glutamine was the final amino acid residue in the terminal repeat of the polyprotein in the two Gracilaria sequences. Southern blot analysis revealed that both genes were encoded by low-copy number genes. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was performed to investigate the expression of these two genes in two phases of G. lemaneiformis. The result revealed that the monoubiquitin was phase-relative, and upregulated in tetrasporophytes compared with female gametophytes. The polyubiquitin gene was expressed at similar levels in both phases.