蛋白质复合体非变性凝胶电泳技术及其应用新进展

非变性凝胶电泳技术是研究蛋白质复合体的强有力工具。重点介绍了蓝绿温和非变性凝胶电泳(BN-PAGE)技术的原理和特点,比较了由BN-PAGE衍生的蓝色温和琼脂糖凝胶电泳、清澈温和非变性凝胶电泳(CN-PAGE)和高分辨清澈温和非变性凝胶电泳(HrCN-PAGE)技术的差异和适用范围,并概括地介绍了这些技术在植物蛋白质复合体研究中应用的新进展。     

棉花4-香豆酸辅酶A连接酶基因克隆及原核表达

本研究从棉花中克隆了一个4CL基因,命名为Gh4CL2(GenBank登录号为FJ848870)。研究结果表明:Gh4CL2基因cDNA全长2332bp,具有一个1725bp的开放阅读框,5′非编码区为64bp,3′非编码区为543bp,编码574个氨基酸,预测分子量约为62.106kD,等电点为5.94。氨基酸同源性分析发现,Gh4CL2与来自白杨、大豆和紫草的4CL一致性较高。进一步研究Gh4CL2基因的功能,构建了该基因的原核表达载体pET-28a-4CL2,经酶切鉴定后转化到大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中。SDS-PAGE分析表明,最佳诱导表达条件为0.5mmol/LIPTG在37℃下诱导4h,重组蛋白主要以包涵体形式出现。     

微管骨架在丝状真菌极性生长中的作用

细胞极性的确立是真核生物发育过程中的关键环节,丝状真菌作为微生物具有典型的极性生长模式,微管骨架在极性生长中具有重要的作用。对近年来微管骨架在丝状真菌极性生长中的作用进行了综述。     

植物提取物微生物限量标准及检测技术进展

植物提取物的微生物检测是保证植物产品安全性的重要手段, 制定严格的植物提取物质量控制标准体系, 特别是功能性食品、食品添加剂和植物源日用化学品等产品中微生物的检测和控制, 对产品的质量及安全保证具有重要作用, 是影响植物提取业实现全面发展的关键问题。本文主要介绍了部分国家植物提取物的微生物限量标准和植物提取物微生物检测的国内外现状与发展趋势, 并就如何建立植物提取物微生物检测行业标准体系提出了若干建议。希望对我国植物提取业实现新时期跨越式发展提供参考。     

Autophagy Benefits the Replication of Newcastle Disease Virus in Chicken Cells and Tissues

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is an important avian pathogen. We previously reported that NDV triggers autophagy in U251 glioma cells, resulting in enhanced virus replication. In this study, we investigated whether NDV triggers autophagy in chicken cells and tissues to enhance virus replication. We demonstrated that NDV infection induced steady-state autophagy in chicken-derived DF-1 cells and in primary chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells, evident through increased double- or single-membrane vesicles, the accumulation of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-LC3 dots, and the conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II. In addition, we measured autophagic flux by monitoring p62/SQSTM1 degradation, LC3-II turnover, and GFP-LC3 lysosomal delivery and proteolysis, to confirm that NDV infection induced the complete autophagic process. Inhibition of autophagy by pharmacological inhibitors and RNA interference reduced virus replication, indicating an important role for autophagy in NDV infection. Furthermore, we conducted in vivo experiments and observed the conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II in heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney of NDV-infected chickens. Regulation of the induction of autophagy with wortmannin, chloroquine, or starvation treatment affects NDV production and pathogenesis in tissues of both lung and intestine; however, treatment with rapamycin, an autophagy inducer of mammalian cells, showed no detectable changes in chicken cells and tissues. Moreover, administration of the autophagy inhibitor wortmannin increased the survival rate of NDV-infected chickens. Our studies provide strong evidence that NDV infection induces autophagy which benefits NDV replication in chicken cells and tissues.     

Prospective Study of Police Officer Spouse/Partners: A New Pathway to Secondary Trauma and Relationship Violence?

Introduction

It has been reported that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with secondary spouse/partner (S/P) emotional distress and relationship violence.

Objective

To investigate the relationships between PTSD, S/P emotional distress and relationship violence among police recruits using a prospective design.

Methods

Two hypotheses were tested in 71 S/Ps: (1) Police officer reports of greater PTSD symptoms after 12 months of police service will be associated with greater secondary trauma symptoms among S/Ps; (2) Greater secondary trauma symptoms among S/Ps at 12 months will be associated with S/P reports of greater relationship violence.

Methods

71 police recruits and their S/Ps were assessed at baseline and 12 months after the start of police officer duty. Using linear and logistic regression, we analyzed explanatory variables for 12 month S/P secondary traumatic stress symptoms and couple violence, including baseline S/P variables and couple violence, as well as exposure and PTSD reports from both S/P and officer.

Results

S/P perception of officer PTSD symptoms predicted S/P secondary traumatic stress. OS/P secondary trauma was significantly associated with both total couple violence (.34, p = .004) and S/P to officer violence (.35, p = .003).

Conclusions

Although results from this relatively small study of young police officers and their S/Ps must be confirmed by larger studies in general populations, findings suggest that S/P perception of PTSD symptoms may play a key role in the spread of traumatic stress symptoms across intimate partner relationships and intimate partner violence in the context of PTSD.     

Diabetes Promotes DMH-Induced Colorectal Cancer by Increasing the Activity of Glycolytic Enzymes in Rats

The objective of the present study was to investigate the association between diabetes mellitus and colorectal carcinogenesis as well as the possible mechanism involved in this interaction. Diabetes rat models were induced with a low dose of STZ followed by a low dose of DMH to induce colorectal cancer. The formation of ACF in the colon and the incidence, number and size of tumors were measured. The activity of glycolytic enzymes in colonic tissues was also measured. The results demonstrated that both the total number of ACF and the number of foci that contain a different number of crypts were increased in diabetic rats. At the end of the experimental treatment, the incidence, number and size of tumors were also increased in diabetic rats. Overall, these data indicated that diabetes increased the risk of colorectal cancer. The activity of HK and PK in colonic tissues was increased in diabetic rats, whereas the activity of PDH was decreased. In addition, the activities of these enzymes in intratumor were higher than that of in peritumor. These data indicated that the high rate of glycolysis may play a role in colorectal carcinogenesis in diabetic rats.     

Lipopolysaccharide induces autophagy through BIRC2 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), as an important proinflammatory agent, targets the endothelium. However, almost all in vitro experiments of the effect of LPS on vascular endothelial cells (VECs) were performed under an artificially decreased concentration of serum that was not enough to maintain the cell growth for a long time. The mechanism underlying LPS action on VECs cultured in a nutrient‐rich condition is not clear. To address this question and mimic the in vivo condition, we investigated the effect of LPS on VEC autophagy, which is involved in numerous physiological processes. The effect of LPS on microtubule‐associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) distribution, LC3‐II accumulation and p62 degradation showed that LPS effectively induced autophagy in VECs cultured in the presence of 20% serum. To understand the mechanism by which LPS triggers the cell autophagy, we first investigated the effects of LPS on the expression of BIRC2 (cIAP1), a well‐known apoptosis inhibitor, and on the kinase activity of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and nuclear translocation of p53. LPS increased BIRC2 expression in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner and elevated the intranuclear level of p53 but had no effect on the mTOR pathway when it triggered VEC autophagy. Furthermore, knockdown of BIRC2 by RNA interference inhibited the autophagy and the translocation of p53 to nuclei induced by LPS. These data suggest a novel role for BIRC2 in LPS‐induced autophagy in VECs. J. Cell. Physiol. 225: 174–179, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Simultaneous determination of m-nisoldipine and its three metabolites in rat plasma by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

A simple, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of m-nisoldipine and its three metabolites in rat plasma has been developed using nitrendipine as an internal standard (IS). Following liquid–liquid extraction, the analytes were separated using an isocratic mobile phase on a reverse phase C₁₈ column and analyzed by MS in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. To avoid contamination by residual sample in the injection syringe, a special injection protocol was developed. We found that m-nisoldipine, metabolite M1 and IS could be ionized under positive or negative electrospray ionization conditions, whereas metabolite M and M2 could only be ionized in the positive mode. The mass spectrometry fragmentation pathways for these analytes are analyzed and discussed herein. The total analysis time required less than 5 min per sample. We employed this method successfully to study the metabolism of m-nisoldipine when it was orally administered to rats at a dose of 9 mg/kg. Three metabolites of m-nisoldipine and an unknown compound of molecular weight 386 were found for the first time in rat plasma. The concentration of the potentially active metabolite was approximately equal to its parent compound concentration.     

Regulation of the Escherichia coli cad operon: location of a site required for acid induction.

The cad operon encodes lysine decarboxylase and a protein homologous to amino acid antiporters. These two genes are induced under conditions of low pH, anaerobiosis, and excess lysine. The upstream regulatory region of the cad operon has been cloned into lacZ expression vectors for analysis of the sequences involved in these responses. Deletion analysis of the upstream region and cloning of various fragments to make cadA::lacZ or cadB::lacZ protein fusions or operon fusions showed that cadA was translated more efficiently than cadB and localized the pH-responsive site to a region near an upstream EcoRV site. Construction of defined end points by polymerase chain reaction further localized the left end of the regulatory site. The presence of short fragments bearing the regulatory region on high-copy-number plasmids greatly reduced expression from the chromosomal cad operon, suggesting that titration of an essential activator protein was occurring. With nonoptimal polymerase chain reaction conditions, a set of single point mutants were made in the upstream regulatory region. Certain of these altered regulatory regions were unable to compete for the regulatory factor in vivo. The locations of these essential bases indicate that a sequence near the EcoRV site is very important for the activator-DNA interaction. In vivo methylation experiments were conducted with cells grown at pH 5.5 or at pH 8, and a difference in protection was observed at specific G residues in and around the region defined as important in pH regulation by the mutation studies. This work defines essential sequences for acid induction of this system involved in neutralization of extracellular acid.