蜘蛛拖牵丝蛋白基因的克隆与表达

蜘蛛丝具有极高的强度和韧度,工业和医学应用价值很高,但由于蜘蛛的不可驯养性使其应用受到限制.因此,本文尝试利用基因工程的方法获得蛛丝蛋白的表达.我们利用巢式PCR技术从大腹圆蛛Araneus ventricosus基因组中克隆了长度为837 bp的拖牵丝蛋白基因(ASP),并分别将其构建至原核表达载体pGEX-6p-1和真核表达载体pGFP-N2上,分别命名为pASG和pASN.pASG在大肠杆菌中16℃下24 h诱导表达后,经蛋白质印迹证明成功地表达了GST-ASP融合蛋白;pASN转染昆虫sf9细胞48 h后观察到了绿色荧光蛋白GFP的表达,表明ASP基因在大肠杆菌和真核细胞中分别得到了正确表达.本研究为利用基因工程的方法开发蛛丝蛋白的生产途径提供了有益的尝试.     

阿托伐他汀改善冠心病患者血管内皮功能的临床研究

目的:观察短期阿托伐他汀治疗对高胆固醇血症的冠心病患者血管内皮功能的影响。方法:78例高胆固醇血症患者每日口服阿托伐他汀共8周,服药前后测量患者血清的总胆固醇(TC)、甘油三酯(TG)、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇(LDL-C)、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(HDL-C)和氧化低密度脂蛋白(ox-LDL)以及NO值,并用彩色多普勒超声测定反应性充血时肱动脉内径的变化。结果:高胆固醇血症患者经阿托伐他汀8周治疗后,血清的TC、TG、LDL-C和ox-LDL明显下降,血清的HDL-C以及NO值明显增加,反应性充血时肱动脉内径扩张程度明显增加,这些与治疗前相比有明显差异。结论:阿托伐他汀治疗能使高胆固醇血症的冠心病患者血脂改变,NO值增加,血管内皮功能改善。     

论昆虫空间生态学研究

空间特征是昆虫生态学研究的热点之一 ,具有重要的理论与应用意义。该文从理论、尺度、时空动态模型、技术手段及研究热点几个方面概述近期昆虫空间生态学研究进展。主要理论包括概率及统计模型、地学统计学、景观生态学、集合种群生态学 ;研究技术涉及地理信息系统、遥感、计算机辅助分析等。简要论述研究的空间尺度问题 ,介绍空间分子生态、进化生态等新研究热点在昆虫空间生态领域的发展 ,并分析昆虫空间生态学存在的问题和发展趋势。     

压力后负荷增高大鼠心肌肥厚向心力衰竭的转变

目的观察单纯腹主动脉缩窄造成的心肌肥厚能否转变成为心力衰竭。方法实验选用8周龄的Wistar大鼠,使用7-0号尼龙线对其肾上腹主动脉进行缩窄手术,造成后负荷性心肌肥厚模型(LVH,n=10),同时设置假手术组(Sham,n=10)和正常组(Con,n=10)作为对照。术后第20周和第38周使用超声多普勒和多导生理仪对大鼠血流动力学进行检测。解剖后取出心脏,计算心脏/体重比,并通过HE染色和天狼猩红染色观察心脏形态和纤维化程度。结果腹主动脉结扎后第20周,LVH组大鼠心室壁肥厚,舒张功能下降(E/Aratio:LVH组:1.0±0.25,Con组:1.6±0.12)。术后38周,左心室壁肥厚程度有所下降,但是心室腔扩大,心脏收缩和舒张功能明显下降(EF:LVH组:44.8±8.42,Con组:70.9±5.19;MaxdP/dt:LVH组:4916±1267.3,Con组:14225±932.1;MindP/dt:LVH组:-3246±1217.3,Con组:-12138±725.2)。腹主动脉缩窄术后的动物心脏重量明显增加(3.58±0.32vs.2.34±0.15),HE染色和天狼猩红染色显示LVH组大鼠在术后38周心脏纤维化明显。结论腹主动脉缩窄造成的后负荷增高动物模型首先出现向心性心肌肥厚,伴以舒张功能下降,进而收缩功能下降,发展为心力衰竭。     

MiR-467a-5p aggravates myocardial infarction by modulating ZEB1 expression in mice

Journal of Molecular Histology - Myocardial infarction (MI) is a great threat to patients all over the word. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of non-coding RNAs and can regulate initiation and...     

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Exerts a Protective Role in MPTP-Induced Parkinson’s Disease via the TLR4/PI3K/AKT/NF-κB Pathway Stimulated by α-Synuclein

Neurochemical Research - Gut microbiota is closely related to the Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathogenesis. Additionally, aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) is central to PD...     

Application of Multiplexed Kinase Inhibitor Beads to Study Kinome Adaptations in Drug-Resistant Leukemia

Protein kinases play key roles in oncogenic signaling and are a major focus in the development of targeted cancer therapies. Imatinib, a BCR-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is a successful front-line treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). However, resistance to imatinib may be acquired by BCR-Abl mutations or hyperactivation of Src family kinases such as Lyn. We have used multiplexed kinase inhibitor beads (MIBs) and quantitative mass spectrometry (MS) to compare kinase expression and activity in an imatinib-resistant (MYL-R) and -sensitive (MYL) cell model of CML. Using MIB/MS, expression and activity changes of over 150 kinases were quantitatively measured from various protein kinase families. Statistical analysis of experimental replicates assigned significance to 35 of these kinases, referred to as the MYL-R kinome profile. MIB/MS and immunoblotting confirmed the over-expression and activation of Lyn in MYL-R cells and identified additional kinases with increased (MEK, ERK, IKKα, PKCβ, NEK9) or decreased (Abl, Kit, JNK, ATM, Yes) abundance or activity. Inhibiting Lyn with dasatinib or by shRNA-mediated knockdown reduced the phosphorylation of MEK and IKKα. Because MYL-R cells showed elevated NF-κB signaling relative to MYL cells, as demonstrated by increased IκBα and IL-6 mRNA expression, we tested the effects of an IKK inhibitor (BAY 65-1942). MIB/MS and immunoblotting revealed that BAY 65-1942 increased MEK/ERK signaling and that this increase was prevented by co-treatment with a MEK inhibitor (AZD6244). Furthermore, the combined inhibition of MEK and IKKα resulted in reduced IL-6 mRNA expression, synergistic loss of cell viability and increased apoptosis. Thus, MIB/MS analysis identified MEK and IKKα as important downstream targets of Lyn, suggesting that co-targeting these kinases may provide a unique strategy to inhibit Lyn-dependent imatinib-resistant CML. These results demonstrate the utility of MIB/MS as a tool to identify dysregulated kinases and to interrogate kinome dynamics as cells respond to targeted kinase inhibition.     

RNA Graph Partitioning for the Discovery of RNA Modularity: A Novel Application of Graph Partition Algorithm to Biology

Graph representations have been widely used to analyze and design various economic, social, military, political, and biological networks. In systems biology, networks of cells and organs are useful for understanding disease and medical treatments and, in structural biology, structures of molecules can be described, including RNA structures. In our RNA-As-Graphs (RAG) framework, we represent RNA structures as tree graphs by translating unpaired regions into vertices and helices into edges. Here we explore the modularity of RNA structures by applying graph partitioning known in graph theory to divide an RNA graph into subgraphs. To our knowledge, this is the first application of graph partitioning to biology, and the results suggest a systematic approach for modular design in general. The graph partitioning algorithms utilize mathematical properties of the Laplacian eigenvector (µ2) corresponding to the second eigenvalues (λ2) associated with the topology matrix defining the graph: λ2 describes the overall topology, and the sum of µ2′s components is zero. The three types of algorithms, termed median, sign, and gap cuts, divide a graph by determining nodes of cut by median, zero, and largest gap of µ2′s components, respectively. We apply these algorithms to 45 graphs corresponding to all solved RNA structures up through 11 vertices (∼220 nucleotides). While we observe that the median cut divides a graph into two similar-sized subgraphs, the sign and gap cuts partition a graph into two topologically-distinct subgraphs. We find that the gap cut produces the best biologically-relevant partitioning for RNA because it divides RNAs at less stable connections while maintaining junctions intact. The iterative gap cuts suggest basic modules and assembly protocols to design large RNA structures. Our graph substructuring thus suggests a systematic approach to explore the modularity of biological networks. In our applications to RNA structures, subgraphs also suggest design strategies for novel RNA motifs.     

Genome-Wide Expression Analysis in Fibroblast Cell Lines from Probands with Pallister Killian Syndrome

Pallister Killian syndrome (OMIM: # 601803) is a rare multisystem disorder typically caused by tissue limited mosaic tetrasomy of chromosome 12p (isochromosome 12p). The clinical manifestations of Pallister Killian syndrome are variable with the most common findings including craniofacial dysmorphia, hypotonia, cognitive impairment, hearing loss, skin pigmentary differences and epilepsy. Isochromosome 12p is identified primarily in skin fibroblast cultures and in chorionic villus and amniotic fluid cell samples and may be identified in blood lymphocytes during the neonatal and early childhood period. We performed genomic expression profiling correlated with interphase fluorescent in situ hybridization and single nucleotide polymorphism array quantification of degree of mosaicism in fibroblasts from 17 Caucasian probands with Pallister Killian syndrome and 9 healthy age, gender and ethnicity matched controls. We identified a characteristic profile of 354 (180 up- and 174 down-regulated) differentially expressed genes in Pallister Killian syndrome probands and supportive evidence for a Pallister Killian syndrome critical region on 12p13.31. The differentially expressed genes were enriched for developmentally important genes such as homeobox genes. Among the differentially expressed genes, we identified several genes whose misexpression may be associated with the clinical phenotype of Pallister Killian syndrome such as downregulation of ZFPM2, GATA6 and SOX9, and overexpression of IGFBP2.     

猪胃肠道黏膜二糖酶的性质

研究了猪小肠中麦芽糖酶,蔗糖酶和乳糖酶3种二糖酶的生化性质及活性分布。试验以3头“杜加”生长猪为对象,屠宰并刮取胃底部,十二指肠,空肠上段和回肠黏膜。其中空肠黏膜用于3种二糖酶生化性质的研究,包括酶的最适温度,热稳定性,最适pH ,pH稳定范围和金属离子对酶活性的影响;胃底部,十二指肠,空肠上段和回肠黏膜用于测定3种二糖酶活性以揭示其在胃扬中的分布规律。试验结果表明：麦芽糖酶,蔗糖酶和乳糖酶的最适反应温度分别为50,45和55℃,最适pH分别为6.8,6.5和6．0;乳糖酶的耐热温度（70℃）高于麦芽糖酶和蔗糖酶（50℃）;不同pH对3种二糖酶活性影响不大;金属离子Cu^2 和Fe^2 对3种二糖酶均有激活作用;而Mn^2 有抑制作用。此外,Zn^2 能抑制麦芽糖酶活性,提高蔗糖酶活性,而不影响乳糖酶活性。3种二糖酶活性在肠道中由高到低的分布为：空肠,回肠,十二指肠和胃;其中麦芽糖酶在空肠和回肠中活性相近。回肠和空肠黏膜中的麦芽糖酶活性均显著高于十二指肠和胃中的酶活性,十二指肠酶活性显著高于胃;空肠中蔗糖酶和乳糖酶活性显著高于回肠,十二指肠和胃底部。从3种二糖酶活性大小看,胃底部和十二指肠中的麦芽糖酶活性显著高于蔗糖酶和乳糖酶;空肠上段和回肠中的麦芽糖酶活性显著高于蔗糖酶活性,蔗糖酶活性又显著高于乳糖酶。上述结果表明,3种二糖酶的生化性质具有一定的差异,在胃肠道中的活性分布规律相似。