Enzymatic synthesis of salicin glycosides through transglycosylation catalyzed by amylosucrases from Deinococcus geothermalis and Neisseria polysaccharea

Amylosucrase (ASase, EC 2.4.1.4) is a member of family 13 of the glycoside hydrolases that catalyze the synthesis of an α-(1→4)-linked glucan polymer from sucrose instead of an expensive activated sugar, such as ADP- or UDP-glucose. Transglycosylation reactions mediated by the ASases of Deinococcus geothermalis (DGAS) and Neisseria polysaccharea (NPAS) were applied to the synthesis of salicin glycosides with sucrose serving as the glucopyranosyl donor and salicin as the acceptor molecule. Two salicin glycoside transfer products were detected by TLC and HPLC analyses. The synthesis of salicin glycosides was very efficient with NPAS with a yield of over 90%. In contrast, DGAS specifically synthesized only one salicin transglycosylation product. The transglycosylation products were identified as α-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-salicin (glucosyl salicin) and α-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-α-d-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-salicin (maltosyl salicin) by NMR analysis. The ratio between donor and acceptor had a significant effect on the type of product that resulted from the transglycosylation reaction. With more acceptors present in the reaction, more glucosyl salicin and less maltosyl salicin were synthesized.     

PprI和RecX蛋白对耐辐射奇球菌抗氧化作用的影响

利用基因突变、化学发光法和酶活性分析研究了耐辐射奇球菌中与辐射抗性密切相关的基因pprI(Dr0167)和recX(Dr1310)突变对菌体活性氧清除作用的影响,分析了其对抗氧化酶活性的调控功能。实验结果表明,缺失pprI的突变株对活性氧自由基氧化异常敏感,过氧化氢酶和超氧化物歧化酶活性显著降低。与之相反,RecX对菌体活性氧清除作用表现为一种“负”的影响,即缺失recX的突变株对活性氧自由基的清除能力反而增强了,过氧化氢酶和超氧化物歧化酶的酶活性明显增加。表明这两个基因与抗氧化系统的调控有关。为进一步研究该菌的抗氧化机制提供了一些思路。     

耐辐射球菌转录因子DdrO 的基因克隆与生物信息学分析

目的:克隆耐辐射球菌ddrO基因,并对其进行生物信息学分析,预测其功能。方法:根据耐辐射球菌ddrO基因序列,由Primer Premier 5设计一对引物,以提取的耐辐射球菌基因组为模板,PCR扩增获得耐辐射球菌ddrO基因,序列测定并利用生物信息学软件对ddrO基因的理化性质、高级结构及生物学功能等进行分析与预测。结果:成功获得了ddrO基因。生物信息学分析发现,ddrO基因核苷酸序列长度为396bp,编码一个131aa组成的相对分子质量为14.993kD的预测的DdrO转录因子。核酸同源性搜索及比较分析仅在与耐辐射球菌同属的Deinococcus geothermalis和Deinococcus deserti中发现高度相似的序列;蛋白同源性搜索发现一些与DdrO显著同源的蛋白,如Deide₂0570（95%）,Dgeo₀336（90%）,Deide₃p02170（82%）等;结构域分析发现DdrO含有HTH（helix-turn-helix）DNA结合结构域。结论:根据生物信息学结果预测DdrO蛋白可能具有转录调控作用,参与DNA修复和复制,在耐辐射球菌的DNA损伤修复过程中发挥一定作用。     

耐放射异常球菌海藻糖合成酶基因的克隆及功能鉴定

利用生物信息学手段,在GenBank中进行氨基酸序列的同源性比较分析,检索到来自于耐放射异常球菌（Deinococcus radiodurans）基因组序列中一功能未确定的开放阅读框（ORF）,其氨基酸序列和已报道的海藻糖合成酶的氨基酸序列有约60％的同源性.将这段ORF克隆到大肠杆菌进行表达,并进行功能鉴定.实验表明这段ORF序列所编码的是一种海藻糖合成酶,它能将麦芽糖分子转化成海藻糖分子,以30％的麦芽糖为底物时能将约65％的麦芽糖转化成海藻糖.重组酶性质初步研究表明,在pH 7.0,最佳温度30℃转化麦芽糖效率最高.     

类胡萝卜素在耐辐射奇球菌辐射抗性中的作用

为研究耐辐射奇球菌(Deinococcus radiodurans)中类胡萝卜素的生化合成基因及其在该细菌抗辐射机制中的生物学作用,通过有机溶剂提取及LC-MS技术分析了D. radiodurans所产类胡萝卜素物质的主要组分,运用PCR及基因同源重组技术,对该菌中类胡萝卜素生化合成途径的八氢番茄红素合成酶(phytoene synthase,crtB)及八氢番茄红素脱氢酶(phytoene desaturase,crtI)基因进行了缺失突变,通过表型观察及HPLC定量分析突变株所产类胡萝卜素的组分变化确证突变株构建成功．野生株及crtB 与crtI基因缺失突变株对电离辐射和H₂O₂的敏感性差异比较分析显示,和野生株相比,两种突变株对不同剂量电离辐射和不同浓度H₂O₂的敏感性更强．crtB及crtI基因功能研究表明,这两个关键性合成基因的缺失,导致突变株不能催化合成类胡萝卜素生化合成途径中的重要中间体——番茄红素及一系列下游产物．通过λ原噬菌体紫外线诱导系统、电子自旋共振 (ESR)及DMPO自旋捕集技术,分别在体内和体外评价了其类胡萝卜素的抗氧化能力．结果表明,两种类胡萝卜素对超氧阴离子(O₂^·)及羟自由基(·OH)均表现出较强的清除作用．上述研究结果为探究D. radiodurans的类胡萝卜素合成基因和生物学功能,及类胡萝卜素在D. radiodurans抗辐射机制中的作用提供了新的直接实验证据．     

Structural studies of the Nudix hydrolase DR1025 from Deinococcus radiodurans and its ligand complexes

We have determined the crystal structure, at 1.4A, of the Nudix hydrolase DR1025 from the extremely radiation resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans. The protein forms an intertwined homodimer by exchanging N-terminal segments between chains. We have identified additional conserved elements of the Nudix fold, including the metal-binding motif, a kinked beta-strand characterized by a proline two positions upstream of the Nudix consensus sequence, and participation of the N-terminal extension in the formation of the substrate-binding pocket. Crystal structures were also solved of DR1025 crystallized in the presence of magnesium and either a GTP analog or Ap(4)A (both at 1.6A resolution). In the Ap(4)A co-crystal, the electron density indicated that the product of asymmetric hydrolysis, ATP, was bound to the enzyme. The GTP analog bound structure showed that GTP was bound almost identically as ATP. Neither nucleoside triphosphate was further cleaved.     

Ring-like nucleoid does not play a key role in radioresistance of Deinococcus radiodurans

The conclusion based on transmission electron microscopy, "the tightly packed ring-like nucleoid of the Deinococcus radiodurans R1 is a key to radioresistance", has instigated lots of debates. In this study, according to the previous research of PprI’s crucial role in radioresistance of D. radiodurans, we have attempted to examine and compare the nucleoid morphology differences among wild-type D. ra-diodurans R1 strain, pprI function-deficient mutant (YR1), and pprI function-complementary strains (YR1001, YR1002, and YR1004) before and after exposure to ionizing irradiation. Fluorescence mi-croscopy images indicate: (1) the majority of nucleoid structures in radioresistant strain R1 cells ex-hibit the tightly packed ring-like morphology, while the pprI function-deficient mutant YR1 cells carrying predominate ring-like structure represent high sensitivity to irradiation; (2) as an extreme radioresistant strain similar to wild-type R1, pprI completely function-complementary strain YR1001 almost displays the loose and irregular nucleoid morphologies. On the other hand, another radioresistant pprI partly function-complementary strain YR1002’s nucleiods exhibit about 60% ring-like structure; (3) a PprI C-terminal deletion strain YR1004 consisting of approximately 60% of ring-like nucleoid is very sensi-tive to radiation. Therefore, our present experiments do not support the conclusion that the ring-like nucleoid of D. radiodurans does play a key role in radioresistance.     

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis, Inhibition Studies, and X-ray Crystallographic Analysis of the Phosphono Analog of UDP-Galp as an Inhibitor and Mechanistic Probe for UDP-Galactopyranose Mutase

UDP (uridine diphosphate) galactopyranose mutase (UGM) is involved in the cell wall biosynthesis of many pathogenic microorganisms. UGM catalyzes the reversible conversion of UDP-α-d-galactopyranose into UDP-α-d-galactofuranose, with the latter being the precursor of galactofuranose (Galf) residues in cell walls. Glycoconjugates of Galf are essential components in the cell wall of various pathogenic bacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. The absence of Galf in humans and its bacterial requirement make UGM a potential target for developing novel antibacterial agents. In this article, we report the synthesis, inhibitory activity, and X-ray crystallographic studies of UDP-phosphono-galactopyranose, a nonhydrolyzable C-glycosidic phosphonate. This is the first report on the synthesis of a phosphonate analog of UDP-α-d-galactopyranose by a chemoenzymatic phosphoryl coupling method. The phosphonate was evaluated against three bacterial UGMs and showed only moderate inhibition. We determined the crystal structure of the phosphonate analog bound to Deinococcus radiodurans UGM at 2.6 Å resolution. The phosphonate analog is bound in a novel conformation not observed in UGM-substrate complex structures or in other enzyme-sugar nucleotide phosphonate complexes. This complex structure provides a structural basis for the observed micromolar inhibition towards UGM. Steric clashes, loss of electrostatic stabilization between an active-site arginine (Arg305) and the phosphonate analog, and a 180° flip of the hexose moiety account for the differences in the binding orientations of the isosteric phosphonate analog and the physiological substrate. This provides new insight into the ability of a sugar-nucleotide-binding enzyme to orient a substrate analog in an unexpected geometry and should be taken into consideration in designing such enzyme inhibitors.     

Analysis of codon usage pattern in the radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans

The main factors shaping codon usage bias in the Deinococcus radiodurans genome were reported. Correspondence analysis (COA) was carried out to analyze synonymous codon usage bias. The results showed that the main trend was strongly correlated with gene expression level assessed by the "Codon Adaptation Index" (CAI) values, a result that was confirmed by the distribution of genes along the first axis. The results of correlation analysis, variance analysis and neutrality plot indicated that gene nucleotide composition was clearly contributed to codon bias. CDS length was also key factor in dictating codon usage variation. A general tendency of more biased codon usage of genes with longer CDS length to higher expression level was found. Further, the hydrophobicity of each protein also played a role in shaping codon usage in this organism, which could be confirmed by the significant correlation between the positions of genes placed on the first axis and the hydrophobicity values (r=-0.100, P<0.01). In summary, gene expression level played a crucial role, nucleotide mutational bias, CDS length and the hydrophobicity of each protein just in a minor way in shaping the codon usage pattern of D. radiodurans. Notably, 19 codons firstly defined as "optimal codons" may provide useful clues for molecular genetic engineering and evolutionary studying.     

离子注入对耐辐射微球菌存活及生物量的影响

以耐辐射异常微球菌（Ｄ．ｒａｄｉｏｄｕｒａｎｓ）为试材,研究了离子注入对其存活和生物干重的影响。结果表明,不同能量和不同种类的离子注入Ｄ．ｒａｄｉｏｄｕｒａｎｓ,其存活均表现为先降后升再降的变化,即存活曲线呈现为相似的“马鞍型”,只是在不同种类的离子注入中,注入能量为２０ｋｅＶ的原子质量较大的Ｎ＋离子比Ｈ＋对其存活和生物干重的影响较大;在不同能量的离子注入中,能量相对较高的３０ｋｅＶ的Ｎ＋离子注入比２０ｋｅＶ的影响大。离子注入生物体产生这种不同于其它电离辐射的存活规律,意味着其对生物体的作用机理显著不同于其它电离辐射。