结核分枝杆菌耐吡嗪酰胺分子机制研究

吡嗪酰胺(PZA)是结核病短程化疗中的一线抗结核药物,由吡嗪酰胺酶转换成为活性形式吡嗪酸而生效。吡嗪酰胺酶由pncA基因编码,pncA基因突变会导致该酶活性丧失,与PZA耐药性产生有关。为了进一步明确PZA耐药性产生的基因学基础和PZA耐药株的pncA基因突变率,对中国100株结核分枝杆菌临床分离株进行了DNA序列测定,其中85株为PZA耐药株,15株为PZA敏感株。PZA耐药株有27%(23/85)发生了pncA基因突变,从而导致吡嗪酰胺酶基本氨基酸序列的改变,突变分布在pncA基因开读框架17-546位的核苷酸。其中有一株突变位于pncA基因的调节区域-11位处。同时发现20%(3/15)pncA敏感株也发生了pncA基因突变。敏感株发生突变可能是由于PZA敏感性实验不准确或存在其它耐药机制。实验表明,pncA基因突变是PZA耐药的主要机制之一,中国PZA耐药临床分离株尚存在其它耐药分子机制。     

利用超数排卵方法高效获取小鼠休眠胚胎

目的为提高小鼠休眠胚胎的制备效率,尝试用超数排卵方法获取小鼠休眠胚胎。方法超排小鼠在注射孕马血清促性腺激素(PMSG)后,按照是否注射抗孕马血清(anti-PMSG serum或A-PMSG)以及注射的不同时间分为5组:在母鼠合笼前注射A-PMSG、在母鼠见栓后注射A-PMSG、在见栓第四天卵巢摘除手术后注射A-PMSG、不注射A-PMSG的超排组和不超排组。结果见栓后注射抗PMSG组的平均出胚数(9.4枚/只)最高,显著高于其他实验组。结论常规超排处理结合注射抗PMSG血清法能有效提高小鼠休眠胚胎的回收率。     

结核杆菌抗原85A与小鼠白细胞介素21共表达DNA疫苗的构建及其免疫效应研究

目的:利用真核表达质粒pRSC,构建结核杆菌抗原85A(Ag85A)与小鼠白细胞介素21(mIL21)共表达重组体pRSC-mIL21-Ag85A,为研究新型结核杆菌DNA疫苗提供新的策略。方法:从质粒pcDNA3.1-mIL21中经PCR扩增出mIL21基因,并插入质粒pRSC中构成pRSC-mIL21;再从pIRES-Ag85A质粒中经PCR扩增出Ag85A基因,构建于pRSC-mIL21重组质粒上,成为共表达DNA疫苗pRSC-mIL21-Ag85A。结果:经酶切、基因测序证实,该疫苗构建正确并能成功表达目的基因。共表达DNA疫苗免疫小鼠后,CTL活性、特异性淋巴细胞增殖水平及小鼠血清特异性抗体均呈有意义的提高。结论:结核杆菌Ag85A与mIL21共表达DNA疫苗能诱导小鼠免疫反应,为进一步研究DNA疫苗抗结核杆菌攻击的免疫防护效应奠定了基础。     

Cholesterol oxidase is required for virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Recent reports have indicated that cholesterol plays a crucial role during the uptake of mycobacteria by macrophages. However, the significance of cholesterol modification enzymes encoded by Mycobacterium tuberculosis for bacterial pathogenicity remains unknown. Here, the authors explored whether the well-known cholesterol modification enzyme, cholesterol oxidase (ChoD), is important for virulence of the tubercle bacillus. Homologous recombination was used to replace the choD gene from the M. tuberculosis genome with a nonfunctional copy. The resultant mutant (delta choD) was attenuated in peritoneal macrophages. No attenuation in macrophages was observed when the same strain was complemented with an intact choD gene controlled by a heat shock promoter (delta choDP(hsp)choD). The mice infection experiments confirm the significance of ChoD in the pathogenesis of M. tuberculosis.     

Secondary buds in Scots pine trees infested with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gremmeniella abietina</Emphasis>

In winter 2000–2001, there was a serious outbreak of Gremmeniella abietina Morelet in southeastern Norway. During the outbreak, we noted that injured Scots pine trees (Pinus sylvestris L.) developed secondary buds in response to the fungus attack, and we decided to study the relationship between injury, appearance of secondary buds and recovery of the trees thereafter. For this purpose, 143 trees from 10 to 50 years of age were chosen and grouped into crown density classes. Injury was assessed in detail, and buds were counted before bud burst in the spring of 2002. In addition, a subset of 15 trees was followed through the summer of 2002 to assess recovery. All injured trees developed secondary buds, with a clear overweight of dormant winter buds in proportion to interfoliar buds. Healthy control trees did not develop secondary buds at all. The secondary buds appeared predominantly on the injured parts of the tree; interfoliar buds in particular developed just beneath the damaged tissue. Most of the secondary buds died during the winter of 2001–2002, mainly because the fungus continued to spread after the first outbreak. Many of the remaining buds developed shoots with abnormal growth during the summer. Secondary buds may help trees to recover from Gremmeniella attacks, but this strategy may fail when the fungus continues to grow and injure the newly formed buds and shoots.     

Structure–sequence features based prediction of phosphosites of serine/threonine protein kinases of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Elucidation of signaling events in a pathogen is potentially important to tackle the infection caused by it. Such events mediated by protein phosphorylation play important roles in infection, and therefore, to predict the phosphosites and substrates of the serine/threonine protein kinases, we have developed a Machine learning-based approach for Mycobacterium tuberculosis serine/threonine protein kinases using kinase-peptide structure–sequence data. This approach utilizes features derived from kinase three-dimensional-structure environment and known phosphosite sequences to generate support vector machine (SVM)-based kinase-specific predictions of phosphosites of serine/threonine protein kinases (STPKs) with no or scarce data of their substrates. SVM outperformed the four machine learning algorithms we tried (random forest, logistic regression, SVM, and k-nearest neighbors) with an area under the curve receiver-operating characteristic value of 0.88 on the independent testing dataset and a 10-fold cross-validation accuracy of ~81.6% for the final model. Our predicted phosphosites of M. tuberculosis STPKs form a useful resource for experimental biologists enabling elucidation of STPK mediated posttranslational regulation of important cellular processes.     

From observations to experiments in phenology research: investigating climate change impacts on trees and shrubs using dormant twigs

Background and Aims Climate change is advancing the leaf-out times of many plant species and mostly extending the growing season in temperate ecosystems. Laboratory experiments using twig cuttings from woody plant species present an affordable, easily replicated approach to investigate the relative importance of factors such as winter chilling, photoperiod, spring warming and frost tolerance on the leafing-out times of plant communities. This Viewpoint article demonstrates how the results of these experiments deepen our understanding beyond what is possible via analyses of remote sensing and field observation data, and can be used to improve climate change forecasts of shifts in phenology, ecosystem processes and ecological interactions.Scope The twig method involves cutting dormant twigs from trees, shrubs and vines on a single date or at intervals over the course of the winter and early spring, placing them in containers of water in controlled environments, and regularly recording leaf-out, flowering or other phenomena. Prior to or following leaf-out or flowering, twigs may be assigned to treatment groups for experiments involving temperature, photoperiod, frost, humidity and more. Recent studies using these methods have shown that winter chilling requirements and spring warming strongly affect leaf-out and flowering times of temperate trees and shrubs, whereas photoperiod requirements are less important than previously thought for most species. Invasive plant species have weaker winter chilling requirements than native species in temperate ecosystems, and species that leaf-out early in the season have greater frost tolerance than later leafing species.Conclusions This methodology could be extended to investigate additional drivers of leaf-out phenology, leaf senescence in the autumn, and other phenomena, and could be a useful tool for education and outreach. Additional ecosystems, such as boreal, southern hemisphere and sub-tropical forests, could also be investigated using dormant twigs to determine the drivers of leaf-out times and how these ecosystems will be affected by climate change.     

The diagnostic potential of MPT63‐derived HLA‐A*0201‐restricted CD8+T‐cell epitopes for active pulmonary tuberculosis

MPT63 protein is found only in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, including M. tuberculosis and M. bovis. Detection of MPT63‐specific IFN‐γ‐secreting T cells could be useful for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) diseases. In the present study, the HLA‐A*0201 restriction of ten predicted MPT63‐derived CD8 ⁺ T‐cell epitopes was assessed on the basis of T2 cell line and HLA‐A*0201 transgenic mice. The diagnostic potential of immunogenic peptides in active pulmonary TB patients was evaluated using an IFN‐γ enzyme‐linked immunospot assay. It was found that five peptides bound to HLA‐A*0201 with high affinity, whereas the remaining peptides exhibited low affinity for HLA‐A*0201. Five immunogenic peptides (MPT63_18–26, MPT63_29–37, MPT63_20–28, MPT63_5–14 and MPT63_10–19) elicited large numbers of cytotoxic IFN‐γ‐secreting T cells in HLA‐A*0201 transgenic mice. Each of the five immunogenic peptides was recognized by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 45% to 73% of 40 HLA‐A*0201 positive TB patients. The total diagnostic sensitivity of the five immunogenic peptides was higher than that of a T‐SPOT.TB assay (based on ESAT‐6 and CFP‐10) (93% versus 90%). It is noticeable that the diagnostic sensitivity of the combination of five immunogenic peptides and T‐SPOT.TB assay reached 100%. These MPT63‐derived HLA‐A*0201‐restricted CD8 ⁺ T‐cell epitopes would likely contribute to the immunological diagnosis of M. tuberculosis infection and may provide the components for designing an effective TB vaccine.     

The impact of maternal infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the infant response to bacille Calmette–Guérin immunization

Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) immunization provides variable protection against tuberculosis. Prenatal antigen exposure may have lifelong effects on responses to related antigens and pathogens. We therefore hypothesized that maternal latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI) influences infant responses to BCG immunization at birth. We measured antibody (n = 53) and cellular (n = 31) responses to M. tuberculosis purified protein derivative (PPD) in infants of mothers with and without LTBI, in cord blood and at one and six weeks after BCG. The concentrations of PPD-specific antibodies declined between birth (median [interquartile range (IQR)]) 5600 ng ml⁻¹ [3300–11 050] in cord blood) and six weeks (0.00 ng ml⁻¹ [0–288]). Frequencies of PPD-specific IFN-γ-expressing CD4⁺T cells increased at one week and declined between one and six weeks (p = 0.031). Frequencies of IL-2- and TNF-α-expressing PPD-specific CD4⁺T cells increased between one and six weeks (p = 0.019, p = 0.009, respectively). At one week, the frequency of PPD-specific CD4⁺T cells expressing any of the three cytokines, combined, was lower among infants of mothers with LTBI, in crude analyses (p = 0.002) and after adjusting for confounders (mean difference, 95% CI −0.041% (−0.082, −0.001)). In conclusion, maternal LTBI was associated with lower infant anti-mycobacterial T-cell responses immediately following BCG immunization. These findings are being explored further in a larger study.     

Regulation of Ergothioneine Biosynthesis and Its Effect on Mycobacterium tuberculosis Growth and Infectivity

Ergothioneine (EGT) is synthesized in mycobacteria, but limited knowledge exists regarding its synthesis, physiological role, and regulation. We have identified Rv3701c from Mycobacterium tuberculosis to encode for EgtD, a required histidine methyltransferase that catalyzes first biosynthesis step in EGT biosynthesis. EgtD was found to be phosphorylated by the serine/threonine protein kinase PknD. PknD phosphorylates EgtD both in vitro and in a cell-based system on Thr²¹³. The phosphomimetic (T213E) but not the phosphoablative (T213A) mutant of EgtD failed to restore EGT synthesis in a ΔegtD mutant. The findings together with observed elevated levels of EGT in a pknD transposon mutant during in vitro growth suggests that EgtD phosphorylation by PknD negatively regulates EGT biosynthesis. We further showed that EGT is required in a nutrient-starved model of persistence and is needed for long term infection of murine macrophages.