Phylogenetic analysis of cubilin (CUBN) gene

Cubilin, (CUBN; also known as intrinsic factor-cobalamin receptor [Homo sapiens Entrez Pubmed ref {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"NM_001081.3","term_id":"126091151","term_text":"NM_001081.3"}}NM_001081.3; {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"NG_008967.1","term_id":"212549718","term_text":"NG_008967.1"}}NG_008967.1; GI: 119606627]), located in the epithelium of intestine and kidney acts as a receptor for intrinsic factor – vitamin B12 complexes. Mutations in CUBN may play a role in autosomal recessive megaloblastic anemia. The current study investigated the possible role of CUBN in evolution using phylogenetic testing. A total of 588 BLAST hits were found for the cubilin query sequence and these hits showed putative conserved domain, CUB superfamily (as on 27^th Nov 2012). A first-pass phylogenetic tree was constructed to identify the taxa which most often contained the CUBN sequences. Following this, we narrowed down the search by manually deleting sequences which were not CUBN. A repeat phylogenetic analysis of 25 taxa was performed using PhyML, RAxML and TreeDyn softwares to confirm that CUBN is a conserved protein emphasizing its importance as an extracellular domain and being present in proteins mostly known to be involved in development in many chordate taxa but not found in prokaryotes, plants and yeast.. No horizontal gene transfers have been found between different taxa.     

Sequence analysis and phylogenetic study of some toxin proteins of snakes and related non-toxin proteins of chordates

Snakes are equipped with their venomic armory to tackle different prey and predators in adverse natural world. The venomic composition of snakes is a mix of biologically active proteins and polypeptides. Among different components snake venom cytotoxins and short neurotoxin are non-enzymatic polypeptide candidates with in the venom. These two components structurally resembled to three-finger protein superfamily specific scaffold. Different non-toxin family members of three-finger protein superfamily are involved in different biological roles. In the present study we analyzed the snake venom cytotoxins, short neurotoxins and related non-toxin proteins of different chordates in terms of amino acid sequence level diversification profile, polarity profile of amino acid sequences, conserved pattern of amino acids and phylogenetic relationship of these toxin and nontoxin protein sequences. Sequence alignment analysis demonstrates the polarity specific molecular enrichment strategy for better system adaptivity. Occurrence of amino acid substitution is high in number in toxin sequences. In non-toxin body proteins there are less amino acid substitutions. With the help of conserved residues these proteins maintain the three-finger protein scaffold. Due to system specific adaptation toxin and non-toxin proteins exhibit a varied type of amino acid residue distribution in sequence stretch. Understanding of Natural invention scheme (recruitment of venom proteins from normal body proteins) may help us to develop futuristic engineered bio-molecules with remedial properties.     

柠条锦鸡儿香豆酸-3-羟化酶基因克隆及其功能初步研究

香豆酸-3-羟化酶(Coumarate 3-Hydroxylase,C3H)是木质素生物合成途径中的关键酶之一.以柠条锦鸡儿为材料,利用RACE技术克隆了C3H基因.对柠条锦鸡儿C3H基因的gDNA和cDNA全长分析显示该基因具有3个外显子,2个内含子,编码框长度为1530bp,编码509个氨基酸.预测该基因编码蛋白的等电点位7.67,分子量约57.61 kDa.氨基酸序列分析显示具有一个保守的P450结构域.系统进化分析表明该蛋白与大豆C3H具有最高的同源性,将该基因命名为CkC3H,GeneBank登录号为HQ829858.构建了35S启动子驱动的CkC3H基因植物表达载体,互补拟南芥C3H(CYP98A3)基因突变体ref8,转基因植物表型得以部分恢复.这些结果说明柠条锦鸡儿CkC3H与拟南芥C3H至少具有部分相同的功能.     

Losac, the first hemolin that exhibits procogulant activity through selective factor X proteolytic activation

Envenoming by the contact of human skin with Lonomia obliqua caterpillars promotes a hemorrhagic syndrome characterized by a consumptive coagulopathy. Losac (Lonomia obliqua Stuart factor activator) is a component of the bristle of L. obliqua that is probably partially responsible for the observed syndrome because it activates factor X and is recognized by an effective antilonomic serum. Here we unveil the proteolytic activity of Losac and demonstrate the feasibility of its recombinant production. On the other hand, Losac has no homology to known proteases, but it can be inhibited by PMSF, a serine protease inhibitor. Instead, it shows closer homology to members of the hemolin family of proteins, a group of cell adhesion molecules. The recombinant protein (rLosac) shortened the coagulation time of normal and deficient plasmas, whereas it was ineffective in factor X-deficient plasma unless reconstituted with this protein. rLosac was able to activate factor X in a dose- and time-dependent manner but not γ-carboxyglutamic acid domainless factor X. Moreover, phospholipids and calcium ions increased rLosac activity. Also, rLosac had no effect on fibrin or fibrinogen, indicating its specificity for blood coagulation activation. Linear double reciprocal plots indicate that rLosac follows a Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Cleavage of factor X by rLosac resulted in fragments that are compatible with those generated by RVV-X (a well known factor X activator). Together, our results validate Losac as the first protein from the hemolin family exhibiting procoagulant activity through selective proteolysis on coagulation factor X.     

The consensus sequence for self-catalyzed site-specific G residue depurination in DNA

The sequence variation tolerated within the stem-loop-forming genomic consensus sequence for self-catalyzed site-specific depurination of G residues is explored. The variation in self-depurination kinetics with sequence changes in the loop residues and stem base pairs, as well as with pH, provides insights into the self-catalytic mechanism. The observations suggest that self-catalyzed depurination of the 5' G residue of the loop consensus sequence 5'-G(T/A)GG-3' probably involves formation of some intraloop hydrogen-bonded base pair with the 3'-terminal G residue; although the electronic structure of both these G residues is retained, their 2-amino substituents are not critical for that interaction. The strong dependence of the self-depurination kinetics on stem stability suggests that the lifetime of some strained form of the loop is controlled by the integrity of the stem. In addition to the effects of length and base pair sequence on stem stability, there is a base pair requirement at the base of the loop: self-depurination is suppressed by 5'-C·G-3', 5'-A·T-3', or a mismatch but is most favored by 5'T·A3' and less so by 5'-G·C-3'. The occurrence in T and G of a similarly located carbonyl capable of hydrogen-bonding to the water molecule required for glycosyl bond hydrolysis may explain this sequence requirement. In toto, the more complete definition of the consensus sequence provided by this investigation enables a more accurate estimation of their number in the human genome and their distribution among different genes.     

Identification, cloning, and characterization of two N-acetylgalactosamine-binding lectins from the albumen gland of Helix pomatia

Helix pomatia agglutinin (HPA), the lectin from the albumen gland of the Roman snail, has been used in histochemical studies relating glycosylation changes to the metastatic potential of solid tumors. To facilitate the use of HPA in a clinical (diagnostic) setting, detailed analysis of the lectin, including cloning and recombinant production of HPA, is required. A combination of isoelectric focusing, amino acid sequence analysis, and cloning revealed two polypeptides in native HPA preparations (HPAI and HPAII), both consistent with GalNAc-binding lectins of the H-type family. Pairwise sequence alignment showed that HPAI and HPAII share 54% sequence identity whereas molecular modeling using SWISS-MODEL suggests they are likely to adopt similar tertiary structure. The inherent heterogeneity of native HPA highlighted the need for production of functional recombinant protein; this was addressed by preparing His-thioredoxin-tagged fusion products in Escherichia coli Rosetta-gami B (DE3) cells. The recombinant lectins agglutinated human blood group A erythrocytes whereas their oligosaccharide specificity, evaluated using glycan microarrays, showed that they predominantly bind glycans with terminal α-GalNAc residues. Surface plasmon resonance with immobilized GalNAc-BSA confirmed that recombinant HPAI and HPAII bind strongly with this ligand (K(d) = 0.60 nm and 2.00 nm, respectively) with a somewhat higher affinity to native HPA (K(d) = 7.67 nm). Recombinant HPAII also bound the breast cancer cells of breast cancer tissue specimens in a manner similar to native lectin. The recombinant HPA described here shows important potential for future studies of cancer cell glycosylation and as a reagent for cancer prognostication.     

Conserved Pro-Glu (PE) and Pro-Pro-Glu (PPE) protein domains target LipY lipases of pathogenic mycobacteria to the cell surface via the ESX-5 pathway

The type VII secretion system ESX-5 is a major pathway for export of PE and PPE proteins in pathogenic mycobacteria. These mycobacteria-specific protein families are characterized by conserved N-terminal domains of 100 and 180 amino acids, which contain the proline-glutamic acid (PE) and proline-proline-glutamic acid (PPE) motifs after which they are named. Here we investigated secretion of the triacylglycerol lipase LipY, which in fast-growing mycobacteria contains a signal sequence, but in slow-growing species appears to have replaced the signal peptide with a PE or PPE domain. Selected LipY homologues were expressed in wild-type Mycobacterium marinum and its corresponding ESX-5 mutant, and localization of the proteins was investigated by immunoblotting and electron microscopy. Our study shows that Mycobacterium tuberculosis PE-LipY (LipY(tub)) and M. marinum PPE-LipY (LipY(mar)) are both secreted to the bacterial surface in an ESX-5-dependent fashion. After transport, the PE/PPE domains are removed by proteolytic cleavage. In contrast, Mycobacterium gilvum LipY, which has a signal sequence, is not transported to the cell surface. Furthermore, we show that LipY(tub) and LipY(mar) require their respective PE and PPE domains for ESX-5-dependent secretion. The role of the PE domain in ESX-5 secretion was confirmed in a whole cell lipase assay, in which wild-type bacteria expressing full-length LipY(tub), but not LipY(tub) lacking its PE domain, were shown to hydrolyze extracellular lipids. In conclusion, both PE and PPE domains contain a signal required for secretion of LipY by the ESX-5 system, and these domains are proteolytically removed upon translocation.     

感染CDV的犬病料N、H、F基因的克隆与序列分析

目的了解病料中犬瘟热病毒（CDV）的变异情况,为犬瘟热的预防与治疗提供理论依据。方法采用RT-PCR方法对犬病料中CDV的血凝素蛋白（H）、融合蛋白（F）和核衣壳蛋白（N）基因进行扩增,将扩增产物克隆到pGEM-T-easy载体中测序,并进行序列分析。结果测定一株CDV的H、F和N基因大小分别为1863 bp、1653 bp和2235 bp。同源性分析表明,未发现碱基的插入和缺失。该病毒的H、F和N基因分别与国内强毒株BJ080127株的H基因、GN株的F基因和HL株的N基因亲缘关系最近,氨基酸同源性分别为97.3%、97.7%和99.3%。与国外标准野毒株A75-17在核苷酸水平上同源性依次为94.4%、93.8%和97.2%,与疫苗株CDV3在核苷酸水平上同源性分别为88.5%、88.8%和93.9%。系统进化树表明该病毒与国内强毒株在同一谱系。糖基化分析显示,该病毒在F基因3～5位氨基酸处多出1个糖基化位点。结论本研究从犬病料中成功克隆了犬瘟热病毒血凝素蛋白、融合蛋白和核衣壳蛋白,在F基因中新增了一个糖基化位点,为犬瘟热的遗传变异和流行学研究提供了分子生物学依据。     

家蚕BmST2基因的克隆与转录活性检测

通过生物信息学分析和生物学试验获得了家蚕糖转运蛋白基因BmST2(GenBank登录号:GQ871755),基因位于家蚕27号染色体,开放阅读框(ORF)长1398 bp,编码465个氨基酸,预测蛋白序列有典型的Sugar_tr结构域和11个疏水的跨膜结构域,与家蚕BmST1蛋白相似性和一致性分别达79%和64%,与登录号为EAT47626、EDS35465、EAA11457和EFA05337的同源蛋白相似性在50%以上。RT-PCR检测基因在5龄第3天家蚕幼虫的9种组织中转录活性,结果显示,BmST2基因除在脂肪体没有表达外,其他组织均有表达。最后成功构建了基因的酵母穿梭表达质粒pG-BKT7-BmST2。