银环蛇神经毒素的分子克隆和功能表达(英文)

抽提银环蛇毒腺总ＲＮＡ,通过反转录ＰＣＲ技术扩增出其神经毒素ｃＤＮＡ,克隆并测定了全序列。银环蛇神经毒素的ｃＤＮＡ编码２１个氨基酸的信号肽和７４个氨基酸的成熟蛋白。该信号肽非常类似于短链神经毒素、κ－神经毒素和心脏毒素的信号肽。而成熟蛋白的氨基酸序列与从台湾产银环蛇中通过蛋白测序鉴定的α－ｂｕｎｇａｒｏｔｏｘｉｎ的氨基酸序列完全一样。此外,还克隆到该神经毒素缺失前体ｃＤＮＡ。利用麦芽糖结合蛋白融合     

SARS-CoV Sars7a和EGFP融合蛋白真核表达载体构建及其表达

根据SARS-CoV sars7a基因设计并化学合成部分重叠引物,经二轮PCR获得sars7a基因片段,以此片段为模板并利用一对带有Kozak序列及删除终止密码的引物进行PCR,获得产物与pEGFP-N1载体连接,使sars7a基因位于EGFP的基因上游,得到含编码Sars7a-EGFP融合蛋白基因的哺乳动物细胞表达载体.采用细胞核转染技术将重组表达载体转染K562细胞,以流式细胞仪和共聚焦显微镜分析,可检测到EGFP的绿色荧光,表明Sars7a-EGFP得到表达,该蛋白分布于整个细胞,提示Sars7a并非膜蛋白,更可能是胞浆蛋白.此外,该蛋白的表达对K562细胞凋亡无明显影响.     

Retinoic Acid and Its Geometrical Isomers Block Both Growth and Fusion of L6 Myoblasts by Modulating the Expression of Protein Kinase A

All-trans retinoic acid (RA) and its geometrical isomers, such as 9-cis RA, 13-cis RA, and 9,13-di-cis RA, strongly inhibited both growth and fusion of L6 myoblasts. However, illumination of white light diminished their inhibitory activity on membrane fusion with little effect on cell growth. During myogenic differentiation, the intracellular level of cAMP decreased whereas the total activity of protein kinase A as well as the protein level of its regulatory subunit I (RI) and catalytic subunit (C) increased. RAs raised the intracellular level of cAMP by over 3-fold, but decreased the total activity of protein kinase A. Like RAs, dibutyryl-cAMP inhibited myoblast fusion and reduced the expression of both RI and C subunits. These results suggest that RAs negatively modulate the differentiation of L6 myoblasts by increasing the intracellular level of cAMP, which may in turn down-regulate the expression of protein kinase A and hence its activity.     

Seroreactivity to HPV-16 proteins in women with early cervical neoplasia

Summary Although serological reactivity to human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) proteins has been demonstrated in patients with invasive cervical carcinoma, the degree of seroreactivity to these proteins in women with preinvasive disease and its relationship to the HPV type associated with the disease are unclear. We obtained sera from 27 women undergoing cone biopsy for cervical precursor lesions and 22 controls and analyzed seroreactivity by Western blot to fusion proteins containing portions of the HPV-16 E4, L1 and L2 open-reading frames (ORFs). Positives were analyzed by scanning densitometry and intensity values for each case plotted relative to controls. Cervical biopsy specimens from patients were analyzed for HPV-16 nucleic acids by DNA · DNA in situ hybridization. Mean intensity values for seroreactivity to the pATH-E4 protein approached significance (P = 0.058) and a significantly higher proportion of cases vs controls registered values over 4.0 for pATH-E4 (26% vs 4.5%;P = 0.04) and pATH-L2 (48% vs 18%;P = 0.03) proteins. A significantly higher mean intensity value for E4 was observed for cases containing HPV-16 DNA vs HPV-16 negative cases or controls. Thus, seroreactivity to HPV-16-derived proteins may be more common in women with preinvasive cervical disease, and for some protein targets (E4) may indicate a relatively type-specific response.Supported in part by grants from the National Cancer Institute [CA 47676 (C.P.C.)], American Cancer Society [MV-395 (C.P.C.)] and an institutional support grant (J.K.R.). Dr. Crum is a recipient of a Physician Scientist Award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (AI00628)     

融合蛋白NusA-hRI的高效异源表达、纯化及活性分析

人核糖核酸酶抑制因子 (human ribonuclease inhibitor, hRI) 是一种能够调节核糖核酸酶活性的酸性包浆蛋白。通过构建含SUMO、IF2、GST、NusA 、MsyB、Trx和 MBP融合标签的重组表达载体,以大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)作为宿主菌进行自诱导(auto-induction,AI)表达,从而使 hRI 的表达量得以提升。利用MagNi磁珠纯化及电泳分析hRI的表达状况,通过RNase/Sepharose亲和层析获得纯度较高的蛋白。纯化后获得的融合蛋白浓度为2 960.513mg/L,与其它公司的hRI活性进行比较,检测其酶活性约为50U/μl,并使其成功用于RNA的保护,为NusA-hRI的应用提供理论依据。     

Intergeneric transfer of cytoplasmic male sterility between Raphanus sativus (cms line) and Brassica napus through cytoplast-protoplast fusion

Summary Cytoplasts isolated from hypocotyl protoplasts of Raphanus sativus cv Kosena (cms line) by ultracentrifugation through Percoll/mannitol discontinuous gradient were fused with iodoacetamide(IOA)-treated protoplasts of Brassica napus cv Westar. Seventeen randomly selected regenerated plants were characterized for morphology and chromosome numbers. All of the regenerated plants had morphology identical to B. napus and 10 of them possessed the diploid chromosome number of B. napus. The remaining plants had chimeric or aneuploid chromosome numbers. The mitochondrial genomes in the 10 fusion products possessing the diploid chromosome numbers of B. napus were examined by Southern hybridization analysis. Four of the 10 plants contained mitochondrial DNA showing novel hybridization patterns. Of these 4 plants, 1 was male sterile, and 3 were male fertile. The remaining plants showed mitochondrial DNA patterns identical to B. napus and were male fertile.     

Allogeneic gastric cancer cell-dendritic cell hybrids induce tumor antigen (carcinoembryonic antigen) specific CD8+ T cells

The development of protocols for the ex vivo generation of dendritic cells (DCs) has led to intensive research of their potential use in immunotherapy. Accumulating results show the efficacy of this treatment on melanomas which are highly immunogenic. However, its efficacy remains unclear in other tumors. In this study, allogeneic gastric cancer cell–DC hybrids were used to determine the efficacy of this type of immunotherapy in gastric cancer. Fusion cells of DC and allogeneic gastric cancer cells were generated by polyethylene glycol (PEG) and electrofusion. These hybrids were used to induce tumor associated antigen (TAA) specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). The DCs were successfully fused with the allogeneic gastric cancer cells resulting in hybrid cells. These hybrid cells were functional as antigen-presenting cell because they induced allogeneic CD4+ T cells proliferation. CD8+ T cells stimulated by the MKN-45-DC hybrid cells were able to kill MKN-45 when used for immunization. The CTLs killed another gastric cancer cell line, MKN-1, as well as a melanoma cell line, 888mel, suggesting the recognition of a shared tumor antigen. MKN-45 specific CTLs can recognize carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), indicating that the killing is due to tumor antigens as well as alloantigens. This approach suggests the possible use of allogeneic gastric cancer cell–DC hybrids in DC based immunotherapy for gastric cancer treatment.     

含幽门螺杆菌CagA、UreB蛋白与霍乱肠毒素B亚单位（CTB）融合基因的植物表达载体的构建及遗传转化

幽门螺旋杆菌(Helicobacter pylori,Hp)感染是慢性胃炎和消化性溃疡的主要病因,与胃癌和胃粘膜相关淋巴组织(MALT)淋巴瘤的发生也密切相关。目前所用的疫苗制造成本高、运输费用贵,然而利用转基因植物生产的植物疫苗成本低廉、服用方便是现有疫苗的良好替代品。将Hp相关蛋白与免疫佐剂CTB的融合基因(ctb-linker-cagA和ctb-linker-ureB)利用PCR、酶切、连接等一系列方法从载体p1300-WxCLCN和p1300-WxCLUN中重组到载体pCAMBIA2301中(含35S启动子),重组载体分别命名为p2301-35SCLCN和p2301-35SCLUN。通过冻融法将载体导入农杆菌EHA105菌株中,以农杆菌介导的方法,将重组载体p2301-35SCLCN和p2301-35SCLUN转化烟草黄苗榆和心叶烟,获得了具有卡那霉素抗性再生植株,经过酶切、PCR、GUS染色和PCR-Southern鉴定结果表明,目的基因分别正确插入载体中并稳定整合到植株中,为利用植物反应器生产幽门螺杆菌疫苗奠定了坚实的基础。     

Characterization of glycerol dehydratase expressed by fusing its α- and β-subunits

The gdh and gdhr genes, encoding B₁₂-dependent glycerol dehydratase (GDH) and glycerol dehydratase reactivase (GDHR), respectively, in Klebsiella pneumoniae, were cloned and expressed in E. coli. Part of the β-subunit was lost during GDH purification when co-expressing α, β and γ subunit. This was overcome by fusing the β-subunit to α- or γ-subunit with/without the insertion of a linker peptide between the fusion moieties. The kinetic properties of the fusion enzymes were characterized and compared with wild type enzyme. The results demonstrated that the fusion protein GDHALB/C, constructed by linking the N-terminal of β-subunit to the C-terminal of α subunit through a (Gly₄Ser)₄ linker peptide, had the greatest catalytic activity. Similar to the wild-type enzyme, GDHALB/C underwent mechanism-based inactivation by glycerol during catalysis and could be reactivated by GDHR. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Peptide entry inhibitors of enveloped viruses: The importance of interfacial hydrophobicity

There are many peptides known that inhibit the entry of enveloped viruses into cells, including one peptide that is successfully being used in the clinic as a drug. In this review, we discuss the discovery, antiviral activity and mechanism of action of such peptides. While peptide entry inhibitors have been discovered by a wide variety of approaches (structure-based, accidental, intentional, rational and brute force) we show here that they share a common physical chemical property: they are at least somewhat hydrophobic and/or amphipathic and have a propensity to interact with membrane interfaces. We propose that this propensity drives a shared mechanism of action for many peptide entry inhibitors, involving direct interactions with viral and cellular membranes, as well as interactions with the complex hydrophobic protein/lipid interfaces that are exposed, at least transiently, during virus–cell fusion. By interacting simultaneously with the membrane interfaces and other critical hydrophobic surfaces, we hypothesize that peptide entry inhibitors can act by changing the physical chemistry of the membranes, and the fusion protein interfaces bridging them, and by doing so interfere with the fusion of cellular and viral membranes. Based on this idea, we propose that an approach that focuses on the interfacial hydrophobicity of putative entry inhibitors could lead to the efficient discovery of novel, broad-spectrum viral entry inhibitors. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Interfacially Active Peptides and Proteins. Guest Editors: William C. Wimley and Kalina Hristova.