基因敲除在工业微生物育种方面的应用

微生物育种技术的发展先后经历了自然选育、诱变育种、杂交育种、代谢控制育种和基因工程育种5个阶段,其中基因工程育种技术中的基因敲除技术具有定位性强、经修饰和改造的基因能够随染色体DNA的复制而稳定地复制的特点,使人们可以有目的地去改造生物的遗传物质,从而达到微生物育种的目的,受到人们的广泛关注。就基因敲除技术的几种主要方法及其在改良工业生产菌株中的应用作简要介绍。     

杆状病毒p74基因具有种属特异性

选用苜蓿丫纹夜蛾核多角体病毒杆粒 (AcMNPVbacmid)为材料 ,通过在大肠杆菌中利用RecA基因介导的同源重组 ,将其p74基因剔除 ,并精确地用斜纹夜蛾核多角体病毒 (SpltMNPV)的p74基因进行了替换。所构建的重组AcMNPV杆粒在修饰后的p74基因位点中未留下任何有可能影响该基因表达及功能的选择标记 ,SpltMNPV的p74基因直接位于AcMNPVp74基因的启动子控制下。RT PCR显示替换后的p74基因得到了表达。生物测定结果显示 ,重组病毒AcMNPV杆粒 polhSL74无法通过口服方式感染银纹夜蛾幼虫 ,表明杆状病毒p74基因具有种属特异性。     

Creating designed zinc-finger nucleases with minimal cytotoxicity

Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) have emerged as powerful tools for delivering a targeted genomic double-strand break (DSB) to either stimulate local homologous recombination with investigator-provided donor DNA or induce gene mutations at the site of cleavage in the absence of a donor by nonhomologous end joining both in plant cells and in mammalian cells, including human cells. ZFNs are formed by fusing zinc-finger proteins to the nonspecific cleavage domain of the FokI restriction enzyme. ZFN-mediated gene targeting yields high gene modification efficiencies (> 10%) in a variety of cells and cell types by delivering a recombinogenic DSB to the targeted chromosomal locus, using two designed ZFNs. The mechanism of DSB by ZFNs requires (1) two ZFN monomers to bind to their adjacent cognate sites on DNA and (2) the FokI nuclease domains to dimerize to form the active catalytic center for the induction of the DSB. In the case of ZFNs fused to wild-type FokI cleavage domains, homodimers may also form; this could limit the efficacy and safety of ZFNs by inducing off-target cleavage. In this article, we report further refinements to obligate heterodimer variants of the FokI cleavage domain for the creation of custom ZFNs with minimal cellular toxicity. The efficacy and efficiency of the reengineered obligate heterodimer variants of the FokI cleavage domain were tested using the green fluorescent protein gene targeting reporter system. The three-finger and four-finger zinc-finger protein fusions to the REL_DKK pair among the newly generated FokI nuclease domain variants appear to eliminate or greatly reduce the toxicity of designer ZFNs to human cells.     

Young but not relatively old retrotransposons are preferentially located in gene‐rich euchromatic regions in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants

Long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are the major DNA components of flowering plants. They are generally enriched in pericentromeric heterochromatin regions of their host genomes, which could result from the preferential insertion of LTR retrotransposons and the low effectiveness of purifying selection in these regions. To estimate the relative importance of the actions of these two factors on their distribution pattern, the LTR retrotransposons in Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) plants were characterized at the genome level, and then the distribution of young elements was compared with that of relatively old elements. The current data show that old elements are mainly located in recombination‐suppressed heterochromatin regions, and that young elements are preferentially located in the gene‐rich euchromatic regions. Further analysis showed a negative correlation between the insertion time of LTR retrotransposons and the recombination rate. The data also showed there to be more solo LTRs in genic regions than in intergenic regions or in regions close to genes. These observations indicate that, unlike in many other plant genomes, the current LTR retrotransposons in tomatoes have a tendency to be preferentially located into euchromatic regions, probably caused by their severe suppression of activities in heterochromatic regions. These elements are apt to be maintained in heterochromatin regions, probably as a consequence of the pericentromeric effect in tomatoes. These results also indicate that local recombination rates and intensities of purifying selection in different genomic regions are largely responsible for structural variation and non‐random distribution of LTR retrotransposons in tomato plants.     

实验室重构流感病毒的生物安全问题

流感病毒的跨种间传播是流感病毒研究的重要方面。部分研究者采取实验室重构流感病毒的方法,试图发现影响流感病毒跨种间传播的重要因子,这对揭示流感病毒跨种间传播的分子机制以及流感的防控和治疗具有重要意义,但重构流感病毒潜在的生物安全问题令人关注。文中重点讨论了目前实验室重构流感病毒的生物安全问题,建议从实验室防护和科研管理两方面重视并加强实验室重构流感病毒,特别是高致病流感病毒的生物安全管理工作。     

arcA基因提高大肠杆菌对有机溶剂的耐受性

【目的】将来源于恶臭假单胞菌(Pseudomonas putida JUCT1)的基因arc A(编码精氨酸脱亚胺酶)整合到Escherichia coli JM109(DE3)基因组中,以提高该菌对有机溶剂的耐受性。【方法】以P.putida JUCT1的基因组为模板扩增基因arc A,并与p ET-20b(+)连接后导入E.coli JM109(DE3)中,验证该基因提高E.coli JM109(DE3)对有机溶剂的耐受性。利用Red同源重组的方法将arc A整合到E.coli JM109(DE3)基因组中。【结果】E.coli JM109(DE3)/p ET-20b(+)-arc A在添加了2.0%(体积比)环己烷、0.1%(体积比)甲苯、4.0%(体积比)萘烷和0.1%(体积比)丁醇的培养基中培养8 h后,其OD660由初始的0.2分别上升到0.8、0.9、1.8和1.3。将arc A成功整合到E.coli JM109(DE3)基因组中,获得了具有较好遗传稳定性的溶剂耐受E.coli JM109(DE3)宿主菌株。【结论】外源基因arc A能提高大肠杆菌菌株的有机溶剂耐受性,为工业化应用中耐溶剂微生物菌株的构建提供了实验依据和理论基础。     

Hole Transporting Bilayers for Efficient Micrometer-Thick Perovskite Solar Cells

Achieving high efficiencies in halide perovskite solar cells with thicknesses >1 µm is necessary for developing perovskite-Si tandem cells based on small pyramidal structures. To achieve this goal, not only is the perovskite layer quality to be optimized but also the properties of the charge-transport layers must be tuned to reduce charge-collection losses. The transport layers provide a non-ohmic resistance that modulates the Fermi-level splitting inside the perovskite absorber. The finite conductivity of the transport layers can lead to losses in the fill factor (FF) and short-circuit current, even at infinite charge-carrier mobility in the absorber layer. These losses notably scale with the absorber layer thickness, which implies that higher-conductivity transport layers are required for thicker perovskite absorbers. One strategy to improve charge collection and thereby FFs in thick inverted perovskite solar cells is to use bilayers of hole-transport layers. In this study, the combination of poly[bis(4-phenyl) (2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine] with self-assembled monolayers provides the best photovoltaic performance in single-junction devices.     

根癌农杆菌介导的定点敲除技术在红色红曲菌中的应用

红曲菌(Monascus spp.)是一种重要的丝状真菌, 广泛应用于食品和医药领域中。目前, 由于对红曲菌遗传背景了解的很少, 因而对其重要功能基因的研究报道很少。本研究采用根癌农杆菌介导的转化技术对红色红曲菌(Monascus ruber)中推断的G-蛋白信号调节子mrfA基因的RGS功能域进行定点缺失研究, 探讨基于同源重组为基础的基因定点缺失技术在红曲菌基因功能鉴定中的可行性。构建的敲除载体pC805S左右同源臂长度分别为958 bp和824 bp, 将其转入受体菌M. ruber 中, 得到的138株转化子中, 有26株转化子发生了同源重组, 重组率达到18.8%。实验结果表明该技术作为红曲菌基因功能鉴定的方法是可行的。     

Spatial Organization of DNA in the Nucleus May Determine Positions of Recombination Hot Spots

A hypothesis has been proposed that the regions of DNA loop anchorage to the nuclear matrix are the preferential sites (hot spots) of illegitimate recombination mediated or triggered by topoisomerase II of the nuclear matrix. Recombination between the regions of DNA loop anchorage to the nuclear matrix may result in deletion or repositioning of DNA loops or their groups. The proposed hypothesis is confirmed by the results of original experiments and published data obtained by other researchers.__________Translated from Molekulyarnaya Biologiya, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2005, pp. 633–638.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Razin, Iarovaia.     

Gene order and recombination rates in the linkage group S-Phi-Hal-H-(Po2)-Pgd in pigs

Families of Czech Landrace (94 litters and 636 offspring) were tested for halothane sensitivity, A-O (S), H, PHI and PGD phenotypes. Informative matings for the estimation of recombination rates between marker loci were selected. The following recombination frequencies were established: S-Phi = 4.8 % (2.5 % -10.7 %);S-H = 6.8 % (4.3 %-11.7 %); Phi-H = 2.6 % (0.9 %-5.3 9%); H-Pgd = 4.4 % (1.6 %-8.0 %). CCCC-overs were observed also between S- Hal, Hal-H andHal - Pgd, but were not found between Phi - Hal. On the basis of these results it has been possible to revise the position of the S locus in this linkage group. The most probable gene order would be: S - Phi - Hal (or Hal - Phi) -H- (P02) - Pgd.
A striking difference was found between the number of halothane-sensitive pigs (87) and HalⁿHal ⁿ genotypes determined by haplotyping (123). Segregation rates in 19 backcross matings and experimental matings of the animals proved that this difference is mostly due to incomplete CCC or low expression of halothane sensitivity.