集胞藻PCC 6803中丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶SpkC对高温胁迫的响应

丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶是蓝藻感知和转导外界刺激的重要元件,但至今蓝藻中很多丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶的功能尚属未知。【目的】研究集胞藻PCC6803中的丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶Spk C是否参与对高温胁迫的响应。【方法】本研究采用同源重组的方法构建spC基因完全敲除突变株,检测突变株与野生株在高温胁迫下的生长状况、色素组成,并对高温胁迫下叶绿素荧光参数差异进行分析,比较光合系统Ⅱ活性差异。此外,通过测定生长速率来判断高温胁迫后藻株的恢复情况。【结果】经过42℃高温胁迫后,与野生株相比,突变株ΔspkC生长减缓,光合色素(叶绿素、类胡萝卜素和藻胆色素)的含量降低;45℃高温胁迫下突变株ΔspkC的光合系统Ⅱ活性下降幅度更大;经过5 d 42℃高温处理后,突变株生长几乎停滞,存活率较野生株明显降低。【结论】集胞藻PCC 6803中spkC基因的缺失导致突变株对高温胁迫响应出现缺陷,提示丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶SpkC参与响应高温胁迫。     

Exosomes derived from pancreatic cancer cells induce activation and profibrogenic activities in pancreatic stellate cells

Pancreatic cancer cells (PCCs) interact with pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), which play a pivotal role in pancreatic fibrogenesis, to develop the cancer-conditioned tumor microenvironment. Exosomes are membrane-enclosed nanovesicles, and have been increasingly recognized as important mediators of cell-to-cell communications. The aim of this study was to clarify the effects of PCC-derived exosomes on cell functions in PSCs. Exosomes were isolated from the conditioned medium of Panc-1 and SUIT-2 PCCs. Human primary PSCs were treated with PCC-derived exosomes. PCC-derived exosomes stimulated the proliferation, migration, activation of ERK and Akt, the mRNA expression of α-smooth muscle actin (ACTA2) and fibrosis-related genes, and procollagen type I C-peptide production in PSCs. Ingenuity pathway analysis of the microarray data identified transforming growth factor β1 and tumor necrosis factor as top upstream regulators. PCCs increased the expression of miR-1246 and miR-1290, abundantly contained in PCC-derived exosomes, in PSCs. Overexpression of miR-1290 induced the expression of ACTA2 and fibrosis-related genes in PSCs. In conclusion, PCC-derived exosomes stimulate activation and profibrogenic activities in PSCs. Exosome-mediated interactions between PSCs and PCCs might play a role in the development of the tumor microenvironment.     

CRISPR-Cas9 for the genome engineering of cyanobacteria and succinate production

Cyanobacteria hold promise as a cell factory for producing biofuels and bio-derived chemicals, but genome engineering of cyanobacteria such as Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 poses challenges because of their oligoploidy nature and long-term instability of the introduced gene. CRISPR-Cas9 is a newly developed RNA-guided genome editing system, yet its application for cyanobacteria engineering has yet to be reported. Here we demonstrated that CRISPR-Cas9 system can effectively trigger programmable double strand break (DSB) at the chromosome of PCC 7942 and provoke cell death. With the co-transformation of template plasmid harboring the gene cassette and flanking homology arms, CRISPR-Cas9-mediated DSB enabled precise gene integration, ameliorated the homologous recombination efficiency and allowed the use of lower amount of template DNA and shorter homology arms. The CRISPR-Cas9-induced cell death imposed selective pressure and enhanced the chance of concomitant integration of gene cassettes into all chromosomes of PCC 7942, hence accelerating the process of obtaining homogeneous and stable recombinant strains. We further explored the feasibility of engineering cyanobacteria by CRISPR-Cas9-assisted simultaneous glgc knock-out and gltA/ppc knock-in, which improved the succinate titer to 435.0±35.0 μg/L, an ≈11-fold increase when compared with that of the wild-type cells. These data altogether justify the use of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome engineering and manipulation of metabolic pathways in cyanobacteria.     

Identification of the genes encoding enzymes involved in the early biosynthetic pathway of pteridines in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

The biosynthetic pathway for the pteridine moiety of cyanopterine, as well as tetrahydrobiopterine, has been investigated in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Open reading frames slr0426, slr1626, slr0078 and sll0330 of the organism putatively encoding GTP cyclohydrolase I, dihydroneopterine aldolase, 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterine synthase and sepiapterine reductase, respectively, have been cloned into T7-based vectors for expression in Escherichia coli. The recombinant proteins have been purified to homogeneity and demonstrated to possess expected genuine activities except that of sll0330. Our result is the first direct evidence for the functional assignment of the open reading frames in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Furthermore, the 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterine synthase gene is demonstrated for the first time in prokaryotes. Based on the result, biosynthesis of cyanopterine is discussed.     

集胞藻PCC6803 priA基因的突变体

目前对蓝藻的高温耐受性研究主要集中在热激蛋白和光系统II放氧蛋白复合体的外周蛋白基因,如放氧蛋白复合体的3个外周蛋白基因psbO、psbU和psbV[1-4],热激蛋白基因htpG[5]和hsp17[6],而对于是否存在其他耐受高温所需基因尚未进行系统的筛选.     

小鼠金属硫蛋白-Ⅰ在鱼腥藻7120中的融合表达及其纯化

为了提高小鼠金属硫蛋白-Ⅰ(mMT-Ⅰ)在鱼腥藻7120(Anabaena sp.PCC 7120)中的表达量、便于表达产物的分离纯化,构建了新的穿梭融合表达载体pKG-MT.通过pKG-MT,mMT-Ⅰ cDNA在tac启动子的调控下,以与谷胱甘肽转硫酶(GST)C-末端相融合(GST-MT)的形式在鱼藻中表达.SDS-PAGE结果显示在异丙基硫代-β-D-半乳糖苷(IPTG)诱导下GST-MT在鱼腥藻中表达.经谷胱甘肽亲合层析,从转基因藻中分离、纯化得到GST-MT.利用GSTC-末端的凝血酶酶切位点,用凝血酶对GST-MT进行柱上酶切,经Sephadex GS0除去凝血酶得到mMT-Ⅰ.SDS-PAGE表明纯化得到所要的目标产物;ELISA测定结果显示从每克转基因藻(鲜重)中可纯化得到0.9 mg mMT-Ⅰ;原子吸收测定表明纯化得到的mMT-Ⅰ的镉离子结合能力接近于天然MT.     

集胞蓝藻PCC6803含疏水亚基的NAD（P）H脱氢酶亚复合体的分离

利用离子交换与凝胶过滤层析 ,从n dodecylβ D maltoside(DM)处理的集胞蓝藻SynechocystisPCC6 80 3细胞粗提液中 ,首次分离到两个包含NDH疏水亚基NdhA的亚复合体。酶活性分析表明 ,分离到的NDH亚复合体具有NADPH 氮蓝四唑 (NBT)氧化还原酶活性 ,以NADPH为电子供体可以还原铁氰化钾、二溴百里香醌 (DBMIB)、二氯酚靛酚 (DCPIP)、duroquinone以及UQ 0等质醌类电子受体。     

Spectral characteristic of fluorescence induction in a model cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. (PCC 7942)

We present here three-dimensional time-wavelength-intensity displays of changes in variable fluorescence, during the O(JI)PSMT transient, observed in cyanobacterium at room temperature. We were able to measure contributions of individual chromophores to fluorescence spectra at various times of fluorescence induction (FI). The method was applied to a freshwater cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. (PCC 7942). Analysis of our experimental results provides the following new conclusions: (i) the main chlorophyll (Chl) a emission band at ∼ 685 nm that originates in Photosystem (PS) II exhibits typical fast (OPS) and slow (SMT) FI kinetics with both orange (622 nm) and blue (464 nm) excitation. (ii) Similar kinetics are exhibited for its far-red emission satellite band centered at ∼ 745 nm, where the PS II contribution predominates. (iii) A significant OPS-SMT-type kinetics of C-phycocyanin emission at ∼ 650 nm are observed with the blue light excitation, but not with orange light excitation where the signal rose only slightly to a maximum. The induction of F650 was not caused by an admixture of the F685 fluorescence and thus our data show light-inducible and dark-reversible changes of phycobilin fluorescence in vivo. We discuss possible interpretations of this new observation.