羟基酪醇作为线粒体营养素的调控机制

地中海饮食,特别是橄榄油,赋予了地中海周边国家人民对于退行性疾病的强力抵抗,尤其是心血管疾病和肿瘤的发生率以及致死率相对更低。羟基酪醇是橄榄油中的多酚类化合物之一,在防治紫外辐射、糖尿病、老年性视网膜黄斑病变、心血管疾病以及肿瘤等方面都具有重要的生物学效应。将具体阐述羟基酪醇作为一种线粒体营养素（如通过调节线粒体的动态变化以及Nrf2介导的抗氧化酶的诱导等）如何促进其有益功能。     

人乳头瘤病毒58型E6E7融合蛋白的原核表达、纯化及鉴定

目的:构建pET-42a(+)-HPV58E6E7原核表达质粒,诱导表达人乳头瘤病毒(HPV)58型E6E7融合蛋白。方法:采用PCR方法扩增出HPV58 E6E7融合基因的全长序列,利用DNA重组技术将其定向插入原核表达载体pET-42a(+)中,构建pET-42a(+)-HPV58E6E7原核表达质粒,用限制性内切酶酶切和核酸序列检测对重组质粒进行鉴定;将其转入宿主菌大肠杆菌BL21进行诱导以表达HPV58E6E7融合蛋白,并用谷胱甘肽琼脂糖树脂纯化回收HPV58E6E7融合蛋白,用SDS-PAGE及Western印迹鉴定表达蛋白的相对分子质量及抗原性。结果:PCR、限制性内切酶酶切和核酸序列检测证实重组质粒中插入的目的基因大小、方向正确;HPV58E6E7融合蛋白得到高效原核表达及纯化,表达蛋白的分子大小正确,抗原性良好。结论:pET-42a(+)-HPV58E6E7原核表达质粒构建成功,HPV58E6E7融合蛋白得到高效表达及有效纯化,为检测HPV58型治疗性疫苗的免疫效果提供了抗原。     

Rab 蛋白调控胞内囊泡运输

细胞内各个细胞器之间通过囊泡的膜转运是真核细胞存在的基本。Rab蛋白确保了转运蛋白被运输至正确的目的地。Rab蛋白是小GTP酶中的一大家族,它通过募集其效应物蛋白,其中包括接头蛋白,栓系因子,激酶,磷酸酶以及动力蛋白等,调控了细胞膜的选取,囊泡出芽,去包被,转运以及膜融合等过程。本文主要从Rab蛋白循环着手,依次论述了Rab蛋白在囊泡出芽,去包被,转运和膜融合等过程中起到的作用,从而使读者对Rab蛋白能有一个更加系统的了解。     

Barcoding Queensland Fruit Flies (Bactrocera tryoni): impediments and improvements

Identification of adult fruit flies primarily involves microscopic examination of diagnostic morphological characters, while immature stages, such as larvae, can be more problematic. One of the Australia’s most serious horticultural pests, the Queensland Fruit Fly (Bactrocera tryoni: Tephritidae), is of particular biosecurity/quarantine concern as the immature life stages occur within food produce and can be difficult to identify using morphological characteristics. DNA barcoding of the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene could be employed to increase the accuracy of fruit fly species identifications. In our study, we tested the utility of standard DNA barcoding techniques and found them to be problematic for Queensland Fruit Flies, which (i) possess a nuclear copy (a numt pseudogene) of the barcoding region of COI that can be co‐amplified; and (ii) as in previous COI phylogenetic analyses closely related B. tryoni complex species appear polyphyletic. We found that the presence of a large deletion in the numt copy of COI allowed an alternative primer to be designed to only amplify the mitochondrial COI locus in tephritid fruit flies. Comparisons of alternative commonly utilized mitochondrial genes, Cytochrome Oxidase II and Cytochrome b, revealed a similar level of variation to COI; however, COI is the most informative for DNA barcoding, given the large number of sequences from other tephritid fruit fly species available for comparison. Adopting DNA barcoding for the identification of problematic fly specimens provides a powerful tool to distinguish serious quarantine fruit fly pests (Tephritidae) from endemic fly species of lesser concern.     

DNA barcodes identify marine fishes of São Paulo State,Brazil

Anthropogenic impacts are an increasing threat to the diversity of fishes, especially in areas around large urban centres, and many effective conservation actions depend on accurate species identification. Considering the utility of DNA barcoding as a global system for species identification and discovery, this study aims to assemble a DNA barcode reference sequence library for marine fishes from the coastal region of São Paulo State, Brazil. The standard 652 bp ‘barcode’ fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was PCR amplified and bidirectionally sequenced from 678 individuals belonging to 135 species. A neighbour‐joining analysis revealed that this approach can unambiguously discriminate 97% of the species surveyed. Most species exhibited low intraspecific genetic distances (0.31%), about 43‐fold less than the distance among species within a genus. Four species showed higher intraspecific divergences ranging from 2.2% to 7.6%, suggesting overlooked diversity. Notably, just one species‐pair exhibited barcode divergences of <1%. This library is a first step to better know the molecular diversity of marine fish species from São Paulo, providing a basis for further studies of this fauna – extending the ability to identify these species from all life stages and even fragmentary remains, setting the stage for a better understanding of interactions among species, calibrating the estimations about species composition and richness in an ecosystem, and providing tools for authenticating bioproducts and monitoring illegal species exploitation.     

Remodeling of apolipoprotein E-containing spherical reconstituted high density lipoproteins by phospholipid transfer protein

Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) transfers phospholipids between HDL and other lipoproteins in plasma. It also remodels spherical, apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)-containing HDL into large and small particles in a process involving the dissociation of lipid-free/lipid-poor apoA-I. ApoE is another apolipoprotein that is mostly associated with large, spherical HDL that do not contain apoA-I. Three isoforms of apoE have been identified in human plasma: apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4. This study investigates the remodeling of spherical apoE-containing HDL by PLTP and the ability of PLTP to transfer phospholipids between apoE-containing HDL and phospholipid vesicles. Spherical reconstituted high density lipoproteins (rHDL) containing apoA-I [(A-I)rHDL], apoE2 [(E2)rHDL], apoE3 [(E3)rHDL], or apoE4 [(E4)rHDL] as the sole apolipoprotein were prepared by incubating discoidal rHDL with low density lipoproteins and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase. PLTP remodeled the spherical, apoE-containing rHDL into large and small particles without the dissociation of apoE. The PLTP-mediated remodeling of apoE-containing rHDL was more extensive than that of (A-I)rHDL. PLTP transferred phospholipids from small unilamellar vesicles to apoE-containing rHDL in an isoform-dependent manner, but at a rate slower than that for spherical (A-I)rHDL. It is concluded that apoE enhances the capacity of PLTP to remodel HDL but reduces the ability of HDL to participate in PLTP-mediated phospholipid transfers.     

Fibril formation of hsp10 homologue proteins and determination of fibril core regions: differences in fibril core regions dependent on subtle differences in amino acid sequence

Heat shock protein 10 (hsp10) is a member of the molecular chaperones and works with hsp60 in mediating various protein folding reactions. GroES is a representative protein of hsp10 from Escherichia coli. Recently, we found that GroES formed a typical amyloid fibril from a guanidine hydrochloride (Gdn-HCl) unfolded state at neutral pH. Here, we report that other hsp10 homologues, such as human hsp10 (Hhsp10), rat mitochondrial hsp10 (Rhsp10), Gp31 from T4 phage, and hsp10 from the hyperthermophilic bacteria Thermotoga maritima, also form amyloid fibrils from an unfolded state. Interestingly, whereas GroES formed fibrils from either the Gdn-HCl unfolded state (at neutral pH) or the acidic unfolded state (at pH 2.0-3.0), Hhsp10, Rhsp10, and Gp31 formed fibrils from only the acidic unfolded state. Core peptide regions of these protein fibrils were determined by proteolysis treatment followed by a combination of Edman degradation and mass spectroscopy analyses of the protease-resistant peptides. The core peptides of GroES fibrils were identical for fibrils formed from the Gdn-HCl unfolded state and those formed from the acidic unfolded state. However, a peptide with a different sequence was isolated from fibrils of Hhsp10 and Rhsp10. With the use of synthesized peptides of the determined core regions, it was also confirmed that the identified regions were capable of fibril formation. These findings suggested that GroES homologues formed typical amyloid fibrils under acidic unfolding conditions but that the fibril core structures were different, perhaps owing to differences in local amino acid sequences.     

Lineage-Specific Domain Fusion in the Evolution of Purine Nucleotide Cyclases in Cyanobacteria

Cyclic nucleotides (both cAMP and cGMP) play extremely important roles in cyanobacteria, such as regulating heterocyst formation, respiration, or gliding. Catalyzing the formation of cAMP and cGMP from ATP and GTP is a group of functionally important enzymes named adenylate cyclases and guanylate cyclases, respectively. To understand their evolutionary patterns, in this study, we presented a systematic analysis of all the cyclases in cyanobacterial genomes. We found that different cyanobacteria had various numbers of cyclases in view of their remarkable diversities in genome size and physiology. Most of these cyclases exhibited distinct domain architectures, which implies the versatile functions of cyanobacterial cyclases. Mapping the whole set of cyclase domain architectures from diverse prokaryotic organisms to their phylogenetic tree and detailed phylogenetic analysis of cyclase catalytic domains revealed that lineage-specific domain recruitment appeared to be the most prevailing pattern contributing to the great variability of cyanobacterial cyclase domain architectures. However, other scenarios, such as gene duplication, also occurred during the evolution of cyanobacterial cyclases. Sequence divergence seemed to contribute to the origin of putative guanylate cyclases which were found only in cyanobacteria. In conclusion, the comprehensive survey of cyclases in cyanobacteria provides novel insight into their potential evolutionary mechanisms and further functional implications.     

Minoxidil prevents 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-induced serotonin depletions: role of mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channels, Akt and ERK

Preconditioning has emerged as a valid strategy against different neurotoxic insults. Although the mechanisms underlying preconditioning are not fully understood, the activation of ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels has been proposed to play a pivotal role in neuronal preconditioning. In the present work we examine whether minoxidil a KATP channel activator protects against the long-term toxicity caused by the amphetamine derivative 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in rats. Our data show that intrastriatal administration of minoxidil prevents MDMA-induced long-term indole depletions in the rat striatum. This effect was not related to an effect on core temperature, as pre-treatment with minoxidil did not significantly alter MDMA-induced hyperthermia. Taking into account that minoxidil opens both sarcolemmal and mitochondrial KATP channels, we examined the role of each type of channels in the protective effects of minoxidil using specific inhibitors. The administration of HMR-1098, a blocker of the sarcolemmal KATP channels, along with minoxidil did not affect the protection afforded by the latter. On the contrary the selective mitochondrial KATP channel blocker 5-hydroxydecanoic acid completely reversed the protection afforded by minoxidil, thereby implicating the involvement of mitochondrial (but not sarcolemmal) KATP channels. Furthermore our data show the participation of Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinases in minoxidil-afforded protection. Intrastriatal administration of wortmannin or PD98059 (inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular regulated protein kinase, respectively), along with minoxidil abolished the protective effect of minoxidil against the serotonergic toxicity caused by MDMA. These results demonstrate that minoxidil by opening mitochondrial KATP channels completely prevents MDMA toxicity and that Akt and MAP kinases are involved in minoxidil-afforded neuroprotection.