grp75对细胞缺糖损伤的保护作用

为研究ｇｒｐ７５的功能,对过表达ｇｒｐ７５的ＣＨＬ细胞进行了无糖培养以施加能量代谢应激,运用台盼蓝染色计数、ＬＤＨ释放测定和流式细胞术等方法评估其损伤程序。结果显示,无糖培养５ｈ,过表达ｇｒｐ７５细胞和对照组细胞比较,细胞活率、亚二倍体细胞率均无明显差别;无糖培养１０ｈ,过表达ｇｒｐ７５细胞的活率高于对照组（Ｐ〈０．０１）,亚二倍体细胞率低于对照组（Ｐ〈０．０５）;无糖培养至２０ｈ,两组细胞活率和     

Boron transport in plants: co-ordinated regulation of transporters

Background

The essentiality of boron (B) for plant growth was established >85 years ago. In the last decade, it has been revealed that one of the physiological roles of B is cross-linking the pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan II in primary cell walls. Borate cross-linking of pectic networks serves both for physical strength of cell walls and for cell adhesion. On the other hand, high concentrations of B are toxic to plant growth. To avoid deficiency and toxicity problems, it is important for plants to maintain their tissue B concentrations within an optimum range by regulating transport processes. Boron transport was long believed to be a passive, unregulated process, but the identification of B transporters has suggested that plants sense and respond to the B conditions and regulate transporters to maintain B homeostasis.

Scope

Transporters responsible for efficient B uptake by roots, xylem loading and B distribution among leaves have been described. These transporters are required under B limitation for efficient acquisition and utilization of B. Transporters important for tolerating high B levels in the environment have also been identified, and these transporters export B from roots back to the soil. Two types of transporters are involved in these processes: NIPs (nodulin-26-like intrinsic proteins), boric acid channels, and BORs, B exporters. It is demonstrated that the expression of genes encoding these transporters is finely regulated in response to B availability in the environment to ensure tissue B homeostasis. Furthermore, plants tolerant to stress produced by low B or high B in the environment can be generated through altered expression of these transporters.

Conclusions

The identification of the first B transporter led to the discovery that B transport was a process mediated not only by passive diffusion but also by transporters whose activity was regulated in response to B conditions. Now it is evident that plants sense internal and external B conditions and regulate B transport by modulating the expression and/or accumulation of these transporters. Results obtained in model plants are applicable to other plant species, and such knowledge may be useful in designing plants or crops tolerant to soils containing low or high B.     

山羊SREBP-1基因的超表达对脂肪酸代谢相关基因表达的影响

本研究旨在通过构建西农萨能羊固醇调节元件结合蛋白-1(SREBP-1)基因的重组腺病毒超表达载体,获得有感染性的病毒颗粒,并检测该基因过表达后对乳腺上皮细胞中脂肪酸代谢相关基因的影响,为进一步研究该基因在脂肪酸代谢及泌乳调控中的功能奠定基础。根据GenBank中收录的西农萨能羊SREBP-1基因的序列设计引物,PCR扩增后进行测序。将测序正确的目的基因连接到穿梭载体pAdTrack-CMV后并进行线性化,转化含有腺病毒骨架载体pAdEasy-1的大肠杆菌Escherichia coli BJ5183感受态细胞中进行同源重组,将重组成功的质粒进行PacⅠ酶线性化,转染HEK 293细胞进行重组腺病毒的包装、扩繁及滴度测定。病毒液感染原代乳腺上皮细胞,实时荧光定量检测SREBP-1超表达效果及对脂肪酸代谢相关基因的影响。结果表明:重组腺病毒质粒构建成功,腺病毒滴度为109U/mL。病毒液感染乳腺上皮细胞48 h后,SREBP-1基因表达量上升大约15倍,72 h后,表达量上调了30倍;对脂肪酸代谢相关基因的影响在72 h较为明显,其中,脂肪酸合酶(FASN)及酰基辅酶A羧化酶(ACC)均显著上调了大约两倍,过氧化物酶体增殖物激活受体(PPARγ)上调了大约1.5倍,肝素X受体(LXRα)及甘油三酯水解酶(ATGL)表达量升高了1.2倍;其中硬脂酰辅酶A去饱和酶(SCD)表达水平无明显变化。表明在西农萨能羊乳腺上皮细胞中,SREBP-1能够促进脂肪酸合成相关基因的表达,对山羊乳腺脂肪酸代谢具有调控作用。     

Endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated inhibition of NSMase2 elevates plasma membrane cholesterol and attenuates NO production in endothelial cells

Chronic exposure of blood vessels to cardiovascular risk factors such as free fatty acids, LDL-cholesterol, homocysteine and hyperglycemia can give rise to endothelial dysfunction, partially due to decreased synthesis and bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO). Many of these same risk factors have been shown to induce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in endothelial cells. The objective of this study was to examine the mechanisms responsible for endothelial dysfunction mediated by ER stress. ER stress elevated both intracellular and plasma membrane (PM) cholesterols in BAEC by ~ 3-fold, indicated by epifluorescence and cholesterol oxidase methods. Increases in cholesterol levels inversely correlated with neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (NSMase2) activity, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phospho-activation and NO-production. To confirm that ER stress-induced effects on PM cholesterol were a direct consequence of decreased NSMase2 activity, enzyme expression was either enhanced or knocked down in BAEC. NSMase2 over-expression did not significantly affect cholesterol levels or NO-production, but increased eNOS phosphorylation by ~ 1.7-fold. Molecular knock down of NSMase2 decreased eNOS phosphorylation and NO-production by 50% and 40%, respectively while increasing PM cholesterol by 1.7-fold and intracellular cholesterol by 2.7-fold. Furthermore, over-expression of NSMase2 in ER-stressed BAEC lowered cholesterol levels to within control levels as well as nearly doubled the NO production, restoring it to ~ 74% and 68% of controls using tunicamycin and palmitate, respectively. This study establishes NSMase2 as a pivotal enzyme in the onset of endothelial ER stress-mediated vascular dysfunction as its inactivation leads to the attenuation of NO production and the elevation of cellular cholesterol.     

Functional evaluation of a homologue of plant rapid alkalinisation factor (RALF) peptides in Fusarium graminearum

The cereal infecting fungus Fusarium graminearum is predicted to possess a single homologue of plant RALF (rapid alkalinisation factor) peptides. Fusarium mutant strains lacking FgRALF were generated and found to exhibit wildtype virulence on wheat and Arabidopsis floral tissue. Arabidopsis lines constitutively overexpressing FgRALF exhibited no obvious change in susceptibility to F. graminearum leaf infection. In contrast transient virus-mediated over-expression (VOX) of FgRALF in wheat prior to F. graminearum infection, slightly increased the rate of fungal colonisation of floral tissue. Ten putative Feronia (FER) receptors of RALF peptide were identified bioinformatically in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum). Transient silencing of two wheat FER homoeologous genes prior to F. graminearum inoculation did not alter the subsequent interaction outcome. Collectively, our VOX results show that the fungal RALF peptide may be a minor contributor in F. graminearum virulence but results from fungal gene deletion experiments indicate potential functional redundancy within the F. graminearum genome. We demonstrate that virus-mediated over-expression is a useful tool to provide novel information about gene/protein function when results from gene deletion/disruption experimentation were uninformative.     

New tools for G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) drug discovery: combination of baculoviral expression system and solid state NMR

Biotechnology using molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and computational approaches provides an alternative approach for classical pharmacological screening to look at ligand-receptor interactions and receptor specificity, which should support the design of selective drugs based on detailed structural principles. This review addresses specific approaches to study function, structure and relevance of a major pharmaceutical target, namely the G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). The main aim of this review has been to exploit and combine GPCR over-expression in a baculoviral expression system with solid-state MAS NMR (ssNMR) approaches for the elucidation of electronic structures of the coordinating ligands/drugs and their modes of interactions with the GPCRs. This review summarizes the approaches, possible future experiments and developments using the above combination of tools for GPCR drug discovery.     

Transactivation of capn2 by myogenic regulatory factors during myogenesis

The calcium-activated cysteine protease m-calpain plays a pivotal role during the earlier stages of myogenesis, particularly during fusion. The enzyme is a heterodimer, encoded by the genes capn2, for the large subunit, and capn4, for the small subunit. To study the regulation of m-calpain, the DNA sequence upstream of capn2 was analyzed for promoter elements, revealing the existence of five consensus-binding sites (E-box) for several myogenic regulatory factors and one binding site for myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF-2). Transient transfections with reporter gene constructs containing the E-box revealed that MyoD presents a high level of transactivation of reporter constructs containing this region, in particular the sequences including the MEF-2/E4-box. In addition, over-expression of various myogenic factors demonstrated that MyoD and myogenin with much less efficiency, can up-regulate capn2, both singly and synergistically, while Myf5 has no effect on synthesis of the protease. Experiments with antisense oligonucleotides directed against each myogenic factor revealed that MyoD plays a specific and pivotal role during capn2 regulation, and cannot be replaced wholly by myogenin and Myf5.     

Over-expression of xylulokinase in a xylose-metabolising recombinant strain of Zymomonas mobilis

The broad host range vector pBBR1MCS-2 has been evaluated as an expression vector for Zymomonas mobilis. The transformation efficiency of this vector was 2 x 10(3) CFU per mug of DNA in a recombinant strain of Z. mobilis ZM4/AcR containing the plasmid pZB5. Stable replication for this expression vector was demonstrated for 50 generations. This vector was used to study xylose metabolism in acetate resistant Z. mobilis ZM4/AcR (pZB5) by over-expression of xylulokinase (XK), as previous studies had suggested that XK could be the rate-limiting enzyme for such strains. Based on the above vector, a recombinant plasmid pJX1 harboring xylB (expressing XK) under control of a native Z. mobilis promotor Ppdc was constructed. When this plasmid was introduced into ZM4/AcR (pZB5) a 3-fold higher XK expression was found compared to the control strain. However, fermentation studies with ZM4/AcR (pZB5, pJX1) on xylose medium did not result in any increase in rate of growth or xylose metabolism, suggesting that XK expression was not rate-limiting for ZM4/AcR (pZB5) and related strains.     

枸杞LbMYB103基因克隆及转化拟南芥的研究

以枸杞品种‘宁杞1号’花药为材料,采用 RT-PCR技术,分离了R2R3类MYB基因LbMYB103包含完整开放阅读框（ORF）的cDNA片段,碱基序列与已知基因HQ415755完全一致。运用Gateway技术构建LbMYB103基因植物过表达载体pMDC83-LbMYB103,利用基因枪法将融合有绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）的过表达载体转入洋葱表皮细胞,将LbMYB103基因定位在细胞核。实时荧光定量PCR分析发现,LbMYB103基因在花药中优势表达,果实中表达量较低,在根、茎和叶中均未检测到其转录本,推测LbMYB103基因可能在花药发育过程中起重要作用。通过根癌农杆菌介导法将pMDC83-LbMYB103转入拟南芥（Col-0）,经筛选获得T₁代抗性再生植株52棵,PCR鉴定有41棵阳性植株,收获T₁代种子,经抗性筛选获得T₂代抗性植株29棵,PCR鉴定有23棵阳性植株。实时荧光定量PCR分析表明,LbMYB103在拟南芥植株的基因组中正常表达。表型观察发现T₁和T₂代拟南芥花药发育异常,花发育迟缓,果荚短小无种子,进一步表明LbMYB103可能与植物的育性有关。该结果为进一步开展枸杞遗传转化,深入研究LbMYB103基因在枸杞花药发育过程中可能发挥的调控功能奠定了基础。