软紫草愈伤组织的初步培养

外植体来源不同的软紫草愈伤组织产生紫草色素的能力各异。６０Ｃｏ－ｒ射线辐照处理后的Ｈ２无性系愈伤组织生长量和色素产生均属上乘。改良ＭＳ基本培养基添加１毫克／升ＫＴ,０．５毫克／升ＩＡＡ,５％（Ｗ／Ｖ）蔗糖对愈伤组织培养较为适宜。马铃薯提取液对愈伤组织生长有明显的促进作用。     

肠膜明串珠菌蔗糖磷酸化酶的酶学表征及在催化合成α-熊果苷中的应用

将来源于肠膜明串珠菌Leuconostoc mesenteroides ATCC 12291的蔗糖磷酸化酶(Sucrose phosphorylase,SPase)基因进行密码子优化后将其插入到pET-28a中构建表达载体pET-28a-spase,诱导大肠杆菌Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)/pET-28a-spase表达制得SPase粗酶液,将重组SPase纯化后进行酶学表征。结果表明,重组SPase的比酶活为213.98 U/mg,纯化倍数为1.47倍,酶活回收率达87.80%。该酶最适温度为45℃,最适pH为6.5,该酶对蔗糖的Km为128.8 mmol/L,Vmax为2.167μmol/(mL·min),kcat为39 237.86 min-1,利用重组SPase催化氢醌合成α-熊果苷,最优条件为:氢醌添加量为40 g/L,蔗糖/氢醌的摩尔比为5:1,重组SPase 250 U/mL。在25 mmol/L的吗啉乙磺酸(MES)缓冲液(pH 7.0)中,反应温度30℃,避光反应24 h后终止反应,再用500 U/mL的糖化酶40℃处理2.5 h。α-熊果苷产量达98 g/L,氢醌的转化率接近99%。综上所述,文中克隆并研究了重组SPase,并建立了其在α-熊果苷生产中的应用。     

表面展示表达果胶酯酶的重组酿酒酵母构建及乙醇发酵

【目的】以淀粉为原料的乙醇发酵工艺仍然是当前燃料乙醇的主要生产方式。然而,一些原料中含有的果胶物质不仅降低了乙醇产率,而且会导致醪液粘度增大,从而会进一步影响传质和传热、增加设备负担等。构建能够自主降解果胶质的重组酿酒酵母并应用于燃料乙醇生产是值得探索的领域。【方法】论文将来源于黑曲霉的果胶酯酶基因克隆于α因子信号肽下游并通过酵母α-凝集素C-端蛋白的介导构建了在细胞表面锚定表达果胶酯酶的重组酿酒酵母PE。【结果】重组酵母的果胶酯酶表达水平达到2.6 U/g(菌体湿重),并进一步鉴定了重组果胶酯酶性质。以甘薯粉为原料的同步糖化发酵实验中,重组酵母PE的乙醇浓度和乙醇转化率分别达到95 g/L和88.1%,与出发菌株相比提高了2.2%。更重要的是,表面展示果胶酯酶能够显著降低发酵过程中的发酵液粘度。【结论】通过在工业酿酒酵母表面展示表达果胶酯酶不仅能够提高糖化酶等的作用效果和酿酒酵母的代谢能力,而且能够显著降低乙醇生产过程中发酵液的粘度,将对工业规模乙醇生产在降低设备负担、节约能耗方面具有一定的潜在价值。     

十字花科植物PEBP基因家族的分子进化

近年来植物基因组测序物种数量的指数增长, 为我们对植物环境适应性状的遗传和变异的全面理解提供了保障。磷脂酰乙醇胺结合蛋白(phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein, PEBP)在植物的开花转变和株型建立中起着重要作用, 一直是植物生物学研究关注的热点领域之一。然而对该家族并没有利用新近测序的基因组数据进行比较基因组分析, 制约了对其在分子水平上的进化研究。为了确定PEBP基因家族的分子进化机制, 本研究利用生物信息学方法开展了7种十字花科植物拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)、琴叶拟南芥(A. lyrata)、小鼠耳芥(A. pumila)、亚麻荠(Camelina sativa)、甘蓝(Brassica oleracea)、白菜(B. rapa)和油菜(B. napus)的PEBP基因家族成员的全基因组鉴定、结构特征和比较进化分析。从7个物种中共鉴定出91个PEBP基因, 系统进化分析表明它们分属5个亚家族: MFT、FT/TSF、TFL1、CEN和BFT。基因结构分析发现甘蓝、白菜和油菜的CEN基因内含子明显比其余4个物种的内含子长。蛋白结构域分析表明MFT比其他4个亚家族成员少了一个motif 2, TFL1比其他亚家族多了motif 8。选择压力分析发现7个物种PEBP同源基因均受到较强的纯化选择, 其中TFL1亚家族受到的纯化选择最弱。共线性分析表明十字花科植物PEBP基因家族随古代多倍体事件发生不同程度的扩张, TSF在甘蓝、白菜和油菜中丢失。非生物胁迫下, 在拟南芥中过量表达小鼠耳芥的一个MFT基因, 转基因拟南芥种子的萌发率明显低于野生型, 暗示MFT基因在调控种子萌发上的功能保守。本研究为深入研究十字花科植物PEBP基因的进化特征和生物学功能奠定了基础。     

The enhanced expression of estrogen-related receptor α in human bladder cancer tissues and the effects of estrogen-related receptor α knockdown on bladder cancer cells

Estrogen-related receptor α (ERRα) belongs to the superfamily of nuclear orphan receptors. However, the role of ERRα in bladder cancer remains unknown. This study examined the expression of ERRα in bladder cancer tissues and explored the molecular mechanisms of ERRα in bladder cancer progression. The expression of ERRα in bladder cancer tissues from 61 patients was determined by immunohistochemistry. We performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay to detect the gene expression levels and carried out Western blot assay to measure protein levels. In vitro functional assays, including colony formation, Cell Counting Kit-8, Transwell invasion, and migration assays, were performed to detect bladder cancer cell growth, proliferation, invasion, and migration, respectively. Flow cytometry was used to determine the cell apoptotic rate of bladder cancer cells. Among the 61 detected bladder cancer tissues, 39 bladder cancer tissues showed positive ERRα immunoreactivity. Higher ERRα immunoreactivity score was significantly associated with TNM stage, tumor grade, distant metastasis, and poor survival in patients with bladder cancer. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that ERRα immunoreactivity was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with bladder cancer. ERRα was found to be upregulated in bladder cancer cell lines, and knockdown of ERRα suppressed bladder cancer cell growth, proliferation, invasion, and migration; promoted bladder cancer cell apoptosis; and inhibited the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of bladder cancer cells. On the other hand, bladder cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and migration were significantly enhanced after cells were transfected with an ERRα-overexpressing vector. In vivo tumor growth and metastasis assays showed that ERRα knockdown resulted in remarkable inhibition of tumor growth and tumor metastasis in nude mice. Collectively, our results suggest that the enhanced expression of ERRα may play a key role in the development and progression of bladder cancer and ERRα may serve as an important prognostic factor for bladder cancer.     

Effects of species richness and elevated carbon dioxide on biomass accumulation: a synthesis using meta-analysis

Magnitude of growth enhancement by elevated CO(2) in a plant assemblage is dependent on a number of biotic and abiotic factors, including species richness. In this meta-analysis, we examined effects of elevated CO(2) on plant biomass accumulation in single- (populations) and multi-species (communities) assemblages. The primary objectives were to statistically synthesize the voluminous CO(2) studies conducted so far and to assess the collective response of plant growth to elevated CO(2) as affected by species richness. Our analysis showed that biomass enhancement by higher CO(2) was consistently lower in communities than in populations. For example, total plant biomass (W(T)) increased only 13% in communities compared to 30% in populations in response to elevated CO(2) across all studies included in this synthesis. Above- and below-ground biomass responded similarly as W (T) to elevated CO(2) and species richness. Smaller growth enhancement by CO(2) was found in communities consisting of species of different growth forms (woody vs. herbaceous species) or functional groups (legumes vs. non-legumes). This pattern was consistent across three major classes of facilities (closed, semi-open and open systems) used to manipulate CO(2) concentrations. An analysis of free-air CO(2) enrichment studies revealed that the population-community difference in growth enhancement by higher CO(2) was also dependent on the rate of N addition. Populations responded more than communities only when soil was amended with N. From the CO(2) studies synthesized in this meta-analysis, it is obvious that the collective growth responsiveness to elevated CO(2) will be lower in communities than in populations. We hypothesize that resource usurpation, i.e., competitive compartmentation of growth-limiting resources by less responsive species, may be important in determining growth response to elevated CO(2) in a community and is one of the reasons responsible for the lower biomass enhancement by elevated CO(2) in communities, as found in this synthesis.     

Techniques for the regeneration and genetic transformation of Arabidopsis pumila: an ephemeral plant suitable for investigating the mechanisms for adaptation to desert environments

Arabidopsis pumila is a type of cruciferous ephemeral plant, which in China mainly grows in the desert environments of northern Xinjiang. A. pumila not only has a short growth duration, but also has high photosynthetic efficiency, seed yield, salt tolerance, and drought resistance. It is an ideal species for the study of environmental adaptations in ephemeral plants. We induced callus tissue formation on the roots and hypocotyls of 8-day-old seedlings, and on the leaves and petioles of 4-week-old seedlings, and obtained multiple adventitious shoots on these tissues grown on Murashige and Skoog induction medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L 6-Benzylaminopurine and 0.1 mg/L α-Naphthalene acetic acid. Young roots, hypocotyls, leaves, and petioles could all induce calluses, but the induction rate was highest on young roots. In addition, the leaves and petioles of 4-week-old seedlings were used as explants, the Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid synthase gene 1 of A. pumila controlled by 35S promoter of cauliflower mosaic virus was used as target gene, and hygromycin B was used as screening antibiotic to explore Agrobacterium tumefaciens GV3101 mediated transformation. The results showed that the callus induction rate of petiole explants was the highest when they were treated with Agrobacterium suspension (OD₆₀₀?=?0.6) for 10 min and thenco-cultured in dark for 2 days. The qRT-PCR results showed that the ApP5CS1.1 gene was overexpressed in the transgenic plants. These protocols provide working research methods for exploring the cellular level adaptative mechanisms of this species to desert environments.