冠状病毒反向遗传技术的研究进展和应用

冠状病毒（Coronavirus,CoV）在分类上属于尼多病毒目、冠状病毒科、冠状病毒属,其基因组长度约为25 000 nt～30 000 nt。反向遗传技术可以针对RNA病毒的基因组进行突变,是研究病毒蛋白功能的有力工具,也是对毒力基因进行突变,构建减毒疫苗株的新型方法。冠状病毒反向遗传技术的建立和应用,推动了基因功能的研究和重组病毒疫苗的研发。本综述将介绍三种常见的冠状病毒反向遗传克隆技术,分别是基于痘病毒载体、基于细菌人工染色体（Bacterial artificial chromosome,BAC）载体和基于体外连接的反向遗传技术。传染性支气管炎病毒（Infectious bronchitis virus,IBV）是成功建立反向遗传系统的冠状病毒之一,本文对反向遗传技术在IBV中的研究和应用进行了介绍和讨论。     

EphA4 Obstructs Spinal Cord Neuron Regeneration by Promoting Excessive Activation of Astrocytes

Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology - Studies have found that molecular targets that regulate tissue development are also involved in regulating tissue regeneration. Erythropoietin-producing...     

Amino acid residues critical for RNA-binding in the N-terminal domain of the nucleocapsid protein are essential determinants for the infectivity of coronavirus in cultured cells

The N-terminal domain of the coronavirus nucleocapsid (N) protein adopts a fold resembling a right hand with a flexible, positively charged β-hairpin and a hydrophobic palm. This domain was shown to interact with the genomic RNA for coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Based on its 3D structure, we used site-directed mutagenesis to identify residues essential for the RNA-binding activity of the IBV N protein and viral infectivity. Alanine substitution of either Arg-76 or Tyr-94 in the N-terminal domain of IBV N protein led to a significant decrease in its RNA-binding activity and a total loss of the infectivity of the viral RNA to Vero cells. In contrast, mutation of amino acid Gln-74 to an alanine, which does not affect the binding activity of the N-terminal domain, showed minimal, if any, detrimental effect on the infectivity of IBV. This study thus identifies residues critical for RNA binding on the nucleocapsid surface, and presents biochemical and genetic evidence that directly links the RNA binding capacity of the coronavirus N protein to the viral infectivity in cultured cells. This information would be useful in development of preventive and treatment approaches against coronavirus infection.     

A high-sensitive and fast-fabricated glucose biosensor based on Prussian blue/topological insulator Bi(2)Se(3) hybrid film

A novel and fast-fabricated Prussian blue (PB)/topological insulator Bi(2)Se(3) hybrid film has been prepared by coelectrodeposition technique. Taking advantages of topological insulator in possessing exotic metallic surface states with bulk insulating gap, Prussian blue nanoparticles in the hybrid film have smaller size as well as more compact structure, showing excellent pH stability even in the alkalescent solution of pH 8.0. Based on the Laviron theory, the electron transfer rate constant of PB/Bi(2)Se(3) hybrid film modified electrode was calculated to be 4.05±0.49s(-1), a relatively big value which may be in favor of establishing a high-sensitive biosensor. An amperometric glucose biosensor was then fabricated by immobilizing glucose oxidase (GOD) on the hybrid film. Under the optimal conditions, a wide linear range extending over 3 orders of magnitude of glucose concentrations (1.0×10(-5)-1.1×10(-2)M) was obtained with a high sensitivity of 24.55μAmM(-1) cm(-2). The detection limit was estimated for 3.8μM defined from a signal/noise of 3. Furthermore, the resulting biosensor was applied to detect the blood sugar in human serum samples without any pretreatment, and the results were comparatively in agreement with the clinical assay.     

Selective detection of uric acid in the presence of ascorbic acid at physiological pH by using a beta-cyclodextrin modified copolymer of sulfanilic acid and N-acetylaniline

A beta-cyclodextrin (CD) modified copolymer membrane of sulfanilic acid (p-ASA) and N-acetylaniline (SPNAANI) on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was prepared and used to determine uric acid (UA) in the presence of a large excess of ascorbic acid (AA) by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The properties of the copolymer were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. The oxidation peaks of AA and UA were well separated at the composite membrane modified electrode in phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 7.4). A linear relationship between the peak current and the concentration of UA was obtained in the range from 1.0 x 10(-5) to 3.5 x 10(-4)mol L(-1), and the detection limit was 2.7 x 10(-6)mol L(-1) at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Two hundred and fifty-fold excess of AA did not interfere with the determination of UA. The application of the prepared electrode was demonstrated by measuring UA in human serum samples without any pretreatment, and the results were comparatively in agreement with the spectrometric clinical assay method.     

TAPPA: topological analysis of pathway phenotype association

Extracting biological insight from microarray data is important but challenging. Here we describe TAPPA, a java-based tool, for identification of phenotype-associated genetic pathways utilizing the pathway topological measures. This is achieved by first calculating a Pathway Connectivity Index (PCI) for each pathway, followed by evaluating its correlation to the phenotypic variation. Our PCI definition not only efficiently captures the contributions from genes that show subtle but consistent changes in expression, but also naturally overweighs the hub genes that interact with a large number of other genes in the pathway. TAPPA also allows evaluation of sub-modules within a pathway and their association to phenotypes.     

Synthesis and evaluation of new carbonic anhydrase inhibitors

A series of new sulfamide derivatives have been synthesized, their structures were confirmed by (1)H NMR and ESI-MS. Some target compounds were assessed by the tool of Dock6, and inhibition effects of all the new compounds on carbonic anhydrase II have been investigated. In addition, some compounds have been investigated for their antihypoxic effects in mice. Results indicated that nine target compounds exhibit as effectively as acetazolamide and 10 compounds have more potent inhibition effects on carbonic anhydrase II than acetazolamide. Three of them (I-8, I-18 and I'-3) can prolong markedly the survival time of mice in hypoxia, which are worth carrying out further studies.     

Overexpression of l-galactono-1, 4-lactone dehydrogenase (GLDH) in Lanzhou lily (Lilium davidii var. unicolor) via particle bombardment-mediated transformation

In China, the native Lanzhou lily (Lilium davidii var. unicolor) is used as an edible lily and is an important source of ascorbic acid. However, an efficient transformation system has not been developed for this important crop. Here, we describe the first successful genetic transformation mediated by particle bombardment in this lily variety. We used pCAMBIA-GLDH, which contains the l -galactono-1, 4-lactone dehydrogenase gene from apple, a hygromycin phosphotransferase gene as a selectable marker, and an intron-containing β-glucuronidase gene as a reporter. In all, 35 transgenic lines were selected via GUS assays and PCR; from these, eight were confirmed by Southern analyses. Transgenic plants were transferred to soil and grown under greenhouse conditions. The levels of reduced ascorbate and total ascorbate (reduced ascorbate + oxidized ascorbate) in transgenic plants were found to be two to seven times those in non-transgenic controls.