The role of the alpha2 chain in the stabilization of the collagen type I heterotrimer: a study of the type I homotrimer in oim mouse tissues

We have previously reported that the fragility of skin, tendon and bone from the oim mouse is related to a significant reduction in the intermolecular cross-linking. The oim mutation is unlikely to affect the efficacy of the lysyl oxidase, suggesting that the defect is in the molecule and fibre. We have therefore investigated the integrity of both the oim collagen molecules and the fibre by differential scanning calorimetry.The denaturation temperature of the oim molecule in solution and the fibre from tail tendon were found to be higher than the wild-type by 2.6deg.C and 1.9deg.C, respectively. With the loss of the alpha2 chain, the hydroxyproline content of the homotrimer is higher than the heterotrimer, which may account for the increase.There is a small decrease in the enthalpy of the oim fibres but it is not significant, suggesting that the amount of disorder of the triple-helical molecules and of the fibres is small and involves only a small part of the total bond energy holding the helical structure together. The difference in denaturation temperature of the skin collagen molecules (t(m)) and fibres (t(d)) is significantly lower for the oim tissues, 19.9deg.C against 23.1deg.C, indicating reduced molecular interactions and hence packing of the molecules in the fibre. Computation of the volume fraction of the water revealed that the interaxial separation of the oim fibres was indeed greater, increasing from 19.6A to 21.0A. This difference of 1.4A, equivalent to a C-C bond, would certainly decrease the ability of the telopeptide aldehyde to interact with the epsilon -amino group from an adjacent molecule and form a cross-link. We suggest, therefore, that the reduction of the cross-linking is due to increased water content of the fibre rather than a distortion of the molecular structure.The higher hydrophobicity of the alpha2 chain appears to play a role in the stabilisation of heterotrimeric type I collagen, possibly by increasing the hydrophobic interactions between the heterotrimeric molecules, thereby reducing the water content and increasing the binding of the molecules in the fibre.     

重组人sBLyS表达纯化条件的优化、理化特征及生物功能研究

构建了原核表达质粒p ET-30a(+)/sBLyS,转化大肠杆菌BL21(λDE3),IPTG诱导表达的重组蛋白以可溶部分和包涵体两种形式存在,为了提高可溶部分重组蛋白的比例,确定16℃为诱导表达的温度,最佳表达时间为12h。在此条件下大规模诱导表达,经Ni²⁺亲和层析获得重组人sBLyS。重组蛋白的等电点约为7.1～7.3,活性状态时是非共价连接的同源三聚体。MTT法测重组人sBLyS对B淋巴细胞的增殖作用结果表明,B细胞经抗IgM原血清活化后,它的增殖程度在一定的重组人sBLyS浓度范围内随其浓度的增加而提高,sBLyS刺激时间对B细胞增长也有显著影响,sBLyS以2μg/mL刺激3d B淋巴细胞的增殖达最大。     

Asymmetry in the triple helix of collagen-like heterotrimers confirms that external bonds stabilize collagen structure

Heating and subsequent cooling mixtures of (Pro-Pro-Gly)(10) and (Pro-Hyp-Gly)(10) peptides leads to formation of model heterotrimeric collagen helices that can be isolated by HPLC. These heterotrimeric collagen peptide helices are shown to be fundamentally unstable as denaturing then renaturing experiments result in heterotrimeric/homotrimeric mixtures.As the proportion of hydroxyproline-containing chains in the trimers increases, differential scanning calorimetry shows that the helix melting temperatures and denaturation enthalpies increasing non-linearly. Three types of Rich-Crick hydrogen bonds observed by NMR allow modelling of heterotrimeric structures based on published homotrimeric X-ray data. This revealed a small axial movement of (Pro-Hyp-Gly)(10) chains towards the C-terminal of the helix, demonstrating heterotrimeric asymmetry.     

The transmembrane homotrimer of ADAM 1 in model lipid bilayers

Fertilin is a transmembrane protein heterodimer formed by the two subunits fertilin alpha and fertilin beta that plays an important role in sperm-egg fusion. Fertilin alpha and beta are members of the ADAM family, and contain each one transmembrane alpha-helix, and are termed ADAM 1 and ADAM 2, respectively. ADAM 1 is the subunit that contains a putative fusion peptide, and we have explored the possibility that the transmembrane alpha-helical domain of ADAM 1 forms homotrimers, in common with other viral fusion proteins. Although this peptide was found to form various homooligomers in SDS, the infrared dichroic data obtained with the isotopically labeled peptide at specific positions is consistent with the presence of only one species in DMPC or POPC lipid bilayers. Comparison of the experimental orientational data with molecular dynamics simulations performed with sequence homologues of ADAM 1 show that the species present in lipid bilayers is only consistent with an evolutionarily conserved homotrimeric model for which we provide a backbone structure. These results support a model where ADAM 1 forms homotrimers as a step to create a fusion active intermediate.     

糙皮侧耳脲酶基因的克隆和原核表达分析

尿素是现代农业生产中应用较为广泛的一种氮素化肥,而脲酶（EC 3.5.1.5）是尿素分解利用的关键酶。本文以糙皮侧耳Pleurotus ostreatus栽培菌株New 831为试验材料,探究了糙皮侧耳对尿素的利用情况,结果表明：糙皮侧耳可利用尿素作为唯一氮源,平板培养时尿素最适添加量为20mmol/L;在液体摇瓶培养过程中,培养液中的铵根浓度表现为先急剧升高后缓慢降低。通过对P. ostreatus PC15菌株基因组分析,获得了一个功能注释为脲酶的基因,并克隆获得了其全长基因组DNA（gDNA）和编码区（CDS）片段,命名为Pourease。结果表明：Pourease基因的gDNA和CDS长度分别为3 003bp和2 517bp,由10个外显子和9个内含子组成;Pourease蛋白由838个氨基酸组成,预测分子量为90.03kDa,与SDS-PAGE分析结果相符;Pourease蛋白与细菌、真菌和植物来源的脲酶具有52%-82%的一致性,且含有脲酶保守的镍离子结合位点;与洋刀豆脲酶空间结构类似,Pourease蛋白也以同源三聚体的形式存在。     

Conformational flexibility and structural variability of SARS-CoV2 S protein

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