Comparative proteomics analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">OsNAS1</Emphasis> transgenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica napus</Emphasis> under salt stress

Salt stress is one of the major abiotic stresses in agricultural plants worldwide. We used proteomics to analyze the differential expression of proteins in transgenic OsNAS1 and non-transformant Brassica napus treated with 20 mmol/L Na₂CO₃. Total protein from the leaves was extracted and separated through a high-resolution and highly repetitive two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) technology system. Twelve protein spots were reproducibly observed to be upregulated by more than 2-fold between transgenic and non-transformant B. napus. These 12 spots were digested in-gel with trypsin and characterized by matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) to obtain the peptide mass fingerprints. Protein database searching revealed that 5 of these proteins are involved in salt tolerance: dehydrogenase, glutathione S-transferase, peroxidase, 20S proteasome beta subunit, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. The potential functions of these identified proteins in substance and energy metabolism, stress tolerance, protein degradation, and cell defense are discussed. The salt tolerance of the transgenic rapeseed was significantly improved by the introduction of the OsNAS1 gene from Brazilian upland rice of Oryza sativa (cv. IAPAR 9).     

Molecular dynamics simulation of site-directed mutagenesis of HIV-1 Tattrans-activator

The Cys-rich domain, core region and basic domain are highly conserved and very important to thetrans-activation activity of HIV-1 Tattrans-activator. The three-dimensional structures of 6 mutants of HIV-1 Tat protein were constructed with the methods of molecular dynamics simulation. The variations of the structures of the mutants have been analyzed and the factors that led to abolishment oftrans-activation activity have been discussed.     

Activities and properties of calcineurin catalytic domain

Calcineurin (CN) is the only protein phosphatase known to be under the control of calcium (Ca²⁺) and calmodulin (CaM). The enzyme consists of two subunits, the catalytic A subunit of 61 ku (CNA) and a regulatory B subunit of 19 ku (CNB). In this study, we used PCR amplication to construct a truncation consisting of only the CNA catalytic domain. The truncation was induced by IPTG and expressed inE. coli. PNPP was used as a substrate to study the phosphatase activity of the CNA catalytic domain. The findings show that its activity is 20 times greater than CNA in the presence of CNB and CaM. The optimum reaction temperature for the CNA catalytic domain protein is 40°C, and the optimum reaction pH value is 8.0. Mn²⁺ is still an effective activator for the CNA catalytic domain, but its activity is not controlled by Ca²⁺. In the presence of 6 mmol/L Mg²⁺, adding either Ca²⁺ or EGTA did not change the activity of the CNA catalytic domain.     

Ovicidal activity of two fungal pathogens （Hyphomycetes）against Tetranychus cinnabarinus （Acarina：Tetranichidae）

The carmine spider mite, Tetranychus cinna-barinus, is an economically important pest that devastates varieties of crops worldwide and develops significant resistance to common chemical pesticides, most of which lack ovicidal activity. In the present study, two isolates of entomopathogenic fungi, Beuaveria bassiana SG8702 and Pae-cilomyces fumosoroseus Pfrl53, were bioassayed against T. cinnabarinus eggs at 25 ℃ under a photophase of 12 : 12 (L:D). Infected eggs on Vicia faba var. minor leaves failed to hatch due to distortion and shrinkage and had fungal outgrowths when maintained under moist conditions. Sprays of B. bassiana conidia to T. cinnabarinus eggs (on leaves) at the concentrations of 58, 298 and 1306 conidia/mm2 (3 replicates per concentration and 35-65 fresh mite eggs per replicate) resulted in corrected egg mortalities of 20.4±4.2%, 36.0±7.6% and 64.6±12.5% (F=43.14, P <0.01), respectively; sprays of P. fumosoroseus at 129, 402 and 2328 conidia/mm2 caused egg mortalities of 16.1±11.1%,     

Construction and characterization of partiallyntrC-deleted mutants inAlcaligenes faecalis

To study the effect of ntrC gene product on the expression and regulation of other important nitrogen-fixing genes in Alcaligenes faecalis, partially ntrC-deleted mutants of A. faecalis have been generated. To start with, the ntrC gene of A. faecalis was cloned into a suicide plasmid pSUP202 to create a recombinant plasmid pSUM1. The ntrC gene in pSUM1 was then replaced by a lacZ-Km^r fragment resulted in the generation of a plasmid pSUM2. The lacZ fragment in pSUM2 was further removed and a plasmid pSUM3 produced. As a second step, the plasmid pSUM2 or pSUM3 was introduced into the wild type of A. faecalis A1501 by conjugation and two partially ntrC-deleted mutants A15CM1 (ntrC∷lacZ) and A15CM2 (ntrC ^- ) were obtained. To understand the regulatory effect of the NtrC on the expression of nifH and nifA, a nifH-lacZ gene or a nifH-lacZ gene was introduced into the ntrC^- mutant by conjugation. The results indicated that: (ⅰ) although the ntrC^-mutant was nif ⁺ , its nitrogen fixation activity was only 20% that of the wild type; (ⅱ) the ntrC^- mutant failed to grow on the medium containing nitrate as a sole nitrogen source; (ⅲ) the regulation of ntrC gene expression did not require its own product; (ⅳ) the expression of nifH in A . faecalis was positively regulated by the ntrC. Deletion of the ntrC resulted in the reduction of nifH expression or even totally inactivated nitrogen fixation; (ⅴ) there was no obvious influence on the expression of nifA in A. faecalis if the ntrC gene was deleted.     

Characterization of a FeMo cofactor-deficient MoFe protein from a nifE-deleted strain （DJ35） of Azotobacter vinelandii

A MoFe protein （△nifE Av1） with a purity of ～80% was purified from a nifE-deleted mutant of Azotobacter vinelandii DJ35. Compared with MoFe protein purified from wild-type strain OP （OP Av1）, △nifE Av1 had the same subunits composition, and had immune reaction with antibody to OP Av1, but its relative mobility in anaerobic native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis （PAGE） was a little larger than that of OP Av1. Metal analysis showed that Mo and Fe contents of △nifE Av1 both apparently decreased. When complemented with OP Fe protein, △nifE Av1 had no C2H2-reduction activity, but it could be in vitro activated by FeMoco extracted from OP Av1. The circular dichroism （CD） spectrum of △nifE Av1 at ～450 nm was similar to that of OP Av1, while the EPR signal at g≈3.7 was absolutely silent, and the signal intensities at g≈4.3 and 2.0 decreased by 75% and 50%, respectively. The results indicated that △nifE Av1 purified from DJ35 was a FeMoco-deficient but P-cluster-containing MoFe protein.     

Protection against malaria by immunization with plasmid DNA encoding cholera toxin B subunit andPlasmodium falciparum epitopes

Cholera toxin B subunit is a good carrier protein and an effective adjuvant which can boost both cellular and humoral immunity. DNA fragments encoding B cell, Th cell and CTL epitopes of P. falciparum CS, MSA-1, MSA-2 and RESA antigens were cloned down-stream of cholera toxin B subunit gene in the same reading frame. Another modification using IL2 as adjuvant was also made. High titer of anti-malaria epitopes antibodies and strong cellular immunogenicity were elicited after Balb/c mice were immunized three times with 100 μg recombinant plasmid DNA dissolved in 100 μL PBS. 200 vaccinees were challenged with mouse Plasmodium yoelli to investigate if cross protection existed. The protective efficacy was about 50%. And it is found that the protective efficacy is correlated with CTL activity which was considered to be the primary effects of anti-sporozoite protective immunity. Better results might be expected when the DNA vaccine candidates were applied to primates.     

A Gγ subunit promoter T-DNA insertion mutant――A1-412 of Magnaporthe grisea is defective in appressorium formation, penetration and pathogenicity

Heterotrimeric G-proteins consisting of α, β and γ-subunits are essential for the transduction of ex- tracellular signals to various downstream intracellular effectors in eukaryotes. Previous studies showed that Gα and Gβ were involved in regulating     

Insights into the subunit interactions of the chloroplast ATP synthase

Subunit interactions of the chloroplast F0F1- ATP synthase were studied using the yeast two-hybrid system. The coding sequences of all the nine subunits of spinach chloroplast ATP synthase were cloned in two-hybrid vectors. The vectors were transformed into the yeast strains HF7c and SFY526 by various pairwise combinations, and the protein interactions were analyzed by measuring the yeast growth on minimal SD medium without serine, lucine and histidine. Interactions of γ Subunit with wild type or two truncated mutants of γ sununit, △εN21 and △εC45, which lose their abilities to inhibit the ATP hydrolysis, were also detected by in vitro and in vivo binding assay. The present results are largely accordant to the common structure model of F0F1-ATP synthase. Different from that in the E. Coli F0F1-ATP synthase, the δ subunit of chloroplast ATP syn- thase could interact with β,γ,ε and all the CF0 subunits in the two-hybrid system. These results suggested that though the chloroplast ATP synthase shares the similar structure and composition of subunits with the enzyme from E. Coli, it may be different in the subunit interactions and con- formational change during catalysis between these two sources of ATP synthase. Based on the present results and our knowledge of structure model of E. Coli ATP synthase, a deduced structure model of chloroplast ATP synthase was proposed.     

Purification and Characterization of an Antibacterial Protein from the Cultured Mycelia of Cordyceps sinensis

0 IntroductionAlnattie mdicfrroobmiala p wriodteei nvsar iheatdy boefe linv ifnogun odr gaanndis ismos--Bacteria[1], fungi[2 ,3], plants[4]and ani mals[5].Those proteins displayed a wide spectrumof anti mi-crobial activity against different species of viruses ,bacteria andfungi .Over the past few years ,several anti microbialpeptides and proteins were foundinfungus ,such asAFP fromAspergillus giganteus[6], Anafp fromAspergillus niger[7], Zygocin fromthe yeastZy-gosaccharomyces bailii[8],an…     

Genetic analysis and mapping of rice （Oryza sativa L.） male-sterile （OsMS-L） mutant

A rice male-sterile mutant OsMS-L of japonica cultivar 9522 background, was obtained in M4 population treated with ^60Co γ-Ray. Genetic analysis indicated that the male.sterile phenotype was controlled by a single recessive gene. Results of tissue section showed that at microspore stage, OsMS-L tapetum was retarded. Then tapetal calls expanded and microspores degenerated. No matured pollens were observed in OsMS-L anther locus. To map OsMS-L locus, an F2 population was constructed from the cross between the OsMS-L (japonica) and LongTeFu B(indica). Firstly, the OsMS-L locus was roughly mapped between two SSR markers, RM109 and RM7562 on chromosome 2. And then eleven polymorphic markers were developed for further fine fine-mapping. At last the OsMS-L locus was mapped between the two lnDel markers, Lhsl0 and Lhs6 with genetic distance of 0.4 cM, respectively. The region was delimited to 133 kb. All these results were useful for further cloning and functional analysis of OsMS-L.     

油菜籽焦磷酸:果糖-6-磷酸1-磷酸转移酶的动力学研究

采用DEAE-Sephadex A-50及磷酸纤维素柱层析,用底物亲和洗脱法从萌发油菜(Brassica napus)种子中分离纯化了焦磷酸:果糖-6-磷酸1-磷酸转移酶(PFP).纯化倍数679.7倍,比活力为21.75 单位/毫克.蛋白,活力回收率22.9%.酶的最适pH值为7.5,Mg2+和M2+n对酶有激活作用.进行酶的初级动力学及稳态动力学研究,对果糖-6-磷酸(F6P)表现为典型的米氏规律,Km值为3.33 mmol/L;对焦磷酸(PPi)的活力变化,在PPi浓度小于1.0 mmol/L时具有部分米氏酶特点(Km＝1.0 mmol/L),大于1.0 mmol/L时,PPi对酶有抑制作用.从两底物F6P和PPi的相互作用以及产物磷酸(Pi)与底物(F6P和PPi)的相互关系分析,初步推断油菜籽PFP的催化反应为双底物双产物的有序机制.     

Sequence analysis of the gene correlated with cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in rape-seed (Brassica napus) Polima and Shaan 2A

orf224 is a CMS-related mitochondrial gene discovered in Polima cytoplasm. Shaan 2A CMS line is the parent of the first rapeseed hybrid cultivar Qinyou No. 2 that has been grown in many regions of China. In this work, genomic DNA of Polima CMS line and Shaan 2A CMS line were used as templates, two primers of specific oligonucleotides at 5′ and 3′ ends were used, PCR was performed, the amplification fragments were cloned into pGEM-T Easy vectors and DNA sequences were determined. The CMS-associated gene, orf224-1 present in Shaan 2A CMS line, has a sequence highly homologous to the orf224 of the Polima CMS line, except for one nucleotide at position +398. There were only one base (AAC→AGC) and one amino acid (Asn →Ser) differences between the two. The homologies of the two sequences in nucleotide and amino acid were 99.9% and 99.6%, respectively. It is concluded that orf224 in Polima CMS line and orf224-1 of Shaan 2A CMS line are the allele at the same locus in mitochondria.     

Characterization of a nitrogenase CrFe protein from a mutant UW3 of Azotobacter vinelandii grown on a Cr-containing medium

Biological nitrogen fixation is one of the most im-portant biochemical reactions in nature. It is catalyzed by an anaerobic metalloenzyme complex-nitrogenase. Three genetically distinct nitrogenase systems exist in Azotobacter vinelandii (A. vinelandii): Mo-containing nitrogenase, V-containing one and “Fe only” nitro-genase[1―4]. They are composed of two separable com-ponent proteins. For example, conventional Mo-con- taining nitrogenase is composed of component I (MoFe protein) and com…     

The composition and distribution of metal clusters in the MoFe protein from a nifZ deletion strain （DJ 194） of Azotobacter vinelandii

Through the anaerobic chromatography on the columns of DEAE 52, Q-Sepharose and Sephacryl S-200, a nitrogenase MoFe protein (△nifZ Av1) was obtained from a nifZ deleted mutant of Azotobacter vinelandii (stain DJ194).The results of Western blotting after anoxic native electrophoresis and SDS-PAGE showed that △nifZ Av1 was similar to wild type MoFe protein (OP Av1) at the electrophoretic mobility, molecular weight and subunit composition. Furthermore, △nifZ Avl was also similar to OP Av1 at the molybdenum content, EPR signal (g≈4.3, 3.65 and 2.01), and the molar extinction coefficient (△ε) of circular dichroism (CD)at 660 nm region. All of these indicated that, besides having the same α2β2 composition as OP Av1, the △nifZ Av1 also contained equal amount of reductive FeMoco in the spin state of S=3/2 to OP Av1. However, the iron content and substrate (C2H2, H^ and N2)-reduction activity of △nifZ Av1 were 74% and 46%-50% of those of OP Av1, respectively. Furthermore, the △ε at around 450 nm, which reflects P-cluster in Av1, was obviously lower than that of OP Av1. It suggested that the difference between △nifZ Avl and OP Av1 resulted from P-cluster rather than FeMoco, and from the half number of P-cluster in △nifZ Av1, but the composition or redoxstate of P-cluster in △nifZ Av1 were not changed. Thus it could propose that △nifZ Av1 is composed of two different αβsubunit pairs. One is a FeMoco-and P-cluster-containing pair, and the other is a P-cluster-deficient but FeMoco-containing pair. Since the deletion of nifZ gene leads to the deficiency of only one of two P-clusters in a α2β2 tetramer, the assembly of P-cluster may not simply depend on one gene product, and so a possible mechanism of NifZ is supposed here.     

Establishment ofChlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplast expression

An expression vector pACⅢ containing the chimeric gene HAV- VP3P1 and HCV-C gene has been constructed and transferred to C. reinhardtii by the biolistic method. The trans-formants have been identified by PCR, Southern-blotting, Northern-blotting and Western-blotting assays after selecting on resistant medium and incubating in the dark. The results show that the chimeric gene has replaced the chIL gene of C. reinhardtii chloroplast genome and expressed correctly under the control of the C. reinhardtii chloroplast double promoters 5' chlL-5' atpA. The analysis of SDS-PAGE indicates that the expressed protein accounts for 5.31 % of total soluble protein.