Nitration of a peptide phytotoxin by bacterial nitric oxide synthase

Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent intercellular signal in mammals that mediates key aspects of blood pressure, hormone release, nerve transmission and the immune response of higher organisms. Proteins homologous to full-length mammalian nitric oxide synthases (NOSs) are found in lower multicellular organisms. Recently, genome sequencing has shown that some bacteria contain genes coding for truncated NOS proteins; this is consistent with reports of NOS-like activities in bacterial extracts. Biological functions for bacterial NOSs are unknown, but have been presumed to be analogous to their role in mammals. Here we describe a gene in the plant pathogen Streptomyces turgidiscabies that encodes a NOS homologue, and we reveal its role in nitrating a dipeptide phytotoxin required for plant pathogenicity. High similarity between bacterial NOSs indicates a general function in biosynthetic nitration; thus, bacterial NOSs constitute a new class of enzymes. Here we show that the primary function of Streptomyces NOS is radically different from that of mammalian NOS. Surprisingly, mammalian NO signalling and bacterial biosynthetic nitration share an evolutionary origin.     

苯氧基亚胺钛化合物催化甲基丙烯酸丁酯聚合

3,5-二叔丁基水杨醛与苯胺缩合得到3,5-二叔丁基水杨醛缩苯胺配体1a;配体1a的钠盐与TiC l4.2THF反应得到相应的水杨醛亚胺钛配合物1;以色谱-质谱联用(GC/MS)、核磁共振氢谱(1H NMR)、元素分析等手段表征了中间化合物及配合物1;在三异丁基铝助催化下,钛配合物1高效催化甲基丙烯酸丁酯(BMA)本体聚合;在反应温度为60℃,BMA/三异丁基铝/钛配合物1(摩尔比为2 000∶20∶1)反应18 h,84.28%BMA转化为粘均分子量为12.80万聚甲基丙烯酸丁酯。     

Regulation of embryo implantation by nitric oxide in mouse

Intrauterine injection and zymography were used to investigate the effect of nitric oxide (NO) on embryo implantation in mice. On day 3, one uterine horn of female pregnant mice was injected intraluminally with various doses of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), while the contralateral horn served as control. Animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation on day 7 of gestation, and the number of implanted embryos in each horn was calculated. The results showed that lower doses (0.05 mg L-NAME) did not inhibit implantation significantly (P > 0.05), but high doses (0.2 mg L- NAME) resulted in a significant reduction in the number of implanted embryos (P < 0.05). Co-administration of SNP, a generator of NO, with L-NAME would reverse the antiimplantation effect of L-NAME. To further understand the precise mechanism of NO in implantation, matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) activities were detected by gelatin zymography. The reduction in the number of implanted embryos in 0.2 mg L-NAME treated group was associated with decreased MMP-9 activity but a stable MMP-2 activity. The activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were not changed in L-NAME and SNP treated group. These data suggest that NO acts as a mediator to regulate the activity of MMP-9, and facilitates embryo implantation.     

Nitric oxide regulates the heart by spatial confinement of nitric oxide synthase isoforms

Subcellular localization of nitric oxide (NO) synthases with effector molecules is an important regulatory mechanism for NO signalling. In the heart, NO inhibits L-type Ca2+ channels but stimulates sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release, leading to variable effects on myocardial contractility. Here we show that spatial confinement of specific NO synthase isoforms regulates this process. Endothelial NO synthase (NOS3) localizes to caveolae, where compartmentalization with beta-adrenergic receptors and L-type Ca2+ channels allows NO to inhibit beta-adrenergic-induced inotropy. Neuronal NO synthase (NOS1), however, is targeted to cardiac SR. NO stimulation of SR Ca2+ release via the ryanodine receptor (RyR) in vitro, suggests that NOS1 has an opposite, facilitative effect on contractility. We demonstrate that NOS1-deficient mice have suppressed inotropic response, whereas NOS3-deficient mice have enhanced contractility, owing to corresponding changes in SR Ca2+ release. Both NOS1-/- and NOS3-/- mice develop age-related hypertrophy, although only NOS3-/- mice are hypertensive. NOS1/3-/- double knockout mice have suppressed beta-adrenergic responses and an additive phenotype of marked ventricular remodelling. Thus, NOS1 and NOS3 mediate independent, and in some cases opposite, effects on cardiac structure and function.     

用硝酸吸收法脱除氮氧化物的实验研究

对硝酸吸收NOX进行了研究.结果表明:随着硝酸浓度的增大,NO吸收效率增加,NO2、NOX吸收效率先增加后降低;当NOX中NO2体积百分含量增加,其吸收效率增加;随进气浓度和液气比的增大NOX吸收效率增加;温度对吸收效率有较大影响.吸收过程中,温度越低,吸收效果越好.     

Export by red blood cells of nitric oxide bioactivity

Previous studies support a model in which the physiological O2 gradient is transduced by haemoglobin into the coordinate release from red blood cells of O2 and nitric oxide (NO)-derived vasoactivity to optimize oxygen delivery in the arterial periphery. But whereas both O2 and NO diffuse into red blood cells, only O2 can diffuse out. Thus, for the dilation of blood vessels by red blood cells, there must be a mechanism to export NO-related vasoactivity, and current models of NO-mediated intercellular communication should be revised. Here we show that in human erythrocytes haemoglobin-derived S-nitrosothiol (SNO), generated from imported NO, is associated predominantly with the red blood cell membrane, and principally with cysteine residues in the haemoglobin-binding cytoplasmic domain of the anion exchanger AE1. Interaction with AE1 promotes the deoxygenated structure in SNO-haemoglobin, which subserves NO group transfer to the membrane. Furthermore, we show that vasodilatory activity is released from this membrane precinct by deoxygenation. Thus, the oxygen-regulated cellular mechanism that couples the synthesis and export of haemoglobin-derived NO bioactivity operates, at least in part, through formation of AE1-SNO at the membrane-cytosol interface.     

Localization of nitric oxide synthase indicating a neural role for nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide (NO), apparently identical to endothelium-derived relaxing factor in blood vessels, is also formed by cytotoxic macrophages, in adrenal gland and in brain tissue, where it mediates the stimulation by glutamate of cyclic GMP formation in the cerebellum. Stimulation of intestinal or anococcygeal nerves liberates NO, and the resultant muscle relaxation is blocked by arginine derivatives that inhibit NO synthesis. It is, however, unclear whether in brain or intestine, NO released following nerve stimulation is formed in neurons, glia, fibroblasts, muscle or blood cells, all of which occur in proximity to neurons and so could account for effects of nerve stimulation on cGMP and muscle tone. We have now localized NO synthase protein immunohistochemically in the rat using antisera to the purified enzyme. We demonstrate NO synthase in the brain to be exclusively associated with discrete neuronal populations. NO synthase is also concentrated in the neural innervation of the posterior pituitary, in autonomic nerve fibres in the retina, in cell bodies and nerve fibres in the myenteric plexus of the intestine, in adrenal medulla, and in vascular endothelial cells. These prominent neural localizations provide the first conclusive evidence for a strong association of NO with neurons.     

两株松材线虫拮抗细菌的筛选和鉴定

【目的】筛选对松材线虫具有较高杀线活性的拮抗细菌。【方法】以分离自南京、洛阳、上海的松树茎部的137株内生细菌为研究对象,采用培养滤液和菌悬液浸渍法对这些菌株进行杀线活性的测定,并对筛选的高效拮抗细菌进行菌种鉴定。【结果】通过培养滤液浸渍试验筛选出3株细菌对松材线虫有较高的杀线活性,使用3种菌滤液处理线虫48 h后,线虫死亡率均达到100%,其中菌株LYMC-3的培养滤液还可使线虫虫体出现消解。将3株菌的培养滤液分别稀释2倍、4倍和10倍后处理松材线虫,随稀释倍数的增加,培养滤液的杀线活性逐渐降低。处理线虫48 h后,菌株LYMC-3的10倍稀释滤液与其他两株菌滤液相比对线虫的致死率最高,为94.7%; 在菌悬液浸渍试验中筛选出菌株NJSZ-13对松材线虫有较高杀线活性,10⁵ cfu/mL 浓度的菌悬液处理线虫48 h后,线虫死亡率达81.5%。通过对LYMC-3和NJSZ-13菌株的形态特征、生理生化特征、Biolog鉴定和16S rDNA序列以及系统发育分析,确定菌株LYMC-3、NJSZ-13分别为短小芽孢杆菌(Bacillus pumilus)和蜡样芽孢杆菌(Bacillus cereus)。【结论】从松树体内筛选到两株对松材线虫有高效拮抗活性的菌株LYMC-3和NJSZ-13,对生物防治松材线虫病具有潜在的应用价值。     

氯过氧化物酶与苯酚降解菌株的协同降解动力学研究

氯过氧化物酶(CPO)催化苯酚与H_2O_2发生过氧化反应生成邻苯二酚,能减轻苯酚对降解菌株的抑制作用,加快降解菌株对苯酚的生物降解.实验结果表明:在2 h内适量的H2O2存在时10 U/L的CPO可以使300 mg/L苯酚降解率达到67.85%,而CPO与降解菌株协同作用下苯酚降解率则可达到70.72%,比单一菌株降解率8.52%提高了62.2%.在降解体系中补充邻苯二酚进一步揭示了CPO氧化苯酚的中间产物有利于菌体细胞形成共基质效应,提高细胞的苯酚生物降解效率.降解动力学分析显示:在苯酚质量浓度为100~1 200 mg/L时,CPO与菌株协同降解体系的最大比降解速率qmax=0.000195 h-1,基质饱和常数Ks=1.0501 mg/L,基质抑制常数KI=5.1272 mg/L.