Resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics by re-modelling the active site of an E. coli penicillin-binding protein

The beta-lactam antibiotics kill bacteria by inhibiting a set of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) that catalyse the final stages of peptidoglycan synthesis. In some bacteria the development of intrinsic resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics by the reduction in the affinity of PBPs causes serious clinical problems. The introduction of beta-lactam antibiotics that are resistant to hydrolysis by beta-lactamases may also result in the emergence of intrinsic resistance among the Enterobacteriaceae. The clinical problems that would arise from the emergence of resistant PBPs in enterobacteria have led us to examine the ease with which Escherichia coli can gain resistance to beta-lactams by the production of altered PBPs. The development of resistant PBPs also provides an interesting example of enzyme evolution, since it requires a subtle re-modeling of the enzyme active centre so that it retains affinity for its peptide substrate but excludes the structurally analogous beta-lactam antibiotics. We show here that only four amino-acid substitutions need to be introduced into PBP 3 of E. coli to produce a strain possessing substantial levels of resistance to a wide variety of cephalosporins. We also show that transfer of the gene encoding the resistant PBP 3 from the chromosome to a plasmid could result in the spread of intrinsic resistance not only to other strains of E. coli but also to other enterobacterial species.     

Protein kinase C switches the Raf kinase inhibitor from Raf-1 to GRK-2

Feedback inhibition is a fundamental principle in signal transduction allowing rapid adaptation to different stimuli. In mammalian cells, the major feedback inhibitor for G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) is G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK-2), which phosphorylates activated receptors, uncouples them from G proteins and initiates their internalization. The functions of GRK-2 are indispensable and need to be tightly controlled. Dysregulation promotes disorders such as hypertension or heart failure. In our search for a control mechanism for this vital kinase, here we show that the Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) is a physiological inhibitor of GRK-2. After stimulation of GPCR, RKIP dissociates from its known target, Raf-1 (refs 6-8), to associate with GRK-2 and block its activity. This switch is triggered by protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent phosphorylation of the RKIP on serine 153. The data delineate a new principle in signal transduction: by activating PKC, the incoming receptor signal is enhanced both by removing an inhibitor from Raf-1 and by blocking receptor internalization. A physiological role for this mechanism is shown in cardiomyocytes in which the downregulation of RKIP restrains beta-adrenergic signalling and contractile activity.     

古英语向中古英语演变的形态类型学视角

本文从形态类型学视角探讨了国内语言学界少有研究的英语形态历时演变。在简要地介绍了语言类型学、形态理论及语言演变的关系之后,文章分析了从古英语到中古英语的词形变化,并说明了英语演变的原因。形态研究是语言类型学的重要内容,语言类型的演变一般体现在形态、语序和虚词三个语法变量的历时变化上。本文旨在说明古英语向中古英语的演变即屈折语向孤立语的转化过程。     

E. coli F1-ATPase interacts with a membrane protein component of a proton channel

The ATP synthases of bacteria, mitochondria and chloroplasts, which use the energy of a transmembrane proton gradient to power the synthesis of ATP, consist of an integral membrane component F0--thought to contain a proton channel--and a catalytic component, F1. To help investigate the way F0 and F1 are coupled, we have sequenced the b-subunit of the Escherichia coli F0, which seems to be the counterpart of a thermophilic bacteria F0 subunit thought to be essential for F1 binding. We report here that its sequence is remarkable, being hydrophobic around the N-terminus and highly charged in the remainder. We propose that the N-terminal segment lies in the membrane and the rest outside. The extramembranous section contains two adjacent stretches of 31 amino acids where the sequence is very similar: in the second of these stretches there is further internal homology. These duplicated stretches of the polypeptide probably fold into two alpha-helices which have many common features able to make contact with F1 subunits. Thus protein b occupies a central position in the enzyme, where it may be involved in proton translocation. It is possibly also important in biosynthetic assembly.     

白色念珠菌天冬氨酸蛋白酶重组蛋白的表达及纯化

以白色念珠菌为实验材料,利用玻璃珠破碎法、PCR技术克隆白色念珠菌天冬氨酸蛋白酶基因,根据基因重组技术构建Sap2原核表达载体,使之表达蛋白并且将目的蛋白纯化.将获得的Sap2蛋白免疫兔子,进行Western blot分析,研究了白色念珠菌天冬酰胺蛋白酶的免疫学原性.     

Millisecond-timescale motions contribute to the function of the bacterial response regulator protein Spo0F.

Protein backbones and side chains display varying degrees of flexibility, which allows many slightly different but related conformational substates to occur. Such fluctuations are known to differ in both timescale and magnitude, from rotation of methyl groups (nanoseconds) to the flipping of buried tyrosine rings (seconds). Because many mechanisms for protein function require conformational change, it has been proposed that some of these ground-state fluctuations are related to protein function. But exactly which aspects of motion are functionally relevant remains to be determined. Only a few examples so far exist where function can be correlated to structural fluctuations with known magnitude and timescale. As part of an investigation of the mechanism of action of the Bacillus subtilis response regulator SpoOF, we have explored the relationship between the motional characteristics and protein-protein interactions. Here we use a set of nuclear magnetic resonance 15N relaxation measurements to determine the relative timescales of SpoOF backbone fluctuations on the picosecond-to-millisecond timescale. We show that regions having motion on the millisecond timescale correlate with residues and surfaces that are known to be critical for protein-protein interactions.     

高低危型HPV E7的分析以及58型E7结构与结合位点预测

 对18种HPV E7蛋白进行生物信息学分析,同时对HPV58 E7进行结构以及可结合位点的预测.从NCBI数据库中获取蛋白序列,通过ExPASy Protparam进行生物信息分析,Clustal W进行多序列比对,MEGA软件构建进化树,利用Zhang lab QUARK以及Q-SiteFinder能量依赖的检测对HPV58 E7进行结构预测与结合位点预测.得到了E7生物信息,多序列比对数据,构建成进化树,获得HPV58 E7蛋白结构,并且找到pRb与E7结合的三维位点.不同类型HPV E7蛋白存在进化差异,得到的HPV58型结构以及与pRb的可以结合位点,为抑制HPV58 E7蛋白功能的相关实验提供了理论依据.     

正负温度系统下的熵原理及对"热寂说"的批判

讨论了在正负两种温度系统下的熵原理，阐述了其物理意义，用耗散结构理论对熵原理作了进一步说明，并利用负熵对“热寂说”作了批判．