Localization of the receptor-binding protein adhesin at the tip of the bacterial pilus

Strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli that cause infections of the human urinary tract produce so-called Pap-pili, which are hair-like appendages consisting of about 10(3) helically arranged subunits of the protein PapA. These pili mediate binding to digalactoside-containing glycolipids present on the epithelial cells which line the urinary tract. Recently, it has been suggested that three proteins, PapE, PapF and PapG, are responsible for this binding. In the absence of PapA, non-piliated bacteria are formed which nonetheless exhibit binding, showing that the bulk of the pilus is not essential for binding. Although pili can form without PapF and PapG, such pili are unable to bind to the digalactoside. The protein PapG mediates binding specificity in trans-complementation experiments, so this protein is the digalactoside-specific adhesin. Using immuno-electron microscopy we have found that Pap-pili are heteropolymers composed of the major pilin, PapA, the minor pilins, PapE and PapF, and the adhesin, PapG. The last three proteins are located at the tip of the pilus.     

Intragenic recombination leads to pilus antigenic variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

The pilus of the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a fimbriate surface structure which promotes attachment of the bacterium to host epithelial cells. Gonococcal pilus phase variation is characterized by a rapid on/off switch in which piliated (P+) cells throw off non-piliated (P-) variants and vice versa. Two regions of the gonococcal chromosome (pilE1 and pilE2) act as pilin expression loci, reminiscent of the MAT locus in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, while several other chromosomal regions contain silent (non-expressing) pilin sequences. Biochemical and antigenic diversity is seen in pili from a wide variety of clinical isolates. Pilins (pilus subunits) are composed of conserved N-terminal and variable C-terminal regions; the conserved region of gonococcal pilin is also found in pilins produced by widely disparate bacteria. We show here that the gonococcal pilin undergoes antigenic variation in vitro and in vivo. The protein consists of constant, semi-variable and hypervariable regions. This antigenic variation probably involves gene conversion of mini-cassettes of pilin information.     

Fibronectin binding mediated by a novel class of surface organelles on Escherichia coli

Gram-negative bacteria are known to produce two types of surface organelles: flagella, which are required for motility and chemotaxis, and pili (fimbriae), which play a part in the interaction of bacteria with other bacteria and with eukaryotic host cells. Here we report a third class of E. coli surface organelles for which we propose the name curli. Curli are coiled surface structures composed of a single type of subunit, the curlin, which differs from all known pilin proteins and is synthesized in the absence of a cleavable signal peptide. Although the gene encoding this structural subunit, crl, is present and transcribed in most natural isolates of E. coli, only certain strains are able to assemble the subunit protein into curli. This assembly process occurs preferentially at growth temperatures below 37 degrees C. The ability of curli to mediate binding to fibronectin may be a virulence-associated property for wound colonization and for the colonization of fibronectin-coated surfaces.     

Pilus chaperones represent a new type of protein-folding catalyst

Adhesive type 1 pili from uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains have a crucial role during infection by mediating the attachment to and potentially the invasion of host tissue. These filamentous, highly oligomeric protein complexes are assembled by the 'chaperone-usher' pathway, in which the individual pilus subunits fold in the bacterial periplasm and form stoichiometric complexes with a periplasmic chaperone molecule that is essential for pilus assembly. The chaperone subsequently delivers the subunits to an assembly platform (usher) in the outer membrane, which mediates subunit assembly and translocation to the cell surface. Here we show that the periplasmic type 1 pilus chaperone FimC binds non-native pilus subunits and accelerates folding of the subunit FimG by 100-fold. Moreover, we find that the FimC-FimG complex is formed quantitatively and very rapidly when folding of FimG is initiated in the presence of both FimC and the assembly-competent subunit FimF, even though the FimC-FimG complex is thermodynamically less stable than the FimF-FimG complex. FimC thus represents a previously unknown type of protein-folding catalyst, and simultaneously acts as a kinetic trap preventing spontaneous subunit assembly in the periplasm.     

DNA transformation leads to pilin antigenic variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Many pathogenic bacteria express pili (fimbriae) on their cell surfaces. These structures mediate binding of bacteria to host tissues, and may also be involved in other aspects of pathogenesis. Neisseria gonorrhoeae pili are mainly composed of a single protein, pilin, whose expression is controlled at chromosomal expression loci (pilE). An intact pilin gene and promoter sequences are only found at pilE. Strain MS11 contains two expression sites (pilE1 and pilE2), whereas several of its derivatives and other clinical isolates contain only one. Silent pilin loci (pilS1-pilS7) contain truncated variant pilin genes lacking the promoter and conserved pilin gene sequences. Pilin antigenic variation in N. gonorrhoeae occurs by DNA recombination between one of he silent partial variant gene segments in pilS and an expressed pilin gene in pilE. The recombination reactions are nonreciprocal, and therefore the mechanism has been classified as gene conversion. We report that much of the recombination between pilin loci actually occurs after transformation of living piliated cells by DNA liberated from lysed cells within a population. This constitutes a new molecular mechanism for an antigenic variation system, as well as the first specific function for a DNA transformation system.     

一种高效、稳定的分泌型原核表达载体的构建及应用

以本室构建的原核表达载体pTO-T7为基础载体，PCR合成ompT引导序列，插入该载体多克隆位点上游，构建了分泌型原核表达载体pTO-OT．将2个外源基因克隆至pTO-OT，2个重组质粒在大肠杆菌中均得以高效表达．表达产量在25％～34％之间．Western blot分析证实了融合蛋白可被大肠杆菌信号肽酶有效地切割。并具有良好的免疫学活性．对重组表达菌株的连续传代实验证实了该表达载体具有良好的表达稳定性，显示了其在基因工程中的应用价值．     

Construction and Expression of GST and Carbon Skeleton of Amatoxins Fusion Gene

The primer, AT Forl, AT For2 and AT Back, are designed and synthesized for adding-PCR that is used to construct the fusion GST-AT gene. Depending on two-time adding-PCR amplification and the insertion of coding sequence of octapeptide carbon skeleton into the 3‘ temfinus of GST gene, the authors get the masculine recon, pGAT-1, confirmed by sequence detemfination and analysis, whose ORF is read-through. After IPTG induction and partial purification, SDS-PAGE electrophoresis is employed to detect the gene expression. The expressions of total bacterial proteins are about 21.3%, 22.5%, 19.32%, 21.73% in E. coli BL21, DH5α, JM109 and Top10 strains, respectively. Considering the quantity of induced total bacteria, the E. coli BL21 is the best one among the four recipient strains.This article supplies an academic foundation for producing biological active amatoxins.     

鸡大肠杆菌病致病因素及其研究进展

对鸡大肠杆菌致病力或毒力因子等相关致病因素作了简要概述,讨论了相关领域的研究进展.1）大肠杆菌的菌毛抗原是一种特异蛋白质,可以被免疫系统所识别,因此在疾病的免疫预防和相关疫苗研制等方面有着重要意义.2）鸡大肠杆菌肠毒素中LTB和STn亚单位具有良好的免疫原性,认为在降低ST的生物毒性有所突破的前提下,借用基因重组融合技术以及优化重组基因表达,是利用该毒素因子免疫防治的发展趋势.3）诸多实验研究表明,提纯的大肠杆菌OMP或通过基因工程表达的OMP同样具有良好的免疫原性和保护作用.某些细菌的不同血清型间有相同的OMP免疫原,这为OMP亚单位疫苗以至于基因疫苗的研发都提供了理论基础.     

Helicobacter exploits integrin for type IV secretion and kinase activation

Integrins are important mammalian receptors involved in normal cellular functions as well as pathogenesis of chronic inflammation and cancer. We propose that integrins are exploited by the gastric pathogen and type-1 carcinogen Helicobacter pylori for injection of the bacterial oncoprotein cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) into gastric epithelial cells. Virulent H. pylori express a type-IV secretion pilus that injects CagA into the host cell; CagA then becomes tyrosine-phosphorylated by Src family kinases. However, the identity of the host cell receptor involved in this process has remained unknown. Here we show that the H. pylori CagL protein is a specialized adhesin that is targeted to the pilus surface, where it binds to and activates integrin alpha5beta1 receptor on gastric epithelial cells through an arginine-glycine-aspartate motif. This interaction triggers CagA delivery into target cells as well as activation of focal adhesion kinase and Src. Our findings provide insights into the role of integrins in H.-pylori-induced pathogenesis. CagL may be exploited as a new molecular tool for our further understanding of integrin signalling.     

A homologue of the bacterial heat-shock gene DnaJ that alters protein sorting in yeast

Heat-shock proteins have been implicated in assembly of protein complexes, correct protein folding and uptake of proteins into organelles. In Escherichia coli, the heat-shock protein DnaJ and the Hsp70 homologue, DnaK, act together to disassemble a protein complex involved in bacteriophage lambda replication. We report the identification of SCJ1, a gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that encodes a homologue of the bacterial DnaJ protein. SCJ1 was identified by a genetic screen in which increased expression of candidate genes results in missorting of a nuclear-targeted test protein. The predicted amino-acid sequence of SCJ1 is 37% identical to the entire E. coli DnaJ protein. Hybridization experiments indicate that there is a family of yeast genes related to SCJ1. These findings suggest that the Hsp70 DnaK-DnaJ interaction is general to eukaryotes.     

Bacteriophages inhibit degradation of abnormal proteins in E. coli.

On infection of Escherichia coli cells by bacteriophages T4, T5 or T7, the degradation of E. coli protein fragments and abnormal proteins is inhibited. Normal E. coli proteins, however, continue to be degraded at their usual rates. T4 early proteins (s) is needed to inhibit the turnover of abnormal proteins in T4-infected E. coli cells.     

强化工业大肠杆菌生长特性的研究

大肠杆菌是制药工业中的重要蛋白质药物生产菌株。然而乙酸积累、中心碳代谢负担过重等不良因素严重制约着大肠杆菌的高密度生长。利用Red同源重组技术,构建icd和ptsG双基因敲除大肠杆菌菌株,以分流碳代谢流,提高碳利用效率,最终增加菌体生物量。同时构建ppc过表达质粒,减少乙酸积累。发酵结果显示,构建的重组菌株产酸量大幅减少,pH值平均升高20%,菌体浓度增加了50%,生长特性得到了强化。     

鸡源大肠杆菌分离鉴定与药敏试验

自成都市某养鸡场发生的疑似大肠杆菌病的病死鸡肝脏中无菌采取10份病料,分离鉴定出5株大肠杆菌,经O血清型鉴定,除一株未定型外,共鉴定出4株大肠杆菌的O血清型,分别是O37两株、O84和O100各一株．用18种抗菌药物进行药敏试验,分离菌株耐药性非常严重,以多重耐药为主,最少的耐药10种,最多的耐药17种,其中,对罗美沙星、诺氟沙星、环丙沙星、氨苄西林、阿莫西林、氧氟沙星、恩诺沙星和复方新诺明100％耐药（5／5）：对甲氧苄啶、四环素和链霉素80％耐药（4／5）;对新霉素、庆大霉素、头孢氨苄、头孢拉定和头孢唑啉60％耐药（3／5）;对阿米卡星20％．耐药（1／5）．结果提示,同一鸡场的发病鸡群存在着多种血清型,耐药谱复杂,且没有一种抗生素对所分离的菌株全部敏感．     

分子伴侣GroEL对青霉素G酰化酶亚基折叠的影响

采用Tac启动子控制表达质粒，在不同的宿主细胞中表达了青霉素G酰化酶（PAC），检测这些菌株所表达的PAC活性，分析细胞内分子伴侣GroEL含量，PAC翻译后加工为α，β亚基的状况，以及它们之间的关系，结果表明：质粒pKK-SP在不同宿主中表达时，翻译后加工状况有明显差异，单位质量细胞所表达的PAC活性与翻译后加工效率相关，且与细胞内分子伴侣GroEL在菌体总蛋白中含量正相关，同时也阐明了亚基的折叠成为翻译后加工过程的限制步骤，细胞内分子伴侣GroEL有助于PAC亚基的折叠和稳定。     

Generation of beta-globin by sequence-specific proteolysis of a hybrid protein produced in Escherichia coli

High-level expression of many eukaryotic genes has proved difficult to achieve even when a strong promoter and the ribosome binding sequence from highly expressed Escherichia coli genes have been placed in front of the coding sequences. To overcome this problem, many eukaryotic proteins have been efficiently produced as hybrids after fusion of their genes with a coding sequence of E. coli genes. However, such hybrid proteins are not suitable for functional studies or clinical use unless the authentic protein sequence can be released by specific cleavage. Here, we have inserted the sequence Ile-Glu-Gly-Arg between the 31 amino-terminal residues of lambda cII protein and Val 1 of human beta-globin, and produced this hybrid in high yield in E. coli. We then cleaved the hybrid specifically at the single arginine, using blood coagulation factor Xa and thus liberated the authentic beta-globin chain. As factor Xa is specific for the tetrapeptide Ile-Glu-Gly-Arg, which is rare in protein sequences, our expression/cleavage system is applicable to the efficient production of many eukaryotic proteins.     

Structural evidence for dimerization-regulated activation of an integral membrane phospholipase.

Dimerization is a biological regulatory mechanism employed by both soluble and membrane proteins. However, there are few structural data on the factors that govern dimerization of membrane proteins. Outer membrane phospholipase A (OMPLA) is an integral membrane enzyme which participates in secretion of colicins in Escherichia coli. In Campilobacter and Helicobacter pylori strains, OMPLA is implied in virulence. Its activity is regulated by reversible dimerization. Here we report X-ray structures of monomeric and dimeric OMPLA from E. coli. Dimer interactions occur almost exclusively in the apolar membrane-embedded parts, with two hydrogen bonds within the hydrophobic membrane area being key interactions. Dimerization results in functional oxyanion holes and substrate-binding pockets, which are absent in monomeric OMPLA. These results provide a detailed view of activation by dimerization of a membrane protein.     

高频等位基因HLA-A*1101重链胞外域-BSP融合蛋白原核表达载体的构建及表达鉴定

目的:构建HLA-A*1101重链胞外域羧基端融合生物素化酶B irA底物肽(BSP)的融合蛋白(HLA-A11-BSP)原核表达载体,并在大肠杆菌中表达该融合蛋白。方法:以RT-PCR法扩增并克隆HLA-A*1101重链基因的cDNA,以PCR方法构建HLA-A11-BSP的表达载体,在大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中诱导表达,并以免疫印迹法进行鉴定。结果:从HLA-A2阴性的供者外周血单个核细胞中克隆到HLA-A*1101重链基因的cDNA,以此cDNA为模板,将编码HLA-A*1101重链胞外域1~276序列与编码BSP的序列融合,构建HLA-A11-BSP融合蛋白表达载体,重组质粒经测序验证。融合蛋白在BL21(DE3)中诱导后获得高效表达,约占菌体总蛋白的20%;其相对分子质量约为35 000,与理论值一致。免疫印迹分析显示表达产物主要存在于包涵体中,上清液中几乎无任何产物存在。结论:成功构建表达HLA-A11-BSP融合蛋白的原核表达载体,该融合蛋白在大肠杆菌中以包涵体形式获得高水平表达。