Protein assemblies with palindromic structure motifs

Symmetric DNA sequence motifs allow the formation of palindromic protein/DNA complexes. Although symmetric protein sequence motifs are less common, recent structural discoveries have unraveled a few protein/protein complexes with palindromic symmetry. Remarkably, symmetric protein/protein complexes can be generated either by adjacent or remote sequence motifs, which may be repeated or inverted. This contribution reflects and comments on recent findings of palindromic protein/protein complexes. Received 14 May 2008; received after revision 21 June 2008; accepted 14 July 2008     

The complexity of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) made simple

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways are known to be involved in various processes of growth, differentiation and cell death. In spite of their ubiquitous presence and seemingly enormous cross-talk with each other, their action is very specific. This review deals with various aspects of the three different MAPK pathways (ERK, p38 and JNK) and how their specificity is brought about. Received 1 April 2008; received after revision 18 June 2008; accepted 18 June 2008     

KIF5C: A new binding partner for protein kinase CK2 with a preference for the CK2α’ subunit

Protein kinase CK2 is a highly conserved serine/threonine kinase that is ubiquitously expressed in eukaryotic cells. CK2 is a constitutively active tetrameric enzyme composed of two catalytic α and/or α’-subunits and two regulatory β-subunits. There is increasing evidence that the individual subunits may have independent functions and that they are asymmetrically distributed inside the cell. To gain a better understanding of the functions of the individual subunits, we employed a yeast-two-hybrid screen with CK2α and CK2α’. We identified the motor neuron protein KIF5C as a new binding partner for CK2. The interaction found in the yeast-two-hybrid screen was confirmed by co-sedimentation analysis on a sucrose density gradient and by co-immunoprecipitation analysis. Pull-down experiments and surface plasmon resonance spectrometry revealed a direct binding of KIF5C to CK2α’. Co-localization studies with neuroblastoma cells, bone marrow and with primary neurons confirmed the biochemical analysis that KIF5C preferentially bound to CK2α’. Received 8 August 2008; received after revision 3 November 2008; accepted 4 November 2008     

Effect of serum on PEGylated quantum dots: Cellular uptake and intracellular distribution

Protein adsorption is closely related with the interactions between nanoparticles and physiological systems,and further influences the cellular uptake and distribution of nanoparticles in cells.Although polyethylene glycol(PEG)ylation can largely reduce specific protein adsorption,some protein components in whole serum still interact with nanoparticles.In this work,PEGylated quantum dots(QDs) were used for investigating the quantitative and qualitative relationships of fetal bovine serum(FBS) and the cellular uptake/intracellular distribution in human hepatoma(HepG2) cell line.Nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and two dimensional electrophoresis were used to analyze the adsorption of protein by PEGylated QDs.Quantitative cellular uptake of PEGylated QDs was determined by fluorescence activated cell sorting(FACS) with different FBS concentrations and incubating durations.The intracellular location of PEGylated QDs in HepG2 cells was observed using a confocal laser scanning microscope(CLSM) and a transmission electron microscope(TEM).This work will be helpful to understand the interaction between nanoparticles and cells with serum.     

一种适合杨树叶片的蛋白质提取方法

高质量的蛋白样品制备是进行双向电泳的前提条件.杨树叶片中因含有丰富的多酚、色素、多糖等物质,给蛋白质的提取带来了困难.为了找到一种适合杨树叶片的蛋白质提取方法,以南林895杨为实验材料,采用三氯乙酸-丙酮沉淀法对杨树叶片蛋白质进行提取.对所提取的蛋白分别用考马斯亮蓝染色法和银染法进行检测,得到了良好的双向电泳图谱.     

豆豉低盐固态发酵过程中部分成分的转化初探

本实验以永川豆豉为阳性对照,对自制豆豉发酵过程中蛋白质、氨基酸、还原糖及亚硝酸盐等主要成分的含量和pH值的变化进行检测,并初步探讨其变化规律。实验结果:在豆豉发酵过程中,蛋白质呈下降趋势;在前发酵过程中,蛋白质最终达10.682%;在后发酵过程中,最终达4.429%。氨基酸含量不断增加,最终达1.233 g/100 g。还原糖含量不断下降,最终达5.286g/100 g。亚硝酸盐含量呈上升趋势,达到1.55μg/g。pH值前期保持不变,后期下降,最终达3.80。     

Rod-shaped Au@PtCu nanostructures with enhanced peroxidase-like activity and their ELISA application

Pt and its based alloy nanoparticles （NPs） have been reported to demonstrate novel enzyme-like activities. Varying composition is very important to realize the opti- mization of their functions through the tuning of electronic structure. In this paper, our effort is focused in this direction by tailoring the electronic structure of Pt NPs via alloying with copper. Using gold nanorod （Au NR） as core, a simple method to prepare PtCu alloy shell is developed （termed as Au@PtCu NR）. The introduction of copper could result in endcap-preferred growth mode owing to the lattice mismatch between alloy shell and the Au core. The variation in the electronic structure changes the substrate affinity, and enhanced affinity was found for H202. Besides, the designed Au@PtCu nanostructures have realized spatial separation of catalytic and recognition sites. Binding of recognition antibodies had negligible effect on their catalytic activity. Based on their peroxidase- like activity, a highly sensitive detection of human immunoglobulin G （IgG） was demonstrated in a direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） mode. The detection limit can be as low as 90 pg/mL.     

桂花根系可溶性糖、蛋白质及矿质营养含量变化

以柳叶银桂（ Osmanthus Fragrans cv. YinGui）和山桂 （Osmanthus Fragrans cv. Shah Gui）二种桂花为材料,对根系的可溶性糖、蛋白质以及矿质营养含量的变化进行测定．结果表明：二种桂花根系的可溶性糖含量和蛋白质含量都呈先下降后上升的态势,最低值出现在8月．根系矿质元素在不同季节的变化趋势基本相同,除Ca和Fe外各矿质元素均表现出柳叶银桂比山桂高．     

栗黄枯叶蛾核型多角体病毒病毒粒子的表面增强拉曼光谱研究

研究了栗黄枯叶蛾核型多角体病毒(Trabala vishnou Nuclear PolyhedrosisVirus)的病毒粒子蛋白(Virion Protein),简称TV—NPV—VP,在不同pH值条件下于银胶中的表面增强拉曼光谱.将TV—NPV—VP在中pH值的表面增强拉曼光谱(SER谱)与它的一般拉曼光谱(OR谱)作了比较分析。样品在不同pH值条件的SER谱反映了其不同的吸附特征,说明分子的表面几何状态随pH值的不同而改变.TV—NPV—VP和银胶表面的吸附主要是化学吸附.增强机理具有短程特征.