HIV-1 Tat与P-TEFb复合物的分子动力学模拟及结合自由能计算

P-TEFb结构中与Tat蛋白的结合位点是新型抗HIV-1药物设计和虚拟筛选的重要靶标.对含有两个锌指结构的Tat.P-TEFb复合物体系进行了14ns的分子动力学模拟,应用MM-PBSA/GBSA方法计算体系的结合自由能,以及通过基于氨基酸残基的能量分解来探究体系中蛋白质之间的相互作用.结果表明范德华作用能是复合物形成的主要驱动力,Cys261与ZN88之间的配位作用是结合自由能的最大贡献者.根据Tat.P-TEFb体系的动力学结构信息和残基能量分解结果预测了P-TEFb结构中可能的活性位点.位点Ⅰ和位点Ⅱ应可作为基于受体三维结构的抗HIV-1药物分子设计的起始位点.模拟计算的结果可以为进一步指导药物设计奠定基础.     

运用绿色荧光蛋白探讨肉葡萄球菌双精氨酸分泌途径

根据肉葡萄球菌(Staphylococcus carnosus)TM300的基因组序列设计引物,经PCR扩增得到其tufA基因的启动子Peftu片段与大肠杆菌–葡萄球菌穿梭载体pBT2-Tat-GFP连接,构建了穿梭质粒pBT2-ETG.结果表明,穿梭质粒pBT2-ETG成功地转入大肠杆菌与肉葡萄球菌宿主中稳定表达具有活性的绿色荧光蛋白GFP,并被转运到肉葡萄球菌宿主的细胞壁,为进一步研究肉葡萄球菌双精氨酸(Tat)转运系统正确分泌其他外源蛋白奠定了实验基础.     

On the structure of AP-4 responsive element in the LTR of Jembrana disease virus

As a bovine lentivirus,Jembrana disease virus (JDV) is genetically similar to the bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV). Unlike other lentiviruses which always have a long incubation period, e.g. 8—10 years for HIV, JDV infection causes an acute illness with shorter incubationpreriod and higher mortality. In the experimentally inocu-lated cattle, the incubation period varied from 8 to 12 d before the onset of clinical symptoms, which is very simi-lar to bovine plague with a high titer of J…     

多肽Tat与CdTe量子点共价偶联后的跨膜转运

利用偶联剂EDC将具有跨膜转导功能的多肽Tat与水溶性CdTe量子点进行偶联,并用超滤膜反复超滤纯化,然后比较偶联产物和游离量子点进入PLC细胞的量.对接有多肽的量子点进行研究,结果表明,其荧光发射光谱发生了红移.与游离的量子点相比,修饰后的量子点具有更高的细胞膜穿透性,更容易穿过细胞膜进入PLC细胞内部.     

Modeling the intracellular dynamics for Vif-APO mediated HIV-1 virus infection

The viral infectivity factor (Vif) was found to be essential for controlling HIV-1 virus infectivity. It targets cellular antiviral proteins in APOBEC family (APO) to trigger its fast degradation and inhibits APO packaging into nascent virion. In the present study, we propose a mathematical model to quantitatively study the intracellular dynamics of these typical virus-host interactions. Four sets of published experimental data were compared with simulation results to justify the model. Systematic parameter sensitivity and perturbation analysis showed that parameters related to APO are crucial to the infectivity of newly synthesized HIV-1 virus. Interestingly, we discovered that the synthesis rate of the viral structure protein Gag and the required number per nascent virion are optimized to achieve high virion production with minimal level of packaged APO, and large portion of model parameters are beneficial to virus only within a relatively small range. Furthermore, minor variations in several parameters related to viral protein Tat, the activator of viral RNA synthesis, were found to induce switch-like behaviors on both incorporated Vif and APO. These findings may provide new insights for understanding the high mutation rate of HIV-1 virus and its latency, as well as help identify key targets for therapeutic design.     

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.     

Tat-p21融合蛋白的表达及其在A549细胞中的活性研究

在本研究中,通过分子克隆的手段,将编码Tat跨膜转运结构域的CDS与人野生型p21蛋白的CDS相连接,并通过原核表达系统表达纯化相应蛋白;然后用该蛋白按浓度梯度:100,200,400,800,1000nmol/L与A549细胞共同孵育,各浓度在10,60,120,240min终止反应,通过Western Blotting检测进入细胞的p21蛋白量,以此确定最佳的转导条件;接着检测了转导进入A549细胞的Tat-p21融合蛋白在细胞中稳定存在的时间.然后通过绘制细胞生长曲线的方法比较了转导Tat-p21的细胞与负对照实验组生长速度的区别.结果发现,融合Tat跨膜结构域的p21蛋白能够高效进入A549细胞,并在细胞内发挥相应生物学功能,使细胞的生长受到抑制,增殖减慢;而作为负对照的p21蛋白则无相应功能.