Biological impact on mineral dissolution: Application of the lichen model to understanding mineral weathering in the rhizosphere

Microorganisms modify rates and mechanisms of chemical and physical weathering and clay growth, thus playing fundamental roles in soil and sediment formation. Because processes in soils are inherently complex and difficult to study, we employ a model based on the lichen–mineral system to identify the fundamental interactions. Fixed carbon released by the photosynthetic symbiont stimulates growth of fungi and other microorganisms. These microorganisms directly or indirectly induce mineral disaggregation, hydration, dissolution, and secondary mineral formation. Model polysaccharides were used to investigate direct mediation of mineral surface reactions by extracellular polymers. Polysaccharides can suppress or enhance rates of chemical weathering by up to three orders of magnitude, depending on the pH, mineral surface structure and composition, and organic functional groups. Mg, Mn, Fe, Al, and Si are redistributed into clays that strongly adsorb ions. Microbes contribute to dissolution of insoluble secondary phosphates, possibly via release of organic acids. These reactions significantly impact soil fertility. Below fungi–mineral interfaces, mineral surfaces are exposed to dissolved metabolic byproducts. Through this indirect process, microorganisms can accelerate mineral dissolution, leading to enhanced porosity and permeability and colonization by microbial communities.

The use of mRNA display to select high-affinity protein-binding peptides

We report the use of “mRNA display,” an in vitro selection technique, to identify peptide aptamers to a protein target. mRNA display allows for the preparation of polypeptide libraries with far greater complexity than is possible with phage display. Starting with a library of ≈1013 random peptides, 20 different aptamers to streptavidin were obtained, with dissociation constants as low as 5 nM. These aptamers function without the aid of disulfide bridges or engineered scaffolds, yet possess affinities comparable to those for monoclonal antibody–antigen complexes. The aptamers bind streptavidin with three to four orders of magnitude higher affinity than those isolated previously by phage display from lower complexity libraries of shorter random peptides. Like previously isolated peptides, they contain an HPQ consensus motif. This study shows that, given sufficient length and diversity, high-affinity aptamers can be obtained even from random nonconstrained peptide libraries. By engineering structural constraints into these ultrahigh complexity peptide libraries, it may be possible to produce binding agents with subnanomolar binding constants.

Rapid retroviral delivery of tetracycline-inducible genes in a single autoregulatory cassette.

We describe a single autoregulatory cassette that allows reversible induction of transgene expression in response to tetracycline (tet). This cassette contains all of the necessary components previously described by others on two separate plasmids that are introduced sequentially over a period of months [Gossen, M. & Bujard, H. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 5547-5551]. The cassette is introduced using a retrovirus, allowing transfer into cell types that are difficult to transfect. Thus, populations of thousands of cells, rather than a few clones, can be isolated and characterized within weeks. To avoid potential interference of the strong retroviral long terminal repeat enhancer and promoter elements with the function of the tet-regulated cytomegalovirus minimal promoter, the vector is self-inactivating, eliminating transcription from the long terminal repeat after infection of target cells. Tandem tet operator sequences and the cytomegalovirus minimal promoter drive expression of a bicistronic mRNA, leading to transcription of the gene of interest (lacZ) and the internal ribosome entry site controlled transactivator (Tet repressor-VP16 fusion protein). In the absence of tet, there is a progressive increase in transactivator by means of an autoregulatory loop, whereas in the presence of tet, gene expression is prevented. Northern blot, biochemical, and single cell analyses have all shown that the construct yields low basal levels of gene expression and induction of one to two orders of magnitude. Thus, the current cassette of the retroviral construct (SIN-RetroTet vector) allows rapid delivery of inducible genes and should have broad applications to cultured cells, transgenic animals, and gene therapy.