Residual plastids of bleached mutants of Euglena gracilis and their effects on the expression of nucleus-encoded genes

Bleached mutants of Euglena gracilis were obtained by treatment with ofloxacin (Ofl) and streptomycin (Sm) respectively. As shown by electron microscopy, the residual plastids contain prothylakoids in an Ofl mutant, and the highly developed and tightly stacked membranous structure found in cells of two Sm, mutants. Nine genes of the plastid genome were examined with PCR, showing that ribosomal protein genes and most other plastid genes were lost in all but one Sm mutant. Using differential display and RT-PCR, it was shown that chloroplast degeneration could cause changes in transcription of certain nucleus-encoded genes during heterotrophic growth in darkness.

Flower color chimera and abnormal leaf mutants induced by C-12(6+) heavy ions in Salvia splendens Ker-Gawl.

The effect of C-12(6+) heavy ions bombardment on mutagenesis in Salvia splendens Ker-Gawl. was studied. Dose-response studies indicated that there was a peak of malformation frequency of S. splendens at 200 Gy. Abnormal leaf mutants of the bileaf, trileaf and tetraleaf conglutination were selected. Meanwhile, a bicolor flower chimera with dark red and fresh red flower was isolated in M1 generation of S. splendens. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis demonstrated that DNA variations existed among the wild-type, fresh and dark red flower shoots of the chimera. The dark red flower shoots of the chimera were conserved and cultivated at a large-scale through micropropagation. MS supplemented with 2.0 mg/L BA and 0.3 mg/L NAA was the optimal medium in which the maximum proliferation ratio (5.2-fold) and rooting rate (88%) were achieved after 6 weeks. Our findings provide an important method to improve the ornamental quality of S. splendens.

A quick isolation method for mutants with high lipid yield in oleaginous yeast

A novel method has been developed to easily isolate the mutants with high lipid yield after irradiating oleaginous yeast cells with carbon ions of energy of 80 MeV/u. Pre-selection of the mutants after ion irradiation was performed with culture medium in which the concentration of cerulenin, a potent inhibitor of fatty acid synthetase, was at 8.96 mu mol/l. Afterwards, lipid concentration in the fermentation broth of the pre-selected colonies was estimated by the sulfo-phospho-vanillin reaction instead of the conventional methanol-chloroform extraction. Two mutants with high lipid yield have been successfully selected out by the combined method. This easy and simple method is much less time-consuming but very efficient in the mutant isolation, and it has demonstrated great potential on mutation breeding in oleaginous microorganism.

Resonance Raman spectroscopic study of cytochrome c mutants

The spectroscopic characteristics of cytochrome c(WT) and its mutants(Y67F and N521) in the low frequency region were studied by Resonance Raman technique. The results show that the replacement of phenylalanine for Tyr 67 in WT had a very slight effect on the hydrogen-bonding and conformation of the amino acid residues around propionic acid side chains of heme group. However, large effects on the hydrogen-bonding of internal water with its surrounding amino acid residues and hydrophobility of the home cavity were observed as Asn 52 was substituted with isoleucine, which resulted in conformational regulations of home group and surrounding amino acid residues.

Interaction between single molecules of Mac-1 and ICAM-1 in living cells: An atomic force microscopy study

The interaction between integrin macrophage differentiation antigen associated with complement three receptor function (Mac-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), which is controlled tightly by the ligand-binding activity of Mac-1, is central to the regulation of neutrophil adhesion in host defense. Several "inside-out" signals and extracellular metal ions or antibodies have been found to activate Mac-1, resulting in an increased adhesiveness of Mac-1 to its ligands. However, the molecular basis for Mac-1 activation is not well understood yet. In this work, we have carried out a single-molecule study of Mac-1/ICAM-1 interaction force in living cells by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Our results showed that the binding probability and adhesion force of Mac-1 with ICAM-1 increased upon Mac-1 activation. Moreover, by comparing the dynamic force spectra of different Mac-1 mutants, we expected that Mac-1 activation is governed by the downward movement of its alpha 7 helix. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

联合固氮菌Enteroabcter gergoviae 57-7氮代谢相关基因的克隆和泌氨工程菌的构建

从构建具有稳定泌氨能力的联合固氮工程菌的目的出发，首先构建Enterobacter gergoviae57-7 (E57-7)基因文库并与所筛选的泌氨突变株进行遗传互补实验，得到可互补 泌氨特性的克隆，经Southern杂交后推测其中包含与glnA、amtB基因无关的另一类与泌 氨相关的基因。同时根据铵载体基因amtB的已知序列设计两对简并性引物，经PCR从 E57-7 DNA中扩增得到约340bp的片段，序列分析和Blast序列同源性比较后确定为amtB 基因片段，申报并获得序列号AJ132232，最终从基因库中筛选到两个包含E57-7 amtB 基因的克隆。 用K. pneumoniae的glnA基因片段为探针，通过Southern杂交从E57-7基因库中筛选到包含有glnAntrBC基因的克隆，经亚克隆后对包含有这个操纵元的4316bp片段进行了全序列分析，申报GenBank获得序列号AF072440。在体外实验中构建了Km-cassette 插入glnA的重组质粒pA，将此质粒转入E57-7野生型菌株后经筛选同源重组子获得glnA 突变的具有稳定泌氨能力的菌株15、I9。并进行了盆栽玉米接种实验，确定在灭菌上壤实验体系下I5对玉米幼苗有显著促生效应。 利用绿色荧光蛋白(GFP-S65T，V68L，S72A)基因建立分子生物学研究手段，构建了新 型克隆载体pGreenLD，建立了绿白斑筛选重组质粒的的技术。构建组成型表达gfp的质粒载体研究了E57-7在玉米根际的定殖模式;构建nifH-gfp表达载体，确定在与植物联合生活时其固氮酶结构基因nifHDK的表达与碳源物质供应密切相关。利用不同抗性基因和gfp基因片段构建出在E57-7中组成型表达抗性和GFP的质粒载体，建立了监测接种菌在土壤中释放的双标记系统。 最后克隆了E57-7 glg cluster并测定部分glgCA和glgP基因序列，申报后获得序列号AJ132233和AJ132234，这是首例从联合固氮菌中克隆得到glg cluster的报道。