纳米二氧化钛暴露人胚肺细胞差异表达基因相关通路

为探讨纳米二氧化钛(Nano-TiO2)对人胚肺(HPF)细胞差异表达基因相关通路的影响,采用半致死浓度(0.437mg·mL-1)的10nmTiO2暴露体外培养的人胚肺细胞24h,提取RNA,应用基因芯片技术筛选差异表达基因,分析纳米TiO2对基因通路的影响.结果表明,纳米TiO2暴露人胚肺细胞,导致514条肺中表达的基因发生差异表达,涉及多个KEGG通路和BioCarta通路.纳米TiO2暴露人胚肺细胞可能产生以下生物学效应:1)众多位于细胞外区域和细胞膜上的基因(特别是细胞膜受体基因)差异表达,对外界环境胁迫产生应激反应;2)与炎症相关的细胞因子基因表达大量改变,调控细胞的炎症反应;3)钙离子通路的膜受体基因差异表达,导致大量钙离子内流,调控钙离子信号传导;4)某些基因的差异表达(如OCLN下调),降低了细胞紧密联接力;5)与造血细胞增殖和分化相关的基因差异表达,刺激产生大量白细胞以抵抗感染.     

铅暴露U251细胞差异表达基因分析(Analysis of Differentiation Expressed Genes of Human U251 Glioma Cells Exposed to Lead)

为研究体外培养的人神经胶质瘤U251细胞(human U251glioma cells)铅暴露后基因表达的改变,分析脑中差异表达基因,探讨铅暴露与神经毒性之间的关系,使用浓度为400μg·mL-1乙酸铅暴露U251细胞8h和24h,设置空白对照,提取RNA.应用基因芯片方法寻找差异表达基因,芯片扫描结果经归一化处理,设定Ratio值<0.5或≥2.0为表达有差异基因.结果表明铅暴露U251细胞导致2840条基因差异表达,暴露8h和24h皆上调表达的基因有92条,皆下调表达的基因有85条,其中132条基因在脑中表达;通过与数据库资料比对,109条基因与其在脑表达情况一致,23条基因不一致(15条基因高表达,8条基因低表达).从实验结果可以看出铅暴露能够导致U251细胞基因表达改变,抑制细胞增殖和迁移,促进细胞凋亡,负调控T细胞免疫活性.导致与神经发生、细胞骨架形成相关基因表达下调,神经保护能力下降,铅暴露可能与神经变性疾病及退行性疾病发生有关.     

Coffee husk composting: An investigation of the process using molecular and non-molecular tools

Various parameters were measured during a 90-day composting process of coffee husk with cow dung (Pile 1), with fruit/vegetable wastes (Pile 2) and coffee husk alone (Pile 3). Samples were collected on days 0, 32 and 90 for chemical and microbiological analyses. C/N ratios of Piles 1 and 2 decreased significantly over the 90 days. The highest bacterial counts at the start of the process and highest actinobacterial counts at the end of the process (Piles 1 and 2) indicated microbial succession with concomitant production of compost relevant enzymes. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of rDNA and COMPOCHIP microarray analysis indicated distinctive community shifts during the composting process, with day 0 samples clustering separately from the 32 and 90-day samples. This study, using a multi-parameter approach, has revealed differences in quality and species diversity of the three composts.     

Xenobiotics: Substrates and inhibitors of the plant cytochrome P450

The ability of a plant cytochrome P450 to bind and metabolise plant endogenous molecules and xenobiotics was investigated. The work was performed on the yeast-expressed CYP73A1, a cinnamate 4-hydroxylase isolated fromHelianthus tuberosus. CYP73 controls the general phenylpropanoid pathway and is likely to be one of the most abundant sources of P450 in the biosphere. The enzyme shows a high selectivity toward plant secondary metabolites. Nevertheless, it oxygenates several small and planar xenobiotics with low efficiency, including an herbicide (chlorotoluron). One xenobiotic molecule, 2naphthoic acid, is hydroxylated with an efficiency comparable to that of the physiological substrate. This reaction was used to devise a fluorimetric test for the rapid measurement of enzyme activity. A series of herbicidal molecules (hydroxybenzonitriles) are shown to bind the active site without being metabolised. These molecules behave as strong competitive inhibitors of CYP73 with a K_i in the same micromolar range as the K_m for the physiological substrate. It is proposed that their inhibition of the phenylpropanoid pathway reinforces their other phytotoxic effects at the level of the chloroplasts. All our results indicate a strong reciprocal interaction between plant P450s and xenobiotics.     

矮牵牛花香基因BSMT3的cDNA克隆与表达特征分析

以矮牵牛花瓣总RNA为模板,RT-PCR方法克隆得到其BSMTcDNA,全长1100bp,编码357aa,与已有报道phBSMT1(GenBank No.AA0501)和phBSMT2(AAO45013)的同源性分别达到97.76%和98.6%,该序列在Gen-Bank登录号为DQ494491,命名为phBSMT3.构建的BSMT3 cDNA的原核表达质粒pGBSMT转化BL21(DE3)E.coli,获得的重组菌株经0.01mol/LIPTG诱导后得到正确表达的GST-BSMT融合蛋白带,以纯化的重组表达蛋白免疫家兔获得其兔抗免疫血清.免疫组化研究结果证实,矮牵牛花香基因BSMT在花瓣、花管中的表达量较其它组织的表达量高.图5参24