A screening assay for thyroid hormone signaling disruption based on thyroid hormone-response gene expression analysis in the frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus

Amphibian metamorphosis provides a wonderful model to study the thyroid hormone (TH) signaling disrupting activity of environmental chemicals, with Xenopus laevis as the most commonly used species. This study aimed to establish a rapid and sensitive screening assay based on TH-response gene expression analysis using Pelophylax nigromaculatus, a native frog species distributed widely in East Asia, especially in China. To achieve this, five candidate TH-response genes that were sensitive to T3 induction were chosen as molecular markers, and T3 induction was determined as 0.2 nmol/L T3 exposure for 48 hr. The developed assay can detect the agonistic activity of T3 with a lowest observed effective concentration of 0.001 nmol/L and EC50 at around 0.118–1.229 nmol/L, exhibiting comparable or higher sensitivity than previously reported assays. We further validated the efficiency of the developed assay by detecting the TH signaling disrupting activity of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), a known TH signaling disruptor. In accordance with previous reports, we found a weak TH agonistic activity for TBBPA in the absence of T3, whereas a TH antagonistic activity was found for TBBPA at higher concentrations in the presence of T3, showing that the P. nigromaculatus assay is effective for detecting TH signaling disrupting activity. Importantly, we observed non-monotonic dose-dependent disrupting activity of TBBPA in the presence of T3, which is difficult to detect with in vitro reporter gene assays. Overall, the developed P. nigromaculatus assay can be used to screen TH signaling disrupting activity of environmental chemicals with high sensitivity.     

生物强化系统微生物分子诊断技术的应用及新发展

现代分子生物技术的飞速发展及其在环境研究领域的应用，为生物强化技术的研究和发展提供了新方法和新思路。本文从生物强化系统特异微生物检测及定量化技术、生物强化系统微生物群落结构组成及动态演替规律研究、生物强化作用机制的分子生物学解析、生物强化菌的基因工程构建、生物强化系统微生物的安全释放及控制技术几方面，对生物强化系统微生物分子诊断技术的应用和发展作了较为全面的综述。     

Cloning and expression analysis of geosmin synthase gene from Aphanizomenon gracile北大核心CSCD

Geosmin is a secondary metabolite responsible for earthy odors. The occurrence of geosmin has great impact on the quality of water environment. The gene essential for geosmin biosynthesis have been identified in several species. But little is known about the mechanism of geosmin synthesis in Aphanizomenon gracile. This study attempted to clone the gene involved in geosmin biosynthesis of Aphanizomenon gracile a nd a nalyze t he geosmin production u nder d ifferent e nvironments. T he high-efficiency thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR (hiTAIL-PCR) was used to amplify the full-length of geosmin synthase gene from Aphanizomenon gracile (WH-1). Real time PCR (RT-PCR) was applied to quantify the geosmin production in different light and temperature. As a result, geo, a geosmin synthase gene from Aphanizomenon gracile (WH-1) was cloned by hiTAIL-PCR. The full-length open reading frame (ORF) of geo was 2 262 bp, coding for a protein of 753 amino acids. Meanwhile, WH-1 was treated with different environment conditions and mRNA expression levels of geo were quantified by RT-PCR. It was found that low temperature (15 °C), high light intensity (35 μmol m-2 s-1) and continuous light illumination were beneficial to the expression of geo. The successful amplification of geosmin synthase gene verified that hiTAIL-PCR is an effective and simple procedure of low cost. The result provides fundamental knowledge on the monitoring and prevention for odorants.     

Salmonella Enterica Serovar Typhimurium HilA-LacZY Fusion Gene Response to Iron Chelation or Supplementation in Rich and Minimal Media

Abstract

Virulence expression of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium under iron limited condition was measured by β-galactosidase (β-gal) assay using a hilA-lacZY fusion strain and calculated as Miller units. hilA-lacZY β-galactosidase assays were performed in brain heart infusion (BHI) and minimal media (M9), after iron chelation with 2, 2-dipridyl and iron-supplementation respectively. Before performing virulence assays, concentrations of iron in the media were estimated using ferrozine. Iron content was found to be more in BHI (42.6 µg dL^?1) as compared to M9 (10.03 µg dL^?1). β-gal activity of Salmonella Typhimurium in BHI was generally less than that observed in M9. After exposure to various combinations of iron chelator in BHI, hilA-lacZY activity only increased at the highest concentration of chelator (200 µM) but decreased in M9 media for all iron concentrations when compared to controls with no iron amendment. These results indicate that iron availability may influence S. Typhimurium hilA expression.     

石油污染土壤生物修复过程中氮循环功能基因的动态检测

氮循环相关功能微生物在土壤发挥其生态功能中起着重要的作用.为定量分析其中的固氮细菌、反硝化细菌和硝化细菌在石油污染土壤生物修复过程中的演变情况,采用了实时定量PCR技术对其相关功能基因nifH、narG和amoA的拷贝数进行检测.结果表明,污染土壤中nifH、narG和amoA基因拷贝数及其占总16S rRNA基因拷贝数的比例远低于正常土壤,修复后土壤中的同类分析结果与正常土壤接近.表明石油污染物破坏了氮循环相关菌落结构,而生物修复则使其得以恢复.进一步分析了不同修复方式下氮循环功能基因的恢复情况以及土壤中石油烃降解率.也表明同时添加秸秆和菌剂具有最好的修复效果,处理40 d后其nifH、narG和amoA基因拷贝数（以干土计）分别恢复到2.68×106、1.71×106和8.54×104g-1,石油烃降解率达到48%.投加真菌-细菌复合菌剂的效果优于只投加细菌菌剂的效果.本研究结果表明氮循环功能基因的动态监测可以从基因和物种水平上反映土壤修复的效果,为土壤修复的监控和效果评估提供参考.     

Monitoring aromatic hydrocarbon biodegradation by functional marker genes

The development of biological treatment technologies for contaminated environments requires tools for obtaining direct information about the biodegradation of specific contaminants. The potential of functional gene array analysis to monitor changes in the amount of functional marker genes as indicators of contaminant biodegradation was investigated. A prototype functional gene array was developed for targeting key functions in the biodegradation of naphthalene, toluene and xylenes. Internal standard probe based normalization was introduced to facilitate comparison across multiple samples. Coupled with one-colour hybridization, the signal normalization improved the consistency among replicate hybridizations resulting in better discrimination for the differences in the amount of target DNA. During the naphthalene biodegradation in a PAH-contaminated soil slurry microcosm, the normalized hybridization signals in naphthalene catabolic gene probes were in good agreement with the amount of naphthalene-degradation genes and the production of 14CO2. Gene arrays provide efficient means for monitoring of contaminant biodegradation in the environment.     

苏云金芽孢杆菌新基因cry1Ab17的克隆和生物信息学

利用高效克隆PCR产物的专用载体pMD18T,直接从苏云金芽孢杆菌WB9的PCR产物中克隆了cry1Ab17新基因.测序结果表明,该基因(GenBank登录号为AY646166)由3471个碱基组成,其编码的蛋白质含有1156个氨基酸残基,其中亲水性氨基酸占30.8%,疏水性氨基酸占45.2%,酸性氨基酸占12.9%,碱性氨基酸占11.1%.氨基酸序列的同源性分析结果表明,Cry1Ab17蛋白与已报道的Cry1Ab蛋白同源性为95.4%～99.7%,该蛋白的4个氨基酸残基———Pro170、Gly449、Gly796和Gly863与其它已报道Cry1Ab蛋白相应位置的氨基酸残基均不同.在核苷酸序列和氨基酸序列多重比较的基础上,应用PAUP4.0构建了Cry1A蛋白家族的系统发育树.SignalP分析结果显示,Cry1Ab17蛋白中不含信号肽序列.此外,对Cry1Ab17蛋白的二级结构和3个结构域也进行了预测和分析.图4表2参15     

Exposure to radiation from global system for mobile communications at 1,800 MHz significantly changes gene expression in rat hippocampus and cortex

We have earlier shown that radio frequency electromagnetic fields can cause significant leakage of albumin through the blood–brain barrier of exposed rats as compared to non-exposed rats, and also significant neuronal damage in rat brains several weeks after a 2 h exposure to a mobile phone, at 915 MHz with a global system for mobile communications (GSM) frequency modulation, at whole-body specific absorption rate values (SAR) of 200, 20, 2, and 0.2 mW/kg. We have now studied whether 6 h of exposure to the radiation from a GSM mobile test phone at 1,800 MHz (at a whole-body SAR-value of 13 mW/kg, corresponding to a brain SAR-value of 30 mW/kg) has an effect upon the gene expression pattern in rat brain cortex and hippocampus—areas where we have observed albumin leakage from capillaries into neurons and neuronal damage. Microarray analysis of 31,099 rat genes, including splicing variants, was performed in cortex and hippocampus of 8 Fischer 344 rats, 4 animals exposed to global system for mobile communications electromagnetic fields for 6 h in an anechoic chamber, one rat at a time, and 4 controls kept as long in the same anechoic chamber without exposure, also in this case one rat at a time. Gene ontology analysis (using the gene ontology categories biological processes, molecular functions, and cell components) of the differentially expressed genes of the exposed animals versus the control group revealed the following highly significant altered gene categories in both cortex and hippocampus: extracellular region, signal transducer activity, intrinsic to membrane, and integral to membrane. The fact that most of these categories are connected with membrane functions may have a relation to our earlier observation of albumin transport through brain capillaries.