A kinetic partitioning model of selective binding of nonnative proteins by the bacterial chaperone SecB

An in vitro assay for the interaction of SecB, a molecular chaperone from Escherichia coli, with polypeptide ligands was established based on the ability of SecB to block the refolding of denatured maltose-binding protein. Competition experiments show that SecB binds selectively to nonnative proteins with high affinity and without specificity for a particular sequence of amino acids. It is proposed that selectivity in binding is due to a kinetic partitioning of polypeptides between folding and association with SecB.     

Modulation of folding pathways of exported proteins by the leader sequence

Leader peptides that function to direct export of proteins through membranes have some common features but exhibit a remarkable sequence diversity. Thus there is some question whether leader peptides exert their function through conventional stereospecific protein-protein interaction. Here it is shown that the leader peptides retarded the folding of precursor maltose-binding protein and ribose-binding protein from Escherichia coli. This kinetic effect may be crucial in allowing precursors to enter the export pathway.     

Unity in function in the absence of consensus in sequence: role of leader peptides in export

Passage of proteins across membranes during export from their site of synthesis to their final destination is mediated by leader peptides that paradoxically exhibit a unity of function in spite of a diversity of sequence. These leader peptides act in at least two stages of the export process: at entry into the pathway and subsequently during translocation across the membrane. How selectivity is imposed on the system in the absence of a consensus among the sequences of leader peptides is the main issue discussed here.     

Direct observation of chaperone-induced changes in a protein folding pathway

How chaperone interactions affect protein folding pathways is a central problem in biology. With the use of optical tweezers and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we studied the effect of chaperone SecB on the folding and unfolding pathways of maltose binding protein (MBP) at the single-molecule level. In the absence of SecB, we find that the MBP polypeptide first collapses into a molten globulelike compacted state and then folds into a stable core structure onto which several alpha helices are finally wrapped. Interactions with SecB completely prevent stable tertiary contacts in the core structure but have no detectable effect on the folding of the external alpha helices. It appears that SecB only binds to the extended or molten globulelike structure and retains MBP in this latter state. Thus during MBP translocation, no energy is required to disrupt stable tertiary interactions.     

小麦蓝矮植原体免疫膜蛋白（Imp）基因的克隆和分子特性分析

 【目的】探讨小麦蓝矮植原体免疫膜蛋白在介体-病原-寄主互作的分子机理。【方法】通过植原体免疫膜蛋白基因序列两侧的保守区设计引物对Imp 1051/Imp 2265,用PCR方法扩增小麦蓝矮植原体免疫膜蛋白基因;对扩增片段的最大开放阅读框和基因的同源矩阵、系统发育树分析;对克隆基因所编码蛋白进行跨膜区、亲疏水区和前导信号序列分析。【结果】从小麦蓝矮病病株和接种长春花中均扩增到约1.0 kb的特异片段,其中小麦蓝矮植原体免疫膜蛋白基因长495 bp,推导的编码蛋白含有164个氨基酸。与10种植原体的免疫膜蛋白基因进行序列同源性分析,小麦蓝矮与三叶草绿变植原体同源性最高,核苷酸和编码的氨基酸序列的同源率分别为98.4％和95.1％。蛋白质结构分析结果表明：小麦蓝矮免疫膜蛋白N端有一个跨膜的前导信号序列,C端为跨膜锚定区,中间为膜外亲水区。【结论】小麦蓝矮植原体与三叶草绿变、翠菊黄化、洋葱黄化和泡桐丛枝植原体的免疫膜蛋白为同型蛋白。     

Proton motive force involved in protein transport across the outer membrane of Aeromonas salmonicida

Many Gram-negative bacteria export proteins to the exterior. Some of these proteins are first secreted into the periplasm and then cross the outer membrane in a separate step. The source of energy required for the translocation is unknown. Export of the extracellular protein proaerolysin from the periplasm through the outer membrane of Aeromonas salmonicida is inhibited by a proton ionophore and by low extracellular pH. One possible explanation of these results is that a proton gradient across the outer membrane is required for export.     

The function of a leader peptide in translocating charged amino acyl residues across a membrane

Insertion of bacteriophage coat proteins into the membrane of infected bacterial cells can be studied as a model system of protein translocation across membranes. The coat protein of the filamentous bacteriophage Pf3--which infects Pseudomonas aeruginosa--is 44 amino acids in length and has the same basic structure as the coat protein of bacteriophage M13, which infects Escherichia coli. However, unlike the Pf3 coat protein, the M13 coat protein is synthesized as a precursor (procoat) with a typical leader (signal) sequence, which is cleaved after membrane insertion. Nevertheless, when the gene encoding the Pf3 coat protein is expressed in E. coli, the protein is translocated across the membrane. Hybrid M13 and Pf3 coat proteins were constructed in an attempt to understand how the Pf3 coat protein is translocated without a leader sequence. These studies demonstrated that the extracellular regions of the proteins determined their cellular location. When three charged residues in this region were neutralized, the leader-free M13 coat protein was also inserted into the membrane. Differences in the water shell surrounding these residues may account for efficient membrane insertion of the protein without a leader sequence.     

Role of ER export signals in controlling surface potassium channel numbers

Little is known about the identity of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) export signals and how they are used to regulate the number of proteins on the cell surface. Here, we describe two ER export signals that profoundly altered the steady-state distribution of potassium channels and were required for channel localization to the plasma membrane. When transferred to other potassium channels or a G protein-coupled receptor, these ER export signals increased the number of functional proteins on the cell surface. Thus, ER export of membrane proteins is not necessarily limited by folding or assembly, but may be under the control of specific export signals.     

杜仲EuCHIT1基因表达载体构建及在大肠杆菌中的表达

构建了T7启动子驱动杜仲几丁质酶基因EuCHIT1的原核表达载体pET-EuCHIT1和pMCSG-EuCHIT1,其表达产物分别含6个组氨酸(6His)标签和6个组氨酸连接的麦芽糖结合蛋白(his6-tag–maltose-binding protein,MBP)标签,分别将重组载体遗传转化大肠杆菌细胞BL21(DE3),在37℃、150 rpm条件下培养至菌液OD值为0.4~0.8后,转到16℃、150 rpm条件下以1 m MIPTG诱导培养12 h,表达产物经SDS-PAGE分析,p ET-EuCHIT1/BL21(DE3)表达以包涵体形式存在36.03 kD融合蛋白,pMCSG-EuCHIT1/BL21(DE3)成功表达可溶形式存在的77.21 kD融合蛋白。故可以使用pMCSG-EuCHIT1/BL21(DE3)获得可溶的融合蛋白,为之后的EuCHIT1的多克隆抗体的制备和及功能研究奠定基础。     

Targeting malaria virulence and remodeling proteins to the host erythrocyte

To establish infection in the host, malaria parasites export remodeling and virulence proteins into the erythrocyte. These proteins can traverse a series of membranes, including the parasite membrane, the parasitophorous vacuole membrane, and the erythrocyte membrane. We show that a conserved pentameric sequence plays a central role in protein export into the host cell and predict the exported proteome in Plasmodium falciparum. We identified 400 putative erythrocyte-targeted proteins corresponding to approximately 8% of all predicted genes, with 225 virulence proteins and a further 160 proteins likely to be involved in remodeling of the host erythrocyte. The conservation of this signal across Plasmodium species has implications for the development of new antimalarials.     

Structure and expression of a complementary DNA for the nuclear coded precursor of human mitochondrial ornithine transcarbamylase

Most mitochondrial proteins are encoded in the nucleus and are translated on free cytoplasmic ribosomes as larger precursors containing amino-terminal "leader" sequences, which are removed after the precursors are taken up by mitochondria. We have deduced the complete primary structure of the precursor of a human mitochondrial matrix enzyme, ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC), from the nucleotide sequence of cloned complementary DNA. The amino-terminal leader peptide of OTC is 32 amino acids in length and contains four arginines but no acidic residues. Cleavage of the leader peptide from the "mature" protein occurs between glutamine and asparagine residues. The sequence of mature human OTC resembles that of the subunits of both OTC and aspartate transcarbamylase from Escherichia coli. The biological activity of the cloned OTC complementary DNA was tested by joining it with SV40 (an animal virus) regulatory elements and transfecting cultured HeLa cells, which do not normally express OTC. Both the precursor and mature forms of the OTC subunit were identified; in stable transformants, enzymatic activity was also detected.     

植物羟基肉桂酰辅酶A还原酶的生物信息学分析

分析GenBank公布的68条蕨类、裸子、单子叶和双子叶植物的CCR蛋白,发现单子叶植物CCR基因的GC含量最高,CCR一级结构的理化性质基本一致,但主要氨基酸种类和含量不同;CCR是一类无导肽、信号肽及跨膜结构域的亲水性蛋白质,N-端存在3β-羟基类固醇脱氢酶/差向异构酶/NAD结合蛋白的结构域,存在9个功能保守区;进化树表明,该基因可用于植物高等级单元的分类;同源建模表明其三级结构稳定,建模结果可靠;CCR蛋白亚细胞定位于细胞质、叶绿体和内质网,除黑麦草和番茄外,同一物种CCR不同成员的亚细胞定位基本相同.     

三种融合标签对大熊猫轮状病毒结构蛋白VP6-VP7可溶性表达的影响

大熊猫轮状病毒(giant panda rotavirus,GPRV)是引起幼龄大熊猫腹泻的主要病原,对圈养大熊猫产生了较大的危害。轮状病毒结构蛋白VP6是一种载体蛋白,可介导黏膜免疫反应。VP7是轮状病毒结构蛋白中主要的中和抗原。因此,VP6-VP7的融合表达作为候选抗原对该病的防治具有重要的意义。传统大肠埃希菌原核表达存在表达量低、可溶性差以及纯度低等弊端。本研究使用醛缩酶(EDA)、谷胱甘肽S-转移酶(GST)、麦芽糖结合蛋白(MBP)3种融合标签,以实现获得表达量高和纯度高的GPRV-VP6-VP7重组表达蛋白。将扩增的VP6、VP7基因片段利用同源重组酶构建到含3种融合标签的表达载体pET21b上,将重组质粒转化至大肠埃希菌Rosetta(DE3)感受态细胞中进行低温诱导表达。用Ni-柱亲和层析法纯化目的蛋白,SDS-PAGE和Image J分析蛋白表达量和可溶性,Western blot分析得到表达的重组表达蛋白正确且具有蛋白活性。实验结果证明,EDA标签能显著促进VP6-VP7蛋白的原核可溶性表达,提高VP6-VP7蛋白表达量。     

Jo-1蛋白在大肠杆菌中的克隆与表达

构建在E.coli中表达人组氨酰-tRNA合成酶(Jo-1)的质粒。用RT-PCR从人胎盘组织总RNA中获得编码人组氨酰-tRNA合成酶(Jo-1)基因的全序列,将此片段定向克隆到麦芽糖融合蛋白表达载体pMAL-c中,诱导表达获得Jo-1的可溶性融合蛋白,并通过亲和层析予以纯化。结果免疫印迹实验表明,表达的融合蛋白能与含有抗Jo-1抗体的病人血清发生特异反应,重组融合蛋白具有Jo-1蛋白的免疫原性和免疫特异性。     

Bacteriophage M13 procoat protein inserts into the plasma membrane as a loop structure

The major coat protein of bacteriophage M13 is synthesized as a precursor, the procoat, with a typical leader (signal) sequence of 23 residues at its NH2-terminus. A fusion protein that contains the NH2-terminal 141 residues of cytoplasmic ribulokinase and all but the first ten residues of M13 procoat was made. The fusion protein inserts into the plasma membrane of Escherichia coli and is processed by leader peptidase to give rise to a leader peptide of 155 residues and the mature coat protein of 50 residues. The NH2-terminus of the leader peptide remains in the cytoplasm and is protected from protease added to the medium outside of the cell. This indicates that M13 procoat inserts into the membrane as a loop structure and that the NH2-terminus of a leader peptide remains within the cytoplasm during membrane insertion.     

Role of the ABC transporter Mdl1 in peptide export from mitochondria

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) adenosine triphosphatases actively transport a wide variety of compounds across biological membranes. Here, the ABC protein Mdl1 was identified as an intracellular peptide transporter localized in the inner membrane of yeast mitochondria. Mdl1 was required for mitochondrial export of peptides with molecular masses of approximately 2100 to 600 daltons generated by proteolysis of inner-membrane proteins by the m-AAA protease in the mitochondrial matrix. Proteolysis by the i-AAA protease in the intermembrane space led to the release of similar-sized peptides independent of Mdl1. Thus, two pathways of peptide efflux from mitochondria exist that may allow communication between mitochondria and their cellular environment.     

The 35-nucleotide spliced leader sequence is common to all trypanosome messenger RNA's

In Trypanosomatidae the messenger RNA's (mRNA's) that code for the variant surface glycoproteins (VSG's), tubulins, calmodulin, and at least a subset of other proteins contain a common 35-nucleotide leader sequence at their 5' ends. Hybrid-arrested in vitro translation has been used to show that all mRNA's in both African and South American trypanosomes contain this 35-nucleotide sequence. Oligonucleotides complementary to this sequence blocked translation of all trypanosome mRNA's in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate system, but did not inhibit translation of mRNA's from other organisms lacking this sequence. An oligonucleotide complementary to the VSG mRNA downstream from the spliced leader sequence arrested only VSG synthesis. Thus, the 35-nucleotide leader sequence is a general feature of all trypanosome mRNA's. The high specificity of oligonucleotides complementary to the spliced leader for their target sequence suggests that analogues permeable to the cell membrane may be useful in the treatment of trypanosomal infections.     

Conformations of signal peptides induced by lipids suggest initial steps in protein export

Despite the requirement for a functional signal sequence in protein export, little is known of the conformational properties and membrane interactions of these highly hydrophobic amino terminal extensions on nearly all exported proteins. The Escherichia coli lambda phage receptor signal sequence was studied in phospholipid monolayers by circular dichroism and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; the signal peptide was shown to prefer an alpha-helical conformation when inserted into the lipid phase. However, interaction with the lipid surface without insertion induced the signal sequence, which is unstructured in bulk aqueous solution, to adopt a beta structure. These observations are combined in a model for the initial steps in signal sequence-membrane interaction in vivo.