ABA、MeJA和SA诱导下的荠菜CBF途径冷响应相关基因表达调控研究

植物在长期进化过程中对低温形成了一系列的适应能力和抵抗能力;CBF(CRT binding factor)途径是植物冷响应机制中重要的组成部分,该途径中一系列相关基因的级联调控网络与许多植物信号分子关系密切。为了阐明植物信号分子对荠菜CBF途径的调控模式,选用十字花科植物荠菜（Capsella bursa-pastoris）为材料,采用RT-PCR方法,研究了常温条件下三种信号分子（ABA、MeJA、SA）对荠菜CBF途径抗冷相关基因CbICE53、CbCBF、CbCOR15a、CbCOR15b、CbCAX51、CbRCI35的表达调控作用,结果显示各种基因在三种信号分子的诱导下其表达谱呈现不同的特点,这一结果对进一步阐明植物信号分子在CBF途径调控网络中的作用具有重要意义。     

Functional genomic analysis of the Wnt-wingless signaling pathway

The Wnt-Wingless (Wg) pathway is one of a core set of evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways that regulates many aspects of metazoan development. Aberrant Wnt signaling has been linked to human disease. In the present study, we used a genomewide RNA interference (RNAi) screen in Drosophila cells to screen for regulators of the Wnt pathway. We identified 238 potential regulators, which include known pathway components, genes with functions not previously linked to this pathway, and genes with no previously assigned functions. Reciprocal-Best-Blast analyses reveal that 50% of the genes identified in the screen have human orthologs, of which approximately 18% are associated with human disease. Functional assays of selected genes from the cell-based screen in Drosophila, mammalian cells, and zebrafish embryos demonstrated that these genes have evolutionarily conserved functions in Wnt signaling. High-throughput RNAi screens in cultured cells, followed by functional analyses in model organisms, prove to be a rapid means of identifying regulators of signaling pathways implicated in development and disease.     

缓释处理茉莉酸类化合物对兴安落叶松叶内防御蛋白活性的诱导效果

外源茉莉酸类化合物能够诱导植物产生抗虫性,为了延长其作用时间,选取茉莉酸甲酯(MJA)和茉莉酮(ZJ),将2种化合物倒入缓释瓶中作为缓释处理,挂于2年生兴安落叶松(Larix gmelinii)苗木中下部;以用2种化合物直接喷施落叶松苗为对照。测定落叶松针叶内与抗虫相关的几种主要防御蛋白的活力。喷施及用缓释处理MJA和ZJ后,兴安落叶松针叶内防御蛋白活性都有显著地增加(P0.01),并且呈现先升高后降低的波动变化。缓释处理的MJA和ZJ对兴安落叶松针叶内防御蛋白诱导作用没有直接喷施处理反应迅速,表现为前期诱导效果低于喷施处理,但后期诱导效果好于喷施处理,且缓释处理诱导效果可以延长5~15 d。MJA诱导效果强于ZJ。说明外源茉莉酸类化合物对落叶松抗虫性的诱导作用,经过缓释处理可以得到延长。     

Autophagy genes are essential for dauer development and life-span extension in C. elegans

Both dauer formation (a stage of developmental arrest) and adult life-span in Caenorhabditis elegans are negatively regulated by insulin-like signaling, but little is known about cellular pathways that mediate these processes. Autophagy, through the sequestration and delivery of cargo to the lysosomes, is the major route for degrading long-lived proteins and cytoplasmic organelles in eukaryotic cells. Using nematodes with a loss-of-function mutation in the insulin-like signaling pathway, we show that bec-1, the C. elegans ortholog of the yeast and mammalian autophagy gene APG6/VPS30/beclin1, is essential for normal dauer morphogenesis and life-span extension. Dauer formation is associated with increased autophagy and also requires C. elegans orthologs of the yeast autophagy genes APG1, APG7, APG8, and AUT10. Thus, autophagy is a cellular pathway essential for dauer development and life-span extension in C. elegans.     

茉莉酸类物质的功能与胁迫防御

具有茉莉酸基本结构的茉莉酸类衍生物，广泛在于植物界中，具有极为广谱的生理效应，主要表现为能诱导与生物抗逆境作用相关的物质的形成、促进衰老以及抑制生长等。同时，茉莉酸类衍生物可诱导许多植物特异基因如贮藏蛋白基因和与植物抗病虫害及其它逆境相关的基因的表达，产生特异的蛋白质，最近还发现茉莉酸能充当胁迫诱导反应的信号分子，由其通知植株未受伤部位和邻近植株进入警戒状态，因而再度成为植物生理学和植物分子生物学领域研究的热点。研究还发现茉莉酸（JA）与脱落酸（ABA）在促进衰老及对胁迫的反应上作用较为相似，两者可独立地发挥作用或以某种形式相互协调，笔者就茉莉酸类衍生物的生理生化作用及其在胁迫防御中的作用作一简要综述。     

玉米自交系B73全基因组cystatin抗虫基因家族分析

半胱氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂(cystatin)基因具有cystatin结构特征的蛋白结构域,广泛存在于植物或动物体内。此类基因在植物或动物蛋白质组中具有多个功能各异的家族成员,并在抗虫中扮演重要角色。通过利用玉米B73全基因组的基因表达序列数据,对12个cystatin基因的结构组成、染色体分布、系统进化等进行了分析。鉴定了该基因家族在蛋白序列间3个高度保守基序,构建了基因家族系统进化树,为该重要基因家族的进化提供了依据的同时也为克隆和分离该类抗虫基因提供参考。     

Diversity of G proteins in signal transduction

The heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) act as switches that regulate information processing circuits connecting cell surface receptors to a variety of effectors. The G proteins are present in all eukaryotic cells, and they control metabolic, humoral, neural, and developmental functions. More than a hundred different kinds of receptors and many different effectors have been described. The G proteins that coordinate receptor-effector activity are derived from a large gene family. At present, the family is known to contain at least sixteen different genes that encode the alpha subunit of the heterotrimer, four that encode beta subunits, and multiple genes encoding gamma subunits. Specific transient interactions between these components generate the pathways that modulate cellular responses to complex chemical signals.     

Candidate taste receptors in Drosophila

Little is known about the molecular mechanisms of taste perception in animals, particularly the initial events of taste signaling. A large and diverse family of seven transmembrane domain proteins was identified from the Drosophila genome database with a computer algorithm that identifies proteins on the basis of structure. Eighteen of 19 genes examined were expressed in the Drosophila labellum, a gustatory organ of the proboscis. Expression was not detected in a variety of other tissues. The genes were not expressed in the labellum of a Drosophila mutant, pox-neuro70, in which taste neurons are eliminated. Tissue specificity of expression of these genes, along with their structural similarity, supports the possibility that the family encodes a large and divergent family of taste receptors.     

Functional polymorphism among members of abscisic acid receptor family(ZmPYL) in maize

Pyrabactin resistance 1-like proteins(PYLs) are direct receptors of abscisic acid(ABA). For the redundant and polymorphic functions, some members of the PYL family interact with components of other signaling pathways. Here, 253 positive colonies from a maize cDNA library were screened as interacting proteins with the members of ZmPYL family. After sequencing and function annotation, 17 of 28 interaction combinations were verified by yeast two-hybrid(Y2 H). The germination potential, taproot length and proline content of a quartet mutant of Arabidopsis PYL genes were significantly deceased comparing to the wild type(WT) under alkaline stress(pH 8.5) and 100 μmol L–1 methyl jasmonate(MeJA) induction. The malondialdehyde(MDA) content was significantly increased. After germinating in darkness, the characteristics of dark morphogenesis of the quartet mutant seedlings were more obvious than those of the WT. The differential expression of the related genes of photomorphogenesis in the mutant was much more than that in the WT. Three light and two JA responsive cis-affecting elements were identified during the promoter sequences of the AtPYL1 and AtPYL2 genes. These results suggested that functional polymorphism has evolved among the members of ZmPYL family. In response to developmental and environmental stimuli, they not only function as direct ABA receptors but also interact with components of other signaling pathways mediated JA, brassinosteroid(BR), auxin, etc., and even directly regulate downstream stress-related proteins. These signaling pathways can interact at various crosstalk points and different levels of gene expression within a sophisticated network.     

Phytophthora genome sequences uncover evolutionary origins and mechanisms of pathogenesis

Draft genome sequences have been determined for the soybean pathogen Phytophthora sojae and the sudden oak death pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. O?mycetes such as these Phytophthora species share the kingdom Stramenopila with photosynthetic algae such as diatoms, and the presence of many Phytophthora genes of probable phototroph origin supports a photosynthetic ancestry for the stramenopiles. Comparison of the two species' genomes reveals a rapid expansion and diversification of many protein families associated with plant infection such as hydrolases, ABC transporters, protein toxins, proteinase inhibitors, and, in particular, a superfamily of 700 proteins with similarity to known o?mycete avirulence genes.     

Pathogen effectors target Arabidopsis EDS1 and alter its interactions with immune regulators

Plant resistance proteins detect the presence of specific pathogen effectors and initiate effector-triggered immunity. Few immune regulators downstream of resistance proteins have been identified, none of which are known virulence targets of effectors. We show that Arabidopsis ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY1 (EDS1), a positive regulator of basal resistance and of effector-triggered immunity specifically mediated by Toll-interleukin-1 receptor-nucleotide binding-leucine-rich repeat (TIR-NB-LRR) resistance proteins, forms protein complexes with the TIR-NB-LRR disease resistance proteins RPS4 and RPS6 and with the negative immune regulator SRFR1 at a cytoplasmic membrane. Further, the cognate bacterial effectors AvrRps4 and HopA1 disrupt these EDS1 complexes. Tight association of EDS1 with TIR-NB-LRR-mediated immunity may therefore derive mainly from being guarded by TIR-NB-LRR proteins, and activation of this branch of effector-triggered immunity may directly connect to the basal resistance signaling pathway via EDS1.     

泛素化修饰在RLR信号通路中的研究进展

病毒入侵后被细胞的模式识别受体RIG-I样受体(RIG-I-like receptor, RLR)识别从而启动抗病毒RLR信号通路的激活,先天免疫反应的异常激活将导致慢性炎症和免疫器官损伤,甚至引起自身免疫性疾病。为了防止抗病毒信号过早激活或过度激活,机体建立了完善的调节系统防止信号传导过程发生紊乱。蛋白的翻译后修饰(Post-translational modification, PTM)是调节模式识别受体及其下游信号蛋白稳定性和活性的关键机制,而泛素化(Ubiquitination, UB)作为蛋白质翻译后修饰的重要部分在抗病毒信号通路中被广泛研究。其中K48和K63连接的泛素化最为常见,通过K48连接的泛素链能够引起靶蛋白通过蛋白酶体途径降解,而K63连接的泛素链能够促进蛋白激活和细胞信号转导。RIG-I、MAVS、TBK1以及TRAF家族相关蛋白作为RLR通路的信号传递分子,其蛋白的泛素化修饰也成为研究的重点。本文讨论了K48和K63泛素化在抗病毒免疫信号通路中的研究进展,特别是RIG-I样受体引发的信号传导途径中蛋白的泛素化修饰。     

Rewiring MAP kinase pathways using alternative scaffold assembly mechanisms

How scaffold proteins control information flow in signaling pathways is poorly understood: Do they simply tether components, or do they precisely orient and activate them? We found that the yeast mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase scaffold Ste5 is tolerant to major stereochemical perturbations; heterologous protein interactions could functionally replace native kinase recruitment interactions, indicating that simple tethering is largely sufficient for scaffold-mediated signaling. Moreover, by engineering a scaffold that tethers a unique kinase set, we could create a synthetic MAP kinase pathway with non-natural input-output properties. These findings demonstrate that scaffolds are highly flexible organizing factors that can facilitate pathway evolution and engineering.