RNA secondary structure repression of a muscle-specific exon in HeLa cell nuclear extracts

The chicken beta-tropomyosin pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) is spliced in a tissue-specific manner to yield messenger RNA's (mRNA's) coding for different isoforms of this protein. Exons 6A and 6B are spliced in a mutually exclusive manner; exon 6B was included in skeletal muscle, whereas exon 6A was preferred in all other tissues. The distal portion of the intron upstream of exon 6B was shown to form stable double-stranded regions with part of the intron downstream of exon 6B and with sequences in exon 6B. This structure repressed splicing of exon 6B to exon 7 in a HeLa cell extract. Derepression of splicing occurred on disruption of this structure and repression followed when the structure was re-formed, even if the structure was formed between two different RNA molecules. Repression leads to inhibition of formation of spliceosomes. Disrupting either of the two double-stranded regions could lead to derepression, whereas re-forming the helices by suppressor mutations reestablished repression. These results support a simple model of tissue-specific splicing in this region of the pre-mRNA.     

鱼类免疫球蛋白生物合成的遗传控制研究综述

真骨鱼重链IgM恒定区基因由CH1～CH44个外显子所编码,以IgM分泌型表达,其跨膜域由2个外显子所编码,它以淋巴细胞膜受体形式被利用,TM1外显子被直接剪接到CH3外显子,而不是在CH4外显子内,这种不寻常的剪接方式导致产生Cμ4区的膜IgM。真骨鱼IgD重链除包括分泌型或膜结合型的C末端外,这个重组分子还包括1个重组的可变区、μ链的第1个恒定区及7个恒定区。IgD(δ)重链基因恰好位于IgM(μ)基因下游,第1个恒定区μ外显子被剪切形成δ转录本。     

The "spliceosome": yeast pre-messenger RNA associates with a 40S complex in a splicing-dependent reaction

The in vitro splicing reactions of pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) in a yeast extract were analyzed by glycerol gradient centrifugation. Labeled pre-mRNA appears in a 40S peak only if the pre-mRNA undergoes the first of the two partial splicing reactions. RNA analysis after extraction of glycerol gradient fractions shows that lariat-form intermediates, molecules that occur only in mRNA splicing, are found almost exclusively in this 40S complex. Another reaction intermediate, cut 5' exon RNA, can also be found concentrated in this complex. The complex is stable even in 400 mM KCl, although at this salt concentration, it sediments at 35S and is clearly distinguishable from 40S ribosomal subunits. This complex, termed a "spliceosome," is thought to contain components necessary for mRNA splicing; its existence can explain how separated exons on pre-mRNA are brought into contact.     

大白菜PAT1基因的克隆及其表达载体的构建

根据GenBank中大白菜（Brassica campestris L ssp．pekinensis）基因组测序结果,分析了大白菜PAT1（phytochrome A sjgnal transduction）基因的内含子和外显子。通过拼接外显子,获得了大白菜PAT1基因的cDNA编码序列。根据编码区序列,设计并合成了一对引物;利用这对引物,采用RT—PCR技术扩增出大白菜福山包头PAT1基因（CcPAT1）的全长cDNA序列。CcPATl编码区共1500bp,与拟南芥PAT1相似性为85．03％。同时构建了含有35S启动子的pCAMBIA-2300-CcPAT1过表达载体,并利用以PAT1 5’端特异区域构建了pFGC-1008-PAT1RNAi（RNA interference）载体,以备将来研究大白菜CcPAT1基因的功能。     

牛催乳素受体基因遗传多态性及其与部分精液品质性状的关联分析

采用PCR-SSCP方法对种公牛群体的催乳素受体基因(PRLR)所有外显子及5′UTR多态性进行检测。结果表明:外显子1及外显子8分别检测到了2种等位基因A、B和C、D,其中A、C为群体中优势基因,其他外显子及5′UTR没有遗传多态性;相关性分析表明,第1外显子位点AA型鲜精顶体完整率显著高于AB型(P=0.012),第8外显子位点CD型冻精活力显著高于CC型和DD型(P=0.004)。初步推断PRLR为影响种公牛繁殖性状的一个候选基因。     

应用软件Fgenesh预测水稻基因

 【目的】为生物基因组序列注释提供一定科学依据,加快序列注释进度和精确性。【方法】以粳稻日本晴（Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cv. Nipponbare）较长的6号染色体的序列为例,采用生物信息学手段,详细探索了Fgenesh（v2.0）对单子叶模式植物水稻基因的预测。【结果】预测的基因数涵盖了注释的基因数且两者相差不大;预测的基因以多外显子基因为主,占总基因的77.52%;预测基因的长度变化幅度很大;从显著匹配数上来看,Fgenesh对多外显子基因预测准确性较高,其中TIGR注释支持度达到100%,cDNA的支持度也在78%以上;从Fgenesh对多外显子基因不同位置的外显子预测来看,居间外显子和末端外显子的cDNA支持度较高;高支持度的多外显子基因中居间外显子的长度较短,而起始外显子和末端外显子较长;高支持度的单外显子基因长度多数较短;从外显子数目上看,高支持度多外显子基因的外显子数目主要集中在5以下。【结论】Fgenesh对水稻基因的预测有较高的准确性,但需要将预测结果与cDNA数据库进行序列比对,根据cDNA的支持情况对预测结果做必要的修订。     

牛双芽巴贝斯虫热休克蛋白基因外显子的克隆与原核表达

从患牛焦虫病的牛全血样品中抽提总RNA,通过设计特异性引物,经RT-PCR扩增牛双芽巴贝斯虫热休克蛋白20（HSP20）基因的外显子,将其插入pMD18-T载体进行测序、鉴定,构建原核表达质粒载体PGEX-4T-2-HSP20（exon）。试验结果显示牛双芽巴贝斯虫HSP20基因外显子已被成功克隆。该基因的外显子序列与国际标准株HSP20外显子的序列存在两个碱基的突变,导致其编码的蛋白质出现了一个氨基酸的变异。测序结果还表明,克隆出的牛双芽巴贝斯虫HSP20基因外显子已正向插入原核质粒表达载体PGEX-4T-2,成功构建了PGEX-4T-2-HSP20（exon）表达载体,并在大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）中的得到表达。     

How big is the universe of exons?

If genes have been assembled from exon subunits, the frequency with which exons are reused leads to an estimate of the size of the underlying exon universe. An exon database was constructed from available protein sequences, and homologous exons were identified on the basis of amino acid identity; statistically significant matches were determined by Monte Carlo methods. It is estimated that only 1000 to 7000 exons were needed to construct all proteins.     

The Prediction of Rice Gene by Fgenesh

This study has been carried out to give some scientific reasons for genome annotation, shorten the annotating time, and improve the results of gene prediction. Taking the sequence of the 6th chromosome, which has more length sequences than others, of Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cv. Nipponbare as analysis data in this research, the gene prediction of monocots module, rice, has been done by using Fgenesh ver. 2.0, and the predicting results have been explored particularly by bioinformatics methods. Results showed that the number of predicted genes for this chromosome was very close to the number of TIGR annotated genes. The majority of the predicted genes were multi-exon genes which had a percentage of 77.52. Length range was very big in the predicted genes. According to the significant match number, multi-exon genes can be predicted more veracity than single exon genes and the support can be reached up to 100% by TIGR annotation and up to 78% by cDNA. From the angle of predicted exons location of multi-exon genes, the internal exons and last exons had a high support of cDNA. The length of internal exons was relatively short in high （〉95% length, 〉78% similarity） cDNA and/or TIGR annotation support multi-exon genes, but the first exons and last exons were on the reverse. The majority of single exon genes which had more than 95% in length, and 78% in similarity support by cDNA and/or TIGR annotation was relatively short in length. From the angle of exon number, the majority of the multi-exon genes of high （〉 95% length, 〉 78% similarity） cDNA and/or TIGR annotation support had no more than 5 exon number. It was concluded that the rice gene prediction by Fgenesh was very good but needed modification manually to some extent according to cDNA support after aligning the predicting sequence of genes with cDNA database of rice.     

Q型烟粉虱化学感受蛋白基因BtabCSP1的克隆与分析

【目的】克隆Q型烟粉虱（Bemisia tabaci）化学感受蛋白基因,分析其序列特征和表达特性,为深入研究该类基因功能奠定基础。【方法】根据桃蚜化学感受蛋白OS-D2a（ABM5558）的氨基酸序列,借助生物信息学搜索烟粉虱EST序列拼接了1个烟粉虱化学感受蛋白基因（BtabCSP1）,以烟粉虱mRNA为模板,采用RT-PCR扩增克隆烟粉虱化学感受蛋白cDNA。采用半定量RT-PCR对不同发育阶段的烟粉虱样品中BtabCSP1的表达模式进行研究。【结果】BtabCSP1完整阅读框全长为2 626 bp,包含2个外显子和1个内含子,编码131个氨基酸残基,其中含有1个CX6CX18CX2结构域,为化学感受蛋白的典型特征。BtabCSP1在供试样品中均有表达,并且在2龄、3龄和伪蛹阶段表达量更高。聚类分析结果表明,烟粉虱与果蝇、桃蚜等物种遗传关系较远,化学感受蛋白基因在物种进化过程中较为活跃。【结论】从Q型烟粉虱若虫中克隆了1个化学感受蛋白基因 BtabCSP1,该基因在烟粉虱不同发育阶段中均能表达,推测其对烟粉虱的生长发育具有重要的调控作用。     

牦牛GH基因多态性的PCR-SSCP分析

采用PCR-SSCP技术对天祝白牦牛和青海高原牦牛的生长激素基因(GH基因)5个外显子及部分内含子序列进行遗传变异分析,以探讨牦牛GH基因的遗传特性.结果表明:2个牦牛群体GH基因第1、第2和第4外显子无多态性,第3内含子1694bp处均发生T→C转换,形成A、B2个等位基因,并检测到AA、AB和BB共3种基因型;天祝白牦牛第5外显子2373bp处发生G→T碱基颠换,形成C、D2个等位基因,检测到CC和CD2种基因型,但碱基改变并未引起氨基酸变化,因此这种碱基转换为沉默突变;天祝白牦牛和青海高原牦牛均为低度多态,经Hardy-Weinberg平衡检验2个牦牛群体均处于非平衡状态.     

北京鸭腹部脂肪组织的转录组特征分析

鸭的基因组序列虽已释放,但其基因组信息,尤其是转录组信息仍需进一步开发。文章利用转录组测序分析了鸭的腹部脂肪组织转录组特征。共获得203 200 984个高质量测序数据,鉴定出18 464个基因表达（RPKM≥1）,其中96.9%的基因RPKM值小于1 000。15 070个基因发生了可变剪切,剪切次数为35 913次。统计可变剪切类型发现,内含子保留所占比例最低,占所有可变剪切类型的1.17%,而第一外显子可变剪切、末端外显子可变剪切、外显子跳跃依次是3种比例最高的可变剪切类型,比例分别为45.92%, 43.67%和6.23%。此外,利用这批转录组数据共检测出229 276个SNPs,其中转换是最主要的突变类型,占所有SNPs的73.28%。对SNP所在基因进行功能注释(GO)发现,这些基因涉及细胞组分、分子功能、生物学过程3大功能类别中广泛的生物功能,表明该研究开发的SNPs较为全面;通路分析（KEGG）发现,SNPs所在基因除了富集于脂类、能量代谢相关通路,更多的基因则富集于癌症、免疫以及内分泌系统相关的通路上,表明脂肪组织除了是能量储备组织,同时也是重要的免疫、内分泌组织。这些数据拓展了鸭的遗传信息,建立的SNPs数据库将有助于鸭分子标记辅助育种及功能基因定位。与癌症、免疫相关的SNPs可为癌症及免疫学研究提供候选遗传标记。     

鸡催乳素受体基因的多态性分析

[目的]研究PRLR基因对鸡就巢和产蛋性状的影响。[方法]设计10对引物,采用PCR-SSCP方法,扩增了旧院黑鸡、固始鸡、山地乌骨鸡以及新扬州鸡PRLR基因部分外显子及邻近内含子序列。[结果]检测到4个多态位点,分别为外显子3处的SNP1（A10862G,位于5’-UTR）、外显子6处的SNP2（A25670G,为同义突变）、内含子8处的SNP3（G30716A）以及外显子10处的SNP4（A31900G）。卡方独立性检验结果发现,4个多态位点不同基因型在4个群体间的分布差异极显著（P〈0.01）。[结论]PRLR基因可能是影响鸡就巢和产蛋性状的一个主效基因。     

HSPC117 is the essential subunit of a human tRNA splicing ligase complex

Splicing of mammalian precursor transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules involves two enzymatic steps. First, intron removal by the tRNA splicing endonuclease generates separate 5' and 3' exons. In animals, the second step predominantly entails direct exon ligation by an elusive RNA ligase. Using activity-guided purification of tRNA ligase from HeLa cell extracts, we identified HSPC117, a member of the UPF0027 (RtcB) family, as the essential subunit of a tRNA ligase complex. RNA interference-mediated depletion of HSPC117 inhibited maturation of intron-containing pre-tRNA both in vitro and in living cells. The high sequence conservation of HSPC117/RtcB proteins is suggestive of RNA ligase roles of this protein family in various organisms.     

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins: role in RNA splicing

Splicing in vitro of a messenger RNA (mRNA) precursor (pre-mRNA) is inhibited by a monoclonal antibody to the C proteins (anti-C) of the heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA)-ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) particles. This antibody, 4F4, inhibits an early step of the reaction: cleavage at the 3' end of the upstream exon and the formation of the intron lariat. In contrast, boiled 4F4, or a different monoclonal antibody (designated 2B12) to the C proteins, or antibodies to other hnRNP proteins (120 and 68 kilodaltons) and nonimmune mouse antibodies have no inhibitory effect. The 4F4 antibody does not prevent the adenosine triphosphate-dependent formation of a 60S splicing complex (spliceosome). Furthermore, the 60S splicing complex contains C proteins, and it can be immunoprecipitated with 4F4. Depletion of C proteins from the splicing extract by immunoadsorption with either of the two monoclonal antibodies to the C proteins (4F4 or 2B12) results in the loss of splicing activity, whereas mock-depletion with nonimmune mouse antibodies bodies has no effect. A 60S splicing complex does not form in a C protein-depleted nuclear extract. These results indicate an essential role for proteins of the hnRNP complex in the splicing of mRNA precursors.     

Control of alternative splicing by the differential binding of U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle.

Cellular factors controlling alternative splicing of precursor messenger RNA are largely unknown, even though this process plays a central role in specifying the diversity of proteins in the eukaryotic cell. For the identification of such factors, a segment of the rat preprotachykinin gene was used in which differential expression of neuropeptides gamma and K is dependent on alternative splicing of the fourth exon (E4). Sequence variants of the three-exon segment, (E3-E4-E5) were created, resulting in a sensitive assay for factors mediating the splicing switch between E4-skipping and E4-inclusion. A dinucleotide mutation in the 5' splice site of E4 that increase base-pairing of this site to U1 small nuclear RNA resulted in uniform selection of E4, whereas a control mutation that destroyed base-pairing resulted in uniform E4-skipping. Affinity selection of spliceosomes formed on these functionally distinct substrates revealed that the extreme difference in splicing was mediated by differential binding of the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (snRNP) to the 5' splice site of E4. These data show that, apart from its established role in selecting 5' splice sites, U1 snRNP plays a fundamental role in 3' exon selection and provides insight into possible mechanisms of alternative splicing.     

Regulated splicing of the Drosophila P transposable element third intron in vitro: somatic repression

In eukaryotic cells alternative splicing of messenger RNA precursors (pre-mRNA's) is a means of regulating gene expression. Although a number of the components that participate in regulating some alternative splicing events have been identified by molecular genetic procedures, the elucidation of the biochemical mechanisms governing alternative splicing requires in vitro reaction systems. The tissue specificity of P element transposition in Drosophila depends on the germline restriction of pre-mRNA splicing of the P element third intron (IVS3). Drosophila P element IVS3 pre-mRNA substrates were spliced accurately in vitro in heterologous human cell extracts but not in Drosophila somatic cell splicing extracts. Components in Drosophila somatic cell extracts that specifically inhibited IVS3 splicing in vitro were detected by a complementation assay. Biochemical assays for Drosophila RNA binding proteins were then used to detect a 97-kilodalton protein that interacts specifically with 5' exon sequences previously implicated in the control of IVS3 splicing in vivo. Inhibition of IVS3 splicing in vitro could be correlated with binding of the 97-kD protein to 5' exon sequences, suggesting that one aspect of IVS3 tissue-specific splicing involves somatic repression by specific RNA-protein interactions.