All-trans retinoic acid attenuates blood-brain barrier injury induced by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in rats through JNK/P38 MAPK signaling pathway

AIM: To investigate the effect of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on blood-brain barrier after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (CIR) injury in rats and its possible role mechanism.METHODS: Male SD rats were randomly divided into sham group, model (CIR) group and CIR+ATRA (10, 30 and 90 mg/kg) groups. The rat model of CIR injury was established by MCAO thread occlusion method. After ischemia for 1.5 h and reperfusion for 24 h, the neurological functional behavioral score, cerebral infarction volume, brain water content and Evans blue content were determined. The activity of matrix metalloprotein-9 (MMP-9) was measured by gelatin zymography. The protein levels of claudin-5, occludin, ZO-1, JNK, p-JNK, P38, p-P38 and MMP-9 in the brain tissues were determined by Western blot.RESULTS: Compared with CIR model group, ATRA at 30 mg/kg significantly improved neurological function, and decreased cerebral infarction volume, brain water content, Evans blue content and the degradation of tight junction proteins in ischemic area (P<0.01). The activity and protein expression of MMP-9 in ischemic brain tissue were decreased (P<0.01). The phosphorylation of JNK and P38 was inhibited and the protein levels of p-JNK and p-P38 were decreased (P<0.01).CONCLUSION: ATRA reduces the damage of brain tissue and the destruction of blood-brain barrier induced by CIR in rats. The protective effect may be related to inhibiting the activation of JNK/P38 MAPK signaling pathway and MMP-9.     

利用CRISPR/Cas9敲除葡萄VviPDS1基因的研究

选择葡萄八氢番茄红素脱氢酶(Phytoene desaturase)基因VviPDS1为靶标,利用CRISPR/Cas9系统构建基因敲除载体,瞬时转化葡萄叶片原生质体,检测到不同类型的突变。通过农杆菌介导转化‘无核白’葡萄胚性愈伤组织,筛选获得卡那霉素抗性植株71株。经PCR鉴定,其中53株为阳性植株,阳性率为74.64%。测序结果表明,共有20株在靶点发生不同类型的突变,编辑效率为37.74%;其中9株产生了双等位基因突变。对其进行氨基酸序列预测,在第202位氨基酸之后发生了不同程度的变异。利用CRISPR/Cas9系统敲除VviPDS1获得的突变体植株呈现整体矮化,其叶片出现不同程度白化。表明CRISPR/Cas9系统可以通过细胞中的瞬时或稳定表达进行基因编辑,可以实现在葡萄编辑植株中产生纯合敲除。     

利用CRISPR/Ca9技术靶向编辑芥蓝BoaZDS

以芥蓝(Brassicaoleraceavar.alboglabra)为材料,以ζ–胡萝卜素脱氢酶(ζ-Carotene desaturase,ZDS)基因为目标基因,建立其CRISPR/Cas9基因组编辑体系。在BoaZDS的编码区近5′端选择靶位点,构建了CRISPR/Cas9表达载体,通过农杆菌介导的遗传转化方法获得了19个芥蓝转基因阳性植株,Sanger测序分析发现其中13株成功突变,CRISPR/Cas9载体在芥蓝上的突变效率为68.42%,且所有突变植株均表现出明显的白化表型。     

通过优化gRNA设计提高CRISPR/Cas9系统中基因编辑效率的方法

CRISPR/Cas9系统是一种广泛应用于动物、植物、真菌、细菌的新一代基因定点编辑技术,如何提高g RNA的编辑效率是该技术的关键点也是许多研究者关注的焦点。本研究利用CRISPR/Cas9技术对番茄miR167a前体序列进行基因编辑,根据番茄miR167a前体序列在线设计候选g RNA,同时结合体外编辑检测的方法筛选出能够在体外成功编辑的g RNA-G1,把其连接到含有荧光标记的pP1C.1C表达载体,转化番茄子叶,产生愈伤组织数116个,得到5个含有表达载体的材料,经测序发现,其中3个材料发生了编辑。结果表明,通过体外检测和在线软件设计相结合的方法来快速检测g RNA的编辑效率,能筛选出最优的g RNA用于载体的构建,与未采用体外编辑检测来设计g RNA的方法相比,显著提高了CRISPR/Cas9的编辑效率。本研究通过优化g RNA,创新了一种高效利用CRISPR/Cas9进行基因编辑的方法。     

利用CRISPR/CAS9技术编辑水稻香味基因Badh2

【目的】香稻作为一类特殊的水稻群体,以其清香可口的品质特性备受消费者的欢迎。到目前为止,水稻中的香味主要受第8染色体上编码甜菜碱醛脱氢酶基因Badh2控制。【方法】通过CRISPR/CAS9技术对中花11的香味基因Badh2进行编辑。【结果】获得转基因T_0代植株并对其所衍生的T_1代20个单株进行了鉴定分析,获得了一个剔除了载体骨架且第1外显子上插入一个碱基T的突变体材料。该材料中Badh2 RNA水平显著下调;利用GC-MS技术测定野生型及突变体材料籽粒2-乙酰-1-吡咯啉含量,结果表明突变体材料中的香味物质显著增加;此外,我们还对野生型及T_2代香型植株水稻产量及稻米蒸煮食味品质进行了考查及测定分析,发现除分蘖数及结实率呈现出显著差异外(P0.05),其余各项指标在两组材料间都无显著差异。【结论】通过CRISPR/CAS9技术成功地对水稻香味基因进行了编辑,可为香稻育种提供丰富的理论指导,加快香稻的育种进程。     

草地贪夜蛾Sf9细胞对饥饿诱导自噬的响应

为研究草地贪夜蛾对饥饿诱导自噬的响应。从草地贪夜蛾EST数据库中筛选到一段核苷酸序列,设计特异性引物,RT-PCR技术从草地贪夜蛾Sf9细胞中扩增该核苷酸序列,经过生物信息学分析该序列与昆虫自噬相关基因ATG8同源性最高,命名为SfATG8基因,并构建了pIEX-4-mCherry-EGFP-SfATG8载体转染Sf9细胞。Sf9细胞经饥饿(PBS)诱导4 h后,Lyso-Tracker染色、Western Blotting、共聚焦显微镜检测细胞对自噬的响应程度。结果表明,经饥饿(PBS)诱导4 h的Sf9细胞中出现Sf Atg8-PE的表达,共聚焦显微镜检测到Sf9细胞膜上的自噬小体。以上证据证实饥饿(PBS)能诱导Sf9细胞发生自噬,为深入研究Sf9细胞对自噬的响应奠定了基础。     

利用CRISPR/Cas9技术创建OsCOL9水稻突变体

CRISPR/Cas9系统可对植物的内源基因进行有效定点编辑,为作物的遗传育种提供了新的方向。以感病水稻品种丽江为材料,抗病基因OsCOL9为靶基因,探索该系统对水稻内源基因定点编辑效率以及获得有研究意义的突变体。OsCOL9基因CDS序列全长1 266 bp,编码一个422 aa蛋白,分子量大小约为45.6 k Da,蛋白质结构的N端含有B-box结构域,C端含有CCT(CONSTANS、CONSTANS-Like、TOC1)结构域。设计4个长20 nt的guide RNAs(gRNAs)靶点,靶向编辑OsCOL9基因的CDS起始区域以及外显子的末端,分别由U3、U6a、U6b以及U6c启动子驱动,提取T1转基因植株的基因组DNA并对编辑位点附近的DNA片段进行序列分析。结果表明,T1材料中OsCOL9的碱基缺失数最多可达59 bp,突变次数最多可达11次,取得较好的基因编辑效果。同时本试验出现了脱靶效应,因此着重探讨了降低脱靶效应的方法。由于CRISPR/Cas9系统在进行基因编辑时没有外源基因的导入,加上该技术的快捷、简便,对生物技术与传统育种的结合具有重要实践意义。     

野生番茄LA2157中热稳定抗根结线虫基因Mi-9候选基因的分离与过表达载体构建

根结线虫是番茄上的重要土传病害,选育抗根结线虫品种是最有效的防治方法,但是目前转育到栽培番茄中的抗根结线虫基因Mi-1在土温高于28℃时就丧失了抗性。本试验利用热稳定抗根结线虫野生番茄材料LA2157,根据Mi-1基因的序列信息,对其中热稳定抗根结线虫Mi-9基因进行同源克隆,在LA2157中共获得2个候选基因片段;通过In-Fusion克隆技术,将候选基因与过表达载体p BI121进行连接,经电泳检测和测序分析,最终构建Mi-9候选基因的过表达重组载体。     

Targeted Knock-in of a Fluorescent Protein Gene into the Chicken Vasa Homolog Locus of Chicken Primordial Germ Cells using CRIS-PITCh Method

In chickens, primordial germ cells (PGCs) are effective targets for advanced genome editing, including gene knock-in. Although a long-term culture system has been established for chicken PGCs, it is necessary to select a gene-editing tool that is efficient and precise for editing the PGC genome while maintaining its ability to contribute to the reproductive system. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) and CRISPR-mediated precise integration into the target chromosome (CRIS-PITCh) methods are superior as the donor vector is easier to construct, has high genome editing efficiency, and does not select target cells, compared to the homologous recombination method, which has been conventionally used to generate knock-in chickens. In this study, we engineered knock-in chicken PGCs by integrating a fluorescent protein gene cassette as a fusion protein into the chicken vasa homolog (CVH) locus of chicken PGCs using the CRIS-PITCh method. The knock-in PGCs expressed the fluorescent protein in vitro and in vivo, facilitating the tracking of PGCs. Furthermore, we characterized the efficiency of engineering double knock-in cell lines. Knock-in cell clones were obtained by limiting dilution, and the efficiency of engineering double knock-in cell lines was confirmed by genotyping. We found that 82% of the analyzed clones were successfully knocked-in into both alleles. We suggest that the production of model chicken from the knock-in PGCs can contribute to various studies, such as the elucidation of the fate of germ cells and sex determination in chicken.     

S-腺苷甲硫氨酸合成酶在毕赤酵母中的分泌表达

S-腺苷-L-甲硫氨酸（SAM）是甲硫氨酸（Met）的活性形式。生物体内,SAM由S-腺苷甲硫氨酸合成酶（SAMS）[EC2．5．1．6]催化L．甲硫氨酸（L．Met）和A11）反应而合成。酿酒酵母细胞中有2种SAM合成酶的同工酶,即SAMS1和SAMS2,分别由基因saml和sam2编码,二者氨基酸序列的同源性高达92％。在过量L-Met存在下,saml的转录受到抑制;已有酶促法合成研究显示sam2编码的合成酶没有产物抑制现象。笔者将sam2基因连接于毕赤酵母分泌型表达载体pPIC9K,并通过同源重组整合到酵母染色体上,以实现SAM合成酶的分泌性表达,为开发和建立酶促法生产SAM工艺奠定基础。