Abstract:Viral replicon is a kind of self-replicating viral RNA sourced from viral genome, which contains viral non-structural genes that are critical for viral genome replication with structural proteins deleted or replaced by foreign genes. Kunjin virus is a member of the Flavivirida family, Flavivirus genus, and Kunjin virus replicon is the first and the clearly defined flavivirus replicon. Kunjun virus replicon has been regarded as an excellent viral vector on account of its high expression, lower cytotoxicity and genetic stability. These unique characteristics of kunjin virus replicons make them suitable for the study of viral genome replication, recombinant proteins production, vaccine development and gene therapy. In this article, recent progress in the development, properties and applications of kunjin virus replicon system was briefly reviewed.

Abstract:Polyamine is an important physiological regulation substance functioning in a wide variety of biological processes, such as plant growth, development, senescence and adversity stress tolerance, which widely exist in all living organisms. Their biosynthetic pathways have already been revealed, and their physiological roles are being elucidated gradually. Previous work on polyamines biosynthetic deficiency mutants and various transgenic plants facilitates improved understanding of the important roles of polyamines and biosynthetic enzymes in plant growth and development. This paper summarizes researches in the biosynthetic pathways of polyamines in plants, focusing on research advances on functions of genes involved in polyamine metabolism. In addition, the potential research directions, especially the application of the genes in the genetic engineering of plant stress tolerance were also discussed.

Abstract:Laccases (benzenediol: oxygen oxidoreductases; EC 1.10.3.2) are copper-containing polyphenol oxidases that can oxidize a wide range of aromatic compounds, concomitantly with the transfer of four electrons and the reduction of molecular oxygen to water. The progress on the research of laccases structure and function is reviewed. Their three-dimensional structures and catalytic mechanism, as well as their applications in different fields are emphasized.

Abstract:Global warming caused by the increasing CO₂ concentration in atmosphere is a serious problem in the international political, economic, scientific and environmental fields in recent years. Intensive carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies have been developed for a feasible system to remove CO₂ from industrial exhaust gases especially for combustion flue gas. In these technologies, the biofixation of CO₂ by microalgae has the potential to diminish CO₂ and produce the biomass. In this review, the current status focusing on biofixation of CO₂ from combustion flue gases by microalgae including the selection of microalgal species and effect of flue gas conditions, the development of high efficient photobioreactor and the application of microalgae and its biomass product were reviewed and summarized. Finally, the perspectives of the technology were also discussed.

Abstract:Sexual transmission has become the major route of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) globally. Understanding the mechanism of HIV-1 mucosal infection will be helpful for development of new effective strategies to block HIV-1 mucosal transmission. Currently, study of the mechanism of HIV-1 mucosal infection majorly depends on in vitro cell culture systems and non-human primate animal models. Recently, a novel tissue explant model (including human vaginal-genital and colorectal tissue) was established, which could elucidate the biological process of HIV-1 mucosal infection from crossing over the membrane to reaching the basal. Therefore, the model can be applied to the study of mechanism, as well as the safety and efficacy evaluation in pre-clinical study of biomedical prevention strategies. In this review, we summarized the recent progress about human mucosal explants model including the sources of tissues, technical characteristics and their application to study the mechanism of HIV-1 sexual transmission and evaluation of prevention strategies. Based on our recent study results, we also provided our opinions about development of novel explant models and their application.

Abstract:To develop a sensitive and specific ELISA for detection of antibodies to the nonstructural protein of FMDV. We cloned and expressed FMDV nonstructural protein 3AB in Escherichia coli expression system. The recombinant protein 3AB was purified with Ni-NTA His·Bind Resins and characterized by Western blotting. An indirect ELISA based on purified protein 3AB as a coating antigen was established. The specificity and sensitivity of this assay were evaluated by comparison with a commercial 3ABC-ELISA kit in detecion of serum samples. The results showed that the recombinant protein 3AB was expressed as a formation of inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. The purified protein could specificially react with FMDV infection antibodies in Western blotting assay, but no reaction with the immune antibodies induced with vaccine. Two assays were no significant differences in specificity and sensitivity for detection of field samples (P>0.05). Therefore, we speculated that the recombinant protein 3AB is a promising molecular marker, which may effectively differentiate FMD-infected from vaccinated animals in a herd.

Abstract:To enhance the thermostability and storage stability of α-cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (α-CGTase), we added specific chemical additives into the preparation of α-CGTase, and studied the effect of additives on the storage stability of α-CGTase at different temperatures. Then we measured the protein structure of CGTase in the far UV (200?250 nm) and near UV (250?320 nm) ranges respectively by Circular dichroism (CD) spectra under high temperature and analyzed the relationship between thermostability and protein structure. The results indicated that the addition of selected additives (gelatin, glycerin, CaCl₂ and PEG400) enhanced the thermostability of α-CGTase dramatically. After 45 days, the preparation of α-CGTase still had 100% of the enzyme activity with different additives superimposed at the optimum concentration at 40 °C. The CD spectra of α-CGTase showed that glycerin could protect the secondary and the tertiary structure of the CGTase under high temperature and therefore the enzyme maintained its high activity. Chemical additives can improve the stability of α-CGTase significantly and they preserve the enzyme activity by protecting its secondary structure.

Abstract:To construct an engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae producing high titres of amorpha-4,11-diene, we investigated the possible synergistic effect of different vectors containing amorpha-4,11-diene synthase(ADS) gene within one yeast cell. We constructed the ADS recombinant plasmid pGADADS. This plasmid and another ADS recombinant plasmid pYeDP60/G/ADS were alone, or co-transformed into yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae W303-1B and WK1, respectively, resulting in the following engineered yeasts, W303B[pGADADS], W303B[pYGADS], W303B[pYGADS+pGADADS], WK1[pGADADS], WK1[pYGADS] and WK1[pYGADS+pGADADS]. All of the six strains were cultured for GC-MS analysis of amorpha-4,11-diene. The results showed that all of the engineered yeasts could produce amorpha-4,11-diene. The yield of the product was improved with increasing ADS gene copies while no deleterious effect on the strain growth was found. Moreover, the product yield of the engineered yeast co-transformed with multiple plasmids was much higher than the total yield of the different engineered yeasts with only one plasmid, respectively. In conclusion, there was a distinct synergistic effect between different recombinant ADS plasmids within one cell. Our results facilitate the construction of the engineered yeast with high yield of amorpha-4,11-diene, the precursor of artemisinin.

Abstract:Streptomyces S24 has broad spectrum against Aspergillus spp. in food and feed, such as Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Asperegillus alutacells. The objective of this study was to improve the production of antifungal substances produced by S24 and to test their inhibitory effects on Aspergillus flavus. By using one-factor-at-a-time experiment and orthogonal design method, we optimized the fermentation medium. The composition of an optimized medium for the production of antifungal substances contained (g/L): starch soluble, 10; Glucose, 40; yeast extract, 8; soybean powder, 24; KH₂PO₄ 4; and CaCO₃ 0.8. As a result, the productivity of antifungal substances could reach to 10 235.45μg/mL, and this value was 2.81 times higher than that of initial medium before optimization. Additionally, inhibitory effects of the products on Aspergillus flavus were analyzed. Antagonistic tests indicated that the antifungal substances greatly inhibited mycelium growth and spores germination of Aspergillus flavus. We observed through microscope that the mycelia grew abnormally, such as contorting, bulging, vacuole increasing and the cytoplasmic contents inside effusing and the spores appeared unusual, such as gathering, deforming, cytoplasmic contents inside effusing and fracturing.

Abstract:To gain insights into the function of potential post-translational modifications on the activity of the Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-encoded silencing suppressor protein 2b, one predicted phosphorylation site (S40) and two predicted ubiquitination/sumoylation sites (K22 and K39) in CMV-Q2b protein were individually or simultaneously mutated by site-directed mutagenesis methods. These Q2b mutants were inserted into plant expression vectors, expressed in plant leaves, and then analyzed for their silencing suppressor activities. The results showed that S40A mutation greatly impaired both the local and systemic silencing suppressor activity, and the K22R mutation has no significant effect on the suppressor activity, while the K22R/K39R double mutation reduced the systemic silencing suppressor activity. To test if the decrease of suppressor activity were due to protein accumulation changes, western blot were performed to moniter the protein level of Q2b mutants. The results indicated that mutations of both K22 and K39 to R or S40 to A all significantly reduced the accumulation of the Q2b protein in plants, while the single mutation of K22 to R did not alter the accumulation of Q2b protein, suggesting that two potential post-translational modification sites, K39 and S40, contribute to the suppressor activity and stability of 2b protein in plant cells.

Abstract:Secretory IgA (SIgA) antibodies in external secretions play an important role in mucosal immune response. Polymeric SIgA was advantageous over monomeric IgA (mIgA) and IgG in several aspects. To express secretory IgA antibody against H5N1 virus, we constructed the secretory component and immunoglobulin J expressing plasmids and co-transfected the plasmids into the Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) stably expressing immunoglobulin A. Then we used Zeocin to select the positive clone cells, monoclonal cells stably secreting SIgA was screened through fold dilution method at last. The SIgA antibody secreted from the CHO cells was confirmed by Western blotting, which demonstrated that we had got the complete SIgA molecular. The successful expression of this polymeric anti-H5N1 SIgA in CHO cells will contribute to the production of recombinant SIgA as a preventive agent for infectious disease control.

Abstract:Tetanus is caused by tetanus toxin synthesized by Clostridium tetani. Fragment C (Hc), the 50 kDa carboxy-terminal portion of tetanus toxin, is nontoxic but has receptor protein binding activities, which has been evaluated as a potential new recombinant subunit vaccine to replace the traditional formaldehyde inactivated toxoid vaccine. It is easy for wild Hc (HcW) to form inter- and intra-molecular disulfide bonds and the different conformations changes unstably, which brings difficulties for vaccine production technology. In our study, the Cys 869 of HcW was mutated to Ala and the conformation-stable fragment-C mutant of tetanus toxin (HcM) was constructed. The HcM was expressed, fermented and purified and its stability, receptor binding and immunogenicity were evaluated. The result showed that the HcM got high-level expression and was purified to >95% of purity. The purified HcM was conformation-stable at different temperature for different time and kept the binding activities with one of its receptor GT1b. Mice given three vaccinations by HcM developed a protective immune response and were 100% protected against an intraperitoneal administration of 1×10³ 50% lethal doses (LD₅₀s) of tetanus neurotoxin. All the results showed that the conformation-stable HcM had potent immunogenicity as a recombinant tetanus vaccine candidate with simple production process and similar immunogenicity with HcW. Whether for routine tetanus therapy or for countries to respond to unexpected events (war, earthquake or other disaster), it is of great significance.

Abstract:We performed this research mainly to explore the effect of bone sialoprotein (BSP) silence by siRNA on the adhesion ability to bone matrix of bone-seeking breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231BO). Also we aimed to provide experimental data for prevention and treatment of breast cancer bone metastasis by targeting BSP. We explored the effects of BSP gene silence on characteristics of bone-seeking breast cancer cells: proliferation by MTS[3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5- (3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt] assay, bone adhesion ability by a mouse bone adhesion model in vitro, morphology of the cells by SEM, and secretion of transforming growth factor-β₁ (TGF-β₁) and receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL) by ELISA kits. We performed intra-cardiac injection in nude mice to explore bone metastatic ability of different cell lines. The results showed that knockdown of BSP significantly inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-231BO cells and their adhesion to bone matrix. We also observed bone destruction caused by bone resorption around some adhering cells. The appearances of the cells changed in BSP gene silenced group, and the secretion of TGF-β₁ and RANKL decreased. The results showed BSP gene silence can partial inhibition bone metastasis of breast cancer cells in nude mice by X-ray assay and hematoxylin-eosin staining. Based on our research, siRNA-mediated BSP silencing can inhibit proliferation and adhesion to bone matrix of bone-seeking breast cancer cells and change their surface structure, thus inhibits their bone metastatic ability.

Abstract:Taking a suspension adapted recombinant CHO cell line, 11G-S expressing human Pro-urokinase (Pro-UK) as the object of study, the impacts of different feeding nutrients, the start time of feeding and cell inoculation density on the growth and Pro-UK production of 11G-S cells in serum-free fed-batch culture were evaluated in 100 mL shacking flasks. The results indicated that amino acids, serum-free supplements and inorganic salts played important role in cell growth, cell viability and protein expression. And the effects of cells fed-batch culture was much better with the initial cell inoculation density at 3×10⁵~4×10⁵ cells/mL and the start time of feeding set at 72 h, a maximum viable cells density of 7.8×10⁶ cells/mL with a peak Pro-UK activity at 8 570 IU/mL was achieved during 12 d fed-batch culture. Further, the μ of the 11G-S cells at the middle phase of the fed-batch culture, and both the q_glu and q_gln of the 11G-S cells at the middle and later phases of the fed-batch culture was higher than that of the 11G-S cells at the same phase of the batch culture, respectively.

Abstract:pUDK-HGF, the recombinant plasmid DNA encoding human hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), can treat ischaemic disease. A great quantity of pharmaceutical pUDK-HGF is needed. A pilot-scale production process of pUDK-HGF was established based on a new chromatographic media (plasmidselect), including fermentation, cell harvesting, alkaline lysis, ultrafiltration, RNA removing and buffer exchanging on Sephacryl S-1000, capturing supercoiled plasmid DNA with plasmidselect, and removing the salt with Sepharose 6BFF. The process does not use RNase enzyme and toxic solvents.

Abstract:The aim of this study was to construct a mammary gland-specific expressional vector pBC1-hLF-Neo for Human Lactoferrin (hLF) gene and then investigate its expression in the mammary gland epithelium cells. The constructed vector contained the 6.2 kb long 5′ flank regulation region including promoter, other elements and the 7.1 kb long 3′ flank regulation region including transcriptional ending signal of a goat’s β-casein gene. A cassette of Neo gene was also inserted into the vector which gave a total length of 26.736 kb identified by restriction fragment analysis and partial DNA sequencing. The results revealed that the structure of the final constructed vector accords with the designed plasmid map. In order to analyze the bioactivity of the vector, we transfected the lined vector DNA into the dairy goat′s mammary gland epithelium cells and C127 cells of a mouse′s mammary epithelium by Lipofectamine. After selection with G418 for 8?10 days, G418-risistant clones were obtained. PCR analysis demonstrated that hLF gene cassette had been integrated into the genomic DNA of G418-risistant clones. After proliferation culture, the two kinds of transgenic cells were cultured in serum-free DMEM-F12 medium with prolactin, insulin and hydrocortisone- a medium capable of inducing recombinant hLF expression. RT-PCR, Western blotting and anti-bacteria bioactivity experiments demonstrated that the constructed mammary gland specific vector pBC1-hLF-Neo possessed the desirable bioactivity to efficiently express and could secrete hLF in both mammary gland cells and have the effect of E. coli proliferation inhibition. Paramount to everything, this study laid a firm foundation for preparing the hLF gene transgenic goat fetal-derived fibroblast cells.

Abstract:Huwentoxin-XI (HWTX-XI) is a protein isolated from the crude venom of spider Ornithoctonus huwena. It has 55 amino acid residues containing 6 cysteine residues forming 3 disulfide bonds. It shows potent inhibitory effect on trypsin and voltage-gated potassium channels in rat dorsal root ganglion cells. According to the structure-function relationship of HWTX-XI, we designed two mutants through mutation of potassium channel inhibition related amino acid residues (R5I,R10T,R25A and R5I,R25A) and then expressed them with high purity by using the vector pVT102U on Saccharamyces cerevisiae strain S78; The two mutants had the same trypsin inhibition activity as HWTX-XI, whereas their potassium channel inhibition activity and animal toxicity were much lower than those of HWTX-XI. This study is helpful for designing drugs of trypsin related diseases based on HWTX-XI.

Abstract:Bovine interferon-γ (BoIFN-γ) gene was amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from total RNA of bovine spleen lymphocytes stimulated with ConA. The products of RT-PCR were cloned into pVAX1 vector, positive recombinant clone was identified by restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing. The recombinant plasmid pVAX1-BoIFN-γ was transfected into COS-7 cells mediated by lipofectine, indirect immunofluorescent assay analysis confirmed that rBoIFN-γ was expressed in COS-7 cells. BoIFN-γ gene (without signal peptide) was cloned into pET-30a(+) and pGEX-6p-1 vector, and transformed into the Escherichia coli cells. After optimizing the induction condition, SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the expression products were all found in soluble form and had a molecular weight of 23 kDa and 43 kDa respectively. BoIFN-γ precursor gene (with signal peptide) was cloned into transfer vector pFastBac^TM1, and transformated into DH10Bac E. coli cells. By site-specific transposition, BoIFN-γ gene was integrated into shuttle vector Bacmid, and transfected into the Sf9 insect cells mediated by lipofectine to produce recombinant baculovirus. Indirect immunofluorescent assay analysis confirmed that rBac-BoIFN-γ was expressed successfully in Baculovirus vector system. The antiviral activities of rHis-BoIFN-γ, rGST-BoIFN-γ and rBac-BoIFN-γ were up to 8.389×10⁷ U/mg, 6.554×10⁵ U/mg and 4.096×10⁴ U/mL respectively, which were analyzed in MDBK/VSV system. A sandwich ELISA was established using monoclonal antibodies 3E6 and 5G4, which can detect BoIFN-γ in quantity and provide a useful method for the clinical practice and research of BoIFN-γ.