Construction of adenovirus vectors encoding the lumican gene by gateway recombinant cloning technology

AIM： To construct adenovirus vectors of lumican gene by gateway recombinant cloning technology to further understand the role of lumican gene in myopia. METHODS： Gateway recombinant cloning technology was used to construct adenovirus vectors. The wild-type （wt） and mutant （mut） forms of the lumican gene were synthesized and amplified by polymerase chain reaction （PCR）. The lumican cDNA fragments were purified and ligated into the adenovirus shuttle vector pDown- multiple cloning site （MCS）-/internal ribozyme entry site （IRES）/enhanced green fluorescent protein （EGFP）. Then the desired DNA fragments were integrated into the destination vector pAV.Desld yielding the final expression constructs pAV.Exld-CMV〉wt-lumican/IRES/ EGFP and pAV.Exld-cytomegalovirus （CMV） 〉mutlumican/IRES/EGFP, respectively.RESULTS： The adenovirus plasmids pAV.Exld-CMV〉 wt-lumican/IRES/EGFP and pAV.Exld-CMV 〉mutlumican/IRESlEGFP were successfully constructed by gateway recombinant cloning technology. Positive clones identified by PCR and sequencing were selected and packaged into recombinant adenovirus in HEK293 cells. CONCLUSION： We construct adenovirus vectors containing the lumican gene by gateway recombinant cloning technology, which provides a basis for investigating the role of lumicangene in the pathogenesis of high myopia.

Identification and characterization of integron mediated antibiotic resistance in pentachlorophenol degrading bacterium isolated from the chemostat

A bacterial consortium was developed by continuous enrichment of microbial population isolated from sediment core of pulp and paper mill effluent in mineral salts medium（MSM） supplemented with pentachlorophenol（PCP） as sole source of carbon and energy in the chemostat.The consortia contained three bacterial strains.They were identified as Escherichia coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter sp.by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis.Acinetobacter sp.readily degraded PCP through the formation of tetrachloro-p-hydroquinone（TecH）,2-chloro-1,4-benzenediol and products of ortho ring cleavage detected by gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer（GC-MS）.Out of the three acclimated PCP degrading bacterial strains only one strain,Acinetobacter sp.showed the presence of integron gene cassette as a marker of its stability and antibiotic resistance.The strain possessed a 4.17 kb amplicon with 22 ORF＇s.The plasmid isolated from the Acinetobacter sp.was subjected to shotgun cloning through restriction digestion by BamHI,HindIII and SalI,ligated to pUC19 vector and transformed into E.coli XLBlue1α,and finally selected on MSM containing PCP as sole source of carbon and energy with ampicillin as antibiotic marker.DNA sequence analysis of recombinant clones indicated homology with integron gene cassette and multiple antibiotic resistance genes.

Construction of a recombinant plasmid harbouring the rhoptry protein 1 gene of Toxoplasma gondii and preliminary observations on DNA immunity

Objective To observe the immune responses elicited in BALB/c mice by a DNA vaccine. A gene encoding rhoptry protein 1 (ROP1) from Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) was cloned into vector pcDNA3. Methods Amplifyied gene fragments coding for ROP1 from the genomic DNA of T.gondii ZS2 were inserted into cloning vector, pUC18, and sub-cloned into pcDNA3. Mice were injected at a dosage of 100?μg recombinant plasmid DNA by intramuscular injection and boosted after 2 weeks. pcDNA3 and normal saline were used as control. 30, 50 and 70 days after the second immunization, NK cell activity, T lymphocyte proliferation and sub-clusters and serum IgG antibody were assayed.Results The specific gene fragment coding for ROP1 was amplified and a pcROP1 recombinant was constructed. At 30 days after immunization, the spleens of the mice were obviously enlarged evidently. NKC activity and the proliferation of spleen T lymphocytes seen on MTT assay were higher in pcROP1 group than in the controls. The number of CD4+ T cells exhibited no obvious increase compared with that of the control, but CD8+ T cells were obviously increased (P<0.05). At 90 days after vaccination, the titer of IgG antibody in the serum of vaccinated mice was positive (1∶100). Conclusion pcROP1 was constructed and it could elicit both cellular and humoral immune responses in immunized mice.

Rapid generation of recombinant Pseudomonas putida secondary metabolite producers using yTREX

Microbial secondary metabolites represent a rich source of valuable compounds with a variety of applications in medicine or agriculture.Effective exploitation of this wealth of chemicals requires the functional expression of the respective biosynthetic genes in amenable heterologous hosts.We have previously established the TREX system which facilitates the transfer,integration and expression of biosynthetic gene clusters in various bacterial hosts.Here,we describe the yTREX system,a new tool adapted for one-step yeast recombinational cloning of gene clusters.We show that with yTREX,Pseudomonas putida secondary metabolite production strains can rapidly be constructed by random targeting of chromosomal promoters by Tn5 transposition.Feasibility of this approach was corroborated by prodigiosin production after yTREX cloning,transfer and expression of the respective biosynthesis genes from Serratia marcescens.Furthermore,the applicability of the system for effective pathway rerouting by gene cluster adaptation was demonstrated using the violacein biosynthesis gene cluster from Chromobacterium violaceum,producing pathway metabolites violacein,deoxyviolacein,prodeoxyviolacein,and deoxychromoviridans.Clones producing both prodigiosin and violaceins could be readily identified among clones obtained after random chromosomal integration by their strong color-phenotype.Finally,the addition of a promoter-less reporter gene enabled facile detection also of phenazine-producing clones after transfer of the respective phenazine-1-carboxylic acid biosynthesis genes from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.All compounds accumulated to substantial titers in the mg range.We thus corroborate here the suitability of P.putida for the biosynthesis of diverse natural products,and demonstrate that the yTREX system effectively enables the rapid generation of secondary metabolite producing bacteria by activation of heterologous gene clusters,applicable for natural compound discovery and combinatorial biosynthesis.