线虫共生菌对水稻纹枯病和稻瘟病的抑菌活性

用菌块移植法初步测定了38株昆虫病原线虫共生细菌对水稻纹枯病菌和稻瘟病菌的抑菌活性,从中选出9株对纹枯病菌,7株对稻瘟病菌有较强抑菌作用的菌株,再用稀释平板法分别测定了这2组菌株的发酵液对纹枯病菌和稻瘟病菌菌丝生长、菌核或分生孢子萌发的抑制活性,筛选出对纹枯病菌和稻瘟病菌都有较强抑菌活性的YNa111和YNd173等菌株。YNa111菌株的发酵液对纹枯病菌的生长有强烈的抑菌活性,稀释40倍的发酵液24h的抑菌率为100%,160倍时为82%。菌株YNd173的发酵液对稻瘟病菌的生长有较强的抑菌活性,稀释5倍和10倍时的抑制率分别为88%和76%。

Analysis on 16S-ITS Marker from Bacillus licheniformis and Its Specificity

[Objective] This study aimed to establish molecular identification methods for Bacillus licheniformis. [Method] Based on clone sequencing and difference analysis for 16S and ITS sequences of B. licheniformis TS-01, specific primers were designed using region sequences as the targets used for amplifying all test strains. [Result] The specific primers of B. licheniformis were designed from the ITS and 16S rDNA regions. The optimal annealing temperature of the specific primers for PCR was 67.2 ℃ with 24 cycles. A 905 bp marker fragment was amplified for B. licheniformis TS-01, while all other test strains showed negative results. This indicated that a specific 16S-ITS marker was obtained, which accurately identified the strain at the species level. [Conclusion] This molecular identification method for B. licheniformis TS-01 has laid the foundation for molecular diagnosis of B. licheniformis.

Characterization of Synonymous Codon Usage Bias in the Pseudorabies Virus US1 Gene

In the present study, we examined the codon usage bias between pseudorabies virus （PRV） US1 gene and the USl-like genes of 20 reference alphaherpesviruses. Comparative analysis showed noticeable disparities of the synonymous codon usage bias in the 21 alphaherpesviruses, indicated by codon adaptation index, effective number of codons （ENc） and GC3s value. The codon usage pattern of PRV US1 gene was phylogenetically conserved and similar to that of the USl-like genes of the genus Varicellovirus of alphaherpesvirus, with a strong bias towards the codons with C and G at the third codon position. Cluster analysis of codon usage pattern of PRV US1 gene with its reference alphaherpesviruses demonstrated that the codon usage bias of USl-like genes of 21 alphaherpesviruses had a very close relation with their gene functions. ENc-plot revealed that the genetic heterogeneity in PRV US1 gene and the 20 reference alphaherpesviruses was constrained by G＋C content, as well as the gene length. In addition, comparison of codon preferences in the US1 gene of PRV with those ofE. coli, yeast and human revealed that there were 50 codons showing distinct usage differences between PRV and yeast, 49 between PRV and human, but 48 between PRV and E. coil Although there were slightly fewer differences in codon usages between E.coli and PRV, the difference is unlikely to be statistically significant, and experimental studies are necessary to establish the most suitable expression system for PRV US1. In conclusion, these results may improve our understanding of the evolution, pathogenesis and functional studies of PRV, as well as contributing to the area of herpesvirus research or even studies with other viruses.

Phenotypic and genetic characterization of a novel strain of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans(AF2)

A comparative study on the phenotypic and genetic characteristics among Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans （AF2）, a typic strain ATCC23270 and a previously isolated strain AF3 was performed. AF2 can use ferrous ion （Fe^2＋） or elemental sulfur （S^0） as sole energy source, but oxidizes So more effectively than Fe^2＋, which is different from ATCC23270 and AF3. The G＋C content of AF2 is 51.8% （molar fraction）, however, ATCC23270 and AF3 strains have G＋C content of 63.7% and 64.8% （molar fraction）, respectively. The DNA-DNA hybridization results show that AF2 has 41.53% and 52.38% genome similarity to ATCC 23270 and AF3, respectively, but AF3 has a high genome similarity of 89.86% to ATCC 23270 strain. Rusticyanin （rus） and subunit III of aa3-type cytochrome oxidase （coxC） genes are not detected in AF2, but Fe^2＋ oxidase （iro） gene can be detected. To understand the genomic organization of iro gene, a cosmid library of AF2 genome was constructed and iro gene-containing clone was screened. The sequencing result shows that although the nucleotide sequence of iro gene in AF2 is completely identical to that of ATCC 23270 strain, its genomic organization is different from that of ATCC 23270. In AF2, iro is located at downstream ofpurA gene, while it is located at downstream ofpetC-2 gene in ATCC 23270 strain. These results indicate that AF2 is a novel strain ofA. ferrooxidans, and that phenotypic differences among the strains ofA. ferrooxidans are closely correlated with their genetic polymorphisms.

Detection and evaluation of antibodies against neutrophil-activating protein of Helicobacter pylori in patients with gastric cancer

AIM： To detect and evaluate the antibodies against Helicobacter pylori （H pylori） neutrophil-activating protein （HP-NAP） in patients with gastric cancer and other gastroduodenal diseases.METHODS： Recombinant HP-NAP was prepared from a prokaryotic expression system in Escherichia coll. Serum positivity and level of HP-NAP-specific antibodies in sera from 43 patients with gastric cancer, 28 with chronic gastritis, 28 with peptic ulcer, and 89 healthy controls were measured by rHP-NAP-based ELISA. rHP-NAP-stimulated production of interleukin-8 （IL-8） and growth-related oncogene （GROα） cytokines in the culture supernatant of SGC7901 gastric epithelial cells was also detected.RESULTS： The serum positivity and mean absorbancevalue of HP-NAP-specific antibodies in the gastriccancer group （97.7% and 1.01 ± 0.24） were significantly higher than those in the chronic gastritisgroup （85.7% and 0.89 ± 0.14, P 〈 0.005） and healthy control group （27.7% and 0.65 ± 0.18, P 〈 0.001）. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA for the detection of HP-NAP-specific antibodies were 95.5% and 91.5%, respectively. HP-NAP could slightly upregulate IL-8 production in gastric epithelial cell lines but had no effect on GROα production.CONCLUSION： Infection with virulent H py/ori strains secreting HP-NAP is associated with severe gastroduodenal diseases, and HP-NAP may play a role in the development of gastric carcinoma, rHP-NAP- based ELISA can be used as a new method to detect H pylori infection. The direct effect of HP-NAP on gastric epithelial cells may be limited, but HP-NAP may contribute to inflammatory response or carcinogenesis by activating neutrophils.

On-column Refolding of Diphtheria Toxin Variant CRM197 by Different Metal-Chelating Affinity Chromatography Matrices

We have previously shown that the diphtheria toxin variant CRM 197 （cross-reacting material 197） can be overexpressed in Escherichia coli at high levels, yielding insoluble aggregates, which were solubilized using urea. This study reports a comparison of three matrices suitable for the purification and refolding of recombinant CRM197 by metal-chelating affinity chromatography, Moreover, we show that refolded CRM197 features enzymatic activity.

A strategy to produce monoclonal antibodies against gp96 by prime-boost regimen using endogenous protein and E.coli heterologously-expressed fragment

Gp96, a member of HSP90 family, is a versatile molecular chaperone with various newly-discovered functions, for example to serve as a low affinity, high capacity calcium binding protein, a natural adjuvant for therapeutic cancer vaccines, a tumor rejection antigen, an immune regulator to pathological cell death. Its multi-functional and structural characteristics make it also an interesting target to develop antibody-based therapeutics. However, its low immunogenicity to mice, because of its high-sequence similarity among different species, is an obstacle to obtain valuable monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). This is a common problem for any low immunogenic proteins, whose sequences share close identity between mice and other species. Here, a new strategy of priming was employed by swine endogenous full-length gp96 and then boosting by E. coli-system heterologously expressed gp96 N-terminal fragment (N-355) to generate MAbs. Twelve different highly-specific MAbs against swine/human endogenous gp96 were successfully obtained. The binding activities of these MAbs were confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Western blot (WB), immunofluorescence and flow cytometry analysis. This provides some important reagents for further research and potential therapeutics. The methods employed can be used for MAb production of any sequence-highly-conserved proteins between mice and swine/human (or any other species).

Impact Factors on Fracturing Results of Coal Seams and Appropriate Countermeasures

Hydraulic fracturing is one of the efficient means for the abundant low-permeability CBM （coal-bed methane） reserves in China, however, due to the unique features of coal seams （i.e., low temperature, strong adsorption and abnormal development of natural fracture systems） as compared with the conventional reservoirs, the fractures propagate is difficult and the risk of damage to coal seam itself and the hydraulic fractures would be extremely high in the course of fracturing. As a result, losses would be suffered on the post-frac production of CBM wells.With the mean of numerical simulation, in this paper, the main factors have impact on the post-frac results as well as the extent to which the impact is brought were researched, and the technical solutions for the improvement of the fracturing performance was put forwards.

Helicobacter pylori antigen and its IgG, IgA -type specific immunocomplexes in sera from patients with Helicobacter pylori infection

OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) antigen in serum and to evaluate its clinical diagnostic value. METHODS: Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) was developed to detect the soluble H. pylori antigen (S-Hp) and circulatory specific H. pylori antigen immunocomplexes (Hp-IC) in serum. RESULTS: The positive rate of S-Hp was 90.91% from 66 patients with H. pylori infection, which was much greater than 0% found in 28 controls (P

Interaction specific binding hotspots in Endonuclease colicin-immunity protein complex from MD simulations

The binding of Endonuclease colicin 9 (E9) by Immunity protein 9 (Im9) was found to involve some hotspots from helix III of Im9 on protein-protein interface that contribute the dominant binding energy to the complex.In the current work,MD simulations of the WT and three hotspot mutants (D51A,Y54A and Y55A of Im9) of the E9-Im9 complexes were carried out to investigate specific interaction mechanisms of these three hotspot residues.The changes of binding energy between the WT and mutants of the complex were computed by the MM/PBSA method using a polarized force field and were in excellent agreement with experiment values,verifying that these three residues were indeed hotspots of the binding complex.Energy decomposition analysis revealed that binding by D51 to E9 was dominated by electrostatic interaction due to the presence of the carboxyl group of Asp51 which hydrogen bonds to K89.For binding by hotspots Y54 and Y55,van der Waals interaction from the aromatic side chain of tyrosine provided the dominant interaction.For comparison,calculation by using the standard (nonpolarizable) AMBER99SB force field produced binding energy changes from these mutations in opposite direction to the experimental observation.Dynamic hydrogen bond analysis showed that conformations sampled from MD simulation in the standard AMBER force field were distorted from the native state and they disrupted the inter-protein hydrogen bond network of the protein-protein complex.The current work further demonstrated that electrostatic polarization plays a critical role in modulating protein-protein binding.