Transmission,infectivity, and neutralization of a spike L452R SARS-CoV-2 variant

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The emergence and ongoing convergent evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 N501Y lineages

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SARS-CoV-2 spike L452R variant evades cellular immunity and increases infectivity

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Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the N501Y SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in complex with ACE2 and 2 potent neutralizing antibodies

The recently reported “UK variant” (B.1.1.7) of SARS-CoV-2 is thought to be more infectious than previously circulating strains as a result of several changes, including the N501Y mutation. We present a 2.9-Å resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the complex between the ACE2 receptor and N501Y spike protein ectodomains that shows Y501 inserted into a cavity at the binding interface near Y41 of ACE2. This additional interaction provides a structural explanation for the increased ACE2 affinity of the N501Y mutant, and likely contributes to its increased infectivity. However, this mutation does not result in large structural changes, enabling important neutralization epitopes to be retained in the spike receptor binding domain. We confirmed this through biophysical assays and by determining cryo-EM structures of spike protein ectodomains bound to 2 representative potent neutralizing antibody fragments.     

Sequencing and characterization of telomere and subtelomere regions on rice chromosomes 1S, 2S, 2L, 6L, 7S, 7L and 8S

Telomeres, which are important for chromosome maintenance, are composed of long, repetitive DNA sequences associated with a variety of telomere-binding proteins. We characterized the organization and structure of rice telomeres and adjacent subtelomere regions on the basis of cytogenetic and sequence analyses. The length of the rice telomeres ranged from 5.1 to 10.8 kb, as revealed by both fibre-fluorescent in situ hybridization and terminal restriction-fragment assay. Physical maps of the chromosomal ends were constructed from a fosmid library. This facilitated sequencing of the telomere regions of chromosomes 1S, 2S, 2L, 6L, 7S, 7L and 8S. The resulting sequences contained conserved TTTAGGG telomere repeats, which indicates that the physical maps partly covered the telomere regions of the respective chromosome arms. These repeats were organized in the order of 5'-TTTAGGG-3' from the chromosome-specific region, except in chromosome 7S, in which seven inverted copies also existed in tandem array. Analysis of the telomere-flanking regions revealed the occurrence of deletions, insertions, or chromosome-specific substitutions of single nucleotides within the repeat sequences at the junction between the telomere and subtelomere. The sequences of the 500-kb regions of the seven chromosome ends were analysed in detail. A total of 598 genes were predicted in the telomeric regions. In addition, repetitive sequences derived from various kinds of retrotransposon were identified. No significant evidence for segmental duplication could be detected within or among the subtelomere regions. These results indicate that the rice chromosome ends are heterogeneous in both sequence and characterization.     

Prevalence of a Novel Division-Level Bacterial Lineage in Lake Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh, as Revealed by Deep Sequencing of 16S rRNA Gene Amplicons

A culture-independent study of the bacterial diversity in Lake Dhanmondi, located in the central region of Dhaka city, Bangladesh, was carried out using deep sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene PCR amplicons. The results revealed the presence of a group of bacteria, termed LD11, phylogenetically unrelated to any previously cultivated bacteria at the phylum level. LD11 sequences comprised about 1.7?% of the total sequence reads after quality assessment. LD11 appears to constitute a novel division with a deep evolutionary lineage apparently branching between the Chloroflexi and Thermi-Deinococci phyla. Sequence similarity with molecular data from freshwater environments indicates that LD11 represents a widespread and novel clade of freshwater bacteria for which no cultivated representatives are yet available.     

Rescue of NBD2 Mutants N1303K and S1235R of CFTR by Small-Molecule Correctors and Transcomplementation

Although, the most common Cystic Fibrosis mutation, ΔF508, in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator. (CFTR), is located in nucleotide binding domain (NBD1), disease-causing mutations also occur in NBD2. To provide information on potential therapeutic strategies for mutations in NBD2, we studied, using a combination of biochemical approaches and newly created cell lines, two disease-causing NBD2 mutants, N1303K and S1235R. Surprisingly, neither was rescued by low temperature. Inhibition of proteasomes with MG132 or aggresomes with tubacin rescued the immature B and mature C bands of N1303K and S1235R, indicating that degradation occurs via proteasomes and aggresomes. We found no effect of the lysosome inhibitor E64. Thus, our results show that these NBD2 mutants are processing mutants with unique characteristics. Several known correctors developed to rescue ΔF508-CFTR, when applied either alone or in combination, significantly increased the maturation of bands B and C of both NBD 2 mutants. The best correction occurred with the combinations of C4 plus C18 or C3 plus C4. Co-transfection of truncated CFTR (∆27-264) into stably transfected cells was also able to rescue them. This demonstrates for the first time that transcomplementation with a truncated version of CFTR can rescue NBD2 mutants. Our results show that the N1303K mutation has a more profound effect on NBD2 processing than S1235R and that small-molecule correctors increase the maturation of bands B and C in NBD2 mutants. In addition, ∆27-264 was able to transcomplement both NDB2 mutants. We conclude that differences and similarities occur in the impact of mutations on NBD2 when compared to ΔF508-CFTR suggesting that individualized strategies may be needed to restore their function. Finally our results are important because they suggest that gene or corrector molecule therapies either alone or in combination individualized for NBD2 mutants may be beneficial for patients bearing N1303K or S1235R mutations.     

丽水市早期新冠肺炎无症状感染者SARS-CoV-2全基因组序列分析

对1例新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情流行早期的无症状感染者临床标本进行SARS-CoV-2实验室鉴定和全基因组测定,在分子水平了解新型病毒的基因特点和变异情况,追溯病毒潜在来源.实时荧光定量PCR扩增丽水市庆元县首例确诊患者密切接触者的痰液标本SARS-CoV-2核酸,阳性RNA逆转录为cDNA构建文库后进行基于NGS的宏基因组深度测序,生物学软件分析处理数据.该密接无任何症状及体征,痰液标本SARS-CoV-2核酸阳性.测序数据包含有足够的病毒序列,组装成功后hCoV-19/Lishui/LS556/2020长29 887bp,G+C含量37.99％,在ORF1ab和N区域发现4个SNP,对应1个错义突变和3个同义突变.LS556与SARS-CoV-2参考序列核苷酸/氨基酸同源性在99.2％/97.4％以上,不同序列之间存在4～17个核苷酸差异,与蝙蝠病毒RaTG13核苷酸差异仅3.7％,存在1141个SNP,与穿山甲病毒Guangdong/1相似性90.9％.LS556属于β冠状病毒Lineage B谱系,与LS003和ZJU-06共享完全相同的病毒,与蝙蝠/穿山甲冠状病毒进化上最相关.结合流行病学、核酸诊断、病毒溯源判定其为无症状感染者.LS556组成和结构符合SARS-CoV-2典型的基因特征,为高覆盖率序列,在流行早期与其他SARS-CoV-2基因组具有高度的同一性,突变率保持在较低水平,多数导致氨基酸位点保守置换.     

天津市蛇类新记录——黑头剑蛇指名亚种

2012年8月21日,作者在天津蓟县采集到2条小型无毒蛇,经鉴定为黑头剑蛇指名亚种(Sibynophis chinensis chinen-sis),属天津蛇类分布的新记录,此记录证实黑头剑蛇在我国北方有更加广泛的分布。     

Clinical and immunological features of convalescent pediatric patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Tianjin,China

COVID-19 has spread surprisingly fast worldwide, and new variants continue to emerge. Recently, the World Health Organization acknowledged a new mutant strain “Omicron”, with children were accounting for a growing share of COVID-19 cases compared with other mutant strains. However, the clinical and immunological characteristics of convalescent pediatric patients after Omicron infection were lacking. In this study, we comparatively analyzed the clinical data from pediatric patients with adult patients or healthy children and the effects of SARSCoV-2 vaccine on the clinical and immune characteristics in convalescent pediatric patients. Our results indicated that convalescent pediatric patients had unique clinical and immune characteristics different from those of adult patients or healthy children, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination significantly affected on the clinical and immune characteristics and the prevention of nucleic acid re-detectable positive (RP) in convalescent patients. Our study further deepens the understanding of the impact of Omicron on the long-term health of pediatric patients and provides a valuable reference for the prevention and treatment of children infected with Omicron.     

Nucleocapsid mutations R203K/G204R increase the infectivity,fitness, and virulence of SARS-CoV-2

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Aggregation of gelsolin wild-type and G167K/R,N184K,and D187N/Y mutant peptides and inhibition

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry - Gelsolin, an actin-binding protein, is localized intra- and extracellularly in the bloodstream and throughout the body. Gelsolin amyloidosis is a disease...     

Short and efficient synthesis of (2S,3R,4R,5R) and (2S,3R,4R,5S)-tetrahydroxyazepanes via the Henry reaction

The Henry reaction with the easily available alpha-d-xylo-pentodialdose afforded a diastereomeric mixture of nitroaldoses with the alpha-d-gluco- and beta-l-ido-configuration, respectively, in good yield. When n-BuLi was used as the base, the reaction afforded the alpha-d-gluco-nitroaldose as the only product. The reduction of the nitro group in the alpha-d-gluco- and beta-l-ido-nitroaldoses, removal of the protecting groups and intramolecular reductive cyclo-amination afforded the corresponding (2S,3R,4R,5R) and (2S,3R,4R,5S) tetrahydroxyazepanes.     

P450cam突变体蛋白表达、纯化与结晶的改进及其四突变体（F87L/Y96F/L244A/V247A）晶体结构

在P450cam突变体蛋白纯化过程中使用280 nm/392 nm双波长比值检测蛋白质纯度, 采用β-巯基乙醇对蛋白质进行还原性保护,有效地缩短了纯化进程,纯化效率相应提高.以PEG 8000为沉淀剂经悬滴汽相扩散法筛选得到适合衍射的P450cam四突变体（F87L/Y96F/L244A/V247A）晶体,在Mar-Research面探测器系统上收集了0.22 nm分辨率的X射线衍射数据.采用同晶差值傅立叶法解析结构,最后的晶体学R因子和R_free分别为0.197和0.247,键长偏差为0.001 77 nm,键角偏差为1.96°.结构测定显示P450cam四突变体（F87L/Y96F/L244A/V247A）和P450cam野生型的整体构象无重大变化,突变后活性口袋变大而疏水性增加,这与突变设计预期目标一致.     

肾综合征出血热病毒R22株核蛋白基因的克隆序列分析及其表达

为研究肾综合征出血热病毒疫苗侯选株R22核蛋白的结构与特性,应用逆转录PCR扩增了R22编码区基因,并将扩增产物克隆于pET-3a表达质粒,测得R22株S片段编码区序列为1290个核苷酸。比较分析表明与Seoul型同源性高达96．2％,而与Hantaan型同源性仅为71．0％,与用血清学分型的结果一致。将克隆的pET－R22NP转化到BL21后,IPTG诱导得到较高效的表达,产物纯化后进行Westernblot分析,结果表达的NP仅与NP蛋白特异的单克隆抗体A35和3D9反应,而与G2蛋白特异的3D8不反应。表达的产物为汉坦病毒的诊断提供了特异性抗原。     

大肠杆菌3-酮基脂酰ACP还原酶110位天冬酰胺突变后的结构与功能

3-酮基脂酰ACP还原酶催化3-酮基脂酰ACP还原为3-羟基脂酰ACP,是细菌脂肪酸合成反应的关键酶之一.为了明确该酶中110位的保守天冬酰胺残基在酶催化活性和酶结构中的作用,本研究采用基因定点突变和蛋白质表达纯化技术,获得了大肠杆菌3-酮基脂酰ACP还原酶FabG的两个突变蛋白：FabG N110Q和FabG N110L.圆二色谱结果显示,天冬酰胺残基的突变改变了FabG的空间结构,使突变蛋白的α螺旋结构明显增加.以3-酮脂酰ACP为底物的酶活性测定表明,突变蛋白的酶活性均有下降,但残存的酶活性达到了FabG的75%以上.突变蛋白FabG N110Q和FabG N110L具有3-酮基脂酰ACP还原酶的活性,能在体外重建细菌脂肪酸合成反应.对fabG温度敏感突变株的遗传互补分析表明,FabG蛋白110位天冬酰胺突变为谷氨酰胺或亮氨酸后,在一定的条件下仍能互补大肠杆菌的生长.本研究结果提示,FabG 110位的天冬酰胺残基不是参与3-酮基脂酰ACP还原酶催化反应的必需氨基酸,它只是作为结构氨基酸,在维持FabG的空间结构的稳定性方面起作用.     

传染性支气管炎病毒青岛腺胃分离株(SD/97/02)S2蛋白基因的序列测定和分析

根据GenBank上发表的IBV S2基因序列,自行设计了两对引物,分别扩增SD／97／02株S2基因的上游1100bp部分和下游的900bp部分,两段序列拼接后包含了S2全基因的序列。将此两段分别克隆入pGEM T-easy载体,测序后将序列用分析软件DNASTAR和网上的BLAST软件进行分析,结果表明,S2基因比S1基因相对来说更保守,位于氨基酸第560－600位很有是与囊膜锚着的部位,而S2与S1的交界处以HRRRR为特征,这不同地常规的RRF／SRR。