寨卡病毒蛋白结构与功能研究进展

2015年以来,南美暴发大规模寨卡疫情,因其与新生儿小头症等严重神经发育疾病密切相关,被世界卫生组织列为国际关注的突发公共卫生事件。与其他虫媒黄病毒类似,寨卡病毒为单股正链RNA病毒,其基因组编码的3种结构蛋白构成病毒颗粒,7种非结构蛋白参与病毒复制生活周期的调控。在全球科学家的共同努力下,寨卡病毒蛋白结构与功能的研究取得了突破性进展,极大地促进研究者对病毒复制与致病机制的认识,也为疫苗和药物研发提供了重要科学依据和潜在靶标。本文将对寨卡病毒蛋白的结构与功能的最新研究进展作一综述,并讨论当前面临的挑战和机遇。     

真光层深度的遥感反演及其在富营养化评价中的应用

真光层深度直接影响水体中浮游植物的分布和初级生产力以及水体生态环境,是水生态研究的一个重要参数.利用2006年10月24日～11月2日太湖水下实测光谱数据和光合有效辐射(PAR)数据,通过数据的处理和分析,尝试建立真光层深度与水面以下遥感反射率的关系模型,并利用真光层深度与透明度的关系,建立水体富营养化真光层深度评价模型.研究结果表明:真光层深度与归一化遥感反射率具有很好的相关性;选用特定波段的归一化反射率作为变量,建立两者的关系模型能较好的反演真光层深度,所建立的模型算法中,指数模型拟合方程的综合效果好于其他模型,波段比值算法反演精度要好于单波段算法;利用利用真光层深度进行富营养化评价具有一定的应用价值,利用该模型对太湖水体进行富营养化评价,得出太湖西部湖区大部分已富营养化,东部湖区处于中营养化和轻度富营养化状态.     

Novel Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxin active against Locusta migratoria manilensis

A novel δ-endotoxin gene was cloned from a Bacillus thuringiensis strain with activity against Locusta migratoria manilensis by PCR-based genome walking. The sequence of the cry gene was 3,432 bp long, and it encoded a Cry protein of 1,144 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 129,196.5 kDa, which exhibited 62% homology with Cry7Ba1 in the amino acid sequence. The δ-endotoxin with five conserved sequence blocks in the amino-terminal region was designated Cry7Ca1 (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF486523","term_id":"1121787749","term_text":"EF486523"}}EF486523). Protein structure analysis suggested that the activated toxin of Cry7Ca1 has three domains: 227 residues forming 7 α-helices (domain I); 213 residues forming three antiparallel β-sheets (domain II); and 134 residues forming a β-sandwich (domain III). The three domains, respectively, exhibited 47, 44, and 34% sequence identity with corresponding domains of known Cry toxins. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis showed that Cry7Ca1, encoded by the full-length open reading frame of the cry gene, the activated toxin 1, which included three domains but without the N-terminal 54 amino acid residues and the C terminus, and the activated toxin 2, which included three domains and N-terminal 54 amino acid residues but without the C terminus, could be expressed in Escherichia coli. Bioassay results indicated that the expressed proteins of Cry7Ca1 and the activated toxins (toxins 1 and 2) showed significant activity against 2nd instar locusts, and after 7 days of infection, the estimated 50% lethal concentrations (LC₅₀s) were 8.98 μg/ml for the expressed Cry7Ca1, 0.87 μg/ml for the activated toxin 1, and 4.43 μg/ml for the activated toxin 2. The δ-endotoxin also induced histopathological changes in midgut epithelial cells of adult L. migratoria manilensis.     

基于感光色素吸收信号的太湖藻类识别

铜绿微囊藻和斜生栅藻是太湖"水华"的主要藻种,基于室内纯铜绿微囊藻、斜生栅藻组成色素的吸收系数,通过四阶微分、标准化系数等方法对太湖水体浮游植物中铜绿微囊藻和斜生栅藻进行识别,并确定其组成比例。结果表明,纯藻组成色素的吸收系数应用于其在太湖水体浮游植物中比例的确定和识别中,能够全面考虑辅助色素的识别作用,较好地避免非色素物质吸收信号的干扰,具有较好的识别效果。太湖水体浮游色素中铜绿微囊藻比例最高,斜生栅藻次之,由夏季向冬季过度中,铜绿微囊藻比例不断减小,斜生栅藻的比例逐渐升高,但铜绿微囊藻比例仍略高于斜生栅藻;铜绿微囊藻的区域分布差异性较小,但时间差异性相对较大,而斜生栅藻恰恰相反,空间分布差异性较大而时间分布差异性较小。       

Generation and Characterization of a Nanobody Against SARS-CoV

Virologica Sinica - The sudden emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) has caused global panic in 2003, and the risk of SARS-CoV outbreak still exists. However, no...     

Lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated mRNA antibody provides long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2 in mice and hamsters

Monoclonal antibodies represent important weapons in our arsenal to against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this potential is severely limited by the time-consuming process of developing effective antibodies and the relative high cost of manufacturing. Herein, we present a rapid and cost-effective lipid nanoparticle (LNP) encapsulated-mRNA platform for in vivo delivery of SARS-CoV-2 neutralization antibodies. Two mRNAs encoding the light and heavy chains of a potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody HB27, which is currently being evaluated in clinical trials, were encapsulated into clinical grade LNP formulations (named as mRNA-HB27-LNP). In vivo characterization demonstrated that intravenous administration of mRNA-HB27-LNP in mice resulted in a longer circulating half-life compared with the original HB27 antibody in protein format. More importantly, a single prophylactic administration of mRNA-HB27-LNP provided protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge in mice at 1, 7 and even 63 days post administration. In a close contact transmission model, prophylactic administration of mRNA-HB27-LNP prevented SARS-CoV-2 infection between hamsters in a dose-dependent manner. Overall, our results demonstrate a superior long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2 conferred by a single administration of this unique mRNA antibody, highlighting the potential of this universal platform for antibody-based disease prevention and therapy against COVID-19 as well as a variety of other infectious diseases.Subject terms: Biological techniques, Immunology     

登革3型病毒prM-E基因重组质粒DNA的构建和真核表达

构建登革 3型病毒 prM E基因的真核表达重组质粒 ,并进行体外表达 ,为登革DNA疫苗的研究奠定基础。用RT -PCR法获得 prM -E基因片段 ,然后将其克隆到真核表达载体中。用电穿孔法将重组质粒DNA转入BHK细胞 ,通过免疫荧光法检测外源基因在真核细胞中的表达。结果 ,通过酶切和序列测定证实了构建的重组质粒DNA含序列正确的 prM- E基因。用免疫荧光法检测到转染了重组质粒DNA的BHK细胞的胞浆中有登革 3型病毒特异蛋白的表达。说明含有登革 3型病毒prM -E基因的真核表达重组质粒可以在BHK细胞中表达 ,该结果为观察该重组质粒的免疫原性奠定了基础。     

人嗅黏膜间充质干细胞来源外泌体的分离鉴定及生物学特性研究

外泌体是指释放到细胞外微环境中的直径约50～130 nm的纳米级的膜性囊泡。嗅黏膜间充质干细胞（olfactory mucosa mesenchymal stem cells,OM-MSCs）作为一类新发现的间充质干细胞,在许多疾病中均具有治疗作用,且其内在机制与其旁分泌的外泌体密切相关,但OM-MSCs外泌体的分离、鉴定及生物学特性的研究尚未见报道。本研究采用超速离心法提取OM-MSCs培养液中的外泌体,应用流式细胞术及免疫荧光进行细胞鉴定后,分别用透射电子显微镜、纳米粒径分析及Western印迹对外泌体形态、颗粒大小和表面的特异性分子标志进行分析鉴定。采用CCK8增殖实验,Western印迹和划痕实验,分析其对人脑微血管内皮细胞增殖和迁移的影响。电镜、Western 印迹和纳米粒径分析的结果显示：OM-MSCs来源外泌体形态多为圆形,直径约为40～150 nm;表达外泌体标记物CD63,CD81;CCK-8法检测显示：不同浓度的OM-MSCs源外泌体可提高人脑微血管内皮细胞的增殖活性,且其增殖促进作用具有浓度依赖性（P<0.05）。Western 印迹检测结果显示：相比空白对照组,OM-MSCs源外泌体可显著提高内皮细胞的增殖细胞核抗原蛋白质水平表达（P<0.01）,细胞划痕实验结果显示,OM-MSCs源外泌体可增强内皮细胞的迁移能力,且高于对照组（P<0.01）。本研究表明：通过超速离心法可以分离纯化获得OM-MSCs源外泌体,且该外泌体具有促进人脑微血管内皮细胞迁移和增殖的作用。