ABSTRACT
The medicinal fungi, which are of great importance in traditional medicine, are facing the problems of wild resources scarcity and low concentration of bioactive compounds. Velvet family and LaeA global regulator play a vital role in secondary metabolism and developmental programs, which are found in a wide variety of fungi ranging from Chytridiomycota to Basidiomycota. This review elaborates the structures and functions between Velvet family and LaeA protein. The Velvet family which shares the Velvet protein domain, including VeA (Velvet), VelB (Velvet like B), VosA (viability of spores A) and VelC (Velvet like C), acts on the regulation function is secondary metabolism and developmental programs such as asexual and sexual development. Furthermore, the function is affected by environmental factors such as light and temperature. LaeA protein which owns S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase domain, coordinately regulates development and secondary metabolism by regulating and modifying the Velvet proteins. The regulation of LaeA is mediated by light receptor proteins. Therefore, clarifying the mechanism of Velvet and LaeA proteins in medicinal fungi will pave the way for nurturing medicinal fungi and improving production of bioactive compounds.
Subject(s)
Fungal Proteins , Metabolism , Fungi , Chemistry , Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal , Genes, Regulator , Protein Structure, Tertiary , Secondary Metabolism , Structure-Activity RelationshipABSTRACT
Transcription factor is one of the key factors in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional level. It plays an important role in plant growth, active components biosynthesis and response to environmental change. This paper summarized the structure and classification of bHLH transcription factors and elaborated the research progress of bHLH transcription factors which regulate the active components in plants, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids. In addition, the possibility of increasing the concentration of active substances by bHLH in medicinal plants was assessed. The paper emphasized great significance of model plants and multidisciplinary research fields including modern genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics, providing the contribution to improve the discovery and function characterization of bHLH transcription factors. Accelerating the research in the mechanism of bHLH transcription factors on the regulation of active components biosynthesis will promote the development of breeding and variety improvement of Chinese medicinal materials, also ease the pressure of resources exhaustion of traditional Chinese medicine home and abroad.
Subject(s)
Alkaloids , Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors , Chemistry , Classification , Genetics , Metabolism , Flavonoids , Plants, Medicinal , Genetics , Metabolism , Terpenes , MetabolismABSTRACT
Most plants can form a symbiosis in root with microorganisms for mutual benefit, Nonlegumes mainly form the symbiotic mycorrhiza with arbuscular fungi. The interaction is initiated by invasion of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi into the plant root, and follows by production of several special signal molecules, such as the symbiosis receptor-like kinase (SYMRK) from plant. SYMRK has an extracellular domain comprising three leucine-rich repeats (LRRs), a transmembrane domain and an cytoplasmic protein kinase domain. Symrk is required for a symbiotic signal transduction pathway from the perception of microbial signal molecules to the rapid symbiosis-related gene activation. Study of symrk may set up a solid foundation for giving further insight on the function and mechanism of plant-fungi symbiosis.
Subject(s)
Amino Acid Sequence , Host-Pathogen Interactions , Solanum lycopersicum , Molecular Sequence Data , Mycorrhizae , Physiology , Phosphotransferases , Classification , Genetics , Phylogeny , Plant Proteins , Classification , Genetics , Plant Roots , Genetics , Microbiology , Sequence Homology, Amino Acid , Signal Transduction , Genetics , Symbiosis , GeneticsABSTRACT
The Cre recombinase from bacteriophage P1 can recognize specific DNA sequences, cleave DNA at specific target sites, and then ligate it to the cleaved DNA of a second site. In this study, cre gene was cloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector via PCR procedure. Then the cre gene was inserted into an expression vector pET-29a and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). A 38 kD soluble protein was expressed and named CRE. CRE was purified by DEAE-52 chromatography. Bioassay of the partially purified product showed that CRE can cleave the plasmid pGLGFP which contains two loxP site with the same direction.
Subject(s)
Chromatography, DEAE-Cellulose , Escherichia coli , Genetics , Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic , Green Fluorescent Proteins , Integrases , Genetics , Metabolism , Luminescent Proteins , Genetics , Metabolism , Plasmids , Genetics , Recombinant Proteins , Metabolism , Viral Proteins , Genetics , MetabolismABSTRACT
The Cre recombinase, an integrase from bacteriophage P1, catalyzes site-specific recombination between 34-bp repeats termed loxP sites, in the absence of any additional cofactors and energy. Mediated by Cre recombinase, specific DNA fragments can be excised, inversed or integrated depending on the orientation or position of loxP sites in vitro or in vivo. Because of its simplicity and high efficiency, Cre/loxP site-specific recombination system has been widely used in gene deletion and function identification, gene site-specific integration, gene trapping and chromosome engineering. It has been used as a useful tool for DNA recombination in transgenic yeast, plants, insects and mammals. Here progress in the study of the structure and function of Cre recombinase is discussed.