[Expression of influenza B virus hemagglutinin and its immunogenicity determination].

Influenza B virus is one of the causes for seasonal influenza, which can account for serious illness or even death in some cases. We tested the expression of extracellular domain of hemagglutinin (HA-ecto) of influenza B viruses in mammalian cells, and then determined the immunogenicity of HA-ecto in mice. The gene sequence encoding influenza B virus HA-ecto, foldon sequence, and HIS tag was optimized and inserted into pCAGGS vector. The opening reading frame (ORF) of neuraminidase was also cloned into pCAGGS. The pCAGGS-HA-ecto and pCAGGS-NA were co-transfected into 293T cells using linear polyethylenimine. Cell supernatant after transfection was collected after 96 h, and the secreted trimmeric HA-ecto protein was purified by nickel ion affinity chromatography and size exclusion chromatography. Subsequently, the mice were immunized with HA-ecto protein, and the corresponding antibody titers were detected by ELISA and hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assays. The results showed that soluble trimeric HA-ecto protein could be obtained using mammalian cell expression system. Moreover, trimeric HA-ecto protein, in combination with the adjuvant, induced high levels of ELISA and HAI antibodies against homogenous and heterologous antigens in mice. Thus, the soluble HA-ecto protein expressed in mammalian cells could be used as a recombinant subunit vaccine candidate for influenza B virus.

Biocatalytic synthesis of ginsenoside Rh2 using Arabidopsis thaliana glucosyltransferase-catalyzed coupled reactions.

Ginsenoside Rh2, a rare protopanaxadiol (PPD)-type triterpene saponin isolated from Panax ginseng, exhibits notable anticancer and immune-system-enhancing activities. Glycosylation catalyzed by uridine diphosphate-dependent glucosyltransferase (UGT) is the final biosynthetic step of ginsenoside Rh2. In this study, UGT73C5 isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana was demonstrated to selectively transfer a glucosyl moiety to the C3 hydroxyl group of PPD to synthesize ginsenoside Rh2. UGT73C5 was coupled with sucrose synthase (SuSy) from A. thaliana to regenerate costly uridine diphosphate glucose (UDPG) from cheap sucrose and catalytic amounts of uridine diphosphate (UDP). The UGT73C5/SuSy ratio, temperature, pH, cofactor UDP, and PPD concentrations for UGT73C5-SuSy coupled reactions were optimized. Through the stepwise addition of PPD, the maximal ginsenoside Rh2 production was 3.2 mg mL-1, which was the highest yield reported to date. These promising results provided an efficient and cost-effective approach to semisynthesize the highly valuable ginsenoside Rh2.

Construction of engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain to improve that whole-cell biocatalytic production of melibiose from raffinose.

There are excessive by-products in the biocatalysis process of this whole-cell biocatalytic production of melibiose from raffinose with current Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. To solve this problem, we constructed engineered strains based on a liquor yeast (S. cerevisiae) via gene deletion (mel1 gene), heterologous integration (fsy1 or/and ffzi1 gene from Candida magnoliae), and gene overexpression (gcr1 gene). Functional verification showed that deletion of the mel1 gene led to elimination of the reactions catalyzed by α-galactosidase, as well as elimination of the degradation of melibiose and the formation of galactose by-product. Insertion of the fsy1 or/and ffzi1 gene and overexpression of the gcr1 gene could contribute to fructose transport for enhancing the biopurification rate of the fructose by-product. Compared with the wild-type strain, the optimal engineered strain of MP8 (Δmel1::fsy1 cm ::ffzi1 cm ::gcr1 sc ) had improved about 30% on yield, 31% on productivity, and 36% on purity of the melibiose product.

Efficiency Analysis and Mechanism Insight of that Whole-Cell Biocatalytic Production of Melibiose from Raffinose with Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Melibiose is widely used as a functional carbohydrate. Whole-cell biocatalytic production of melibiose from raffinose could reduce its cost. However, characteristics of strains for whole-cell biocatalysis and mechanism of such process are unclear. We compared three different Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (liquor, wine, and baker's yeasts) in terms of concentration variations of substrate (raffinose), target product (melibiose), and by-products (fructose and galactose) in whole-cell biocatalysis process. Distinct difference was observed in whole-cell catalytic efficiency among three strains. Furthermore, activities of key enzymes (invertase, α-galactosidase, and fructose transporter) involved in process and expression levels of their coding genes (suc2, mel1, and fsy1) were investigated. Conservation of key genes in S. cerevisiae strains was also evaluated. Results show that whole-cell catalytic efficiency of S. cerevisiae in the raffinose substrate was closely related to activity of key enzymes and expression of their coding genes. Finally, we summarized characteristics of producing strain that offered advantages, as well as contributions of key genes to excellent strains. Furthermore, we presented a dynamic mechanism model to achieve some mechanism insight for this whole-cell biocatalytic process. This pioneering study should contribute to improvement of whole-cell biocatalytic production of melibiose from raffinose.

Selection of bisphenol A - single-chain antibodies from a non-immunized mouse library by ribosome display.

Developing reagents with high affinity and specificity are critical to detect the environmental hormones or toxicants. Ribosome display technology has been widely used in functional protein or peptide screening and in directed evolution of protein molecules in vitro. In this study, single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) against bisphenol A (BPA) were selected from a library constructed from splenocytes of non-immunized mice. After five rounds of selection, the selected scFvs bound to BPA with high affinity. Indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was introduced to screen the antibody affinity and specificity to BPA. The equilibrium dissociation constants (KDS) of one clone was 1.76µM as determined by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). This study indicated that ribosome display can isolate binders to small molecules from a non-immunized naive library without any in vivo steps and can generate recombinant antibodies efficiently and rapidly. In addition, this study provides a methodological framework for detection of small molecules using recombinant antibodies.

Preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of thermostable ß-1,4-xylanase from Streptomyces sp. S9.

Xylanase, which catalyzes the random hydrolysis of internal xylosidic linkages, is a critical enzyme participating in xylan decomposition and has been widely applied in industrial utilizations. Xylanase isolated from the extremophilic Streptomyces sp. S9 (XynAS9) possesses broad adaptability to temperature and pH and thus is an attractive candidate in industrial applications. In particular, the major products of XynAS9 are xylose and xylobiose, which enable the subsequent bioconversion to be carried out with higher efficiency. Therefore, the three-dimensional structure of XynAS9 and its catalytic machinery are of great interest. Here, recombinant XynAS9 protein was expressed in Pichia pastoris, purified and crystallized. Crystals belonging to the hexagonal space group P6(5)22, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 80.9, c = 289.3 Å, were obtained by the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method and diffracted to 2.08 Šresolution. Initial phase determination using molecular replacement indicated that the crystal contains one molecule in an asymmetric unit. Further model building and structural refinement are in progress.

A novel, universal and sensitive lateral-flow based method for the detection of multiple bacterial contamination in platelet concentrations.

In the present study, we aimed to develop a nucleic acid lateral-flow method for the rapid and sensitive detection of multiple bacteria that contaminate platelet concentrations (PCs). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplicons were produced by a set of board-range primers that recognize the conserved region of bacteria 16S rDNA, followed by hybridization with both an FITC (fluorescein isothiocyanate)-labelled probe and biotin-labelled probe, and then a nucleic acid lateral-flow dipstick (LFD) assay. The LFD accurately identified 7 species of bacteria, but had no cross-reactivity with human genomic DNA. The limit of detection (LOD) of the LFD assay was as low as 10(1) copies/µL of 16S rDNA for plasmid. In the case of spiked PCs without enrichment, the detection limit of LFD for K. pneumonia was 5 CFU/mL, 6.5 × 10(4) CFU/mL for the S. epidermidis and 35 CFU/mL for P. aeruginosa.

Fast determination of the tetracyclines in milk samples by the aptamer biosensor.

A novel aptamer biosensor for fast tetracyclines determination was established and illustrated in this paper. The tetracyclines aptamer as a specific affinity molecule was immobilized on the surface of the glassy carbon (GC) electrodes. It can specifically bind tetracyclines quickly in milk and other samples without sample treatment. Subsequently, the electrochemical signals are produced and measured accurately. The linear relationship between the currents and the tetracyclines concentration is 0.1-100 ng ml(-1). The sensitivity limit of the device is 1 ng ml(-1). The detection time is 5 min.

Statistical optimization of medium components for avilamycin production by Streptomyces viridochromogenes Tü57-1 using response surface methodology.

A fermentation medium for avilamycin production by Streptomyces viridochromogenes Tü57-1 has been optimized. Important components and their concentrations were investigated using fractional factorial design and Box-Behnken Design. The results showed that soybean flour, soluble starch, MgSO4.7H2O and CaCl2.2H2O are important for avilamycin production. A polynomial model related to medium components and avilamycin yield had been established. A high coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.92) was obtained that indicated good agreement between the experimental and predicted values of avilamycin yield. Student's T-test of each coefficient showed that all the linear and quadratic terms had significant effect (P > |T| < 0.05) on avilamycin yield. The significance of tested components was related to MgSO4.7H2O (0.37 g/L), CaCl2.2H2O (0.39 g/L), soybean flour (21.97 g/L) and soluble starch (37.22 g/L). The yield of avilamycin reached 88.33 +/- 0.94 mg/L (p < 0.05) that was 2.8-fold the initial yield.

Tube-immunoassay for rapid detection of carbaryl residues in agricultural products.

An antibody-based rapid, quantitative, and qualitative tube enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (tube-ELISA) was developed and used to determine carbaryl (1-naphthyl methylcarbamate) residues in agricultural products (apple, Chinese cabbage, rice, and barley). The tube-ELISA is a competitive immunoassay in which the antibody is coated in the polystyrene tube, with a dynamic range between 0.7 and 46.3 microg kg(-1). Carbaryl was extracted from each agricultural sample by hand-shaking with methanol and examined for application to on-site analysis. After the liquid extraction, the sample extracts diluted with buffer were analyzed by rapid tube-ELISA directly. The overall test time was around 15-30 min, including sample preparation and assay performance. The results obtained from tube-ELISA correlated well with high-performance liquid chromatography (R2 > 0.9). The study shows that tube-ELISA is useful as a quality control tool and can be used to quantitatively detect carbaryl as well.

Kinetic study of site directed and randomly immobilized his-tag alkaline phosphatase by flow injection chemiluminescence.

We immobilized his-tag alkaline phosphatase (ALP) randomly and with the desirable orientation (site directed) to compare the effects of the enzyme activity on the beads. The chemiluminescence was employed to increase the sensitivity of enzyme labelled assays. Flow injection was also carried out for the detection of chemical and biological molecules in flow solutions. The Vmax of randomly immobilized his-tag ALP was 1.2 and the Vmax of site directed immobilized his-tag ALP was 1.5. In other words, the activity of site directed immobilized his-tag ALP was about 1.3-folds increased. The detection limit was detected to be 6 x 10(-6) M for the flow injection system.

Actin at cell-cell junctions is composed of two dynamic and functional populations.

The ability of epithelial cells to polarize requires cell-cell adhesion mediated by cadherin receptors. During cell-cell contact, the mechanism via which a flat, spread cell shape is changed into a tall, cuboidal epithelial morphology is not known. We found that cadherin-dependent adhesion modulates actin dynamics by triggering changes in actin organization both locally at junctions and within the rest of the cell. Upon induction of cell-cell contacts, two spatial actin populations are distinguishable: junctional actin and peripheral thin bundles. With time, the relative position of these two populations changes and becomes indistinguishable to form a cortical actin ring that is characteristic of mature, fully polarized epithelial cells. Junctional actin and thin actin bundles differ in their actin dynamics and mechanism of formation, and interestingly, have distinct roles during epithelial polarization. Whereas junctional actin stabilizes clustered cadherin receptors at cell-cell contacts, contraction of peripheral actin bundle is essential for an increase in the maximum height at the lateral domain during polarization (cuboidal morphology). Thus, both junctional actin and thin bundles are necessary, and cooperate with each other to generate a polarized epithelial morphology.

Rac activation upon cell-cell contact formation is dependent on signaling from the epidermal growth factor receptor.

Cadherins are transmembrane receptors that mediate cell-cell adhesion. They play an essential role in embryonic development and maintenance of tissue architecture. The Rho family small GTPases regulate actin cytoskeletal dynamics in different cell types. The function of two family members, Rho and Rac, is required for the stability of cadherins at cell-cell contacts. Consistent with the published data we have found that Rac is activated upon induction of intercellular adhesion in epithelial cells. This activation is dependent on functional cadherins (Nakagawa, M., Fukata, M., Yamaga, M., Itoh, N., and Kaibuchi, K. (2001) J. Cell Sci. 114, 1829-1838; Noren, N. K., Niessen, C. M., Gumbiner, B. M., and Burridge, K. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 3305-3308). Here we show for the first time that clustering of cadherins using antibody-coated beads is sufficient to promote Rac activation. In the presence of Latrunculin B, Rac can be partially activated by antibody-clustered cadherins. These results suggest that actin polymerization is not required for initial Rac activation. Contrary to what has been described before, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases are not involved in Rac activation following cell-cell adhesion in keratinocytes. Interestingly, inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor signaling efficiently blocks the increased Rac-GTP levels observed after contact formation. We conclude that cadherin-dependent adhesion can activate Rac via epidermal growth factor receptor signaling.