aFGF拮抗剂对3T3细胞蛋白质组影响的研究

六肽P₂(VYMSPF)是我室从噬菌体展示肽库中筛选出来的aFGF拮抗剂,为研究其对aFGF信号传导机制的影响,对处于4种不同生理条件下的NIH3T3细胞(正常的细胞、加P₂刺激的细胞、加aFGF+肝素刺激的细胞、加aFGF+肝素+P₂刺激的细胞)的全细胞裂解液进行双向电泳分离及软件分析.对后2种细胞的蛋白质图谱中表达差异的5个蛋白质点进行质谱分析和数据库检索.鉴定出3种表达下调的蛋白质,其中鸟苷酸结合蛋白α-11亚单位和1C-型核因子分别参与细胞内aFGF信号传导以及转录调控.这些差异点的变化为进一步研究P₂对aFGF信号传导途径的抑制作用提供了实验基础和线索     

Fluorescence signal transduction mechanism for immunoassay based on zinc ion release from ZnS nanocrystals

In this work, a fluorescence signal transduction mechanism based on cation release from ZnS nanocrystals was developed for sandwich immunoassay. In this mechanism, ZnS nanocrystals as labels in immunoassay are dissolved by acid to release zinc ions. After pH adjustment of the dissolving solution using a basic solution, zinc-ion sensitive fluorescence indicator Fluozin-3 is added to bind with the released zinc ions for sensitive fluorescence measurement. Using mouse IgG as a model analyte, the immunoassay adopting this signal transduction mechanism demonstrates a low detection limit around 1 pM and a detection range with two orders of magnitude (1 pM to 0.5 nM).     

Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry analysis of proteins detected by anti-phosphotyrosine antibody on two-dimensional-gels of fibrolast cell lysates after tumor necrosis factor-alpha stimulation

We describe efficient methods for using functional proteomics analysis to study signal transduction pathways in murine fibroblast L929 cells following stimulation with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. After stimulation with TNF-alpha, cellular proteins of L929 cells were extracted with a lysis buffer containing 0.3% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) for 10-30 min time intervals, and were separated by two-dimensional (2-D) electrophoresis followed by immunoblot analysis with anti-phosphotyrosine antibody and alkaline phosphatase-anti IgG antibody conjugate. To improve detection sensitivity by immunoblot analysis we used a chemifluorescent substrate for alkaline phosphatase. One hundred protein spots were detected in the TNF-alpha stimulated L929 cell extract by immunoblot analysis. The use of chemifluorescence allowed us to quantitate immunoblotted spots with fluoroscanner so that we were able to detect time-dependent changes of a number of immunoblotted spots. Protein spots on a silver-stained 2-D gel corresponding to those detected by immunoblot analysis were subjected to in-gel trypsin digestion- matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF)-mass spectrometry analysis, respectively. Twenty-one proteins detected by immunoblot analysis were identified by MS-Fit database search analysis. Among them, the proteins that show time-dependent changes in staining intensity include vimentin, tubulin beta-chain, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 1A, chromatin assembly factor 1 (P48 subunit), probable protein disulfide isomerase P5, and several other proteins. Vimentin and tubulin beta-chain have been reported to be phosphorylated at tyrosine residues and involved in the signal transduction pathway induced by TNF-alpha. However, the other proteins have no previously known function in the signal transduction pathway. Thus, the methods used in this study seem to be suitable for the identification of time-dependent changes in many proteins that are involved in signal transduction. Usefulness of the method for comprehensive analysis of the proteins involved in signal transduction pathway and the limitations of the method are discussed.     

NRSF/REST蛋白结构域锌指9核磁共振溶液结构确定

NRSF/REST蛋白是神经元特异性基因表达的负调控因子. 其C端抑制结构域的C2H2型锌指结构域与共抑制蛋白CoREST相互作用能部分诱导NRSF/REST蛋白的负调控功能, 但具体的分子机制不清楚. 为了深入地研究该机制,利用核磁共振方法确定了该结构域C2H2锌指的溶液三维结构, 结果表明它具有典型的Cys2His2锌指三维结构, 揭示该结构域在NRSF/REST蛋白与DNA或RNA特异性识别上可能具有某些关键作用.     

Cysteine and histidine shuffling: mixing and matching cysteine and histidine residues in zinc finger proteins to afford different folds and function

Zinc finger proteins utilize zinc for structural purposes: zinc binds to a combination of cysteine and histidine ligands in a tetrahedral coordination geometry facilitating protein folding and function. While much is known about the classical zinc finger proteins, which utilize a Cys(2)His(2) ligand set to coordinate zinc and fold into an anti-parallel beta sheet/alpha helical fold, there are thirteen other families of 'non-classical' zinc finger proteins for which relationships between metal coordination and protein structure/function are less defined. This 'Perspective' article focuses on two classes of these non-classical zinc finger proteins: Cys(3)His type zinc finger proteins and Cys(2)His(2)Cys type zinc finger proteins. These proteins bind zinc in a tetrahedral geometry, like the classical zinc finger proteins, yet they adopt completely different folds and target different oligonucleotides. Our current understanding of the relationships between ligand set, metal ion, fold and function for these non-classical zinc fingers is discussed.