1.Construction of a camel-derived natural phage nanobody display library and screening of anti-CD22 nanobodies.
Wanjun HE ; Kai CUI ; Xiqian ZHANG ; Dan JIANG ; Guangxian XU
Chinese Journal of Cellular and Molecular Immunology 2025;41(3):254-261
Objective To screen the anti-CD22-specific nanobodies to provide a basis for immunotherapy agents. Methods The naive phage nanobody library was constructed and its diversity was analyzed. Three rounds of biotinylated streptavidin liquid phase screening were performed by using biotinylated CD22 antigen as the target, and the sequence of nanobodies against CD22 were identified by ELISA and gene sequencing. Results The capacity of the constructed naive phage nanobody library was 3.89×109 CFU/mL, and the insertion of effective fragments was higher than 85%. Based on this library, seven anti-human CD22 nanobodies were screened, and the amino acid sequence comparison results showed that the overall similarity was 70.34%, and all of them were hydrophilic proteins. The results of protein-protein complex docking prediction showed that the mimetic proteins of the five nanobody sequences could be paired and linked to CD22, and the main forces were hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bonding. Conclusion This study provided a basis for the study of chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting CD22, successfully constructed the natural phage nanobody library and obtaining five anti-CD22-specific nanobodies.
Camelus/immunology*
;
Single-Domain Antibodies/chemistry*
;
Peptide Library
;
Humans
;
Animals
;
Sialic Acid Binding Ig-like Lectin 2/genetics*
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Molecular Docking Simulation
2.Signature motif identification and enzymatic characterization of a protein tyrosine phosphatase in Metarhizium anisopliae.
Ze TAN ; Pei ZHU ; Zhenlun LI ; Shuiying YANG
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2025;41(9):3579-3588
Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs, EC 3.1.3.48) are key regulators of cellular processes, with the catalytic activity attributed to the conserved motif (H/V)CX5R(S/T), where cysteine and arginine residues are critical. Previous studies revealed that alternative splicing of extracellular phosphatase mRNA precursors in Metarhizium anisopliae generated two distinct transcripts, with the longer sequence containing a novel HCPTPMLS motif resembling PTP signatures but lacking the arginine residue. To identify the novel signature motif and characterize its enzymatic properties, we heterologously expressed and purified both proteins in Pichia pastoris and comprehensively characterized their enzymatic properties. The protein containing the HCPTPMLS motif (designated as L-protein) exhibited the highest activity at pH 5.5 and a strong preference for pTyr substrates. Its phosphatase activity was inhibited by Ag+, Zn2+, Cu2+, molybdate, and tungstate, but enhanced by Ca2+ and EDTA. AcP101 (lacking HCPTPMLS) showed the maximal activity at pH 6.5 and a strong preference toward pNPP (P < 0.05), with the activity inhibited by NaF and tartrate, but enhanced by Mg2+ and Mn2+. Functional analysis confirmed that the L-protein retained the PTP activity despite the absence of arginine in its signature motif, while AcP101 functioned as an acid phosphatase. This study provides the first functional validation of an arginine-deficient PTP motif, expanding the definition of PTP signature motifs and offering new insights for phosphatase classification.
Metarhizium/genetics*
;
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases/chemistry*
;
Amino Acid Motifs
;
Recombinant Proteins/biosynthesis*
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Pichia/metabolism*
;
Fungal Proteins/chemistry*
;
Substrate Specificity
;
Saccharomycetales
3.Identification and expression analysis of TCP family members in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.).
Shize WANG ; Yun LI ; Yucui HAN ; Shizhou YU ; Shuang WANG ; Yong LIU ; Xiaohu LIN
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2024;40(1):226-238
TCP family as plant specific transcription factor, plays an important role in different aspects of plant development. In order to screen TCP family members in tobacco, the homologous sequences of tobacco and Arabidopsis TCP family were identified by genome-wide homologous alignment. The physicochemical properties, phylogenetic relationships and cis-acting elements were analyzed by bioinformatics. The homologous genes of AtTCP3/AtTCP4 were screened, and RT-qPCR was used to detect the changes of gene expression upon 20% PEG6000 treatment. The results show that tobacco contains 63 TCP family members. Their amino acid sequence length ranged from 89 aa to 596 aa, and their protein hydropathicity grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY) ranged from -1.147 to 0.125. The isoelectric point (pI) ranges from 4.42 to 9.94, the number of introns is 0 to 3, and the subcellular location is all located in the nucleus. The results of conserved domain and phylogenetic relationship analysis showed that the tobacco TCP family can be divided into PCF, CIN and CYC/TB1 subfamilies, and each subfamily has a stable sequence. The results of cis-acting elements in gene promoter region showed that TCP family genes contain low docile acting elements (LTR) and a variety of stress and metabolic regulation related elements (MYB, MYC). Analysis of gene expression patterns showed that AtTCP3/AtTCP4 homologous genes (NtTCP6, NtTCP28, NtTCP30, NtTCP33, NtTCP42, NtTCP57, NtTCP63) accounted for 20% PEG6000 treatment significantly up-regulated/down-regulated expression, and NtTCP30 and NtTCP57 genes were selected as candidate genes in response to drought. The results of this study analyzed the TCP family in the tobacco genome and provided candidate genes for the study of drought-resistance gene function and variety breeding in tobacco.
Nicotiana/genetics*
;
Phylogeny
;
Plant Breeding
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Arabidopsis
;
Polyethylene Glycols
4.Genome-wide identification of Atropa belladonna WRKY transcription factor gene family and analysis of expression patterns under light and temperature regulation.
Wen-Ze LIU ; Sheng-Wei ZHOU ; Shao-Ke ZHANG ; Liu-Ming WANG ; Xu-Peng GU ; Lei-Xia CHU ; Lu QIAO ; Jie WAN ; Xiao ZHANG ; Lin-Lin YANG ; Cheng-Ming DONG ; Wei-Sheng FENG
China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica 2024;49(21):5843-5855
Based on whole genome data, the identification and expression pattern analysis of the Atropa belladonna WRKY transcription factor family were conducted to provide a theoretical foundation for studying the biological functions and mechanisms of these transcription factors. In this study, bioinformatics methods were employed to identify members of the A. belladonna WRKY gene family and to predict their physicochemical properties, conserved motifs, promoter cis-acting elements, and chromosomal localization. Additionally, the expression patterns of the A. belladonna WRKY gene family under the regulation of environmental factors such as light quality and temperature were analyzed. The results revealed a total of 28 AbWRKY transcription factors, randomly distributed across 16 chromosomes, encoding 324-707 amino acids. Most AbWRKY proteins were acidic, unstable, and hydrophilic. Based on multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis, the WRKY gene family members were classified into two subfamilies. Conserved motif and domain analysis indicated that WRKY transcription factors in the same subfamily possessed conserved structural features. Promoter analysis predicted that the A. belladonna WRKY family contained light-responsive elements, hormone-responsive elements, and stress-responsive elements. Collinearity analysis showed that AbWRKY24 plays a crucial role in the expansion of the AbWRKY gene family. Then qRT-PCR results indicated that AbWRKY6, AbWRKY8, AbWRKY14, and AbWRKY24 responded to red light stress, while AbWRKY8, AbWRKY14, and AbWRKY24 responded to yellow light/low-temperature combined stress. AbWRKY6 and AbWRKY8 were significantly expressed in leaves and stems, AbWRKY27 and AbWRKY28 were significantly expressed in fibrous roots, and AbWRKY25 was significantly expressed in flowers. This study is the first to identify and analyze the WRKY gene family in A. belladonna and to examine its expression patterns under light and temperature regulation, laying a foundation for in-depth analysis and functional validation of the molecular mechanisms of A. belladonna WRKY transcription factors in responding to light quality and temperature environmental factors.
Transcription Factors/chemistry*
;
Plant Proteins/metabolism*
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Phylogeny
;
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
;
Light
;
Temperature
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Atropa belladonna/metabolism*
;
Multigene Family/genetics*
;
Promoter Regions, Genetic/genetics*
;
Sequence Alignment
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Genome, Plant/genetics*
5.Identification and functional analysis of the transcriptional factor GeERF4B-1 in Gelsemium elegans.
Chuihuai YOU ; Ruiqi CHEN ; Xinlu SUN ; Yingying LI ; Yachun SU
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2024;40(11):4198-4210
Gelsemium elegans, a vine plant of Loganiaceae, has both medicinal and forage values. However, it is susceptible to low temperatures during growth. Exploring low temperature response genes is of great significance for cold resistance breeding of G. elegans. Ethylene response factors (ERFs) are the transcription factors of the AP2/ERF superfamily and play a crucial role in plant stress response. In this study, based on the unigene GeERF involved in the response to low temperature stress in the transcriptome of G. elegans, a full-length cDNA sequence of the transcription factor GeERF4B-1 was cloned from the leaves of G. elegans by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Bioinformatics analysis showed that GeERF4B-1 had an open reading frame of 759 bp, encoding a protein composed of 252 amino acid residues and with a relative molecular weight of 27 kDa. The deduced protein was predicted to be an unstable, alkaline, and hydrophilic protein. The phylogenetic tree showed that GeERF4B-1 was in the same clade as the B-4 subfamily of the ERF family. The results of the subcellular localization experiment revealed that GeERF4B-1 was located in the nucleus. Real time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis indicated that GeERF4B-1 was expressed in the root, stem, and leaf of G. elegans, with the highest expression level in the root. Compared with the control, the treatments with a low temperature (4 ℃), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and abscisic acid (ABA) up-regulated the expression level of GeERF4B-1, which reached the peak at 24-48 h. This result revealed that GeERF4B-1 actively responded to low temperature, MeJA, and ABA stresses. However, both sodium chloride (NaCl) and drought treatments down-regulated the expression of GeERF4B-1. In addition, a prokaryotic expression vector of GeERF4B-1 was constructed, and a fusion protein of approximately 52 kDa was yielded after induced expression. The results of the plate stress assay showed that compared with the control, the prokaryotic strain expressing GeERF4B-1 demonstrated enhanced tolerance to low temperatures and sensitivity to salt and mannitol stresses. This study provides theoretical references and potential genetic resources for breeding G. elegans varieties with stress resistance.
Transcription Factors/metabolism*
;
Plant Proteins/metabolism*
;
Gelsemium/metabolism*
;
Acetates/pharmacology*
;
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
;
Phylogeny
;
Cold Temperature
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Cyclopentanes/metabolism*
;
Oxylipins/metabolism*
;
Stress, Physiological/genetics*
;
Abscisic Acid/metabolism*
;
Cloning, Molecular
6.Enhancing the expression level of human epidermal growth factor using the polyhedrin protein sequence of BmNPV.
Yuedong LI ; Xingyang WANG ; Shuohao LI ; Xiaofeng WU
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2024;40(11):4211-4218
Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) can be applied in the treatment of surgical trauma (burns, scalds), tissue repair, skin moisturizing, beauty, skincare, etc. However, the low expression and high cost limit the application of hEGF. In order to improve the expression level of hEGF and reduce the production cost, considering the high expression of polyhedrin, this study fused a partial sequence of polyhedrin with hEGF and expressed the fused sequence by using a silkworm baculovirus expression vector system. In view of the small molecular weight of hEGF, we connected hEGF genes in series and optimized the codons to construct multiple fusion expression vectors by fusing different partial sequences of polyhedrin at the N-terminus. The results showed that through the above strategy, the protein expression level of hEGF was significantly increased. The expression vector containing three concatenated hEGF genes with optimized codons and fused with the sequence encoding 25 or 35 residues at the N-terminus of polyhedrin showed the highest expression level.
Humans
;
Epidermal Growth Factor/biosynthesis*
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Genetic Vectors/genetics*
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins/biosynthesis*
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Animals
;
Bombyx/metabolism*
;
Occlusion Body Matrix Proteins/genetics*
;
Nucleopolyhedroviruses/genetics*
;
Amino Acid Sequence
7.Cloning and expression profile of ZFP36L1 gene in goat.
Xiaotong MA ; Ruilong WANG ; Fei WANG ; Dingshuang CHEN ; Yanyan LI ; Yaqiu LIN ; Youli WANG ; Wei LIU
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2023;39(4):1696-1709
The purpose of this study was to clone and characterize the ZFP36L1 (zinc finger protein 36-like 1) gene, clarify its expression characteristics, and elucidate its expression patterns in different tissues of goats. Samples of 15 tissues from Jianzhou big-eared goats, including heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney were collected. Goat ZFP36L1 gene was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), then the gene and protein sequence were analyzed by online tools. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to detect the expression level of ZFP36L1 in intramuscular preadipocytes in different tissues and adipocytes of goat at different differentiation stages. The results showed that the length of ZFR36L1 gene was 1 224 bp, and the coding sequence (CDS) region was 1 017 bp, encoding 338 amino acids, which was a non-secretory unstable protein mainly located in nucleus and cytoplasm. Tissue expression profile showed that ZFP36L1 gene was expressed in all selected tissues. In visceral tissues, the small intestine showed the highest expression level (P < 0.01). In muscle tissue, the highest expression level was presented in longissimus dorsi muscle (P < 0.01), whereas the expression level in subcutaneous adipose tissue was significantly higher than that in other tissues (P < 0.01). The results of induced differentiation showed that the expression of this gene was up-regulated during adipogenic differentiation of intramuscular precursor adipocytes (P < 0.01). These data may help to clarify the biological function of the ZFP36L1 gene in goat.
Animals
;
Goats/genetics*
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Amino Acid Sequence
;
Liver
;
Cloning, Molecular
8.Identification of heat shock protein hsp70 family genes from Rana amurensis and its expression profiles upon infection.
Tingting LIU ; Jingjing GUO ; Zhaodong CHEN ; Yufen LIU ; Legang JING ; Peng LIU ; Wenge ZHAO
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2023;39(4):1710-1730
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) widely exist in all organisms, the structures of which are usually extraordinarily conservative. They are also well-known stress proteins that are involved in response to physical, chemical and biological stresses. HSP70 is an important member of the HSPs family. In order to study the roles of amphibians HSP70 during infection, the cDNA sequence of Rana amurensis hsp70 family genes were cloned by homologous cloning method. The sequence characteristics, three-dimensional structure and genetic relationship of Ra-hsp70s were analyzed by bioinformatics methods. The expression profiles under bacterial infection were also analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). Expression and localization of HSP70 protein were tested by immunohistochemical techniques. The results showed that three conservative tag sequences of HSP70 family, HSPA5, HSPA8 and HSPA13, were found in HSP70. Phylogenetic tree analysis indicated four members are distributed in four different branches, and members with the same subcellular localization motif are distributed in the same branch. The relative expression levels of the mRNA of four members were all significantly upregulated (P < 0.01) upon infection, but the time for up-regulating the expression levels were diverse in different tissues. The immunohistochemical analysis showed that HSP70 was expressed to different degrees in the cytoplasm of liver, kidney, skin and stomach tissue. The four members of Ra-hsp70 family have ability to respond bacterial infection to varying degrees. Therefore, it was proposed that they are involved in biological processes against pathogen and play different biological functions. The study provides a theoretical basis for functional studies of HSP70 gene in amphibians.
Heat-Shock Proteins/genetics*
;
Phylogeny
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins/metabolism*
;
Stress, Physiological
9.Clinical feature and genetic analysis of a patient with Idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism due to a novel variant of CHD7 gene.
Xin WANG ; Qian DENG ; Juanjuan WANG ; Wenjuan CAI ; Jian GAO ; Yanping HAN ; Yuqing CHEN
Chinese Journal of Medical Genetics 2023;40(7):847-850
OBJECTIVE:
To explore the clinical feature and genetic etiology of a patient with normosmic idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (nIHH) due to variant of CHD7 gene.
METHODS:
A patient who had presented at Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital in October 2022 was selected as the study subject. Clinical data of the patient was collected. The patient and his parents were subjected to trio-whole exome sequencing. Candidate variant was verified by Sanger sequencing and bioinformatic analysis.
RESULTS:
The patient had featured delayed development of secondary sexual characteristics but normal olfactory function. Genetic testing revealed that he has harbored a c.3052C>T (p.Pro1018Ser) missense variant of the CHD7 gene, for which both of his parents were of the wild type. The variant has not been recorded in the PubMed and HGMD databases. Analysis of amino acid sequences suggested that the variant site is highly conserved, and the variant may affect the stability of protein structure. Based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the c.3032C>T variant was classified as a likely pathogenic (PS2+PM2_Supporting+PP2+PP3+PP4).
CONCLUSION
The delayed development of secondary sexual characteristics of the patient may be attributed to the c.3052C>T (p.Pro1018Ser) variant of the CHD7 gene. Above finding has expanded the variation spectrum of the CHD7 gene.
Child
;
Humans
;
Male
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Computational Biology
;
DNA Helicases/genetics*
;
DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics*
;
Genetic Testing
;
Genomics
;
Hypogonadism/genetics*
;
Mutation
10.Cloning and functional analysis of the phenylalaninammo-nialyase gene from Rhododendron fortunei.
Sijia LÜ ; Yueyan WU ; Yonghong JIA ; Fan HE ; Baoxin JIANG ; Guoxia YANG ; Xiaohong XIE
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2022;38(1):374-385
Phenylalaninammo-nialyase (PAL) is a key enzyme in the synthesis of methyl benzoate - a plant aroma compound. In order to understand the function of this enzyme in the formation of fragrance in the scented Rhododendron species-Rhododendron fortunei, we cloned a gene encoding this enzyme and subsequently examined the gene expression patterns and the profile of enzyme activity during development in various tissues. The full length of RhPAL gene was cloned by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) techniques. The expression levels of RhPAL gene were measured by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and the amount of phenylalanine and cinnamic acid were assayed with LC-MS. The results showed that the ORF sequence of RhPAL gene amplified from the cDNA templates of flower buds had 2 145 bp, encoding 715 amino acids, and shared 90% homology to the PAL amino acid sequences from other species. qRT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of RhPAL in petals during flowering kept in rising even until the flowers wilted. The expression of RhPAL in pistil was much higher than that in stamen, while the expression in the younger leaves was higher than in old leaves. However, the expression level was relatively lower in petal and stamen compared to that in leaves. We also measured the PAL activity by Enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay in the petals of flowers at different flowering stages. The results showed that PAL activity reached the highest at the bud stage and then decreased gradually to the lowest when the flowers wilted, which followed a similar trend in the emission of the flower fragrance. The phenylalanine and cinnamic acid contents measured by LC-MS were highly correlated to the expression level of RhPAL in various tissues and at different flowering stages, implying that RhPAL plays an important role in the formation of the flower fragrance. This work may facilitate the breeding and improvement of new fragrant Rhododendron cultivars.
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Cloning, Molecular
;
DNA, Complementary
;
Flowers/genetics*
;
Rhododendron/genetics*

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