来自首都师范大学生命科学学院,加拿大国家研究委员会的研究人员发△表了题为“Screening and identification of seed-specific genes using digital differential display tools combined with microarray data from common wheat”的文章,通过综合应用数字化差异显示工具和芯片数据库,筛选●和鉴定小麦种子特异表达基因,这一方法具有成本→低廉、可靠性好和效率高等优点,对小麦其它的组织以〖及其它有相似研究◥基础的物种都具有借鉴意义。
这一研究成果公布在国际著名学术期刊BMC Genomics上,文章通讯作者是首都师范大学生命科学学院胡英考¤副教授,第一作者是生科院2009级在读硕士研究生∩杨兴露。
这项研究提出了一种利用生物信息学技术获得小■麦种子特异表达基因的新方法,即:利用现有的生物信息学数据,综合应用数√字化表达的分析方法,从NCBI公共数据库筛选小麦种子特异表达基因,经芯╳片数据库的二次筛选、与模式植物的比较基因组分析以及实验验证来获得☆小麦种子特异表达基因。该方法具有成本低廉、可靠性好和效率高等优点,对小麦其它的组织以及其它有相似研究基础的物种都具有借鉴意义。
BMC Genomics杂志由英国伦敦生物医学中心(BioMed Central)出版管理,主要发表①全基因组分析、功能基因组以及蛋白质组等领域的原创性文章。2011年该杂志的影响因子为4.21,在BMC系列杂志中排名第三■。
在生物信息学研究方面,近∮期瑞士科学家成功地在计算机和普通酿酒酵母之间形成了一个“反馈环”,可♀用计算机精确地控制酵母菌内特定基因的打开和关闭,这项创新方法可对利用微生物制造⊙生物燃料或抗体等生物过程进行精确控制。
在这一研ㄨ究中,计算机通过控制闪光可打开和关闭某个特定基因※的表达,让该基因“学会”达到和维持一个给定值。这是一种相对比较简单的方法,能让科学家们很好地控制复杂的生物化学过程来得到】满意的结果。此前已有很多科学家尝试过其他方法,比如在细胞内部给细↙胞编码让其成为电路,或将基因放入细№胞内等,然而结果都差【强人意。
这项研究表明,生命内精确而微妙的生物机制能被用于很多实验中,这些实验有⊙助于我们更好地理解细胞信号传导机制。最新研究还」有望应用于生物燃料或抗体的制造过程中,通过转基因技术来增加产量。
原文摘要:
Screening and identification of seed-specific genes using digital differential display tools combined with microarray data from common wheat
Background
Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops for human beings, with seeds being the tissue of highly economic value. Various morphogenetic and metabolic processes are exclusively associated with seed maturation. The goal of this study was to screen and identify genes specifically expressed in the developing seed of wheat with an integrative utilization of digital differential display (DDD) and available online microarray databases.
Results
A total of 201 unigenes were identified as the results of DDD screening and microarray database searching. The expressions of 6 of these were shown to be seed-specific by qRT-PCR analysis. Further GO enrichment analysis indicated that seed-specific genes were mainly associated with defense response, response to stress, multi-organism process, pathogenesis, extracellular region, nutrient reservoir activity, enzyme inhibitor activity, antioxidant activity and oxidoreductase activity. A comparison of this set of genes with the rice (Oryza sativa) genome was also performed and approximately three-fifths of them have rice counterparts. Between the counterparts, around 63% showed similar expression patterns according to the microarray data.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the DDD screening combined with microarray data analysis is an effective strategy for the identification of seed-specific expressed genes in wheat. These seed-specific genes screened during this study will provide valuable information for further studies about the functions of these genes in wheat.