Cysteine chemistry provides a low cost and convenient way for site-specific protein modification.However,recombinant expression of disulfide bonding containing protein with unpaired cysteine is technically challenging...Cysteine chemistry provides a low cost and convenient way for site-specific protein modification.However,recombinant expression of disulfide bonding containing protein with unpaired cysteine is technically challenging and the resulting protein often suffers from significantly reduced yield and activity.Here we used genetic code expansion technique to introduce a surface exposed self-paired dithiol functional group into proteins,which can be selectively reduced to afford active thiols.Two compounds containing self-paired disulfides were synthesized,and their genetic incorporations were validated using green fluorescent proteins(GFP).The compatibility of these self-paired di-thiols with natural disulfide bond was demonstrated using antibody fragment to afford site-specifically labeled antibody.This work provides another valuable building block into the chemical tool-box for site-specific labeling of proteins containing internal disulfides.展开更多
The basic unit of chromatin is the nucleosomal core particle, containing 147 bp of DNA that wraps twice around an octamer of core histones. The core histones bear a highly dynamic N-terminal amino acid tail around 20-...The basic unit of chromatin is the nucleosomal core particle, containing 147 bp of DNA that wraps twice around an octamer of core histones. The core histones bear a highly dynamic N-terminal amino acid tail around 20-35 residues in length and rich in basic amino acids. These tails extending from the surface of nucleosome play an important role in folding of nucleosomal arrays into higher order chromatin structure, which plays an important role in eukaryotic gene regulation. The amino terminal tails protruding from the nuclesomes get modified by the addition of small groups such as methyl, acetyl and phosphoryl groups. In this review, we focus on these complex modi- fication patterns and their biological functions. Moreover, these modifications seem to be part of a complex scheme where distinct histone modifications act in a sequential manner or in combination to form a "histone code" read by other proteins to control the structure and/or function of the chromatin fiber. Errors in this histone code may be involved in many human diseases especially cancer, the nature of which could be therapeutically exploited. Increasing evidence suggests that many proteins bear multiple, distinct modifications, and the ability of one modification to antagonize or synergize the deposition of another can have significant biological consequences.展开更多
Archetypes of histone modifications associated with diverse chromosomal states that regulate access to DNA are leading the hypothesis of the histone code(or epigenetic code). However, it is still not evident how these...Archetypes of histone modifications associated with diverse chromosomal states that regulate access to DNA are leading the hypothesis of the histone code(or epigenetic code). However, it is still not evident how these post-translational modifications of histone tails lead to changes in chromatin structure. Histone modifications are able to activate and/or inactivate several genes and can be transmitted to next generation cells due to an epigenetic memory. The challenging issue is to identify or "decrypt" the code used to transmit these modifications to descent cells. Here, an attempt is made to describe how histone modifications operate as part of histone code that stipulates patterns of gene expression. This papers emphasizes particularly on the correlation between histone modifications and patterns of Hox gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans. This work serves as an example to illustrate the power of the epigenetic machinery and its use in drug design and discovery.展开更多
Dear Editor,Epigenetic modifications are regulatory codes that control gene expression and can be stably inherited without alterations in the genomic sequence(Allis and Jenuwein,2016).Numerous studies have demonstrate...Dear Editor,Epigenetic modifications are regulatory codes that control gene expression and can be stably inherited without alterations in the genomic sequence(Allis and Jenuwein,2016).Numerous studies have demonstrated that epigenetic modifications regulate critical biological processes in plants,such as growth,development,response to environmental stressors,and reproduction(Zhang et al.,2023;Bulgakov,2024).展开更多
基金financially supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (No.2016YFA0201400)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.21778005)+1 种基金Peking University Health Science Center (Nos.BMU20160537 andBMU2017QQ006)the Youth Thousand-Talents Program of China for support
文摘Cysteine chemistry provides a low cost and convenient way for site-specific protein modification.However,recombinant expression of disulfide bonding containing protein with unpaired cysteine is technically challenging and the resulting protein often suffers from significantly reduced yield and activity.Here we used genetic code expansion technique to introduce a surface exposed self-paired dithiol functional group into proteins,which can be selectively reduced to afford active thiols.Two compounds containing self-paired disulfides were synthesized,and their genetic incorporations were validated using green fluorescent proteins(GFP).The compatibility of these self-paired di-thiols with natural disulfide bond was demonstrated using antibody fragment to afford site-specifically labeled antibody.This work provides another valuable building block into the chemical tool-box for site-specific labeling of proteins containing internal disulfides.
文摘The basic unit of chromatin is the nucleosomal core particle, containing 147 bp of DNA that wraps twice around an octamer of core histones. The core histones bear a highly dynamic N-terminal amino acid tail around 20-35 residues in length and rich in basic amino acids. These tails extending from the surface of nucleosome play an important role in folding of nucleosomal arrays into higher order chromatin structure, which plays an important role in eukaryotic gene regulation. The amino terminal tails protruding from the nuclesomes get modified by the addition of small groups such as methyl, acetyl and phosphoryl groups. In this review, we focus on these complex modi- fication patterns and their biological functions. Moreover, these modifications seem to be part of a complex scheme where distinct histone modifications act in a sequential manner or in combination to form a "histone code" read by other proteins to control the structure and/or function of the chromatin fiber. Errors in this histone code may be involved in many human diseases especially cancer, the nature of which could be therapeutically exploited. Increasing evidence suggests that many proteins bear multiple, distinct modifications, and the ability of one modification to antagonize or synergize the deposition of another can have significant biological consequences.
文摘Archetypes of histone modifications associated with diverse chromosomal states that regulate access to DNA are leading the hypothesis of the histone code(or epigenetic code). However, it is still not evident how these post-translational modifications of histone tails lead to changes in chromatin structure. Histone modifications are able to activate and/or inactivate several genes and can be transmitted to next generation cells due to an epigenetic memory. The challenging issue is to identify or "decrypt" the code used to transmit these modifications to descent cells. Here, an attempt is made to describe how histone modifications operate as part of histone code that stipulates patterns of gene expression. This papers emphasizes particularly on the correlation between histone modifications and patterns of Hox gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans. This work serves as an example to illustrate the power of the epigenetic machinery and its use in drug design and discovery.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82130112 and 62402089)the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province(2025ZNSFSC1465)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2023TQ0047 and GZC20230380).
文摘Dear Editor,Epigenetic modifications are regulatory codes that control gene expression and can be stably inherited without alterations in the genomic sequence(Allis and Jenuwein,2016).Numerous studies have demonstrated that epigenetic modifications regulate critical biological processes in plants,such as growth,development,response to environmental stressors,and reproduction(Zhang et al.,2023;Bulgakov,2024).