简介：BeijinghasbeenoneoftheepicentersattackedmostseverelybytheSARS-CoV(severeacuterespiratorysyndrome-associatedcoronavirus)sincethefirstpatientwasdiagnosedinoneofthecity'shospitals.WenowreportcompletegenomesequencesoftheBJGroup,includingfourisolates(IsolatesBJ01,BJ02,BJ03,andBJ04)oftheSARS-CoV.ItisremarkablethatallmembersoftheBJGroupshareacommonhaplotype,consistingofsevenlocithatdifferentiatethegroupfromotherisolatespublishedtodate.Among42substitutionsuniquelyidentifledfromtheBJgroup,32arenon-synonymouschangesattheaminoacidlevel.Rootedphylogenetictrees,proposedonthebasisofhaplotypesandothersequencevariationsofSARS-CoVisolatesfromCanada,USA,Singapore,andChina,gaverisetodifferentparadigmsbutpositionedtheBJGroup,togetherwiththenewlydiscoveredGD01(GD-Ins29)inthesameclade,followedbytheH-UGroup(fromHongKongtoUSA)andtheH-TGroup(fromHongKongtoToronto),leavingtheSPGroup(Singapore)moredistant.ThisresultappearstosuggestapossibletransmissionpathfromGuangdongtoBeijing/HongKong,thentoothercountriesandregions.

简介：TheR(replicase)proteinistheuniquelydefinednon-structuralprotein(NSP)responsibleforRNAreplication,mutationrateorfidelity,regulationoftranscrip-tionincoronavirusesandmanyotherssRNAviruses.Basedonourcompletegenomesequencesoffourisolates(BJ01-BJ04)ofSARS-CoVfromBeijing,China,weanalyzedthestructureandpredictedfunctionsoftheRproteinincomparisonwith13otherisolatesofSARS-CoVand6othercoronaviruses.TheentireORF(open-readingframe)encodesfortwomajorenzymeactivities,RNA-dependentRNApolymerase(RdRp)andproteinaseactivities.TheRpolyproteinunder-goesacomplexproteolyticprocesstoproduce15function-relatedpeptides.Ahydrophobicdomain(HOD)andahydrophilicdomain(HID)arenewlyidentifiedwithinNSP1.ThesubstitutionrateoftheRproteinisclosetotheaverageoftheSARS-CoVgenome.ThefunctionaldomainsinallNSPsoftheRproteingivedifferentphylogeneticresultsthatsuggesttheirdifferentmutationrateunderselectivepressure.ElevenhighlyconservedregionsinRdRpandtwelvecleavagesitesby3CLP(chymotrypsin-likeprotein)havebeenidentifiedaspotentialdrugtargets.Findingssuggestthatitispossibletoobtaininformationaboutthephy-logenyofSARS-CoV,aswellaspotentialtoolsfordrugdesign,genotypinganddiagnosticsofSARS.

简介：Circulargenomes,beingthelargestproportionofsequencedgenomes,playanimportantroleingenomeanalysis.However,traditional2Dcircularmaponlyprovidesanoverviewandannotationsofgenomebutdoesnotofferfeature-basedcomparison.Forremedyingtheseshortcomings,wedeveloped3DGenomeTuner,ahybridofcircularmapandcomparativemaptools.Itscapabilityofviewingcomparisonsbetweenmultiplecircularmapsina3Dspaceoffersgreatbenefitstothestudyofcomparativegenomics.Theprogramisfreelyavailable(underanLGPLlicence)athttp://sourceforge.net/projects/dgenometuner.

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简介：Ithasbeenshownthattheprogressinthedeterminationofmembraneproteinstructuregrowsexponentially,withapproximatelythesamegrowthrateasthatofthewater-solubleproteins.Inordertoinvestigatetheeffectofthis,ontheperformanceofpredictionalgorithmsforbothα-helicalandβ-barrelmembraneproteins,weconductedaprospectivestudybasedonhistoricalrecords.WetrainedseparatehiddenMarkovmodelswithdifferentsizedtrainingsetsandevaluatedtheirperformanceontopologypredictionforthetwoclassesoftransmembraneproteins.Weshowthattheexistingtop-scoringalgorithmsforpredictingthetransmembranesegmentsofα-helicalmembraneproteinsperformslightlybetterthanthatofβ-barreloutermembraneproteinsinallmeasuresofaccuracy.Withthesamerationale,ameta-analysisoftheperformanceofthesecondarystructurepredictionalgorithmsindicatesthatexistingalgorithmictechniquescannotbefurtherimprovedbyjustaddingmorenon-homologoussequencestothetrainingsets.Theupperlimitforsecondarystructurepredictionisestimatedtobenomorethan70%and80%ofcorrectlypredictedresiduesforsinglesequencebasedmethodsandmultiplesequencebasedones,respectively.Therefore,weshouldconcentrateoureffortsonutilizingnewtechniquesforthedevelopmentofevenbetterscoringpredictors.

简介：Werecentlyreportedtheuseofagene-trappingapproachtoisolatecellclonesinwhichareportergenehadintegratedintogenesmodulatedbyT-cellactivation.WehavenowtestedapanelofclonesfromthatreportandidentifiedtheonethatrespondstoavarietyofG-proteincoupledreceptors(GPCR).TheβlactamasetaggedEGR-3JurkatcellwasusedtodissectspecificGPCRsignalinginvivo.ThreeGPCRswerestudied,includingthechemokinereceptorCXCR4(Gicoupled)thatwasendogenouslyexpressed,theplateletactivationfactor(PAF)receptor(Gq-coupled),andβ2adrenergicreceptor(Gs-coupled)thatwasbothstablytransfected.Agonistsforeachreceptoractivatedtranscriptionoftheβ-lactamasetaggedEGR-3gene.InductionofEGR-3throughCXCR4wasblockedbypertussistoxinandPD58059,aspecificinhibitorofMEK(MAPK/ERKkinase).NeitheroftheseinhibitorsblockedisoproterenolorPAF-mediatedactivationofEGR-3.Conversely,β2-andPAF-mediatedEGR-3activationwasblockedbythep38,specificinhibitorSB580.Inaddition,bothβ2-andPAF-mediatedEGR-3activationcouldbesynergisticallyactivatedbyCXCR4activation.ThiscombinedresultindicatesthatEGR-3canbeactivatedthroughdistinctsignaltransductionpathwaysbydifferentGPCRsandthatsignalscanbeintegratedandamplifiedtoefficientlytunethelevelofactivation.