生物谷报道：近日，太平洋西北部国家实验室的科学家通过蛋白质组学的方法，已经在瘟疫细菌--鼠疫耶氏菌上发现了176种蛋白以及可能的蛋白。鼠疫耶氏菌的数量是随着疾病的致病力而上升、下降的。
由能源实验室的科学家Mary Lipton 和 Kim Hixson带领的团队，根据蛋白组学研究杂志最新问题的研究，认为这些蛋白质是与生长条件明确相关的独特的生物标记。这种与疾病进展联系的生物标记有望作为公共卫生和生物防御的探测工具，也可以指导药物和疫苗设计者在他们的探索中破坏微生物的感染能力。
鼠疫耶氏菌是导致可怕的黑死病瘟疫的细菌。跳蚤是这种病的细菌携带者并且可以将其传播至啮鼠动物和人类宿主。这个研究模拟了鼠疫耶氏菌在跳蚤和哺乳动物内的环境条件。
蛋白质组是对一个细胞内所有蛋白质的纵览。Lipton, Hixson和他们的同事在PNNL-based Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory这两个实验用精确质量的蛋白组学技术、带时间标记的质谱分析法和聚集性分析法来比较在四种不同的生长条件下的992种蛋白的丰富的变化。这四种生长条件分别是：26摄氏度，37摄氏度，加钙和不加钙。
他们发现了与已知29种毒力相关蛋白具有相似多变化的89种候选蛋白，还有另外87种与疾病条件关联的“假设”蛋白。基因组研究机构将假设蛋白定义为一种有基因检测规则鉴定但不与任何已知蛋白序列相匹配或没有其它证据证明它就是一个基因产物的蛋白。
这项研究的作者说，在更加广泛的生物系统，从另外一种传染源如沙门氏菌到对净化有毒废弃物有兴趣的废物微生物，也可以应用同样的方法用来寻找生物标记。
原文出处：
Plague Proteome Reveals Proteins Linked to Infection
11/22/06 -- Recreating growth conditions in flea carriers and mammal hosts, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists have uncovered 176 proteins and likely proteins in the plague-bacterium Yersinia pestis whose numbers rise and fall according to the disease?s virulence.
The team, led by the Department of Energy laboratory staff scientists Mary Lipton and Kim Hixson, identified the proteins as "unique biomarkers related specifically to growth condition," according to a study in the latest issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. Biomarkers associated with disease progression show promise as detection tools in public health and biodefense and can guide drug and vaccine designers in their quest to disrupt the microbe?s ability to infect.
Y. pestis is the bacterium that caused the infamous Black Death plagues. Fleas are vectors for the disease and can spread it to rodent and human hosts. This study mimicked environmental conditions of Y. pestis in flea and in mammalian systems.
The proteome is a survey of proteins in a cell. Lipton, Hixson and colleagues at the PNNL-based Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory used proteomic techniques called accurate mass and time tag mass spectrometry and clustering analysis to compare abundance changes in 992 proteins under four different growth conditions, at 26 degrees and 37 degrees Celsius and with and without calcium.
They found 89 candidate proteins with similar abundance changes to 29 known virulence-linked proteins, and an additional 87 disease-condition-associated "hypothetical" proteins. The Institute for Genomic Research defines a hypothetical protein as one identified by a gene-finding algorithm that matches no other known protein sequence or contains no other evidence that it is an actual product of a gene.
The study authors said the same approach is being applied to a search for biomarkers across a wide range of biological systems, from other infectious agents such as Salmonella to soil microbes of interest in cleaning up toxic waste.
Source: DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
http://www.bio.com/newsfeatures/newsfeatures_research.jhtml?cid=23900042
