2009年2月10日的《公共科學圖書館·綜合》（PLoS One）發(fā)表了題為“Microarray Analyses of Gene Expression during the Tetrahymena thermophila Life Cycle”的研究論文,，該研究結(jié)果是中國科學院水生生物研究所原生動物分類與生態(tài)學科組繆煒博士和碩士生熊杰在科技部國際合作重點項目與國家自然科學基金資助下,，與美國羅切斯特大學Gorovsky教授等合作完成的,。
論文報道了過去兩年間繆煒博士與合作者針對嗜熱四膜蟲構(gòu)建的世界上第一個纖毛蟲全基因組基因芯片分析平臺?；诟咄炕虮磉_分析技術(shù)完成了嗜熱四膜蟲3種典型生理或發(fā)育狀態(tài)（生長、饑餓及接合生殖）共20個時期的全基因組表達數(shù)據(jù)的采集和分析,，建立和發(fā)展了協(xié)同表達基因的發(fā)現(xiàn)等分析方法,，為四膜蟲功能基因組學的開展奠定了基礎(chǔ)，被同行審稿人評價為 “a major milestone in molecular research on ciliates ”,。
四膜蟲（Tetrahymena）是一種營自由生活的單細胞真核生物,，隸屬于原生動物中的纖毛門寡毛綱膜口目，廣泛分布于全球各地的淡水環(huán)境中,。在過去的50年中,，以四膜蟲為實驗對象在基礎(chǔ)生物學研究中取得了一系列突破性的成果，如端粒與端粒酶的發(fā)現(xiàn),、獲得諾貝爾獎的核酶發(fā)現(xiàn)和組蛋白翻譯后修飾功能的發(fā)現(xiàn)等,。同時，四膜蟲作為第一種實現(xiàn)細胞同步化的真核生物可以進行無菌純培養(yǎng),，而且生長快（2－2.5小時一代）,；比較基因組的研究也顯示嗜熱四膜蟲較酵母等模式生物和人類具有更高程度的功能保守性；加之四膜蟲中已建立了成熟的基因操作技術(shù),。因此,，四膜蟲是開展真核生物基因功能研究的良好模式生物，基因芯片分析平臺的建立將有力推動利用四膜蟲在基因組水平開展真核生物重要代謝通路及基因調(diào)控網(wǎng)絡的研究工作,。
近日繆煒博士等人還在國內(nèi)完成了多種環(huán)境激素類污染物(滴滴涕,、二噁英、三丁基錫等) 和雌二醇暴露下四膜蟲的基因芯片全基因組表達分析,，使得水生所合作或獨立完成了全世界近85%的四膜蟲基因芯片實驗,，目前由中方負責的四膜蟲基因表達數(shù)據(jù)庫（Tetrahymena Gene Expression Database）的建立已經(jīng)啟動，旨在通過收集,、提供和分享四膜蟲基因芯片數(shù)據(jù)及相關(guān)分析方法和應用軟件,，使之成為世界四膜蟲功能基因組學研究的信息中心。 （生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PLoS One,，doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004429,，Wei Miao，Martin A. Gorovsky
Microarray Analyses of Gene Expression during the Tetrahymena thermophila Life Cycle
Wei Miao1,2*, Jie Xiong2, Josephine Bowen1, Wei Wang1,3, Yifan Liu4, Olga Braguinets5, Jorg Grigull6, Ronald E. Pearlman5, Eduardo Orias7, Martin A. Gorovsky1*
1 Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, United States of America, 2 State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China, 3 Institute of Biotechnology, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China, 4 Pathology Department, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America, 5 Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 6 Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 7 Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
Abstract
Background
The model eukaryote, Tetrahymena thermophila, is the first ciliated protozoan whose genome has been sequenced, enabling genome-wide analysis of gene expression.
Methodology/Principal Findings
A genome-wide microarray platform containing the predicted coding sequences (putative genes) for T. thermophila is described, validated and used to study gene expression during the three major stages of the organism's life cycle: growth, starvation and conjugation.
Conclusions/Significance
Of the ~27,000 predicted open reading frames, transcripts homologous to only ~5900 are not detectable in any of these life cycle stages, indicating that this single-celled organism does indeed contain a large number of functional genes. Transcripts from over 5000 predicted genes are expressed at levels >5× corrected background and 95 genes are expressed at >250× corrected background in all stages. Transcripts homologous to 91 predicted genes are specifically expressed and 155 more are highly up-regulated in growing cells, while 90 are specifically expressed and 616 are up-regulated during starvation. Strikingly, transcripts homologous to 1068 predicted genes are specifically expressed and 1753 are significantly up-regulated during conjugation. The patterns of gene expression during conjugation correlate well with the developmental stages of meiosis, nuclear differentiation and DNA elimination. The relationship between gene expression and chromosome fragmentation is analyzed. Genes encoding proteins known to interact or to function in complexes show similar expression patterns, indicating that co-ordinate expression with putative genes of known function can identify genes with related functions. New candidate genes associated with the RNAi-like process of DNA elimination and with meiosis are identified and the late stages of conjugation are shown to be characterized by specific expression of an unexpectedly large and diverse number of genes not involved in nuclear functions.
