Biomedical subjects

Liang Qu

Publications and source records attributed to Liang Qu.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Discovery and Engineering of a Rat Endogenous Retrovirus Reverse Transcriptase for Efficient Prime Editing.

CRISPR-based prime editors (PEs) install precise edits into genomic DNA without generating double-strand breaks. Their editing efficiency is highly dependent on reverse transcriptases (RTs), but efficient RT candidates remain limited. Here, we identified 19 novel active RTs by screening 558 candidates. Among them, RERV-RT, derived from Rattus norvegicus, exhibited the highest activity. Through structure-guided engineering and deep mutational scanning, we developed an optimized variant, enRERV-RT, which outperforms conventional M-MLV-RT-based PE systems by 1.20-fold in mammalian and plant cells, and by 1.88-fold at hard-to-edit loci, while enabling precise multiplex editing of functionally relevant genes. Additionally, we developed a high-throughput platform, TRAP-seq-PE, to systematically evaluate prime editor performance. Across diverse mutation types, we found that PE systems based on enRERV-RT exhibited higher editing efficiencies than those based on M-MLV-RT. Collectively, our work establishes a versatile, high-efficiency PE system, thereby facilitating advances in clinical gene therapy and precise crop breeding.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Palmitoylation and its effect on the GTPase-activating activity and conformation of RGS2.

Regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins act as negative regulators of G protein coupled signaling by accelerating the GTPase activity of the G proteins alpha subunits. Reversible palmitoylation, a common post-translational modification for various components of the G protein-coupled signaling pathway, plays an important role in the modulation of protein activity. RGS2 appears to act selectively to increase the GTPase activity of Gqalpha when single turnover assays are preformed in solution. However, less attention has been paid to the effects of palmitoylation of RGS2 on its conformation and GTPase-activating activity. Studies of palmitoylation on a series of RGS2 mutants in which alanine was substituted for cysteine revealed cysteine 106, 116 and 199 to be multiple putative palmitoylation sites in RGS2, the efficiency of palmitate incorporation being about 60% at each individual palmitoylation site. Palmitoylation of RGS2 inhibited the GTPase-activating activity toward a GTPase-deficient R183C mutant of Gqalpha in vitro, but mutation of cysteine 116 eliminated the inhibition of palmitoylation on GTPase-activating activity of RGS2. The effect of palmitoylation on conformation of RGS2 was examined by monitoring spectra of the intrinsic fluorescence and Circular Dichroism. The results suggested that GTPase-activating activity change of RGS2 might be related to conformational change of RGS2 upon palmitoylation. Taken together, these results provided clear and strong experimental evidence for palmitoylation sites in RGS2 as well as for effect of palmitoylation on the GTPase-activating activity and conformation of RGS2.

Circular Dichroism↗

PubMed2005

Effects of UV-B radiation on the growth interaction of Ulva pertusa and Alexandrium tamarense.

Enhanced UV-B (280 - 320 nm) radiation resulting from ozone depletion is one of global environmental problems. Not only marine organisms but also marine ecosystems can be affected by enhanced UV-B radiation. The effects of UV-B radiation on interaction of macro-algae and micro-algae were investigated using Ulva pertusa Kjellman and Alexandrium tamarense as the materials in this study. The results demonstrated that UV-B radiation could inhibit the growth of Ulva pertusa and Alexandrium tamarense when they were both mono-cultured, and the growth inhibition of algae was more significant with increasing doses of UV-B radiation. Alexandrium tamarense could inhibit the growth of Ulva pertusa in mixed culture, and the growth inhibition was more significant when increasing the initial cell density. However, Ulva pertusa could inhibit the growth of Alexandrium tamarense in early phase and stimulate the growth in latter phase when they were grown in mixed culture. Lower initial cell density (10(2) cell/ml) of Alexandrium tamarense could inhibit the growth of Ulva pertusa under UV-B radiation treatment, however, with the initial cell density increasing (10(3) and 10(4) cell/ml), the growth of Ulva pertusa was stimulated under lower dose of UV-B radiation and inhibited under higher dose of UV-B radiation by Alexandrium tamarense. Compared with that in mixed culture, Ulva pertusa showed more positive inhibition to the growth of Alexandrium tamarense under UV-B radiation treatment.

Animals↗