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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology

การพัฒนาแบบจำลองเซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์บนกระดาษที่มีการดัดแปรพื้นผิวและต้นแบบไบโอเซนเซอร์ไร้สายสำหรับตรวจวัดการเจริญของจุลชีพก่อโรค, ปัณณวิชญ์ ถิรบวรกิจพิธาน Jan 2018

การพัฒนาแบบจำลองเซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์บนกระดาษที่มีการดัดแปรพื้นผิวและต้นแบบไบโอเซนเซอร์ไร้สายสำหรับตรวจวัดการเจริญของจุลชีพก่อโรค, ปัณณวิชญ์ ถิรบวรกิจพิธาน

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์นี้เป็นการนำเสนองานวิจัย การพัฒนาวิธีการใหม่เพื่อควบคุมและเฝ้าระวังโรคติดเชื้อ โดยประกอบด้วยเนื้อหาสำคัญสองส่วน ได้แก่ (i) การพัฒนาแบบจำลองเซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์ที่เพาะเลี้ยงบนกระดาษที่มีการดัดแปรพื้นผิว เพื่อใช้ประโยชน์ในการศึกษากลไกการบุกรุกของเชื้อจุลชีพก่อโรคในระบบทางเดินอาหาร และ (ii) การพัฒนาต้นแบบไบโอเซนเซอร์แบบไร้สายเพื่อการตรวจติดตามการเจริญของเชื้อจุลชีพก่อโรค โดยในส่วนแรก เซลล์ลำไส้ของมนุษย์ HT-29 จำนวน 200,000 เซลล์ ถูกเพาะเลี้ยงในบริเวณชอบน้ำของกระดาษกรอง Whatman No.1 โดยกระดาษถูกดัดแปรพื้นผิวด้วยสารแมทริกซ์นอกเซลล์ (Extracellular matrix: ECM) ชนิดต่าง ๆ ได้แก่ Matrigel, Collagen-1 และ Laminin พื้นที่เพาะเลี้ยงเซลล์มีขนาด 12.56 ตารางมิลลิเมตร ภายใต้สภาวะที่เหมาะสม เซลล์ HT-29 ที่ถูกเพาะเลี้ยงบนกระดาษ มีชีวิตรอดได้ถึง 28 วัน และแสดงลักษณะของเซลล์ที่เจริญเต็มที่ โดยมีการแสดงออกของวิลไล (villi) ที่ผิวเซลล์ด้านบน (apical) และมีการแสดงออกของโปรตีน ZO-1 ซึ่งแสดงถึงเซลล์มีการสร้างไทต์จังก์ชันเกิดขึ้น จากการใช้สารเชื่อมพันธะสำหรับเชื่อมพันธะ ECM แต่ละชนิด พบว่าเมื่อใช้สารเจนิพินในการเชื่อมพันธะ เซลล์มีชีวิตรอดทั้งหมด (100 -112.8%) ในขณะที่มีเพียง 1.1 - 67.3 % ของเซลล์รอดชีวิต หากใช้สารกลูตารัลดีไฮด์ในการเชื่อมพันธะ แต่การใช้สารเชื่อมพันธะทั้งสองชนิด ทำให้เซลล์ไม่สามารถแบ่งตัวมีรูปร่างแบบสามมิติได้ เมื่อสังเกตด้วย SEM เซลล์มีลักษณะแบน การดัดแปรพื้นผิวกระดาษด้วยสาร ECM ชนิด Matrigel ส่งผลให้เซลล์มีชีวิตรอดมากที่สุดและสาร ECM ชนิด Laminin ทำให้เซลล์เกิดการแปรสภาพ (cell differentiation) ได้ดีที่สุด งานวิจัยส่วนที่ 2 เป็นการพัฒนาไบโอเซนเซอร์ไร้สายสำหรับติดตามการเจริญของเชื้อจุลชีพก่อโรค ได้แก่ เชื้อ Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus gordonii และ Candida albicans พบว่าเชื้อดังกล่าวสามารถสร้างไบโอฟิล์มบนผิวของขั้วไฟฟ้าคาร์บอนอสัณฐาน (glassy carbon electrode) และสามารถให้ค่าศักย์ไฟฟ้าที่เป็นลบได้ …


Influence Of The Estrous Cycle And Female Sex Hormones On Ghb Toxicokinetics, Hao Wei Jan 2018

Influence Of The Estrous Cycle And Female Sex Hormones On Ghb Toxicokinetics, Hao Wei

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is an endogenous short-chain fatty acid formed from Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Clinically, GHB is marketed in the United States as Xyrem to treat narcolepsy with cataplexy and in Europe for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal and narcolepsy. However, the illicit use and abuse of GHB occurs due to its sedative/hypnotic and euphoric effects. Monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs and SMCTs) are integral membrane proteins that control the bidirectional transport of endogenous substrates including lactate, acetate and pyruvate. They have also been found to transport and mediate the clearance and distribution of GHB. MCTs demonstrate a wide tissue distribution, including brain, …


In Vitro Genetic Code Expansion And Selected Applications, Emil S. Iqbal Jan 2018

In Vitro Genetic Code Expansion And Selected Applications, Emil S. Iqbal

Theses and Dissertations

The ability of incorporation non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) using translation offers researchers the ability of extend the functionality of proteins and peptides for many applications including synthetic biology, biophysical and structural studies, and discovery of novel ligands. Here we describe the three projects where the addition of ncAAs to in vitro translation systems creates useful chemical biology techniques. In the first, a fluorinated histidine derivative is used to create a novel affinity tag that allows for the selective purification of peptides from a complex mixture of proteins. In the second, the high promiscuity of an editing-deficient valine-tRNA synthetase (ValRS T222P) …


The Interaction Between Ceramide-1-Phosphate And Group Iva Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 And Its Role In Wound Healing, Patrick Macknight Jan 2018

The Interaction Between Ceramide-1-Phosphate And Group Iva Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 And Its Role In Wound Healing, Patrick Macknight

Theses and Dissertations

The sphingolipid, ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P), directly binds and activates Group IVA cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2a) to generate eicosanoids. Due to the role of eicosanoids in wound healing, we choose to use our novel genetic mouse model expressing cPLA2a with an ablated C1P interaction site (KI) to examine the cPLA2a/C1P interaction in wound healing. Wound closure rate was not affected, but wound maturation was dramatically enhanced by loss of the C1P/cPLA2α interaction based on the following findings. Wounds in KI mice displayed: i) increased infiltration of dermal fibroblasts into the wound environment; ii …


Signaling Through Homomeric And Heteromeric Cannabinoid Cb1 Receptors, Guoqing Xiang Jan 2018

Signaling Through Homomeric And Heteromeric Cannabinoid Cb1 Receptors, Guoqing Xiang

Theses and Dissertations

Cannabis (Marijuana) has multiple effects on the human body, such as analgesia, euphoria and memory impairment. Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (D9-THC), the active ingredient in cannabis, binds to cannabinoid receptors, seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that mediate a variety of physiological functions. GPCRs were believed to function only in homomeric forms, however, recent findings show that different GPCRs can also form heteromeric complexes that may expand their signaling properties. In this study, we focused on Cannabinoid CB1 receptor (CB1R) heteromers with the mu-opioid receptor (MOR) and the Dopamine type 2 receptor (D2R), respectively. We utilized a variety of techniques, such as the …


Decoding The Signaling Of The D2r-2ar Heteromer: Relevance To Schizophrenia, Miao Huang Jan 2018

Decoding The Signaling Of The D2r-2ar Heteromer: Relevance To Schizophrenia, Miao Huang

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder affecting ~1% of world population. Two G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs): Gi-coupled dopamine D2 receptor (D2R), and Gq-coupled serotonin 2A receptor (2AR), are targeted by the typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs to treat schizophrenia. These two receptors have been shown to co-localize in brain regions relevant to schizophrenia, including the ventral tegmental area (VTA), striatum, and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Studies in our lab characterized the integrated signaling of the D2R-2AR heteromer and found that both the Gi activity of D2R and the Gq activity of 2AR were potentiated …


Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Dependent Effects Of Nicotine On Hek293t And Hbo Cells, James D. Larsen Jan 2018

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Dependent Effects Of Nicotine On Hek293t And Hbo Cells, James D. Larsen

Theses and Dissertations

T2R receptors are the classical bitter taste receptors which detect and transduce bitter taste in a subset of taste receptor cells (TRCs). The TRPM5-dependent T2Rs are G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and are linked to G protein, gustducin to initiate an intracellular signaling cascade for the transduction of bitter tastants. Nicotine is bitter. However, at present the transduction mechanisms for the detection of nicotine in are poorly understood. Previous studies from our laboratory using TRPM5 knockout (KO) mice demonstrated that the T2R pathway is insufficient in explaining the taste perception of nicotine. TRPM5 KO mice elicited chorda tympani (CT) taste nerve …


Processing Of 3′-Blocked Dna Double-Strand Breaks By Tyrosyl-Dna Phosphodiesterase 1, Artemis And Polynucleotide Kinase/ Phosphatase, Ajinkya S. Kawale Jan 2018

Processing Of 3′-Blocked Dna Double-Strand Breaks By Tyrosyl-Dna Phosphodiesterase 1, Artemis And Polynucleotide Kinase/ Phosphatase, Ajinkya S. Kawale

Theses and Dissertations

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) containing unligatable termini are potent cytotoxic lesions leading to growth arrest or cell death. The Artemis nuclease and tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase (TDP1) are each capable of resolving protruding 3′-phosphoglycolate (PG) termini of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Consequently, a knockout of Artemis and a knockout/knockdown of TDP1 rendered cells sensitive to the radiomimetic agent neocarzinostatin (NCS), which induces 3′-PG-terminated DSBs. Unexpectedly, however, a knockdown or knockout of TDP1 in Artemis-null cells did not confer any greater sensitivity than either deficiency alone, indicating a strict epistasis between TDP1 and Artemis. Moreover, a deficiency in Artemis, but not TDP1, resulted …


Cellular Inhibitor Of Apoptosis Protein2 – A Critical Regulator Of Neuroinflammation, Debolina Dipankar Biswas Jan 2018

Cellular Inhibitor Of Apoptosis Protein2 – A Critical Regulator Of Neuroinflammation, Debolina Dipankar Biswas

Theses and Dissertations

Inhibitors of apoptosis (IAPs) modulate cell death and play critical role in signal transduction that promotes inflammation. Recently, Smac mimetics, which are IAP antagonists, have attracted attention as novel cancer therapeutics. Cellular Inhibitor of Apoptosis 2 (cIAP2), a member of IAP family, positively affects both NF-κB and MAPK activation in response to many inflammatory stimuli. We observed that the lack of cIAP2 ablates LPS-induced neuroinflammation. Also, cIAP2-/- macrophages demonstrated diminished antigen presentation potential that could contribute to ablated immunity. In addition to these functions, we have previously reported that cIAP2 also regulates the activation of Interferon Regulatory Factor 1 …


Chronic Clozapine Treatment Impairs Functional Activation Of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2 Via An Hdac2-Depedent Mechanism, Travis M. Cuddy Jan 2018

Chronic Clozapine Treatment Impairs Functional Activation Of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2 Via An Hdac2-Depedent Mechanism, Travis M. Cuddy

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder affecting millions worldwide. It has no known cure. Current pharmaceutical treatments have shown efficacy in only one of the three symptom clusters of schizophrenia, providing little or no benefit in the other two. Furthermore, the current standard-of-care drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics, carry risks of severe side effects affecting multiple body systems. Most patients opt to discontinue drug therapy within two years of initiation due to lack of efficacy and/or preponderance of adverse effects. Previous findings have shown that chronic usage of atypical antipsychotics causes a 5-HT2A-dependent upregulation of histone deacetylase 2 …


An Investigation Of Atomic Structures Derived From X-Ray Crystallography And Cryo-Electron Microscopy Using Distal Blocks Of Side-Chains, Lin Chen, Jing He, Salim Sazzed, Rayshawn Walker Jan 2018

An Investigation Of Atomic Structures Derived From X-Ray Crystallography And Cryo-Electron Microscopy Using Distal Blocks Of Side-Chains, Lin Chen, Jing He, Salim Sazzed, Rayshawn Walker

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a structure determination method for large molecular complexes. As more and more atomic structures are determined using this technique, it is becoming possible to perform statistical characterization of side-chain conformations. Two data sets were involved to characterize block lengths for each of the 18 types of amino acids. One set contains 9131 structures resolved using X-ray crystallography from density maps with better than or equal to 1.5 Å resolutions, and the other contains 237 protein structures derived from cryo-EM density maps with 2-4 Å resolutions. The results show that the normalized probability density function of block …


Initial Functional Characterization Of Bfo 2291 And Bfo 2294 From Tannerella Forsythia; Degraders Of Chondroitin Sulfate A, Rony Eshaque, Rony Eshaque Jan 2018

Initial Functional Characterization Of Bfo 2291 And Bfo 2294 From Tannerella Forsythia; Degraders Of Chondroitin Sulfate A, Rony Eshaque, Rony Eshaque

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Periodontitis is characterized by the inflammation of the periodontal tissues in response to bacterial action. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 study shows that periodontitis ranks 6thin the global prevalence of oral health conditions and affects 11% of the world population. It is initiated by the formation of biofilms containing different types of bacteria. These biofilms exist as dental plaque and contain three types of bacteria called Tannerella forsythia, Porphyromonasgingivalis, and Treponema denticola. These three types of bacteria are strongly associated with periodontitis and they are termed as the Red complex. The main focus of the …


The Distinction Of The Interactions Between The Transmembrane Domains Of Basigin Gene Products And Monocarboxylate Transporters, Joseph D. Fong Jan 2018

The Distinction Of The Interactions Between The Transmembrane Domains Of Basigin Gene Products And Monocarboxylate Transporters, Joseph D. Fong

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although it was once thought that neurons solely rely on glucose as a substrate for cellular energy production, it is now known that small monocarboxylate molecules, like pyruvate, lactate, and ketone bodies, are also utilized. Monocarboxylates are transported across plasma membranes via facilitated diffusion using a family of transport proteins known as monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). Four MCTs (MCT1, MCT2, MCT3, and MCT4) are expressed within neural tissues. Expression of the MCTs has been tied to co-expression of a cell adhesion molecule belonging to the Basigin subset of the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF). Basigin gene products are known to interact with MCT1 …


Evidence For Extra-Gastric Expression Of The Proton Pump H+/K+ -Atpase In The Gills And Kidney Of The Teleost Oreochromis Niloticus, Ebtesam Barnawi Jan 2018

Evidence For Extra-Gastric Expression Of The Proton Pump H+/K+ -Atpase In The Gills And Kidney Of The Teleost Oreochromis Niloticus, Ebtesam Barnawi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

It is well known that stomach acid secretion by oxynticopeptic cells of the gastric mucosa is accomplished by the H+/ K+-ATPase (HKA), which is comprised of the HKα1 (gene: atp4a) and HKβ (gene: atp4b) subunits. However, the role of the HKA in extra-gastric organs such as the gill and kidney is less clear especially in fishes. This pump may contribute to active ion and/or acid-base regulation either through direct ion transport or through secondary transport proteins against unfavorable concentration gradients via the energy derived from ATP hydrolysis. In the present work I have demonstrated …


Relationships Between Factors Influencing Biofilm Formation And Pathogen Retention In Complex Rhizosphere Microbial Communities, Aaron Coristine Jan 2018

Relationships Between Factors Influencing Biofilm Formation And Pathogen Retention In Complex Rhizosphere Microbial Communities, Aaron Coristine

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Riparian wetlands are unique habitats facilitating all forms of life. The riverbanks of these environments provide ideal conditions for bacteria, plants, and higher organisms. Of particular interest to this research was the variation in microbial community structure at high, intermediate and poor water quality impacted areas. Assessing the capabilities of plants to retain microbial pathogens was identified. Root systems and corresponding soil are ideal locations for bacterial deposition, resulting in attachment at these areas. Biofilm production in these regions is important for long-term establishment, leading to persistence and potential naturalization. Opportunistic pathogens originating from mammalian fecal matter are introduced into …


Bioinformatic Interrogation Of Phosphonate Tailoring Pathways, Monica Papinski Jan 2018

Bioinformatic Interrogation Of Phosphonate Tailoring Pathways, Monica Papinski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Phosphonates represent an underexploited class of natural products despite their tremendous potential for use in medicine and agriculture. Even less characterized are phosphonate-containing macromolecules such as cell wall lipids and glycans, distinguished by a P-C bond known to provide stability towards hydrolysis. Despite some progress made in revealing cell wall phosphonate tailoring (Pnt) pathways, several barriers impede the discovery and characterization of novel phosphonate biosynthetic pathways. Specifically, a large diversity of gene composition and arrangement is evident surrounding key genes established to participate in phosphonate tailoring pathways, which are identified alongside the presence of the ppm gene encoding the P-C …


Implementation And Performance Comparison Of Some Heuristic Algorithms For Block Sorting, Sandhya Turlapaty Jan 2018

Implementation And Performance Comparison Of Some Heuristic Algorithms For Block Sorting, Sandhya Turlapaty

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An implementation framework has been developed in this thesis for a well-known APX-hard combinatorial optimization problem known as Block Sorting. The motivation for the study of this problem comes from applications such as computational biology and optical character recognition. While existing Block Sorting research has been theoretically focused on the development and analysis of several approximation algorithms for Block Sorting, little or no work has been carried out thus far on the implementation of the proposed approximation algorithms. The conceptualization of an implementation framework and illustrating its use by experimenting with the existing approximation algorithms will provide means for discovering …


Evaluation Of Extracellular Matrix Composition And Rheology As Determinants Of Growth, Invasion, And Response To Photodynamic Therapy In 3d Cell Culture Models Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Gwendolyn M. Cramer Dec 2017

Evaluation Of Extracellular Matrix Composition And Rheology As Determinants Of Growth, Invasion, And Response To Photodynamic Therapy In 3d Cell Culture Models Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Gwendolyn M. Cramer

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a notoriously lethal disease characterized by prominent stromal involvement, which plays complex roles in regulating tumor growth and therapeutic response. The extracellular matrix (ECM)-rich stroma has been implicated as a barrier to drug penetration, although stromal depletion strategies have had mixed clinical success. It remains less clear how biophysical interactions with the ECM regulate invasive progression and susceptibilities to specific therapies. Here, an integrative approach combining 3D cell culture and quantitative imaging techniques is used to evaluate invasive behavior and motility as determinants of response to classical chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT), in which light …


Cellubrevin/Vesicle-Associated Membrane Protein-3–Mediated Endocytosis And Trafficking Regulate Platelet Functions, Meenakshi Banerjee, Smita Joshi, Jinchao Zhang, Carole L. Moncman, Shilpi Yadav, Beth A. Bouchard, Brian Storrie, Sidney W. Whiteheart Dec 2017

Cellubrevin/Vesicle-Associated Membrane Protein-3–Mediated Endocytosis And Trafficking Regulate Platelet Functions, Meenakshi Banerjee, Smita Joshi, Jinchao Zhang, Carole L. Moncman, Shilpi Yadav, Beth A. Bouchard, Brian Storrie, Sidney W. Whiteheart

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Endocytosis is key to fibrinogen (Fg) uptake, trafficking of integrins (αIIbβ3, αvβ3), and purinergic receptors (P2Y1, P2Y12), and thus normal platelet function. However, the molecular machinery required and possible trafficking routes are still ill-defined. To further identify elements of the platelet endocytic machinery, we examined the role of a vesicle-residing, soluble N-ethylmaleimide factor attachment protein receptor (v-SNARE) called cellubrevin/vesicle-associated membrane protein-3 (VAMP-3) in platelet function. Although not required for normal platelet exocytosis or hemostasis, VAMP-3−/− mice had less platelet-associated Fg, indicating a defect in Fg uptake/storage. Other granule …


Tfpiα Interacts With Fva And Fxa To Inhibit Prothrombinase During The Initiation Of Coagulation, Jeremy P. Wood, Helle H. Petersen, Bingke Yu, Xiaoai Wu, Ida Hilden, Alan E. Mast Dec 2017

Tfpiα Interacts With Fva And Fxa To Inhibit Prothrombinase During The Initiation Of Coagulation, Jeremy P. Wood, Helle H. Petersen, Bingke Yu, Xiaoai Wu, Ida Hilden, Alan E. Mast

Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Faculty Publications

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor α (TFPIα) inhibits prothrombinase, the thrombin-generating complex of factor Xa (FXa) and factor Va (FVa), during the initiation of coagulation. This inhibition requires binding of a conserved basic region within TFPIα to a conserved acidic region in FXa-activated and platelet-released FVa. In this study, the contribution of interactions between TFPIα and the FXa active site and FVa heavy chain to prothrombinase inhibition were examined to further define the inhibitory biochemistry. Removal of FXa active site binding by mutation or by deletion of the second Kunitz domain (K2) of TFPIα produced 17- or 34-fold weaker prothrombinase inhibition, …


Serine-Dependent Sphingolipid Synthesis Is A Metabolic Liability Of Aneuploid Cells, Sunyoung Hwang, H. Tobias Gustafsson, Ciara O’Sullivan, Gianna Bisceglia, Xinhe Huang, Christian Klose, Andrej Schevchenko, Robert C. Dickson, Paola Cavaliere, Noah Dephoure, Eduardo M. Torres Dec 2017

Serine-Dependent Sphingolipid Synthesis Is A Metabolic Liability Of Aneuploid Cells, Sunyoung Hwang, H. Tobias Gustafsson, Ciara O’Sullivan, Gianna Bisceglia, Xinhe Huang, Christian Klose, Andrej Schevchenko, Robert C. Dickson, Paola Cavaliere, Noah Dephoure, Eduardo M. Torres

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Aneuploidy disrupts cellular homeostasis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the physiological responses and adaptation to aneuploidy are not well understood. Deciphering these mechanisms is important because aneuploidy is associated with diseases, including intellectual disability and cancer. Although tumors and mammalian aneuploid cells, including several cancer cell lines, show altered levels of sphingolipids, the role of sphingolipids in aneuploidy remains unknown. Here, we show that ceramides and long-chain bases, sphingolipid molecules that slow proliferation and promote survival, are increased by aneuploidy. Sphingolipid levels are tightly linked to serine synthesis, and inhibiting either serine or sphingolipid synthesis can specifically impair the fitness …


Structural Evidence Of A Major Conformational Change Triggered By Substrate Binding In Dape Enzymes: Impact On The Catalytic Mechanism, Boguslaw Nocek, Cory Reid, Anna Starus, Tahirah Heath, David Bienvenues, Jerzy Osipiuk, Robert Jedrzeczak, Andrzej Joachimiak, Daniel P. Becker Ph.D., Richard C. Holz Dec 2017

Structural Evidence Of A Major Conformational Change Triggered By Substrate Binding In Dape Enzymes: Impact On The Catalytic Mechanism, Boguslaw Nocek, Cory Reid, Anna Starus, Tahirah Heath, David Bienvenues, Jerzy Osipiuk, Robert Jedrzeczak, Andrzej Joachimiak, Daniel P. Becker Ph.D., Richard C. Holz

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The X-ray crystal structure of the dapE-encoded N-succinyl-l,l-diaminopimelic acid desuccinylase from Haemophilus influenzae (HiDapE) bound by the products of hydrolysis, succinic acid and l,l-DAP, was determined at 1.95 Å. Surprisingly, the structure bound to the products revealed that HiDapE undergoes a significant conformational change in which the catalytic domain rotates ∼50° and shifts ∼10.1 Å (as measured at the position of the Zn atoms) relative to the dimerization domain. This heretofore unobserved closed conformation revealed significant movements within the catalytic domain compared to that of wild-type HiDapE, which results in effectively closing off access to …


Are Fireworms Venomous? Evidence For The Convergent Evolution Of Toxin Homologs In Three Species Of Fireworms (Annelida, Amphinomidae), Aida Verdes, Danny Simpson, Mandë Holford Dec 2017

Are Fireworms Venomous? Evidence For The Convergent Evolution Of Toxin Homologs In Three Species Of Fireworms (Annelida, Amphinomidae), Aida Verdes, Danny Simpson, Mandë Holford

Publications and Research

Amphinomids, more commonly known as fireworms, are a basal lineage of marine annelids characterized by the presence of defensive dorsal calcareous chaetae, which break off upon contact. It has long been hypothesized that amphinomids are venomous and use the chaetae to inject a toxic substance. However, studies investigating fireworm venom from a morphological or molecular perspective are scarce and no venom gland has been identified to date, nor any toxin characterized at the molecular level. To investigate this question, we analyzed the transcriptomes of three species of fireworms— Eurythoe complanata, Hermodice carunculata, andParamphinome jeffreysii—following a venomics approach to identify putative …


Dna Base Excision Repair And Double Strand Break Repair In Human Fibroblast, Mingyang Li Dec 2017

Dna Base Excision Repair And Double Strand Break Repair In Human Fibroblast, Mingyang Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In eukaryotes, DNA repair mechanisms detect and repair damaged DNA. DNA damage is primarily caused by a variety of exogenous and endogenous sources. Several types of damage to DNA are repaired by different kinds of DNA repair pathways. This dissertation focused on repair of N-methylpurines (NMPs) and double-strand breaks (DSBs) in human fibroblasts.

NMPs, including N7-methylguanine (7MeG) and N3-methyladenine (3MeA), can be induced by environmental methylating agents (e.g. the soil fumigant methyl bromide), chemotherapeutics (e.g. nitrogen mustards), and natural cellular methyl donors like S-adenosylmethionine. In human cells, NMPs are repaired by the multi-step …


Lipophosphoglycan Polymorphisms Do Not Affect Leishmania Amazonensis Development In The Permissive Vectors Lutzomyia Migonei And Lutzomyia Longipalpis, Paula M. Nogueira, Agna C. Guimarães, Rafael R. Assis, Jovana Sadlova, Jitka Myskova, Katerina Pruzinova, Jana Hlavackova, Salvatore J. Turco, Ana C. Torrecilhas, Petr Volf, Rodrigo P. Soares Dec 2017

Lipophosphoglycan Polymorphisms Do Not Affect Leishmania Amazonensis Development In The Permissive Vectors Lutzomyia Migonei And Lutzomyia Longipalpis, Paula M. Nogueira, Agna C. Guimarães, Rafael R. Assis, Jovana Sadlova, Jitka Myskova, Katerina Pruzinova, Jana Hlavackova, Salvatore J. Turco, Ana C. Torrecilhas, Petr Volf, Rodrigo P. Soares

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Background: Lipophosphoglycan (LPG) is a dominant surface molecule of Leishmaniapromastigotes. Its species-specific polymorphisms are found mainly in the sugars that branch off the conserved Gal(β1,4)Man(α1)-PO4 backbone of repeat units. Leishmania amazonensis is one of the most important species causing human cutaneous leishmaniasis in the New World. Here, we describe LPG intraspecific polymorphisms in two Le. amazonensis reference strains and their role during the development in three sand fly species.

Results: Strains isolated from Lutzomyia flaviscutellata (PH8) and from a human patient (Josefa) displayed structural polymorphism in the LPG repeat units, possessing side chains with 1 and 2 β-glucose …


9-Aminoacridine Inhibits Ribosome Biogenesis And Synergizes With Cytotoxic Drugs To Induce Selective Killing Of P53-Deficient Cells, Leonid Anikin, Dimitri G Pestov Dec 2017

9-Aminoacridine Inhibits Ribosome Biogenesis And Synergizes With Cytotoxic Drugs To Induce Selective Killing Of P53-Deficient Cells, Leonid Anikin, Dimitri G Pestov

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Common cancer treatments target rapidly dividing cells and do not discriminate between cancer and normal host cells. One approach to mitigating negative side‐effects of cancer treatment is to temporarily arrest cell cycle progression and thus protect normal cells during cytotoxic treatments, a concept called cyclotherapy. We recently proposed that transient inhibition of post‐transcriptional steps of ribosome biogenesis (RBG) can be used to selectively arrest p53‐positive host cells and not p53‐null cancer cells. In this study, we investigated whether cytoprotective RBG inhibition can be achieved through small molecule treatment.


The Role Of Mapk And Scf In The Destruction Of Med13 In Cyclin C Mediated Cell Death, David C Stieg, Stephen D Willis, Joseph Scuorzo, Mia Song, Vidyaramanan Ganesan, Randy Strich, Katrina F Cooper Dec 2017

The Role Of Mapk And Scf In The Destruction Of Med13 In Cyclin C Mediated Cell Death, David C Stieg, Stephen D Willis, Joseph Scuorzo, Mia Song, Vidyaramanan Ganesan, Randy Strich, Katrina F Cooper

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

In response to stress, the yeast1 and mammalian2 cyclin C translocate from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where it associates with the GTPase Drp1/Dnm1 to drive mitochondrial fragmentation and apoptosis. Therefore, the decision to release cyclin C represents a key life or death decision. In unstressed cells, the cyclin C‐Cdk8 kinase regulates transcription by associating with the Mediator of RNA polymerase II. We previously reported that the Mediator component Med13 anchors cyclin C in the nucleus3. Loss of Med13 function leads to constitutive cytoplasmic localization of cyclin C, resulting in fragmented mitochondria, hypersensitivity to stress and …


Snf1 Dependent Destruction Of Med13 Is Required For Programmed Cell Death Following Oxidative Stress In Yeast, Stephen D Willis, David C Stieg, R. Shah, Randy Strich, Katrina F Cooper Dec 2017

Snf1 Dependent Destruction Of Med13 Is Required For Programmed Cell Death Following Oxidative Stress In Yeast, Stephen D Willis, David C Stieg, R. Shah, Randy Strich, Katrina F Cooper

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

All eukaryotic cells, when faced with unfavorable environmental conditions, have to decide whether to mount a survival or cell death response. The conserved cyclin C and its kinase partner Cdk8 play a key role in this decision. Both are members of the Cdk8 kinase module that, along with Med12 and Med13, associate with the core mediator complex of RNA polymerase II. In S. cerevisiae, oxidative stress triggers Med13 destruction1, which thereafter releases cyclin Ci nto the cytoplasm. Cytoplasmic cyclin C associates with mitochondria where it induces hyper-fragmentation and programmed cell death2. This suggests a model in …


Translocation Of Cyclin C During Oxidative Stress Is Regulated By Interactions With Multiple Trafficking Proteins, Daniel G J Smethurst, Katrina F Cooper, Randy Strich Dec 2017

Translocation Of Cyclin C During Oxidative Stress Is Regulated By Interactions With Multiple Trafficking Proteins, Daniel G J Smethurst, Katrina F Cooper, Randy Strich

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Eukaryotic cells take cues from their environment and interpret them to enact a response. External stresses can produce a decision between adjusting to behaviors which promote surviving the stress, or enacting a cell death program. The decision to undergo programmed cell death (PCD) is controlled by a complex interaction between nuclear and mitochondrial signals. The mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that constantly undergo fission and fusion. However, a dramatic shift in mitochondrial morphology toward fission occurs early in the PCD process. We have identified the transcription factor cyclin C as the biochemical trigger for stress‐induced mitochondrial hyper‐fragmentation in yeast (Cooper …


Mechanistic Insights Into The Regulation Of Mitochondrial Fission By Cyclin C, Vidyaramanan Ganesan, Katrina F Cooper, Randy Strich Dec 2017

Mechanistic Insights Into The Regulation Of Mitochondrial Fission By Cyclin C, Vidyaramanan Ganesan, Katrina F Cooper, Randy Strich

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Cyclin C is a component of the mediator complex of RNA polymerase II that localizes to the nucleus under normal conditions. In response to stress, cyclin C translocates to the cytosol and mitochondria and mediates stress‐induced mitochondrial fission and apoptosis. The molecular mechanisms by which cyclin C induces mitochondrial fission are unknown. Using in vitro experimental approaches, we sought to investigate the mechanistic basis of cyclin C mediated mitochondrial fission.