<p>Animals show a great variety in physiological and behavioural responses to stressors. These responses are often bimodally distributed within populations and show consistency on an individual level over time and across situations, which in terrestrial vertebrates have been identified as proactive and reactive stress coping strategies. Proactive animals show lower cortisol responses, higher sympathetic activation and brain serotonergic activity compared to reactive animals. Behaviourally, proactive animals are more aggressive, more active in avoiding stressors, they form routines and show fewer cases of conditioned immobility compared to reactive animals. Our aim has been to reveal if such stress coping strategies exist in fish. Our results show that rainbow trout with high (HR) or low (LR) cortisol responses to stressors differs in sympathetic activation and brain serotonin turnover in the same manner as proactive and reactive mammals. HR fish showed less locomotor activity when reared in large groups (30 individuals) compared to LR fish. When reared in isolation there were no differences between HR and LR fish when exposed to stressors within a familiar environment. The adaption of a proactive coping style among reactive coping individuals when they are challenged within a familiar environment has previously been shown to be distinction between proactive and reactive coping mammals. However, when they were transferred to unfamiliar environments a behavioural difference between the two lines was observed indicating different stress coping strategies akin to those described in mammals. Finally, we observed a consistency over time in the cortisol response of an unselected line of rainbow trout. Fish from this line also demonstrated a correlation between behavioural responses to different stressors. However, there was no apparent connection between these behavioural responses and the cortisol response. Overall, the results of this thesis have strengthened the hypothesis that different stress coping strategies exist in teleost fish.</p>

In this project the aim has been to study the model protein carbonic anhydrase in Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacterium whose carbonic anhydrase has great similarities both structurally and functionally with the human form. By measuring and comparing the wild type of NGCA with mutants lacking one of the four tryptophan residues it can be seen what effect these tryptophans has on stability and activity and then compare with the known data of HCA II to learn more about their differences and similarities. The results from the stability and activity measurements are that the wild type is by far the most stable protein with W141L mutant coming thereafter. From Trp-fluorescence and CO2-hydration measurement a clear two-transition steps (N→ I→ U) can be seen. This differs from earlier data where it instead only was a one-transition step for the wild type (N→U). The data is also very reliable and gives in most cases a perfect fit to the line. We also see this two-transition step for the other mutants stable enough, strengthening the theory further. One fact that could be drawn from all the measurements is that when an intermediate is formed the ability for the enzyme NGCA to perform it’s catalytically ability is disabled. Another thing is that the purification scheme of HCA II is not optimal to be directly applied to NGCA, despite the similarity in secondary and tertiary structure.

The interactions between antimicrobial peptides and phospholipid membranes were investigated, in terms of lipid headgroup variations and the role of cholesterol, as well as peptide composition and structure. Also strategies for increasing proteolytic stability were evaluated. The interactions were studied on model membranes in the form of liposomes and supported bilayers, through a combination of ellipsometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism, dynamic light scattering, electrophoresis, electron cryomicroscopy, and bacterial/cell culture experiments. The findings showed that membrane tolerance against the lytic activity of melittin, was increased on anionic membranes by electrostatic arrest in the headgroup region, and was reduced by hydration repulsion. The presence of cholesterol caused a reduction in melittin adsorption, while at the same time reducing membrane tolerance per adsorbed peptide. Differences in membrane leakage mechanisms were also attributed to cholesterol, where large scale structural effects contributed to the leakage, while other membranes followed the pore formation model. Substituting specific amino acids for tryptophan on an LL-37 derivative, was shown to increase stability against bacterial proteases, while at the same time significantly increasing antibacterial properties. These substitutions, as well as terminal modifications, increased adsorption and membrane lytic properties in a way that was less dependent on electrostatics. Furthermore, by comparing short cationic peptides with oligotryptophan end-tagged versions, the lytic mechanism of end-tagged peptides, and the different contributions of arginine and lysine to membrane adsorption and disruption were demonstrated. This thesis is a contribution to the development of antimicrobial peptides as therapeutic alternatives to conventional antibiotics.

Oxidative stress is a natural consequence of photosynthetic oxygen evolution and redox enzyme processes. Trp oxidation to N-formylkynurenine (NFK) is a specific, reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated reaction. This thesis work describes the identification and functional characterization of NFK in oxygen evolving Photosystem II (PSII). Although proteomics studies have confirmed NFK modifications in many types of proteins, limited knowledge on the biochemical significance exists. In vitro studies in thylakoids and PSII membranes were used to establish a correlation between oxidative stress, NFK formation, and photoinhibition. The in vivo effect of preventing Trp oxidation to NFK was assessed by site-directed mutation in the cyanobacteria Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. This work provides insight into the role of NFK in photosynthetic oxygen evolution and photoinhibition. Based on the current knowledge of NFK, ROS, and repair, a new model is described. In this modified model for photoinhibition and repair, NFK plays a role in signaling for turnover of damaged proteins. NFK may play a similar role in replacement of damaged proteins in other systems.

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) has long been associated with the vertebrate gut and is an important neuromodulator of crustacean foregut. This dissertation presents evidence that 5-HT initiated peristalsis in crayfish hindgut and enhanced the power of contractions in caudal regions of the hindgut. 5-HT receptor immunoreactivity studies showed that the two identified crustacean 5-HT receptors, 5-HT1α and 5-HT2β are present on the hindgut in different and distinctive patterns. 5-HT immunoreactivity (5-HT-ir) studies revealed that the fibers from central neurons found on the hindgut showed a broad range of 5-HT-ir intensity, which led to the hypothesis that they borrowed 5-HT. This hypothesis was tested by first determining that the HGNs can take up 5-HT through a serotonin transporter and that uptake can be blocked by a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Second, synthesis was tested by superfusing tryptophan and using 5-HT-ir to determine the presence of 5-HT. No constitutive 5-HT synthesis occurred under these conditions. Superfusion of the intermediate product of 5-HT synthesis, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), did lead to 5-HT-ir. The HGNs can take up 5-HT but have only one of the synthetic enzymes. The lack of nearby sources for 5-HT led to the hypothesis that hormonally supplied 5-HT may be the source for 5-HT in the HGNs. High performance liquid chromatography measurements of 5-HT and 5-HTP levels in tissue following injection of 5-HT into the hemolymph revealed that levels of 5-HT significantly increased in the terminal ganglion and hindgut, where the HGNs cell bodies and projections are respectively located. All other areas of the central nervous system, with the exception of the brain, also showed a significant increase in 5-HT levels. Injection of tryptophan produced a significant increase in 5-HTP levels in the brain. Quantitative 5-HT-ir indicated that feeding increased the intensity of 5-HT-ir in the HGNs. Feeding was determined to be a relevant stimulus to examine facultative synthesis of 5-HT. The enzyme that converts 5-HT to 5-HTP was blocked and 48 hrs after feeding 5-HTP-ir was used to indicate that facultative synthesis did not occur. At the same time, 5-HT-ir was used to indicate that uptake of 5-HT by the HGNs more likely occurred.

Animals show a great variety in physiological and behavioural responses to stressors. These responses are often bimodally distributed within populations and show consistency on an individual level over time and across situations, which in terrestrial vertebrates have been identified as proactive and reactive stress coping strategies. Proactive animals show lower cortisol responses, higher sympathetic activation and brain serotonergic activity compared to reactive animals. Behaviourally, proactive animals are more aggressive, more active in avoiding stressors, they form routines and show fewer cases of conditioned immobility compared to reactive animals. Our aim has been to reveal if such stress coping strategies exist in fish. Our results show that rainbow trout with high (HR) or low (LR) cortisol responses to stressors differs in sympathetic activation and brain serotonin turnover in the same manner as proactive and reactive mammals. HR fish showed less locomotor activity when reared in large groups (30 individuals) compared to LR fish. When reared in isolation there were no differences between HR and LR fish when exposed to stressors within a familiar environment. The adaption of a proactive coping style among reactive coping individuals when they are challenged within a familiar environment has previously been shown to be distinction between proactive and reactive coping mammals. However, when they were transferred to unfamiliar environments a behavioural difference between the two lines was observed indicating different stress coping strategies akin to those described in mammals. Finally, we observed a consistency over time in the cortisol response of an unselected line of rainbow trout. Fish from this line also demonstrated a correlation between behavioural responses to different stressors. However, there was no apparent connection between these behavioural responses and the cortisol response. Overall, the results of this thesis have strengthened the hypothesis that different stress coping strategies exist in teleost fish.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Recent studies suggest that some cases of prenatal depression may be associated with reactivation of latent infections of the herpesvirus family. The possible relationships among stress, prenatal depression, and herpes viral reactivation in pregnancy are understudied and the molecular pathways such as the neuroimmune biogenic amine pathway are unidentified. Chronic stress shifts the T helper-1 cell (Th1) cytokine profile to a Th2 profile, which favors virus induced pathogenesis and survival. Pregnancy is also associated with a similar Th2 dominance. In non-pregnant individuals, exposure to psychological or physical stress may be associated with latent herpes viral reactivation and could result in behavioral deficits and depression. Normally, type-1 cytokines such as Interferon-gamma (IFN -gamma) and inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) induce indoleamine-2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO) activation which inhibits herpes virus replication and reactivation, decreases tryptophan production, and alters phenylalanine /tyrosine metabolism. Thus it is possible that prenatal depression may occur from tryptophan stealing through the IDO pathway which results in decreased serotonin as well as increased risk for latent herpes viral reactivation. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationships among stress, herpes viral titers, depression, and metabolites of IDO activation, which involves tryptophan and guanosine-triphosphate-cyclohydrolase-1(GTP-CH1) pathways. This study builds on Influence of Lactation on Postpartum Stress and Immunity (Grant number: R01-NR05000) which investigated perinatal immune, endocrine, and inflammatory changes in pregnancy and the postpartum. A secondary data analysis was conducted on baseline data from women collected at 16 to 25 gestational weeks. This data set included some herpes viral titers, and additional ones were measured in stored plasma samples. The aim of this study is to examine relationships among stress, herpes viral reactivation, depression, and the IDO activation pathway. The results of this study provide information about the possible role of further relationships of prenatal stress, latent herpes viral reactivation, and depression mechanisms. The results will be important in health promotion and disease prevention during pregnancy.

The field of protein engineering has been greatly augmented by the expansion of the genetic code using unnatural amino acids as well as the development of cell-free synthesis systems with high protein yield. Cell-free synthesis systems have improved considerably since they were first described almost 40 years ago. Residue specific incorporation of non-canonical amino acids into proteins is usually performed in vivo using amino acid auxotrophic strains and replacing the natural amino acid with an unnatural amino acid analog. Herein, we present an amino acid depleted cell-free protein synthesis system that can be used to study residue specific replacement of a natural amino acid by an unnatural amino acid analog. This system combines high protein expression yields with a high level of analog substitution in the target protein. To demonstrate the productivity and efficacy of a cell-free synthesis system for residue-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids in vitro, we use this system to show that 5-fluorotryptophan and 6-fluorotryptophan substituted streptavidin retain the ability to bind biotin despite protein wide replacement of a natural amino acid for the amino acid analog. We envisage this amino acid-depleted cell-free synthesis system being an economical and convenient format for the high-throughput screening of a myriad of amino acid analogs with a variety of protein targets for the study and functional characterization of proteins substituted with unnatural amino acids when compared to the currently employed in vivo format. We use this amino acid depleted cell-free synthesis system for the directed evolution of streptavidin, a protein that finds wide application in molecular biology and biotechnology. We evolve streptavidin using in vitro compartmentalization in emulsions to bind to desthiobiotin and find, at the conclusion of our experiment, that our evolved streptavidin variants are capable of binding to both biotin and desthiobiotin equally well. We also discover a set of mutations for streptavidin that are potentially powerful stabilizing mutations that we believe will be of great use to the greater research community. / text

The indole and phenole rings comprise the main part of tryptophan and tyrosine side chains in proteins and play an important role in the stabilization of tertiary structure, interaction with active centers in biomolecules, and electron transfer phenomena. To get better insight into the interactions of these functional groups, the artificial monomolecular structures have been constructed from the synthesized bifuncional compounds with thiol and indole or phenole ring functional groups able to form self-assembled monolayers on gold, silver and copper electrodes. Properties of these monolayers were studied by Raman, infrared, and sum-frequency generation spectroscopies. The main tasks of this work were to assess the adsorption peculiarities of the bifunctional thiols at the initial stage of the monolayer formation, to determine the influence of the electrode nature on the monolayer structure, and to establish the potential influence on the properties of the terminal functional groups. It was demonstrated for the first time that at the initial stage of monolayer formation the methylene groups interact with the metal surface. Evidence for the metal-induced lowering of the CH stretching mode frequency down to 2820 cm-1 was provided. It was demonstrated that indole ring interacts with the Ag electrode surface at sufficiently negative potentials and this interaction can be recognized from the downshift of the W16 mode from ~ 1010 cm-1 to ~ 1001 cm-1. Investigations of indole... [to full text] / Triptofano ir tirozino aminorūgščių funkcinės grupės – indolo ir fenolio žiedai, stabilizuoja baltymų tretinę struktūrą, sąveikauja su aktyviais centrais biomolekulėse, dalyvauja elektronų pernašos procesuose. Siekiant giliau suprasti kaip šios grupės sąveikauja, buvo sukonstruotos dirbtinės monosluoksninės struktūros, sudarytos iš susintetintų bifunkcinių junginių, turinčių galines tiolio ir indolo žiedo arba fenolio žiedo grupes ir gebančių formuoti savitvarkius monosluoksnius ant aukso, sidabro ir vario elektrodų. Jų savybės ištirtos Ramano, infraraudonosios ir suminio dažnio generacijos spektroskopijų metodais. Pagrindiniai darbo tikslai buvo nustatyti bifunkcinių alkantiolių struktūrą ir adsorbcijos ypatumus pradinėje monosluoksnio formavimosi stadijoje, elektrodo prigimties įtaką monosluoksnių struktūrai ir potencialo įtaką galinių funkcinių grupių savybėms. Paviršiaus sustiprintos Ramano spektroskopijos metodu pirmą kartą parodyta, kad pradinėse monosluoksnių formavimo stadijose metileno grupės sąveikauja su metalo paviršiumi. Darbe įrodyta, kad dėl sąveikos su metalu spektruose atsiranda žemesnio dažnio („minkšta“) CH juosta ties 2820 cm-1. Pirmą kartą parodyta, kad indolo žiedas sąveikauja su Ag paviršiumi, esant pakankamai neigiamiems potencialams ir tą sąveiką galima spektriškai atpažinti pagal W16 modos ties ~1010 cm-1 dažnio sumažėjimu iki ~ 1001 cm-1. Tiriant indolo žiedu terminuotus ir mišrius monosluoksnius su įterptomis oktadekantiolio molekulėmis nustatytas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]