Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-07-28Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:55:57Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 stropa_kc_me_jabo.pdf: 1481358 bytes, checksum: c093689dc1f549339c3a1e758d9ae052 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O teor protéico da semente de soja pode chegar a 42%, o que demanda uma alta quantidade de nitrogênio. Bradyrhizobium elkanii e Bradyrhizobium japonicum são bactérias fixadoras de nitrogênio que estabelecem uma simbiose com a soja convertendo o nitrogênio atmosférico em amônia, que é o composto assimilável pela planta. A maximização desta simbiose em termos de produtividade são alcançados por meio da inoculação com estirpes de bradirrizóbios, através de inoculantes comerciais. O objetivo deste trabalho consistiu em enumerar células bacterianas de inoculantes de 1, 2 e 4 anos a partir da data de fabricação e avaliar a sobrevivência das células em sementes de soja em 4, 24 e 48 h após inoculação. Os resultados de contagem das unidades formadoras de colônias (UFC) foram confrontados com a técnica de quantificação absoluta por PCR (reação em cadeia da polimerase) em tempo real (qaPCR). Os números foram coerentes em ambas as técnicas em relação à proporção nos tempos de inoculação e nos inoculantes em análise, porém a qaPCR apresentou melhor acurária e rapidez nos resultados, detectando as células incultiváveis. As células resistiram sob dessecação até t=24 h, com queda considerável em todos os inoculantes após 48 h sob dessecação. Provavelmente esta queda é resultado de alteração bioquímica e fisiológica de seu metabolismo, dispondo de mecanismos defensivos às condições adversas para sua sobrevivência. A enumeração por qaPCR pode ser usada como prova, em casos de variação encontrada na quantificação por diferentes laboratórios, considerando que o método por UFC apresenta muitas variáveis e não incluem células viáveis não cultiváveis (VBNC). O fato do estado fisiológico dos rizóbios em inoculantes ser bastante variável ao longo do período de armazenamento, a enumeração celular seja pelo método de plaqueamento... / Soybean grains contain up 42% of protein, so this crop requires high amounts of nitrogen for plant development. Bradyrhizobium elkanii and Bradyrhizobium japonicum are nitrogen fixing bacteria that establish symbiosis with soybean, converting the atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that is the assimilable inorganic nitrogen compound for the plant. The optimization of this symbiosis and the success of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) are reached by inoculating the seeds with strains of bradyrhizobia, using commercial inoculants. The aim of this work consisted in the enumeration of bacterial cells of inoculants 1, 2, and 4 years old counting from the date of manufacture and in the evaluation of surviving cells under desiccation in soybean seeds after 4h, 24h, and 48 h. The results of counting of the colony forming colonies (CFU) were correlated with those of obtained using absolute quantification by PCR (realtime PCR qaPCR). The values were coherent in both the techniques in relation to the ratio in times of inoculation and the inoculants properly. However, qaPCR was quicker and more occurat; and also allowed detection of the non-culturable cells. The cells resisted under desiccation until t=24 h, with considerable fall in all the inoculants after 48h under desiccation. This was probably due to by biochemical and physiological changes in its metabolism, making use of defensive mechanisms to the adverse conditions for its survival. qaPCR enumeration could be used as a proof when variation in cell counting by different laboratories occurs. Considering that CFU based method present a lot of variables and do not account live cells in viable but non culturable (VBNC). The fact of the physiological state in rhizobia inoculants be sufficiently changeable throughout the storage period, the cellular enumeration for both methods do not reveal real state of the biological system in question... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Resumo: O teor protéico da semente de soja pode chegar a 42%, o que demanda uma alta quantidade de nitrogênio. Bradyrhizobium elkanii e Bradyrhizobium japonicum são bactérias fixadoras de nitrogênio que estabelecem uma simbiose com a soja convertendo o nitrogênio atmosférico em amônia, que é o composto assimilável pela planta. A maximização desta simbiose em termos de produtividade são alcançados por meio da inoculação com estirpes de bradirrizóbios, através de inoculantes comerciais. O objetivo deste trabalho consistiu em enumerar células bacterianas de inoculantes de 1, 2 e 4 anos a partir da data de fabricação e avaliar a sobrevivência das células em sementes de soja em 4, 24 e 48 h após inoculação. Os resultados de contagem das unidades formadoras de colônias (UFC) foram confrontados com a técnica de quantificação absoluta por PCR (reação em cadeia da polimerase) em tempo real (qaPCR). Os números foram coerentes em ambas as técnicas em relação à proporção nos tempos de inoculação e nos inoculantes em análise, porém a qaPCR apresentou melhor acurária e rapidez nos resultados, detectando as células incultiváveis. As células resistiram sob dessecação até t=24 h, com queda considerável em todos os inoculantes após 48 h sob dessecação. Provavelmente esta queda é resultado de alteração bioquímica e fisiológica de seu metabolismo, dispondo de mecanismos defensivos às condições adversas para sua sobrevivência. A enumeração por qaPCR pode ser usada como prova, em casos de variação encontrada na quantificação por diferentes laboratórios, considerando que o método por UFC apresenta muitas variáveis e não incluem células viáveis não cultiváveis (VBNC). O fato do estado fisiológico dos rizóbios em inoculantes ser bastante variável ao longo do período de armazenamento, a enumeração celular seja pelo método de plaqueamento... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Soybean grains contain up 42% of protein, so this crop requires high amounts of nitrogen for plant development. Bradyrhizobium elkanii and Bradyrhizobium japonicum are nitrogen fixing bacteria that establish symbiosis with soybean, converting the atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that is the assimilable inorganic nitrogen compound for the plant. The optimization of this symbiosis and the success of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) are reached by inoculating the seeds with strains of bradyrhizobia, using commercial inoculants. The aim of this work consisted in the enumeration of bacterial cells of inoculants 1, 2, and 4 years old counting from the date of manufacture and in the evaluation of surviving cells under desiccation in soybean seeds after 4h, 24h, and 48 h. The results of counting of the colony forming colonies (CFU) were correlated with those of obtained using absolute quantification by PCR (realtime PCR qaPCR). The values were coherent in both the techniques in relation to the ratio in times of inoculation and the inoculants properly. However, qaPCR was quicker and more occurat; and also allowed detection of the non-culturable cells. The cells resisted under desiccation until t=24 h, with considerable fall in all the inoculants after 48h under desiccation. This was probably due to by biochemical and physiological changes in its metabolism, making use of defensive mechanisms to the adverse conditions for its survival. qaPCR enumeration could be used as a proof when variation in cell counting by different laboratories occurs. Considering that CFU based method present a lot of variables and do not account live cells in viable but non culturable (VBNC). The fact of the physiological state in rhizobia inoculants be sufficiently changeable throughout the storage period, the cellular enumeration for both methods do not reveal real state of the biological system in question... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Orientador: Jackson Antônio Marcondes de Souza / Coorientadora: Eliana Gertrudes Macedo Lemos / Banca: Manoel Victor Franco Lemos / Banca: Emanuel Maltempi de Souza / Mestre

La quantification des anticorps monoclonaux (mAbs) dans le plasma est un pré-requis essentiel pour les études PK/PD. Les méthodes de références pour quantifier actuellement les mAbs sont de type ELISA mais les difficultés rencontrées notamment lorsque l’analyse porte sur des mAbs dont la cible pharmacologique est circulante, suggèrent que la spectrométrie de masse serait une alternative intéressante. Appliquée au bevacizumab, la stratégie développée fait appel à la spectrométrie de masse en tandem utilisée en mode MRM (HPLC-ESI-QqQ) et porte sur l’analyse des peptides spécifiques du bevacizumab obtenus à l’issu d’une protéolyse trypsique. La quantification absolue est réalisée à l’aide d’une droite de calibration obtenue à partir du ratio des aires des peptides du bevacizumab et de l’étalon interne. Afin de proposer une méthodologie de quantification de référence, nous avons définie les points clés du développement pour la transposition à d’autre mAbs et comparé les deux stratégies d’étalonnage interne les plus employées : l’une utilisant une protéine analogue et l’autre un peptide marqué par des isotopes stables (SIL-peptide). A travers ce développement la stratégie proposée présente un caractère universel vis-à-vis des anticorps monoclonaux de type IgG dont le traitement des échantillons repose sur une purification par protéine A suivit d’une concentration par ultrafiltration et dont la quantification fait appel à l’approche d’étalonnage interne SIL-peptide. Validée selon les recommandations de la FDA, notre méthode présente les performances analytiques attendues en termes de sensibilité, répétabilité et spécificité pour être appliquée à des études cliniques. / The quantification in plasma of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is an essential prerequisite to any PK/PD preclinical and clinical study. To date, reference techniques used to quantify mAbs, rely on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) but the difficulties encountered in particular when the analysis focuses on the mAbs whose pharmacological target is circulating, suggest that mass spectrometry would be an interesting alternative. Applied to bevacizumab, the quantification developed strategy involves tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QqQ) used in MRM mode and focuses on the analysis of specific peptides bevacizumab obtained after tryptic proteolysis. Absolute quantification is achieved through calibration curve obtained from peak area ratios of bevacizumab surrogate peptide and internal standard. To propose a reference quantification methodology, we have identified the key points of development for transposition to other mAbs and compared the two most commonly used internal calibration approaches: one using protein analogue and the other a stable isotope labeled surrogate peptide (SIL-peptide). Through this development, the proposed strategy has a universal character with respect to IgG monoclonal antibodies subclasses which is based on sample processing purification using protein A followed by concentration by ultra filtration and whose quantification involves the internal calibration approach SIL-peptide. Validated according to FDA guidelines, our method shows the expected analytical performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity and repeatability for application in clinical studies

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a pathogenic fungus that infects around 400 species of host    plants. Stem rot disease caused by this fungus is economically disastrous for Brassica napus cultivators in Sweden. Due to the lack of disease resistant cultivars, disease management has been solely dependent on fungicide application. The current disease  prediction models are not scientifically accurate and take into account factors such as   weather, previous disease incidence, and conomic effects which often result in unnecessary and excessive use of fungicides by cultivators. Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction has proven to be the fastest, most accurate and reliable technique for detecting plant pathogens as it gives an idea about disease severity by measuring pathogen concentration in environmental samples. Reproducible and able qPCR assays have the potential of being the main principle on which more scientifically accurate plant disease prediction and management models an be developed. The aim of this study was to validate a previously established qPCR assay to detect S. sclerotiorum. An absolute quantification experiment     was performed by using plasmid DNA cloned with a target gene as template. Further,   three different qPCR machines  were compared  to make a plausible conclusion regarding    their sensitivity and efficiency in detecting minuscule amounts of DNA from the   environment. While a solid conclusion could not be reached regarding the sensitivity of    each of these machines, this study pointed out some basic trends about each machine    that may help researchers in selecting the most efficient qPCR system when working with detection of plant pathogens.

No description available.

Ziele: Mittels absolutquantifizierender Protonen-Magnet-Resonanz-Spektroskopie (1H-MRS) wollten wir das Ergebnis einer Vorstudie bestätigen, die im Frontallappen einen reduzierten Quotienten von myo-Inositol/Gesamtcreatin (mI/tCr) bei Depressiven fand. Darüber hinaus testeten wir den antidepressiven Effekt von Inositol als Add-on-Therapie. Methodik: Wir untersuchten Einzelvoxel (2 x 2 x 2 cm3) in der weißen Substanz der rechten und linken Präfrontalregion mit Hilfe eines 3-Tesla Bruker Medspec Systems (STEAM Sequenz, TR/TE/TM = 6000/20/30 ms). Die einzelnen Metabolite wurden anhand des cerebralen Wassers als internem Standard quantifiziert (nach dem LCModell). Es wurden 24 unmedizierte Patienten mit unipolaren depressiven Episoden mit 24 alters- und geschlechtsgematchten gesunden Kontrollen verglichen. In doppelblindem, Plazebo-kontrollierten Parallelgruppen-Design erhielten die Patienten täglich 18 Gramm Inositol oder Plazebo zusätzlich zu Citalopram über vier Wochen. Ergebnisse: An der Baseline unterschieden sich die mI-, Cholin- und N-Acetyl-Aspartat-Konzentrationen der Patienten nicht von jenen der Kontrollen. Es fanden sich keine sich keine signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen Inositol- und Plazebo-Gruppe. Überraschenderweise zeigten die depressiven Patienten an der Baseline gegenüber den Kontrollen signifikant höhere tCr-Konzentrationen (mmol/kg) links (5,57 ± 0,96 vs. 4,87 ± 0,63; + 15 %, p < 0,01) und rechts präfrontal (5,29 ± 0,92 vs. 4,46 ± 0,41; + 17 %, p < 0,01). Nach der Behandlung ergab sich eine Reduktion der tCr-Konzentration links- (Tag 28: 5,05 ± 1,16; – 12 %, p = 0,08) und rechtsfrontal (Tag 28: 4,61 ± 1,07; – 9 %, p = 0,09). Die tCr-Konzentrationen der Patienten am Tag 28 unterschieden sich nicht mehr von jenen der Kontrollen. Zusammenfassung: Wir zeigten eine reversible Steigerung der tCr-Konzentration der Patienten im Vergleich zu Kontrollen, die auf Veränderungen des Creatin-Transports oder der ATP-Synthese bei unmedizierter unipolarer Depression hinweisen könnte. / Objectives: By means of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) with absolute quantification we wanted to confirm our previous finding of decreased ratios of the metabolites myo-Inositol/total creatine (mI/tCr) in the right frontal brain of depressives. Moreover, we tested the antidepressive effect of oral Inositol ingestion as add-on-therapy. We measured concentrations (mmol/kg ww) of mI, tCr (= Creatine + Phosphocreatine), Choline (Cho) and N-Acetyl-Aspartate (NAA) in the frontal brain. Methods: Single voxels (2x2x2 cm3) in the white matter of the left and right prefrontal region were examined in a three Tesla Bruker Medspec System (STEAM sequence, TR/TE/TM = 6000/20/30 ms). Metabolites were quantified using the LCModel. At baseline, 24 drug-free patients with unipolar depressive episodes were compared to 24 age and sex matched healthy controls. In a double blind, placebo controlled parallel-group design patients received daily 18 grams Inositol or placebo as an add on therapy to Citalopram over four weeks. Results: At baseline, mI, Cho and NAA concentrations showed no significant differences between patients and controls. The treatment with Inositol did not result in any significant differences to the treatment with placebo. Surprisingly the patients showed significant higher tCr concentrations in the left (5.57 ± 0.96 vs. 4.87 ± 0.63; + 15 %, p < 0.01) as well as in the right prefrontal region (5.29 ± 0.92 vs. 4.46 ± 0.41; + 17 %, p < 0.01) compared to controls. The treatment caused a trend towards a decrease of tCr in the left (day 28: 5.05 ± 1.16; – 12 %, p = 0.08) and in the right frontal hemisphere (day 28: 4.61 ± 1.07; – 9 %, p = 0.09) compared to baseline. The differences between the patients’ tCr at day 28 and the tCr of controls were no more significant. Conclusion: We have found a state dependent increase of tCr concentration indicating bifrontal deviations in Creatine transport or ATP synthesis in drug free unipolar depressives.

Der erste Teil der Arbeit beschreibt die Etablierung einer modifizierten Form des klassichen SILAC-Verfahrens, das in der quantitativen Massenspektrometrie zur Bestimmung von relativen Änderungen in Proteinmengen benutzt wird. Im sog. „pulsed SILAC (pSILAC)“ Verfahren werden Zellen im Zuge einer differentiellen Behandlung in Kulturmedien transferiert, die unterschiedlich Isotop-markierte Aminosäuren enthalten. Da hier die Quantifizierung auf dem Verhältnis der neusynthetisierten Proteinmengen beruht, können gezielt Unterschiede in der Proteinproduktion bestimmt werden. Mit Hilfe von pSILAC konnte im zweiten Teil der Arbeit erstmals quantitativ erfasst werden, welchen Einfluss microRNAs auf die Proteinsynthese ausüben. So konnte gezeigt werden, dass sowohl die Überexpression als auch die Repression einzelner microRNAs die Produktion hunderter Proteine beeinflussen kann. Außerdem konnten Genprodukte identifiziert werden, die ausschließlich translational reguliert werden. Die Messung von Proteinneusynthese ermöglichte auch die Bestimmung von Proteinumsatzraten, dargestellt im dritten Teil der Arbeit. Zusammen mit mRNA-Umsatzraten sowie Protein- und mRNA-Mengen bilden sie die Grundlage für eine dynamische Beschreibung zelluärer Genexpression. Durch den gleichzeitigen Einsatz des Nukleosidanalogons 4-Thiouridin (4sU) und von schweren Aminosäuren (SILAC) konnte eine metabolische Markierung neusynthetiserter mRNAs und Proteine in murinen Fibroblasten erreicht und damit eine Berechnung von Protein- und mRNA-Halbwertszeiten und absoluten Mengen für ca. 5,000 Gene ermöglicht werden. Während mRNA- und Proteinenmengen deutlich korrelierten, war zwischen mRNA- und Proteinhalbwertszeiten nur eine äußerste schwache Korrelation zu erkennen. Dennoch stehen mRNA- und Proteinumsatzraten nicht einem willkürlichen Zusammhang zu einander, da bestimmte Kombinationen von mRNA- und Proteinhalbwertszeiten eine Optimierung von Genen hinsichtlich ihrer biologischen Funktionen erkennen ließen. / The first part of the thesis describes the establishment of a modified version of the classic SILAC approach routinely used in quantitative mass spectrometry (MS) to assay relative changes in protein levels. In the newly-devised approach termed pulsed SILAC (pSILAC) differentially treated cells are transferred to culture medium supplemented with different versions of stable-isotope labeled heavy amino acids. As MS-based relative quantification is exclusively based on the newly-synthesized heavy protein amounts the method enables the detection of differences in protein production resulting from the treatment. The second part of the thesis shows the use of pSILAC to globally quantify the impact of microRNAs onto the proteome. Ectopic over-expression or knock-down of a single microRNA both affected protein production of hundreds of proteins. pSILAC identified several target genes as exclusively translationally regulated as changes in corresponding transcript levels were virtually absent. Measuring newly-synthesized protein amounts with heavy amino acids in a pulsed-labeling fashion has also been used to determine turnover rates of individual proteins, described in the third part of the present work. Along with transcript turnover as well as mRNA and protein levels they are essential for a dynamic description of gene expression. Simultaneous application of the nucleoside analogue 4-thiouridine (4sU) and heavy amino acids (SILAC) to metabolically label newly-produced mRNAs and proteins in mouse fibroblasts resulted in the calculation of mRNA and protein lifetimes and absolute levels for approximately 5,000 genes. While mRNA and protein levels were overall well correlated, a correlation between mRNA and protein half-lives was virtually absent. Yet this seemingly chaotic distribution of mRNA and protein half-lives was highly instructive since specific gene subsets have obviously evolved distinct combinations of half-lives that relate to their biological functions.