Sugarcane holds great potential as a biofactory for the tailored production of novel products of commercial value. In many cases however, the accumulation of an alien product within the cytoplasm interferes with essential cell metabolism. To avoid potential interference, targeting the accumulation of biofactory products into vacuoles may be beneficial. Vacuoles represent one endpoint of the plant endomembrane system where proteins destined for inclusion must contain appropriate targeting peptide signals. However, targeting peptide signals used previously to direct heterologous proteins to the vacuole have not yet been shown to function efficiently in sugarcane. The emphasis of the work described in this thesis was first to characterise the diversity of vacuole types in selected sugarcane tissues, and second to identify and test the function of putative vacuolar targeting signals identified in vacuolar proteins of sugarcane. In order to investigate vacuole diversity in sugarcane cells, a series of membrane-permeable fluorescent probes were used to assess both the acidity and proteolytic properties of vacuolar compartments. It is clear that even from early in development, large vacuoles filled most of the volume of storage parenchyma cells within the developing sugarcane stem. These vacuoles were intensely acidic and contained active aminopeptidases. In leaf cells, vacuoles labelled by chromogenic indicators and enzyme substrates appear much more diverse in pH and proteolytic intensity owing to the multiple functions that leaf cells participate in. As the predominant sugarcane vacuole in vegetative tissues appears to be proteolytic, sugarcane sequences showing homology to proteases and protease inhibitors in other plant species were aligned and compared to identify potential vacuolar targeting signals. This analysis revealed the presence of several candidate vacuolar targeting motifs which displayed high conservation across plant homologues. One such motif, represented by the sequence IRLPS, was identified in the N-terminal region of a legumain protein from sugarcane, which was homologous to known vacuolar processing enzymes in other species. To test the efficacy of the legumain targeting signal and to compare with other motifs, a series of GFP reporter constructs was synthesised and expressed in sugarcane. The sugarcane legumain vacuole targeting signal was particularly efficient at directing an otherwise secreted GFP fusion protein into a large acidic and proteolytic vacuole in sugarcane callus cells as well as in diverse plant species. In mature sugarcane transgenic plants, the stability of GFP fusion proteins in the vacuole appeared to be dependent on cell type, suggesting that the vacuolar environment can vary in its ability to degrade introduced proteins. The legumain vacuole targeting signal was further tested for its ability to direct an avidin protein and a fructosyltransferase enzyme into the lytic vacuole of transgenic sugarcane plants. Avidin, derived initially from chicken egg white, is a glycoprotein that displays a high affinity to the vitamin biotin. For this reason it has been investigated for use in sugarcane as a biocontrol agent against cane grub species. For the production of avidin in planta careful targeting to an appropriate subcellular location is required to avoid a detrimental depletion of available plant cell biotin reserves. When the legumain targeting signal was fused to avidin and expressed as a stably integrated transgene, the avidin protein was detected by immunoblotting but appeared to be proteolytically cleaved within the lytic vacuole in all sugarcane tissues analysed. These plants were phenotypically indistinguishable from controls, indicating that avidin did not appreciably deplete cellular biotin reserves while in transit through the endomembrane system. In contrast, when avidin was designed for either retention in the endoplasmic reticulum or for transit to a different type of vacuole using a heterologous targeting signal, stably transformed plants exhibited a biotin deficient phenotype. This suggests that the legumain vacuole targeting signal was efficient at directing heterologous proteins to a lytic type vacuole where they can be degraded and inactivated if susceptible to proteolysis. When the fructosyltransferase (ftf) gene from Streptococcus salivarius was stably transformed into sugarcane and directed into the lytic vacuole using the legumain vacuole targeting signal, no fructan product could be detected. The low pH and proteolytic environment of this vacuole together with low expression of this bacterial transgene most likely resulted in minimal Ftf activity. Taken together, evidence is presented that the legumain vacuolar targeting signal functions efficiently in directing transgene products such as GFP, avidin and a fructosyltransferase enzyme into a lytic type vacuole. This vacuole has been demonstrated to be both acidic and proteolytic and therefore strategies to improve the stability of heterologous proteins targeted to this vacuolar environment are required and may be specific to the product in question.

University, Diss., 2005--Bielefeld.

A three-column ion-exchange system was designed, fabricated and computer-automated to accommodate a novel 'elution looping' process developed by Dr. Tim Durance (U.B.C. Department of Food Science) during his doctoral studies on the recovery of lysozyme and avidin. This processing technique enhances the simultaneous recovery of these two pharmaceutically important proteins from chicken egg albumen. The processing system prototype was sized to handle throughput rates between approximately five and 300 liters per day of albumen to facilitate both laboratory and small commercial scale work. Very efficient use is made of the ion-exchange resin due to a two-column cascaded feed arrangement. The processing control software was designed to provide flexibility and ease of operation in setting up new and existing method files, allowing for the selection of any column or group of columns to use and providing a 'staged-shutdown' approach toward handling columns fouled with congealed albumen during unattended operation. This approach attempts to maximize the productivity of the system even when one or two of the columns has become fouled with congealed albumen. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Biosensors are devices that use biological components to detect important analytes. Biosensing systems have various applications in areas such as medicine, environmental monitoring, and process control. Classical biosensors are often based on bacteria or purified enzymes that have limitations on efficiency or stability. I have developed several new biosensors to overcome these disadvantages. Two preliminary biosensors were first created based on the extremely strong and specific interaction between biotin and (strept)avidin. Both biosensors showed high sensitivity and reliability for measuring biotin with detection limits of 50-1000 pg/ml and 20-100 ng/ml, respectively. Following these, a new biosensor was developed by coupling a mobile, functionalized microsurface with cell-free expression approaches. This biosensor demonstrated a dynamic range of 1- 100 ng/ml. In addition, I also explored the possibility of combining these biosensing systems with engineered living cells. By leveraging the tools of synthetic biology, a genetic circuit was designed, constructed, and inserted into bacteria for enhanced biotin biosynthesis in vivo. Upon induction, a 17-fold increase in biotin production was measured in the engineered cells in comparison to wild type cells using the biosensors created herein. These new biosensors, particularly the mobile biosensing modality, form a building block for advanced biosensing and drug delivery systems due to enhancements in mobility and specificity. In the future, these biosensing and cellular production systems could impact a range of fields ranging from biomedicine to environmental monitoring. / Master of Science

The design of versatile biohybrid nanosized materials has revealed itself as a promising avenue towards biomedical applications in today´s life sciences. In this regard the combination of components of synthetic and natural origin facilitates an applicability which is supposed to be far beyond the sum of their single components. These biohybrid structures (BHS) can be built by a huge variety of building blocks including solid or soft nanoparticles, peptides/proteins, polynucleotides or low molecular weight drugs. Along with the latter the attachment of biologically active entities or imaging moieties, e. g. enzymes, fluorescence markers or targeting motifs display thereby a key step towards the development of carrier systems for drug delivery purposes. Among the soft nanoparticles especially dendritic polymers such as perfectly branched dendrimers or hyperbranched polymers are considered as ideal building blocks, since they allow an easy tailoring of crucial properties such as solubility, biocompatibility or bioactivity by means of surface functionalization. Especially in the field of targeted drug delivery the crucial role of sizes and size distributions of carriers has been highlighted recently, since it critically influences important factors such as circulation time or biodistribution within the body. The ability of avidin to form high molecular weight associates with biotinylated macromolecules as well as its inherent properties makes it a suitable candidate for passive and active targeting in combination with biotinylated (bio-)polymers. Furthermore, along with the covalent attachment of bioactive moieties, non-covalent attachment is a frequently used approach, because it is assumed to only require stoichiometric mixing. In context of the latter molecular recognition processes such as the avidin-biotin, β-cyclodextrin-adamantane or Ni(II)-NTA-histidine-tag interactions have shown to be fruitful strategies for the attachment of bioactive entities. The overall aim of this work was to fabricate BHS based on dendritic glycopolymers with varied sizes in the nano- and micrometer range as models for biomedical applications e. g. carriers for drug delivery. Therefore the molecular recognition of avidin with biotin derivatives and β-cyclodextrin with adamantane derivatives was utilized in order to tailor final sizes, functionality or catalytic activity of those BHS.

Les pentasaccharides sont des inhibiteurs indirects du facteur Xa ayant des profils pharmacocinétiques très prédictibles. En raison de la liaison de forte affinité des pentasaccharides à l'antithrombine, cette pharmacocinétique peut être prédite mais aussi transférée à d'autres molécules qui leur sont liées de manière covalente. L'EP42675 combine dans une seule molécule, une antithrombine directe réversible peptidomimétique (analogue de l'α-NAPAP), et un pentasaccharide inhibiteur indirect du facteur Xa antithrombine dépendant (analogue du fondaparinux). L'EP217609 est le dérivé biotinylé de l'EP42675. Son action anticoagulante peut être neutralisée par l'avidine qui se lie avec une grande affinité et spécificité à la fraction biotine de l'EP217609. La première indication cible de l'EP217609 et de son antidote l'avidine est la chirurgie cardiaque nécessitant une circulation extracorporelle. La deuxième indication cible est le traitement des syndromes coronariens aigus nécessitant ou non une intervention coronarienne percutanée. Les études précliniques et cliniques de phase I et phase IIa résumées ici démontrent l'intérêt d'un tel concept de couplage avec un pentasaccharide : absence de dissociation entre les deux entités, faible variabilité intra et interindividuelle des paramètres pharmacocinétiques et pharmacodynamiques, et une neutralisation de l'activité anticoagulante de l'EP21609 quasi complète et sans effet rebond. / Pentasaccharides are indirect inhibitors of factor Xa with highly predictable pharmacokinetic profiles. Because of the high affinity binding of pentasaccharides to antithrombin, this pharmacokinetics can be predicted but also transferred to other molecules covalently bound to them. EP42675 combines in a single molecule, a reversible direct antithrombin (α-NAPAP peptidomimetic analog), and a pentasaccharide similar to fondaparinux with an indirect anti-factor Xa activity. EP217609 is the biotinylated derivative of EP42675 whose anticoagulant activity can be neutralized by avidin which binds with high affinity and specificity to the biotin moiety of EP217609.The first target indication of EP217609 and its antidote avidin is cardiac surgery requiring extracorporeal circulation. The second target indication is the treatment of acute coronary syndromes requiring or not a percutaneous coronary intervention.The preclinical and clinical Phase I and IIa studies summarized here demonstrate the value of such a coupling concept to the pentasaccharide: absence of dissociation between the two entities, low intra- and interindividual variability of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters, and an almost complete neutralization of the EP217609 anticoagulant activity with no rebound effect.

We present the bioconjugation of avidin as a central and/or bridging building block with mono-, bi- and tetravalent biotinylated glycodendrimers to fabricate defined supramolecular nanostructures for future (bio)medical applications. For this purpose mono-, bi- and tetravalent biotinylated glycodendrimers, decorated with short alkyl-linked or long PEG-linked biotin ligands, were synthesized and characterized by NMR, IR and mass spectrometry and HABA displacement assay. Various techniques (UV/Vis, DLS, TEM, LILBID-MS and AF4) were used in order to obtain information about the structural properties of different conjugates of avidin and mono-, bi- and tetravalent biotinylated glycodendrimers. The biotin ligand’s spacer length, its chemical structure and the degree of biotin functionalization are essential parameters in the formation of nanostructures with avidin having a controlled composition and size dimension up to 100 nm. Biohybrid structures with avidin as a central unit require monovalent glycodendrimers with PEG-linked biotin, while bi- and tetravalent glycodendrimers with short alkyl-linked biotin ligands are more efficient than their counterparts with longer PEG–biotin ligands in the fabrication of defined biohybrid structures (∅ up to 100 nm) with avidin as a bridging unit. The most dominating key issue, combined with other conjugation issues, is the optimal ligand–receptor stoichiometry to fabricate biohybrid structures with diameter of <20, <30 or up to 100 nm.

The design of versatile biohybrid nanosized materials has revealed itself as a promising avenue towards biomedical applications in today´s life sciences. In this regard the combination of components of synthetic and natural origin facilitates an applicability which is supposed to be far beyond the sum of their single components. These biohybrid structures (BHS) can be built by a huge variety of building blocks including solid or soft nanoparticles, peptides/proteins, polynucleotides or low molecular weight drugs. Along with the latter the attachment of biologically active entities or imaging moieties, e. g. enzymes, fluorescence markers or targeting motifs display thereby a key step towards the development of carrier systems for drug delivery purposes. Among the soft nanoparticles especially dendritic polymers such as perfectly branched dendrimers or hyperbranched polymers are considered as ideal building blocks, since they allow an easy tailoring of crucial properties such as solubility, biocompatibility or bioactivity by means of surface functionalization. Especially in the field of targeted drug delivery the crucial role of sizes and size distributions of carriers has been highlighted recently, since it critically influences important factors such as circulation time or biodistribution within the body. The ability of avidin to form high molecular weight associates with biotinylated macromolecules as well as its inherent properties makes it a suitable candidate for passive and active targeting in combination with biotinylated (bio-)polymers. Furthermore, along with the covalent attachment of bioactive moieties, non-covalent attachment is a frequently used approach, because it is assumed to only require stoichiometric mixing. In context of the latter molecular recognition processes such as the avidin-biotin, β-cyclodextrin-adamantane or Ni(II)-NTA-histidine-tag interactions have shown to be fruitful strategies for the attachment of bioactive entities. The overall aim of this work was to fabricate BHS based on dendritic glycopolymers with varied sizes in the nano- and micrometer range as models for biomedical applications e. g. carriers for drug delivery. Therefore the molecular recognition of avidin with biotin derivatives and β-cyclodextrin with adamantane derivatives was utilized in order to tailor final sizes, functionality or catalytic activity of those BHS.

When exposed to light, metal nanoparticles exhibit a phenomenon known as LSPR, Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance. The wavelengths at which LSPR occurs is very dependent on the refractive index of the surrounding medium. Binding of biomolecules to the surface of gold nanoparticles result in a change in the refractive index that can be detected spectrophotometrically by monitoring the LSPR peak shift. When functionalized with the corresponding ligand(s), gold nanoparticles can be utilized in biosensors to detect the presence and concentration of a predetermined analyte. However, the system must exhibit high specificity and give rise to a detectable shift for analytes in the desired concentration range to be of commercial interest. The aim of the diploma project was to investigate and optimize the biofunctionalization and performance of a fiber optics based LSPR biosensor.  Three ligand systems were investigated for detection of antibodies (IgG), insulin and avidin. Binding of the analyte to the ligand caused a shift of a few nanometers when using spherical gold nanoparticles. The shifts were significantly larger when using gold nanorods. When using the IgG and insulin ligands, only minor unspecific binding was observed. The setup thus shows great potential for use in a wide range of sensing applications.