There is a continuous search for novel enzymes to complement the abilities of today’s commercially available enzyme and find tailor-fit alternatives to suit the diverse array of bio-based industries. One application could be to increase biogas yield by finding substrate degrading proteases that can be added to the anaerobic digestion process and survive degradation themselves. A novel enzyme identified as a hypothetical dipeptidyl peptidase III, a zinc dependent metallo-protease, was found by a metaproteogenomics approach to be produced by the microorganisms of a thermophilic biogas process. The aim of this study was to express and refold a recombinant variant of the novel DPP III to its active form after production in inclusion bodies in Escherichia Coli. Assaying of refolding conditions was performed by stepwise dialysis and drip dilution. Nine attempts were performed based on findings in literature, although no other variant of DPP III has earlier been successfully refolded from inclusion bodies. The study resulted in a limited set of conditions of temperature, volumes, metal ions, salts and other additives being tested in the refolding buffers. Enzyme refolding and activation was monitored by the hydrolysis of the DPP III fluorescent substrate Arg-Arg β-naphthylamide trihydrochloride, alongside with measurements of protein concentration and SDS-PAGE. The novel DPP III was successfully purified but no definite strategy of producing correctly folded protein was found.

Fluorescens In Situ Hybridisering (FISH) är en cytogenetisk teknik som kan detektera genetiska sjukdomar och avvikelser i Deoxyribonukleinsyra (DNA) och Ribonukleinsyra (RNA). FISH börjar med kromosomutvinning av önskat analyspreparat, därefter får en direkt- eller indirekt fluorescensinmärkt probe (15-30 baspar lång) binda in till sin genetiska målsekvens via hybridisering. Preparatet kan sedan analyseras i fluorescensmikroskop för att bedöma om proben bundit in till sin målsekvens. I kursen ”Fördjupad laboratoriemetodik” för Biomedicinska analytikerprogrammet, Linnéuniversitetet utförs en FISH-laboration där resultaten varit otydliga och ej reproducerbara. Syftet med examensarbetet var att förbättra kurslaboration FISH som ges under kursen ”Fördjupad laboratoriemetodik”. Adherenta celler odlades till ≥ 3 x 106 i antal och till viss konfluens; primära endotelcell-linjen HCMEC till konfluenserna 60 % och 80 % och cancercell-linjerna VMM1 och H1915 till 80 % konfluens. Därefter skördades cellerna och dess respektive kromosomer utvanns. Kromosomerna undersöktes sedan med metoderna G-bandsfärgning, DNA-FISH och Multicolor-FISH (24X-probe) för tydliga och reproducerbara resultat. G-bandsfärgningen av HCMEC visade många hela interfasceller och få fria kromosomer för celler i 60 % konfluens. Både G-bandsfärgningen och DNA-FISH visade att HCMEC odlade till 80 % konfluens visade fria kromosomer från celler i metafas (celldelningsfas) där det fanns en svag signal för X-kromosomen. Multicolor-FISH-analys av VMM1 och H1915 gav tydliga resultat i fluorescensmikroskop där fria kromosomer var Multicolor-probeinmärkta; blå/aqua, röd och grön. Konklusionen är att vid kromosomutvinning från odlade adherenta celler bör dessa vara 80 % konfluenta. Detta för att ge tydliga och reproducerbara probeinfärgningar av kromosomer i metafas vid analys med Multicolor-FISH. Analys av 80 % konfluenta celler och användning av Multicolor-FISH-analys är en klar förbättring av kurslaborationen. / Fluorescens in situ hybridization (FISH) is used to detect cytogenetic aberrations and abnormalities of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic Acid (RNA). The FISH begins with chromosome extraction of the desired cell preparation then a direct or indirect fluorescently labeled probe (15-30 base pair long) is hybridized to its genetic target sequence. The preparation can thereafter be analyzed in fluorescence microscope to see bound probe at chromosome level. In the course “Advanced laboratory methodology” for the Biomedical Scientist program, Linnaeus University, a FISH laboratory experiment is conducted where results have not been clear nor reproducible. The aim of this study was to improve the laboratory experiment FISH. Human Cardiac Microvascular Endothelial Cells (HCMEC) was grown to 60 % and 80 % confluence, to an estimated number of ≥ 3 x106, and analyzed by G-band staining and DNA-FISH. G-band staining showed many cells in interphase and few free chromosomes of cells with 60 % confluence. G-band staining and DNA-FISH showed that cells grown to 80 % confluence showed more free chromosomes from metaphase. The cancer cell lines VMM1 and H1915 were therefore grown to 80 % confluence and ≥ 3 x106. Multicolor-FISH on VMM1 and H1915 showed results from all painting probes blue/aqua, red and green. The conclusion is that in chromosomal extraction from cultured adherent cells should be 80 % confluent to give clear and reproducible probe staining of chromosomes in metaphase when assayed with Multicolor FISH. Analysis of 80 % confluent cells and the use of Multicolor FISH technology is a clear improvement to the “Advanced laboratory methodology” course.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, one of the most malignant cancer forms in children is commonly treated with the thiopurine 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) in combination with a high dose of methotrexate (MTX). 6-Mercaptopurine is in the body metabolized by the enzyme thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT). Polymorphic variants of TPMT express different catalytic activities, and for this reason the dosage of 6-MP needs to be individualized. In order to better optimize the treatment it is important to understand how mutations in TPMT affect its enzymatic activity. In this thesis we have investigated how the wild type and two variants of TPMT interact with different ligands using fluorescence and isothermal titration calorimetry. Experiments with MTX, ANS and furosemide resulted in a similar binding strength for the wild type and the variant TPMT*8, while the other variant TPMT*6 showed a slightly weaker binding. A binding affinity for polyglutamated MTX to TPMTwt was also determined which resulted in an almost twice as strong binding compared to MTX. Today’s methods to determine enzymatic activity are either based on radioactivity, time consuming or expensive. As an alternative the use of a spectrophotometric assay using 5-thio-2-nitrobenzoic acid (TNB) was investigated. The method showed positive results and could hopefully be adapted to plate readers in future experiments. Using 5.5’-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB, also known as Ellman’s reagent) the amount of accessible thiol groups on the protein was estimated. This revealed a similar relationship between TPMTwt and TPMT*6, while the result for TPMT*8 was inconclusive.

Anti-TNF alpha antibodies were among the first approved antibody drugs and now belongs to the best-selling drugs. Today, several companies are developing biosimilars to those drugs which will increase the access of medications and potentially reduce health care costs. There is a great demand for pharmacokinetic assays for anti-TNF-alpha drugs and the bridging assay format is a potential tool, mostly due to its high serum tolerance. This project at Gyros Protein Technologies AB aimed to investigate the properties of the solid phase on the Gyrolab and to utilize this to optimize the bridging assay to be used as a pharmacokinetic assay for a human antibody in the presence of serum. The solid phase was optimized by incorporating three reagents with increasing molecular weight and examining the column profiles generated. Furthermore, the capture reagent was titrated with b-BSA to avoid cross-binding of both arms of the antibody to the capture reagent. Since the background was relatively high, further optimization was done to reduce background and increase the signal to noise ratio. The performance of the optimized bridging assay was compared to alternative PK assay formats. The estimated sensitivity of the bridging assay was 5 ng/ml compared to 250 ng/ml for the indirect antibody assay and 2.5 ng/ml for the bridging assay using an anti-idiotypic antibody as detect. The optimized bridging assay performed well without dilution in buffer and was therefore used for affinity determination of Humira in neat serum. Variable concentrations of TNF-alpha were added to a fix concentration of Humira to compete with the interaction. Calculated KD-values were similar regardless of whether the measurements were performed in neat serum or after dilution in Rexxip buffer.

The innate immune system are a cooperation of many components – receptors being one of them. Both membrane-bound and cytosolic receptors play a large role in the defence system against pathogens and danger. NLRP3 is a receptor which assembles a protein complex called inflammasome in response to cytosolic stress and is responsible for many autoimmune diseases if it malfunctions. The activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome leads to secretion of inflammatory cytokines and in many cases to programmed cell death. The structure, function and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is still not fully understood and the urge to understand the mechanisms behind are important for future medical improvements. The aim was to anchor the NLRP3 inflammasome by the cell membrane - By Overlap PCR, the NLRP3 cDNA was fused extracellular and trans-membrane parts of the TLR4 cDNA to anchor the NLRP3 to the membrane and in turn analyse the inflammasome with LPI™ technology. Multiple primers and a TLR4 nucleotide were designed and the NLRP3 was amplified with specific overhangs by PCR. The fusion protein was successfully linked together by Overlap PCR but not confirmed by sequencing. The gene fusion demands high quality primers for amplification and further evaluation must be made to the details of the laboratory. To anchor the protein complex to the cell membrane, continue to be of full importance and can be an asset in many structural studies and biopharmaceuticals trials.

Klorat som avfallsprodukt från pappersindustrin har lett till miljöproblem på grund av klorats toxiska verkan på växter och alger, och har även lett till bekymmer för människohälsan där klorat avfallet har kommit i kontakt med dricksvatten. För att åtgärda detta så har mycket forskning gjorts på bakterier med förmågan att reducera klorat till syrgas och kloridjoner, en anaerob process som vissa naturligt förekommande bakterier kan utföra. Med ökad kunskap om regleringen av denna kloratreducerande process, kan dessa bakterier utgöra en effektiv reningsprocess av pappersbrukens avloppsvatten.  Ideonella dechloratans är en sådan bakterie, den har ett genkluster som kodar för de kloratreducerande enzymerna. Nedströms för dessa finns en arsR-sekvens som tros att koda för en transkriptionsfaktor; och ytterligare information om denna transkriptionsfaktor kan möjligen bidra till förståelse av genuttrycket hos den kloratreducerande funktionen. Syftet med detta arbete är att transformera expressionsceller med förmågan att uttrycka arsR, så framtida försök kan göras för att identifiera potentiella bindningssäten för ArsR-proteinet. arsR-sekvensen amplifierades med primrar specifika för ändarna hos arsR, sekvensen ligerades i en pET-21a(+) vektor från Novagen och transformerades med BL21 (DE3) expressionsceller. Med en IPTG inducering kunde ett stort uttryck av olösligt ArsR observeras. Komplikationer med resultatet och framtida tillvägagångsätt diskuteras. / Chlorate as a waste product from the paper industry has caused environmental problems due its toxic effect on plants and algae and is also a concern for human health where chlorate has contaminated the tap water supplies. To address this issue, a great deal of research has been carried out on naturally occurring bacteria that can anaerobically reduce chlorate to oxygen and chloride ions. With additional knowledge of how this chlorate-reducing process is regulated, these bacteria may one day provide an effective purification process of wastewater from paper mills. Ideonella dechloratans is such a bacterium that has a gene cluster which encodes the chlorate-reducing enzymes. Downstream of this cluster is an arsR-sequence believed to encode a transcription factor, which could aid in the understanding of the gene expression for the chlorate-reducing operon. The goal of this research is to transform expression cells with the ability to express the arsR-sequence so that future trials can be made to identify any potential binding sites for the ArsR-protein. The arsR-sequence was amplified with primers specific to the ends of the arsR-sequence. The sequence was then ligated into a pET-21a(+) vector from Novagen and transformed with BL21 (DE3) expression cells. By IPTG inducing these transformants it was possible to observe a significant expression of insoluble ArsR. Complications with the outcome and future approaches are discussed.

This thesis is based on studies, described in four papers, in which the folding energy landscape of MerP was investigated by various techniques. MerP is a water-soluble 72 amino acid protein with a secondary structure consisting of four anti-parallel β-strands and two α-helices on one side of the sheet in the order β1α1β2β3α2β4. The first paper describes the use of CD and fluorescence analysis to examine the folding/unfolding process of MerP. From these experiments it was found that the protein folds according to a two-state model in which only the native and unfolded forms are populated without any visible intermediates. With a rate constant of 1.2 s-1, the folding rate was found to be unusually slow for a protein of this size. The studies presented in the second and third papers were based on measurements of native-state amide proton exchange at different temperatures (Paper II) and GuHCl concentrations (Paper III) in the pre-transitional region. In these studies partially unfolded forms were found for MerP which are essentially unrelated to each other. Thus, in the folding energy landscape of MerP, several intermediates seem to occur on different folding trajectories that are parallel to each other. The slow folding rate of MerP might be coupled to extensive visitation of these conformations. Hydrogen exchange in MerP did also reveal structure-dependent differences in compactness between the denatured states in GuHCl and H2O. In the last paper multivariate data analysis was applied to 2-dimensional NMR data to detect conformational changes in the structure of MerP induced by GuHCl. From this analysis it was suggested that regions involved in the most flexible part of the protein structure are disrupted at rather low denaturant concentrations (< 2.1 M GuHCl) while the native structures of the most stable parts are still not completely ruptured at 2.9 M GuHCl. Finally, the stability, kinetics, contact order and folding nuclei of six proteins with similar topology (MerP, U1A, S6, ADA2h, AcP and HPr) were compared. In this analysis it was found that their folding properties are quite diverse, despite their topological similarities, and no general rules that have been formulated yet can adequately predict their folding behaviour.

Bacterial antibiotic resistance is an increasing global health problem, leaving few therapeutic options available for the treatment of pathogenic infections. The development of new antibiotics has been slow since their discovery more than 8 decades, therefore, monitoring the extent and distribution of antibiotic resistance is of great importance. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in sludge samples obtained from three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Sweden. Samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of nalidixic acid (NA), chloramphenicol (CHL), and tetracycline (TC) resistance genes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The DNA extracted from Eskilstuna and MälarEnergi sludge showed the presence of NA and TC resistance genes, whereas Örebro sludge was found to have resistance for TC antibiotic genes. To validate the results, PCR detection for resistance genes was performed on Escherichia coli isolates from the sludge samples. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was used to confirm the genetic analysis for antibiotic resistance genes detection in these E. coli. The PCR results for TC resistance genes correlated between sludge PCR analysis and bacterial isolates for all 3 WWTPs. Based on the results obtained from the genotypic analysis of sludge and E coli, incomplete compatibility in regards to NA, and CHL were observed. However on the basis of antibiotic susceptibility testing, E coli isolates from MälarEnergi sludge samples unveiled the majority presence for antibiotic resistance genes. The results suggest that extra monitoring for the wastewater treatment facilities are vital to minimize the rising incidence of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Trapezius myalgia is a pain condition that usually develops in people with repetitive and stressful work tasks, which can lead to chronic widespread pain (CWP). This work compares protein expression levels in healthy women with those in women who have chronic widespread pain, including pain in the trapezius muscle, by using a proteomic approach.  Twodimensional gel electrophoresis and silver staining with a subsequent digital quantification of protein spots was used to detect spots which had significantly higher protein levels in either group. Preparative gels were made and stained with SYPRO Ruby, the protein spots that were significantly different between the groups were picked from the SYPRO Ruby gels and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, MALDI-TOF. The optical density of seven protein spots were significantly decreased in the trapezius muscle of the CWP subjects; however the standard deviations were notably high. Five of the seven proteins could be identified as desmin, creatine kinase B-type, serum albumin, heat shock protein beta-1 and slow skeletal muscle troponin T. Apart from serum albumin, all these proteins can possibly be responsible for pain in the trapezius muscle in CWP. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that two-dimensional gel electrophoresis in combination with mass spectrometry is a powerful tool to identify potential biomarkers of musculoskeletal pain in subjects with CWP. The results may provide new insights into the mechanisms and patho-physiology of trapezius myalgia.

The serotonergic system is involved in a broad range of functions in both vertebrates and invertebrates and is highly conserved across taxa. Serotonin is an important monoamine acting in the brains of humans and animals, and has large and varying influences on many aspects of an individual’s life. For example, in humans, serotonin modulates feelings of happiness and in fruit flies, higher levels of serotonin increase aggression. In humans, an abnormal serotonergic system can result in health issues, such as depression and obsessive compulsive disorders, for which medications have been developed, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). Because the serotonin system has a large influence on human health, understanding how it functions is of great interest to researchers. Using comparative studies to explore differences in the serotonin system across taxa can provide insight into the mechanistic details of the system. To investigate if the serotonin system is comparable between vertebrates and invertebrates, a literature study with particular focus on receptors and proteins involved was performed. In addition, this report takes part in an experimental study investigating the effect of the SSRI fluoxetine in Mediterranean field crickets.  Fluoxetine reduced exploration propensity of crickets, which was reversed, compared to what was anticipated and compared to effects seen in vertebrates. The literature review suggests that serotonin receptors are quite similar, but that proteins differ more when comparing vertebrates and invertebrates. This offers a likely explanation as to why results of studies on these different groups of animals may differ.