Some oomycetes species are severe pathogens of fish or crops. As such, they are responsible for important losses in the aquaculture industry as well as in agriculture. Saprolegnia parasitica is a major concern in aquaculture as there is currently no method available for controlling the diseases caused by this microorganism. The cell wall is an extracellular matrix composed essentially of polysaccharides, whose integrity is required for oomycete viability. Thus, the enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of cell wall components, such as cellulose and chitin synthases, represent ideal targets for disease control. However, the biochemical properties of these enzymes are poorly understood, which limits our capacity to develop specific inhibitors that can be used for blocking the growth of pathogenic oomycetes. In our work, we have used Saprolegnia monoica as a model species for oomycetes to characterize two types of domains that occur specifically in oomycete carbohydrate synthases: the Pleckstrin Homology (PH) domain of a cellulose synthase and the so-called ‘Microtubule Interacting and Trafficking’ (MIT) domain of chitin synthases. In addition, the chitin synthase activity of the oomycete phytopathogen Aphanomyces euteiches was characterized in vitro using biochemical approaches. The results from our in vitro investigations revealed that the PH domain of the oomycete cellulose synthase binds to phosphoinositides, microtubules and F-actin. In addition, cell biology approaches were used to demonstrate that the PH domain co-localize with F-actin in vivo. The structure of the MIT domain of chitin synthase (CHS) 1 was solved by NMR. In vitro binding assays performed on recombinant MIT domains from CHS 1 and CHS 2 demonstrated that both proteins strongly interact with phosphatidic acid in vitro. These results were further supported by in silico data where biomimetic membranes composed of different phospholipids were designed for interaction studies. The use of a yeast-two-hybrid approach suggested that the MIT domain of CHS 2 interacts with the delta subunit of Adaptor Protein 3, which is involved in protein trafficking. These data support a role of the MIT domains in the cellular targeting of CHS proteins. Our biochemical data on the characterization of the chitin synthase activity of A. euteiches suggest the existence of two distinct enzymes responsible for the formation of water soluble and insoluble chitosaccharides, which is consistent with the existence of two putative CHS genes in the genome of this species. Altogether our data support a role of the PH domain of cellulose synthase and MIT domains of CHS in membrane trafficking and cellular location. / <p>QC 20151014</p>

Orientadores: Marcia Regina Braga, Marcia Maria Camargo de Morais / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T04:21:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Galvao_DaianeFelbergAntunes_D.pdf: 15313845 bytes, checksum: aa218f685858df886eb7062bfe4337dc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Fruto-oligossacarídeos (FOS) são frutanos de baixo peso molecular produzidos por microorganismos. O interesse em FOS vem aumentando uma vez que eles são considerados ingredientes funcionais benéficos à saúde humana. Com o objetivo de analisar como a produção de FOS e a composição da parede celular de fungos filamentosos é afetada pela fonte de carbono, os fungos Fusarium solani (URM 3338) e Neocosmospora vasinfecta (URM 3329) foram cultivados em meios contendo cinco fontes de carbono diferentes (sacarose, inulina, glucose, frutose ou glucose mais frutose, todos a 1%) e coletas foram realizadas aos 5, 10 e 15 dias de crescimento. A partir do meio de cultivo filtrado foram analisados o pH, teores de açúcar total, açúcares redutores e proteínas, a presença de FOS e atividades enzimáticas invertásica e inulinásica. A partir do micélio, a biomassa foi quantificada e a parede celular foi isolada e sua composição em açúcares neutros, ácidos urônicos e quitina analisada. Foi avaliada também a expressão relativa de genes de síntese de parede celular b-1,3-glucano sintase e quitina sintases. Os dois fungos utilizaram todas as fontes de carbono crescendo nas diferentes condições. Atividade de hidrólise foi detectada no meio contendo sacarose ou inulina para o fungo F. solani, gerando glucose, frutose e fruto-oligossacarideos como produtos havendo utilização dos monossacarídeos. O micélio deste fungo apresentou alterações visíveis no crescimento em meio sólido apenas no meio com frutose, mas foi observada igual quantidade de quitina da parede celular deste fungo quando crescido por cinco dias em sacarose e inulina, mas em menor quantidade com relação aos demais meios. As análises de expressão relativa de genes mostraram indução do gene da b-1,3-glucano sintase e repressão do gene quitina sintase 5 em sacarose e inulina com relação a condição frutose. Estes dados sugerem que a alteração na composição da parede celular do F. solani pode ter relação com a secreção de enzimas nos meios sacarose e inulina. Para N. vasinfecta, quando crescido em sacarose foi observada atividade de transfrutosilação, com a liberação de glucose e síntese de 1-cestose (FOS) no meio. Transfrutosilação também foi observada no meio que teve inulina como fonte de carbono. O micélio deste fungo apresentou alterações visíveis em meio sólido nas condições frutose e inulina, sendo mais hialino do que nas demais condições. A quantidade de quitina na parede celular deste fungo crescido por cinco dias foi maior nas condições frutose e inulina com relação às demais. As análises de expressão relativa de genes mostraram indução dos genes de quitina sintase 4 e 5 nestas duas condições em relação à sacarose. A partir dos resultados, pode-se concluir que as fontes de carbono oferecidas foram utilizadas pelos fungos, que as mesmas afetaram a composição de açúcares da parede celular e a expressão de genes de síntese de componentes da parede e que estes fungos são promissores para a produção de FOS, pois possuem enzimas que hidrolisam a inulina, além de enzimas que sintetizam oligossacarídeos a partir de sacarose por transfrutosilação / Abstract: Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are low molecular weight fructans produced by microbes and plants. Interest in FOS has been increasing since they are considered as functional food ingredients with benefical effects in human nutrition. With the aim of examining how the production of FOS and the composition of the cell wall of filamentous fungi are affected by the carbon source, Fusarium solani (URM 3338) and Neocosmospora vasinfecta (URM 3329) were cultured in media containing five different carbon sources (sucrose, inulin, glucose, fructose or glucose plus fructose) and samples were taken at 5, 10 and 15 days of growth. From the filtered culture medium, pH, total carbohydrates, reducing sugars and proteins, the presence of FOS and inulinase and invertase activities were analyzed. Mycelium biomass was measured and the cell wall was isolated and its composition in neutral sugars, uronic acids and chitin analyzed. The expression of b-1,3-glucan synthase and chitin synthase genes was also evaluated. Both fungi utilized all the carbon sources for growing. In sucrose- and inulin-containing media, hydrolytic activity was detected in F. solani generating glucose, fructose and FOS as products. When grown on solid culture media, visible changes were observed in mycelium of this fungus only in fructose, but the amount of chitin in the cell wall was higher in the sucrose and inulin-containing media when compared to other carbon sources. The expression b-1,3-glucan synthase gene was induced and chitin synthase 5 gene repressed on sucrose and inulin media. N. vasinfecta showed transfructosilation activity when was grown in sucrose, with release of glucose and synthesis of 1-kestose (FOS) in the culture medium. Transfructosilation was also observed in the inulin-containing medium. The mycelium showed visible changes when the fungus was cultured in solid medium with fructose or inulin as carbon sources. The amount of chitin in the cell wall of this fungus when grown for five days in inulin or fructose was higher in comparison to other carbon sources. The analysis of gene expression showed induction of chitin synthase 4 and 5 genes in these two conditions in relation to sucrose. From the results it can be concluded that the carbon sources affected growth, enzymic activity, composition of the cell wall and gene expression in F. solani and N. vasinfecta, and that these fungi are promising organisms for FOS production since they secrete enzymes that hydrolyze inulin or synthesize oligosaccharides from sucrose by transfructosylation / Doutorado / Biologia Celular / Doutora em Biologia Celular e Estrutural