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Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Barry J. Bradford / Two experiments were conducted to explore potential cellular and biochemical mechanisms by which zinc may impact milk production and mammary health of dairy cattle. For the first experiment, twelve lactating Holstein cows were enrolled in a replicated 3 x 3 Latin square, and provided a balanced diet supplemented with either 30 ppm zinc as ZnSO₄ (30-ZS), 60 ppm zinc as ZnSO₄ (60-ZS), or 60 ppm zinc as a mixture of ZnSO₄ and Zn methionine (60-ZM). Blood and milk were collected and analyzed for markers of blood-milk leak and dairy food properties of milk. Milk cells were also isolated and analyzed for RNA abundance of genes related to zinc-mediated apoptosis. Aside from a tendency for 60-ZS to increase feed intake and 60-ZM to increase milk fat compared to 30-ZS, no effects were observed on performance, markers of blood-milk leak, transcript abundance of selected genes, or dairy food properties of milk. A cell culture study was also conducted using immortalized bovine mammary epithelial (MAC-T) cells. Messenger RNA abundance of GPR39—a G protein-coupled receptor shown to regulate cellular activity in response to extracellular zinc concentrations in other epithelial cell lines—was knocked down using RNA interference. Following GPR39 knockdown, cells were treated with 0 or 100 μM zinc. Phosphorylation of the kinases ERK1/2 and AKT was measured in GPR39-knockdown and control cells treated with either 0 or 100 μM zinc. No effect of zinc treatment or GPR39 knockdown was detected on kinase phosphorylation. Interestingly, the 100 μM zinc treatment showed a tendency to increase GPR39 mRNA abundance in control cells. There remain many questions about the cellular mechanisms whereby zinc can impact milk production in dairy cattle.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-135).

Epithelial tissues are composed of a sheet of adherent cells and are present in all metazoans. Their broad function is to compartmentalize tissues and enable the regulated exchange of nutrients and waste between the internal and external environments. To accomplish this function, cells require a specific organization: an apico-basal polarity that provides directionality and intercellular adhesion mediated by adherens junctions that hold cells together. How the epithelia architecture is initiated and maintained remains to be fully elucidated. Adherens junctions and the polarity proteins are functionally linked, as a loss of the main component of AJs: E-cadherin leads to a loss of apico-basal polarity, while disturbing apico-basal polarity results in a re-localization of E-Cadherin. Therefore is challenging to study either pathway in isolation.During my thesis I explored the role of Crumbs, a polarity protein, in the regulation of E-Cadherin in both AJ maturation and maintenance. During maturation of AJs in Drosophila embryo, I demonstrated for the first time by using quantitative high-resolution microscopy PALM that Crumbs regulates E-Cadherin clusters size and their homogenous distribution along the junction. In conclusion, my thesis work provides the first dissection of polarity proteins in E-Cadherin regulation apart from polarity pathways. / Epithelial tissues are composed of a sheet of adherent cells and are present in all metazoans. Their broad function is to compartmentalize tissues and enable the regulated exchange of nutrients and waste between the internal and external environments. To accomplish this function, cells require a specific organization: an apico-basal polarity that provides directionality and intercellular adhesion mediated by adherens junctions that hold cells together. How the epithelia architecture is initiated and maintained remains to be fully elucidated. Adherens junctions and the polarity proteins are functionally linked, as a loss of the main component of AJs: E-cadherin leads to a loss of apico-basal polarity, while disturbing apico-basal polarity results in a re-localization of E-Cadherin. Therefore is challenging to study either pathway in isolation.During my thesis I explored the role of Crumbs, a polarity protein, in the regulation of E-Cadherin in both AJ maturation and maintenance. During maturation of AJs in Drosophila embryo, I demonstrated for the first time by using quantitative high-resolution microscopy PALM that Crumbs regulates E-Cadherin clusters size and their homogenous distribution along the junction. In conclusion, my thesis work provides the first dissection of polarity proteins in E-Cadherin regulation apart from polarity pathways.

A cell's composition is not uniform, but is comprised of many molecular gradients to compartmentalize functions into specialized subcellular domains. This organization is called polarity–the asymmetry of morphology and composition. Though it's a feature of nearly all prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, polarity is plastic and highly dynamic, and is continuously instructed by the crosstalk between extracellular cues and internal effector pathways. One of the master regulators of polarity is the Par complex, canonically comprised of Cdc42, Par6, Par3 and atypical protein kinase C (aPKC). The Par complex defines the apical domain of epithelia and the neuronal axon, directs cell migration and the assembly of cell junctions, and restricts other polarity complexes to their respective domains. We have identified a novel polarity protein that counteracts the activities of the Par complex in cells. PKMζ, a truncated isoform of aPKC normally found in neurons, competes with full-length aPKC for substrate interactions. This competition results in the disruption of the canonical Par complex and its instruction of cell polarity, manifesting as a block in axon specification in developing neurons, or as a loss of the apical-basal axis of epithelial polarity. By eliminating PKMζ's ability to compete with aPKC for interaction with Par3, the effect on polarity is mitigated, while RNAi-mediated reduction of Par3 levels similarly rescues PKMζ-associated defects. We further report that PKMζ is aberrantly transcribed in certain epithelial cancers, and its expression correlates with grade. Malignant epithelial phenotypes are driven by PKMζ's Par3-dependent disruption of polarity, and its Par3- independent promotion of anoikis resistance. We demonstrate that PKMζ, as the catalytic fragment of aPKC, is surprisingly competent to influence polarity independently of its kinase activity, while other aPKC isoforms require their catalytic function to permit apical development. Together, this body of work presents PKMζ as an endogenous inhibitor of Par complex function, whose presence provides bistability to the dynamics of symmetry-breaking.

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common hereditary genetic disorder among Caucasians. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of morbidity in cystic fibrosis patients. Chronic infection with P. aeruginosa eventually occurs and is associated with a switch to biofilm formation of the bacteria. The symptoms and pathology of acute and chronic P. aeruginosa infections differ greatly. The first line of defense within the lung is the physical barrier of the lung epithelia. The examination of established biofilm interactions with lung epithelia is difficult. Here, I use the Calgary Biofilm Device co-culture system to conduct the concurrent analysis of established biofilms and planktonic bacteria with A549 lung cells. Comparison of P. aeruginosa biofilm and planktonic bacteria’s effects on A549 lung cells showed that planktonic bacteria caused more A549 cell rounding and death, while biofilm stimulated more IL-8 release by epithelial cells. Biofilm was shown to secrete significantly more Pseudomonal Elastase than planktonic, causing A549 morphological changes and loss of tight junctions. The antimicrobial peptide LL-37 was shown to differentially affect biofilm and planktonic bacteria. LL-37 caused a decrease in twitching of planktonic bacteria and exposure to LL-37 for 48 hours resulted in a decrease in elastase secretion likely due to down-regulated type 2 secretion. When established biofilms were compared with newly adherent biofilms, young biofilms were shown to have characteristics similar to both planktonic bacteria and mature biofilms. From this data we can follow the pattern of bacterial virulence as P. aeruginosa transitions from the planktonic mode of growth to the eventual mature biofilm that is associated with chronic infection. In conclusion, this study provides the foundation for a co-culture system that can be used to study the host-pathogen interactions of mammalian epithelia with established P. aeruginosa biofilms. The future adaptations of this model will better represent the in vivo characteristics of chronic lung infection to delineate ongoing virulence mechanisms of the bacteria causing host cell stimulation and damage. / May 2016

During embryogenesis, airway epithelial cells possess primary cilia, and HH signaling guides lung development. As epithelial cells mature, they produce hundreds of motile cilia and continue to produce the sonic hedgehog (SHH) ligand, which is found apically in the thin layer of liquid covering airways. However, whether ciliated airway cells express apical HH signaling components and what their function might be have remained unknown. Here we show that motile cilia are enriched for HH signaling proteins, including patched 1 and smoothened. These cilia are also enriched for proteins affecting cAMP-dependent signaling, including Gαi and adenylyl cyclase 5/6. Surprisingly, SHH in differentiated airway epithelia did not elicit the canonical SHH signaling pathway that regulates transcription during development. But instead, activating HH signaling decreases intracellular levels of cAMP, which reduces ciliary beat frequency and airway surface liquid pH, similar to changes that have been observed in the airway of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, we observed that significant increase of SHH ligand expression in differentiated airway epithelia with COPD, suggesting a potential role of SHH signaling in the pathogenesis of airway disease. Collectively, our study indicates that airway cilia detect apical SHH to mediate airway physiology through noncanonical HH signaling. SHH may dampen defenses at the contact point between the environment and the lung, perhaps counterbalancing processes that stimulate airway defenses. This may suggest a potential role of SHH signaling in the pathogenesis of airway disease, such as COPD.

MUC4 is a heterodimeric mucin glycoprotein expressed in the epithelia of tissues. Previous studies in our laboratory demonstrated that MUC4 protein expression is regulated by exogenous growth factors and that MUC4 is found in complex with the receptor tyrosine kinase ErbB2. MUC4 protein expression in airway epithelia was evaluated using molecular biology techniques. The impact of the protein on ErbB2 activation was evaluated post mechanical wounding of airway epithelia, and upon MUC4 RNA silencing. MUC4 levels were increased with exposure to the differentiating agent retinoic acid and decreased upon exposure to epidermal growth factor, a proliferative agent. In the absence of MUC4, ErbB2 phosphorylation was diminished. These results support the hypothesis that MUC4 expression is enhanced during differentiation of epithelia. Furthermore these findings provide evidence for an additional level of ErbB regulation in airway injury and subsequent epithelial wound healing.