The aim of this research was to isolate and characterize novel strains of marine protists with potential to commercially produce PUFAs. Twelve trips were made visiting 10 different locations in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Sixty-nine strains were isolated and screened for biomass and fatty acid production. Those meeting specific criteria were selected for further investigation including characterization by 18S rDNA sequencing. Isolate ONC-KTB-56 produced the greatest amount of biomass (1 807 mg L-1) and fatty acids (24.6% dry weight). Of the total fatty acids, ARA, EPA and DHA comprised 0.89, 1.22 and 4.7 percent, respectively. Isolate ONC-KTB-14 produced 1 704 mg L-1 dry biomass with 5.4 percent fatty acids including 1.44, 1.35 and 37.5 percent, ARA, EPA and DHA, respectively. Through optimization of culture conditions biomass, fatty acid content and the proportions of specific fatty acids can be increased. With such optimization, there is potential for isolates ONC-KTB-14 and ONC-KTB-56 to be grown at a commercial scale for production of PUFAs.

Cholesterol is critical to ensure proper functioning of a membrane. Despite this, the movement of cholesterol within the cell is not fully understood. The molecular order of binary and ternary mixtures of polyunsaturated fatty acids with varying degrees of hy- drocarbon chain unsaturation with 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) and/or cholesterol was studied using 2H NMR. The introduction of cholesterol into sam- ples of 18:1PC, 18:2PC (unsaturated lipid/DMPC-d54/CHOL, 75:5:20mol%) increased the C-2H bond order by ∼30%. Similar bond ordering was found for 20:4PC and 22:6PC samples, however, they were temperature dependent. A two-phase region (lo-ld) was found for 22:6PC:DMPC-d54/CHOL (75:5:20mol%) for temperatures below 286.7 K. The reorientation axis formed an angle of 78±4◦ with respect to the C3-2H bond vector re- gardless of the lipid. The order parameter of cholesterol was temperature independent, and ranged from 0.69±0.04 to 0.78±0.04 depending on the lipid unsaturation. The re- orientation axis of cholesterol was oriented at ∼25◦ to the bilayer normal.

This thesis investigates the contributions of fatty acids (FA) to adipokine dysregulation and inflammation. Differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with palmitic, stearic, palmitoleic, and oleic acids and changes in adipokine gene expression were measured. Here it was determined that saturated FA (SFA) increased the expression of RANTES and monounsaturated FA (MUFA) decreased the expression of RANTES and IL-6; demonstrating that FA differentially regulate adipokine expression. Relationships between plasma levels of SFA, MUFA and C-reactive protein (CRP) were also identified in a human observational study, further demonstrating the link between FA and inflammation Moreover, an association was also found between stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) activity and CRP, demonstrating that SCD1 activity contributes to the inflammatory state. Genetic variation in SCD1 was also found to alter plasma FA and CRP levels, thus contributing to systemic inflammation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that SFA and MUFA influence adipokine dysregulation and systemic inflammation.

The clearance of circulating glucose and long-chain fatty acids (FA) into skeletal muscle involves the translocation of glucose transporter GLUT4, fatty acid translocase (FAT/CD36), plasma membrane associated fatty acid binding protein (FABPpm) and fatty acid transport protein (FATP) 1 and 4 to the plasma membrane (PM). FAT/CD36 also appears to participate in the regulation of mitochondrial FA oxidation. Metabolic challenges are known to increase FA transport and/or oxidation, but whether this is solely attributable to the translocation of FAT/CD36 to the sarcolemma and/or mitochondria is unknown. Moreover, the signaling and trafficking pathways involved in the translocation of FA transporters are largely unexplored. In this thesis it was found that FA transport was markedly increased following insulin (+2.9-fold) or contraction (+1.7-fold) stimulation of skeletal muscle, along with the PM contents of FAT/CD36 (+78%, +55%,), FABPpm (+61%, +62%), FATP1 (+84%, +61%) and FATP4 (+60%, +66%) (p<0.05). Upon combining the two stimuli, only the translocation of FAT/CD36 (+179%) and FATP1 (+125%) to the PM was additive, suggesting that these transporters may reside in distinct insulin-sensitive and contraction-sensitive intracellular compartments. The translocation of FA transporters may involve the insulin-signaling protein Akt2. It was found that insulin-stimulated FA transport and PM translocation of FA transporters was essentially prevented in Akt2 knockout mice. Following contraction, FA transport was also markedly blunted, along with an impaired translocation of both FAT/CD36 and FATP1, but not FABPpm or FATP4. FA oxidation and mitochondrial FAT/CD36 appearance were also inhibited following muscle contraction in knockout mice (p<0.05). Whether the GLUT4 trafficking protein Munc18c is important for the vesicular re-distribution of FA transporters to the PM or mitochondria was also investigated. FA uptake was comparably increased 1.4 fold with insulin and contraction in both wildtype and heterozygous Munc18c-/+ mice, as were PM FA transporters FAT/CD36 (+82%, +84%), FABPpm (+39%, +43%), FATP1 (+40%, +38%) and FATP4 (+33%, +32%) (p<0.05). Contraction-stimulated mitochondrial FA oxidation was also increased similarly in wildtype (+39%) and Munc18c-/+ mice (+33%). These studies demonstrate that a number of FA transporters are involved in upregulating skeletal muscle FA transport, although their signaling and trafficking pathways may differ from that of GLUT4.

Based on their highly bioactive properties in membrane phospholipids, there is growing recognition that dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may be of significant benefit in the prevention and treatment of many lifestyle related pathologies, however direct evidence is lacking. The fat-1 transgenic mouse, a genetic model of n-3 PUFA enrichment, is a useful tool in nutritional research which has provided enhanced insight into the health effects of lifelong n-3 PUFA exposure. However, the influence of timing of n-3 PUFA exposure on health related outcomes remains unclear. This thesis describes the functional characterization of the novel Cre recombinase dependent inducible fat-1 (iFat-1) transgene. In the presence of Cre, the iFat-1 transgene was found to reduce phospholipid n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios both in vitro (100%) and in vivo (upwards of 70%), suggesting that the iFat-1 transgene has potential application to address temporal effects of n-3 PUFA in health and disease. / Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship, Sun Life Financial

Particulate and solubilized preparations of phosphatidate (PA) phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.4) and dia-cylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT, EC 2.3.1.20) from microspore-derived (MD) cultures of Brassica napus L. cv Topas were characterized. The activity of solubilized PA phosphatase decreased by about 50% following storage for 24 h at 4 degrees celsius, whereas the activity of DGAT decreased by 30%. Bovine serum albumin increased the stability of both enzymes. Both preparations were enriched in the target enzyme and thus, may be useful in studies of regulation with limited influence by the other Kennedy pathway enzymes. Solubilized PA phosphatase was shown to dephosphoryolate a number of phosphate-containing compounds and showed a preference for dioleoyl-PA and dipalmitoyl-PA over other forms of PA tested. Microsomal PA phosphatase from MD embryos was partially dependent on Mg2+ and partially inhibited by the thioreactive agent, N-ethylmaleimide (NEM). The partial sensitivity to NEM suggest that MD embryos of B. napus may contain forms of PA phosphatase involved in glycerolipid synthesis and signal transduction. NEM-sensitive and NEM-insensitive PA phosphatase activity was found in microsomes of a cell suspension culture of B. napus L. cv Jet Neuf. PA phosphatase, solubilized from MD embryos, was partially purified using ammonium sulfate fractionation followed by anion exchange chromatography. PA phosphatase was resolved into two distinct peaks following anion-exchange chromatography. The peaks contained both NEM-sensitive and NEM-insensitive PA phosphatase activity. Following gel filtration, solubilized PA phosphatase displayed a minimum apparent Mr of about 40 000. Antibodies raised against partially purified preparations of PA phosphatase and DGAT from MD embryos of B. napus L. cv Topas were used in the development of immunochemical probes for these enzymes. Inhibitory anti-PA phosphatase antibodies were developed. Attempts were also made to identify a sub-class of antibodies which could interact with both denatured and native DGAT. / xviii, 137 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) has the potential to become a major source of biodiesel but for market viability, peanut oil yields must increase and specific quality requirements must be met. Oil yield in peanut is influenced by many components, including oil concentration, seed mass, and mean oil produced per seed. All of these traits can be improved through selection as long as there is sufficient genetic variation. Thus, elucidating the genetics of oil concentration, seed mass, and mean oil produced per seed in peanut is essential to advancing the development of genotypes with high oil yields. Additive genetic effects were predominant for oil concentration in two generation means analyses involving a proprietary high oil breeding line and additive genetic variance was highly significant in a complete four-parent diallel analysis. Genetic variance for weight of 50 sound mature kernels (50 SMK) and mean oil produced per SMK (OPS) was additive the diallel analysis. Narrow-sense heritability estimates were high for oil concentration in both the diallel and generation means analyses. Narrow-sense heritability was also high for 50 SMK, but was low for OPS. The low OPS heritability estimate was caused by the negative correlation between oil concentration and seed mass. Consequently, oil concentration and seed mass can be improved through early-generation selection, but large segregating populations from high oil crosses will be needed to identify progeny with elevated oil concentrations that maintain acceptable seed sizes. Increasing the ratio of oleic to linoleic acid (O/L) in peanut oil and reducing the long chain saturated fatty acid concentration (which includes arachidic, behenic, and lignoceric acids) produces high quality, stable methyl esters for biodiesel. Therefore, elucidating the inheritance of these factors and their relationships in peanut populations segregating for high oil is critical. The results from generation means analysis confirm that the high-oleic trait is under simple genetic control and can be manipulated through selection. Oil concentration was negatively correlated with oleic acid concentration in the F2 generations of both crosses and positively correlated with arachidic acid in most of the segregating generations that were evaluated. Therefore, developing a peanut genotype high in oil and oleic acid concentration that has reduced long chain saturates will require the evaluation of large numbers of segregating progeny.

Chapter 2 In solution, py(mi)ridinols 1.33, 1.34 and 1.35 are 2-, 5- and 28-fold more reactive antioxidants, respectively, than α-TOH (the most potent lipid-soluble antioxidant in nature). In order to develop a highly-reactive fluorescent indicator of lipid peroxidation in cells, we sought to couple these antioxidants with boron-dipyrro- methene (BODIPY) dyes, such that the resulting conjugates will display a significant fluorecence enhancement upon oxidation. This chapter details efforts towards the synthesis of these compounds. Chapter 3 Lipoxygenases are a family of important enzymes that catalyze the dioxygenation of arachidonic acid to yield a variety of potent lipid mediators that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous degenerative conditions. We have undertaken a preliminary study of the effect of replacing the unsaturation in the related polyunsaturated lipid linoleic acid with cyclopropane rings on both the oxidizability of the lipid, as well as lipoxygenase’s ability to utilize it as a substrate. We anticipate that these analogs will be useful in co-crystallization studies with the enzyme that will provide unique insight into substrate acquisition, binding and the necessary conformation for catalysis. / Thesis (Master, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2011-11-10 16:15:05.643

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