Candida albicans is the most common human commensal fungus, able to colonize host niches such as skin, mouth and gastrointestinal tract. Colonization of diverse microenvironments requires the ability to evade or overcome innate host protection and adapt to rapid transitions between environments with different stresses and nutrient availability. Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract requires passage through the stomach containing toxic levels of nitric oxide, generated from acidification of nitrite in the low pH of the stomach. Although resistance of C. albicans to nitric oxide is mediated by the flavohemoglobin Yhb1, little is known about the physiologically relevant ligands that regulate YHB1 expression. Here I propose the hypothesis that nontoxic saliva chemicals induce YHB1 expression and promote resistance to nitric oxide generated in the stomach. Supporting this hypothesis is the observation that two ions actively concentrated in the saliva – nitrate and thiocyanate – induce YHB1 expression. Indeed, whole-genome transcriptional analysis of C. albicans treated with nitrate or thiocyanate produce gene expression profiles nearly identical to cells treated with nitrite or nitric oxide. Pretreatment of C. albicans with either of these two nontoxic compounds increases resistance of the yeast to nitric oxide. I propose that this is an evolved response in which C. albicans anticipates nitric oxide stress generated in the stomach. C. albicans thus upregulates nitric oxide stress response genes in response to saliva signals that precede nitric oxide formation further on in the gut. Only a few examples of anticipatory signaling have so far been identified and it is not known how common this type of regulation is among microbes. Expression of the YHB1 gene in response to nitric oxide is regulated by the transcription factor Cta4. I show that Cta4 binds to the YHB1 promoter in vivo as a homodimer and is necessary, but not sufficient, for nitric oxide, nitrate and thiocyanate induced expression of YHB1. Based on these data I propose a model in which Cta4 transcriptional activation is inhibited under non-inducing conditions by a negative regulator. Understanding the mechanism by which C. albicans senses and responds to nitric oxide, nitrate and thiocyanate remains a question for future research.

<p>Human cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Contrary to the classical model in which tumors are homogeneously composed of malignant cells, accumulating evidence suggests that subpopulations of highly malignant cells play a dominant role in tumor initiation and growth. These cells have the capacity for prolonged self-renewal and they efficiently generate tumors that phenotypically resemble the parental tumor in transplantation assays. Such characteristics are reminiscent of normal stem cells, and these potently tumorigenic cells have therefore been called cancer stem cells (CSCs). Importantly, studies have shown that CSCs are central mediators of therapeutic resistance, tumor angiogenesis, and metastatic or invasive potential. In the case of malignant glioma, poor patient survival and the paucity of effective therapeutic advances have been attributed to inherent CSC growth potential and treatment resistance, respectively. For this reason, there is great interest in elucidating the molecular features of CSCs, with the ultimate hope of developing CSC-directed therapies.</p><p>Given the overlap between the highly malignant characteristics exhibited by CSCs and those promoted by the PI3K/AKT pathway, we hypothesized that AKT activity within CSCs could represent a reasonable therapeutic target for CSC-directed therapies. Indeed, a pharmacological inhibitor of AKT preferentially targeted glioma CSCs versus non-CSCs and was associated with increased apoptosis and impaired tumorigenesis. These data suggest that interventions targeting AKT could effectively target glioma CSCs. </p><p>Quite distinct from the PI3K/AKT pathway, we hypothesized that the pro-survival and pro-growth features of nitric oxide (NO) might also operate in glioma CSCs. Our experiments found that glioma CSCs produced more NO than non-CSCs, which is attributed to inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression and activity within the CSCs. Interference with iNOS activity or expression, as well as selective NO consumption, attenuated CSC growth and tumorigenicity. The mechanism behind iNOS-mediated survival appears to involve, at least in part, suppression of the cell cycle inhibitor CDA1. iNOS inhibition decreased glioma growth in murine xenografts and human expression studies demonstrate an inverse correlation between iNOS expression and patient survival.</p><p>To more fully evaluate the biological effects of NO in CSCs, we designed a novel strategy to consume NO within mammalian cells through heterologous expression of E. coli flavohemoglobin (FlavoHb). This enzyme is a highly specific NO dioxygenase which converts NO to inert nitrate several orders of magnitude faster than iNOS synthesizes NO. Expression of FlavoHb in mammalian cells is therefore a novel and functional tool to interrogate the role of NO in cellular stress and signaling. </p><p>In summary, this doctoral thesis focuses on several molecular characteristics that define malignant CSCs and describes a novel strategy for studying NO, which is one of the CSC-specific molecular effectors.</p> / Dissertation

Heme proteins carry out a diverse array of functions in vivo while maintaining a well-conserved 3-over-3 α-helical structure. Human hemoglobin (Hb) is well-known for its oxygen transport function. Type 1 non-symbiotic hemoglobins (nsHb1) in plants and bacterial flavohemoglobins (fHb) from a variety of bacterial species have been predicted to carry out a nitric oxide dioxygenase function. In nsHb1 and fHb this function has been linked to protection from nitrosative stress. Herein, I combine photoacoustic calorimetry (PAC), transient absorption spectroscopy (TA), and classical molecular dynamics (cMD) simulations to characterize molecular mechanism of diatomic ligand interactions with a hexa-coordinate globin from plant (rice hemoglobin), bacterial flavohemoglobins and human hemoglobin. In rice type 1 non-symbiotic hemoglobin (rHb1), the dynamics and energetics of structural changes associated with ligand photodissociation is strongly impacted by solvent and temperature, namely CO escape from the protein matrix is slower at pH = 6.0 compare to neutral pH (ns) due to the CD loop reorganization which forms a pathway for ligand escape. In human hemoglobin, exogenous allosteric effectors modulate energetics of conformational changes associated with the CO and O2 escape although the effectors impact on rate constants for ligand association is small. The conformational dynamics associated with ligand photorelease from fHbs from Cupriavidus necator (FHP) and Staphylococcus aureus (HMPSa) are strongly modulated by the presence of azole drugs indicating that drug association modulates structural properties of the heme binding pocket. In addition, we carried out a study of the formation of the DNA intercalated motif (i-motif). The formation of the structure is strongly favored at acidic pH; therefore, PAC was combined with a 2-nitrobenzaldehyde pH-jump to probe formation of the i-motif on fast timescales. i-Motif folding is two-step process with the initial protonation of cytosine residues being endothermic with ΔHfast=8.5 ± 7.0 kcal mol-1 and ΔVfast=10.4 ± 1.6 mL mol-1 and subsequent nucleation/i-motif folding (τ = 140 ns) with ΔHslow=-51.5 ± 4.8 kcal mol-1 and ΔVslow=-6.6 ± 0.9 mL mol-1. The above results indicate that PAC can be employed to study diverse biochemical reactions such as DNA folding, drug binding and ligand photorelease from proteins.

Les flavohémoglobines (FlavoHbs) sont des protéines fixant l’oxygène qui possèdent un domaine globine N-terminal lié de manière covalente à un domaine C-terminal réductase contenant une flavine adénine dinucléotide (FAD) et un site de fixation du nicotinamide adénine dinucléotide (phosphate) (NAD(P)H). Ces protéines que l’on retrouve exclusivement chez les microorganismes possèdent une action NO dioxygénase et interviennent donc dans la défense des microorganismes contre les dommages générés par le NO. De par ce rôle essentiel de défense microbienne, les flavoHbs sont considérés comme des cibles attractives des antibiotiques. En particulier, les dérivés azolés ont montré la capacité d’inhiber la fonction NO dioxygénase des flavoHbs par un mécanisme inconnu. Afin de mieux comprendre le mode d’action de ces antibiotiques, nous avons entrepris une étude structurale, enzymatique et spectroscopique sur trois flavoHbs d’intérêt. Les structures tridimensionnelles de la flavoHb de R. eutropha (FHP) en complexe avec le miconazole, l’éconazole et le kétoconazole ainsi que celle de S. cerevisae (YHB) seule et en complexe avec l’éconazole ont été obtenues à des résolutions satisfaisantes permettant de décrire précisément les interactions entre la protéine et les inhibiteurs. Les structures ont révélé des réarrangements conformationnels importants selon la nature chimique de l’inhibiteur et la présence d’acides gras dans la poche de l’hème. Afin de comprendre le rôle fonctionnel des acides gras dans le cycle catalytique de l’enzyme, la structure tridimensionnelle de la FHP en complexe avec l’acide linolénique a été obtenue et des analyses enzymatiques et spectroscopiques ont montré l’importance des acides gras dans la modulation de l’activité de la protéine. Parallèlement, des études sur la FHP, la YHB et la flavoHb de S. aureus (Shb) ont permis de mieux appréhender le rôle des inhibiteurs dans le processus de transfert d’électrons au sein de la protéine. / Flavohemoglobins (FlavoHbs) are oxygen binding proteins which consist of a heme-globin domain fused with a ferredoxin reductase –like FAD and NAD-binding domain. FlavoHbs have been identified exclusively in microorganisms where they play a key role in defence against NO damages by using their NO dioxygenase activity. These proteins are therefore considered as targets for new antibiotic drugs. Recently, azole derivatives were proven to be attractive nitric oxide dioxygenase inhibitors by a mechanism that remains elusive. In order to explore their binding characteristics, we determined the X-ray structure of the flavoHb from Ralstonia eutropha in a complex with miconazole (FHPm), econazole (FHPe), and ketoconazole (FHPk) as well as the X- ray structure of S. cerevisae flavoHb in both ligand-free and econazole-bound forms. We describe the interactions between the protein matrix and the inhibitors in a comparative manner and how the bulky structures of the azole inhibitors dictate the profile of the hemebinding pocket and vice versa in flavoHbs.Although the azole compounds were able to push the lipid out of its binding site, a fatty acid fragment is still bound inside the heme pocket of FHPe and FHPk and dictates the state of the protein. To go further in the compréhension of the fatty acid function in the flavoHbs, we determined the three dimensionnal structure of FHP in complex with linolenic acid. Spectroscopic and enzymatic analyzis confirmed the important role of fatty acids in enhancing the protein activity. We also made studies to understand how azoles modulate the electron transfer process in the flavoHbs.