This thesis describes structural and binding studies in enzymes from two different  organisms: ribonucleotide reductase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (RNR) and lipase A from Candida antarctica (CalA). RNR is viable as a target for new drugs against the causative agent of tuberculosis. The biologically active form of RNR is a heterotetramer with an α2β2 substructure. Here we show that an N-acetylated heptapeptide based on the C-terminal sequence of the smaller RNR subunit can disrupt the formation of the holoenzyme sufficiently to inhibit its function. An N-terminal truncation, an alanine scan and a novel statistical molecular design approach based on the heptapeptide Ac-Glu-Asp-Asp-Asp-Trp-Asp-Phe-OH were applied. A full-length acetylated heptapeptide was necessary for inhibition, and Trp5 and Phe7 were also essential. Exchanging the acetyl for the N-terminal Fmoc protective-group increased the binding potency ten-fold. Based on this, several truncated and N-protected peptides were evaluated in a competitive fluorescence polarization assay. The single-amino acid Fmoc-Trp inhibits the RNR holoenzyme formation with a dissociation constant of 12µM, making it an attractive candidate for further development of non-peptidic inhibitors Lipases are enzymes with major biotechnological applications. We report the x-ray structure of CalA, the first member of a novel family of lipases. The fold includes a well-defined lid as well as a classical α/β hydrolase domain. The structure is that of the closed/inactive state of the enzyme, but loop movements near Phe431 will provide virtually unlimited access to solvent for the alcohol moiety of an ester substrate. The structure thus provides a basis for understanding the enzyme's preference for acyl moieties with long, straight tails, and for its highly promiscuous acceptance of widely different alcohol and amine moieties. An unconventional oxyanion hole is observed in the present structure, although the situation may change during interfacial activation.

Influenza virus A and B are common pathogens that cause respiratory disease in humans. Recently, a highly virulent H5N1 subtype avian influenza virus caused disease outbreaks in poultry around the world. Drug resistant type A viruses rapidly emerged, and the recent H5N1 viruses were reported to be resistant to all current antiviral drugs. There is an urgent need for the development of new antiviral drugs target against both influenza A and B viruses. This dissertation describes work to identify small molecule inhibitors of influenza protein NS1 by a high throughput fluorescence polarization assay. The N-terminal GST fusion of NS1A (residue 1-215) and NS1B (residue 1-145) were chosen to be the NS1A and NS1B targets respectively for HT screening. In developing the assay, the concentrations of fluorophore and protein, and chemical additives were optimized. A total of 17,969 single chemicals from four compound libraries were screened using the optimized assay. Six true hits with dose-response activity were identified. Four of them show an IC₅₀ less than 1 [micromolar]. In addition, one compound, EGCG, has proven to reduce influenza virus replication in a cell based assay, presumably by interacting with the RNA binding domain of NS1. High throughput, computer based, virtual screenings were also performed using four docking programs. In terms of enrichment rate, ICM was the best program for virtual screening inhibitors against NS1-RBD. The compound ZINC0096886 was identified as an inhibitor showing an IC₅₀ around 19 [micromolars] against NS1A, and 13.8 [micromolars] against NS1B. In addition, the crystallographic structures of the NS1A effector domain (wild type, W187A, and W187Y mutants) of influenza A/Udorn/72 virus are presented. A hypothetical model of the intact NS1 dimer is also presented. Unlike the wild type dimer, the W187Y mutant behaved as a monomer in solution, but still was able to binding its target protein, CPSF30, with wild type binding affinity. This mutant may be a better target for the development of new antiviral drugs, as the CPSF30 binding pocket is more accessible to potential inhibitors. The structural information of those proteins would be very helpful for virtual screening and rational lead optimization. / text

Orientador: Andre Luís Berteli Ambrósio / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T16:57:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fala_AngelaMaria_M.pdf: 4666864 bytes, checksum: 3bcb145c1dc353b15b43b75e5723a310 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A adaptação das células cancerosas ao microambiente é o ponto central que leva ao fenótipo invasivo e metastático, e é garantida principalmente através do controle preciso da expressão gênica. A resposta às necessidades energéticas e biossintéticas e principalmente à disponibilidade de oxigênio intracelular, por exemplo, é em grande parte mediada pelo fator de transcrição induzido por hipóxia 1 (HIF-1). HIF-1 é um heterodímero composto pelas subunidades ? e ?, que respondem a sequência consenso (5'-RCGTG-3') e ativam a transcrição de mais de 100 genes envolvidos em diversos aspectos cruciais da biologia tumoral, incluindo angiogênese, metabolismo de glicose, diferenciação celular, apoptose e resistência a radio e quimioterapias. São conhecidas três isoformas da subunidade ? (1 a 3) e todas se heterodimerizam com a subunidade ?. No geral, HIFs são constituídas de diferentes domínios funcionais, como de ligação ao DNA, de heterodimerização, transativação e degradação. Atualmente, pouco se sabe sobre os mecanismos estruturais e funcionais dos domínios da HIF- 1, deste modo este trabalho objetivou o estudo estrutural destes domínios. Os domínios bHLH, Pas-1 e Pac de HIF-1? e HIF-? em diferentes combinações entre si e o domínio Pac da HIF-3? foram clonados, as proteínas foram expressas em sistema bacteriano e purificadas por diferentes técnicas cromatográficas. Diversas destas construções se mostraram insolúveis ou suscetíveis a degradação, enquanto outras foram purificadas com sucesso. As construções Pac, um exemplo de sucesso na produção, foram submetidas a ensaios de anisotropia de fluorescência e ressonância magnética nuclear, o que nos permitiu a caracterização dos perfis de interação entre as várias combinações de heterodimerização. Neste contexto, os resultados mostram que o equilíbrio dinâmico da interação entre Pac-1? com a subunidade -1? é alcançado imediatamente, enquanto que para a interação entre Pac-3? e -1?, são necessários pelo menos 30 horas de incubação. O mesmo pode ser extraído da caracterização da interação direta entre Pac-1? e Pac-3?. Nos experimentos de RMN, foi possível identificar a região de interação entre as subunidades -1? e -3? com a subunidade ?, separadamente. Ambas as subunidades ? interagem com a Pac-1? na região das fitas-beta 1 e 5 e no loop entre as fitas 4 e 5. Em conjunto, estes resultados impactam no mecanismo de antagonização de HIF-3? na atividade transcricional de HIF-1?. Houve ainda a formação de monocristais da subunidade Pac-3?, que foram submetidos a experimentos preliminares de difração de raios X, que apesar de resultar em dados anisotrópicos e insuficientes para resolução estrutural, permitiram a caracterização dos parâmetros cristalinos, incluindo a presença de um alto conteúdo de solvente. Adicionalmente, são também apresentados os resultados obtidos visando a expressão e cristalização das Prolilhidroxilases (PHDs) isoformas 1 a 4, durante estágio de seis meses no Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), da Universidade de Oxford, na Inglaterra. Foram expressas de maneira solúvel e purificadas, diversas construções das isoformas 1 e 3 das PHDs humanas. Cristais foram obtidos, porém estes foram determinados como sendo de compostos inorgânicos presentes na condição de cristalização. Como resultado final, está sendo estabelecida uma colaboração entre o nosso grupo e o SGC para que os estudos estruturais com PHDs se estendam e sejam realizados em nosso laboratório aqui no Brasil / Abstract: The adaptation process of cancer cells to the microenvironment is the central point leading to the invasive and metastatic phenotypes, and is guaranteed mainly through the precise control of gene expression. The cell response to the energetic and biosynthetic needs and especially to the availability of intracellular oxygen is mediated by the hypoxia inducible transcription factor 1, or HIF-1. HIF-1 functions as a heterodimer composed by subunits ? and ?, binding to responsive elements with the consensus sequence 5'-RCGTG-3 ', thus activating the transcription of more than 100 genes involved in many crucial aspects of tumor biology, including angiogenesis, metabolism glucose, cell differentiation, apoptosis, and resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. There are three known isoforms of the ? subunit (1, 2 and 3) and all heterodimerize with the ? subunit. HIFs are composed of different functional domains, such as the DNA binding domain, the heterodimerization, transactivation and the oxygen-dependent degradation domains. Currently, little is known about the mechanisms of structural and functional domains of HIF-1, thus this work was to study these structural domains. The domain (bHLH, Pas-1 and Pac) of HIF-1? and HIF-? in different combinations with each other and Pac domain of HIF-3? were cloned, the proteins were expressed in bacterial system and purified by various chromatographic techniques. Several of these constructs proved insoluble or susceptible to degradation, while others were purified successfully. The constructs Pac, an example of success in production, were tested for fluorescence anisotropy and nuclear magnetic resonance, which allowed us to characterize the profiles of the interaction between the various combinations of heterodimers. In this context, the results show that the dynamic equilibrium of the interaction between the Pac-1? and -1? subunits is achieved immediately, whereas for the interaction between Pac-3? and -1?, it takes at least 30 hours of incubation. The same can be observed from the characterization of direct interaction between Pac-1? and -3?. From the NMR experiments, it was possible to identify the region of interaction between the subunits -1? and -3? with the -1? subunit. Both ? subunits interact with Pac-1? via betastrands 1 and 5 and the loop between the strands 4 and 5. Overall, these results impact in the mechanism of HIF-3? antagonizing the transcriptional activity of HIF-1?. We also obtained single crystals for Pac-3? subunit, which were subjected to preliminary experiments of X-ray diffraction. Although resulting in anisotropic, insufficient data for and structural resolution, it has allowed the characterization of crystalline parameters, including the presence of a high solvent content. Additionally, we also present the results targeting the expression and crystallization of Prolyl-hydroxylases (PHDs) human isoforms 1-4, during the six-month period at the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), the University of Oxford in England. Several construct from of isoforms 1 and 3 were successfully expressed and purified in the soluble form. Likewise, crystals were obtained, but these were determined to be composed by inorganic compounds present in the crystallization conditions. At the end, a collaboration was established between our and the SGC group for the structural studies with the PHDs to extend and carry out the experiments in our lab here in Brazil / Mestrado / Clinica Medica / Mestra em Clínica Médica

The homeoviscous adaptation hypothesis states that the relative abundance of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in membrane phospholipids of ectothermic organisms decreases with increasing temperatures to maintainvital membrane properties. We reared Daphnia magna at 15°, 20°, and 25°C and increasing dietary concentrations of the long-chain PUFA eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to test the hypothesis that the well-documented increase in heat tolerance of high-temperature-reared Daphnia is due to a reduction in body PUFA concentrations. Heat tolerance was assessed by measuring the time to immobility at a lethally high temperature (Timm at 37°C), and whole body lipid fluorescence polarization (FP) was used as an estimate of membrane fluidity. At all rearing temperatures, EPA supplementation resulted in an increase in the relative abundance of EPA in body tissues, but only at 15° and 25°C did this result in a decrease in heat tolerance, and only at 20°C was this associated with an increase in membrane fluidity (i.e., decrease in FP). Overall, however, the degree of tissue fatty acid unsaturation correlated well with heat tolerance and FP. Our results support the homeoviscous adaptation hypothesis by showing that cold-reared Daphnia accumulate PUFAs within their body tissues and thus are more susceptible to heat than hot-reared Daphnia accumulating fewer PUFAs. However, our data also point out that further studies are required that elucidate the complex relationships between PUFA supply, membrane fluidity, and heat tolerance in ectotherms.

The misassembly of soluble proteins into toxic aggregates, including amyloid fibrils, underlies a large number of human degenerative diseases. Cardiac amyloidosis, which is most commonly, caused by aggregation of Immunoglobulin (Ig) light chains or transthyretin (TTR) in the cardiac muscle, represent an important and often underdiagnosed cause of heart failure. TTR-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathies are chronic and progressive conditions that lead to arrhythmias, biventricular heart failure, and death. As no Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs are currently available for treatment of these diseases, the development of therapeutic agents that prevent TTR-mediated cardiotoxicity is desired. AG10 is a potent and selective kinetic stabilizer of TTR. AG10 prevents dissociation of TTR in serum samples obtained from patients with amyloid cardiomyopathy. The oral bioavailability and selectivity of AG10, makes it a very promising candidate to treat TTR amyloid cardiomyopathy. Understanding the reason behind the potency of AG10 would be beneficial for designing stabilizers for other amyloid diseases. This would be possible by designing and synthesizing structural analogues of AG10. Here we report the synthesis, characterization and analysis of AG10 analogs and the comparison of the in vitro activities of the synthesized analogs. The tremendous therapeutic potential of peptides has not been fulfilled and potential peptide therapies that have failed far outnumber the successes so far. A major challenge impeding the more widespread use of peptides as therapeutics is their poor pharmacokinetic profile, due to short In vivo half-life resulting from inactivation by serum proteases and rapid elimination by kidneys. Extending the In vivo half-life of peptides is clearly desirable in order for their therapeutic potential to be realized, without the need for high doses and/or frequent administration. Covalent conjugation of peptides to macromolecules (e.g. polyethylene glycol or serum proteins such albumin) has been the mainstay approach for enhancing the In vivo half-life of peptides. However, the steric hindrance and immunogenicity of these large macromolecules often compromises the In vivo efficacy of the peptides. Recently, our laboratory established the first successful reversible method of extending the half-life of peptides using serum protein TTR. The approach involved the use of a TTR Ligand for Half-life Extension (TLHE-1) which binds to TTR with high specificity and affinity. We have shown that our technology extends the half-life of multiple peptides without seriously affecting their activity. Our main objective here is to modify the structure of TLHE1 using linkers with different length and composition to optimize its affinity and selectivity for TTR in human serum.

Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PrAMPs) are promising candidates for the treatment of infections caused by highpriority human pathogens. Their mode of action consists of (I) passive diffusion across the outer membrane, (II) active transport through the inner membrane, and (III) inhibition of protein biosynthesis by blocking the exit tunnel of the 70S ribosome. We tested whether in vitro data on ribosomal binding and bacterial uptake could predict the antibacterial activity of PrAMPs against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Ribosomal binding and bacterial uptake rates were measured for 47 derivatives of PrAMP Onc112 and compared to the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of each peptide. Ribosomal binding was evaluated for ribosome extracts from four Gram-negative bacteria. Bacterial uptake was assessed by quantifying each peptide in the supernatants of bacterial cultures. Oncocin analogues with a higher net positive charge appeared to be more active, although their ribosome binding and uptake rates were not necessarily better than for Onc112. The data suggest a complex mode of action influenced by further factors improving or reducing the antibacterial activity, including diffusion through membranes, transport mechanism, secondary targets, off-target binding, intracellular distribution, and membrane effects. Relying only on in vitro binding and uptake data may not be sufficient for the rational development of more active analogues.

Dans cette thèse, nous avons construit et optimisé des méthodes de microscopie de fluorescence super-résolue stochastique, polarisée et quantitative qui nous permettent d'imager l'orientation moléculaire dans des environnements dynamiques et statiques a l’échelle de la molécule unique et avec une résolution nanoscopique. En utilisant un montage de microscopie super-résolue à lecture stochastique en combinaison avec une détection polarisée, nous avons pu reconstruire des images d'anisotropie de fluorescence avec une résolution spatiale de 40 nm. En particulier, nous avons pu imager l'ordre orientationnel d'assemblages biomoléculaires et cellulaires. Pour l'imagerie cellulaire, nous avons pu étudier la capacité d'étiquettes de marquer fluorophoresde reporter quantifier l'orientation moléculaire dans l'actine et les microtubules dans des cellules fixées. Nous avons également mis à profit la meilleure résolution et la détection polarisée pour étudier l'ordre moléculaire d’agrégats d’amyloïdes a l’échelle nanoscopique. Enfin, nous avons étudié l'interaction de la protéine de réparation RAD51 avec l'ADN par microscopie de fluorescence polarisée super-résolue pour quantifier l'ordre orientationnel de l'ADN et de la protéine RAD51 afin de comprendre la recombinaison homologue du mécanisme de réparation de l'ADN. / .In this thesis we built and optimized quantitative polarized stochastic super-resolution fluorescence microscopy techniques that enabled us to image molecular orientation behaviors in static and dynamic environments at single molecule level and with nano-scale resolution. Using a scheme of stochastic read-out super resolution microscopy in combination with polarized detection, we can reconstruct fluorescence anisotropy images at a spatial resolution of 40 nm. In particular, we have been able to use the techniques to quantify the molecular orientationalorder in cellular and bio-molecular assemblies. For cellular imaging, we could quantify the ability of fluorophore labels to report molecular orientation of actin and microtubules in fixed cells. Furthermore, we used the improvements of resolution and polarization detection to study molecular order of amyloid aggregates at a nanoscopic scale. Also, we studied repair protein RAD51` s interaction with DNA by using dual color polarized fluorescence microscopy, to quantify the orientational order of DNA and RAD51 to understand the homologous recombination of DNA repair mechanism.

La détection de petites molécules est d'un grand intérêt dans les domaines pharmaceutique, environnemental, alimentaire et de la biologie clinique. Les aptamères, sélectionnés par la méthode SELEX (pour Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment), sont des oligonucléotides qui se lient à une cible donnée avec une affinité et une spécificité importantes. L'objectif de ce travail est d'établir de nouvelles méthodologies analytiques basées sur l'utilisation des aptamères pour la détection de petites molécules. Dans un premier temps, une méthodologie par électrophorèse capillaire, dérivée du concept de déplacement du brin complémentaire de l'aptamère, est décrite pour la détection simultanée de plusieurs analytes dans un seul capillaire. La deuxième étude se focalise sur le développement d'un aptacapteur colorimétrique simple, rapide et peu coûteux, qui utilise le concept général de protection enzymatique de l'aptamère et les nanoparticules d'or en tant que système de transduction. Enfin, deux méthodes par polarisation de fluorescence, basées sur le concept de déplacement (du brin complémentaire ou de l'aptamère lui-même), sont présentées afin d'accroitre les potentialités des aptacapteurs dédiés à la détection des petites molécules. / Small biomolecule detection is of great interest and importance in the pharmaceutical, environmental, food and clinical fields. Aptamers, selected by SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment), are oligonucleotides that bind to a target with high affinity and specificity. The objective of the work is to establish novel methodologies of aptamer-based assays for the small biomolecule detection. In the first work, a rationalized capillary electrophoresis strategy, derived from the structure-switching aptamer concept, is described for the design of simultaneous detection of multiple analytes. The second work based on a gold nanoparticle colorimetric sensing strategy allows a rapid, label-free, homogeneous assay for small molecule using an aptamer enzymatic cleavage protection strategy. In the third work, two aptamer-based fluorescence polarization approaches, using the displacement concept, are described to improve the potentialities of the small molecule-dedicated aptasensors.

Biological membranes are heterogeneous two-dimensional fluids composed of lipids, sterols and proteins that act as complex gateways and define the cell boundary. The functions of these interfaces are diverse and specific to individual organisms, cell types, and tissues. Membranes must take up nutrients and small molecules, release waste products, bind ligands, transmit signals, convert energy, sense the environment, maintain cell adhesion, control cell migration, and much more while forming a tight barrier around the cell. The molecular mechanisms and structural details responsible for this diverse set of functions of biological membranes are still poorly understood, however. Developing new tools capable of probing and determining the local molecular organization, structure, and dynamics of membranes and their components is critical for furthering our knowledge about these important cellular processes that are often linked to health and diseases. Combinatorial microscopy takes advantage of the rich properties of light (intensity, wavelength, polarization, etc.) to create new forms of imaging that quantify the motions, orientations, and binding kinetics of the sample’s biomolecular constituents. These new optical imaging modalities can also be further combined with other types of microscopy to produce spatially correlated micrographs that provide complementary pieces of information about the sample under investigation that would otherwise remain hidden from the observer if the two imaging techniques were applied independently. The first part of this thesis provides a detailed account of the construction of a specialized hybrid microscopy platform that combines polarized total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (pTIRFM) with atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the purpose of studying fundamental sterol-lipid and antimicrobial peptide-lipid interactions in model membranes. The second half describes a combined pTIRFM and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging method to elucidate the oligomeric state and spatial distribution of carcinoembryonic-antigen-related cell-adhesion molecules (CEACAMs) in the membranes of living cells.

Biological membranes are heterogeneous two-dimensional fluids composed of lipids, sterols and proteins that act as complex gateways and define the cell boundary. The functions of these interfaces are diverse and specific to individual organisms, cell types, and tissues. Membranes must take up nutrients and small molecules, release waste products, bind ligands, transmit signals, convert energy, sense the environment, maintain cell adhesion, control cell migration, and much more while forming a tight barrier around the cell. The molecular mechanisms and structural details responsible for this diverse set of functions of biological membranes are still poorly understood, however. Developing new tools capable of probing and determining the local molecular organization, structure, and dynamics of membranes and their components is critical for furthering our knowledge about these important cellular processes that are often linked to health and diseases. Combinatorial microscopy takes advantage of the rich properties of light (intensity, wavelength, polarization, etc.) to create new forms of imaging that quantify the motions, orientations, and binding kinetics of the sample’s biomolecular constituents. These new optical imaging modalities can also be further combined with other types of microscopy to produce spatially correlated micrographs that provide complementary pieces of information about the sample under investigation that would otherwise remain hidden from the observer if the two imaging techniques were applied independently. The first part of this thesis provides a detailed account of the construction of a specialized hybrid microscopy platform that combines polarized total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (pTIRFM) with atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the purpose of studying fundamental sterol-lipid and antimicrobial peptide-lipid interactions in model membranes. The second half describes a combined pTIRFM and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging method to elucidate the oligomeric state and spatial distribution of carcinoembryonic-antigen-related cell-adhesion molecules (CEACAMs) in the membranes of living cells.