Le cytomégalovirus humain (CMVH) est un pathogène opportuniste majeur en cas d’immunodépression et représente la principale cause d’infection congénitale d’origine virale. Bien qu’efficaces, l’utilisation des molécules conventionnelles est limitée par l’émergence de résistance et leur toxicité. Il devient alors nécessaire de développer de nouveaux traitements.L’étude des nouvelles mutations émergeant sous traitement antiviral demeure donc essentielle. L’introduction de ces nouvelles mutations, par mutagénèse « en passant », dans un chromosome bactérien artificiel contenant le génome viral nous permet, après transfection en cellules humaines, de tester la sensibilité de la souche recombinantes aux antiviraux.Différentes mutations de résistances ont ainsi été caractérisées. Afin de mettre en évidence de nouvelles cibles antivirales, des analyses bio-informatiques et la production de virus recombinants ont permis d’identifier de potentiels motifs fonctionnels essentiels à la réplication au sein du complexe terminase et hélicase-primase. Ainsi, nous avons montré quela sous-unité pUL56 du complexe terminase appartient à la famille des LAGLIDADG Homing Endonuclease. En effet, pUL56 contient un motif LATLNDIERFL et un motif de liaison à l’ADN. La technologie Alpha utilisant des protéines purifiées a permis de valider le caractère essentiel du fragment WMVVKYMGFF de pUL56 pour l’interaction avec pUL89. Enfin, nous avons mis en évidence les résidus impliqués dans la fixation de l’ATP au sein de l’hélicase et dans la stabilisation du zinc de la primase. Ainsi, la compréhension de la structure de ces protéines pourrait permettent de mieux appréhender leur fonctionnement au sein du processus de réplication du CMVH et le développement de nouvelles thérapies ciblant ces domaines. / Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an important opportunistic pathogen for immunecompromised patients and is the leading cause of congenital viral infection. Although they are effective, using of conventional molecules is limited by the emergence of resistance and their toxicity. Then it becomes necessary to develop new treatments. Study of new mutationsemerging under antiviral treatment is therefore essential. Introduction of these new mutations, by « en passant » mutagenesis, into an artificial bacterial chromosome containing the viral genome allows us, after transfection into human cells, testing antivirals sensitivity of the recombinant. Different mutations of resistances have been characterized. In order tohighlight new antiviral targets, bioinformatics and recombinant viruses production allowed to identify potential functional patterns essential for viral replication within terminase and helicase-primase complex. Thus, we have shown that pUL56 subunit of the terminase complex belongs to the LAGLIDADG Homing Endonuclease family. Indeed, pUL56 contains aLATLNDIERFL motif and a DNA binding motif. Alpha technology using purified proteins allowed to validate the essential character of the WMVVKYMGFF fragment of pUL56 for the interaction with pUL89. Finally, we highlighted the residues involved in ATP binding within the helicase and in the stabilization of zinc within the primase. Thus, understanding of these proteins structure could allow us to better understand their role within the viral replication process and the development of new therapies targeting these domains.

Plants maintain organelle genomes that are descended from ancient microbes. Ages ago, these ancient microbes were engulfed by larger cells, beginning a process of co-evolution we now call the endo-symbiotic theory. Over time, DNA from the engulfed microbe was transferred to the genome of the larger engulfing cell, eventually losing the ability to be free-living, and establishing a permanent residency in the larger cell. Similarly, the larger cell came to rely so much on the microbe it had engulfed, that it too lost its ability to survive without it. Thus, mitochondria and plastids were born. Nearly all multicellular eukaryotes possess mitochondria; however, different evolutionary pressures have created drastically different genomes in plants versus animals. For one, animals have very compact, efficient mitochondrial genomes, with about 97% of the DNA coding for genes. These genomes are very consistent in size across different animal species. Plants, on the other hand, have mitochondrial genomes 10 to more than 100 times as large as animal mitochondrial genomes. Plants also use a variety of mechanisms to replicate and maintain their DNA. Central to these mechanisms are nuclear-encoded, organelle targeted replication proteins. To date, there are two DNA polymerases that have been identified in plant mitochondria and chloroplasts, Pol1A and Pol1B. There is also a DNA helicase-primase that localizes to mitochondria and chloroplasts called Twinkle, which has similarities to the gp4 protein from T7 phage. In this dissertation, we discuss the roles of the polymerases and the effects of mutating the Pol1A and Pol1B genes respectively. We show that organelle genome copy number decreases slightly and over time but with little effect on plant development. We also detail the interactions between Twinkle and Pol1A or Pol1B. Plants possess the same organellar proteins found in animal mitochondria, which are homologs to T7 phage DNA replication proteins. We show that similar to animals and some phage, plants utilize the same proteins in similar interactions to form the basis of a DNA replisome. However, we also show that plants mutated for Twinkle protein show no discernable growth defects, suggesting there are alternative replication mechanisms available to plant mitochondria that are not accessible in animals.