Chitin, a homopolymer of β (1-4)-linked N-acetylglucosamine, is one of the most abundant biopolymers in nature. It is widely distributed in the exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects, in the cell walls of most fungi and some algae. Chitin is an extremely insoluble material with limited industrial applicability. The deacetylated derivative of chitin, chitosan, is a water soluble cationic biopolymer having a broad range of applications (Hirano, 1999). Chitosan is naturally found in the cell wall of Zygomycetes, in the ascospore of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Briza et al., 1988) and in the cyst wall of Entamoeba invadens (Das et al., 2006). Chitosan biosynthesis requires the coordinated action of chitin synthase (E.C.2.4.1.16) and chitin deacetylase (E.C.3.5.1.41) (Davis & Bartnicki, 1984). Chitin synthase polymerizes N-acetyl glucosamine precursor molecules into chitin and chitin deacetylase catalyzes the deacetylation of the nascent chitin chains. The chitin deacetylase enzymes are members of the family 4 of carbohydrate esterases (CE-4s) as defined by the CAZY database [http://afmb.cnrs-mrs.fr/~cazy/CAZY] (Couthino et al., 1999), which includes several members sharing a conserved region in the primary structure assigned as the NodB homology domain(Caufrier et al., 2003) or polysaccharide deacetylase domain. Chitin deacetylase was first identified and partially purified from extracts of the fungus Mucor rouxii. Since then, chitin deacetylase has been purified from several fungi and chitin deacetylase open reading frames have been cloned from a few microorganisms including M. rouxii (Kafetzopoulos et al., 1993), Colletotrichum lindemuthianum (Tokuyasu et al., 1999; Shresta et al., 2004), Phycomyces blakesleeanus (GenBank AB046690), Schizophillum commune (GenBank AF271216), Blumeria graminis (GenBank AAK84438), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Christodoulidou et al., 1999) and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Matsuo et al., 2005). The structure and the catalytic mechanism of chitin deacetylase from C. lindemuthianum were recently studied (Blair et al., 2006). Chitin deacetylase plays a role in the cell wall biosynthesis in M. rouxii and Absidia coerulea (Gao et al., 1995). In C. lindemuthianum and Aspergillus nidulans, it was suggested that chitin deacetylase participates in plant-pathogen interactions to promote plant invasion (Tsigos et al., 2000). In S. cerevisiae, chitin deacetylase is essential for the ascospore cell wall rigidity and the resistance against lytic enzymes (Christodoulidou et al., 1996). The use of chitin deacetylase enzyme for the industrial deacetylation of chitin awaked a great interest. Different fungal strains were screened and compared for their ability to produce a chitin deacetylase secreted, active on insoluble substrates and showing low inhibition with acetate, a product of reaction. Rhizopus circinans proved to be a good chitin deacetylase producer with the targeted characteristics. The second part of the work was to isolate the cDNA encoding for the chitin deacetylase of R. circinans. The native enzyme was purified to homogeneity for sequencing the N-Terminal extremity. The enzyme was purified in only two steps from the culture supernatant of R. circinans. Then, the purified enzyme was sequenced and the first nine amino acids were identified. In the same way, a R. circinans cDNA library was also constructed. The cDNA library was screened using two approaches: on the one hand with radiolabeled homologous probe and on the other hand by PCR with primers designed for the 5 extremity, on the basis of the deduced sequence of the N-Terminal extremity of the native enzyme and for the 3 extremity, from the deduced R. oryzae chitin deacetylase. Two cDNA sequences (D2 and I3/2) with homology to fungal chitin deacetylase genes were isolated with the radiolabeled probe and one sequence (RC+) by PCR approach. The sequences were analyzed and characterized. The three sequences possessed several characteristics of chitin deacetylase sequence: homology with known chitin deacetylase cDNA, the presence of the deacetylase polysaccharide domain, and the same potential glycosylation sites than M. rouxii chitin deacetylase. The cDNA D2, I3/2 and RC (RC sequence is the mature protein sequence of RC+ sequence) were expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris to confirm their potential chitin deacetylase activity. Numerous constructions were tested. A poly-histidine tag was cloned to facilitate the further purification of the recombinant enzyme. Only the RC sequence showed a high chitin deacetylase activity. Several hypotheses were emitted to explain the low chitin deacetylase activity level measured with the inserts D2 and I3/2. The recombinant RC protein was purified to homogeneity in one step, and partially characterized.

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Bacterial polyketides possess an enormous range of chemical diversity and biological function. Many polyketides such as tetracycline, epothilone, and rapamycin have been developed into key clinical pharmaceuticals in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Sequencing of bacterial genomes has shown that there are many more polyketide biosynthetic pathways than there are polyketides isolated from standard cultivation techniques. These genetically encoded polyketide natural products from cultivatable and uncultivatable bacteria represent one of the greatest remaining untapped reservoirs of new natural product diversity. To access this untapped diversity of polyketide products, a general method for heterologous expression of these pathways is needed. Heterologous expression has proven to be a valuable asset in the discovery, production, engineering, and characterization of bacterial secondary metabolites and the complex enzymology involved in their biosynthesis. Herein we discuss the development and investigation of two unique heterologous expression platforms utilizing host strains of Myxococcus xanthus and Escherichia coli. Using our developed heterologous hosts, we were able to produce the Streptomyces rimosus polyketide oxytetracycline. Through production of oxytetracycline in E .coli we have identified the potential of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism. Further investigation and development of alternative transcription factors as regulators of secondary metabolism in heterologous hosts could benefit the development of robust general methodology for the heterologous expression of polyketides.

Previous studies by our group showed that vaccinia virus recombinants expressing Brucella abortus (BA) antigens heat shock protein GroEL, 18 kDa protein and Cu/Zn SOD, were unable to induce protective immune responses against Brucella challenge. This dissertation analyzes the possible reasons for this phenomenon, by using other genes/proteins from BA and Listeria monocytogenes (LM), various shuttle plasmids (pSC65, pSC11) and immune response modulators (CpG, IL-12, B7-1). As the first objective, a vaccinia virus recombinant (WRL7/L12), expressing the BA L7/L12 gene was generated. L7/L12 ribosomal protein was used as a T-cell reactive antigen, with protective potential to Brucella challenge. The WRL7/L12 was able to express the gene of interest and induce IgG2A type antibody response, but not a protective immune response against Brucella challenge. As a control, an antigen from LM proven to induce CTL and protective immune responses, was used to test the efficacy of vaccinia virus to induce protection. A portion of hly gene, encoding partial listeriolysin (pLLO), was inserted into the same vaccinia virus stain. This recombinant (WRpLLO) was able to induce protection against a Listeria challenge. Next another vaccinia virus recombinant expressing Brucella abortus Cu/Zn SOD was analyzed. Although a variety of approaches, including the enhancement of the protein expression by the pMCO2 synthetic promoter, booster immunization, addition of the oligomer CpG adjuvant (WRSODCpG) to enhance Th1 type response, were used, the SOD recombinant failed to protect mice against Brucella challenge. Lastly, vaccinia virus produces a family of proteins that bind cytokines, chemokines and interferons to evade the host defensive systems. Therefore, a vaccinia virus strain co-expressing murine IL-12, and cofactor B7-1, were used to generate the recombinant WRIL12L7/L12. In order to further boost the induction of Th 1 type response, the adjuvant CpG was used. A similar recombinant, WRIL12pLLO, was generated with partial hly gene to serve as a positive control for protection. Mice immune responses to these recombinants, with and without adjuvant CpG, were analyzed, and compared with the recombinants generated with vaccinia strain WR. Co-expression of IL12 and B7 abrogated the protective efficacy of the vaccinia/ pLLO recombinant. / Ph. D.

Οι νικοτινικοί υποδοχείς της ακετυλοχολίνης είναι ομο- ή ετεροπενταμερείς διαμεμβρανικές γλυκοπρωτεΐνες οι οποίες, σχηματίζοντας ιοντικά κανάλια, συμβάλλουν στην λειτουργία του μυικού και νευρικού συστήματος. Η επικείμενη εμπλοκή των υποδοχέων αυτών σε διάφορες παθολογικές καταστάσεις του οργανισμού, επιβάλλει τη γνώση της δομής τους, απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση για την ανάπτυξη εξειδικευμένων θεραπευτικών προσεγγίσεων. Μέχρι τώρα, δεν έχουν δημοσιευτεί υψηλής ανάλυσης πληροφορίες για τη δομή του μορίου του ανθρώπινου υποδοχέα μέσω κρυσταλλογραφίας ακτίνων Χ ή μέσω πειραμάτων πυρηνικού μαγνητικού συντονισμού (NMR). Η απουσία των συγκεκριμένων πληροφοριών, οφείλεται στη φύση του μορίου του υποδοχέα όπως η ύπαρξη των υδρόφοβων διαμεμβρανικών περιοχών, το μέγεθος του μορίου καθώς και η αδυναμία απομόνωσης σε μεγάλες ποσότητες από φυσικές πηγές. Για το λόγο αυτό, είναι αναγκαίο να προκύψουν πρωτεϊνικά μόρια υδατοδιαλυτά, λειτουργικά, με δομή η οποία να πλησιάζει αρκετά τη φυσική διαμόρφωσή τους και σε ποσότητες ικανές ώστε να είναι εφικτές οι δομικές μελέτες τους. Τα τμήματα του νικοτινικού υποδοχέα της ακετυλοχολίνης, τα οποία συγκεντρώνουν τις παραπάνω προϋποθέσεις, είναι τα εξωκυτταρικά αμινοτελικά πολυπεπτίδια των διαφόρων υπομονάδων που τον αποτελούν. Από την άλλη πλευρά, ο οργανισμός που πρόκειται να χρησιμοποιηθεί ως σύστημα ετερόλογης έκφρασης, πρέπει να είναι εύκολος στους χειρισμούς του, γρήγορος, οικονομικός, με μεγάλο επίπεδο έκφρασης (όπως τα βακτήρια π.χ. E.coli) αλλά ταυτόχρονα να έχει την ικανότητα να πραγματοποιεί μεταμεταφραστικές τροποποιήσεις στις πρωτεΐνες που εκφράζει ώστε τα παραγόμενα μόρια να μπορούν να αναδιπλωθούν (όπως τα ευκαρυωτικά κύτταρα). Άρα, για να προκύψουν τα επιθυμητά μόρια, σύμφωνα με τις παραπάνω προϋποθέσεις, εκφράστηκαν τα εξωκυτταρικά τμήματα (ECDs) των ανθρώπινων υπομονάδων α1, α4 και β2 στο υπερκείμενο καλλιέργειας του μεθυλοτροφικού ζυμομύκητα P. pastoris. Αρχικά, μελετήθηκαν τα εξωκυτταρικά τμήματα των α4 και β2 υπομονάδων με διαφορετικούς επιτόπους ώστε να γίνει η επιλογή του καλύτερου συνδιασμού που πρόκειται να χρησιμοποιηθεί για έκφραση των δύο υπομονάδων στο ίδιο σύστημα. Η έκφραση των α4 και β2 ECDs με τον επίτοπο των έξι αμινοξικών καταλοίπων στο καρβοξυτελικό τους άκρο (α4-ECD-6xHis και β2-ECD-6xHis) στο υπερκείμενο καλλιέργειας του P. pastoris, κατέληξε στην απομόνωση μικρών ποσοτήτων πρωτεϊνικών συσσωματωμάτων τα οποία κρίνονται ακατάλληλα για δομικές μελέτες εξαιτίας της υδροφοβικότητας και κατά συνέπεια του μεγέθους τους. Όταν πραγματοποιήθηκε αλλαγή της υδρόφοβης περιοχής μεταξύ των κυστεινών 128 και 142 με την αντίστοιχη υδρόφιλη ολιγοπεπτιδική αλληλουχία της πρωτεΐνης η οποία δεσμεύει ακετυλοχολίνη (AChBP) στις ανασυνδιασμένες πρωτεΐνες, παρατηρήθηκε αισθητή βελτίωση για την β2-ECD υπομονάδα (β2-cysloop-ECD-6xHis) τόσο σε επίπεδο έκφρασης όσο και στο μέγεθος το οποίο σχηματίζει. Ωστόσο, παρόμοια βελτίωση για την α4-cysloop-ECD-6xHis υπομονάδα, παρατηρήθηκε όταν αντικαταστάθηκε ο καρβοξυτελικός επίτοπος των έξι αμινοξικών καταλοίπων ιστιδίνης από τον επίτοπο του οκταπεπτιδίου FLAG (α4-cysloop-ECD-FLAG). Στα πειράματα συνέκφρασης, των δύο υπομονάδων στο ζυμομύκητα P. pastoris που ακολούθησαν, αρχικά πιστοποιήθηκε η συνέκφραση και στη συνέχεια ο σχηματισμός ετεροπολυμερούς των δύο υπομονάδων. Ακόμα, η απογλυκοζυλίωση των α4-cysloop-ECD-FLAG και β2-cysloop-ECD-6xHis όταν εκφράζονται μόνες τους ή όταν εκφράζονται ταυτόχρονα στο υπερκείμενο του P. pastoris, φανέρωσε την αύξηση της ομοιογένειας των μορίων τους. Επιπλέον, ενθαρυντική ήταν η εύρεση της επιθυμητής στοιχειομετρίας 2 α4/ 3 β2 των υπομονάδων βάση της οποίας συμμετέχουν στο σχηματισμό του ετεροπολυμερούς. Ωστόσο, η μάζα του ετεροπολυμερούς των ανασυνδιασμένων α4 και β2 υπομονάδων, όπως προέκυψε από την επεξεργασία των αποτελεσμάτων της χρωματογραφίας μοριακής διήθησης (1191 και 496kDa), απέχει κατά πολύ από την θεωρητικά αναμενόμενη μάζα ετεροπενταμερούς των 175kDa. Μελέτες δυναμικής σκέδασης φωτός σε δείγματα του απομονωμένου ετεροπολυμερούς, επιβεβαίωσαν το παραπάνω αποτέλεσμα. Τα αποτελέσματα της μελέτης μείωσης του μεγέθους των ετεροπολυμερών με απορρυπαντικά, έδειξαν ότι είναι δυνατή η επιθυμητή μείωση του μεγέθους αλλά σε υψηλές τιμές συγκεντρώσεων απορρυπαντικού. Επιπλέον, η ανάγκη για ακόμα υψηλότερες τιμές απορρυπαντικών προς βελτίωση της ομοιογένειας δεν συνίσταται, διότι κατευθύνει τους σχηματισμούς των πρωτεϊνικών μοριών σε ασταθείς καταστάσεις οι οποίες χαρακτηρίζονται από ευμετάβλητες διαμορφώσεις και πολλές φορές καταστροφή των υπό μελέτη πρωτεϊνών. Ακόμα, το γεγονός ότι τα απομονωμέμενα ετεροπολυμερή των α4 και β2 ECDs δεν εμφανίζουν την ικανότητα δέσμευσης νικοτίνης, σε συνδιασμό με τα παραπάνω αποτελέσματα μελέτης τους, οδήγησαν στο συμπέρασμα ότι δεν τηρούν τις προϋποθέσεις των κατάλληλων πρωτεϊνικών δειγμάτων τα οποία προορίζονται για πειράματα μελέτης της δομής τους. Η έκφραση της ανασυνδιασμένης α1-ECD με τον επίτοπο των έξι αμινοξικών καταλοίπων στο καρβοξυτελικό της άκρο (α1-ECD-6xHis) στο υπερκείμενο καλλιέργειας του P. pastoris, κατέληξε στην απομόνωση υδατοδιαλυτού και λειτουργικού μορίου. Οι πληροφορίες των μελετών κυκλικού διχρωισμού σε δείγμα της απομονωμένης ανασυνδιασμένης πρωτεΐνης, δείχνουν ότι πρόκειται για ένα μόριο με διαμόρφωση και μάλιστα, σε επίπεδο δευτεροταγούς δομής, εμφανίζει ένα πλούσιο περιεχόμενο β-πτυχωτής επιφάνειας (40,9%). Ωστόσο, οι δοκιμές κρυστάλλωσης στις οποίες τέθηκαν δείγματα της α1-ECD-6xHis, δεν απέδωσαν το επιθυμητό αποτέλεσμα της κρυστάλλωσης του μορίου. Ακόμα και όταν πραγματοποιήθηκε προσπάθεια μελέτης του μορίου σε διαλύματα (NH4)2SO4 με μεταβλητή συγκέντρωση, pH και θερμοκρασία, στάθηκε αδύνατο να κρυσταλλωθεί το μόριο. Το πρόβλημα της συγκεκριμένης έκφρασης, εντοπίστηκε επιπλέον και στο ποσό της ανασυνδιασμένης πρωτεΐνης που είναι δυνατόν να απομονωθεί. Για να αυξηθεί το επίπεδο έκφρασης, πραγματοποιήθηκαν πειράματα μεταβολής των συνθηκών καλλιέργειας (θερμοκρασία, σύσταση θρεπτικού μέσου) όπως επίσης και των συνθηκών απομόνωσης. Παρατηρήθηκε βελτίωση στην ποσότητα του τελικού απομονωμένου προϊόντος η οποία όμως δεν θεωρείται ικανοποιητική. Για το λόγο αυτό, στη συνέχεια, πραγματοποιήθηκε έκφραση και απομόνωση της α1-ECD με τον επίτοπο του οκταπεπτιδίου FLAG στο αμινοτελικό της άκρο, στο υπερκείμενο καλλιέργειας του ίδιου ζυμομύκητα. Το επίπεδο έκφρασης της συγκεκριμένης ανασυνδιασμένης πρωτεΐνης, ήταν αρκετά ικανοποιητικό (1mg πρωτεΐνης /lt υπερκειμένου καλλιέργειας) και μάλιστα αυξημένο κατά πολύ σε σχέση με τις προηγούμενες εκφράσεις (0,34mg πρωτεΐνης /lt υπερκειμένου καλλιέργειας). Ωστόσο, η αδυναμία ορθής λήψης φάσματος του μορίου μέσω κυκλικού διχρωισμού εξαιτίας αυξημένου θορύβου, στάθηκε η αιτία να σταματήσει η έκφραση της συγκεκριμένης ανασυνδιασμένης πρωτεΐνης. / Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are homo- or heteropentameric transmembrane glycoproteins which form ion channels and contribute to the function of muscles and neurons. The involvement of these receptors in pathological situations, imposes the knowledge of their structure for the development of specific therapeutic approaches. Till now, there is not sufficient knowledge about the structure of the human acetylcholine receptor through x-ray crystallography or through NMR experiments. The absence of these data, comes from the nature of the receptor molecules such as the existence of hydrophobic transmembrane domains, the size of the molecule. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain hydrophilic and functional protein molecules with native-like structure and in adequate quantities in order to be possible structural studies of these molecules. So, the most suitable domains of the acetylchlonine receptors to be used for these studies, are the extracellular domains. At the beginning, studies of extracellular domains of α4 and β2 subunits with different tags were accomplished in order to choose the best combination to be used in cooexpression experiments in Pichia Pastoris. The expression of the extracellular domains of α4 and β2 tagged with 6xHis in the C-terminus (α4-ECD-6xHis and β2-ECD-6xHis) to the supernatant of the P. pastoris culture, gave very little amounts of protein aggregates which are not suitable for structural studies because of their hydrophobicity. When the hydrophobic region between Cys 128 and Cys 142 was changed with the respective hydrophilic region from Acetylcholine Binding Protein, an increase of expression of the β2-ECD subunit and a decrease of protein aggregation was observed. However, a similar improvement for α4-cysloop-ECD-6xHis subunit was observed after substitution of 6xHis tag with FLAG tag. Thereafter, the cooexpression experiments through P. pastoris, showed the formation of an heteropolymer which is formed by the two different subunits. Moreover, the in vitro deglycosylation of α4-cysloop-ECD-FLAG and β2-cysloop-ECD-6xHis, either they are coexpressed or not, revealed an improvement of homogeneity of these molecules. Besides these results, the determination of the desirable stoichiometry 2 α4/ 3 β2 of the subunits that participate in the heteropolymer, was also encouraging. However, the estimation of protein mass of the α4β2 heteropolymer, through gel filtration chromatography (1191 and 496 kDa), showed that these formations are much bigger than the expected mass of heteropentamers. This result is also confirmed by dynamic light scattering experiments. The results from decreasing the size of heteropolymers in the presence of detergents, showed that this is possible to be achieved in high concentrations of detergents with the danger of denaturing the protein molecules. So, it was obvious that this strategy for studying the structure of the extracellular domain of α4β2 receptors, had to be changed. The expression of the extracellular domain of α1 subunit tagged with 6xHis to the supernatant of P. pastoris culture, led to the isolation of water soluble and functional molecule. Data from circular dicroism studies in a protein sample, showed that α1-ECD has a formation rich in β-sheets (40.9%). However, crystallization trials in samples of α1-ECD-6xHis, gave no protein crystals. Moreover, the yield of the purified protein was too small. In order to achieve an increase of the protein yield, experiments of modifying the temperature and the composition of nutrient were carried out. The result from these experiments showed a slight improvement for the final quantity of protein that is obtained but not satisfactory. For this reason, there were performed expression and isolation of the extracellular domain of α1 subunit with a FLAG tag in the N-terminus, to the supernatant of P. pastoris culture. The quantity of purified protein was dramatically increased (1mg protein/lt of culture supernatant). However, it was not possible to obtain a circular dichroism spectrum without background noise and that was the reason for not continuing the expression of this protein.

La vanillyl alcool oxydase est un biocatalyseur prometteur d’un point de vue réactionnel en raison de sa faible sélectivité sur les composés phénoliques substitués en position para. Elle catalyse l’oxydation d’une large gamme de dérivés 4-hydroxybenzylique, des réactions de déméthylation oxydative, de désamination, de déshydrogénation et d’hydroxylation ; notamment celle de l’eugénol. L’hydroxylation de ce dernier conduit à la formation d’alcool coniférylique. Dans le but d’utiliser l’eugénol comme substrat de biosytnhèse de dérivés vanilliques, nous avons développé, au cours de ce travail de thèse, deux souches exprimant le biocatalyseur d’intérêt : une souche de levure et une souche bactérienne.La première partie de la thèse a donc consisté à mettre au point un système d’expression pour la production de VAO dans la levure de boulanger et un procédé d’hydroxylation de l’eugénol en fermenteur. Le principal apport réside dans la construction de la souche 93645, qui contient la cassette d’expression VAO et une activité oxydase propre permettant la bioconversion de l’alcool coniférylique formé en acide férulique. En fonction des conditions de fermentation, 20 g/l d’alcool coniférylique ou 27 g/l d’acide férulique sont produits par les cultures de S. cereviaise- VAO 93645. La reproductibilité des procédés, ainsi que leur faisabilité à l’échelle pilote, ont été démontrés.Dans la seconde partie de cette étude, le même travail de clonage a été réalisé dans la souche Amycetales Streptomyces setonii ATCC 39116. La bactérie, reclassifiée en 2009 sous le nom d’Amycolatopsis sp 39116, est connue pour sa capacité à bioconvertir l’acide férulique en vanilline ; d’où l’intérêt d’exprimer l’enzyme VAO dans cette souche. Plusieurs stratégies de clonage ont été expérimentées et une souche recombinante, exprimant une activité VAO active a été obtenue. Les conditions optimales pour l'utilisation de cette dernière dans le cadre de la production de vanilline et d’alcool coniférylique ont été identifiées. Elles conduisent à la biosynthèse de 0,4 g/l vanilline et de 15 g/l d’alcool coniférylique. Les résultats mettent en évidence une activité insuffisante des oxydases de Streptomyces sur l’alcool coniférylique formé. Ce type de production n’a encore jamais été réalisé chez S. setonii et ces premiers résultats demandent encore des mises au point avec, sans doute, le clonage d’oxydases hétérologues permettant la bioconversion de l’alcool coniférylique formé en acide férulique. / Our aim was to develop a process for the biosynthesis of vanillin derivatives from eugenol.Vanillyl alcohol oxidase isolated from Peniciiiium simplissicimum, catalyzes the hydroxylation of eugenolinto coniferyl alcohol. In this study, two strains expressing the biocatalyst were constructed: a yeast,Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a bacteria; Streptomyces setonii.It has been demonstrated that the wild strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae can bioconvert coniferyl alcohol, most probably due to its dehydrogenase activity. Strain 93645, genetically modified to expressvanillyl-alcohol oxidase, enabled us to optimize an industrial scale process for the production of natural ferulic acid.Streptomyces setonii strain ATCC 39116 was also genetically engineered to over-express VAO. Abioconversion process was developed leading to a coniferyl alcohol concentration of 15 g/1 coniferyl alcohol. The impact of several parameters; such as temperature, substrate addition mode and pH, werealso explored to improve the bioconversion reaction of coniferyl alcohol to vanillin. The amounts of product resulting from bacterial biosynthesis were however too low for implementation of an industrial process.

The neutral lipid triacylglycerol (TAG) is the main storage lipid in plants. When stored in seeds, TAG provides the carbon and energy source during germination. There is significant human nutritional demand for vegetable oil, but its use in production of renewable biomaterials and fuels has intensified the need to increase oil production. In plants, the final and committed step in TAG biosynthesis is catalyzed by diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGAT) and/or a phospholipid: diacylglycerol acyltransferases (PDAT). Both DGAT and PDAT contribute to seed TAG biosynthesis in an independent or overlapping manner, depending on the species. However, in nonseed tissues such as mesocarp of avocado, the regulation of TAG biosynthesis is not well-studied. Based on the transcriptome data of Persea americana it is hypothesized that both DGAT and PDAT are likely to catalyze the conversion of diacylglycerol to TAG. In this study, putative DGAT1 and DGAT2 were identified and comprehensive in silico analyses were conducted to determine the respective start codons, full-length coding sequences, transmembrane domains, predicted protein structures and phylogenetic relationships with other known DGATs. These data reveal that the putative DGATs of a basal angiosperm species retain features that are conserved not only among angiosperms but also other eukaryotes. For further biochemical characterization, the avocado DGATs were expressed in a TAGdeficient yeast strain and lipotoxicity rescue assays were conducted. The complementation of this yeast strain confirmed enzyme activity and supported the possible role of both avocado DGATs in TAG biosynthesis. Future studies will be focused on determining the substrate specificity of DGAT and its role, relative to PDATs in TAG biosynthesis in avocado mesocarp.

Cytochromes P450 form a large family of hemoproteins. Some of them are responsible for the metabolism of endogenous substrates, but their major role is in detoxification of exogenous substrates (xenobiotics), some of them are activated to reactive species forming covalent adducts with DNA and increasing intracellular oxidative stress. Cytochrome P450 are considered by very promiscuous in terms of their substrate specificity, thus one enzyme can typically oxidize many substrates. Cytochrome P450 1A1 prefers a planar aromatic compounds (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, azo dyes, etc.). Cytochrome P450 1A2 elicits similar substrate specificity, but prefers slightly basic aromatic derivatives, for example caffeine. This work focuses on (i) the preparation of expression vectors containing genes encoding human cytochromes P450 1A1 and 1A2, (ii) their consequent expression in heterologous system followed by (iii) isolation of corresponding proteins. The genes coding both proteins were modified and transferred from older vectors to the more efficient to expression plasmids pET-22b. However, the new constructs did not produce stable native proteins. The modified genes were therefore transferred to the original expression plasmids pCW. The problem with the incorporation of native human form of...