Bacteria may live in harsh environments where they face changing and new conditions. Therefore, the ability to maintain homeostasis in cells may be vital for survival. Transition metals such as iron, zinc, and copper are essential nutrients for cell survival, but become toxic if in excess amount. In order to survive, bacteria have developed defensive mechanisms to protect themselves. Copper and silver levels need to be carefully maintained within cells to balance cellular needs with potential toxicity. This dissertation focuses on the Cus copper and silver efflux system in E. coli. The E. coli cus system is composed of two divergently transcribed operons, cusCFBA and cusRS. The cusCFBA genes encode for a tripartite metal efflux pump CusCBA and a metallochaperone CusF. The cusRS genes encode a two-component system CusS-CusR that regulates the expression of the cusCFBA genes in response to elevated levels of copper or silver in the periplasm. The histidine kinase CusS senses and binds to metals on its periplasmic sensor domain and transduces signal into the cytoplasm to further communicate with its cognate response regulator CusR through histidyl-aspartyl phosphotransfer event. CusR then outputs cellular response by activating the upregulation of the cusCFBA genes, which then turn on the CusCBA efflux pump to eliminate excess copper or silver in the periplasm. While bacterial two-component systems have been widely studied, the mechanisms of ligand-induced signal transduction by histidine kinases remain unclear. It is now known that cusS is essential for copper and silver resistance, and CusS directly binds metal ions in the periplasmic sensor domain and dimerizes upon metal binding. Thus, the goal of this research is to characterize the metal binding properties in the sensor domain, and to elucidate the signal transduction and autophosphorylation mechanisms of CusS upon metal binding. The data from this work reveal that there are two distinct metal binding sites, interface and internal binding sites, in the sensor domain of CusS, and the interface binding site is functionally more important in metal resistance in E. coli. Furthermore, metal-induced dimerization through the interface metal binding site plays an important role in CusS kinase activity. Together, these findings aid in our understanding of the molecular details in metal binding within the sensor domain of CusS. Based on these data, we propose a model for the signal transduction mechanism and histidine phosphorylation mechanism of the histidine kinase CusS.

Mes travaux de thèse concernent la fabrication de micro et de nanostructures en silicium dans le but de développer des surfaces non-mouillantes et d’outils analytiques pour des applications en biochimie et en microfluidique. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé d’une part la gravure chimique humide qu’est la « metal-assisted electroless etching » (approche descendante) et d’autre part la croissance de nanofils par « Chemical Vapor Deposition » via le mécanisme « Vapor-Liquid-Solid » (approche ascendante). Des surfaces structurées possédant des morphologies différentes ont été obtenues. Grâce à ces méthodes de fabrication nous avons préparé des structurations simple et double, à savoir des structurations nanométriques et micrométriques et des doubles structurations micro-nanométriques. Dans une première partie, les surfaces structurées ont permis de développer des surfaces superomniphobes, capables de repousser des liquides présentant des tensions de surface très variables. Les surfaces présentant une double structuration donnant les meilleures propriétés non-mouillantes. Dans une deuxième partie, ces surfaces nanostructurées ont été utilisées comme matrices inorganiques pour la désorption/ionisation assistée par laser permettant l’analyse en spectrométrie de masse de petites molécules sans l’utilisation de matrice organique. Nous avons étudié l’influence de la morphologie, du type de dopage et de la terminaison chimique sur l’analyse en spectrométrie de masse d’un mélange de peptide standard. Finalement, nous avons réalisé l’enrichissement d’un peptide et son analyse en spectrométrie de masse à partir d’un mélange donné, grâce à l’introduction d’un ligand spécifique. / This work concerns the fabrication of micro/nanostructured silicon substrates and their application as non-wetting surfaces, and analytical tools for biomolecules’ analysis and in microfluidic devices. Two different techniques were investigated for the formation of nanostructured silicon substrates: chemical wet etching via metal-assisted electroless etching (Top-down approach) and nanowire growth by « Chemical Vapor Deposition » via Vapor-Liquid-Solid mechanism (Bottom-up approach). Different structured surface morphologies were then obtained. These were either simple structured such as: Micro or Nanoscale, or double structured such as: Micro-Nano or Nano-Nanoscale. The first part of the thesis deals with the preparation of superominiphobic surfaces capable of repelling almost any liquid. The surfaces consisting of double structured substrates gave the best non-wetting properties. Secondly, nanostructured silicon substrates were used as inorganic matrices for the detection of small molecules without using an organic matrix in laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. Herein, we investigated the influence of surface morphology, doping type and chemical termination on mass spectrometry analysis of a standard peptide mixture. Finally, functionalized silicon nanowires surfaces with a specific ligand were used to perform peptide enrichment and its subsequent analysis by mass spectrometry from a mixture solution.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:13:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Berton, Juliana.pdf: 2602704 bytes, checksum: 2cb56990fbaa5b2f82264280c97a04df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Histidine is an important amino acid in the differentiation of some cell types, such as hepatocytes, for example. Histamine is synthesized from histidine is present in many cancer types, including melanoma. This cancer has as characteristics no differentiated cell and the production a high amount of histamine. The purpose of this work was to study the effects of a histidine supplementation on differentiation and tumor progression. In vitro cell viability were performed by neutral red and MTT assays with histidine at 0,01, 0,1, 0,3, 1,0, 3,0, 10 and 20 mM cimetidine at 0,01, 0,1, 0,3, 1,0, 3,0, 10 mM, 10 mM histidine association cimetidine + 0,01 mM and 10 mM cimetidine association + 0,01 mM histidine and evaluated after 24, 48 and 72 hours using B16F10 cells and morphological analysis additionally performed. Histamine at 0,01, 0,1, 1 and 10 mM, terfenadine at concentrations 1, 10, 100 nM and 1 uM and thioperamide at concentrations 1, 10, 100 nM and 1 uM were also assessed by using the MTT cell B16F10. ELISA was performed to quantify histamine with cell culture supernatant treated with histidine, histamine, terfenadine, cimetidine, and thioperamide. For in vivo assays were used C57BL6/J mice underwent implantation of tumor cells and subsequently treated with histidine solution at a dose of 21.4 mg/kg cimetidine 343.3 mg/kg and association between both and evaluated for 11 days as the tumor growth were used. Histological analysis, hematological and biochemical determinations were also performed. Data were analysed by ANOVA One-Way, and Tukey post-test. The results of the MTT viability test, showed cell viability decreased histidine at a concentration of 0,01 mM in 72 hours, cimetidine in concentrations 3 to 10 mM at 48 and 72 hours and cimetidine 10 mM /histidine 0,01 mM association in 48 and 72 hours, results also found in neutral red. Histamine decreased the cell viability of B16F10 cells at 20 mM concentration in 48 h and concentrations 1 and 10 mM at 72 hours, terfenadine decreased cell viability at all concentrations tested at 24 h and stayed up to 10 nM 72 hours and thioperamide decreased the cell viability at all concentrations tested 72 hours MTT assay. In the morphological analysis it was observed that at lower concentrations of histidine discrete cell rounding occurred and the appearance of "blebs" and the highest concentrations of vacuolated cytoplasm. Cimetidine treated cells showed characteristics of apoptosis. The association histidine 0,01 mM/cimetidine 10 mM caused cell death. The histamine ELISA test showed that the treatment with the histamine H1 antagonist may increase or decrease production of histamine and its receiving treatment led to thioperamide produce less or blocking of histamine H3 receptors allows a greater uptake of histamine. In experiments in vivo treatments with histidine and cimetidine inhibited tumor growth by the seventh day of treatment. Biochemical determinations of AST, ALT showed no toxicity after treatment. The histological findings, the group treated with histidine showed necrotic areas and the cimetidine group showed leukocyte infiltration and promoted stimulation of angiogenesis. Metastases were not found in any of the organs analyzed groups. It was concluded that histidine plays an important role in tumor progression and stimulating or inhibitory depending on the dosage/day of treatment. / A histidina é um aminoácido importante fator na diferenciação de alguns tipos celulares, como hepatócitos, por exemplo. A histamina, sintetizada a partir da histidina, está presente em muitos tipos de câncer, entre eles o melanoma. Esse tipo de câncer tem como características a não diferenciação celular e a produção de grande quantidade de histamina. O propósito deste trabalho foi estudar os efeitos de uma suplementação de histidina sobre a diferenciação e progressão tumoral. Os ensaios in vitro de viabilidade celular MTT e vermelho neutro foram realizados com histidina nas concentrações 0,01, 0,1, 0,3, 1,0, 3,0, 10 e 20 mM, cimetidina nas concentrações 0,01, 0,1, 0,3, 1,0, 3,0, 10 mM, associação histidina 10 mM + cimetidina 0,01 mM e associação de cimetidina 10 mM + histidina 0,01 mM e avaliados após 24, 48 e 72 horas utilizando-se células B16F10 e adicionalmente realizada a análise morfológica. Histamina nas concentrações 0,01, 0,1, 1 e 10 mM, terfenadina nas concentrações 1, 10, 100 nM e 1 μM e tioperamida nas concentrações 1, 10, 100 nM e 1 μM também foram avaliadas pelo MTT utilizandose células B16F10. Foi realizado teste de ELISA para quantificação de histamina com sobrenadante de cultura celular tratada com histidina, histamina, terfenadina, cimetidina e tioperamida. Para o ensaio in vivo foram utilizados camundongos C57BL6/J, submetidos ao implante de células tumorais e posteriormente tratados com solução de histidina na dose de 21,4 mg/kg, cimetidina na dose de 343,3 mg/kg e associação entre ambas e avaliados por 11 dias quanto ao crescimento tumoral. Avaliações hematológicas, determinações bioquímicas e análise histológica também foram realizadas. Os dados obtidos foram submetidos à análise estatística ANOVA 1-VIA, e pos-test Tukey. Como resultados no teste de viabilidade MTT, a histidina diminuiu a viabilidade celular na concentração de 0,01 mM em 72 horas, da cimetidina nas concentrações de 3 e 10 mm em 48 e 72 horas e da associação cimetidina 10 mM/histidina 0,01 mM em 48 e 72 horas, resultados também encontrados no vermelho neutro. A histamina diminuiu a viabilidade celular das células B16F10 em 48 h na concentração de 20 mM e em 72 horas nas concentrações de 1 e 10 mM, a terfenadina diminuiu a viabilidade celular em todas as concentrações testadas em 24 h, permanecendo a de 10 nM até 72 horas e a tioperamida diminuiu a viabilidade celular em todas as concentrações testadas em 72 horas no ensaio de MTT. Na análise morfológica observou-se que nas menores concentrações de histidina ocorreu discreto arredondamento celular e aparecimento de “blebs” e nas concentrações maiores vacuolização de citoplasma. As células tratadas com cimetidina apresentaram indícios de apoptose. A associação histidina 0,01 mM/cimetidina 10 mM provocou morte celular. O teste de ELISA para histamina revelou que o tratamento com o antagonista H1 de histamina pode aumentar a produção de histamina ou diminuir sua receptação e o tratamento a tioperamida levou a uma menor produção de histamina ou o bloqueio dos receptores H3 permitindo uma maior recaptação de histamina. Na experimentação in vivo os tratamentos com histidina e cimetidina inibiram o crescimento tumoral até o sétimo dia de tratamento. As determinações bioquímicas das enzimas transaminase oxalacética e transaminase pirúvica revelaram que não houve toxicidade após os tratamentos. Nas avaliações histológicas, o grupo tratado com histidina apresentou áreas necróticas e o grupo cimetidina apresentou infiltrado leucocitário e promoveu estímulo da angiogênese. Metástases não foram encontradas nos órgãos analisados de nenhum dos grupos. Concluiu-se que a histidina tem um papel importante na progressão tumoral sendo inibitório ou estimulante dependendo da dosagem/dias de tratamento.

Two-component systems (TCS) are the predominant signal transduction pathways in prokaryotes, being present also in eukaryotic organisms, such as algae, fungi and yeast, and higher plants. TCSs play an important role in environmental signal perception and response, essentially implementing adaptation to the surrounding environment. Histidine Kinase 2 (Hik2) in cyanobacteria is a typical sensor histidine kinase, one component of a TCS, and has been identified to be a homologue protein of Arabidopsis Chloroplast Sensor Kinase (CSK). Previous research has elucidated Hik2 to regulate photosynthetic gene transcription with two response regulators, Rre1 and RppA via phosphorylation. A typical histidine kinase contains a variable sensor domain and a conserved kinase domain. It usually functions as a homodimer. This thesis describes the structural characterisation of Hik2, probing particularly its discovered oligomeric states. Results obtained from size exclusion chromatography, native-PAGE, chemical cross-linking analyses and mass spectrometry, amongst others, have shown a variety of Hik2 structural populations exist, further validated by negative stain transmission electron microscopy coupled to single particle analysis. Hik2 protein exists predominantly as a hexamer in low salt conditions, and adding NaCl dissociates hexamers into tetramers, critical for the autophosphorylation activity of Hik2. Thus, a model is proposed for the constitution change of Hik2 oligomers when salt concentration differs. In addition, the sensor domain is typically responsible for detecting environmental input, however, it is not yet clear how Hik2 and CSK sense signals. In this thesis, the structures of Hik2 and CSK sensor domains were analysed and discussed, to aid our understanding of their mechanism of signal perception and transduction.

Pre-eclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. A predictor of pre-eclampsia would enable intervention, close surveillance and timely delivery, and thereby reduce the negative consequences of the disorder. The overall aim of this thesis was to study potential predictors of pre-eclampsia by biochemical and epidemiological methods. Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) and Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) are regulators of angiogenesis, which is important for placental development. In a prospective and longitudinal study of a low-risk population the Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio was evaluated. The Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio increased during pregnancy in all women but at gestational week 25 and 28 the ratios were significantly lower in women who later developed pre-eclampsia. The relevance of Histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG), a protein with angiogenic properties, was furthermore evaluated. HRG levels decreased in all women, with significantly lower levels at gestational week 10, 25 and 28 in women who later developed pre-eclampsia. Thus both Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio and HRG may predict pre-eclampsia. To evaluate the predictive value of HRG in combination with uterine artery Doppler early in pregnancy a study was performed in a high-risk population. The results revealed that the combination was better able to predict preterm pre-eclampsia than each marker individually, with a sensitivity of 91% at a specificity of 62%.  A possible association between hyperemesis gravidarum and pre-eclampsia, as well as other placental dysfunctional disorders, was investigated. Hyperemesis gravidarum may be caused by high levels of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and increased levels of hCG in the second trimester is associated with later development of pre-eclampsia. A cohort of all pregnancies in the Swedish medical birth register between 1997 and 2009 was studied. After adjustment for confounding factors an association between hyperemesis gravidarum in the second trimester and preterm pre-eclampsia, placental abruption and infants born small for gestational age was demonstrated. In conclusion, the ratio of Ang-1/Ang-2 as well as HRG in plasma may be potential predictors of pre-eclampsia. Combination with uterine artery Doppler further increases the predictive value of HRG for preterm pre-eclampsia. Hyperemesis gravidarum in the second trimester may be considered as a clinical risk predictor of pre-eclampsia and other placental dysfunctional disorders.

Thèse doctorat : Science des Matériaux : Lille 1 : 2003. / N° d'ordre (Lille 1) : 3357. Résumé en français et en anglais. Articles en anglais en annexe. Bibliogr. p. 151-154.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2004. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1960. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-07-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T21:03:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 souza_ec_dr_jabo.pdf: 821266 bytes, checksum: 46390da0d02b9c37aa41e4af297432aa (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O cancro cítrico é uma das principais doenças da cultura do citros, provocando lesões nas folhas, ramos e frutos, tendo como consequência a queda dos frutos e folhas, o que leva à perdas significativas na produção. A partir do sequenciamento completo do genoma da bactéria gram-negativa Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xac), agente causal do cancro cítrico, abriu-se a possibilidade da utilização de estratégias de análise genômica funcional no estudo da função de genes da bactéria relacionados com a infecção na planta e com o desenvolvimento da doença. Uma das estratégias utilizadas foi a obtenção de mutantes de Xac contendo genes relacionados à patogenicidade e virulência interrompidos pelo método de mutagênese insercional aleatória utilizando o transposon Tn5 (LAIA et al., 2009). No presente trabalho a técnica de microarranjos de DNA foi utilizada para avaliar a expressão global de genes de dois mutantes de Xac 72 h após a infecção in planta. Em um dos mutantes (8B7) o gene interrompido foi o xrvA, um regulador de virulência, e no outro mutante (18D6) o gene interrompido codifica uma histidina quinase híbrida sensora que faz parte de um sistema de transdução de sinal de dois componentes. Os resultados das hibridizações revelaram um total de 553 genes diferencialmente expressos para os dois mutantes estudados quando comparado com o genótipo selvagem (Xac 306), sendo 323 no mutante 8B7 e 230 no mutante 18D6. Esses genes foram divididos em diferentes categorias funcionais e uma análise funcional comparativa revelou que eles podem desempenhar um papel importante no processo de patogenicidade / Citrus canker is a major disease affecting citrus crops worldwide, causing lesions on leaves, branches and fruits that results in the falling of fruit and leaves, leading to significant losses in orange production. The complete genome sequencing of Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xac), a Gram-negative bacteria and the causal agent of citrus canker, allowed the possibility of using functional genomic strategies to study the function of genes related to plant infection and disease development in this bacteria. One strategy was to produce mutants for phatogenicity and virulence genes by random insertional mutagenesis using Tn5 Transposon (LAIA et al., 2009). In the present work DNA microarray analysis was used to evaluate the global gene expression profile of two Xac mutants after 72 hours of plant infection. One mutant (8B7) carry a mutation in the xrvA gene (XAC1495), a virulence regulator, and the other (18D6) carry a mutation in a hybrid histidine quinase sensor of a two-component signal transduction system. The results revealed a total of 553 differentially expressed genes for the two mutant strains compared with Xac wild type, with 323 in the mutant 8B7, and 230 in the mutant 18D6. These genes were allocated into several functional categories and a comparative functional analysis showed that they can play an important role in the pathogenicity and virulence of Xac

Thorough understanding of interfaces requires an assessment of both the surface and bulk properties through the use of multiple techniques. In this thesis, infrared absorption, Raman scattering and sum frequency generation were used as vibrational probes of different features of interfacial systems including the ability to measure surface and bulk effects. Two-dimension correlation analysis was used to study the relationship between the spectral response of the different techniques. Attenuated total reflection absorption, bulk Raman scattering and sum frequency generation were used to study the adsorption of ethanol--water mixture on fused silica. With the use of two-dimension correlation analysis, interesting results were observed concerning the behavior of the surface in respect to the bulk. Surface concentration of ethanol were concluded to be higher than in the bulk indicative of competitive adsorption. Furthermore, at low concentration ethanol was shown to adsorb to the surface in dimers, to then form a bilayer of strongly oriented ethanol molecules at higher concentration. At highest concentration, this bilayer is disturbed, leaving only one layer at the surface of oriented ethanol molecules. The same spectroscopic techniques were applied to pressure sensitive adhesives of different composition while drying on a sapphire surface. The presence or absence of acrylic acid in the material was shown to alter the reorientation at the surface while drying. In the case where no acrylic acid is present, the orientation of the polymer at the surface was driven by the packing of the molecules at the surface. When acrylic acid was present in the pressure sensitive adhesive, reorientation occurred much faster and was caused by strong hydrogen bonding with the surface of the sapphire. An increase in acrylic acid composition, increased the rate of reorientation. An experimental set up was constructed to specifically study interfaces with a nonuniform distribution within the plane of the surface. This allows for concomitant measurement of polarized total internal reflection Raman scattering and sum frequency generation spectroscopy along with bright field imaging and cross polarized imaging. This set up was used to study the L-histidine crystal in situ adsorbed on fused silica. The polarized experiments along with calculations allowed for a more in-depth analysis of the crystal orientation effect on the birefringence, the Raman and the sum frequency generation. / Graduate