Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Globally, protein malnutrition remains problematic, adversely affecting several systems including the immune system. Although poorly understood, protein restriction severely disrupts host immunity and responses to infection. Induction of high-affinity, long-lasting immunity depends upon interactions between B and T lymphocytes. B lymphocytes exploit several pathways including endocytosis, macroautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy to capture and deliver antigens to the endosomal network. Within the endosomal network antigens are processed and loaded onto major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules for display and recognition by T lymphocytes. To examine the effect of macronutrient malnutrition on MHC class II antigen presentation, we grew B lymphocytes in media containing amino acids, sugars and vitamins but lacking serum, which contains several types of macronutrients. Our studies show macronutrient stress amplified macroautophagy, favoring MHC class II presentation of cytoplasmic antigens targeted to autophagosomes. By contrast, macronutrient stress diminished MHC class II presentation of membrane antigens including the B cell receptor (BCR) and cytoplasmic proteins that utilize the chaperone-mediated autophagy pathway. The BCR plays a critical role in MHC class II antigen presentation, as it captures exogenous antigens leading to internalization and degradation within the endosomal network. While intracellular protease activity increased with macronutrient stress, endocytic trafficking and proteolytic turnover of the BCR was impaired. Addition of high molecular mass macronutrients restored endocytosis and antigen presentation, evidence of tightly regulated membrane trafficking dependent on macronutrient status. Cytosolic chaperone HSC70 has been shown to play a role in endocytosis, macroautophagy, chaperone-mediated autophagy and proteolysis by the proteasome, potentially connecting distinct routes of antigen presentation. Here, altering the abundance of HSC70 was sufficient to overcome the inhibitory effects of nutritional stress on BCR trafficking and antigen presentation suggesting macronutrient deprivation alters the availability of HSC70. Together, these results reveal a key role for macronutrient sensing in regulating immune recognition and the importance of HSC70 in modulating distinct membrane trafficking pathways during cellular stress. These results offer a new explanation for impaired immune responses in protein malnourished individuals.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Strawberry (Fragaria spp.) is an agricultural crop grown often in temperate regions that has high variability in its susceptibility to freezing injury. To breed cultivars for frost and freezing tolerance, identification of molecular markers associated with low temperature tolerance is advantageous. In this work, I investigated a high-throughput method for protein assays and western blotting. Success in streamlining these processes saves an immense amount of time and allows for the processing of more samples and obtaining larger datasets. Thirty-three octoploid varieties were tested for their accumulation of five different potential biomarkers in response to cold exposure. It was found that total dehydrin content, has the strongest potential to be reliable biomarkers for breeding programs. Previous work identified seven putative dehydrins in Fragaria, where two were purified and positively identified by mass spectrometry and determined to be COR47-like (SKn) and XERO2-like (YnSKn). This work demonstrated that cold tolerance positively correlated with dehydrin protein expression levels. To understand the cold-regulated expression of dehydrins as a function of cold exposure time, the levels of transcripts and corresponding proteins were examined in strongly cold tolerant (Alta) and lesser cold tolerant (FDP817, NCGR1363) Fragaria diploid genotypes. The COR47-like (SKn) and XERO2-like (YnSKn) dehydrins both had higher transcript accumulation and protein levels in the more cold tolerant line in comparison to the two less cold tolerant lines. Lack of correlation between transcript and resulting COR47 protein level in Alta were observed at several different timepoints, where protein accumulation preceded an increase in RNA. This trend was not seen with XERO2. This initiated an investigation to discover at what level COR47 is being regulated. First, the COR47 coding region was sequenced for all the genotypes to confirm against the predicted sequence. In addition, since two isoforms of the COR47 gene exist, and could possibly explain the discrepancy in transcript counts, primers were designed for both isoforms and RT-qPCR was performed to examine the transcripts of COR47 more closely. Through examination of the non-congruence of COR47 transcripts and protein, it was found that transcriptional mechanisms of regulation are not involved, and that post transcriptional and post-RNA splicing mechanisms are likely to be responsible for the observed trend in Alta. Conclusions from this work demonstrate that dehydrin transcripts and dehydrin protein accumulations are strong potential biomarkers for identifying low temperature tolerance in diploid strawberry.

No description available.

The formation and deposition of α-Synuclein fibrils in the human brain is at the origin of Parkinson's disease. The objective of my thesis was to document the role of two molecular chaperones on the assembly of α-Syn into fibrils: Hsc70, a constitutively expressed human heat shock protein, and Ssa1p, its yeast equivalent. The aim was to expand the catalogue of known effects of molecular chaperones on the PD implicated protein, which could have therapeutic significance. We showed that Hsc70 inhibits the assembly of α-Syn into fibrils, by binding with high affinity to the soluble form of α-Syn. We documented that Hsc70 binds preferentially to α-Syn fibrils and that this binding has a cytoprotective effect, as it renders the fibrils less toxic to cultured mammalian cells. Similarly to Hsc70, Ssa1p inhibits the assembly of α-Syn into fibrils, and has a higher affinity for fibrils than for the soluble form of α-Syn. On the other hand, binding of Ssa1p to α-Syn fibrils does not have a cytoprotective effect, almost certainly due to differences in the amino acid sequences of the peptide binding sites of the two molecular chaperones, which mean that Ssa1p has a lower affinity than Hsc70 for α-Syn fibrils. We stabilized the complex between Ssa1p and α-Syn using chemical cross-linkers, to then map the interaction site between the two proteins. This is indispensable if a "mini" Ssa1p, comprised of only what is necessary and sufficient of Ssa1p, is to be used as a therapeutic agent to decrease the toxicity of α-Syn fibrils. A therapeutic agent based on exogenous protein Ssa1p is less likely to trigger an autoimmune response than for example the endogenous protein Hsc70.