Since the production of the first sheep by somatic cell nuclear transfer a great deal of effort has been made to improve efficiency and to understand nuclear reprogramming mechanisms. Unfortunately efficiency remains low, and nuclear reprogramming mechanisms remain uncharacterized. The objectives of this research were to identify factors associated with somatic cell nuclear transfer efficiency and to analyze the transcriptome of blastocyst-stage clone and control embryos and cotyledonary tissue in an effort to elucidate mechanisms responsible for the low developmental efficiency and high post-implantation losses. The experiments reported here identify factors including oocyte source and timing of activation following nuclear transfer that yield improved efficiencies. It was determined the use of cow oocytes for somatic cell nuclear transfer results in improved in vitro development and increased pregnancy rates. These data further indicate prolonged exposure of the donor nucleus to pre-activated oocyte cytoplasm results in increased nuclear fragmentation and reduced developmental efficiency in vitro. Several aberrantly expressed genes were identified in nuclear transfer blastocysts and cotyledons that could impact cloning efficiency. Major histocompatibility complex I and down-regulator of transcription 1 were overexpressed in nuclear transfer blastocysts, and retinol binding protein 1 was overexpressed in nuclear transfer cotyledons. The functions of these genes in immune response, transcriptional regulation, and retinol binding and transport make them attractive candidates for further nuclear transfer research. Expression levels of six developmentally important genes were analyzed in various stages of preimplantation nuclear transfer embryos by real-time polymerase chain reaction to determine the timing of nuclear reprogramming following nuclear transfer. Five of the six genes were aberrantly expressed multiple developmental stages, however by the blastocyst stage only one gene was aberrantly expressed. These data indicate reprogramming is delayed in nuclear transfer embryos resulting in over- or under-expression of developmentally important genes during early embryogenesis. These experiments report factors associated with improved nuclear transfer efficiency; provide insight into potential mechanisms for low developmental rates, abnormal placentation, and fetal loss of clones; and characterize the timing of nuclear reprogramming following somatic cell nuclear transfer.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第18500号 / 医博第3920号 / 新制||医||1005(附属図書館) / 31386 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 福山 秀直, 教授 河野 憲二, 教授 宮本 享 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第18861号 / 医博第3972号 / 新制||医||1008(附属図書館) / 31812 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 武藤 学, 教授 野田 亮, 教授 小川 誠司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(医学) / 乙第13221号 / 論医博第2168号 / 新制||医||1033(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 松田 道行, 教授 小川 誠司, 教授 武藤 学 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

The ubiquitin-proteasome proteolysis pathway is responsible for the degradation of abnormal and short-lived proteins to regulate many important biochemical activities in eukaryotes. By employing affymetrix microarray analysis, we have identified a novel ubiquitin ligase E3 gene GhRING2 that is expressed differentially between two G. hirsutum lines - Texas Marker-1 and Chromosome Substitution Line CS-B25. The complete GhRING2 gene sequence was obtained by genomic and cDNA walking. The expression of GhRING2 in cotton fiber is developmentally regulated, suggesting that the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway may regulate cotton fiber growth and development. Using a yeast two-hybrid assay GhRING2 was found to interact with a PROTODERMAL FACTOR1 (GhPDF1) protein. GhPDF1 is expressed preferentially in immature ovules and fiber initials and the gene has been suggested to play a role in cell fate determination and fiber development. Pull down and plasmid swap assays were employed to confirm this interaction.

Emergence of avian origin and equine origin canine influenza viruses (CIVs) in Asia and the United States brings important concerns. Humans are in closer and more frequent contact with dogs than other common hosts of influenza. Thus, CIV is a potential threat to human health. However, little is known about the determinants of CIV host tropism or the transmissibility of CIVs to humans. An amino acid change (W222L) was implicated in modifying hemagglutinin receptor binding by CIV. This was tested using reverse genetics, glycan microarray and virus histochemistry. Glycan microarray demonstrated that avian-origin CIV (H3N2-222W) bind predominantly to alpha-2, 3 linked glycans. Virus histochemistry indicated that rH3N2-222L had higher binding affinity with epithelial cilia of canine tracheal tissue and weaker binding with avian tracheal tissue. Ferret infection demonstrated that the avian-origin H3N2 CIV could cause infection and limited to rhinitis, suggesting that CIV could infect humans.

Edwardsiella ictaluri is the causative agent of enteric septicemia of catfish (ESC), which is one of the most important diseases impacting the US catfish industry. Though this disease has been very common, progress has been slow to find an economical and practical treatment method. Our long-term goal is to determine the mechanisms of E. ictaluri virulence in ESC. The overall objective of this study was to identify E. ictaluri genes required for host encounter and serum resistance and to determine their roles in pathogenesis. The central hypothesis is that E. ictaluri must differentially regulate its genes to invade fish and evade host defenses, thus, mutation of these differentially expressed genes (DEG) should cause attenuation of E. ictaluri virulence. To test this hypothesis, we first determined the global gene expression patterns of the wild type (wt) E. ictaluri 93-146 and EiAKMut02 mutant during catfish encounter and serum exposure using microarray analysis. Results indicated that in E. ictaluri wt, 377 and 16 DEGs were identified during host encounter and serum exposure, respectively. In EiAKMut02, 82 and 296 DEGs were identified during host encounter and serum experiment. Through functional analysis using Blast2GO, PSORTb, Host Pathogen Interaction Database (HPIDB), and Microbe Virulence Database (MVirDB), 38 DEGs in 9 KEGG pathways have been identified as potential virulence factors. The KEGG pathways represented were 1) bacterial secretion system including T3SS and T6SS, 2) ABC transporters including cystine transport system, iron complex transport system, d-methionine transport system, arginine transport system, thiamine transport system, and molybdate transport system, 3) protein export, 4) flagellar assembly, 5) two-component system, 6) bacterial chemotaxis, 7) ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, 8) phosphotransferase system, and 9) metabolic pathways. In order to understand their role in the E. ictaluri virulence, selected DEGs were inrame deleted by allelic exchange, and their virulence and efficacy were characterized in channel catfish fingerlings. Our results showed that the virulence of E. ictaluri ssaV and yscR mutants was completely attenuated while their efficacies were moderate in catfish fingerlings. These results support that the T3SS and T6SS, ABC transporters, protein export, and flagella seem to be important in E. ictaluri virulence.

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No description available.

The interaction of proteins with surfaces is a major problem involved in protein microarrays. Understanding protein/surface interactions is key to improving the performance of protein microarrays, but current understanding of the behavior of proteins on surfaces is lacking. Prevailing theories on the subject, which suggest that proteins should be stabilized when tethered to surfaces, do not explain the experimentally observed fact that proteins are often denatured on surfaces. In an attempt to develop some predictive capabilities with respect to protein/surface interactions, it was asked in previous works if the stabilization/destabilization of proteins on surfaces could be correlated to secondary structure and found that no link existed. However, further investigation has revealed that proteins with similar tertiary structure show predictable stabilization patterns. In this research, it is reported how five, alpha-helical, orthogonal-bundle proteins behave on the surface compared to the bulk. By measuring stabilization using melting temperatures and the Gibbs energies of folding, it is shown that the stability of proteins tethered to surfaces can be correlated to the shape of the loop region where the tether is placed and the free rotation ability of the part of proteins near surfaces. It is also shown that any destabilization that occurs because of the surface is an enthalpic effect and that surfaces always stabilize proteins entropically. Furthermore, the entropical stabilization effect comes from unfolded states of the tethered protein, while the enthalpical destabilization effect is from the folded states of protein. A further analysis of surface induced change of folding mechanism is also studied with a multi-state protein 7LZM in this research. The result showed that by tethering a protein on a surface, the melting temperature of part of the protein changed, which leads to a miss of state.