Abstract The luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that has a large N-terminal ligand binding ectodomain. The LHR ectodomain splice variant, expressed concomitantly with the full-length LHR in tissues, has an unknown biological function. GPCRs are a major pharmacological target, however, very little is known about the intracellular regulation of these receptors. In the present work, expression and maturation of the rat LHR and its variant were elucidated using both tissues and heterologous expression systems. A special effort was made to identify the role of developmental stage and tissue type on the LHR maturation and to find out about the molecular role of the ectodomain splice variant. We found two sites of localization for the receptor, namely the sensory system and urogenital tissues. This was demonstrated at mRNA and protein level and by rat LHR promoter-driven β-galactosidase (β-Gal) expression in the mice. In neurons, the β-Gal co-localized with the cytochrome P450 side chain cleavage enzyme, which may indicate a novel role in the neurosteroid synthesis. The neuronal LHR was expressed in the mature and immature protein forms in both developing and adult tissues, being able to bind hormone with similar high-affinity as gonadal receptors. In contrast, only immature receptors were detected in the fetal rat urogenital structures. A significant novel finding was substantial upregulation of the LHR in pregnant female rat adrenal glands and kidneys at a time that coincides with the differentiation of the fetal urogenital tissues. The mice overexpressing the ectodomain splice variant showed interference in pituitary-gonadal functions and morphological changes in the urogenital tissues. The studies showed that the variant was an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-retained soluble protein. It accumulated in juxtanuclear regions of the ER together with ER folding chaperones and was a substrate for ER associated degradation (ERAD). The co-expression of the variant with the full-length receptor decreased the amount of receptors and misrouted them to the juxtanuclear ER subcompartment. Taken together, we suggest that the maturation of the LHR protein is developmentally and physiologically regulated at the post-translational level in tissues. The LHR ectodomain splice variant possibly modulates post-translationally the number of full-length receptors through physiological signals. Our observation of the chaperone and protein accumulation into a specific ER subcompartment may represent a protein quality control holding compartment for inefficiently/misfolded ERAD substrates.

Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde im Rahmen einer kooperativen Promotion zwischen der TU Dresden und der Hochschule Mittweida angefertigt. In dieser werden neuartige, computerorientierte Ansätze für die Analyse von Membranproteinen vorgestellt. Membranproteine sind von essentieller Bedeutung für eine Vielzahl biologischer Prozesse innerhalb eines Organismus und stellen wichtige Zielmoleküle für eine breite Palette von Pharmazeutika dar. Ihre Sequenzen liefern wertvolle und teilweise noch nicht entschlüsselte Informationen über die dreidimensionale Struktur und funktionale Eigenschaften. Innerhalb der Proteomik und Genomik stellen Analysen an Membranproteinstrukturen einen wichtigen Teil für das Verständnis komplexer biologischer Prozesse dar. Im Zuge von Untersuchungen an Membranproteinen konnte eine Vielzahl kurzer wiederkehrender Muster, sogenannte Motive, in den Sequenzen von Membranproteinen beobachtet werden. Diese Motive unterstützen das Verständnis, wie sich Membranproteine in der Zellmembran falten. Im Fokus dieser Arbeit stehen derartige Sequenzmotive. Innerhalb von drei Projekten bilden ausschließlich sequenzmotivbasierte Ansätze die Grundlage für nähere Untersuchungen an Membranproteinstrukturen. Letztendlich liefern die in dieser Arbeit postulierten Methoden wertvolle Erkenntnisse über die strukturelle und funktionelle Rolle von Sequenzmotiven, auf deren Grundlage dazu beigetragen wird, den komplexen Aufbau von Membranproteinen besser verstehen zu können. Generell wird die Zusammenführung proteomischer und mutagener Informationen intensiviert. Nicht zuletzt wird dazu beigetragen, die in dieser Arbeit zusammengetragenen Ergebnisse, für die Planung von in vitro Experimenten sowie weiterführenden Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der Membranproteinanalyse, der Wissenschaft zur Verfügung zu stellen. / The present work was written as part of a cooperative doctorate between the TU Dresden and the University of Applied Sciences Mittweida. In the doctoral thesis, novel, computer-oriented approaches for the analysis of membrane proteins are presented. Membrane proteins are essential for many cellular processes and are important targets for a wide range of pharmaceuticals. Their sequences provide valuable and partly not yet decoded information about their three-dimensional structure and functional characteristics. The analysis of membrane proteins is an important part for the understanding of complex biological processes in the context of proteomics and genomics. Research of membrane proteins revealed a large number of short, distinct sequence motifs. The motifs found so far support the understanding of the folded protein in the Membrane environment. In this dissertation, in three different approaches it is shown how the output of sequence motif-based methods can support the understanding of structural and functional properties of membrane proteins. In general, the junction of proteomic and mutagenic information is intensified. Last but not least, the results of this work are made available for the planning of in vitro experiments as well as for further works in the field of membrane Protein analysis.

The major outer membrane protein, MOMP, is the main protein in the outer membrane of pathogenic Campylobacter bacteria. Infection with Campylobacter is the principle cause of severe enteritis and untreated may result in non-trauma related paralysis. Studies have shown, that MOMP can act as antigen and thus has the potential to provide protection by induced humoral immunity. In our study, we expressed recombinant MOMP in Escherichia1coli, developed an alternative method to extract the outer membrane protein from its lipid environment and solved and characterised its crystal structure. The information acquired through these structural studies sheds new light on the structural characteristics of this important membrane protein. The West-African Lassa virus can cause deadly haemorrhagic fever. Lassa virus only possesses five proteins, which are synergistically responsible for the virus' life cycle, and virulence. The way in which the individual proteins act with one another and with host cell proteins is not fully understood. The polymerase L is the largest of the five proteins and has multiple functions. In this study, we first divided the L protein into different domains and tested their recombinant expression in Escherichia1coli. For first time, we solved the crystal structure of the putative endonuclease domain of Lassa virus and validated its endonucleolytic function by means of RNA digestion assays and alanine point mutations.

Proteins and DNA are large, complex molecules that carry out biological functions essential to all life. Their successful operation relies on adopting specific structures, stabilized by intra-molecular interactions between atoms. The spatial and temporal resolution required to study the mechanics of these molecules in full detail can only be obtained using computer simulations of molecular models. In a molecular dynamics simulation, a trajectory of the system is generated, which allows mapping out the states and dynamics of the molecule. However, the time and length scales characteristic of biological events are many orders of magnitude larger than the resolution needed to accurately describe the microscopic processes of the atoms. To overcome this problem, sampling methods have been developed that enhance the occurrence of rare but important events, which improves the statistics of simulation data. This thesis summarizes my work on developing the AWH method, an algorithm that adaptively optimizes sampling toward a target function and simultaneously finds and assigns probabilities to states of the simulated system. I have adapted AWH for use in molecular dynamics simulations. In doing so, I investigated the convergence of the method as a function of its input parameters and improved the robustness of the method. I have also worked on a generally applicable approach for calculating the target function in an automatic and non-arbitrary way. Traditionally, the target is set in an ad hoc way, while now sampling can be improved by 50% or more without extra effort. I have also used AWH to improve sampling in two biologically relevant applications. In one paper, we study the opening of a DNA base pair, which due to the stability of the DNA double helix only very rarely occurs spontaneously. We show that the probability of opening depends on both nearest-neighbor and longer-range sequence effect and furthermore structurally characterize the open states. In the second application the permeability and ammonia selectivity of the membrane protein aquaporin is investigated and we show that these functions are sensitive to specific mutations. / <p>QC 20171117</p>

The importance of interactions between transmembrane domains of integral membrane proteins has been well-established in a range of essential cellular functions. Most integral membrane proteins also possess regions that lie on the exterior of the membrane that may influence the ability of these transmembrane domains to interact. We sought to test this hypothesis by quantifying the energetics of transmembrane helix self-association in the absence and presence of an amphipathic helix that can bind to the membrane surface. The model chosen for this study was the major coat protein (MCP) of M13 bacteriophage, which has an N-terminal amphipathic helix linked to its single transmembrane segment via a flexible linker. Dimerization of both full-length MCP and a peptide containing only the transmembrane domain (MCPTM) was studied by solution NMR in SDS micelles. We found that there was an increase in the apparent dimerization affinity in the absence of the N-terminal helix. However, this increase in apparent affinity could be attributed to differences in detergent-binding properties of the two polypeptides in monomeric versus dimeric states when the empty micelle was considered to be a participant in the dimer dissociation. Preliminary results from the integral membrane protein, p7 of the hepatitis C virus are also presented in this thesis. It has been demonstrated that p7 enhances viral infectivity and accumulation, and that this function may require oligomerization in the membrane. While we encountered limitations due to challenges in the generation of sufficient quantities of pure p7 samples, we were able to perform circular dichroism spectroscopy under conditions that may favor different oligomeric states. These studies suggest that there is a change in the degree of helicity upon oligomerization, and suggest that SDS could be a suitable system to characterize the interactions of the p7 oligomer in the future.

Orientador: Marcelo Lancellotti / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T07:21:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Varela_JuliaNogueira_M.pdf: 1464845 bytes, checksum: 930cccae996588333b99f1aaa50988c0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Haemophilus influenzae é uma bactéria causadora de doenças tipicamente associadas ao trato respiratório superior e inferior. Tal bactéria é classificada em linhagens capsuladas e não capsuladas - as não tipadas. As grandes responsáveis por patogenias mais severas são as capsuladas, especialmente as do sorotipo b, a existência de uma vacina para somente esse sorotipo, faz com que ocorra uma emergência de casos com H. influenzae não tipado - NTHi. A crescente resistência a antibióticos dessa bactéria está associada à plasmídios de resistência, bem como sua competência natural. A presença desses patógeno é maior em países nos quais não existe acesso a vacina, devido ao alto custo da mesma, que acabam utilizando antibióticos mais acessíveis como o cloranfenicol no tratamento. Esse trabalho estudou a transferência horizontal do gene ompP2 em diversas cepas de H. influenzae com a ajuda de nanopartículas de óxido de grafeno. Essas nanopartículas mimetizam uma atmosfera rica em partículas suspensas como as grandes cidades e zonas de agricultura precoce, já que, nesses locais ocorrem com maior frequência mutações e adaptações desse patógeno. Quando as nanopartículas encontravam-se no meio de cultura, verificou-se um aumento da taxa de transformação dessas bactérias. Assim como uma modificação no padrão de adesão celular das bactérias mutadas quando comparadas com as selvagens em linhagens celulares distintas e expostas ao antibiótico de resistência, levando a um aumento da taxa de adesão das cepas mutadas com relação às cepas selvagens. Como esse gene é e de possível aquisição entre cepas de H. influenzae em seu ambiente natural seria possível utilizá-lo para obtenção de uma proteína recombinante, com possível antigenicidade. Uma vez que a taxa de adesão aumenta com a presença do mesmo, levando a uma possível nova vacina que também protegeria contra cepas não tipadas e não somente capsuladas / Abstract: Haemophilus influenzae is a bacteria that causes diseases typically associated with the upper and lower respiratory tract. Their strains are divided in capsulated and non-capsulated - the non typable. The major responsible for more severe cases are the capsulated types, specially the b type. The existence of a vaccine for the serotype b, allows the emergence of cases of non typable H. influenzae - NTHi. The growing resistance is associated with resistance plasmids, and with its natural competence, that enables the bacteria to acquire DNA fragments between it's' species. Since this pathogen is common in countries that there is no access to this vaccine, therefore the use of accessible and cheaper antibiotics, such as chloramphenicol for treatment is. This work studied the horizontal transference of the ompP2 gene from multiresistant strains of H. influenzae, with the aid of grafen oxide nanoparticles, that mimesis an atmosphere rich in suspended particles, such as great urban areas and ancient agricultural zones. In these environments a great frequency in mutation and adaptations of these bacteria is verified. When we look at the adhesion patterns of these bacteria we can see that it is modified when they are mutated and exposed to the resistance antibiotic. Leading to an augmentation of the adhesion patterns when we compare to the wild strains. Since this gene was present in all strains and it was of easy acquisition between strains, it would be possible to use it to obtain a recombinant protein with likely antigen properties. Because the adhesion tax enhances with the presence of this gene. Leading to a possible new vaccine target, for NTHi and capsulated strains also / Mestrado / Fármacos, Medicamentos e Insumos para Saúde / Mestra em Biociências e Tecnologia de Produtos Bioativos

Entre cepas diferentes de P. falciparum existe uma grande variação entre as sequências das famílias de genes variantes. Um motivo para esta grande variedade é o fato que a maioria dos genes variantes se encontra em regiões subteloméricas e que o parasita é capaz de recombinar telômeros heterólogos durante a meiose (recombinação ectópica), levando a uma nova distribuição e a criação de novos genes variantes. Além desse fenômeno que ocorre durante a fase sexual do parasita, foi considerado que recombinações também podem ocorrer durante a fase mitótica na fase assexuada sanguínea. Neste estudo, procuramos monitorar a importância desta recombinação ectópica na geração de novos genes var em amostras de campo da Amazônia brasileira. Em experimentos paralelos elucidamos se existe recombinação ectópica também durante divisões puramente mitóticas. Observamos que muitos genes var que são compartilhados entre isolados mudam raramente ou não mudam de posição cromossômica. Observamos que no caso de mudança de posição cromossômica muitas vezes ocorreu duplicação do lócus. Muitos dos genes var compartilhados se encontraram em cromossomos 5-6 e 9-7. Por monitoramento de clones de 3D7 após 180 gerações não observamos nenhuma translocação de genes var subtelomérico ou telomérico indicando que a recombinação ectópica em mitoses é de fato um evento raro. / Different strains of the causative agent of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, possess greatly varying repertoires of variant antigen encoding gene families. One reason for this variety lies in the fact that most of the variant gene families are found in subtelomeric regions. The parasite is able to recombine heterologous telomers during meiosis through a process coined ectopic recombination, potentially leading to a new distribution and creation of variant genes. Due to morphological similarities of chromosome end clustering in sexual as well as in asexual forms, it was hypothesized that ectopic recombination may also occur in mitotic asexual blood stage parasites. Herein we monitor the occurrence of ectopic recombination in field samples from the Brazilian Amazon. In parallel, we elucidated whether ectopic recombination also takes place in purely mitotic divisions. We observed that many var genes which are shared among isolates rarely change their chromosomal position. When a change occurred, we often observed chromosomal locus duplication and many of the shared genes were found on chromosomes 5-9 or 5-10. After outgrowth of the 3D7 strain for 200 generations with intermittent cloning we did not observe any translocation of telomeric or subtelomeric var genes, indicating that ectopic recombination in mitosis is a rare event.

There is a general lack of atomic resolution data of mobile regions of membrane proteins embedded in lipid bilayers. As an inherently complex system, few techniques can capture information about the mobile portions of an otherwise immobilized protein. The nature of crystallography and solid-state NMR relies on structural rigidity. Solution-state NMR relies on overall mobility of a protein for resolution. In the middle regime, there are few solutions to study these systems. The inward-rectifying, pH-gated potassium channel KcsA from Streptomyces lividans makes an excellent model for the development of methods to study mobile regions of membrane proteins. Of its 160 residues, more than a third are in extracellular do- mains and are not typically captured by solid-state NMR or crystallographic techniques. These pages present evidence that KcsA’s C-terminus is highly mobile and becomes increasingly dynamic when the protein is at low pH and high K+ concen- tration, where the channel is known to be active. By applying proton-detected, high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR (HR-MAS) to fractionally deuterated KcsA, previously unattainable correlations are collected and new resonance assignments are made, demonstrating the utility of the technique. The lipid environment is well known to regulate the function of KcsA in particular and membrane proteins in general. It is generally assumed that reconstituting KcsA into a synthetic phospholipid membranes provides the protein a well-defined environment. Data is presented here which shows that KcsA co-purifies with phosphoglycerol lipids from the E. coli membrane and that these molecules are 13C enriched in the course of isotopically labeling KcsA. Further, significant hydrolysis of both co- purifying and synthetic lipids occurs under ordinary experimental conditions. These findings demand that routine analysis of samples must include verification of the chemical integrity of lipids. Finally, the feasibility of applying dynamic nuclear polarization-enhanced NMR (DNP) to KcsA is investigated as a means of elucidating information about its termini. Although KcsA is known to enhance poorly by DNP, data presented here show that this is not an intrinsic property of the protein but rather an effect of the matrix in which KcsA is investigated. The use of a 15N-enriched free amino acid dissolved into buffers used for DNP is shown to be a powerful diagnostic internal standard.

<p>ZMPSTE24 is a seven transmembrane domain zinc metalloprotease that resides in the ER and inner nuclear membranes of mammalian cells. The crystal structures of both the mammalian and yeast homologs, ZMPSTE24 and Ste24, respectively, were solved recently and revealed a common novel structure. Both structures contain a large chamber of mixed hydrophobicity that is capped on both sides. The canonical catalytic HExxH zinc-binding motif lies inside the chamber. Defects in the enzymatic function of human ZMPSTE24 have been shown to cause premature aging disorders. In addition to the well-defined role ZMPSTE24 and Ste24 play in the maturation of prelamin A in mammals and <b>a</b>-factor in yeast, both proteins have been proposed to play protective roles in Type 2 diabetes and viral infections by interactions with the cellular translocon. ZMPSTE24 can also be inhibited by several common HIV aspartyl protease inhibitors, possibly causing the frequent and common side-effects of these prescribed drugs. As of now, no precise location for substrate binding has been identified in either ZMPSTE24 or Ste24. Thus, the goal of this project is to localize residues in the enzyme that are important for substrate binding. The yeast homolog Ste24 was used as a model system as it functionally complements the mammalian enzyme and can be reliably cloned, overexpressed, and purified in an active form. </p> <p>Three approaches were taken to directly determine the <i>K_D </i>values for substrates of Ste24. The ability to perform a direct analysis of <i>K_D</i> values of Ste24 mutations was successfully optimized using microscale thermophoresis. Through <i>K_D</i> analysis, the Ste24 mutation G255A, while completely inactive, does not prevent substrate binding. Alternatively, L441A and L410A mutations showed both an increase in thermal stability and a decrease in binding affinity, that could explain their lower activity levels. A photoaffinity labeling-based proteomics experiment was utilized to precisely locate the site of the prenyl group to a hydrophobic patch lying just under a side portal of Ste24, near K234, during the -aaXing cleavage of <b>a</b>-factor maturation. To assess the method of inhibition of HIV protease inhibitors on Ste24 the conserved aspartate mutants were explored. All mutations of these aspartate residues resulted in a severe loss of Ste24 function and instability of the protein.</p>

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Europe. Over 4 million people die from CVDs annually and another 11 million people develops CVDs every year. These numbers show that there is a need for better diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers and, more importantly, a need for new and more efficient drugs. Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) are ideal candidates for new drug targets. However, a study of IMPs represents a major challenge in current proteomics. This challenge is associated with the low abundance of IMPs, their low solubility in aqueous solvents and the absence of trypsin cleavage sites in their transmembrane segments. To overcome these issues, methods that selectively target either N-glycosylated extra-membrane segments (CSC, SPEG, N-glyco-FASP) or transmembrane segments (hpTC) were developed. In this thesis we employed a combination of two N-glyco-capture methods (SPEG and N-glyco-FASP) performed on two different samples (membrane-enriched fraction and total tissue lysate) with analysis of membrane-embedded IMP segments by hpTC and with standard non-targeted "detergent+trypsin" approach to analyze rat myocardial membrane proteome. We also performed an evaluation of employed methods for preparation of membrane fraction by western blot...