Cyanobacteria are a heterogeneous group of phototrophic microorganisms. Many cyanobacteria have the capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen. During the process of nitrogen fixation, molecular hydrogen is produced. Three enzymes are directly involved in hydrogen metabolism in cyanobacteria. A nitrogenase, evolving hydrogen during nitrogen-fixation, an uptake hydrogenase, recycling the hydrogen produced by nitrogenase, and a bidirectional hydrogenase that has the capacity to both take up and produce hydrogen. The main objective in this thesis was to examine the transcriptional regulation of both the uptake and the bidirectional hydrogenase in filamentous cyanobacteria. The transcriptional regulation of the uptake hydrogenase was demonstrated to be influenced by external conditions in Nostoc muscorum and Nostoc punctiforme. Nickel, molecular hydrogen, and anaerobic conditions all induced the relative amount of uptake hydrogenase transcript. In addition, a transcript could be detected in nitrogen-fixing, but not in non-nitrogen fixing conditions. The transcriptional regulation of the bidirectional hydrogenase in N. muscorum and Anabaena PCC 7120 was also examined. The relative amount of transcript from the bidirectional hydrogenase in both strains was demonstrated to increase during anaerobic conditions. Moreover, experiments using N. muscorum demonstrated that addition of nickel also increase the amount of transcript. However, no change in the relative amount of transcript from the bidirectional hydrogenase could be observed by additional hydrogen or during a shift from non-nitrogen fixing to nitrogen fixing conditions. The genes responsible for maturation of the hydrogenase were identified, cloned and sequenced in N. punctiforme. The transcription of the genes was examined and all genes were located on a single transcript. Like the uptake hydrogenase, a transcript could be detected under nitrogen-fixing but not under non-nitrogen fixing conditions. Initial studies, using microarrays, were used to analyse and compare the transcription of a large set of Anabaena PCC 7120 genes under non-nitrogen and nitrogen-fixing conditions. Both up- and down-regulated genes could be identified. This thesis advances the knowledge about the transcriptional regulation of the hydrogenases in filamentous cyanobacteria and can be used as a platform for further experiments aiming at a modified hydrogen metabolism.

Heparan sulfate (HS) is a long unbranched polysaccharide composed of alternating glucosamine and hexuronic (glucuronic or iduronic) acid residues. Modification by sulfate groups in various positions generates a highly heterogeneous molecule. HS is synthesized as a proteoglycan by virtually all cells, and play pivotal functions in signaling and developmental patterning, but also in pathogenic events such as tumor metastasis and microbial adhesion. This thesis deals with the properties of enzymes involved in HS chain elongation. Polymerization of the HS chain is believed to be catalyzed by the EXT family of proteins. In humans, the EXT family consists of five members: EXT1, EXT2, EXTL1, EXTL2 and EXTL3; their respective functions in HS biosynthesis are not fully understood. In this study, for the first time, successful in vitro HS polymerization on oligosaccharide acceptor substrates was demonstrated, using recombinant EXT1 and EXT1/EXT2 complex. EXT1 formed longer chains than EXT1/EXT2 and their mechanisms of sugar incorporation were different. Suppression of EXT1 or EXT2 expression by siRNA in a human cell line resulted in reduction of HS chain length. In contrast, cells transfected with EXTL3 siRNA produced longer HS chains. Overexpression of soluble EXT1, alone or co-expressed with EXT2, resulted in increased chain length, whereas overexpression of soluble EXT2 or EXTL3 has no detectable effect on HS chain elongation. Structural analysis of HS from fibroblasts isolated from mice with a hypomorphic mutation in Ext1 showed that they produced significantly shorter HS chains then the wild-type fibroblasts (20 and 70 kDa, respectively). The disaccharide composition of the HS produced by the mutant cells was virtually indistinguishable from that of the wild-type HS, however, the mutant HS chains contained higher proportions of unmodified regions. Mutant cells responded less efficiently than wild-type cells to low concentrations of FGF2, as analyzed by ERK phosphorylation assay.

In this thesis I have studied the RNA molecule and its function and characteristics in the regulation of gene expression. I have focused on two events that are important for the regulation of the transcriptome: Translational regulation through micro RNAs; and RNA editing through adenosine deaminations. Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are ~22 nucleotides long RNA molecules that by semi complementarity bind to untranslated regions of a target messenger RNA (mRNA). The interaction manifests through an RNA/protein complex and act mainly by repressing translation of the target mRNA. I have shown that a pre-cursor miRNA molecule have significantly different information content of sequential composition of the two arms of the pre-cursor hairpin. I have also shown that sequential composition differs between species. Selective adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing is a post-transcriptional process whereby highly specific adenosines in a (pre-)messenger transcript are deaminated to inosines. The deamination is carried out by the ADAR family of proteins and require a specific sequential and structural landscape for target recognition. Only a handful of messenger substrates have been found to be site selectively edited in mammals. Still, most of these editing events have an impact on neurotransmission in the brain. In order to find novel substrates for A-to-I editing, an experimental setup was made to extract RNA targets of the ADAR2 enzyme. In concert with this experimental approach, I have constructed a computational screen to predict specific positions prone to A-to-I editing. Further, I have analyzed editing in the mouse brain at four different developmental stages by 454 amplicon sequencing. With high resolution, I present data supporting a general developmental regulation of A-to-I editing. I also present data of coupled editing events on single RNA transcripts suggesting an A-to-I editing mechanism that involve ADAR dimers to act in concert. A different editing pattern is seen for the serotonin receptor 5-ht2c.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan.

Modern protein catalysts are often viewed as possessing exquisite specificities for their cognate physiological substrates. In contrast, primordial catalysts are thought to have possessed much broader substrate specificities, a characteristic that likely afforded the survival of their host organisms under a plethora of diverse environmental conditions. Recent experimental work suggests that present day enzymes often retain the ability to recognize and transform a variety of natural and unnatural compounds that are structurally distinct from their target substrate. The widespread existence of such promiscuity could prove generally useful both in the natural and directed evolution of new proteins. To probe the persistence of enzyme promiscuity in modern proteomes we studied the model organism Escherichia coli due to its rapid growth, ease of genetic manipulation and many years of prior research on this organism which have generated abundant knowledge on its metabolism. The first exploration into uncovering enzyme promiscuity, described in chapter two, examines the proton transfer reaction catalyzed by triosephosphate isomerase (TIM). Triosephosphate isomerase catalyzes the interconversion of D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate, an essential step in glycolytic and gluconeogenic metabolism. To uncover promiscuous isomerases embedded within the E. coli genome, we searched for genes capable of restoring growth of a TIM-deficient bacterium under gluconeogenic conditions. Rather than discovering an isomerase, we selected yghZ, a gene encoding for a member of the aldo-keto reductase superfamily. Here we show that YghZ catalyzes the stereospecific, NADPH-dependent reduction of L-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, the enantiomer of the TIM substrate. This transformation provides an alternate pathway to the formation of dihydroxyacetone phosphate. In chapter three we show that Gpr co-purifies with a b-type heme cofactor. Gpr associates with heme in a 1:1 stoichiometry to form a complex that is characterized by a Kd value of 5.8 ± 0.2 µM in the absence of NADPH and a Kd value of 11 ± 1.3 µM in the presence of saturating NADPH. The absorbance spectrum of reconstituted Gpr indicates that heme is bound in a hexacoordinate low-spin state under both oxidizing and reducing conditions. The physiological function of heme association with Gpr is unclear, as the L-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate reductase activity of Gpr does not require the presence of the cofactor. Bioinformatics analysis reveals that Gpr clusters with a family of putative monooxygenases in several organisms, suggesting that Gpr may act as a heme-dependent monooxygenase. The discovery that Gpr associates with heme is interesting because Gpr shares 35% amino acid identity with the mammalian voltage-gated K+ channel β-subunit, an NADPH-dependent oxidoreductase that endows certain voltage-gated K+ channels with hemoprotein-like, O2-sensing properties. To date the molecular origin of O2 sensing by voltage-gated K+ channels is unknown and the results presented herein suggest a role for heme in this process. In chapter four we probe the network of genes within E. coli that can provide resistance to the nonnatural toxin bromoacetate. Microbial niches contain toxic chemicals that are capable of forcing organisms into periods of intense natural selection to afford survival. Elucidating the mechanisms by which microbes evade environmental threats has direct relevance for understanding and combating the rise of antibiotic resistance. In this study we used a toxic small-molecule, bromoacetate, to model the selective pressures imposed by antibiotics and anthropogenic toxins. We report the results of genetic selection experiments that identify nine genes from Escherichia coli whose overexpression affords survival following exposure to a lethal concentration of bromoacetate. Eight of these genes encode putative transporters or transmembrane proteins, while one encodes the essential peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzyme, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvoyl transferase (MurA). Biochemical studies demonstrate that the primary physiological target of bromoacetate is MurA, which becomes irreversibly inactivated via alkylation of a critical active-site cysteine. Genetic experiments also identify 63 single-gene mutants of E. coli that display increased susceptibility to bromoacetate. One hypersensitive bacterium lacks yliJ, a gene that encodes a glutathione transferase capable of catalyzing the detoxification of bromoacetate with a kcat/Km value of 5.4 × 103 M-1 s-1. The catalytic proficiency of YliJ, which exceeds 5 orders of magnitude, is particularly noteworthy considering the enzyme is unlikely to have previously encountered bromoacetate. In total, our results indicate that nearly 2% of the E. coli proteome contributes to, or can be recruited to provide, bromoacetate resistance. This illustrates the wealth of intrinsic survival mechanisms that can be exploited by bacteria when they are challenged with toxins. The work described here illuminates the vast metabolic and functional plasticity of protein function harbored within bacteria. Their ability to recruit latent and weakly active proteins for novel functions enables survival under diverse nutritional and environmental challenges. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / June 14, 2010. / Enzyme Function, Antibiotic Resistance, Glutathione Transferase / Includes bibliographical references. / Brian Miller, Professor Directing Dissertation; Hank Bass, University Representative; Hong Li, Committee Member; Lei Zhu, Committee Member; M. Elizabeth Stroupe, Committee Member.

This dissertation presents the concept, development, and characterization of a new methodology for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of protein digests in solution. Two beam fluorescence cross correlation spectroscopy is used to characterize the migration rates of fluorescently labeled peptides present in a poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microfluidic system. To achieve ultimate sensitivity, a two beam confocal microscope is employed to allow low background, single molecule detection. Two spatially separated laser beams are focused to near-diffraction limited spots and then positioned a few microns apart within a narrow region of a PMMA microdevice. Mobility measurements of the protein fragments are determined by the transit time for a single peptide to traverse through both detection volumes. Cross correlation of the fluorescence intensity signals from each confocal volume is used characterize the distribution of transit times. Electrophoresis conditions are employed and each peptide in a mixture will migrate at a characteristic velocity that depends on its size and charge. The cross correlation analysis yields a distribution of velocities reminiscent of an electropherogram in that each peak is evidence of an individual peptide. For a specific peptide digest, one can generate a fingerprint spectrum from the cross correlation data. The fingerprint could then be matched to a library of individual protein spectra allowing the rapid identification of the protein from whence the peptide mixture was derived. Our proposed method eliminates some of the shortcomings associated with current microfluidic technology. For example, analytes are monitored in free solution without actually separating the mixture; this eliminates the need for generating an analyte plug or migration over long distances. Also, since single molecule fluorescence is utilized it is possible to analyze multiple complex species at sub-nanomolar concentrations, in turn minimizing sample consumption. The two-beam fluorescence cross correlation method has the potential to be a high speed, highly sensitive alternative approach for protein and peptide analysis. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2006. / May 3, 2006. / Electrophoresis, Proteomics, Microfluidics, Single Molecule, Fluorescence / Includes bibliographical references. / Kenneth D. Weston, Professor Directing Dissertation; Peter G. Fajer, Outside Committee Member; Joseph B. Schlenoff, Committee Member; Oliver Steinbock, Committee Member.

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