Les microalgues accumulent de grandes quantités d’huile, et sont de bons candidats pour la production de biocarburants. Mais des verrous techniques et biologiques doivent être levés pour une production rentable. Augmenter la teneur en huile par cellule et découvrir des protéine clés du métabolisme des triglycérides sont des objectifs importants. Nous avons mis en place une approche de génétique classique ciblée sur l’isolement de mutants d’insertion affectés dans la remobilisation des lipides de réserves suite à la re-supplémentation en azote après carence. Nous avons mis au point un protocole de criblage à haut débit basé sur la semi-quantification de ces lipides qui nous a permis d’isoler plus de 30 mutants. Nous avons identifié les loci d’insertion pour certains en utilisant la méthode Genome Walker. Le marqueur de résistance à l’antibiotique a été trouvéé dans des gènes codant pour des kinases, une protéine de type polycystine avec répétitions d’un domaine homologue de type lipoxygénase, des protéines du métabolisme de l’amidon, ou encore une méthyltransférase. Ces mutants forment un set de candidats devant être validés par complémentation pour une meilleure compréhension du métabolisme des lipides. Nous avons vu que la plupart des mutants défectueux dans la remobilisation des lipides de réserve sont aussi affectés dans celle de l’amidon. Ce lien potentiel entre les 2 processus est renforcé par le fait que dans 2 mutants connus de synthèse de l’amidon nous avons pu mettre en évidence un défaut de remobilisation des triglycérides. Ainsi, nous avons montré un lien d’interdépendance entre les dégradations des 2 formes majoritaires de réserves carbonées des microalgues. / Microalgae are able to accumulate high amounts of oil reserves, which make them promising candidates for biofuel production. Nevertheless, some technical and biological bottlenecks have to be overcome before a profitable industrial production. Increasing oil content per cell and discovering key proteins of oil metabolism is a major goal. We took a forward genetic approach and focused on isolating insertional mutants affected in oil remobilization following nitrogen resupply after a starvation phase. We setup and developed a medium- to highthroughput semi-quantitative oil content screening protocol, which has enabled isolation of >30 mutants. We identified the insertion loci in some of these mutants through the “genome walker” PCR-based method. The antibiotic marker was found to be inserted in genes encoding various proteins including serine-threonine kinases, a polycystin-related protein containing repetitions of a lipoxygenase homology domain, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, a starch metabolism protein and a methyltransferase. Mutants isolated provide a first set of candidate genes that remain to be validated by complementation and should contribute to a better understanding of lipid homeostasis in green microalgae. During the course of this work, we observed that most mutants defected in oil remobilization were also impaired in starch degradation. The occurrence of a link between the degradation of starch and oil was further strengthened by the fact that in two known starch-less mutants the oil remobilization process was found to be defected. This is the first evidence of an interdependency between the degradation processes of the major types of carbon reserves in microalgae.

Clostridium acetobutylicum, une bactérie anaérobie stricte, à Gram positif et sporulante est maintenant considérée comme l'organisme modèle pour l'étude du métabolisme complexe desClostridies solvantogènes. Néanmoins, malgré de nombreuses études sur le sujet, les mécanismes moléculaires impliqués dans l'induction de solvantogénèse ne sont pas encore totalement compris. Une souche témoin et trois mutants métaboliques simples avec une délétion dans les phases codantes de gènes clés impliqués dans les formations d’acides / de solvants, à savoir ΔadhE1, ΔadhE2 et ΔbukΔptb300, ont été analysés par une approche globale à l'échelle du système pour mieux caractériser la régulation de la formation de solvant chez C. acetobutylicum d’un point de vue physiologique.Tout d'abord, la souche témoin ΔCA_C1502Δupp a été cultivée en chemostat limité en phosphate sous trois états métaboliques différents: l’acidogénèse, la solvantogénèse, et l'alcoologénèse. Les cultures ont été analysées par une approche de transcriptomique et de protéomique quantitative associée à une analyse fluxomique, basée sur un modèle l’échelle du génome, iCac967, développé au cours de la thèse. Cette étude a permis de mesurer le nombre de molécules d'ARNm par cellule pour tous les gènes dans les trois conditions métaboliques ainsi que le nombre de molécules de protéines cytosoliques par cellule pour environ 700 gènes dans au moins une des trois conditions de régime permanent.ΔadhE1 et ΔadhE2 ont été analysés ensemble et comparés à la souche témoin dans les mêmes conditions par une analyse transcriptomique et fluxomique globale. En condition solvantogène, seul le mutant ΔadhE1 présentait des changements significatifs montrant une diminution de la production de butanol et des changements d'expression au niveau transcriptionel dans de nombreux gènes. En particulier, adhE2 était surexprimé montrant qu’AdhE2 peut remplacer partiellement AdhE1 pour la production de butanol en solvantogénèse. En condition alcoologène, seul le mutant ΔadhE2 a montré des changements frappants dans l'expression des gènes et des flux métaboliques, avec notamment une perte totale de la production de butanol.Il est par conséquent démontré que AdhE2 est essentiel pour la production de butanol en alcoologénèse et que les flux métaboliques ont été réorientés vers la formation du butyrate. En condition acidogène, les flux métaboliques n'ont pas été significativement modifiés chez les deux mutants, mise à part la perte complète de la formation de butanol chez ΔadhE2, mais de manière surprenante des changements importants ont été observés, par analyse transcriptionnelle, dans l'expression de nombreux gènes. En outre, la plupart des gènes sur- ou sous-exprimés de manière significative dans cette condition physiologique, le sont pour les deux mutants.Le mutant ΔbukΔptb300 a également été analysé et comparé à la souche témoin dans les mêmes onditions par une analyse transcriptomique et fluxomique globale. En condition acidogène, le principal métabolite était le butanol et un nouveau composé est aussi produit qui a été identifiécomme étant du 2-hydroxy-valérate. En condition solvantogène, une augmentation de la production de butanol a été obtenue par rapport à la souche de contrôle et un rendement très élevé de formation de butanol a été atteint. En condition alcoologène, le produit principal était le lactate. En outre, au niveau transcriptionnel, adhE2 connu comme un gène exprimé spécifiquement en alcoologénèse, était étonnamment fortement exprimé dans tous les états métaboliques chez le mutant. / Clostridium acetobutylicum, a Gram-positive, strictly anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium is now considered as the model organism for the study of the complex metabolism of solventogenic Clostridia. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms involved in the induction ofsolventogenesis are not totally understood. A control strain and three single metabolic mutants with in frame deletion in key genes involved in acid/solvent formations, namely ΔadhE1, ΔadhE2, and ΔbukΔptb300, were analyzed by a system scale approach to better characterize the regulation of solvent formation in C. acetobutylicum from a physiological point of view.First of all, the control strain ΔCA_C1502Δupp was cultured in phosphate-limited chemostat under three different metabolic states, acidogenesis, solventogenesis, and alcohologenesis. Thecultures were analyzed by a quantitative transciptomic and proteomic approach, and finally associated with a fluxomic analysis, based on the reconstructed genome-scale model, iCac967 developed during the thesis. This study provided the number of mRNA molecules per cell for all genes under the three metabolic conditions as well as the number of cytosolic protein molecules per cell for approximately 700 genes under at least one of the three steady-state conditions.ΔadhE1 and ΔadhE2 were analyzed together to be compared to the control strain under same conditions in transcriptomic and fluxomic level. Under solventogenesis, only ΔadhE1 mutant exhibited significant changes showing decreased butanol production and transcriptional expression changes in numerous genes. In particular, adhE2 was overexpressed; thus, AdhE2 can partially replace AdhE1 for butanol production under solventogenesis. Under alcohologenesis, only ΔadhE2 mutant exhibited striking changes in gene expression and metabolic fluxes, and butanol production was completely lost. Therefore, it was demonstratedthat AdhE2 is essential for butanol production and thus metabolic fluxes were redirected towardbutyrate formation. Under acidogenesis, metabolic fluxes were not significantly changed in both mutants except the complete loss of butanol formation in ΔadhE2, but numerous changes in gene expression were observed. Furthermore, most of the significantly up- or downregulated genes under this condition showed the same pattern of change in both mutants.ΔbukΔptb300 was also analyzed to be compared to the control strain under same conditions in transcriptomic and fluxomic level. Under acidogenic conditions the primary metabolite was butanol and a new compound, 2-hydroxy-valerate was produced while under solventogenesis, increased butanol production was obtained compared to control strain under same condition and a very high yield of butanol formation was reached. Under alcohologenesis, the major product was lactate. Furthermore, at the transcriptional level, adhE2 known as a gene specifically expressed in alcohologenesis, was surprisingly highly expressed in all the metabolic states in the mutant.

Biochemical consequences of ascorbate deficiency were studied in the leaf tissue of Arabidopsis thaliana ascorbate-deficient vtc mutants with a view of understanding the relationship between ascorbate, stress response and metabolism. Ascorbate is an important antioxidant and is also a cofactor for 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases, which are involved in the biosynthesis of a number of metabolites. The response of wild type (Col-0) and vtc1, vtc2-1, vtc2-2 and vtc3-1 mutants to high light intensity, wounding and salinity was investigated using a metabolomics and proteomics approach. Metabolite profiling and comparative proteomics were performed by liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-QToF MS) and targeted analysis of plant hormones and flavonoids by liquid chromatography triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-QQQ-MS). These combined analyses revealed the effect of ascorbate deficiency and stress on metabolites and cell wall proteins. LC-QToF-MS based untargeted metabolite profiling methodologies were developed for analysis of metabolites on a large scale. Using this method about 3000-5000 metabolites (mass-retention time pairs) could be reproducibly detected in A. thaliana leaf extract and aligned between samples. Approximately 1000 metabolites were differentially expressed between WT and vtc mutants in different experiments. Of these, twenty eight compounds were confirmed to be differentially expressed by LC-QQQ-MS between WT and vtc mutants, and eight of these compounds were positively identified and validated with standards. The plant hormones abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) have all been implicated in plant stress responses and differences in their accumulation in some of the vtc mutants have been reported. A systematic study of the response to stress of these hormones in several vtc mutants was carried out using LC- QQQ- MS. While some of the mutants showed increased SA and SA-glycoside accumulation, stress-induced ABA and JA accumulation was generally unaffected. Methods for identifying the metabolites in a targeted manner by LC- QQQ-MS was developed and were shown that all vtc mutants were impaired in the accumulation of anthocyanin in response to HL treatment. In strong contrast to anthocyanin, flavonol glycosides were not affected by ascorbate deficiency. Therefore, ascorbate deficiency has a specific effect on the anthocyanin biosynthesis. Ascorbate occurs in the plant cell wall and isolation of apoplastic fluid showed that all vtc mutants have decreased apoplastic ascorbate compared to WT. Ionically-bound proteins were from the cell wall of A. thaliana leaves. Peroxidase specific activity in this fraction tended to be higher in vtc mutants than WT. High light intensity also increased peroxidase activity in WT and vtc mutants. To determine which peroxidase isoenzyme caused increased peroxidase activity, ionically-bound cell wall N-glycosylated proteins were isolated by Concanavalin A chromatography and analysed by LC-QToF-MS. Comparison of WT and vtc2-2 grown in low light and high light identified 937 peptides significantly different between WT and vtc2-2 and some are also affected by light intensity. Specifically, peroxidases 33 and 34 had increased abundance in vtc2-2. The results show that ascorbate deficiency causes a detectable change in the metabolome of A. thaliana leaves, with specific effects on anthocyanin accumulation being detected. Ascorbate deficiency also influences the expression of cell wall proteins. Peroxidase activity is increased, and this response could be related to the increased pathogen resistance reported in vtc mutants.

El propóleo es una sustancia resinosa compleja constituida por una gran variedad de compuestos químicos (esteres, flavonoides etc.), su composición no es estable y varía según la fuente de procedencia. Además, una de las propiedades más importantes del propóleo es su actividad antibacteriana, la cual se le atribuye fundamentalmente a los flavonoides. El propóleo se conoce desde la más remota antigüedad y ha sido utilizado por diferentes culturas con diversas finalidades. Con el posterior desarrollo de la farmacéutica y tratamientos fitoterápicos existe un resurgimiento en su uso. Es por esa razón que en los últimos años se han realizado algunas investigaciones acerca de los productos provenientes de las abejas y sus potenciales beneficios para la salud oral. Por lo tanto, la presente revisión de la literatura recolecta la información disponible sobre la composición del propóleo según zona geográfica y la actividad antibacteriana que tiene el propóleo aplicado a la estomatología. / Propolis is a resinous substance complex consisting of a variety of chemical compounds (esters, flavonoids, etc.), it´s composition is not stable and varies depending on the source. In addition, one of the most important properties of propolis is its activity antibacterial, which is attributed mainly to flavonoides. Propolis has been known since ancient times and has been used by different cultures for various purposes. With the subsequent development of pharmaceutical and herbal treatments there is a resurgence in its use. It is for this reason that in recent years have done some research about the products from the bees and their potential health benefits oral. Therefore, this literature review collects the available information on properties of propolis depends on geography and the antibacterial activity propolis has applied to dentistry.

No description available.

Student Number : 0201444H - MSc dissertation - School of Molecular and Cell Biology - Faculty of Science / Due to the paucity of sensitive mutation markers available for studying mycobacterial species it was decided to explore the suitability of mycobacteriophage L5 as an analogous mutation detection system to phage Lambda in E. coli. The system relies on the detection of an increased production of clear plaque mutants (CPM) arising from turbid plaques, in response to DNA damage. A number of L5 phage experimental tools were developed and optimized, including a lysogen-based CPM confirmation assay. The mutant induction system was applied to wild type M. smegmatis mc2155 and its recA mutant, dinP mutant as well as an M. smegmatis(L5) lysogen. The lysogen system proved to be insensitive with respect to mutant induction since elevated CPM frequencies could not be detected. Interestingly, the wild type M. smegmatis mc2155 system demonstrated slightly elevated CPM frequencies in response to transfection of untreated L5 on UV irradiated host cells. This result suggests that a host SOS mutagenic system is able to act on normal, undamaged DNA bases. The involvement of the SOS response in untargeted mutagenesis was confirmed by the abrogation of increased CPM frequency, in an M. smegmatis recA mutant. This data supports suggestions that RecA is responsible for the control of the SOS response. The M. smegmatis dinP mutant system showed a decrease in CPM frequency which supports evidence that this gene does have mutator polymerase activity, as is in seen E. coli dinP homologues.

The antibody Fc region is critical for the therapeutic potency by virtue of its role in recruiting and activating the cytotoxic pathways of immune cells, complement activation and its role in antibody homeostasis (a process mediated by the pH dependent binding to the neonatal receptor FcRn). Bacterially produced antibodies lack of glycosylation at Asn297 and therefore do not bind to the surface Fc[gamma]Rs on effector innate immune cells, nor can they activate complement. This dissertation describes the engineering of aglycosylated bacterially expressed antibodies for binding to a specific Fc[gamma]R and therefore eliciting therapeutically relevant effector functions. Aglycosylated Fc mutants that bind to desired Fc binding ligands were isolated by a new E. coli homodimeric Fc display system coupled with high throughput flow cytometry. Two amino acids mutation in the CH3 domain (Fc5) conferred selectively high binding affinity of aglycosylated Fc domains to the Fc[gamma]RI receptor. Flow cytometry screening from a randomized Fc5 library resulted in the isolation of Fc mutants exhibiting higher affinity binding to Fc[gamma]RI receptor than the Fc5. Aglycosylated Fc[gamma]RI specific IgG containing the variable regions of the clinically important anti-Her2 antibody trastuzumab elicited dendritic cell-mediated ADCC in sharp contrast to the clinical grade trastuzumab (Herceptin) or the glycosylated coutreparts of the engineered antibodies, neither of which could potentiate target cell lysis with dendritic cells as effectors. In separate studies, a system was developed for the screening of periplasmically anchored E. coli libraries and the isolation of clones expressing antibodies that are specific to insoluble antigens or to cell surface markers. Following three rounds of flow cytometric screening, spheroplasts expressing specific scFvs were enriched 950-fold from a large excess (1,000x) of spheroplasts expressing nonspecific antibodies. / text

Canada is a global leader in flax production, but flax acreage in Canada remains limited since flax is not well adapted to the northern Prairies. Therefore, breeding early-flowering and early maturing flax cultivars that are adapted to the climate of the northern Prairies is one of the major strategies to expand flax acreage in Canada. The objective of this project is to understand flowering time in flax and generate early flowering genotypes that are adapted to the continental climate of the Canadian Prairies. This project examined photoperiod sensitivity in five Canadian flax cultivars (CDC Sorrel, CDC Bethune, Flanders, Prairie Thunder and Royal) and three M9 genotypes derived from 5-azacytidine (5-azaC) treatment (RE1, RE2 and RE3). To investigate how each cultivar or genotype responds to photoperiod changes, a reciprocal transfer experiment between long day and short day conditions was conducted. All cultivars and genotypes were photoperiod sensitive. However, the level of sensitivity and length of the sensitive phase varied among cultivars and genotypes. The five cultivars were more sensitive to photoperiod changes compared with the three mutant genotypes, while RE2, which was the earliest flowering genotype, was the least sensitive genotype. This project, in addition, examined the expression pattern of ELF4 (EARLY FLOWERING 4), a specific flowering-related gene. This experiment was conducted with three Canadian flax cultivars (CDC Sorrel, CDC Bethune and Royal) and one 5-azaC mutant genotype (RE2). GAPDH (Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase) was used as a reference gene in RT-qPCR. Results of RT-qPCR demonstrated that CDC Sorrel and CDC Bethune had a similar expression pattern, while Royal and RE2 had a similar expression pattern. This project also sought to generate early-flowering genotypes by treating CDC Sorrel with 5-azaC as well as to introgress the early-flowering trait from RE genotypes into CDC Sorrel via hybridization. Mutant populations (M2, M3, bulk M3) and hybrid populations (F2, F3, and bulk F3) were grown and evaluated for time to flowering, maturity and height under latitude (53° N) field conditions in 2012 and 2013. 5-azaC treatment did not induce significant differences in flowering or maturity in the CDC Sorrel background. However, the early flowering trait was successfully introgressed into CDC Sorrel background since selected progeny lines flowered significantly earlier than the later flowering CDC Sorrel parental line.

Content removed from thesis due to copyright restrictions: Eaton, C. J., I. Jourdain, et al. (2008). "Functional analysis of a fungal endophyte stress-activated MAP kinase." Current Genetics 53(3): 163-174. Scott, B. and C. J. Eaton (2008). "Role of reactive oxygen species in fungal cellular differentiations." Current Opinion in Microbiology 11(6): 488-493. / In the mutually beneficial association between the fungal endophyte Epichloë festucae and perennial ryegrass, fungal growth is highly regulated and coordinated with that of the host. This implies there must be signalling between the fungus and its host to maintain this close association. Recent work has shown a novel role for reactive oxygen species (ROS) in this symbiotic maintenance, with multiple components of the superoxideproducing NADPH oxidase (Nox) complex being essential for normal association. However, the mechanism by which the Nox complex is regulated is unclear. To identify potential regulators of the E. festucae Nox complex, comparisons were made with well-characterised mammalian systems. This search identified three candidate regulators: a stress activated MAP kinase, sakA, and the p21-activated kinases, pakA and pakB. To investigate if these genes were involved in symbiotic maintenance, replacement mutants were generated by homologous recombination. In culture analysis revealed that the ?sakA mutant was hypersensitive to a range of stresses, whereas the pak mutants were hypersensitive to cell wall stress-inducing agents and displayed altered growth and morphology. Examination of perennial ryegrass infected with these mutants revealed drastically altered plant interaction phenotypes for the ?sakA and ?pakA mutants in comparison to the wild-type strain. ?sakA-infected plants were stunted and displayed striking changes in development, with the base of tillers showing loss of anthocyanin pigmentation and disorganisation of host cells below the meristem, resulting in swollen bases. Plants infected with the ?pakA mutant were severely stunted, had no more than two tillers and senesced soon after planting. In contrast, plants infected with the ?pakB mutant were similar to wild-type, with only slight deregulation of growth in planta. Examination of ROS in culture revealed that ?sakA and ?pakA displayed elevated levels of both superoxide and hydrogen peroxide. ROS levels were also elevated around ?sakA hyphae in planta. These results support roles for SakA and PakA in Nox regulation. This work highlights the fine balance between mutualism and antagonism, and provides insight into the molecular basis for mutualism.

No description available.