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Submitted by Lúcia Bonci Cavalca (l.bonci@hotmail.com) on 2018-04-26T18:08:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CAVALCA, LB versão repositorio.pdf: 11866412 bytes, checksum: 0a27e5a7f7f756cb88de16361ad78a27 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Santulo Custódio de Medeiros null (asantulo@rc.unesp.br) on 2018-04-26T19:16:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 cavalca_lb_me_rcla.pdf: 11841916 bytes, checksum: 0d52662f4653c6d3695e6b3ab334549d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-26T19:16:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 cavalca_lb_me_rcla.pdf: 11841916 bytes, checksum: 0d52662f4653c6d3695e6b3ab334549d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A cultura de citros é uma das mais importantes do Brasil, sendo a citricultura brasileira a maior do mundo; ainda assim, a produção nacional sofre com pragas e doenças, como cancro cítrico, que afetam sua produtividade. O cancro cítrico é causado pela bactéria Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xac) e tem sido controlado com o uso de estratégias integradas como a eliminação de plantas contaminadas e pulverização de bactericidas cúpricos. O uso de compostos à base de cobre, porém, representa um risco ambiental devido à sua toxicidade e efeito cumulativo, fazendo necessária a investigação de outros compostos com potencial no tratamento fitossanitário contra a doença. Neste estudo avaliamos a atividade bactericida do galato de hexila contra Xac, seu potencial protetivo e curativo no combate ao cancro cítrico, sua fitotoxicidade e predisposição em induzir resistência bacteriana. O composto provocou retardo e diminuição no crescimento populacional de Xac e inibição de seu crescimento in vitro, levando à morte total da população na concentração de 100μg⋅mL-1. A bactéria não foi capaz de desenvolver resistência a Gal-6 ao longo de 31 dias e exibiu taxa de mutantes naturalmente resistentes ao composto menor que 1⋅10-6 para a concentração de 50μg⋅mL-1. A capacidade de germinação de sementes e desenvolvimento de plântulas de rúcula e tomate não foi alterada por Gal-6. A aspersão de galato de hexila em plantas de laranja doce inoculadas com Xac reduziu em até 35% a incidência de sintomas de cancro cítrico, e em até 80% sua severidade. O composto também alterou o comprimento celular de Xac e permeabilidade de membrana. Galato de hexila mostrou-se um bactericida eficaz contra Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri tanto in vitro quanto in planta, além de apresentar baixa fitotoxicidade e baixa probabilidade de indução de resistência em Xac, visto que o composto parece atuar tanto sobre a estrutura física da membrana, quanto sobre o processo de segregação cromossômica/divisão celular bacteriana. / Citrus culture is one of the most important agricultural activities in Brazil, being the country also the biggest producer in the world; nevertheless, this business struggles with pests and diseases, as citrus canker, that affects its profitability. Citrus canker is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xac) and is controlled by using integrated strategies such as elimination of contaminated plants and spraying of cupric bactericides. Using products with copper, however, brings an environmental risk, given 8 its toxicity and cumulative effect, making necessary the research of other compounds with potential to be used as a resource in the phytosanitary treatment against the disease. We evaluated hexyl galate's (Gal-6) bactericidal activity versus Xac and its potential in the preventive and curative treatments against the disease, also Gal-6 phytotoxicity and likeliness to induce bacterial resistance. The compound caused delay and decrease in Xac population growth and in vitro growth inhibition, leading to the total death of the population when at 100 μg⋅mL-1. The bacterium was not able to develop resistance to Gal-6 over 31 days and exhibited a rate of naturally-resistant mutants to the compound of less than 1⋅10-6 at the concentration of 50μg⋅mL-1. Seed germination and seedling development of arugula and tomato were not altered by Gal- 6. Spraying orange plants infected by Xac with hexyl gallate reduced the incidence of citrus canker symptoms by up to 35% and their severity by up to 80%. The compound also altered Xac cell length and membrane permeability. Hexyl gallate proved to be an effective bactericide against Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri both in vitro and in plant, exhibiting low phytotoxicity and low inclination to induce resistance in Xac, given that the compound appears to act on both the physical structure of the membrane and the process of chromosomal segregation/ bacterial cell division.

P1 prophage is stably maintained in E. coli as a low-copy-number plasmid. Stable maintenance of P1 is dependent on the function of the plasmid encoded partition system, parABS. ParA is the partition ATPase, ParB is the partition-site binding protein, and parS is the partition site. The concerted action of these proteins results in dynamic movement of the plasmid over the bacterial nucleoid, which results in its stable maintenance. Plasmid movement has been proposed to be caused by interactions between parS bound ParB and nucleoid bound ParA. In this thesis, I have identified a complex of ParA, ParB, and DNA that is capable of promoting plasmid stability. ParA, ParB, DNA interactions required the ATP bound conformation of ParA. The ParA-ParB-DNA complex was dynamically regulated by nucleotide hydrolysis, which promoted complex disassembly. Complex formation resulted from the cooperative binding of ParA and ParB to DNA. ParA-ParB and ParB-DNA interactions were both necessary for complex formation. ParA-ParB-DNA complex size was regulated by ParB stimulation of ParA-ATP hydrolysis. Microscopy demonstrated that complexes resulted in the association of multiple DNA molecules due to protein binding. The properties of complex assembly, dynamics, and DNA grouping lead me to propose a model where associations between ParA bound to the bacterial nucleoid and the partition complex mediated plasmid movement and localization.

P1 prophage is stably maintained in E. coli as a low-copy-number plasmid. Stable maintenance of P1 is dependent on the function of the plasmid encoded partition system, parABS. ParA is the partition ATPase, ParB is the partition-site binding protein, and parS is the partition site. The concerted action of these proteins results in dynamic movement of the plasmid over the bacterial nucleoid, which results in its stable maintenance. Plasmid movement has been proposed to be caused by interactions between parS bound ParB and nucleoid bound ParA. In this thesis, I have identified a complex of ParA, ParB, and DNA that is capable of promoting plasmid stability. ParA, ParB, DNA interactions required the ATP bound conformation of ParA. The ParA-ParB-DNA complex was dynamically regulated by nucleotide hydrolysis, which promoted complex disassembly. Complex formation resulted from the cooperative binding of ParA and ParB to DNA. ParA-ParB and ParB-DNA interactions were both necessary for complex formation. ParA-ParB-DNA complex size was regulated by ParB stimulation of ParA-ATP hydrolysis. Microscopy demonstrated that complexes resulted in the association of multiple DNA molecules due to protein binding. The properties of complex assembly, dynamics, and DNA grouping lead me to propose a model where associations between ParA bound to the bacterial nucleoid and the partition complex mediated plasmid movement and localization.

Title: The subnuclear localisation of Notch responsive genes. Candidate Name: Matthew Jones Notch signalling is a highly conserved cell-cell communication pathway with critical roles in metazoan development and mutations in Notch pathway components are implicated in many types of cancer. Notch is an excellent and well-studied model of biological signalling and gene regulation, with a single intracellular messenger, one receptor and two ligands in Drosophila. However, despite the limited number of chemical players involved, a striking number of different outcomes arise. Molecular studies have shown that Notch activates different targets in different cell types and it is well known that Notch is important for maintaining a stem cell fate in some situations and driving differentiation in others. Thus some of the factors affecting the regulation of Notch target genes are yet to be discovered. Previous studies in various organisms have found that the location of a gene within the nucleus is important for its regulation and genome reorganisation can occur following gene activation or during development. Therefore this project aimed to label individual Notch responsive loci and determine their subnuclear localisation. In order to tag loci of interest a CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing method was established that enabled the insertion of locus tags at Notch targets, namely the well-characterized Enhancer of split locus and also dpn and Hey, two transcription factors involved in neural cell fate decisions. The ParB/Int system is a recently developed locus tagging system and is not well characterised in Drosophila. It has a number of advantages over the traditional LacO/LacI-GFP locus tagging system as it does not rely on binding site repeats for signal amplification and can label two loci simultaneously in different colours. This thesis characterised the ParB/Int system in the Drosophila salivary gland and larval L3 neuroblast. Using 3D image segmentation hundreds of nuclei were reconstructed and a volume based normalisation method was applied to determine the subnuclear localisation of several Notch targets with and without genetic manipulations of the Notch pathway.