O estudo de processos de tradução do código genético em proteínas desperta o interesse pelo seu papel central no metabolismo celular, em particular, o estudo da via de síntese de novos aminoácidos, como a selenocisteína e a pirrolisina, que resultam na expansão do código genético dos 20 aminoácidos canônicos para um total de 22 aminoácidos. A selenocisteína (Sec, U) é um aminoácido que representa a principal forma biológica do elemento selênio e sua incorporação ocorre através de um processo cotraducional em selenoproteínas como resposta ao códon UGA em fase, usualmente interpretado como códon de parada. Essa incorporação requer uma complexa maquinaria molecular distinta entre os três domínios da vida em que as selenoproteínas estão presentes: Bactéria, Arquéia e Eucária. Em Escherichia coli, a via se inicia com a aminoacilação do tRNA específico para a incorporação de selenocisteínas (SelC, tRNASec) com um resíduo de L-serina pela seril-tRNA sintetase (SerRS) formando o tRNA carregado Ser-tRNA[Ser]Sec que é entregue ao complexo homodecamérico selenocisteína sintase (SelA) responsável pela conversão Ser-Sec utilizando a forma biológica de selênio entregue pela enzima selenofosfato sintetase (SelD). Uma vez carregado com L-selenocisteína, o Sec-tRNASec é então carreado pelo fator de elongação específico para selenocisteínas (SelB) para a sua incorporação na cadeia polipeptídica nascente na posição UGA adjunta ao elemento SECIS (SElenoCysteine Insertion Sequence), uma estrutura em grampo presente no RNA mensageiro que indica o códon de inserção de selenocisteínas. Uma vez que elementos contendo selênio são tóxicos para o ambiente celular, interações entre as enzimas da via se fazem necessárias, onde as enzimas participantes em procariotos são conhecidas e caracterizadas individualmente, no entanto, suas interações macromoleculares nas diferentes etapas ainda não foram caracterizadas. Este projeto visa à caracterização macromolecular e estrutural das interações entre as enzimas SelA e SelB com os RNAs participantes tRNASec e SECIS além do ribossomo de E. coli. Para isso, amostras de SelA, SelB, tRNASec, SECIS e ribossomo foram obtidas através de diferentes metodologias. Para SelA e tRNASec foram utilizados protocolos já estabelecidos enquanto que, para SelB, fez-se necessário a otimização do protocolo previamente publicado e, consequentemente, nova caracterização biofísica através de metodologias como dicroísmo dircular (CD) e fluorescência intrínseca (IFS). Para análise das interações, medidas de espectroscopia de anisotropia de fluorescência (FAS), ultracentrifugação analítica (AUC) e calorimetria de varredura diferencial (DSC) foram utilizadas para determinação dos parâmetros de interação dos diferentes complexos estudados. Somado a isso, experimentos de cinética GTPásica foram realizados na formação dos complexos e, além disso, foram gerados modelos estruturais utilizando diferentes metodologias como espalhamento de raios-X a baixo ângulo (SAXS) além de estudos por microscopia eletrônica de transmissão (TEM). Os estudos propostos irão auxiliar no entendimento do mecanismo de incorporação deste aminoácido em bactérias bem como nos demais domínios da vida além de elucidar o mecanismo sequencial de eventos, provendo conhecimento e desenvolvendo metodologias para sistemas complexos de interação proteína-proteína e proteína-RNA. / The study of genetic code processes in proteins is a central role in cell metabolism, in particular the study of the synthesis pathway of new amino acids, such as selenocysteine and pyrrolisine, which resulted in the expansion of the genetic code of the 20 canonical amino acids for 22 amino acids. Selenocysteine (Sec, U) is an amino acid that represents a major biological form of selenium element and its incorporation through a co-translational process in selenoproteins in response to the in-phase UGA-codon, usually interpreted as stop-codon. This incorporation requires a complex molecular machinery distinct between the three domains of life in which, as selenoprotein has present: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaria. In Escherichia coli, an initiation pathway with an aminoacylation of the tRNA specific for the incorporation of selenocysteines (SelC, tRNASec) with an L-serine residue by seril-tRNA synthetase (SerRS) resulting in the charged tRNA Ser-tRNA[Ser] Sec that is delivered to the homodecameric complex selenocysteine synthase (SelA), responsible for Ser-Sec conversion using the biological form of selenium delivered by the enzyme selenophosphate synthetase (SelD). Once loaded with L-selenocysteine, Sec-tRNASec is then carried by the selenocysteine-specific elongation factor (SelB) for incorporation into the nascent polypeptide chain at the UGA position attached to the SECIS (SElenoCysteine Insertion Sequence) element, staple structure that indicates the insertion codon of selenocysteines. Since elements containing selenium are toxic to the cell, interactions between how pathway enzymes are made, where the enzymes participating in concepts are known and characterized individually, however, their macromolecular interactions in the different steps have not yet been characterized. This project aims at the macromolecular and structural characterization of the interactions between SelA and SelB enzymes with the RNAS tRNASec and SECIS participants in addition to the E. coli ribosome. For this, as samples of SelA, SelB, tRNASec, SECIS and ribosome were obtained through different methodologies. For SelA and tRNASec, protocols were used to determine parameters for SelB, it was necessary to optimize a previously published protocol and, consequently, a new biophysical characterization through methodologies such as circular dichroism (CD) and intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy (IFS). To analyze the interactions, measurements of fluorescence anisotropy spectroscopy (FAS), analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to determine the interaction parameters of different complexes studied. In addition, GTPases activity experiments were carried out in the formation of the complexesand, in addition, we have generated models that characterize different methodologies such as small angles X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The proposed studies will aid in understanding the mechanism of incorporation of this amino acid into bacteria as well as the other domains of life besides elucidating the sequential mechanism of events, providing knowledge and development of methodologies for complex protein-protein and RNA-protein interaction systems.

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are responsible for the regulation of a variety of important functions within living organisms. Compounds which can selectively modulate aberrant PPIs are novel therapeutic candidates for treating human diseases. Whilst PPIs have traditionally been considered as "undruggable", research in this area has led to the emergence of several effective methodologies for targeting PPIs. One such methodology is peptide stapling, which involves constraining a short peptide into its native alpha-helical form by forming a covalent link between two of its amino acid side-chains. The Sondheimer dialkyne reagent has previously been used in strain-promoted double-click cycloadditions with diazidopeptides to generate stapled peptides that are capable of inhibiting PPIs. However, the Sondheimer dialkyne suffers from poor water-solubility; it decomposes rapidly in aqueous solutions which limits its application in biological systems. This dissertation describes the design and synthesis of new substituted variants of the Sondheimer dialkyne with increased solubility and stability, that are suitable for application in strain promoted double click peptide stapling. In total, ten different derivatives were generated; of these, a meta-trimethylammonium substituted variant was found to have particularly high water-solubility and aqueous stability, as well as high azide reactivity. The substituted Sondheimer dialkynes were applied to the strain promoted double click stapling of p53-based diazido peptides in an effort to generate stapled peptide-based inhibitors of the oncogenic p53 MDM2 PPI, a validated target for anticancer therapeutics. Three stapled peptides were found to have inhibitory activity, thus demonstrating the utility of the novel dialkynes in the preparation of PPI inhibitors. The functionalised stapled peptide formed from a meta-fluoro substituted Sondheimer dialkyne was found to be the most potent inhibitor. All ortho-substituted Sondheimer dialkynes were found to be unreactive, whereas those with a meta-trimethylammonium substituent were highly reactive when compared to other meta-substituted dialkynes. These patterns in azide reactivity could be explained through X-ray crystallographic studies and density functional theory calculations.

Protein interactions occurring through biomolecular interfaces play an important role in the circle of life. These interactions are responsible for cellular function, including RNA transcription, protein translation, cell division and cell death among many others. There are different types of interactions based on the strength and the duration of the association. Transient interactions govern most steps of the cellular metabolism, where the associations between two or more molecules are responsive to environmental cues. Among the participants of transient interactions, intrinsically disordered proteins are employed in signaling and other regulatory events within the cell. These proteins exhibit allosteric regulation and gain secondary structure when they bind other proteins or small molecules. In this doctoral thesis work, the biochemical and biophysical principals governing protein associations are investigated and using protein engineering tools, novel biomolecular interfaces are engineered, with potential applications in different areas of biotechnology. The first part of the thesis (Chapter 2) focuses on the investigation of supramolecular enzyme association among tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes, specifically between citrate synthase and mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase. In this study, the interactions between these enzymes are examined, both among their natural and synthetically produced recombinant versions. In addition, mutational analysis of the amino acid residues at the complex interface was performed to explore the importance of the positively charged patch connecting the active sites of the enzymes. It was discovered that the channeling of the negatively charged intermediate is severely impaired upon mutation of surface residues contributing to the electrostatic channeling. This work provides an important insight into understanding the coupled reaction-transport systems and metabolon formation in general. In addition, it constitutes a great example for substrate channeling in leaky systems, which are relevant to most biological processes. The next section of the thesis (Chapter 3) focuses on an intrinsically disordered peptide, the β-roll. This peptide is isolated from the Block V repeats-in-toxin (RTX) domain of adenylate cyclase from Bordetella pertussis. It is disordered in the absence of calcium and it folds into a β-roll secondary structure composed of two parallel β-sheet faces upon binding to calcium ions. This way, the peptide can transition between its unfolded state and the β-roll structure in a reversible way. We have utilized the allosteric regulation of this domain as a tool to engineer new protein interfaces. In its folded state, the peptide has two faces, serving as binding surfaces available for interaction with other proteins. Our work involved the alteration of the residues, which form these faces upon calcium binding, via combinatorial protein design techniques. The potential of this peptide is evaluated as a cross-linking domain for hydrogel formation. By rationally engineering the two faces of the folded β-roll to contain leucine residues, we have created hydrophobic interfaces, serving as environmentally-responsive cross-linking domains. When there is no calcium, the β-roll domains remain unstructured, delocalizing the leucine rich patches. After calcium binding, the β-rolls fold and the leucine rich faces are exposed creating a hydrophobic driving force for self-assembly. This way, we showed that the β-roll peptide can function as a biomaterials building block capable of proteinaceous hydrogel formation, only in the presence of calcium. The next study (Chapter 4) demonstrates the utilization of this peptide as an alternative scaffold for biomolecular recognition applications. A library of mutant β-rolls was constructed by randomizing the amino acid residues on one of the β-sheet forming faces. Mutant peptides demonstrating an affinity for hen egg white lysozyme were selected, which was chosen as a model target molecule. The thermodynamic parameters of the interactions between the β-roll mutants and the lysozyme were quantified. Upon performing further protein engineering (e.g. concatenation of the single mutants on the DNA level), a mutant with mid-nanomolar affinity was identified. Affinity chromatography experiments showed that this mutant was capable of capturing the target, in the presence of calcium. The captured target was easily released upon removal of the calcium ions. The reversibility of the calcium binding allowed the engineered molecular interface to be controllable. Throughout this study, the β-roll peptide was explored as an allosterically-regulated protein switch for on/off biomolecular recognition, which can be mediated by simply changing the calcium concentration, allowing control over the binding behavior between molecules. The last part of the thesis (Chapter 5) expands on the calcium dependent network formation study. A hydrogel construct was genetically built by fusing the cross-linking β-roll domain and the lysozyme binding β-roll mutant, resulting in a smart biomaterial with dual-functionality. The network-assembly and target capture functions of this construct were tested by various assays including hydrogel erosion experiments. This allosterically-regulated biomaterial exhibited promising results, where calcium-dependent lysozyme entrapment within the assembled network and lysozyme capture on the hydrogel surface were demonstrated. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates different approaches to understand and engineer molecular interfaces in both natural and recombinant systems. In the future, these approaches and the knowledge gained from these studies can be further built upon for different biotechnological applications and can also be applied to other synthetic systems.

Domínio proteico é uma sequência de aminoácidos evolutivamente conservada e funcionalmente independente. Um dos aspectos mais importantes do estudo de uma proteína que contem múltiplos domínios é o entendimento da comunicação, entre os diferentes domínios, e seu papel biológico. Essa comunicação em maior parte é feita pela interação direta entre domínios. A interação poderia ser tratada como uma clássica interação proteína-proteína. Entretanto, proteínas multidomínio possuem restrições determinadas por suas regiões conectoras. Os conectores interdomínio impõem restrições e limitam espaço conformacional dos domínios. Apresentamos aqui o MAD, uma rotina capaz de obter modelos tridimensionais de alta resolução para proteínas, contendo qualquer número de domínios, a partir de sua sequencia primária. Os domínios conservados são identificados utilizando a base de domínios conservados (CDD) e seus limites são utilizados para definir as regiões conectoras. É criado um ensamble de possíveis dobramentos dos conectores e sua distribuição de distâncias C/N-terminais são utilizadas como restrição espacial na busca pela interação entre os domínios.Os modelos dos domínios são obtidos por uma modelagem comparativa. Foi implementada uma heurística, capaz de lidar com a natureza combinatorial dos múltiplos domínios e com a necessidade imposta pela limitação computacional de realizar o docking dos domínios em forma de pares. Todas combinações de domínios são submetidas as rotinas de docking. Aplica-se filtro de distância e energético, excluindo as conformações que apresentam distância C/N-terminal entre domínios maior do que o valor máximo observado no ensamble de conectores e seleciona as conformações energeticamente mais favoráveis. As conformações são submetidas a uma rotina de agrupamento hierárquico baseada em sua similaridade estrutural. Para a segunda fase as conformações selecionadas são pareadas com seu domínio complementar e ressubmetidas a rotina de docking até que todas as fases tenham sido completadas. Foi criado um conjunto de testes a partir do Protein Data Bank contendo 54 proteínas multidomínio para que a rotina de docking do MAD fosse comparada com outros softwares utilizados pela comunidade cientifica, mostrou-se superior ou equivalente aos métodos testados. A capacidade de utilizar dados experimentais foi demostrada através da proposição de um modelo da forma ativa da enzima tirosina fosfatase 2, nunca observado experimentalmente. A rotina de docking foi expandida paralelamente em uma aplicação standalone e utilizada na resolução de diversos problemas biológicos. Concluímos que a inovação metodológica proposta pelo MAD é de grande valia para a modelagem molecular e tem potencial de gerar uma nova perspectiva a respeito da interação de proteína multidomínio, visto que é possível analisar essas proteínas em sua plenitude e não como domínios separados. / Protein domain is an evolutionary conserved and functionally independent amino acid sequence. One of the most important aspects of the study of a protein that contains multiple domains is the understanding of communication between the different areas, and their biological role. This communication is made mostly by direct interaction between domains. The interaction could be treated as a classical protein-protein interaction. However, multidomain proteins have certain restrictions for its connector regions. The intra connectors impose restrictions and limit conformational space of the domains. We present the MAD, a routine able to get three-dimensional models of high-resolution protein, containing any number of domains, from its primary sequence. The conserved domains are identified using the basic conserved domains database (CDD) and its boundaries are used to define the connector regions. This creates a ensemble of possible folding of the connectors and distribution of distances C/N-terminals are used as spatial restriction in the search for interaction between domains.Os models of the domains are obtained by comparative modelling. A heuristic able to handle the combinatorial nature of the multiple areas and the need imposed by the computer to perform the limitation of the docking areas as pairs was implemented. All combinations of domains are referred to the docking routines. Distance and energy filters are applied, excluding conformations that have C/N-terminal domains distances larger than the maximum value observed in the connectors ensemble and selects the most favourable energy conformations. Conformations are subjected to hierarchical clustering routine based on their structural similarity. For the second phase, the selected conformations are paired with its complementary domain and resubmitted to the docking routine until all phases have been completed. A test set has been created from the Protein Data Bank containing 54 multidomain proteins so that the docking routine of MAD could be compared with other software used by the scientific community, it has been shown to be superior or equivalent to the tested methods. The ability to use experimental data was demonstrated by proposing a model of the active form of tyrosine phosphatase enzyme 2, never observed experimentally. The docking routine was expanded in a standalone application and used in solving various biological problems. We conclude that the methodological innovation proposed by the MAD is very useful for molecular modelling and has the potential to generate a new perspective on multidomain protein interaction as you can analyse these proteins in its entirety and not as separate domains.

Les interactions protéine–protéine (IPP) jouent un rôle primordial dans les processus physiologiques. L’inhibition de ces interactions ouvre la voie à la conception de nouvelles molécules à visée thérapeutique. Les structures secondaires en hélice α sont fréquemment impliquées dans les interactions entre protéines auxquelles elles peuvent contribuer de manière significative. La conception de molécules, mimant ce motif de reconnaissance et pouvant interagir avec la protéine cible tout en inhibant la reconnaissance avec le partenaire naturel, représente une voie innovante pour trouver de nouveaux candidats médicaments. Les oligomères d’urée aliphatique, une classe de foldamères qui adoptent une structure secondaire en hélice bien définie et proche de l’hélice α, ont été proposés comme mimes d’hélice α pour inhiber les IPP. Au cours de cette thèse, nous nous sommes d’abord intéressés à la conception de foldamères d’oligourée et de chimères oligoamide/oligourée pour cibler des surfaces de protéine. Nous avons sélectionné le récepteur nucléaire de la vitamine D (VDR) comme modèle d’étude en raison de son intérêt thérapeutique, et des connaissances structurales disponibles. Les protéines partenaires de VDR (coactivateurs) interagissant via une courte région structurée en hélice α, nos recherches ont portés sur des mimes d’hélices inspirés des séquences de coactivateurs. Dans une seconde partie, nous nous sommes intéressés à la génération et à l’étude de dimères covalents de foldamères, qui pourraient être utilisés pour couvrir des surfaces d’interaction plus larges. En effet, les interactions protéine-protéine montrent souvent un mode d’interaction plus complexe qu’une simple hélice, faisant intervenir des structures tertiaires et quaternaires de type coiled coils, qui peuvent aussi servir de point de départ pour la conception de nouvelles classes d’inhibiteurs. / Protein-protein interactions (PPI) have a key role in physiological processes. The inhibition of these PPI may lead to new therapeutic strategies. Secondary structures in α-helix are frequently involved in protein interactions where they may contribute significantly to binding. Designing molecules which mimic the helical motif for protein surface recognition and inhibition of the natural partner represents an innovative path to discover new drug candidates. Aliphatic urea oligomers, a class of foldamers that adopt a well-defined H-bonded helical secondary structure with good similarity to the α-helix have been proposed as possible α-helix mimics to inhibit protein-protein interactions. The first part of this PhD project was dedicated to the design and synthesis of oligoureas and oligourea/α-peptide chimeras for specific protein surface recognition. We have selected the vitamin D receptor as a potential target, mainly because (i) it is therapeutically relevant; (ii) its protein partner (coactivators) interact through a short region which adopts an α-helical structure upon binding and (iii) structures at atomic resolution were available to enable the design of effective mimetics. In the second part, we investigated methods to generate foldamer covalent dimers that could potentially be used to cover larger interaction surfaces. The rationale is that the binding interface is often more complex than a single helix and may involve tertiary and quaternary structures such as coiled coils which in turns may also serve as a basis for the design of new classes of inhibitors.

Inhibition of the intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) is a recognized issue in drug research. Standard approaches, based on key-lock model, cannot be used in the absence of rigid structure and defined active site. Here a basic helix-loop-helix leucine zipper (bHLHZip) domain of c-Myc was studied, which is intrinsically disordered and prone to aggregation. Chemical denaturation of proteins is a widely accepted technique to study protein folding, but here this methodology was applied to IDP, observing its effect on the structural ensemble of c-Myc by NMR spectroscopy. Nonlinear chemical shift changes indicated cooperative unfolding of the helical structure of the part of the leucine zipper domain in parallel with the melting of the N-terminal helix. Paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) was used to probe long-range structure and revealed presence of long-range contacts. The following search for inhibitors can be directed to the search for ligands, locking c-Myc in its more compact conformation. Protein self-association is a problem typical for IDPs and intrinsic process for all proteins at high concentrations. It leads to increased viscosity, gelation and possible precipitation, which cause problems in protein manufacturing, stability and delivery. If protein drugs require high dosing, special approaches are needed. At high concentrations proteins experience conditions close to the crystal state, therefore interactions in solution could potentially coincide with crystal lattice contacts. A range of diverse methods is used to study this process, but the complexity of the mechanism makes it hard to build a reliable model. Here, the self-association of streptococcal Protein G (PrtG) was studied using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in solution. The properties of protein-protein interactions at high concentration, up to ~ 160 mg/ml, were studied at residue-level resolution. Residue specific information on protein dynamics was obtained using 15N relaxation measurements. The experiments were carried out at multiple concentrations. Variation in the rotational correlation time over these concentrations showed changes in the protein dynamics, which indicated weak protein-protein interactions occurring in solution. Pulsed-field gradient NMR spectroscopy was used to monitor translational diffusion coefficients in order to estimate the degree of protein self-association. Oligomer formation was also monitored by looking at variations in 1H and 15N amide chemical shifts. Better understanding of protein self-association mechanisms under different conditions could assist in developing methods to reduce the level of reversible protein self-association in solution at high protein concentrations.

Antibodies and antibody fragments are the largest class of biotherapeutics in development with many products already available in the clinic. Antibodies are promising due to their naturally high affinity and specificity for biological targets. A key stumbling block to biopharmaceutical development compared to small molecule drugs is the general requirement for a stable liquid formulation, which is often difficult to obtain due to issues with aggregation, phase separation, particle formation, and chemical instabilities. Aberrant solution behaviour limits the production, storage and delivery of the monoclonal antibody. Biopharmaceutical solution behaviour is determined by weak, transient protein-protein and protein-solvent interactions. An attractive interaction potential between proteins in solution can lead to association. Irreversible association occurs when proteins undergo large scale structural changes and aggregate. Reversible association is less severe, but can lead to undesirable solution properties such as high viscosity, phase separation and opalescence, which can lead to difficulties throughout the downstream processing and formulation steps. These problems can become exacerbated during formulation of antibodies when trying to achieve high protein concentrations often required for effective antibody dosage. Firstly, we studied the domains of the Fab fragment using statistical models and continuum electrostatic calculations and found that the CH1 domain is more soluble than the other domains and has properties of intrinsically disordered like proteins which is supported by observations in the literature. We then investigated the immunoglobulin superfamily and found 11 proteins which may have a similarly disordered nature. We present a new web server for predicting protein solubility from primary sequence using an in-house algorithm that weighs the contribution of various sequence properties for predicting solubility. Lastly, we conducted physical characterisation of an antibody and human serum albumin in pharmaceutically relevant buffers and found that the interaction potential can be modelled using spherical models from low to high protein concentration. We hope that the work outlined in this thesis will contribute to the theoretical understanding and modelling of protein solution behaviour.

Hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) is commonly over-expressed in human cancer cells. It was able to stimulate cell growth. The expression level of HDGF was reported to correlate with poor prognosis of cancer therapy. It was found that HDGF is over-expressed in the fractionated gamma radiation conditioned HepG2 cells, which have higher growth rate, lower radiosensitivity and higher drug sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of HDGF in mediating these changes in human cancer cells and the underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that transfection of HDGF cDNA carrying vector stimulated the growth of cancer cells while knock-down of HDGF by transfection of HDGF antisense oligos not only suppressed the growth but also triggered apoptosis in human cancer cells. It suggests that HDGF stimulates cancer cell growth and acts as a survival factor for human cancer cells. Mechanistic study showed that knock-down of HDGF may trigger apoptosis through the regulation of the apoptotic pathways. The apoptosis induced by HDGF knock-down was mediated by the BAD regulated intrinsic apoptotic pathway and the Fas regulated extrinsic apoptotic pathway. The HDGF knock-down induced apoptosis was also mediated by the changes in the activity of the cell survival pathways, including the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK, PI3K/Akt, NFkappaB and Jak/STAT pathways. In addition to the growth promoting function, HDGF was found to regulate the radiosensitivity and chemosensitivity of cancer cells. Overexpression of HDGF reduced the radiosensitivity and the level of apoptosis induced by gamma radiation. On the contrast, overexpression of HDGF increased the chemosensitivity and the level of apoptosis induced by anti-cancer drugs, including Taxol, doxorubicin (Dox) and tamoxifen. The results indicated that HDGF may stimulate the growth, reduce the radiation sensitivity and increase the drug sensitivity of cancer cells. HDGF may also be responsible for the changes in cancer cell properties after fractionated gamma radiation treatment. The present findings suggest that HDGF may be a potential target for cancer therapy. / Tsang, Tsun Yee. / Adviser: Tim Tak Kwok. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3497. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

STRAP (Stress responsive activator of p300) is a 440 amino acid protein, predicted to have 6 TPR (Tetra-Tri-Co-Peptide Repeats) motifs, known to mediate protein-protein interactions. STRAP has been shown to form a complex with proteins p300 and JMY (Junctional Mediatory Protein), and is implicated in the DNA damage, heat shock response pathway, regulation of the Glucocorticoid receptor and in the function of p53.The aims of this project were to clone, express and purify full length and truncated human STRAP (hSTRAP) variants in high quantities. Full length and shorter hSTRAP fragments, which contain different combinations of the predicted TPR motifs and hence cover different regions, would be then structurally characterised by various structural and biophysical experiments. Another important aim was to identify interacting partners of hSTRAP in breast cancer and to map the position of their interaction sites to different parts of the protein. To this direction GST- and His- tagged full length hSTRAP, as well as His- tagged truncated hSTRAP protein variants have been successfully cloned, expressed and purified. Independent and reproducible biochemical pull-down assays have been carried out in MCF7 breast cancer cells, followed by mass spectrometry-based proteomics analysis which identified 25 hSTRAP-interacting partners from various signaling pathways such as regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and translation. In addition, crystallization trials were carried out using pure His-hSTRAP(1-440) protein, which were unfortunately un-successful. Various hSTRAP protein variants have been characterized by CD, showing that hSTRAP(1-150), His-hSTRAP(1-440), hSTRAP(1-219), hSTRAP(151-284) and hSTRAP(285-440) comprise of alpha and β structures, but the hSTRAP protein variants show no clear cooperative unfolding transitions, suggestive of molten globule states. NMR on hSTRAP(1-219), hSTRAP(1-150) and hSTRAP(151-284) have shown these proteins are not folded at a tertiary structure level. We conclude that a protocol has been established to clone, express and purify various hSTRAP variants and the thermal and secondary structure characteristics of each have been determined, although the 3D structure could not be solved. Pull-down assays followed by proteomic analysis have shown that hSTRAP is implicated in many aspects of cellular regulation.

Ten-Eleven-Translocation (TET) proteins form a family of enzymes responsible for active DNA demethylation by oxidation of 5-methylcytosine. TET proteins play a key role in genomic reprogramming in vitro and in vivo. Although TET proteins are expressed in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), their role in regulating pluripotency remains unclear. In addition, the mechanisms by which TET proteins are recruited to chromatin are largely unknown. To visualise TET protein dynamics during pluripotency and differentiation, the endogenous Tet1/2/3 alleles were fused to epitope tags in ESCs using CRISPR/Cas9. Characterisation of these cell lines showed that TET1 is the highest expressed TET protein in both naïve and primed pluripotent cells. In contrast, TET2 is expressed heterogeneously in ESCs and marks cells with a high self-renewal capacity. To assess the function of Tet genes in pluripotent stem cells, the endogenous Tet1/2/3 ORFs were removed using CRISPR/Cas9. Comparative analysis of single and combined Tet gene knockout ESC lines indicated that Tet1 and Tet2, but not Tet3, play redundant roles to promote loss of pluripotency. Furthermore, Tet-deficient cells retained a naïve morphology in differentiating conditions, suggestive of a LIF-independent self-renewal phenotype. To characterise physiological TET1 protein-protein interactions, TET1 protein partners were identified in ESCs by mass spectrometry and co-immuno-precipitations. This revealed that TET1 interacts with multiple epigenetic and pluripotency-related factors in ESCs. Moreover, detailed characterisation of the interaction between TET1 and NANOG identified three regions of TET1 involved in protein-protein interactions that are conserved in evolution. To investigate TET1 chromatin binding in ESCs, both at the molecular and cellular levels, TET1 was characterised by ChIP-seq analysis and live imaging experiments. Interestingly, TET1 is targeted to chromatin by two different mechanisms, involving distinct protein regions. The interaction with multiple protein partners, including NANOG, might enable TET1 to be targeted to specific chromosomal locations. Additionally, TET1 has the unusual ability to bind mitotic chromatin through its N-terminus, independently of its interaction with NANOG. Together these analyses provide a new understanding of the role of TET proteins in pluripotent cells, as well as a detailed map of TET1 residues involved in protein-protein interactions and mitotic chromatin binding.