Pioneering work performed by Rosalind Franklin over half a century ago provided the first structural models of two distinct carbon types: those that become graphitic during carbonization at high temperatures, and those that do not. Moreover it is known that certain properties of carbonaceous materials including combustion, surface area, electrical resistivity, and catalytic properties are influenced by mineral impurities. The nature of this division in biocarbon structure and the known effects of minerals on carbon properties have led to this work; three principal topics were addressed; (1) the investigation of the solid state structure of biocarbons derived from various biomass feedstocks, (2) the removal of inorganic minerals from biomass, and (3) the investigation of biocarbon electronic structure subsequent to doping with select inorganic minerals. Charcoals and carbonized charcoals (i.e. biocarbons) were prepared from a wide variety of biomass substrates, including pure sugars containing 5- and 6-membered rings with furanose and pyranose configurations, lignin, agricultural residues (corncob and nut shells) and a hard wood. These biocarbons were subject to proximate and elemental analysis, gas sorption analysis, and analysis by ICP-MS, SEM, XRD, ESR, 13C CPMAS NMR, and MALDI-TOF MS. All the carbonized charcoals contained oxygen heteroatoms, had high surface areas, and were excellent conductors of electricity. Doping the biocarbon with boron or phosphorus resulted in a slight improvement in its electrical conductivity. The XRD analysis indicated that the carbonized charcoals possess an aromaticity of about 71% that results from graphite crystallites with an average size of about 20 . The NMR analysis confirmed the highly aromatic content of the carbonized charcoals. The ESR signals indicated two major types of carbon-centered organic radicals. A number of techniques employed highlighted differences between carbonized charcoals and synthetic graphite but none more so than MALDI-TOF spectrometry. The biocarbons contained readily desorbed discrete ions with m/z values of 701, 685, 465, 453, 429, and 317. All of the above findings were used to develop a model for the structure of carbonized charcoal that is consistent with the biocarbon's oxygen content, microporosity and surface area, electrical conductivity, radical content, and its MALDI-TOF spectra. The removal of inorganic mineral constituents from various biomass feedstocks was achieved via simple washing/soaking techniques using two different aqueous media; deionized water and citric acid. The most effective and consistent demineralization treatment for removing minerals from biomass involved a hot 0.1 molL-1 citric acid percolation treatment, ca. 67% of inorganic mineral matter was removed. Mineral matter at the levels present in typical biomass derived charcoals and carbons had no significant influence upon the surface area or the electrical resistivity in carbonaceous materials after high heat treatment (950 C).

<p>Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a heterogeneous disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the pathogenesis. The disease is characterized by alterations in many genes and their products. Historically, genomic alterations have mainly been studied at the transcriptional level in diabetes research. However, transcriptional changes do not always lead to altered translation, which makes it important to measure changes at the protein level. Proteomic techniques offer the possibility of measuring multiple protein alterations simultaneously.</p><p>In this thesis, the proteomic technique surface enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) has been applied and evaluated in the context of T2DM research. Protocols for pancreatic islet and serum/plasma protein profiling and identification have been developed. In addition, the technique was used to analyze the influence of genetic background versus diabetic environment by determining serum protein profiles of individuals with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and T2DM with or without family history of diabetes. In total thirteen serum proteins displayed different levels in serum from persons with NGT versus patients with T2DM. Among these proteins, apolipoprotein CIII, albumin and one yet unidentified protein could be classified as being changed because of different genetic backgrounds. On the other hand, ten proteins for instance transthyretin, differed as a result of the diabetic environment.</p><p>When plasma protein patterns of NGT and T2DM individuals characterized by differences in early insulin responses (EIR) were compared, nine proteins were found to be varying between the two groups. Of these proteins five were identified, namely two forms of transthyretin, hemoglobin α-chain, hemoglobin β-chain and apolipoprotein H. However no individual protein alone could explain the differences in EIR. In conclusion, SELDI-TOF MS has been successfully used in the context of T2DM research to identify proteins associated with family history of diabetes and β-bell function. </p>

Background and aims : Crohns disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) known as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic immuno-inflammatory pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract. These diseases are multifactorial, polygenic and of unknown etiology. Clinical presentation is non specific and diagnosis is based on clinical, endoscopic, radiological and histological criteria. Novel biomarkers are needed to improve early diagnosis and classification of these pathologies as well as to monitor or predict the effects of therapy. Methods We performed a study with 120 serum samples collected from patients classified in 4 groups: 30 CD, 30 UC, 30 inflammatory controls (IC) and 30 healthy controls (HC), according to accredited criteria. We compared protein sera profiles obtained with a Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometer (SELDI-TOF-MS). Data analysis with an original multivariate statistical method based on multiple decision trees algorithms allowed us to select new potential biomarkers. Eight of them were purified and identified by mass spectrometry and antibody based methods. Moreover, a similar analysis was applied on sera taken from patients before and after treatment with Infliximab. We obtained multivariates models based on biomarkers able to predict the response and monitor changes in protein profiles before and after therapy. One biomarker was identified by an antibody based method and is able to predict clinical response to anti-TNF therapy. Results : Multivariate analysis generated models that could classify samples with good sensitivity and specificity (minimum 80%) discriminating IBD versus HC and IC or CD versus UC. The discrimination of these multivariate models and those of some identified combined biomarkers were compared to ASCA and ANCA tests and showed better or equivalent power of discrimination. Eight biomarkers were purified and identified: Platelet aggregation Factor 4 (PF4), the Myeloid Related Protein 8 (MRP8), the Fibrinopeptide A (FIBA), the Haptoglobin α2 subunit (Hpα2). They were detected in sera by classical methods, when available. Unique decision tree was built with these biomarkers and correlations with characteristics of patients and between biomarkers were calculated. Finally, we also adressed with a similar strategy predictor of response to Infliximab therapy. Conclusions : SELDI-TOF-MS technology combined with the use of the multiple decision trees method, as robust statistical tool, led to the selection of protein biomarker patterns and of specific biomarkers which could be helpful for diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases and prediction of therapy effects as well as understanding of these diseases pathophysiology. Buts : La maladie de Crohn (CD) et la rectocolite ulcéro-hémorrhagique (UC), désignées conjointement sous le nom « Inflammatory Bowel Disease » (IBD), sont deux maladies inflammatoires chroniques de lintestin. Ces pathologies nont pas une étiologie formellement identifiée et semblent être multifactorielles et polygéniques. Leurs présentations cliniques sont aspécifiques et leur diagnostic est actuellement basé sur les données cliniques, endoscopiques, radiologiques et histologiques. Ainsi, de nouveaux marqueurs spécifiques et sensibles de ces pathologies sont nécessaires afin daméliorer le diagnostic précoce et la classification de ces pathologies, ainsi que pour suivre, voire prédire la réponse aux traitements. Méthodes : Une étude protéomique a été réalisée sur 120 échantillons sériques provenant de patients classés en 4 groupes (30 CD, 30 UC, 30 IC et 30 HC), suivant les critères accrédités. Nous avons comparé les profils protéiques obtenus par « Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometer » (SELDI-TOF-MS). Lanalyse des données avec une méthode statistique multivariée originale, basée sur la construction darbres de décisions multiples, nous a permis de sélectionner certains biomarqueurs potentiels. Huit dentre eux ont été identifiés par spectrométrie de masse et des techniques de reconnaissance spécifique par anticorps. De plus, une analyse similaire a été effectuée sur des échantillons provenant de patients avant et après traitement par Infliximab. Nous avons obtenu à partir des profils protéiques, des modèles de classification statistiques multivariés et finalement certains biomarqueurs potentiels de prédiction de la réponse au traitement. De plus, un biomarqueur a été identifié par reconnaissance via un anticorps spécifique. Résultats : Lanalyse multivariée a généré des modèles de classification présentant de bonnes sensibilités et spécificités (minimum 80%) pour la discrimination des patients IBD versus contrôles ou encore, CD versus UC. Les résultats ont été comparés avec ceux des tests ASCA et ANCA et montrent une efficacité équivalente ou supérieure. Huit biomarqueurs ont été purifiés et identifiés : le facteur dagrégation plaquettaire 4 (PF4), la protéine MRP8 ou «Myeloid Related Protein 8», le fibrinopeptide A (FIBA), la sous-unité α2 de lhaptoglobine (Hpα2). Ces protéines et peptides ont été détectés, lorsque possible, dans le sérum par les méthodes classiques. Un arbre de décision multiple a été construit sur base de ces biomarqueurs. Les corrélations entre ceux-ci et avec les caractéristiques des patients ont été également évaluées. Conclusions : La technique SELDI-TOF-MS combinée à lutilisation des arbres de décisions multiples en temps que méthode danalyse statistique robuste, a mené à lobtention de signatures protéiques caractéristiques et à la sélection de biomarqueurs spécifiques qui peuvent se révéler utiles au diagnostic des pathologies IBD, au suivi, comme à la prédiction des effets des thérapies et à la compréhension de la physiopathologie de ces maladies

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a heterogeneous disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the pathogenesis. The disease is characterized by alterations in many genes and their products. Historically, genomic alterations have mainly been studied at the transcriptional level in diabetes research. However, transcriptional changes do not always lead to altered translation, which makes it important to measure changes at the protein level. Proteomic techniques offer the possibility of measuring multiple protein alterations simultaneously. In this thesis, the proteomic technique surface enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) has been applied and evaluated in the context of T2DM research. Protocols for pancreatic islet and serum/plasma protein profiling and identification have been developed. In addition, the technique was used to analyze the influence of genetic background versus diabetic environment by determining serum protein profiles of individuals with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and T2DM with or without family history of diabetes. In total thirteen serum proteins displayed different levels in serum from persons with NGT versus patients with T2DM. Among these proteins, apolipoprotein CIII, albumin and one yet unidentified protein could be classified as being changed because of different genetic backgrounds. On the other hand, ten proteins for instance transthyretin, differed as a result of the diabetic environment. When plasma protein patterns of NGT and T2DM individuals characterized by differences in early insulin responses (EIR) were compared, nine proteins were found to be varying between the two groups. Of these proteins five were identified, namely two forms of transthyretin, hemoglobin α-chain, hemoglobin β-chain and apolipoprotein H. However no individual protein alone could explain the differences in EIR. In conclusion, SELDI-TOF MS has been successfully used in the context of T2DM research to identify proteins associated with family history of diabetes and β-bell function.

Depuis le séquençage complet du génome humain, la génomique se focalise sur la détection des modifications de l'ADN des gènes potentiellement impliqués dans les maladies humaines. Les modifications de l'ADN sont au niveau de la séquence ou épigénétique. Ces polymorphismes, fréquents, rares, connus ou inconnus, peuvent être identifiés par le développement de nouvelles méthodes de séquençage de l'ADN pour chaque individu. Ce projet a pour but le développement de méthodes d'analyse de l'ADN par clivage d'une chimère ARN/ADN et par MALDI-TOF MS. Elle repose sur l'utilisation d'une nouvelle classe d'ADN polymérases qui peut incorporer également des ribonucléotides. La chimère ARN/ADN, simple ou double brin, contient trois bases désoxynucléotides et une quatrième base sous sa forme ribonucléotide. Elle est ensuite clivée après chaque ribonucléotide par l'hydroxyde de sodium. Les fragments de clivage se terminent par un ribonucléotide qui possède un groupement 3'- phosphate terminal. Ils sont dessalés par des billes échangeuses de cation et leurs masses sont analysées par MALDI-TOF MS. La comparaison des masses de l'individu avec celles de la séquence de référence est significative d'un changement dans la séquence d'ADN. Les fragmentations en phase gazeuse de la chimère d'ARN/ADN ont également été étudiées. Cette méthode est adaptée pour l'étude d'un grand nombre d'individus dans une région limitée du génome grâce à la capacité haut-débit du MALDI-TOF MS. Cette méthode, rapide et efficace, possède de nombreuses applications tel que: le génotypage, le génotypage allèle-spécifique en multiplex, le microhaplotypage en multiplex, l'analyse de la méthylation de l'ADN et le séquençage

Due to the technology development, the diet habit has completely changed. It accompanied by the metabolite diseases relevant to blood glucose and lipids, which are dependent with the atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. In this study, we using matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) to characterize triglycerides in human plasma. In the other, the glycosylated hemoglobin in human whole blood was detected by liquid electrospray laser desorption ionization (Liquid ELDI/MS). Triglycerides are energy source (9 kcal/g) in human body, derived from glycerol and three fatty acids. It is a main constituent of vegetable oil and animal fats. In clinical diagnosis, human plasma was mixed with triglyceride Kit to react to the final 520 nm UV-absorbing substance, then the concentration was quantified consistent with the calibration line by UV/Visible spectrometry. By the way, it needed Kit chemicals for one trial. MALDI-TOF/MS is a simple and easy method to operate to detect complex compounds in human plasma, only need to optimize the parameters (solvent collection, sample dilution, matrix selection, sample pretreatment ) to form a homogeneous crystals. The developed ¡§seed layer¡¨ method can reduce the sweet spot effect and cause a lower with-in spot variation (RSD < 20%) compared to ¡§premix¡¨ method (RSD >30%). Combined with statistic software 2D peak distribution, a semi-quantification can be observe of 24 different triglyceride concentration human plasmas. The level of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in whole blood is currently the most important measurement of long-term control of the glycemic state of diabetes. As a result of the interferences of high concentrations of metabolites, proteins and salts in whole blood, tedious sample cleanup procedures must be performed prior to subjecting the sample solutions to conventional LC/MS and MALDI analyses for the detection of HbA1c. Electrospray laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (ELDI/MS), a two-step ambient ionization technique, has been developed to characterize analytes directly from the liquid sample surface. One drop of the diluted hole blood (1/10, v/v in water) was placed on the stainless steel plate. The sample droplet was irradiated with a pulse laser, the desorbed analytes were post-ionized in an electrospray (ESI) plume (ESI solution: 70% methanol in water, 0.1% acetic acid), and the analyte ions were detected by a ion trap mass analyzer. Through this study, the protocol for efficiently characterizing HbA1c present in a drop of diluted whole blood with ELDI/MS was established. We successfully detected the ion signal of HbA1c with ELDI/MS. Quantification of the level of HbA1c in the whole blood of diabetic patients was achieved by calculating the ratio of the ion peak area of the glycosylated and non-glycosylated hemoglobin ions. A linear relationship exists for the quantitative results of HbA1c in whole blood of 20 diabetic patients obtained between ELDI/MS and that through conventional spectroscopic measurement.

Chapter 1. Deciphering the toxicity of Helicobacter pylori clinical isolates from gastric diseases patients using MALDI-TOF/MS and multivariate analysis. Helicobacter pylori (H. pyloyi) infection is associated with gastric diseases such as gastric polyp, chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer, gastric cancer, etc. In fact, most of the people infected not have the symptoms of gastric diseases due to the high degree of variability of gene with H. pyloyi and the specific immune responses of the hosts. In order to investigate the relationship between H.pylori and gastric diseases, the clinical strains of H. pylori isolated from patients from nine gastric diseases were extracted from the optimized extraction and analysis by MALDI-TOF/MS, then the high reproducible spectra were combined with multivariate statistical analysis including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), Discriminant Analysis (DA) . In the result of PCA, there is no specific potential marker to discriminate the clinical strains to nine gastric diseases. In the result of HCA, the strains from different gastric diseases were clustered together means they have the similarity of the protein and metabolite. In the result of DA, the strains from gastric and non-gastric cancer were discriminanted by the discriminant function composed of thirty-eight discriminant variables in the spectra. This discriminant function would be confirmed by other clinical strains isolated from gastric diseases patients in the future and then would help to predict the the similarity of the protein and metabolite of the strains isolated from the gastric diseases patients whether gastric cancer or not. Chapter 2. Biomarker discovery in the stools of gastric cancer patients using MALDI-TOF/MS. According to the statistics of Republic 100 years from the Department of Health, cancer was the first of the ten lesding to death. With the modern change of eatiog habbits, gastrointestinal cancer has increased steadily. Gastrointestinal cancer accompanied occult gastrointestinal bleeding, and it is commonly detected by the fecal occult blood test (FOB). FOB including Guaiac-based fecal occult-blood test and immunochemical tests. Guaiac-based fecal occult-blood tests make use of the pseudoperoxidase activity of heme, and the reagent turns blue after oxidation by oxidants or peroxidases in the presence of an oxygen donor such as hydrogen peroxide, so it would have the potential of false-positive result. Immunochemical tests, which use antibodies detect against human hemoglobin with great sensitivity, but the tests are limited by loss of hemoglobin antigenicity at room temperature and require processing in a laboratory. In order to decrease the false-positive of detecting heme and decreasing the cost of the detection against hemoglobin in stools, in the study, we ues the distill water to extract the heme (m/z 616) and hemoglobin in stools and analysis with the reflectron and linear mode of MALDI-TOF/MS. In this study, at first, we used the stimulated stomach acid decomposing the hemoglobin to release the heme, to stimulate the gastrointestinal bleeding. Second, we used the distill water to extract the hemoglobin in stools, and detected by the linear mode of MALDI-TOF/MS, and the detection limit of MALDI-TOF/MS against hemoglobin in stool was better than the immunochemical tests. Third, the same strategy was applied to fifty-nine patients (including nineteen esophageal cancer patients, twenty gastric cancer patients and colorectal cancer patients) stools to detect heme and hemoglobin by MALDI-TOF/MS and the results were compared with the fecal occult blood test. In the detection of heme, MALDI-TOF/MS had not detect heme, but the Guaiac-based fecal occult-blood test had detected, it would be that the stools had the oxidants (not heme) to react the reagent. In addition, MALDI-TOF/MS had detected heme, but the Guaiac-based fecal occult-blood test had no results, those cases would be catched up in the future. In the detection of hemoglobin, using immunochemical tests to be the reference index, MALDI-TOF/MS had the false-negative result might come from the complicated matrix effect of stools, so that the hemoglobin could not form the good crystalline with matrix CHCA. The false-positive results of MALDI-TOF/MS might come from the criteria of hemoglobin signal.

Bordetella pertussis is a gram-negative, human pathogen and etiologic agent of whooping cough (pertussis), a highly contagious, acute respiratory illness. In this study, the analysis of whole immunproteome and subproteomes of this microorganism was performed. The soluble cytoplasmic proteomes of B. pertussis Tohama I strain and a local isolate Saadet were separated by 2DE. By Western blot analysis, we identified 25 immunogenic proteins of three categories. In the first group, there were well-known proteins of the pathogen The second group comprised proteins which were already shown antigenic in certain pathogenic bacteria, but not in B. pertussis before. The third group of proteins were those which have not been shown to be immunogenic in any pathogen till the present study such as putative chromosome partition protein, preprotein translocase SecA subunit, carbamoyl-phosphate synthase large chain, PRP synthase, putative substrate-CoA ligase, lysyl-tRNA synthetase, fumaryl acetoacetase, putative peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase, aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase, putative DNA-binding protein and a putative outer membrane protein. In our surfaceome study, surface proteins of two strains were identified by 2DE followed by MALDI-TOF-MS/MS analysis and also geLC-MS/MS. With these techniques 45 proteins were identified by 2DE and 226 proteins by geLC-MS/MS. The immunogenicity of surface proteins on 2DE gels were analyzed by Western blotting and among 11 identified immunogenic proteins glutamine-binding periplasmic protein, leu/ile/val-binding protein, one putative exported protein, and iron-superoxide dismutase were found to be immunogenic for the first time in Bordetella. It was also found that 16 proteins were differentially expressed in B. pertussis Saadet and Tohama I. Five proteins were expressed only in Saadet (adhesin, chaperone protein DnaJ, fimbrial protein FimX, putative secreted protein Bsp22 and putative universal stress protein), and two (ABC transporter substrate-binding protein and a putative binding protein-dependent transport periplasmic protein) only in Tohama I. In the secretome study, we identified 40 proteins by 2DE and 357 proteins by geLC-MS/MS. It was found that 12 proteins were immunogenic by Western blot analysis and the immunogenicity of putative secreted protein (BP1047) was shown for the first time in this study. In our study, PT subunit 2 and putative outer protein D (BopD) were more abundant in Saadet while one protein, glutamate synthase subunit beta was expressed at a higher level in Tohama I. Four proteins were expressed only in Saadet (two capsular polysaccharide biosynthesis protein, protein FimX and putative outer membrane permeability protein). The present study comprehensively covered almost the entire proteome of a crucial pathogen, demonstrated many novel antigens and identified hundreds of membrane-bound proteins, cell surface-associated and extracellular proteins. Thus, it is anticipated to greatly aid in a better understanding of pathogen-host relations, rational design of novel drugs and developing new generation vaccines against B. pertussis.

NONE.

Peptidoglycan, the major component of the bacterial cell wall, is essential for cell viability. Several important antibiotics disrupt peptidoglycan metabolism, including the β-lactams and vancomycin. There are several bacterial enzymes involved in peptidoglycan metabolism that are not yet the target of antibiotics, such as the lytic transglycosylases (LTs). Relatively little experimental characterization has been done on LTs, due largely to the difficulties of working with insoluble, heterogeneous, and highly variable peptidoglycan. This research develops a method for the generation of a soluble, homogeneous oligosaccharide substrate that can be used to study LTs. The approach taken was based on the enzymatic degradation of peptidoglycan into fragments of a specific nature, and their separation by HPLC. This work identifies the challenges associated with this approach, and discusses the potential flaws in the 'top-down' generation of a soluble substrate. / This thesis was typeset with LaTeX using Minion Pro and Myriad Pro typefaces.