Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-05-04Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:54:09Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 leite_jp_me_jabo.pdf: 625899 bytes, checksum: b1da1d374d5f4023e4648183bd7780c4 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / No cenário atual de mudanças climáticas, com o aumento da população mundial e crescente demanda por alimentos, as ferramentas biotecnológicas veem sendo utilizadas na obtenção de plantas mais tolerantes a estresse ambientais como a seca, que provoca perdas financeiras e de produção significativas aos produtores. Os fatores de transcrição, são genes potenciais na estratégia de reduzir os prejuízos decorrentes de períodos de déficit hídrico, pois atuam controlando a expressão de genes estresse-induzidos e têm sido estudados na planta modelo Arabidopsis thaliana e em culturas de interesse agronômico. O fator de transcrição AtAREB1ΔQT, consiste na forma constitutivamente ativa de AREB1, (ABA Responsive Element Binding – elemento de ligação de resposta ao ABA) que está envolvido, na via de sinalização ABA (ácido abcísico) dependente de resposta ao estresse hídrico em plantas. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi introduzir em soja, via biobalística, a construção gênica pBI35SΩ:AtAREB1ΔQT e caracterizar molecularmente os eventos quanto ao número de cópias inseridas, e análise da expressão gênica do transgene. Para a caracterização molecular, foram utilizadas as metodologias de Southern blot e RT-qPCR. Um total de 12 linhagens independentes foram obtidas na geração T0, com uma eficiência de transformação de 0,59%. Somente três eventos (2651, 2639 e 2654) segregaram e passaram o gene para a geração T1. O número de cópias do transgene quantificado via qPCR, foi diferente, para cada linhagem geneticamente modificada (GM) analisada, variando de poucas cópias (1 a 2) a várias (17 cópias). Estes dados foram corroborados pelos resultados obtidos via Southern blot. O nível de expressão gênica relativa do transgene foi variável entre os eventos e a análise da segregação em plantas... / In the actual scenario of climatic changes, with world population increase and growing food demand, biotechnological tools are being used to develop plants more tolerant to environmental stresses such as drought, which causes to producers, significant financial losses and yield production. The transcription factors are potential genes to be strategically used to reduce damage due to water deficit conditions, because they acts controlling the expression of numerous stress-induced genes and has been studied in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana as well as in agronomic crops. The transcription factor, AtAREB1ΔQT, consists in the constitutively active form of AREB1, (ABA Responsive Element Binding) that is involved, ABA signaling pathway (abscisic acid) dependent response pathway to drought in plants. The objective of this study was to insert the construction pBI35SΩ: AtAREB1ΔQT in soybean, via biolistics, and molecularly characterization of the events on the number of inserted copies, and analyze the relative expression level of transgene. Twelve independent lines were identified in T0 generation, with a transformation efficiency of 0.59%. Only three events (2651, 2639 and 2654) segregated and transmitted the gene for T1 generation. The number of copies quantified using qPCR was different for each modified genetically (GM) line, ranging from a few copies (1 to 2 copies) to many copies (17 copies). These data were corroborated by Southern blot results. The relative expression level of transgene was variable between events and segregation analysis in T2 generation showed that he transgene did not follow the Mendelian laws. Aiming to obtain more information on the effect of the transgene in response to water stress... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Orientador: Janete Apparecida Desidério / Coorientador: Renata Fuganti Pagliarini / Banca: Francismar Corrêa Marcelino / Banca: Sonia Marli Zingaretti / Resumo: No cenário atual de mudanças climáticas, com o aumento da população mundial e crescente demanda por alimentos, as ferramentas biotecnológicas veem sendo utilizadas na obtenção de plantas mais tolerantes a estresse ambientais como a seca, que provoca perdas financeiras e de produção significativas aos produtores. Os fatores de transcrição, são genes potenciais na estratégia de reduzir os prejuízos decorrentes de períodos de déficit hídrico, pois atuam controlando a expressão de genes estresse-induzidos e têm sido estudados na planta modelo Arabidopsis thaliana e em culturas de interesse agronômico. O fator de transcrição AtAREB1ΔQT, consiste na forma constitutivamente ativa de AREB1, (ABA Responsive Element Binding - elemento de ligação de resposta ao ABA) que está envolvido, na via de sinalização ABA (ácido abcísico) dependente de resposta ao estresse hídrico em plantas. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi introduzir em soja, via biobalística, a construção gênica pBI35SΩ:AtAREB1ΔQT e caracterizar molecularmente os eventos quanto ao número de cópias inseridas, e análise da expressão gênica do transgene. Para a caracterização molecular, foram utilizadas as metodologias de Southern blot e RT-qPCR. Um total de 12 linhagens independentes foram obtidas na geração T0, com uma eficiência de transformação de 0,59%. Somente três eventos (2651, 2639 e 2654) segregaram e passaram o gene para a geração T1. O número de cópias do transgene quantificado via qPCR, foi diferente, para cada linhagem geneticamente modificada (GM) analisada, variando de poucas cópias (1 a 2) a várias (17 cópias). Estes dados foram corroborados pelos resultados obtidos via Southern blot. O nível de expressão gênica relativa do transgene foi variável entre os eventos e a análise da segregação em plantas... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the actual scenario of climatic changes, with world population increase and growing food demand, biotechnological tools are being used to develop plants more tolerant to environmental stresses such as drought, which causes to producers, significant financial losses and yield production. The transcription factors are potential genes to be strategically used to reduce damage due to water deficit conditions, because they acts controlling the expression of numerous stress-induced genes and has been studied in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana as well as in agronomic crops. The transcription factor, AtAREB1ΔQT, consists in the constitutively active form of AREB1, (ABA Responsive Element Binding) that is involved, ABA signaling pathway (abscisic acid) dependent response pathway to drought in plants. The objective of this study was to insert the construction pBI35SΩ: AtAREB1ΔQT in soybean, via biolistics, and molecularly characterization of the events on the number of inserted copies, and analyze the relative expression level of transgene. Twelve independent lines were identified in T0 generation, with a transformation efficiency of 0.59%. Only three events (2651, 2639 and 2654) segregated and transmitted the gene for T1 generation. The number of copies quantified using qPCR was different for each modified genetically (GM) line, ranging from a few copies (1 to 2 copies) to many copies (17 copies). These data were corroborated by Southern blot results. The relative expression level of transgene was variable between events and segregation analysis in T2 generation showed that he transgene did not follow the Mendelian laws. Aiming to obtain more information on the effect of the transgene in response to water stress... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The establishment of transgenesisi in axolotls is crucial for studying development and regeneration, as it would allow for long-term fate tracing as well as gene expression analysis, therefore we were interested in both obtaining animals expresing the transgene with little mosaicism in F0 generation and transgenesis. We demonstrate here that plasmid injection into one cell stage axolotl embryo generates transgenic animals that display germline transmission of a transgene. However, the efficiency of simple plasmid injection is very low, expression of the transgene is mosaic and seems to be promoter dependant. We have tested several methods of transgenesis developed in other systems. First we used Adeno-Associated Viral Terminal Repeats inserted into the injected construct to enhance the expression level of the transgene and reduce mosaicism. However, in the axolotl system we do not observe the enhancement of expression. Moreover, the expression appeared to be transient and disappeared after two months. Further, we tested the effect of the inclusion of ISceI meganuclease in the injections, succesful transgenesis method in the medaka system. It resulted in a higher percentage of F0 animals displaying strong , stable expression throughout the body. This represents the first demonstration in the axolotl of germline transmission of the transgene. Using this technique we have generated a germline transgenic anima expressing GFP ubiquitously in all tissue examined. We have used this anima to study cell fate in the dirsal fin during development. We have discovered a contribution of somite cells to dorsal fin mesenchyme in the axolotl, which was previously assumed to derive solely from neural crest. We have also studied the role of blood during tail regeneration by transplanting the ventral blood-forming region from GFP+ embryos into unlabeled host. During tail regeneration, we do not observe GFP+ cells contributing to muscle or nerve, suggesting that during tail regeneration blood stem cells do not undergo significant plasticity. We are interested in characterization of pluripotency of blastema cells. Previously, it has been shown that neural progenitor cells form the spinal cord can transdifferentiate to muscle and other tissue types in the regenerating tail. To test if blastema cells have the potency of differentiating into a neural tissue , we transplanted GFP+ 4day blastema into an injured spinal cord. Our result shows that blastema cells don't seem to contribute to the regenerating spinal cord.

The establishment of transgenesisi in axolotls is crucial for studying development and regeneration, as it would allow for long-term fate tracing as well as gene expression analysis, therefore we were interested in both obtaining animals expresing the transgene with little mosaicism in F0 generation and transgenesis. We demonstrate here that plasmid injection into one cell stage axolotl embryo generates transgenic animals that display germline transmission of a transgene. However, the efficiency of simple plasmid injection is very low, expression of the transgene is mosaic and seems to be promoter dependant. We have tested several methods of transgenesis developed in other systems. First we used Adeno-Associated Viral Terminal Repeats inserted into the injected construct to enhance the expression level of the transgene and reduce mosaicism. However, in the axolotl system we do not observe the enhancement of expression. Moreover, the expression appeared to be transient and disappeared after two months. Further, we tested the effect of the inclusion of ISceI meganuclease in the injections, succesful transgenesis method in the medaka system. It resulted in a higher percentage of F0 animals displaying strong , stable expression throughout the body. This represents the first demonstration in the axolotl of germline transmission of the transgene. Using this technique we have generated a germline transgenic anima expressing GFP ubiquitously in all tissue examined. We have used this anima to study cell fate in the dirsal fin during development. We have discovered a contribution of somite cells to dorsal fin mesenchyme in the axolotl, which was previously assumed to derive solely from neural crest. We have also studied the role of blood during tail regeneration by transplanting the ventral blood-forming region from GFP+ embryos into unlabeled host. During tail regeneration, we do not observe GFP+ cells contributing to muscle or nerve, suggesting that during tail regeneration blood stem cells do not undergo significant plasticity. We are interested in characterization of pluripotency of blastema cells. Previously, it has been shown that neural progenitor cells form the spinal cord can transdifferentiate to muscle and other tissue types in the regenerating tail. To test if blastema cells have the potency of differentiating into a neural tissue , we transplanted GFP+ 4day blastema into an injured spinal cord. Our result shows that blastema cells don't seem to contribute to the regenerating spinal cord.

No description available.

In this project two novel murine autoimmune models were to be established in an attempt to further investigate the nervous system disorders of Multiple Sclerosis and Guillain Barré Syndrome. Previous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and experimental autoimmune neuritis (EAN) models have demonstrated that T cells play a major role in these diseases. Which roles CD4 and CD8 T cells specifically have in the initiation, propagation and termination of an autoimmune nervous system disorder remains controversial. To this end two transgenic mice specifically expressing the neo-antigen (Ag) ovalbumin (OVA) in either the central nervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system (PNS) were to be generated. The myelin basic protein (MBP) is a major component of the myelin sheath both within the CNS and the PNS. Therefore the MBP promoter was employed for its distinct regulatory elements to facilitate exclusive CNS or PNS OVA expression. The adoptive transfer of OVA specific MHCI restricted (OT-I) and MHCII restricted (OT-II) TCR Tg T cells extended the OVA Tg mouse model by allowing potentially encephalitogenic T cells to be tracked in vivo. Specificity for the target Ag should enable the dynamic role of antigen specific T cells in neuroinflammatory diseases to be revealed in more detail. / Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden zwei neue Mausmodelle für Autoimmunerkrankungen etabliert, um weitere Fortschritte bei der Aufklärung der zellulären und molekularen Interaktionen bei den Erkrankungen des Nervensystems Multiple Sklerose und Guillain Barré Syndrom zu erzielen. In früheren Experimenten mit EAE (experimentelle autoimmune Enzephalomyelitis) und EAN (experimentelle autoimmune Neuritis) konnte bereits gezeigt werden, dass T-Zellen eine Hauptrolle bei diesen Erkrankungen spielen, wobei jedoch die Bedeutung von CD4 bzw. CD8 T-Zellen im Einzelnen noch nicht aufgeklärt ist. Zu diesem Zwecke sollten zwei transgene (Tg) Mauslinien generiert werden, die speziell entweder im peripheren (PNS) oder im zentralen (ZNS) Nervensystem das Zielantigen OVA exprimieren. MBP ist eine Hauptkomponente der Myelinscheide sowohl im ZNS als auch im PNS. Daher kam der Myelin Basic Protein (MBP) Promoter zum Einsatz, dessen unterschiedliche regulatorischen Elemente eine Expression von intaktem OVA ausschließlich im ZNS bzw. ausschließlich im PNS steuern können. Eine Erweiterung dieser OVA tg Mausmodelle stellte der adoptive Transfer von OVA spezifischen MHCI-restringierten OTI und MHCII-restringierten OTII T-Zellen dar, da es so möglich wurde, potentiell enzephalitogene T-Zellen in vivo zu verfolgen. Dadurch sollte ebenfalls eine detailliertere Darstellung der dynamischen Rolle von antigenspezifischen T-Zellen bei neuroinflammatorischen Erkrankungen ermöglicht werden.

abstract: Chromatin is the dynamic structure of proteins and nucleic acids into which eukaryotic genomes are organized. For those looking to engineer mammalian genomes, chromatin is both an opportunity and an obstacle. While chromatin provides another tool with which to control gene expression, regional density can lead to variability in genome editing efficiency by CRISPR/Cas9 systems. Many groups have attempted to de-silence chromatin to regulate genes and enhance DNA's accessibility to nucleases, but inconsistent results leave outstanding questions. Here, I test different types of activators, to analyze changes in chromatin features that result for chromatin opening, and to identify the critical biochemical features that support artificially generated open, transcriptionally active chromatin. I designed, built, and tested a panel of synthetic pioneer factors (SPiFs) to open condensed, repressive chromatin with the aims of 1) activating repressed transgenes in mammalian cells and 2) reversing the inhibitory effects of closed chromatin on Cas9-endonuclease activity. Pioneer factors are unique in their ability to bind DNA in closed chromatin. In order to repurpose this natural function, I designed SPiFs from a Gal4 DNA binding domain, which has inherent pioneer functionality, fused with chromatin-modifying peptides with distinct functions. SPiFs with transcriptional activation as their primary mechanism were able to reverse this repression and induced a stably active state. My work also revealed the active site from proto-oncogene MYB as a novel transgene activator. To determine if MYB could be used generally to restore transgene expression, I fused it to a deactivated Cas9 and targeted a silenced transgene in native heterochromatin. The resulting activator was able to reverse silencing and can be chemically controlled with a small molecule drug. Other SPiFs in my panel did not increase gene expression. However, pretreatment with several of these expression-neutral SPiFs increased Cas9-mediated editing in closed chromatin, suggesting a crucial difference between chromatin that is accessible and that which contains genes being actively transcribed. Understanding this distinction will be vital to the engineering of stable transgenic cell lines for product production and disease modeling, as well as therapeutic applications such as restoring epigenetic order to misregulated disease cells. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biological Design 2019

<p>The present study was conducted in order to assess a role of the SH2 domain-containing adapter protein SHB in development and cell differentiation.</p><p>Embryonic stem (ES) cells overexpressing SHB and SHB with an inactive SH2 domain (R522K-SHB) were obtained. Microarray analysis in the SHB clone revealed altered expression of genes connected with neural cell function. The R522K-SHB clone exhibited altered expression of several transcription factors related to development. ES cells were differentiated by forming aggregates named embryoid bodies (EBs). The morphology of EBs was altered in the R522K-SHB clones, which showed fewer cavities. Expression of endodermal markers was decreased in the R522K-SHB EBs. </p><p>To further investigate the role of SHB in differentiation, murine ES cell lines deficient for one (SHB+/-) or both SHB alleles (SHB-/-) were generated. SHB deficient clones increased the expression of mesendodermal and endodermal markers and decreased expression of two receptors, VEGFR2 and FGFR1, connected with blood vessel differentiation. Similarly, blood vessels showed an altered morphology in SHB+/- and SHB-/- EBs after VEGF stimulation. SHB-/- ES cells also formed fewer blood colonies than control ES cells.</p><p>Finally, the role of the SHB adapter protein in vivo was analyzed by generating a SHB deficient mouse (SHB-/-). SHB-/- animals are viable, fertile, but suffer from leukopenia and anemia. SHB-/- animals demonstrate an abnormal morphology of blood vessels in the liver and kidney. Breeding of SHB+/- animals revealed an abnormal segregation of the mutant allele with an increased number of SHB+/- animals and a decreased number of SHB-/- and SHB+/+animals. Backcross analysis of SHB+/- females with SHB+/+ males displayed an increased number of SHB+/- offspring already at the blastocyst level. Simultaneously, embryos from SHB+/- mothers show an increased malformation rate in comparison to embryos from SHB+/+ mothers.</p><p>In summary, the study suggests a role of SHB in reproduction and development and in mesodermal and endodermal specification. </p>

Genetic engineering is important to enhance crop characteristics and certain traits. Genetically engineered crop cultivation brings environmental and ecological concerns with the potential of unwanted transgene escape and introgression. Transgene escape has been considered as a major environmental and regulatory concern. This concern could be alleviated by appropriate biocontainment strategies. Therefore, it is important to develop efficient and reliable biocontainment strategies. Removing transgenes from pollen has been known to be the most environmentally friendly biocontainment strategy. A transgene excision vector containing a codon optimized serine resolvase CinH recombinase (CinH) and its recognition sites RS2 were constructed and transformed into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi). In this system, the pollen-specific LAT52 promoter from tomato was employed to control the expression of CinH recombinase. Loss of expression of a green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene under the control of the LAT59 promoter from tomato was used as an indicator of transgene excision. Efficiency of transgene excision from pollen was determined by flow cytometry (FCM)-based pollen screening. While a transgenic event in the absence of CinH recombinase contained about 70% of GFP-synthesizing pollen, three single-copy transgene events contained less than 1% of GFP-synthesizing pollen based on 30,000 pollen grains analyzed per event. This suggests that CinH-RS2 recombination system could be effectively utilized for transgene biocontainment. A novel approach for selective male sterility in pollen was developed and evaluated as a biocontainment strategy. Overexpression of the EcoRI restriction endonuclease caused pollen ablation and/or infertility in tobacco, but exhibited normal phenotypes when compared to non-transgenic tobacco. Three EcoRI contained 0% GFP positive pollen, while GFP control plants contained 64% GFP positive pollen based on 9,000 pollen grains analyzed by flow cytometry-based transgenic pollen screening method. However, seven EcoRI events appeared to have 100% efficiency on selective male sterility based on the test-crosses. The results suggested that this selective male sterility could be used as a highly efficient and reliable biocontainment strategy for genetically engineered crop cultivation.

The present study was conducted in order to assess a role of the SH2 domain-containing adapter protein SHB in development and cell differentiation. Embryonic stem (ES) cells overexpressing SHB and SHB with an inactive SH2 domain (R522K-SHB) were obtained. Microarray analysis in the SHB clone revealed altered expression of genes connected with neural cell function. The R522K-SHB clone exhibited altered expression of several transcription factors related to development. ES cells were differentiated by forming aggregates named embryoid bodies (EBs). The morphology of EBs was altered in the R522K-SHB clones, which showed fewer cavities. Expression of endodermal markers was decreased in the R522K-SHB EBs. To further investigate the role of SHB in differentiation, murine ES cell lines deficient for one (SHB+/-) or both SHB alleles (SHB-/-) were generated. SHB deficient clones increased the expression of mesendodermal and endodermal markers and decreased expression of two receptors, VEGFR2 and FGFR1, connected with blood vessel differentiation. Similarly, blood vessels showed an altered morphology in SHB+/- and SHB-/- EBs after VEGF stimulation. SHB-/- ES cells also formed fewer blood colonies than control ES cells. Finally, the role of the SHB adapter protein in vivo was analyzed by generating a SHB deficient mouse (SHB-/-). SHB-/- animals are viable, fertile, but suffer from leukopenia and anemia. SHB-/- animals demonstrate an abnormal morphology of blood vessels in the liver and kidney. Breeding of SHB+/- animals revealed an abnormal segregation of the mutant allele with an increased number of SHB+/- animals and a decreased number of SHB-/- and SHB+/+animals. Backcross analysis of SHB+/- females with SHB+/+ males displayed an increased number of SHB+/- offspring already at the blastocyst level. Simultaneously, embryos from SHB+/- mothers show an increased malformation rate in comparison to embryos from SHB+/+ mothers. In summary, the study suggests a role of SHB in reproduction and development and in mesodermal and endodermal specification.