BK virus is a human polyomavirus which is highly prevalent in the population. The virus is usually not very dangerous to its host, but it may cause complicati- ons in immunosuppressed patients. These complications commonly appear after kidney transplantation because BK virus persists in kidney epithelial cells. There are four subtypes of BK virus and it might be clinically important to screen for the identity of subtypes in matched pairs of donors and recipients of the kidney. This determination of the subtype specific antibodies by simple test could help to manage complications after the surgery. During previous project the ELISA test that could serologically differentiate between two main BK virus subtypes (I and IV) was designed, but its development is complicated by the fact that there is a strong cross-reactivity between the BK virus subtypes and antibodies. The modification of antigen towards better specificity might be required to succeed. Consequently, the main aim of this diploma thesis was to map important spots of major capsid protein VP1 of BK virus, particulary in EF and DE loops, which could participate in binding of antibodies. This aim was addressed by targeted mutagenesis of the gene coding VP1 protein in the region of the respective loop. Nucleotides coding two surface aminoacids...

Das Humane Immundefizienz-Virus 1 (HIV-1) rekrutiert Wirtszellproteine und -Signalwege für seinen eigenen Lebenszyklus und beeinträchtigt viele Funktionen von Immunzellen, darunter die Phagozytose von Pathogenen durch Makrophagen. Diese Schwächung der Immunabwehr verursacht das acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).Der Zusammenbau von HIV-1 geschieht sowohl an der Plasmamembran als auch in endosomalen Kompartimenten und wird durch das Struktur-Polyprotein Gag kontrolliert, das auch für die Freisetzung virusähnlicher Partikel (VLPs) aus der Wirtszelle sorgt. Vorangegangene Studie haben gezeigt, dass durch hohe induzierte Calciumkonzentrationen im Zytoplasma die Anzahl an VLPs in endolysosomalen Kompartimenten steigt und die VLP-freisetzung drastisch zunimmt. Der verantwortliche Mechanismus ist jedoch bisher unbekannt. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt zunächst, dass Calciumausschüttung aus Lysosomen die Fusion von Endosomen und Lysosomen - und damit die Exozytose der in Lysosomen enthaltenen VLPs - auslöst. Dieser Prozess wird durch Synaptotagmin VII reguliert und verhindert den Abbau eines Teils der in späten Endosomen und Lysosomen eingschlossenen VLPs. Der zweite Teil dieser Arbeit beschreibt die Entwicklung eines nanobiotechnologischen Systems zur Eliminierung von Env/Gag-VLPs (HIV-VLPs) mit Hilfe von Makrophagen. Dieses basiert auf Immunoliposomen, die HIV-VLPs über anti-Env-Antikörper binden und von Makrophagen dank membranständigem Phosphatidylserin (PS), einem apoptotischen Signal, phagozytiert werden. Die Lipososmen imitieren apoptotische Zellen und induzieren ihre Internalisierung und die lysosomale Aufnahme von HIV-VLPs. Das System nutzt einen effizienten Internalisierungsweg, der während der HIV-1-Infektion nicht beeinträchtigt ist. Diese Ergebnisse bieten neue Einblicke in die intrazellulären Prozesse der HIV-1 Freisetzung und präsentieren PS-Immunoliposomen als neuen potentiellen nanomedizinischen Ansatz zur Virusbeseitigung und HIV-Antigenpräsentation. / Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) hijacks proteins and signaling pathways of the host cell for its own life cycle, thereby impairing many functions of immune cells, including pathogen-phagocytosis by macrophages. The overall weakening of immune functions eventually results in the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV-1 assembly takes place at the plasma membrane as well as in endosomal compartments and is governed by the structural polyprotein Gag, which is also sufficient for the release of virus-like particles (VLPs) from the host cell. It was shown that an induced high cytoplasmic calcium concentration increases the amount of VLPs in endo-lysosomal compartments and results in a dramatic enhancement of VLP release [1,2]. However, the mechanism by which calcium can promote the release of VLPs remains to be determined. The first part of this work shows that release of calcium from lysosomes causes fusion between endosomes and lysosomes as well as exocytosis of lysosomeentrapped VLPs. This mechanism is regulated by Synaptotagmin VII and prevents degradation of a part of the late endosome- and lysosome-entrapped VLPs. The second part focuses on the development of a nanobiotechnological system for the clearance of Env/Gag-VLPs (HIV-VLPs) by macrophages. This system is based on immunoliposomes that (1) bind HIV-VLPs via anti-Env antibodies and (2) are phagocytosed by macrophages due to the presence of phosphatidylserine (PS), an apoptotic signal. Essentially, the PS-liposomes mimic apoptotic cells thereby inducing internalization and lysosomal delivery of bound HIV-VLPs. These immunoliposomes exploit an efficient internalization pathway not impaired upon HIV-1 infection. The results of this thesis provide new insights into the intracellular pathways controlling HIV-1 release and demonstrate that PS-immunoliposomes can represent a novel nanomedical approach for viral clearance and HIV antigen presentation.

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is an emerging infectious disease found in both livestock and humans. RVF is associated with high abortion and mortality rates in livestock and can be fatal in humans. As such, RVF is economically and socially significant to affected smallholder and subsistence farmers, those infected, and national livestock industries. However, Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV) vaccines are not commercially available outside of endemic areas or for humans, and current vaccines are limited in their safety and efficacy. A plant-based, viral nanoparticle vaccine offers a more affordable alternative to conventional vaccines that is safe, rapidly producible, and easily scalable, better meeting the needs of impacted communities. This project focuses on assessing the potential of using a Nicotiana benthamiana plant expression system to generate recombinant tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) nanoparticles displaying RVFV glycoprotein epitopes. Eight TMV-RVFV glycoprotein constructs were designed. Five TMV-RVFV constructs were successfully cloned, and four recombinant TMV constructs were successfully expressed in planta. The antigenicity of these constructs was examined for their possible use in RVFV vaccine development.

Linear covalently closed (LCC) DNA minivectors serve to be superior to conventional circular covalently closed (CCC) plasmid DNA (pDNA) vectors due to enhancements to both transfection efficiency and safety. Specifically, LCC DNA minivectors have a heightened safety profile as insertional mutagenesis is inhibited by covalently closed terminal ends conferring double-strand breaks that cause chromosomal disruption and cell death in the low frequency event of chromosomal integration. The development of a one-step, E. coli based in vivo LCC DNA minivector production system enables facile and efficient production of LCC DNA minivectors referred to as DNA ministrings. This novel in vivo system demonstrates high versatility, generating DNA ministrings catered to numerous potential applications in gene therapy and vaccine development. In the present study, numerous aspects pertaining to the generation of gene therapeutics with LCC DNA ministrings have been explored with relevance to both industry and clinical settings. Through systematic assessment of induction duration, cultivation strategy, and genetic/chemical modifications, the novel in vivo system was optimized to produce high yields of DNA ministrings at ~90% production efficiency. Purification of LCC DNA ministrings using anion exchange membrane chromatography demonstrated rapid, scalable purification of DNA vectors as well as its potential in the separation of different DNA isoforms. The application of a hydrogel-based strong Q-anion exchange membrane, with manipulations to salt gradient, constituted effective separation of parental supercoiled CCC precursor pDNA and LCC DNA. The resulting DNA ministrings were employed for the generation of 16-3-16 gemini surfactant based synthetic vectors and comparative analysis, through physical characterization and in vitro transfection assays, was conducted between DNA ministring derived and CCC pDNA derived lipoplexes. Differences in DNA topology were observed to induce differences in particle size and DNA protection/encapsulation upon lipoplex formation. Lastly, the in vivo DNA minivector production system successfully generated gagV3(BCE) LCC DNA ministrings for downstream development of a HIV DNA-VLP (Virus-like particle) vaccine, thus highlighting the capacity of such system to produce DNA ministrings with numerous potential applications.

Cette thèse se concentre sur la synthèse et l’analyse photophysique de complexes de Pt(II) luminescents and leur assemblage après agrégation. Multiples motifs supramoléculaires ont été utilisé pour acquérir un contrôle sur l’assemblage de ces complexes plan-carrés.Des ossatures de type couronne-éther furent attachés à des complexes métalliques phosphorescents pour donner un bouton supramoléculaire qui peut être actionné par des cations potassium. De plus, l’altération de l’arrangement de l’empilage des Pt(II) après coordination d’un ligand fut exploité pour la réalisation d’un senseur chimique qui peut être utilisé pour la détection différentielle d’aza-hétérocylces. Par ailleurs, l’installation d’un motif pont hydrogène à un complexe de Pt(II) luminescent fut établie, donnant un composé ayant un organisation 2D sur graphène. Finalement, des complexes de Pt(II) amphiphiles qui s’auto-assemblent en solution aqueuse dans des agrégats hautement luminescents furent synthétisés. La série de complexes soluble dans l’eau, chargés négativement ou neutres furent caractérisés par rapport à leurs paramètres photophysiques et leurs interactions avec des protéines capsides virales. / The presented thesis focused on the synthesis and photophysical investigation of luminescent Pt(II) complexes and their resulting assemblies that form upon aggregation. Multiple supramolecular motifs were utilized in order to gain control over the assembling behavior of the square-planar complexes. Crown-ether scaffolds were tethered with the phosphorescent metal complexes rendering a supramolecular switch that can be triggered by potassium cations. Moreover, alteration of the Pt(II)-stacking arrangement upon ligand coordination was exploited to realize a chemosensor that can be employed for of differential detection of aza-heterocycles. Furthermore, the installation of a H-bond motif to a luminescent Pt(II) complex was established, which resulted in a compound forming a two-dimensional organization on graphene. Finally, amphiphilic Pt(II) complexes were synthesized that self-assemble into highly luminescent aggregates in aqueous solutions. The series of water soluble neutral and negatively charged metal complexes were characterized with respect to their photophysical parameters and their interactions with virus coat proteins.

Prostate cancer is one of the most abundant types of cancer among men and the demand for a specific treatment is very high. In this thesis, I have focused on using Glutamate Carboxypepti- dase II (GCPII), as a target for a proof-of-principle delivery system. GCPII is a transmembrane protein that internalizes after a binding of a ligand and is overexpressed in prostate cancer. Virus-like particles from Murine polyomavirus (VLPs) are a suitable nanocarrier for the delivery of imaging agents and drugs. Here I describe modifying these VLPs with inhibitors of GCPII and fluorescent dyes and characterize their binding to GCPII on surface plasmon resonance and to cells expressing GCPII on confocal microscopy. VLPs carrying a GCPII inhibitor show specific binding to GCPII on surface plasmon reso- nance, however they bind non-specifically to cells that don't express GCPII. Several approaches have been tried to avoid that. The substitution of BC loop on the exterior surface of VLPs that is partially responsible for the binding of sialic acid did not seem to affect specificity on cells. Another approach tested was coating of the wild-type VLPs with large polymer carrying a flu- orescent label and a GCPII inhibitor. After the conjugation of the polymer to the VLP, specific binding and internalization in GCPII-positive...

Viral particles derived from mouse polyomavirus can be potentially used as a delivery system for therapeutic genes and drugs into target cells. This thesis focuses on preparation and characterization of polyomaviral particles that are modified with cell-penetrating peptides in order to increase efficiency of transduction of reporter genes into human cells. Viral particles that are composed of major capsid protein VP1 in combination with minor capsid protein VP2 and minor capsid protein VP3 that is modified with octaarginine, LAH4 peptide or with transduction domain of adenoviral protein VI are analysed in transduction assays. The thesis also provides information about the effect of the modification on encapsidation of heterologous DNA. The results of transduction assays performed with modified particles containing encapsidated luciferase gene revealed that efficiency of transduction did not increase but decreased in comparison with unmodified particles. These findings help to elucidate the role of polyomaviral minor capsid proteins in gene transfer mediated by viral particles and contribute to the design of new strategies for modifications of viral particles derived from mouse polyomavirus for their successful application in nanomedicine. Key words: mouse polyomavirus, pseudovirions, virus-like...

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is widely studied as a targeting moiety to CD44 overexpressing cancer cells. Various types of nanoparticles (NPs) were modified by HA. Virus-like particles (VLPs) derived from mouse polyomavirus are an interesting class of NPs that can be modified by various targeting agents to increase their potential as gene or drug delivery vehicles for e.g. theragnostic purposes. HA has not been tested as a targeting moiety on VLPs, hence this was the focus of the current study. HA (~14 kDa) was attached to the VLPs via a bispecific Bodipy-derived fluorescent probe. To test the targeting potential of HA on comparable non-viral NPs, nanodiamonds were prepared in a similar manner. NPs functionalized with HA, together with Bodipy-labeled control variants, were tested on interactions with MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing CD44. The NP-cell interaction via CD44 was assessed by a competitive cell-binding assay, where non-labeled HA competed for HA-binding sites at CD44 with the NPs. CD44 specific cell interactions were detected in studies with HA functionalized nanodiamonds, whereas VLP-HA* associated with cells in a less specific manner. Control VLPs with polyethylene glycol (PEG) did not interact with the cells. Results indicate that the HA targeting strategy for the VLPs requires optimization to...

Rotavirus infection causes severe gastroenteritis, affecting all children under the age of five regardless of hygiene or water quality. The currently licensed vaccines succeeded in reducing diarrhoea worldwide, but they still have shortcomings, especially the efficacy of the vaccines in developing countries. One of the main reasons for this can be due to the difference in strains, since the strains used to develop the currently licensed vaccines (RotaTeq and Rotarix) were selected from strains circulating in the developed world (G1, G2, G3 and G4), while the main strains present in Africa (G8, G9 and G12) were not included. A second shortcoming of the currently licensed vaccines is the cost of these vaccines. The vaccines are very expensive and most developing countries cannot afford the vaccines as well as the fact that the manufacturing companies cannot produce enough vaccines for all the countries. An attractive alternative to the currently licensed rotavirus vaccines is the non-live vaccine candidate, virus-like particles, which can provide a possible cheaper, safer and efficacious alternative or complement the currently licensed vaccines. Therefore, in this study a South African G9P[6] rotavirus strain, RVA/Humanwt/ ZAF/GR10924/1999/G9P[6], was used to determine whether or not co-expression of the structural proteins VP2 (genome segment 2) and VP6 (genome segment 6) was possible in bacteria and yeast. The South African GR10924 G9P[6] neonatal strain was previously obtained from a stool sample and the nucleotide consensus sequence was determined for both genome segment 2 (VP2) and genome segment 6 (VP6). Bacterial codon optimised coding regions or open reading frames were used in this study. The open reading frames (ORFs) of the genome segments encoding, VP2 and VP6, were cloned into the expression vector pETDuet-1, which allows for the simultaneous expression of two genes in bacteria. The ORF of genome segment 6 was purchased from GeneScript and the ORF of genome segment 2 was obtained from Dr AC Potgieter (Deltamune (Pty) Ltd R&D, South Africa). Compatible restriction enzyme sites were used to sub-clone the ORF of the bacterial codon optimised genome segments into the expression vector. Only the expression of the VP6 protein in bacteria was observed with Coomassie stained SDS-PAGE. The ORFs encoding VP2 (genome segment 2) and VP6 (genome segment 6) of the wild type GR10924 G9P[6] strain were cloned into the wide range yeast expression system vector, pKM173, which allows for the simultaneous expression of more than one gene. Several yeast strains were used in this study namely Kluyveromyces marxianus, Kluyveromyces lactis, Candida deformans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Yarrowia lipolytica, Arxula adeninivorans, Hansenula polymorpha and Debaryomyces hansenii. Expression of both proteins was not detected in the several yeast strains, as seen with western blot analysis. DNA extractions were done on two colonies of each yeast strain that were used for western blot analysis to evaluate successful integration into the yeast genomes. Only a few of the colonies contained either both of the genome segments or only one of the two genome segments of interest. To summarise, the simultaneous expression of VP2 and VP6 from rotavirus GR10924 G9P[6] was not successful in bacteria or yeast, but it was possible to soluble express the bacterial codon optimised GR10924 G9P[6] VP6 in bacteria using the pETDuet-1 as expression vector. / MSc (Biochemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Rotavirus infection causes severe gastroenteritis, affecting all children under the age of five regardless of hygiene or water quality. The currently licensed vaccines succeeded in reducing diarrhoea worldwide, but they still have shortcomings, especially the efficacy of the vaccines in developing countries. One of the main reasons for this can be due to the difference in strains, since the strains used to develop the currently licensed vaccines (RotaTeq and Rotarix) were selected from strains circulating in the developed world (G1, G2, G3 and G4), while the main strains present in Africa (G8, G9 and G12) were not included. A second shortcoming of the currently licensed vaccines is the cost of these vaccines. The vaccines are very expensive and most developing countries cannot afford the vaccines as well as the fact that the manufacturing companies cannot produce enough vaccines for all the countries. An attractive alternative to the currently licensed rotavirus vaccines is the non-live vaccine candidate, virus-like particles, which can provide a possible cheaper, safer and efficacious alternative or complement the currently licensed vaccines. Therefore, in this study a South African G9P[6] rotavirus strain, RVA/Humanwt/ ZAF/GR10924/1999/G9P[6], was used to determine whether or not co-expression of the structural proteins VP2 (genome segment 2) and VP6 (genome segment 6) was possible in bacteria and yeast. The South African GR10924 G9P[6] neonatal strain was previously obtained from a stool sample and the nucleotide consensus sequence was determined for both genome segment 2 (VP2) and genome segment 6 (VP6). Bacterial codon optimised coding regions or open reading frames were used in this study. The open reading frames (ORFs) of the genome segments encoding, VP2 and VP6, were cloned into the expression vector pETDuet-1, which allows for the simultaneous expression of two genes in bacteria. The ORF of genome segment 6 was purchased from GeneScript and the ORF of genome segment 2 was obtained from Dr AC Potgieter (Deltamune (Pty) Ltd R&D, South Africa). Compatible restriction enzyme sites were used to sub-clone the ORF of the bacterial codon optimised genome segments into the expression vector. Only the expression of the VP6 protein in bacteria was observed with Coomassie stained SDS-PAGE. The ORFs encoding VP2 (genome segment 2) and VP6 (genome segment 6) of the wild type GR10924 G9P[6] strain were cloned into the wide range yeast expression system vector, pKM173, which allows for the simultaneous expression of more than one gene. Several yeast strains were used in this study namely Kluyveromyces marxianus, Kluyveromyces lactis, Candida deformans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Yarrowia lipolytica, Arxula adeninivorans, Hansenula polymorpha and Debaryomyces hansenii. Expression of both proteins was not detected in the several yeast strains, as seen with western blot analysis. DNA extractions were done on two colonies of each yeast strain that were used for western blot analysis to evaluate successful integration into the yeast genomes. Only a few of the colonies contained either both of the genome segments or only one of the two genome segments of interest. To summarise, the simultaneous expression of VP2 and VP6 from rotavirus GR10924 G9P[6] was not successful in bacteria or yeast, but it was possible to soluble express the bacterial codon optimised GR10924 G9P[6] VP6 in bacteria using the pETDuet-1 as expression vector. / MSc (Biochemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015