Positive-strand RNA viruses associate with specific organelle membranes of host cells to establish viral replication complexes. The replication protein 1a of brome mosaic virus associates strongly with the nuclear endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes, invaginates membranes into the lumen, and recruits various host proteins to establish replication complexes termed spherules. 1a has a strong affinity towards the perinuclear ER membrane, however, the structural features in 1a that dictate its membrane associations and thereby membrane remodeling activities are unclear. This study examined the possible role of an amphipathic α-helix, helix B, in BMV 1a's membrane association. Deletion or single substitution of multiple amino acids of helix B abolished BMV 1a's localization to nuclear ER membranes. Additional reporter-based, gain-of-function assays showed that helix B is sufficient in targeting several soluble proteins to the nuclear ER membranes. Furthermore, we found that the helix B-mediated organelle targeting is a functionally conserved feature among positive-strand RNA viruses of the alphavirus-like superfamily that includes notable human viruses such as Hepatitis E virus and Rubella virus as well as plant viruses such as cucumber mosaic virus and cowpea chlorotic mottle virus. Our results demonstrate a critical role for helix B across members of the alphavirus-like superfamily in anchoring viral replication complexes to the organelle membranes. We anticipate our findings to be a starting point for the development of sophisticated models to use helix B as a novel target for the development of antivirals for positive-strand RNA viruses that belong to the alphavirus-like superfamily. / Doctor of Philosophy / Among the seven classes of viruses, the positive-strand RNA viruses dominate the domain of viral diseases of the world. Brome mosaic virus (BMV) is a positive-strand RNA virus that infects cereal crops such as wheat, barley, and rice. BMV has a simple genome organization and serves as a suitable model virus to study and characterize positive-strand RNA viruses. The replication of all positive-strand RNA viruses occurs at the organelle membranes of the host. Membrane association of the replication is one of the early steps and a crucial event in the life cycle of positive-strand RNA viruses. One of the proteins produced early on during BMV infection is the replication protein 1a, which is also the master regulator of viral replication; 1a recruits viral factors in addition to hijacking the necessary host factors at the membranous sites to initiate replication. Upon reaching the organelle membranes, 1a induces membrane rearrangements to form viral replication complexes that safeguard the recruited factors from the deleterious effects of the host cell. The structural determinants within 1a that are responsible for such membrane association are unknown. This study explored the potential roles of a short helical motif within the 1a protein for its ability to dictate such site-specific membrane associations. We show here that this helical region is necessary and sufficient for 1a's membrane-binding activity. We also discovered it to be a functionally conserved feature that is responsible for membrane associations in various viruses of the alphavirus-like superfamily that includes some of the notable human viruses such as Hepatitis E virus and Rubella virus in addition to plant viruses such as cucumber mosaic virus and cowpea chlorotic mottle virus.

Integral membrane proteins of the DP1 and reticulon families are responsible for maintaining the high membrane curvature required for both smooth ER tubules and the edges of ER sheets. Mutations in these proteins lead to motor neurone diseases such as hereditary spastic paraplegia. Reticulon/DP1 proteins contain Reticulon Homology Domains (RHD) that have unusually long (≈30 aa) hydrophobic segments and are proposed to adopt intramembrane helical hairpins that stabilise membrane curvature. I have uncovered the secondary structure and dynamics of the DP1 protein Yop1p and identified a C-terminal conserved amphipathic helix that on its own interacts strongly with negatively charged membranes and is necessary for membrane tubule formation. Analyses of DP1 and reticulon family members indicate that most, if not all, contain C-terminal sequences capable of forming amphipathic helices. Together, these results indicate that amphipathic helices play a previously unrecognised role in RHD membrane curvature stabilisation. This work paves the way towards full structure determination of Yop1p by solution state NMR and marks the first high structural resolution study on an RHD protein.

La communication entre les différentes organelles se fait par l’intermédiaire du trafic vésiculaire, un processus qui nécessite un remodelage continu des membranes. Les vésicules fortement courbées bourgeonnent d'un compartiment donneur et fusionnent avec un compartiment accepteur. Les protéines impliquées dans le bourgeonnement et fusion des vésicules ont été largement étudiées. Récemment, la découverte de détecteurs de courbure membranaire a révélé que le trafic membranaire pourrait être régulé à un niveau supplémentaire, par la détection de la forme de la membrane. Le premier détecteur de courbure membranaire identifié était le motif ALPS (Amphipathic Lipid Packing Sensor), qui a été trouvé dans un certain nombre de protéines de la voie sécrétoire précoce et l'enveloppe nucléaire. La protéine d’arrimage GMAP-210 localisé au niveau du cis-Golgi, est composée d’une longue superhélice (coiled-coil) et d’un motif ALPS à l'extrême N-terminale. Il a été démontré in vitro, que ce motif se replie et forme une hélice amphipathique capable de se fixer sur des petits liposomes. Toutefois, l'identité des vésicules, reconnues par ce détecteur de courbure dans la cellule, reste inconnue. α-Synucléine est une autre protéine qui se lie préférentiellement à des membranes très courbées. Cette protéine localisée sur les vésicules synaptiques, est impliquée dans la régulation du taux de vésicules au niveau des terminaisons nerveuses pré-synaptiques. Connue pour son rôle central dans le développement de la maladie de Parkinson, α-synucléine contient une région non structurée en solution, mais qui forme une hélice amphipathique au contact de petits liposomes in vitro. Les hélices amphipathiques formées par le motif ALPS et α-synucléine sont très différentes aussi bien sur le plan chimique que sur le plan conformationel. Le motif ALPS possède une face hydrophobe bien développée, mais un coté polair pauvre avec très peu de résidus chargés. α-Synucléine, en revanche, a un côté hydrophobe modéré, et une face polaire zwitterionique riche en résidus chargés. L'objectif principal du projet était de comparer les propriétés de liaison aux membranaires in vivo et in vitro de ces deux hélices amphipathiques de structure opposée. L’expression de ces deux sondes chez la levure, favorise l'accumulation de structures vésiculaires de propriétés différentes. L'extrémité N-terminale de la protéine GMAP-210 contenant son motif ALPS (GMAPN) co-localisé spécifiquement avec des marqueurs de la voie sécrétoire précoce, alors une sonde contenant une portion de l’hélice amphipathique d’α-synucléine co-localise avec des marqueurs endocytiques et post-Golgiens. La mutagenèse du motif ALPS et l'inversion de la séquence de ALPS dans GMAPN confirment que ce détecteur de courbure membranaire se fixe spécifiquement aux vésicules via des interactions directes protéines-lipides, plutôt que les interactions protéines-protéines. Notre analyse a montré que ces détecteurs de courbure mammifères, exprimés dans la levure préservent leur capacité à cibler des vésicules spécifiques, vésicules de la voie sécrétoire précoce pour les motifs ALPS, et vésicules d’endocytose/post-Golgi pour α-synucléine. La composition membranaire de ces vésicules correspond à la composition des liposomes fixés par le motif ALPS et α-synucléine in vitro. Les propriétés biochimiques opposées du motif ALPS et α-synucléine, sont parfaitement adaptés à chacun de ces deux environnements membranaires dans la cellule. Le programme HeliQuest est conçu pour identifier des hélices amphipathiques capables de se lier sur les membranes, y compris les motifs ALPS. Un nouveau module conçu pour identifier les hélices amphipathiques avec des propriétés similaires à α-synucléine a été récemment élaboré. Les recherches effectuées dans les bases de données de protéines de levure et humaines ont permis d’identifier des hélices amphipathiques candidats qui ont des propriétés similaires à α-synucléine, dans de nombreuses protéines. Nous avons préparé un ensemble de sondes, dans lequel ces hélices sont insérées à la fin de la superhélice de GMAPN. Une première étude de leur co-localisation dans les cellules de levure avec un ensemble de marqueurs démontre une localisation spécifique, ce qui suggère que ces hélices peuvent avoir la capacité de cibler des membranes de manière spécifique. D'autres travaux seraient nécessaires pour confirmer ou pas si ces hélices amphipathiques font partie d'une nouvelle classe de détecteurs de courbure ayant les mêmes propriétés que α-synucléine. / Communication between membrane-bound organelles is mediated by vesicular trafficking, a process which requires continual membrane remodeling. Highly curved vesicles bud from a donor compartment through functioning of different coat protein complexes, and fuse with an acceptor compartment thanks to proteins of the membrane fusion machinery. The proteins involved in vesicle budding and fusion have been extensively studied. Recently, the discovery of membrane curvature sensors revealed that membrane trafficking could be regulated at an additional level, through detection of the shape of a membrane. The first membrane curvature sensor identified was the ALPS (Amphipathic Lipid Packing Sensor) motif, which has been found in a number of proteins that function in the early secretory pathway and nuclear envelope. One example is GMAP-210, a long coiled-coil tether localizing to cis-Golgi membranes, which has an ALPS motif at its extreme N-terminus. This ALPS motif was found to fold into an amphipathic helix and bind to small liposomes in vitro. However, the identity of the vesicles that this curvature sensor binds to in cells is not known. Another protein - α-synuclein - has also been reported to bind preferentially to highly curved membranes. This neuronal protein localizes to synaptic vesicles and is involved in maintaining the reserve pool of vesicles in pre-synaptic nerve terminals. α-Synuclein, known for its central role in the development of Parkinson’s disease, contains a region that is unstructured in solution, but forms an amphipathic helix upon binding to small liposomes in vitro. The chemistry and geometry of the amphipathic helices formed by ALPS motifs and α-synuclein are very different. The ALPS motif has a well-developed hydrophobic face but a poor polar side with few charged residues. α-Synuclein, in contrast, has a restrained hydrophobic side, and a zwitterionic polar face rich in charged residues. The main goal of the project was to compare the in vivo and in vitro membrane binding properties of these two amphipathic helices of opposite structure. When expressed in yeast cells, these two curvature sensors promoted the accumulation of vesicular structures possessing different characteristics. The N-terminus of GMAP-210 containing its ALPS motif (GMAPN) co-localized specifically with early secretory pathway markers, whereas a probe containing a portion of the amphipathic membrane-binding helix of α-synuclein co-localized with endocytic and post-Golgi markers. Mutagenesis of the ALPS motif and the inversion of the ALPS sequence in GMAPN support the conclusion that this membrane curvature sensor is targeted to specific vesicles in cells through direct protein-lipid, rather than protein-protein interactions. Our analysis has shown, remarkably, that mammalian curvature sensors expressed in yeast cells preserve their capacity to target specific vesicles, those of the early secretory pathway for ALPS motifs, and endocytic/post-Golgi vesicles for α-synuclein. The membrane composition of these vesicles corresponds to the preferred in vitro liposome binding properties of these membrane curvature sensors. The contrasting chemistries of ALPS motifs and α-synuclein are well adapted to each of these two major membrane environments in the cell. The HeliQuest algorithm is designed to search databases for membrane-binding amphipathic helices, including ALPS motifs. A new module designed to identify amphipathic helices with properties similar to α-synuclein has recently been developed. Searches of both yeast and human protein databases has identified candidate α-synuclein-like amphipathic helices in numerous proteins. We prepared a set of probes, in which these helices are displayed at the end of the GMAPN coiled-coil. An initial study of their co-localization in yeast cells with a set of organelle markers demonstrates specific localization patterns, suggesting that these helices may have specific membrane targeting capacities. Further work will explore the question of whether these amphipathic helices are part of a novel class of α-synuclein-like curvature sensors.

No description available.

Les organismes vivants produisent des peptides antimicrobiens (PAMs) pour se protéger contre les microbes. La résistance croissante aux antibiotiques nécessite le développement de nouvelles stratégies thérapeutiques et les PAMs sont des candidats prometteurs pour résoudre ce problème. Ils possèdent une activité à large spectre et leur principal mécanisme d'action par perméation de la membrane engendre peu de phénomènes de résistance. Néanmoins, leur faible biodisponibilité empêche leur utilisation. Certaines limitations peuvent être surmontées en développant des mîmes de PAMs qui conservent leur activité mais avec un potentiel thérapeutique accru. Les peptoïdes (oligomères de N-alkylglycine) structurés en hélice cationique amphiphile sont de bons mimes de PAMs. Les peptoïdes sont plus flexibles que les peptides en raison de l'isomérie cis/trans des amides N,N-disubstitués ; cependant la conformation des amides peut être contrôlée par un choix judicieux des chaînes latérales. Le but de cette thèse est d'étudier l'influence de chaînes latérales(hydrophobes ou cationiques) bloquant la conformation des amides en cis et induisant une structure hélicoïdale de type PolyProline I (PPI) robuste, sur l’activité antibactérienne et la sélectivité de peptoïdes. La conception, la synthèse et l’étude conformationnelle de nouveaux oligomères peptoïdes cationiques portant des chaînes latérales de type tert-butyle et/ou triazolium ont été réalisées. Dans un premier temps, la synthèse en solution d'oligomères à base de tert-butyle a été développée puis une stratégie de synthèse en phase solide a été mise en place pour accéder aux oligomères à base de 1,2,3-triazolium. Ensuite, ces nouveaux oligomères ont été évalués pour leur activité vis à vis d’un panel de bactéries Gram-positive et Gram-négative, leur l'activité antibiofilm et leur sélectivité cellulaire. Enfin, pour visualiser les effets des peptoïdes amphiphiles sur les bactéries, une étude de microscopie a été réalisée. / Living organisms produce antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) to protect themselves against microbes.The growing problem of antimicrobial resistance calls for new therapeutic strategies and the natural AMPs have shown ground-breaking potential to address that issue. They show broad-spectrum activity and their main mechanism of action by bacterial cell membrane disruption implies low emergence of resistance which makes them potent candidates for replacing conventional antibiotics. Nevertheless, few hurdles are impeding their use, notably poor bioavailability profile. Some of these limitations can be overcome by developing peptidomimetics of AMPs which exhibit antibacterial activities together with enhanced therapeutic potential. Peptoids (i.e. N-alkyl glycine oligomers) adopting cationic amphipathic helical structures are mostly competent AMP mimetics. From a conformational point of view, peptoids are fundamentally more flexible than peptides primarily due to the cis/trans isomerism of N,N-disubstituted amides but studies in this area have shown that cis amide conformation can be controlled by careful choice of side-chain to set a PolyProline I-type helical structure of peptoids. In this thesis, the genesis of novel amphipathic cationic peptoids carrying cis-directing tert-butyl and/or triazolium-type side-chains and their untapped potential to act against bacteria will be discussed comprehensively. First, the solutionphase synthesis of tert-butyl-based oligomers was developed. Second, novel method of solid-phase submonomer synthesis was optimised to access 1,2,3-triazolium-based oligomers. Then, the synthesised cationic oligomers were evaluated for their antibacterial potential, followed by antibiofilm activity and cell selectivity assays. In the end, to have insights on the mode of action of amphipathic peptoids, microscopy was carried out.

La cellule eucaryote compartimentalise ses tâches au sein d’organelles communiquant les unes avec les autres au moyen de vésicules de transport. Le trafic vésiculaire est contrôlé par des petites protéines G de la superfamille Ras, activées par un changement de nucléotide guanidique catalysé par un facteur d’échange (GEF). En particulier, au niveau du cis-Golgi la petite protéine G Arf1 est activée par GBF1, permettant le transport rétrograde des vésicules COPI vers le réticulum endoplasmique. Récemment, GBF1 a été impliqué dans d’autres fonctions, notamment dans le cycle réplicatif de certains virus ou dans le métabolisme des gouttelettes lipidiques.Les gouttelettes lipidiques sont les organelles ubiquitaires du stockage des lipides et ont un rôle majeur dans l’homéostasie des lipides à l’échelle de la cellule. Le trafic intracellulaire des ces organelles dynamiques serait contrôlé par des petites protéines G. Notre équipe à montré dans une précédente étude que GBF1 est localisé sur les gouttelettes lipidiques et est impliqué dans le recrutement de PLIN2 et de la lipase ATGL sur les gouttelettes lipidiques. Cette thèse montre, par des études de biologie cellulaire et de microscopie, que GBF1 possède un domaine de fixation aux phospholipides via une hélice amphipatique. Cette hélice est nécessaire et suffisante pour l’association aux gouttelettes lipidiques in cellulo. La régulation de la localisation de GBF1 repose sur l’interaction avec Rab1B (cascade entre Rab1 et Arf1 dans la voie sécrétoire précoce) ainsi que sur les interactions intramoléculaires entre les différents domaines de GBF1. / The eukaryotic cell physically separates its functions within several membrane-bound organelles, which communicate using vesicles. Vesicular trafficking is under the control of small GTPases that exist as an inactive GDP-bound form and an active GTP-bound form. The switch between GDP and GTP is catalyzed by a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF). On cis-Golgi membranes, Arf1, activated by the large GEF GBF1, recruits the COPI coat. COPI coated vesicles ensure the retrograde transport from the Golgi to the ER. Recently, GBF1 has been implicated in other pathways, such as the life cycle of various viruses and lipid droplet metabolism.Lipid droplets (LD), the major lipid storage organelle, play a major role in lipid homeostasis within the cell. LDs are connected to membrane trafficking and are therefore under the control of GTPases. In previous studies, our team showed that GBF1 localizes around LDs and that it is required for protein loading onto the LD surface. Here, data support the idea that GBF1 localizes to the LD surface. Using cell biology tools and microscopy, we identified, within GBF1, a lipid binding domain. In this domain, a single amphipathic helix is necessary and sufficient for LD targeting in cells. The regulation of GBF1 localization relies on interaction with Rab1 (data support a Rab1-Arf1 cascade between the ER and the Golgi) and on intramolecular interactions between GBF1 domains.

In the first part of the thesis, protein-ligand interactions were investigated using the chaperone LcrH, from Yersinia as target protein. The structure of a peptide encompassing the amphipathic domain (residue 278-300) of the protein YopD from Yersinia was determined by NMR in 40% TFE. The structure of YopD278-300 is a well defined α-helix with a β-turn at the C-terminus of the helix capping the structure. This turn is crucial for the structure as peptides lacking the residues involved in the turn are unstructured. NMR relaxation indicates that the peptide is not monomeric. This is supported by intermolecular NOEs found from residue Phe280 to Ile288 and Val292 indicative of a multimeric structure with the helical structures oriented in an antiparallel manner with hydrophobic residues forming the oligomer. The interaction with the chaperone LcrH was confirmed by 1H relaxation experiments and induced chemical shift changes in the peptide Protein-ligand interactions were investigated further in the second paper using a different approach. A wide range of substances were used in screening for affinity against the chaperones PapD and FimC from uropathogenic Escherichia coli using 1H relaxation NMR experiments, surface plasmon resonance and 19F NMR. Fluorine NMR proved to be advantageous as compared to proton NMR as it is straight forward to identify binding ligands due to the well resolved 19F NMR spectra. Several compounds were found to interact with PapD and FimC through induced line-broadening and chemical shift changes for the ligands. Data corroborate well with surface plasmon resonance and proton NMR experiments. However, our results indicate the substances used in this study to have poor specificity for PapD and FimC as the induced chemical shift is minor and hardly no competitive binding is observed. Paper III and IV is an investigation of the structural features of the allergenic 2S albumin Ber e 1 from Brazil nut. Ber e 1 is a 2S albumin previously identified as the major allergen of Brazil nut. Recent studies have demonstrated that endogenous Brazil nut lipids are required for an immune response to occur in vivo. The structure was obtained from 3D heteronuclear NMR experiments followed by simulated annealing using the software ARIA. Interestingly, the common fold of the 2S albumin family, described as a right-handed super helix with the core composed of a helix bundle, is not found in Ber e 1. Instead the C-terminal region is participating in the formation of the core between helix 3, 4 and 5. The dynamic properties of Ber e 1 were investigated using 15N relaxation experiments and data was analyzed using the model-free approach. The analysis showed that a few residues in the loop between helix 2 and 3 experience decreased mobility, compared to the rest of the loop. This is consistent with NOE data as long range NOEs were found from the loop to the core region of the protein. The anchoring of this loop is a unique feature of Ber e 1, as it is not found in any other structures of 2S albumins. Chemical shift mapping of Ber e 1 upon the addition of lipid extract from Brazil nut identified 4 regions in the protein where chemical shift perturbations were detected. Interestingly, all four structural clusters align along a cleft in the structure formed by helix 1-3 on one side and helix 4-5 on the other. This cleft is big enough to encompass a lipid molecule. It is therefore tempting to speculate whether this cleft is the lipid binding epitope in Ber e 1.

Cyclotides are small cyclic plant proteins, and this thesis addresses their cytotoxic structure-activity properties and their mode of action on human cancer cell lines. Cyclotides were isolated from Viola odorata and Viola tricolor; three novel cyclotide sequences and two known sequences, but of new origin, were identified using mass spectrometry, amino acid analysis, and Edman degradation. The cyclotide structure includes three disulphide bonds in a knotted arrangement, which forces hydrophobic amino acid residues to be exposed on the surface of the molecule; 3-D homology models of cyclotides have revealed an amphipathic surface and charged residues located at similar positions in the molecules. The charged amino acid residues were shown to play a key role in the cytotoxicity of the cyclotide cycloviolacinO2 on a human lymphoma cell line. Methylation of Glu caused a dramatic change in cytotoxicity, lowering the potency 48 times, whereas concealing the charge of Arg with 1,2-cyclohexanedione caused virtually no change in potency. Acetylation of the two Lys caused a 3-fold reduction in potency, and masking all positive charges caused a 7-fold reduction. Additionally, disturbing the amphipathic structure by reducing and alkylating the disulphide bonds abolished the cytotoxicity. The time dependency of cytotoxicity and cell gross morphology after cyclotide exposure were investigated on the lymphoma cell line. Cells exposed to 4 µM of cycloviolacinO2 showed necrotic characteristics, such as membrane disintegration, within 5 min; a membrane disruptive effect of cycloviolacinO2 was also observed in a functional assay based on liposomes at a peptide-to-lipid molar ratio of 6.5. The anti-tumour properties of cycloviolacinO2 were evaluated on three human cancer cell lines using the hollow fibre assay in vitro and in vivo. The cyclotide exhibited potent anti-tumour activity in the micro-molar concentration range on all cell lines in vitro, but no effect on tumour growth could be established in vivo.

No description available.

Le virus de la mosaïque jaune du navet (TYMV) possède un génome monopartite constitué d’ARN de polarité positive codant pour trois protéines, dont seule la polyprotéine 206K est indispensable à la réplication virale.Elle subit une maturation protéolytique, générant les protéines 140K et 66K, localisées au niveau de l’enveloppe des chloroplastes, siège de la réplication virale.Adressée aux chloroplastes, la protéine 140K y recrute la 66K et se comporte comme une protéine intégrale membranaire.Le domaine d’adressage aux chloroplastes (DAC) de la protéine 140K a été défini grâce à la transfection et à des protoplastes d’Arabidopsis thaliana par différentes constructions codantpour des versions délétées de la protéine fusionnées à l’EGFP, et à leur observation en microscopie confocale. Le DAC comprend deux hélices alpha amphipathiques dont la présence a été attestée par dichroïsme circulaire. Leur nécessité pour la localisation aux chloroplastes, l’association aux membranes et la réplication virale, a été étudiée. Différents patterns de distribution subcellulaire de la protéine 140K ont été observés. Ils sont corrélés au taux d’expression de la protéine. Sa dimérisation a également été démontrée.L’implication d’autres résidus du DAC dans la localisation subcellulaire, la dimérisation et la réplication virale, a également été recherchée. / Turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) is a positive single-stranded RNA virus. Among the three ORFs encoded by the TYMV genome, 206K is the only protein required for viral replication. It is cleaved into 140K and 66K, which are both present at the chloroplast envelope membrane, where viral replication takes place.The 140K protein is targeted to chloroplasts, where it recruits 66K, and behaves as an integral membrane protein. The chloroplast targeting domain (DAC) of the 140K protein was defined using Arabidopsis thaliana protoplasts transfected by various constructs encoding deleted versions of 140Kfused to EGFP and subsequent confocal microscopy. The DAC comprises two amphipathic alpha helices, as confirmed by circular dichroism. Their involvement in chloroplast localisation and membrane association has been assessed, as well as their contribution to viral replication.We observed different subcellular distribution patterns of 140K protein, which correlate with the expression level of the protein. Its capability to dimerize has also been demonstrated.The involvement of other DAC residues in subcellular localisation, dimerization and viral replication has been studied.