Polyketides are natural products with complex chemical structures and immense pharmaceutical potential that are synthesized via secondary metabolic pathways. The in-vitro synthesis of these molecules requires high supply of building blocks such as acetyl Co-enzyme A, and cofactors (adenosine triphosphate (ATP). These precursor and cofactor are synthesized from respective soluble enzymes. Owing to the expensive nature of the enzymes, it is important to immobilize enzymes to improve the process economics by enabling multiple uses of catalyst and improving overall productivity and robustness. The polymer-based particles of nano and submicron size have become attractive material for their role in the life sciences. With the advances in synthetic protocols of the microgels and commercial availability of many of the monomers, it is feasible to tune the properties of the particles as per the process requirement. The core shell microgel with functional shell allows high loading of ligands onto the microgel particles due to increased availability of functional group on the outer surface. The aim of the thesis thus was to study biochemical reactions on the smart microgels support using single (acetyl CoA synthetase (Acs)) and dual (pyruvate kinase (Pk) and L-lactic dehydrogenase (Ldh)) enzyme/s systems. The study indicated that the enzyme immobilization significantly depends on the enzyme, conjugation strategy and the support. The covalent immobilization provides rigidity to the enzyme structure as in case of Acs immobilized on PNIPAm-AEMA microgels but at the same time leads to loss in enzyme activity. Whereas, in the case of covalent immobilization of Ldh on microgel showed improved in enzyme activity. On the other hand adsorption of the enzyme via ionic interaction provide better kinetic profile of enzymes hence the membrane reactor was prepared using PNIPAm-PEI conjugates for acetyl CoA synthesis. The better outcome of work with PNIPAm-PEI resulted in its further evaluation for dual enzyme system. This work is unique in the view that the immobilization strategies were well adapted to immobilize single and dual enzymes to achieve stable bioconjugates for their respective applications in precursor biosynthesis (Acetyl Co enzyme A) and co-factor dependent processes (ACoA and ATP). The positive end results of microgels as the support (particles in solution and as the thin film (membrane)) opens further prospective to explore these systems for other precursor biomolecule production.

Background SARS-CoV-2 infection causes acute respiratory distress, which may progress to multiorgan failure and death. Severe COVID-19 disease is accompanied by reduced erythrocyte turnover, low hemoglobin levels along with increased total bilirubin and ferritin serum concentrations. Moreover, expansion of erythroid progenitors in peripheral blood together with hypoxia, anemia, and coagulopathies highly correlates with severity and mortality. We demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 directly infects erythroid precursor cells, impairs hemoglobin homeostasis and aggravates COVID-19 disease. Methods Erythroid precursor cells derived from peripheral CD34+ blood stem cells of healthy donors were infected in vitro with SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant and differentiated into red blood cells (RBCs). Hemoglobin and iron metabolism in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and controls were analyzed in plasma-depleted whole blood samples. Raman trapping spectroscopy rapidly identified diseased cells. Results RBC precursors express ACE2 receptor and CD147 at day 5 of differentiation, which makes them susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. qPCR analysis of differentiated RBCs revealed increased HAMP mRNA expression levels, encoding for hepcidin, which inhibits iron uptake. COVID-19 patients showed impaired hemoglobin biosynthesis, enhanced formation of zinc-protoporphyrine IX, heme-CO2, and CO-hemoglobin as well as degradation of Fe-heme. Moreover, significant iron dysmetablolism with high serum ferritin and low serum iron and transferrin levels occurred, explaining disturbances of oxygen-binding capacity in severely ill COVID-19 patients. Conclusions Our data identify RBC precursors as a direct target of SARS-CoV-2 and suggest that SARS-CoV-2 induced dysregulation in hemoglobin- and iron-metabolism contributes to the severe systemic course of COVID-19. This opens the door for new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

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Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Cbs1p und Cbs2p, zwei spezifische Translationsaktivatoren der COB-mRNA. Im Mittelpunkt standen sowohl die weitere molekularbiologische und biochemische Charakterisierung von Cbs1p als auch ein Screening von Interaktionskandidaten, die mit Cbs1p und/oder Cbs2p physikalisch wechselwirken könnten. Cbs1p liegt als peripheres Membranprotein fest mit der inneren Mitochondrienmembran matrixseitig assoziiert vor. Dabei spielen möglicherweise hydrophobe und/oder Protein-Protein-Wechselwirkungen mit integralen Membranproteinen eine essentielle Rolle bei der Membranverankerung von Cbs1p. Durch die Identifizierug von atmungsdefekten Cbs1p-Mutanten, deren Mutationen in Bereichen mit Homologie zu RNA-bindenden Proteinen liegt, verstärken sich die Hinweise zur Beteiligung von Cbs1p an der direkten physikalischen Wechselwirkung mit dem 5´-leader der COB-mRNA. Darüber hinaus konnte gezeigt werden,, dass die abspaltbare Präsequenz nicht notwendig für einen mitochondrialen Import ist. Die Ergebnisse präzisieren und erweitern das vorliegende Modell der Wirkungsweise der Translationsaktivatoren Cbs1p und Cbs2p (Michaelis, 1991). Aufgrund der Membranverankerung von Cbs1p wird auch die gebundene COB-mRNA in räumlicher Nähe zur Membran gebracht. Darüber hinaus definiert Cbs1p damit möglicherweise auch den Ort der Insertion des nascierenden Apocytochrom b in die Membran. Cbs2p vermittelt die Bindung zur kleinen Untereinheit der mitochondrialen Ribosomen und könnte seinerseits ebenfalls in Interaktionen mit Untereinheiten des bc1-Komplexes involviert sein.