The plant hormone ethylene plays an important role in plant growth, development, and physiology. One of the critical components of the ethylene signal transduction pathway, ctr1 (constitutive triple response), was identified using a particularly useful seedling screen that takes advantage of the profound effects ethylene has on etiolated seedlings, known as triple response. CTR1 is one of six Arabidopsis MAPKKKs that are related to the Raf kinases, and acts as a negative regulator of ethylene response. In this study, isolation and characterization of a family of CTR1-like genes in tomato is reported. Based on amino acid alignments and phylogenetic analysis, the tomato CTR1-like (LeCTR) genes are more similar to Arabidopsis CTR1 (AtCTR1) than any other MAPKKK sequences in the Arabidopsis genome. The capacity of the LeCTR genes to function as negative regulators in ethylene signal transduction was tested through complementation of the Arabidopsis ctr1-8 mutant. Quantitative real-time PCR was carried out to generate an expression profile for the CTR1-like gene family during different stages of development marked by increased ethylene biosynthesis, including fruit ripening. The possibility of a multi-gene family of CTR1-like genes in other species besides tomato was examined through mining of EST and genomic sequence databases. Based on nucleotide and amino acid identity, At4g24480 is most similar to AtCTR1 and could potentially represent a CTR1-like gene in Arabidopsis. Arabidopsis plants carrying a T-DNA insert in the At4g24480 locus were examined for abnormal ethylene response phenotypes including sensitivity to other hormones, signal molecules and abiotic stresses. Two mutant alleles, ctr1-1 and ctr1-8, containing mutations that disrupt kinase activity and receptor association, respectively, were examined for sensitivity to these same treatments in an effort to better characterize ethylene hormone and non-hormone interactions. They also served as controls to determine if At4g24480 indeed possessed CTR1-like function. Arabidopsis and tomato represent species with very distinct fruit ripening/maturation programs. The critical dependence on ethylene for fruit ripening in tomato might have resulted in alteration or modification of the ethylene signal transduction pathway relative to Arabidopsis. Plans to characterize individual functions of the LeCTR genes through over-expression and reduced expression in tomato are outlined.

<p>Mild hyperthermia (39°C-43°C) has numerous therapeutic benefits as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of a variety of tumor types. Hyperthermia increases tumor blood flow and vascular permeability, promoting drug delivery and tumor oxygenation. Hyperthermia enhances the uptake and efficacy of numerous chemotherapeutic agents, including cisplatin, resulting in increased cytotoxicity. In addition to these biological responses, hyperthermia can be used as a drug-release trigger for temperature-sensitive nanoparticles, resulting in an improved and more targeted drug delivery system. Cisplatin was chosen because 1) it shows broad spectrum activity against a wide range of heatable cancers (i.e., those in sites such as the pancreas, colon and rectum, cervix and bladder, and 2) the same hyperthermic temperatures that enable temperature-sensitive lipsome-drug release also enhance cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity.</p><p>The role of hyperthermia in enhancing cisplatin delivery and cytotoxicity was investigated at both the cellular and tissue levels. While hyperthermia treatment is applicable to a variety of tumor types, the focus of this work was on bladder cancer. The synergistic effects of hyperthermia and cisplatin were investigated, along with the role of copper transport protein 1 (Ctr1) in this process. In addition, cisplatin was encapsulated within temperature-sensitive liposomes, which were used in combination with hyperthermia for targeted drug delivery. These studies demonstrated that the combination of cisplatin and hyperthermia improved drug delivery, and potentially anti-tumor efficacy, and that targeted delivery was enhanced through incorporation of temperature-sensitive liposomes. As many current methods for administering bladder hyperthermia have drawbacks, such as invasiveness and regional heating, the final aim of this study was to develop and test a less-invasive and more focused preclinical bladder heating device in a rat model. </p><p>Hyperthermia sensitizes cells to the cytotoxic effects of the commonly used chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin by increasing drug accumulation and subsequent platinum-DNA adduct formation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this enhancement remain unclear. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms involved in the synergistic interaction is necessary to increase the therapeutic benefits of this combination in the clinic. The synergism between the anti-cancer benefits of cisplatin and the drug delivery benefits of hyperthermia may offer a novel and more effective treatment for many cancer patients. We hypothesized that hyperthermia increases cisplatin accumulation and efficacy in part by modulating the function of Ctr1, a major regulator of cellular cisplatin uptake. To test this hypothesis, we examined the significance of Ctr1 during combined hyperthermia and cisplatin therapies and assessed the importance of cisplatin- and hyperthermia-induced Ctr1 multimerization in enhancing cisplatin cytotoxicity. We observed increased Ctr1 multimerization following hyperthermia treatment (41°C) in vitro, compared to normothermic controls (37°C), suggesting that this may be a mechanism for increased cisplatin uptake in heat-treated cells. The impact of increased Ctr1 multimerization was evaluated by measuring platinum accumulation in wild-type (WT) and Ctr1-/- cells. WT cells contained greater levels of platinum compared to Ctr1-/- cells. A further increase in platinum was observed following hyperthermia treatment, but only in the WT cells. Hyperthermia enhanced cisplatin-mediated cytotoxicity in WT cells with a dose-modifying factor (DMF) of 1.8 compared to 1.4 in Ctr1-/- cells. Our data suggest that heat increases Ctr1 activity by increasing multimerization, resulting in enhanced drug accumulation. Although we recognize that the effect of heat on cells is multi-factorial, our results support the hypothesis that Ctr1 is, in part, involved in the synergistic interaction observed with cisplatin and hyperthermia treatment. </p><p>In addition to assessing cisplatin delivery at the cellular level, we evaluated cisplatin delivery at the tissue level, using novel cisplatin-loaded temperature-sensitive liposomes. We hypothesized that delivering cisplatin encapsulated in liposomes under hyperthermic conditions would improve the pharmacokinetic profiles of cisplatin, increase drug delivery to the tumor, decrease normal tissue toxicity, and enhance the anti-tumor activity of cisplatin. We successfully prepared temperature-sensitive liposomes loaded with cisplatin and demonstrated that heat (42°C) sensitizes cisplatin-resistant cells to the cytotoxic effects of cisplatin in vitro. </p><p>Decreased toxicity was observed in animals treated with the cisplatin liposome (± heat) compared to the free drug treatments. A pharmacokinetic study of cisplatin-loaded temperature-sensitive liposomes and free drug was performed in tumor-bearing mice under normothermic and hyperthermic conditions. Cisplatin half-life in plasma was increased following liposome treatment compared to free cisplatin, and cisplatin delivery to the tumors was greatest in mice that received liposomal cisplatin under hyperthermia. These initial in vivo data demonstrate the potential effectiveness of this cisplatin-loaded liposome formulation in the treatment of certain types of cancer. To assess the anti-cancer efficacy of the liposome treatment, a tumor growth delay study was conducted and demonstrated equivalent efficacy for the cisplatin-loaded temperature-sensitive liposome compared to free drug. </p><p>In addition to the liposome work, we developed and evaluated a novel heating device for the bladder. Despite the evidence that hyperthermia is an effective adjuvant treatment strategy, current clinical heating devices are inadequate, warranting the development of a new and improved system. We induced hyperthermia using ferromagnetic nanoparticles and an alternating magnetic field device developed by Actium Biosystems. Initial preclinical studies in a rat model demonstrated preferential bladder heating. However, our preliminary studies show severe toxicity with the direct instillation of the nanoparticles in the bladder, and further studies are needed to potentially modify the nanoparticle coating, the catheterization procedure, as well as to develop a different animal model.</p> / Dissertation

The redox properties of Copper (Cu) make it both an ideal cofactor for many enzymes, and, in its free form, a highly toxic molecule capable of stimulating production of reactive oxygen species or binding to protein thiol groups. Therefore, living organisms have evolved homeostatic systems to “handle” Cu avoiding dangerous and wasteful aspecific interactions. These systems comprise uptake, carrier, storage and excretion proteins. The importance of Cu-homeostatic systems was initially discovered in humans where alterations of Cu-excretory proteins were shown to be responsible for two lethal genetic disorders; the Wilson and Menkes diseases. The levels of bioavailable Cu in the aquatic environment is important because concentrations in oceanic waters tend to be minute, whilst in some fresh and coastal waters, particularly around areas of mineral extraction, viniculture and farming operations, concentrations can be excessive. In contrast to terrestrial vertebrates, fish are not only exposed to dietary sources of copper but are also exposed to dissolved ionic copper that may enter via the skin and gills. Indeed, the latter route is important in fish and it has been demonstrated in physiological studies that under conditions of dietary deficiency, fish can satisfy their own body requirements by uptake from water. Therefore, fish must have systems relating to both gill and gut to enable maintenance of body homeostasis of this essential, yet toxic, metal. In an attempt to understand the mechanisms of Cu homeostasis in fish, whether under conditions of deficiency, adequacy or excess, it is essential to consider the expression of known Cu-homeostasis proteins. Thus, cDNAs for sea bream (Sparus aurata) homologues of copper transporter 1 (Ctr1), antioxidant protein 1 (Atox1), Menkes protein (ATP7A), Wilson protein (ATP7B), and metallothionein (MT), which are responsible for the uptake, delivery to the secretory pathway and scavenging of intracellular Cu, were cloned and their mRNA tissue expression levels measured. To investigate the molecular basis of the different homeostatic and toxic responses to waterborne or dietary Cu, sea bream were exposed to sub-toxic levels of Cu in the diet (130 mg/Kg of dry diet) or water (0.3 mg/L) and tissue mRNA and Cu levels were measured. Moreover, to discriminate between the effect of different metals on the transcriptional regulation of Cu homeostasis genes in fish, Sparus aurata fibroblast (SAF1) cells were exposed to sub-toxic levels of Cu (25 μM), Zn (100 μM) and Cd (10 μM). In addition, a microarray was used to gain a broader overview of the transcriptional response of SAF1 cells to Cu (25 μM). Waterborne or dietary Cu resulted in distinct expression profiles of Cu-homeostasis genes and markers of oxidative stress. After dietary exposure, Cu increased in intestine and liver, whilst after waterborne exposure Cu increased in gill and liver. Exposure to dietary Cu resulted in decreases in Ctr1 and ATP7A mRNA in both liver and intestine. Renal Ctr1 levels remained unchanged, whilst ATP7A mRNA decreased. In contrast, waterborne Cu exposure increased intestinal Ctr1 and ATP7A mRNA, and increased renal Ctr1 and decreased renal ATP7A mRNA. Both dietary and waterborne Cu increased ATP7B mRNA in liver. Metallothionein (MT) mRNA increased in liver and gill after waterborne Cu. Glutathione reductase (GR), a marker of oxidative stress, increased expression in liver and gill after waterborne Cu exposure, but decreased in intestine. Thus, exposure to Cu via water or diet has different, often opposite effects on Cu-homeostasis genes. The decrease in expression of both Cu-transport genes in intestine after dietary exposure may indicate a defensive mechanism to limit uptake of Cu. The opposite effects in intestine after waterborne exposure are more difficult to explain, but again may reflect a defence mechanism against excess bloodborne Cu coming from the gill. Since both dietary and waterborne Cu increased Cu levels in liver and increased hepatic ATP7B it is likely that well-characterised mammalian route of Cu excretion to bile is active in sea bream. However, only hepatic Cu derived from gill increased the expression of the stress markers MT and GR. This suggests that Cu is delivered to liver in a different form from gill as that from intestine, the intestinally derived pool being less toxic. Thus the increase in copper transport gene expression in intestine after gill exposure might be a mechanism to enable incorporation of excess bloodborne Cu into the intestinal pathway of Cu delivery to liver, thus minimizing toxicity. The in vitro exposure of SAF1 cells to Cu showed a similar response to liver of fish exposed to waterborne Cu indicating similar Cu availability and complexation. ATP7A mRNA levels were induced by Cu but not by Zn or Cd suggesting Cu-specific regulation. Conversely, MT and GR were induced by all metals tested. The transcriptomic analysis highlighted that the biological processes most significantly affected by Cu were secretion, protein trafficking and stress. Overall, these results show that in fish copper has distinct effects on tissue Cu transporter genes and oxidative stress depending on whether it is taken up via the gill or gut and that intestinal absorption may be required for normal uptake and metabolism of Cu, regardless of the route of uptake. Moreover, changes in mRNA levels indicate that Cu homeostasis genes, at least in fish, may be regulated at the transcriptional level. Although more work needs to be done to identify genes that are robust predictors of Cu toxicity, the microarray results presented here show a clear transcriptional fingerprint which may characterize Cu toxicity in fish.

Parthenocarpy, or seedless fruit development, has an agronomic importance in many horticultural crops. In most fruit, fertilization or seed set usually determines whether fruit growth is sustained. Naturally occurring parthenocarpy results from a genetic lesion that permits fruit to develop in the absence of fertilization and seed development. Parthenocarpy can also be induced artificially with cytokinin, gibberellin or auxin plant growth regulators applied to anthesis pistils. This thesis describes genetic research using Arabidopsis as a model plant to identify integral mechanisms that control parthenocarpy and the initiation of fruit development. The growth and structure of the Arabidopsis pistil was determined post-fertilization. Experiments were designed to understand how plant growth regulators induce Arabidopsis silique (fruit) development in emasculated anthesis stage pistils. Exogenous gibberellin (GA3) induced growth and cellular differentiation most comparable to pollinated pistils. Dependencies on gibberellins during silique development were examined in mutants defective for gibberellin biosynthesis (ga1, ga4-1, ga5-1) or perception (spy-4, gai-1). Although exogenous GAs are effective at inducing parthenocarpy, mutant studies concluded that GAs are not the sole cue for fruit development in Arabidopsis. Mutants blocked in GA perception could develop siliques in response to pollination, auxin, cytokinin but not to exogenously applied gibberellins. Silique structure in pollinated gai-1 and ga5-1 provided strong evidence for a model supporting evidence of an auxin-like signal regulating structural development and that GAs limit anticlinal cellular division. A specialized function for GAI and related GRAS family members in controlling cellular division during fruit development was uncovered. A mutant that forms parthenocarpic siliques without fertilization (fwf), was also characterized. The presence of surrounding floral whorls reduced the extent of parthenocarpic silique formation in fwf. Silique growth in the fwf background was examined when hormone perception, ovule and carpel identity functions were removed genetically. This established that FWF functions independent of GAI-mediated GA perception. Carpel identity conferred by FUL was critical for parthenocarpic silique elongation and ovule development beyond integument initiation, nucellar specification and subsequent morphogenesis, was essential for parthenocarpic silique development in fwf. Silique elongation occurs over a four-day period post-pollination or post-anthesis. This coincides with a similar time period in which fwf ovules remained receptive to fertilization. These observations are congruent with the hypothesis that FWF potentially represses a signal transduction process initiated within the ovule that mediates subsequent transition from carpel to silique development. Further analysis revealed that aberrant testa shape (ats) a mutant defective in integument formation enhanced parthenocarpic development in fwf, indicating that an ovule located repressor other than fwf can function to affect silique formation. Other studies have shown that ethylene can modulate auxin-dependent growth in both aerial and root tissues by altering both polar and lateral auxin transport. The contribution of ethylene perception to signal transduction between ovule and carpel was also genetically assessed. Constitutive ethylene responses, conferred by ctr1-1, enhanced cellular expansion in fwf and also the autonomous silique development in fis-2, which develops autonomous endosperm. ats ctr1-1 and ino ctr1-1 double mutants were also found to be parthenocarpic. This indicates that ethylene perception and integumentary structure play an important role in autonomous silique development, conceivably by changing the polar and lateral movement of an auxin-like signal within the integumentary tissues of the ovule. fwf and ats were fine mapped on chromosome 5 of Arabidopsis. Candidate genes were identified corresponding to both mutations but only the identity of FWF was established. Auxin Response Factor 8 (ARF8) was cloned and sequenced from the fwf mutant background. The gene encodes a protein with a amino-terminal DNA binding domain and a carboxy-terminal protein binding domain which homo- and hetero- dimerizes with other ARF or Aux / IAA class proteins. ARF8 sequence from fwf mutants encoded a mutation in the translation start site. Complementation of fwf plants by the transformation of wild type copies of ARF8 into fwf plants was hampered by reduced transformation efficiency. However wild type L.er and No.O plants transformed with mutant copies of ARF8 were obtained in higher frequency, and these formed parthenocarpic siliques when primary transformants were emasculated. This indicated that an interfering protein is produced from the mutated ARF8 gene that has altered regulatory activity. Sequence analysis indicated this and found that interference resulted from functional activity of the Q-rich and carboxy-terminal domains of the ARF8 protein. This inference is consistent with other published molecular data, which has demonstrated that the carboxy-terminal domain, together with the Q-rich region of selected ARF members, can activate auxin-responses. Thus the FWF / ARF8 protein may have a dual role, repressing carpel growth development through the DNA binding domain and then ensuring activation of silique development through the carboxy-terminal domain. The combined molecular and genetic data has been used to construct models concerning the genetic control of silique development. The first model considers the role of plant hormones and how signals from floral whorls surrounding the carpel and from within the ovule control silique growth. A model is also presented for the control of adaxial growth and development of the outer integument by the INNER NO OUTER gene. Finally the role of FWF and SPY in controlling floral tissue identity and boundary tissue specification is considered in a third model. Modification of the FWF / ARF8 gene could be used as a tool to improve fruit set and retention in horticultural crops, in addition to creating seedless parthenocarpic fruit. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Agriculture and Wine, 2001.

<p>Mechanisms of copper homeostasis are of great interest partly due to their connection to debilitating genetic and neurological disorders. The family of high-affinity copper transporters (Ctr) is responsible for extracellular copper acquisition and internalization in yeast, plants, and mammals, including human. The extracellular domain of the human high-affinity copper transporter (hCtr1) contains essential Cu-binding methionine-rich MXXM and MXM (Mets) motifs that are important for copper acquisition and transport. The hCtr1 extracellular domain also contains potential copper binding histidine (His) clusters, including a high-affinity Cu(II) ATCUN site. As of yet, extracellular His clusters have no established significance for hCtr1 function. We have made model peptides based on the extracellular copper acquisition domain of hCtr1 that is rich in His residues and Mets motifs. The peptides' Cu(I) and Cu(II) binding properties have been characterized by UV-Vis and mass spectrometry. Our findings have been extended to a mouse cell model and we show that His residues are important for hCtr1 function likely because of their contribution to strong copper-binding sites in the hCtr1 extracellular domain responsible for copper acquisition. </p> <p>Copper's pro-oxidant property is also medicinally promising if it can be harnessed to induce oxidative stress as a cancer chemotherapy strategy. Our lab has designed a photocleavable caged copper complex that can selectively release redox-active copper in response to light. The thermodynamic copper binding properties of these potential chemotherapeutics have been characterized</p> / Dissertation

Le développement de cancer entraîne une dérégulation du métabolisme du cuivre (Cu) qui a notamment été étudiée par analyse de la composition isotopique naturelle du Cu. Les cellules tumorales hépatiques sont enrichies en isotopes lourds du Cu par rapport aux cellules péri-tumorales. Le but de cette thèse est d'identifier les mécanismes responsables de cette différence, en utilisant la levure Saccharomyces cerevisiae dont les mécanismes de réduction et d'import du Cu sont proches de ceux de l'Homme. En mutant les gènes codants pour les importateurs ou les réductases du Cu, j’ai montré que son import protéique génère un enrichissement intracellulaire en isotopes légers du Cu, qui est modulé par l'activité des réductases. Une modélisation numérique m’a permis de montrer que le flux de Cu par les importateurs haute-affinité Ctr est linéairement et négativement corrélé à la composition isotopique du Cu. Ce flux étant modulé par la capacité de réduction membranaire du Cu, j’ai pu lier l'enrichissement en isotopes lourds du Cu des cellules hépatiques tumorales à une diminution de l'activité des réductases membranaires. Par ailleurs, pour un même fond génétique, j'ai mis en évidence une corrélation entre un moindre enrichissement en isotopes légers du Cu et une résistance accrue à un médicament anticancéreux, le cisplatine. De plus, le traitement au cisplatine entraîne un enrichissement des cellules en isotopes lourds du Cu d'autant plus petit que la souche est résistante au cisplatine. Ainsi, ces résultats montrent que la mesure de la composition isotopique du Cu avant et après traitement au cisplatine pourrait permettre de suivre l'apparition d’une chimiorésistance chez les malades, caractérisée par un enrichissement en isotopes lourds du Cu dans les tumeurs, ce qui ouvre la voie au développement d'un nouveau biomarqueur non-invasif de l'apparition d'une résistance au cisplatine. / Cancer development leads to Cu metabolism disregulation which were especially studied by the natural copper (Cu) isotopic composition. Hepatocellular carcinoma (hCC) are enriched in heavy Cu isotopes compared to peri-tumoral cells. The goal of this thesis is to identify the mechanism responsible for this difference. I used the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae where Cu reduction and Cu import mechanism are close to the human. By mutating the genes coding for Cu reductases or Cu importers, I showed that protein Cu import generate an intracellular light Cu enrichment which is modulated by Cu reductases activity. With a numerical modelisation I calculated that the Cu flux through high-affinity Cu importers is linearly and negatively correlated to the natural Cu isotopic composition. This flux is modulated by the cell reduction ability. Therefore, I have linked the heavy Cu isotopes enrichment in hCC to a lower reductases activity. Besides, for a same genetic background, I observed a correlation between a lower light Cu enrichment and an higher resistance to a anti-tumoral drug, the cisplatin. Moreover, I observed that cisplatin treatment leads to an enrichment in heavy Cu isotopes which is lower for resistant to cisplatin strains. Those results shown that the Cu isotopes measurement in tumors before and after the cisplatin treatment might be used to trace the chemoresistance apparition in patient with cancer which is characaterize by a tumoral heavy Cu isotopes enrichment. This results might pave the way to the development of a new prognosis biomarker of the cisplatin resistance apparition.