Les pucerons sont considérés comme des ravageurs majeurs, dune part en raison de leur action directe sur le végétal, mais également en tant que vecteurs de nombreux virus phytopathogènes. A lheure actuelle, la lutte contre certaines espèces de pucerons, au moyen dinsecticides de synthèse, devient extrêmement difficile en raison de lapparition de populations résistantes. Le développement de nouveaux produits antiparasitaires, visant spécifiquement les pucerons, devient, par conséquent, hautement souhaitable. Dans ce contexte, nous avons choisi de nous intéresser aux enzymes de la famille des « short-chain » isoprényle diphosphate synthases (scIPPS). Ces enzymes constituent une classe de prényltransférases impliquées dans le métabolisme des isoprénoïdes. Cette classe comprend la géranyle diphosphate synthase, la farnésyle diphosphate synthase et la géranylgéranyle diphosphate synthase qui respectivement synthétise le géranyle diphosphate (GPP, C10), le farnésyle diphosphate (FPP, C15), et le géranylgéranyle diphosphate (GGPP, C20). Nous avons cloné chez le puceron un nouveau type de scIPPS. Contrairement à d'autres scIPPS connues, lenzyme recombinante du puceron affiche une activité bifonctionnelle ; cette dernière étant capable de synthétiser à la fois le GPP, le précurseur commun des monoterpènes, mais également le FPP, le précurseur des sesquiterpènes. Chez les pucerons, ces deux précurseurs sont supposés jouer un rôle clé dans la biosynthèse de l'hormone juvénile et des phéromones d'alarme et sexuelle. Dans le but de fournir une explication structurelle à la bifonctionnalité observée chez la GPP/FPP synthase de puceron, nous avons entrepris de résoudre sa structure tridimensionnelle en se basant sur les structures cristallographiques du poulet. Plusieurs mutants ont été ensuite conçus et caractérisés.

Optically active &amp / #945 / -hydroxy ketones are important subunits of many biologically active compounds and indispensable synthons for asymmetric synthesis. Benzaldehyde Lyase from Pseudomonas fluorescens Biovar I is a novel ThDP-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of benzoin type chiral &amp / #945 / -hydroxy ketones starting from both benzaldehyde and racemic benzoin derivatives. Benzaldehyde Lyase is the first example of enzymes in the literature which leads to a chemical resolution of enantiomers of benzoin derivatives through a C-C bond cleavage reaction. Chiral 2-hydroxypropiophenone derivatives are formed by benzaldehyde lyase (BAL), catalyzing C-C bond formation after a selective C-C bond cleavage of a benzoin derivative accepted as a substrate. The enzyme uses only the (R)-benzoin derivatives as substrate for the formation of (R)-HPP derivatives and it is highly stereoselective. Thus, in the presence of the acetaldehyde as the acceptor aldehyde, the C-C bond cleavage of the benzoin molecule followed by the carboligation of the acetaldehyde to yield chiral 2-hydroxy propiophenone derivatives. Given the racemic benzoin to the enzyme as the substrate in the presence of acetaldehyde, both the racemic resolution of the substrate, revealing the unreacted (S)-Benzoin and the formation of the corresponding R-HPP occur.

Thèse doctorat : Aspects Moléculaires et Cellulaires de la Biologie : Strasbourg 1 : 2006. / Thèse soutenue sur un ensemble de travaux. Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. 16 p.

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Uveal Melanoma (UM) is the most common malignant intra-ocular tumor in adults. Despite the high accuracy of clinical diagnosis and advances in local treatment, more than 50% of UM patients develop metastasis within ten years of initial diagnosis. NM23 is a human metastasis suppressor gene. Reduced Nm23-H1 expression is correlated with high metastatic potential in a variety of different cancers including melanoma. C-Met is a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) that has been known to stimulate the invasive growth and increase the metastatic potential of cancer cells. Expression of c-Met is correlated with high mortality rate in UM patients. Treatment with CQX-2 inhibitors showed promise as an adjuvant therapy in adenocarcinoma of the colon. A previous report from our laboratory showed that topical treatment with Nepafenac (a CQX-2 inhibitor) delayed the progression of the primary tumor and the formation of metastasis in the experimental rabbit model of UM. / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the expression levels ofNm23-H1 in UM cell lines with different metastatic potentials, in paraffin embedded tissues from primary tumors of UM patients, and in an experimental rabbit model. In addition, the aim of this thesis is to determine whether treating human uveal melanoma cell lines with Nepafenac would increase the expression levels of Nm23-H1 and decrease the expression levels of c-Met in vitro (UM cell lines) and in vivo (experimental rabbit model). / To achieve our goal, we used several types of assays in our UM cell lines and paraffin embedded tissues from patient samples and experimental rabbit model, including quantitative immunostaining, quantitative Real-time PCR, and small interference RNA (siRNA). / The Real-time PCR results of five human uveal melanoma cell lines showed that expression of Nm23-HI is higher in cell lines with low metastatic potential compared to those with high metastatic potential. The invasive ability of the uveal melanoma cell lines increased after silencing Nm23-H1 expression with siRNA. The increased immunostaining intensity of Nm23-H1 in patient samples is associated with better survival rate. Moreover, treatment with Nepafenac resulted in increase of Nm23-H1 levels and decrease of c-Met levels in both the UM cell lines and the experimental rabbit model. / In conclusion, Nm23-H1 is a potent prognostic marker to predict the survival rate of UM patients and it has the potential to identify high-risk patients. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that treatment with COX-2 inhibitor causes an upregulation of Nm23-H1 and downregulation of c-Met in UM. Therefore, treatment with COX-2 inhibitors may be a useful strategy as an adjuvant therapy for UM patients.

No description available.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Univ., 2005. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-82).

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Biochemistry. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2009/06/09). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005. / "May 2005" The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.