Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-150). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Introdução: A Síndrome do Intestino Curto (SIC) é definida como um conjunto de sinais e sintomas conseqüentes de alterações nutricionais e metabólicas secundária a insuficiência intestinal funcional e/ou orgânica, como nos casos de grandes ressecções do intestino delgado. Ressecções intestinais eliminam sítios de colonização, alteram a área de absorção e, o uso freqüente de antibióticos devido a infecções recorrentes, presença de alimentos não digeridos no cólon, trânsito acelerado e diarréia, nestes mesmos pacientes, podem contribuir para a alteração da microbiota intestinal. Objetivo: Caracterizar a microbiota intestinal de pacientes portadores da Síndrome do Intestino Curto atendidos na Unidade Metabólica e do HCFMRP/USP. Casuística e Métodos: Foram recrutados os pacientes portadores de síndrome do intestino curto atendidos na Unidade Metabólica do HCFMRP/USP (uso de terapia nutricional parenteral). Para o grupo controle foram recrutados indivíduos sadios e eutróficos da comunidade e pareados segundo sexo e idade. Foram avaliadas amostras de fezes e exames bioquímicos, estes últimos foram somente dos pacientes. A avaliação do consumo alimentar foi feita por meio do inquérito Diário Alimenta e a avaliação do estado nutricional a partir de medidas antropométricas. Para detecção de cepas patogênicas foram realizados cultivos e testes bioquímicos específicos em meio aeróbio para determinação de espécies da família Enterobacteriaceae. Em cada cepa de E. coli isolada foram aplicados anti-soros para determinação de possível patogenicidade. Metodologia molecular também foi utilizada para determinação do perfil da microbiota intestinal bacteriana: sequenciamento de bibliotecas de DNAr 16S e PCR para detecção de genes característicos de cepas patogênicas de E. coli. Resultados: Verificou-se a presença de subnutrição protéico-calórica no grupo Paciente mesmo com terapia nutricional para recuperação deste estado nutricional. Quanto a microbiota, observou-se maior diversidade de Gram negativas, porém menor quantidade por grama de fezes da família Enterobacteriaceae em pacientes com SIC. Porém a análise molecular mostrou a manutenção na proporção de espécies bacterianas, equivalente a microbiota intestinal saudável. Conclusão: Apesar da subnutrição, retirada maciça do intestino delgado, uso freqüente de antibióticos, depressão do sistema imune, presença de alimentos não digeridos no trato gastrintestinal e transito intestinal acelerado, a relação e proporção entre as espécies bacterianas intestinais permanecem similares à normalidade. / Introduction The short bowel syndrome (SBS) is defined as a set of signs and symptoms resulting from nutritional and metabolic changes after major small bowel resections. Intestinal resections eliminate colonization sites and alter the absorption area. Besides, the frequent use of antibiotics due to recurrent infections, the presence of undigested food remaining in the intestinal tract, rapid transit and diarrhea in these same patients may contribute to the change of intestinal microbiota. Objective: To characterize the intestinal microbiota of patients with short bowel syndrome treated at the Metabolic Unit and HCFMRP / USP. Materials and Methods: We recruited all the patients with short bowel syndrome treated at the Metabolic Unit of HCFMRP / USP (use of parenteral nutrition therapy). The control group was composed by healthy individuals matched by age and sex. Samples of feces and biochemical tests from the patient group were evaluated. The control group had no biochemical tests, only feces samples to be analysed. The nutritional status was evaluated through anthropometric measurements and the assessment of food intake through food diary survey. The pathogenic strains from Enterobacteriaceae were detected by cultivation and specific biochemical tests in aerobic environment. In each strain of isolated E. coli antisera were applied for determination of pathogenicity. PCR analysis was also used to determine the profile of intestinal bacterial microbiota: sequencing libraries of 16S rDNA and PCR for detection of genes characteristic of pathogenic strains of E. coli. Results: Although receiving periodic parenteral nutrition the Patient group had protein-calorie malnutrition. In regards to the microbiota there was greater diversity, but lower concentration of the family Enterobacteriaceae in patients with SBS. However, the molecular analysis showed the a proportion of bacterial species equivalent to the intestinal flora from the control group. Conclusion: Although the protein-calorie malnutrition, massive resection of the small intestine, frequent use of antibiotics, immune system depression, presence of undigested food in the gastrointestinal tract and rapid intestinal transit rate, the ratio and the proportion of the intestinal bacterial species remain similar to normal.

A emergência de fenótipos de resistências aos antimicrobianos, tanto na clínica humana e veterinária quanto na agropecuária, constitui uma urgência epidemiológica. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi monitorar os mecanismos de resistência em amostras de Salmonella spp. e E. coli isoladas (2005-2010) de animais de produção agropecuária (aves e suínos) e fontes relacionadas. Do total de 143 amostras de Salmonella spp., 9% (3 S. Thyphimurium, 7 S. Schwarzengrund e 2 S. Agona) eram resistentes a cefolosporinas de amplo espectro pela produção de ESBL do tipo CTX-M-2, prevalecendo dois clusters disseminados clonalmente no ciclo de produção avícola. Em E. coli, a resistência às cefalosporinas de amplo espectro foi associada com a presença do gene blaCTX-M-2 (n=24), blaCMY-2 (n=2) e blaCTX-M-15 (n=1, novo ST, complexo clonal 206), não existindo relação clonal no ciclo de produção suína. Em 5 amostras de E. coli (suínos) resistentes a fluoroquinolonas foi confirmada a presença de genes do tipo qnr. A aquisição e disseminação de genes conferindo resistências a cefaloporinas de amplo espectro e quinolonas, em isolados de origem animal, pode ter impacto em saúde pública. / Emergence of drug-resistant phenotypes in human and veterinary medicine, and in the animal husbandry has epidemiological significance. The aim of this study was to investigate the resistance mechanisms of Salmonella and E. coli strains isolated (2005-2010) from food-producing animals (poultry and swine) and related sources. Among 143 Salmonella spp., 9% strains (3 S. Thyphimurium, 7 S. Schwarzengrund and 2 S. Agona) exhibited resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins, which was associated to the presence of the blaCTX-M-2 gene. These strains were clonally related (2 major clusters). Resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins among clonally unrelated E. coli strains from swine was associated to the presence of blaCTX-M-2 (n=24), blaCMY-2 (n=2) and blaCTX-M-15 (n=1, new ST belonging to the clonal complex 206) genes. Five E. coli strains (from swine) resistant to fluoroquinolones carried qnr genes. Acquisition and spread of genes conferring resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones among Salmonella spp. and E. coli strains from food-producing animals is worrisome and it should be considered a public health issue.

Enterobactérias são comumente encontradas em simbiose com plantas, promovendo o crescimento vegetal, através da redução do nitrogênio atmosférico a amônia. Entretanto, são os principais patógenos na medicina humana e veterinária. O objetivo deste estudo foi buscar marcadores genéticos e fisiológicos que caracterizem espécies de enterobactérias isoladas de cana-de-açúcar (n=24) e de origem clínica (n=15). Foram submetidas a testes moleculares e fisiológicos como: capacidade de reduzir N2; perfil de susceptibilidade a antibióticos; atividade hemolítica; produção de substâncias promotoras de crescimento e liberação de enzimas extracelulares. Atividades metabólicas e fisiológicas altamente conservadas, sustentadas pelo ponto vista genético, permitem a distribuição destas espécies em diferentes ecossistemas, e, em condições favoráveis, esta adaptação pode contribuir para o estabelecimento de processos patogênicos ou simbióticos em plantas. Então, enterobacterias ambientais podem se tornar patogênicas, enquanto isolados clínicos podem se adaptar a condições ambientais. / Enterobacteria are commonly found in symbiosis with plants, promoting their growth by reducing atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia. However, they are also major pathogens in human and veterinary medicine. The aim of this study was to characterize physiological and genetic markers that distinguish enterobacteria species isolated from sugarcane (n= 24) and clinical sources (n= 15). The samples were characterized regarding their molecular and physiological assays as: ability to reduce N2, antibiotic susceptibility profile; screen for hemolytic activity; production of plant-growth promoting compounds and release of extracellular enzymes. Finally, highly conserved physiological and metabolic activities are supported on genetic backgrounds that allow a wide distribution along different ecosystems and, in favorable conditions, this adaptation could contribute to the establishment of a pathogenic process or symbiosis in plants. So, environmental enterobacteria isolates can become pathogenic, whereas clinical strains can adapt to environmental conditions.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 C348 / Master of Science

The gastrointestinal tract houses one of the most dense and diverse communities of bacteria on the planet. The mutualistic relationship between the host and commensal microbe permits the microbe an ideal environment to grow and provides the host with increased caloric intake, maturation of the adaptive immune system, and resistance against invading pathogens. To maintain a system in which both parties benefit, the epithelium has evolved numerous strategies to ensure epithelial cells respond to microbes appropriately and that potentially hazardous commensals remain distanced from the soma proper. Breakdown of these propitiating mechanisms elicits unchecked inflammation and can lead to pathology and reduction of host fitness. We show that oral and intestinal epithelial cells respond to the circulating hormone adiponectin in the presence of bacterial constituents, and that adiponectin has the potential to downregulate NF-κB signaling. We also show many commensal bacteria have no effect on TNF or IL-8 proinflammatory gene expression in intestinal cells. Commensals within the family Enterobacteriaceae can increase TNF and IL-8 expression, but also expression of the NF-κB regulator A20 and MAPK phosphatase MKP-1. Importantly, Enterobacteriaceae also increased expression of the IgA transporter pIgR. In the mouse model, we show pIgR expression along the intestinal epithelium is necessary for SIgA accumulation in the outer mucus layer where commensal bacteria reside. Loss of the mucus layer, but not pIgR is sufficient to allow direct bacterial-epithelial cell contact and induce spontaneous inflammation along the colon. Secretory IgA is supplied maternally through breast milk early in life to compensate for the neonate’s inability to produce sufficient endogenous amounts. By utilizing a breeding scheme in which mouse dams were unable to provide their offspring with SIgA, we show the necessity of maternally-supplied SIgA to control bacterial invasion to mesenteric lymph nodes before weaning. In addition, 8-10 week old adult offspring not receiving SIgA as neonates showed both a unique intestinal microbiota and different patterns of intestinal epithelial cell gene expression with and without chemically-induced acute colitis. In summary, we reveal new mechanisms the mammalian host utilizes in order to maintain peace between the commensal microbe and host immune system.

Šio tyrimo tikslas palyginti diskų difuzijos ir automatizuotą metodus, nustatančius Enterobacteriaceae šeimos bakterijų plataus veikimo β-laktamazių (PVBLazių) fenotipą ir įvertinti PVBLazių paplitimą Vilniaus universiteto ligoninės Santariškių klinikose 2008-2010 metais. Tyrimų analizei buvo pasirinkta 58 Enterobacteriaceae šeimos bakterijos, išskirtos 2009-2011 metais ligoniams, besigydžiusiems Vilniaus Universiteto ligoninės Santariškių klinikose. Bakterijos ištirtos naudojant fenotipinius PVBL nustatymo metodus: automatizuotą Phoenix sistemą (Becton Dickenson, Sparks, MD, JAV), kombinuotą diskų difuzijos metodą ir dvigubos difuzijos metodą. Automatizuota Phoenix sistema tyrime laikyta kaip patvirtinantis metodas identifikuojant bakterijas ir nustatant PVBLazių gamybos fenotipą. Tiriamąją grupę sudarė šios bakterijų rūšys: K. pneumoniae, E.coli, Enterobacter spp., Proteus spp., Serratia spp., Morganella spp. ir Providencia spp.. Ištyrus 58 bakterijas patvirtinačiu metodu nustatyta, kad 31 iš jų gamina plataus veikimo beta-laktamazes. Atliktas palyginamasis diskų difuzijos metodų įvertinimas ir nustatytas jautrumas, specifiškumas, teigiama prognostinė vertė (PPV) ir neigiama prognostinė vertė (NPV). Įvertinus atliktų tyrimų duomenis nustatyta, kad kombinuoto diskų difuzijos metodo jautrumas - 100%, specifiškumas - 100%, PPV - 100%, NPV - 100%. Dvigubos difuzijos metodo jautrumas - 100%, specifiškumas – 88,9%, PPV – 91,2%, NPV - 100%. Gauti tyrimų rezultatai rodo, jog... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this study is to compare disk diffusion and automated methods for determining the Enterobacteriaceae extended spectrum-β-lactamases (ESBL) phenotype and to assess the prevalence of (ESBL) at University Hospital Clinics in 2008-2010. For the study were chosen 58 bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family that were isolated in 2009-2011 in patients that were treated at Vilnius University Hospital Clinic. The bacteria studied using phenotypic methods ESBL: Phoenix automated system (Becton Dickenson, Sparks, MD, USA) combined disc diffusion method and the double-diffusion method. Automated system of Phoenix for the study was considered as a method of confirming the identification of bacteria and determination of (ESBL) production phenotype. The studied group consisted of the following bacterial species: K. pneumoniae, E. coli, Enterobacter spp., Proteus spp., Serratia spp., Morganella spp. and Providencia spp . The examination with the validated method of 58 bacteria showed that 31 of them produce an extended spectrum beta lactamases. A performed comparative disc diffusion method was made and the evaluation of the sensitivity, specificity, positive prognostic value (PPV) and negative prognostic value (NPV) was identified. The evaluation of the data from studies showed that the combined disc diffusion method for sensitivity - 100% and specificity - 100%, PPV - 100%, NPV - 100%. Double-diffusion method for sensitivity - 100% and specificity - 88.9%, PPV - 91.2%... [to full text]

Recent progresses and developments in molecular biology provide a wealth of new but insufficiently characterised data. This fund comprises amongst others biological data of genomic DNA, protein sequences, 3-dimensional protein structures as well as profiles of gene expression. In the present work, this information is used to develop new methods for the characterisation and classification of organisms and whole groups of organisms as well as to enhance the automated gain and transfer of information. The first two presented approaches (chapters 4 und 5) focus on the medically and scientifically important enterobacteria. Its impact in medicine and molecular biology is founded in versatile mechanisms of infection, their fundamental function as a commensal inhabitant of the intestinal tract and their use as model organisms as they are easy to cultivate. Despite many studies on single pathogroups with clinical distinguishable pathologies, the genotypic factors that contribute to their diversity are still partially unknown. The comprehensive genome comparison described in Chapter 4 was conducted with numerous enterobacterial strains, which cover nearly the whole range of clinically relevant diversity. The genome comparison constitutes the basis of a characterisation of the enterobacterial gene pool, of a reconstruction of evolutionary processes and of comprehensive analysis of specific protein families in enterobacterial subgroups. Correspondence analysis, which is applied for the first time in this context, yields qualitative statements to bacterial subgroups and the respective, exclusively present protein families. Specific protein families were identified for the three major subgroups of enterobacteria namely the genera Yersinia and Salmonella as well as to the group of Shigella and E. coli by applying statistical tests. In conclusion, the genome comparison-based methods provide new starting points to infer specific genotypic traits of bacterial groups from the transfer of functional annotation. Due to the high medical importance of enterobacterial isolates their classification according to pathogenicity has been in focus of many studies. The microarray technology offers a fast, reproducible and standardisable means of bacterial typing and has been proved in bacterial diagnostics, risk assessment and surveillance. The design of the diagnostic microarray of enterobacteria described in chapter 5 is based on the availability of numerous enterobacterial genome sequences. A novel probe selection strategy based on the highly efficient algorithm of string search, which considers both coding and non-coding regions of genomic DNA, enhances pathogroup detection. This principle reduces the risk of incorrect typing due to restrictions to virulence-associated capture probes. Additional capture probes extend the spectrum of applications of the microarray to simultaneous diagnostic or surveillance of antimicrobial resistance. Comprehensive test hybridisations largely confirm the reliability of the selected capture probes and its ability to robustly classify enterobacterial strains according to pathogenicity. Moreover, the tests constitute the basis of the training of a regression model for the classification of pathogroups and hybridised amounts of DNA. The regression model features a continuous learning capacity leading to an enhancement of the prediction accuracy in the process of its application. A fraction of the capture probes represents intergenic DNA and hence confirms the relevance of the underlying strategy. Interestingly, a large part of the capture probes represents poorly annotated genes suggesting the existence of yet unconsidered factors with importance to the formation of respective virulence phenotypes. Another major field of microarray applications is gene expression analysis. The size of gene expression databases rapidly increased in recent years. Although they provide a wealth of expression data, it remains challenging to integrate results from different studies. In chapter 6 the methodology of an unsupervised meta-analysis of genome-wide A. thaliana gene expression data sets is presented, which yields novel insights in function and regulation of genes. The application of kernel-based principal component analysis in combination with hierarchical clustering identified three major groups of contrasts each sharing overlapping expression profiles. Genes associated with two groups are known to play important roles in Indol-3 acetic acid (IAA) mediated plant growth and development as well as in pathogen defence. Yet uncharacterised serine-threonine kinases could be assigned to novel functions in pathogen defence by meta-analysis. In general, hidden interrelation between genes regulated under different conditions could be unravelled by the described approach. HMMs are applied to the functional characterisation of proteins or the detection of genes in genome sequences. Although HMMs are technically mature and widely applied in computational biology, I demonstrate the methodical optimisation with respect to the modelling accuracy on biological data with various distributions of sequence lengths. The subunits of these models, the states, are associated with a certain holding time being the link to length distributions of represented sequences. An adaptation of simple HMM topologies to bell-shaped length distributions described in chapter 7 was achieved by serial chain-linking of single states, while residing in the class of conventional HMMs. The impact of an optimisation of HMM topologies was underlined by performance evaluations with differently adjusted HMM topologies. In summary, a general methodology was introduced to improve the modelling behaviour of HMMs by topological optimisation with maximum likelihood and a fast and easily implementable moment estimator. Chapter 8 describes the application of HMMs to the prediction of interaction sites in protein domains. As previously demonstrated, these sites are not trivial to predict because of varying degree in conservation of their location and type within the domain family. The prediction of interaction sites in protein domains is achieved by a newly defined HMM topology, which incorporates both sequence and structure information. Posterior decoding is applied to the prediction of interaction sites providing additional information of the probability of an interaction for all sequence positions. The implementation of interaction profile HMMs (ipHMMs) is based on the well established profile HMMs and inherits its known efficiency and sensitivity. The large-scale prediction of interaction sites by ipHMMs explained protein dysfunctions caused by mutations that are associated to inheritable diseases like different types of cancer or muscular dystrophy. As already demonstrated by profile HMMs, the ipHMMs are suitable for large-scale applications. Overall, the HMM-based method enhances the prediction quality of interaction sites and improves the understanding of the molecular background of inheritable diseases. With respect to current and future requirements I provide large-scale solutions for the characterisation of biological data in this work. All described methods feature a highly portable character, which allows for the transfer to related topics or organisms, respectively. Special emphasis was put on the knowledge transfer facilitated by a steadily increasing wealth of biological information. The applied and developed statistical methods largely provide learning capacities and hence benefit from the gain of knowledge resulting in increased prediction accuracies and reliability. / Die aktuellen Fortschritte und Entwicklungen in der Molekularbiologie stellen eine Fülle neuer, bisher kaum analysierter Daten bereit. Dieser Fundus umfasst unter Anderem biologische Daten zu genomischer DNA, zu Proteinsequenzen, zu dreidimensionalen Proteinstrukturen sowie zu Genexpressionsprofilen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden diese Informationen genutzt, um neue Methoden der Charakterisierung und Klassifizierung von Organismen bzw. Organismengruppen zu entwickeln und einen automatisierten Informationsgewinn sowie eine Informationsübertragung zu ermöglichen. Die ersten beiden vorgestellten Ansätze (Kapitel 4 und 5) konzentrieren sich auf die medizinisch und wissenschaftlich bedeutsame Gruppe der Enterobakterien. Deren Bedeutung für Medizin und Mikrobiologie geht auf ihre Funktion als kommensale Bewohner des Darmtraktes, ihre Nutzung als leicht kultivierbare Modellorganismen und auf die vielseitigen Infektionsmechanismen zurück. Obwohl bereits viele Studien über einzelne Pathogruppen mit klinisch unterscheidbaren Symptomen existieren, sind die genotypischen Faktoren, die für diese Unterschiedlichkeit verantwortlich zeichnen, teilweise noch nicht bekannt. Der in Kapitel 4 beschriebene umfassende Genomvergleich wurde anhand einer Vielzahl von Enterobakterien durchgeführt, die nahezu die gesamte Bandbreite klinisch relevanter Diversität darstellen. Dieser Genomvergleich bildet die Basis für eine Charakterisierung des enterobakteriellen Genpools, für eine Rekonstruktion evolutionärer Prozesse und Einflüsse und für eine umfassende Untersuchung spezifischer Proteinfamilien in enterobakteriellen Untergruppen. Die in diesem Kontext vorher noch nicht angewandte Korrespondenzanalyse liefert qualitative Aussagen zu bakteriellen Untergruppen und den ausschließlich in ihnen vorkommenden Proteinfamilien. In drei Hauptuntergruppen der Enterobakterien, die den Gattungen Yersinia und Salmonella sowie der Gruppe aus Shigella und E. coli entsprechen, wurden die jeweils spezifischen Proteinfamilien mit Hilfe statistischer Tests identifiziert. Zusammenfassend bilden die auf Genomvergleichen aufbauenden Methoden neue Ansatzpunkte, um aus der Übertragung der bekannten Funktionalität einzelner Proteine auf spezifische, genotypische Besonderheiten bakterieller Gruppen zu schließen. Aufgrund ihrer hohen medizinischen Relevanz war die Typisierung enterobakterieller Isolate entsprechend ihrer Pathogenität Ziel zahlreicher Studien. Die Microarray-Technologie bietet ein schnelles, reproduzierbares und standardisierbares Hilfsmittel für bakterielle Typisierung und hat sich in der Bakteriendiagnostik, Risikobewertung und Überwachung bewährt. Das in Kapitel 5 beschriebene Design eines diagnostischen Microarray beruht auf einer großen Anzahl verfügbarer Genomsequenzen von Enterobakterien. Ein hocheffizienter String-Matching-Algorithmus ist die Grundlage einer neuartigen Strategie der Sondenauswahl, die sowohl kodierende als auch nicht-kodierende Bereiche genomischer DNA berücksichtigt. Im Vergleich zu Diagnostika, die ausschließlich auf Virulenz-assoziierten Sonden beruhen, verringert dieses Prinzip das Risiko einer inkorrekten Typisierung. Zusätzliche Sonden erweitern das Anwendungsspektrum auf eine simultane Diagnostik der Antibiotikaresistenz bzw. eine Überwachung der Resistenzausbreitung. Umfangreiche Testhybridisierungen belegen eine überwiegende Zuverlässigkeit der Sonden und vor allem eine robuste Klassifizierung enterobakterieller Stämme entsprechend der Pathogruppen. Die Tests bilden zudem die Grundlage für das Training eines Regressionsmodells zur Klassifizierung der Pathogruppe und zur Vorhersage der Menge hybridisierter DNA. Das Regressionsmodell zeichnet sich durch kontinuierliche Lernfähigkeit und damit durch eine Verbesserung der Vorhersagequalität im Prozess der Anwendung aus. Ein Teil der Sonden repräsentiert intergenische DNA und bestätigt infolgedessen die Relevanz der zugrunde liegenden Strategie. Die Tatsache, dass ein großer Teil der von den Sonden repräsentierten Gene noch nicht annotiert ist, legt die Existenz bisher unentdeckter Faktoren mit Bedeutung für die Ausbildung entsprechender Virulenz-Phänotypen nahe. Ein weiteres Haupteinsatzgebiet von Microarrays ist die Genexpressionsanalyse. Die Größe von Genexpressionsdatenbanken ist in den vergangenen Jahren stark gewachsen. Obwohl sie eine Fülle von Expressionsdaten bieten, sind Ergebnisse aus unterschiedlichen Studien weiterhin schwer in einen übergreifenden Zusammenhang zu bringen. In Kapitel 6 wird die Methodik einer ausschließlich datenbasierten Meta-Analyse für genomweite A. thaliana Genexpressionsdatensätze dargestellt, die neue Erkenntnisse über Funktion und Regulation von Genen verspricht. Die Anwendung von Kernel-basierter Hauptkomponentenanalyse in Kombination mit hierarchischem Clustering identifizierte drei Hauptgruppen von Kontrastexperimenten mit jeweils überlappenden Expressionsmustern. In zwei Gruppen konnten deregulierte Gene wichtigen Funktionen bei Indol-3-Essigsäure (IAA) vermitteltem Pflanzenwachstum und -entwicklung sowie pflanzlicher Pathogenabwehr zugeordnet werden. Bisher funktionell nicht näher charakterisierte Serin-Threonin-Kinasen wurden über die Meta-Analyse mit der Pathogenabwehr assoziiert. Grundsätzlich kann dieser Ansatz versteckte Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Genen aufdecken, die unter verschiedenen Bedingungen reguliert werden. Bei der funktionellen Charakterisierung von Proteinen oder der Vorhersage von Genen in Genomsequenzen werden Hidden-Markov-Modelle (HMMs) eingesetzt. HMMs sind technisch ausgereift und in der computergestützten Biologie vielfach eingesetzt worden. Trotzdem birgt die Methodik das Potential zur Optimierung bezüglich der Modellierung biologischer Daten, die hinsichtlich der Längenverteilung ihrer Sequenzen variieren. Untereinheiten dieser Modelle, die Zustände, repräsentieren über ihre individuelle Verweildauer zugrunde liegende Verteilungen von Sequenzlängen. Kapitel 7 stellt eine Methode zur Anpassung einfacher HMM-Topologien an biologische Daten, die glockenkurvenartige Längenverteilungen zeigen, vor. Die Modellierung solcher Verteilungen wird dabei durch eine serielle Verkettung vervielfältigter Zustände gewährleistet, ohne dass die Klasse herkömmlicher HMMs verlassen wird. Auswertungen der Modellierungsleistung bei unterschiedlich stark optimierten HMM-Topologien unterstreichen die Bedeutung der entwickelten Topologieoptimierung. Zusammenfassend wird hier eine generelle Methodik beschrieben, die die Modelleigenschaften von HMMs über Topologieoptimierungen verbessert. Die Parameter dieser Optimierung werden mit Hilfe von Maximum-Likelihood und einem leicht einzubindenden Momentschätzer bestimmt. In Kapitel 8 wird die Anwendung von HMMs zur Vorhersage von Interaktionsstellen in Proteindomänen beschrieben. Wie bereits gezeigt wurde, sind solche Stellen aufgrund einer variablen Konserviertheit ihrer Position und ihres Typs schwer zu bestimmen. Eine Vorhersage von Interaktionstellen in Proteindomänen wird über die Definition einer neuen HMM-Topologie erreicht, die sowohl Sequenz- als auch Strukturdaten einbindet. Interaktionsstellen werden mit einem Posterior-Decoding-Algorithmus vorhergesagt, der zusätzliche Informationen über die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer Interaktion für alle Sequenzpositionen bereitstellt. Die Implementierung der Interaktionsprofil-HMMs (ipHMMs) basiert auf den etablierten Profil-HMMs und erbt deren Effizienz und Sensitivität. Eine groß angelegte Vorhersage von Interaktionsstellen mit ipHMMs konnte mutationsbedingte Fehlfunktionen in Proteinen erklären, die mit vererbbaren Krankheiten wie unterschiedlichen Tumortypen oder Muskeldystrophie assoziiert sind. Wie Profile-HMMs sind auch ipHMMs für groß angelegte Anwendungen geeignet. Insgesamt verbessert die HMM-gestützte Methode sowohl die Vorhersagequalität für Interaktionsstellen als auch das Verständnis molekularer Hintergründe bei vererbbaren Krankheiten. Im Hinblick auf aktuelle und zukünftige Anforderungen stelle ich in dieser Arbeit Lösungsansätze für eine umfassende Charakterisierung großer Mengen biologischer Daten vor. Alle beschriebenen Methoden zeichnen sich durch gute Übertragbarkeit auf verwandte Probleme aus. Besonderes Augenmerk wurde dabei auf den Wissenstransfer gelegt, der durch einen stetig wachsenden Fundus biologischer Information ermöglicht wird. Die angewandten und entwickelten statistischen Methoden sind lernfähig und profitieren von diesem Wissenszuwachs, Vorhersagequalität und Zuverlässigkeit der Ergebnisse verbessern sich.

Les carbapénèmes constituent le traitement de dernier recours des infections associées à des germes multirésistants producteurs de -lactamases à spectre étendu. Les entérobactéries ont cependant développé des mécanismes de résistance à l’encontre de cette classe d’antibiotiques, notamment par la production de carbapénèmases. La carbapénèmase OXA-48 a rapidement disséminé en Europe et dans le pays du pourtour méditerranéen depuis 2010. Les objectifs de ce travail ont englobé, dans une première partie, la caractérisation de trois variants de la carbapénèmase OXA-48, possédant chacun des particularités phénotypiques ou génétiques. Nous nous sommes ensuite intéressés à l’épidémiologie de la carbapénèmase OXA-48 afin de comprendre ses mécanismes de dissémination puis à la variabilité de son environnement génétique. Le dernier objectif était de déterminer les facteurs génétiques à l’origine de la dissémination de la carbapénèmase OXA-48. Nous avons ainsi montré que les carbapénèmases de type OXA-48 bénéficient de tous les éléments moléculaires pour assurer leur succès : mobilisation par un transposon actif pour certains variants, transfert efficace de plasmides et dissémination clonale de souches. / Carbapenems are often the last therapeutic option for treating infections involving multiresistant ESBL-producing bacteria. Nevertheless, enterobacteria have developped resistance mechanisms toward this class of antibiotics, including carbapenemases production. Carbapenemase OXA-48 has rapidly spread throughout Europe and various countries of Mediterranean area since 2010. The aim of this work was first to characterize three variants of the carbapenemase OXA-48, each possessing phenotypic or genetic characteristics. We focused on the epidemiology of carbapenemase OXA-48 in order to understand the mechanisms of its dissemination and on the variability of its genetic environment. The last objective was to determine the genetic factors responsible for the spread of carbapenemase OXA-48. We have shown that the OXA-48-type carbapenemases possess all the molecular elements to ensure its success: mobilization by an active transposon for some variants, efficient transfer of plasmids and clonal spread of strains.

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