Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1955. / Typescript. Vita. Includes: (as Section I.A.): Studies of the enzyme fumarase : II. Isolation and physical properties of crystalline enzyme / By Carl Frieden, Robert M. Bock and Robert A. Alberty. Reprinted from Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 76 (1954), p. 2482-2484 -- (as Section II. A.): Studies of the enzyme fumarase : III. The dependence of the kinetic constants at 25⁰ upon the concentration and pH of phosphate buffers / By Robert A. Alberty, Vincent Massey, Carl Frieden, and Armin R. Fuhlbrigge. Reprinted from Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 76 (1954), p. 2485-2493 -- (as Section III. A.): The effect of pH on fumarase activity in acetate buffer / By Carl Frieden and Robert A. Alberty. Reprinted from Journal of biological chemistry, Vol. 212, no. 2 (Feb. 1955), p. 859-868. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1981. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Cyanide-containing waste is an increasingly prevalent problem in today's society. There are many applications that utilize cyanide, such as gold mining and electroplating, and these processes produce cyanide waste with varying conditions. Remediation of this waste is necessary to prevent contamination of soils and water. While there are a variety of processes being used, bioremediation is potentially a more cost effective alternative. A variety of fungal species are known to degrade cyanide through the action of cyanide hydratases, a specialized subset of nitrilases which hydrolyze cyanide to formamide. Here I report on previously unknown and uncharacterized nitrilases from Neurospora crassa, Gibberella zeae, and Aspergillus nidulans. Recombinant forms of four cyanide hydratases from N. crassa, A. nidulans, G. zeae, and Gloeocercospora sorghi were prepared after their genes were cloned with N-terminal hexahistidine purification tags, expressed in Escherichia coli and purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. These enzymes were compared according to their relative specific activity, pH activity profiles, thermal stability, and ability to degrade cyanide in the presence of high concentrations of copper and silver. Although all four were relatively similar, the N. crassa cyanide hydratase (CHT) has the greatest thermal stability and widest pH range where activity remained above 50%. N. crassa also demonstrated the highest rate of cyanide degradation in the presence of both metals tested. The CHT of A. nidulans and N. crassa have the highest reaction rate of the four fungal nitrilases evaluated in this work. These data help determine optimization conditions for the possible use of these enzymes in the bioremediation of cyanide-containing waste. Similar to known plant pathogenic fungi, in vivo expression of CHT in both N. crassa and A. nidulans were induced by growth in the presence of KCN (potassium cyanide).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1962. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-101).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1961. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84).

The finely tuned regulation of haematopoiesis is crucial in order to maintain life-long haematopoiesis. The disruption of the balance among cell fates, can lead to malignant transformation. It has become increasingly evident that the metabolic regulation haematopoietic stem cells is critical for stem cell fate decisions. Haematopoietic stem cells reside in a hypoxic microenvironment within the bone marrow and are thought to mainly utilize glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation in order to maintain their pool. However recent evidence suggests that oxidative phosphorylation is critical for quiescent HSCs and in several cases, for leukaemic stem cells (LSCs). One of the key parts of mitochondrial respiration is the tricarboxylic cycle (TCA), providing co-factors for its efficient activity. The TCA functions by catalysing the oxidation of pyruvate via key enzymatic activities. A key component of the TCA cycle is fumarate hydratase (Fh1) which catalyses the hydration of fumarate into malate within the mitochondria, but also catalyses the same reaction in the cytoplasm. FH is a tumour suppressor in human lyomeioma and renal kidney cancer (HLRCC). Previous work conducted by our team has shown that Fh1 is essential for foetal and adult haematopoiesis, as Fh1 deletion within the haematopoietic system is embryonic lethal. Furthermore, conditional deletion of Fh1 in donor cells of the Mx1-Cre system that were injected in lethally irradiated recipients, resulted in the complete reduction of their chimerism in the peripheral blood of recipient mice. Mechanistically, these phenotypes were mostly associated with supra-physiological levels of fumarate as a result of Fh1 deletion. Interestingly, by employing mice that ubiquitously express the human cytosolic isoform of FH (FHCyt, which lacks the mitochondrial targeting sequence and therefore is excluded from the mitochondria), we rescued the embryonic lethality that Fh1 causes, and reduced the levels of fumarate. Importantly, although FHCyt expression restored fumarate-associated lethality, it did not restore the mitochondrial defects, allowing us to study the importance of genetically intact TCA in the context of haematopoiesis. Here I investigated the impact that a genetic truncation of the TCA cycle (as a result of the lack of the mitochondrial isoform of Fh1) has on leukaemic transformation and on aged haematopoiesis. Fh1fl/fl; FHCyt; Vav-iCre mice of approximately 60 weeks old displayed and expansion in the pool of early stem and progenitor compartment (Lin- Sca-1+ c-Kit+), as well as in the early progenitors HPC-1 (LSK CD48+ CD150-) and HPC-2 (LSK CD48+ CD150+). Furthermore, the mice exhibited a drastic depletion of B cells (CD19+ B220+) and an expansion in the frequency of the myeloid compartment (Mac-1+ Gr1+). In order to assess the importance of the TCA cycle in malignant transformation, I isolated stem and progenitor cells from Fh1fl/fl; FHCyt; Vav-iCre (and control (Fh1fl/fl; FHCyt Vav-iCre negative or Fh1fl/fl Vav-iCre negative)) E 14.5 day old embryos and infected them with retroviruses expressing Meis1 and Hoxa9, and generated pre-leukaemic cells (pre-LCs). Genetically intact TCA was required for the efficient generation of leukaemia-initiating cells (LICs), as injection of pre-LCs lacking mitochondrial Fh1 into sub-lethally irradiated recipient mice, resulted in 76 % of leukaemia-free mice while injection of control pre-LCs resulted in 25 % of leukaemia-free mice. However, the genetic perturbation of the TCA did not exert and effect on the long-term self-renewal capacity of LICs. Inducible deletion of mitochondrial Fh1 in established LICs of the Mx1-Cre background using poly (I:C) did not affect their ability to generate AML in primary and secondary recipient mice. These data indicate that genetically intact TCA is required for the efficient generation of LICs in vivo but is dispensable for their long-term self-renewal capacity, highlighting the metabolic rewiring that occurs at different stages of leukaemic transformation. In an effort to understand whether, similarly to HLRCC, Fh1 plays a tumour-suppressive role in malignant haematopoiesis, I isolated LSK cells from the foetal liver of E 14.5 old embryos lacking both isoforms of Fh1. Fh1fl/fl; Vav-iCre cells transduced with Meis1/Hoxa9 or MLL-AF9, MLL-ENL, AML-ETO (chromosomal translocations involved in AML development) -expressing retroviruses, failed to generate colonies in methylcellulose, indicating that stem and progenitor cells require Fh1 to undergo in vitro transformation by these oncogenes. Furthermore, acute deletion of Fh1 (via the use of lentivirally-expressed Cre) in pre-LCs generated using the Meis1/Hoxa9 retroviruses, rendered them unable to generate colonies in methylcellulose, indicating that Fh1 is required for the self-renewal capacity of pre- LCs in vitro. Similarly, when LICs (Fh1fl/fl; Vav-iCre negative) isolated from primary recipient mice were infected with Cre to induce deletion of Fh1, they were unable to generate colonies indicating that Fh1 is required for the self-renewal capacity of LICs in vitro. Finally, in order to identify whether Fh1 is important for LIC self-renewal in vivo I generated Fh1fl/fl; Mx1-Cre pre-LCs by infecting stem and progenitor cells of E 14.5 embryos with Meis1/Hoxa9 retroviruses, and injected them into sub-lethally irradiated mice. After the mice developed AML, I induced the deletion of Fh1, by injecting the mice with poly (I:C). Interestingly, the percentage of LICs in the peripheral blood of recipient mice was drastically decreased, leaving recipient mice leukaemia-free for the remaining time they were monitored. Surprisingly however, approximately 50 % of the recipient mice exhibited a drastic increase in LIC chimerism after two weeks post poly (I:C). Assessment of LICs isolated from recipient mice indicated that Fh1 was fully deleted. These data indicate that while in some cases Fh1 is required for LIC self-renewal in vivo, in other cases it is dispensable. Therefore, the tumour-suppressive roles of Fh1 are likely tissue-specific and do not extend to haematopoietic cells. Overall, this study agrees with published work supporting the notion that intact mitochondrial respiration is important (in varying degrees), in both the contexts of normal and malignant haematopoiesis.

Nitrile hydratase activity in Rhodococcus rhodochrous DAP 96253 can be induced with multiple inducers that include urea, cobalt (Co), iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni). When induced with Co/urea, cells of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 expressed the highest level of nitrile hydratase activity (~200 units/min·mg-cdw) when compared with the other inducers tested. Cells induced with Co had the second highest nitrile hydratase activity (~7 units/min·mg-cdw), whereas in the uninduced cells, nitrile hydratase activity was lower than 1 unit/min·mg-cdw. Similarly in R. rhodochrous DAP 96622, when induced with Co/urea, the nitrile hydratase activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 cells was around 50 units/min·mg-cdw which was the highest of all inducers tested. When induced with Co only, the nitrile hydratase activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 was around 20 units/min·mg-cdw, and the nitrile hydratase activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 uninduced was the same as the nitrile hydratase activity of uninduced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253. When Co/urea induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cell lysate was examined on gradient SDS-PAGE and analyzed by Image Quant TL, the nitrile hydratase bands (both α and β subunits) accounted for more than 55% of the total cytosolic proteins. Whereas in Co/urea induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96622, the nitrile hydratase bands accounted for around 25% of the total cytosolic proteins. According to matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry results, amidase in R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 was approximately 38 kDa from the nitrilase/cyanide hydratase family and amidase in R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 was 55 kDa from the amidase signature family. In addition, the nitrile hydratase regulation system in both R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 and DAP 96622 strains are different. Moreover, the nitrile hydratase regulation system in R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 is different from R. rhodochrous J1. Purified nitrile hydratase from R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 may form a protein complex with glutamine synthetase, resulting in a nitrile hydratase activity of approximately 1500 units/mg-proteins, and nitrile hydratase from R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 is not a protein complex and results in a nitrile hydratase activity of 950 units/mg-proteins.

ABSTRACT Recent studies have shown that R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 has the ability to delay the ripening of many climacteric fruit, by potentially degrading volatile compounds released by plant cells during the ripening process. Rhodococcus rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells were cultured on YEMEA medium supplemented with inducers, (16mM cobalt and 125mM urea), that over-expressed nitrile hydratase (NHase) and amidase (AMDase) enzymes. Cells were cultured on propylene/ ethylene as sole carbon source to induce alkene monooxygenase (AMO) like activity. Induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells displayed an 83% increase in final total dry weight compared to cells previously cultured on non-induced medium. Induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells displayed a 53-85% increase in NHase activity after exposure to propylene/ethylene, and cells displayed a 24-53% increase in NHase activity after exposure to fruit. Non-induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells displayed a 1-5% increase in NHase activity after propylene/ethylene, and cells displayed an 18-38% increase in NHase activity after exposure to fruit. Propylene/ethylene induced nitrilase activity in non-induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253cells. Experimental results suggest that R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 may use NHase, amidase, nitrilase, and AMO like activity to delay ripening of climacteric fruit. Rhodococcus rhodochrous 96253 cells cultured on propylene/ethylene and cofactors (16mM cobalt and 125mM urea) displayed improved ability to delay ripening of fruit.

ABSTRACT Recent studies have shown that R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 has the ability to delay the ripening of many climacteric fruit, by potentially degrading volatile compounds released by plant cells during the ripening process. Rhodococcus rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells were cultured on YEMEA medium supplemented with inducers, (16mM cobalt and 125mM urea), that over-expressed nitrile hydratase (NHase) and amidase (AMDase) enzymes. Cells were cultured on propylene/ ethylene as sole carbon source to induce alkene monooxygenase (AMO) like activity. Induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells displayed an 83% increase in final total dry weight compared to cells previously cultured on non-induced medium. Induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells displayed a 53-85% increase in NHase activity after exposure to propylene/ethylene, and cells displayed a 24-53% increase in NHase activity after exposure to fruit. Non-induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cells displayed a 1-5% increase in NHase activity after propylene/ethylene, and cells displayed an 18-38% increase in NHase activity after exposure to fruit. Propylene/ethylene induced nitrilase activity in non-induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253cells. Experimental results suggest that R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 may use NHase, amidase, nitrilase, and AMO like activity to delay ripening of climacteric fruit. Rhodococcus rhodochrous 96253 cells cultured on propylene/ethylene and cofactors (16mM cobalt and 125mM urea) displayed improved ability to delay ripening of fruit.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 1999. / Spine title: Sequestered self peptide. Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-154). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.