Calmodulin kinase cascade is a signaling pathway which is involved in the response to the increasing intracellular calcium levels. Ca2+ is a ubiquitous second messenger which promotes wide-range of cellular signaling events. Many of these signaling pathways start with the binding of Ca2+ to its primary intracellular receptor calmodulin. Calmodulin in turn binds to its downstream targets in the Ca2+ /calmodulin signaling cascade. One of the most important enzymes of this cascade is a Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 (CaMKK2). CaMKK2 is a serine/threonine protein kinase which regulates for example gene transcription or energy homeostasis by phosphorylation of its downstream targets. Catalytic domain (which provides kinase activity) is located in the middle part of the protein and possesses structure typical for kinases. CaMKK2 consists of 588 amino acids but the secondary structure is known only for the region of the kinase domain (298 residues). The rest of the protein is assumed to be unstructured as long as CaMKK2 is not bound to any interaction partner. The aim of this study was to prepare several constructs of human isoform of CaMKK2 for the further structural and activity studies. It is believed that CaMKK2 is regulated by site-specific phosphorylation. Phosphorylation of some...

El objetivo general de este trabajo ha sido estudiar la posible implicación de diferentes cascadas de proteín kinasas en las modificaciones cardiacas que se producen tras la administración de naloxona a ratas dependientes de morfina. Los datos obtenidos indican que durante la abstinencia a morfina se produce un aumento del turnover de NA, de la actividad TH y de su fosforilación en serina 40 y 31, lo que sugiere la puesta en marcha de mecanismos post-transcripcionales. Por otra parte, la vía de la PKA estaría implicada en el incremento del turnover de NA, en el aumento de TH total y en la fosforilación y activación de TH en serina 40 durante dicho síndrome. Por último, la vía de la PKC sería una de las vías implicadas en la expresión de c-fos, así como la de las ERK, que estaría también implicada en la activación de TH en serina 31. / The main aim of this work was to study the posible involvement of different protein kinases in the cardiac adaptive changes induced during morphine withdrawal. Our results show an increase of NA turnover, TH activity and TH phosphorylation at serine 31 and 40, suggesting starting post-trascriptional mechanisms. On the other hand, PKA transduction system could be implicated in the enhanced NA turnover, in the total TH increase and in the phosphorylation and activation of TH at serine 40 during this syndrome. Finally, PKC pathway would be involved in c-Fos expression as well as ERK system which would also be responsible for TH phosphorylation at serine 31.

ANGLICKÝ ABSTRAKT Functional study of the putative nucleotidase encoded by spr1057 gene in Streptococcus pneumoniae, a likely homolog of Escherichia coli protein YjjG. Bacterial cells are constantly exposed to innumerable toxic substances, either in their external environment or by by-products of their own metabolism. For these reasons, the bacterial cells evolved several mechanisms to cope with this challenge. These mechanisms are represented by: blocking the uptake, export by specific transporters as well as specific inactivation of these substance by enzymes. A particular group of these toxic substances are noncanonica nucleotides, which can directly inhibit bacterial cell DNA replication or can result in increased mutation rate. Enzymes recognizing these modified derivatives are known as "house-cleaning" nucleotide phsphateses, which can inactivate the potentially mutagenic nucleotides and prevent their incorporation into DNA and RNA. Some of the "house- cleaning" enzymes belong to a group of haloacid dehalogenase enzymes (haloacid dehalogenase-like hydrolase superfamily), which are found in many bacterial species. This thesis is focused on the function of hypothetical protein Spr1057 of Streptococcus pneumoniae with an unknown function. Sequence comparison revealed that Spr1057 has a significant...