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L'acétylcholine (ACh), bien connue comme neurotransmetteur chez les animaux, est le substrat des acétylcholinestérases eucaryotes et procaryotes (AChE). La structure et la fonction des AChE de mammifères ont été bien étudiées en raison de leur importance à la fois dans les synapses cérébrales cholinergiques, dans le système nerveux périphérique et également comme une cible médicamenteuse clé pour de nombreuses maladies telles que la maladie d'Alzheimer chez les humains. En revanche, les acétylcholinestérases procaryotes restent mal comprises malgré une longue historique d'études. La bactérie Pseudomonas aeruginosa possède le système d'acquisition de la choline comprenant l'enzyme ChoE, qui aide à importer la choline comme source de nutriments. Fait intéressant, ChoE a été identifiée comme une acétylcholinestérase putative qui présente des propriétés enzymatiques similaires aux AChE de mammifères malgré sa taille beaucoup plus petite. Dans ce travail, pour mieux comprendre l'acétylcholinestérase d'origine procaryote, nous avons effectué la caractérisation structurale et biochimique de ChoE en utilisant la cristallographie aux rayons X et l'enzymologie comme approches primaires. Nous avons démontré que ChoE est indispensable à la croissance de P. aeruginosa lorsque l'acétylcholine est utilisée comme seule source de carbone et d'azote. Un ensemble complet de structures à haute résolution de ChoE a été obtenu, y compris des complexes avec des substrats, des produits, un intermédiaire acyle ainsi qu'un inhibiteur. Ces structures ont révélé les déterminants moléculaires de la reconnaissance du substrat, des instantanés des différentes étapes catalytiques et la base moléculaire de l'inhibition du substrat à des concentrations élevées de substrat. D'après ces résultats, la libération retardée du produit acétate facilite la liaison non productive du substrat, provoquant l'inhibition du substrat. En utilisant une série de mutants, nous avons étudié le rôle des résidus critiques dans la triade catalytique, le trou oxyanion et la poche de liaison de la choline, tels que Ser38, Tyr106, Asn147, Asp285, Trp287 et His288. Ces résultats ont révélé que Ser38 et His288 dans la triade catalytique sont essentiels pour l'activité ChoE tandis que Asp285 n'est pas essentiel. Conformément au mécanisme moléculaire déduit de ces structures, l'inhibition du substrat est abolie ou considérablement atténuée chez les mutants N147A, Y106A, D285N et W287A. Par-dessus tout, nous avons identifié trois conformations distinctes de Ser38 catalytique, dont la plasticité conformationnelle contrôle vraisemblablement la géométrie du site actif et donc les états fonctionnels de ChoE, ce qui est également corroboré par notre analyse structurale d'autres hydrolases SGNH. En résumé, ces travaux ont fourni des informations moléculaires sans précédent sur les acétylcholinestérases bactériennes et la famille des hydrolases SGNH. / Acetylcholine (ACh), a well-known neurotransmitter in animals, is the substrate of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic acetylcholinesterases (AChE). The structure and the function of mammalian AChEs have been well studied due to their importance in both cholinergic brain synapses and the peripheral nervous systems. They are also a key drug target for many diseases such as Alzheimer's disease in humans. In contrast, prokaryotic acetylcholinesterases remain poorly understood despite a long history of studies. Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium possesses the choline acquisition system including the enzyme ChoE, helping it to import choline as a nutrient source. ChoE has been identified as a putative acetylcholinesterase which exhibits similar enzymatic properties to mammalian AChEs despite its much smaller size. In this work, to better understand the acetylcholinesterase of prokaryotic sources, we performed the structural and biochemical characterization of ChoE using X-ray crystallography and enzymology as the primary approaches. We have demonstrated that ChoE is indispensable for P. aeruginosa growth when acetylcholine is used as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. A comprehensive set of high-resolution structures of ChoE have been obtained including the complexes of enzyme with substrates, products, acyl intermediate and inhibitor. These structures have revealed the molecular determinants for substrate recognition, snapshots of the various catalytic steps, and the molecular basis of substrate inhibition at high substrate concentrations. From these results, the retarded release of the acetate product facilitates the nonproductive binding of substrate causing substrate inhibition. Using a series of mutants, we have studied the role of critical residues in the catalytic triad, the oxyanion hole and the choline-binding pocket, such as Ser38, Tyr106, Asn147, Asp285, Trp287 and His288. These results indicated that both Ser38 and His288 in the catalytic triad are strictly required for ChoE activity while Asp285 is not essential. Consistent with the molecular mechanism deduced from our structures, substrate inhibition is abolished or significantly alleviated in the N147A, Y106A, D285N and W287A mutants. Importantly, we have identified three distinct conformations of catalytic Ser38, whose conformational plasticity presumably controls the active site geometry and thus the functional states of ChoE, which is also substantiated by our structural analysis of other SGNH hydrolases. In summary, this work has provided unprecedented molecular insights into both bacterial acetylcholinesterases and the SGNH hydrolase family.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa est une bactérie Gram négatif possédant un métabolisme très versatile lui permattant de proliférer dans plusieurs types environnements. Sa capacité à produire plusieurs facteurs de virulence lui permet de causer des infections opportunistes tel que des infections pulmonaires chroniques chez les patients atteints de fibrose kystique. Notre équipe a développé la mutagénèse à étiquette, basée sur la PCR (PCR based Siggnature-tagged mutagenesis), permettant de cribler une banque de 7968 mutants. Cette technique a permis la sélection de 214 mutants représentant des évènements d’insertion d’un mini-transposon dans 148 gènes différents. De ces nouveaux gènes essentiels à l’infection par P. aeruginosa, nous avons choisi de caractériser le gène PA3498. Nous avons conclu que la protéine codée par ce gène est nécessaire à l’initiation et/ou au maintien du pathogène in vivo ainsi qu’à la maturation des protéases sécrétées par P. aeruginosa et qu’elle est homologue à l’oxydoréductase PDR de Burkholderia cepacia. / Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram negative bacteria causing chronic pulmonary infections in cystic fibrosis patients. Virulence factors of this pathogen facilitate the colonization of the pulmonary tract and lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Our team has developed a PCR-based signature-tagged mutagenesis technique permitting the screening of a collection of 7968 mutants. A total of 214 mutants, representing transposition events into 148 open reading frames, were shown to be attenuated in lung infection and were retained for further analysis. Of these genes, we chose PA3498 for its characterization. We have concluded that this gene is coding for an oxydoreductase sharing homology with a familly of oxydoreductases including PDR protein of Burkholderia cepacia. Finally, PA3498 protein is needed to initiate or/and to maintain the pathogen in vivo and this protein plays a role in the maturation and processing of the P. aeruginosa exoproteases.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The ability to synthesize pyrimidine nucleotides is essential for most organisms. Pyrimidines are required for RNA and DNA synthesis, as well as cell wall synthesis and the metabolism of certain carbohydrates. Recent findings, however, indicate that the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway and its intermediates maybe more important for bacterial metabolism than originally thought. Maksimova et al., 1994, reported that a P. putida M, pyrimidine auxotroph in the third step of the pathway, dihydroorotase (DHOase), failed to produce the siderophore pyoverdin. We created a PAO1 DHOase pyrimidine auxotroph to determine if this was also true for P. aeruginosa. Creation of this mutant was a two-step process, as P. aeruginosa has two pyrC genes (pyrC and pyrC2), both of which encode active DHOase enzymes. The pyrC gene was inactivated by gene replacement with a truncated form of the gene. Next, the pyrC2 gene was insertionally inactivated with the aacC1 gentamicin resistance gene, isolated from pCGMW. The resulting pyrimidine auxotroph produced significantly less pyoverdin than did the wild type. In addition, the mutant produced 40% less of the phenazine antibiotic, pyocyanin, than did the wild type. As both of these compounds have been reported to be vital to the virulence response of P. aeruginosa, we decided to test the ability of the DHOase mutant strain to produce other virulence factors as well. Here we report that a block in the conversion of carbamoyl aspartate (CAA) to dihydroorotate significantly impairs the ability of P. aeruginosa to affect virulence. We believe that the accumulation of CAA in the cell is the root cause of this observed defect. This research demonstrates a potential role for pyrimidine intermediates in the virulence response of P. aeruginosa and may lead to novel targets for chemotherapy against P. aeruginosa infections.

Nucleotide pools were extracted and quantified from Pyr^+ and Pyr^- strains of P. aerucjinosa. Strains were grown in succinate minimal medium with and without pyrimidines, and nucleotides were extracted using trichloracetic acid (TCA; 6% w/v). The pyrimidine requirement was satisfied by uracil, uridine, cytosine or cytidine. Pyr^- mutants were starved for pyrimidines for two hours before nucleotide levels were measured. This starvation depleted the nucleotide pools which were restored to wild type levels by the addition of pyrimidines to the medium. When the pyrimidine analogue, 6-azauracil, known to inhibit OMP decarboxylase, was added to cultures of the wild type strain, the uridine and cytidine nucleotides were depleted to near zero. Thus, the nucleotide pool levels of Pseudomonas strains can be manipulated.

Previous research in our laboratory established that pyrB, pyrC or pyrD knock-out mutants in Pseudomonas aeruginosa required pyrimidines for growth. Each mutant was also discovered to be defective in the production of virulence factors. Moreover, the addition of exogenous uracil did not restore the mutant to wild type virulence levels. In an earlier study using non-pathogenic P. putida, mutants blocked in one of the first three enzymes of the pyrimidine pathway produced no pyoverdine pigment while mutants blocked in the fourth, fifth or sixth steps produced copious quantities of pigment, just like wild type P. putida. The present study explored the correlation between pyrimidine auxotrophy and pigment production in P. aeruginosa. Since the pigment pyoverdine is a siderophore it may also be considered a virulence factor. Other virulence factors tested included casein protease, elastase, hemolysin, swimming, swarming and twitching motilities, and iron binding capacity. In all cases, these virulence factors were significantly decreased in the pyrB, pyrC or pyrD mutants and even in the presence of uracil did not attain wild type levels. In order to complete this comprehensive study, pyrimidine mutants blocked in the fifth (pyrE) and sixth (pyrF) steps of the biosynthetic pathway were examined in P. aeruginosa. A third mutant, crc, was also studied because of its location within 80 base pairs of the pyrE gene on the P. aeruginosa chromosome and because of its importance for carbon source utilization. Production of the virulence factors listed above showed a significant decrease in the three mutant strains used in this study when compared with the wild type. This finding may be exploited for novel chemotherapy strategies for ameliorating P. aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis patients.

A presença de plasmídeos conjugativos como IncP, IncU e IncFII carreando genes de resistência em Pseudomonas aeruginosa é de grande importância, pois podem ser trocados entre diferentes bactérias gram-negativas, disseminando a resistência aos antibióticos. Conhecer estes genes de resistência bem como os elementos genéticos que os carreiam é importante para entender os fatores que contribuem para a disseminação da resistência, auxiliando no controle da disseminação da resistência aos antibióticos. Ainda hoje não existe esquema para a tipagem de plasmídeos de P. aeruginosa, e são encontrados poucos trabalhos sobre estes plasmídeos. O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar os genes de resistência a antibióticos, o ambiente genético em que estes genes estão inseridos e a clonalidade dos isolados produtores de genes bla. No período do estudo, foram estudados 293 isolados de P. aeruginosa resistentes às cefalosporinas de 3ª e/ou 4ª gerações e/ou aos carbapenêmicos isoladas de pacientes de hospitais de Ribeirão Preto-SP, Belo Horizonte-MG, Franca-SP, Cuiabá-MT, de Barretos-SP e de Rio Branco-AC. Genes de resistência foram pesquisados por PCR. O perfil clonal dos isolados produtores de genes bla foi determinado por PFGE e MLST. A tipagem de plasmídeos foi feita por PFGE-S1 nuclease, hibridações com sondas específicas e tipagem de replicons (PBRT). Foram identificados 12 isolados carreando o gene blaSPM-1, 16 isolados carreando o gene blaCTX-M-2 e 3 isolados carreando o gene blaKPC-2. Em todos os 12 isolados produtores de SPM-1 foram identificadas duas cópias do elemento de inserção ISCR4, sendo uma cópia upstream e uma cópia downstream ao gene blaSPM-1 inseridos no cromossomo bacteriano. Em 13 dos 16 isolados produtores de CTX-M-2 o gene blaCTX-M-2 foi encontrado associado ao elemento de inserção ISCR1 e em 3 ao elemento de inserção ISEcp1 também inseridos no cromossomo bacteriano. Em 2 isolados o gene blaKPC-2 é carreado por um plasmídeo de ~3kb não tipável por PBRT e um em está inserido no cromossomo bacteriano. O ambiente genético do gene blaKPC-2 nos isolados estudados é diferente daqueles encontrados na literatura. Os isolados produtores de genes bla citados apresentaram diversidade clonal, tanto por PFGE quanto MLST demonstrando que vários clones estão envolvidos na disseminação desses genes. Este trabalho identificou e caracterizou 31 isolados produtores de ?-lactamases, o ambiente genético destes genes e a clonalidade de isolados de várias cidades do Brasil e em períodos diferenciados, demonstrando a disseminação desses genes em diferentes hospitais brasileiros. Esses dados auxiliam no conhecimento dos fatores que estão envolvidos na disseminação da resistência aos antibióticos e podem auxiliar as CCIHs dos hospitais a definirem estratégias para controlar a disseminação desses microrganismos prevenindo surtos de bactérias multirresistentes. / The presence of conjugative plasmids as IncP, IncU and Inc FII carrying resistance genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is very important because t these plasmids can be shared among different bacteria, spreading antibiotic resistance. Knowledge of these genes as well as genetic elements carrying these genes it is important to understend the factors that contribute to the spread of resistance, helping to control the spread of antibiotic resistance. Today there is no plasmid typing scheme to P. aeruginosa and few papers are found about this subject. The purpose of this study was to investigate resistance genes, genetic environment of these genes and clonal relationship of the isolates carrying these resistance genes. In the period of this study was studied 293 P. aeruginosa resistant to third and fourth generations of cephalosporins and/or carbapenens isolated of patients from hosptital from Ribeirão Preto, Belo Horizonte-MG, Franca-SP, Cuiabá-MT, Barretos-SP and Rio Branco-AC. Resistance genes were investigated by PCR. Twelve isolates were identified carrying blaSPM-1 gene, 16 isolates carrying blaCTX-M-2 gene and 3 isolates carrying blaKPC-2 gene. Clonal profiles of isolates producing resistance genes were investigated by PFGE and MLST. Plasmid typing was performed by PFGE-S1 nuclease, specific hybridizations and PCR replicon typing (PBRT). Two isolates presented a 3kb plasmid non-typeable by PBRT carrying blaKPC-2 gene. In all isolates SPM-1-producers were identified two copies of insertion sequence ISCR4, a copy upstream and a copy downstream to blaSPM-1 gene inserted in chromosomal DNA. In 13 of 16 isolates CTX-M-2-producers the blaCTX-M-2 gene was found associated to insertion sequence ISCR1 and in 3 isolates was associated to insertion sequence ISEcp1 also inserted in chromosomal DNA. Genetic environment of blaKPC-2 gene in the isolates studied it is different from those found in the literature. Isolates producing bla genes are clonally diversified using both PFGE and MLST showing that various clones are responsible to spread these resistance genes. This work identified and characterized 31 P. aeruginosa-?-lactamase-producing, the genetic environment of these genes and the clonal relationship of isolates collected from different periods from different cities of Brazil. These data can help us to understand the factors that are involved in the spread of antibiotics resistance and to help the Hospital Infection Control Committee to define strategies to control the spread of these microorganisms preventing outbreaks of resistant.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi a seleção de bactérias capazes de biodegradar os pesticidas organoclorados dieldrin, DDD e PCP. Inicialmente, foram realizados os ensaios de tolerância visando à seleção das bactérias degradadoras; posteriormente foram realizados os ensaios de biodegradação em meio liquido utilizando a bactéria selecionada. Dentre as 14 linhagens bacterianas isoladas testadas, selecionou-se a linhagem Pseudomonas aeruginosa L2-1 por apresentar maior tolerância a todos os pesticidas. Os ensaios de biodegradação foram realizados em diferentes meios de cultura, variando-se a concentração de glicose, a fonte de nitrogênio e a presença de ramnolipídeo. Os ensaios de biodegradação foram realizados determinando-se a concentração de pesticida, a concentração de glicose, o número de células viáveis, e o pH. O meio de cultura que mais favoreceu a biodegradação dos três pesticidas foi o meio com nitrato de sódio e 0,5% de glicose, obtendo-se biodegradação de aproximadamente 50% para cada pesticida após três dias de incubação. Na ausência de glicose, o meio com nitrato de amônio e 0,1% de ramnolipídeo, favoreceu a biodegradação, obtendo-se após 14 dias de incubação 36,8% de biodegradação de dieldrin; 33,7% de DDD e 42,8% de PCP. De uma forma geral, as taxas de biodegradação pela P. aeruginosa L2-1 foram maiores em menores concentrações de glicose e na presença de ramnolipídeo. Ao alterar a fonte de nitrogênio foram observados resultados diversos sobre a taxa de biodegradação: na ausência de glicose, o nitrato de sódio favoreceu a biodegradação de PCP, enquanto o nitrato de amônio favoreceu a biodegradação de dieldrin, na presença de glicose observou-se o inverso. A taxa de biodegradação do DDD não foi significativamente alterada ao variar a fonte de nitrogênio. A bactéria selecionada P. aeruginosa L2-1 apresentou potencial para biodegradação de pesticidas organoclorados, sendo que as condições nutricionais do meio influenciaram diretamente a biodegradação. / The objective of this work was the selection of bacteria capable of biodegrading the organochloride pesticides dieldrin, DDD and PCP. Initially tolerance tests were conducted in order to select degrading bacteria subsequently, biodegradation tests were carried out in liquid medium using the selected bacteria. Among the 14 bacterial isolated strains, Pseudomonas aeruginosa L2-1 was selected due to its greater tolerance to all pesticides. The biodegradation tests were conducted on different culture media, varying the concentrations of glucose, nitrogen source and presence of rhamnolipid. Biodegradation studies were performed by measuring the concentration of pesticide, the concentration of glucose, the number of viable cell and pH during time. The best medium for the biodegradation of all three pesticides was composed of sodium nitrate and 0.5% glucose, giving approximately 50% yield after three days of incubation. In the absence of glucose, the medium containing ammonium nitrate and 0.1% rhamnolipid improved biodegradation yielding, after 14 days of incubation, 36.8% biodegradation of dieldrin; 33.7% DDD and 42.8% of PCP. In general, the biodegradation rates of pesticides by P. aeruginosa L2-1 were greater at lower concentrations of glucose and in the presence of rhamnolipid. Nitrogen source had different effects on the rate of biodegradation: in the absence of glucose, sodium nitrate favored the biodegradation of PCP, whereas ammonium nitrate favored the biodegradation of dieldrin; and in the presence of glucose, it was observed the opposite. The biodegradation rate of the DDD was not significantly altered by the nitrogen source tested. The selected bacteria, P. aeruginosa L2-1, showed potential for the biodegradation of organochloride pesticides demonstrating that nutritional conditions has a direct effect on degradation yields.