Chlamydiae may exist at the site of infection in an alternative replicative form, called the aberrant body (AB). ABs are produced during a viable but non-infectious developmental state termed "persistence" or "chlamydial stress." As persistent/stressed chlamydiae: (i) may contribute to chronic inflammation observed in diseases like trachoma; and (ii) are more resistant to current anti-chlamydial drugs of choice, it is critical to better understand this developmental stage. We previously demonstrated that porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) co-infection induced Chlamydia pecorum persistence/stress in culture. One critical characteristic of persistence/stress is that the chlamydiae remain viable and can reenter the normal developmental cycle when the stressor is removed. Thus, we hypothesized that PEDV-induced persistence would be reversible if viral replication was inhibited. Therefore, we performed time course experiments in which Vero cells were C. pecorum/PEDV infected in the presence of cycloheximide (CHX), which inhibits viral but not chlamydial protein synthesis. CHX-exposure inhibited PEDV replication, but did not inhibit induction of C. pecorum persistence at 24 h post-PEDV infection, as indicated by AB formation and reduced production of infectious EBs. Interestingly, production of infectious EBs resumed when CHX-exposed, co-infected cells were incubated 48-72 h post-PEDV co-infection. These data demonstrate that PEDV co-infection-induced chlamydial persistence/stress is reversible and suggest that this induction (i) does not require viral replication in host cells; and (ii) does not require de novo host or viral protein synthesis. These data also suggest that viral binding and/or entry may be required for this effect. Because the PEDV host cell receptor (CD13 or aminopeptidase N) stimulates cellular signaling pathways in the absence of PEDV infection, we suspect that PEDV co-infection might alter CD13 function and induce the chlamydiae to enter the persistent state.

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L'acétylation/désacétylation des histones joue un rôle important dans la régulation de divers processus du développement des plantes et de leur réponse au stress. Par contre, la régulation de l’activité des histone-desacétylases (HDAC) par des signaux cellulaires et la relation fonctionnelle entre les différentes HDAC au cours de la réponse au stress oxydatif et d'une élévation de la température ambiante restent encore mal connus. Mon travail de thèse a comporté : 1) l’analyse de la modification post-traductionnelle de la protéine HDA19, régulée par redox et celle des conséquences sur la régulation de l’expression de gènes et la réponse à l’acide salicylique (SA) ; 2) l'étude fonctionelle de HDA9, HDA15 et HDA19 dans la réponse à une élévation de la température ambiante. Dans la première partie, nous montrons que le changement redox induit par SA régule l’accumulation nucléaire de la protéine HDA19 via une S-nitrosylation réversible. Le traitement à SA, ou au donneur physiologique d’oxyde nitrique, S-nitrosoglutathione, augmente les marques d'acétylation des histones d'HDA19 dans des plantules d’Arabidopsis. Des lignées mutantes d’hda19 présentent un état plus oxydé avec une augmentation de l’expression de gènes associés au ROS/RNS, ainsi qu'une accumulation de nicotinamide adénine dinucléotide et de glutathionne. Ces résultats suggèrent que SA induit la S-nitrosylation d’HDA19, réduit son accumulation nucléaire et par conséquent augmente l’acétylation des histones. Dans la seconde partie, nous montrons que HDA9, HDA19 et HDA15 sont toutes impliquées dans la réponse de la plante à l’élévation de la température ambiante. Des mutants hda15 montrent une réponse constitutive à des températures élevées dans des conditions normales, alors que les mutants hda19 et hda9 ont des phénotypes insensibles à la température élevée. L’analyse de l’expression de gènes par RT-PCR et RNA-seq révèle que la mutation d’HDA15 provoque une augmentation de transcrits des gènes impliqués dans le métabolisme primaire et cellulaire lorsque les plantules sont transférées de 20°C à 27°C pendant 4 heures. Par contre, la mutation d’HDA19 conduit à l’induction de gènes impliqués dans des réponses au stress, alors que les gènes induits par la mutation d’HDA9 après le transfert à 27°C ne semblent pas concerner des catégories fonctionnelle spécifiques. Il semble donc que la réponse des plantes à l’élévation de la température soit régulées par HDA9 et HDA19 par différentes voies. Ces résultats suggèrent que de différents membres d’HDAC ont des rôles distincts ou opposés dans la réponse à l’élévation de la température, en affectant l’expression de gènes de différentes catégories. Les travaux de ma thèse apportent un éclairage nouveau sur la fonction des HDAC, en enrichissant la compréhension de la régulation de l’expression génique chez la plante. / Histone acetylation/deacetylation play important roles in a diverse range of developmental processes and stress-responsive pathways in plants. However, little is known regarding the regulation of HDACs themselves by environmental signals, which may alter their function in the regulation of gene expression. Also HDACs functions in plant sensing of environmental conditions such as redox stresses and warm ambient temperature need to be precized. My thesis work focuses on: (1) The analysis of redoxregulated posttranslational modifications and theirconsequences on HDA19 function in gene regulation and in salicylic acid (SA)-mediated stress response; (2) The study of the function of HDA9, HDA15, and HDA19 in plant responses to warm temperature and thermal-related genes expression. In the first part, we show that SA-induced redox changes negatively regulate HDA19 nuclear accumulation through a reversible S-nitrosylation. Treatment with SA, as well as with the physiological nitric oxide donor Snitrosoglutathione, increases the abundance of several histone acetylation marks of HDA19 in Arabidopsis seedlings. hda19 mutant lines display a more oxidative status with increased ROS/RNS-related genes expression, as well as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and glutathione levels. These results suggest that SA affects histone acetylation by decreasing the nuclear accumulation of HDA19, resulting in histone hyperacetylation. The second part of the study showed that HDA9, HDA15, and HDA19 are involved in modulating plant adaptation to higher ambient temperatures in Arabidopsis. Mutation of HDA15 displayed a constitutive warm temperatureresponsive phenotype under normal temperature, whereas HDA9 and HDA19 mutants were shown insensitive to warming-temperature. Genes expression and RNA sequencing analysis revealed that HDA15 mutation led to the up-regulation of many genes involved in primary and cellular metabolic process when the seedlings were transferred from 20 °C to 27 °C for 4 h. On the other hand, hda19 mutation resulted in up-regulation of genes mainly involved in stressresponses at both normal (20 °C) and warmer (27 °C) temperatures. However, up-regulated genes in hda9-1 mutants did not appear enriched for any particular gene functional category when shifted from 20 °C to 27 °C. Likely, HDA9 and HDA19 positively regulate thermosensory elongation through distinct mechanisms. Our study suggested that the dynamics of histone acetylation regulated by HDA9, HDA15, and HDA19 plays an important role for plant adaptation to warm temperature, which involves distinct regulatory pathways of gene expression. Taken together, my thesis work brought in a few new elements to the current understanding of HDACs functions in the regulation of gene expression in plants.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医科学) / 甲第19631号 / 医科博第69号 / 新制||医科||5(附属図書館) / 32667 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医科学専攻 / (主査)教授 中川 一路, 教授 岩井 一宏, 教授 西渕 光昭 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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Hoarding disorder (HD) is characterized by (a) the acquisition of and inability to discard a large number of possessions; (b) clutter that interferes with the use of appliances and general living areas in the home; and (c) clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning. Although previous studies have reported that individuals with HD exhibit emotional dysregulation when discarding personal items, this investigation is the first to examine the biological indices of distress. The current study aimed to examine whether individuals with HD differed from healthy controls in their psychological and biological responses to a general psychosocial stressor and to investigate whether individual differences in stress response relate to differences in symptom severity and impairment. Twenty-one individuals with HD and 22 healthy controls (CTLs) completed the Trier Social Stress Task and self-reported affect and salivary cortisol responses to the stressor were assessed. Individuals with HD did not significantly differ compared to CTLs in their salivary cortisol levels in relation to the stressor. However, individuals with HD significant-ly differed compared to CTLs in their subjective levels of distress in relation to the stressor. Contrary to our hypotheses, responses to stress were not significantly correlated with measures of symptom severity and impairment due to hoarding. The current findings indicate that individuals with HD exhibit a greater self-reported emotional response to a general stressor. The implications of these findings are discussed. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

The prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), a highly social species, offers a unique opportunity to examine the effects of parent-pup separation in a biparental family system similar to humans. We hypothesized that 1) repeated separation from pups affects parental behavior and emotionality in parents, and 2) neonatal parental separation affects emotional and physiological development in pups, and thus induces altered adult parental, emotional, and social behaviors. During postnatal day (PND) 1-10, pups were removed from their parents for 0, 15, or 360 min and housed either individually or with siblings. Unhandled controls experienced only daily lid opening. Tests for parental responsiveness and emotionality were conducted on PND11 for parents and PND90-92 for their offspring. Emotionality tests included the elevated plus maze, open field, and forced swim tests. Starting at PND150, half of each litter was paired with an opposite-sex vole for 24 hours and tested for partner preference. Additionally, behavioral response to stress was measured in all animals 0, 30, or 60 min after exposure to a forced swim. Generally, the behavior of the parents and adult offspring was influenced by daily handling, the length of the separation, and presence of siblings. Parental behaviors in parents did not differ among groups, while their anxiety- and depression-like behaviors were influenced by pup separation. For the adult offspring, separation treatment altered parental behavior, emotionality, partner preference, and stress response. Our results demonstrated that parent-pup separation affects emotional and social behaviors in prairie vole parents and adult offspring.

Methodology was developed which allowed the rapid and routine quantitation of subpicomole quantities of diadenosine-5ʹ,5ʹʹʹ-P¹,P⁴-tetraphosphate (Ap₄A) in cultured mammalian cells. This methodology includes the rapid extraction of cellular nucleotides in cold alkali, resolution of Ap₄A from the bulk of cellular materials on a highly specific boronate affinity resin, and quantitation of the dinucleotide in a coupled bioluminescence assay utilizing venom phosphodiesterase and firefly luciferase. The sensitivity and selectivity of this assay is demonstrated and contrasted with previously developed techniques. This assay was used to examine the role of Ap₄A in DNA replication and the cellular stress response.