The complexity of cell membranes is far from being only a simple assembly of lipids and proteins separating cells from the surrounding environment. Each of the thousands of different membrane components performs its specific role in cellular functions, since a multitude of biological processes is mediated by membranes. The understanding of the molecular basis of these processes is one of the important aims of current biological research. Our research employing single- molecule fluorescence methods (e.g. FCS, FCCS, FLIM-FRET) has made a contribution to the knowledge of membrane lateral organization or mechanism of membrane fusion. Furthermore, we revealed the mechanism of membrane activity of a small natural compound. As native cell membranes are very complex structures, we performed the experiments on simplified model lipid membranes that allow studying lipid-lipid or lipid-protein interactions at the molecular level in a controlled way. The first part of this thesis deals with the mode of action of a membrane active secondary metabolite didehydroroflamycoin (DDHR). We demonstrated that DDHR is a pore-forming agent and that this activity is influenced by the presence of cholesterol. Direct visualization of intrinsic fluorescence of DDHR revealed its preferential partitioning into membrane areas...
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nusl.cz/oai:invenio.nusl.cz:454708 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Koukalová, Alena |
| Contributors | Černý, Jan, Malínský, Jan, Benda, Aleš |
| Source Sets | Czech ETDs |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
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