|
|
Towards biosensor for phosphatidylinositol
Eisenreichová, Andrea ; Bouřa, Evžen (advisor) ; Petráčková, Denisa (referee)
Phosphatidylinositol is a a minor membrane component of eukaryotic cells, however, it plays a crucial role in cell signaling pathways as a precursor for a number of signaling molecules and second messengers. Among the most significant ones are phosphoinositides created by phosphorylation of the hydroxyl groups of phosphatidylinositol at positions 3,4, and 5 of the inositol ring. Despite its significance, the spatial and temporal distribution and dynamics of phosphatidylinositol remains unclear owing mainly to the lack of a specific optical probe (biosensor) to visualize phosphatidylinositol in living cells. Biosensor for inositol phospholipids are based on lipid-binding domains of their effector proteins with high enough affinity and specificity for a given phosphoinositide - but nosuch domain is known for PI. However, an enzyme - phosphatidylinositol-dependent phospholipase C - that specifically recognizes phosphatidylinositol is known. This enzyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol into diacylglycerol and inositol 1-phosphate and unlike eukaryotic homologs does not act upon the phosphorylated forms of phosphatidylinositol. The main aim of this thesis was to solve the structures of several inactive mutant forms of phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus complexed to myo-inositol which...
|
|
|
Production and secretion of virulence factors in Bordetella pertussis
Držmíšek, Jakub ; Večerek, Branislav (advisor) ; Petráčková, Denisa (referee)
Bordetella pertussis is a strictly human pathogen and causative agent of infectious respiratory disease called whooping cough. In order to establish successful infection and colonization of the host, B. pertussis uses a broad spectrum of virulence factors such as adhesins (filamentous hemagglutinin, pertactin, and fimbriae) and toxins (adenylate cyclase and pertussis toxins). In addition, the type 3 secretion system (T3SS) was also found in the genus Bordetella. In connection to our previous characterisation of B. pertussis strain lacking the gene encoding RNA chaperone Hfq (Δhfq), which proved that Hfq is required for T3SS functionality, the recombinant T3SS proteins BopB, BopD, BopC and BopN were purified to homogeneity. Next, the specific antibodies were obtained using purified recombinant proteins in order to study the production of the T3SS components in B. pertussis. Using refined anti- BopC antibodies it was for the first time shown that laboratory-adapted B. pertussis strain secretes BopC protein into medium. The recombinant translocators BopB and BopD were also used to examine their pore-forming activity using planar black lipid membranes. Based on the characterisation of hfq deletion mutant, having impaired production of membrane proteins when compared to the wild type, mass spectrometry...
|
|
|
Study of the interaction between fungus Pleurotus ostreatus and bacterial cultures on the abiotic surfaces - morphological, biochemical and proteomic analysis
Kozická, Barbora ; Petráčková, Denisa (advisor) ; Konopásek, Ivo (referee)
Ligninolytic fungi are well known for their ability to degrade a wide range of xenobiotics contaminating the environment, including synthetic industrial dyes. In this work Pleurotus ostreatus was used for decolorization of a synthetic textile dye Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR). To set up a model fungal "fixed-bed" bioreactor the fungus was immobilized on a polyurethane foam and artificially contaminated with a model bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis. The development of bacterial contamination can be expected during a real application of fungal bio filters in wastewater treatment. The main aim of the work was to study interspecies interactions in the model bioreactors during the dye decolorization. Ligninolytic enzyme activities were followed in the bioreactor cultures as markers of fungal biodegradation ability. In contrast to the controls, no bacterial growth was observed in the P. ostreatus bioreactor culture liquid. The results showed that fungal laccase, pH of the culture liquid, and glucose consumption by the fungus had no effect on the bacterial growth. However, 4*105 - 1,3*106 CFU/ml of R. erythropolis was detected to be associated with the fungal solid support. The presence of these bacteria had no effect on the decolorization performance of the bioreactors. Dye decolorization efficiency...
|
|
|
Biofilm formation in Streptococcus pneumoniae
Jarošová, Václava ; Petráčková, Denisa (advisor) ; Matyska Lišková, Petra (referee)
Biofilm is a structured community of cells adhered to the surface or to each other and surrounded by extracellular matrix. Biofilm is fomed in several steps starting from single cells adhered to the surface up to microcolonies linked by channels. Because of a higher resistance to antibiotics the current hot topics in the biofilm research are formation of biofilms on medical materials and treatment of bacterial infections associated with biofilms. This work is focused on a biofilm forming bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae. It is a potentially pathogenic bacterium which colonizes the upper respiratory tract and causes a number of diseases. Biofilms formed by S. pneumoniae exhibit increased resistance to antibiotics, therefore, alternative antimicrobial agents have been recently studied. For biofilm formation studies both open and closed systems are used. The flow cell and biofilm reactors represent commonly used open systems. Closed cultivation systems are for example a Calgary biofilm device and a micro titer plate-system developed by Christensen et al.
|
|
|
Antibiotic resistance in clinically important strains of Enterococcus spp.
Kozická, Barbora ; Petráčková, Denisa (advisor) ; Motlová, Lucia (referee)
The Enterococcus spp. is a common part of microflora in the digestive tract; it is used in the food industry and added to probiotics. However, in the last few decades it comes to the fore particularly as a cause of nosocomial diseases. Its importance grows with its increasing resistance to antibiotics. The Enterococcus is intrinsically resistant to many types of antibiotics. In addition to that it may acquire additional resistance determinants by mutations or horizontal gene transfer. This work focuses on the Enterococcus faecium and the Enterococcus faecalis intrinsic and acquired resistances, as these two strains have the major clinical importance. In this work, the most attention is dedicated to the antibiotics vancomycin and linezolid. For several decades, vancomycin was the last treatment option in the case of a failure of commonly used antibiotics. The fact that the resistance to this antibiotic was spreading rapidly became a significant problem in these cases of treatment. Hence the antibiotic linezolid was developed as a response to the growing resistance of gram-positive bacteria to available antibiotics. It is also proved to be effective against the vancomycin- resistant strains E. faecium and E. faecalis.
|
|
|
Analysis og gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic model organisms by proteomic gel-based separation tools
Petráčková, Denisa ; Weiser, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Nešvera, Jan (referee) ; Stulík, Jiří (referee)
This PhD thesis showed the applicability of a gel-based proteomic separation tool, 2-D electrophoresis in three independent projects. Supplemented with results obtained using different techniques the proteomic studies enabled a global imaging of proteoms in the studied biological systems. Comparing total proteoms of E. coli 61 protein changes were identified and connected with the development of the bacterial population in the presence of an antibiotic compound, erythromycin. This classic proteomic approach included sample extraction, optimization of its 2D separation followed by 2D gel analysis and protein identification by MS methods. A disadvantage of this work was an enourmously large amount of data to be analyzed by computer analysis. For the study of membrane proteom of B. subtilis during a pH induced stress, on the other hand, a modification of isolation techniques for membrane and membrane associated proteins was required first to improve the subsequent protein separation by 2-D electrophoresis. The optimalization of protein extraction included changes in detergents used for protein solubilization and a prolongation of time periods in the protein solubilization protocol. 5 relevant protein changes were then described that play a role in the bacterial response to pH stress. The proteins were...
|
guest ::
