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Metabolic and biophysical characterization of bacterial cells capable of PHA accumulation
Slaninová, Eva ; Lehocký, Marián (referee) ; Doškař, Jiří (referee) ; Chodak, Ivan (referee) ; Obruča, Stanislav (advisor)
This thesis deals with the characterization of bacterial cells capable of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) accumulation. The dissertation thesis is written in the form of a discussed published publications which are attached to the thesis as appendixes. The work develops a study of the current topic of the protective functions of PHA and clarifies protective mechanisms against selected stressors. Firstly, we focused on the protective effects of PHA granules against UV radiation and osmotic stress, specifically hypotonic conditions. In the case of UV exposition, the cells protected themselves by scattering UV radiation on the intracellular granules protecting especially nucleoid. When exposed to osmotic stress, the amorphous state of PHA granules is very important since it is capable of stabilization of cell membranes under hypertonic stress, afterwards, bacterial cells can maintain their integrity during the subsequent hypotonic challenge. In general, the amorphous state of PHA granules is key to ensure the proper biological functions of PHA whether as storage or protective polymer. Therefore, in the next part of this work, we focused on the core of the stabilization mechanism that protects native PHA granules from crystallization and thus the intracellular polymer maintains in a thermodynamically unfavorable amorphous phase state. Based on experimental work, we applied selected stresses because we proposed a new model of stabilization of the amorphous state of PHA granules in vivo. It consists of two mechanisms, where small volumes of PHA granules reduce the rates of crystallization and at the same time the water present in the granules plays the role of a low molecular plasticizer. Due to the metabolic apparatus of bacterial cells, PHA are simultaneously synthesized and degraded which leads to an increment of intracellular concentration of monomers that also figure in the protective effect of PHA. In this context, we aimed at the description of the mechanism of cryoprotective effects of 3-hydroxybutyrate, the monomer of the most common of PHA, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate). Hence, we constructed an equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase diagram of the 3HB-water system to prove that 3HB is a very effective cryoprotectant. This fundamental understanding of the protective properties of PHA monomers could be also used in the food industry or cryopreservation of biological samples.
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Electrochemical evolution of hydrogen peroxide for biotechnological applications
Runštuková, Nikola ; Kratochvíl, Matouš (referee) ; Ehlich, Jiří (advisor)
This master‘s thesis deals with the connection of two distinct fields, electrochemistry and biotechnology, where electrochemically generated peroxide was subsequently used in bacterial cultivation. The peroxide was synthesized in an electrolytic cell by reducing oxygen at the cathode to which suitable electrical potential was applied. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the dependence of the amount of hydrogen peroxide produced on a few selected parameters, such as cathode potential, electrode material, the geometry of the measuring cell, or the stirring speed, and then to apply these findings in the continuous stressing of the bacterium Cupriavidus necator H16, in order to increase the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates. The selected parameters were first tested in small-scale measuring cells and then experiments were carried out on a larger scale, in Erlenmeyer flasks. During the experiments, the amount of electric current produced was measured and also the peroxide concentration was examined spectrophotometrically along with the oxygen concentration measured by using an optical sensor. Based on the obtained results, bacteria were cultivated in flasks with a built-in system of steel electrodes, due to which oxidative stress in the form of in situ generated hydrogen peroxide was continuously applied. The bacterial cultures were evaluated by measuring the change in optical density, gravimetric analysis and GC-FID analysis. It was found that even small amounts of hydrogen peroxide (~25 M) can induce a stress response in the organism in the form of increased polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) synthesis. A percentage increase in the PHB content of the biomass was achieved, however, the overall polymer yield was lower due to lower biomass growth.
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Metabolic and biophysical characterization of bacterial cells capable of PHA accumulation
Slaninová, Eva ; Lehocký, Marián (referee) ; Doškař, Jiří (referee) ; Chodak, Ivan (referee) ; Obruča, Stanislav (advisor)
This thesis deals with the characterization of bacterial cells capable of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) accumulation. The dissertation thesis is written in the form of a discussed published publications which are attached to the thesis as appendixes. The work develops a study of the current topic of the protective functions of PHA and clarifies protective mechanisms against selected stressors. Firstly, we focused on the protective effects of PHA granules against UV radiation and osmotic stress, specifically hypotonic conditions. In the case of UV exposition, the cells protected themselves by scattering UV radiation on the intracellular granules protecting especially nucleoid. When exposed to osmotic stress, the amorphous state of PHA granules is very important since it is capable of stabilization of cell membranes under hypertonic stress, afterwards, bacterial cells can maintain their integrity during the subsequent hypotonic challenge. In general, the amorphous state of PHA granules is key to ensure the proper biological functions of PHA whether as storage or protective polymer. Therefore, in the next part of this work, we focused on the core of the stabilization mechanism that protects native PHA granules from crystallization and thus the intracellular polymer maintains in a thermodynamically unfavorable amorphous phase state. Based on experimental work, we applied selected stresses because we proposed a new model of stabilization of the amorphous state of PHA granules in vivo. It consists of two mechanisms, where small volumes of PHA granules reduce the rates of crystallization and at the same time the water present in the granules plays the role of a low molecular plasticizer. Due to the metabolic apparatus of bacterial cells, PHA are simultaneously synthesized and degraded which leads to an increment of intracellular concentration of monomers that also figure in the protective effect of PHA. In this context, we aimed at the description of the mechanism of cryoprotective effects of 3-hydroxybutyrate, the monomer of the most common of PHA, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate). Hence, we constructed an equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase diagram of the 3HB-water system to prove that 3HB is a very effective cryoprotectant. This fundamental understanding of the protective properties of PHA monomers could be also used in the food industry or cryopreservation of biological samples.
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