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Non-canonical Bioenergetics of the Cell
Smolková, Katarína ; Ježek, Petr (advisor) ; Štukavec, Jan (referee) ; Lukeš, Julius (referee)
Cancer cells generally present abnormal bioenergetic properties including an elevated glucose uptake, a high glycolysis and a poorly efficient oxidative phosphorylation system. However, the determinants of cancer cells metabolic reprogramming remain unknown. The main question in this project was how environmental conditions in vivo can influence functioning of mitochondrial OXPHOS, because details of mitochondrial bioenergetics of cancer cells is poorly documented. We have combined two conditions, namely glucose and oxygen deprivation, to measure their potential interaction. We examined the impact of glucose deprivation and oxygen deprivation on cell survival, overall bioenergetics and OXPHOS protein expression. As a model, we have chosen a human breast carcinoma (HTB-126) and appropriate control (HTB-125) cultured cells, as large fraction of breast malignancies exhibit hypoxic tumor regions with low oxygen concentrations and poor glucose delivery. (...) Apoptosis is a natural, genetically controlled process of cell elimination. The mechanisms of its activation and regulation is a fundamental scientific question and growing body of evidence reveal further molecular pathways of apoptotic machinery. The well-known caspase activation cascade along with pro- and anti-apoptotic members of BCL family is the basic...
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Identification and Characterization of Genetic Aberrations in Acute Childhood Leukemia
Lukeš, Julius ; Kubričanová Žaliová, Markéta (advisor) ; Machová Poláková, Kateřina (referee) ; Živný, Jan (referee)
Childhood acute leukemias are genetically complex disorders, with recurrent or random aberrations found in most patients. Their proper functional characterization is crucial for understanding the role they play in the process of leukemogenesis. We aimed to identify and characterize the genetic background of two leukemic entities. The transient myeloproliferative disorder (TMD) is a preleukemic condition that occurs in 10% of newborns with Down syndrome. Trisomy 21 together with in-utero gained mutations in the GATA1 gene are essential in TMD and represent an ideal "multi-hit" model to study leukemogenesis. We investigated an alternative pathogenic mechanism enabling TMD development in a confirmed absence of trisomy 21. Novel deletions in the GATA1 and JAK1 genes were described as potential drivers of this TMD. The deletion D65_C228 in GATA1 results in the expression of an aberrant isoform, which is predicted to lose transactivation potential and, more importantly, to partially lose the ability of recognizing physiological DNA binding sites, possibly triggering TMD alone. Our thorough characterization of JAK1 F636del questions its role in TMD development. Analysis of JAK/STAT signaling suggested decrease of kinase activity upon F636 loss. Cells harboring the aberrant JAK1 did not obtain cytokine-...
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Identification and Characterization of Genetic Aberrations in Acute Childhood Leukemia
Lukeš, Julius ; Kubričanová Žaliová, Markéta (advisor) ; Machová Poláková, Kateřina (referee) ; Živný, Jan (referee)
Childhood acute leukemias are genetically complex disorders, with recurrent or random aberrations found in most patients. Their proper functional characterization is crucial for understanding the role they play in the process of leukemogenesis. We aimed to identify and characterize the genetic background of two leukemic entities. The transient myeloproliferative disorder (TMD) is a preleukemic condition that occurs in 10% of newborns with Down syndrome. Trisomy 21 together with in-utero gained mutations in the GATA1 gene are essential in TMD and represent an ideal "multi-hit" model to study leukemogenesis. We investigated an alternative pathogenic mechanism enabling TMD development in a confirmed absence of trisomy 21. Novel deletions in the GATA1 and JAK1 genes were described as potential drivers of this TMD. The deletion D65_C228 in GATA1 results in the expression of an aberrant isoform, which is predicted to lose transactivation potential and, more importantly, to partially lose the ability of recognizing physiological DNA binding sites, possibly triggering TMD alone. Our thorough characterization of JAK1 F636del questions its role in TMD development. Analysis of JAK/STAT signaling suggested decrease of kinase activity upon F636 loss. Cells harboring the aberrant JAK1 did not obtain cytokine-...
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Importance of 5'-end structures of eukaryotic mRNA molecules
Vopálenský, Václav ; Pospíšek, Martin (advisor) ; Lukeš, Julius (referee) ; Staněk, David (referee)
73 V. SHRNUTÍ VÝSLEDKŮ IRESITE: THE DATABASE OF EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFIED IRES STRUCTURES (WWW.IRESITE.ORG) IRESite je kurátorovaná relační databáze typu MySQL-4.1 využívající InnoDB tabulky. Do databáze je možné vložit položky dvojího typu: o natural položky obsahují veškerá experimentální data týkající se určité IRES struktury (kompletní sekvence mRNA s vymezením pozic IRES sekvence a kódovaného proteinu, veškeré proteiny interagující s IRES, případná sekundární struktura) o engineered položky popisují uměle vytvořené plazmidy. Většinou se jedná o bicistronní plazmidy sloužící k testování funkčnosti sekvence, o níž se předpokládá, že obsahuje IRES element, a případné mutantní deriváty této sekvence. Do IRESite se v tomto případě vkládají údaje o sekvenci mRNA s vymezením IRES oblasti, informace o reportérových proteinech, informace o translačních experimentech včetně použitého promotoru a informace o pozitivních a negativních kontrolách. V databázi je nyní uloženo 288 položek; 67 natural (20 virových a 47 buněčných) a 221 engineered. IRESite slouží nejen k ukládání experimentálních dat, ale umožňuje také jejich prohledávání podle klíčových slov, případně následné porovnávání vybraných experimentů. A BIOINFORMATICAL APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF VIRAL AND CELLULAR INTERNAL RIBOSOME ENTRY Publikace...
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Ecology and biodiversity of heteropteran monoxenous trypanosomatids in CR
Klepetková, Helena ; Votýpka, Jan (advisor) ; Lukeš, Julius (referee)
Order Kinetoplastida includes monoxenous trypanosomatids, the numerous and divergent group that parasitize versatile spectrum of insects. The most frequent hosts include heteropteran bugs and dipterans. The recent research of the biodiversity of monoxenous trypanosomatids has been implemented only in a few areas. Published studies have demonstrated unexpected variability of kinetoplastids and demonstrated that the considerable number of species has not been discovered yet. This thesis attends to study monoxenous trypanosomatid diversity in heteropteran bugs, especially on the territory of the Czech Republic. The objective of this long-term study focused on one locality has been to reveal the parasite diversity with connection of host ecology. In addition to this, many other isolates originated from different localities have been involved to the studies focused on geographical distribution, host specifity and phylogeny of the entire group Kinetoplastida. Special attention has been paid to species Leptomonas pyrrhocoris, which occurs in bugs of family Pyrrhocoridae. Key words: Heteroptera, trypanosomatids, host specificity, geographic distribution, transmission, phylogeny
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Non-canonical Bioenergetics of the Cell
Smolková, Katarína ; Ježek, Petr (advisor) ; Štukavec, Jan (referee) ; Lukeš, Julius (referee)
Cancer cells generally present abnormal bioenergetic properties including an elevated glucose uptake, a high glycolysis and a poorly efficient oxidative phosphorylation system. However, the determinants of cancer cells metabolic reprogramming remain unknown. The main question in this project was how environmental conditions in vivo can influence functioning of mitochondrial OXPHOS, because details of mitochondrial bioenergetics of cancer cells is poorly documented. We have combined two conditions, namely glucose and oxygen deprivation, to measure their potential interaction. We examined the impact of glucose deprivation and oxygen deprivation on cell survival, overall bioenergetics and OXPHOS protein expression. As a model, we have chosen a human breast carcinoma (HTB-126) and appropriate control (HTB-125) cultured cells, as large fraction of breast malignancies exhibit hypoxic tumor regions with low oxygen concentrations and poor glucose delivery. (...) Apoptosis is a natural, genetically controlled process of cell elimination. The mechanisms of its activation and regulation is a fundamental scientific question and growing body of evidence reveal further molecular pathways of apoptotic machinery. The well-known caspase activation cascade along with pro- and anti-apoptotic members of BCL family is the basic...
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