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Structural characterization of a model heme-containing oxygen sensor
Tajovská, Eva ; Martínková, Markéta (advisor) ; Ryšlavá, Helena (referee)
One subgroup of hemoproteins are heme-based gas sensors, which are able to detect biatomic gas molecules in their immediate surroundings. Upon binding of a gas molecule to the heme iron in a sensor domain of these proteins or, conversely, upon its dissociation from the heme iron, the signal is then transmitted from the sensor domain to a functional domain and subsequent regulation of important cellular functions occurs. Understanding the regulatory mechanism of gas sensors is key to potentially manipulating their function. Such knowledge would then allow the use of heme-based gas sensors as therapeutic targets for the development of next-generation antibiotics, if we take into account their presence in pathological bacteria. The diploma thesis focuses on a model heme-based gas sensor, the oxygen sensor EcDOS from E. coli, and its apoform, EcDOS His77Ala. Both proteins were prepared by recombinant expression and purification, and subsequently spectrophotometrically characterized. Using gel permeation chromatography, the oligomeric states of EcDOS Fe(III), EcDOS Fe(II)-O2 and EcDOS His77Ala were determined under different conditions (different temperatures of protein incubation, presence of c-di-GMP substrate etc.). Furthermore, the structural dynamics of EcDOS Fe(III), EcDOS Fe(II)-O2 and EcDOS...
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New leukocyte membrane adaptor proteins
Králová, Jarmila ; Brdička, Tomáš (advisor) ; Černý, Jan (referee) ; Šedivá, Anna (referee)
Membrane adaptor proteins are characterized by the lack of enzymatic activity and the presence of various interaction sites for other proteins and cellular membranes. They typically function as scaffolds connecting receptors or other adaptors with proximal signaling molecules at cellular membranes. Their overall effects on signaling can be activating or inhibiting depending on the nature of the effector molecules they recruit. SCIMP is one of the membrane adaptors discussed in this thesis. It is expressed in antigen- presenting cells and it has been previously shown to enhance MHCII signaling in B cells. This thesis covers the analysis of SCIMP functions beyond B cells and describes the first analysis of SCIMP deficient mice. Although the results of this analysis did not show any alterations in immune cell populations, the novel function of SCIMP in dendritic cell signaling downstream of DECTIN- 1 was uncovered. DECTIN-1 is a pattern recognition receptor involved in antifungal immunity. The data presented in this thesis describe the role of SCIMP in sustaining DECTIN-1 signaling over relatively long periods of time and the contribution of SCIMP signaling to maintaining prolonged production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. PSTPIP2 is another interesting adaptor discussed in this thesis. It is...
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Involvement of Asthma-associated Protein ORMLDL3 in Mast Cell Signalling
Eitler, Jiří ; Dráber, Petr (advisor) ; Konvalinka, Jan (referee)
4 Abstract Mast cells are involved in variety of immunological processes, but they are mostly known for their role in allergy and asthma. As asthma and allergy are serious diseases with spreading tendency during last decades, mast cells are subject of intensive research. It is expected that studies of mast cell signalling pathways will contribute to our understanding of the nature of these diseases and help to design efficient treatment strategies. In an attempt to identify genes responsible for asthma disease, genome-wide screening methods have been currently applied. Using these methods, mutations in ORMDL3 (Orosomucoid1-like) protein were found out as a high risk asthma factor. ORMDL3 is a member of evolutionary conserved ORMDL family, comprising in mammals also of ORMDL1 and ORMDL2. Physiological function of these proteins is poorly understood and it has not been studied in mast cells. We decided to study the role of ORMDL proteins in mast cells. Lentiviral delivery system was optimised for generation of stable knock-downs (KD) of all three members of the ORMDL family in primary mast cells. The ORMDL gene expression was measured by improved qPCR (quantitative PCR) reaction buffers. We found that all ORMDL genes are expressed in mast cells in order ORMDL3 > ORMDL2 > ORMDL1. Next, we investigated the...
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Comparison of apo- and holoforms of the transcription factor "Bach1"
Vávra, Jakub
Hemoproteins represent very important components of many living organisms. Participation in the processes of oxygen transport and storage, electron transport or enzymatic catalysis of reactions involving oxygen or hydrogen peroxide are commonly known functions of hemoproteins. Recently, there has been discovered a new group of hemoproteins. The main feature of this new group of proteins is their ability to detect changes in heme concentration (heme-responsive proteins) or changes in diatomic gas concentration (gas-responsive heme-containing sensor proteins) in their vicinity. Detection of these concentration changes generates signals that induce structural changes of the respective sensor proteins. Finally, the structural changes of the respective sensor proteins affect their functions or activities. The subject of this diploma thesis is the preparation and characterization of the eukaryotic heme sensor Bach1. We especially focused on the ability of Bach1 to bind heme molecules and on the comparison of various Bach1 properties in its apoform and holoform. Determination of the exact amount of heme molecules that specifically interact with heme sensor Bach1 represents very important part of this thesis. We also studied the effect of different redox states of heme iron and the presence of interaction...
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The Development of Animations Supporting Teaching of Biochemistry at High Schools - Signal Transduction
Chaloupková, Denisa ; Teplá, Milada (advisor) ; Martínek, Václav (referee)
This bachelor thesis focuses on the processing of educational materials (animation and educational text) to support the teaching of cell signalling. The created materials are primarily intended for students of higher grammar schools and chemically oriented secondary schools and they are aimed at teaching the subject of chemistry and biology. The theoretical part of this bachelor thesis includes the definition of basic concepts of visualization, visual or animation. Subsequently, it deals in more detail with animations, their advantages and disadvantages in teaching and it also deals with the effectiveness of the use of animations in teaching and the variables that affect this effectiveness. This chapter also presents the criteria that should be fulfilled when creating an educational animation and subsequent inclusion in the teaching process. Furthermore, in this part, there is an analysis of curricular documents performed, which is the Framework Education Programme and the School Education Programme related to the topic of cell signaling. The practical part is devoted to the analysis of already created videos freely available on the internet, which deal with the topic of cell signaling. Subsequently, it presents teaching materials that were created by the author of this work. The first teaching...
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The role of ERK1 and ERK2 protein kinases in the MAPK/ERK signaling
Galvánková, Kristína ; Vomastek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Dráber, Peter (referee)
The MAPK/ERK cascade is highly conserved signalling pathway regulating cellular processes which are necessary for cell life, such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis or cell migration. All these cellular responses are the result of the processing of extracellular signals through three-tier ERK cascade consisting of protein kinases Raf, MEK and ERK. The signal is transmitted by sequential phosphorylation where RAF phosphorylates MEK and MEK phosphorylates and activates ERK. Protein kinase ERK then phosphorylates and regulates a wide range of substrates at different locations in the cell. This affects the cellular response to the extracellular signal. Regulation of this pathway on every level is very important and is modulated by interaction partners and adaptor proteins. Deregulation of the pathway as well as mutations of individual protein kinases can lead to severe pathological consequences. At the level of ERK, there are two isoforms, ERK1 and ERK2, which are more than 80 % identical at the amino acid level. Their high sequence similarity has triggered the interest of many authors for more detailed examination of both isoforms in respect of their evolutionary conservation and whether they are functionally redundant or whether they have specific functions. The aim of this work is to...
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Structure and function relationships of model hemoproteins
Lengálová, Alžběta ; Martínková, Markéta (advisor) ; Hudeček, Jiří (referee) ; Muchová, Lucie (referee)
Heme is one of the most important and most studied cofactors that are essential for proper function of many proteins. Heme-containing proteins comprise of a large group of biologically important molecules that are involved in many physiological processes. The presented dissertation is focused on two groups of heme sensor proteins, namely prokaryotic heme-based gas sensors and eukaryotic heme-responsive sensors. Heme-based gas sensors play an important role in regulation of many bacterial processes and consist usually of two domains, a sensor domain and a functional domain. The dissertation thesis aims at the study of two model bacterial heme-based gas sensors, histidine kinase AfGcHK and diguanylate cyclase YddV, in order to elucidate their mechanism of interdomain signal transduction. Using X-ray crystallography and hydrogen-deuterium exchange coupled to mass spectrometry approaches, significant differences in the structure of the AfGcHK protein between the active and inactive forms were described. The signal detection by the AfGcHK sensor domain affects the structural properties of the protein, and these conformational changes then have indirect impact on the enzyme activity of the functional domain. Further, the dissertation pays more attention to the effect of a sensor domain dimerization...
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Biochemical characterization of a model heme sensor protein
Tajovská, Eva ; Martínková, Markéta (advisor) ; Jeřábek, Petr (referee)
Hemoproteins play a lot of important roles within the living organism. One of these being the sensor function - heme sensor proteins are able to detect the changing concentration of heme in organisms. Heme itself serves as a signalling molecule for these proteins. Heme-based gas sensor proteins use a biatomic gas molecule as a signalling molecule. Signal transduction begins once the gas molecule is bound to the heme molecule which is already tightly bound in the protein sensing domain. Both these types of signalling regulate a number of physiological processes in the prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The theoretical part of the bachelor thesis summarizes recent scientific studies on heme sensor proteins, while the experimental part focuses on the properties of a specific model sensor hemoprotein. A direct oxygen sensor from E. coli (EcDOS) was selected as a model protein. Furthermore, the thesis deals with a truncated form of the EcDOS protein, an isolated sensor domain with a PAS structure (EcDOS-PAS). The experimental part aimed at expressing and isolating of both mentioned proteins from E. coli BL-21 (DE3) cells. Finally, both the EcDOS and EcDOS-PAS proteins were preliminarily characterised and their properties compared. The yield of the EcDOS-PAS was several times higher than the yield of...
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