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Conformation of the adenylate cyclase toxin of Bordetella pertussis.
Motlová, Lucia ; Fišer, Radovan (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee)
This work is focused on the RTX (Repeats in ToXin) domains structure of selected RTX toxins and its impact on secretion and protein folding. The structural analysis included RTX domains of ApxI (Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae-RTX-toxin I) from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, HlyA (Alfa-hemolysin) from Escherichia coli and LtxA (Leukotoxin A) from Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and blocs 4 a 5 RTX domain CyaA (adenylate cyclase toxin) from Bordetella pertussis. The structures of LtxA RTX domain and CyaA RTX blocs 4 and 5 were obtained and characterized. Two models of CyaA RTX domain were built based on SAXS (Small Angle X-ray Scattering) model, previously solved RTX structures and RTX structures presented here.
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Drop coating deposition Raman spectroscopy of biologically important molecules
Kuižová, Alžbeta ; Kočišová, Eva (advisor) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee)
Drop coating deposition Raman (DCDR) spectroscopy is a special method of Raman spectroscopy, which is based on the evaporation of solvent from a drop of solution or suspension on a hydrophobic surface. This typically leads to the formation of ring-shaped drying pattern, often called as "coffee ring". As a result a preconcentration of a material and higher intensity of Raman signal in comparison with Raman scattering from solution is obtained. In this work several hydrophobic surfaces with different roughness and hydrophobicity were compared: a smooth substrate with polytetrafluorethylen (pPTFE) coating and nanorough substrates where surface hydrophobicity was formed by deposited cupper or argent nanoparticles with different concentration. It was shown that for DPPC liposome suspension stronger preconcentration is obtained by means of a nanorough substrate. When different nanorough substrate compared, no better improvement was acquired. As for the drying of drops at different temperatures (from 15řC to 60řC) deposited on the smooth pPTFE substrate and the substrate with argent nanoparticles, it was observed that Raman spectra did not reveal any spectral changes corresponding to phase transition of lipid. In case of drying at temperatures higher than a temperature of the phase transition, non-homogeneities...
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Bacterial RTX toxins and their calcium-binding sites
Lišková, Petra ; Konopásek, Ivo (advisor) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee) ; Hof, Martin (referee)
FrpC protein produced by Neisseria meningitidis in a human host belongs to the family of bacterial RTX toxins due to the presence of RTX domain. FrpC possesses a calcium-dependent auto-catalytic cleavage activity which is localized within its 177 amino-acids long segment Self-Processing Module (SPM). As the SPM is naturally intrinsically disordered protein without bound Ca2+, the calcium binding is crucial for SPM folding which is followed by the auto-catalytic processing. The elucidation of the SPM structure may be the key step for understanding of enzymatic and biological function. The structure of folded SPM itself can be characterized only with difficulties due to the presence of flexible loop according to preliminary NMR data. The subject of this work is the description of SPM using fluorescence methods, characterization of ions binding to SPM and structural changes occurring during Ca2+ binding. In this work, the ion binding properties of SPM segment and its ion-induced folding was characterized. It was found that the dissociation constant kD of 17 μM coincided with the folding of SPM into the native calcium-bound state which occurs in the concentration range between 1 and 20 μM Ca2+. In the attempt to characterize the structure of ion binding site, the fully active single tryptophan mutants...
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Interakce liposomů s porfyriny studována pomocí Ramanovy spektroskopie kapkově nanášených povlaků
Vaculčiaková, Lenka ; Kočišová, Eva (advisor) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee)
Water-soluble cationic porphyrins have been studied in relation to antisense therapy and they have been successfully used to enhance the delivery of oligonu- cleotides to cells. The main focus of this study was to characterize the mech- anism of interaction of liposomes as model membranes, and porphyrins. We applied the drop coating deposition Raman spectroscopy (DCDR) to study com- plexes of liposomes and porphyrins. DCDR allowed us to measure complexes of low concentration as it uses the 'coffee ring' effect to concentrate the sample at the edge of a drop. We studied four different complexes combined of lipids: 1, 2−dipalmitoyl−sn−glycero−3−phosphocholine, 1, 2−dioleoyl−sn−glycero− 3 − phospho − (1 − rac − glycerol) and metalloporphyrins: copper 5, 10, 15, 20 − tetrakis(1 − methyl − 4 − pyridyl)porphyrin, copper 5, 10, 15, 20 − tetrakis(4 − sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin. We have found that the way these two components interact strongly depends on a specific lipid and porphyrin used. We observed partial incorporation of porphyrins into the liposome bilayer, their localisation to the surface of the liposome or the change of the conformation and ordering of lipid molecules. Moreover, we have found that the distribution of porphyrins in the dried drop is randomly non-homogenous. 61
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Drop coating deposition Raman spectroscopy of liposomes with different compositions
Antalík, Andrej ; Kočišová, Eva (advisor) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee)
Method of drop-coating deposition Raman spectroscopy is a special tech- nique that employs deposition of a small droplet of the sample on a hydro- phobic surface with subsequent solvent removal by evaporation. As a result the concentrated material forms a ring at the edge of the droplet. This techni- que has proven to be efficient for liposome studies at low concentrations. We focused on a study of spectral changes and ring formation in phosphatidylcho- line liposomes due to increasing amount of cholesterol. Higher concentration of cholesterol didn't cause significant changes in membrane structure, such as phase transition, however the ring wasn't formed. Second part of this bache- lor thesis concerns with the search for some alternative surface to previously used SpectRIM TM DCDR plates made by Tienta Sciences, Inc. which are no longer available. The polished calcium fluoride glass (CaF2) seems to be the most suitable for the further use from all tested surfaces. Raman signal at the other surfaces was either weak or spectral bands that don't belong to lipid were observed.
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Cytoplasmic membrane of Bacillus subtilis Regulation of the physical parameters
Beranová, Jana ; Konopásek, Ivo (advisor) ; Branny, Pavel (referee) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee)
Bacillus subtilis, a model Gram-positive soil bacterium, employs two distinct mechanisms in its membrane adaptation to low temperature: 1) Long-term adaptation to suboptimal temperature is accomplished by increasing the ratio of anteiso- to iso-branched fatty acids in the membrane lipids. 2) After a sudden temperature decrease, the oxygen-dependent fatty acid desaturase (Des) is induced which desaturates fatty-acyl chains incorporated in membrane lipids. The transcription of the gene encoding desaturase, des, is activated by the decrease of the membrane order, via two- component system DesK-DesR. In this work, I studied the influence of cultivation conditions on the mechanisms of B. subtilis membrane adjustments for a low temperature employing fatty acid analysis, fluorescence spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and methods of molecular biology. In the first part of this work, I examined the impact of the cultivation medium on the composition and biophysical features of the B. subtilis cytoplasmic membrane during growth under the optimal (40 řC) and suboptimal (20 řC) cultivation temperature. I compared the nutrient-rich complex medium containing glucose and the mineral medium supplemented with either glucose or glycerol. The results obtained showed the crucial importance of medium...
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Regulace vnitřního pH kvasinek - vliv vybraných transportních proteinů
Zalom, Peter ; Chaloupka, Roman (advisor) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee)
Intracellular pH affects nearly all biochemical processes in yeast, the processes regulating the cytosolic pH includes function of many transport proteins. In this work, the impact of selected sodium transporters on cytosolic pH has been studied in two yeast species: Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii including wild-type and mutants with affected sodium transport. Measurements of cytosolic pH and buffering capacity have been performed using fluorescent protein probe pHluorin - a pH sensitive derivate of green fluorescence protein. Several procedures for calibration of pHluorin fluorescence response have been compared and the importance of a proper correction of the calibration curve has been demonstrated. It has been shown that cytosolic pH is influenced by the function of Nha1 transport protein in S. cerevisiae as well as in Z. rouxii but not by Sod2-22 transporter in Z. rouxii. It has been demonstrated that the buffering capacity of cytosol decrease in the presence of glucose in all strains studied.
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Study of oligonucleotide penetration through liposomal membrane
Nováková, Jana ; Kočišová, Eva (advisor) ; Holoubek, Aleš (referee)
Modified oligonucleotides, short pieces of nucleic acids, have become potential candidates for treatment of viral, malignant or genetic diseases. Efficient application of modified oligonucleotides requires their sufficient penetration inside the cell through the lipid membrane. Diploma thesis employs liposomes, synthetic vesicles formed by the lipid bilayer, as a model system for the study of interaction of lipid and complex of homooligonucleotides dT15 with cationic porphyrin CuTMPyP4 using Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra were measured in solution on the slide and using special technique of drop coating deposition Raman spectroscopy (DCDR) on integrated Raman confocal microspectrophotometer. Processes of liposome formation and sample preparation were optimized. Experimental data were analysed using factor analysis based on singular value decomposition (SVD) algorithm. It was observed that interaction of oligonucleotide with porphyrin induces fluorescent background increase. Raman spectra of complex of oligonucleotide with porphyrin exhibit the domination of porphyrin vibrational bands. Stretching vibrations of lipid assigned to hydrogens of fatty acids are observed in the spectra of complex with liposomes. The observed spectral changes show the interaction of lipid with complex of oligonucleotide and...
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