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Studying protein interactions with expanded genetic code
Tekel, Andrej ; Obšil, Tomáš (advisor) ; Fuertes Vives, Gustavo (referee)
Nature, using proteins composed of approximately 20 amino acids repertoire, is able to perform a large number of admirable things, many of which we are still not quite able to mimic. However, it has to be said, that the set of chemical scaffolds available to the nature is somewhat limited. Therefore, it seems plausible to assume, that we could make things better simply by introducing novel scaffolds and exploring chemical space so far unavailable. It is exactly this idea upon which expanded genetic code is based on. To set ourselves free from limitations imposed by standard genetic code. This thesis will aim to provide an overview of various attempts to this problem and will try to do so in a distinct context of studying protein interactions. I will thus try to highlight methods by which we are currently able to expand genetic code, specific chemistries and physical properties of non-canonical amino acids and biophysical methods which can profit from genetic code expansion. Keywords: expanded genetic code, non-canonical amino acid, amber codon, fluores- cence, magnetic resonance, crosslinking, click chemistry
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Dynamic saturation optical microscopy using photoswitchable proteins
Kolářová, Marie ; Benda, Aleš (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee)
Fluorescence microscopy is an essential technique for live cell imaging. One of its drawbacks is a rather low diffraction limited spatial resolution, which is described by Abbe diffraction law. Therefore, in the last decade a lot of new methods improving spatial resolution were developed. One of them is dynamic saturation optical microscopy (DSOM) that is based on spatial monitoring of reversible transition kinetics between bright and dark states of fluorophores. The dark state is possible to obtain for example by using reversibly photoswitchable fluorescent proteins such as Dronpa and its variants. These proteins undergo reversible transition from fluorescent to nonfluorescent state after irradiation by blue and ultraviolet light. In my work I focus on employing the kinetics of controllable photoswitching of Dronpa in improving the overall image quality, including the spatial resolution. The experiments were performed on yeasts expressing selected proteins labelled with Dronpa. Firstly, photoswitching behaviour of Dronpa was confirmed. Secondly, experimental conditions were optimized by studying dependence of switching rate on laser intensities and on excitation wavelength and by studying protein photostability. Experiments were performed on different timescales and for various proteins. Using the optimal...
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Characterisation of recombinant mouse glutamate carboxypeptidase III
Janoušková, Karolína ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee)
Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII, PSMA, NAALADase) is transmembrane metalopeptidase and due to cleavage of substrates β-citryl-L-glutamate (BCG), N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate (NAAG) and polyglutamylated folates (Pte-Glun) is being studied as potential therapeutic target. Enzymes, which could compensate for enzyme activity and functions of GCPII, are thus relevant targets of enzymology as well. One of GCPII's homologs with similar enzyme activity is mouse glutamate carboxypeptidase III (GCPIII, NAALADase II). Enzymatic cleavage has not been determined using recombinant mouse GCPIII yet. It is important to kinetically characterize mouse GCPIII so that we can compare enzyme activity with human ortolog. Then we can find out whether mouse model is comparable with human. Recombinant mouse GCPIII was kinetically characterized. Kinetic parameters (KM, kcat) for recombinant mouse GCPIII were measured for substrates NAAG and BCG using radioactive assay. Experiments with the substrate Pte-Glu2 were analyzed using HPLC method. Although human GCPIII is more effective than mouse ortolog at clearage of NAAG, both enzymes are comparable during hydrolysis of BCG. Those results can contribute to better understanding of the role of GCPIII in the most commonly used animal model.
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Expression and purification of kinase domain of ASK1 kinase.
Bártová, Hana ; Obšil, Tomáš (advisor) ; Gryčová, Lenka (referee)
The goal of this diploma thesis was to find optimal conditions for expression of ASK1 kinase in prokaryotic expression system and to optimize purification protocol which enables preparing of milligram amounts of stable and soluble protein. Different conditions of expression were tested in E. coli cells including temperature of expression, cultivation medium or the length of induction. Different methods of purification were tested during the development of the purification protocol. The final protocol is based on chelate chromatography followed by gel permeation chromatography. The result of the diploma thesis is a protocol that allows preparing 1 mg of pure ASK1 kinase from 1 liter of medium.
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Expression, characterisation and biological role of Ddi II, putative protein partner of proteasomal complex
Sivá, Monika ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee)
Cell homeostasis is maintained via strictly regulated processes. One of the important regulation systems is ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway. Proteins to be degraded are posttranslationally modified with polyubiquitin chains and targeted to the proteasome for degradation. Ubiquitin-proteasome system consists of several processes: ubiquitination of target substrates via set of enzymes, substrate transfer and degradation in the 26S proteasome. There are two ways of ubiquitinated substrate recognition via proteasome. It is either directly by proteasomal receptors or by protein shuttles. Shuttling factors bind polyubiquitinated target substrate and transfer it to the entrance of proteasomal cavity thanks to their typical domain architecture. The N-terminal ubiquitin-like domain binds to regulatory particle of the proteasome and the C-terminal ubiquitin-associated domain binds polyubiqitinated chains on substrates. This thesis focuses on the human DNA damage-inducible protein homolog 2 (Ddi2), a potential member of protein shuttles of humans, and on the interaction of its ubiquitin-like domain with its putative interaction partner, a proteasomal subunit PSMD2. PSMD2 has been cloned, expressed and purified in sufficient yields for further experiments. "Cold" as well as isotopically labeled UBL domain of...
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Glutamate Carboxypeptidase II - Structural and Biochemical Characterization and Structure-Assisted Drug Design
Ptáček, Jakub ; Bařinka, Cyril (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee) ; Brynda, Jiří (referee)
Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) is a human membrane-bound metallopeptidase discovered more than 30 years ago. It has attracted attention of biomedical scientists thanks to its diverse tissue expression profile and different biological functions. GCPII is detected on the surface of astrocytes in both central and peripheral nervous systems where it is responsible for the cleavage of N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate (NAAG), the most abundant mammalian peptidic neurotransmitter. Glutamate, one of the hydrolytic products, is a potent excitatory neurotransmitter and its overproduction has been shown to be responsible for cell death in various neurological disorders by a so-called glutamate excitotoxicity mechanism. Together with the fact that NAAG acts neuroprotectively it has been postulated (and later confirmed) that GCPII inhibition has a therapeutic potential in such disorders. Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most prevalent cancer in men and despite its slow progression it is prone to metastasize thus posing a life threat. GCPII has been found to be overexpressed in prostate tumor cells compared to the healthy tissue (therefore it is also termed prostate-specific membrane antigen - PSMA) thus representing an excellent biomarker of PCa validated by many publications and clinical studies....
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Preparation and characterization of human cellular cofactors of retroviral integration.
Čermáková, Kateřina ; Maloy Řezáčová, Pavlína (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee)
Lens epithelium-derived growth factor/p75 (LEDGF/p75) is a prominent cellular binding partner of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase. It is a human nuclear protein, which has been implicated in transcriptional regulation and cell survival. The role of LEDGF/p75 in HIV integration is well characterized, the HIV integrase binding domain (IBD) was identified and structural studies, which provide detail information about this interaction, were done. However, very little is known about its physiological function. As a transcriptional co-activator, LEDGF/p75 is implicated not only in HIV replication, but also in human cancer and autoimmunity. Key feature for both, the viral and cellular role of this protein, is its ability to act as a molecular adaptor tethering proteins to the chromatin fiber. Recently, PogZ (Pogo transposable element derived protein with zinc finger domain) was identified and validated as a new cellular interaction partner of LEDGF/p75. It was shown, that their interaction is mediated by IBD of LEDGF/p75 and the C-terminal domain of PogZ. To gain more insight in this interaction, we have initiated structural studies of their complex. Structural information is crucial for understanding the LEDGF/p75 biological role and might help in design of inhibitors selectively blocking...
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Nové inhibitory HIV proteasy: návrh, synthesa a testování aktivity
Schimer, Jiří ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Obšil, Tomáš (referee)
More than 20 years after its discovery HIV protease still remains one of the primary targets in HIV treatment. Currently there are 9 approved protease inhibitors on the market. However, due to immense replication rate and the high error prone nature of reverse transcriptase, resistance to each of them has already been described. Therefore, the search for new protease inhibitors with different binding mode is still active. A novel type of protease inhibitors (1, 4-benzodiazepine analogs) was recently discovered in our laboratory. Even though this new class of inhibitors is highly potent (Ki' in range of 10-9 ), it also has several undesirable qualities, such as low solubility and a high number of stereogenic centers. Primary objective of this study was to try to prepare more soluble compounds with lower number of possible stereoisomers, enzymologically characterize its binding to the wild-type and mutated HIV protease and to determine its structure in the complex with the enzyme. A small library of 1, 4-benzodiazepine inhibitors of HIV protease was synthesized and fully characterized using NMR spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy. The number of stereogenic centers was successfully reduced from 4 to 2 without loosing activity of the inhibitor. The improvement in solubility was always associated with a...
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Study of interactions between protein kinase CaMKK2 and calmodulin using fluorescence spectroscopy.
Mikulů, Martina ; Obšil, Tomáš (advisor) ; Pavlíček, Jiří (referee)
Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent kinases are members of CaMK family, which is involved in CaMK cascade. One of CaMK family members is Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent kinase kinase 2 (CaMKK2), which is activated by Ca2+ /CaM-binding. There are some structural differences between CaMKK2 and other protein kinases, one of them is a structure near αE-helix and autoinhibitory domain. Due to the overlap of autoinhibitory domain and Ca2+ /CaM-binding domain it can be supposed that Ca2+ /CaM-binding induces structural changes near autoinhibitory do- main and thus can affect the accessibility of this region. CaMKK2 W445F mutant, which contains only one tryptophane residue Trp374 close to the αE-helix, was expressed and purified. Structural changes in this region were monitored using tryptophan fluorescence intensity quenching experiments, which can provide information about the accessibility of region surrounding tryptophan residue. The fluorescence of Trp374 was quenched using acrylamide. Comparison of fluorescence quenching experiments performed in the presence and absence of calmodulin suggests that the complex formation induces structural change in the region surrounding Trp374 . 1
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