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Borrelia - host interactions: zoom in on the big picture.
STRNAD, Martin
The thesis was written with the intention to bring together cutting-edge imaging methods and applications in order to illustrate how imaging can answer pathogenesis-related questions in Lyme disease at various resolution scale. Correlative light and electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy-based single-molecule force spectroscopy and solution nuclear magnetic resonance have been used to shed light on the underlying mechanisms associated with Lyme disease Borrelia infection. Specifically, the key molecular players and interactions responsible for the variance in the pathogenicity and disease outcome of Borrelia species have been studied. The rationale behind such studies was highlighted by review articles, which are part of the thesis.
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Comparison of specific expression in bacterial and yeast biofilms
Kicko, Peter ; Palková, Zdena (advisor) ; Lichá, Irena (referee)
The development and maintenance of biofilm is a complex process that is based on a change in genetic expression. The biofilm formation is observed in some prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. During its formation, cell aggregation occurs, extracellular matrix is created and we observe the formation of metabolically differentiable cells, often with increased resistance to antimicrobial drugs. This work focuses on important steps leading to biofilm formation associated with specific gene expression and highlights the similar and different processes between bacterial and yeast cells. The work begins by comparison of cell signalling, it continues by comparing the expression of the adhesive proteins and extracellular enzymes, synthesis of exopolysaccharides, formation of extracellular nucleic acid, and in the last chapter we focused on the formation of persistors. The aim of this work is to connect the acquired information and to contribute to the understanding the complexity of this process. Key words: biofilm, signalling, adhesins, exopolysaccharides, extracellular nucleic acid, persistor
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Comparison of specific expression in bacterial and yeast biofilms
Kicko, Peter ; Palková, Zdena (advisor) ; Lichá, Irena (referee)
The development and maintenance of biofilm is a complex process that is based on a change in genetic expression. The biofilm formation is observed in some prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. During its formation, cell aggregation occurs, extracellular matrix is created and we observe the formation of metabolically differentiable cells, often with increased resistance to antimicrobial drugs. This work focuses on important steps leading to biofilm formation associated with specific gene expression and highlights the similar and different processes between bacterial and yeast cells. The work begins by comparison of cell signalling, it continues by comparing the expression of the adhesive proteins and extracellular enzymes, synthesis of exopolysaccharides, formation of extracellular nucleic acid, and in the last chapter we focused on the formation of persistors. The aim of this work is to connect the acquired information and to contribute to the understanding the complexity of this process. Key words: biofilm, signalling, adhesins, exopolysaccharides, extracellular nucleic acid, persistor
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Crystallographic study of the iron-regulated outer membrane lipoprotein (FrpD) from Neisseria meningitidis
SVIRIDOVA, Ekaterina
Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) is a Gram-negative commensal bacterium colonizing nasopharynx of about 10 % of healthy individuals, which can cause invasive diseases, such sepsis and meningitis, upon occasional penetration into bloodstream. Pathogenesis of N. meningitidis appears to be directly related to conditions of limited iron availability. Under these conditions two proteins of unknown function: FrpC and FrpD, are synthesized. FrpD is a highly conserved lipoprotein of N. meningitidis anchored to the bacterial outer membrane. It is known that FrpD tightly binds the FrpC protein, which belongs to the Repeat-in-Toxin (RTX) protein family and may act as bacterial exotoxin. However, the mechanism of FrpD-FrpC interaction and the exact function of this complex are unknown due to the absence of structural information on these proteins. Therefore, we set out to determine the structure of FrpD and provide insights into its interaction mechanism with FrpC and structure-functional relationships of these two proteins. We determined the first crystal and solution structures of the FrpD protein. We found that atomic structures of FrpD reveal a novel protein fold. We uncovered the structure-function relationships underlying the mechanism of interaction between the FrpD and FrpC proteins and tested the putative function of the FrpD-FrpC1-414 complex in vitro. Finally, we proposed the putative function of the FrpD-FrpC1-414 complex as a new minor adhesin of N. meningitidis, which mediates the bacterial adhesion to the host epithelial cells and facilitate the colonization. Our work constitutes the first step in clarifying the molecular basis of the FrpD-FrpC interaction and sets the base for further investigation of the role of FrpD and FrpC in the virulence mechanism of N. meningitidis.
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