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Significance of the S1 subsite of rhomboid intramembrane proteases for catalysis and inhibitor design
Kučerová, Jolana ; Stříšovský, Kvido (advisor) ; Hodek, Petr (referee)
This thesis focuses on the development of specific inhibitors of rhomboid intramembrane proteases. These inhibitors are needed for the cell-biological investigation of rhomboid proteases and their potential pharmacological targeting, as rhomboid proteases have been associated with various diseases, such as malaria, Parkinson's disease, cancer or toxoplasmosis. The thesis advisor's laboratory has recently discovered the first such group of compounds, the peptidyl ketoamides. To exploit them fully, it is necessary to examine their properties and the possibilities of their modifications. In this work, synthetic fluorogenic substrates and enzyme kinetics were used to examine the possibilities of exploiting the S1 subsite in the rhomboid active site for rhomboid inhibitor design. Furthermore, using variants of these substrates modified by unnatural amino acids in the P1 position, the mechanism of water transfer to the rhomboid active site was investigated. Comparison of cleavage rates of ten fluorogenic substrates modified in the P1 position revealed that the E. coli rhomboid protease GlpG strongly prefers side chains -CH2-CH3 and -CH3 in the P1 position (i.e. binding into the S1 subsite). This trend was apparent also with peptidyl ketoamide inhibitors. The present substrate and inhibitor study suggests...
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Scavenger receptor - trypsine-like protease IrSRP1 from the tick \kur{Ixodes ricinus}
SINGEROVÁ, Barbora
Scavenger receptors are a large family of structurally diverse molecules that have been implicated in a range of biological functions. In this work, a newly identified multi-domain scavenger receptor-serine protease IrSRP-1 from the tick Ixodes ricinus is characterized. IrSRP-1 is related to the serine protease Sp22D from the mosquito Anopheles gambiae. IrSRP-1 is expressed mainly in the tick gut but also in hemocytes, Malpighian tubules, tracheas and ovaries of fully fed females. This was confirmed with Western blots and immunohistological labeling with antibodies raised against recombinantly expressed IrSRP-1 trypsine-like domain. According to acquired qRT-PCR profiles relative expression of IrSRP-1 is strongly up-regulated during female feeding and remains unchanged in ticks experimentally injected with various microbes. Functional characterization by RNA interference revealed that lowering IrSRP1 expression leads to a higher mortality rate during tick female feeding.
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Molecular and biochemical characterization of serine protease SmSP1 in \kur{Schistosoma mansoni}
OPAVSKÝ, David
SmSP1 is a chimerical serine protease consisted of three domains (cub, LDLa and trypsin-like) and found in Schistosoma mansoni. Its characterization was performed by molecular techniques such as PCR screen, qRT-PCR and RNA interference (RNAi) to gain information about expression profile, level expression and susceptibility to RNAi. Further, protein expression was carried out to gain an antigen for immunization and recombinant for biochemical studies. Results of PCR screen and qRT-PCR suggested possible function of SmSP1 in egg and adult stages but SmSP1 gene was not found susceptible to RNAi in NTS. Recombinant from E. coli was successfully used for immunization. Active recombinant was likely expressed in Pichia pastoris but expression conditions are unstable and expression optimization is necessary.
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