@phdthesis{Milenkovic2006, author = {Milenkovic, Vladimir M.}, title = {Structural and functional analysis of bestrophin}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-19372}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2006}, abstract = {Morbus Best (OMIM 153700), auch als vitelliforme Makuladystrophie Typ 2 (VMD2) bezeichnet, ist eine autosomal dominant vererbte Makuladystrophie mit juvenilem Beginn. Die Erkrankung geht einher mit einer Ansammlung von Lipofuscin-{\"a}hnlichem Material im sowie unterhalb des retinalen Pigmentepithels (RPE). Das bei Morbus Best mutierte VMD2- Gen kodiert f{\"u}r ein 585 Aminos{\"a}uren langes Transmembranprotein, genannt Bestrophin, und wird vorwiegend im RPE exprimiert. Das Protein hat eine komplexe Membrantopologie mit 4-6 putativen Transmembrandom{\"a}nen (TMD) und ist vermutlich in den Ca2+-abh{\"a}ngigen Transport von Chloridionen durch die Plasmamembran involviert. Die {\"u}berwiegende Mehrheit der krankheitsassoziierten Ver{\"a}nderungen bei M. Best Patienten sind Missense-Mutationen, die innerhalb der hochkonservierten N-terminalen H{\"a}lfte des Proteins nahe der mutmaßlichen Transmembrandom{\"a}nen akkumulieren. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Pathologie und identifizierter Mutationen bzw. der Chloridkanal- Funktion von Bestrophin-1 ist noch unklar. Um die biologische Funktion von Bestrohin-1 weiter aufzukl{\"a}ren und die zugrunde liegenden molekularen Mechanismen der BMD besser zu verstehen, wurde mit Hilfe des GAL4-basierenden Hefe-Zwei-Hybridsystems (Y2H) nach interagierenden Partnern von Bestrophin-1 gesucht. Ein Screen in einer bovinen RPE cDNABank mit verschiedenen verk{\"u}rzten Fragmenten von Bestrophin-1 ergab 53 m{\"o}gliche interagierende Partner. Allerdings schlossen anschließende Verifikationsexperimente die Kandidatengene aus. Somit deuten die Resultate dieser umfangreichen YH2-Studie daraufhin, dass Bestrophin f{\"u}r das herk{\"o}mmliche Zwei-Hybrid-System nicht geeignet ist. Zum einen k{\"o}nnte dies daran liegen, dass das Protein ein integraler Bestandteil der Membran ist und zum anderen, dass m{\"o}glicherweise der Transport der gew{\"a}hlten Bestrophin-Fragmente zum Nukleus nicht stattfindet. Dies gilt jedoch als Grundvoraussetzung f{\"u}r eine Proteininteraktion im Hefe-2-Hybridsystem. Bestrophin geh{\"o}rt zu einer großen Familie von integralen Membranproteinen, von der bis heute bereits {\"u}ber 100 Mitglieder bei verschiedenen Organismengruppen wie denS{\"a}ugern, Insekten und W{\"u}rmern identifiziert werden konnten. Als auff{\"a}lligste Besonderheit in der Familie der Bestrophine zeigt sich neben einer nicht-variablen RFP-Dom{\"a}ne (Arginin- Phenylalanin-Prolin) eine evolution{\"a}r hochkonservierte N-terminale Region. Um die phylogenetische Beziehung der Bestrophine zu untersuchen sowie den Aufbau und die Funktion von konservierten Motiven innerhalb der Familienmitglieder zu identifizieren, wurde diese konservierte N-terminale Region sowohl bioinformatisch wie auch Chapter Two: Zusammenfassung 4 phylogenetisch weiter untersucht. Die phylogenetische Analyse der Bestrophin Homologen brachte vier evolution{\"a}r konservierte Familienmitglieder in S{\"a}ugern hervor, die jeweils eine starke Homologie zu den Proteinen VMD2, VMD2-L1 bis VMD2-L3 des Menschen zeigen. Die signifikante {\"A}hnlichkeit der Proteinsequenz innerhalb der vier Familienmitglieder l{\"a}sst die Schlussfolgerungen zu, dass zum einen jedes einzelne Familienmitglied ihre eigene evolution{\"a}r konservierte Funktion hat und zum anderen dass die Divergenz des Bestrophins in verschiedene Familienmitglieder zeitlich vor der Divergenz der verschiedenen S{\"a}ugerspezien erfolgt sein muss.}, subject = {Makuladegeneration}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schwebs2024, author = {Schwebs, Marie}, title = {Structure and dynamics of the plasma membrane: a single-molecule study in \(Trypanosoma\) \(brucei\)}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-27569}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-275699}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2024}, abstract = {The unicellular, flagellated parasite Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of human African sleeping sickness and nagana in livestock. In the last decades, it has become an established eukaryotic model organism in the field of biology, as well as in the interdisciplinary field of biophysics. For instance, the dense variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) coat offers the possibility to study the dynamics of GPI-anchored proteins in the plasma membrane of living cells. The fluidity of the VSG coat is not only an interesting object of study for its own sake, but is critically important for the survival of the parasite in the mammalian host. In order to maintain the integrity of the coat, the entire VSG coat is recycled within a few minutes. This is surprisingly fast for a purely diffusive process with the flagellar pocket (FP) as the sole site for endo- and exocytosis. Previous studies characterising VSG dynamics using FRAP reported diffusion coefficients that were not sufficient to to enable fast turnover based on passive VSG randomisation on the trypanosome surface. In this thesis, live-cell single-molecule fluorescence microscopy (SMFM) was employed to elucidate whether VSG diffusion coefficients were priorly underestimated or whether directed forces could be involved to bias VSGs towards the entrance of the FP. Embedding the highly motile trypanosomes in thermo-stable hydrogels facilitated the investigation of VSG dynamics on living trypanosomes at the mammalian host's temperature of 37°C. To allow for a spatial correlation of the VSG dynamics to the FP entrance, a cell line was employed harbouring a fluorescently labelled structure as a reference. Sequential two-colour SMFM was then established to allow for recording and registration of the dynamic and static single-molecule information. In order to characterise VSG dynamics, an algorithm to obtain reliable information from short trajectories was adapted (shortTrAn). It allowed for the quantification of the local dynamics in two distinct scenarios: diffusion and directed motion. The adaptation of the algorithm to the VSG data sets required the introduction of an additional projection filter. The algorithm was further extended to take into account the localisation errors inherent to single-particle tracking. The results of the quantification of diffusion and directed motion were presented in maps of the trypanosome surface, including an outline generated from a super-resolved static structure as a reference. Information on diffusion was displayed in one map, an ellipse plot. The colour code represented the local diffusion coefficient, while the shape of the ellipses provided an indication of the diffusion behaviour (aniso- or isotropic diffusion). The eccentricity of the ellipses was used to quantify deviations from isotropic diffusion. Information on directed motion was shown in three maps: A velocity map, representing the amplitude of the local velocities in a colour code. A quiver plot, illustrating the orientation of directed motion, and a third map which indicated the relative standard error of the local velocities colour-coded. Finally, a guideline based on random walk simulations was used to identify which of the two motion scenarios dominated locally. Application of the guideline to the VSG dynamics analysed by shortTrAn yielded supermaps that showed the locally dominant motion mode colour-coded. I found that VSG dynamics are dominated by diffusion, but several times faster than previously determined. The diffusion behaviour was additionally characterised by spatial heterogeneity. Moreover, isolated regions exhibiting the characteristics of round and elongated traps were observed on the cell surface. Additionally, VSG dynamics were studied with respect to the entrance of the FP. VSG dynamics in this region displayed similar characteristics compared to the remainder of the cell surface and forces biasing VSGs into the FP were not found. Furthermore, I investigated a potential interference of the attachment of the cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane with the dynamics of VSGs which are anchored to the outer leaflet of the membrane. Preliminary experiments were conducted on osmotically swollen trypanosomes and trypanosomes depleted for a microtubule-associated protein anchoring the subpellicular microtubule cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane. The measurements revealed a trend that detachment of the cytoskeleton could be associated with a reduction in the VSG diffusion coefficient and a loss of elongated traps. The latter could be an indication that these isolated regions were caused by underlying structures associated with the cytoskeleton. The measurements on cells with an intact cytoskeleton were complemented by random walk simulations of VSG dynamics with the newly determined diffusion coefficient on long time scales not accessible in experiments. Simulations showed that passive VSG randomisation is fast enough to allow for a turnover of the full VSG coat within a few minutes. According to an estimate based on the known rate of endocytosis and the newly determined VSG diffusion coefficient, the majority of exocytosed VSGs could escape from the FP to the cell surface without being immediately re-endocytosed.}, subject = {Trypanosoma brucei}, language = {en} }