@article{WagnerKunzChowdhuryetal.2019, author = {Wagner, Fabienne and Kunz, Tobias C. and Chowdhury, Suvagata R. and Thiede, Bernd and Fraunholz, Martin and Eger, Debora and Kozjak-Pavlovic, Vera}, title = {Armadillo repeat-containing protein 1 is a dual localization protein associated with mitochondrial intermembrane space bridging complex}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {14}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {10}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0218303}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202670}, pages = {e0218303}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Cristae architecture is important for the function of mitochondria, the organelles that play the central role in many cellular processes. The mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system (MICOS) together with the sorting and assembly machinery (SAM) forms the mitochondrial intermembrane space bridging complex (MIB), a large protein complex present in mammalian mitochondria that partakes in the formation and maintenance of cristae. We report here a new subunit of the mammalian MICOS/MIB complex, an armadillo repeat-containing protein 1 (ArmC1). ArmC1 localizes both to cytosol and mitochondria, where it associates with the outer mitochondrial membrane through its carboxy-terminus. ArmC1 interacts with other constituents of the MICOS/MIB complex and its amounts are reduced upon MICOS/MIB complex depletion. Mitochondria lacking ArmC1 do not show defects in cristae structure, respiration or protein content, but appear fragmented and with reduced motility. ArmC1 represents therefore a peripheral MICOS/MIB component that appears to play a role in mitochondrial distribution in the cell.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Kunz2021, author = {Kunz, Tobias C.}, title = {Expansion Microscopy (ExM) as a tool to study organelles and intracellular pathogens}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-22333}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-223330}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The resolution of fluorescence light microscopy was long believed to be limited by the diffraction limit of light of around 200-250 nm described in 1873 by Ernst Abbe. Within the last decade, several approaches, such as structured illumination microscopy (SIM), stimulated emission depletion STED and (direct) stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (d)STORM have been established to bypass the diffraction limit. However, such super-resolution techniques enabling a resolution <100 nm require specialized and expensive setups as well as expert knowledge in order to avoid artifacts. They are therefore limited to specialized laboratories. Recently, Boyden and colleagues introduced an alternate approach, termed expansion microscopy (ExM). The latter offers the possibility to perform superresolution microscopy on conventional confocal microscopes by embedding the sample into a swellable hydrogel that is isotropically expanded. Since its introduction in 2015, expansion microscopy has developed rapidly offering protocols for 4x, 10x and 20x expansion of proteins and RNA in cells, tissues and human clinical specimens. Mitochondria are double membrane-bound organelles and crucial to the cell by performing numerous tasks, from ATP production through oxidative phosphorylation, production of many important metabolites, cell signaling to the regulation of apoptosis. The inner mitochondrial membrane is strongly folded forming so-called cristae. Besides being the location of the oxidative phosphorylation and therefore energy conversion and ATP production, cristae have been of great interest because changes in morphology have been linked to a plethora of diseases from cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, to aging and infection. However, cristae imaging remains challenging as the distance between two individual cristae is often below 100 nm. Within this work, we demonstrate that the mitochondrial creatine kinase MtCK linked to fluorescent protein GFP (MtCK-GFP) can be used as a cristae marker. Upon fourfold expansion, we illustrate that our novel marker enables visualization of cristae morphology and localization of mitochondrial proteins relative to cristae without the need for specialized setups. Furthermore, we show the applicability of expansion microscopy for several bacterial pathogens, such as Chlamydia trachomatis, Simkania negevensis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Staphylococcus aureus. Due to differences in bacterial cell walls, we reveal important aspects for the digestion of pathogens for isotropic expansion. We further show that expansion of the intracellular pathogens C. trachomatis and S. negevensis, enables the differentiation between the two distinct developmental forms, catabolic active reticulate bodies (RB) and infectious elementary bodies (EB), on a conventional confocal microscope. We demonstrate the possibility to precisely locate chlamydial effector proteins, such as CPAF or Cdu1, within and outside the chlamydial inclusion. Moreover, we show that expansion microscopy enables the investigation of bacteria, herein S. aureus, within LAMP1 and LC3-II vesicles. With the introduction of the unnatural α-NH2-ω-N3-C6-ceramide, we further present the first approach for the expansion of lipids that may also be suitable for far inaccessible molecule classes like carbohydrates. The efficient accumulation and high labeling density of our functionalized α-NH2-ω-N3-C6-ceramide in both cells and bacteria enables in combination with tenfold expansion nanoscale resolution (10-20 nm) of the interaction of proteins with the plasma membrane, membrane of organelles and bacteria. Ceramide is the central molecule of the sphingolipid metabolism, an important constituent of cellular membranes and regulates many important cellular processes such as differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. Many studies report about the importance of sphingolipids during infection of various pathogens. While the transport of ceramide to Chlamydia has been reported earlier, one of the unanswered questions remaining was if ceramide forms parts of the outer or inner bacterial membrane. Expansion of α-NH2-ω-N3-C6-ceramide enabled the visualization of ceramide in the inner and outer membrane of C. trachomatis and their distance was determined to be 27.6 ± 7.7 nm.}, subject = {Fluoreszenzmikroskopie}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Gupta2007, author = {Gupta, Kapuganti Jagadis}, title = {Nitric oxide in plants: Investigation of synthesispathways and role in defense against avirulent Pseudomonas}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-25545}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2007}, abstract = {Die Zahl der physiologischen Prozesse in Pflanzen, die scheinbar durch NO reguliert werden, hat in den letzten Jahren stark zugenommen. NO {\"u}bernimmt wichtige Rollen f{\"u}r die Steuerung von Wachstum und Entwicklung, f{\"u}r die Pathogenresistenz und bei abiotischem Stress, sowohl in unterirdischen als auch in oberirdischen Organen. In Pflanzen wurden bisher eine Reihe verschiedener enzymatischer und einige wenige nichtenzymatische Synthesewege f{\"u}r NO vorgeschlagen. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit bestand nun darin, die NO Produktion von Pflanzen und speziell von Wurzeln m{\"o}glichst quantitativ zu erfassen und die beteiligten Enzyme zu identifizieren. Dieses Ziel sollte vor allem durch Chemilumineszenz-Messung von NO in der Gasphase (= direkte Chemilumineszenz) erreicht werden, aber auch durch die indirekte Chemilumineszenz, bei welcher Spuren von NO-Oxidationsprodukten wie Nitrat und Nitrit erfasst werden. Als Versuchspflanzen wurden verwendet: Wildtypen von Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi oder cv. Gatersleben; Nitratreduktase-freie, auf Ammonium-N angezogene Mutanten, die keine Nitratreduktase (NR) induzieren; WT Pflanzen, die auf Wolframat angezogen wurden um die Synthese funktionaler MoCo-Enzyme zu unterbinden; eine NO-{\"u}berproduzierende, Nitritreduktase (NiR)-freie Transformante, sowie gelegentlich Gerste, Reis und Erbsen. Eine hypersensitive Reaktion (HR) von Tabak wurde erzeugt durch Druckinfiltration von avirulenten Bakterien des Stammes Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola. Bei Sauerstoffkonzentrationen \&\#8804;1\% wurde exogenes Nitrit auch von v{\"o}llig NR-freien Wurzeln zu NO reduziert. Folglich war NR nicht die einzige NO-Quelle von Wurzeln. Im Gegensatz dazu waren NR-freie Blattstreifen nicht in der Lage, Nitrit zu NO umzusetzen. Die NO-Bildung von Wurzeln wurde außerdem durch Hemmstoffe des mitochondrialen Elektronentransportes, Myxothiazol und Salicylhydroxams{\"a}ure (SHAM) gehemmt, w{\"a}hrend die NO-Produktion von NR-exprimierenden Blattstreifen gegen diese Inhibitoren unempfindlich war. Damit stimmte auch {\"u}berein, dass gereinigte Mitochondrien aus Wurzeln, aber nicht die aus Bl{\"a}ttern Nitrit mit Hilfe von NADH zu NO reduzieren konnten. Die Inhibitor-Wirkung l{\"a}sst darauf schließen, dass in Wurzelmitochondrien beide terminalen Oxidasen and der NO-Bildung beteiligt sind, und dass selbst in NR-haltigen Wurzeln ein großer Teil der Reduktion von Nitrit zu NO durch die Mitochondrien bewerkstelligt wird, und weniger durch NR selbst. Die Unterschiedliche F{\"a}higkeit von Blatt-und Wurzelmitochondrien zur anaeroben Nitrit:NO-Reduktion wurde nicht nur bei Tabak, sondern auch bei Arabidopsis, Gerste und Erbse gefunden. Sie scheint also eine generelle Eigenschaft h{\"o}herer Pflanzen zu sein. Die Nitrit:NO Reduktion wurden auch direkt als Nitrit- bzw. NADH-Verbrauch gemessen. Die Reaktion war außerdem exklusiv mit der Membranfraktion der Mitochondrien assoziert, ohne jede Beteiligung von Matrixkomponenten. Es wurde auch gepr{\"u}ft, ob Wurzelmitochondrien und- gereinigte Membranen NO ausschließlich aus Nitrit produzierten, oder eventuell auch {\"u}ber eine NO-Synthase (NOS). Außerdem wurde untersucht, ob und in welchem Umfang die NO-Messungen durch eine NO-Oxidation verf{\"a}lscht werden konnten. Zus{\"a}tzlich zur Chemilumineszenz wurden Fluoreszenzmessungen mit Diaminofluoreszeinen (DAF) zum Vergleich herangezogen. In Luft produzierten Mitochondrien ja kein Nitrit-abh{\"a}ngiges NO, und eine NOS-Aktivit{\"a}t konnte weder durch direkte noch durch indirekte Chemilumineszenz nachgewiesen werden. Mit DAF-2 oder DAR-4M wurde jedoch eine L-Arginin-abh{\"a}ngige Fluoreszenzerh{\"o}hung beobachtet. Diese scheinbare NOS-Aktivit{\"a}t wurde mit kommerzieller iNOS verglichen und zeigte dabei sehr untypische Antworten auf NOS-Inhibitoren, Substrate und Kofaktoren. Sie wird deshalb als Artefakt beurteilt. Bei Verwendung von iNOS wurden ca. 2/3 des insgesamt produzierten NO zu (Nitrit+Nitrat) oxidiert. Mitochondrien scheinen NO zu verbrauchen, ohne jedoch die Oxidation von NO zu (Nitrit+Nitrat) zu erh{\"o}hen. Vermutlich wird dabei ein fl{\"u}chtiges Intermediat gebildet (eventuell N2O3). In unserer Gruppe wurde k{\"u}rzlich gezeigt, dass der pilzliche Elicitor Cryptogein eine hypersensitive Reaktion (HR) bei Tabak hervorrief, die v{\"o}llig unabh{\"a}ngig von der Gegenwart oder Abwesenheit von NR war. Eine Schlussfolgerung daraus war, dass die NR-abh{\"a}ngige NO-Bildung f{\"u}r die HR keine Rolle spielte. Hier pr{\"a}sentieren wir Hinweise darauf, dass dieses Szenario Cryptogein-spezifisch sein k{\"o}nnte. Pseudomonas syringae pv phaseolicola wurde in Tabakbl{\"a}tter des Wildtyps und derNiR-defizienten, NO-{\"u}berproduzierenden Mutante (clone 271) infiltriert, die entweder auf Ammonium oder auf Nitrat angezogen waren. Es wurde die Entwicklung der L{\"a}sionen, das Bakterienwachstum und die Zuckerkonzentrationen in den Bl{\"a}ttern und im Blattapoplasten verfolgt. Die L{\"a}sionen-Entwicklung war positiv, und das Bakterienwachstum negativ korreliert mit der Nitrat-Ern{\"a}hrung und einer eventuellen NO-Produktion. Das Bakterienwachstum war positiv korreliert mit einer Ammonium-Ern{\"a}hrung und mit apoplastischen Zuckerkonzentrationen. Der Gesamtgehalt an freier + konjugierter Salicyls{\"a}ure (SA) war durch bakterielle Infektion immer drastisch gesteigert, aber ohne klare Korrelation mit einer NO-Produktion. In Gegenwart von Cryptogein war das Wachstum von Pseudomonas fast v{\"o}llig gehemmt. Diese Beobachtungen deuten darauf hin, dass die vermutete gegenseitige Abh{\"a}ngigkeit von Bakterienwachstum, NO-Produktion und der HR sehr komplex ist und nicht auf einfache unifaktorielle Beziehungen reduziert werden kann.}, subject = {Pflanzen}, language = {en} } @article{DeLiraRamanSchulzeetal.2020, author = {De Lira, Maria Nathalia and Raman, Sudha Janaki and Schulze, Almut and Schneider-Schaulies, Sibylle and Avota, Elita}, title = {Neutral Sphingomyelinase-2 (NSM 2) Controls T Cell Metabolic Homeostasis and Reprogramming During Activation}, series = {Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences}, issn = {2296-889X}, doi = {10.3389/fmolb.2020.00217}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-211311}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Neutral sphingomyelinase-2 (NSM2) is a member of a superfamily of enzymes responsible for conversion of sphingomyelin into phosphocholine and ceramide at the cytosolic leaflet of the plasma membrane. Upon specific ablation of NSM2, T cells proved to be hyper-responsive to CD3/CD28 co-stimulation, indicating that the enzyme acts to dampen early overshooting activation of these cells. It remained unclear whether hyper-reactivity of NSM2-deficient T cells is supported by a deregulated metabolic activity in these cells. Here, we demonstrate that ablation of NSM2 activity affects metabolism of the quiescent CD4\(^+\) T cells which accumulate ATP in mitochondria and increase basal glycolytic activity. This supports enhanced production of total ATP and metabolic switch early after TCR/CD28 stimulation. Most interestingly, increased metabolic activity in resting NSM2-deficient T cells does not support sustained response upon stimulation. While elevated under steady-state conditions in NSM2-deficient CD4\(^+\) T cells, the mTORC1 pathway regulating mitochondria size, oxidative phosphorylation, and ATP production is impaired after 24 h of stimulation. Taken together, the absence of NSM2 promotes a hyperactive metabolic state in unstimulated CD4\(^+\) T cells yet fails to support sustained T cell responses upon antigenic stimulation.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Chowdhury2018, author = {Chowdhury, Suvagata Roy}, title = {The Role of MicroRNAs in \(Chlamydia\) Infection}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-155866}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The obligate intracellular pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis is the causative agent of trachoma related blindness and the sexually transmitted pelvic inflammatory disease. Being an obligate intracellular pathogen, C. trachomatis has an intricate dependency on the survival of the host cell. This relationship is indispensible owing to the fact that the pathogen spends a considerable fraction of its biphasic lifecycle within a cytoplasmic vacuole inside the host cell, the so-called chlamydial inclusion. The cellular apoptotic-signalling network is governed by several finely tuned regulatory cascades composed of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins that respond to changes in the cellular homeostasis. In order to facilitate its intracellular survival, Chlamydia has been known to inhibit the premature apoptosis of the host cell via the stabilization of several host anti-apoptotic proteins such as cIAP2 and Mcl-1. While the pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins are the major regulators of the host apoptotic signalling network, a class of the small non-coding RNAs called microRNAs (miRNAs) has increasingly gained focus as a new level of regulatory control over apoptosis. This work investigates the changes in the host miRNA expression profile post Chlamydia infection using a high throughput miRNA deep sequencing approach. Several miRNAs previously associated with the modulation for apoptotic signalling were differentially expressed upon Chlamydia infection in human endothelial cells. Of the differentially regulated miRNAs, miR-30c-5p was of particular interest since it had been previously shown to target the tumor suppressor protein p53. Our lab and others have previously demonstrated that Chlamydia can downregulate the levels of p53 by promoting its proteasomal degradation. This work demonstrates that Chlamydia infection promotes p53 downregulation by increasing the abundance of miR-30c-5p and a successful infection cycle is hindered by a loss of miR-30c-5p. Over the last decade, dedicated research aimed towards a better understanding of apoptotic stimuli has greatly improved our grasp on the subject. While extrinsic stress, deprivation of survival signals and DNA damage are regarded as major proponents of apoptotic induction, a significant responsibility lies with the mitochondrial network of the cell. Mitochondrial function and dynamics are crucial to cell fate determination and dysregulation of either is decisive for cell survival and pathogenesis of several diseases. The ability of the mitochondrial network to perform its essential tasks that include ATP synthesis, anti-oxidant defense, and calcium homeostasis amongst numerous other processes critical to cellular equilibrium is tied closely to the fission and fusion of individual mitochondrial fragments. It is, thus, 8 unsurprising that mitochondrial dynamics is closely linked to apoptosis. In fact, many of the proteins involved regulation of mitochondrial dynamics are also involved in apoptotic signalling. The mitochondrial fission regulator, Drp1 has previously been shown to be transcriptionally regulated by p53 and is negatively affected by a miR- 30c mediated inhibition of p53. Our investigation reveals a significant alteration in the mitochondrial dynamics of Chlamydia infected cells affected by the loss of Drp1. We show that loss of Drp1 upon chlamydial infection is mediated by the miR-30c-5p induced depletion of p53 and results in a hyper-fused architecture of the mitochondrial network. While it is widely accepted that Chlamydia depends on the host cell metabolism for its intracellular growth and development, the role of mitochondria in an infected cell, particularly with respect to its dynamic nature, has not been thoroughly investigated. This work attempts to illustrate the dependence of Chlamydia on miR-30c-5p induced changes in the mitochondrial architecture and highlight the importance of these modulations for chlamydial growth and development.}, subject = {Chlamydienkrankheit}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Bertero2022, author = {Bertero, Edoardo}, title = {Mechano-energetic uncoupling in Barth syndrome cardiomyopathy}, doi = {10.25972/OPUS-25517}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-255176}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2022}, abstract = {In this Doctoral Thesis we investigated the consequences of perturbed mitochondrial calcium handling in the context of a rare human disease, Barth syndrome, in which the altered phospholipid composition of the inner mitochondrial membrane affects the structural organization of several protein complexes, including the mitochondrial calcium uniporter. We discovered that loss of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter in cardiac, but not skeletal muscle mitochondria hinders the calcium-induced adaptation of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism during workload transitions. This mechano-energetic uncoupling impairs the physiological increase in contractile force during physical exercise and might predispose Barth syndrome patients to the development of arrhythmias.}, language = {en} }