Biologische Hochschulschriften (Goethe-Universität)
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Anthropogenic activities have a major impact on our planet and rapidly drive biodiversity loss in ecosystems at a global scale. Particularly over the last century, rising CO2 emissions significantly raised global temperatures and increased the intensity and frequency of droughts and heatwaves. Additionally, agricultural land use and fossil fuel combustion contribute to the continuous release of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into ecosystems worldwide through extensive fertilization and deposition from the atmosphere. It is important to understand how these rapid changes affect the evolution of plant populations and their adaptive potential. Adaptation by natural selection (i.e., adaptive evolution) within a few generations is an essential process as a response to rapid environmental changes. Rapid evolution of plant populations can be detected by using the so-called resurrection approach. Here, diaspores (i.e., seeds) from a population are collected before (ancestors) and after (descendants) a potential selection pressure (e.g., consecutive years of drought or changes in nutrient supply). Comparing phenotypes of ancestors and descendants in a common environment such as an outside garden, greenhouse, or climate chamber, may then reveal evolutionary changes. Ideally, plants are first grown in a common environment for an intermediate refresher generation to reduce parental and storage effects.
The aim of this thesis was to investigate the occurrence of adaptive evolution in natural plant populations in response to rapidly changing environments over the past three decades. I conducted three experiments using the resurrection approach to generate comprehensive data on the adaptive processes that acted on three plant populations from three different species over the last three decades. Furthermore, I filled knowledge gaps in plant evolutionary ecology and conceptually developed the resurrection approach further.
In Chapter I, I performed a novel approach by testing for adaptive evolution in natural plant populations using the resurrection approach in combination with in-situ transplantations. I cultivated seedlings from ancestors (23 – 26 years old) and contemporary descendants of three perennial species (Melica ciliata, Leontodon hispidus and Clinopodium vulgare) from calcareous grasslands in the greenhouse and In Chapter III, I assessed the reproducibility of phenotypic differences between genotypes among three different growth facilities (climate chamber, greenhouse, and outdoor garden). I also evaluated differences in phenotypic expression between plants grown after one vs. two intermediate generations (i.e., refresher generations). I performed this experiment within the framework of the resurrection approach and compared ancestors and descendants of the same population of Leontodon hispidus.
I observed very strong differences among plants growing in the different growth facilities. I found a significant interaction between the growth facility and the temporal origin (ancestors vs. descendants): descendants had significantly larger rosettes than ancestors only in the greenhouse and they flowered significantly later than ancestors exclusively in the climate chamber. I did not find significant differences between intermediate generations within the growth facilities. Overall, Chapter III shows that the use of a particular experimental system can dictate the presence and magnitude of phenotypic differences. This implies that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence when it comes to investigating genetically based trait differentiation among plant origins (in space or time). Experimental systems should be carefully designed to provide meaningful conditions, ideally mimicking the environmental conditions of the population’s origins. Finally, growing a second intermediate generation did not impact the genetic differences of ancestors and descendants within the environments, supporting the idea that only one intermediate generation may be sufficient to reduce detectable parental and storage effects.
The resurrection approach allows a better understanding of rapid plant adaptation, but some limitations deserve to be highlighted. I only studied one population per species, and Chapters II and III only focus on one population of L. hispidus, which is also hampering generalizations, as adaptive potential can vary greatly among populations of the same species. I only compared the ancestral genotypes to one descendant sample with a long time span in between (26 – 28 years), which makes it hard to pinpoint the selection agents that caused the genetic differentiation among the sampling years. Hence, closely monitoring biotic and abiotic factors of the studied populations between the ancestral and descendant sampling in future studies, would make identifying the responsible selection pressures more precise. I also recommend sampling multiple populations over consecutive years to improve the robustness of results and make generalizations more approachable.Furthermore, combining the resurrection approach with other methods such as in-situ transplantations will be valuable to offset the limitation that adaptations cannot be proven under artificial conditions (e.g., in the greenhouse).
The nucleus reuniens drives hippocampal goal‑directed trajectory sequences for route planning
(2023)
Goal-directed spatial navigation requires accurate estimates of one’s position and destination, as well as careful planning of a route between them to avoid known obstacles in the environment. Despite its general importance across species, the neural circuitry supporting the ability for route planning remains largely unclear. Previous studies described that place cells in the hippocampal CA1 encode the animal's next movement direction (Wood et al., 2000; Ito et al., 2015) and upcoming navigational routes (Pfeiffer & Foster, 2013). However, it has been shown that part of the CA1 activity representing the animal’s future behaviors is not necessarily generated in the hippocampus, but is derived from the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) via the nucleus reuniens of the thalamus (RE) (Ito et al., 2015). Notably, the importance of the PFC in navigation has been demonstrated in several studies, including the recent finding of a goal map in the orbitofrontal cortex (Basu et al., 2021). Therefore, I hypothesized that information flow from the PFC to CA1 via the RE plays a key role in route planning.
To assess the animals' route planning ability, I designed a new navigation task in which a rat has to navigate to a fixed target location from various starting positions in an arena. Furthermore, by adding an L-shaped wall in the maze and removing all light sources in the experimental room, this task forced the animals to plan a wall-avoiding route without relying on direct sensory perceptions. I confirmed that rats could learn this task successfully, memorizing the wall location and taking a smooth wall-avoidance route. To test the role of the RE, I inactivated RE neurons by expressing the inhibitory opsin SwiChR++, which resulted in a significant deficit in the animal’s route planning ability, taking a longer non-smooth path to the destination. By contrast, this manipulation did not affect navigation performance when a straight goal-directed route was available, suggesting a specific role of the RE in route planning. I further found that DREADDs-mediated inactivation of neurons in the bilateral hippocampi resulted in a similar deficit in route planning ability, implying cooperation between the RE and the hippocampus.
I finally examined the activity of hippocampal CA1 neurons with and without RE inactivation. While neurons in the hippocampus exhibited brief trajectory sequences corresponding to the animal’s subsequent goal-directed journey, I found that this goal-directed bias of trajectory events was significantly reduced by RE inactivation, likely associated with route-planning deficits in these animals.
Altogether, this dissertation demonstrates the role of the RE from both behavioral and neural coding perspectives, identifying a pivotal circuit element supporting the animal’s route-planning ability.
Methods using environmental DNA to explore and analyze biodiversity from previously unexplored habitats and ecosystems have become increasingly popular in recent years. This is particularly due to the potential reduction in necessary taxonomic expertise, the opportunity to assess microorganismal communities, and decreased time investments required to cover large spatial extents. In forests, the surface of tree bark is an important habitat for epiphytic diversity. Because of the large surface area rich in micro-niches, the seasonal stability of the substrate, and the longevity of trees, tree bark surfaces provide an ideal habitat for many species. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding of their communities and the environmental drivers behind the community assembly. These missing links hinder the exploration of the forest microbiome as a whole and limits our understanding of functions of a large forest habitat and its connections to other forest microbiomes. With a holistic eDNA metabarcoding approach, encompassing samples of three major taxonomic groups (e.g. bacteria, fungi, and green algae), as well as simultaneous collections from multiple forest habitats we can contribute to closing these gaps and increase our knowledge of the forest microbiome.
My dissertation is set within the framework of the Biodiversity Exploratories and was conducted in four parts: I. the establishment of an eDNA metabarcoding workflow to reveal the local diversity of the bark surface microbiome; II. the upscaling of the method to large geographic and environmental gradients to uncover the drivers of the microbiome; III. the integration of soil and bark samples to investigate compositional differences in two important forest habitats; IV. the evaluation of eDNA metabarcoding as a tool for biodiversity assessments of lichen diversity in forests.
In the first part, I developed a simple, cost-effective and fast sampling strategy to acquire eDNA samples from the bark of trees in forest ecosystems. Using readily available medical-specimen-collection swabs I sampled bark surfaces of individual trees in Central German forests and used metabarcoding to amplify marker genes of green algae, fungi and bacteria. From the sequencing reads I calculated the first diversity estimates of the major organismal groups of bark surface microbiomes from Central European forests. Overall the methodology produced reliable results, allowing for an expanded sampling in the second part.
In the second part of the dissertation, I expanded the sampling based on the results of part one. I collected bark surface samples from the three regions of the Biodiversity Exploratories covering large spatial and environmental gradients representative for Central European forests. The collection included composite samples from 150 plots and over 750 trees. Utilizing measurements of climatic and forest structure variables provided by the Biodiversity Exploratories, as well as my own community data, I identified the biotic and abiotic drivers behind alpha and beta diversity of the bark surface microbiome.
In the third part, I studied the differences between the bark surface as an unexplored and the soil as an example of a well characterized forest microbiome. Using only the fungal part of the large sampling campaign and soil samples obtained from the same plots at the same time, I assessed the commonalities and differences of the micro-communities of these distinct forest niches. Furthermore, I included two coniferous and one deciduous tree species to examine, if the effect of tree species, previously shown for soil microbiomes, also holds true for the bark surface.
In the last part of my dissertation, I used eDNA in a more applied way as a tool in biodiversity assessments of lichenized fungi. I compared the results from eDNA metabarcoding to an expert floristic mapping conducted in the same plots in 2007/2008. I assigned functional guilds to the fungal taxa obtained in the large sampling campaign and used a subset that was assigned as lichenized fungi.
In conclusion, I showed that eDNA metabarcoding is a valuable tool to reveal the unknown diversity of microorganisms in forest ecosystems. In particular, my results advance our understanding of the bark surface microbiome, an underexplored habitat within forests. The tightly linked interactions of the three major microbial groups underline that studies need to take holistic approaches across multiple taxonomic groups to deepen our understanding of processes governing the assembly of microbiomes. Results from my dissertation may serve as a foundation to inform hypotheses addressing the functions of forest microbiomes. The massive diversity data collected may also contribute to closing the gap in our understanding of macro-organisms and micro-organisms with respect to diversity distributions and patterns of richness, and serve as a baseline for predictions of biodiversity responses under future anthropogenic change.
Biotechnological processes offer better production conditions for a wide variety of goods of industrial interest. The production of aromatic compounds, for example, involves molecules of great value for cosmetic, plastic, agrochemical and pharmaceutic industries. However, the yield of such processes frequently prevents a proper implementtation that would allow the replacement of traditional production processes.
Numerous rational engineering approaches have been attempted to enhance metabolic pathways associated with desired products. Unfortunately, genetic modifications and heterologous pathway expression often lead to a higher metabolic burden on the producing organisms, ultimately leading to reduced production levels and fitness.
This project utilised adaptive laboratory evolution to better understand the development of synthetic cooperative consortia, using S. cerevisiae as a model organism. Specifically, a synthetic cooperative consortium was developed around the exchange of lysine and tyrosine, which was subjected to adaptive laboratory evolution aiming to induce mutations that would improve the system’s fitness either by enhanced production or upgraded stress resistance. Consequently, the mutant strains isolated after the evolution rounds were sequenced to identify relevant variations that could be related to the growth and production phenotypes observed.
The insights derived from this project are expected to contribute to further developing synthetic cooperative consortia with utilitarian purposes.
Hyperparasitic fungi on black mildews (Meliolales, Ascomycota) : hidden diversity in the tropics
(2023)
Meliolales (Sordariomycetes, Ascomycota) is a group of obligate plant parasitic microfungi mainly distributed in the tropics and subtropics. Meliolalean fungi are commonly known as “black mildews”, as they form black, superficial hyphae on the surface of vegetative and reproductive organs of vascular plants. They are considered biotrophic parasites, and the infections caused by black mildews can lead to a decrease in the photosynthetic activity of plants, as well as to an increase in the temperature and respiration rate of their leaves.
Meliolales are frequently parasitized by hyperparasitic fungi, i.e., parasitic fungi that have parasitic hosts. These hyperparasites are all Ascomycota and belong mainly to the Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes. Although hyperparasites represent a megadiverse group, species were only described by morphology until 1980, and the systematic position of more than 60 % of known species is still unclear. In addition, there are no DNA reference sequences available in public databases for any of the species of hyperparasites of Meliolales, and no ecological studies have been done up to now.
Before this study, no exact number of hyperparasitic fungi growing on colonies of black mildews existed. Here, we present a checklist including 189 species of fungi known to be hyperparasitic on Meliolales, but the number of existing species is likely to be even higher. The elaboration of this species checklist laid the foundations for this investigation, as it helped to understand the present state of knowledge of hyperparasitic fungi on Meliolales worldwide.
For the present study, fresh specimens of leaves infected with colonies of Meliolales and hyperparasites were opportunistically collected at 32 collection sites in Western Panama and Benin, West Africa, in 2020 and 2022, respectively. In total, 100 samples of plant specimens infected with black mildews were collected, of which 58 samples were parasitized by hyperparasitic fungi. 31 species and morphospecies of hyperparasitic fungi were identified. In addition, 35 historical specimens, including 12 type specimens, were examined for the present work.
DNA of hyperparasitic fungi was isolated directly from conidia, synnemata, apothecia, perithecia or pseudothecia of fresh and dried specimens. The main challenges faced by scientists in doing molecular studies of hyperparasitic fungi are related to the fact that the hyperparasitic fungi are intermingled with tissues of the meliolalean hosts and other organisms present in a given sample. This makes the isolation of DNA exclusively from the hyperparasite difficult. Moreover, hyperparasitic fungi on Meliolales are biotrophs and cannot be grown axenically. The hosts themselves are also biotrophic, further complicating DNA isolation from either partner. These factors have contributed to a lack of reference sequences in public databases. After more than 100 attempts, DNA of 20 specimens of hyperparasitic fungi, representing seven species, has been isolated in the context of the present investigation. Three partial nuclear gene regions were amplified and sequenced: nrLSU, nrSSU and nrITS. The datasets were assembled for phylogenetic analyses applying Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. DNA sequences of hyperparasitic fungi on Meliolales were generated for the first time in the context of the present investigation.
Hyperparasitic fungi on Meliolales do not represent a single systematic group, but a polyphyletic ecological guild of fungi. Because of this huge diversity, only the systematics of species of perithecioid hyperparasites, as well as of the species of the genera Atractilina and Spiropes known to be hyperparasitic on black mildews was discussed in this thesis, as they represented the most common groups of fungi found in Benin and Panama. The results indicated, for example, the systematic position of Dimerosporiella cephalosporii and Paranectriella minuta in the Sordariomycetes and Dothideomycetes, respectively. In addition, the first record of a hyperparasitic fungus of black mildews in the Lecanoromycetes, namely Calloriopsis herpotricha, is reported here. The systematics of Atractilina parasitica and of some species of Spiropes is also discussed here.
In the context of the present investigation, four species new to science were described. They are presented with detailed descriptions, photos and scientific illustrations. Taxonomic studies of this thesis also generated seven new synonyms, nine new records for Benin, seven for Panama, one for Africa and two for mainland America, as well as the confirmation of one anamorph-teleomorph connection by molecular sequence data.
The ecology of hyperparasitic fungi on Meliolales is complex and far from being completely understood. The hypothesis of host specificity between hyperparasitic fungi, their meliolalean hosts and their plant hosts was tested for the first time, through a tritrophic network analysis. Results indicate that hyperparasites of Meliolales are generalists concerning genera of Meliolales, but apparently specialists at the level of order. In addition, hyperparasitic fungi tend to be found alongside their meliolalean hosts, suggesting a pantropical distribution.
Die Zahl der gramnegativen Bakterien auf der WHO-Liste der Antibiotikaresistenzen hat in den letzten Jahrzehnten erheblich zugenommen. Schätzungen zufolge wird die Antibiotikaresistenz bis 2050 tödlicher sein als Krebs. Die äußere Membran gramnegativer Bakterien ist aufgrund ihres wichtigsten Strukturbestandteils, des Lipopolysaccharids (LPS), sehr anpassungsfähig an Umweltveränderungen. Das LPS macht gramnegative Bakterien von Natur aus resistent gegen viele Antibiotika und führt somit zu Antibiotikaresistenz. Der bakterielle ATP-bindende Kassettentransporter (ABC-Transporter) MsbA spielt eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Regulierung der bakteriellen Außenmembran, indem er das Kern-LPS durch ATP-Hydrolyse über die Innenmembran von gramnegativen Bakterien flockt. Darüber hinaus fungiert diese Floppase als Efflux-Pumpe, indem sie Medikamente durch die innere Membran transportiert, was sie zu einem interessanten Ziel für Medikamente macht. Vor kurzem wurden zwei verschiedene Klassen von MsbA-Inhibitoren entdeckt: (1) Tetrahydrobenzothiophene (TBT), die den LPS-Transport aufheben, und (2) Chinolinderivate, die sowohl die ATP-Hydrolyse als auch die LPS-Translokation blockieren. Darüber hinaus hat die Bestimmung der 3D-Struktur von MsbA durch Rontgen- und Kryo-EM mehrere interessante Zustände der Floppase ergeben. Die Kernspinresonanzspektroskopie ist eine hervorragende biophysikalische Methode zur Ergänzung der vorhandenen 3D-Strukturdaten. Insbesondere ermöglicht die Festkörper-NMR die Untersuchung von Membranproteinen in einer nativen Umgebung (z. B. in einer Lipiddoppelschicht). In der Vergangenheit hat unser Labor mithilfe der Festkörper-NMR einige detaillierte Mechanismen von MsbA aufgedeckt. Trotz der zahlreichen Fortschritte bei der Untersuchung der ABC-Transporterprotein-Superfamilie ist der spezifische Prozess der Substrattranslokation von MsbA noch immer unbekannt. Es wird angenommen, dass dieser Translokationsprozess über die Kopplungshelices (CHs) erfolgt, die sich zwischen der Transmembranregion (TMD) und der Nukleotidbindungsdomäne (NBD) befinden. Nukleotid-Bindungsdomäne (NBD). Zu diesem Zweck wird dem Zusammenspiel zwischen der TMD und der NBD über die CHs besondere Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet, mit dem Ziel, den Prozess der Substrattranslokation mithilfe von funktionellen Assays und Festkörper-NMR zu verstehen. Bei letzterem wurden spezifische Reporter in die CHs eingeführt, um Konformationsänderungen in 2D-spektroskopischen Daten zu verfolgen. Darüber hinaus wurde zeitaufgelöste NMR eingesetzt, um die Auswirkungen verschiedener Substrate in der TMD während der ATP-Hydrolyse in der NBD sichtbar zu machen. Die einzigartigen Reporter in den CHs haben Konformationsänderungen in bestimmten katalytischen Zuständen gezeigt. Darüber hinaus scheinen verschiedene Substrate die Kinetik der ATP-Hydrolyse zu beeinflussen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass einige Substrate einen bevorzugten katalytischen Zustand innerhalb des ATP-Hydrolyse Zyklus aufweisen, der möglicherweise einen gekoppelten oder ungekoppelten Kinasemechanismus hat. Diese Ergebnisse könnten verschiedene Einblicke in die molekulare Struktur potenzieller neuer Antibiotika liefern.
Discrepancies between knockdown and knockout animal model phenotypes have long stood as a perplexing phenomenon. Several mechanisms explaining such observations have been proposed, namely the toxicity or the off-target effects of the knockdown reagents, as well as, in certain cases, genetic robustness – an organism's ability to maintain its phenotype despite genetic perturbations. In addition to these explanations, transcriptional adaptation (TA), a phenomenon defined as an event whereby a mutation in one gene leads to transcriptional upregulation or downregulation of another, adapting, gene or genes expression, has been recently proposed as an alternative explanation for the conflicting knockdown and knockout phenotype paradox.
Since its discovery in 2015, TA's precise mechanism remains a subject of ongoing research. Majority of evidence suggests that mutant mRNA degradation plays a central in TA. Epigenetic remodeling is also thought to play a role, as evidenced by an increase in active histone marks at the transcription start sites of the adapting genes. Whether mRNA degradation is indeed the key player in TA remains debated. Furthermore, it is still unknown how exactly TA develops, what adapting genes it targets, and whether genomic mutations that render mutant mRNA sensitive to degradation are required for TA to occur.
Throughout the experiments described in this Dissertation, I have designed an inducible TA system where TA can be triggered on demand and its effects on the cell’s transcriptome followed through time. I have demonstrated that degradation-prone transgenes, once induced and expressed, can be efficiently degraded, resulting in the protein loss-independent upregulation of adapting genes via TA. Adapting genes with higher degree of sequence similarity become upregulated faster than genes with lower degree of sequence similarity. Further functionality of this approach to study TA is limited by the leakiness of the inducible gene expression system; however, constitutively expressed degradation-prone transgenes were used to demonstrate TA in human cells.
In addition, I have developed an approach to target wild-type cytoplasmic mRNAs without altering the cell’s genome and reported a TA-like phenomenon, which manifested as adapting gene upregulation not relying on mutations in other genes. Cytoplasmic mRNA cleavage with CRISPR-Cas13d triggered a TA-like response in three different gene models: Actg1 knockdown, Ctnna1 knockdown, and Nckap1 knockdown. After comparing two different modes of triggering TA, CRISPR-Cas9 knockout versus CRISPR-Cas13d knockdown, I reported little overlap between the dysregulated genes and suggested that diverse mRNA degradation modes led to distinct TA responses. In addition, the transcriptional increase of Actg2 caused by CRISPR-Cas13d-mediated Actg1 mRNA cleavage did not require chromatin accessibility changes.
Experiments and genetic tools described in this dissertation investigated how TA develops from its earliest onset, how it affects the global transcriptome of the cell, as well as provided compelling evidence for an mRNA degradation-central TA mechanism. I have created tools to study both direct and indirect TA gene targets and unveiled important insights into the temporal dynamics of TA. Genes with higher sequence similarity were found to be upregulated more rapidly than those with lower similarity. Furthermore, it was revealed that the epigenetic properties of TA responses vary depending on the triggering mechanism. Cas13d-mediated degradation of wild-type mRNAs led to immediate transcriptional enhancement independent of epigenetic changes, which stood in contrast to previously measured alterations in chromatin accessibility in CRISPR-Cas9 mutants. This research has thus significantly advanced our knowledge of TA and provided valuable tools and findings that contribute to the broader understanding of gene expression regulation in response to mRNA degradation.
The simultaneous inhibition of HDACs and BET proteins has shown promising anti-proliferative effects against different cancer types, including the difficult to treat pancreatic cancer. In this work, the strategy of concurrently targeting HDACs and BET proteins was pursued by developing different types of dual inhibitors.
By developing a novel scaffold that selectively inhibits HDAC1/2 together with BET proteins in cells, an effective tool for the investigation of pancreatic cancer, and other diseases which are sensitive to epigenetic processes, was created. The compound’s small size further gives the opportunity to further develop the inhibitor towards optimized pharmacokinetic properties, potentially resulting in a drug for cancer treatment.
A second novel approach that was pursued, was the development of a small-molecule degrader, targeting HDACs and BET proteins. Through synthesizing a variety of different molecules, a compound that was capable of lowering BRD4 levels and, at the same time, increasing histone acetylation was developed. While additional mechanistic investigations are needed to verify the degradation, the potent antiproliferative effects in pancreatic cancer cells encourage further studies following this alternative new strategy.
Nukleinsäuren und Proteine bilden zusammen mit den Kohlenhydraten und Lipiden die vier großen Gruppen der Biomoleküle. Dabei setzen sich Nukleinsäuren aus einer variierenden Abfolge von Nukleotiden zusammen. Gleiches trifft auf die Proteine zu, wobei deren Bausteine als Aminosäuren bezeichnet werden. Die Reihenfolge der Bausteine bestimmt zusammen mit der Interaktion, die die einzelnen Bestandteile untereinander eingehen, deren Funktion. Um deren Wirkungsweise verstehen und nachverfolgen zu können, wurden unterschiedliche Methoden entwickelt, zu welchen auch die EPR-Spektroskopie gehört.
Durch den Einbau modifizierter Nukleotide oder Aminosäuren lassen sich Spinlabel in die sonst EPR-inaktiven Nukleinsäuren und Proteine einführen. Diese Marker lassen sich grundsätzlich in drei Klassen unterteilen (Metallionen, Nitroxidradikale und TAMs), weisen aber immer mindestens ein ungepaartes Elektronenpaar auf. Die Festphasensynthese ist eine Standardprozedur zur Herstellung von markierten Nukleinsäuren und Proteinen. Allerdings führen die Bedingungen dieser Methode zumindest teilweise zur Zersetzung der Nitroxidradikale, die dieser Arbeit zugrunde liegen, wenn sie direkt während der Synthese eingebaut werden. Der direkte Einbau ist aber in vielen Fällen essenziell, um bestimmte Eigenschaften zu erzielen.
Um den Abbau des Nitroxidradikals während der Festphasensynthese zu verhindern, kann dieses vorübergehend mit einer Schutzgruppe versehen werden, welche sich anschließend wieder abspalten lässt.
Der Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit liegt hierbei auf der Darstellung neuer photolabil geschützter Spinlabel zur Synthese markierter Proteine und Nukleinsäuren.
Basierend auf den Nukleotiden Uridin und Cytidin konnten zwei für die RNA-Synthese vorgesehene Phosphoramidite synthetisiert werden, welche jeweils an der 5-Position des Pyrimidinrings mit einem photolabil geschützten Spinlabel auf Basis von TPA versehen waren. Durch Einbau des Uridinderivats in das Neomycin-Aptamer konnte zudem der Einfluss der Spinlabel auf die lokale Struktur mit Hilfe von in-line probing gezeigt werden.
Der gleiche TPA-Label konnte ebenfalls mit einem Lysin gekuppelt werden, welches später über ein orthogonales tRNA/Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase Paares in eine Polypeptid eingebaut werden sollte. In Kooperation mit dem AK Grininger ist auch ein nicht geschützter Spinlabel zur kupferfreien Markierung der Fettsäuresynthase entstanden. Abschließend war noch die Synthese eines auf Phenylalanin basierenden photolabil geschützten Spinlabel in Arbeit, welcher jedoch nicht beendet werden konnte. Dieser sollte mittels Festphasensynthese einbaubar sein, weswegen er am N-Terminus mit Fmoc geschützt ist.
Die vorliegende Doktorarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Untersuchung von molekularen Systemen, die aus mehreren Chromophoren bestehen und über einen Zweiphotonen-Prozess aktiviert werden können.
Die Zweiphotonen-Absorption (2PA) beschreibt die nahezu simultane Absorption zweier Photonen, deren Summe die Energie ergibt, die für den entsprechenden elektronischen Übergang nötig ist. Da für die Anregung somit zwei niederenergetische Photonen benötigt werden, kann für die 2PA Nahinfrarot-Licht (NIR-Licht) verwendet werden, welches eine geringe Phototoxizität aufweist und eine tiefe Gewebedurchdringung ermöglicht. Weiterhin wird durch die intrinsische dreidimensionale Auflösung der 2PA eine hohe Ortsauflösung der Photoaktivierung erzielt.
Photolabile Schutzgruppen (PPGs) bzw. Photocages sind chemische Verbindungen, die der vorübergehenden Maskierung der biologischen Funktion eines (Makro-)Moleküls dienen. Sie können durch Licht geeigneter Wellenlängen abgespalten werden (uncaging), wodurch die Aktivität des geschützten Substrats wiederhergestellt wird. Leider weisen viele der etablierten PPGs schlechte Zweiphotonen-Eigenschaften auf. Um die 2P-Aktivität einer PPG zu erhöhen, kann sie kovalent mit einem guten Zweiphotonen-Absorber verknüpft werden, der bei Bestrahlung das Licht über einen Zweiphotonen-Prozess absorbiert und anschließend mittels Energietransfer auf die photolabile Schutzgruppe überträgt. Dies führt schließlich zur Uncaging-Reaktion.
Im Zuge von Projekt I dieser Dissertation wurde eine solche molekulare Dyade für verbessertes Zweiphotonen-Uncaging bestehend aus einem Rhodamin-Fluorophor als Zweiphotonen-Absorber und einem Rotlicht-absorbierenden BODIPY als photolabile Schutzgruppe hergestellt und charakterisiert. Die Zweiphotonen-Aktivität des Fluorophors wurde mittels TPEF-Messungen (two-photon excited fluorescence) untersucht. Anschließend wurde das Rhodamin an einen 3,5-Distyryl-substituierten BODIPY-Photocage gekuppelt. Der Energietransfer innerhalb dieser Dyade wurde mithilfe von transienter Ultrakurzzeit-Spektroskopie und quantenmechanischen Berechnungen untersucht. Die Freisetzung der Abgangsgruppe para-Nitroanilin (PNA) bei Belichtung der Dyade konnte sowohl nach Einphotonen-Anregung des Rhodamins als auch des BODIPYs mithilfe von UV/vis-Absorptionsmessungen qualitativ nachgewiesen werden.
Da die Uncaging-Reaktion allerdings nicht besonders effektiv war, wurde für die Weiterführung des Projekts ein neuer BODIPY Photocage, der eine verbesserte Photolyse-Effizienz und eine höhere Photostabilität aufwies, verwendet und erneut an einen Rhodamin-Fluorophor geknüpft. Anhand dieser optimierten Dyade konnte die Einphotonen-Photolyse quantifiziert, d.h. eine Uncaging-Quantenausbeute für die Freisetzung von PNA bestimmt werden. Weiterhin wurde beobachtet, dass die Photolyse der Dyade mit einer deutlichen Änderung ihrer Fluoreszenzeigenschaften einherging. Dies ermöglichte einen Nachweis des Zweiphotonen-Uncagings mithilfe eines Fluoreszenzmikroskops. Die Dyaden-Moleküle wurden zur Immobilisierung in Liposomen eingeschlossen und unter dem konfokalen Fluoreszenzmikroskop belichtet. Sowohl nach Einphotonen- als auch nach Zweiphotonen-Anregung der Rhodamin-Einheit konnte die gewünschte Fluoreszenzänderung beobachtet und somit das Uncaging bestätigt werden.
In Projekt II der Dissertation wurde ein photoaktivierbarer Fluorophor (PAF) hergestellt. PAFs liegen in ihrer geschützten Form dunkel vor. Durch die Aktivierung mit Licht können sie Fluoreszenzsignale emittieren. Sie liefern somit ein direktes Feedback über die Lichtverteilung und –intensität innerhalb einer Probe und werden somit unter anderem für die Charakterisierung und Optimierung von Belichtungsapparaturen verwendet. Besonders wünschenswert ist hierbei eine Fluoreszenzaktivierung mit sichtbarem Licht bzw. mit NIR-Licht über einen Zweiphotonen-Prozess.
Im Zuge der Arbeit wurde ein Rhodamin-Derivat synthetisiert, das durch die Anbringung eines DEACM450-Photocages in seine nichtemittierende Form gezwungen wurde. Bei Bestrahlung mit 455 nm konnte die Abspaltung der Cumarin-Schutzgruppe und der damit verbundene Anstieg der Rhodamin-Fluoreszenz beobachtet und eine Uncaging-Quantenausbeute bestimmt werden. Für die Untersuchung der Zweiphotonen-Photolyse wurde der geschützte Fluorophor in einem Hydrogel immobilisiert und unter dem konfokalen Fluoreszenzmikroskop betrachtet werden. Anschließend wurden Fluoreszenzbilder vor und nach Photoanregung von bestimmten Regionen des Hydrogels aufgenommen. Durch das Uncaging der Probe konnten helle, definierte Muster geschrieben und ausgelesen werden. Die Photoaktivierung führte dabei sowohl über die Einphotonen-Anregung mit blauem Licht (488 nm) als auch über die Zweiphotonen-Anregung mit NIR-Licht (920 nm) zur Generierung von stabilen, gleichmäßigen Fluoreszenzmustern mit hohem Kontrast.