| 1. |
- Khorshidi, Mohammad Ali, 1981-
(författare)
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Live Single Cell Imaging and Analysis Using Microfluidic Devices
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Today many cell biological techniques study large cell populations where an average estimate of individual cells’ behavior is observed. On the other hand, single cell analysis is required for studying functional heterogeneities between cells within populations. This thesis presents work that combines the use of microfluidic devices, optical microscopy and automated image analysis to design various cell biological assays with single cell resolution including cell proliferation, clonal expansion, cell migration, cell-cell interaction and cell viability tracking. In fact, automated high throughput single cell techniques enable new studies in cell biology which are not possible with conventional techniques.In order to automatically track dynamic behavior of single cells, we developed a microwell based device as well as a droplet microfluidic platform. These high throughput microfluidic assays allow automated time-lapse imaging of encapsulated single cells in micro droplets or confined cells inside microwells. Algorithms for automatic quantification of cells in individual microwells and micro droplets are developed and used for the analysis of cell viability and clonal expansion. The automatic counting protocols include several image analysis steps, e.g. segmentation, feature extraction and classification. The automatic quantification results were evaluated by comparing with manual counting and revealed a high success rate. In combination these automatic cell counting protocols and our microfluidic platforms can provide statistical information to better understand behavior of cells at the individual level under various conditions or treatments in vitro exemplified by the analysis of function and regulation of immune cells. Thus, together these tools can be used for developing new cellular imaging assays with resolution at the single cell level.To automatically characterize transient migration behavior of natural killer (NK) cells compartmentalized in microwells, we developed a method for single cell tracking. Time-lapse imaging showed that the NK cells often exhibited periods of high motility, interrupted with periods of slow migration or complete arrest. These transient migration arrest periods (TMAPs) often overlapped with periods of conjugations between NK cells and target cells. Such conjugation periods sometimes led to cell-mediated killing of target cells. Analysis of cytotoxic response of NK cells revealed that a small sub-class of NK cells called serial killers was able to kill several target cells. In order to determine a starting time point for cell-cell interaction, a novel technique based on ultrasound was developed to aggregate NK and target cells into the center of the microwells. Therefore, these assays can be used to automatically and rapidly assess functional and migration behavior of cells to detect differences between health and disease or the influence of drugs.The work presented in this thesis gives good examples of how microfluidic devices combined with automated imaging and image analysis can be helpful to address cell biological questions where single cell resolution is necessary.
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| 2. |
- Mellenius, Harriet, 1983-
(författare)
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Exploring and predicting DNA template dependent variation in transcription
- 2012
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Reliable transmission of information from DNA to proteins is a pre-requisite for all life, where substitution errors in the polypeptide chain may arise from transcription, aminoacylation of tRNAs or translation. The fidelity control mechanisms in transcription have nevertheless received little attention, based on the assumption that the transcriptional error is masked by the translational error. This thesis shows how accuracy theory can be applied to transcription to elucidate the principles of transcriptional accuracy. The DNA template dependent transcriptional accuracy variation is studied through modelling based on transition state theory, using thermodynamic properties of the nucleic acids in the transcription bubble. The models show that the error frequency variation in transcription causes it to surpass the translational error in some sequence contexts, making transcription a significant source of amino acids substitution errors.
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| 3. |
- Fange, David, 1978-
(författare)
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Modelling Approaches to Molecular Systems Biology
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Implementation and analysis of mathematical models can serve as a powerful tool in understanding how intracellular processes in bacteria affect the bacterial phenotype. In this thesis I have implemented and analysed models of a number of different parts of the bacterium E. coli in order to understand these types of connections. I have also developed new tools for analysis of stochastic reaction-diffusion models. Resistance mutations in the E. coli ribosomes make the bacteria less susceptible to treatment with the antibiotic drug erythromycin compared to bacteria carrying wildtype ribosomes. The effect is dependent on efficient drug efflux pumps. In the absence of pumps for erythromycin, there is no difference in growth between wildtype and drug target resistant bacteria. I present a model explaining this unexpected phenotype, and also give the conditions for its occurrence. Stochastic fluctuations in gene expression in bacteria, such as E. coli, result in stochastic fluctuations in biosynthesis pathways. I have characterised the effect of stochastic fluctuations in the parallel biosynthesis pathways of amino acids. I show how the average protein synthesis rate decreases with an increasing number of fluctuating amino acid production pathways. I further show how the cell can remedy this problem by using sensitive feedback control of transcription, and by optimising its expression levels of amino acid biosynthetic enzymes. The pole-to-pole oscillations of the Min-proteins in E. coli are required for accurate mid-cell division. The phenotype of the Min-oscillations is altered in three different mutants: filamentous cells, round cells and cells with changed membrane lipid composition. I have shown that the wildtype and mutant phenotypes can be explained using a stochastic reaction-diffusion model. In E. coli, the transcription elongation rate on the ribosmal RNA operon increases with increasing transcription initiation rate. In addition, the polymerase density varies along the ribosomal RNA operons. I present a DNA sequence dependent model that explains the transcription elongation rate speed-up, and also the density variation along the ribosomal operons. Both phenomena are explained by the RNA polymerase backtracking on the DNA.
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| 4. |
- Gynnå, Arvid H., 1988-
(författare)
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Bacterial DNA repair and molecular search
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Surveillance and repair of DNA damage is necessary in all kinds of life. Different types of DNA damage require different repair mechanisms, but these mechanisms are often similar in all domains of life. The most serious type of damage, double stranded DNA breaks, are for example repaired in conceptually similar ways in both bacteria and eukaryotes. When this kind of breaks are repaired by homologous recombination, a homology to the site of the break must be found. Sometimes, this homology can be located far away from the break necessitating a search. Considering the large amount of heterologous DNA present, the complexity of this search is enormous. If and how this search can proceed has been unclear even in simple and well characterized organisms as E. coli.In this thesis, microscopy together with microfluidics are used to show that DNA repair by homologous recombination occurs even between homologies separated by several micrometers. We also see that it finishes well within the time of a cell generation, with the enigmatic search phase being as quick as eight or possibly even three minutes. Since this time is much faster than expected, we present a physical model demonstrating how homology search on this time scale is indeed plausible. Based on these results, we conclude that homologous repair using distantly located templates is likely to be a physiologically relevant mechanism of DNA repair.Microscopy together with image analysis by deep learning also provides a new method of detecting DNA damage in real time. Combined with tracking of cell lineages, it reveals that DNA damage in E. coli is repaired efficiently enough that the resulting fitness cost is close to none. With the same methods we also study the effect of deletions of several DNA repair enzymes, and largely confirms their previous characterizations. Among these, we confirm that the intriguing RecN protein is important but not absolutely necessary in DSB repair, that it acts early, and possibly aids in physically shaping the structure mediating the search.In addition to this, it is shown how DNA transcription and translation modulates the shape of the E. coli nucleoid. We observe how strong a transcription of a gene within a few minutes moves the gene towards the periphery of the cell where the concentration of ribosomes is higher, a movement possibly also aided by protein translation.We also present MINFLUX, a microscope for both nanometer scale localization of single fluorophores as well as in vivo single particle tracking with unprecedented trace length and resolution. Using this, the E. coli small ribosomal subunit could be observed to quickly shift between fast and slow diffusion states which might represent probing and discarding of RNAs suitable for translation.
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| 5. |
- Hammar, Petter, 1981-
(författare)
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lac of Time : Transcription Factor Kinetics in Living Cells
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Gene regulation mediated by transcription factors (TFs) is essential for all organisms. The functionality of TFs can largely be described by the fraction of time they occupy their regulatory binding sites on the chromosome. DNA-binding proteins have been shown to find their targets through facilitated diffusion in vitro. In its simplest form this means that the protein combines a random 3D search in the cytoplasm with 1D sliding along DNA. This has been proposed to speed up target location. It is difficult to mimic the in vivo conditions for gene regulation in biochemistry experiments; i.e. the ionic strength, chromosomal structure, and the presence of other DNA-binding macromolecules. In this thesis single molecule imaging assays for live cell measurements were developed to study the kinetics of the Escherichia coli transcription factor LacI. The low copy number LacI, in fusion with a fluorescent protein (Venus) is detected as a localized near-diffraction limited spot when being DNA-bound for longer than the exposure time. An allosteric inducer is used to control binding and release. Using this method we can measure the time it takes for LacI to bind to different operator sequences. We then extend the assay and show that LacI slides in to and out from the operator site, and that it is obstructed by another DNA-binding protein positioned next to its target. We present a new model where LacI redundantly passes over the operator many times before binding. By combining experiments with molecular dynamics simulations we can characterize the details of non-specific DNA-binding. In particular, we validate long-standing assumptions that the non-specific association is diffusion-controlled. In addition it is seen that the non-specifically bound protein diffuses along DNA in a helical path. Using microfluidics we design a chase assay to measure in vivo dissociation rates for the LacI-Venus dimer. Based on the comparison of these rates with association rates and equilibrium binding data we suggest that there might be a short time following TF dissociation when transcription initiation is silenced. This implies that the fraction of time the operator is occupied is not enough to describe the regulatory range of the promoter.
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| 6. |
- Hellander, Stefan, 1985-
(författare)
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Stochastic Simulation of Reaction-Diffusion Processes
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Numerical simulation methods have become an important tool in the study of chemical reaction networks in living cells. Many systems can, with high accuracy, be modeled by deterministic ordinary differential equations, but other systems require a more detailed level of modeling. Stochastic models at either the mesoscopic level or the microscopic level can be used for cases when molecules are present in low copy numbers.In this thesis we develop efficient and flexible algorithms for simulating systems at the microscopic level. We propose an improvement to the Green's function reaction dynamics algorithm, an efficient microscale method. Furthermore, we describe how to simulate interactions with complex internal structures such as membranes and dynamic fibers.The mesoscopic level is related to the microscopic level through the reaction rates at the respective scale. We derive that relation in both two dimensions and three dimensions and show that the mesoscopic model breaks down if the discretization of space becomes too fine. For a simple model problem we can show exactly when this breakdown occurs.We show how to couple the microscopic scale with the mesoscopic scale in a hybrid method. Using the fact that some systems only display microscale behaviour in parts of the system, we can gain computational time by restricting the fine-grained microscopic simulations to only a part of the system.Finally, we have developed a mesoscopic method that couples simulations in three dimensions with simulations on general embedded lines. The accuracy of the method has been verified by comparing the results with purely microscopic simulations as well as with theoretical predictions.
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| 7. |
- Lüking, Malin, 1993-
(författare)
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Molecular Metamorphosis in Transcriptional Regulation
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The foundation of all life is the interaction of molecules. Molecular interaction occurs in the tightly packed cytoplasm. In this crowded environment, the molecules need to be able to establish stable interactions with specific interaction partners, and with specific ones only. Selectivity is essential for transcriptional regulation where DNA-binding proteins, more specifically transcription factors, need to reach their respective target DNA, such as an operator sequence, quickly. The transcription factor LacI for example reaches its DNA operator within minutes and establishes a tight interaction to it that will block transcriptions of the genes it regulates. With the other millions of sequences in the bacterial chromosome, it interacts only fleetingly. This is possible because a small part of the protein is disordered during the transient interaction with non-operator DNA. Only with specific DNA will the folding of the disordered region into a rigid helix be favored. When the disordered region folds into a helix, the transcription factor changes its structure and, with it, its function from a weak DNA binder to a strong one. Thinking about molecular structures as dynamic entities that react to their environment and understanding the origins of structural metamorphosis allow us to predict changes in the protein sequence that will affect their behavior in the cellular context. This is demonstrated in this thesis where I study the structural dynamics of LacI with molecular dynamic simulations and use the insights from these simulations to design protein variants with changed binding stability and selectivity.
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| 8. |
- Mahmutovic, Anel
(författare)
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Reaction-Diffusion kinetics of Protein DNA Interactions
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Transcription factors need to rapidly find one specific binding site among millions of nonspecific sites on the chromosomal DNA. In this thesis I use various aspects of reaction-diffusion theory to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA and to explain the searching, finding and binding to specific operator sites. Using molecular dynamics methods we calculate the free energy profile for the model protein LacI as it leaves a nonspecific stretch of DNA and as it slides along DNA. Based on the free energy profiles we estimate the microscopic dissociation rate constant, kdmicro ~1.45×104s-1, and the 1D diffusion coefficient, D1 ~ 0.05-0.29 μm2s-1 (2-40μs to slide 1 basepair (bp)). At a non-atomistic level of detail we estimate the number of microscopic rebindings before a macroscopic dissociation occurs which leads to the macroscopic residence time, τDmacro ~ 48±12ms resulting in a in vitro sliding length estimate of 135-345bp.When we fit the DNA interaction parameters for in vivo conditions to recent single molecule in vivo experiments we conclude that neither hopping nor intersegment transfer contribute to the target search for the LacI dimer, that it appears to bind the specific Osym operator site as soon as it slides into it, and that the sliding length is around 40bp in the cell. The estimated in vivo D1 ~ 0.025 μm2s-1 is higher than expected from estimates of D1 based on viscosity and the atomistic simulations. Surprisingly, we were also forced to conclude that the nonspecific association for the LacI dimer appeared reaction limited which is in conflict with the free energy profile. This inconsistency is resolved by allowing for steric effects. Using reaction-diffusion theory and simulations we show that an apparent reaction limited association can be diffusion limited if geometry and steric effects are taken into account. Furthermore, the simulations show that a protein binds ~2 times faster to a DNA molecule with a helical reactive patch than to a stripe patch running along the length of the DNA. This facilitated binding has a direct impact on the search time especially in the presence of other DNA binding proteins.
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| 9. |
- Mu, Xin, 1987-
(författare)
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Protein stability and mobility in live cells : Revelation of the intracellular diffusive interaction organization mechanisms
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Biochemical processes inside living cells take place in a confined and highly crowded environment. As such, macromolecular crowding, one of the most important physicochemical properties of cytoplasm, is an essential element of cell physiology. It not only gives rise to steric repulsion, but also promotes non-specific, transient, interactions (referred to as diffusive interactions) between molecules. Since diffusive interactions are a key way to achieving a highly organized intracellular environment, without such interactions, the cell is just “a bag of molecules”. Therefore, understanding how diffusive interactions modulate protein behavior in live cells is of fundamental importance for revealing the mechanisms of molecular recognition, as well as for understanding the cause of protein misfolding diseases.This thesis focuses on how macromolecular crowding influences the stability and diffusive motions of proteins within living cells by modulating their diffusive interactions. First, we investigated the thermal stability of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), a protein involved in the development of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), in mammalian and E. coli cells. Intriguingly, the major thermodynamic consequence of macromolecular crowding is due not only to conventional steric repulsions, but primarily to the detailed chemical nature of the diffusive protein interactions in live cells. Secondly, we presented a mutational study of how these diffusive interactions influence the rotation of proteins in the mammalian and bacterial cytosol. The result is a quantitative description of the physicochemical code for the intracellular protein motion, showing that it depends critically on the surface details of protein and the type of the host cell as well. Thirdly, we characterized the impact of intracellular protein concentration by altering the volume of E. coli cells by osmotic shock. The results obtained show that the intracellular diffusion of proteins is not determined by the chemical properties of the protein surface alone, but also by the frequency of concentration-dependent encounters. Moreover, it appears that eukaryotes and bacteria have achieved fidelity of biological processes through different evolutionary strategies. Overall, these observations have numerous implications for both functional protein design and deciphering the evolution of the surface characteristics of proteins.Subsequently, we attempted to shed new light on the Hofmeister series, using protein-folding kinetics as observable. The results indicate that the Hofmeister series cannot be explained entirely by the traditional Kosmotropes/Chaotropes classification. Strong hetero-ion pairing cannot be ignored when trying to understand the effects of salts on protein salting-in and salting-out behaviors.
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| 10. |
- Sanamrad, Arash, 1986-
(författare)
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Biological Insights from Single-Particle Tracking in Living Cells
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Single-particle tracking is a technique that allows for quantitative analysis of the localization and movement of particles. In this technique, trajectories are constructed by determining and connecting the positions of individual particles from consecutive images. Recent advances have made it possible to track hundreds of particles in an individual cell by labeling the particles of interest with photoactivatable or photoconvertible fluorescent proteins and tracking one or a few at a time.Single-particle tracking can be used to study the diffusion of particles. Here, we use intracellular single-particle tracking and trajectory simulations to study the diffusion of the fluorescent protein mEos2 in living Escherichia coli cells. Our data are consistent with a simple model in which mEos2 diffuses normally at 13 µm2 s−1 in the E. coli cytoplasm. Our approach can be used to study the diffusion of intracellular particles that can be labeled with mEos2 and are present at high copy numbers.Single-particle tracking can also be used to determine whether an individual particle is bound or free if the free particle diffuses significantly faster than its binding targets and remains bound or free for a long time. Here, we use single-particle tracking in living E. coli cells to determine the fractions of free ribosomal subunits, classify individual subunits as free or mRNA-bound, and quantify the degree of exclusion of bound and free subunits separately. We show that, unlike bound subunits, free subunits are not excluded from the nucleoid. This finding strongly suggests that translation of nascent mRNAs can start throughout the nucleoid, which reconciles the spatial separation of DNA and ribosomes with co-transcriptional translation. We also show that, after translation inhibition, free subunit precursors are partially excluded from the compacted nucleoid. This finding indicates that it is active translation that normally allows ribosomal subunits to assemble on nascent mRNAs throughout the nucleoid and that the effects of translation inhibitors are enhanced by the limited access of ribosomal subunits to nascent mRNAs in the compacted nucleoid.
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