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An integral part of the life of cells is cell signaling, which is ensured, among other things, by heme proteins, specifically by their members called heme sensor proteins. Heme sensor proteins are divided into two groups, heme sensor proteins detecting heme, which are found more in eukaryotic cells, and heme sensor proteins detecting gaseous molecules, which are more typical of prokaryotic cells. The gas molecules in this case can be CO, NO and O2. A family of oxygen-detecting heme sensor proteins is crucial for bacteria that must adapt to changing oxygen concentrations in the environment. One of these bacteria is the soil bacterium Anaeromyxobacter sp., strain Fw 109-5, which contains a heme sensor protein with the globin structure of the sensor domain and the histidine kinase activity of the functional domain (AfGcHK), enabling the bacteria, among other things, to form a biofilm. As part of the theoretical part of this thesis, the current knowledge about heme sensor proteins was summarized, with a focus on the AfGcHK protein. In the practical part of this bachelor's thesis, bacterial cells E. coli BL-21 (DE3) were transformed with the plasmid pET21(+)/AfGcHK containing the gene encoding AfGcHK, from which two forms of AfGcHK were subsequently isolated, the natural form and the form containing a...

Heme sensor proteins allow bacteria to react to changes of concentration of certain molecules in their environment. This reaction depends on the coordination of the ligand to the heme iron atom. Model representative of this signaling system is a histidine kinase containing a sensor domain with a globin structure, AfGcHK. The aim of this bachelor thesis was to prepare and characterize a modified form of AfGcHK containing manganese within its protoporphyrine complex. To express the protein, E. coli BL-21 (DE3) cells were transformed using a plasmid pET21c(+)/AfGcHK. The protein was isolated and purified using affinity chromatography and gel chromatography. To determine its enyzmatic activity, polyacrylamid gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate with Phos-Tag was used. It was determined, that this novel form of AfGcHK is enzymatically active. Spectroscopic analysis has shown, that the modified form of AfGcHK containing manganese within its protoporphyrine complex is susceptible to reduction by sodium dithionate. Key words: heme, heme sensor proteins, oxygen sensors, signal transduction [IN CZECH]

One subgroup of hemoproteins are heme-based gas sensors, which are able to detect biatomic gas molecules in their immediate surroundings. Upon binding of a gas molecule to the heme iron in a sensor domain of these proteins or, conversely, upon its dissociation from the heme iron, the signal is then transmitted from the sensor domain to a functional domain and subsequent regulation of important cellular functions occurs. Understanding the regulatory mechanism of gas sensors is key to potentially manipulating their function. Such knowledge would then allow the use of heme-based gas sensors as therapeutic targets for the development of next-generation antibiotics, if we take into account their presence in pathological bacteria. The diploma thesis focuses on a model heme-based gas sensor, the oxygen sensor EcDOS from E. coli, and its apoform, EcDOS His77Ala. Both proteins were prepared by recombinant expression and purification, and subsequently spectrophotometrically characterized. Using gel permeation chromatography, the oligomeric states of EcDOS Fe(III), EcDOS Fe(II)-O2 and EcDOS His77Ala were determined under different conditions (different temperatures of protein incubation, presence of c-di-GMP substrate etc.). Furthermore, the structural dynamics of EcDOS Fe(III), EcDOS Fe(II)-O2 and EcDOS...

Tumor suppressor p53 is one of the most studied proteins in terms of cancer and the mechanism of its formation. The general function of p53 is based on the transcriptional regulation of various genes, which can differently influence numerous cellular processes. Recent studies revealed a relationship between p53 and iron homeostasis within the cell. In particular, p53 was shown to interact with a molecule of heme, and this interaction ultimately disrupts the DNA-binding ability of p53 and promotes its proteasomal degra- dation. This work focuses on a detailed description of heme binding to the p53. For this purpose, we isolated two forms of p53, heme-free and heme-bound. We discovered that conformational dynamics of heme-free and heme-bound p53 differ, with the latter exhibi- ting a higher degree of flexibility. We also confirmed previous reports that heme indeed interacts with a cysteine residue in a specific manner. However, heme binding does not disrupt the oligomeric state of p53 or its native zinc binding ability. Finally, we showed that heme-bound p53 exhibits severely impaired DNA-binding ability as opposed to the heme-free form. Keywords: heme, sensor proteins, p53 protein, transcription factor, intrinsically disor- dered proteins