Abstract EN:

In living cells, dynamic interactions between proteins play a key role in regulating many signaling pathways and biochemical events. It is also the case of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase (NOX), a key enzyme of the innate immune system. It generates superoxide anions (O₂•⁻), precursors of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide or hydroxyl radical that are critical for host responses to microbial infections. The NADPH oxidase is a protein complex composed of six subunits; two membrane proteins (NOX2 and p22phox) forming the catalytic core, three cytosolic proteins (p67phox, p47phox and p40phox) and a small GTPase Rac. The sophisticated activation mechanism of the NADPH oxidase relies on the assembly of all cytosolic subunits with the membrane-bound components, whereby proteinprotein interactions play an important role. Lack of the NADPH oxidase activity leads to chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) characterized by severe and recurrent infections. On the other hand, enhanced levels of ROS contribute to cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, the NADPH oxidase activity needs to be tightly regulated in order to maintain physiological levels of ROS. Understanding the NADPH oxidase machinery at the molecular level will help to identify the key aspects of its enzyme activity and thereby potential therapeutic targets. The aim of my PhD project was to investigate the active state of the NADPH oxidase in living cells using state of the art fluorescence microscopy strategies. To detect the protein-protein interactions Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) measured by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) was a method of choice. As the FRET phenomenon occurs only between fluorophores in close proximity (< 10 nm), it is well-suited to reveal interactions of the NADPH oxidase subunits labeled by fluorescent proteins at nanoscale level, but also it provides information about the topology of the enzyme complex. FRET-FLIM was performed either with separated NOX subunits or with a chimeric fusion protein called “Trimera”. The Trimera is composed of the essential domains of the cytosolic proteins p47phox, p67phox and Rac1, enabling constitutive, robust NADPH oxidase activity in cells without the need of a stimulant. First, we worked with the individual FP-labeled cytosolic subunits in COSNOX cells (stably expressing NOX2/p22phox subunits) or macrophages and compared PMA and arachidonic acid as activators of the NADPH oxidase in terms of the activation kinetics and the total ROS production. By introducing mutations into the p47phox and p67phox subunits we were able to modulate the oxidase activity. The final validated working conditions were explored by TIRF microscopy, an imaging method allowing selective excitation of the fluorophores situated in the vicinity of the plasma membrane, and thus enabling to monitor the realtime formation of the active NADPH oxidase complex. We also focused on NOX2, the catalytic center of the NADPH oxidase that we labeled by FPs and prepared for further FRET-FLIM experiments aiming the investigation of NOX2/cytosolic subunits interactions. Second, we employed the Trimera that acts as a single activating protein of the NADPH oxidase. FRET-FLIM experiments revealed that theFP-Trimera forms clusters in the plasma membrane. The continuous long-term NOX activity elicited by the Trimera was also examined in terms of consequences on the physiology of living cells. We showed that the sustained ROS production leads to acidification of the intracellular pH and triggers apoptosis.