2022-08-24T00:00:00Z, Deveci, GÖZDE, Kamil, Mohd, Kina, Umit, Temel, Binnur Aydogan, Aly, Ahmed S I, DEVECİ, GÖZDE, KAMIL, MOHD, KINA, ÜMİT YAŞAR, TEMEL, BİNNUR

2022-12-01T00:00:00Z, KAMIL, MOHD, KINA, ÜMİT YAŞAR, DEVECİ, GÖZDE, Akyuz, Sevim N., Yilmaz, Ilknur, ALY, Ahmed Sayed Ibrahım, KAMIL, MOHD, KINA, ÜMİT YAŞAR, DEVECİ, GÖZDE, ALY, AHMED SAYED IBRAHıM

© 2022Positively-charged polyamines are essential molecules for the replication of eukaryotic cells and are particularly important for the rapid proliferation of parasitic protozoa and cancer cells. Unlike in Trypanosoma brucei, the inhibition of the synthesis of intermediate polyamine Putrescine caused only partial defect in malaria parasite blood-stage growth. In contrast, reducing the intracellular concentrations of Spermidine and Spermine by polyamine analogs caused significant defects in blood-stage growth in Plasmodium yoelii and P. falciparum. However, little is known about the synthesizing enzyme of Spermidine and Spermine in the malaria parasite. Herein, malaria parasite conserved Spermidine Synthase (SpdS) gene was targeted for deletion/complementation analyses by knockout/knock-in constructs in P. yoelii. SpdS was found to be essential for blood-stage growth. Live fluorescence imaging in blood-stages and sporozoites confirmed a specific mitochondrial localization, which is not known for any polyamine-synthesizing enzyme so far. This study identifies SpdS as an excellent drug targeting candidate against the malaria parasite, which is localized to the parasite mitochondrion.

2019-05-01T00:00:00Z, Aly, Ahmed Sayed Ibrahım, Deveci, Gozde, Yilmaz, Ilknur, Abraham, Amanah, Golshan, Aneesa, Hart, Robert J., ALY, AHMED SAYED IBRAHıM, DEVECİ, GÖZDE

Recent advances in genetics and systems biology technologies have promoted our understanding of the biology of malaria parasites on the molecular level. However, effective malaria parasite targets for vaccine and chemotherapy development are still limited. This is largely due to the unavailability of relevant and practical in vivo infection models for human Plasmodium species, most notably for P. falciparum and P. vivax. Therefore, rodent malaria species have been extensively used as practical alternative in vivo models for malaria vaccine, drug targeting, immune response, and functional characterization studies of conserved Plasmodiumspp. genes. Indeed, rodent malaria models have proven to be invaluable, especially for exploring mosquito transmission and liver stage biology, and were indispensable for immunological studies. However, there are discrepancies in the methods used to evaluate the phenotypes of transgenic and wild-type asexual and sexual blood-stage parasites. Examples of these discrepancies are the choice of an intravenous vs. intraperitoneal infection of rodents with blood-stage parasites and the evaluation of male gamete exflagellation. Herein, we detail standardized experimental methods to evaluate the phenotypes of asexual and sexual blood stages in transgenic parasites expressing reporter-gene or wild-type rodent malaria parasite species. We also detail the methods to evaluate the phenotypes of malaria parasite mosquito stages (gametes, ookinetes, oocysts, and sporozoites) inside Anopheles mosquito vectors. These methods are detailed and simplified here for the lethal and non-lethal strains of P. berghei and P. yoelii but can also be applied with some adjustments to P. chabaudi and P. vinckei rodent malaria species.

2019-03-15T00:00:00Z, Kara, Sinem Sipahioglu, Ates, Mustafa Yasin, Deveci, Gozde, Cetinkaya, Ahmet, Kahveci, Muhammet Übeydullah, DEVECİ, GÖZDE

Tetrazine mediated inverse Electron Demand Diels-Alder Reaction (IEDDA) is an important modification technique due to its high selectivity and super-fast kinetics. Incorporation of tetrazine moieties on polymer chains requires multistep synthetic pathways and a post-polymerization step leading to functional polymeric materials. Such approaches involve separate syntheses of polymer and the molecule which will be employed in modification. Herein, we introduce a straightforward synthetic approach for direct synthesis of tetrazine groups on polymers as side chains. As model systems, tetrazine functional poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-and poly(ethylene glycol)-based polymers from corresponding precursor polymers with nitrile moieties as pendant groups are prepared and IEDDA Click Reaction is achieved with trans-cyclooctene derivatives. The click reaction is monitored by both NMR and UV-vis spectroscopies. (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 673-680

2019-03-01T00:00:00Z, Deveci, GÖZDE, Kahveci, Muhammet U., DEVECİ, GÖZDE

A new approach for the synthesis of a photo-cleavable cross-linker and preparation of light-responsive polymeric particles is proposed in the current work. A multicomponent reaction, Passerini reaction, is employed as a one-pot one-step synthetic approach for the preparation of the acrylate-based cross-linker (hexane-1,6-diylbis(azanediyl))bis(1-(2-nitrophenyl)-2-oxoethane-2,1-diyl) diacrylate) (PCDA). Briefly, Passerini reaction of 1,6-diisocyanohexane, 2-nitrobenzaldehyde and acrylic acid yields the photo-cleavable diacrylate with o-nitrobenzyl ester moieties. Subsequently, the cross-linker is successfully utilized in the preparation of poly(methyl methacrylate) microspheres and nanospheres via suspension and miniemulsion polymerization, respectively. Finally, light-induced degradations of the polymeric particles are conducted under UV light illumination (around 366nm). All compounds and products in each step are well characterized by FTIR, H-1-NMR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, light microscopy and SEM.