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No description available.

Epigenetic modification of DNA plays an important role in gene regulation. During gametogenesis and early embryogenesis epigenetic states are reset to ensure embryonic-specific gene expression patterns after fertilization. However, certain genomic regions may resist epigenetic reprogramming. This may result in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Earlier, a grandparental origin dependent (GPO) transmission ratio distortion (TRD) of alleles in the distal region of mouse chromosome 12 had been found (Croteau et al ., 2002). The distorted region overlaps with the imprinted region of chromosome 12. The mechanism underlying this TRD is unknown, and we hypothesized that it was due to failure to reset imprints in the imprinted region in a proportion of germ cells. Such an imprint resetting failure would represent a particular case of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. DNA (Cytosine-5) methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) plays a key role in the maintenance of epigenetic states in mammalian genomes. To test the role of DNA methylation and DNMT1 in the genesis of TRD and its relationship to epigenetic inheritance we investigated the effect of Dnmt1 loss-of-function mutations using two mouse models: GPO (grandparental origin dependent)-TRD (transmission ratio distortion) and epigenetic inheritance at the agouti locus. Here, we report that Dnmt1 mutations have a modifying parental effect on the transmission of grandparental chromosome 12 alleles. However, the same Dnmt1 mutation did not affect the agouti coat color inheritance patterns in mice that inherited the Avy (agouti viable yellow) mutant allele from the father. Our results suggest that Dnmt1 is a trans-acting modifier of allelic transmission and support the role of epigenetic states in the genesis of TRD.

<p>On the assumption that the Bill of Rights in the Malawi Constitution has brought change in the enjoyment of rights by women married under customary family laws, this research study examines its impact on African customary family laws that are discriminatory against women in Malawi. The main focus is on customary family laws governing marriage, divorce, children after divorce, and inheritance in both patrilineal and matrilineal systems of marriages. The extent to which this has been reflected in practice is assessed in the light of women&rsquo / s rights law reforms and courts&rsquo / adjudication of customary family law issues.</p>

Previously seed coat color in flax has been used as a phenotypic marker for specialty quality traits and currently there is an increasing demand to use seed coat color in flax to market flax for human and animal nutrition uses. Seed coat color was studied to 1) understand the inheritance of seed coat color conditioned by the b1 locus, to 2) understand the relationship of other important flax traits with seed coat color as well as to 3) identify markers that are linked to seed coat color for future marker assisted selection of seed coat color. Spearman’s rank correlation and an allelism test was used to show the inheritance of the alleles at the b1 locus. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was used to identify putatively linked markers with the b1 locus, these were then screened on the CDC Bethune x M96006 recombinant inbred line population. Furthermore, the CDC Bethune x M96006 and CDC Bethune x USDA-ARS Crystal recombinant inbred line populations were used to identify any important flax traits that had a significant relationship with seed coat color. It was shown that seed coat color conditioned by the b1 locus was stably inherited and that b1vg and b1 are allelic to one another. The results of the BSA showed that there were 17 candidates for linkage but when these markers were screened on the population only the Lu456 from linkage group (LG) six was identified to have linkage (χ²=3.90; P<0.05) with the b1 locus. Additionally, it was shown that the b1 seed coat color allele of the b1 locus had a pleiotropic effect on flower color and flower shape and that seed coat color was associated with linolenic fatty acid content. None of the traits examined were found to be associated with the b1vg allele of this locus. These results show that the b1 locus is likely present on linkage group six, more marker coverage on linkage group six of markers that are polymorphic between the two seed coat color parents would increase the accuracy of detection. Lastly, this study showed that plant breeders should consider using the b1vg allele that conditions the variegated seed coat color to mark unique lines with important combinations of traits because it sorted independently for seed quality traits. Whereas, the yellow seed coat color conditioned by the b1 allele was found to be associated with higher linolenic fatty acid content and the semi-lethality of this allele would make it not suitable for use in parental lines.

Knowledge on lithosphere extensional mechanisms has greatly benefited from studies made both at presentday rifted margins and onshore fossil analogues. Nevertheless, the spatial and temporal evolution of the processes leading to continental break-up and oceanic crust formation remains poorly constrained. The Bay of Biscay and Pyrenees is used in this study as a natural laboratory to investigate the formation and reactivation of rift systems. A new offshore-onshore approach is developed and applied to identify, characterize and map the rift domains inherited from the Bay of Biscay opening and partly integrated into the Pyrenean orogen. This mapping reveals the complex architecture of European-Iberian plate boundary resulting from a strongly polyphased evolution. Several rift systems spatially distinct are preserved at different evolutionary stages. An important segmentation partially inherited from the pre-rift structuration controls the formation of the rift systems, an observation that has important implications for regional kinematic restorations. Several steps in compressional deformation can be distinguished and related to the rift inherited architecture. Reactivation is initiated in the exhumed mantle domain. Following the subduction of hyperthinned crust, continental collision processes are controlled by the proximal and necking domains acting as buttresses. These results emphasize the role of pre-rift inheritance for the spatial evolution of rift systems and the importance of the rift-related architecture to unravel the formation of collisional orogen.

Avhandlingen handlar om dynastier eller om familjer som under minst tre generationer ägt och lett företag tillsammans. Vad menar dessa familjeföretagare när de talar om att de har ett arv och en tradition att föra vidare? Boken grundar sig på en studie av familjen Bonniers företagande och diskuterar hur familjen med tiden betraktar företaget som en släktklenod. Klenoden omfattar inte bara ett ekonomiskt arv utan även kulturellt, socialt och symboliskt arv. Likaså belyses hur familjen, ingifta och anställda deltar i generationsskiftet beroende på vilket arv som överförs. Hemmet synliggörs som en arena för familjens företagsledning genom barnafödande, äktenskap, representation och utbildning av nästa generation. Avslutningsvis diskuteras hur nepotism kan förstås som en strategi för att återskapa släktklenoden. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk. Behandlar även familjen Bonnier</p>

Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) seeds have high nutritional value but also contain phytate which can inhibit the absorption and utilization of nutrients. Phytate is the main storage form of phosphorus in the seeds but chelates Fe, Zn and some other micronutrients and is not well digested by monogastrics. Peas with pigmented seed coats contain polyphenols which also have anti-nutritional properties. To increase the nutritional value of field pea seeds, two low phytate lines (1-150-81 and 1-2347-144) containing higher inorganic phosphorus concentration (IN-P) and lower phytate-phosphorus concentration (PA-P) than the normal phytate varieties were developed from CDC Bronco in previous research. The objectives of this research were 1) to determine the effect of genotype and environment on iron bioavailability in a set of five pea varieties differing in phytate concentration and iron concentration using in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture bioassay; 2) to determine the effect of seed coats on iron bioavailability by testing whole seeds compared to dehulled seeds in varieties differing in seed coat pigmentation using in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture bioassay; 3) to determine the inheritance of iron bioavailability in field pea by evaluating recombinant inbred lines differing in phytate concentration using in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture bioassay; 4) to determine the effects of pea with the low phytate trait on body weight and hemoglobin concentration of chickens. Iron concentration (FECON) did not differ significantly between normal and low phytate varieties. Iron bioavailability (FEBIO) of the two low-phytate lines was 1.4 to 1.9 times higher than that of the three normal phytate varieties, and growing environment also had a significant effect on FEBIO. Peas with pigmented seed coats contained 7 times lower FEBIO than peas with non-pigmented seed coat. The removal of the seed coat increased the FEBIO in peas with pigmented seed coat 5 to 6 times. From previous research on PR-15 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) which were developed from a cross between low phytate line 1-2347-144 and a normal phytate variety CDC Meadow, it was found that PA-P was controlled by a single gene. FEBIO, in this study, was also found to follow a bimodal frequency distribution, characteristic of single gene control, and it was highly correlated with PA-P in the PR-15 lines. In vivo studies were used to evaluate iron absorption of chickens fed with low and normal phytate pea diets. The diets containing the low-phytate pea lines had no significant effect on chicken body weight and hemoglobin level, compared with the diets containing normal phytate pea varieties. An unexpected high FECON was discovered in the diets that was traced to the ingredients of limestone and dicalcium-phosphate which likely affected the experimental results.

This thesis examines relationships between the social and physical environments of a village on Butaritari atoll in Kiribati. The system of ambilineal descent and land inheritance obtaining there results in complex networks of genealogical relationships which affect most aspects of social life, including land rights. While previous studies conducted in Kiribati have recognised the intimate connection between genealogy and land rights, none has investigated its ramifications for the distribution of land rights within a community. In contrast, this study engages that question as a central concern using a framework which integrates Bourdieu's concepts of social space, field and habitus with post-neo-Darwinian ideas about the relationship between organism and environment. The social space was found to be primarily structured by relationships based upon genealogy and secondarily by age and gender, each of which constituted a field within the wider social space. The genealogical field was defined by a network of positions, each representing a particular descent group. In accordance with the prevailing system of ambilineal descent, residents could belong to more than one descent group and it was upon the resulting networks of relationships between descent groups that the disposition of those groups within the genealogical field was defined. Because land-use rights were associated with genealogical connections the reconstruction of the genealogical field encompassing all of the village residents was a necessary precursor to discovering the distribution of those rights and the genealogical field was a central point of articulation between the social and physical spaces. The fields of age and gender relations provided further points of articulation between the social and physical spaces, the natures of which are examined through discussion of the material culture of the village and village and island politics. Despite a contemporary ideology of egalitarianism there were vestiges of a former hierarchy of social status groups. While the inter-group obligations, rights and responsibilities associated with this hierarchy were no longer practised, the association of contemporary residents with those social status groups bore a relationship to their position within the genealogical field and the amounts of land to which they shared rights.

Excessive weight can have a severe impact on health as well as creating a significant economic burden. Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, but the mode of inheritance of obesity and its underlying complexity remains largely unresolved. Thus, the aim of this research project was to provide a further understanding of this condition in an Australian adolescent and adult population. Qualitative and quantitative differences in genetic and environmental influences affecting body mass index (BMI) in males and females, during development were examined. Structural equation models were fitted to longitudinal data collected at ages twelve, fourteen and sixteen from 470 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs and 673 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. In addition, it is generally known that some genetic differences are only exposed in the presence of certain environmental stressors, such as the effects of parity and age on post-partum obesity. Therefore, models were fitted to data from 11, 915 female twins and their sisters from whom reproductive history was available in order to assess the changes in magnitude of genetic and environmental variation in female BMI due to these variables. To detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) influencing adolescent BMI, up to 1133 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers were typed across the genome in a sub-sample of adolescent twins, their parents and siblings. Because gene mutations for some genetic disorders affecting body weight may manifest during childhood, univariate linkage analysis were applied to test for linkage between marker loci and BMI at twelve, fourteen and sixteen across the genome. Additionally, genes involved in pathways regulating body weight may operate differently in men and women. Therefore, a genome-wide linkage analysis allowing for sex difference in linkage patterns was performed in order to identify QTLs influencing BMI which may differ between adult males and females. Genetic factors contributed strongly to BMI in adolescent twins, accounting for approximately ninety percent of phenotypic variation at twelve, fourteen and sixteen years of age. In addition, the majority of this genetic variance was transmitted from age twelve to ages fourteen and sixteen. Sex differences in the size of genetic innovations at ages fourteen and sixteen suggest that the genetic variation in weight regulation is different in males and females. The presence of environmental influences in males and females may reflect the effects of lifestyle activities during adolescents such as severe exercise and diet regimes. Structural equation models exploring the effects of parity and age on female BMI revealed that genes become more important in the variation in BMI as parity increases. The ability to retain weight for lactation and support for foetal growth possibly reflects an evolutionary advantage in times when it was a necessary condition of survival. Unique environmental influences were also important in the variation female BMI across parity and age, possibly reflecting lifestyle factors and individual responses to social attitudes towards weight gain. Genome-wide linkage analysis in adolescent twins revealed strong evidence for linkage on chromosome 14q12-q13 at age fourteen (logarithm of odds (LOD) = 3.71, p = 0.000018) and suggestive linkage in the same region in sixteen year old twins (LOD = 2.46, p = 0.00038) which has been previously implicated in adiponectin in Northern Europeans. Chromosome 6p12 yielded a suggestive LOD = 2.95 (p = 0.00012) which harboured a known gene responsible for rebound weight gain. Evidence for replication (LOD = 1) at other areas of the genome was also observed, including 1, 4, 10, 11, 13 and 20, which have been previously associated with obesity in other studies, being LEPR, UCP1, OB10P, BMIQ3 and BMIQ6, respectively, although we did not have time to genotype these to test for association in our samples. The use of a genome-wide linkage analysis allowing for sex difference in linkage patterns identified areas on chromosome 8 and 20, providing us with evidence that some of the genes responsible for BMI may have different effects in adult men and women. Results revealed a suggestive linkage peak (-log10p = 3.13; equivalent to LOD = 2.19, p = 0.000741) at 12q24 (-log10p = 3.02; equivalent to LOD = 2.08, p = 0.000955), that has been implicated in weight in a wide range of populations and where non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, a consequence of obesity, has also been mapped. We also identified many peaks near the threshold for replicating an existing finding (-log10p = 2; equivalent to LOD = 1.18, p = 0.01) in many areas across the genome that are within regions previously identified by other studies, as well as in locations that harbour genes known to influence weight regulation. Finally, the significances of these results are discussed and future directions are considered including association analysis on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across six candidate genes: LEPR, GNβ3, UCP2, UCP3, FTO and INSIG2 which have previously been associated with obesity or BMI. We typed seventeen SNPs and performed analyses in a sample of 4494 MZ and DZ twins. Significant association was found for rs9939609 (A/T polymorphism) of the FTO gene. In our data, each additional copy of the rs9939609 A allele increased mean BMI by approximately 0.14kg/m2 in an apparent additive manner, comparable with recent published results from population-based studies in white European children and adults.