No description available.

H. incana is a native species of the Mediterranean and Middle East. As a neophyte (alien) it has undergone a large range expansion in Northern Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia. Casual field observations suggested that within its native range, the dominant life strategy of H.incana was annual, whereas in the British flora it was predominantly perennial. Populations from native and alien ranges were studied in the field and in common garden experiments. Phenotypic differences in morphological and physiological characteristics were compared. Plants derived from neophyte British populations made larger leaf rosettes, flowered later (> 140 days) and exhibited a perennial life cycle. Plants from native. North African and Southern European populations (excepting those from montane Spain) made smaller rosettes, flowered early (< 110 days) and died after flowering once. Neophyte populations from California were similar to native populations. Some native populations (e.g. Cypress) did not survive a British winter. Unlike native populations, initiation of flowering in neophyte British populations was stimulated by a period of vernalisation. These results suggest that life strategy changes have occurred in neophyte populations of H. incana as this species expanded its range northwards, and implies possible genetic differences. Ten microsatellite primers, previously described for related Brassicaceae species, were therefore investigated for potential use in the assessment of H. incana population genetic structure. Five primers successfully amplified a product of expected size, of which 3 were subscequently sequenced to confirm the presence of the SSR. The application of real-time PCR DNA melting analysis to identify SSR variation was investigated using Roche SYBR green and Corbett HRM platforms. SSR variation could be detected using DNA melt analysis, but due to difficulty identifying the composition of heterozygous SSR's the technique could not be sufficiently refined to investigate population diversity. However, preliminary results indicated possible SSR variation between isolated populations.

No description available.

Chan Sze-ki. / Thesis submitted in: December 2004. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-76). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (English Version) --- p.iii / ABSTRACT (Chinese Version) --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.v / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.vi / LIST OF TABLES --- p.viii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xi / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION / Chapter 1.1. --- Structure of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) / Chapter 1.1.1. --- Configuration and Conformation of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2. --- Torsion Angle --- p.2 / Chapter 1.1.3. --- Base Pairing --- p.5 / Chapter 1.2. --- DNA Damage --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3. --- The Objective of this Project --- p.11 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- theory and Computational Details / Chapter 2.1. --- Computational Theory / Chapter 2.1.1. --- Density Functional Theory (DFT) --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.2. --- Closed-shell and Open-shell Determinantal Wavefunctions --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.3. --- Calculation Method --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.4. --- Basis Set Details --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2. --- Ionization Potential and Electron Affinity --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3. --- Charge Distribution --- p.16 / Chapter 2.4. --- Molecular Orbital --- p.16 / Chapter 2.5. --- Computation Details in this Project / Chapter 2.5.1. --- Calculation Method --- p.17 / Chapter 2.5.2. --- Studied Model --- p.17 / Chapter CHPATER 3 --- Results and Discussion / Chapter 3.1. --- Neutral State / Chapter 3.1.1. --- Bond Length --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.2. --- Torsion Angle of DNA backbone --- p.19 / Chapter 3.1.3. --- Sugar Ring Puckering Mode --- p.25 / Chapter 3.1.4. --- Natural Population Analysis (NAP) --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1.5. --- Molecular Orbitals --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2. --- Cationic State / Chapter 3.2.1. --- Ionization Potential --- p.33 / Chapter 3.2.2. --- Bond Length --- p.34 / Chapter 3.2.3. --- Backbone Torsion Angles --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2.4. --- Puckering Mode of Sugar Ring --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2.5. --- Charge Distribution --- p.43 / Chapter 3.2.6. --- Molecular Orbitals --- p.43 / Chapter 3.2.7. --- Summary --- p.47 / Chapter 3.3. --- Anionic State / Chapter 3.3.1. --- Ionization Potential --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3.2. --- Bond Lengths --- p.52 / Chapter 3.3.3. --- Torsion Angles of Backbone --- p.54 / Chapter 3.3.4. --- Sugar Ring Puckering Mode --- p.54 / Chapter 3.3.5. --- Charge Distribution --- p.58 / Chapter 3.3.6. --- Molecular Orbital --- p.63 / Chapter 3.3.7. --- Summary --- p.66 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK / Chapter 4.1. --- Conclusion --- p.68 / Chapter 4.2. --- Future Work --- p.71 / REFERENCE --- p.73

No description available.

No description available.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

No description available.

The drastic decline in the numbers of the five extant species of rhinoceroses world-wide, mainly as a result of poaching, have placed these species in imminent danger of extinction. This emphasizes the need to understand the relationships among the different species of rhinoceros. The advances in molecular biology have allowed the application of DNA-based genetic techniques to address a number of aspects of rhinoceros biology which have both academic interest and practical value to conservation management. There are four aspects to this study: Firstly, restriction endonuclease maps of mitochondrial DNA were constructed to estimate the time of divergence of Diceros bicornis (black rhinoceros) and Ceratotherium simum (white rhinoceros) from their common ancestor. Secondly, a population genetic study of the relationships among four subspecies of D. bicornis. Thirdly, the application of DNA fingerprinting to examine the intra- and inter-population relatedness in D. bicornis populations. Fourthly, a practical application of PCR to identify the origin of an unknown sample of DNA.

In any forensic investigation it is important to consider sample preservation. Oftentimes trace quantities of biological materials are found at crime scenes. The usual practice among forensic analysts is to take one sample of a suspected biological stain for presumptive testing, another for confirmatory testing and if both these results are positive, take a third portion for DNA analysis. This works well when sufficient sample is available, however, when trace quantities of sample are present at crime scenes, sample preservation becomes of importance. Thus, this study attempts to develop a procedure where presumptive, confirmatory and DNA analysis could be carried out on a single portion of the sample. In this study four different presumptive reagents – phenolphthalein, o-tolidine, 3, 3’, 5, 5’- tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and luminol – were used and their effects on the ABAcard® Hematrace® immunochromatographic membrane test and subsequent DNA analysis were studied. In order to develop the method for one-sample analysis, the lowest volume of blood that gave sufficient quantity of DNA was determined by extracting different volumes (20, 10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 μL) of whole blood. Additionally, different volumes of blood mixed with ABAcard® Hematrace® buffer were extracted. From this preliminary work it was determined that 1.25 μL of whole blood yielded sufficient DNA quantity even when mixed with the ABAcard® Hematrace® buffer. Bloodstains of 1.25 μL were then prepared and the one-sample analysis was carried out. The method developed was most successful when luminol was used as the presumptive reagent. For the bloodstains treated with the other three presumptive reagents (phenolphthalein, o-tolidine and TMB), a decrease in DNA yield was detected. This decrease was attributed to the inability of the Qiagen® QIAmp® column to adsorb the DNA after exposure to the chemical reagents and to the insolubility of the bloodstain in ABAcard® Hematrace® buffer following the addition of presumptive blood test reagents. Extraction of DNA from the ABAcard® Hematrace® immunochromatographic membrane was also carried out using the Qiagen® QIAmp® DNA investigator kit; no DNA was obtained from the membranes on which 150 μL of a dilute blood sample had been applied. This suggests that either the extraction method used was not capable of extracting the minute quantities of DNA that might be present on the membrane or there were insufficient white blood cells deposited on the membrane during the testing process. Thus, a one-sample procedure was successfully developed for bloodstains treated with luminol. A loss/reduction of DNA was observed for the samples previously exposed to phenolphthalein, o-tolidine and TMB due to the incapability of the reagents to work with silicon-based extraction chemistries. Further experimentation is needed to develop a similar procedure to be used with such presumptive testing reagents. Alternatively, a procedure can be developed that utilizes two samples: one for presumptive testing and another for confirmatory and subsequent DNA analysis, since it was observed that only the presumptive reagents, and not the ABAcard® Hematrace® buffer, interfered with DNA analysis.