Orientadores: Marcelo Menossi Teixeira, Agustina Gentile / Texto em português e inglês / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T09:56:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ferreira_ThaisHelenaSilva_M.pdf: 2413589 bytes, checksum: 0f0b16ac6fde8a1d1ee40e823f25320a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: A cana-de-açúcar é uma das mais importantes espécies vegetais cultiváveis do mundo, sendo o Brasil o maior produtor. A seca é um dos principais estresses que reduzem a produtividade da cana-de-açúcar e a produção de variedades tolerantes não só representa ganhos econômicos como contribui para a sustentabilidade do setor de bioenergia. A base genética da tolerância à seca ainda é pouco conhecida. Uma nova forma de regulação mediada por micro RNAs (miRNA) foi recentemente descrita como um componente importante e decisivo no desenvolvimento vegetal e na modulação da resistência aos mais diversos estresses. Nesse contexto, o objetivo desse trabalho foi identificar miRNAs expressos durante o estresse hídrico e correlacioná-los com a tolerância à seca em cana-de-açúcar. Para tal foram avaliados os perfis de expressão de miRNAs em dois cultivares de cana contrastantes quanto à tolerância à seca, mantidos em condições de irrigação normal, sob déficit hídrico (dois e quatro dias de estresse) e após recuperação por irrigação. Os dados foram obtidos através do sequenciamento de bibliotecas de miRNAs e a confirmação foi realizada por qRT-PCR. A comparação dos microtranscritomas dos cultivares RB867515 (mais tolerante à seca) e RB855536 (mais sensível à seca) permitiu a identificação de 7 miRNAs diferencialmente expressos em resposta à seca. Cinco miRNAs tiveram sua expressão confirmada através de ensaios de RT-qPCR. Também foram preditos, através de análises in silico, precursores e alvos para esses miRNAs. Aparentemente, muitos desses alvos desempenham papéis diversos na tolerância à seca. Esses resultados contribuíram para a descoberta de novos miRNAs em cana-de-açúcar e forneceram maior entendimento sobre a complexa rede de regulação gênica envolvida na resposta ao estresse hídrico / Abstract: Drought stress is a major abiotic stress factor that reduces significantly sugarcane yields. Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is one of the most important crop plants in the world and the molecular processes that mediate plant response to water stress are barely known. Although several microRNA mediating post-transcriptional regulation during water stress were described in other species, the role of the sugarcane microtranscriptome during drought stress is not known so far. The objective of this work was to identify miRNAs differentially expressed under drought stress and to correlate this expression with the tolerance of two cultivars contrasting for drought tolerance. The sugarcane cultivars RB867515 (higher drought tolerance) and RB855536 (lower drought tolerance) were cultivated in greenhouse for three months and then submitted to drought for 2 and 4 days. By using small RNA deep-sequencing we were able to identify 18 conserved miRNAs families, of which 12 families represent new sugarcane miRNA families. From the total miRNAs identified, 7 were differentially expressed under drought. Six of those were differentially expressed in two days and 5 miRNAs in four days of stress. Five miRNAs had their expression validated by RT-qPCR. The precursors and targets of the differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted using an in silico approach. Many of those targets probably play important roles in drought tolerance. These findings contribute significantly to increase the number of identified miRNAs in sugarcane and also to uncover the complex regulation network that is activated by drought stress / Mestrado / Genetica Vegetal e Melhoramento / Mestre em Genética e Biologia Molecular

Magister Scientiae - MSc / The objective of this study was to develop and validate a six Non-CODIS miniSTR genotyping system and to determine its suitability for forensic casework in South Africa. In Non-CODIS miniSTR genotyping systems, smaller PCR products are amplified and the primers are positioned as close as possible to the repeat region. For this reason, these systems can be valuable in a variety of scenarios including complex paternity cases, missing persons work, and mass fatality disasters. / South Africa

Tato práce se zabývá problematikou automatizované klasifikace a rozpoznávání bakterií po získání jejich DNA procesem sekvenování. V rámci této práce je navržena a popsána nová metoda klasifikace založená na základě segmentu 16S rRNA. Představený princip je vytvořen podle stromové struktury taxonomických kategorií a používá známé algoritmy strojového učení pro klasifikaci bakterií do jedné ze tříd na nižší taxonomické úrovni. Součástí práce je dále implementace popsaného algoritmu a vyhodnocení jeho přesnosti predikce. Přesnost klasifikace různých typů klasifikátorů a jejich nastavení je prozkoumána a je určeno nastavení, které dosahuje nejlepších výsledků. Přesnost implementovaného algoritmu je také porovnána s několika existujícími metodami. Během validace dosáhla implementovaná aplikace KTC více než 45% přesnosti při predikci rodu na datových sadách BLAST 16S i BLAST V4. Na závěr je zmíněno i několik možností vylepšení a rozšíření stávající implementace algoritmu.

Molecular biological methods are fast and efficient tool for the identification of microorganisms in real samples. The aim of this diploma thesis was analysis of microflora in control and contaminated brined cheeses. DNA isolated from analyzed samples was used to optimize the PCR course using primers with GC clamp on the distribution of amplicons using DGGE. DGGE products were reamplified after optimization and prepared for DNA sequencing. DNA isolated from analyzed samples was used in real-time PCR with high resolution melt analysis of the amplicons (HRMA). Samples of cheese and bacterial cultures isolated from cheeses were compared by DGGE and HRMA. Comparing the position of the amplicons was found that contaminants may be Bacillus licheniformis, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Acinetobacter baumanii/ calcoaceticus. Sequence analysis of cheese and pickles amplicons, the presence of Bacillus sp. and other microorganisms spree in five genera were detected. Representatives of the tree genera were cultured. It is considered contamination Bacillus sp., or microorganisms which are not culturable methods used. The method is suitable for the analysis of complex microflora in cheese and pickles after further optimization.

An important goal of biology is to understand the key mechanisms of evolution underlying the diversity of living organisms on Earth. In that respect, the recent innovations in the field of new generation sequencing technologies (NGS) are bringing new and exciting opportunities. This thesis presents results obtained with these tools in the specific context of the study of two sister species of cold-adapted leaf beetles, Gonioctena intermedia and G. quinquepunctata. More specifically, this work is focused around four research directions: the two first explore methods of statistical inference using a spatially explicit model of coalescence, by (1) evaluating the potential of various summary statistics to discriminate phylogeographic hypotheses, and (2) investigating the dispersal abilities of a montane leaf beetle, G. quinquepunctata, using an original method that avoids using summary statistics. The third research direction focuses on the adaptation to cold conditions in this montane leaf beetle, by testing the association between genetic polymorphism across tens of thousands of genetic markers and altitude in samples collected at various elevation levels in the Vosges (France). Finally, the fourth, and last, research axis presents the discovery of mitochondrial heteroplasmy, i.e. the presence in an individual of multiple copies of the mitochondrial genome, in natural populations of G. intermedia. We illustrate, here, how NGS technologies could help identify this phenomenon, probably underestimated in animals, on a large scale. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Nanopore sequencing is a relatively new DNA sequencing method which measures the current over a nanopore in a membrane as each nucleotide of the DNA passes through the nanopore. From the resulting current signal it is possible to determine the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA by using a base caller. The goal of this project was to create a machine learning model which could estimate the accuracy rate (identity score) of the sequenced DNA using the electric current signal and other data available through nanopore sequencing. The dataset that the machine learning models were trained on were samples from E. coli bacteria that had been sequenced through nanopore sequencing. In this project a linear regression model was created as well as several neural networks. The best performing model was a neural network which had a mean square error (MSE) of 6.12 ∙ 10-4, compared to a variance in the dataset of 2.11 ∙ 10-3. The low MSE indicates that the model can effectively predict identity scores. / Nanopore sequencing är en relativt ny DNA-sekvenseringsmetod som mäter strömmen över en nanoskopisk por i ett membran samtidigt som varje DNA-nukleotid passerar genom poren. Från den resulterande elektriska signalen så är det möjligt att bestämma sekvensen av nukleotider i DNA:t genom att använda en base caller. Målet med det här projektet var att skapa en maskininlärningsmodell som kunde bestämma graden av noggrannhet av det sekvenserade DNA:t genom att använda den elektriska strömsignalen och andra typer av data tillgängliga av Nanopore sequencing. Datamängden som maskininlärningsmodellerna använde för träning bestod av samples från en E. coli bakterie som sekvenserats med nanopore sequencing. I det här projektet har en linjär regressions-modell skapats samt flera olika neurala nätverk. Den bäst presterande modellen var ett neuralt nätverk, som hade ett minstakvadratfel (MSE) på 6.12 ∙ 10-4, jämfört med datamängdens varians på 2.11 ∙ 10-3. Det låga MSE-värdet visar på att modellen effektivt kan skatta noggrannhetsgraden av den avlästa DNA-sekvensen. / Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2022, KTH, Stockholm

Landfilling is the most widely used method for the disposal of municipal solid wastes (MSW) in the United States due to its simplicity and low cost. According to the 2014 report on Advancing Sustainable Materials Management by the USEPA, only 34% of the total MSW generated in the US was recycled, while 13% was combusted for energy recovery. In 2014, 53% of the MSW generated, (i.e. 136 million tons) in the US was landfilled. The treatment of landfill leachates, generated by percolation of water through the landfill, primarily due to precipitation, has been found to be one of the major challenges associated with landfill operation and management. Currently, leachates from most landfills are discharged into wastewater treatment plants, where they get treated along with domestic sewage. Issues associated with treatment of landfill leachates due to their high nitrogen and heavy metal content have been widely studied. Recently, it has been observed that the organic carbon in landfill leachates, specifically humic and fulvic acids (together referred to as "humic substances") contain aromatic groups that can absorb large amounts of ultraviolet (UV) light, greatly reducing the UV transmissivity in wastewater plants using UV disinfection as the final treatment step. This interference with UV disinfection is observed even when landfill leachates constitute a very small fraction (of the order of 1%) of the total volumetric flow into wastewater treatment plants. Humic substances are present as dissolved organic matter (DOM) and typically show very low biodegradability. Removing these substances using chemical treatment or membrane processes is an expensive proposition. However, the concentrations of humic substances are found to be reduced in leachates from landfill cells that have aged for several years, suggesting that these substances may be degraded under the conditions of long-term landfilling. The primary objective of this research was to use a two-stage process employing thermophilic pretreatment followed by a mesophilic anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to mimic the conditions of long-term landfilling. The AnMBR was designed to keep biomass inside the reactor and accelerate degradation of biologically recalcitrant organic carbon such as humic substances. The treatment goal was to reduce UV absorbance in raw landfill leachates, potentially providing landfills with an innovative on-site biological treatment option prior to discharging leachates into wastewater treatment plants. The system was operated over 14 months, during which time over 50% of UV-quenching organic carbon and 45% of UV absorbance was consistently removed. To the best of our knowledge, these removal values are higher than any reported using biological treatment in the literature. Comparative studies were also performed to evaluate the performance of this system in treating young leachates versus aged leachates. Next-generation DNA sequencing and quantitative PCR (qPCR) were used to characterize the microbial community in raw landfill leachates and the bioreactors treating landfill leachate. Analysis of microbial community structure and function revealed the presence of known degraders of humic substances in raw as well as treated landfill leachates. The total number of organisms in the bioreactors were found to be higher than in raw leachate. Gene markers corresponding to pathogenic bacteria and a variety of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were detected in raw landfill leachates and the also in the reactors treating leachate, which makes it necessary to compare these ARG levels with wastewater treatment in order to determine if leachates can act as sources of ARG addition into wastewater treatment plants. In addition, the high UV absorbance of leachates could hinder the removal of ARBs and ARGs by UV disinfection, allowing their release into surface water bodies and aiding their proliferation in natural and engineered systems. / Ph. D.

Le microbiote gastro-intestinal joue un rôle important dans le maintien de la santé de l’hôte. Il est composé de nombreux micro-organismes tels que des bactéries, des virus, des champignons et des archées. Cependant, la majorité de ces cellules microbiennes sont des cellules bactériennes et, pour cette raison, de nombreuses études se concentrent sur l’exploration des communautés bactériennes en particulier dans le tube gastro-digestif. Un déséquilibre de cette microbiote, appelé dysbiose, a été observé dans plusieurs pathologies telles que la diarrhée, la pneumonie, après l'administration d'antibiotiques ou une modification du régime alimentaire. L’objectif de cette étude était de caractériser la dynamique du microbiote fécal des veaux entrant dans une unité d’élevage. Cinquante veaux Holstein âgés de 8 à 14 jours et arrivant dans une unité de veaux ont été inscrits à cette étude. Des échantillons fécaux ont été collectés à l'arrivée et les jours 4, 10 et 24 après l'arrivée. Les scores fécaux, le poids des veaux et l’administration d’antibiotiques ont été enregistrés au cours de l’étude. Le séquençage a été réalisé à l'aide de la plateforme Illumina MiSeq et les données analysées à l'aide du logiciel Mothur. Contrairement aux attentes, la richesse et la diversité étaient plus élevées lorsque la proportion d'animaux diarrhéiques était plus élevée (p < 0,001) et, comme prévu, la composition et la structure du microbiote changeaient au fil des jours de collecte (p > 0,001), mais les changements n'étaient pas associés à présence ou non de diarrhée et de traitement antibiotique comme prévu, ils sont associés aux jours de prélèvement. La proportion de diarrhée (nombre de veaux diarrhéiques par jour) était numériquement plus élevée les jours 4, 10 et 24 après l'arrivée. Comme prévu, les abondances relatives de bactéries associées à la santé (par example : Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus et Faecalibacterium) ont diminué chez les veaux diarrhéiques. Bien que l'analyse de la diarrhée et de l'utilisation d'antibiotiques ne fît pas partie des objectifs de cette étude, il y avait une tendance (p=0,09) dans le poids des animaux ayant eu la diarrhée et ayant reçu des antibiotiques. Le poids final des veaux malades ayant reçu des antibiotiques avant l'abattage étaient inférieurs par rapport au poids final des animaux qui n'étaient pas malades et n'avaient pas reçu d'antibiotiques (p=0,072). La principale limite de cette étude est le manque d'information sur l'origine des veaux avant leur arrivée à l'unité d'élevage. Cette étude contribue à une meilleure compréhension des changements microbiens liés au stress auquel sont confrontés les veaux de boucherie et pourrait servir de base à d’autres études visant à proposer des méthodes alternatives de manipulation du microbiote pour prévenir les maladies et rétablir la santé des veaux. / The gastrointestinal microbiota plays an important role in maintaining the health of the host. It is composed of many microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and archaea. However, the majority of these microbial cells are bacterial cells, and for that reason, many studies focus on exploring especially bacterial communities in the GIT. Imbalance of the GIT microbiota, termed dysbiosis, has been observed in several conditions such as diarrhea, pneumonia, after antibiotic administration, or diet modification. The objective of this study was to characterize the dynamics of the fecal microbiota of veal calves entering a rearing unit. Fifty Holstein calves ranging from 8-14 days of life and arriving in a veal unit were enrolled in this study. Fecal samples were collected on arrival and on days 4 ,10 and 24 after arrival. Fecal scores, calves’ weight and antibiotic administration were recorded during the study. Sequencing was performed using the Illumina MiSeq platform and data analysed using the software Mothur. Contrary to expectations, richness and diversity were higher when the proportion of diarrheic animals were higher (p<0.001), and as expected, the microbiota composition and structure changed among days of collection (p>0.001), but the changes were not associated to presence or absence of diarrhea and antibiotic treatment as expected, they are associated to the sampling days. Diarrhea proportion (number of diarrheic calves per day) were numerically higher on days 4, 10 and 24 after arrival (As expected, the relative abundances of bacteria associated to health (i.e., Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Faecalibacterium) were decreased in the diarrheic calves. Although analyzing diarrhea and antibiotic usage was not one of the objectives of this study, there was a tendence (p=0.09) in the weigh of the animals that had diarrhea and received antibiotics. The final weight of the sick calves that received antibiotics before slaughter were lower when compared to the final weigh of the animals that were not sick and did not received antibiotics (p=0.072). The main limitation of this study is the lack of information about calves’ origin before arrival at the rearing unit. This study contributes to the better understanding of the microbial changes related to the stress faced by veal calves and might be the basis for further studies to propose alternative methods of microbiota manipulation to prevent disease and restore health in calves.

A cardiomiopatia hipertrófica (CMH) é uma doença geneticamente determinada, caracterizada por hipertrofia ventricular primária, com prevalência estimada de 0.2% na população geral. Qualquer portador tem 50% de chance de transmitir esta doença para seus filhos, o que torna cada vez mais relevante a importância do estudo genético dos indivíduos acometidos e de seus familiares. Já foram descritas diversas mutações genéticas causadoras de CMH, a maioria em genes que codificam proteínas do sarcômero, e algumas mutações mais raras em genes não sarcoméricos. O objetivo desse estudo é sequenciar as regiões exônicas de genes candidatos, incluindo os principais envolvidos na hipertrofia miocárdica, utilizando o sequenciamento de nova geração (Generation Sequencing); testar a aplicabilidade e viabilidade deste sistema para identificar mutações já confirmadas e propor as prováveis novas mutações causadoras de CMH. Métodos e resultados: 66 pacientes não aparentados portadores de CMH foram estudados e submetidos à coleta de sangue para obtenção do DNA para analisar as regiões exômicas de 82 genes candidatos, utilizando a plataforma MiSeq (Illumina). Identificou-se 99 mutações provavelmente patogênicas em 54 pacientes incluídos no estudo (81,8%) relacionadas ou não a CMH, e distribuídas em 42 genes diferentes. Destas mutações 27 já haviam sido publicadas, sendo que 17 delas descritas como causadoras de CMH. Em 28 pacientes (42,4%) identificou-se mutação nos três principais genes sarcoméricos relacionados à CMH (MYH7, MYBPC3, TNNT2). Encontrou-se também um grande número de variantes não sonôminas de efeito clínico incerto e algumas mutações relacionadas a outras enfermidades. Conclusão: a análise da sequencia dos exônos de genes candidatos, demonstrou ser uma técnica promissora para o diagnóstico genético de CMH de forma mais rápida e sensível. A quantidade de dados gerados é o um fator limitante até o momento, principalmente em doenças geneticamente complexas com envolvimento de diversos genes e com sistema de bioinformática limitado. / Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetically determined disease, estimated prevalence of 0.2% in the general population. Any of its carriers has 50% likelihood to pass it on to their children, and that makes the genetic study of these individuals and their relatives even more relevant. There have been several studies describing genetic mutations that cause HCM - the vast majority in genes responsible for sarcomere protein coding - and other rarer mutations in non-sarcomeric genes. The aim of this research is study exonic areas of specific genes, including the most important ones related to myocardial hypertrophy, identifying the genetic mutations that have already been documented, and possible new pathogenic mutations, using the high throughput DNA sequencing (NGS); testing the pplicability and viability to identify HCM-causing mutations. Methods and results: 66 unrelated patients with CM were studied and subject to blood sample in order to extract their genomic DNA to analyze exomic regions of 82 candidates genes, using the high throughput sequencing technology on MiSeg (Illumina) platform. In this study we identified 99 possible damaging mutations in 54 patients (81.8%) that could be related or not to HCM, and distributed in 42 different genes. 27 of this variants have already been published, and 17 of them have been described as HCM causes. 42,4% of the patients (28 individuals) have genetic mutations in the three main sarcomeric genes related to HCM (MYH7, MYBPC3, TNNT2). We also identified a large number of non-synonymous variants of uncertain clinical significance and some mutations related to other diseases. Conclusion: The exome analysis in candidates genes using NGS has demonstrated to be promising for the genetic diagnosis of HCM, in a short time with sensivity. The amount of data obtained in a short period of time is the main limiting factor, especially for genetically complex diseases that involve multiple genes.

DNA methylation plays a role in several biological functions, such as gene expression regulation, and several endogenous and exogenous factors affect these DNA methylation patterns in the cell. One such alteration of a cell line's DNA methylation pattern is caused by the insertion of a vector into the cell line. Using the cytosine–extension assay and realtime methylation–specific PCR, alterations of DNA methylation levels on both global and gene–specific levels were investigated. In some cell lines the cellular transformation led to an increase in DNA methylation levels, and in others a decrease in DNA methylation amounts was observed. The same phenomenon was seen in the promoter regions of specific genes, showing that vector–insertion into a cell line caused DNA methylation alterations in many regions of the genome. These alterations in DNA methylation are investigated in this reduced representation study using enrichment of the methylated fraction of fragmented DNA and subsequent GS FLX Titanium sequencing of these methylated fragments. The results of sequence data analysis showed that methylated fragments are distributed over the whole genome, but could be related to only a few specific genes. These results have implications for cell culture work, biotechnological applications and uses in gene therapy. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Biochemistry))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.