Thesis (M.S.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Sept. 23, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-77).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, June 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (PhD)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2010. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: David M. Ward. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1998. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 5, 2006. Dissertation Committee: David F. Weber (chair), Marjorie A. Jones, Anthony Otsuka, Derek McCracken, Radheshyam Jayaswal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-91) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-174).

No description available.

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare) is an important crop and ranks fourth in overall production of the major cereal crops in the world. Like other cereal crops, barley suffers from a narrowing of its genetic base and susceptibility to diseases, pests and environmental stresses. H. bulbosum is a possible source of desirable genes for introgressing into barley to restore genetic diversity and improve current cultivars. Sexual hybridisation between barley and H. bulbosum is the main method for interspecific gene transfer in barley breeding but there are several barriers to overcome. Two of these are reduced recombination and the ability to identify recombinants quickly and efficiently. The aim in this thesis was to gain a better understanding of meiotic chromosomal behaviour in the two species and their hybrids and to improve the characterisation of recombinants from the hybrids. To study the events during meiosis, synaptonemal complex (SC) analysis was carried out on the two species and two H. vulgare - H. bulbosum hybrids. The results indicated that there were interspecific and intraspecific variations in SC length. Mean SC length was positively correlated with recombination frequency but not related to genome size. This suggests that the ratios of mean SC length to genome size (SC/DNA) show divergence among these Hordeum examples. An hypothesis based on the conformation of chromatin associated with axial element, which is dependent on SC/DNA ratio, was presented to explain the relationship between SC length and recombination frequency. Chromosome pairing in the two hybrids was determined by observation at pachytene and metaphase I (MI). Mean percentages of synapses were similar but there were different frequencies of MI pairing between these two hybrids, indicating that different mechanisms may regulate synapsis and MI pairing in the hybrids. To investigate meiotic recombination, genomic in situ hybridisation (GISH) was performed on the two hybrids at MI and anaphase I (AI). It was observed that intergenomic pairing and recombination events occur in distal chromosome segments. A great discrepancy between mean pairing and recombination frequencies was observed in both hybrids and several possible reasons for this discrepancy were discussed. Hybrid 102C2 with high MI pairing had a significantly higher recombination frequency than the low pairing 103K5, suggesting that high MI pairing appears to be associated with high recombination in the hybrids. An interesting finding is that the ratio of recombination to MI pairing in 103K5 (l:8.9) is twice as high compared with 102C2 (l:17). However, the mechanism for this difference in the ratio between the two hybrids remains unknown. Sequential fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and GISH were used successfully to localise the introgressions in selfed progeny from a tetraploid hybrid derived from chromosome-doubled 102C2 (102C2/colch). This procedure is fast, cheap and can efficiently detect and locate introgressions. Several disease-resistant recombinants were analysed in more details and leaf rust and powdery mildew resistance was associated with distal introgressions on chromosomes 2HS and 2HL (leaf rust) and 2HS (powdery mildew). It is possible that the leaf rust and powdery mildew resistances were closely linked in the distal region of 2HS. A considerable variation in introgression size was observed at similar chromosomal sites among the different recombinants, which will provide useful information for map-based cloning of genes.

Thesis (MSc (Genetics))--University of Stellenbosch, 200 5. / The Lr19 translocation is associated with deleterious agronomic effects and as a result modified forms of the translocation have been derived by different researchers in an attempt to remove the genes responsible.

Non-canonical base pairs that escape the proof-reading activity of the DNA polymerase emerge from DNA replication as DNA mismatches. To promote genomic integrity, these DNA mismatches are corrected by a secondary protection system, called DNA mismatch repair (MMR). Understanding the details of MMR is important for human health as defects in mismatch repair can result in cancer (e.g. hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, also known as Lynch syndrome). Being normally stochastic in nature, mismatches can emerge at random locations in a chromosome. Therefore, using a molecular tool to generate substrates for the MMR system at a defined locus has been particularly useful in my study of DNA mismatch repair in vivo. In this study, I have used a CTG•CAG repeat array, also called the “TNR array”, to generate frequent substrates for the MMR system in Escherichia coli. In E. coli, the MMR system searches for hemimethylated GATC motifs around a mismatch to initiate removal of the faulty nascent (un-methylated) strand. Analysing the usage of GATC motifs around the TNR array, I have found that the MMR system preferentially utilizes the GATC motifs on the origin distal side of the TNR array demonstrating that the bidirectionality of MMR in vitro is constrained in live cells. My results suggest that in vivo MMR operates by searching for the nearest hemimethylated GATC site located between the mismatch and the replication fork and excision of the nascent strand occurs directionally away from the fork towards the mismatch. Previous in vitro studies have established that the excision reaction during MMR terminates at a discrete point about 100 bp beyond a mismatch. However, in vivo recombination at a 275 bp tandem repeat, which has been proposed to be mediated by single stranded DNA generated during the excision reaction, has suggested that the end point of the excision reaction in live cells may extend much further from the mismatch than this. I have used this assay for extended excision to determine the influence of GATC sites on excision tracts. In this study, modification of the GATC motifs on the origin proximal side of the TNR has shown that the excision reaction does not stop at a GATC motif on the origin proximal side of the mismatch. In addition, sequential modifications of GATC motifs on the origin distal side of the TNR array, thereby shifting the start point of the excision reaction to a greater distance, have suggested that the length of an excision tract is a function of the distance it covers from the start point rather than from a mismatch. My observation of directionality with respect to DNA replication in the recognition of GATC sites suggested that MMR and DNA replication might be coupled in some way and that perhaps active (or blocked) MMR might impede the progress of the replication fork. However, no replication intermediates were detected using two-dimensional agarose gel electrophoresis of genomic DNA fragment containing the TNR array upon restriction digestion. I was therefore unable to support the hypothesis that active or blocked MMR led to a slowing down of DNA replication. Given my observation of a decrease in MMR by separating the mismatch from the closest origin distal GATC site, I set out to test whether MMR caused any selection pressure for the genomic distribution of GATC motifs. To do this, I generated artificial model genomes using a Markovian algorithm based on the nucleotide composition and codon usage in E. coli. Strikingly, the comparison of the distribution of GATC motifs in the E. coli genome with those from artificial sequences has shown that GATC motifs are distributed randomly in E. coli genome, except for a small clustering effect which has been detected for short spaced (0-40 basepairs) GATC motifs. The observed distribution of slightly over-represented GATC motifs in the E. coli genome appears to be a function of the total number of GATC motifs and it seems that the DNA mismatch repair system has evolved to utilize the natural distribution of GATC motifs to maintain genomic integrity.

Less than half of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) survive five years following diagnosis, underscoring the imperative need for improved treatment. Many patients, including those with advanced disease, initially respond to platinum agents, which constitute the backbone of therapy. However, tumors ultimately become resistant, rendering further treatment ineffective. Additionally, the poor tolerability of these agents warrants the exploration of more targeted treatments – one such strategy is exploiting synthetic lethal genetic relationships. Recent genomic sequencing efforts have revealed that as many of half of EOCs have homologous recombination (HR) alterations. HR is a critical pathway for the repair of platinum-induced ICLs, thus compromised HR is hypothesized to explain the initial response to chemotherapy in many patients. Accordingly, women whose tumors harbor mutations in the critical HR genes, BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2), demonstrate improved prognosis. BRCA1/2 mutations also confer exquisite sensitivity to inhibitors of the enzyme, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARPis), hence loss of BRCA1/2 and PARP1 is synthetic lethal. A number of models have been proposed to explain this synthetic lethality, yet a consensus model that accounts for the diverse cellular roles of BRCA1/2 and PARP1 has yet to be established. Delineating the precise molecular underpinnings of PARPi action in BRCA1/2-deficient cells will aid clinicians in identifying the appropriate population of women with EOC likely to benefit from PARPi treatment and provide insight into resistance mechanisms that arise in these patients. Combining this approach with retrospective analysis of PARPi clinical trials will best define the proper indication for PARPi in EOC and other human cancers.