Orientador: Ana Maria Lima de Azeredo-Espin / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T08:21:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosa_AlineCoelhoda_M.pdf: 1020874 bytes, checksum: 5958193e586711ee1cf0c5fe30134718 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Este trabalho consiste na construção de uma biblioteca genômica enriquecida em microssatélites e na caracterização de dez locos polimórficos para a espécie Haematobia irritans irritans (Diptera: Muscidae), popularmente conhecida como mosca-dos-chifres, um ectoparasita de grande importância econômica para a pecuária de diversos países, principalmente no Brasil. A biblioteca genômica enriquecida em microssatélites teve um rendimento de 67% considerando-se o número de microsatélites (contendo mais de 7 repetições em série) caracterizados em um total de 109 sequências analisadas. Um rendimento de 22% foi encontrado referente à obtenção de 16 locos potencialmente informativos. Dos microssatélites identificados nesta análise, 85% possuíam motivos (CA)n e apenas 12% apresentaram motivos (GA)n, apesar da biblioteca ter sido enriquecida para ambos os motivos. Neste projeto, dez locos polimórficos de microssatélites foram descritos para a espécie H. irritans. Destes, oito locos apresentaram motivos dinucleotídeos, sendo cinco motivos (CA)n e três motivos (GA)n, além da identificação de um loco com motivo trinucleotídeo (CAA)7 e um tetranucleotídeo (CCGT)6. Entre os dez locos polimórficos, o número de alelos por loco variou entre dois e oito, tendo uma média de quatro alelos por loco, considerados um número baixo quando comparado com outras espécies de dípteros. As heterozigosidades esperada e observada apresentaram um intervalo de 0,1421-0,7702 e 0,1500-0,6750, respectivamente. Os valores de heterozigosidade também foram considerados baixos, sendo inferiores a 0,5 em pelo menos três locos. Após correção seqüencial de Bonferroni, oito locos não apresentaram desvios significativos pelo esperado por Hardy-Weinberg, bem como não foi verificado desequilíbrio de ligação entre os pares de locos. A caracterização destes marcadores microssatélites polimórficos, é potencialmente informativa para elucidar questões evolutivas envolvendo H. irritans como a compreensão da dinâmica populacional e estrutura genética desta espécie. A análise deste marcador molecular poderá orientar projetos de manejo e controle da mosca-dos-chifres / Abstract: The aim of this work was the construction of a genomic microsatelliteenriched library for the species Haematobia irritans irritans (Diptera: Muscidae), commonly known as ¿horn fly¿, an ectoparasite of great economic importance world-wide, and particularly in Brazil. Here we describe ten polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from this species. From a complete set of 109 sequences analised, 67% contained microsatellites regions (considering sequences with more than 7 repeats). The analysis of these sequences resulted in the identification of 16 potentially informative microsatellites loci (an efficience of 22%). Regarding the composition of the microsatellites sequenced retrived in this process, 85% have (CA)n motifs and only 12% have (GA)n motifs, despite enrichment on both. From the ten polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from H. irritans, 8 have dinucleotide motifs (5 (CA)n and 3 (GA)n), one was a trinucleotide motif (CAA)7 and one was a tetranucleotide motif (CCGT)6. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to eight, with an average of four alleles per locus. This number of alleles was considered low if compared with other dipterans studies. The expected and observed heterozigosities ranged from 0,1421 to 0,7702 and 0,1500 to 0,6750, respectively. Heterozigosity values were considered low. In this analysis, at least three loci presented heterozigosity values under 0,5. After sequential Bonferroni correction, significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was found for 2 loci. No linkage disequilibrium was observed between pairs of loci after correction for multiple tests. The characterization of these polymorphic microsatellites markers is potentially informative to investigate evolutionary questions regarding H. irritans populations by providing fundamental insights into population dynamics and genetic structure. Further projects on horn flies control and management could also benefit from this molecular marker analysis / Mestrado / Genetica Animal e Evolução / Mestre em Genética e Biologia Molecular

A ocorrência de Listeria monocytogenes em alimentos vem sendo estudada desde o início dos anos 80, após seu envolvimento em vários surtos de doença de origem alimentar. Os frutos do mar são o grupo de alimentos que despertou menor atenção por parte dos pesquisadores, apesar de terem sido envolvidos em casos esporádicos de listeriose e mesmo em surtos da doença. A amostragem ambiental e de produto, ao longo de uma linha de processamento é uma forma de localizar áreas relacionadas à contaminação do alimento permitindo que sejam feitas correções para evitar a produção de bens que exponham o consumidor a doenças. Com a finalidade de avaliar a contribuição da matéria prima e fatores ambientais na ocorrência e distribuição de L. monocytogenes em uma indústria processadora de pescados, e mais especificamente, numa linha processadora de camarão rosa (penoeus brasiliensis), é que desenvolveu-se a presente pesquisa. Também buscou-se determinar as diversidades antigênica e genética das cepas de L. monocytogenes isoladas, e correlacionar esta diversidade à sua distribuição na indústria. Assim, um total de 363 amostras coletadas em diferentes pontos de uma linha de processamento de camarão rosa foram examinadas para a presença de L. monocytogenes, empregando-se a metodologia recomendada pelo Health Protection Branch, do Canadá. A seguir, 115 cepas de L. monocytogenes representativas das amostras positivas para o microrganismo foram sorotipadas e o polimorfismo do seu DNA cromossomico avaliado com o auxílio dos métodos RAPD (\"randon amplified polimorphic DNA\") e PFGE (\"pulsed-field MTDestro - Doutorado - Listeria monocytogeneses em camarao... 140 gel electrophoresis\"). Um grupo de 25 cepas foi também submetido a sorotipagem completa, fagotipagem e ribotipagem pelo sistema RiboPrint da DuPont. Do total de amostras examinadas, 64 (17,6%) apresentaram-se contaminadas por L. monocyfogenes. As amostras ambientais apresentaram 25,0% de positividade (14 positivas/56 examinadas). As amostras de utensílios 24,2% (8/33) e as de água 23,8% (5/21). As amostras de camarão apresentaram 18,0% de contaminação (32/178) e as de manipuladores 7,6% (5/66). Nenhuma das amostras de gelo foi positiva para L. monocyfogenes. Durante o processamento observou-se um aumento na percentagem de amostras positivas para L. monocytogenes, chegando esta percentagem a 35,0% em algumas etapas, mas reduzindo-se a 16,0% no produto final. O perfil composto gerado pela combinação dos resultados obtidos com a tipagem molecular das 115 cepas de L. monocyfogenes selecionadas, permitiu a sua divisão em 24 grupos, de acordo com seus perfis de DNA. A sorotipagem das 25 cepas selecionadas mostrou que 11 pertenciam ao sorovar 4b, 7 ao sorovar 1/2b, 2 ao sorovar 1/2c e 5 ao sorovar 1/2a. A fagotipagem permitiu que elas fossem divididas em 7 fagovares, sendo que a maior parte das cepas do sorovar 4b (81,8%) não foi fagotipável. A ribotipagem destas 25 cepas originou 6 RiboGroupsTM. Os resultados indicaram que cepas de L. monocytogenes de origem ambiental pertenciam a perfis compostos exclusivos para o ambiente, enquanto que cepas provenientes da água e de utensílios possuiam um perfil composto em comum. Amostras de camarão coletadas nas diversas etapas doprocessamento apresentaram L. monocytogenes com pelo menos um perfil composto em comum, perfil este também presente nas cepas isoladas das mãos dos manipuladores. / The importance of seafood in the spread of foodborne pathogens is well known, however, until the last few years, little attention has been paid to the role of seafood in disseminating L. monocytogenes. Two foodborne listeriosis outbreaks have been linked to the consumption of seafood. L. monocytogenes and other Listeria species have been isolated from different types of raw or processed seafood, but the main source of contamination is unknown. For this reason, it is important to monitor the potential sources of this pathogen in food processing plants, in order to minimize product contamination. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of raw material and environment in the occurrence and distribution of L. monocytogenesin shrimp (Penaeus brasiliensis) processing plant. The antigenic and genetic diversities of L. monocytogenes strains were also determined. A total of 363 samples, collected in different areas of a shrimp processing plant in Santos, SP, were examined using the methodology recomended by the Health Protection Branch, Canada. One hundred and fifteen strains of L. monocytogenes representing the L. monocytogenes positive samples were first serotyped and then sub-typed by molecular typing (RAPD and PFGE). A group of 25 strains were also ribotyped and phage-typed. L. monocytogeneswas isolated from 64 (17.6%) of the total samples analysed. Environmental samples showed the highest positivity rate (25%) followed by utensils (24,2%) and water (23.8%) samples. Shrimp samples presented 18% of positivity for L. monocytogenes while food handlers samples presented 7.6%. None of the ice samples was positive for the microorganism. When the composite profile from \"both (RAPD-PFGE) methods was generated, the 115 strains could be separated in 24 groups, according to their DNA pattern. The results indicated that environmental strains of L. monocytogenes ali feel into composite profile groupings unique to the environment, while strains from both water and utensils shared another composite profile group. L. monocytogenes fresh shrimp iso/ates belonging to one profile group, were found in the different areas of the processing line. This same latter group was also present in food handlers from the processing and packaging areas of the plant.

Orientador: Anete Pereira de Souza. / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T14:31:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DaSilva_CarlaCristina_D.pdf: 7310053 bytes, checksum: 1acc7f4e6eb7811b25670f85f9563217 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: A seringueira (Hevea brasiliensis), espécie nativa da Amazônia, é a maior fonte de borracha natural do mundo. Programas de melhoramento genético da seringueira têm sido cruciais para a obtenção de caracteres desejáveis. Entretanto, o ciclo de melhoramento da seringueira é muito longo (cerca de 30 anos), tornando-se essencial o desenvolvimento de novas técnicas de avaliação precoce. As bibliotecas de cDNA e Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) são ferramentas muito importantes em biologia molecular: possibilitam identificar genes preferencialmente expressos em tecidos ou tipos celulares e também são valiosas fontes de marcadores polimórficos, instrumentos poderosos para genotipagem e mapeamento molecular. O uso de marcadores derivados de ESTs permite construir mapas funcionais, nos quais são posicionados genes transcritos ou regiões próximas aos genes. Este tipo de mapeamento é importante para estudos de associação gene-característica, e identificação de genes candidatos. Este trabalho objetivou a construção de bibliotecas de cDNA de diferentes tecidos (painel, látex e folha) e tratamentos (exposição ao frio e infecção controlada por Microcyclus ulei) de seringueira para desenvolver sequências EST e marcadores moleculares gene-direcionados a partir destas sequências, para aumentar a saturação de um mapa integrado baseado em microssatélites, no qual identificaram 18 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) para características de crescimento, construído previamente em nosso laboratório. Foram sequenciados 10.464 clones, gerando 8.551 ESTs de alta qualidade que agrupadas formaram 5.211 unigenes. Destes, 3.582 (68,7%) apresentam similaridade com uma proteína hipotética ou expressa. Foram desenvolvidos 173 marcadores EST-SSR e 43 marcadores SNP para H. brasiliensis. 150 EST-SSRs (87%) podem estar associados a genes funcionais, e 98,8% foram transferidos para outras espécies de Hevea, sugerindo que o gênero seja um complexo formado pelas diferentes espécies. Os SNPs foram identificados em 13 ESTs similares a proteínas de resposta a estresse, desenvolvimento e síntese de látex. Seis sequências foram abundantes nas bibliotecas de exposição ao frio e análises de expressão demonstraram que a expressão de cinco sequências aumentou durante o experimento, principalmente a expressão de duas sequências que foi aumentada mais de 70 vezes. Dos EST-SSRs desenvolvidos, 46 foram genotipados na população segregante F1 com 270 indivíduos, e estes marcadores foram adicionados ao mapa genético de seringueira, totalizando 330 marcadores. O programa OneMap foi usado para a construção do mapa que possui 3.068,9 cM de extensão e 22 grupos de ligação (LGs). Cinco locos foram mapeados em regiões QTL, e os transcritos de três são similares a proteínas de resposta a estresse e desenvolvimento. Estes locos podem ser genes candidatos para estudos relacionados a características de crescimento em seringueira. Até o momento, este é o primeiro trabalho em seringueira que combina análises de ESTs de diferentes tecidos e tratamentos, e análises sobre a exposição a baixas temperaturas, em vários genótipos de seringueira. Os novos marcadores adicionados ao mapa poderão auxiliar na identificação de genes de interesse e de QTLs para outras características de importância agronômica. Os vários marcadores gene-direcionados desenvolvidos serão utilizados para mapeamento e posicionamento de possíveis genes em outras populações de mapeamento que estão sendo avaliadas no Laboratório de Análise Genética e Molecular / Abstract: Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), native species of the Amazon, is world¿s major source of natural rubber. Rubber tree breeding programs have been fundamental for the selection of desirable traits. However, the breeding cycle is time consuming (around 30 years), which makes the development of new techniques for early evaluation a necessity. cDNA libraries and Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) are very important tools in molecular biology: they enable the identification of genes preferentially expressed in tissues or cellular types and are also a valuable resource of polymorphic markers, powerful instruments for genotyping and molecular mapping. The use of EST-derived markers allows the construction of functional maps, wherein expressed genes or regions near genes are positioned. This type of mapping is important for gene-trait association studies and candidate genes identification. The present study aimed at the construction of cDNA libraries from different tissues (panel, latex and leave) and treatments (cold exposure and Microcyclus ulei controlled infection) of rubber tree for the development of EST sequences and gene-targeted molecular markers, to raise the saturation of a microsatellite-based integrated genetic map previously constructed in our laboratory, in which 18 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) related to growth traits were identified. Sequencing of 10.464 clones generated 8,551 high quality ESTs that were clustered into 5,211 unigenes. Among these, 3,582 (68.7%) showed similarity to a hypothetical or expressed protein. A total of 173 EST-SSR and 43 SNP markers were developed for H. brasiliensis. 150 SSRs (87%) could be associated with functional genes, and 98.8% were transferred to other Hevea species, suggesting that the genus is a complex formed by different species. The SNP markers were identified in 13 ESTs that showed similarity to stress response, development and latex biosynthesis proteins. Six sequences were highly abundant in the cold exposure libraries and expression analyses demonstrated that five sequences were up-regulated during the exposure, with emphasis to two sequences with more than 70-fold increase in expression. From the developed EST-SSRs, 46 were genotyped in the segregating F1 population comprised of 270 plants. These markers were added to the genetic map, which know contains a total of 330 markers. The OneMap software was used for the map construction that now has 3,068.9 cM and 22 linkage groups. Five loci were mapped into QTLs, and transcripts of three of them present similarity to proteins involved in stress response and developmental processes. These loci may be candidate genes for studies related to rubber tree growth traits. To our knowledge, this is the first work in rubber tree that combines analyses of ESTs from different tissues and treatments, and to analyze sequences under cold stress, in several H. brasiliensis genotypes. The new positioned markers may help in the identification of genes of interest and QTLs for other agronomic important traits. The several gene-targeted markers developed here will be used in the mapping and positioning of possible genes in other mapping populations that are now being evaluated at Genetics and Molecular Analysis Laboratory / Doutorado / Genetica Vegetal e Melhoramento / Doutora em Genética e Biologia Molecular

Orientador: Lilian Madi-Ravazzi / Resumo: Drosophila prosaltans e Drosophila austrosaltans, do grupo saltans de Drosophila, são espécies neotropicais com distribuição em áreas florestais da América Central e do Sul e que podem ser encontradas em simpatria. A literatura sobre o grupo saltans de Drosophila é escassa e muitos trabalhos não são tão recentes. Assim, poucas são as informações disponíveis sobre os aspectos biológicos de ambas as espécies. Para D. prosaltans, existem trabalhos de isolamento reprodutivo, estrutura e polimorfismo cromossômico que apontam uma diferenciação de suas populações, entretanto, as informações em relação à diferenciação populacional de D. austrosaltans são praticamente inexistentes. Tal fato nos motivou a investigar os padrões de diversidade genética populacional dessas espécies provenientes de diferentes fitofisionomias de Mata Atlântica utilizando os microssatélites como marcador molecular. Foram desenvolvidos oligonucleotídeos de microssatélites específicos para D. prosaltans, cuja transferibilidade testada para D. austrosaltans mostrou resultados positivos. Identificamos na análise de 12 locos para D. prosaltans, uma alta heterozigosidade média (Ho = 0.45 ± 0.03) e uma diferenciação genética populacional moderada (Fst = 0.17 ± 0.02). Foi observada a formação de dois agrupamentos genéticos distintos nas populações de D. prosaltans, que não se correlacionam com a distribuição regional ou de fitofisionomia das populações, podendo esse padrão ser decorrente de características ecológica... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Drosophila prosaltans and Drosophila austrosaltans, from the Drosophila saltans group, are neotropical species with distribution in forest areas of Central and South America and that can be sympatric. The literature on the Drosophila saltans group is scarce and many works are not so recent. Thus, little information is available on the biological aspects of both species. For D. prosaltans, there are works of reproductive isolation, structure and chromosomal polymorphism that point to a differentiation of its populations, however, the information regarding the population differentiation of D. austrosaltans is practically nonexistent. This fact motivated us to investigate the patterns of population genetic diversity of these species from different Atlantic Forest phytophysiognomies using microsatellites as a molecular marker. Microsatellite oligonucleotides specific for D. prosaltans were developed, whose transferability tested for D. austrosaltans showed positive results. In the analysis of 12 loci for D. prosaltans, we identified a high mean heterozygosity (Ho = 0.45 ± 0.03) and a moderate population genetic differentiation (Fst = 0.17 ± 0.02). The formation of two distinct genetic groups was observed in D. prosaltans populations, which do not correlate with the regional or phytophysiognomic distribution of the populations, and this pattern may be due to ecological characteristics, shared ancestral polymorphism, recurrent mutation and genetic drift (founder effect). The succes... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The heart is the first organ to form during development in vertebrates and Nkx2-5 is the first marker of cardiac specification. In Xenopus laevis, Nkx2-5 is essential for heart formation, but early targets of this homeodomain transcription factor have not been fully characterized. In order to discover potential early targets of Nkx2-5, synthetic Nkx2-5 mRNA was injected into eight-cell Xenopus laevis embryos and changes in gene expression measured using microarray analysis. While Xenopus laevis is a commonly used model organism for developmental studies, its genome remains poorly annotated. To compensate for this, a cross-species annotation database called CrossGene was constructed. CrossGene was created by exhaustively comparing UniGene transcripts from Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, Gallus gallus, Xenopus laevis, Danio rerio, Drosophila melanogaster, and Caenorhabditis elegans using the BLAST family of algorithms. Networks were then assembled by recursively combining reciprocal best matches into groups of orthologous genes. Gene ontology annotation from all organisms could then be applied to all members of the reciprocal group. In this way, the CrossGene database was used to augment the existing genomic annotation of Xenopus laevis. Combining cross-species annotation with differential gene expression analysis of Nkx2-5 overexpression led to the discovery of 99 potential targets of Nkx2-5.

This thesis involves the important crop plant soybean (Glycine max), and provides a rich information resource for breeders and geneticists working towards improving traits for pathogen resistance.Results reported here provide a systemic view at both the genetic and biochemical level, and were generated by data-mining gene expression data from soybean cultivars inoculated with plant pathogens and also recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations.The genome variability based on Single Feature Polymorphisms (SFPs) was measured for the first time in soybean, using a genetically diverse set of cultivated G. max lines and also a G. soja line. Additionally, a genetic map spanning all 20 soybean chromosomes groups were assembled in a large RIL population.The well studied metabolic pathways from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, were reconstructed in G. max based on sequence similarity comparison between the genomes of the two species. We performed algorithmic analysis of pathways in our set of soybean lines and RILs using the gene expression data, and acquired a systemic view of the metabolic response to pathogen infection in different genetic backgrounds.Significant differences in the patterns of pathway perturbation was observed in the different lines, and also between four different chromosomal regions that have been known to contain genetic elements contributing to pathogen resistance. / Ph. D.

Since the late 1990s, common carp and koi production enterprises around the world have suffered enormous losses due to a viral disease caused by cyprinid herpesvirus-3 (CyHV-3). Genetic variation in resistance to CyHV-3 infection was observed in different common carp strains, indicating that disease resistance can be improved by selective breeding. Marker-assisted selection is a breeding strategy that can accelerate genetic gain; however, this approach requires genetic markers and a genetic linkage map. To develop molecular tools for breeding CyHV-3-resistant aquaculture stock, several candidate genes for antiviral innate immune response from common carp were isolated, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. SNP markers for common carp immune response genes were developed for testing their linkage to disease resistance and for generating a genetic linkage map. Common carp immune response genes were isolated using degenerate primers developed from conserved peptide regions among other fish species for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. The amplified products were cloned and sequenced. Gene-specific primers were designed based on the isolated carp gene sequences to amplify gene fragments from genomic DNA of three carp strains and koi. The amplified products were cloned and sequenced to identify SNPs. For the genes that are duplicated, locus-specific primers were used for PCR amplification. SNPs were identified in several genes, including TLR2, TLR3a, TLR3b, TLR4a, TLR4b, TLR7a, TLR7b, TLR9, TLR21, TLR22, MyD88a, MyD88b, TRAF6a, TRAF6b, type I IFN, IL-1β, IL10a and IL10b. Putative SNPs were genotyped in a SNP discovery panel consisting of different common carp strains and koi to evaluate their allele frequencies and in a full-sib family to validate their segregation patterns using the SNaPshot method. Validated SNPs were used to genotype a mapping family. Twenty-three SNPs (19 exonic and 4 intronic SNPs) were informative in a mapping family. Among these genes, polymorphisms in IL10a suggested a possible association with resistant and susceptible phenotypes of CyHV-3-challenged fish. These SNPs will be analyzed with a set of approximately 300 microsatellites to generate a second-generation genetic map and to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting resistance to CyHV-3. Among the common carp genes that were isolated and sequenced, TLR9 is known for its ability to detect viral DNA and requires adaptor molecules MyD88 and TRAF6 for signal transduction. Therefore TLR9, MyD88 and TRAF6 may be important candidate genes for mediating host antiviral response to CyHV-3. To elucidate possible functions of these genes, full-length cDNAs of common carp TLR9, MyD88 and TRAF6 were isolated and tissue-specific mRNA expression was determined. cDNA sequences of MyD88 and TRAF6 revealed that these genes are duplicated. These findings were the first report of MyD88 and TRAF6 duplications in a vertebrate. Protein domain characterization demonstrated that structural characteristics of these genes are conserved and resemble those of other vertebrates, indicating that common carp TLR9, MyD88 and TRAF6 genes may have identical functions with their mammalian orthologs. The mRNA expression of TLR9, MyD88a and b, and TRAF6a and b varied among tissues. Differential expression of the MyD88 and TRAF6 paralogous transcripts were observed in muscle tissues, suggesting that one paralog has evolved and attained a non-immune function. This genomic information will facilitate further research to better understand the ligand specificity of TLR9 and the role of TLR9, MyD88 and TRAF6 in the common carp immune response. / Ph. D.

Thesis (PhD (Biomedical Sciences. Molecular Biology and Human Genetics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health problem and demands rigorous control management efforts. A dramatic increase in the acquisition and spread of drug resistant TB globally has been observed in recent years. A grim picture has emerged for the control program with the discovery of extreme drug-resistant TB, which is virtually untreatable and is of immense concern for the future of TB control. In the last decade strain-specific genetic markers have been identified to examine the molecular epidemiology and spread of TB, including IS6110 DNA-fingerprinting and spoligotyping. Although spoligotyping has less discriminatory power than the gold standard, IS6110 DNA-fingerprinting, it is simpler, faster and less expensive, as it is PCR-based. Spoligotyping has been applied to enhance our understanding of the dynamics of drug susceptible and drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in high incidence communities, by studying 3 aspects of the TB epidemic: molecular epidemiology of drug resistant TB, recurrent TB and the evolution of M. tuberculosis. By using spoligotyping and other genotypic and phenotypic analysis of drug-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates from the Western Cape Province of South Africa showed that drug resistance is widespread and recently transmitted. An emerging drug resistant M. tuberculosis outbreak has been identified, termed DRF150, which has specific genotypic characteristics and is resistant to 5 first-line drugs in 45% of the cases. Inappropriate chemotherapy; poor adherence to treatment and prolonged periods of infectiousness due to the delay in susceptibility testing has led to the development and spread of this drug resistant genotype. The study demonstrates the ability of the spoligotyping technique to accurately determine the pathogenic mechanism of recurrent disease by spoligotyping, making it useful in large-scale intervention studies. Application of spoligotyping and a newly developed PCR-method showed that the occurrence of multiple infections was higher than what was previously assumed and also more frequent in retreatment cases than new cases. These findings have important implications for the understanding of protective immunity, and the development and testing of new vaccines and drugs. Various different molecular markers including spoligotyping has been used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of isolates with less than 6 copies of IS6110 element (termed Low Copy Clade (LCC)), which were previously poor defined. It was also shown that LCC is widely disseminated and play an important role in the global tuberculosis epidemic. Reconstruction of the evolutionary relationship of M. tuberculosis Principal Genetic Group 2 strains, identified previously unknown genetic relationships between strain families and laid the foundation to establish correlations between genotype and phenotype. Spoligotyping signatures, created by evolution of the Direct Repeat region in M. tuberculosis, were identified, which will enable the analysis of the strain population structure in different settings and will also enable the rapid identification of strain families that acquire drug-resistance or escape protective immunity in drug and vaccine trials. This study contributed to our understanding of the molecular epidemiology of drug resistant TB, recurrent TB and the evolution of M. tuberculosis in high incidence communities.

Despite the existence of various molecular marker systems there are still limitations in distinguishing between closely related species based on molecular divergence, especially when hybridization events have occurred in the past. The characterisation of plant small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) genes and their organisation into multigene clusters provides a potential nuclear marker system which could help in resolving the phylogenetic history of plants and might be applicable in DNA barcoding. Using closely and distantly related Senecio species, I investigated a combination of fragment length and sequence variation of snoRNA genes/snoRNA gene clusters to assess the utility of this marker system for barcoding and resolving species relationships. SnoRNA gene and gene cluster sequences identified in Arabidopsis thaliana were used to find homologues in other species and subsequently used for the design of universal primers. Most of the universal primer pairs designed were successful in amplifying snoRNA fragments in most Senecio species and fragment length variation between and within species could be detected. Furthermore, the combination of some fragment length datasets produced by different primer pairs enabled the separation of species and the detection of reticulate evolution indicating a high potential of snoRNA gene/gene cluster fragment length polymorphisms (SRFLPs) for phylogenetic reconstructions in Senecio and other plant genera. Most of the examined gene clusters showed a similar gene order in Senecio and Arabidopsis. However, the majority of these clusters appeared to exhibit more copies in Senecio, some of which were distinguishable by a combined sequencing/fragment profiling approach, and shown to be putative single copy regions with the potential to be used as co-dominant markers. However, a high number of paralogues and possible differences in copy number between species excludes these regions from being used in DNA barcoding. This is because specific primers would have to be developed for specific copies which would preclude development of a universal application for barcoding. None of the regions showed enough sequence variation to delimit distinctly closely related Senecio species and were therefore also considered to be unsuitable for DNA barcoding. Although most snoRNA genes and gene clusters might be inapplicable for DNA barcoding, they are likely to be valuable for phylogenetic studies of species groups, genera and families. On this scale, specific primers might act universally and the number of paralogous copies is likely to be equal across the species group of interest.