(M.Sc. (Animal Production)) -- University of Limpopo, 2014 / Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of dietary threonine level on productivity and carcass characteristics of indigenous Venda chickens. In each experiment the diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous but with different dietary threonine levels. A complete randomized design was used in both experiments, the starter (1-7 weeks old unsexed chickens) and finisher (8-13 weeks old female chickens) experiments. The treatments were CT4 (4 g of threonine/kg DM), CT5 (5 g of threonine/kg DM), CT6 (6 g of threonine/kg DM), CT7 (7 g of threonine/kg DM) and CT8 (8 g of threonine/kg DM). A quadratic type of equation was used to determine dietary threonine levels for optimal feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio, live weight, metabolisable energy intake and nitrogen retention of unsexed Venda chickens aged one to seven weeks. Dietary threonine level affected (P<0.05) feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio, live weight, metabolisable energy and nitrogen retention. However, feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio, live weight, metabolisable energy and nitrogen retention of indigenous Venda chickens were optimized at different dietary threonine levels of 6.218, 6.437, 6.331, 6.655, 5.979 and 6.158 g/kg DM feed, respectively. Dietary threonine level did not affect (P>0.05) mortality rate of the chickens. The treatments for the second experiment were FT4 (4 g of threonine/kg DM), FT5 (5 g of threonine/kg DM), FT6 (6 g of threonine/kg DM), FT7 (7 g of threonine/kg DM) and FT8 (8 g of threonine/kg DM). Dietary threonine level had effect (P<0.05) on feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio, live weight, metabolisable energy and nitrogen retention of female Venda chickens aged eight to 13 weeks. Feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio, live weight, metabolisable energy intake and nitrogen retention of chickens were optimized at dietary threonine levels of 6.054, 6.142, 6.442, 6.201, 5.72 and 6.088 g/kg DM, respectively. However, dietary threonine level had no effect (P>0.05) on pH values of crop, proventriculus, gizzard, small intestine, large intestine and caecum of female Venda chickens aged 91 days. Carcass weights of female Venda chickens were affected (P<0.05) by dietary threonine level. Carcass, breast, drumstick, thigh, gizzard and liver weights of female Venda chickens aged 91 days were optimized at dietary threonine levels of 6.183, 6.201, 5.712, 5.847, 4.820 and 6.180 g/kg DM, respectively. Dietary threonine level v had effect (P<0.05) on crude protein and threonine contents of female Venda chicken meat. Meat crude protein and threonine contents of female Venda chickens aged 91 days were optimized at dietary threonine levels of 5.9 and 5.7 g/kg DM, respectively. Dietary threonine level had no effect (P>0.05) on meat flavour, tenderness and juiciness of female Venda chickens. However, meat flavour, tenderness and juiciness of female Venda chickens aged 91 days were optimized at dietary threonine levels of 5.977, 6.103 and 5.977 g/kg DM, respectively. No chicken deaths were observed. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Microalgae play a key function in aquatic ecosystems. Their development and growth are strongly regulated by trace metals as essential elements. However, trace metals could cause negative effects when exceeding certain concentrations in the environment. In this study we tested the development and growth rate of two freshwater microalgae, the cyanobacterium Pseudanabeana mucicola and the green alga Pediastrum duplex, from Vietnam over the period of 14 days exposing to chromium (Cr) at the concentrations up to 1,936 μg L-1. Besides, the Cr uptake and absorption by P. mucicola were evaluated over 7 days incubated in medium containing 422 μg Cr L-1. The results showed that Cr at the concentrations up to 1,078 μg L-1 did not inhibit the development and growth rate of P. mucicola. Similarly, concentration of 224 μg Cr L-1 had no adverse effects on growth of P. duplex. The cyanobacterium P. mucicola could make a reduction up to 71% of Cr in the test medium, hence become a distinguished candidate for metal phytoremediation. To the best of our knowledge this is the first investigation on the responses and absorption of Cr by freshwater microalgae from Vietnam. / Vi tảo đóng vai trò quan trọng trong hệ sinh thái thủy vực. Sự sinh trưởng và phát triển của chúng được điều tiết mạnh mẽ bởi kim loại vi lượng như những yếu tố thiết yếu. Tuy nhiên, những kim loại vi lượng này có thể gây ra những ảnh hưởng tiêu cực khi vượt quá nồng độ nhất định trong môi trường. Trong nghiên cứu này, chúng tôi thử nghiệm sự phát triển và tốc độ phát triển của hai loài vi tảo nước ngọt: loài tảo lam Pseudanabeana mucicola và loài tảo lục Pediastrum duplex có nguồn gốc từ Việt Nam trong thời gian 14 ngày phơi nhiễm với crôm (Cr) tại nồng độ lên tới 1.936 μg L-1. Bên cạnh đó, sự hấp thu Cr của P. mucicola cũng đã được đánh giá trong thời gian 7 ngày nuôi trong môi trường chứa 422 μg Cr L-1. Kết quả cho thấy Cr tại nồng độ lên tới 1.078 μg L-1 không kìm hãm sự phát triển và tốc độ sinh trưởng của P. mucicola. Tương tự, tại nồng độ 224 μg Cr L-1 không có bất kì ảnh hưởng tiêu cực đến sự phát triển của P. duplex. Loài tảo lam P. mucicola có thể làm giảm 71% hàm lượng Cr trong môi trường thí nghiệm, vì vậy được xem là ứng viên sáng giá cho quá trình xử lý môi trường ô nhiễm kim loại bằng thực vật . Theo hiểu biết của nhóm tác giả, đây là nghiên cứu đầu tiên về đáp ứng và hấp thu Cr bởi những vi tảo nước ngọt có nguồn gốc từ Việt Nam.

No description available.

Recent studies proposed that mammalian cell lines with slower growth rates were infected more efficiently by Trypanosoma cruzi, and that cell-to-cell transmission could be occurring during infection. This open the question of whether host cell-growth rate is a cellular characteristic influencing Trypanosoma cruzi invasion and infection. To prove if this was the case, the cell growth-rate was inhibited by starvation, reducing the foetal bovine serum concentration in the medium, and using a cell-cycle arresting drug, Baicalein. Then the percentage of infected cells of the control and the growth-modified group was measured via epifluorescence microscopy. The results did not show a strong evidence of negative correlation between the cell-growth rate and infection efficacy. To assess if cell-to-cell infection was occurring, the percentage of infected cells in contact with other infected cells was measured. This value was compared to the stochastic probability of this event happening. The results showed that the random probability of an infected cell being next to another infected cell was much lower than the percentage obtained from the empirical data. This suggests that cell-clusters found in infections are not a random event and that the dominant mechanism of infection is a short-range one: either by cell-to-cell infection, or by the proliferation of already infected cells. To support cell-to-cell transmission, parasites potentially passing from one cell to another were inspected through confocal microscopy and actin-rich regions were found at the parasite location. To determine whether actin played a role in this event, cells with a mutation in the actin gene were infected and compared to the mock group. The results showed that the percentage of infected cells in contact with other infected cells was lower for the mutant cells, suggesting that actin could play a key role in this event.

Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua, is a diffuse-porous hardwood occurring in the southeastern United States. In this observational study, trees from two plantations of sweetgum were evaluated for mechanical properties. The two plantations were similar in age, soil type, competition control, and water availability, but differed in nutrient availability, growing season, and growth rate. Three trees representing different crown classes were removed from both plantations. Each tree was sampled for compression strength parallel to grain along the height of the merchantable stem. Oven-dry specific gravity was then calculated for each sample. The results indicate that young sweetgum trees grow weaker wood than mature trees. It was observed that dominant trees were stronger and denser than other trees. Denser wood was formed in the plantation with the shortest growing season and smallest growth rate. Three of six trees showed significant correlations of strength and stiffness with height in the tree. / Master of Science

Fiskar kan drabbas av många olika parasiter tillhörande ett brett spektrum av organismgrupper. Parasiter kan påverka värdens fysiologi, morfologi och beteende, vilket kan ha negativa effekter på värden.  Den starkt hotade flodpärlmusslan (Margaritifera margaritifera) parasiterar under sitt tidiga liv som glochidielarver på fiskgälar, i Sverige främst på öringen (Salmo trutta). I tidigare studier har man sett såväl negativa som inga effekter av parasiteringen på värdfisken. Syftet med min studie var att undersöka effekten av musslans parasitering på öringens rörelse, habitatval och tillväxt i Älgån i Arvika kommun, Värmland. Resultaten visade att höginfekterad öring förflyttade sig längre sträckor och hade lägre tillväxt än låginfekterad öring. Det var ingen skillnad mellan hög- och låginfekterade öringars habitatval med avseende på djup, vattenhastighet eller substrat. Sammanfattningsvis kan höginfekterade öringar ha högre mortalitetsrisk än låginfekterade, lägre tillväxt och sämre konkurrensförmåga, vilket kan ha negativa konsekvenser för musslans rekryteringsframgång. / Fish are affected by various parasites, belonging to many different taxonomic groups. Parasites can affect the host’s physiology, morphology, and behaviour, which may have negative effects for the host. The critically endangered freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) lives parasitically as glochidia larvae on the gills of fish, and in Sweden this occurs mainly in the gills of brown trout (Salmo trutta). During their parasitic stage, which lasts for almost one year, the mussel grows up to four or five times their initial size.  Previous studies have reported both negative and no effects of the parasite on the host fish. The aim of my study was to analyse the effect of the freshwater pearl mussel parasitation on the brown trout’s movement, habitat choice, and growth in the stream Älgån in Arvika municipalty, Värmland. The results show that highly infected brown trout moved greater distances and had lower growth than less infected trout. There was no difference in habitat choice in terms of depth, velocity, or substrate between high or low infected trout. In summary, highly infected trout may have high energy costs, low growth, and poor competitive ability, which can have negative consequences for the mussel’s recruitment.

The global increasing problem of antibiotic resistance necessarily drives the pursuit and discovery of new antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) initially seemed like promising new drug candidates. Already members of the innate immune system, it was assumed that they would be bioactive and non-toxic. Their common trait for fundamental, non-specific mode of action also seemed likely to reduce resistance development. In this thesis, we demonstrate the ease with which two species of pathogenic bacteria, the gram-negative Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium), and the gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), can gain increased tolerance and stable resistance to various AMPs. By serially passaging each bacterial species separately under increasing AMP selection pressure we observed increasing AMP tolerance. Resulting in independent bacterial lineages exposed to four different AMPs (including a two-AMP combination) that exhibited 2 to 16-fold increases in MIC. Substantial cross-resistance between the AMPs was observed. Additionally, the S. aureus mutants were found to be cross-resistant to human beta-defensins 1, 2, 3, and 4. The LPS molecule, with mutations in the waaY, pmrB and phoP genes, was the principal target for S. typhimurium resistance development. The main target for S. aureus remained elusive. Reduced membrane potential was a common change for two of the mutants, but not for the others. All sequenced mutants had one or more mutations in various stress response pathways. Fitness of the resistant mutants was assayed by growth rate analysis and in vitro virulence factor testing (e.g. survival response to bile, superoxide, acidic pH). Furthermore an in vivo survival/virulence test involving a mouse competition experiment (S. typhimurium) and sepsis model (S. aureus) was performed. In the absence of AMPs there was often little or no fitness reduction in the mutants. Our results suggest that AMP resistance mechanisms do not irrevocably weaken either species with regard to virulence characteristics or survival within the host. In light of these findings, we suggest that the progression of therapeutic use of AMPs should proceed with great caution since otherwise we might select for AMP resistant mutants that are more resistant to our innate host defenses and thereby potentially more virulent.

The main objective of the project was to establish a fracture-mechanics energy-based approach for the design of structural adhesive joints under cyclic loading. This required understanding how an adhesive system behaved near its fatigue threshold, and how the key factors affected this behavior in a fresh undegraded joint. The investigated factors were mode ratio (phase angle), substrate material, surface treatment and surface roughness (both affecting the bond strength), bondline thickness and load ratio. It was first required to understand how the adhesive system behaved under quasi-static loading by examining a fracture mechanics-based design approach for adhesive systems with different substrate materials and geometries. Experiments were initially performed to characterize the strength of aluminum and steel adhesive systems based on the fracture envelope, critical strain energy release rate as a function of the mode ratio. Ultimate failure loads of aluminum and steel adhesive joints, having different overlap end conditions and different geometries were then experimentally measured. These values were compared with the failure loads extracted from the fracture envelope. Considering the toughening behavior of the adhesive in the fracture mechanics analyses, a very good agreement (average of 6%) was achieved between the predictions and experiments for all types of overlap end conditions and geometries. Different fatigue threshold testing approaches, which are commonly used in the literature or suggested by the ASTM standard, were evaluated for the cracked and intact fillet joints. Based on the experimental and analytical studies, the most appropriate technique for fatigue testing and characterization of adhesive systems was suggested. Comparing the mixed-mode near-threshold behavior of different adhesive systems with the fracture behavior and fatigue mode-I and mixed-mode high crack growth rates showed the high sensitivity of the mixed-mode near-threshold fatigue to the subtle changes in the interfacial bond strength. In order to make a baseline for the design of adhesive joints under cyclic loading, similar to the previous fracture tests and following the energy-based approach, fatigue behavior was characterized as a function of the loading mode ratio for aluminum and steel adhesive joints. The effect of substrate material, surface treatment, bondline thickness, surface roughness and fatigue testing load ratio on the near-threshold fatigue behavior of adhesives joints was evaluated experimentally. The experimental observations were then explained using finite element modeling. To generalize the conclusions, the majority of experiments and studies covered a broad range of crack growth rates, as low as fatigue threshold and as high as 10-2 mm/cycle. Having understood the significant testing and design parameters, an adhesive system can be designed based on a safe cyclic load that produces an insignificant (for automotive industry) or reasonably low but known crack growth rate (for aerospace industry).

The research assessed the potential of developing a selective breeding programme for the UK rainbow trout industry. Levels of genetic variation at 12 microsatellite loci were first compared in seven different commercial strains. The Observed heterozygosity ranged from Ho = 48.1% in a gold rainbow trout strain (GTR) to Ho = 66.4% in a newly derived broodstock population constructed from a number of different sources (GIT). The Expected Heterozygosity (He) was highest in GIM1 (He= 79.5%) and lowest in the GTR strain (He = 56.9%). The Effective number of alleles (Mae) showed that the GIM1, GIM2, GIM3, and GIT strain (5.4; 5.2; 4.8; 4.2) were significantly more variable than the other strains and that GTR strain had the lowest value (2.5). There appears to be substantial genetic variability within the commercial United Kingdom rainbow trout strains surveyed in this study. This appears to be the case despite very different management histories and levels of record keeping. The strains appear to be genetically distinct (based on population genetic analyses), though the reasons for this remain unclear (and possibly unanswerable given the poor records kept by the different companies). The Glenwyllin farm strains (GIM) were chosen to form the base population for the project because of their high genetic variability, disease free status and because the farm produced around 20 million ova per year, so any genetic gains would have a widespread impact. The farm has an early (Strain A) and a late spawning (Strain B) and these were mated in a partial factorial design, 20 females and 20 neomales per strain (A & B) were chosen on the basis of maturity and gamete quality in November 2002 so that each male was crossed to 4 females (2 in the same strain and 2 in the other), a total of 160 families were created. All broodstock were biopsied to enable them to be genotyped. The families were reared separately up to the eyed stage at which point the eggs from each family were divided into three to generate three communal replicate populations. One of these was sent to a fingerling producer (Iwerne Spring) for ongrowing to fingerling size and formed the basis of a commercial production trial at Test Valley Trout farm (TVT) in Hampshire. When the fish reached an average weight of 5 g they were transferred from Iwerne Spring to TVT and 1500 were randomly selected, PIT tagged and biopsied to enable them to be assigned to their family using 11 multiplexed microsatellite loci. Parental assignment was based on exclusion (FAP) but the results were compared with another parental assignment based on likelihood (PAPA). Of the 1500 offspring (OIM) PIT tagged 1242 82.8% could be assigned to a single family utilizing different combinations of more than 6 loci (6 to 11). The growth of the 1500 OIM fish was tracked throughout the grow out period before they were finally harvested and fully processed. The results of OIM strain at the end of the trial period were mean weight of 415.5 g, and a mean length of 314.5 mm. The visual measurement of colour gave a mean flesh colour values of 26.01 on the 20-34 scale (SalmoFan™), and 11.0 with the colotimetry evaluation of colour (a*). The heritability results for the IOM strain were 43 ± 9% for weight, 42 ± 9% for gutted, and 28 ± 8% for length. The heritability estimates for the visual colour variables were 19 ± 7% and when using the colorimeter, the red chromaticity (a*) heritability was 14 ± 6%. Therefore, the heritability results of the IOM strain indicate that there are opportunities of substantial and rapid improvement of the growth rate and flesh colour traits. Also no line effects were observed or indications of non-additive genetic variation. In contrast to these last results, the overall survival of the GIM strain from the time of the physical tagging with PIT until harvest was 52.8%, and survival heritability was extremely low, 3 ± 2%, hardly significant.

Understanding how temperature affects biological systems is a central question in ecology and evolutionary biology. Anthropogenic climate change adds urgency to this topic, as the demise or success of species under climate change is expected to depend on how temperature affects important aspects of organismal performance, such as growth, development, survival and reproduction. Rates of biological processes generally increase with increasing temperature up to some maximal temperature. Variation in the slope of the initial, rising phase has attracted considerable interest and forms the focus of this thesis. I explore variation in growth rate-temperature relationships over several levels of biological organization, both between and within species, over individuals’ lifetime, depending on the ecological context and in relation to important life history characteristics such as generation length and winter dormancy.       Specifically, I examine how a clade of temperate damselflies have adapted to their thermal environment along a 3,600 km long latitudinal transect spanning from Southern Spain to Northern Sweden. For each of six species, I sampled populations from close to the northern and southern range margin, as well from the center of the latitudinal range. I reared larvae in the laboratory at several temperatures in order to measure indiviudal growth rates. Very few studies of thermal adaptation have employed such an extensive sampling approach, and my finding reveal variation in temperature responses at several levels of organization.       My main finding was that temperature responses became steeper with increasing latitude, both between species but also between latitudinal populations of the same species. Additional genetic studies revealed that this trend was maintained despite strong gene flow. I highlight the need to use more refined characterizations of latitudinal temperature clines in order to explain these findings. I also show that species differ in their ability to acclimate to novel conditions during ontogeny, and propose that this may reflect a cost-benefit trade-off driven by whether seasonal transitions occur rapidly or gradually during ontogeny.       I also carried out a microcosm experiment, where two of the six species were reared either separately or together, to determine the interacting effects of temperature and competition on larval growth rates and population size structure. The results revealed that the effects of competition can be strong enough to completely overcome the rate-depressing effects of low temperatures. I also found that competition had stronger effects on the amount of variation in growth rates than on the average value.       In summary, my thesis offers several novel insights into how temperature affects biological systems, from individuals to populations and across species’ ranges. I also show how it is possible to refine our hypotheses about thermal adaptation by considering the interacting effects of ecology, life history and environmental variation.