The taxonomy and biogeography of the southern African pheasant shell fauna are poorly known. Thirty–one nominal taxa referable to Phasianelloidea have been described or recorded in this region, but no systematic revision of these has ever been undertaken. Morphological evidence suggests that 16 taxa represent valid species, 13 are synonyms and two represent incorrect identifications. DNA sequence data from mitochondrial COI and 16S markers are used to assess the validity of the described nominal southern African Tricolia species. Phylogenetic analyses recovered seven distinct clades. Tricolia adusta, T. elongata, T. formosa, T. kochii, T. saxatilis and T. neritina were recovered as distinct species. Tricolia africana and T. capensis are genetically indistinguishable. However, morphological characters of the shell are clearly diagnosable. This could be due to incomplete sorting (ancestral polymorphism) reflecting recent speciation with rapid morphological and ecological divergence co–incident with geographical separation. Similarly, there is little genetic differentiation between T. bicarinata, T. insignis and T. kraussi. In this case the similarity is also supported by morphological data as the three species are conchologically close with intergrading shell characters, and might even be one species exhibiting ecogeographic variation in shell form. Monophyly of the southern African Tricolia species is not supported as well as the relationship between these and the European Tricolia pullus. In the last chapter a molecular phylogeny based on sequence data from mtDNA (COI and 16S), nuclear (18S and 28S) and the combined data (COI, 16S, 18S and 28S) is presented for the Phasianelloidea. Bayesian inference analyses performed on the combined data support the monophyly of Tricolia sensu stricto, Eulithidium and Phasianella. Tricolia sensu lato is not monophyletic, as its southern Australian and Indo–West Pacific species do not cluster with its southern African and Eastern Atlantic representatives. The position of Hiloa and Gabrielona within the Phasianelloidea is unresolved. Phylogenetic reconstructions using bayesian inference support monophyly of the Phasianelloidea. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Torpedo AChR structure was used to make models of other LGICs. Coarse-grain MD allowed the identification of residues in the TM domain interacting with the lipid-bilayer. Born energy profiles through LGIC pores reveal that the EC domain plays a key role in ion selectivity.

I used microsatellite markers to assess reproductive isolation between cryptic, sympatric lineages of a freshwater catfish (Pimelodella chagresi ). These are "cryptic" lineages because they cannot be distinguished visually on the basis of morphological characters, and currently they are recognized as a single species. Previous analyses utilizing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) indicated that two highly divergent lineages are present in lower Central America, and that these lineages are the result of independent colonization events from South American source populations. I isolated eight dinucleotide repeats from P. chagresi and designed primers to amplify these microsatellite loci. I sampled fishes from four Panamanian watersheds. The congruence of microsatellite data with mtDNA indicated that these taxa are reproductively isolated and should be considered as separate species despite the lack of morphological differentiation. Both lineages exhibit a high degree of divergence among populations inhabiting isolated freshwater drainages, but the lineages differ in their intra-watershed population structure.

The gene capicua is required for the establishment of dorsal-ventral polarity in the Drosophila melanogaster ovary. Loss of capicua function in the follicle cells results in dorsalization of both the embryo and eggshell. The most prominent dorsal features of the Drosophila eggshell are the dorsal appendages. We show that loss of capicua function results in the ventral ectopic specification of dorsal appendage-producing follicle cell fate. This cell fate change is due in part to the ectopic expression of genes such as mirror and Broad-Complex in capicua mutant ovaries. When either mirror or Broad-Complex are ectopically expressed independently of loss of capicua function, they generate a phenotype similar to the capicua mutant phenotype. We propose that Capicua normally acts in the ventral follicle cells to repress the expression of genes that pattern the dorsal follicle cells. EGF receptor signaling may normally inactivate Capicua repression in the dorsal follicle cells.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a metabolic disorder characterized by destruction of the pancreatic beta-islet cells leading to complete loss of insulin production. Gliclazide is used in Type 2 diabetes (T2D) to stimulate insulin production but it also has beneficial extrapancreatic effects which make it potentially useful in T1D. In fact, some T2D patients continue to use gliclazide even after their diabetes progresses to T1D since it provides better glycemic control than insulin alone. About 30% of a gliclazide dose undergoes enterohepatic recirculation which may contribute to the observed high interindividual variability in its pharmacokinetics. This may limit its efficacy in T1D especially since diabetes can disturb the gut microbiota and give rise to changes in bile composition and enterohepatic recirculation. Improving the absorption of gliclazide through the use of bile acids and probiotics may reduce this variability and improve the efficacy of gliclazide in T1D. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the interaction between the semisynthetic bile acid, 12-monoketocholic acid (MKC) and gliclazide in terms of pharmacokinetics and hypoglycemic effects in a rat model of T1D with and without probiotic pretreatment. A parallel ex vivo (Ussing chamber) study was carried out to investigate the mechanism of the interaction. Sensitive LC-MS and HPLC methods (Chapter 2) were developed to determine the concentrations of gliclazide and MKC in Ringer's solution and rat serum. Diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats by intravenous (i.v.) alloxan (30 mg/kg). Rats with blood glucose concentration > 18 mmol/l and serum insulin concentration < 0.04 [mu]g/l, 2-3 days after alloxan injection were considered diabetic. A total of 280 male Wistar rats (Chapter 3) were randomly allocated into 28 groups (n=10) of which 14 were made diabetic. Then 7 groups of healthy and 7 groups of diabetic rats were gavaged with probiotics (10⁸ CFU/mg, 75 mg/kg) every 12 hours for three days after which single doses of gliclazide (20 mg/kg), MKC (4 mg/kg) or the combination were administered either by tail vein injection (i.v.) or by gavage. The other 14 groups (7 healthy and 7 diabetic) were gavaged with saline every 12 hours for three days and then treated in the same way. Blood samples were collected from the tail vein for 10 hours after the dose and analyzed for blood glucose, serum gliclazide & serum MKC concentrations. Serum concentration-time curves for gliclazide and MKC were used to determine pharmacokinetic parameters. In the parallel ex vivo study (Chapter 4), 88 rats were randomly divided into 22 groups (n=4 rats per group, 8 chambers per rat), of which 11 groups were made diabetic. Of the 22 groups, 8 groups (4 healthy and 4 diabetic) were pretreated with probiotics as described above to study their influence on gliclazide and MKC flux, 8 groups (4 healthy and 4 diabetic) were used to investigate the interaction between gliclazide and MKC during transport, and 6 groups (3 healthy and 3 diabetic) were used to study the influence of selective inhibitors of the drug transporters Mrp2, Mrp3 and Mdr1 on gliclazide flux. 10 cm piece of the ileum was removed from each rat, the underlying muscle layer and connective tissue removed and the epithelial sheets mounted into Ussing chambers. Gliclazide, MKC or a combination were added to either the mucosal or serosal side and samples collected from both sides for 3 h to determine mucosal-to-serosal absorptive flux (Jss[MtoS]) and serosal-to-mucosal secretory flux (Jss[StoM]) of gliclazide and MKC as appropriate. In diabetic rats, gliclazide alone had no effect on blood glucose levels (Ch3, exp2) whereas MKC reduced it from 23 � 3 to 18 � 3 mmol/l (Ch3, exp3) and the combination of gliclazide and MKC reduced it even further from 24 � 4 to 16 � 3 mmol/l (Ch3, exp4). In diabetic rats, probiotic treatment reduced blood glucose by 2-fold (Ch3, exp1) and enhanced the hypoglycemic effect of the combination of gliclazide and MKC (blood glucose decreased from 24 � 3 to 10 � 2 mmol/l). The bioavailability of gliclazide was higher in healthy rats (53.2 � 6.2%) than in diabetic rats (39.9 � 6.0%) (Ch3, exp2). In healthy rats, MKC enhanced gliclazide bioavailability (82.7 � 8.2%) but in diabetic rats MKC had no effect on gliclazide bioavailability (Ch3, exp4). In healthy rats, probiotic pretreatment significantly reduced gliclazide and MKC bioavailabilities (p<0.01) while in diabetic rats, probiotic pretreatment significantly increased the low bioavailability of gliclazide to a level similar to that in healthy rats (Ch3, exp2 & 3). MKC showed clear evidence of enterohepatic recycling and probiotics delayed and reduced its systemic absorption (Ch3, exp3). In ileal tissues from healthy rats, Ussing chamber studies showed gliclazide is most likely a substrate of Mrp2 and Mrp3 (Ch4, exp5) and MKC significantly reduced gliclazide Jss[MtoS] probably through Mrp3 inhibition (Ch4, exp1). In ileal tissue from diabetic rats, MKC had no effect on gliclazide Jss[MtoS] and Jss[StoM] (Ch4, exp2) and none of the inhibitors had any effect of gliclazide flux (Ch4, exp6). This suggests that these transporters are dysfunctional in this model of T1D. Probiotics and MKC have hypoglycemic effects that appear to be enhanced by gliclazide and all appear to interact at the level of ileal drug transporters. The combination of probiotic treatment, gliclazide and MKC exerted the greatest hypoglycemic effect in T1D rats. Accordingly, the application of this combination may have potential in improving the treatment of T1D.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a metabolic disorder characterized by destruction of the pancreatic beta-islet cells leading to complete loss of insulin production. Gliclazide is used in Type 2 diabetes (T2D) to stimulate insulin production but it also has beneficial extrapancreatic effects which make it potentially useful in T1D. In fact, some T2D patients continue to use gliclazide even after their diabetes progresses to T1D since it provides better glycemic control than insulin alone. About 30% of a gliclazide dose undergoes enterohepatic recirculation which may contribute to the observed high interindividual variability in its pharmacokinetics. This may limit its efficacy in T1D especially since diabetes can disturb the gut microbiota and give rise to changes in bile composition and enterohepatic recirculation. Improving the absorption of gliclazide through the use of bile acids and probiotics may reduce this variability and improve the efficacy of gliclazide in T1D. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the interaction between the semisynthetic bile acid, 12-monoketocholic acid (MKC) and gliclazide in terms of pharmacokinetics and hypoglycemic effects in a rat model of T1D with and without probiotic pretreatment. A parallel ex vivo (Ussing chamber) study was carried out to investigate the mechanism of the interaction. Sensitive LC-MS and HPLC methods (Chapter 2) were developed to determine the concentrations of gliclazide and MKC in Ringer's solution and rat serum. Diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats by intravenous (i.v.) alloxan (30 mg/kg). Rats with blood glucose concentration > 18 mmol/l and serum insulin concentration < 0.04 [mu]g/l, 2-3 days after alloxan injection were considered diabetic. A total of 280 male Wistar rats (Chapter 3) were randomly allocated into 28 groups (n=10) of which 14 were made diabetic. Then 7 groups of healthy and 7 groups of diabetic rats were gavaged with probiotics (10⁸ CFU/mg, 75 mg/kg) every 12 hours for three days after which single doses of gliclazide (20 mg/kg), MKC (4 mg/kg) or the combination were administered either by tail vein injection (i.v.) or by gavage. The other 14 groups (7 healthy and 7 diabetic) were gavaged with saline every 12 hours for three days and then treated in the same way. Blood samples were collected from the tail vein for 10 hours after the dose and analyzed for blood glucose, serum gliclazide & serum MKC concentrations. Serum concentration-time curves for gliclazide and MKC were used to determine pharmacokinetic parameters. In the parallel ex vivo study (Chapter 4), 88 rats were randomly divided into 22 groups (n=4 rats per group, 8 chambers per rat), of which 11 groups were made diabetic. Of the 22 groups, 8 groups (4 healthy and 4 diabetic) were pretreated with probiotics as described above to study their influence on gliclazide and MKC flux, 8 groups (4 healthy and 4 diabetic) were used to investigate the interaction between gliclazide and MKC during transport, and 6 groups (3 healthy and 3 diabetic) were used to study the influence of selective inhibitors of the drug transporters Mrp2, Mrp3 and Mdr1 on gliclazide flux. 10 cm piece of the ileum was removed from each rat, the underlying muscle layer and connective tissue removed and the epithelial sheets mounted into Ussing chambers. Gliclazide, MKC or a combination were added to either the mucosal or serosal side and samples collected from both sides for 3 h to determine mucosal-to-serosal absorptive flux (Jss[MtoS]) and serosal-to-mucosal secretory flux (Jss[StoM]) of gliclazide and MKC as appropriate. In diabetic rats, gliclazide alone had no effect on blood glucose levels (Ch3, exp2) whereas MKC reduced it from 23 � 3 to 18 � 3 mmol/l (Ch3, exp3) and the combination of gliclazide and MKC reduced it even further from 24 � 4 to 16 � 3 mmol/l (Ch3, exp4). In diabetic rats, probiotic treatment reduced blood glucose by 2-fold (Ch3, exp1) and enhanced the hypoglycemic effect of the combination of gliclazide and MKC (blood glucose decreased from 24 � 3 to 10 � 2 mmol/l). The bioavailability of gliclazide was higher in healthy rats (53.2 � 6.2%) than in diabetic rats (39.9 � 6.0%) (Ch3, exp2). In healthy rats, MKC enhanced gliclazide bioavailability (82.7 � 8.2%) but in diabetic rats MKC had no effect on gliclazide bioavailability (Ch3, exp4). In healthy rats, probiotic pretreatment significantly reduced gliclazide and MKC bioavailabilities (p<0.01) while in diabetic rats, probiotic pretreatment significantly increased the low bioavailability of gliclazide to a level similar to that in healthy rats (Ch3, exp2 & 3). MKC showed clear evidence of enterohepatic recycling and probiotics delayed and reduced its systemic absorption (Ch3, exp3). In ileal tissues from healthy rats, Ussing chamber studies showed gliclazide is most likely a substrate of Mrp2 and Mrp3 (Ch4, exp5) and MKC significantly reduced gliclazide Jss[MtoS] probably through Mrp3 inhibition (Ch4, exp1). In ileal tissue from diabetic rats, MKC had no effect on gliclazide Jss[MtoS] and Jss[StoM] (Ch4, exp2) and none of the inhibitors had any effect of gliclazide flux (Ch4, exp6). This suggests that these transporters are dysfunctional in this model of T1D. Probiotics and MKC have hypoglycemic effects that appear to be enhanced by gliclazide and all appear to interact at the level of ileal drug transporters. The combination of probiotic treatment, gliclazide and MKC exerted the greatest hypoglycemic effect in T1D rats. Accordingly, the application of this combination may have potential in improving the treatment of T1D.

Includes bibliographical references and addendum. / vii, 116, [187] leaves, [17] leaves of plates : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Studies the rfb region of the Shigella flexneri chromosome which determines the biosynthesis of the O-antigen component of the lipopolysaccharide virulence determinant. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, 1995

Includes bibliographical references. / vi, 86, [56] leaves, [10] leaves of plates : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / The aim of this work is the further characterisation of the citrus exocortis viroid (CEV) replication complex in a tomato host system. The study employed three approaches. i. To raise polyclonal antiserum against a putative catalytic component of the CEV replication complex, the second largest subunit of tomato RNA polymerase II--ii. To develop a cell-free system for CEV RNA synthesis--iii. To use the polyclonal antiserum to the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, and a commercially available monoclonal antibody to the largest subunit, for antibody inhibition and immunoprecipitation experiments using the cell-free system. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Plant Science, 1997

Bibliography: leaves 189-205. / xi, 205 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / The aim of this PhD project is to screen feral goat rumen fluid for the presence of new organisms that may play a role in the detoxification of tannins and to investigate their mechanisms of action. An enrichment experiment is conducted to screen rumen fluid for anaerobic bacteria capable of growing in the presence of high levels of "Acacia" condensed tannin. Four morphologically-distinct bacteria are isolated, confirming that resistance is a property shared by more than one organism. One isolate is chosen at random for further characterisation and is identified as a strain of "Selenomonas ruminantium" subspecies "ruminantium". It is arbitrarily designated strain K2. "Selenomonas ruminantium" K2 is shown to be not only tannin-resistant but also able to grow on tannic acid. It is proposed that this bacterium obtained energy for growth from tannic acid. The thesis examines the molecular mechanisms controlling tannin resistance or tannin degradation in rumen microorganisms. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Animal Science, 1997

Includes bibliography (27 leaves). / 109, [160] leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / The isolation of bacteriophage SfII has provided information regarding the molecular mechanism by which modifications are carried out by the serotype converting bacteriophages of S. flexneri. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, 1998?