Nesospiza is a genus of buntings restricted to the Tristan da Cunha Islands in the central South Atlantic Ocean. They have undergone an adaptive radiation at the islands and currently two species are recognised based on morphology: the small-billed Tristan bunting (N. acunhae), which is a dietary generalist and the large-billed Wilkins' bunting (N. wilkinsi), a dietary specialist. Both species occur on Nightingale Island with no apparent hybridisation between them. On the neighbouring Inaccessible Island there appears to have been a breakdown of the species barrier and the two species hybridise extensively. Also two altitudinally segregated colour morphs of N. a. acunhae occur on Inaccessible Island. The morphological differentiation of Nesospiza is not reflected in either the mitochondrial DNA or the microsatellite data. Rather the data suggest that there are two island lineages and that the sympatric populations on each island are more closely related to each other than to their allopatric (presumed conspecific) island neighbours. The molecular data support sympatric speciation with parallel evolution in Nesospiza, possibly as a result of divergent selection, acting on the sympatric populations on each island, which could have resulted from a change in feeding ecology. Furthermore the molecular data differentiate between the two sympatric colour morphs of N. a. acunhae, which appear to be speciating as a result of assortative mating. / Dissertation (MSc (Genetics))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Genetics / unrestricted

Baird's pocket gopher (Geomys breviceps) is found in eastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma, central and western Arkansas, and western Louisiana. The cytochrome-b gene was sequenced and analyzed for 16 pocket gophers from throughout the range of the species. Similar phylogenetic trees were obtained using maximum-parsimony, maximum-likelihood, neighbor-joining, and Bayesian analyses. Two major clades were formed with northern individuals belonging to clade I and southern individuals belonging to clade II. G. b. sagittalis was paraphyletic in relation to G. b. breviceps in all analyses. Based on inconsistencies between the taxonomic classification and systematic relationships within Baird's pocket gopher, a taxonomic restructuring appears warranted.

Orientador: Shirlei Maira Recco Pimentel / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T11:03:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Egito_GabrielToselliBarbosaTabosado_M.pdf: 537508 bytes, checksum: e9fd34e6de85068aa05990a955acff88 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Dendropsophus minutus está amplamente distribuído ao Leste dos Andes, na América do Sul e possui uma grande diversidade acústica e morfológica, o que sugere que possa haver mais de uma espécie sob esse nome. Sua coloração dorsal pode ser classificada em dois padrões principais, hourglass e bivittata. No presente estudo, 14 parâmetros morfométricos e seqüências de DNA com 357 pares de bases do gene citocromo b mitocondrial foram analisados objetivando um melhor entendimento acerca da variação de D. minutus no Brasil. Tanto os resultados moleculares quanto os fenotípicos revelaram a presença de uma alta estruturação da diversidade dessa espécie, mostrando que a divergência entre populações é, geralmente, proporcional à distância geográfica, exceto no estado de São Paulo, sudeste do Brasil. Nessa região, a Serra do Mar está aparentemente agindo como uma barreira geográfica para o fluxo gênico, isolando duas linhagens. A primeira, formada pelas populações da Mata Atlântica, tem padrão hourglass de coloração dorsal. A segunda, do interior de São Paulo, assim como a população do Rio Grande do Sul, possui padrão bivittata de coloração dorsal. Esses resultados corroboram a hipótese de que o táxon D. minutus contém duas linhagens crípticas. Apesar disso, uma amostragem maior se faz necessária, bem como um melhor estudo de caracteres para defini-las como espécies ou não. / Abstract: In despite of its complex reproductive behavior, Dendropsophus minutus has a large distribution at East of Andes, South America and show high acoustic and morphologic diversity, suggesting that possibly more than one species may exist under this name. Its dorsum coloration has basically two main patterns, hourglass or bivittata. Here, 14 morphometric parameters and partial mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences (357 base pairs) were analyzed aiming to understand more about Brazilian D. minutus variation. Both molecular and morphologic results agree with a high structuration of this species diversity, showing population divergence generally proportional to their geographic distance, except in São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil. At this region, Serra do Mar high mountains are apparently acting as a barrier for dispersion, isolating two lineages. The first of them, formed by populations from Atlantic Rainforest domain, has an hourglass dorsum pattern, whereas the second, comprising inner São Paulo State populations gathered with D. minutus from Rio Grande do Sul (South Brazil), shows bivittata dorsum coloration pattern. These results corroborate the hypothesis that D. minutus could comprise more than one species, revealing two cryptic lineages. However, these lineages should not be defined as different species before sampling enlargement to the present study. / Mestrado / Biologia Celular / Mestre em Biologia Celular e Estrutural

Mechanistic details on the regulation of striated muscle contraction still need to be determined, particularly the specific structural locations of the elements comprising the thick and thin filaments. Of special interest is the location of the regulatory component, troponin, on the actin filament and how its presence influences the behavior of myosin binding to the thin filament. In the present study: (1) Luminescence resonance energy transfer was used to monitor potential conformational changes in the reconstituted thin filament between the C-terminal region of troponin T and myosin subfragment 1; (2) Location of troponin in previously derived atomic models of the acto-myosin complex was mapped to visualize specific contacts; and (3) Shortened tropomyosin was engineered and protein binding and ATPase assays were performed to study the effect of myosin binding close to the troponin complex. Analysis of the results suggest the following: (1) Irrespective of calcium levels, the C-terminal region of troponin T is located close to myosin loop 3 and a few actin helices that may perturb strong acto-myosin interactions responsible for force production. (2) Atomic models indicate myosin subfragment 1 cannot attain the post- powerstroke state due to the full motion of the lever arm being sterically hindered by troponin. (3) A shortened tropomyosin with five actin binding modules (instead of the native seven in muscle cells) binds actin contiguously in a head-to-tail manner and serves to increase the periodicity of troponin complexes on the actin filament. Such behavior eliminates the structure of the actin filament being responsible for the binding location of tropomyosin. (4) Differential behavior of myosin subfragment 1 i.e. (a) binding adjacent to troponin and (b) binding further away from troponin, is apparent as tropomyosin and troponin appear to govern the regions or "target zones" where myosin can bind productively along the actin filament. Physiologically, myosins able to bind close to troponin, but not participate in force production may function as mechanical sensors to attenuate or dampen the force generated from the so-called "target zones". Therefore, this could be a pseudo-regulatory mechanism that functions to protect the contractile apparatus from damage.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a complex brain disorder that affects at least one in every ten persons aged 65 and above worldwide. The pathogenesis of this disorder remains elusive. In this work, we utilized a rich set of publicly available gene expression data to elucidate the genes and molecular processes that may underlie its pathogenesis. We developed a new ranking score to prioritize molecular pathways enriched in differentially expressed genes during AD. After applying our new ranking score, GO categories such as cotranslational protein targeting to membrane, SRP-dependent cotranslational protein targeting to membrane, and spliceosomal snRNP assembly were found to be significantly associated with AD. We also confirm the protein-protein interaction between APP, NPAS4 and ARNT2 and explain that this interaction could be implicated in AD. This interaction could serve as a theoretical framework for further analyses into the role of NPAS4 and other immediate-early genes in AD pathogenesis. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Spider silk is a natural high-performance biopolymer with superior mechanical propetiies. Although these fibers out perfmm several man-made and natural biomaterials, there are cha llenges to be circumvented before commercialization. One of the silkproducing glands warranting further study is the pyrifonn gland, which produces gluelike threads functioning to cement dragline silk to substrates. We focused on the molecular properties of PySp 1, the major component of pyrifonn silk from Latrodectus hersperus, and its putative Oiiholog, PySp2, from Nephi/a clavipes. To date, there are no reports describing the secondary structure of PySp internal block repeats. Moreover, because the PySp C-terminus amino acid residues are distinct from MaSp C-terminus and the morphology of these glands is different, we hypothesized that PySp C-terminal domains form distinct secondary structures. The MaSp C-terminus has been shown to regulate the silk assembly process and whether the PySp C-terminus performs a similar function is unknown. In order to test this supposition, we used the following experimental approaches: I) we developed a series of PySp prokaryotic expression constructs carrying various block repeat modules representative of the internal iterations found within the protein chain; 2) we constructed prokaryotic expression vectors coding for the PySp C-terminal domains; 3) we expressed and purified the PySp C-terminal domains from bacteria; 4) we performed structural analyses of the purified PySp C-terminal domains using cd spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. After expression and purification of the PySp C-tennini proteins, our studies support that this domain displays a predominantly ~-sheet structure, distinctive from the NMR-determined ahelical nature of MaSp C-tennini. The difference in secondary structure implies the MA and pyriform glands use different biochemical mechanisms during fiber extrusion to control protein folding and assembly. By investigating protein folding and fiber formation for different spider silk types, its characteristics can be customized for spinning different materials for industrial applications.

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Dormancy is one of the most important adaptive mechanisms developed by perennial plants, in order to survive the low temperatures of autumn and winter in temperate climates. The study of the genes regulated during dormancy release is crucial to understand the process, with the final objective of the development of new varieties with a better adaptation to certain environments; in particular in the Mediterranean area. The general aim of this work is to understand the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying the maintenance and release of seasonal dormancy in peach. The first part of this work is focused on the identification of peach genes related to dormancy release by suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and microarray hybridization. A significant number of genes identified in this work were homologous to ABA and drought related genes from other species. Our data contribute to highlight a prominent role of ABA in dormancy processes and also uncover elements of the ABA and drought regulatory response in peach, as an ABA-INSENSITIVE5 (ABI5) binding protein (AFP)-like, a dehydration-responsive element (DRE)-binding protein (DREB2C)-like, a calcium-binding annexin, and several genes regulated by stress signalling pathways. Other identified genes were also evaluated to assess the chilling requirement of cultivars by analysis of expression showing a very good correlation between the expression pattern of DAM5, together with other transcripts (BD396, DB247, SB280 and PpB63) and the chilling requirements values of five different varieties ('Big Top', 'Catherina', 'Fergold', 'Maruja' and 'Springlady') measured following Utah and Dynamic models. Furthermore, a study of chromatin modifications associated to dormancy release in the DAM6 gene is presented. A ChIP analysis of DAM6 promoter and structural gene revealed chromatin modification events similar to those observed in vernalization of Arabidopsis and cereals. / Leida, CA. (2012). Molecular aspects of dormancy in peach (Prunus persica [L.] Batsch.) [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/15864