Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Centrolobium paraense Tul. conhecida popularmente como pau-rainha é uma leguminosa arbórea que ocorre em ilhas de mata, florestas de transição e matas de galerias das savanas de Roraima. Esta leguminosa se beneficia do processo de fixação biológica de nitrogênio (FBN) através da simbiose com bactérias do grupo rizóbio. No entanto, pouco se sabe sobre a diversidade e a eficiência dessas bactérias em simbiose com pau-rainha. Este estudo teve como objetivo a caracterização de rizóbios associados às raízes de pau-rainha em Roraima, bem como a avaliação da eficiência simbiótica na promoção do crescimento de mudas através da FBN. Para isso, plantas de pau-rainha foram cultivadas em solos coletados em ilhas de mata localizadas nos municípios de Mucajaí, Bonfim, Boa Vista e Normandia para obtenção dos nódulos, e posterior isolamento das bactérias em meio de cultura. As bactérias foram caracterizadas morfologicamente e agrupadas de acordo com os perfis gerados. Representantes de cada grupo foram avaliados quanto à capacidade de nodulação utilizando o feijão-caupi como planta hospedeira. Os que apresentaram resultados positivos foram caracterizados geneticamente através da técnica de BOX-PCR e sequenciamento parcial do gene 16S rRNA. Em seguida uma nova autenticação foi realizada, e os isolados que repetiram os resultados anteriores ou apresentaram similaridade com espécies reconhecidamente nodulíferas foram selecionados para teste de eficiência em pau-rainha. Para avaliar a eficiência da FBN, os rizóbios foram utilizados na inoculação de plântulas de pau-rainha sob condições estéreis de casa de vegetação durante 100 dias, procedendo à análise estatística para os parâmetros: nitrogênio total, massa seca da parte aérea, área foliar, massa seca de raiz, número de folíolos, altura da planta, diâmetro do caule, massa seca de nódulos e número de nódulos. Os identificados como Bradyrhizobium foram avaliados através do sequenciamento de cinco genesglnII, gyrB, rpoB, recA e dnaKpara análise de sequência multilocus (MLSA). De um total de 355 nódulos coletados, foram obtidos 178 isolados, sendo a maioria de crescimento lento com capacidade de alcalinizar o meio de cultura, compatíveis com o gênero Bradyrhizobium. A partir da caracterização morfológica foi gerado um dendrograma onde se constatou a formação de nove grupos com perfis distintos. Quarenta isolados foram selecionados para a autenticação e trinta e seis foram capazes de induzir a nodulação. A análise do BOX-PCR revelou-se que estes isolados apresentam pouca semelhança entre eles. No entanto a análise do sequenciamento do gene 16S rRNA, revelou que a maioria dos isolados pertenciam ao gênero Bradyrhizobium. Estes confirmaram a capacidade de nodulação e foram selecionados para ensaio de eficiência em pau-rainha juntamente com quatro isolados identificados comoRhizobium tropici e Pleomorphomonas oryzae. Os isolados pertencentes ao gênero Bradyrhizobium foram os mais eficientes, com destaque para os isolados ERR 326, ERR 399 e ERR 435 que proporcionaram os melhores resultados em todas as avaliações. A partir da MLSA ficou evidenciado que os isolados apresentaram grandes divergências com as estirpes de referência de Bradyrhizobium, indicando haver espécies novas colonizando o pau-rainha. / Centrolobium paraense Tul. popularly known as wood-queen is a leguminous tree that occurs in islands of forest, transition forest and gallery forests of Roraima savannas. This legume benefits from the process of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) through symbiosis with rhizobia bacteria group. However, little is known about the diversity and efficiency of these bacteria in symbiosis with wood-queen. This study aimed to characterize rhizobia associated with the roots of wood-queen in Roraima, as well as evaluating the symbiotic effectiveness in promoting the growth of seedlings by FBN. For this, plants of wood-queen were grown in soils collected in forest islands located in the municipalities of Mucajaí, Bonfim, Boa Vista and Normandia to obtain the nodules, and subsequent isolation of bacteria in culture medium. The bacteria were morphologically characterized and grouped according to the profiles generated. Representatives of each group were evaluated for nodulation using cowpea as host plant, and those who tested positive were genetically characterized using the technique of BOX-PCR and partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA. Then a new authentication was performed, and that the isolated or repeated previous results showed similarity with known nodulating species were selected to test efficiency in wood-queen. To evaluate the efficiency of BNF, the strains were used to inoculate seedlings wood-queen under sterile conditions in a greenhouse for 100 days, carrying out statistical analysis for theparameters: total nitrogen, shoot dry weight, leaf area, root dry weight, number of leaves, plant height, stem diameter, dry mass and number of nodes. Those identified as Bradyrhizobium were evaluated by sequencing five genes glnII, gyrB, rpoB, recA and dnaK for multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA). From a total of 355 nodes collected were obtained 178 isolates, most slow growing with capacity to alkalinize the culture medium, compatible with the genus Bradyrhizobium. From the morphological characterization of a dendrogram was generated which demonstrated the formation of nine groups with distinct profiles. Forty isolates were selected for authentication and thirty six were able to induce nodulation. A BOX-PCR analysis revealed that these isolates show little similarity between them. However the analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that most isolates belonged to the genus Bradyrhizobium. These confirmed the nodulation and were selected for assay efficiency wood queen with four isolates identified as Rhizobium tropici and Pleomorphomonas oryzae. The isolates belonging to the genus Bradyrhizobium were the most efficient, especially for isolates ERR 326, ERR 399 and ERR 435 that provided the best results in all evaluations. From the MLSA was evident that the isolates showed large differences with the reference strains of Bradyrhizobium, indicating a new species colonizing the wood-queen.

No description available.

<p>  </p> <p>Plant-parasitic nematodes are amongst the most important pathogens impacting crops. Potatoes and soybean are vital crops for rural livelihoods and essential for food security, but their cyst nematode parasites remain a significant constraint globally. <em>Globodera</em> and <em>Heterodera </em>species are amongst the most damaging and internationally recognized quarantine pests of these crops, causing up to 80% yield loss. Their second stage juveniles (J2s) penetrate the host plant root tips and establish a residence close to the vascular bundle from where they extract nutrients as they complete their life cycle. Restrictions of control chemicals have led to an urgent need for alternative control strategies for cyst nematodes. Biological control is a promising alternative control measure, and fungi possess many characteristics that could make them great biological control agents of cyst nematodes. Most nematode populations are thought to be regulated by their natural enemy community. It is unclear which fungi are best adapted as natural enemies of these parasites and how they might do this. This project aimed to (a) characterize and compare the mycobiome diversity of cyst nematode species; (b) isolate and characterize fungi associated with potato and soybean cyst nematodes (c) screen isolated fungi for their efficacy as biocontrol agents against cyst nematodes; and (d) describe any isolated fungi identified as new and having potential for cyst nematode antagonism. Cyst populations were collected from different regions and screened for fungi using culture-based methods. For our next-generation sequence data analysis, we found differences in fungal community assemblages between center of origin of the potato cyst nematode (Peru; South America) and the regions where these nematodes were introduced such as Europe and North America.  There was no significant difference in fungal community assemblages of cysts collected between the years 2019 and 2020. We characterized fungi associated with the cyst nematodes and found that the most frequently isolated genera were <em>Fusarium, Penicillium, Cylindrocarpon, Phoma, Aspergillus </em>and<em> Verticillium</em>. Filtrates from <em>Trichoderma</em> sp. 2, <em>Alternaria alternata, </em>and <em>Fusarium acaciae-mearnsii </em>were toxic on SCN eggs while <em>Purpureucillium lilacinum, Fusarium proliferatum</em> and <em>Aureobasidium</em> <em>ellingtonae </em>sp. nov. were toxic on PCN eggs and juveniles. A new species of <em>Aureobasidium</em> isolated from the potato cyst nematode (<em>Globodera ellingtonae</em>) for the first time, and having biocontrol potentials against this nematode, was also identified, and described. </p>

Ehrlichia ruminantium est l'agent causal de la cowdriose, une maladie tropicale mortelle des ruminantstransmis par les tiques Amblyomma. Jusqu'à présent, il n'existe pas de vaccin efficace dû à la faible protection croisée des souches vaccinales vis-à-vis des isolats de terrain. Ceci est principalement lié àdiversité génétique d'E. ruminantium au sein les zones géographiques. Par conséquent, la caractérisation de lastructure génétique de la population d'E. ruminantium à l'échelle mondiale et régionale est importante pour définir les meilleures stratégies de contrôle et améliorer les stratégies de surveillance de la cowdriose. / Ehrlichia ruminantium is the causal agent of heartwater, a ruminant tropical fatal diseasetransmitted by Amblyomma ticks. Up to now, no effective vaccine is available due to a limitedcross protection of vaccinal strains on field isolates mainly associated to a high geneticdiversity of E. ruminantium within geographical locations. Thus, both characterization of E.ruminantium genetic population structure at worldwide and regional scale and estimation of E.ruminantium tick prevalence are important to delimitate better control strategies and improveheartwater monitoring strategies

Orientador: Suzete Aparecida Lanza Destéfano / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T18:58:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Correa_DanieleBussioliAlves_M.pdf: 2704976 bytes, checksum: 40df9160618a30b2959f8df5ff93e585 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: A batata ocupa o quarto lugar em volume de produção mundial de alimentos após o arroz, trigo e milho. O Brasil é o maior produtor dentre os países da América Latina, porém ainda apresenta baixa produtividade devida às doenças que afetam a cultura. Dentre as doenças bacterianas, a sarna da batata é uma das mais importantes economicamente e sua ocorrência é generalizada no mundo. Diferentes espécies do gênero Streptomyces estão associadas à essa doença e os principais sintomas se caracterizam por lesões irregulares que podem tomar toda a superfície do tubérculo, acarretando diminuição do seu valor comercial ou, até mesmo, impedindo a sua comercialização. Atualmente, a incidência da sarna está aumentando consideravelmente, tornando-se um fator limitante do cultivo de batata no Brasil. O presente trabalho teve por objetivo a identificação de linhagens de Streptomyces sp. associadas à sarna da batata, provenientes de diferentes regiões produtoras do Brasil, por meio de taxonomia polifásica. Cento e noventa linhagens de Streptomyces foram analisadas, sendo 165 nacionais obtidas dos estados da Bahia, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Paraná, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul e Santa Catarina; 13 de material vegetal importado do Chile, França e Holanda; e 12 linhagens Tipo de Streptomyces representantes de espécies associadas à sarna. Na caracterização morfológica as linhagens apresentaram heterogeneidade com relação à micromorfologia de hifas e coloração dos esporos. A patogenicidade das linhagens foi avaliada pela presença dos genes nec1, tomA (tomatinase) e txtAB (taxtomina A) e os resultados indicaram que 94 linhagens (52,8%) apresentaram amplificação dos três genes de patogenicidade avaliados, 14 (7,9%) não apresentaram nenhum dos genes e 70 (39,3%) mostraram sinal positivo de amplificação para um ou mais genes. Para algumas linhagens a confirmação da patogenicidade foi efetuada por meio de testes em minitubérculos de batata. Nos testes moleculares, incluindo amplificação com primers específicos para S. scabiei e S. turgidiscabies, PCR-RFLP do gene atpD e análises das seqüências dos genes atpD, gyrB, recA, rpoB e trpB, foi possível a separação das linhagens analisadas em diferentes perfis genéticos. As análises das características morfológicas, patogênicas e moleculares permitiram a identificação de 57 linhagens pertencentes à S. scabiei, 28 à espécie S. ipomoeae, 13 à S. caviscabies/S. setonii, 12 à S. europaeiscabiei e duas à S. sampsonii. As 66 linhagens restantes apresentaram características distintas das espécies Tipo testadas, podendo representar possíveis novas espécies de Streptomyces associadas à sarna no Brasil / Abstract: Potato is the world's fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat and maize. Brazil is the biggest producer among the countries of Latin America, but it still has low productivity due to diseases that affect the crop. Among the bacterial diseases, the potato scab is one of the most economically important, and its occurrence is widespread in the world. Different species of the genus Streptomyces are associated with this disease and the main symptoms are characterized by irregular lesions that can affect all the tuber surface causing decrease of its commercial value or preventing its commercialization. Currently, the incidence of potato scab is increasing considerably, becoming a limiting factor in potato production in Brazil. This study aimed to identify Streptomyces strains associated with potato scab, from different potato growing areas in Brazil, through polyphasic taxonomy. One hundred and ninety strains of Streptomyces were analyzed, including 165 Brazilian strains obtained from potatoes coming from the states of Bahia, Goias, Minas Gerais, Parana, Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina; 13 of plant material from Chile, France and Netherlands; and 12 type strains of Streptomyces species associated with potato scab. In the morphological characterization, the strains showed heterogeneity in the hyphal micromorphology and color of spores. The pathogenicity of strains was investigated by presence of the nec1 and tomA genes, and txtAB operon (thaxtomin A). The results indicated that 94 strains (52.8%) showed amplification of the three pathogenicity genes, 14 (7.9%) showed no amplification of the genes and 70 (39.3%) showed positive signal for only one or more genes. The pathogenicity of some strains was confirmed with artificial inoculation onto potato minitubers. In the molecular tests, including PCR amplification with specific primers for S.scabiei and S. turgidiscabies, analysis of PCR-RFLP of atpD gene and sequences analysis of the atpD, gyrB, recA, rpoB and trpB genes, the strains could be separated into different genetic profiles. The morphological, pathogenic and molecular data allowed identifying of 57 strains belonging to S. scabiei, 28 to S. ipomoeae, 13 to S. caviscabies/S. setonii, 12 to S. europaeiscabiei and two to S. sampsonii. The 66 remaining strains showed different genetic profiles in comparison with the type strains of Streptomyces, and may represent new species of Streptomyces associated with potato scab in Brazil / Mestrado / Genetica de Microorganismos / Mestre em Genética e Biologia Molecular

Dans cette thèse de doctorat, nous présentons les travaux que nous avons effectués dans trois directions reliées : la compression de données en alphabet infini, les statistiques bayésiennes en dimension infinie, et les mélanges de distributions discrètes multivariées. Dans le cadre de la compression de données sans perte, nous nous sommes intéressé à des classes de sources stationnaires sans mémoire sur un alphabet infini, définies par une condition d'enveloppe à décroissance exponentielle sur les distributions marginales. Un équivalent de la redondance minimax de ces classes a été obtenue. Un algorithme approximativement minimax ainsi que des a-priori approximativement les moins favorables, basés sur l'a-priori de Jeffreys en alphabet fini, ont en outre été proposés. Le deuxième type de travaux porte sur la normalité asymptotique des distributions a-posteriori (théorèmes de Bernstein-von Mises) dans différents cadres non-paramétriques et semi-paramétriques. Tout d'abord, dans un cadre de régression gaussienne lorsque le nombre de régresseurs augmente avec la taille de l'échantillon. Les théorèmes non-paramétriques portent sur les coefficients de régression, tandis que les théorèmes semi-paramétriques portent sur des fonctionnelles de la fonction de régression. Dans nos applications au modèle de suites gaussiennes et à la régression de fonctions appartenant à des classe de Sobolev ou de régularité hölderiennes, nous obtenons simultanément le théorème de Bernstein-von Mises et la vitesse d'estimation fréquentiste minimax. L'adaptativité est atteinte pour l'estimation de fonctionnelles dans ces applications. Par ailleurs nous présentons également un théorème de Bernstein-von Mises non-paramétrique pour des modèles exponentiels de dimension croissante. Enfin, le dernier volet de ce travail porte sur l'estimation du nombre de composantes et des variables pertinentes dans des modèles de mélange de lois multinomiales multivariées, dans une optique de classification non supervisée. Ce type de modèles est utilisé par exemple pour traiter des données génotypiques. Un critère du maximum de vraisemblance pénalisé est proposé, et une inégalité oracle non-asymptotique est obtenue. Le critère retenu en pratique comporte une calibration grâce à l'heuristique de pente. Ses performances sont meilleurs que celles des critères classiques BIC et AIC sur des données simulées. L'ensemble des procédures est implémenté dans un logiciel librement accessible.

Background: Group B streptococcus (GBS) is regarded as one of the most important causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world. GBS recto-vaginal colonization is important in the health of a mother and her neonate, especially in developing countries. Maternal vaginal colonization with GBS at the time of delivery can cause vertical transmission to the neonate. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is a technique used to characterize microbial isolates by means of sequencing internal fragments of housekeeping genes and has the advantage of reproducibility and has been shown to correlate with the other typing techniques and thus has emerged as the standard for delineating the clonal population of GBS. The study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of GBS colonization among pregnant women and their neonates, and to characterize the isolates by multilocus sequence typing technique at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, Pretoria. Methodology: A total of 413 pregnant women who visited the antenatal clinic were recruited and screened. Participants were interviewed using a questionnaire to gather demographic and other relevant information such as history of current pregnancy, previous miscarriages and still births. Samples from maternal rectum and vagina as well as neonate ear and umbilical cord were taken for culture using colistin and nalidixic acid (CNA) blood agar and incubated for 24-48 hours. If negative after 48 hours, Todd-Hewitt broth was subcultured after 18-48 hours onto sheep blood agar. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to characterize seven group B streptococcus isolates collected at Dr George Mukhari academic hospital. Fragments of seven housekeeping genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for each strain and sequenced. CLC bio software (Inqaba biotech, South Africa; Pretoria) was used to analyse sequenced loci and UPGMA dendrogram was constructed. Results: The colonization rate for GBS in pregnant women and their neonates was 30.9% and 0%, respectively. A higher proportion of GBS were isolated from the rectum (37.9%) as compared to the vagina (20.6%). Most socio-economic, demographic and obstetric factors analysed were not significantly associated with.GBS colonization. On 128 positive samples, the results of Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth and direct plating method using CNA were compared. A total of 45.3% of colonised were positive on direct selective agar (CNA); an additional 54.7% samples were recovered from Todd-Hewitt broth. Three genes (adhP, glnA and tkt) were sequenced successfully for six samples (1, 2. 4,6,12 and 65). The UPGMA tree with 1000 bootstrap showing the relationship between six samples was drawn.Conclusion: This study revealed that pregnant women of all ages are at risk of group B streptococcus colonization. Group B streptococcus was common among pregnant women at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital. No socio-economic risk factor was associated with group B streptococcus colonization. Results confirm that the combination of Todd-Hewitt broth and CNA agar plate is a time saving and sensitive method. The allelic profile, characteristics such as G+C (guanine+cytosine) content and dN/dS ratio were not analysed because of the smaller sample size used in this study, which shows that the MLST method was unsuccessful in this study. The UPGMA tree based on differences in consensus of the isolates showed that all group B streptococcus isolates are clustered and descend from a single node. / Life & Consumer Sciences / Life Sciences / M.Sc. (Life Sciences)

Το βακτήριο Wolbachia είναι ένα ενδοκυττάριο και μητρικά κληρονομούμενο συμβιωτικό βακτήριο. Ανήκει στην ομοταξία των Alphaproteobacteria και την τάξη των Rickettsiales. Αποτελεί ίσως τον πιο διαδεδομένο ενδοκυττάριο συμβιωτικό οργανισμό στον πλανήτη, καθώς έχει εντοπιστεί μέχρι στιγμής σε πληθώρα αρθροπόδων και νηματωδών της φιλαρίασης. Πρόσφατες μελέτες εκτιμούν ότι πάνω από το 40% των ειδών αρθροπόδων είναι μολυσμένα με το βακτήριο Wolbachia. Το συμβιωτικό αυτό βακτήριο επηρεάζει τις βιολογικές λειτουργίες και ιδιότητες των ξενιστών του και είναι υπεύθυνο για μια σειρά αναπαραγωγικών ανωμαλιών, όπως η κυτταροπλασματική ασυμβατότητα, η παρθενογένεση, η θανάτωση των αρσενικών εμβρύων και η θηλυκοποίηση. Τα μοναδικά αυτά βιολογικά χαρακτηριστικά του βακτηρίου Wolbachia προσελκύουν όλο και περισσότερο το ενδιαφέρον διαφόρων ερευνητών τόσο για το ρόλο του βακτηρίου σε εξελικτικές διαδικασίες (κυρίως ειδογένεση) όσο και για τη χρησιμοποίησή του σε περιβαλλοντικά φιλικές εφαρμογές καταπολέμησης οργανισμών που είναι επιβλαβείς στους τομείς του γεωργικού και δασικού περιβάλλοντος, και της υγείας. Τα είδη του γένους Glossina (Diptera: Glossinidae), γνωστά και ως μύγες τσε-τσε, αποτελούν ξενιστές του βακτηρίου Wolbachia. Η μύγα τσε-τσε είναι ο σημαντικότερος φορέας των παθογόνων τρυπανοσωμάτων στην τροπική Αφρική, τα οποία προκαλούν την ασθένεια του ύπνου (sleeping sickness) στον άνθρωπο και την αντίστοιχη τρυπανοσωμίαση, γνωστή ως nagana, στα ζώα. Η χρησιμοποίηση του βακτηρίου Wolbachia σε μεθόδους βιολογικής καταπολέμησης της μύγας τσε-τσε προαπαιτεί την πλήρη γνώση της γενετικής του ταυτότητας και των αλληλεπιδράσεων του με το ξενιστή. Προς την κατεύθυνση αυτή, και στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διατριβής, πραγματοποιήθηκε η ανίχνευση του συμβιωτικού βακτηρίου Wolbachia σε περισσότερα από 5300 άτομα από φυσικούς και εργαστηριακούς πληθυσμούς 11 διαφορετικών ειδών μύγας τσε-τσε από 13 Αφρικανικές χώρες. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν τεράστια απόκλιση της παρουσίας του βακτηρίου τόσο μεταξύ ειδών όσο και μεταξύ πληθυσμών του ίδιου είδους. Επίσης, πραγματοποιήθηκε ο γενετικός χαρακτηρισμός των στελεχών Wolbachia από συνολικά 29 αντιπροσωπευτικά δείγματα διαφόρων πληθυσμών και ειδών μύγας τσε-τσε, ενώ σε αρκετά από αυτά παρατηρήθηκαν πολλαπλά στελέχη του βακτηρίου. Διαπιστώθηκε εντυπωσιακή γενετική ποικιλότητα στελεχών Wolbachia που απαντούν στα διάφορα είδη μύγας τσε-τσε καθώς και ασυμφωνία μεταξύ των φυλογενειών των στελεχών Wolbachia και των μυγών τσε-τσε ξενιστών της, γεγονός που σημαίνει οριζόντια μετακίνηση του συμβιωτικού βακτηρίου κατά την εξέλιξη. Επιπρόσθετα, εντοπίστηκαν για πρώτη φορά εκτεταμένα γεγονότα οριζόντιας μεταφοράς βακτηριακών γονιδίων στο γονιδίωμα τριών ειδών μύγας τσε-τσε: στο Glossina morsitans morsitans, Glossina pallidipes και Glossina austeni. Από εξελικτικής σκοπιάς, κρίσιμα ερωτήματα προκύπτουν από τα παραπάνω ευρήματα, και πιο συγκεκριμένα σχετικά με: την προέλευση-μηχανισμό αυτών των γεγονότων οριζόντιας μεταφοράς, τον χρονικό προσδιορισμό τους, τον πιθανό ρόλο τους σε διαδικασίες ειδογένεσης και την επιλεκτική εμφάνισή τους σε ορισμένα μόνο είδη Glossina π.χ. στo υποείδos Glossina morsitans centralis που είναι πολύ συγγενικό του Glossina morsitans morsitans δεν παρατηρήθηκε το φαινόμενο. Εξίσου σημαντική και επιβεβλημένη κρίνεται η διεξοδική διερεύνηση του ενδεχομένου τα βακτηριακά γονίδια που ενσωματώθηκαν στο ευκαρυωτικό γονιδίωμα της μύγας τσε-τσε να ευθύνονται για την έκφραση νέων λειτουργιών-ιδιοτήτων (ή να μεταβάλλουν τις ήδη υπάρχουσες), ιδίως μάλιστα εάν αυτές συνδέονται με την αποδοτικότητα μετάδοσης της νόσου της τρυπανοσωμίασης μέσω του φορέα της, δηλαδή της μύγας τσε-τσε. Τέλος, διαπιστώθηκε πιθανή αρνητική συσχέτιση της παρουσίας του βακτηρίου Wolbachia με τον παθογόνο ιό Salivary Gland hypertrophy Virus (SGHV), γεγονός που συζητείται στα πλαίσια βιολογικών εφαρμογών καταπολέμησης του εντόμου-φορέα και της τρυπανοσωμίασης. Παράλληλα, μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζει η προοπτική χρησιμοποίησης του βακτηρίου Wolbachia για τη βιολογική καταπολέμηση εντόμων αγροτικής ή /και περιβαλλοντικής σημασίας, όπως είναι οι αφίδες και η καρπόκαψα καστανιάς. Το γεγονός αυτό προϋποθέτει την ανίχνευση και τη γενετική ταυτοποίηση του βακτηρίου σε φυσικούς πληθυσμούς εντόμων. Στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διατριβής πραγματοποιήθηκε ανίχνευση και χαρακτηρισμός του βακτηρίου Wolbachia σε 78 συνολικά άτομα από 22 είδη αφίδων, από 26 φυσικούς πληθυσμούς από την Ελλάδα. Από αυτούς τους 26 πληθυσμούς, μόλις οι 4 βρέθηκαν να είναι μολυσμένοι με το βακτήριο Wolbachia και συγκεκριμένα πληθυσμοί των ειδών: Aphis fabae, Aphis hederae, Metopolophium dirhodum και Baizongia pistaciae. Τα αποτελέσματα αυτά δείχνουν για πρώτη φορά ότι η παρουσία του βακτηρίου Wolbachia στις αφίδες είναι πιθανά πιο διαδεδομένη από ότι προέκυπτε από προηγούμενες μελέτες. Επίσης, μελετήθηκε η ανίχνευση και ο χαρακτηρισμός του βακτηρίου Wolbachia στα είδη Cydia splendana, Cydia fagiglandana και Pammene fasciana. Το βακτήριο Wolbachia ανιχνεύθηκε για πρώτη φορά στα συγκεκριμένα είδη και μάλιστα διαπιστώθηκε ότι η συχνότητα εμφάνισής του ποικίλει τόσο μεταξύ των δύο ειδών Cydia όσο και μεταξύ των πληθυσμών του κάθε είδους. Στο είδος Pammene fasciana, το βακτήριο ανιχνεύθηκε σε όλα τα άτομα που μελετήθηκαν. Τα αποτελέσματα της παρούσας διατριβής συζητούνται από τη σκοπιά τόσο της οικολογικής και εξελικτικής σημασίας τους όσο και της προοπτικής χρησιμοποίησης του συμβιωτικού βακτηρίου Wolbachia για τον πληθυσμιακό έλεγχο επιβλαβών εντόμων όπως οι μύγες τσε-τσε, οι αφίδες και η καρπόκαψα καστανιάς. / Wolbachia is an intracellular and maternally inherited symbiotic bacterium that belongs to the class of Alphaproteobacteria and the order of Rickettsiales. It is the most ubiquitous intracellular symbiotic organism of the planet, since it has been estimated that over 40% of insect species, in addition to filarial nematodes, crustaceans, and arachnids are infected with Wolbachia. In arthropods Wolbachia affects the biological functions and properties of its hosts and it is responsible for a number of reproductive abnormalities, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), thelytokous parthenogenesis, feminization of genetic males and male killing. These unique biological characteristics of Wolbachia are attracting the interest of various researchers for: (a) decyphering the role of Wolbachia in evolutionary processes (mainly speciation), and (b) for its use in environmentally friendly applications for the control of agricultural pests and disease vectors. The species of genus Glossina (Diptera: Glossinidae) known as tsetse flies, have been found to be infected with Wolbachia. Tsetse flies are the sole vectors of pathogenic trypanosomes in tropical Africa, causing the “sleeping sickness” in humans and the “nagana” in animals. The potential use of Wolbachia for the control of tsetse flies, prerequisite a thorough knowledge of its genetic identity and the interactions with the host. To further characterize the prevalence of Wolbachia in tsetse flies an extensive screen of more than 5300 specimens from natural and laboratory populations of 11 different Glossina species originating from 13 African countries was carried out. Our results indicated a huge divergence in the prevalence of Wolbachia, both among the species and among populations of the same species. Further characterization by MLST and wsp genotyping was carried out for the Wolbachia strains of 29 representative populations and species of tsetse flies. An impressive genetic diversity of Wolbachia strains in tsetse flies was revealed. Interestingly, disconcordance between the phylogeny of Wolbachia and that of the tsetse flies was observed, suggesting horizontal transmission of Wolbachia during the evolution. Moreover, extended horizontal gene transfer events were detected for first time in Glossina morsitans morsitans, Glossina pallidipes και Glossina austeni. These results raise critical questions concerning: (a) the origin/mechanism of these horizontal gene transfer events, (b) their temporal determination, (c) their potential role as agents of speciation and (d) their selective appearance in only some Glossina species e.g in the subspecies Glossina morsitans centralis which is closely related with Glossina morsitans morsitans the phenomenon was not observed. Equally important will be to examine if genes from the chromosomal insertions were potentially expressed and examine if these genes are associated with the vectorial capacity of tsetse flies for the trypanosoma transmission. Finally, a negative correlation between the presence of Wolbachia with the Salivary Gland Hypertrophy Virus (SGHV) was identified. This is further discussed in the context of biological applications for control of tsetse fly-vector and trypanosomiasis. Finally in this thesis, the detection and characterization of Wolbachia in 78 specimens of 22 aphids species, from 26 natural populations, from Greece was examined. Only 4 out of 26 populations were found to be infected with Wolbachia, and specifically the species: Aphis fabae, Aphis hederae, Metopolophium dirhodum και Baizongia pistaciae. These results indicated that the presence of Wolbachia in aphids is probably more prevalent than it was derived from previous studies. Also, detection and characterization of Wolbachia in the Cydia splendana, Cydia fagiglandana and Pammene fasciana was carried out. Wolbachia was detected for first time in these species, and it was found that the prevalence of Wolbachia varies between the two species of Cydia and among populations of each species, with the infection in Pammene fasciana being fixed. At the end the ecological and evolutionary importance of Wolbachia, together with the use of the bacterium for the population control of harmful insects like tsetse flies, aphids and moths is further discussed.

Background: Group B streptococcus (GBS) is regarded as one of the most important causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world. GBS recto-vaginal colonization is important in the health of a mother and her neonate, especially in developing countries. Maternal vaginal colonization with GBS at the time of delivery can cause vertical transmission to the neonate. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is a technique used to characterize microbial isolates by means of sequencing internal fragments of housekeeping genes and has the advantage of reproducibility and has been shown to correlate with the other typing techniques and thus has emerged as the standard for delineating the clonal population of GBS. The study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of GBS colonization among pregnant women and their neonates, and to characterize the isolates by multilocus sequence typing technique at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, Pretoria. Methodology: A total of 413 pregnant women who visited the antenatal clinic were recruited and screened. Participants were interviewed using a questionnaire to gather demographic and other relevant information such as history of current pregnancy, previous miscarriages and still births. Samples from maternal rectum and vagina as well as neonate ear and umbilical cord were taken for culture using colistin and nalidixic acid (CNA) blood agar and incubated for 24-48 hours. If negative after 48 hours, Todd-Hewitt broth was subcultured after 18-48 hours onto sheep blood agar. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to characterize seven group B streptococcus isolates collected at Dr George Mukhari academic hospital. Fragments of seven housekeeping genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for each strain and sequenced. CLC bio software (Inqaba biotech, South Africa; Pretoria) was used to analyse sequenced loci and UPGMA dendrogram was constructed. Results: The colonization rate for GBS in pregnant women and their neonates was 30.9% and 0%, respectively. A higher proportion of GBS were isolated from the rectum (37.9%) as compared to the vagina (20.6%). Most socio-economic, demographic and obstetric factors analysed were not significantly associated with.GBS colonization. On 128 positive samples, the results of Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth and direct plating method using CNA were compared. A total of 45.3% of colonised were positive on direct selective agar (CNA); an additional 54.7% samples were recovered from Todd-Hewitt broth. Three genes (adhP, glnA and tkt) were sequenced successfully for six samples (1, 2. 4,6,12 and 65). The UPGMA tree with 1000 bootstrap showing the relationship between six samples was drawn.Conclusion: This study revealed that pregnant women of all ages are at risk of group B streptococcus colonization. Group B streptococcus was common among pregnant women at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital. No socio-economic risk factor was associated with group B streptococcus colonization. Results confirm that the combination of Todd-Hewitt broth and CNA agar plate is a time saving and sensitive method. The allelic profile, characteristics such as G+C (guanine+cytosine) content and dN/dS ratio were not analysed because of the smaller sample size used in this study, which shows that the MLST method was unsuccessful in this study. The UPGMA tree based on differences in consensus of the isolates showed that all group B streptococcus isolates are clustered and descend from a single node. / Life Sciences / M.Sc. (Life Sciences)