Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2015-05-14T16:07:52Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese Ronaldo Celerino_Biblioteca.pdf: 11538818 bytes, checksum: bb7cc47b8cb9d49a4b1e691267ae2ff3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T16:07:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese Ronaldo Celerino_Biblioteca.pdf: 11538818 bytes, checksum: bb7cc47b8cb9d49a4b1e691267ae2ff3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-04 / CAPES, CNPq / A variabilidade genética humana tem desempenhado um papel importante para a compreensão de mecanismos envolvidos na susceptibilidade à infeção pelo HIV-1. O presente trabalho avaliou as distribuições de polimorfismos de base única (SNPs) em genes humanos relacionados à entrada (CCL3, CCL4, CCL5, CXCL12, CXCR6) e à replicação viral (APOBEC3G, CUL5, TRIM5, HLA-C e ZNRD1), e suas prováveis associações com a modulação da susceptibilidade à infecção pelo HIV-1 em uma população do Nordeste brasileiro (Recife-Pernambuco), a fim de estabelecer um modelo imunogenético de susceptibilidade ao HIV-1. Foi desenvolvido um estudo tipo caso-controle, utilizando pacientes infectados (HIV-1+) e controles saudáveis, os quais foram genotipados para 18 SNPs em genes reconhecidamente envolvidos na entrada e na replicação viral. Verificou-se que variantes nos genes CCL3 (rs1719134), CCL4 (rs1719153), TRIM5 (rs10838525) e CUL5 (rs11212495) foram mais frequentes em controles saudáveis; enquanto variantes em APOBEC3G e ZNRD1 (rs3869068) foram mais frequentes em pacientes HIV-1+, sugerindo, respectivamente, proteção e susceptibilidade à infecção pelo HIV-1 na população pernambucana. Neste sentido, sugere–se que SNPs em genes relacionados com a entrada e a replicação viral podem modular a susceptibilidade a infecção pelo HIV-1.

Submitted by Haroudo Xavier Filho (haroudo.xavierfo@ufpe.br) on 2016-03-22T18:32:27Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Neyla Alves_Versão digital.pdf: 1629049 bytes, checksum: aa72b7e3881142a178e5534aa4064d95 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T18:32:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Dissertação Neyla Alves_Versão digital.pdf: 1629049 bytes, checksum: aa72b7e3881142a178e5534aa4064d95 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-02 / CAPES / CNPq / HIV/aids (Vírus da Imunodeficiência Humana/aids) é considerado uma pandemia, envolvendo mais de 70 milhões de infecções e 35 milhões de mortes desde o primeiro relato na década de 80. O HIV tipo 1 (HIV-1) infecta principalmente linfócitos T CD4+ e linhagens de macrófagos, tendo sua patogenicidade definida pela depleção de LT CD4+. Além disso, a condição de infecção por HIV-1 é bastante complexa e dependente de diversos fatores relacionados à variabilidade dos indivíduos no que diz respeito à suscetibilidade à infecção e à progressão para a aids, sendo observada a ativação imunológica generalizada. Envolvida na modulação das respostas imunes inata e adaptativa encontra-se a vitamina D, que desempenha papel no metabolismo mineral e apresenta efeito pleiotrópico no crescimento e diferenciação celulares. Seus efeitos imunológicos são dados a partir da ligação com o receptor de vitamina D (VDR) de diversas células, regulando a liberação de citocinas, a função e proliferação de linfócitos T e a produção de peptídeos antimicrobianos como a catelicidina. O VDR atua modulando a ação dessa vitamina induzindo a resposta imune local e variações genéticas presentes no gene codificador do VDR podem levar à diminuição de sua atividade e, consequentemente, ao prejuízo para o papel da vitamina D. Nos indivíduos infectados pelo HIV, os níveis de deficiência dessa vitamina são altos e fatores como raça, insuficiência renal, pouca exposição à luz ultravioleta e exposição as drogas anti-HIV, como o Efavirenz, estão associados a essa deficiência, respectivamente, sendo determinantes para a susceptibilidade à infecção pelo HIV e a predição da progressão da doença. Sendo assim, neste trabalho foram estudados seis polimorfismos de base única (SNPs) (rs3890733, rs476048, rs1540339, rs2248098, rs2228570 e rs11568820) presentes no gene do receptor de vitamina D (VDR) e sua influência na resposta dos pacientes à Terapia Antirretroviral (TARV). Foram recrutados 107 pacientes acompanhados e tratados no Hospital Dia do Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP), subdivididos em quatro grupos: I- Sucesso Terapêutico, II- Falha Terapêutica, III- Sucesso Imunológico, IV- Falha Imunológica, e analisadas variáveis clínicas e epidemiológicas, como gênero, idade, peso e etnia. Não foram observadas associações estatísticas nas análises isoladas entre os polimorfismos dos genes do VDR com a falha virológica ou a resposta imunológica. Porém, nas análises multivariadas, o genótipo C/C do rs1540339 mostrou-se associado com o gênero no sucesso virológico (OR=0,08, p=0,04). Em adição, a análise envolvendo peso, etnia e gênero e o rs3890733 mostrou associação com a resposta imunológica para os genótipos C/C e T/T no modelo sobredominante (OR=0,21, p=0,024). Os resultados indicam a importância do receptor de vitamina D em infecções por HIV-1 e poderão contribuir para o entendimento da variabilidade das respostas dos pacientes à TARV. / HIV/aids (Human Immunodeficiency Virus/aids) is considered a pandemic, involving more than 70 million infections and 35 million deaths since the first report in the 80’s. HIV type 1 (HIV-1) infects mainly T lymphocytes CD4 + and macrophage lineages, and their pathogenicity is defined by the depletion of CD4 +. Furthermore, the condition of HIV- 1 infection is very complex and dependent on many factors related to the individual variability, regarding the susceptibility to infection and progression to AIDS, generalized immune activation being observed. Involved in the modulation of innate and adaptive immune responses is vitamin D, which plays a role in mineral metabolism and has pleiotropic effects on cell growth and differentiation. Their immune effects are data from binding to the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in various cells, regulating the release of cytokines, the function and proliferation of T lymphocytes and the production of antimicrobial peptides as cathelicidin. The VDR acts modulating the action of vitamin D by inducing local immune responses and genetic variations present in the VDR encoding gene can lead to reduction of its activity and consequently, disfunction in the role of vitamin D. In HIV-infected individuals, this vitamin deficiency levels are high and factors such as race, kidney failure, lower exposure to ultraviolet light and exposure to anti- HIV drugs, such as Efavirenz, are associated with this deficiency, being determinants on the susceptibility to HIV infection as well as prediction of disease progression. Therefore, in this work we studied six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs3890733, rs476048, rs1540339, rs2248098, rs2228570 and rs11568820) present in the D vitamin receptor gene (VDR) and its influence on patients’ response to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). We recruited 107 patients followed from the Hospital Day Integrative Medicine Institute Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP), subdivided into four groups: I. Therapeutic Success, II. Therapeutic Failure, III. Immune Success, IV. Immune Failure, and analyzed clinical and epidemiological variables, such as gender, age, weight and ethnicity. No statistically significant associations were observed in the isolated analyzes between polymorphisms of the VDR gene with therapeutic failure or immune response. However, in multivariate analyzes, the rs1540339 C/C genotype was associated with gender in therapeutic success (OR = 0.08, p = 0.04). In addition, analysis involving weight, ethnicity and gender and the rs3890733 showed association with the immune response to the C/C genotype and T/T in overdominant model (OR = 0.21, p = 0.024). The results indicate the importance of vitamin D receptor in HIV- 1 infections and may contribute to the understanding of variability of patient’s various responses to ART.

A performance musical requer um alto nível de habilidade em diversos parâmetros como coordenação motora, atenção e memória, o que a torna uma atividade particularmente susceptível aos estados de ansiedade. Pesquisas nessa área têm avançado com a introdução de instrumentos específicos para abordar a ansiedade na performance musical (MPA), como é o caso da the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI). Estudos recentes apontam polimorfismos genéticos envolvidos na base do quadro de ansiedade os quais já foram descritos no genoma humano e avaliados em pacientes com autismo, ataque de pânico e na depressão. No entanto, não existia na literatura mundial qualquer estudo relacionando polimorfismos de DNA e MPA. O presente estudo teve duas fases. A primeira fase, com objetivo traduzir, adaptar e validar a K-MPAI para a língua portuguesa e a segunda fase, o objetivo foi avaliar polimorfismos genéticos possivelmente associados à MPA. Após a autorização da autora, a escala KMPAI foi traduzida e validada. A escala em língua portuguesa foi aplicada a 218 músicos de ambos os sexos, amadores e profissionais. Para a validação concorrente, foi utilizado o Inventário de Ansiedade Traço-Estado (IDATE), versão validada na língua portuguesa da State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). A análise da consistência interna apresentou alfa de Cronbach=0.957 com p<0.001, reprodutibilidade com p=0.378 e validação concorrente com a IDATE com alfa de Cronbach=0.642 e p<0.001. O estudo de validação permitiu considerar a amostra com graus de confiabilidade e reprodutibilidade elevados, o que traduz este estudo como provindo de uma amostra não tendenciada e replicável a outras populações. A validação concorrente entre a K-MPAI e a IDATE permite inferir que ambas são comparáveis na capacidade de medir os níveis de MPA. Na segunda fase, foi analisada a associação entre polimorfismos dos genes GLO1 (rs4746), GSR (rs1002149), NPY (rs16147) e TMEM132D (rs900256) e o quadro de MPA. Após a aplicação da escala K-MPAI em 307 músicos (197 homens e 110 mulheres) amostras de sangue periférico foram coletadas de dos 80 sujeitos das extremidades da curva de distribuição de scores da K-MPAI (35 homens e 45 mulheres), sendo seu DNA usado para genotipagens. Análises das freqüências genotípicas e alélicas não evidenciaram diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre os grupos polares, muito embora tendências à significância fossem observadas em alguns casos, quando os gêneros foram avaliados separadamente, sugerindo que mais indivíduos devam ser analisados. A detecção de polimorfismos de DNA associados à MPA poderá permitir uma melhor compreensão dos mecanismos moleculares associados a este quadro que também ocorre em outras situações de exposição em diversas áreas de atuação. Além disso, futuros estudos poderão permitir delinear exames prognósticos e diagnósticos mais precisos, levando a um melhor conhecimento da origem da MPA / Music performance requires high levels of ability in parameters such as coordination, attention and memory, which makes it particularly susceptible to anxiety states. Scales were recently developed to evaluate and quantify music performance anxiety (MPA). However, although we are able to measure MPA, biomarkers for this condition are not available and its biological basis has not been established. On the first part of this work, we translated, adapted and validated the K-MPAI to Portuguese, generating the first MPA evaluation instrument in the language. After authorization from the author, the K-MPAI scale was translated and validated. The scale in the Portuguese language was applied to 218 musicians of both genders, professionals and amateurs. For the concurrent validation, the IDATE inventory, a validated version of the STAI Inventory (State Trait Anxiety Inventory) was used. Consistency analyses showed Cronbach\'s alpha=0.957 with p<0.001, reproducibility with p=0.378 and concurrent validation with IDATE with Cronbach\'s alpha=0.642 and p<0.001. The validation study allowed the samples to be considered with high degrees of certainty and reproducibility, which shows that this study is based on an unbiased sample and can be replicable to other populations. On the second part of this work, we strived to contribute to the knowledge of the biological basis of MPA, validating and analyzing the frequency of DNA polymorphisms possibly associated to this condition. We searched for genes that could be involved with the anxiety processes and evaluated the polymorphisms with higher frequency and/or more capacity of causing functional alterations. The genes and the polymorphisms selected (presented with their identification codes in the dbSNP database) were: GLO1 (rs4746), GSR (rs1002149), NPY (rs16147) and TMEM132D (rs900256). The status of these polymorphisms was determined in a process of selective genotyping, from a group of 80 subjects who had the higher and lower scores in the distribution curve of the K-MPAI scores (derivating from a total of 307 musicians, having scores deviating at least 1 standard deviation in average). Tests for these polymorphisms were designed, validated and evaluated with the DNA of these 80 subjects. Analysis of the allelic and genotypic frequencies of these polymorphisms did not show associations that were statistically significant. Tendencies to significance were observed when analyses were conducted separately in each gender, suggesting that studies with higher sample size should be performed. The study of genetic polymorphisms associated to MPA has the potential for contributing to a better understanding of the biological basis of anxiety

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T18:00:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo3038_1.pdf: 683140 bytes, checksum: eada2c543903b755d4846405298237c0 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A doença auto-imune da tireóide (AITD) afeta de 2 a 5% da população e é o transtorno auto-imune órgão-específico mais comum. Sua apresentação clínica varia do hipertireoidismo da doença de Graves (GD) ao hipotireoidismo da tireoidite de Hashimoto (HT). O presente trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar a associação dos polimorfismos de dois genes ligados ao sistema imune inato, DEFB1 e MBL2, na susceptibilidade à doença auto-imune da tireóide. O gene DEFB1 codifica a &#946;-defensina humana 1 (HBD-1), um peptídeo antimicrobiano capaz de romper a membrana de uma ampla variedade de patógenos. Polimorfismos de única base (SNPs) na região 5 UTR do DEFB1 têm sido associados com uma maior susceptibilidade a diversas infecções e distúrbios auto-imunes. O gene da lectina ligadora de manose (MBL2) codifica uma proteína de reconhecimento de padrões moleculares que tem como alvo resíduos de carboidratos na membrana de patógenos, células transformadas e apoptóticas. Polimorfismos no éxon 1 desse gene têm sido alvo de diversos estudos e revelou ser de suma importância na susceptibilidade a infecções e doenças auto-imunes. O grupo de estudo consistiu de 74 e 163 pacientes com AITD para análise de SNPs do gene DEFB1 e MBL2, respectivamente. O grupo controle foi formado por 92 e 214 indivíduos saudáveis para análise dos genes DEFB1 e MBL2, já coletados em estudos anteriores. A genotipagem dos SNPs nas posições -20, -44 e -52 na região 5 UTR do gene DEFB1 foi realizada através do seqüenciamento de DNA, enquanto que os SNPs nos códons 52, 54 e 57 do éxon 1 do gene MBL2 foram genotipados através da PCR tempo real. Os resultados do gene DEFB1 mostraram uma diferença significativa para as freqüências genotípicas do SNP -52 entre pacientes AITD e controles (pvalue= 0.04431). Considerando os 33 pacientes diagnosticados com HT, houve uma diferença significativa apenas nas freqüências alélicas do SNP -52 (pvalue= 0.03205) entre pacientes com HT e controles. Os resultados do gene MBL2 mostraram uma diferença significativa entre as freqüências alélicas (pvalue= 0.009163) e genotípicas (p-value=0.04588) dos pacientes com AITD e controles. Considerando os 87 pacientes diagnosticados com HT, houve uma diferença significativa nas freqüências alélicas do gene MBL2 (p-value=0.01354) entre pacientes com HT e controles. Nossos resultados mostraram uma associação entre o alelo -52A do gene DEFB1 e o alelo O do gene MBL2 com a AITD e HT, identificando novos marcadores de susceptibilidade à doença auto-imune da tireóide

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Nigeria is peopled by ethnically and linguistically diverse populations of which little were known until the last few millennial. The absence of major natural geographical barrier increases the possibility of the populations being affected by the same demographic events. The aim of this thesis was to ascertain the genetic variations and demographics in five major Nigerian populations using Y-markers. This was done by determining the genetic structures of the Afro-asiatic speaking Hausa (n=78) of Northern Nigeria and the Niger Congo speaking populations of Igbo (n=119), Yoruba (n=238), Bini (n=13) and Ijaw (n=15) of Southern Nigeria all spread over 22 geographical origins and four (North, South east, south west and South south) geographical regions. They were compared with more than 2000 individuals from 46 populations of 20 other African and Middle Eastern countries, in published literature. The Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) recommended Y-Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) and nine Y-Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) haplogroups were typed with multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLP) and High Resolution Melting (HRM). Summary statistics and measures of diversity were determined. Population structure was assessed with Population Pairwise Differences, hierarchical Analysis of Molecular Variance, Multidimensional scaling and correspondence analysis plots. Mantel’s test was used to assess the correlation of genetic distances with geographic distances. Demographic inferences were assessed with lineage based Network reconstruction, Spatial autocorrelation plots, effective migrants per population and both Inter and Intra-lineages Times to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA). The patterns of diversity of the Y-markers showed a North-South gradient and a notable sub-structure among the Hausa populations. The Niger-Congo speakers displayed rare presence of haplogroups R and E1b1b but a preponderance of E1b1a7. Overall, the Y markers showed high diversities and significant genetic sub-structure within the Hausa populations of Nigeria with stronger linguistic than geographical bias. The demographic evaluations gave credence for genetic validation of both historical records and archeological findings among these Nigerian populations. These populations showed stronger affiliations with other sub-Saharan African populations rather than with North African or Middle Eastern populations, lacking evidence for the Middle Eastern origins of the male founders of these populations. Finally, the contribution of these Nigerian dataset would greatly enhance the Africa meta-population on the YHRD with more than 274 new haplotypes of forensic estimation significance.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-09T14:33:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tatianeribeirodesiqueira.pdf: 1746220 bytes, checksum: 01a239ee1ea9876e3d413b78f8f1446b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2015-12-09T14:56:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 tatianeribeirodesiqueira.pdf: 1746220 bytes, checksum: 01a239ee1ea9876e3d413b78f8f1446b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-09T14:56:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tatianeribeirodesiqueira.pdf: 1746220 bytes, checksum: 01a239ee1ea9876e3d413b78f8f1446b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-26 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A infecção por dengue vírus (DENV) tem sido considerada atualmente a mais importante arbovirose no mundo. Até o presente momento foram descritos quatro diferentes sorotipos do DENV: DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 e DENV-4. A infecção pelo DENV pode produzir uma ampla variedade de distúrbios a febre do dengue ou formas graves da doença, como a febre hemorrágica do dengue (FHD) e síndrome do choque do dengue (SCD), onde os quatro sorotipos de DENV podem causar desde uma infecção assintomática até FHD e SCD. A patogênese da FHD/SCD é multifatorial e vários estudos mostram algumas hipóteses para explicar as manifestações mais graves na infecção por DENV: (i) fatores virais, (ii) associação entre FHD/SCD em casos de infecção heterotípica pelo DENV e (iii) fatores do próprio hospedeiro, que poderiam estar relacionados à resposta imune. Estudos que buscam entender o porquê de pacientes com dengue apresentarem diferentes prognósticos são de grande importância para a Saúde Pública. Embora a doença causada por DENV seja considerada um grande problema de saúde pública, ainda não estão disponíveis drogas antivirais e vacinas a fim de tratar ou prevenir a infecção. O combate do vetor tem sido ineficiente, permitindo o aparecimento de novas epidemias. A cidade de Juiz de Fora vem passando por diversas epidemias de dengue nos últimos anos, com o registro de casos graves e óbitos. Diante deste contexto, este trabalho visou investigar os fatores sorológicos e genéticos relacionados com a predisposição ao desenvolvimento das formas graves de dengue em Juiz de Fora. Em setembro e outubro de 2013 e fevereiro e maio de 2014, amostras de sangue total foram coletadas. As amostras foram estudas para estudos de SNPs, pequisa de anticorpos e do DENV. No grupo estudado, foi observada uma soroprevalência de 16,1%. Foram detectados genótipos predisponentes e genótipos protetores de FHD, nos genes FCRIIa, JAK-1 e DCSIGN, em moradores de Juiz de Fora, entretanto, não foi observada associação desses genótipos individualmente e/ou em combinação com a distribuição de gênero, diferentes regiões de Juiz de Fora onde os participantes residiam e relato de apresentação de sintomas de dengue pelos pacientes. Foram detectados três pacientes que apresentaram material genético de DENV. O conhecimento de áreas e pessoas predispostas à FHD constituem informações valiosas do ponto de vista epidemiológico e na estruturação de políticas públicas que visem o controle da dengue. / Dengue virus infection (DENV) is considered the most important arbovirose in the world and the greatest impact on public health. Four different serotypes of DENV: DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4 have been described. DENV infection may produce a wide variety of disorders, dengue fever or severe disease, such as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (SCD). Any of the four DENV can cause asymptomatic infection from one to DHF and DSS. The pathogenesis of DHF / DSS is multifactorial and several studies showed some hypotheses to explain the most serious manifestations of infection by DENV: (i) viral factors (ii) secondary infection DENV and (iii) the host factors could be related to exaggerated immune response. Studies trying to understand why dengue patients have different prognoses are of great importance for public health. Although dengue is considered one major public health problem, there are not available antiviral drugs and vaccines to treat or prevent the infection. The vector control has been inefficient, allowing the emergence of new outbreaks. The city of Juiz de Fora has experienced several dengue epidemics in recent years, with the record of serious cases and deaths. Given this context, this study aimed to investigate the serological and genetic factors related to the predisposition to severe forms of dengue in Juiz de Fora. In September/ October 2013 and February to May 14 342 samples of whole blood were collected were collected. Samples were used to investigate the immune response do dengue, SNPs and DENV. In the study group, a seroprevalence of 16.1% was observed. Predisponent and protector genotypes were detected genes FCyRIIa, JAK-1 and DCSIGN in Juiz de Fora residents, however, there was no association of these genotypes individually and / or in combination with the gender distribution, different Juiz de Fora regions where the participants lived and report presentation of dengue symptoms by patients. Three patients were detected with DENV infection, by the time of sample collection.The knowledge of areas and persons who are more prone to have FHD is a valuable information from the epidemiological point of view and the structuring of public policies aimed at controlling dengue.

Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zur Erweiterung des biologischen Profils eines historischen Skelettfundes aus dem Zeitalter der römischen Kaiserzeit und beginnenden Völkerwanderungszeit. Bis zum Zeitpunkt der Bearbeitung der Zielstellung wurden keine aDNA-Analysen am Material durchgeführt. Im Rahmen der gesetzten Ziele sollte zunächst das methodische Vorgehen im Hinblick auf die Qualität und Quantität des aDNA-Templates geprüft werden. Neue Analysestrategien wurden zudem auf deren Eignung in den Schritten aDNA-Quantifizierung und STR-Analyse evaluiert. Für die Ergänzung des biologischen Profils wurden sowohl autosomale als auch uniparentale aDNA-Marker untersucht. Im Speziellen erfolgte die Bestimmung des genotypischen Geschlechts über Amelogenin. Desweiteren wurde eine Y-chromosomale STR-Analyse durchgeführt. Mit Hilfe biostatistischer Variablen erfolgte zudem eine Beschreibung resultierender Y-chromosomaler Haplotypen. Darüberhinaus wurden erste Aussagen im Hinblick auf die ethnische Herkunft der Skelette mit Hilfe einer synchronen SNP-Analyse des mitochondrialen und Y-chromosomalen Genoms erlangt. Die Analyse der SNPs erfolgte auf beiden Seiten mittels SNaPshot-Minisequenzierung in definierten Multiplexansätzen. Spezifische Makrohaplogruppenfrequenzen wurden bezugnehmend auf die Entwicklungshistorie diskutiert.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Anxiety, resilience and childhood trauma can be categorized as functional behavioural categories, with a wealth of research behind each. The research approach adopted for each, in most cases, is either from a genetic or neuropsychological standpoint, with few studies combining both to better understand all three functional behavioural categories as a multidimensional construct A number of candidate genes have been identified as markers for anxiety, resilience and childhood trauma, of which Catechol-methyl-transferase (COMT) and several respective single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are included. Although COMT SNPs have been linked to at least one of the functional categories, with a handful of haplotypes identified, to our knowledge no study has investigated the combination of SNPs selected for this study (rs6269, rs4818, rs4680, rs4633, rs737865, rs2075507) as a possible haplotype, specifically in a South African population. The use of SNaPshot for the genotyping of genes is an efficient and reliable means of identifying genotype frequencies and haplotypes in large sample groups, yet when selecting more than two SNPs of interest, the development of a multiplex assay is ideal. The first aim of the study was to design and optimize a multiplex assay to genotype several COMT SNPs. The primer design, multiplex optimization and SNaPshot conditions used showed good working parameters that can be utilized and further improved by optimization. Self-report measures are widely used to measure psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, and has also been used for the measurement of resilience and childhood trauma. With each functional behavioural category well investigated in its respective domain, there is a need to investigate all three as a collective in a South African population due to the high rate of anxiety and childhood trauma exposure in communities. The second aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of anxiety, resilience and childhood as functional behavioural categories in the full South African sample group; and the role of sex, through established self-report measures and respective normative data. Additionally, this carried over into investigating the correlation between anxiety, resilience and childhood trauma as a multidimensional construct in both the full South African sample and between sexes. There is a clear relationship which exists between all three functional behavioural categories, as they show a correlation in various dimensions independent of one another. Higher anxiety levels amongst females were reported, with no difference between sexes for resiliency. The empirical data collected from both COMT SNP and self-report measures for male and female where explored and reviewed against current literature for better understanding and insight into the association of COMT SNPs with anxiety, resilience and childhood trauma in a South African population. The results of this study to understand the complexity and association of all three functional behavioural categories as a multidimensional construct will be invaluable and may assist in the identification of possible risk factors which are essential for the promotion of better mental health in society.

In the current environment of severe climate change, studying the adaptability of Norway spruce to the environment, that is, local adaptation is of great significance for helping to protect forest tree species and genetic breeding. As a structural variation, copy number variations (CNVs) have been proved to play an important role in shaping population structure and local adaptation in marine species, going beyond traditional studies focusing only on SNPs. Therefore, this experiment was to investigate the association of genotypes, including CNVs and SNPs, with local adaptation in Norway spruce. About 5.631% of CNVs were screened from SNPs, and the population structure of Norway spruce was detected based on the data of SNPs and CNVs. Then, the associations between genotypes (SNPs and CNVs) and the environmental variables are calculated by the model, considering the effects of population structure. Finally, the relationship between CNVs and SNPs and local adaptation of Norway spruce was investigated by redundancy analysis (RDA). The results preliminarily revealed that SNPs and CNVs had certain effects on the local adaptation of Norway spruce and a significant correlation with various environmental factors. However, the results indicated comparing to SNPs, CNVs had no significant effect on the local adaptation of Norway spruce.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are single base-pair variations that exist between individuals. There are approximately a million or more SNPs located throughout the genome of each individual animal. Therefore, by taking advantage of these unique polymorphisms, SNPs can be used to resolve questions of unknown parentage in the livestock industry. Currently a panel of 88 SNPs, obtained from a panel of 121 SNPs originally created by USDA-MARC, is commercially available from Fluidigm®. The objective of this study was to determine whether the number of SNPs from the 88-SNP marker panel could be reduced to form a smaller, more cost-efficient parentage-testing SNP panel. A smaller panel would benefit farmers and researchers alike in reducing the time spent in running and analyzing the test, as well as reducing the overall cost for the procedure. Genotype data from over 3000 cattle samples containing offspring and potential parents were examined using two parentage calling software packages. Parentage assessment was analyzed using nine SNP panels of varying size. It was determined that a panel of 71 SNPs, chosen from the original 88 SNPs, was the minimum number required to maintain statistical accuracy and reliability.