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Study of Coniferous Needles in Relation to Environmental Factors Using Approaches of Quantitative Anatomy and Laboratory Spectroscopy
Lhotáková, Zuzana ; Albrechtová, Jana (advisor) ; Šantrůček, Jiří (referee) ; Lukac, Martin (referee)
SYNTHESIS - CONCLUSIONS: This thesis combines two methodical approaches at different hierarchical levels of plant ecophysiology, which both are applied in field research and bring new valuable information for comprehension of several aspects of carbon cycle in forest ecosystem, particularly coniferous. The quantitative anatomy represents the first approach. At the leaf level application of confocal microscopy on fresh and frozen-stored needles and subsequent stereological estimation of mesophyll geometrical parameters proved to be suitable and sensitive enough for estimation of changes in mesophyll after simulated acid rain or differentiation of sun and shade needle ecotype. Application of systematic uniform random sampling of sections along the needle axis revealed insight to heterogeneity of mesophyll geometrical parameters within the needle and confirmed representativeness of the sampling from the middle region of the spruce needles. The second approach, laboratory measurement of shoot reflectance, represents important step in verification of relationships between leaf biochemical and optical properties, which can be subsequently used for monitoring of forest health, foliar or soil chemistry using remote sensing techniques. At the level of Norway spruce crown, samples of even-aged needles from the upper...
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Vertebrates of the Lower Palaeozoic from the Barrandian area (Bohemian Massif) and their comparison with faunas of adjacent areas
Vaškaninová, Valéria ; Kraft, Petr (advisor) ; Přikryl, Tomáš (referee) ; Trinajstic, Kate (referee)
This thesis deals with early vertebrate fossil remains from the Lower Palaeozoic strata of the Barrandian area (Bohemian Massif). It is presented as a compilation of four papers that were published or submitted in scientific peer-reviewed journals with impact factor. All included papers are focused on the most abundant and diverse vertebrate fauna from the Barrandian area - the placoderms. Placodermi are early vertebrates characterized by articulated head and trunk shields composed of dermal bony plates. In the Barrandian area, they occur exclusively in the Devonian of the Prague Basin. The main objectives of the thesis are modern taxonomic revisions of the placoderm taxa from the Prague Basin as well as discussions about trends in their abundance, diversity, and distribution in space and time, taphonomy, and the evolutionary and phylogenetic implications of their morphology. Two characteristic placoderm associations were distinguished. In the Lochkovian and Pragian, members of the group Acanthothoraci dominate the placoderm record. Acanthothoracid placoderms are among the most basal jawed vertebrates and thus a detailed study of their morphology has a great potential to illuminate the relationships and evolutionary patterns among the stem jawed vertebrates. They are most abundant in the...
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Dynamic Enantioseparation in Capillary Zone Electrophoresis
Dubský, Pavel ; Gaš, Bohuslav (advisor) ; Kašička, Václav (referee) ; Gebauer, Petr (referee)
12 4 CONCLUSION In the framework of my Ph.D. study, software EvalChir was developed for evaluation of elution profiles from dynamic enantioseparation. Further our previously developed simulation software SimulChir was extended by an iterative algorithm to be able to fit the experimental peak profiles by simulated ones and to find out the apparent rate constant of interconversion. Both the programs form complex solution for fast and easy evaluation of data obtained from dynamic enantioseparation techniques. A new method for determination of all four rate constants of interconversion involved in the true scheme (Figure 1A) was designed. In this way, the apparent thermodynamics is resolved back to the true one and an influence of a CS on the rate of interconversion can newly be studied. We verified this technique experimentally. A multi-CS enantioseparative system was described considering interaction of a chiral analyte with any arbitrary mixture of CSs. The model indicates that any multi-CS system may be formally treated as if only one CS was present there with some overall distribution constant, overall limit mobility and overall rate constant of interconversion of an enantiomer with respect to the mixture of CSs as a whole. The exact composition of the mixture even does not need to be known at all. On the...
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New procedures in metabolomic analysis of biofluids
Řimnáčová, Lucie ; Čabala, Radomír (advisor) ; Feltl, Ladislav (referee) ; Sýkora, David (referee)
The aim of this thesis has been the research on reactivity of protic metabolites with chloroformates and its application for GC-MS analysis of biofluids. The research was conducted in three separate studies and the results are three new, original methods for GC-MS determination of low- molecular protic metabolites in biological material especially in biofluids. The first study explores the discovery of fast derivatization of alicyclic hydroxyl groups by fluoroalkyl chloroformates (FCFs) under anhydrous conditions [1]. FCF fully converts the hydroxyl group into a corresponding carbonate and the step can easily be coupled with liquid-liquid microextraction (LLME) of the arising derivatives into organic phase. The reaction of the alicyclic OH group with FCFs was tested on 12 clinically relevant steroids and 4 tocopherols. The analytical properties of determined analytes were described and the method was validated for the GC-MS determination of 6 diagnostic sterols and 4 tocopherols in human serum and amniotic fluid. The new method was further successfully used for determination of sterols and tocopherols in tissues of the bug Pyrrhocoris apterus [2]. The second study was focused on the reactions of protic, particularly urinary metabolites with FCFs, mainly heptafluorobutyl chloroformate (HFBCF)....
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Physiology and ecology of saprotrophic basidiomycetes degrading dead plant biomass
Valášková, Vendula ; Baldrian, Petr (advisor) ; Tomšovský, Michal (referee) ; Koukol, Ondřej (referee)
(in English) My theis is focused on soil saprotrophic basiďomycetes, their role in the decomposition of dead plarrt biomass and intera.tioÍts with other members of microbiď community since these fungi play a particularly important role in biotransformation of soil organic matter arrd thereíorealso in the cycling of carbon and mineral nutrients. Three litter.decomposing basiďomycete isolratď from Quelvts petrueo Íorat: Eypholotna tascicularc, Rhodocolly bi,a butgrnrca ard Ggrnnopn sp., efficiently degrarled oak litter unrler both sterile and nonsterile conditions, but the rate of degradation and lignocellulolytic enzyme produc- tion considerably diftbred among isolates. Geuerally, the degrarlation camed by these iso- lates resembled decay caused by whiterot fungi. The fungi produced a broad range of lignocellulose-degrading enzyme: laccase, Mn- peroxidase, endo-I,4-p glucanase, endo-l,4 d >rylanase,p-glucosidase and iJ-xylosidase. Saprotrophic basidiomycetes thus probably contribute to the observed spatial variability in extrarellular enzyme activities in the up per srril horizon in oak forest. Spatial differences in eDzymeactivities were accompanied by diffe.rencesin the microbial commutrity composition, the relative amount of fungal biomass decreased with soil depth. The vertical gradients in soil...
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Bordetella Adenylate Cyclase: Molecular mechanism of Action and Its Use for Antigen Delivery
Kamanová, Jana ; Šebo, Peter (advisor) ; Dráber, Petr (referee) ; Černý, Jan (referee)
(English) 4 SUMMARY (English) The first part of this PhD. thesis deals with molecular mechanism of action of the adenylate cyclase toxin (CyaA), a key virulence factor of the whooping cough agent Bordetella pertussis. CyaA belongs to the family of RTX (Repeat-in-ToXin) proteins secreted by Gram-negative bacteria and primarily targets myeloid phagocytes, expressing the CD11b/CD18 integrin receptor (also known as αMβ2, CR3 or Mac-1). Upon binding, CyaA permeabilizes cell membranes by forming small cation-selective pores, and subverts cellular signaling by delivering into host cells an adenylate cyclase (AC) enzyme that converts ATP to cAMP. Elevation of the cytosolic cAMP levels by CyaA then knocks down bactericidal functions of host innate immunity. CyaA is unique among other enzymatically active toxins in its capacity to penetrate cells directly from cell surface across the cytoplasmic membrane, without the need for endocytosis. Penetrating activity of CyaA depends on plasma membrane potential and on an intact, acylated and calcium-loaded RTX cytolysin moiety. By examining a set of 18 CyaA constructs that bear overlapping deletions within AC domain and a CD8+ OVA T-cell epitope tag, we showed that the first 371 amino-terminal residues are dispensable for the CyaA capacity to deliver a passenger OVA...
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Magmatic and Volcanic Evolution of the Doupovské hory Volcanic Complex
Rapprich, Vladislav ; Holub, František (advisor) ; van Wyk de Vries, Benjamin (referee) ; Renno, Axel D. (referee)
The Doupovské hory Volcanic Complex (DHVC) occupies the western part of the northeast- southwest trending Eger Graben in northwestern part of the Bohemian Massif. The Graben follows the older Variscan suture between the Saxothuringian and Teplá-Barrandian Domains. The rocks of the DHVC are alkaline with setting and composition similar to other Cenozoic intraplate volcanic complexes of the Central and Western Europe (CIMACi). The Doupovské hory Volcanic Complex started the activity in the Lowermost Oligocene and lasted until Lower Miocene. The volcanic activity resulting in accumulation of the Doupovské hory Volcanic Complex was several times interrupted by periods of volcanic edifice decay and sector collapses. The magmatic activity lasted for ca. 14 M.y. and built a volcanic complex of total thickness 600-1000 m. The earliest volcanic activity was explosive in style and the eruptions could be classified as Strombolian to Sub-plinian and phreatomagmatic. The eruptions deposited about 80 m of volcaniclastics. This initial activity was dated by paleontology to the Lowermost Oligocene. The volcanic activity subsequently became calmer and lava flows dominated over explosive events. The growth of the early DHVC edifice culminated with intrusions of the Flurbühl intrusive complex by about 30-29 Ma. The...
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Organellar DNA diversity in some ornamental plants related to reproduction system and life strategy
Osama Mohamed Elansary, Hosam ; Štorchová, Helena (advisor) ; Bureš, Petr (referee) ; Chrtek, Jindřich (referee)
124 7. Conclusions The purpose of this Ph.D. work was oriented towards two points. 1. The analysis of organellar diversity among three plant species (Silene vulgaris, Silene latifolia and Aldrovanda vesiculosa). The three plant species had different morphological and physiological characters. The focus here was on two physiological points. 1.1. The reproduction system which is directly correlated with the mitochondrial DNA (in the case of CMS). This point was presented in the comparison between Silene vulgaris and Silene latifolia. 1.2. The different life strategy which is directly correlated with the organellar DNA diversity. This point was presented by the comparison between the two Silene species from one side and Aldrovanda vesiculosa from the other side. The later usually propagate vegetatively and live in different media (water), it present different life strategy under the umbrella of angiosperms. 2. The analysis of the inheritance of mitochondrial and chloroplast genome in Silene vulgaris. The study of this inheritance was facilitated by the high polymorphism available in the organellar DNA. This polymorphism could be detected by the different molecular markers used in this study. These molecular markers included either, gene coding regions markers previously used by D.E.McCauley and his team...
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Lagomorpha (Mammalia) of the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Europe: a revision of selected taxa
Čermák, Stanislav ; Horáček, Ivan (advisor) ; Sabol, Martin (referee) ; Benda, Petr (referee)
1 Lagomorpha (Mammalia) pliocénu a pleistocénu Evropy: revize vybraných taxonů Stanislav Čermák Předkládaná dizertační (uznaná jako rigorózní) práce se zabývá vybranými taxony fosilních zajícovců (starobylá konzervativní skupina býložravých savců) úseku spodního pliocénu až spodního pleistocénu (ruscin - bihar) Evropy. Technikami podrobné morfometrické analýzy (42 metrických, 14 nemetrických znaků) byl zpracován fosilní materiál (většinou nový nepublikovaný) dentálních a kraniálních pozůstatků rodů Psedobellatona, Ochotonoma, Ochotona a Hypolagus (N = 639) celkem z 38 lokalit území Česka, Slovenska, Maďarska a Ukrajiny reprezentující stratigrafický úsek spodní ruscin až svrchní bihar (MN 14 - Q2). Daná práce podává: (1) Ochotonidae - detailní revizi dosud komplexně nestudovaných taxonů pišťuch "skupiny Ochotona" spodního pliocénu (ruscin) východní a jihovýchodní Evropy (tj. taxonů Ochotona antiqua, Pseudobellatona, a Ochotonoma); v kontextu Česka a Slovenska revizi nálezů rodu Ochotona z pleistocénních (MN 17 - Q1) lokalit daného území, která podstatnou měrou rozšiřuje znalosti o těchto pišťuchách založené dosud na relativně nepočetných nálezech z lokalit Francie, Německa, Polska a Maďarska; (2) Leporidae - komplexní revizi rodu Hypolagus - stěžejního a dominantního rodu čeledi Leporidae pliocénu a...
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Taxonomy of beetle families Eulichadidae and Callirhipidae (Coleoptera: Elateriformia)
Hájek, Jiří ; Král, David (advisor) ; Bezděk, Jan (referee) ; Löbl, Ivan (referee)
In my thesis I have focusedon the alpha-taxonomyof two poorly known beetlefamilies Eulichadidaeand Callirhipidae occurringpredominantlyin forestsof tropical areas.Both familiesareclassifiedas incertaesediswithintheseriesElateriformia. The smďl elateriformfamily Eulichadidaecomprisesof two extantgenera:the monoýpic Califomian genusStenocolusLeConte, 1853,andthepredominatelyOrientalgenusEulichas Jacobson,l9l3, with 42 describedspecies.The larvaeofboth geneÍaareaquatic,while the adultslive on vegetationneaÍwateÍ,and especiallythe genusEulichas is oftenattractedat light. Altogether182taxaatthespecieslevel belongingto six generaarecunentlyclassiftedin the family Callirhipidae.Membersof the family occurmainly in tropicsof Oriental,Australian andNeotropicalzoogeographicalregions.Larvaefeedon rottenwood,adultsarecollectedon deadtreetrunks,butmostofall theyareattractedatlight. REVISION OF THE GENUS EULICIIAS JACOBSON, 1913 (COLEOPTERA: EULICHADIDAE) I. INTRODUCTION, MORPHOLOGY OF ADULTS, KEY TO SUBGENERA AND SPECIES GROUPS. AND TAXONOMY OF E. FUNEBRIS SPECIES GROUP [ - seelist of publications] First partof the revisionsummarizesour knowledgeaboutthe genusEulichas. It containsa detailedmorphologyof adults,andkeys to identificationof subgeneraandspeciesgroupsof the genus.The taxonomyofthe E funebris speciesgroupis...
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