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MHC class I allelic variability and pro-inflammatory responsiveness in domestic fowl breeds
Pojezdná, Anežka ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Hyršl, Pavel (referee)
Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus f. domestica) is an economically important model species in science. Knowledge of the immune system of this species is therefore crucial. In research the commercial stocks are usually used together with laboratory inbred lines. They have an unnatural variability, as a result of inbreeding, their genetic and phenotypic variability is reduced. This laboratory lines are therefore not the best model for research of variability. Presently, genetically diversified poultry populations can be found in rural stocks and fancy breeds. These breeds could be good model for research in variability of immunoresponse. In this thesis, I try to map the genetic variability of the binding site of MHC class I glycoproteins in fowl breeds. In chickens are these molecules encoded in duplicated gene called BF (BF1 and BF2). These genes are relatively well known and considerable variability has been described in domestic fowl. Our results suggest a high genetic variability of MHC I in domestic fowl breeds. We had identified 41 haplotypes in 25 individuals of 14 breeds, including 7 haplotypes already known from the literature. I also focused on proinflammatory activity in fowl breeds. I watched swelling of tissue and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1 after subcutaneous...
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Effect of food quality on sex ratio in a model passerine bird
Tomiška, Lubomír ; Kratochvíl, Lukáš (advisor) ; Vinkler, Michal (referee)
Sex allocation theory represents one of the key subjects of evolutionary ecology. There are several studies which bring strong evidence for relationship of environment and sex ratio in fish, reptiles, amphibians and some invertebrates. However, we still wait for answering of this question in mammals and birds. One of obstacles is the fact that in this case sex is determined by sex chromosomes. Many authors consider the chromosome segregation distortion (meiotic drive) as the most probable cause of sex ratio manipulation. But according to the traditional Mendelian conception, chromomosome segregation should be a random process. Because of new methods invented in 90's we can determine sex of an individual by molecular techniques and so find out the primary sex ratio. That's why an intensive research has occured at the turn of the century. However, there are many experimental studies we still miss reliable evidence of proximate mechanism and ultimate cause of sex ratio manipulation in birds. According to results of several studies, the sex ratio distortion occurs at primary level but nobody really tested the existence of meiotic drive directly. So we decided to test a possible cause of meiotic drive - centromere methylation. The latest research shows that methylation influences several characteristics...
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Association between human body odour and health status
Schwambergová, Dagmar ; Havlíček, Jan (advisor) ; Vinkler, Michal (referee)
The subject of this thesis is to evaluate a link between changes in body odor and health status in humans. The main aim was to create a theoretical overview of the available studies concerning humans, which are compared with studies conducted on mammals. Alteration of body odor due to the ongoing disease may negatively influence not only the odor attractiveness of a potential partner, but also may cause changes in behavioral response to a chemical stimulus for other members of the species. One may assume formation of perceptual adaptations exhibiting sensitivity to markers of health status in both sexes. Recognition of ill individuals may be crucial during social interactions, to prevent transmission of pathogens, but in mate choice the health status may also serve as an important indicator of resistance to infection, which can affect the viability of the offsprings. The main contribution of this thesis is to summarize the knowledge and insights into the area related to changes in body odor, depending on the health status. Keywords body odor, health, sexual selection, attractiveness, olfactory perception
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Relatedness and gene flow between breeds of the domestic fowl
Buchtová, Lucie ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Trefil, Pavel (referee)
Domestic chickens are domestic animals with tremendous economic value. Due to this value, high-production lines have more important role for humans than fancy breeds and rural populations. Production traits of these high-production lines are not comparable with traditional breeds. The preference for larger profit gradually diminishes the importance of the traditional breeds, which leads to their replacement increasing the risk of loss of their genetic variability. Despite this trend, general awareness of this problem increses providing hope in saving these rich sources of genetic variation. We selected sample of 272 individuals representing 33 traditional (fancy) breeds. I evaluated the degree of variability through the analysis of twenty selected neutral markers (mtDNA control region and 19 microsatellite loci) and four immune genes (TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR7). The main aims were: to map the origin of modern breeds between ancient breeds, identify the possible geographic origin of the breeds, to compare the rate of neutral and functional variation between breeds with the level of variation within breeds and to compare the degree of shared polymorphism (gene flow / ancestral polymorphism) of neutral markers and immune genes. The results show that we can genetically differentiate breeds and identify...
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Variability in health state of mice in Mus musculus musculus and Mus musculus domesticus hybrid zone
Bílková, Barbora ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Vetešníková Šimková, Andrea (referee)
House mouse hybrid zone is a complex of subspecies Mus musculus musculus, Mus musculus domesticus and their hybrids. This hybrid zone is considered as a tension zone, maintained by balance between dispersion of individuals towards the zone center and negative selection against the hybrids. Decreased anti-parasite resistance could be one of selective factors which maintain the hybrid zone. In this thesis, I use hematological methods and skin-swelling test to compare variability in mouse health state within the house mouse hybrid zone. The skin-swelling test is a method measuring pro-inflammatory immune responsiveness. Since the commonly adopted method to perform this test does not allow clear interpretation of the test results, in this thesis I also aim to optimise the test protoco . I found that utilization of concanavalin A (ConA) is more suitable in mice than application of the commonly used phytohemaglutinin (PHA). Assessment of health state of mice by both hematological methods and skin-swelling test consistently indicates increased ability of anti-parasitic resistance in the subspecies M. m. musculus compared to subspecies M. m. domesticus. Hematological examination further shows better health state of hybrid individuals compared to parental subspecies. Our results support hybrid resistance hypothesis....
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Effect of parasites on haematological traits in vertebrates
Vacková, Julie ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Svobodová, Jana (referee)
Deviation out of homeostasis is reflected by physiological stress and altered immunological activity leading to changes in blood composition. Haematological examination may reveal deflection from the long-term optimum-the state of health. Haematological changes associated with parasitism are in some cases so distinctive that they allow the estimation of the parasite type affecting the host health. I aim to summarise basic methods utilised in veterinary haematology and evaluate the influence of individual groups of parasites on haematological parameters related to red and white blood cells. In vertebrates the most significant haematological changes are caused by multicellular endoparasites. Typical is eosinophilia and increased total leucocyte count. Ectoparasites are usually responsible for decrease in erythrocytes and increase in leucocytes. Extracellular bacteria increase total neutrophil and lymphocyte counts while intracellular bacteria cause decrease in all blood cell types. Viruses often decrease number of erythrocytes and leucocytes and change neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. Changes in the haematological parameters caused by protists are difficult to generalize and not much is presently known about the influence of fungi on the blood composition in vertebrates. Variation in the effect of...
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Usage of molecular genetics in investigation of origin of domesticated animals
Buchtová, Lucie ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Hájková, Petra (referee)
Animal domestication has been one of the most significant agricultural activities of modern humans. It allowed not only more efficient utilization of some animals, but also their breeding which led to improvements in their properties and through crossbreeding to gain of novel forms utilizable in agriculture. This artificial selection and in several cases probably also interspecific hybridization allowed the emergence of the contemporary diversity of breeds of the domestic animals. The origin of individual breeds has been, however, long forgotten and comparative morphology cannot provide us much guidance for understanding of the relatedness of individual breeds. The information on relatedness of breeds is, nonetheless, highly needed, for instance, for evaluation of selection and prediction of the functional significance of the existing genetic variability. Hence, methods of molecular genetics represent the only way how to estimate phylogeny of the domestic breeds. The aim of this work is to shortly review molecular methods which have been used in animal domestication research and outline the results which have been obtained by their application. Based on incongruences and agreements in the results of the published studies the applicability of these methods is critically evaluated and credibility of...
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Trans-species polymorphism in immune genes at wildlife animals
Těšický, Martin ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Matiašovic, Ján (referee)
Trans-species polymorphism (TSP) is described as the occurrence of identical or similar alleles in related species, excluding cases where the similarity arose by convergence. In TSP the alleles are inherited from ancestor to the descendant species. Neutral TSP is frequent in closely related newly diverged species and it gradually disappears. Considering evolution of immune system and host- pathogen interaction, balanced long-lasted TSP is much more important. Balanced TSP in immune- related genes is maintained by the mechanism of balancing selection and commonly persists for millions of years. In my thesis I map the contemporary knowledge on TSP in immune-related genes, focusing mainly on wild animals. The chief emphasis is given to evolutionary mechanisms influencing the width and age of TSP, distinguishing TSP from other TSP-like evolutionary patterns and methodical difficulties with the assignment of TSP. Presently, most articles dealing with TSP concentrate only on genotyping the Major histocompatibility loci (MHC I and MHC II), especially in the peptide binding region. Our knowledge concerning other immune genes with putative TSP is, therefore, insufficient. Most importantly, this is true for innate immunity genes. More effort should be given to comparative large-scale well-sampled studies...
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Can avian malaria affect the reproductive success of the host?
Krausová, Simona ; Munclinger, Pavel (advisor) ; Vinkler, Michal (referee)
Malarial deseases caused by intracellular parasites of birds is very common. Even if infection doesn't lead to the death of infected individuals, they may suffer alternations of different levels of fitness, which may also consequently harm their reproductive success rates. Infected individuals, due to their poor physical condition, may lay lower quality eggs, breed less viable offspring, have reduced frequency of feeding their chicks, etc. While it may seem that malarial parasites undoubtedly negatively affect their hosts's reproduction, there are numerous studies which do no support such prediction. These differences in individual studies may be due to various testing methods used in the indicated studies. Because of various testing methods, there also may appear other possible problems which can more or less affect the detection rate of malaria parasites.
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Changes in expression of immune-related genes after induction of inflammation in birds
Pojezdná, Anežka ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Chudíčková, Milada (referee)
Inflammation is one of the most important immunological mechanisms that protect animals from diseases. In my thesis I summarized information on changes in gene expression in tissues in the course of the inflammatory immune response in birds. I tried to describe the main features of the immune response in birds and highlight the differences to other vertebrates, especially mammals. I focused mainly on the surface molecules of various types of immune cells, as well as on signalling by soluble factors called cytokines. Although in general features are the inflammatory reactions in birds and mammals similar, in my thesis I have shown that a large portion of mediators and signalling molecules work very differently in these two vertebrate groups (e. g. the TNF SF-mediated pro-inflammatory signalling) and that substantial variation many be found even between different species of birds. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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