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Evolution of endemism of mountain animal species
Švihálková, Tereza ; Munclinger, Pavel (advisor) ; Hořák, David (referee)
The mountain islands, isolated habitats surrounded by a distinct lowland environment, are home to a variety of endemic animal species. These hot-spots of biodiversity and endemism can be found mainly in tropical areas. Thus, the occurrence of endemics partially corresponds to the general macro-ecological rules of biogeography. For a more specific explanation of the origin and evolution of mountain animal species, we usually proceed from two theories - vicariate and dispersion. The validity of these theories varies in relation to taxon, locality, and evolutionary past, so it is difficult to generalize them globally. This bachelor thesis summarizes the prerequisites for the occurrence of endemic species and knowledge from some world- important mountain localities with a large number of endemic animals.
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Recombination hot-spots in various organisms
Stočesová, Lucie ; Holá, Dana (advisor) ; Forman, Martin (referee)
Meiotic recombination is an important process which occurs in sexually reproducing organisms and creates new allelic combinations. Frequency and distribution of crossing-overs (COs) are affected by many internal and external factors. Regions with higher frequency of COs are called recombination hot-spots and in this thesis, they are divided into ancestral and derived hot-spots. Ancestral hot-spots are the more original ones and they are determined by histone modifications, nucleosome-depleted regions, promoters and sequence motifs. This type of hot-spots occurs, e.g., in yeasts, birds and plants. Derived hot-spots are determined by the PRDM9 protein, which searches for specific sequence motifs and creates histone modifications. These hot-spots are typical for most mammals except the canines which lost functional PRDM9 due to the mutation of the Prdm9 gene. Activity of PRDM9 destroys primary locations of hot- spots via gene conversion. This process is called "hot-spot paradox" and is solved by the rapid evolution of alleles of the Prdm9 gene. This thesis summarizes basic information on distribution and determination of hot-spots among various eukaryotes. It particularly focuses on the PRDM9 protein, its structure, function and evolution. A determination of location of recombination in species...
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