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Effect of ageing on haematological and immunological traits in great tit (Parus major)
Krajzingrová, Tereza ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Remeš, Vladimír (referee)
v III. Abstract (EN) According to the Disposable soma theory, senescence is mainly influenced by adaptive allocation of resources among the physical growth, reproduction and self-maintaining processes, which depend on expected survival of an individual. The amount of allocated resources may be influenced by external environmental factors such as heavy metal pollution or by inner factor e.g. reproduction. The aim of my diploma thesis was to clarify the relationships between senescence, selected haematological traits, reproduction and efficiency of innate immunity mechanism. Moreover, we are interested in the role of heavy metal pollution in ageing and haematology. The heterophiles to lymphocytes ratio (H/L) was used as a marker of long-term stress caused by these physiological expenses. This study summarizes partial data collected within the long-term research of great tits (Parus major) in Prague, Czech Republic, I participated in. We have more than 300 samples of repeatedly captured individuals at our disposal. The structure of this unique dataset allows us to observe changes in the traits of our interest during an avian lifespan. Our results show that during aging, males experience a noticeable increase in the H/L ratio compared to females. Although we have not found the effect of age on the brood size,...
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Assessment of relative telomere length using qPCR: advantages and disadvantages of this method and shortcomings of commonly used reference markers
Krajzingrová, Tereza ; Velová, Hana (advisor) ; Králová, Tereza (referee)
Telomeres, the ends of eucaryotic chromosomes, consist of tandem repeated sequences, play important role in protection of chromosomal ends. In somatic cells telomeres are getting shorter with each cell division. Telomere length (TL) is directly related to cellular ageing (senescence). The rate of telomere shortening as well as ageing is individual and it differs among species and also among individuals. To the main factors, which can affect the rate of telomere shortening, belong stress, diseases, reproduction or also environmental conditions. Many methods could be used for TL determination. Each of them has its own limitation, which is good to know to be able to avoid the negative impacts on results. qPCR is currently the most used method. The most important factor, which could affect the results, is that qPCR measures besides proper telomeres also interstitial telomeric sequences. Furthermore, the choice of suitable reference marker followed by designing of highly specific primers is also crucial, if qPCR is used. Nevertheless, qPCR is suitable method especially because it offers fast and inexpensive relative TL measurement of large amount samples. My bachelor thesis is moreover a review of studies focused on telomere dynamics in birds and causes which influence different senescence measured by TL....
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