Kin selection, social polymorphism, and reproductive allocation in ants

Social groups are common across animal species. The reasons for grouping are straightforward when all individuals gain directly from cooperating. However, the situation becomes more complex when helping entails costs to the personal reproduction of individuals. Kin selection theory has offered a fruitful framework to explain such cooperation by stating that individuals may spread their genes not only through their own reproduction, but also by helping related individuals reproduce. However, kin selection theory also implicitly predicts conflicts when groups consist of non-clonal individuals, i.e. relatedness is less than one. Then, individual interests are not perfectly aligned, and each individual is predicted to favour the propagation of their own genome over others. Social insects provide a solid study system to study the interplay between cooperation and conflict. Breeding systems in social insects range from solitary breeding to eusocial colonies displaying complete division of reproduction between the fertile queen and the sterile worker caste. Within colonies, additional variation is provided by the presence of several reproductive individuals. In many species, the queen mates multiply, which causes the colony to consist of half-sib instead of full-sib offspring. Furthermore, in many species colonies contain multiple breeding queens, which further dilutes relatedness between colony members. Evolutionary biology is thus faced with the challenge to answer why such variation in social structure exists, and what the consequences are on the individual and population level. The main part of this thesis takes on this challenge by investing the dynamics of socially polymorphic ant colonies. The first four chapters investigate the causes and consequences of different social structures, using a combination of field studies, genetic analyses and laboratory experiments. The thesis ends with a theoretical chapter focusing on different social interactions (altruism and spite), and the evolution of harming traits. The main results of the thesis show that social polymorphism has the potential to affect the behaviour and traits of both individuals and colonies. For example, we found that genetic polymorphism may increase the phenotypic variation between individuals in colonies, and that socially polymorphic colonies may show different life history patterns. We also show that colony cohesion may be enhanced even in multiple-queen colonies through patterns of unequal reproduction between queens. However, the thesis also demonstrates that spatial and temporal variation between both populations and environments may affect individual and colony traits, to the degree that results obtained in one place or at one time may not be applicable in other situations. This opens up potential further areas of research to explain these differences.

Formation of an unusual copper(II) complex from the degradation of a novel tricopper(II) carbohydrazone complex

An unusual copper(II) complex [Cu(L-1a)(2)Cl-2] CH3OH center dot H2O center dot H3O+Cl- (1a) was isolated from a solution of a novel tricopper(II) complex [Cu-3(HL1)Cl-2]Cl-3 center dot 2H(2)O (1) in methanol. where L-1a is 3-(2-pyridyl)triazolo [1,5-a]-pyridine, and characterized with single crystal X-ray diffraction study. The tricopper(II) complex of potential ligand 1,5-bis(di-2-pyridyl ketone) carbohydrazone (H2L1) was synthesized and physicochemically characterized, while the formation of the complex la was followed by time-dependant monitoring of the UV-visible spectra. which reveals degradation of ligand backbone as intensity loss of bands corresponding to O -> Cu(II) charge transfer.

The ghost in the city industrial complex: Le Corbusier and the fascist theory of Urbanisme

Le Corbusier participated in an urban dialogue with the first group in France to call itself fascist: the journalist Georges Valois’s militant Faisceau des Combattants et Producteurs (1925-1927), the “Blue Shirts,” inspired by the Italian “Fasci” of Mussolini. Le Corbusier’s portrait photograph materialised on the front cover of the January 1927 issue of the Faisceau League’s newspaper Le Nouveau Siècle edited by the former anarcho-syndicalist journalist Georges Valois, its leader, who fashioned himself as the French Mussolini. Le Corbusier was described in the Revue as one of les animateurs (the “organisers”) of the Party1 – meaning a member of the technical elite who would drive the Faisceau’s plans. On 1 May 1927, the Nouveau Siècle printed a full-page feature “Le Plan Voisin” on Le Corbusier’s 1922 redesign of Paris : the architect’s single-point perspective sketch appeared below an extract lifted from the architect’s original polemic Le Centre de Paris on the pages of Le Corbusier’s second book Urbanisme published two years earlier, a treatise on urbanism.2 Three weeks later, Le Corbusier presented a slide show of his urban plans at a fascist rally for the inauguration of the Faisceau’s new headquarters on the rue du faubourg Poissonniere, thereby crystalising the architect’s hallowed status in the league...

Whole-exome re-sequencing in a family quartet identifies POP1 mutations as the cause of a novel skeletal dysplasia

Recent advances in DNA sequencing have enabled mapping of genes for monogenic traits in families with small pedigrees and even in unrelated cases. We report the identification of disease-causing mutations in a rare, severe, skeletal dysplasia, studying a family of two healthy unrelated parents and two affected children using whole-exome sequencing. The two affected daughters have clinical and radiographic features suggestive of anauxetic dysplasia (OMIM 607095), a rare form of dwarfism caused by mutations of RMRP. However, mutations of RMRP were excluded in this family by direct sequencing. Our studies identified two novel compound heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in POP1, which encodes a core component of the RNase mitochondrial RNA processing (RNase MRP) complex that directly interacts with the RMRP RNA domains that are affected in anauxetic dysplasia. We demonstrate that these mutations impair the integrity and activity of this complex and that they impair cell proliferation, providing likely molecular and cellular mechanisms by which POP1 mutations cause this severe skeletal dysplasia. © 2011 Glazov et al.

Managing uncertainty to improve the cost performance of complex infrastructure projects

There has been a recent spate of high profile infrastructure cost overruns in Australia and internationally. This is just the tip of a longer-term and more deeply-seated problem with initial budget estimating practice, well recognised in both academic research and industry reviews: the problem of uncertainty. A case study of the Sydney Opera House is used to identify and illustrate the key causal factors and system dynamics of cost overruns. It is conventionally the role of risk management to deal with such uncertainty, but the type and extent of the uncertainty involved in complex projects is shown to render established risk management techniques ineffective. This paper considers a radical advance on current budget estimating practice which involves a particular approach to statistical modelling complemented by explicit training in estimating practice. The statistical modelling approach combines the probability management techniques of Savage, which operate on actual distributions of values rather than flawed representations of distributions, and the data pooling technique of Skitmore, where the size of the reference set is optimised. Estimating training employs particular calibration development methods pioneered by Hubbard, which reduce the bias of experts caused by over-confidence and improve the consistency of subjective decision-making. A new framework for initial budget estimating practice is developed based on the combined statistical and training methods, with each technique being explained and discussed.

Using Bayesian networks to model surveillance in complex plant and animal health systems

In this chapter we consider biosecurity surveillance as part of a complex system comprising many different biological, environmental and human factors and their interactions. Modelling and analysis of surveillance strategies should take into account these complexities, and also facilitate the use and integration of the many types of different information that can provide insight into the system as a whole. After a brief discussion of a range of options, we focus on Bayesian networks for representing such complex systems. We summarize the features of Bayesian networks and describe these in the context of surveillance.

Complex solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates with two- and three-body interactions

For the first time, we find the complex solitons for a quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate with two-and three-body interactions. These localized solutions are characterized by a power law behaviour. Both dark and right solitons can be excited in the experimentally allowed parameter domain, when two-and three-body interactions are,respectively, repulsive and attractive. The dark solitons travel with a constant speed, which is quite different from the Lieb mode, where profiles with different speeds, bounded above by sound velocity, can exist for specified interaction strengths. We also study the properties of these solitons in the presence of harmonic confinement with time-dependent nonlinearity and loss. The modulational instability and the Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion of stability are also studied.

Genetic background of bipolar disorder and related cognitive impairments

Bipolar disorder (BP) is a complex psychiatric disorder characterized by episodes of mania and depression. BP affects approximately 1% of the world’s population and shows no difference in lifetime prevalence between males and females. BP arises from complex interactions among genetic, developmental and environmental factors, and it is likely that several predisposing genes are involved in BP. The genetic background of BP is still poorly understood, although intensive and long-lasting research has identified several chromosomal regions and genes involved in susceptibility to BP. This thesis work aims to identify the genetic variants that influence bipolar disorder in the Finnish population by candidate gene and genome-wide linkage analyses in families with many BP cases. In addition to diagnosis-based phenotypes, neuropsychological traits that can be seen as potential endophenotypes or intermediate traits for BP were analyzed. In the first part of the thesis, we examined the role of the allelic variants of the TSNAX/DISC1 gene cluster to psychotic and bipolar spectrum disorders and found association of distinct allelic haplotypes with these two groups of disorders. The haplotype at the 5’ end of the Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia-1 gene (DISC1) was over-transmitted to males with psychotic disorder (p = 0.008; for an extended haplotype p = 0.0007 with both genders), whereas haplotypes at the 3’ end of DISC1 associated with bipolar spectrum disorder (p = 0.0002; for an extended haplotype p = 0.0001). The variants of these haplotypes also showed association with different cognitive traits. The haplotypes at the 5’ end associated with perseverations and auditory attention, while the variants at the 3’ end associated with several cognitive traits including verbal fluency and psychomotor processing speed. Second, in our complete set of BP families with 723 individuals we studied six functional candidate genes from three distinct signalling systems: serotonin-related genes (SLC6A4 and TPH2), BDNF -related genes (BDNF, CREB1 and NTRK2) and one gene related to the inflammation and cytokine system (P2RX7). We replicated association of the functional variant Val66Met of BDNF with BP and better performance in retention. The variants at the 5’ end of SLC6A4 also showed some evidence of association among males (p = 0.004), but the widely studied functional variants did not yield any significant results. A protective four-variant haplotype on P2RX7 showed evidence of association with BP and executive functions: semantic and phonemic fluency (p = 0.006 and p = 0.0003, respectively). Third, we analyzed 23 bipolar families originating from the North-Eastern region of Finland. A genome-wide scan was performed using the 6K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. We identified susceptibility loci at chromosomes 7q31 with a LOD score of 3.20 and at 9p13.1 with a LOD score of 4.02. We followed up both linkage findings in the complete set of 179 Finnish bipolar families. The finding on chromosome 9p13 was supported (maximum LOD score of 3.02), but the susceptibility gene itself remains unclarified. In the fourth part of the thesis, we wanted to test the role of the allelic variants that have associated with bipolar disorder in recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS). We could confirm findings for the DFNB31, SORCS2, SCL39A3, and DGKH genes. The best signal in this study comes from DFNB31, which remained significant after multiple testing corrections. Two variants of SORCS2 were allelic replications and presented the same signal as the haplotype analysis. However, no association was detected with the PALB2 gene, which was the most significantly associated region in the previous GWAS. Our results indicate that BP is heterogeneous and its genetic background may accordingly vary in different populations. In order to fully understand the allelic heterogeneity that underlies common diseases such as BP, complete genome sequencing for many individuals with and without the disease is required. Identification of the specific risk variants will help us better understand the pathophysiology underlying BP and will lead to the development of treatments with specific biochemical targets. In addition, it will further facilitate the identification of environmental factors that alter risk, which will potentially provide improved occupational, social and psychological advice for individuals with high risk of BP.

Oxovanadium(IV) complexes of phenanthroline bases: the dipyridophenazine complex as a near-IR photocytotoxic agent

Oxovanadium(IV) complexes [VOCl(B)(2)]Cl (1-3) of phenanthroline bases (B), viz. 1,10-phenanthroline (phen in 1), dipyrido[3,2-d: 2', 3'-f] quinoxaline (dpq in 2) and dipyrido[3,2-a: 2', 3'-c] phenazine (dppz in 3), have been prepared, characterized and their DNA and protein binding, photo-induced DNA and protein cleavage activity andm photocytotoxicity have been studied. Complex 2, structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography, shows the presence of a vanadyl group in VOClN4 coordination geometry. The dpq ligand displays a chelating mode of binding with a N-donor site trans to the oxo-group. The chloride ligand is cis to the oxo-group. The one-electron paramagnetic complexes show a d-d band near 715 nm in 15% DMF-Tris-HCl buffer. The complexes are redox active exhibiting a V(IV)/V(III) redox couple within -0.5 to -0.7 V vs. SCE in 20% DMF-Tris-HCl/0.1 M KCl. The complexes bind to calf thymus (CT) DNA in the order: 3 (dppz) > 2 (dpq) > 1 (phen). The binding data reveal the groove and/or partial intercalative DNA binding nature of the complexes. The complexes show chemical nuclease'' activity in the dark in the presence of 3-mercaptopropionic acid or hydrogen peroxide via a hydroxyl radical pathway. The dpq and dppz complexes are efficient photocleavers of DNA in UV-A light of 365 nm forming reactive singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) and hydroxyl radical ((OH)-O-center dot) species. Complexes 2 and 3 also show DNA cleavage activity in red light (> 750 nm) by an exclusive (OH)-O-center dot pathway. The complexes display a binding propensity to bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein giving K-BSA values in the range of 7.1 x 10(4)-1.8 x 10(5) M-1. The dppz complex 3 shows BSA and lysozyme protein cleavage activity in UV-A light of 365 nm via (OH)-O-center dot pathway. The dppz complex 3 exhibits significant PDT effect in human cervical cancer HeLa cells giving IC50 values of 1.0 mu M and 12.0 mu M in UV-A and visible light, respectively (IC50 = > 100 mu M in the dark).