Evaluation of Silver European EEL (anguilla anguilla) for the implementation of an Effective EEL Management plan in Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons

This thesis presents SEELF (Sustainable EEL fishery) Index, a methodology for evaluation of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) for the implementation of an effective Eel Management Plan, as defined by EU Regulation No.1100/2007. SEELF uses internal and external indices, age and blood parameters, and selects suitable specimen for restocking; it is also a reliable tool for eel stock management. In fact, SEELF Index, was developed in two versions: SEELF A, to be used in field operations (catch&release, eel status monitoring) and SEELF B to be used for quality control (food production) and research (eel status monitoring). Health status was evaluated also by biomarker analysis (ChE), and data were compared with age of eel. Age determination was performed with otolith reading and fish scale reading and a calibration between the two methods was possible. The study area was the Comacchio lagoon, a brackish coastal lagoon in Italy, well known as an example of suitable environment for eel fishery, where the capability to use the local natural resources has long been a key factor for a successful fishery management. Comacchio lagoon is proposed as an area where an effective EMP can be performed, in agreement with the main features (management of basins, reduction of mortality due to predators,etc.) highlighted for designation of European Restocking Area (ERA). The ERA is a new concept, proposed as a pillar of a new strategy on eel management and conservation. Furthermore, the features of ERAs can be useful in the framework of European Scale Eel Management Plan (ESEMP), proposed as a European scale implementation of EMP, providing a more effectiveness of conservation measures for eel management.

Multiple stellar populations in globular clusters with photometry and low resolution spectroscopy

Our view of Globular Clusters has deeply changed in the last decade. Modern spectroscopic and photometric data have conclusively established that globulars are neither coeval nor monometallic, reopening the issue of the formation of such systems. Their formation is now schematized as a two-step process, during which the polluted matter from the more massive stars of a first generation gives birth, in the cluster innermost regions, to a second generation of stars with the characteristic signature of fully CNO-processed matter. To date, star-to-star variations in abundances of the light elements (C, N, O, Na) have been observed in stars of all evolutionary phases in all properly studied Galactic globular clusters. Multiple or broad evolutionary sequences have also been observed in nearly all the clusters that have been observed with good signal-to-noise in the appropriate photometric bands. The body of evidence suggests that spreads in light-element abundances can be fairly well traced by photometric indices including near ultraviolet passbands, as CNO abundance variations affect mainly wavelengths shorter than ~400 nm owing to the rise of some NH and CN molecular absorption bands. Here, we exploit this property of near ultraviolet photometry to trace internal chemical variations and combined it with low resolution spectroscopy aimed to derive carbon and nitrogen abundances in order to maximize the information on the multiple populations. This approach has been proven to be very effective in (i) detecting multiple population, (ii) characterizing their global properties (i.e., relative fraction of stars, location in the color-magnitude diagram, spatial distribution, and trends with cluster parameters) and (iii) precisely tagging their chemical properties (i.e., extension of the C-N anticorrelation, bimodalities in the N content).

Chemical and kinematical properties of Blue Straggler stars in Galactic globular clusters

Blue straggler stars (BSSs) are brighter and bluer (hotter) than the main-sequence (MS) turnoff and they are known to be more massive than MS stars.Two main scenarios for their formation have been proposed:collision-induced stellar mergers (COL-BSSs),or mass-transfer in binary systems (MT-BSSs).Depleted surface abundances of C and O are expected for MT-BSSs,whereas no chemical anomalies are predicted for COL-BSSs.Both MT- and COL-BSSs should rotate fast, but braking mechanisms may intervene with efficiencies and time-scales not well known yet,thus preventing a clear prediction of the expected rotational velocities.Within this context,an extensive survey is ongoing by using the multi-object spectrograph FLAMES@VLT,with the aim to obtain abundance patterns and rotational velocities for representative samples of BSSs in several Galactic GCs.A sub-population of CO-depleted BSSs has been identified in 47 Tuc,with only one fast rotating star detected.For this PhD Thesis work I analyzed FLAMES spectra of more than 130 BSSs in four GCs:M4,NGC 6397,M30 and ω Centauri.This is the largest sample of BSSs spectroscopically investigated so far.Hints of CO depletion have been observed in only 4-5 cases (in M30 and ω Centauri),suggesting either that the majority of BSSs have a collisional origin,or that the CO-depletion is a transient phenomenon.Unfortunately,no conclusions in terms of formation mechanism could be drawn in a large number of cases,because of the effects of radiative levitation. Remarkably,however,this is the first time that evidence of radiative levitation is found in BSSs hotter than 8200 K.Finally, we also discovered the largest fractions of fast rotating BSSs ever observed in any GCs:40% in M4 and 30% in ω Centauri.While not solving the problem of BSS formation,these results provide invaluable information about the BSS physical properties,which is crucial to build realistic models of their evolution.

Homogeneous analysis of a sample of Open Clusters in the context of the BOCCE project and the Gaia-ESO Survey

The open clusters (OC) are gravitationally bound systems of a few tens or hundreds of stars. In our Galaxy, the Milky Way, we know about 3000 open clusters, of very different ages in the range of a few millions years to about 9 Gyr. OCs are mainly located in the Galactic thin disc, with distances from the Galactic centre in the range 4-22 kpc and a height scale on the disc of about 200 pc. Their chemical properties trace those of the environment in which they formed and the metallicity is in the range -0.5<[Fe/H]<+0.5 dex. Through photometry and spectroscopy it is possible to study relatively easily the properties of the OCs and estimate their age, distance, and chemistry. For these reasons they are considered primary tracers of the chemical properties and chemical evolution of the Galactic disc. The main subject of this thesis is the comprehensive study of several OCs. The research embraces two different projects: the Bologna Open Cluster Chemical Evolution project (BOCCE) and the Gaia-ESO Survey. The first is a long-term programme, aiming at studying the chemical evolution of the Milky Way disc by means of a homogeneous sample of OCs. The latter is a large public spectroscopy survey, conducted with the high-resolution spectrograph FLAMES@VLT and targeting about 10^5 stars in different part of the Galaxy and 10^4 stars in about 100 OCs. The common ground between the two projects is the study of the properties of the OCs as tracers of the disc's characteristics. The impressive scientific outcome of the Gaia-ESO Survey and the unique framework of homogeneity of the BOCCE project can propose, especially once combined together, a much more accurate description of the properties of the OCs. In turn, this will give fundamental constraints for the interpretation of the properties of the Galactic disc.

Radio halos in a mass-selected sample of galaxy clusters

A fraction of galaxy clusters host Mpc-scale Radio Halos (RH), generated by ultrarelativistic electrons in the magnetized intra cluster medium (ICM). In the current view they trace turbulent regions in merging clusters, where relativistic particles are trapped and accelerated. This model has clear expectations about the statistical properties of RHs. To test these expectations large mass-selected samples of galaxy clusters with adequate radio and X-ray data are necessary. We used the Planck SZ cluster catalogue as suitable starting point of our investigation, selecting clusters with M500>6x10^14 Msun at 0.08clusters at z<0.2 and with the Extended GMRT RH Survey for 0.2clusters with RH with the mass of the parent cluster and show that this increase is in line with statistical calculations based on the re-acceleration scenario. We confirm earlier findings that RHs are exclusively found in merging systems.

Crystal Engineering of bright luminescent copper iodide clusters with phosphorus and nitrogen-based ligands

Copper(I) halide clusters are recently considered as good candidate for optoelectronic devices such as OLEDs . Although the copper halide clusters, in particular copper iodide, are very well known since the beginning of the 20th century, only in the late ‘70s the interest on these compounds grew dramatically due their particular photophysical behaviour. These complexes are characterized by a dual triplet emission bands, named Cluster Centred (3CC) and Halogen-to-Ligand charge transfer (3XLCT), the intensities of which are strictly related with the temperature. The CC transition, due to the presence of a metallophylic interactions, is prevalent at ambient temperature while the XLCT transition, located preferentially on the ligand part, became more prominent at low temperature. Since these pioneering works, it was easy to understand the photophysical properties of this compounds became more interesting in solid-state respect to solution with an improvement in emission efficiency. In this work we aim to characterize in SS organocopper(I)iodide compounds to valuate the correlation between the molecular crystal structure and the photophysical properties. It is also considered to hike new strategies to synthesize CuI complexes from the wet reactions to the more green solvent free methods. The advantages in using these strategies are evident but, obtain a single crystal suitable for SCXRD analysis from these batches is quite impossible. The structure solution still remains the key point in this research so we tackle this problem solving the structure by X-ray powder diffraction data. When the sample was fully characterized we moved to design and development of the associated OLED-device. Since copper iodide complexes are often insoluble in organic solvents, the high vacuum deposition technique is preferred. A new non-conventional deposition process have also been proposed to avoid the low complex stability in this practice with an in-situ complex formation in a layer-by layer deposition route.

Plasmonic nanorods and nanoparticle-assemblies

Die vorliegenden Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit plasmonischen Nanopartikeln, deren Wechselwirkung mit Licht in einer Plasmonenschwingung resultiert. Suspensionen dieser Partikel zeigen kräftige Farben, da sich die Resonanzfrequenz der Plasmonenschwingung im sichtbaren Bereich des elektromagnetischen Spektrum befindet. Durch die Veränderung interner (Material, Größe, Form) oder externer Parameter (Brechungsindex der Umgebung, Abstand zu anderen plasmonischen Partikeln) lässt sich die Farbe der Partikel verändern, eine Verschiebung der Resonanzfrequenz kann beobachtet werden. Ihre Sensitivität gegenüber äußeren Bedingungen ist der Grund, weshalb plasmonische Nanopartikel als Sensoren eingesetzt werden können. Wichtig ist hierbei nicht nur, dass die Partikel eine hohe Sensitivität zeigen, sondern auch die Möglichkeit, reproduzierbar Partikel zu synthetisieren, die experimentellen Anforderungen entsprechen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Wachstum von reinen Gold- und mit Silber beschichteten Goldnanostäbchen untersucht. Des Weiteren werden plasmonische Nanopartikel als Orientierungs-, Brechungsindex- und Abstandssensoren verwendet. Die Synthese von Goldnanostäbchen erfolgt auf nasschemischen Weg, ihr anisotropes Wachstum aus isotropen Keimen wird durch zahlreiche Faktoren beeinflusst. In diesem Zusammenhang wurde ein Wachstumsmodell entwickelt, das neben dem Vorhandensein eines Stabilisators auch die Rolle von Bromid- und Silberionen herausstellt, die durch selektive Adsorption das Wachstum bestimmter Kristallflächen inhibieren. Zudem konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Potentialdifferenz zwischen Reduktions- und Oxidationsmittel klein sein muss, um ein langsames selektives Wachstum zu gewährleisten. rnDurch das Aufwachsen einer dünnen Silberschicht auf Goldnanostäbchen verbessert sich deren Qualität im Bezug auf die heterogene Linienbreite. Der “Plasmonic Focusing Effect”, die Änderung der Steigung des linearen Zusammenhangs von Plasmonenresonanz und Aspektverhältnis, konnte theoretisch berechnet und experimentell verifiziert werden. Durch die Aufnahme zeitaufgelöster Spektren und die Untersuchung des Verlaufs der Reaktion wurden sowohl Reaktionsordnung, als auch Aktivierungsenergie ermittelt. Das so gefundene kinetische Model erlaubt zudem die Vorhersage des Reaktionsprodukts zu verschiedenen Zeiten. rnEinzelne Goldnanostäbchen wurden in einer Gelmatrix bei verschiedenen Temperaturen untersucht, die Aufnahme der zeitlichen Variation der polarisationsabhängigen Streuintensität konnte genutzt werden, um den Kollaps des Gels zu charakterisieren. Neben der Verwendung einzelner plasmonischer Nanopartikel wurden auch Dimere, bestehend aus zwei Goldnanokugeln, untersucht. Nach der Kalibrierung der Resonanzfrequenz gegenüber des Abstandes der beiden Partikel durch externe Methoden (Lichtstreuung, Cryo- Elektronenmikroskopie) wurde der so gefundene exponentielle Zusammenhang verwendet, um sowohl den Brechungsindex der Umgebung, als auch den Abstand der beiden Goldnanokugeln zu bestimmen. Des Weiteren wurden Goldnanopartikeldimere benutzt, um ein als Linker verwendetes thermoresponsives Elastin-Polymer bei verschiedenen Temperaturen zu charakterisieren. Neben Aggregaten aus zwei Goldnanokugeln wurden auch so genannte “core-satellite” Strukturen synthetisiert, die um einen großen Goldnanopartikelkern viele kleine Goldnanopartikel tragen. Diese Partikel haben eine theoretisch vorhergesagte höhere Sensitivität gegenüber Brechungsindexänderungen, was in ersten Experimenten gezeigt werden konnte.

Synthesis and surface modification of silver and gold nanoparticles. Nanomedicine applications against Glioblastoma Multiforme.

In the last decades noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) arose as one of the most powerful tools for applications in nanomedicine field and cancer treatment. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), in particular, is one of the most aggressive malignant brain tumors that nowadays still presents a dramatic scenario concerning median survival. Gold nanorods (GNRs) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) could find applications such as diagnostic imaging, hyperthermia and glioblastoma therapy. During these three years, both GNRs and AgNPs were synthesized with the “salt reduction” method and, through a novel double phase transfer process, using specifically designed thiol-based ligands, lipophilic GNRs and AgNPs were obtained and separately entrapped into biocompatible and biodegradable PEG-based polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) suitable for drug delivery within the body. Moreover, a synergistic effect of AgNPs with the Alisertib drug, were investigated thanks to the simultaneous entrapment of these two moieties into PNPs. In addition, Chlorotoxin (Cltx), a peptide that specifically recognize brain cancer cells, was conjugated onto the external surface of PNPs. The so-obtained novel nanosystems were evaluated for in vitro and in vivo applications against glioblastoma multiforme. In particular, for GNRs-PNPs, their safety, their suitability as optoacoustic contrast agents, their selective laser-induced cells death and finally, a high tumor retention were all demonstrated. Concerning AgNPs-PNPs, promising tumor toxicity and a strong synergistic effect with Alisertib was observed (IC50 10 nM), as well as good in vivo biodistribution, high tumor uptake and significative tumor reduction in tumor bearing mice. Finally, the two nanostructures were linked together, through an organic framework, exploiting the click chemistry azido-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition, between two ligands previously attached to the NPs surface; this multifunctional complex nanosystem was successfully entrapped into PNPs with nanoparticles’ properties maintenance, obtaining in this way a powerful and promising tool for cancer fight and defeat.

Reaktionen monovalenter Münzmetalle in flüssigem Ammoniak

Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit konnten erstmals eine Reihe von Ammoniakaten von Münzmetallhalogeniden (M(I)Hal) und Pseudohalogeniden aus flüssigem Ammoniak in einkristalliner Form isoliert und strukturell charakterisiert werden. Mit dem Ammoniakat des Gold(I)-iodids wurden Metathesen in flüssigem Ammoniak durchgeführt, die die Isolierung einiger sehr thermolabiler, teilweise explosiver Alkoholate des Golds ermöglichten. Die Bestimmung der Kristallstruktur eines Gold(I)-phenolates erlaubte erste Einblicke in deren Aufbau.rnIn der Reihe der Ammoniakate der M(I)Hal mit Ausnahme von Silberiodid, werden keine direkten Metall-Halogen-Kontakte ausgebildet. Die Ammoniakate der Chloride und Bromide des Kupfers und Silbers sowie des Kupferiodids besitzen isotype Strukturen. Sie liegen als Trisammoniakate [M(NH3)3]Hal vor. Im Ammoniakat von Silberiodid besitzen die Silberionen durchgängig die Koordinationszahl 4. Neben Ag•••NH3- findet man auch direkte Kationen-rnAnionen-Kontakte und sehr kurze Ag(I)-Ag(I)-Abstände. Das Goldkation im Ammoniakat von Goldiodid besitzt die Koordinationszahl 2 und wird ausschließlich durch Ammoniakmoleküle koordiniert. Die gebildeten H3N-NH3-Hanteln werden über aurophile Wechselwirkungen verknüpft.rn rnDie Ammoniakate der Cyanide von Silber und Gold, enthalten molekulare Baueinheiten des Typs:(H3N)nMCN [(n= 1 für M= Au und n= 2 für M= Ag].rnrnAnders als bei den solvatfreien Homologen wird eine Ausbildung von Polymerketten nicht beobachtet. Das linear aufgebaute Ammoniakat von Goldcyanid ermöglicht die Ausbildung von aurophilen Wechselwirkungen. Metallophile Wechselwirkungen zwischen dem als Dimer vorliegenden Ammoniakat von AgCN scheinen nicht ausgebildet zu werden.rnrnMetatheseversuche von Goldiodid mit einem Amid und diversen Alkanolaten lieferten teilweise explosive Produkte. Es ist davon auszugehen, dass mit zunehmender Basizität der eingesetzten Anionen, die an das Gold(I)-ion koordinierten Ammoniakmoleküle deprotoniert werden und explosives Goldamid gebildet wird. Der als zweites Produkt entstehende Alkohol kann ebenfalls ein Ammoniakat bilden. Im Fall von Li-Fencholat wird ein solches in Form sehr tiefschmelzender Einkristalle erhalten.rnrnDa die Deprotonierung der an Gold koordinierten Ammoniakmoleküle unweigerlich zu explosiven oder sehr instabilen Produkten führt, wurde die geringere Basizität der Phenolate ausgenutzt, um dies zu umgehen. Im Falle der Umsetzung von AuI mit Li-2,6-di-tert.-butylphenolat gelang tatsächlich die Isolierung eines kristallinen Gold(I)-phenolats.rn

Constraining mass and shape of galaxy clusters through large scale structures

The mass estimation of galaxy clusters is a crucial point for modern cosmology, and can be obtained by several different techniques. In this work we discuss a new method to measure the mass of galaxy clusters connecting the gravitational potential of the cluster with the kinematical properties of its surroundings. We explore the dynamics of the structures located in the region outside virialized cluster, We identify groups of galaxies, as sheets or filaments, in the cluster outer region, and model how the cluster gravitational potential perturbs the motion of these structures from the Hubble fow. This identification is done in the redshift space where we look for overdensities with a filamentary shape. Then we use a radial mean velocity profile that has been found as a quite universal trend in simulations, and we fit the radial infall velocity profile of the overdensities found. The method has been tested on several cluster-size haloes from cosmological N-body simulations giving results in very good agreement with the true values of virial masses of the haloes and orientation of the sheets. We then applied the method to the Coma cluster and even in this case we found a good correspondence with previous. It is possible to notice a mass discrepancy between sheets with different alignments respect to the center of the cluster. This difference can be used to reproduce the shape of the cluster, and to demonstrate that the spherical symmetry is not always a valid assumption. In fact, if the cluster is not spherical, sheets oriented along different axes should feel a slightly different gravitational potential, and so give different masses as result of the analysis described before. Even this estimation has been tested on cosmological simulations and then applied to Coma, showing the actual non-sphericity of this cluster.

COSMIC-LAB: Unexpected Results from High-resolution Spectra of AGB Stars in Globular Clusters

We have used high-resolution spectra, acquired with UVES@ESO-VLT, to determine the chemical abundances of different samples of AGB and RGB stars in 4 Galactic globular clusters, namely 47Tuc, NGC3201, M22 and M62. For almost all the analyzed AGB stars we found a clear discrepancy between the iron abundance measured from neutral lines and that obtained from single ionized lines, while this discrepancy is not obtained for the RGB samples observed in the same clusters and analyzed with the same procedure. Such a behavior exactly corresponds to what expected in the case of Non-Local Thermodynamical Equilibrium (NLTE) in the star atmosphere. These results have a huge impact on the proper determination of GC chemistry. In fact, one of the most intriguing consequences is that, at odds with previous claims, no iron spread is found in NGC3201 and M22 if the iron abundance is obtained from ionized lines only.

OpenMP task scheduling strategies to mitigate hardware variability in tightly-coupled shared memory clusters

In questa tesi sono stati apportati due importanti contributi nel campo degli acceleratori embedded many-core. Abbiamo implementato un runtime OpenMP ottimizzato per la gestione del tasking model per sistemi a processori strettamente accoppiati in cluster e poi interconnessi attraverso una network on chip. Ci siamo focalizzati sulla loro scalabilità e sul supporto di task di granularità fine, come è tipico nelle applicazioni embedded. Il secondo contributo di questa tesi è stata proporre una estensione del runtime di OpenMP che cerca di prevedere la manifestazione di errori dati da fenomeni di variability tramite una schedulazione efficiente del carico di lavoro.

The gas mass fraction and the dynamical state in x-ray luminous clusters of galaxies at low redshift

Gli ammassi di galassie sono le strutture gravitazionalmente legate con le più profonde buche di potenziale, pertanto è previsto che questi contengano una frazione di barioni non molto diversa da quella cosmologica. Con l’introduzione di modelli sempre più accurati di fisica barionica all’interno di simulazioni idrodinamiche è stato possibile predire la percentuale cosmica di barioni presente negli ammassi di galassie. Unendo questi modelli previsionali con misure della frazione di gas in ammassi e informazioni sulla densità di barioni dell’Universo si può ottenere una stima della densità di materia cosmica Ωm. L'obiettivo di questo lavoro di Tesi è la stima di Ωm a partire dalla frazione di gas osservata in questi sistemi. Questo lavoro era stato già fatto in precedenza, ma tenendo in considerazione solo gli ammassi più massivi e dinamicamente rilassati. Usando parametri che caratterizzano la morfologia della distribuzione di brillanza superficiale nei raggi X, abbiamo classificato i nostri oggetti come rilassati o disturbati, laddove presentassero evidenze di recenti attività di interazione. Abbiamo dunque valutato l’impatto degli oggetti disturbati sulla stima del parametro cosmologico Ωm, computando il Chi2 tra la frazione di massa barionica nell’Universo e quella da noi ricavata. Infine abbiamo investigato una relazione tra il valore della frazione di gas degli ammassi rilassati e quello dei disturbati, in modo da correggere quindi questi ultimi, riportandoli nei dintorni del valore medio per i rilassati e usarli per ampliare il campione e porre un vincolo più stringente su Ωm. Anche con il limitato campione a nostra disposizione, è stato possibile porre un vincolo più stretto su Ωm, utilizzando un maggior numero di oggetti e riducendo così l’errore statistico.

The relation between mass and concentration in x-ray galaxy clusters at high-redshift.

In this Thesis work we have studied the properties of high-redshift galaxy clusters through the X-ray emission from their intracluster gas. In particular, we have focused on the relation between concentration and mass that is related to the density of the universe at the formation time of the clusters and therefore, it is a powerful cosmological probe. Concentration is expected to be a decreasing function of mass but a complete characterization of this relation has not been reached yet. We have analysed 22 clusters observed withe the Chandra satellite at high redshift and we have investigated the concentration-mass relation.

Kaiso und CTCF regulieren geprägte Gene in cis und in trans

Geprägte Gene besitzen die Besonderheit, dass sie jeweils nur von einem Allel exprimiert werden und in der Regel in Imprinting Clustern (ICs) im Genom vorliegen. Bei der Regulation in solchen ICs spielen differentiell methylierte Imprinting Kontrollregionen (ICRs) und dort stattfindende Proteinbindungen eine wichtige Rolle. Die essentielle Bedeutung der CTCF-Bindung an die ICR1 in 11p15.5 für die Expressionsregulation der geprägten Gene H19 und IGF2 ist bereits bekannt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit sollte die Bindung von Kaiso an die unmethylierte ICR1 bei humanen Zellen mit maternaler uniparentaler Disomie von 11p15 (upd(11p15)mat) nachgewiesen und die genaue Bindungsverteilung von Kaiso und CTCF in den B-Repeats der Kontrollregion bestimmt werden. Cis-regulatorische und chromosomenübergreifende transkriptionelle Effekte der ICR1-Proteinbindungen sollten dann durch qPCR-Analysen geprägter Gene bei Zellen mit maternaler und paternaler upd(11p15) und nach siRNA-basierter Herunterregulation der beiden Proteine in Zellen mit upd(11p15)mat analysiert werden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit konnte erstmals gezeigt werden, dass Kaiso an die unmethylierte ICR1 bindet. Dabei kann zumindest von einer Bindestellennutzung in der distalen ICR1-Hälfte ausgegangen werden. Für CTCF hingegen wurde eine Nutzung aller analysierten Repeats in beiden ICR1-Hälften gefunden. In der maternalen bzw. paternalen upd(11p15) entspricht die Expression der 11p15.5-Gene IGF2, H19, CDKN1C und KCNQ1OT1 dem jeweiligen Disomie-Status. Von den nicht auf Chromosom 11 gelegenen geprägten Genen zeigen MEST und PLAGL1 bei Zellen mit upd(11p15)pat sowie PEG3 und GRB10 bei der upd(11p15)mat eine stärkere Expression. Ein CTCF-knockdown in Zellen mit upd(11p15)mat führt zur IGF2-Expressionssteigerung. Dies tritt in noch stärkerem Maße beim knockdown von Kaiso auf, wobei hier zusätzlich eine gesteigerte Expression von H19 vorliegt. Des Weiteren findet man beim CTCF-knockdown einen MEST-Expressionsanstieg und beim Kaiso-knockdown gesteigerte Expressionen der Gene PEG3, GRB10 und PLAGL1. Damit lassen sich sowohl eigenständige cis-regulatorische Effekte der ICR1-Bindung beider Proteine auf geprägte Gene des IC1 als auch chromosomenübergreifende Effekte erkennen. Vor allem die starken H19-Expressionsanstiege beim Kaiso-knockdown treten korrelierend mit Veränderungen von geprägten Genen anderer Chromosomen auf. Damit unterstützen die Daten die Theorie, dass die Expressionsregulation geprägter Gene koordiniert in einer Art Netzwerk stattfinden könnte und dabei bestimmte Faktoren wie H19 und PLAGL1 eine übergeordnete Regulatorfunktion besitzen, wie es in Vergangenheit in der Maus beschrieben wurde. Die Expressionsanalysen von PLAGL1 und MEST deuten darüber hinaus durch ihre tendenziell übereinstimmenden Werte bei der paternalen upd mit hypermethylierter ICR1 und den knockdowns auf die Existenz von Chromatin-Interaktionen zwischen der ICR1 und Abschnitten auf den Chromosomen 6 und 7 hin, ggf. mit einem entsprechenden lokalen Effekt der Proteine in diesen Loci. Proteinbindungen an die maternale ICR1 scheinen damit sowohl cis-regulatorisch die Transkription der geprägten Gene IGF2 und H19 zu beeinflussen als auch durch die H19-Expression ein funktionelles Netzwerk geprägter Gene als trans-Faktor zu regulieren und für Interaktionen zwischen verschiedenen Chromosomen mit transkriptionsregulierender Wirkung verantwortlich zu sein.