@phdthesis{Naseri2018,
  author    = {Naseri, Gita},
  title     = {Plant-derived transcription factors and their application for synthetic biology approaches in Saccharomyces cerevisiae},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-42151},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421514},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {187},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Bereits seit 9000 Jahren verwendet die Menschheit die B{\"a}ckerhefe Saccharomyces cerevisiae f{\"u}r das Brauen von Bier, aber erst seit 150 Jahren wissen wir, dass es sich bei diesem unerm{\"u}dlichen Helfer im Brauprozess um einzellige, lebende Organismen handelt. Und die B{\"a}ckerhefe kann noch viel mehr. Im Rahmen des Forschungsgebietes der Synthetischen Biologie soll unter anderem die B{\"a}ckerhefe als innovatives Werkzeug f{\"u}r die biobasierte Herstellung verschiedenster Substanzen etabliert werden. Zu diesen Substanzen z{\"a}hlen unter anderem Feinchemikalien, Biokraftstoffe und Biopolymere sowie pharmakologisch und medizinisch interessante Pflanzenstoffe. Damit diese verschiedensten Substanzen in der B{\"a}ckerhefe hergestellt werden k{\"o}nnen, m{\"u}ssen große Mengen an Produktionsinformationen zum Beispiel aus Pflanzen in die Hefezellen {\"u}bertragen werden. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus m{\"u}ssen die neu eingebrachten Biosynthesewege reguliert und kontrolliert in den Zellen ablaufen. Auch Optimierungsprozesse zur Erh{\"o}hung der Produktivit{\"a}t sind notwendig. F{\"u}r alle diese Arbeitsschritte mangelt es bis heute an anwendungsbereiten Technologien und umfassenden Plattformen. Daher wurden im Rahmen dieser Doktorarbeit verschiedene Technologien und Plattformen zur Informations{\"u}bertragung, Regulation und Prozessoptimierung geplant und erzeugt. F{\"u}r die Konstruktion von Biosynthesewegen in der B{\"a}ckerhefe wurde als erstes eine Plattform aus neuartigen Regulatoren und Kontrollelementen auf der Basis pflanzlicher Kontrollelemente generiert und charakterisiert. Im zweiten Schritt erfolgte die Entwicklung einer Technologie zur kombinatorischen Verwendung der Regulatoren in der Planung und Optimierung von Biosynthesewegen (COMPASS). Abschließend wurde eine Technologie f{\"u}r die Prozessoptimierung der ver{\"a}nderten Hefezellen entwickelt (CapRedit). Die Leistungsf{\"a}higkeit der entwickelten Plattformen und Technologien wurde durch eine Optimierung der Produktion von Carotenoiden (Beta-Carotin und Beta-Ionon) und Flavonoiden (Naringenin) in Hefezellen nachgewiesen. Die im Rahmen der Arbeit etablierten neuartigen Plattformen und innovativen Technologien sind ein wertvoller Grundbaustein f{\"u}r die Erweiterung der Nutzbarkeit der B{\"a}ckerhefe. Sie erm{\"o}glichen den Einsatz der Hefezellen in kosteneffizienten Produktionswegen und alternativen chemischen Wertsch{\"o}pfungsketten. Dadurch k{\"o}nnen zum Beispiel Biokraftstoffe und pharmakologisch interessante Pflanzenstoffe unter Verwendung von nachwachsenden Rohstoffen, Reststoffen und Nebenprodukten hergestellt werden. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus ergeben sich Anwendungsm{\"o}glichkeiten zur Bodensanierung und Wasseraufbereitung.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Fer2018,
  author    = {Fer, Istem},
  title     = {Modeling past, present and future climate induced vegetation changes in East Africa},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-42777},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427777},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xxii, 156},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Ostafrika ist ein nat{\"u}rliches Labor: Durch ein Studium seiner einzigartigen geologischen und biologischen Geschichte lassen sich unsere Theorien und Modelle {\"u}berpr{\"u}fen und verbessern. Ein Studium seiner Gegenwart und seiner Zukunft wiederum hilft uns dabei, die global bedeutende Artenvielfalt und die {\"o}kosystemaren Dienstleistungen Ostafrikas zu sch{\"u}tzen. Eine zentrale Rolle spielt dabei spielt die ostafrikanische Vegetation, deren Dynamiken in dieser Dissertation durch Computersimulationen quantifiziert werden sollen. {\"U}ber Computersimulationen lassen sich fr{\"u}here Rahmenbedingungen reproduzieren, Voraussagen treffen oder Simulationsexperimente durchf{\"u}hren, die durch Feldforschung nicht m{\"o}glich w{\"a}ren. Zuallererst muss jedoch ihre Leistungsf{\"a}higkeit {\"u}berpr{\"u}ft werden. Die von dem Modell anhand der heutigen Inputs gelieferten Ergebnisse stimmten weitgehend mit heutigen Beobachtungen ostafrikanischer Vegetation {\"u}berein. Als n{\"a}chstes wurde die fr{\"u}here Vegetation simuliert, f{\"u}r die fossile Pollen-Daten zum Abgleich vorliegen. {\"U}ber Computermodelle lassen sich Wissensl{\"u}cken zwischen Standorten {\"u}berbr{\"u}cken, bei denen wir {\"u}ber fossile Pollen-Daten verf{\"u}gen, sodass ein vollst{\"a}ndigeres Bild der Vergangenheit entsteht. Zus{\"a}tzlich validiert wurde die Leistungsf{\"a}higkeit des Modells durch die hohe {\"U}bereinstimmung zwischen Modell und Pollen-Daten, wo sie im Raum {\"u}berlappen. Nachdem das Modell getestet und f{\"u}r die Region validiert war, konnte eine der seit langem offenen Fragen {\"u}ber die ostafrikanische Vegetation angegangen werden, n{\"a}mlich wie Ostafrika seines Tropenwaldes verlustig gehen konnte. In den Tropen wird die heutige Vegetation weltweit haupts{\"a}chlich von W{\"a}ldern dominiert, mit Ausnahme der Tropengebiete Ostafrikas, wo W{\"a}lder nur noch stellenweise an der K{\"u}ste und im Hochland vorkommen. Durch eine Reihe von Simulationsexperimenten konnte aufgezeigt werden, unter welchen Bedingungen jene Waldgebiete fr{\"u}her zusammenhingen und schließlich fragmentiert wurden. Die Studie hat erwiesen, wie empfindlich die ostafrikanische Vegetation f{\"u}r die Klimaschwankungen ist, die durch den k{\"u}nftigen Klimawandel zu erwarten sind. Weitere Auswirkungen auf das ostafrikanische Klima ergeben sich aus dem El Ni{\~n}o/Southern Oscillation-Ph{\"a}nomen (ENSO), das aus Temperaturfluktuationen zwischen dem Ozean und der Atmosph{\"a}re herr{\"u}hrt und k{\"u}nftig an Intensit{\"a}t zunehmen d{\"u}rfte. Die derzeitigen Klimamodelle sind allerdings noch nicht gut genug beim Erfassen solcher Ereignismuster. In einer Studie wurde der Einfluss des ENSO-Ph{\"a}nomens auf die ostafrikanische Vegetation quantifiziert und dabei aufgezeigt, wie sehr sich die k{\"u}nftige Vegetation von den heute simulierten Ergebnissen unterscheiden k{\"o}nnte, bei denen der genaue ENSO-Beitrag nicht ber{\"u}cksichtigt werden kann. Bei der Berechnung der k{\"u}nftigen weltweiten CO2-Bilanz und den zu treffenden Entscheidungen stellt dies einen zus{\"a}tzlichen Unsicherheitsfaktor dar.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Ullmann2018,
  author    = {Ullmann, Wiebke},
  title     = {Understanding animal movement behaviour in dynamic agricultural landscapes},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-42715},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427153},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {vii, 183},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The movement of organisms has formed our planet like few other processes. Movements shape populations, communities, entire ecosystems, and guarantee fundamental ecosystem functions and services, like seed dispersal and pollination. Global, regional and local anthropogenic impacts influence animal movements across ecosystems all around the world. In particular, land-use modification, like habitat loss and fragmentation disrupt movements between habitats with profound consequences, from increased disease transmissions to reduced species richness and abundance. However, neither the influence of anthropogenic change on animal movement processes nor the resulting effects on ecosystems are well understood. Therefore, we need a coherent understanding of organismal movement processes and their underlying mechanisms to predict and prevent altered animal movements and their consequences for ecosystem functions. In this thesis I aim at understanding the influence of anthropogenically caused land-use change on animal movement processes and their underlying mechanisms. In particular, I am interested in the synergistic influence of large-scale landscape structure and fine-scale habitat features on basic-level movement behaviours (e.g. the daily amount of time spend running, foraging, and resting) and their emerging higher-level movements (home range formation). Based on my findings, I identify the likely consequences of altered animal movements that lead to the loss of species richness and abundances. The study system of my thesis are hares in agricultural landscapes. European brown hares (Lepus europaeus) are perfectly suited to study animal movements in agricultural landscapes, as hares are hermerophiles and prefer open habitats. They have historically thrived in agricultural landscapes, but their numbers are in decline. Agricultural areas are undergoing strong land-use changes due to increasing food demand and fast developing agricultural technologies. They are already the largest land-use class, covering 38\% of the world's terrestrial surface. To consider the relevance of a given landscape structure for animal movement behaviour I selected two differently structured agricultural landscapes - a simple landscape in Northern Germany with large fields and few landscape elements (e.g. hedges and tree stands), and a complex landscape in Southern Germany with small fields and many landscape elements. I applied GPS devices (hourly fixes) with internal high-resolution accelerometers (4 min samples) to track hares, receiving an almost continuous observation of the animals' behaviours via acceleration analyses. I used the spatial and behavioural information in combination with remote sensing data (normalized difference vegetation index, or NDVI, a proxy for resource availability), generating an almost complete idea of what the animal was doing when, why and where. Apart from landscape structure (represented by the two differently structured study areas), I specifically tested whether the following fine-scale habitat features influence animal movements: resource, agricultural management events, habitat diversity, and habitat structure. My results show that, irrespective of the movement process or mechanism and the type of fine-scale habitat features, landscape structure was the overarching variable influencing hare movement behaviour. High resource variability forces hares to enlarge their home ranges, but only in the simple and not in the complex landscape. Agricultural management events result in home range shifts in both landscapes, but force hares to increase their home ranges only in the simple landscape. Also the preference of habitat patches with low vegetation and the avoidance of high vegetation, was stronger in the simple landscape. High and dense crop fields restricted hare movements temporarily to very local and small habitat patch remnants. Such insuperable barriers can separate habitat patches that were previously connected by mobile links. Hence, the transport of nutrients and genetic material is temporarily disrupted. This mechanism is also working on a global scale, as human induced changes from habitat loss and fragmentation to expanding monocultures cause a reduction in animal movements worldwide. The mechanisms behind those findings show that higher-level movements, like increasing home ranges, emerge from underlying basic-level movements, like the behavioural modes. An increasing landscape simplicity first acts on the behavioural modes, i.e. hares run and forage more, but have less time to rest. Hence, the emergence of increased home range sizes in simple landscapes is based on an increased proportion of time running and foraging, largely due to longer travelling times between distant habitats and scarce resource items in the landscape. This relationship was especially strong during the reproductive phase, demonstrating the importance of high-quality habitat for reproduction and the need to keep up self-maintenance first, in low quality areas. These changes in movement behaviour may release a cascade of processes that start with more time being allocated to running and foraging, resulting into an increased energy expenditure and may lead to a decline in individual fitness. A decrease in individual fitness and reproductive output will ultimately affect population viability leading to local extinctions. In conclusion, I show that landscape structure has one of the most important effects on hare movement behaviour. Synergistic effects of landscape structure, and fine-scale habitat features, first affect and modify basic-level movement behaviours, that can scales up to altered higher-level movements and may even lead to the decline of species richness and abundances, and the disruption of ecosystem functions. Understanding the connection between movement mechanisms and processes can help to predict and prevent anthropogenically induced changes in movement behaviour. With regard to the paramount importance of landscape structure, I strongly recommend to decrease the size of agricultural fields and increase crop diversity. On the small-scale, conservation policies should assure the year round provision of areas with low vegetation height and high quality forage. This could be done by generating wildflower strips and additional (semi-) natural habitat patches. This will not only help to increase the populations of European brown hares and other farmland species, but also ensure and protects the continuity of mobile links and their intrinsic value for sustaining important ecosystem functions and services.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Bergholz2018,
  author    = {Bergholz, Kolja},
  title     = {Trait-based understanding of plant species distributions along environmental gradients},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-42634},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426341},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {128},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {For more than two centuries, plant ecologists have aimed to understand how environmental gradients and biotic interactions shape the distribution and co-occurrence of plant species. In recent years, functional trait-based approaches have been increasingly used to predict patterns of species co-occurrence and species distributions along environmental gradients (trait-environment relationships). Functional traits are measurable properties at the individual level that correlate well with important processes. Thus, they allow us to identify general patterns by synthesizing studies across specific taxonomic compositions, thereby fostering our understanding of the underlying processes of species assembly. However, the importance of specific processes have been shown to be highly dependent on the spatial scale under consideration. In particular, it remains uncertain which mechanisms drive species assembly and allow for plant species coexistence at smaller, more local spatial scales. Furthermore, there is still no consensus on how particular environmental gradients affect the trait composition of plant communities. For example, increasing drought because of climate change is predicted to be a main threat to plant diversity, although it remains unclear which traits of species respond to increasing aridity. Similarly, there is conflicting evidence of how soil fertilization affects the traits related to establishment ability (e.g., seed mass). In this cumulative dissertation, I present three empirical trait-based studies that investigate specific research questions in order to improve our understanding of species distributions along environmental gradients. In the first case study, I analyze how annual species assemble at the local scale and how environmental heterogeneity affects different facets of biodiversity—i.e. taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity—at different spatial scales. The study was conducted in a semi-arid environment at the transition zone between desert and Mediterranean ecosystems that features a sharp precipitation gradient (Israel). Different null model analyses revealed strong support for environmentally driven species assembly at the local scale, since species with similar traits tended to co-occur and shared high abundances within microsites (trait convergence). A phylogenetic approach, which assumes that closely related species are functionally more similar to each other than distantly related ones, partly supported these results. However, I observed that species abundances within microsites were, surprisingly, more evenly distributed across the phylogenetic tree than expected (phylogenetic overdispersion). Furthermore, I showed that environmental heterogeneity has a positive effect on diversity, which was higher on functional than on taxonomic diversity and increased with spatial scale. The results of this case study indicate that environmental heterogeneity may act as a stabilizing factor to maintain species diversity at local scales, since it influenced species distribution according to their traits and positively influenced diversity. All results were constant along the precipitation gradient. In the second case study (same study system as case study one), I explore the trait responses of two Mediterranean annuals (Geropogon hybridus and Crupina crupinastrum) along a precipitation gradient that is comparable to the maximum changes in precipitation predicted to occur by the end of this century (i.e., -30\%). The heterocarpic G. hybridus showed strong trends in seed traits, suggesting that dispersal ability increased with aridity. By contrast, the homocarpic C. crupinastrum showed only a decrease in plant height as aridity increased, while leaf traits of both species showed no consistent pattern along the precipitation gradient. Furthermore, variance decomposition of traits revealed that most of the trait variation observed in the study system was actually found within populations. I conclude that trait responses towards aridity are highly species-specific and that the amount of precipitation is not the most striking environmental factor at this particular scale. In the third case study, I assess how soil fertilization mediates—directly by increased nutrient addition and indirectly by increased competition—the effect of seed mass on establishment ability. For this experiment, I used 22 species differing in seed mass from dry grasslands in northeastern Germany and analyzed the interacting effects of seed mass with nutrient availability and competition on four key components of seedling establishment: seedling emergence, time of seedling emergence, seedling survival, and seedling growth. (Time of) seedling emergence was not affected by seed mass. However, I observed that the positive effect of seed mass on seedling survival is lowered under conditions of high nutrient availability, whereas the positive effect of seed mass on seedling growth was only reduced by competition. Based on these findings, I developed a conceptual model of how seed mass should change along a soil fertility gradient in order to reconcile conflicting findings from the literature. In this model, seed mass shows a U-shaped pattern along the soil fertility gradient as a result of changing nutrient availability and competition. Overall, the three case studies highlight the role of environmental factors on species distribution and co-occurrence. Moreover, the findings of this thesis indicate that spatial heterogeneity at local scales may act as a stabilizing factor that allows species with different traits to coexist. In the concluding discussion, I critically debate intraspecific trait variability in plant community ecology, the use of phylogenetic relationships and easily measured key functional traits as a proxy for species' niches. Finally, I offer my outlook for the future of functional plant community research.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schwahn2018,
  author    = {Schwahn, Kevin},
  title     = {Data driven approaches to infer the regulatory mechanism shaping and constraining levels of metabolites in metabolic networks},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-42324},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423240},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {109},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Systems biology aims at investigating biological systems in its entirety by gathering and analyzing large-scale data sets about the underlying components. Computational systems biology approaches use these large-scale data sets to create models at different scales and cellular levels. In addition, it is concerned with generating and testing hypotheses about biological processes. However, such approaches are inevitably leading to computational challenges due to the high dimensionality of the data and the differences in the dimension of data from different cellular layers. This thesis focuses on the investigation and development of computational approaches to analyze metabolite profiles in the context of cellular networks. This leads to determining what aspects of the network functionality are reflected in the metabolite levels. With these methods at hand, this thesis aims to answer three questions: (1) how observability of biological systems is manifested in metabolite profiles and if it can be used for phenotypical comparisons; (2) how to identify couplings of reaction rates from metabolic profiles alone; and (3) which regulatory mechanism that affect metabolite levels can be distinguished by integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics read-outs. I showed that sensor metabolites, identified by an approach from observability theory, are more correlated to each other than non-sensors. The greater correlations between sensor metabolites were detected both with publicly available metabolite profiles and synthetic data simulated from a medium-scale kinetic model. I demonstrated through robustness analysis that correlation was due to the position of the sensor metabolites in the network and persisted irrespectively of the experimental conditions. Sensor metabolites are therefore potential candidates for phenotypical comparisons between conditions through targeted metabolic analysis. Furthermore, I demonstrated that the coupling of metabolic reaction rates can be investigated from a purely data-driven perspective, assuming that metabolic reactions can be described by mass action kinetics. Employing metabolite profiles from domesticated and wild wheat and tomato species, I showed that the process of domestication is associated with a loss of regulatory control on the level of reaction rate coupling. I also found that the same metabolic pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana and Escherichia coli exhibit differences in the number of reaction rate couplings. I designed a novel method for the identification and categorization of transcriptional effects on metabolism by combining data on gene expression and metabolite levels. The approach determines the partial correlation of metabolites with control by the principal components of the transcript levels. The principle components contain the majority of the transcriptomic information allowing to partial out the effect of the transcriptional layer from the metabolite profiles. Depending whether the correlation between metabolites persists upon controlling for the effect of the transcriptional layer, the approach allows us to group metabolite pairs into being associated due to post-transcriptional or transcriptional regulation, respectively. I showed that the classification of metabolite pairs into those that are associated due to transcriptional or post-transcriptional regulation are in agreement with existing literature and findings from a Bayesian inference approach. The approaches developed, implemented, and investigated in this thesis open novel ways to jointly study metabolomics and transcriptomics data as well as to place metabolic profiles in the network context. The results from these approaches have the potential to provide further insights into the regulatory machinery in a biological system.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Fabian2018,
  author    = {Fabian, Jenny},
  title     = {Effects of algae on microbial carbon cycling in freshwaters},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-42222},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-422225},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {90},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Microbial processing of organic matter (OM) in the freshwater biosphere is a key component of global biogeochemical cycles. Freshwaters receive and process valuable amounts of leaf OM from their terrestrial landscape. These terrestrial subsidies provide an essential source of energy and nutrients to the aquatic environment as a function of heterotrophic processing by fungi and bacteria. Particularly in freshwaters with low in-situ primary production from algae (microalgae, cyanobacteria), microbial turnover of leaf OM significantly contributes to the productivity and functioning of freshwater ecosystems and not least their contribution to global carbon cycling. Based on differences in their chemical composition, it is believed that leaf OM is less bioavailable to microbial heterotrophs than OM photosynthetically produced by algae. Especially particulate leaf OM, consisting predominantly of structurally complex and aromatic polymers, is assumed highly resistant to enzymatic breakdown by microbial heterotrophs. However, recent research has demonstrated that OM produced by algae promotes the heterotrophic breakdown of leaf OM in aquatic ecosystems, with profound consequences for the metabolism of leaf carbon (C) within microbial food webs. In my thesis, I aimed at investigating the underlying mechanisms of this so called priming effect of algal OM on the use of leaf C in natural microbial communities, focusing on fungi and bacteria. The works of my thesis underline that algal OM provides highly bioavailable compounds to the microbial community that are quickly assimilated by bacteria (Paper II). The substrate composition of OM pools determines the proportion of fungi and bacteria within the microbial community (Paper I). Thereby, the fraction of algae OM in the aquatic OM pool stimulates the activity and hence contribution of bacterial communities to leaf C turnover by providing an essential energy and nutrient source for the assimilation of the structural complex leaf OM substrate. On the contrary, the assimilation of algal OM remains limited for fungal communities as a function of nutrient competition between fungi and bacteria (Paper I, II). In addition, results provide evidence that environmental conditions determine the strength of interactions between microalgae and heterotrophic bacteria during leaf OM decomposition (Paper I, III). However, the stimulatory effect of algal photoautotrophic activities on leaf C turnover remained significant even under highly dynamic environmental conditions, highlighting their functional role for ecosystem processes (Paper III). The results of my thesis provide insights into the mechanisms by which algae affect the microbial turnover of leaf C in freshwaters. This in turn contributes to a better understanding of the function of algae in freshwater biogeochemical cycles, especially with regard to their interaction with the heterotrophic community.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Alhajturki2018,
  author    = {Alhajturki, Dema},
  title     = {Characterization of altered inflorescence architecture in Arabidopsis thaliana BG-5 x Kro-0 hybrid},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-420934},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {109},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {A reciprocal cross between two A. thaliana accessions, Kro-0 (Krotzenburg, Germany) and BG-5 (Seattle, USA), displays purple rosette leaves and dwarf bushy phenotype in F1 hybrids when grown at 17 °C and a parental-like phenotype when grown at 21 °C. This F1 temperature-dependent-dwarf-bushy phenotype is characterized by reduced growth of the primary stem together with an increased number of branches. The reduced stem growth was the strongest at the first internode. In addition, we found that a temperature switch from 21 °C to 17 °C induced the phenotype only before the formation of the first internode of the stem. Similarly, the F1 dwarf-bushy phenotype could not be reversed when plants were shifted from 17 °C to 21 °C after the first internode was formed. Metabolic analysis showed that the F1 phenotype was associated with a significant upregulation of anthocyanin(s), kaempferol(s), salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and abscisic acid. As it has been previously shown that the dwarf-bushy phenotype is linked to two loci, one on chromosome 2 from Kro-0 and one on chromosome 3 from BG-5, an artificial micro-RNA approach was used to investigate the necessary genes on these intervals. From the results obtained, it was found that two genes, AT2G14120 that encodes for a DYNAMIN RELATED PROTEIN3B and AT2G14100 that encodes a member of the Cytochrome P450 family protein CYP705A13, were necessary for the appearance of the F1 phenotype on chromosome 2. It was also discovered that AT3G61035 that encodes for another cytochrome P450 family protein CYP705A13 and AT3G60840 that encodes for a MICROTUBULE-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN65-4 on chromosome 3 were both necessary for the induction of the F1 phenotype. To prove the causality of these genes, genomic constructs of the Kro-0 candidate genes on chromosome 2 were transferred to BG-5 and genomic constructs of the chromosome 3 candidate genes from BG-5 were transferred to Kro-0. The T1 lines showed that these genes are not sufficient alone to induce the phenotype. In addition to the F1 phenotype, more severe phenotypes were observed in the F2 generations that were grouped into five different phenotypic classes. Whilst seed yield was comparable between F1 hybrids and parental lines, three phenotypic classes in the F2 generation exhibited hybrid breakdown in the form of reproductive failure. This F2 hybrid breakdown was less sensitive to temperature and showed a dose-dependent effect of the loci involved in F1 phenotype. The severest class of hybrid breakdown phenotypes was observed only in the population of backcross with the parent Kro-0, which indicates a stronger contribution of the BG-5 allele when compared to the Kro-0 allele on the hybrid breakdown phenotypes. Overall, the findings of my thesis provide a further understanding of the genetic and metabolic factors underlying altered shoot architecture in hybrid dysfunction.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Danckert2018,
  author    = {Danckert, Lena},
  title     = {Immunscreening Virulenz-adaptierter Expressionsbibliotheken aus einem in vitro Infektionsmodell mit Salmonella Enteritidis},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421108},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {144},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Die Folgen einer lebensmittelbedingten Erkrankung sind zum Teil gravierend, insbesondere f{\"u}r Kinder und immunsupprimierte Menschen. Hierbei geh{\"o}ren Salmonella und Campylobacter zu den h{\"a}ufigsten Erregern, die verantwortlich f{\"u}r gastrointestinale Erkrankungen in Deutschland sind. Trotz umfassender Maßnahmen der EU zur Pr{\"a}vention und Bek{\"a}mpfung von Salmonellen in Gefl{\"u}gelbest{\"a}nden und der Lebensmittel-Industrie, wird von einem stagnierenden Trend von Infektionszahlen berichtet. Zoonose-Erreger wie Salmonellen k{\"o}nnen {\"u}ber Nutztiere in die Nahrungskette des Menschen gelangen, wodurch sich Infektionsherde schnell ausbreiten k{\"o}nnen. Dabei sind bestehende Pr{\"a}ventionsstrategien f{\"u}r Gefl{\"u}gel vorhanden, die aber nicht auf den Menschen {\"u}bertragbar sind. Folglich sind Diagnostik und Pr{\"a}vention in der Lebensmittelindustrie essentiell. Deshalb besteht ein hoher Bedarf f{\"u}r spezifische, sensitive und zuverl{\"a}ssige Nachweismethoden, die eine Point-of-care Diagnostik gew{\"a}hrleisten. Durch ein wachsendes Verst{\"a}ndnis der wirtsspezifischen Faktoren von S. enterica Serovaren kann die Entwicklung sowohl neuartiger diagnostischer Methoden, als auch neuartiger Therapien und Impfstoffe maßgeblich vorangetrieben werden. Infolgedessen wurde in dieser Arbeit ein infektions{\"a}hnliches in vitro Modell f{\"u}r S. Enteritidis etabliert und darauf basierend eine umfassende Untersuchung zur Identifizierung neuer Zielstrukturen f{\"u}r den Erreger durchgef{\"u}hrt. W{\"a}hrend einer Salmonellen-Infektion ist die erste zellul{\"a}re Barriere im Wirt die Epithelschicht. Dementsprechend wurde eine humane Zelllinie (CaCo 2, Darmepithel) f{\"u}r die Pathogen-Wirt-Studie ausgew{\"a}hlt. Das Salmonellen-Transkriptom und morphologische Eigenschaften der Epithelzellen wurden in verschiedenen Phasen der Salmonellen-Infektion untersucht und mit bereits gut beschriebenen Virulenzfaktoren und Beobachtungen in Bezug gesetzt. Durch dieses Infektionsmodell konnte ein spezifischer Ph{\"a}notyp f{\"u}r die intrazellul{\"a}ren Salmonellen in den Epithelzellen nachgewiesen werden. Zudem wurde aufgezeigt, dass bereits die Kultivierung in Fl{\"u}ssigmedium einen invasionsaktiven Zustand der Salmonellen erzeugt. Allerdings wurde durch die Kokultivierung mit Epithelzellen eine zus{\"a}tzliche Expression relevanter Gene induziert, um eine effiziente Adh{\"a}sion und Transmembran-Transport zu gew{\"a}hrleisten. Letzterer ist charakteristisch f{\"u}r die intrazellul{\"a}re Limitierung von N{\"a}hrstoffen und pr{\"a}gt den infektionsrelevanten Status. Unter Ber{\"u}cksichtigung dieser Faktoren ergab sich ein Ph{\"a}notyp, der eindeutig Mechanismen zur Wirtsadaptation und m{\"o}glicherweise auch Pathogenese aufzeigt. Die intrazellul{\"a}ren Bakterien m{\"u}ssen vom Wirt separiert werden, was ein wesentlicher Schritt f{\"u}r Pathogen-bestimmende Analysen ist. Hierbei wurde mithilfe einer Detergenz-basierten Lyse der eukaryotischen Zellmembran und differentieller Zentrifugation, der eukaryotische Eintrag minimal gehalten. Unter Verwendung der Virulenz-adaptierten Salmonellen wurden Untersuchungen in Hinblick auf die Identifizierung neuer Zielstrukturen f{\"u}r S. Enteritidis durchgef{\"u}hrt. Mithilfe eines immunologischen Screenings wurden neue potentielle Antigene entdeckt. Zu diesem Zweck wurden bakterielle cDNA-basierte Expressionsbibliotheken hergestellt, die durch eine vereinfachte Microarray-Anwendung ein Hochdurchsatzscreening von Proteinen als potentielle Binder erm{\"o}glichen. Folglich konnten neue unbeschriebene Proteine identifiziert werden, die sich durch eine Salmonella-Spezifit{\"a}t oder Membranst{\"a}ndigkeit auszeichnen. Ebenso wurde ein Vergleich der im Screening identifizierten Proteine mit der Regulation der kodierenden Gene im infektions{\"a}hnlichen Modell durchgef{\"u}hrt. Dabei wurde deutlich, dass die H{\"a}ufigkeit von Transkripten einen Einfluss auf die Verf{\"u}gbarkeit in der cDNA-Bibliothek und folglich auch auf die Expressionsbibliothek nimmt. Angesichts eines Ungleichgewichts zwischen der Gesamtzahl protein-kodierender Gene in S. Enteritidis zu m{\"o}glichen Klonen, die w{\"a}hrend des Microarray-Screenings untersucht werden k{\"o}nnen, besteht der Bedarf einer Anreicherung von Proteinen in der Expressionsbibliothek. Das infektions{\"a}hnliche Modell zeigte, dass nicht nur Virulenz-assoziierte, sondern auch Stress- und Metabolismus-relevante Gene hochreguliert werden. Durch die Konstruktion dieser spezifischen cDNA-Bibliotheken ist die Erkennung von charakteristischen molekularen Markern gegeben. Weiterhin wurden anhand der Transkriptomanalyse spezifisch hochregulierte Gene identifiziert, die relevant f{\"u}r das intrazellul{\"a}re {\"U}berleben von S. Enteritidis in humanen Epithelzellen sind. Hiervon wurden drei Gene n{\"a}her untersucht, indem ihr Einfluss im infektions{\"a}hnlichen Modell mittels entsprechender Gen-Knockout-St{\"a}mme analysiert wurde. Dabei wurde f{\"u}r eine dieser Mutanten ein reduziertes Wachstum in der sp{\"a}ten intrazellul{\"a}ren Phase nachgewiesen. Weiterf{\"u}hrende in vitro Analysen sind f{\"u}r die Charakterisierung des Knockout-Stamms notwendig, um den Einsatz als potenzielles Therapeutikum zu verifizieren. Zusammenfassend wurde ein in vitro Infektionsmodell f{\"u}r S. Enteritidis etabliert, wodurch neue Zielstrukturen des Erregers identifiziert wurden. Diese sind f{\"u}r diagnostische oder therapeutische Anwendungen interessant. Das Modell l{\"a}sst sich ebenso f{\"u}r andere intrazellul{\"a}re Pathogene {\"u}bertragen und gew{\"a}hrleistet eine zuverl{\"a}ssige Identifizierung von potentiellen Antigenen.},
  language  = {de}
}
@phdthesis{Kettner2018,
  author    = {Kettner, Marie Therese},
  title     = {Microbial colonization of microplastic particles in aquatic systems},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-418854},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {139},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The continuously increasing pollution of aquatic environments with microplastics (plastic particles < 5 mm) is a global problem with potential implications for organisms of all trophic levels. For microorganisms, trillions of these floating microplastics particles represent a huge surface area for colonization. Due to the very low biodegradability, microplastics remain years to centuries in the environment and can be transported over thousands of kilometers together with the attached organisms. Since also pathogenic, invasive, or otherwise harmful species could be spread this way, it is essential to study microplastics-associated communities. For this doctoral thesis, eukaryotic communities were analyzed for the first time on microplastics in brackish environments and compared to communities in the surrounding water and on the natural substrate wood. With Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing, more than 500 different eukaryotic taxa were detected on the microplastics samples. Among them were various green algae, dinoflagellates, ciliates, fungi, fungal-like protists and small metazoans such as nematodes and rotifers. The most abundant organisms was a dinoflagellate of the genus Pfiesteria, which could include fish pathogenic and bloom forming toxigenic species. Network analyses revealed that there were numerous interaction possibilities among prokaryotes and eukaryotes in microplastics biofilms. Eukaryotic community compositions on microplastics differed significantly from those on wood and in water, and compositions were additionally distinct among the sampling locations. Furthermore, the biodiversity was clearly lower on microplastics in comparison to the diversity on wood or in the surrounding water. In another experiment, a situation was simulated in which treated wastewater containing microplastics was introduced into a freshwater lake. With increasing microplastics concentrations, the resulting bacterial communities became more similar to those from the treated wastewater. Moreover, the abundance of integrase I increased together with rising concentrations of microplastics. Integrase I is often used as a marker for anthropogenic environmental pollution and is further linked to genes conferring, e.g., antibiotic resistance. This dissertation gives detailed insights into the complexity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities on microplastics in brackish and freshwater systems. Even though microplastics provide novel microhabitats for various microbes, they might also transport toxigenic, pathogenic, antibiotic-resistant or parasitic organisms; meaning their colonization can pose potential threats to humans and the environment. Finally, this thesis explains the urgent need for more research as well as for strategies to minimize the global microplastic pollution.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Fuhrmann2018,
  author    = {Fuhrmann, Saskia},
  title     = {Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic and mechanism-based pharmacodynamic modelling of monoclonal antibodies with a focus on tumour targeting},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-418861},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xvii, 171},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are an innovative group of drugs with increasing clinical importance in oncology, combining high specificity with generally low toxicity. There are, however, numerous challenges associated with the development of mAbs as therapeutics. Mechanistic understanding of factors that govern the pharmacokinetics (PK) of mAbs is critical for drug development and the optimisation of effective therapies; in particular, adequate dosing strategies can improve patient quality life and lower drug cost. Physiologically-based PK (PBPK) models offer a physiological and mechanistic framework, which is of advantage in the context of animal to human extrapolation. Unlike for small molecule drugs, however, there is no consensus on how to model mAb disposition in a PBPK context. Current PBPK models for mAb PK hugely vary in their representation of physiology and parameterisation. Their complexity poses a challenge for their applications, e.g., translating knowledge from animal species to humans. In this thesis, we developed and validated a consensus PBPK model for mAb disposition taking into account recent insights into mAb distribution (antibody biodistribution coefficients and interstitial immunoglobulin G (IgG) pharmacokinetics) to predict tissue PK across several pre-clinical species and humans based on plasma data only. The model allows to a priori predict target-independent (unspecific) mAb disposition processes as well as mAb disposition in concentration ranges, for which the unspecific clearance (CL) dominates target-mediated CL processes. This is often the case for mAb therapies at steady state dosing. The consensus PBPK model was then used and refined to address two important problems: 1) Immunodeficient mice are crucial models to evaluate mAb efficacy in cancer therapy. Protection from elimination by binding to the neonatal Fc receptor is known to be a major pathway influencing the unspecific CL of both, endogenous and therapeutic IgG. The concentration of endogenous IgG, however, is reduced in immunodeficient mouse models, and this effect on unspecific mAb CL is unknown, yet of great importance for the extrapolation to human in the context of mAb cancer therapy. 2) The distribution of mAbs into solid tumours is of great interest. To comprehensively investigate mAb distribution within tumour tissue and its implications for therapeutic efficacy, we extended the consensus PBPK model by a detailed tumour distribution model incorporating a cell-level model for mAb-target interaction. We studied the impact of variations in tumour microenvironment on therapeutic efficacy and explored the plausibility of different mechanisms of action in mAb cancer therapy. The mathematical findings and observed phenomena shed new light on therapeutic utility and dosing regimens in mAb cancer treatment.},
  language  = {en}
}