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Start Over Creator Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina

3. Inbreeding does not reduce aggressiveness in wild male mice, Mus musculus

Creator:
Thob, Michaela, Ilmonen, Petteri, Penn, Dustin J., Stopka, Pavel, and Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
aggression, Salmonella, and wild house mouse
Language:
English
Description:
Inbreeding reduces quality and survival of offspring due to increased homozygosity and the expression of recessive deleterious mutations. However, there are only few studies examining how inbreeding affects behavior in adults. We aimed to replicate an earlier study in wild house mice by inducing a stress factor - infection with Salmonella. To examine whether less inbred males are more aggressive and have a higher probability to win brief encounters, we confronted full-sib inbred and outbred males in a neutral arena and recorded aggressive as well as defensive behaviors. Contrary to our expectations, any effects of inbreeding on aggressive and defensive behaviors were not dependent on infection status. Furthermore neither infection treatment nor inbreeding affected the amount of aggressive and defensive behaviors displayed by males. Short-term aggression assays may be a useful tool for investigating certain aspects of aggressive behavior; however, long-term aggression assays might be more suitable to monitor all aspects of competitive ability and antagonistic interactions as well as effects of certain treatments on competitive ability and aggressiveness. These results may have important implications for opposed selection pressures arising from female choice and male-male competition.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

4. influence of olfactory stimulus and sexual activity on gonadal steroids in eusocial mole-rats

Creator:
Hagemeyer, Petra, Lange, Simone, Broecker-Preuss, Martina, Burda, Hynek, Stopka, Pavel, and Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
estrus, colpocytology, and Fukomys
Language:
English
Description:
The two studied sibling species of African mole-rats, Fukomys anselli and F. kafuensis, are blind, subterranean rodents that live in an eusocial families with only a single pair breeding whilst its offspring exhibit prolonged philopatry and do not breed. The reproductive skew is caused by incest avoidance through individual recognition of family members. The aim of the study is to contribute to basic understanding of priming capacities of olfactory stimuli and reproductive activity on biological state of a female. We compared hormonal profiles (normalized urinary estradiol- and progesterone concentration (mg/crea) and their temporal changes in females throughout three different test phases: I. Five week phase without manipulation; II. Five day phase with olfactory stimulation with odours of potential repreductive partners; III. Five day phase wih reproductive stimulation with respective partners. Colpocytology was performed to correlate spontaneous or induced estrus with vaginal cytological findings. There was a strong correlation between sexual activity of females (queens) on one side and high mean estradiol and progesterone levels on the other side as well as estradiol increase triggered by mating. No correlation was found between estrus phase and typical estrus like cells in colpocytological examinations.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

6. Mechanisms of chemical communication: the role of Major Urinary Proteins

Creator:
Janotová, Kateřina, Stopka, Pavel, and Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
lipocalins, MUP, Mus, mouse, and social modulation
Language:
English
Description:
Social communication in the house mouse relies heavily on pheromone-carrying major urinary proteins (MUPs), which delay release of pheromones thus extending longevity of the scent signal. Moreover, MUPs appear to play an important role in individual recognition. In the last few years, new research has led to some important advances. It has been shown that MUPs without their volatile ligands are able to activate neurons in vomeronasal organ and elicit behavioural and physiological responses in the signal receiver. Furthermore, increasing evidence has been found showing that, contrary to the traditional view, MUP expression is condition and state dependent, and that this variation may provide additional information about an individual. Progress has also been made in the description of MUP-like proteins in other rodents; as yet, however, the protein variability typical of the house mouse has not been observed in any other species. Despite these new results, the concept of MUPs has remained more or less unchanged from the date they were first recognized as an identity signal. The aim of this review is to summarise recent knowledge about MUPs and to discuss previous findings in the light of novel facts. Special attention is paid to the consequences the new results may have on our understanding of the individual recognition role of MUPs.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

7. Multiple roles of secretory lipocalins (Mup, Obp) in mice

Creator:
Stopková, Romana, Hladovcová, Denisa, Kokavec, Juraj, Vyoral, Daniel, Stopka, Pavel, and Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
urinary proteins and chemical communication
Language:
English
Description:
Many biological processes involve globular transport proteins belonging to a family called lipocalins. The prominent feature in lipocalin structure is their specific tertiary conformation forming eight-stranded beta barrel with capacity to bind various ligands inside. The importance of lipocalins is evident from the list of vital substances (Hydrophobic ligands including vitamin A, steroids, bilins, lipids, pheromones etc.) that these proteins transport and from their high expression levels in various tissues. Among wide spectrum of lipocalins, Major Urinary Proteins (Mup) and Odorant Binding Proteins (Obp) are well known for their capacity to bind and carry odorants / pheromones and have been studied to detail in various mammalian models including mice, rats, and hamsters. However, many lipocalins (also including Mups) have previously been described with respect to their protective function in mammalian organism where they transport potentially harmful molecules to a degradation site (e. g. lysozomes) or straight out of the body. As most of lipocalins share similar tertiary structure, their potential role in both transport and excretion processes may be additive or complementary. In addition to a role of lipocalins in chemical communication this review presents lipocalins from the point of view of the "toxic waste hypothesis". This hypothesis assumes that members of lipocalins that are linked to a metabolic degradation of their ligands were an ideal source for natural selection during evolution due to an ability of potential receivers to detect lipocalin ligands levels as a signal by other individuals.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

9. question waiting to be asked: Innate immunity receptors in the perspective of zoological research

Creator:
Vinkler, Michal, Albrecht, Tomáš, Stopka, Pavel, and Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
animal immunogenetics, ecological and evolutionary immunology, immunity genes, parasites, wild-living populations, ecoimmunology, and immunoecology
Language:
English
Description:
In the last decade a great effort has been devoted in animal evolutionary ecology to searching for interindividual and interspecific differences in anti-parasite resistance. Although many examples of variability in health-related traits were described in natural animal populations, our knowledge about the underlying genetic features dermining this variance is only limited. It has been shown in numerous examples in laboratory animals, domestic animals and humans that variation in the Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is unable to explain all known genetically determined immunological variation in animals. Still MHC is so far the only gene cluster studied in ecological immunology of free-living animals. In this review we therefore map the potential importance of another group of immunity genes, the Toll-like receptors (TLRs). These innate immunity receptors belong among the most essential components of animal pathogen-recognition system and being reasonably polymorphic they might be responsible for substantial part of variation in disease-resistance in animals.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

10. Residual concentration of estriol during mouse sperm capacitation in vitro determined by HPLC method

Creator:
Dvořáková-Hortová, Kateřina, Honetschlägerová, Marie, Tesařová, Eva, Vašinová, Jitka, Frolíková, Michaela, Bosáková, Zuzana, and Stopka, Pavel
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
endocrine dsruptors, estriol, sperm, capacitation, and HPLC
Language:
English
Description:
Natural and synthetic compounds called endocrine-disrupting chemicals can interfere with normal hormone binding to convey inaccurate signals or send mixed messages that may result in altered health outcomes of both wildlife and humans. Estriol is one of natural origin endocrine disruptors and it is metabolite of 17β-estradiol. The aim of this work was to develop a method for determining free estriol available to capaciting sperm. In order to determine a status of estriol during mouse sperm capacitation in vitro a high performance liquid chromatography HPLC method with UV detection was used. A free estriol, and the estriol bound to the bovine serum albumin in capacitation medium can be quantified by the proposed method. A reversed-phase separation mode using a SunFire C18 column with a simple mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and water, methanol and water at the ratio 40/60 (v/v) was applied. Our results show that the level of free estriol available for mouse spermatozoa during capacitation in vitro can be quantified by HPLC method with UV detection. Therefore, this method represents an important tool to determine the amount of environmental estrogens, such as estriol, bound to sperm cells at the specific time point of capacitation in vitro.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/