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C Dijkstra

Publications and source records attributed to C Dijkstra.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Genetic and environmental components of variation in eumelanin and phaeomelanin sex-traits in the barn owl.

Knowledge of the mechanism underlying the expression of melanin-based sex-traits may help us to understand their signalling function. Potential sources of inter-individual variation are the total amount of melanins produced but also how biochemical precursors are allocated into the eumelanin and phaeomelanin pigments responsible for black and reddish-brown colours, respectively. In the barn owl (Tyto alba), a eumelanin trait (referred to as 'plumage spottiness') signals immunocompetence towards an artificially administrated antigen and parasite resistance in females, whereas a phaeomelanin trait ('plumage coloration') signals investment in reproduction in males. This raises the question whether plumage coloration and spottiness are expressed independent of each other. To investigate this question, we have studied the genetics of these two plumage traits. Crossfostering experiments showed that, for each trait, phenotypic variation has a strong genetic component, whereas no environmental component could be detected. Plumage coloration is autosomally inherited, as suggested by the similar paternal-to-maternal contribution to offspring coloration. In contrast, plumage spottiness may be sex-linked inherited (in birds, females are heterogametic). That proposition arises from the observation that sons resembled their mother more than their father and that daughters resembled only their father. Despite plumage coloration and spottiness signalling different qualities, these two traits are not inherited independent of each other, darker birds being spottier. This suggests that the extent to which coloration and spottiness are expressed depends on the total amount of melanin produced (with more melanin leading to a both darker and spottier plumage) rather than on differential allocation of melanin into plumage coloration and spottiness (in such a case, darker birds should have been less spotted). A gene controlling the production of melanin pigments may be located on sex-chromosomes, since the phenotypic correlation between coloration and spottiness was stronger in males than in females.

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PubMed2000

Female barn owls (Tyto alba) advertise good genes.

The good genes hypothesis of sexual selection postulates that ornamentation signals superior genetic quality to potential mates. Support for this hypothesis comes from studies on male ornamentation only, while it remains to be shown that female ornamentation may signal genetic quality as well. Female barn owls (Tyto alba) display more black spots on their plumage than males. The expression of this plumage trait has a genetic basis and it has been suggested that males prefer to mate with females displaying more black spots. Given the role of parasites in the evolution of sexually selected traits and of the immune system in parasite resistance, we hypothesize that the extent of female plumage 'spottiness' reflects immunological defence. We assessed the genetic variation in specific antibody production against a non-pathogenic antigen among cross-fostered nestlings and studied its covariation with the plumage spottiness of genetic parents. The magnitude of the antibody response was positively correlated with the plumage spottiness of the genetic mother but not of the genetic father. Our study thereby provides the first experimental support, to our knowledge, for the hypothesis that female ornamentation signals genetic quality.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Sex identification in birds using two CHD genes.

In theory, birds should control the sex ratio of the offspring they produce. In practice, we have very limited evidence to support this idea because of our difficulty in sexing nestling birds. In addition, extinction is facing an increasing number of birds. Our ability to help includes captive breeding which, again, is difficult if male and female adults cannot be recognized. Here we describe the discovery of a W-linked gene in the Great tit (Parus major). It is named CHD-W (chromodomain-helicase-DNA-binding protein W-linked), it is highly conserved and it is W-chromosome linked in a range of bird species. These birds also possess a second, non-W-linked CHD gene (CHD-NW). A single, simple polymerase chain reaction technique based on both genes can be used to identify the sex in a wide variety of birds.

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PubMed1990

Mononuclear cells in glomeruli and cytokines in urine reflect the severity of experimental proliferative immune complex glomerulonephritis.

Immunohistochemical methods were used to investigate the role of macrophages in the progression of proliferative immune complex glomerulonephritis. The mononuclear cell component of glomerular inflammation was analysed in three different stages of chronic serum sickness, each of which was clearly distinguished by criteria of kidney function. Urinary excretion of the macrophage secretory products interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis factor was also evaluated in relation to the functional severity of kidney disease. T lymphocytes and macrophages began to accumulate in glomeruli at the onset of proteinuria, but not before. Urinary excretion of interleukin-1 also began with proteinuria. Proteinuria increased in direct correlation with increases in the number of glomerular macrophages. Development of the most severe stage of glomerulonephritis, characterized by cachexia, declining kidney function, and necrotizing glomerular pathology, was accompanied by the disappearance of T cells from glomeruli and the expression of highly abnormal phenotypes by most macrophages. In addition, there was a switch from urinary excretion of interleukin-1 to excretion of tumour necrosis factor. The progression of proliferative immune complex glomerulonephritis was associated with qualitative as well as quantitative changes in glomerular macrophage populations. Differentiation and/or activation of those glomerular macrophages may have resulted from local T cell-mediated immunoregulation. Measurements of urinary cytokine excretion provided a reliable means of monitoring disease progression. The local action of tumour necrosis factor probably contributed to declining kidney function in the most severe stage of disease.

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PubMed1987

Identification of IL 2R+ T cells and macrophages within rejecting rat cardiac allografts, and comparison of the effects of treatment with anti-IL 2R monoclonal antibody or cyclosporin.

Monoclonal antibodies to lymphokine-induced activation antigens of lymphocytes and macrophages were used to analyze the intragraft events occurring during acute rejection of rat heterotopic cardiac allografts. The cells present during untreated rejection were then compared with those present in situ after immunosuppression with the mouse anti-rat IL 2 receptor (anti-IL 2R) monoclonal antibody ART-18 or cyclosporin (CsA). Untreated rats rejected their grafts within 7 days, whereas rats receiving 10 days of i.v. ART-18 antibody therapy showed graft prolongation to more than 21 days, and rats receiving CsA for 7 days maintained their grafts indefinitely. Untreated rejection was associated with an influx of T (W3/13+) cells and macrophages (ED-1+, ED-2+). Activated mononuclear cells (IL 2R+) were identified within rejecting grafts from day 2, and their numbers peaked on days 4 to 6 when 15 to 20% of infiltrating leukocytes were IL 2R+. Double labeling studies of IL 2R+ cells present at day 6 showed surprisingly that both T cells and macrophages expressed IL 2R. In particular, although 55.8 +/- 6.9% (mean +/- SD) of IL 2R+ cells expressed the pan-T cell antigen 3/13, a similar proportion of IL 2R+ cells (49.8 +/- 8.2%) expressed the macrophage antigen ED-2. Conversely, both T cells and macrophage populations showed heterogeneity in their expression of IL 2R, because 39.2 +/- 12.2% of T cells and 31.0 +/- 13.4% of macrophages were IL 2R+. In addition, inflammatory macrophages at day 6 expressed the A1-3 antigen. Expression of this antigen by macrophages has previously been linked with development of macrophage procoagulant activity, and in this model intragraft inflammatory macrophages were closely associated with widespread deposits of fibrin. By comparison with untreated animals, rats treated with either ART-18 or CsA both lacked detectable IL 2R+ cells during the first 14 days post-transplantation (post-Tx), and showed significantly less cellular infiltration. However, although grafts of CsA-treated animals continued to remain IL 2R- and failed to stain with the macrophage activation marker A1-3, ART-18-treated rats showed increasing infiltration by both IL 2R+ mononuclear cells and A1-3+ macrophages, as well as increasing perivascular and interstitial fibrin deposition, prior to rejection by day 22. These studies document the presence of small number of activated intragraft T cells and macrophages during rat cardiac rejection, and show how CsA, and to a lesser extent anti-IL 2R therapy, inhibit this in situ activation and prolong graft survival. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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PubMed1985

Detection of different cellular sides in rat liver and kidney by two monoclonal antibodies raised against the nucleotide-sugar hydrolyzing enzymes phosphodiesterase I and CMP-sialic acid hydrolase.

Six different monoclonal antibodies were generated after immunization of mice with a partially purified enzyme preparation of rat liver, containing nucleotide-sugar hydrolase (NSH) I and II. These enzymes are also known under the names phosphodiesterase I and CMP-sialic acid hydrolase respectively [11]. In the enzyme-immunoassay the antibodies directed against NSH I displayed some cross-reactivity with the enzyme preparation of NSH II, and to a much lower extent the reverse was also true. Two antibodies, C and D highly reactive with NSH II and NSH I respectively, were used for immunocytochemical studies on sections of various rat tissues, which were known to contain high activities of both enzymes. Both antibodies were shown to be highly specific domain markers for different sides of the various cells. Antibody C was bound exclusively to the sinusoidal side of liver hepatocytes and to the basal side of cells from kidney tubule and epididymis. For antibody D the binding pattern was completely different, showing exclusive binding to the canalicular side of the hepatocytes and to the brush border membranes of kidney tubule cells, whereas in epididymis only binding to connective tissues was observed. Our studies clearly demonstrate, at least for liver and kidney, that NSH I and II are located at different cellular sides and that the monoclonal antibodies C and D can be used as domain markers for basal and apical sides of these cells respectively.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Energy requirements for growth in relation to sexual size dimorphism in marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus nestlings.

Food consumption was measured in six female and seven male hand-raised marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus) nestlings. Females consumed on average 4,321 g and males consumed 3,571 g of food during the nestling stage from 0 to 36 d. Total consumption until 56 d was 6,960 g and 5,822 g for females and males, respectively. On the basis of Fisher's sex ratio theory, this food intake ratio of 0.46 (intake male/[intake male + female]) would explain the observed male-biased fledging sex ratio of 55% males in marsh harrier broods. Growth, gross energy intake, and metabolizable energy intake were measured, along with metabolism of the nestlings, enabling us to determine energy allocation. The assimilation quotient (Q = 0.72) did not differ systematically between the sexes. Differences in metabolic rates between males and females at 15 and 30 d of age were fully attributable to the difference in body mass. Sexual size dimorphism in marsh harriers (female body mass around 60 d of age is 1.28 times greater than male mass) did not fully explain the difference in food intake between male and female nestlings: an analysis of energy requirements for growth and body mass in 16 avian species shows that energy intake was less than proportional to the average body mass at release. The data presented in this study are in agreement with Fisher's theory of inverse proportionality between the sex-specific ratios of energy requirements for growth and of offspring numbers in the marsh harrier population.

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