Induction of nuclear and mitochondrial mutants in yeast williopsis suaveolens

Mitochondria are semiautonomous organelles which are essential for almost all strictly aerobic eukaryotic cells. Mitochondria contain their own genome. It can be presented by a circular or a linear form. Expanded occurrence of the linear mitochondrial DNA asks for several questions about their evolution origin. Yeasts are suitable model organisms for the study of mitochondria and their genomes for sever reasons. Two strains of the same species, Williopsis suaveolens, carry linear (CBS 1670) and circular (CBS 255) mtDNA respectively. This fact allows studying the relationship and the communication between mitochondrial and nuclear genome (e.g. observation of the phenotypic changes after reciprocal replacement of mtDNA between the strains). This work is focused on the isolation of the collection of mutants with nuclear and mitochondrial markers. Auxotrofic and erythromycin-resistant were obtained using mutagenic agents MNNG and MnCl2. These mutant strains will be used for further experiments (e.g. genetically analysis).

	Martin POPIK (17) City/Region: Bratislava E-mail: m_a_t_o_@hotmail.com Hobbies: Computers, Canoeing, Playing flute Career: Manager or Engineer School: Gymnasium of Ladislav Novomeský

	Michal HOLUB (18) City/Region: Bratislava E-mail: michal300@hotmail.com Hobbies: Computers, Basketball, Cycling, Hiking Career: Software Engineer School: Gymnasium of Jur Hronec

Thermal conductivity of liquids

We have created new device that helps to didactically show and compare the thermal conductivity of liquids. Our device is able to compete with other systems that are currently used at Slovak Schools and Universities. The different system that was the source of our ideas is called IP-Coach and it was brought to Slovakia from Holland. The software program was translated into Slovak language. We also have our own software program for our device called PoPoLab. This program is compatible with all kinds of computers without any complicated installation needs. Probably the biggest advantages of our devices are that we are able to measure and to show graphs from experiments in real time from all 4 scanners. There are also statistics from experiment when the measuring is done. Our system is using 4 scanners with its own data channels. The user of our device has possibility to use saved data and analyze them from graph. Probably everyone knows Office programs as Microsoft Excel. That was the reason, why we prepared an interface from experiments for this or any other program. So the user is able to analyze the data and make other graphs or use the data anytime without problems. We have reached all the targets that we set for this project. We have successfully made new device with software program. To demonstrate its advantages and give examples of possible experiments we have also done some. We compared thermal conductivity of often used liquids. In our opinion, our device is able to compete with other systems that are currently used for didactically showing thermal conductivity of liquids.