Patterns of morphological evolution in the mandible of the house mouse Mus musculus (Rodentia: Muridae)

The worldwide distributed house mouse, Mus musculus, is subdivided into at least three lineages, Mus musculus musculus, Mus musculus domesticus, and Mus musculus castaneus. The subspecies occur parapatrically in a region considered to be the cradle of the species in Southern Asia (‘central region’), as well as in the rest of the world (‘peripheral region’). The morphological evolution of this species in a phylogeographical context is studied using a landmark‐based approach on mandible morphology of different populations of the three lineages. The morphological variation increases from central to peripheral regions at the population and subspecific levels, confirming a centrifugal sub‐speciation within this species. Furthermore, the outgroup comparison with sister species suggests that M. musculus musculus and populations of all subspecies inhabiting the Iranian plateau have retained a more ancestral mandible morphology, suggesting that this region may represent one of the relevant places of the origin of the species. Mus musculus castaneus, both from central and peripheral regions, is morphologically the most variable and divergent subspecies. Finally, the results obtained in the present study suggest that the independent evolution to commensalism in the three lineages is not accompanied by a convergence detectable on jaw morphology. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 105 , 635–647.     

Physiological mechanism governing slow and fast development in predatory ladybirds

Aphidophagous and coccidophagous ladybirds, similar to their prey, show marked differences in their pace of life (Dixon, 2000), in particular in their rate of development, with all stages of aphidophagous species developing much faster than those of coccidophagous species. Two hypotheses are proposed to account for the large difference in the pace of life of these two groups. These are that differences in the rate of development are a result of differences in lower temperature thresholds for development or the quality of their respective prey as food (Dixon et al., 2011). Analysis of published results on the rates of development of the eggs of ladybirds indicates that the inverse relationships between the number of day‐degrees required for development (K) and the lower temperature threshold for development (td_min) of these two groups are significantly different. In particular, the respective td_min overlap and K of the aphidophagous and coccidophagous species with a similar td_min are, on average, 38 and 117 day‐degrees (D^o). The relationship between the rate of development (R) and temperature (T) for aphids reared on poor‐ or high‐quality foods indicates that, although the value of td_min of a species depends on food quality, K does not, showing that it is unlikely that K is governed by food quality. Thus, there is little support for differences in either the td_min or food quality governing the difference in the pace of life of these two groups of ladybirds. The results indicate that the physiological mechanism that may govern the difference in the pace of life between these two groups is the number of day‐degrees (K) needed to complete their development. The possible evolutionary reason for this is discussed.     

Inferring the history of speciation in house mice from autosomal,X‐linked,Y‐linked and mitochondrial genes

Patterns of genetic differentiation among taxa at early stages of divergence provide an opportunity to make inferences about the history of speciation. Here, we conduct a survey of DNA‐sequence polymorphism and divergence at loci on the autosomes, X chromosome, Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA in samples of Mus domesticus, M. musculus and M. castaneus. We analyzed our data under a divergence with gene flow model and estimate that the effective population size of M. castaneus is 200 000–400 000, of M. domesticus is 100 000–200 000 and of M. musculus is 60 000–120 000. These data also suggest that these species started to diverge approximately 500 000 years ago. Consistent with this recent divergence, we observed considerable variation in the genealogical patterns among loci. For some loci, all alleles within each species formed a monophyletic group, while at other loci, species were intermingled on the phylogeny of alleles. This intermingling probably reflects both incomplete lineage sorting and gene flow after divergence. Likelihood ratio tests rejected a strict allopatric model with no gene flow in comparisons between each pair of species. Gene flow was asymmetric: no gene flow was detected into M. domesticus, while significant gene flow was detected into both M. castaneus and M. musculus. Finally, most of the gene flow occurred at autosomal loci, resulting in a significantly higher ratio of fixed differences to polymorphisms at the X and Y chromosomes relative to autosomes in some comparisons, or just the X chromosome in others, emphasizing the important role of the sex chromosomes in general and the X chromosome in particular in speciation.     

Genetic evidence of intercontinental movement of avian influenza in a migratory bird: the northern pintail (Anas acuta)

The role of migratory birds in the movement of the highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza H5N1 remains a subject of debate. Testing hypotheses regarding intercontinental movement of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses will help evaluate the potential that wild birds could carry Asian-origin strains of HP avian influenza to North America during migration. Previous North American assessments of LPAI genetic variation have found few Asian reassortment events. Here, we present results from whole-genome analyses of LPAI isolates collected in Alaska from the northern pintail (Anas acuta), a species that migrates between North America and Asia. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed the genetic divergence between Asian and North American strains of LPAI, but also suggested inter-continental virus exchange and at a higher frequency than previously documented. In 38 isolates from Alaska, nearly half (44.7%) had at least one gene segment more closely related to Asian than to North American strains of LPAI. Additionally, sequences of several Asian LPAI isolates from GenBank clustered more closely with North American northern pintail isolates than with other Asian origin viruses. Our data support the role of wild birds in the intercontinental transfer of influenza viruses, and reveal a higher degree of transfer in Alaska than elsewhere in North America.     

Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci for parentage analysis in a rhacophorid tree frog (Chirixalus eiffingeri) with unusual parental care

Chirixalus eiffingeri is an arboreal breeding rhacophorid frog with unique parental care behaviours. We developed 11 polymorphic microsatellites as genetic makers for parentage analysis to resolve the ecology of parental care. The numbers of alleles per locus ranged from two to 17. The observed and expected heterozygosities averaged 0.433 and 0.656, respectively. Total exclusionary probability of these loci is 0.984 when no parental genotypes are known, and is 0.999 when one of the parental genotypes is known. The results indicate that the 11 markers should provide sufficient resolution for inferring genetic parentage in C. eiffingeri.     

Eight microsatellite loci in Clark's anemonefish,Amphiprion clarkii

To determine the genetic relationship between different colour morphs (orange and black morphs) of Clark's anemonefish (Amphiprion clarkii) in Taiwan, we isolated eight polymorphic microsatellite loci. A large number of alleles (range, 6–30), and high levels of observed heterozygosity (range, 0.1231–0.8358) were resolved in 71 individuals from two populations, indicating that these markers should be useful in assessing the relationship between the two colour morphs of A. clarkii.     

Altered expression of nuclear matrix proteins in etoposide induced apoptosis in HL－60 cells

INTRODUCTIIONThe nuclear matrix is an essential component ofthe nucleus which is important for the nuclear structural integrity and specific genomic functions[1, 2].Several articles have reported that the nuclear matrix, as a higher order framework structures, mightbe disassembled du-ring the apoptotic process[3-5].Accordingly3 nuclear lamins A/C or B have beenfound to decrease in apoptotic thymocytes[6], Tcells[7], and carcinoma cell line[8, 9]. The nucleolar protein B23, an obscure ma…     

中国香港17种植物新记录

报道了香港17种植物新记录:无配膜叶铁角蕨[Hymenasplenium apogamum(N.Murak.&Hatan.)Nakaike]、似薄唇蕨(Leptochilus decurrens Blume)、穿心藤[Amydrium hainanense(H.Li,Y.Shiao&S.L.Tseng)H.Li]、毛背...