Genomic analysis of multiple Roseophage SIO1 strains

Roseophage SIO1 is a lytic marine phage that infects Roseobacter SIO67, a member of the Roseobacter clade of near-shore alphaproteobacteria. Roseophage SIO1 was first isolated in 1989 and sequenced in 2000. We have re-sequenced and re-annotated the original isolate. Our current annotation could only assign functions to seven additional open reading frames, indicating that, despite the advances in bioinformatics tools and increased genomic resources, we are still far from being able to translate phage genomic sequences into biological functions. In 2001, we isolated four new strains of Roseophage SIO1 from California near-shore locations. The genomes of all four were sequenced and compared against the original Roseophage SIO1 isolated in 1989. A high degree of conservation was evident across all five genomes; comparisons at the nucleotide level yielded an average 97% identity. The observed differences were clustered in protein-encoding regions and were mostly synonymous. The one strain that was found to possess an expanded host range also showed notable changes in putative tail protein-coding regions. Despite the possibly rapid evolution of phage and the mostly uncharacterized diversity found in viral metagenomic data sets, these findings indicate that viral genomes such as the genome of SIO1-like Roseophages can be stably maintained over ecologically significant time and distance (i.e. over a decade and ∼50 km).     

Phylogeny,extinction and conservation: embracing uncertainties in a time of urgency

Evolutionary studies have played a fundamental role in our understanding of life, but until recently, they had only a relatively modest involvement in addressing conservation issues. The main goal of the present discussion meeting issue is to offer a platform to present the available methods allowing the integration of phylogenetic and extinction risk data in conservation planning. Here, we identify the main knowledge gaps in biodiversity science, which include incomplete sampling, reconstruction biases in phylogenetic analyses, partly known species distribution ranges, and the difficulty in producing conservation assessments for all known species, not to mention that much of the effective biological diversity remains to be discovered. Given the impact that human activities have on biodiversity and the urgency with which we need to address these issues, imperfect assumptions need to be sanctioned and surrogates used in the race to salvage as much as possible of our natural and evolutionary heritage. We discuss some aspects of the uncertainties found in biodiversity science, such as the ideal surrogates for biodiversity, the gaps in our knowledge and the numerous available phylogenetic diversity-based methods. We also introduce a series of cases studies that demonstrate how evolutionary biology can effectively contribute to biodiversity conservation science.     

中国尼蝉属的分类研究：（同翅目：蝉总科）

尼蝉属Nipponosemia是Kato(1925)根据Abroma terminalis Matsumura建立的。分布于中国(四川、华南、台湾等)和日本。 本属的主要特征是:体中等大小;头冠(包括复眼)宽于中胸背板基部;其前缘呈圆弧形;背瓣大、盖住鼓膜;腹瓣大、纵长,左右内缘靠近;前、后翅透明,顶角或外缘常有褐色斑纹。雄性外生殖器的抱钧呈小钩状,左右远离,阳茎末端呈刺状分裂;雌性产卵管稍超出腹末。多栖息于叶片或小枝上,鸣声不大,多为“吱！—咬！—吱！……！”回声。     

Establishment of a human cell line after transformation by a plasmid containing the early region of the SV40 genome

A human clonal cell line, designated TAH9, has been established from cells of adipose tissue by fusion with E. coli protoplasts containing a recombinant plasmid carrying the early genes of Simian virus 40. The establishment of the cell line is preceeded by a delayed growth crisis. The results indicate that, after cell transformation, another event(s) of low frequency is required for cell immortalization. Some biological properties of TAH9 cells are also described.