RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) AND PARSIMONY METHODS

Abstract — Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) data possess a number of undesirable features for parsimony analysis. These features include their non-codominant inheritance, their anonymous nature, their different (a)symmetrical transformation probabilities, and their possible GC priming bias. As a consequence, no single parsimony method seems appropriate for RAPD data. Moreover, the presence/absence coding of RAPDs is equivalent to the invalid independent allele model for allozymes. These issues are discussed and the way in which parsimony analysis of RAPDs can be misleading is illustrated.     

Lobsters, moths and centipedes

Arthropod Relationships edited by R.A. Fortey and H. Thomas, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998 (The Systematics Association Special Volume Series 55). ￡115 hbk (xii+383 pages) ISBN 0 412 75420 7.     

18S rRNA data indicate that Aschelminthes are polyphyletic in origin and consist of at least three distinct clades

The Aschelminthes is a collection of at least eight animal phyla, historically grouped together because the absence of a true body cavity was perceived as a pseudocoelom. Analyses of 18S rRNA sequences from six Aschelminth phyla (including four previously unpublished sequences) support polyphyly for the Aschelminthes. At least three distinct groups of Aschelminthes were detected: the Priapulida among the protostomes, the Rotifera-Acanthocephala as a sister group to the protostomes, and the Nematoda as a basal group to the triploblastic Eumetazoa.      

Software dependent phenetic relationships of non-nodulating African species ofAcacia

The phenetic analysis of non-nodulatingAcacia species by Harrier et al. (1997) was repeated to illustrate how different computer programs may generate alternative UPGMA trees for the very same data, even in the absence of data input order effects (ties). For example, all Harrier et al.'s UPGMA dendrograms produced by software from the Scottish Agricultural Statistics Service differed from those obtained by the packages NTSYS and MVSP87. Particularly, the positions ofA. albida, A. rovumae, andA. pentagona, as well as the relationships betweenDiacanthae andTriacanthae were affected by this phenomenon. Hence, whenever clustering techniques are used, care should be taken to consider possible software-dependent caveats and artefacts. Nevertheless, all programs provided clusterings that largely coincided with the subgeneric and sectional groupings proposed by Vassal (1972) although the positions of some species varied depending on whether morphological or molecular data were considered (e.g.A. albida andA. rovumae).     

Immunohistochemical Analysis of the Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin and Hypoxia Signalling Pathways in Basal Cell Carcinoma and Trichoepithelioma

Background

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common cancer in Caucasians. Trichoepithelioma (TE) is a benign neoplasm that strongly resembles BCC. Both are hair follicle (HF) tumours. HFs are hypoxic microenvironments, therefore we hypothesized that hypoxia-induced signalling pathways could be involved in BCC and TE as they are in other human malignancies. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1) and mechanistic/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) are key players in these pathways.

Objectives

To determine whether HIF1/mTOR signalling is involved in BCC and TE.

Methods

We used immunohistochemical staining of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded BCC (n = 45) and TE (n = 35) samples to assess activity of HIF1, mTORC1 and their most important target genes. The percentage positive tumour cells was assessed manually in a semi-quantitative manner and categorized (0%, <30%, 30–80% and >80%).

Results

Among 45 BCC and 35 TE examined, expression levels were respectively 81% and 57% (BNIP3), 73% and 75% (CAIX), 79% and 86% (GLUT1), 50% and 19% (HIF1α), 89% and 88% (pAKT), 55% and 61% (pS6), 15% and 25% (pMTOR), 44% and 63% (PHD2) and 44% and 49% (VEGF-A). CAIX, Glut1 and PHD2 expression levels were significantly higher in TE when only samples with at least 80% expression were included.

Conclusions

HIF and mTORC1 signalling seems active in both BCC and TE. There are no appreciable differences between the two with respect to pathway activity. At this moment immunohistochemical analyses of HIF, mTORC1 and their target genes does not provide a reliable diagnostic tool for the discrimination of BCC and TE.     

CLADISTIC ANALYSIS OF METAZOAN RELATIONSHIPS: A REAPPRAISAL

Abstract— A recently published cladistic analysis of metazoan relationships based on 77 embryological and morphological characters is shown to be defective with respect to both methodological issues and the interpretation of certain characters. Consequently, many conclusions of this analysis are not supported by the data. Alternative phylogenetic hypotheses are therefore proposed, based on a re-evaluation of an adapted data set.