Some Data on Reproductive Biology of Spotted Ghoul Inimicus sinensis (Synanceiidae)

Journal of Ichthyology - Gonadal structure, cytological condition of oocytes, ultrastructure of egg envelope, and spermatozoa morphology are studied in the individuals of Inimicus sinensis...     

A glimpse on the pattern of rodent diversication: a phylogenetic approach

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Development of phylogenetic methods that do not rely on fossils for the study of evolutionary processes through time have revolutionized the eld of evolutionary biology and resulted in an unprecedented expansion of our knowledge about the tree of life. These methods have helped to shed light on the macroevolution of many taxonomic groups such as the placentals (Mammalia). However, despite the increase of studies addressing the diversication patterns of organisms, no synthesis has addressed the case of the most diversied mammalian clade: the Rodentia. RESULTS: Here we present a rodent maximum likelihood phylogeny inferred from a molecular supermatrix. It is based on 11 mitochondrial and nuclear genes that covers 1,265 species, i.e., respectively 56 % and 81 % of the known specic and generic rodent diversity. The inferred topology recovered all Rodentia clades proposed by recent molecular works. A relaxed molecular clock dating approach provided a time framework for speciation events. We found that the Myomorpha clade shows a greater degree of variation in diversication rates than Sciuroidea, Caviomorpha, Castorimorpha and Anomaluromorpha. We identied a number of shifts in diversication rates within the major clades: two in Castorimorpha, three in Ctenohystrica, 6 within the squirrel-related clade and 24 in the Myomorpha clade. The majority of these shifts occurred within the most recent familial rodent radiations: the Cricetidae and Muridae clades. Using the topological imbalances and the time line we discuss the potential role of different diversication factors that might have shaped the rodents radiation. CONCLUSIONS: The present glimpse on the diversication pattern of rodents can be used for further comparative meta-analyses. Muroid lineages have a greater degree of variation in their diversication rates than any other 1rodent group. Different topological signatures suggest distinct diversication processes among rodent lineages. In particular, Muroidea and Sciuroidea display widespread distribution and have undergone evolutionary and adaptive radiation on most of the continents. Our results show that rodents experienced shifts in diversication rate regularly through the Tertiary, but at different periods for each clade. A comparison between the rodent fossil record and our results suggest that extinction led to the loss of diversication signal for most of the Paleogene nodes.     

Winter Fish Distribution in the Riverbed Depression in the Urtysh River

Journal of Ichthyology - Winter fish distribution is investigated by means of computerized hydroacoustic complexes in the largest riverbed depression in the Irtysh. Fish aggregations whose...     

Change of Rheoreaction and Concentration of Thyroid Hormones in Blood of Juvenile Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss during Starvation

Journal of Ichthyology - Rheoreaction and concentration of thyroid hormones in blood of juvenile rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss is studied during starvation (12 days). It is found that...     

Regulation of crystalline lens aldose reductase activity. Nonhyperbolic oxidation kinetics of NADPH by glucose

A homogeneous aldose reductase was isolated from bovine eye lens tissue by using affinity chromatography on blue agarose. A kinetic analysis of the initial rates of NADPH oxidation at 0.5-100 mM glucose and at 1.2-10 microM NADPH was carried out. The Line-weaver-Burk plots for glucose concentration were nonlinear at fixed concentrations of NADPH and linear at fixed concentrations of glucose. It was shown that the experimental plots reflect the mechanisms, in which substrate regulation of enzyme activity is effectuated by glucose binding to the regulatory site or is due to the shift of the equilibrium between the isomeric forms of aldose reductase.