Pre-Pleistocene Refugia and Differentiation between Populations of the Caucasian Salamander (Mertensiella caucasica)

A 350-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene was sequenced in the Caucasian salamander, Mertensiella caucasica, representing 10 populations from across its range along the Black Sea coast. Five haplotypes were discovered among 65 fragments analyzed, differing at 2–50 positions. The highest differentiation between haplotypes was observed in animals from the eastern part of the species' range (Borjomi) compared to those from the remainder of the species' range. Randomly amplified nuclear DNA revealed a pattern of spatial genetic variation similar to that of the mitochondrial genome. M. caucasica, as currently known, represents two evolutionary lineages that evolved independently, perhaps since the lower Pliocene. These lineages represent taxa, possibly to be described as species, distributed in the Borjomi area in central Georgia and in southwestern Georgia and northeastern Turkey. The multivariate analysis of morphological data did not reveal significant differences between the taxa. However, substantial morphological differentiation was observed within both lineages, showing parallel patterns in body proportions and coloration patterns. This variation is possibly associated with extant ecological conditions. Salamanders with reduced pigmentation from southwestern Georgia were not genetically distinguishable from neighboring populations.     

人体微生物组计划

人体微生物组计划又称第二人类基因组计划。由美国国立卫生研究院立项资助,2007年正式启动。计划用5年时间耗资1.5亿美元完成900个人体微生物基因组测序。其目标是探索研究人类微生物组的可行性;研究人体微生物组变化与疾病健康的关系;同时为其它科学研究提供信息和技术支持。     

Cryptosporidium parvum genome project

A lack of basic understanding of parasite biology has been a limiting factor in designing effective means of treating and preventing disease caused by Cryptosporidium parvum. Since the genomic DNA sequence encodes all of the heritable information responsible for development, disease pathogenesis, virulence, species permissiveness and immune resistance, a comprehensive knowledge of the C. parvum genome will provide the necessary information required for cost-effective and targeted research into disease prevention and treatment. With the recent advances in high-throughput automated DNA sequencing capabilities, large-scale genomic sequencing has become a cost-effective and time-efficient approach to understanding the biology of an organism. In addition, the continued development and implementation of new software tools that can scan raw sequences for signs of genes and then identify clues as to potential functions, has provided the final realization of the potential rewards of genome sequencing. To further our understanding of C. parvum biology, we have initiated a random shotgun sequencing approach to obtain the complete sequence of the IOWA isolate of C. parvum. Our progress to date has demonstrated that sequencing of the C. parvum genome will be an efficient and costeffective method for gene discovery of this important eukaryotic pathogen. This will allow for the identification of key metabolic and immunological features of the organism that will provide the basis for future development of safe and effective strategies for prevention and treatment of disease in AIDS patients, as well as immunocompetent hosts. Moreover, by obtaining the complete sequence of the C. parvum genome, effective methods for subspecific differentiation (strain typing) and epidemiologic surveillance (strain tracking) of this pathogen can be developed.     

The blue brain project

IBM's Blue Gene supercomputer allows a quantum leap in the level of detail at which the brain can be modelled. I argue that the time is right to begin assimilating the wealth of data that has been accumulated over the past century and start building biologically accurate models of the brain from first principles to aid our understanding of brain function and dysfunction.