Comparative in vivo forefoot kinematics of Homo sapiens and Pan paniscus

The human metatarsophalangeal joints play a key role in weight transmission and propulsion during bipedal gait, but at present, the identification of when a habitual, human-like metatarsi-fulcrimating mechanism first appeared in the fossil record is debated. Part of this debate can be attributed to the absence of certain detailed quantitative data distinguishing human and great ape forefoot form and function.The aim of this study is to quantitatively test previous observations that human metatarsophalangeal joints exhibit greater amounts of dorsal excursion (i.e., dorsiflexion) than those of Pan at the terminal stance phase of terrestrial locomotion. Video recordings were made in order to measure sagittal excursions of the medial metatarsophalangeal joints in habitually shod/unshod adult humans and adult bonobos (Pan paniscus). Results indicate that the human first and second metatarsophalangeal joints usually dorsiflex more than those of bonobos. When timing of maximum excursion of the first metatarsophalangeal joint is coupled with existing plantar pressure data, the unique role of the human forefoot as a key site of leverage and weight transmission is highlighted. These results support hypotheses that significant joint functional differences between great apes and humans during gait underlie taxonomic distinctions in trabecular bone architecture of the forefoot.     

The evolution of retrotransposon regulatory regions and its consequences on the Drosophila melanogaster and Homo sapiens host genomes

It has now been established that transposable elements (TEs) make up a variable, but significant proportion of the genomes of all organisms, from Bacteria to Vertebrates. However, in addition to their quantitative importance, there is increasing evidence that TEs also play a functional role within the genome. In particular, TE regulatory regions can be viewed as a large pool of potential promoter sequences for host genes. Studying the evolution of regulatory region of TEs in different genomic contexts is therefore a fundamental aspect of understanding how a genome works. In this paper, we first briefly describe what is currently known about the regulation of TE copy number and activity in genomes, and then focus on TE regulatory regions and their evolution. We restrict ourselves to retrotransposons, which are the most abundant class of eukaryotic TEs, and analyze their evolution and the subsequent consequences for host genomes. Particular attention is paid to much-studied representatives of the Vertebrates and Invertebrates, Homo sapiens and Drosophila melanogaster, respectively, for which high quality sequenced genomes are available.     

人类线粒体肌酸激酶uMtCK的底物结合位点分析

研究人类线粒体肌酸激酶u Mt CK的结合位点,将其与底物肌酸和ATP结合有关的关键氨基酸进行突变,并对突变体进行酶动力学和圆二色谱数据分析,探讨这些关键氨基酸在底物识别和催化过程中的作用。结果显示,与野生酶相比,突变体Q313A和R336A的K_m~(Cr)分别提高了2.6和2.9倍,k_(cat)下降了19%和55%;同样地,与ATP结合相关的突变体R125A和R287A分别使得K_m~(ATP)升高了3.2和4.2,k_(cat)下降了72%和38%。以上结果表明突变体R125A、R287A、Q313A和R336A影响对底物的结合,同时也降低了酶促反应的速度。利用圆二色谱比较野生酶与不同突变体的二级结构并无明显变化,但进一步的结构模拟表明底物结合位点氨基酸在与底物之间的氢键对底物的识别和酶催化过程中发挥着重要作用。     

The Homo sapiens ‘hemibun’: Its developmental pattern and the problem of homology

The occipital bun is widely considered a Neanderthal feature. Its homology to the ‘hemibun’ observed in some European Upper Palaeolithic anatomically modern humans is a current problem. This study quantitatively evaluates the degree of occipital plane convexity in African and Australian modern human crania to analyse a relationship between this feature and some neurocranial variables. Neanderthal and European Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens crania were included in the analysis as well. The results of this study indicated that there is a significant relationship between the degree of occipital plane convexity and the following two features in the examined crania of modern humans: the ratio of the maximum neurocranial height to the maximum width of the vault and the ratio of bregma–lambda chord to bregma–lambda arc. The results also revealed that some H. sapiens crania (modern and fossil) show the Neanderthal shape of the occipital plane and that the neurocranial height and shape of parietal midsagittal profile has an influence on occipital plane convexity in the hominins included in this study. This study suggests that the occurrence of the great convexity of the occipital plane in the Neanderthals and H. sapiens is a “by-product” of the relationship between the same neurocranial features and there is no convincing evidence that the Neanderthal occipital bun and the similar structure in H. sapiens develop during ontogeny in the same way.     

人类Cornulin蛋白S100结构域钙依赖的多聚化能有效减少细胞的损伤

在哺乳动物中发现一类新的能够抵制环境压力和保持组织完整性的应激蛋白.含有S100钙结合结构域的Cornulin(CRNN)是这类蛋白质之一,它在人类食管鳞状上皮细胞中高表达,而在食管鳞状上皮细胞癌中却低表达,它能抑制脱氧胆酸诱导的细胞损伤.S100结构域在CRNN的功能上具有重要作用.为了进一步探讨CRNN S100结构域的生物学特性,克隆、表达、纯化了该结构域,证明其折叠正确,适合用于生物物理和生物化学特性的研究.更为重要的是,通过核磁共振、凝胶过滤层析、超速离心、质谱和蛋白质交联分析,发现S100结构域具有钙依赖的多聚性质,而多聚体的形成更有利于保护细胞免受脱氧胆酸和乙醇的损伤.上述结果表明,S100结构域是CRNN发挥功能的关键结构域,它可以通过多聚化更好地保护细胞.该工作将进一步揭示S100结构域的生物学功能.     

Late archaic and modern Homo sapiens from Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia: Craniometric comparisons and phylogenetic implications

The craniometric affinities among Neandertals. Upper Palcolithic Europeans, early anatomically modern Southwest Asians, and archaic and modern Africans are investigated using univariate and multivariate methods. For the first time, it is possible to analyse the North African finds Dar-es-Soltane 5, Nazlet Khater, and Wadi Kubbaniya. It was not possible to include the Neandertals from Central Europe due to their poor state of preservation. The results point to, first, a basic distinction between Neandertals on the one hand and modern humans from all geographic regions on the other, and, secondly, to great similarities between modern African and European populations. Late archaic sapiens specimens from Africa were more similar to Upper Paleolithic Europeans than were the Neandertals. The results do not support the hypothesis that a regional evolution giving rise to modern humans took place in Europe. The results are, however, consistent with the hypothesis that modern populations originated in Africa and spread to Europe from there.     

The brain of Homo habilis: A new level of organization in cerebral evolution

New studies have been made on endocranial casts of Olduvai specimens of Homo habilis. The results have been compared with those on other East African H. habilis and other hominoids. The mean absolute endocranial capacity of H. habilis is appreciably larger than the mean for australopithecine species: on the new estimates, the H. habilis mean is 45·1% greater than the A. africanus mean and 24·8% greater than that of A. boisei. New data for relative brain size, expressed by Jerison's Nc and EQ and Hemmer's CC, strongly confirm that it was with H. habilis that there appeared the remarkable autapomorphy of Homo, disproportionate expansion of the brain. Encephalometric studies reveal marked transverse expansion of the cerebrum, especially the frontal and parieto-occipital parts, in H. habilis and increased bulk of the frontal and parietal lobes, a derived feature of Homo. There is moderate cerebral heightening, but little or no cerebral lengthening. The sulcal and gyral pattern of the lateral part of the frontal lobe of H. habilis differs from those of Australopithecus and resembles the derived pattern of Homo. The inferior parietal lobule is prominently developed—an autapomorphy of Homo. The two major cerebral areas governing spoken language in modern man are well represented in the endocasts of H. habilis, a functionally important autapomorphy of Homo. The pattern of middle meningeal vessels is more complex with more anastomoses than in australopithecines: H. habilis shares this derived feature with later forms of Homo. In all these features, the brain of H. habilis had made major advances, beyond the more ape-like australopithecine brain. With H. habilis, cerebral evolution had progressed beyond the stage of “animal hominids” (Australopithecus spp.) to that of “human hominids” (Homo spp.). In functional capacity, in particular, its possession of a structural marker of the neurological basis of spoken language, H. habilis had attained a new evolutionary level of organization.     

Reproductive Constraints on Dominance Competition in Male Homo Sapiens

Dominance competition among males of the same group is characteristic for most primates including humans, with the outcome—rank—being positively associated with fitness. However, because we do not observe an evolutionary arms race toward hyperdominance in primate social systems, the evolution of ever more dominating behavior characteristics may be checked by increased costs in fitness to top rank. Empirical evidence for such costs, particularly in humans, however, is almost nonexistent. Here, for the first time, we can demonstrate for a cohort of male humans, military officers, all graduates of the class of 1950 of the U.S. Military Academy, constituting a closed and cohesive social group, that competitive qualities leading to top rank may have a negative effect on fitness.     

New evidence for laurasian corystosperms: Umkomasia from the Upper Triassic of Northern China

Recent finds of remarkable fossil plants from the Upper Triassic Yangcaogou Formation in Liaoning Province, PR China include branched, cupule-bearing structures referable to the corystosperm ovulate organ Umkomasia. This material is described and assigned to the proposed new species Umkomasia asiatica. The collection includes numerous isolated cupules and fragments of ultimate cupule-bearing axes. Two specimens consisting of portions of the main axis with attached, cupulate lateral axes have also been found. The main axis was at least 6.5 cm long, with each lateral axis bearing one to at least three pairs of stalked, ovoid cupules. The new Umkomasia is similar to U. franconica from the Jurassic of Germany, which is the only other known laurasian species, but the cupules are smaller and more elongated. It is also similar to many gondwanan forms, including the type species U. macleanii. Leaves associated with the Chinese Umkomasia species are tentatively referred to Thinnfeldia, and may have been produced by the same plant. Associated ovoid seeds with elongated, curved micropyles are similar to those of gondwanan species of Umkomasia. The fossils described here are, therefore, significant in representing the first report of corystosperm reproductive structures from Asia, and only the second report of Umkomasia from the entire northern hemisphere. The new Chinese fossils also support leaf-based evidence that the Corystospermales were present in Laurasia as early as the Late Triassic.     

Transitions: Homo erectus and the Acheulian: the Ethiopian sites of Gadeb and the Middle Awash

Significant differences in activity-site patterning and artifact composition at Middle Pleistocene localities in Ethiopia's high plains and Afar Rift are indications of both single-episode, small-site residues from small groups and multi-purpose, multiple occupation sites from which larger, temporary groupings might be inferred. Reconstructions of palaeo-environments and geography show that large assemblages relate to relatively stable topography, such as stream channels or lake margins, while small assemblages are more common in deltaic situations of rapid sedimentation and burial in the Rift that preclude possibility of reoccupation. A model for Acheulian socio-economic behaviour within the drier African savanna, based (in part) on chimpanzee behaviour in open savanna habitats, is proposed. This takes the form of organization into relatively extensive territories, each with several more closed-vegetation core areas, of limited extent close to permanent water, surrounded by more extensive areas of drier, open savanna, regularly exploited and patrolled by small groups. Movement from one core area to another was rapid and made together as a group, to minimize danger from large predators and competition from other hominid groups.     

New evidence for tandem chromosome fusions in the karyotypic evolution of Asian muntjacs

A clone of highly repetitive DNA, designated C5, was isolated from DNA of female Chinese muntjac cells. The nucleotide sequence of this clone is 80%–85% homologous to that of the satellite IA clone and other highly repetitive DNA clones previously obtained from the Indian muntjac. Using C5 as a probe for in situ hybridizations to chromosome preparations of cells of both the Chinese and Indian muntjacs, we were able to show that these repeated sequences occur in centromeric heterochromatin of the chromosomes of both Chinese and indian muntjac species. More significantly, non-random clusters of hybridization signals were detected on the arms of chromosomes of the Indian muntjac. These latter hybridization sites are postulated to be regions of interstitial heterochromatin and could be the remnants of centromeric heterochromatin from ancestral Chinese muntjac chromosomes. Our observations provide new supportive evidence for the tandem chromosome fusion theory that has been proposed for the evolution of the Indian muntjac karyotype.by P.B. Moens     

Polyploid evolution in Oryza officinalis complex of the genus Oryza

Background  

Polyploidization is a prominent process in plant evolution, whereas the mechanism and tempo-spatial process remained poorly understood. Oryza officinalis complex, a polyploid complex in the genus Oryza, could exemplify the issues not only for it covering a variety of ploidy levels, but also for the pantropical geographic pattern of its polyploids in Asia, Africa, Australia and Americas, in which a pivotal genome, the C-genome, witnessed all the polyploidization process.     

New evidence for the role of heterochrony in the repeated evolution of cichlid opsin expression

SUMMARY Lake Malawi (LM) cichlids have undergone heterochronic shifts in the expression of their cone opsin genes, the genes responsible for color vision. These shifts have generated species with short-, middle-, and long-wavelength-sensitive cone photoreceptors and visual systems. However, it is unclear when during the evolution of African cichlids these shifts occurred, or whether they could account for similar short- and middle-wavelength-sensitive profiles among unrelated cichlids in Lake Tanganyika (LT). To address these questions, we surveyed opsin expression in developing fry of two African cichlids, Astatotilapia burtoni from LT and Melanochromis auratus from LM. We found that A. burtoni expresses a series of three different single-cone opsins over the course of development, while M. auratus exhibits variation in the expression of only two. Neither A. burtoni nor M. auratus exhibits much variation in the expression of its double-cone opsins. These patterns reveal that A. burtoni exhibits progressive development in the sensitivity of its single-cone photoreceptors, but direct development in the sensitivity of its double-cone photoreceptors. M. auratus exhibits neotenic development in the sensitivity of both photoreceptor sets. Given the intermediate phylogenetic placement of A. burtoni between cichlids from LT and LM, our results suggest that the ancestor of LM's cichlids exhibited a progressive developmental pattern of opsin expression. These results indicate that the heterochronic shifts which produced the short- and middle-wavelength-sensitive profiles of LM's cichlids occurred recently, and suggest that the presence of similar profiles among LT's cichlids are due to parallel heterochronic shifts.     

Autoradiographic evidence for self-fertilization in Tetrahymena thermophila

Conjugation in Tetrahymena thermophila consists of a sequence of nuclear events, including meiosis and reciprocal cross-fertilization, which result in biparental genetic endowment of the sexual progeny. Genetic evidence was recently provided that the normal exchange of gametic nuclei between conjugating cells can be efficiently blocked by hyperosmotic shock. In this paper we confirm this finding autoradiographically. We also report that the inhibitor of microtubule assembly, vinblastine, also blocks this step, as well as the subsequent fusion of gametic nuclei. The ability of conjugating cells to survive and continue more or less normally after blocks of self-fertilization and pro-nuclear fusion demonstrates a surprisingly high degree of developmental regulation during conjugation. Self-fertilization has proven useful for the isolation of recessive mutants in T. thermophila.