Species introduction promotes hybridization and introgression in Coregonus: is there sign of selection against hybrids?

Species introductions are considered one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss via ecological interactions and genetic admixture with local fauna. We examined two well-recognized fish species, native whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) and introduced vendace (Coregonus albula), as well as their morphological hybrids in a single lake to test for selection against hybrids and backcrosses in the wild. A representative random subsample of 693 individuals (27.8%) was taken from the total catch of coregonids. This subsample was examined with the aim to select c. 50 individuals of pure whitefish (n = 52), pure vendace (n = 55) and putative hybrid (n = 19) for genetic analyses. The subsequent microsatellites and mitochondrial (mt) DNA analyses provided compelling evidence of hybridization and introgression. Of the 126 fish examined, four were found to be F(1) , 14 backcrosses to whitefish and seven backcrosses to vendace. The estimates of historical gene flow suggested higher rates from introduced vendace into native whitefish than vice versa, whereas estimates of contemporary gene flow were equal. Mitochondrial introgression was skewed, with 18 backcrosses having vendace mtDNA and only three with whitefish mtDNA. Hybrids and backcrosses had intermediate morphology and niche utilization compared with parental species. No evidence of selection against hybrids or backcrosses was apparent, as both hybrid and backcross growth rates and fecundities were high. Hybrids (F(1) ) were only detected in 2 year-classes, suggesting temporal variability in mating between vendace and whitefish. However, our data show that hybrids reached sexual maturity and reproduced actively, with backcrosses recorded from six consecutive year-classes, whereas no F(2) individuals were found. The results indicate widespread introgression, as 10.8% of coregonids were estimated to be backcrosses.     

What is hierarchical selection?

It has been proposed that natural selection occurs on a hierarchy of levels, of which the organismic level is neither the top nor the bottom. This hypothesis leads to the following practical problem: in general, how does one tell if a given phenomenon is a result of selection on level X or level Y. How does one tell what the units of selection actually are? It is convenient to assume that a unit of selection may be defined as a type of entity for which there exists, among all entities on the same “level” as that entity, an additive component of variance for some specific component F of fitness which does not appear as an additive component of variance in any decomposition of this F among entities at any lower level. But such a definition implicitly assumes that if f(x, y) depends nonadditively on its arguments, there must be interaction between the quantities which x and y represent. This assumption is incorrect. And one cannot avoid this error by speaking of “transformability to additivity” instead of merely “additivity”. A general mathematical formulation of the concepts of interaction and non-interaction is proposed, followed by a correspondingly modified approach to the definition of a unit of selection. The practical difficulty of verifying the presence of hierarchical selection is discussed.     

How strong is natural selection?

The strength of selection in nature has long been a controversial subject, partly because there were few quantitative measurements of phenotypic selection available until recently. In a new paper, Kingsolver and colleagues reviewed 63 studies and found that the median standardized directional selection gradient (a measure of the strength of phenotypic selection) was 0.16. Whether this means selection in nature is strong or weak depends both on one's point of view and on the error in selection estimates.     

Computational modelling of lung injury: is there potential for benefit?

State-of-the-art medical care of the victims of current conflicts is generating large quantities of quality clinical data as a by-product. Observational research based on these data is beginning to have a profound influence on the clinical management of both military and civilian trauma patients. Computational modelling based on these datasets may offer the ability to investigate clinical treatment strategies that are practically, ethically or scientifically impossible to investigate on the front line. This article reviews the potential of this novel technology to aid development of treatment for blast lung and other unresolved medical scenarios.     

Penetrability of the inner mucus layer: who is out there?

Large numbers of microorganisms colonise the skin and mucous membranes of animals, with their highest density in the lower gastrointestinal tract. The impact of these microbes on the host can be demonstrated by comparing animals (usually mice) housed under germ‐free conditions, or colonised with different compositions of microbes. Inbreeding and embryo manipulation programs have generated a wide variety of mouse strains with a fixed germ‐line (isogenic) and hygiene comparisons robustly show remarkably strong interactions between the microbiota and the host, which can be summarised in three axioms. (I) Live microbes are largely confined to their spaces at body surfaces, provided the animal is not suffering from an infection. (II) There is promiscuous molecular exchange throughout the host and its microbiota in both directions 1 . (III) Every host organ system is profoundly shaped by the presence of body surface microbes. It follows that one must draw a line between live microbial and host “spaces” (I) to understand the crosstalk (II and III) at this interesting interface of the host‐microbial superorganism. Of course, since microbes can adapt to very different niches, there has to be more than one line. In this issue of EMBO Reports, Johansson and colleagues have studied mucus, which is the main physical frontier for most microbes in the intestinal tract: they report how different non‐pathogenic microbiota compositions affect its permeability and the functional protection of the epithelial surface 2 .     

Quantitative analysis of electroencephalograms: is there chaos in the future?

The history of quantitative, computerized electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis is reviewed. It is shown that, until very recently, the basic approach to EEG analysis involved the assumption that the EEG is stochastic. Consequently, statistical pattern recognition techniques, segmentation procedures, syntactic methods, knowledge-based approaches, and even artificial neural network methods have been developed with different levels of success. A fundamentally different approach to computerized EEG analysis, however, is making its way into the laboratories. The basic idea, inspired by recent advances in the area of non-linear dynamics, and especially the theory of chaos, is to view an EEG as the output of a deterministic system of relatively simple complexity, but containing non-linearities. This suggests that studying the geometrical dynamics of EEGs, and the development of neurophysiologically realistic models of EEG generation may produce more successful automated EEG analysis techniques than the classical, stochastic methods. Evidence supporting the non-linear dynamics paradigm is reviewed, and possible research paths are indicated.     

Cognitive mechanisms of risky choice: is there an evaluation cost?

We contrast two classes of choice processes, those assuming time-consuming comparisons and those where stimuli for each option act independently, competing for expression by cross censorship. The Sequential Choice Model (SCM) belongs in the latter category, and has received empirical support in several procedures involving deterministic alternatives. Here we test this model in risky choices. In two treatments, each with five conditions, European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) faced choices between options with unpredictable outcomes and risk-free alternatives. In the delay treatment the five conditions involved choices between a variable option offering two equiprobable delays to reward and a fixed option with delay differing between conditions. The amount treatment was structurally similar, but amount of reward rather than delay was manipulated. As assumed (and required) by the SCM, latency to respond in no-choice trials reflected each option's richness with respect to the background alternatives, and, crucially, preferences in simultaneous choices were predictable from latencies to each option in forced trials. However, we did not detect reliable differences in response times between forced and choice trials, neither the lengthening expected from evaluation models nor the shortening expected from the SCM.     

Protease inhibitor frequencies: is there a deficit of M subtype heterozygotes?

A large number of reports on human protease inhibitor (PI) type frequencies in various populations have now appeared. A combination of the results of published studies shows that the observed frequencies of the M subtype homozygotes and heterozygotes differ significantly from those predicted by the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, especially among Europeans but probably not among Asians or Africans. The M1, M2 and M3 homozygotes are more numerous than would be expected, while the M1M2 and M1M3 heterozygotes are less common than expected.     

Population genetics of a polyploid: is there hybridization between lineages of Hyla versicolor?

Several studies have demonstrated that polyploid species can form recurrently from their progenitors, but few studies have evaluated gene flow between the resultant polyploid lineages. Here we examine the possibility of hybridization between lineages of the tetraploid common gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor). We utilize a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cloning approach to estimate the genotypes of tetraploid individuals and measure genetic differentiation between (1) sympatric populations of two lineages and (2) allopatric populations of a single lineage. We find that allele frequencies in sympatric populations of two lineages do not differ, suggesting that frogs of these two lineages hybridize in areas where they co-occur.     

Sequence-specific binding of single-stranded RNA: is there a code for recognition?

A code predicting the RNA sequence that will be bound by a certain protein based on its amino acid sequence or its structure would provide a useful tool for the design of RNA binders with desired sequence-specificity. Such de novo designed RNA binders could be of extraordinary use in both medical and basic research applications. Furthermore, a code could help to predict the cellular functions of RNA-binding proteins that have not yet been extensively studied. A comparative analysis of Pumilio homology domains, zinc-containing RNA binders, hnRNP K homology domains and RNA recognition motifs is performed in this review. Based on this, a set of binding rules is proposed that hints towards a code for RNA recognition by these domains. Furthermore, we discuss the intermolecular interactions that are important for RNA binding and summarize their importance in providing affinity and specificity.