Prokaryotic systematics in the genomics era

As an essential and basic biological discipline, prokaryotic systematics is entering the era of genomics. This paradigmatic shift is significant not only for understanding molecular phylogeny at the whole genome level but also in revealing the genetic or epigenetic basis that accounts for the phenotypic criteria used to classify and identify species. These developments provide an opportunity and a challenge for systematists to reanalyze the molecular mechanisms underlying the taxonomic characteristics of prokaryotes by drawing the knowledge from studies of genomics and/or functional genomics employing platform technologies and related bioinformatics tools. It is expected that taxonomic books, such as Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology may evolve into a systematics library indexed by phylogenomic information with an comprehensive understanding of prokaryotic speciation and associated increasing knowledge of biological phenomena.     

Biochemical and immunological systematics of some ascaridoid nematodes: genetic divergence between congeners

Vertical starch gel electrophoresis and trefoil immunodiffusion were used to study the systematics of some ascaridoid nematodes. Within the Ascarididae, the time scale of divergence was too great for intergeneric electrophoretic comparisons. Congeneric electrophoretic comparisons of Baylisascaris procyonis (host--raccoon) versus Baylisascaris transfuga (host--black bear), and Toxocara canis (host--domestic dog) versus Toxocara cati (host--domestic cat) yielded Nei genetic distance coefficients of 1.21 and 1.55, respectively. Estimates of times of divergence made from 1 electrophoretic clock calibration suggest that the Baylisascaris species have not shared a common ancestor for 25 million years (Myr), and that the Toxocara species diverged 33 Myr ago. The Baylisascaris divergence estimate corresponds to host-family divergence estimates based on immunological and paleontological evidence, which suggests that cospeciation has occurred. In contrast to this, Ascaris suum (host--pig) and Ascaris lumbricoides (host--human) have a distance coefficient of 0.09. This indicates that these species diverged comparatively recently and may represent a case of host range expansion. Trefoil immunodiffusion comparisons of ascaridoid albumins yielded reactions of identity for A. suum, A. lumbricoides, Parascaris equorum, B. procyonis, B. transfuga, T. canis, and T. cati. This confirms that these taxa are members of a monophyletic group.     

Diatom genomics: genetic acquisitions and mergers

Diatom algae arose by two-step endosymbiosis. The complete genome of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana has now been sequenced, allowing us to reconstruct the remarkable intracellular gene transfers that occurred during this convoluted cellular evolution.     

植物遗传多样性和系统学研究中的等位酶分析*

本文对“等位酶”概念、等位酶分析方法在植物遗传多样性和系统学研究中应用的范围（包括种上和种下）进行了介绍和讨论,并对其优点和缺点进行了评论。认为等位酶分析是研究生物遗传多样性的重要方法,并为系统学和进化研究进入分子水平开辟了广阔而实用的前景,但使用分子资料并不意味着可以抛弃形态、细胞等其他方面的资料,它们的关系是互相补充,而决不是互相代替。     

植物遗传多样性和系统学研究中的等位酶分析*

本文对“等位酶”的概念、等位酶分析方法在植物遗传多样性和系统学研究中应用的范围（包括种上和种下）进行了介绍和讨论,并对其优点和缺点进行了评论。认为等位酶分析是研究生物遗传多样性的重要方法,并为系统学和进化研究进入分子水平开辟了广阔而实用的前景,但使用分子资料并不意味着可以抛弃形态、细胞等其他方面的资料,它们的关系是互相补充,而决不是互相代替。     

On concept formation in systematics

In his “Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik”, Hennig (1950 ) cited three philosophers: the leading empiricist Rudolf Carnap, the conventionalist Hugo Dingler, and the somewhat more obscure empiricist Theodor Ziehen. David Hull characterized Hennig's “Grundzüge” as one long argument against idealistic morphology. It will here be argued that Hennig attacked idealistic morphology (synonymous with “systematic” morphology) for its mode of concept formation. Building on Carnap and Ziehen, who both looked back on Ernst Cassirer, Hennig argued that the “generic”, “thing” or “class” concept of traditional nomothetic science must be replaced with Cassirer's “relation concept.” According to Hennig, such “emancipation” of systematics from the Aristotelian “species” concept would also allow transcendence from the distinction of idiographic from nomothetic sciences, thus preserving the unity of science. However, the establishment of relations in the construction of a system of order presupposes entities that can be, or are, related. Relations presuppose relata, which in modern systematics are best conceptualized (at least at the supraspecific level) not as Aristotelian classes, nor as individuals as was argued by Hennig and Ziehen, but as tokens of natural kinds. © The Willi Hennig Society 2006.     

泛基因组研究在遗传多样性和功能基因组学中的应用

相对于单个参考基因组仅聚焦于个体遗传信息的挖掘,泛基因组研究则能够反映整个物种或类群全部的遗传信息。随着基因组测序和分析技术的不断发展,泛基因组学逐渐成为新的研究热点,并已在植物、动物和微生物多个物种中获得了广泛应用,为全面解析物种或类群水平的遗传变异和多样性、功能基因组和系统进化重建等研究提供了强有力的工具,取得了很多显著的研究成果。尽管如此,由于泛基因组学研究尚处于发展阶段,测序费用和分析成本仍然较高,难以广泛普及; 且存在分析标准不一、数据挖掘不够全面深入、理论难以应用于生产实际等尚待解决的问题,仍有较大的发展空间。该文系统总结了泛基因组在生物遗传多样性挖掘和功能基因组学中的研究进展,主要包括其在泛基因组图谱的构建、基因组变异和有利基因的发掘、功能基因的多态性、群体遗传多样性和系统进化等多个领域中的应用和研究,探讨了其在不同领域的应用潜力。同时,讨论了目前泛基因组研究中存在的局限性和可能的解决方法,并对其将来的发展前景进行了展望。     

二化螟与作物的相互关系及其影响因素

二化螟Chilosuppressalis(Walker)与作物在漫长的进化史中相互作用和影响,了解二化螟与其寄主的相互作用机制及其影响因素是防治二化螟的重要前提。二化螟在对寄主的选择中有明显的选择行为,而主要寄主之一的水稻由于品种、耕作制度的变更也给二化螟带来了很大的影响;微观技术的介入使得二化螟与作物相互关系的研究进入了新的发展时期。文章从宏观和微观2个角度对二化螟与作物的相互作用及其影响因素进行了探讨,并且对它们的相互作用及其影响因素需深入研究的方向提出了建议。     

Perspectives of genomics for genetic conservation of livestock

Genomics provides new opportunities for conservation genetics. Conservation genetics in livestock is based on estimating diversity by pedigree relatedness and managing diversity by choosing those animals that maximize genetic diversity. Animals can be chosen as parents for the next generation, as donors of material to a gene bank, or as breeds for targeting conservation efforts. Genomics provides opportunities to estimate diversity for specific parts of the genome, such as neutral and adaptive diversity and genetic diversity underlying specific traits. This enables us to choose candidates for conservation based on specific genetic diversity (e.g. diversity of traits or adaptive diversity) or to monitor the loss of diversity without conservation. In wild animals direct genetic management, by choosing candidates for conservation as in livestock, is generally not practiced. With dense marker maps opportunities exist for monitoring relatedness and genetic diversity in wild populations, thus enabling a more active management of diversity.     

Comparative genomics of Riemerella anatipestifer reveals genetic diversity

Background

Riemerella anatipestifer is one of the most important pathogens of ducks. However, the molecular mechanisms of R. anatipestifer infection are poorly understood. In particular, the lack of genomic information from a variety of R. anatipestifer strains has proved severely limiting.

Results

In this study, we present the complete genomes of two R. anatipestifer strains, RA-CH-1 (2,309,519 bp, Genbank accession {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"CP003787","term_id":"403311769","term_text":"CP003787"}}CP003787) and RA-CH-2 (2,166,321 bp, Genbank accession {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"CP004020","term_id":"441482619","term_text":"CP004020"}}CP004020). Both strains are from isolates taken from two different sick ducks in the SiChuang province of China. A comparative genomics approach was used to identify similarities and key differences between RA-CH-1 and RA-CH-2 and the previously sequenced strain RA-GD, a clinical isolate from GuangDong, China, and ATCC11845.

Conclusion

The genomes of RA-CH-2 and RA-GD were extremely similar, while RA-CH-1 was significantly different than ATCC11845. RA-CH-1 is 140,000 bp larger than the three other strains and has 16 unique gene families. Evolutionary analysis shows that RA-CH-1 and RA-CH-2 are closed and in a branch with ATCC11845, while RA-GD is located in another branch. Additionally, the detection of several iron/heme-transport related proteins and motility mechanisms will be useful in elucidating factors important in pathogenicity. This information will allow a better understanding of the phenotype of different R. anatipestifer strains and molecular mechanisms of infection.     

On the foundations of biological systematics

Summary The foundations of systematics lie in ontology, not in subjective epistemology. Systems and their elements should be distinguished from classes; only the latter are constructed from similarities. The term classification should be restricted to ordering into classes; ordering according to systematic relations may be called systematization.The theory of organization levels portrays the real world as a hierarchy of open systems, from energy quanta to ecosystems; followingHartmann these systems as extended in time are considered the primary units of reality. Organization levels should be distinguished from levels of differentiation within each organization level.Certain biological systems, such as species, continue to be misinterpreted as classes, particularly by logicians unfamiliar with modern biological theory. Replacement of Aristotelian definitions of species by polytypic definitions achieves nothing, because species are individual systems which can be defined from an ontological viewpoint only as wholes. The dispute whether classes (universals) are real per se or only in individuals is of no scientific importance; irrespective of which view is taken, any ordering of physical objects into classes constitutes an hypothesis about the structure of the real world.The distinction between essential and contingent characters (attributes) is relevant only to classification. There are no universal rules for evaluating characters for purposes of systematization. Character statements do not form separate linear sequences. The search for unit characters in an absolute sense is futile. All real characters are reducible to relations and are in principle measurable, although there are limitations on the extent to which this can be presently achieved.The concept of the sexual (biological) species is fundamental to theories of biosystematics. Sexual species may be defined as lineages consisting at any given time of series of populations between which genetic exchange can occur and delimited in time by two successive processes of speciation. Linnaean nomenclature needs modification; in its traditional form it is appropriate only to non-truncated hierarchies, whereas real phylogenies (lineages of species) form truncated hierarchies. In consequence of the distinction between systematization and classification it is concluded that, while taxa may be classified into age classes or evolutionary grades, their limits as taxa (systematic units) can be no different in either case. Classification into evolutionary grades remains an imprecise endeavour, since no general measure of evolutionary differentiation has been devised.The spatial and temporal extent of ecosystems, the postulated basic units of ecosystematics, remains unclarified. Nevertheless there are grounds for expecting progress in this field as the energetic relations between organisms become better understood. Biotic communities are not abstract classes, but systematic units. Physiognomic classification should not be confused with systematization of plant communities; both approaches contribute to an understanding of vegetational structure.     

Isozymes in macroalgae (seaweeds): genetic differentiation,genetic variability and applications in systematics

Use of isozymes (including allozymes) in studies of population genetics and systematics of seaweeds has increased sufficiently in the last decade to allow some generalization. Only a single locus has been observed for about half the enzymes analysed in seaweeds, compared with 29% in vascular plants. Compared with higher plants, macroalgal species generally have low amounts of electrophoretically detectable genetic variation; the lowest levels of genetic variation found in natural populations are those reported for seaweeds. Nonetheless, seaweeds show an association between levels of genetic diversity as revealed by isozymes and species-specific attributes, such as mating system and predominance of asexual versus sexual reproduction. In systematic studies, isozymes have revealed cryptic species and identified pairs of sibling taxa. The quaternary structure of enzymes appears to be conserved at the phylum level. With the current availability of improved techniques for enzyme electrophoresis and for data interpretation, we expect future studies utilizing isozyme electrophoresis to provide further insight into population and evolutionary processes in seaweeds.     

Fine-scale genetic structure, phylogeny and systematics of threatened crayfish species complex

Systematic uncertainties in the crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes are well grounded by the number of species and subspecies described using different approaches, causing scientists to define this taxon as "complex". However, a key task that conservation programmes are facing regarding the recent and drastic decline of European populations, is the coherent systematic classification of this threatened species. Here we present results obtained by coupling mtDNA and genome analysis suggestive of a novel evolutionary framework to explain the relationships among phylogenetic lineages of A. pallipes. The direct sequencing of mtDNA COI gene fragment revealed a strong geographic structure with four distinct haplogroups separated by a range of 5-25 mutations. However, mitochondrial data were not supported by genomic fingerprinting based on 535 AFLP polymorphisms. Nuclear markers showed an unexpected moderate level of genetic differentiation and the absence of any geographic structure. Consequently, this study proposes that the taxonomic hypothesis of a single species of A. pallipes settling the Italian continental waters, is affected by complex evolutionary events. To solve the paradox, we hypothesized an evolutive scenario in which the separation of ancient mtDNA lineages likely occurred before the latest glacial periods. However, the speciation process remained incomplete due to secondary intensive postglacial contacts that forced the mingling of the genomes, and confounds the phylogeographic signature still detectable within mtDNA. Postglacial dispersion and the following demographic events, such as founder effects, drift and bottlenecks, abruptly depleted the local mtDNA variation, and shaped the current genetic population structure of white-clawed crayfish.     

Simple sequence repeat-based comparative genomics between Brassica rapa and Arabidopsis thaliana: the genetic origin of clubroot resistance

An SSR-based linkage map was constructed in Brassica rapa. It includes 113 SSR, 87 RFLP, and 62 RAPD markers. It consists of 10 linkage groups with a total distance of 1005.5 cM and an average distance of 3.7 cM. SSRs are distributed throughout the linkage groups at an average of 8.7 cM. Synteny between B. rapa and a model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, was analyzed. A number of small genomic segments of A. thaliana were scattered throughout an entire B. rapa linkage map. This points out the complex genomic rearrangements during the course of evolution in Cruciferae. A 282.5-cM region in the B. rapa map was in synteny with A. thaliana. Of the three QTL (Crr1, Crr2, and Crr4) for clubroot resistance identified, synteny analysis revealed that two major QTL regions, Crr1 and Crr2, overlapped in a small region of Arabidopsis chromosome 4. This region belongs to one of the disease-resistance gene clusters (MRCs) in the A. thaliana genome. These results suggest that the resistance genes for clubroot originated from a member of the MRCs in a common ancestral genome and subsequently were distributed to the different regions they now inhabit in the process of evolution.     

Predator perception and the interrelation between different forms of protective coloration

Animals possess a range of defensive markings to reduce the risk of predation, including warning colours, camouflage, eyespots and mimicry. These different strategies are frequently considered independently, and with little regard towards predator vision, even though they may be linked in various ways and can be fully understood only in terms of predator perception. For example, camouflage and warning coloration need not be mutually exclusive, and may frequently exploit similar features of visual perception. This paper outlines how different forms of protective markings can be understood from predator perception and illustrates how this is fundamental in determining the mechanisms underlying, and the interrelation between, different strategies. Suggestions are made for future work, and potential mechanisms discussed in relation to various forms of defensive coloration, including disruptive coloration, eyespots, dazzle markings, motion camouflage, aposematism and mimicry.