A dig into the past mitochondrial diversity of Corsican goats reveals the influence of secular herding practices

The goat (Capra hircus) is one of the earliest domesticated species ca. 10,500 years ago in the Middle-East where its wild ancestor, the bezoar (Capra aegagrus), still occurs. During the Neolithic dispersal, the domestic goat was then introduced in Europe, including the main Mediterranean islands. Islands are interesting models as they maintain traces of ancient colonization, historical exchanges or of peculiar systems of husbandry. Here, we compare the mitochondrial genetic diversity of both medieval and extant goats in the Island of Corsica that presents an original and ancient model of breeding with free-ranging animals. We amplified a fragment of the Control Region for 21 medieval and 28 current goats. Most of them belonged to the A haplogroup, the most worldwide spread and frequent today, but the C haplogroup is also detected at low frequency in the current population. Present Corsican goats appeared more similar to medieval goats than to other European goat populations. Moreover, 16 out of the 26 haplotypes observed were endemic to Corsica and the inferred demographic history suggests that the population has remained constant since the Middle Ages. Implications of these results on management and conservation of endangered Corsican goats currently decimated by a disease are addressed.     

Modern taurine cattle descended from small number of near-eastern founders

Archaeozoological and genetic data indicate that taurine cattle were first domesticated from local wild ox (aurochs) in the Near East some 10,500 years ago. However, while modern mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation indicates early Holocene founding event(s), a lack of ancient DNA data from the region of origin, variation in mutation rate estimates, and limited application of appropriate inference methodologies have resulted in uncertainty on the number of animals first domesticated. A large number would be expected if cattle domestication was a technologically straightforward and unexacting region-wide phenomenon, while a smaller number would be consistent with a more complex and challenging process. We report mtDNA sequences from 15 Neolithic to Iron Age Iranian domestic cattle and, in conjunction with modern data, use serial coalescent simulation and approximate Bayesian computation to estimate that around 80 female aurochs were initially domesticated. Such a low number is consistent with archaeological data indicating that initial domestication took place in a restricted area and suggests the process was constrained by the difficulty of sustained managing and breeding of the wild progenitors of domestic cattle.     

Metabolism of benzo(a)pyrene in rat pleural mesothelial cells in culture

Cultures of Rat pleural mesothelial cells obtained after isolation of parietal cells metabolized benzo(a)pyrene to organosoluble and hydrosoluble derivatives. This property is well maintained since it was observed with cells at 6th passage as well as after 39 passages.     

Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

The ancestor of all modern domestic cats is the wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica, with archaeological evidence indicating it was domesticated as early as 10,000 years ago in South-West Asia. A recent study, however, claims that cat domestication also occurred in China some 5,000 years ago and involved the same wildcat ancestor (F. silvestris). The application of geometric morphometric analyses to ancient small felid bones from China dating between 5,500 to 4,900 BP, instead reveal these and other remains to be that of the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). These data clearly indicate that the origins of a human-cat ‘domestic’ relationship in Neolithic China began independently from South-West Asia and involved a different wild felid species altogether. The leopard cat’s ‘domestic’ status, however, appears to have been short-lived—its apparent subsequent replacement shown by the fact that today all domestic cats in China are genetically related to F. silvestris.     

Origin of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in a Mediterranean island: Zooarchaeology and ancient DNA examination

Mammalian species presently living on Mediterranean islands have been brought in by man. The question of their geographical origin and of the time of their introduction is often a matter of debate. We studied this problem using a population of rabbits (European rabbit: Oryctolagus cuniculus) living in Zembra, an island off Tunisia. Archaeological surveys show that rabbit has been introduced to the island by Bronze Age or Roman people, between the IIIrd Millenium B.C. and the IIIrd century A.D. Part of the 16S-rRNA gene of mitochondrial DNAs from fossil bones of different ages (dated back to 130–390 A.D.) was characterized and compared to that of present day rabbits of differing geographical origin. The data suggest that animals present on Zembra in late Roman times belonged to the same maternal lineage as present populations from Northern Spain and Southern France.     

Comparaisons taphonomiques de sites magdaléniens du Bassin parisien : les faunes de Ville-Saint-Jacques (Seine-et-Marne) et Étiolles (Essonne)

The preservation of faunal remains in the Magdalenian sites of the Paris Basin only occurs for one third of the cases. This taphonomic bias is very likely in relation with the open-air locations where the majority of regional sites have been discovered. Nevertheless, the Magdalenian settlement shows a certain variability across the landscape: lowland sites, hillside sites, rock shelter sites. This paper aims to highlight the potential interactions between such physical context variability and the taphonomical features of Magdalenian faunal preservations. The issues presented here mainly focus on the comparison of the two faunal remains’ assemblages of Étiolles (a lowland site of the Seine valley) and Ville-Saint-Jacques (hill side site closed to the Seine valley). These faunal assemblages have been studied using the same set of qualitative and quantitative criteria in order to facilitate direct comparisons. This paper must be viewed as the first step of a more systematical survey of Magdalenian faunal assemblages in the Paris Basin. Finally, the main goal of this survey aims to point out the respective zooarchaeological potential of such sites, and by the way, to reach their global socioeconomic significations.     

Design and synthesis of a novel inhibitor of T. Viride chitinase through an in silico target fishing protocol

In the last ten years, we identified and developed a new therapeutic class of antifungal agents, the macrocyclic amidinoureas. These compounds are active against several Candida species, including clinical isolates resistant to currently available antifungal drugs. The mode of action of these molecules is still unknown. In this work, we developed an in-silico target fishing procedure to identify a possible target for this class of compounds based on shape similarity, inverse docking procedure and consensus score rank-by-rank. Chitinase enzyme emerged as possible target. To confirm this hypothesis a novel macrocyclic derivative has been produced, specifically designed to increase the inhibition of the chitinase. Biological evaluation highlights a stronger enzymatic inhibition for the new derivative, while its antifungal activity drops probably because of pharmacokinetic issues. Collectively, our data suggest that chitinase represent at least one of the main target of macrocyclic amidinoureas.     

Crystal structure of a cold-adapted class C beta-lactamase

In this study, the crystal structure of a class C beta-lactamase from a psychrophilic organism, Pseudomonas fluorescens, has been refined to 2.2 A resolution. It is one of the few solved crystal structures of psychrophilic proteins. The structure was compared with those of homologous mesophilic enzymes and of another, modeled, psychrophilic protein. The elucidation of the 3D structure of this enzyme provides additional insights into the features involved in cold adaptation. Structure comparison of the psychrophilic and mesophilic beta-lactamases shows that electrostatics seems to play a major role in low-temperature adaptation, with a lower total number of ionic interactions for cold enzymes. The psychrophilic enzymes are also characterized by a decreased number of hydrogen bonds, a lower content of prolines, and a lower percentage of arginines in comparison with lysines. All these features make the structure more flexible so that the enzyme can behave as an efficient catalyst at low temperatures.