Chemical classification of cattle. 2. Phylogenetic tree and specific status of the Zebu

Phylogenetic trees for the ten major breed groups of cattle were constructed by Farris's (1972) maximum parsimony method, or Fitch & Margoliash's (1967) method, which averages ou the deviation over the entire assemblage. Both techniques yield essentially identical trees. The phylogenetic tree for the ten major cattle breed groups can be superimposed on a map of Europe and western Asia, the root of the tree being close to the 'fertile crescent' in Asia Minor, believed to be a primary centre of bovine domestication.
For some but not all protein variants there is a cline of gene frequencies as one proceeds from the British Isles and northwest Europe towards southeast Europe and Asia Minor, with the most extreme gene frequencies in the Zebu breeds of India. It is not clear to what extent the observed clines are primary or secondary, i.e., consequent to the initial migrations of cattle towards the end of the Pleistocene or consequent to the many migrations of man with his domesticated cattle. Such clines as exist are not in themselves sufficient to prove either selection versus genetic drift or to establish taxonomic ranking. Contrary to some suggestions in the literature, the biochemical evidence supports Linnaeus's original conclusions: Bos taurus and Bos indicus are distinct species.     

Aldose reductase,NADPH and NADP+ in normal,galactose-fed and diabetic rat lens

NADPH and NADP⁺ levels were measured in rat lens from normal controls, from galactose-fed and diabetic rats during the first week of cataract formation.The level of NADPH in normal rat lens was determined to be 12.3 ± 0.4 nmol/g wet weight, and that of NADP⁺ 4.6 ± 0.2 nmol/g wet weight. In early cataract formation NADPH levels decreased rapidly during the first 2 days and then remained stable at 76% of control for galactose-fed and 84% for diabetic rats. NADP⁺ levels increased by 38% of control for galactose-fed and 54% for diabetic rats. Calculated NADPH/NADP⁺ ratios dropped from 3.36 ± 0.21 to 1.86 ± 0.16 in galactose fed rats, and from 2.81 ± 0.15 to 1.61 ± 0.16 in diabetic rats (P < 0.001 for both experimental groups). These data are consistent with rapid NADPH oxidation during onset of lens cataracts. No significant changes in aldose reductase enzymatic activity levels were observed in either the galactosemic or the diabetic rats during the times measured.     

Chemical classification of cattle. 1. Breed groups

From approximately 1000 papers with data on protein polymorphism in some 216 breeds of cattle, 10 polymorphic proteins were compared in means and variances of gene frequencies (arcsin p½) for ten well-recognized breed groups for 196 of the breeds. The polymorphic proteins were α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, caseins (α_sl, β and x), serum albumin, transferrin, haemoglobin, amylase I and carbonic anhydrase II. The breed groups were North European, Pied Lowland, European Red brachyceros, Channel Island brachyceros, Upland brachyceros, primigenius-brachyceros mixed, primigenius, Indian Zebu, African Humped (with Zebu admixture), and African Humped (Sanga).
The coherence within groups and the differences between groups are often impressive. Only carbonic anhydrase II fails to differentiate at least some of the major breed groups.
In some cases paradoxical distributions of rare genetic variants can be explained by a more detailed inspection of breed history.
The chemical data support the morphological and geographical divisions of cattle into major breed groups. There are three distinct but related brachyceros groups; for some polymorphisms the two Channel Island breeds, the Jersey and the Guernsey, are quite divergent. Although some authorities have considered the Pied Lowland as primigenius, it is a very distinct breed group.     

Unbalanced Repeated Measures with Random Coefficients

In a random coefficient repeated measures model, the regression coefficients relating the observations to some underlying variable, such as time, are themselves taken to be random distributed over experimental units. In this paper, a general approach to repeated measures analysis is extended to this wider model. In the model three specific error structures for the random regression coefficients have been studied, viz, the random coefficients variance matrix is considered to be (i) diagonal, (ii) proportional to the identity matrix and (iii) completely general. An example will be analyzed to illustrate the procedure.     

COMBO: a defined freshwater culture medium for algae and zooplankton

In order to conduct experiments on interactions between animals and food organisms, it is necessary to develop a medium that adequately supports the growth of both algae and zooplankton without the need to alter the medium to accommodate either the algae or the animals. We devised a freshwater medium, named COMBO, that supports excellent growth of both algae and zooplankton. Two types of algae, Ankistrodesmus falcatus and Stephanodiscus hantzschii, were reared in COMBO and their growth rates were not significantly different from those of algae grown in a reference medium (WC). One of these algae, A. falcatus, was then fed to a cladoceran, Daphnia pulicaria, which was also cultured in COMBO, and the resulting fecundities of D. pulicaria were compared to those of animals reared in natural surface water. We also determined whether the value of COMBO as a medium for D. pulicaria was affected by modifications in nitrogen or phosphorus concentration to evaluate whether the new medium will be useful in nutritional research. Lowering the N or P content of COMBO did not affect the reproductive performance of D. pulicaria. Other researchers have also reported excellent growth and reproduction by numerous algae and zooplankton reared in COMBO. Our results suggest that COMBO is an effective artificial, defined culture medium capable of supporting robust growth and reproduction of both freshwater algae and zooplankton. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.