Mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome variation provides evidence for a recent common ancestry between Native Americans and Indigenous Altaians

The Altai region of southern Siberia has played a critical role in the peopling of northern Asia as an entry point into Siberia and a possible homeland for ancestral Native Americans. It has an old and rich history because humans have inhabited this area since the Paleolithic. Today, the Altai region is home to numerous Turkic-speaking ethnic groups, which have been divided into northern and southern clusters based on linguistic, cultural, and anthropological traits. To untangle Altaian genetic histories, we analyzed mtDNA and Y chromosome variation in northern and southern Altaian populations. All mtDNAs were assayed by PCR-RFLP analysis and control region sequencing, and the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome was scored for more than 100 biallelic markers and 17 Y-STRs. Based on these data, we noted differences in the origin and population history of Altaian ethnic groups, with northern Altaians appearing more like Yeniseian, Ugric, and Samoyedic speakers to the north, and southern Altaians having greater affinities to other Turkic speaking populations of southern Siberia and Central Asia. Moreover, high-resolution analysis of Y chromosome haplogroup Q has allowed us to reshape the phylogeny of this branch, making connections between populations of the New World and Old World more apparent and demonstrating that southern Altaians and Native Americans share a recent common ancestor. These results greatly enhance our understanding of the peopling of Siberia and the Americas.     

Ancestral Asian source(s) of new world Y-chromosome founder haplotypes

Haplotypes constructed from Y-chromosome markers were used to trace the origins of Native Americans. Our sample consisted of 2,198 males from 60 global populations, including 19 Native American and 15 indigenous North Asian groups. A set of 12 biallelic polymorphisms gave rise to 14 unique Y-chromosome haplotypes that were unevenly distributed among the populations. Combining multiallelic variation at two Y-linked microsatellites (DYS19 and DXYS156Y) with the unique haplotypes results in a total of 95 combination haplotypes. Contra previous findings based on Y- chromosome data, our new results suggest the possibility of more than one Native American paternal founder haplotype. We postulate that, of the nine unique haplotypes found in Native Americans, haplotypes 1C and 1F are the best candidates for major New World founder haplotypes, whereas haplotypes 1B, 1I, and 1U may either be founder haplotypes and/or have arrived in the New World via recent admixture. Two of the other four haplotypes (YAP+ haplotypes 4 and 5) are probably present because of post-Columbian admixture, whereas haplotype 1G may have originated in the New World, and the Old World source of the final New World haplotype (1D) remains unresolved. The contrasting distribution patterns of the two major candidate founder haplotypes in Asia and the New World, as well as the results of a nested cladistic analysis, suggest the possibility of more than one paternal migration from the general region of Lake Baikal to the Americas.     

Seed characteristics and fatty acid composition of castor (<i>Ricinus communis</i> L.) varieties in Northeast China

Oil content and fatty acid composition were investigated on 12 castor varieties and strains by using the soxhlet extraction method and capillary gas chromatography. This was made to provide a reference and theoretical basis for castorbean breeding with high oil content, determine variability of seed compounds for breeding purposes, and broaden chemical material choices. Results revealed that crude fat percentage in seeds ranged from 18.91 to 35.84% with an average of 25.91%; the absolute content of ricinoleic acid varied between 171.65 g/kg and 314.03 g/kg with an average of 222.43 g/kg, and kernel crude fat percentage was between 24.28 and 46.97% with an average of 34.30%. All these study variables were highest in the 2129 strain. The percentage of ricinoleic acid in crude fat was between 83.85 to 87.62%, and the highest value was found in the zhebi4 accession. The other fatty acids appeared in small concentrations, and showed small amplitude: 1.12 to 1.61%, 1.21 to 1.61%, 3.53 to 4.80%, 5.35 to 6.38%, 0.52 to 0.79%, 0.05 to 0.08% and 0.43 to 0.55%, for palmitic, stearic, oleic, linolic, linolenic, arachidic, and arachidonic acids, respectively. One hundred seed weight was determined for each accession. One hundred seed weight ranged from 25.7 g to 34.0 g with an average of 29.9 g. There was a significant correlation between seed weight and oil content, but the correlation value was low (r=0.51). Cluster analysis by SSPS based on the content of fatty acid composition revealed that the accessions were divided into three independent clusters. These findings will clearly provide useful information for further research in breeding and utilization of castor oil.     

Myosin light chains of skeletal and cardiac muscles of ground squirrel Citillus undulatus in different periods of hibernation

The isoform composition of myosin light chains and the extent of their phosphorylation in skeletal and cardiac muscles of ground squirrel Citellus undulatus in different periods of hibernation were studied. Regulatory myosin light chains of skeletal muscles of hibernating ground squirrels were completely dephosphorylated, while 25% of these light chains in active animals were phosphorylated. During hibernation, a shift of isoform composition of essential and regulatory skeletal muscle myosin light chains toward slower isoforms was observed, which is evidenced by the data obtained on m. psoas and on the totality of all skeletal muscles. In the atrial myocardium of hibernating ground squirrels, ventricular myosin light chains 1 (up to 60%) were registered. In contrast, during arousal of ground squirrels, in ventricular myocardium the appearance of atrial myosin light chains 1 (up to 30%) was revealed. A possible role of posttranslation changes in myosin light chains and their isoform shifts in the hibernation scenario is discussed.     

骨形成蛋白(BMP)-2/4，-5与IA型BMP受体在口腔正常上皮、良性病变及癌变中的表达分析

认识BMP及其受体与口腔正常上皮及其癌变的关系。有助于深入了解口腔上皮癌变的机理。本文用免疫组织化学方法对BMP-2/4,-5与BMPR-IA在口腔颊部粘膜正常上皮,良性病变和癌变中的表达进行观察和半定量分析。标本包括：9例正常上皮（normal buccal muosa,NB)。8例慢性炎症（nonspecific chronic inflammation,NCI),7例过度角化（hyperkeratosis,HK)。5例乳头状瘤（squamous cell papilloma,SCP)。29例鳞癌（squamous cell carcinoma,SCC)。10例癌旁上皮（epithelium immediately adjacent to carcinoma,EAC)以及6例硬腭粘膜上皮（normal mucosa of hard palate,NHP）。结果显示：BMP-2/4,-5与BMPR-IA在口腔粘膜的正常与良性病变上皮中有弱的和不均一的阳性表达,NB与NHP无明显差别,而除3例SCC外,其它SCC几乎均有程度不一的阳性表达,在EAC中的表达接近于SCC,二者明显高于正常与良性组,此外,转移在淋巴结中的癌细胞的BMP-2/4与BMP-5阳性程度略高于原发灶的癌细胞,本文认为;BMP-2/4,5与BMPR-IA可能参与调控口腔上皮的癌变。     

Lepadiform and scalpelliform barnacles from the Oligocene and Miocene of the Paratethys sea

Abstract: A review on the Oligocene and Miocene stalked barnacles of the Paratethys Sea is presented. The fauna comprises two lepadiform and eight scalpelliform species. Only two species are known from Oligocene deposits, four are documented from Lower Miocene formations, and another four species occur in the Middle Miocene. Only one Oligocene and one Miocene species occur in two different Paratethyan basins in roughly coeval environments, and only a single Middle Miocene species is also known from the adjacent Mediterranean Sea. This low degree of biogeographical similarity is probably a result from the still low number of publications dealing with this group. Stalked barnacles are often indicating bathyal or at least deep sublittoral environments. Especially, the abundance of the benthic deep‐water lepadiform Poecilasma in evaporitic deposits of the Middle Miocene Badenian Salinity Crisis may serve as new evidence for a deeper marine depositional environment. Scalpellum paratethyianum sp. nov. and Lepas sattmanni sp. nov. are described as new species; Arcoscalpellum renevieri (Mayer and Gümbel in Gümbel, 1861) is introduced as new combination.     

Effect of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">ipt</Emphasis> gene expression on wheat tolerance to root flooding

The effect of enhanced cytokinin synthesis due to expression of the ipt gene from Agrobacterium tumefaciens on plant tolerance to root flooding was studied. Transgenic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plants carrying the ipt gene were more tolerant to flooding than wild-type plants. The effect of transformation was manifested in the higher yield and less growth inhibition during flooding. The measurements of activities of antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase and catalase, as well as MDA content during flooding revealed differences between wild-type and transgenic plants that correlated with their tolerance. These results point to the protective role of cytokinins during wheat root flooding.