First evidence of spawning of eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua callarias) in the Belt Sea,the main spawning area of western Baltic cod (Gadus morhua L.)

Two cod stocks (western Baltic cod, WBC, and eastern Baltic cod, EBC) are managed in the Baltic Sea which is characterized by different main spawning areas and different main spawning periods. In this study we analyse the spatial and temporal occurrence of spawning individuals of both cod stocks in the main spawning grounds of the Baltic Sea based on eight microsatellite loci. Our results suggest that EBC (Gadus morhua callarias) has formed currently temporally stable, substantially homogeneous population not only in the Bornholm Sea (ICES SD: 25) but also in the Arkona Sea (ICES SD: 24). The presented analyses proved that EBC (G. m. callarias) can temporarily also spawn in the Belt Sea.     

Brief morphological characteristics of cod <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gadus macrocephalus</Emphasis> (Gadidae) from coastal waters of the Komandor Islands

The results of the studies on morpho-biological characteristics of Pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus of Bering Island coastal waters (Komandor Islands) are presented. As assessed by several morphometric indices, the studied cod differs from the cod of the Bering Sea.     

Preliminary data on variation of four microsatellite loci in Pacific herring <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clupea pallasii</Emphasis>

Variation of microsatellite loci Cpa110, Cpa113, Cpa4, and Cpa7 was for the first time examined in Pacific-type herring Clupea pallasii from the White Sea (Cl. pallasii marisalbi), the Kara Sea (Cl. pallasii suworowi), the Sea of Okhotsk, and Lake Nerpich’e, Kamchatka Bay, northwestern Pacific (Cl. pallasii pallasii). All loci exhibitedhigh genetic diversity. The estimates of expected heterozygosity varied from 41.5 to 95.6% (mean, 82%). The level of pairwise genetic differentiation F _st at all microsatellite loci varied from 0.005 to 0.076 (0.019, on average) and t was statistically significant (p < 0.05) in most of the pairs of herring samples. Estimates of genetic differentiation among the herring of one subspecies were lower than between the groups belonging to different subspecies.     

Biological and genetic characteristics of deepwater redfish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sebastes mentella</Emphasis> (Scorpaenidae) from the open part of the Norwegian Sea

The analysis is conducted of the biological and genetic characteristics of deepwater redfish Sebastes mentella from the open part of the Norwegian Sea. A similarity of the studied sample with analogous groups of deepwater redfish from the Northeast Atlantic in biological parameters and their dynamics is revealed. Polymorphism is registered in three of the nine studied enzyme loci: malic enzyme (NADF-dependent malatedehydrogenase), MEP-1*; phosphoglucomutase from the liver, PGM-2*; and glucose-6-phosphateisomerase, PGI*. A pairwise comparison of allele frequencies shows a similarity of the samples of deepwater redfish from the enclave of the Norwegian Sea. In addition, based on a pairwise analysis, significant differences are absent between the samples with similar biological characteristics from the open part of the Norwegian Sea and the Irminger Sea.     

Variability of DNA microsatellite loci in populations of Pacific cod <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gadus macrocephalus</Emphasis> Tilesius (Gadidae)

Despite almost a hundred years of studies on the Pacific cod’s biological and ecological peculiarities, many of them and especially population structure remain poorly understood. The variability of DNA microsatellite loci Gmo3, Gmo34, Gmo35, Pgmo32, and Gmo 19 was analyzed for the cod sampled in different areas of the North Pacific. The cod sampled nearby the Southern Kurils, differed significantly by Gmo3 and Pgmo32 compared to the populations inhabiting the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk and the coastal waters off Canada. Further, Pacific cod of the three latter populations demonstrated high similarity (I = 0.996) in spite of considerable geographic remoteness of these areas from one another.     

Re-evaluation of genetic formulae and epistasis

Experimental verification of some quantitative results, following from the new theory for investigation of non-allelic genes' interactions in the diallele analysis by Hayman was conducted. We postulated earlier a special kind of epistasis HC which is the new explication of epistasis j--the interaction between homozygote and heterozygote by Mather and Jinks. Genetic interpretation of the epistasis HC establishes some relations between epistasis and the model of ecological-genetical control of quantitative characters. We found the invariant characteristic of genetic control which is stable in a number of characters, environments, treatments, inspite of redetermination of genetic formulae under conditions of environmental variability.     

New Data on the Biology of Kildin Cod Gadus morhua kildinensis (Gadidae) from Lake Mogilnoe (Kildin Island,the Barents Sea) Obtained by Echo Sounding and Underwater Photography

Journal of Ichthyology - The distribution of the Kildin cod Gadus morhua kildinensis in Lake Mogilnoye (Kildin Island, Barents Sea) is assessed based on the results of echo sounding and...     

Mechanisms of the adaptation of the Kildin cod <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gadus morhua kildinensis</Emphasis> Derjugin, 1920 (Pisces: Gadidae) to the specific conditions of Lake Mogilnoye

The mechanisms of the adaptation of the Kildin cod to the conditions of a meromictic lake were analyzed based on the study of morphological, biological, and genetic characteristics. Significant differences between the Kildin cod and Atlantic cod have been found in their morphological and genetic characteristics. The results of an X-ray microanalysis of otoliths, which were conducted for the first time, confirm that the distribution range of the Kildin cod in Lake Mogilnoye also extends to brackish waters. It has been shown that the formation of the reproductively isolated lacustrine population of Kildin cod is accompanied by specialization in a number of characteristics (body color, feeding strategy, behavior, etc.) and by a decrease in genetic diversity.     

Developing novel approaches to improve binding energy estimation and virtual screening: a PARP case study

Poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase (PARP) is a promising anti-cancer target as it plays a crucial role in the cellular reparation and survival mechanisms. However, the development of a robust and cost effective experimental technique to screen PARP inhibitors is still a scientific challenge owing to the difficulties in quantitative detection of the enzyme activity. In this work we demonstrate that the computational chemistry tools including molecular docking and scoring can perform on par with the experimental studies in assessing binding constants and in the recovery of active compounds in virtual screening. Using the recently introduced Lead Finder software we were able to dock a set of 142 well characterized PARP inhibitors and obtain a good correlation between the calculated and experimentally measured binding energies with the rmsd of 1.67 kcal mol⁻¹. Additionally, fine-tuning of the energy scaling coefficients within the Lead Finder scoring function has further decreased rmsd to the value of 0.88 kcal mol⁻¹. Moreover, we were able to reproduce the selectivity of ligand binding between the two isoforms of the enzyme-PARP1 and PARP2-suggesting that the Lead Finder software can be used to design isoform-selective inhibitors of PARP. An impressive enrichment was obtained in the virtual screening experiment, in which the mentioned set of PARP inhibitors was mixed with a commercial library of 300,000 compounds. We also demonstrate that the virtual screening performance can be significantly improved by an additional structural filtration of the docked ligand poses through detection of the crucial hydrogen bonding interactions with the enzyme.