Characterization and fine mapping of <Emphasis Type="Italic">RppQ</Emphasis>, a resistance gene to southern corn rust in maize

Southern corn rust (SCR) is a fungal disease caused by Puccinia polysora Underw, which can infect maize and may result in substantial yield losses in maize production. The maize inbred line Qi319 carries the SCR resistance gene RppQ. In order to identify molecular markers linked to the RppQ gene, several techniques were utilized including random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), simple sequence repeat (SSR), and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). In addition, sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) techniques combined with bulked segregant analysis (BSA) were used. Seven RAPD markers, eight SSR markers, and sixty-three AFLP primer combinations amplified polymorphisms between two parents and two bulk populations. A large F₂ population was used for genetic analysis and for fine mapping of the RppQ gene region. One AFLP polymorphic band, M-CAA/E-AGC₃₂₄, was converted to a SCAR marker, MA7, which was mapped to a position 0.46 cM from RppQ. Finally, the RppQ gene was mapped between the SCAR marker MA7 and the AFLP marker M-CCG/E-AGA₁₅₇ with distances of 0.46 and 1.71 cM, respectively.     

A novel vector element providing multicopy vector integration in Arxula adeninivorans

An Arxula adeninivorans vector element has been identified that provides multicopy integration in an atrp1 host strain. The element consists of the ATRP1 selection marker fused to a newly generated truncated ALEU2 promoter of 53 bp. In the described example eight copies of an amyA expression vector encoding heterologous alpha-amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens are integrated in the genome of the recombinant strain instead of a single copy observed when using the ATRP1 element with the complete promoter. The high copy number results in strains of superior productivity for a secreted recombinant alpha-amylase. The vector design enables the integration of a small vector fragment that consists of yeast DNA only providing high transformation frequencies and a high mitotic stability.     

Development of ten new EST-derived microsatellites in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.)

Ten polymorphic microsatellite markers were developed from approximately 1,300 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.). Thirty two primer pairs were designed for EST sequences containing perfect di- tri- tetra- and pentanucleotide motifs and characterised in 96 unrelated fish. Ten markers were successfully amplified with number of alleles from 2 to 13 per locus and observed and expected heterozygosity ranging from 0.03 to 0.69 and 0.03 to 0.74, respectively. Loci Gmo-C131, C132 and C136 deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genetic linkage disequilibrium analysis between all pairs of the loci showed significant departure from the null hypothesis between loci Gmo-C131 and Gmo-C132 and C128 and Gmo-C133. The gene identity was determined at five of the loci, confirming the associated microsatellites as Type I markers. The new microsatellites reported in this work can be used for conservation and enhancement of wild stocks for commercial harvesting. Jon-Ivar Westgaard and Tekle Tafese have contributed equally to the work.     

Homoplasy or plesiomorphy? Reconstruction of the evolutionary history of mitochondrial gene order rearrangements in the subphylum Neodermata

Recent mitogenomic studies have exposed a gene order (GO) shared by two classes, four orders and 31 species (‘common GO’) within the flatworm subphylum Neodermata. There are two possible hypotheses for this phenomenon: convergent evolution (homoplasy) or shared ancestry (plesiomorphy). To test those, we conducted a meta-analysis on all available mitogenomes to infer the evolutionary history of GO in Neodermata. To improve the resolution, we added a newly sequenced mitogenome that exhibited the common GO, Euryhaliotrema johni (Ancyrocephalinae), to the dataset. Phylogenetic analyses conducted on two datasets (nucleotides of all 36 genes and amino acid sequences of 12 protein coding genes) and four algorithms (MrBayes, RAxML, IQ-TREE and PhyloBayes) produced topology instability towards the tips, so ancestral GO reconstructions were conducted using TreeREx and MLGO programs using all eight obtained topologies, plus three unique topologies from previous studies. The results consistently supported the second hypothesis, resolving the common GO as a plesiomorphic ancestral GO for Neodermata, Cestoda, Monopisthocotylea, Cestoda + Trematoda and Cestoda + Trematoda + Monopisthocotylea. This allowed us to trace the evolutionary GO scenarios from each common ancestor to its descendants amongst the Monogenea and Cestoda classes, and propose that the common GO was most likely retained throughout all of the common ancestors, leading to the extant species possessing the common GO. Neodermatan phylogeny inferred from GOs was largely incongruent with all 11 topologies described above, but it did support the mitogenomic dataset in resolving Polyopisthocotylea as the earliest neodermatan branch. Although highly derived GOs might be of some use in resolving isolated taxonomic and phylogenetic uncertainties, we conclude that, due to the discontinuous nature of their evolution, they tend to produce artefactual phylogenetic relationships, which makes them unsuitable for phylogenetic reconstruction in Neodermata. Wider and denser sampling of neodermatan mitogenomic sequences will be needed to infer the evolutionary pathways leading to the observed diversity of GOs with confidence.     

EA15, MIR22, LINC00472 as diagnostic markers for diabetic kidney disease

This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and to explore new potential therapeutic strategies and biomarkers for DKD. First we analyzed the differentially expressed changes between patients with DKD and the control group using the chip data in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then the gene chip was subjected to be annotated again, so as to screen long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and study expression differences of these lncRNAs in DKD and controlled samples. At last, the function of the differential lncRNAs was analyzed. A total of 252 lncRNAs were identified, and 14 were differentially expressed. In addition, there were 1,629 differentially expressed messenger RNAs (mRNAs) genes, and proliferation and apoptosis adapter protein 15 (PEA15), MIR22, and long intergenic nonprotein coding RNA 472 ( LINC00472) were significantly differentially expressed in DKD samples. Through functional analysis of the encoding genes coexpressed by the three lncRNAs, we found these genes were mainly enriched in type 1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease pathways, whereas in Gene Ontology (GO) function classification, they were also mainly enriched in the immune response, type I interferon signaling pathways, interferon-γ mediated signaling pathways, and so forth. To summary, we identified EA15, MIR22, and LINC00472 may serve as the potential diagnostic markers of DKD.     

一种强力霉素诱导型白念珠菌基因敲除与筛选标记再循环工具包

【目的】在白念珠菌中建立一个快捷方便经济的基因敲除与筛选标记再循环的DNA操作系统。【方法】通过ExoIII介导的不依赖于连接酶的克隆策略,在异源筛选标记基因CmLEU2、CdHIS1和CdARG4基因的两侧分别插入了loxP位点,成为筛选标记基因盒扩增的模板。全基因合成了经过白念珠菌密码子优化的rTetR元件,并组装成Tet-on启动子。将密码子优化的重组酶Cre基因置于该启动子控制下。然后将他们插入筛选标记基因CdHIS1和CdARG4的CDS区域,形成筛选标记基因再循环载体。【结果】构建了3个用于白念珠菌基因敲除的侧翼含有loxP位点的筛选标记基因载体,以及2个含有Tet-on启动子控制的Cre酶的载体用于筛选标记基因的再循环。【结论】成功构建了一个白念珠菌中可诱导的基因敲除和筛选标记再循环的载体系统并成功应用于多个基因缺失株构建。这个系统有助于快速构建白念珠菌的单基因和多基因敲除菌株。     

Signification des technologies bifaciales au Paléolithique moyen des montagnes de l’Altaï

Previously the single bifacial tools found in different industrial variants of the Altai Middle Paleolithic (Sibiryachikha and Kara-bom) were not considered to be cultural markers that could be used to differentiate the technological/cultural variants, but rather a bright, but situational manifestation of the typological variability, especially in the case of the Sibiryachika assemblages. As a result of recent studies of Chagyrskaya Cave, the key-site of Sibiryachikha, it was found that all the bifaces are made using plano-convex technology. In the Chagyrskaya Cave assemblage all stages of bifacial production have been found: pre-forms, bifacial tools and tools made on the bifacial thinning flakes, accompanied by numerous bifacial thinning flakes and bifacial thinning chips. A preliminary study of the bifaces from the second Sibiryachikha site, Okladnikov Cave evidenced the use of the same plano-convex technology. On the other hand, in the Kara-bom complexes (Kara-Bom, Ust-Karakol-1, Anuy-3), all bifacial tools are made using bi-convex bifacial technology. Thus, the criteria for the technological distinction of bifacial production assume special importance as a cultural marker that allows the differentiation the Altai Middle Paleolithic technological variants. Taking into account the fact that Chagyrskaya Cave and Okladnikov Cave are associated only with Neanderthal remains, it can be assumed that bifacial plano-convexe technology in the Middle Paleolithic of Altai is linked to the appearance and existence of their population in the region.     

Genetic structure in the marbled rockfish (Sebastiscus marmoratus) across most of the distribution in the northwestern Pacific

The marbled rockfish (Sebastiscus marmoratus) is an important species that is widely distributed across the marginal seas of the northwestern Pacific. Several kinds of DNA markers, such as amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), have been used to assess the population genetic characteristics of this species in previous studies. However, there have been no genetic profiling studies to cover the entire distribution. Here, six highly polymorphic microsatellite markers were applied to 18 populations across a spatially large area (from the Sea of Japan in the north to the South China Sea in the south). The results showed that the whole population exhibits high, stable genetic diversity, low relatedness and large effective population size. There was very weak genetic differentiation overall and no isolation by distance occurred among the populations, which may be attributed to significant contemporary gene flow, each generation. The above results may lead us to infer that the recent S. marmoratus population structure could be considered as one large integrated population. The present study will be beneficial to population conservation and fisheries management of S. marmoratus and will lead to better insights into the genetic characteristics of other species that belong to the Sebastidae family.