Microorganisms and parthenogenesis

Endosymbionts are being discovered in unprecedented numbers of invertebrate species. The bacterium Wolbachia pipientis alone is carried by some 20% of all insect species, in which it is responsible for such reproductive manipulations as cytoplasmic incompatibility, feminization of genetic males, male-killing and parthenogenesis. The discovery of Wolbachia -induced thelytoky in hymenopteran parasitoids has initiated the successful search in other groups of haplodiploid species. Haplodiploidy has arisen at least 17 times during animal evolution and intracellular bacteria that effect sexual development have been found in many of these haplodiploid groups, rekindling the question regarding the origin of haplodiploidy. The detection of Wolbachia in parthenogenetic thrips (Thysanoptera), booklice (Psocoptera), springtails (Collembola), mites (Acari) and Xiphinematobacter in dragger nematodes (Dorylaimida) raises the possibility of bacterial-induced parthenogenesis in diplodiploid species as well. Recent studies indicate that Wolbachia might be just one of a rapidly increasing list of intracellular bacteria capable of inducing parthenogenesis in their host. The search for novel endosymbionts will rely heavily on previous taxonomic work, but the possibilities for discovery remain boundless.  © 2003 The Linnean Society of London. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2003, 79 , 43–58.     

普通小麦–大赖草易位系T6DL·7LrS的分子细胞遗传学鉴定

大赖草高抗小麦赤霉病,将大赖草抗性基因导入普通小麦,对创新小麦赤霉病抗性种质有重要意义。为了获得普通小麦-大赖草抗赤霉病易位系,采用12 00 R~(60)Co-γ射线处理小麦-大赖草二体附加系DA7Lr花粉,授予已去雄的普通小麦中国春,对其后代(M1)种子根尖细胞有丝分裂中期染色体进行GISH分析,获得了1株具有1条普通小麦-大赖草易位染色体的植株,让其自交,对自交后代中具有2条易位染色体植株的花粉母细胞减数分裂中期I进行观察,发现2条易位染色体形成了稳定的棒状二价体,表明该植株为纯合体。利用顺序GISH-双色FISH分析,结合小麦D组专化探针Oligo-pAs1-2和B组专化探针Oligo-pSc119.2-2,进一步鉴定出该普通小麦-大赖草易位系为T6DL·7LrS,该易位系的育成也为小麦赤霉病遗传改良提供了新种质。     

New interspecific hybrids in Lathyrus (Leguminosae): Lathyrus annuus× L. hierosolymitanus

Experimental hybridization, cytogenetic observations, flower pigment analyses and scanning electron microscope observations of seed coat features were used to investigate the relationship between L. annuus L. and L. hierosolymitanus Boiss. Pod width, seed size, shape and surface ornamentation proved to be good diagnostic criteria for distinguishing the two taxa. Hybridization between various accessions of the two species revealed variation both between and within accessions. Enhanced anthocyanin levels were detected in the standard petals of the reciprocal hybrids made between two specific accessions of L. annuus and L. hierosolymitanus. The results of the investigations support the retention of L. annuus and L. hierosolymitanus as separate species.     

Multidirectional chromosome painting reveals a remarkable syntenic homology between the greater galagos and the slow loris

We report on the first reciprocal chromosome painting of lorisoids and humans. The chromosome painting showed a remarkable syntenic homology between Otolemur and Nycticebus. Eight derived syntenic associations of human segments are common to both Otolemur and Nycticebus, indicative of a considerable period of common evolution between the greater galago and the slow loris. Five additional Robertsonian translocations form the slow loris karyotype, while the remaining chromosomes are syntenically equivalent, although some differ in terms of centromere position and heterochromatin additions. Strikingly, the breakpoints of the human chromosomes found fragmented in these two species are apparently identical. Only fissions of homologs to human chromosomes 1 and 15 provide significant evidence of a cytogenetic link between Lemuriformes and Lorisiformes. The association of human chromosomes 7/16 in both lorisoids strongly suggests that this chromosome was present in the ancestral primate genome.     

Cytotaxonomy of Astyanax (Characiformes,Characidae) from the Upper Iguaçu River Basin: confirmation of the occurrence of distinct evolutionary units

Taxonomic studies of the genus Astyanax from the Iguaçu River (Brazil) indicate that they may be differentiated into 11 distinct species, some of which have not been formally described and named so for. This study focuses on three of these species, Astyanax sp. B, Astyanax sp. C and Astyanax sp. D from the Upper Iguaçu River Basin. Comparative cytogenetic analyses of C‐banding, Ag‐NORs (silver nitrate stained nucleolar organizer region) and 18S and 5S rDNA corroborate that they are distinct species. A diploid number of 50 chromosomes and similar karyotypic formulae were observed in the three taxa, with the exception of Astyanax sp. D that differs in the number of submetacentric and subtelocentric chromosomes. However, the NOR silver‐staining pattern, the heterochromatic bands (C‐bands) and the mapping of the 18S and 5S rDNA sites in the chromosomes showed divergences between all three species under study, supporting the occurrence of distinct evolutionary units.     

Cytogenetical studies in five Atlantic Anguilliformes fishes

The order Anguilliformes comprises 15 families, 141 genera and 791 fish species. Eight families had at least one karyotyped species, with a prevalence of 2n = 38 chromosomes and high fundamental numbers (FN). The only exception to this pattern is the family Muraenidae, in which the eight species analyzed presented 2n = 42 chromosomes. Despite of the large number of Anguilliformes species, karyotypic reports are available for only a few representatives. In the present work, a species of Ophichthidae, Myrichthys ocellatus (2n = 38; 8m+14sm+10st+6a; FN = 70) and four species of Muraenidae, Enchelycore nigricans (2n = 42; 6m+8sm+12st+16a; FN = 68), Gymnothorax miliaris (2n = 42; 14m+18sm+10st; FN = 84), G. vicinus (2n = 42; 8m+6sm+28a; FN = 56) and Muraena pavonina (2n = 42; 6m+4sm+32a; FN = 52), collected along the Northeastern coast of Brazil and around the St Peter and St Paul Archipelago were analyzed. Typical large metacentric chromosomes were observed in all species. Conspicuous polymorphic heterochromatic regions were observed at the centromeres of most chromosomes and at single ribosomal sites. The data obtained for Ophichthidae corroborate the hypothesis of a karyotypic diversification mainly due to pericentric inversions and Robertsonian rearrangements, while the identification of constant chromosome numbers in Muraenidae (2n = 42) suggests a karyotype diversification through pericentric inversions and heterochromatin processes.     

谷子与轮生狗尾草（2X,4X）种间的亲缘关系分析

将同工酶技术与细胞遗传学相结合,对谷子与轮生狗尾草（２Ｘ、４Ｘ）野生种之间的遗传与进化关系进行了分析。分析结果表明：谷子与轮生狗尾草四倍体类型（４Ｘ）具有一定的同源性,而与轮生狗尾草二倍体类型（２Ｘ）的同源性较少。轮生狗尾草四倍体类型与轮生狗尾草二倍体类型具有与谷子相近的同淅性。青狗尾草（谷子）和轮生狗尾草二倍体类型（２Ｘ）是轮生狗尾草四倍体类型（４Ｘ）最可能的两个祖先种。轮生狗尾草二倍体类型与四     

Cytogenetic, morphologic and oncogene analysis of a cell line derived from a heterologous mixed mullerian tumor of the ovary

Summary A cell line was established from a mixed mullerian tumor of the ovary and designated LN1. Histopathologic analysis of the fresh tumor specimen demonstrated a highly aneuploid heterologous tumor comprised of undifferentiated mesodermal components with carcinomatous cells present as a smaller population. Long-term in vitro culture resulted in the establishment of a cell line that exhibits an epithelial-like morphology and expresses epithelial antigens cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen, and carcinoma antigen TAG-72. These cells also express mesenchymal intermediate filaments, vimentin, and desmin. Karyotypic analysis revealed a basic triploid pattern with multiple chromosomal abnormalities, most notably an isochromosome of the short arm of five present in three copies. Analysis of oncogene expression revealed that LN1 cells constitutively express mRNA for c-ras, c-erbB2, and p53. The expression of mRNA for cellular oncogenes correlated with the presence of corresponding oncoproteins, p21^H-ras, p21^K-ras, and p185^erbB2 and mutant p53 protein. In summary, coexpression of epithelial and mesenchymal antigens by LN1 cells lends support to the hypothesis that epithelial and mesenchymal elements comprising mixed mullerian tumors of the ovary are derived from a common stem cell precursor. Furthermore, this cell line represents a functional in vitro model to evaluate the biologic activities of these unusual and highly aggressive ovarian malignancies.     

Locating genetic disease: the impact of clinical nosology on biomedical conceptions of the human genome (1966–1990)

The variability of disease expression often complicates clinical classification. Since the 1960s, medical geneticists have sought to address this problem by associating diseases with discrete locations in the human genome. While this nosological approach was quite successful in the 1980s, unanticipated complications arose. In 1987, two historically distinct disorders, Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes, were unexpectedly associated with the same genomic “address.” Does genomic overlap imply nosological sameness? This paper explores the clinical and biological implications of this finding, and argues that the process by which it was resolved represented new modes of thinking and practice in late-twentieth-century biomedicine. In the decades before the completion of the Human Genome Project, the genome was understood to be, at once, a standardized scientific object and an observable part of the human anatomy. Depicted and analyzed at the level of chromosomes, the genome became an important conceptual space and experimental system for late-twentieth-century biomedicine, producing novel research questions that drew the attention of both clinically oriented physicians and basic laboratory geneticists.