Plant quality and local adaptation undermine relocation in a bog specialist butterfly

The butterfly Boloria aquilonaris is a specialist of oligotrophic ecosystems. Population viability analysis predicted the species to be stable in Belgium and to collapse in the Netherlands with reduced host plant quality expected to drive species decline in the latter. We tested this hypothesis by rearing B. aquilonaris caterpillars from Belgian and Dutch sites on host plants (the cranberry, Vaccinium oxycoccos). Dutch plant quality was lower than Belgian one conferring lower caterpillar growth rate and survival. Reintroduction and/or supplementation may be necessary to ensure the viability of the species in the Netherlands, but some traits may have been selected solely in Dutch caterpillars to cope with gradual changes in host plant quality. To test this hypothesis, the performance of Belgian and Dutch caterpillars fed with plants from both countries were compared. Dutch caterpillars performed well on both plant qualities, whereas Belgian caterpillars could not switch to lower quality plants. This can be considered as an environmentally induced plastic response of caterpillars and/or a local adaptation to plant quality, which precludes the use of Belgian individuals as a unique solution for strengthening Dutch populations. More generally, these results stress that the relevance of local adaptation in selecting source populations for relocation may be as important as restoring habitat quality.     

The geometry of the Pareto front in biological phenotype space

When organisms perform a single task, selection leads to phenotypes that maximize performance at that task. When organisms need to perform multiple tasks, a trade‐off arises because no phenotype can optimize all tasks. Recent work addressed this question, and assumed that the performance at each task decays with distance in trait space from the best phenotype at that task. Under this assumption, the best‐fitness solutions (termed the Pareto front) lie on simple low‐dimensional shapes in trait space: line segments, triangles and other polygons. The vertices of these polygons are specialists at a single task. Here, we generalize this finding, by considering performance functions of general form, not necessarily functions that decay monotonically with distance from their peak. We find that, except for performance functions with highly eccentric contours, simple shapes in phenotype space are still found, but with mildly curving edges instead of straight ones. In a wide range of systems, complex data on multiple quantitative traits, which might be expected to fill a high‐dimensional phenotype space, is predicted instead to collapse onto low‐dimensional shapes; phenotypes near the vertices of these shapes are predicted to be specialists, and can thus suggest which tasks may be at play.     

Conserved roles of ems/Emx and otd/Otx genes in olfactory and visual system development in Drosophila and mouse

The regional specialization of brain function has been well documented in the mouse and fruitfly. The expression of regulatory factors in specific regions of the brain during development suggests that they function to establish or maintain this specialization. Here, we focus on two such factors—the Drosophila cephalic gap genes empty spiracles (ems) and orthodenticle (otd), and their vertebrate homologues Emx1/2 and Otx1/2—and review novel insight into their multiple crucial roles in the formation of complex sensory systems. While the early requirement of these genes in specification of the neuroectoderm has been discussed previously, here we consider more recent studies that elucidate the later functions of these genes in sensory system formation in vertebrates and invertebrates. These new studies show that the ems and Emx genes in both flies and mice are essential for the development of the peripheral and central neurons of their respective olfactory systems. Moreover, they demonstrate that the otd and Otx genes in both flies and mice are essential for the development of the peripheral and central neurons of their respective visual systems. Based on these recent experimental findings, we discuss the possibility that the olfactory and visual systems of flies and mice share a common evolutionary origin, in that the conserved visual and olfactory circuit elements derive from conserved domains of otd/Otx and ems/Emx action in the urbilaterian ancestor.     

Phylogenetic beta diversity in bacterial assemblages across ecosystems: deterministic versus stochastic processes

Increasing evidence has emerged for non-random spatial distributions of microbes, but knowledge of the processes that cause variation in microbial assemblage among ecosystems is lacking. For instance, some studies showed that deterministic processes such as habitat specialization are important, while other studies hold that bacterial communities are assembled by stochastic forces. Here we examine the relative influence of deterministic and stochastic processes for bacterial communities from subsurface environments, stream biofilm, lake water, lake sediment and soil using pyrosequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. We show that there is a general pattern in phylogenetic signal in species ecological niches across recent evolutionary time for all studied habitats, enabling us to infer the influences of community assembly processes from patterns of phylogenetic turnover in community composition. The phylogenetic dissimilarities among-habitat types were significantly higher than within them, and the communities were clustered according to their original habitat types. For communities within-habitat types, the highest phylogenetic turnover rate through space was observed in subsurface environments, followed by stream biofilm on mountainsides, whereas the sediment assemblages across regional scales showed the lowest turnover rate. Quantifying phylogenetic turnover as the deviation from a null expectation suggested that measured environmental variables imposed strong selection on bacterial communities for nearly all sample groups. For three sample groups, spatial distance reflected unmeasured environmental variables that impose selection, as opposed to spatial isolation. Such characterization of spatial and environmental variables proved essential for proper interpretation of partial Mantel results based on observed beta diversity metrics. In summary, our results clearly indicate a dominant role of deterministic processes on bacterial assemblages and highlight that bacteria show strong habitat associations that have likely emerged through evolutionary adaptation.     

昆虫同性性行为的研究进展

从自然选择和性选择角度分析,同性性行为的存在是一个进化悖论,其成因和意义是当今进化生物学研究的重要科学问题。本文综述了昆虫同性性行为的发生、进化意义和遗传基础等方面的研究进展,分析了研究中存在的问题,并展望了未来的研究方向,以期为昆虫同性性行为的进一步研究提供参考。同时,希望本文能引起更多科学工作者关注昆虫同性性行为,并积极投身到此项研究中来,为该研究领域的发展做出贡献。     

慢性牙周炎患者龈沟液中IL-8 和TNF-alpha水平变化及临床意义

目的：探讨慢性牙周炎患者龈沟液中白细胞介素-8（IL-8）和肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）水平变化及临床意义,为临床诊疗提 供参考。方法：选择2013 年12 月到2015 年12 月我院收治的60 例慢性牙周炎患者为实验组,选择同期60 例牙周健康者为对照 组。对照组对象于体检时、实验组患者于牙周常规治疗前后收集龈沟液并记录牙龈指数（GI）、牙龈沟出血指数（SBI）、菌斑指数 （PLI）、牙周袋探诊深度（PD）、临床附着丧失（CAL）等牙周临床指标。测量并比较两组对象龈沟液中IL-8 和TNF-α水平。结果：实 验组患者治疗前GI、SBI、PLI、PD 及CAL 等牙周临床指标均明显高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义（P<0.05）;治疗后,实验组患 者各牙周临床指标明显低于治疗前,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）,但与对照组比较差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。实验组患者治疗 前龈沟液中IL-8 和TNF-α水平均明显高于对照组,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）;治疗后,实验组患者龈沟液中IL-8 和TNF-alpha水 平均明显低于治疗前,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。实验组患者治疗前龈沟液中IL-8 水平与牙周临床指标PD 呈正相关性（r=0. 495,P=0.027）,TNF-α水平与牙周临床指标SBI、PD 呈正相关性（r=0.512,0.673;P=0.019,0.012）。结论：慢性牙周炎患者龈沟液中 IL-8 和TNF-α具有较高水平,两者可能与慢性牙周炎的发生发展有关,对于临床诊断慢性牙周炎具有积极的临床意义。     

肾静态显像诊断上尿路感染的临床研究

目的:探究肾静态显像(99m Tc-DMSA)在上尿路感染诊断工作中的应用意义。方法:选取2012年7月至2015年2月我院收治的60例上尿路感染患儿为研究对象,均行肾静态显像检查,并与B超检查结果进行对比分析。结果:肾静态显像提示:60例上尿路感染患儿中,肾脏损害占90.00%,其中8例肾疤痕形成,46例急性肾盂肾炎改变,6例正常;在肾脏病变范围上,≤2岁年龄组患儿较2岁年龄组患儿更为广泛,且前者程度更为严重。B超提示肾脏损害占26.67%,其中18例尿路感染反复发作;16例(26.67%)伴有急性肾盂肾炎改变,未检出肾疤痕。B超诊断上尿路感染的阳性率达26.67%,肾静态显像检查诊断上尿路感染的阳性率为90.00%,两者比较差异有显著性(P0.05)。结论:99mTc-DMSA在上尿路感染诊断工作中具有重要的应用意义,可明确病变性质、程度及范围,并可随访病变转归,指导临床治疗,属于上尿路感染的实验室补充性指标,值得临床积极推广。     

脑胶质瘤患者手术前后睾酮水平变化及临床意义

目的:研究脑胶质瘤患者手术前后睾酮水平变化,并分析其临床意义。方法:选取2010年2月到2015年6月我院脑胶质瘤患者80例为研究组,并选择同期颅脑良性肿瘤患者80例为对照组,两组均给予手术治疗,检测术前和术后3天、术后1周患者睾酮水平。结果:研究组术后各病理类型睾酮水平较治疗前显著降低(P0.05),但不同病理类型之间睾酮水平比较无统计学意义(P0.05);研究组术前睾酮水平显著高于对照组,比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);术后3天、术后一周研究组睾酮水平与术前比较显著降低,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);术后1周研究组睾酮水平与术后3天比较无统计学意义(P0.05);对照组术前和术后各时间睾酮水平比较无统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:脑胶质瘤患者会出现睾酮水平紊乱,当睾酮水平明显增高时应警惕脑胶质瘤的可能性。     

三阴性乳腺癌中Ki-67 的表达及其临床病理意义

目的:探讨三阴性乳腺癌中Ki-67的表达及其临床病理意义。方法:回顾性分析2010年11月1日至2015年12月31日辽宁省肿瘤医院收治的110例行乳腺癌根治术的三阴性乳腺癌患者的临床病理资料,检测其乳腺癌组织中Ki-67的表达,并分析其与患者年龄、绝经情况、组织学分型、临床分期、淋巴结转移、肿瘤大小等临床病理资料的关系。进一步采用Kaplan-Meier生存分析法绘制生存曲线,比较高表达Ki-67和低表达Ki-67患者的3年、5年生存率。结果:Ki-67在三阴性乳腺癌患者50岁以下和50岁以上相比较,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);Ki-67在三阴性乳腺癌患者绝经情况、组织学分型、临床分期、淋巴结转移、肿瘤大小的表达相比较,差异不具有统计学意义(P0.05);高表达Ki-67组3年生存率为79.49%,5年生存率为30.77%;低Ki-67组的3年生存率为85.92%,5年生存率为46.48%;两组3年生存率相比较差异不具有统计学意义(P0.05);两组5年生存率相比较差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);两组总生存时间相比较,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:三阴性乳腺癌中Ki-67呈高表达,可作为乳腺癌预后不良的危险因素。