Mysterious bio-duck sound attributed to the Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis)

For decades, the bio-duck sound has been recorded in the Southern Ocean, but the animal producing it has remained a mystery. Heard mainly during austral winter in the Southern Ocean, this ubiquitous sound has been recorded in Antarctic waters and contemporaneously off the Australian west coast. Here, we present conclusive evidence that the bio-duck sound is produced by Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis). We analysed data from multi-sensor acoustic recording tags that included intense bio-duck sounds as well as singular downsweeps that have previously been attributed to this species. This finding allows the interpretation of a wealth of long-term acoustic recordings for this previously acoustically concealed species, which will improve our understanding of the distribution, abundance and behaviour of Antarctic minke whales. This is critical information for a species that inhabits a difficult to access sea-ice environment that is changing rapidly in some regions and has been the subject of contentious lethal sampling efforts and ongoing international legal action.     

Removal of the 9-methyl group of retinal inhibits signal transduction in the visual process. A Fourier transform infrared and biochemical investigation

The photoreaction of opsin regenerated with 9-demethylretinal has been investigated by UV-vis spectroscopy, flash photolysis experiments, and Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy. In addition, the capability of the illuminated pigment to activate the retinal G-protein has been tested. The photoproduct, which can be stabilized at 77 K, resembles more the lumirhodopsin species, and only minor further changes occur upon warming the sample to 170 K (stabilizing lumirhodopsin). UV-vis spectroscopy reveals no further changes at 240 K (stabilizing metarhodopsin I), but infrared difference spectroscopy shows that the protein as well as the chromophore undergoes further molecular changes which are, however, different from those observed for unmodified metarhodopsin I. UV-vis spectroscopy, flash photolysis experiments, and infrared difference spectroscopy demonstrate that an intermediate different from metarhodopsin II is produced at room temperature, of which the Schiff base is still protonated. The illuminated pigment was able to activate G-protein, as assayed by monitoring the exchange of GDP for GTP gamma S in purified G-protein, only to a very limited extent (approximately 8% as compared to rhodopsin). The results are interpreted in terms of a specific steric interaction of the 9-methyl group of the retinal in rhodopsin with the protein, which is required to initiate the molecular changes necessary for G-protein activation. The residual activation suggests a conformer of the photolyzed pigment which mimics metarhodopsin II to a very limited extent.     

A major difference between the divergence patterns within the lines-1 families in mice and voles

L1 retroposons are represented in mice by subfamilies of interspersed sequences of varied abundance. Previous analyses have indicated that subfamilies are generated by duplicative transposition of a small number of members of the L1 family, the progeny of which then become a major component of the murine L1 population, and are not due to any active processes generating homology within preexisting groups of elements in a particular species. In mice, more than a third of the L1 elements belong to a clade that became active approximately 5 Mya and whose elements are > or = 95% identical. We have collected sequence information from 13 L1 elements isolated from two species of voles (Rodentia: Microtinae: Microtus and Arvicola) and have found that divergence within the vole L1 population is quite different from that in mice, in that there is no abundant subfamily of homologous elements. Individual L1 elements from voles are very divergent from one another and belong to a clade that began a period of elevated duplicative transposition approximately 13 Mya. Sequence analyses of portions of these divergent L1 elements (approximately 250 bp each) gave no evidence for concerted evolution having acted on the vole L1 elements since the split of the two vole lineages approximately 3.5 Mya; that is, the observed interspecific divergence (6.7%-24.7%) is not larger than the intraspecific divergence (7.9%-27.2%), and phylogenetic analyses showed no clustering into Arvicola and Microtus clades.      

Molecular phylogeny and divergence times of drosophilid species

The phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of 39 drosophilid species were studied by using the coding region of the Adh gene. Four genera--Scaptodrosophila, Zaprionus, Drosophila, and Scaptomyza (from Hawaii)--and three Drosophila subgenera--Drosophila, Engiscaptomyza, and Sophophora--were included. After conducting statistical analyses of the nucleotide sequences of the Adh, Adhr (Adh-related gene), and nuclear rRNA genes and a 905-bp segment of mitochondrial DNA, we used Scaptodrosophila as the outgroup. The phylogenetic tree obtained showed that the first major division of drosophilid species occurs between subgenus Sophophora (genus Drosophila) and the group including subgenera Drosophila and Engiscaptomyza plus the genera Zaprionus and Scaptomyza. Subgenus Sophophora is then divided into D. willistoni and the clade of D. obscura and D. melanogaster species groups. In the other major drosophilid group, Zaprionus first separates from the other species, and then D. immigrans leaves the remaining group of species. This remaining group then splits into the D. repleta group and the Hawaiian drosophilid cluster (Hawaiian Drosophila, Engiscaptomyza, and Scaptomyza). Engiscaptomyza and Scaptomyza are tightly clustered. Each of the D. repleta, D. obscura, and D. melanogaster groups is monophyletic. The splitting of subgenera Drosophila and Sophophora apparently occurred about 40 Mya, whereas the D. repleta group and the Hawaiian drosophilid cluster separated about 32 Mya. By contrast, the splitting of Engiscaptomyza and Scaptomyza occurred only about 11 Mya, suggesting that Scaptomyza experienced a rapid morphological evolution. The D. obscura and D. melanogaster groups apparently diverged about 25 Mya. Many of the D. repleta group species studied here have two functional Adh genes (Adh-1 and Adh-2), and these duplicated genes can be explained by two duplication events.      

Investigations of the rhodopsin/Meta I and rhodopsin/Meta II transitions of bovine rod outer segments by means of kinetic infrared spectroscopy

We have applied our recently developed technique of flash induced kinetic infrared spectroscopy to the rhodopsin/Meta I and rhodopsin/Meta II transitions. Features of the infrared spectrum reflecting the C=C-vibration and the isomeric form of the chromophore are in agreement with resonant Raman experiments. Different results are obtained for the C=N-vibration of the Schiff base retinal opsin link. They are interpreted in terms of a Schiff base protonated via an hydrogen bond. A proton transfer in the excited state is suggested to explain the deviating results. In addition we have obtained spectral changes which cannot be attributed to molecular changes in the chromophore. We assume that these spectral features reflect molecular events in the protein part of rhodopsin.