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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Phylogenetic Analysis Of Algal Symbionts Associated With Four North American Amphibian Egg Masses, Eunsoo Kim, Yuan Lin, Ryan R. Kerney, Lili Blumenberg, Cory Bishop Nov 2014

Phylogenetic Analysis Of Algal Symbionts Associated With Four North American Amphibian Egg Masses, Eunsoo Kim, Yuan Lin, Ryan R. Kerney, Lili Blumenberg, Cory Bishop

Biology Faculty Publications

Egg masses of the yellow-spotted salamander Ambystoma maculatum form an association with the green alga “Oophila amblystomatis” (Lambert ex Wille), which, in addition to growing within individual egg capsules, has recently been reported to invade embryonic tissues and cells. The binomial O. amblystomatis refers to the algae that occur in A. maculatum egg capsules, but it is unknown whether this population of symbionts constitutes one or several different algal taxa. Moreover, it is unknown whether egg masses across the geographic range of A. maculatum, or other amphibians, associate with one or multiple algal taxa. To address these …


Molecular Variation In Avp And Avpr1a In New World Monkeys (Primates, Platyrrhini): Evolution And Implications For Social Monogamy, Dongren Ren, Kelvin R. Chin, Jeffrey French Oct 2014

Molecular Variation In Avp And Avpr1a In New World Monkeys (Primates, Platyrrhini): Evolution And Implications For Social Monogamy, Dongren Ren, Kelvin R. Chin, Jeffrey French

Biology Faculty Publications

The neurohypophysial hormone arginine vasopressin (AVP) plays important roles in fluid regulation and vascular resistance. Differences in AVP receptor expression, particularly mediated through variation in the noncoding promoter region of the primary receptor for AVP (AVPR1a), may play a role in social phenotypes, particularly social monogamy, in rodents and humans. Among primates, social monogamy is rare, but is common among New World monkeys (NWM). AVP is a nonapeptide and generally conserved among eutherian mammals, although a recent paper demonstrated that some NWM species possess a novel form of the related neuropeptide hormone, oxytocin. We therefore characterized variation in the AVP …


Large Scale Screening Of Digeneans For Neorickettsia Endosymbionts Using Real-Time Pcr Reveals New Neorickettsia Genotypes, Host Associations And Geographic Records, Stephen Greiman, Vasyl V. Tkach, Eric Pulis, Thomas J. Fayton, Stephen S. Curran Jun 2014

Large Scale Screening Of Digeneans For Neorickettsia Endosymbionts Using Real-Time Pcr Reveals New Neorickettsia Genotypes, Host Associations And Geographic Records, Stephen Greiman, Vasyl V. Tkach, Eric Pulis, Thomas J. Fayton, Stephen S. Curran

Faculty Publications

Digeneans are endoparasitic flatworms with complex life cycles including one or two intermediate hosts (first of which is always a mollusk) and a vertebrate definitive host. Digeneans may harbor intracellular endosymbiotic bacteria belonging to the genus Neorickettsia (order Rickettsiales, family Anaplasmataceae). Some Neorickettsia are able to invade cells of the digenean's vertebrate host and are known to cause diseases of wildlife and humans. In this study we report the results of screening 771 digenean samples for Neorickettsia collected from various vertebrates in terrestrial, freshwater, brackish, and marine habitats in the United States, China and Australia. Neorickettsia were detected using a …


Near Isometric Biomass Partitioning In Forest Ecosystems Of China, Dafeng Hui, Jun Wang, Weijun Shen, Xuan Le, Philip Ganter, Hai Ren Jan 2014

Near Isometric Biomass Partitioning In Forest Ecosystems Of China, Dafeng Hui, Jun Wang, Weijun Shen, Xuan Le, Philip Ganter, Hai Ren

Biology Faculty Research

Based on the isometric hypothesis, belowground plant biomass (MB) should scale isometrically with aboveground biomass (MA) and the scaling exponent should not vary with environmental factors. We tested this hypothesis using a large forest biomass database collected in China. Allometric scaling functions relating MB and MA were developed for the entire database and for different groups based on tree age, diameter at breast height, height, latitude, longitude or elevation. To investigate whether the scaling exponent is independent of these biotic and abiotic factors, we analyzed the relationship between the scaling exponent and these factors. Overall MB was significantly related to …


Phylogenetic Analysis Of Ns Gene Of Avian Influenza Viruses (H9n2) Isolated From Chicken In Iran During 2007-2011, Hassan Norouzian, Hessam Emadi Chashmi, Ziba Nazari, Mehdi Vasfi Marandi Jan 2014

Phylogenetic Analysis Of Ns Gene Of Avian Influenza Viruses (H9n2) Isolated From Chicken In Iran During 2007-2011, Hassan Norouzian, Hessam Emadi Chashmi, Ziba Nazari, Mehdi Vasfi Marandi

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

To determine sequence characteristics and phylogenetic relationships of the nonstructural (NS) gene, the NS genes of 9 avian influenza (AI) viruses were sequenced and compared with other Iranian AI H9N2 viruses available in GenBank. The similarity among the earliest Iranian H9N2 isolate (A/chicken/Iran/ZMT-101/1998) and recent (2007–2011) studied isolates was low (94%). Some of the studied viruses revealed substitutions in RNA-binding and effector domains as well as antigenic regions of the NS protein. Recently studied isolates have a high similarity (97.4%-98.7%) with some Pakistani isolates (like A/chicken/Sawabi/NARC-2434/2006) in the NS gene. In the phylogenetic analysis, recently studied isolates composed a cluster …


Occurrence Of Botryosphaeriaceae Species Associated With Grapevine Dieback In Algeria, Faiza Ammad, Messaoud Benchabane, Mohamed Toumi, Nesrine Belkacem, Amel Guesmi, Cherif Ameur, Pascal Lecomte, Othmane Merah Jan 2014

Occurrence Of Botryosphaeriaceae Species Associated With Grapevine Dieback In Algeria, Faiza Ammad, Messaoud Benchabane, Mohamed Toumi, Nesrine Belkacem, Amel Guesmi, Cherif Ameur, Pascal Lecomte, Othmane Merah

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Grapevine dieback is an increasing problem in grape vineyards in Algeria. We conducted field surveys each spring between 2006 and 2012 to determine the fungal pathogens associated with grapevine decline in various grape-growing regions. We isolated and identified 3 species of Botryosphaeriaceae (Botryosphaeria dothidea, Diplodia seriata, and Neofusicoccum parvum) from infected wood using a combination of morphological and cultural characters, as well as phylogenetic analyses of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions and fruiting body. We identified 20 isolates of Diplodia seriata, 13 isolates of Botryosphaeria dothidea, and 7 isolates of Neofusicoccum parvum. Inoculation of grapevine plantlets with the …


Testing The Utility Of Matk And Its Dna Regions For Discrimination Of Allium Species, Meryem İpek, Ahmet İpek, Philipp W. Simon Jan 2014

Testing The Utility Of Matk And Its Dna Regions For Discrimination Of Allium Species, Meryem İpek, Ahmet İpek, Philipp W. Simon

Turkish Journal of Botany

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus Allium L. has been mainly based on the nucleotide sequences of the ITS region. In 2009, matK and rbcL were accepted as a 2-locus DNA barcode to classify plant species by the Consortium for the Barcode of Life Plant Working Group. The matK region was chosen as a DNA barcode because of its effective species discrimination power, high quality sequence recovery, and easy experimental procedures. Integration of matK sequences into Allium phylogeny could improve phylogenetic reconstruction of this genus. This study was carried out to test the utility of nucleotide sequences of matK for …


Phylogenetic Analysis And Characterization Of An Alkane-Degrading Yeast Strain Isolated From Oil-Polluted Soil, Ortansa Csutak, Tatiana Vassu Jan 2014

Phylogenetic Analysis And Characterization Of An Alkane-Degrading Yeast Strain Isolated From Oil-Polluted Soil, Ortansa Csutak, Tatiana Vassu

Turkish Journal of Biology

The isolation and phylogenetic analysis of new yeast strains represent an important basis for the development of practical applications in biotechnology, industry, and bioremediation. The yeast strain RG1 was isolated from oil-polluted soil and characterized using morphological observations and the API 20C AUX system. The amplified ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2 region had 653 bp and the restriction profiles obtained with Cfo I, Dde I, Hae III, Hinf I, and Hpa II endonucleases showed high similarities with those from Rhodotorula glutinis reference strains. The phylogenetic tree based on the Cfo I patterns confirmed the classification of the strain RG1 as belonging to the …


Phylogenetic Analysis Of Peste Des Petits Ruminants Virus From Outbreaks In Turkey During 2008-2012, Leyla Güler, Murat Şevi̇k, Mustafa Hasöksüz Jan 2014

Phylogenetic Analysis Of Peste Des Petits Ruminants Virus From Outbreaks In Turkey During 2008-2012, Leyla Güler, Murat Şevi̇k, Mustafa Hasöksüz

Turkish Journal of Biology

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an important viral disease of sheep and goats and is endemic in all regions of Turkey. In this study, PPR virus infection was investigated by RT-PCR assay based on the fusion (F) gene in PPR-suspected sheep and goat samples. PPR virus RNA was detected in 65 small ruminants (51 sheep, 14 goats) from independent outbreaks during 2008-2012 in provinces in the central and Mediterranean regions and the central-west part of the Aegean region in Turkey. The virus was detected in an aborted sheep fetus sample by RT-PCR, and diagnosis was also confirmed by virus …


Low-Copy Nuclear Gene And Mcgish Resolves Polyploid History Of Eleusine Coracana And Morphological Character Evolution In Eleusine, Qing Liu, Bin Jiang, Jun Wen, Paul Michael Peterson Jan 2014

Low-Copy Nuclear Gene And Mcgish Resolves Polyploid History Of Eleusine Coracana And Morphological Character Evolution In Eleusine, Qing Liu, Bin Jiang, Jun Wen, Paul Michael Peterson

Turkish Journal of Botany

Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn. (finger millet) is the third most important cereal crop in semiarid regions of the world, but the degree of relatedness of finger millet with other species in the genus is unverified. The study of morphological character evolution in Eleusine Gaertn. has lagged behind due to lack of relevant research. Polyploidy history of finger millet was analyzed using waxy sequences together with multicolor genomic in situ hybridization (McGISH). In the waxy phylogenetic tree, sequences of 2 homoeologous loci were isolated from 3 tetraploids: Eleusine coracana, E. africana Kenn.-O'Byrne, and E. kigeziensis S.M.Phillips. The 3 species grouped with …