Life Sciences Commons^™

The Phylogeny Of Paralabrax (Perciformes: Serranidae) And Allied Taxa Inferred From Partial 16s And 12s Mitochondrial Ribosomal Dna Sequences, Daniel Pondella, Matthew Craig, Jens Frank

Daniel Pondella

Partial sequences of 16S and 12S mitochondrial ribosomal DNA were used to examine the phylogenetic relationships of the primarily eastern Pacific genus Paralabrax (Perciformes: Serranidae) and allied taxa. Paralabrax is considered a basal serranine, which is itself considered the basal subfamily in the Serranidae. Multiple serranines reported closely related to Paralabrax from the genera Serranus, Hypoplectrus, Cratinus, and Centropristis were used as outgroups. Species from the remaining two subfamilies, Epinephilinae and Anthiinae, of the Serranidae were also used in the analyses. The tree of the Serranidae was rooted with the families Polyprionidae and Priacanthidae. Paralabrax, the Serranidae, and the Serraninae …

Atp-Independent Contractile Proteins From Plants, Michael Knoblauch, Gundula Noll, Torsten Müller, Dirk Prüfer, Ingrid Schneider-Hüther, Dörte Scharner, Aart Van Bel, Winfried Peters

Winfried S. Peters

Role Of Micrornas In Plant And Animal Development, Victor Ambros, James Carrington

Victor R. Ambros

Small RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), are key components of an evolutionarily conserved system of RNA-based gene regulation in eukaryotes. They are involved in many molecular interactions, including defense against viruses and regulation of gene expression during development. miRNAs interfere with expression of messenger RNAs encoding factors that control developmental timing, stem cell maintenance, and other developmental and physiological processes in plants and animals. miRNAs are negative regulators that function as specificity determinants, or guides, within complexes that inhibit protein synthesis (animals) or promote degradation (plants) of mRNA targets.

Microrna Pathways In Flies And Worms: Growth, Death, Fat, Stress, And Timing, Victor Ambros

Victor R. Ambros

Drosophila geneticists have uncovered roles for microRNAs in the coordination of cell proliferation and cell death during development, and in stress resistance and fat metabolism. In C. elegans, a homolog of the well-known fly developmental regulator hunchback acts downstream of the microRNAs lin-4 and let-7 in a pathway controlling developmental timing.

Endogenous Oxidoreductase Expression Is Induced By Aminoglycosides, George Hoppe, Yuh-Cherng Chai, Jonathan Sears

Yuh-Cherng Chai

Oxidoreductases such as glutaredoxin are a major class of enzymes that reversibly catalyze thiol-disulfide exchange reactions. Transfection experiments using geneticin (G418) selection to identify the specific protein S-thiolated substrates of glutaredoxin-1 (Grx-1) noted the curious phenomenon that nontransfected control cells treated with G418 had increased levels of Grx-1 expression. Varied concentrations of gentamicin, kanamycin, and hygromycin increased Grx-1 expression in a time- and dose-dependent fashion in human cultured retinal pigment epithelial cells. Reactive oxygen species formation after aminoglycoside exposure correlated directly to aminoglycoside treatment. Further indication that oxidation regulates Grx-1 expression was noted by the positive effect of phorbol 12-myristate …

Micrornas And Other Tiny Endogenous Rnas In C. Elegans, Victor Ambros, Rosalind Lee, Ann Lavanway, Peter Williams, David Jewell

Victor R. Ambros

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that are processed from hairpin precursor transcripts by Dicer. miRNAs probably inhibit translation of mRNAs via imprecise antisense base-pairing. Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are similar in size to miRNAs, but they recognize targets by precise complementarity and elicit RNA-mediated interference (RNAi). We employed cDNA sequencing and comparative genomics to identify additional C. elegans small RNAs with properties similar to miRNAs and siRNAs. RESULTS: We found three broad classes of small RNAs in C. elegans: (1) 21 new miRNA genes (we estimate that C. elegans contains approximately 100 distinct miRNA genes, about 30% of …

Lack Of Widespread Organochlorine Pesticide Contamination In South American Resident Passerines, Given Harper, A. P. Capparella, J. A. Klemens, J. A. Frick

Given Harper

Reversal Of Protein S-Glutathiolation By Glutaredoxin In The Retinal Pigment Epithelium., Yuh-Cherng Chai, George Hoppe, Jonathan Sears

Yuh-Cherng Chai

Protein cysteines can serve both sensory and activation roles in the regulation of protein function. The modulation of mixed disulfides with glutathione may promise to be a broad mechanism of redox signalling. Using both protein extract and intact RPE cells, we have generated covalent adduction of glutathione to protein cysteines and further show that glutaredoxin (Grx-1) is able to remove glutathione from protein S-glutathiolated substrates. Our data demonstrate that glutathione can modify a wide range of RPE proteins in intact cells, but that the reversal of this process–deglutathiolation and thiol bond restoration–may require a specific catalytic reaction with glutaredoxin. More …

Sequential Radiation Of Unrelated Organisms: The Gall Fly Eurosta Solidaginis And The Tumbling Flower Beetle Mordellistena Convicta, Warren Abrahamson, C.P. Blair, M.D. Eubanks, S.A. Morehead

Warren G. Abrahamson, II

No abstract provided.

Evolution And Learning: The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered, David Depew, Bruce Weber

David J Depew

The role of genetic inheritance dominates current evolutionary theory. At the end of the nineteenth century, however, several evolutionary theorists independently speculated that learned behaviors could also affect the direction and rate of evolutionary change. This notion was called the Baldwin effect, after the psychologist James Mark Baldwin. In recent years, philosophers and theorists of a variety of ontological and epistemological backgrounds have begun to employ the Baldwin effect in their accounts of the evolutionary emergence of mind and of how mind, through behavior, might affect evolution.

The essays in this book discuss the originally proposed Baldwin effect, how it …

One Host Shift Leads To Another? Evidence Of Host-Race Formation In A Predaceous Gall-Boring Beetle, Warren Abrahamson, M.D. Eubanks, C.P. Blair

Warren G. Abrahamson, II

No abstract provided.

Association Between Eating Patterns And Obesity In A Free-Living U.S. Adult Population, Yunsheng Ma, Elizabeth R. Bertone, Edward J. Stanek, George W. Reed, James R. Herbert, Dr. Nancy L. Cohen, Philip A. Merriam, Ira S. Ockene

Nancy L. Cohen

Some studies have suggested that eating patterns, which describe eating frequency, the temporal distribution of eating events across the day, breakfast skipping, and the frequency of eating meals away from home, may be related to obesity. Data from the Seasonal Variation of Blood Cholesterol Study (1994–1998) were used to evaluate the relation between eating patterns and obesity. Three 24-hour dietary recalls and a body weight measurement were collected at five equally spaced time points over a 1-year period from 499 participants. Data were averaged for five time periods, and a cross-sectional analysis was conducted. Odds ratios were adjusted for other …