The ADH1B Arg47His polymorphism in East Asian populations and expansion of rice domestication in history

Background: The emergence of agriculture about 10,000 years ago marks a dramatic change in human evolutionary history. The diet shift in agriculture societies might have a great impact on the genetic makeup of Neolithic human populations. The regionally restricted enrichment of the class I alcohol dehydrogenase sequence polymorphism (ADH1BArg47His) in southern China and the adjacent areas suggests Darwinian positive selection on this genetic locus during Neolithic time though the driving force is yet to be disclosed. Results: We studied a total of 38 populations (2,275 individuals) including Han Chinese, Tibetan and other ethnic populations across China. The geographic distribution of the ADH1B*47His allele in these populations indicates a clear east-to-west cline, and it is dominant in south-eastern populations but rare in Tibetan populations. The molecular dating suggests that the emergence of the ADH1B*47His allele occurred about 10,000 similar to 7,000 years ago. Conclusion: We present genetic evidence of selection on the ADH1BArg47His polymorphism caused by the emergence and expansion of rice domestication in East Asia. The geographic distribution of the ADH1B*47His allele in East Asia is consistent with the unearthed culture relic sites of rice domestication in China. The estimated origin time of ADH1B*47His allele in those populations coincides with the time of origin and expansion of Neolithic agriculture in southern China.

Expansion of the Actin Gene Family in Amphioxus

肌动蛋白是一种分布广泛而且在进化上十分保守的蛋白,是构成细胞骨架的关键组分.肌动蛋白通常被分成肌肉型和胞质型两种类型,各自行使着不同的功能.在此,作者对弗罗里达文昌鱼基因组中的肌动蛋白基因家族进行了系统分析,发现文昌鱼中该基因家族成员多达30多个,其中很多都是连锁分布的.基因结构趋于多样,分别包含2～7个外显子.进化分析的结果显示,文昌鱼的肌动蛋白基因家族可能通过串联重复而发生了扩增.作者还克隆了厦门文昌鱼两个不同的肌肉犁肌动蛋白基因,并比较了它们在文昌鱼早期胚胎中的表达图式.结果显示,这两个基因在表达上有着细微的差别,提示文昌鱼肌动蛋白基因家族成员在功能上的分化.上述结果将有助于阐明肌动蛋白基因家族及其功能在脊索动物中的演化.

The unusual adaptive expansion of pancreatic ribonuclease gene in carnivora

Pancreatic ribonuclease (RNASE1) is a digestive enzyme that has been recognized to be one of the most attractive model systems for molecular evolutionary studies. The contribution of RNASE1 gene duplication to the functional adaptation of digestive physio

Late Pleistocene divergence and subsequent population expansion of two closely related fish species, Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) and Australian anchovy (Engraulis australis)

Climatic oscillations during the Pleistocene ice ages produced great changes in species' geographical distribution and abundance, which could be expected to have genetic consequences. Living in the temperate upwelling zones of the northwestern Pacific, Ja

A Profound Role for the Expansion of Trypsin-Like Serine Protease Family in the Evolution of Hematophagy in Mosquito

The trypsin-like serine protease (Tryp_SPc) family is ubiquitous in animals and plays diverse roles, especially in the digestive system, in different phyla. In the mosquito, some Tryp_SPc proteases make important contributions to the digestion of the bloo

Comparative phylogeography of the Yellow River schizothoracine fishes (Cyprinidae): Vicariance, expansion, and recent coalescence in response to the Quaternary environmental upheaval in the Tibetan Plateau

National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [30225008, 30300036, 30530120]; Key Innovation Plan [KSCX2-SW-106]; National Basic Research Project in China [2005cb422005]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [30600062]

A non-linear perturbation model considering catchment wetness and its application in river flow forecasting

A non-linear perturbation model for river flow forecasting is developed, based on consideration of catchment wetness using an antecedent precipitation index (API). Catchment seasonality, of the form accounted for in the linear perturbation model (the LPM), and non-linear behaviour both in the runoff generation mechanism and in the flow routing processes are represented by a constrained nan-linear model, the NLPM-API. A total of ten catchments, across a range of climatic conditions and catchment area magnitudes, located in China and in other countries, were selected for testing daily rainfall-runoff forecasting with this model. It was found that the NLPM-API model was significantly more efficient than the original linear perturbation model (the LPM). However, restric tion of explicit nan-linearity to the runoff generation process, in the simpler LPM-API form of the model, did not produce a significantly lower value of the efficiency in flood forecasting, in terms of the model efficiency index R-2. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Fourier series expansion method for gain measurement from amplified spontaneous emission spectra of Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers

A gain measurement technique, based on Fourier series expansion of periodically extended single fringe of the amplified spontaneous emission spectrum, is proposed for Fabry-Perot semiconductor lasers. The underestimation of gain due to the limited resolution of the measurement system is corrected by a factor related to the system response function. The standard deviations of the gain-reflectivity product under low noise conditions are analyzed for the Fourier series expansion method and compared with those of the Hakki-Paoli method and Cassidy's method. The results show that the Fourier series expansion method is the least sensitive to noise among the three methods. The experiment results obtained by the three methods are also presented and compared.

A new beam propagation method based on least-squares expansion approximating

A new finite difference wide-angle beam propagation method is developed by introducing the least-squares expansion approximant in the propagator expansion. In this new method it is not necessary to select the reference index point because of the whole region approaching the lease-square expansion. This method avoids the problems induced by error selection of the reference index in the old methods based on Taylor or Pade expansion. Several typical structures are simulated by the new method and the results prove the validity of it.

Calculation of Valence Subband Structures for Strained Quantum-Wells by Plane Wave Expansion Method Within 6 * 6 Luttinger-Kohn Model

The valence subband energies and wave functions of a tensile strained quantum well are calculated by the plane wave expansion method within the 6 * 6 Luttinger-Kohn model. The effect of the number and period of plane-waves used for expansion on the stability of energy eigenvalues is examined. For practical calculation, it should choose the period large sufficiently to ensure the envelope functions vanish at the boundary and the number of plane waves large enough to ensure the energy eigenvalues keep unchanged within a prescribed range.

An eigenfunction expansion-variational method in prediction of the transverse thermal conductivity of fiber reinforced composites considering interfacial characteristics

An eigenfunction expansion-variational method based on a unit cell is developed to deal with the steady-state heat conduction problem of doubly-periodic fiber reinforced composites with interfacial thermal contact resistance or coating. The numerical results show a rapid convergence of the present method. The present solution provides a unified first-order approximation formula of the effective thermal conductivity for different interfacial characteristics and fiber distributions. A comparison with the present high-order results, available experimental data and micromechanical estimations demonstrates that the first-order approximation formula is a good engineering closed-form formula. An engineering equivalent parameter reflecting the overall influence of the thermal conductivities of the matrix and fibers and the interfacial characteristic on the effective thermal conductivity, is found. The equivalent parameter can greatly simplify the complicated relation of the effective thermal conductivity to the internal structure of a composite. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Initiation and development of water film by seepage

When water seeps upwards through a saturated soil layer, the soil layer may become instability and water films occur and develop. Water film serves as a natural sliding surface because of its very small friction. Accordingly, debris flow may happen. To investigate this phenomenon, a pseudo-three-phase media is presented first. Then discontinuity method is used to analyze the expansion velocity of water film. Finally, perturbation method is used to analyze the case that a water flow is forced to seep upwards through the soil layer while the movement of the skeleton may be neglected relative to that of water. The theoretical evolutions of pore pressure gradient, effective stress, water velocity, the porosity and the eroded fine grains are obtained. It can be seen clearly that with the erosion and re-deposited of fine grains, permeability at some positions in the soil layer becomes smaller and smaller and, the pore pressure gradient becomes bigger and bigger, while the effective stress becomes smaller and smaller. When the effective stress equals zero, e.f. liquefaction, the water film occurs. It is shown also that once a water film occurs, it will be expanded in a speed of (U)(t)/(1 - E >).