A genetic two-factor model of the covariation among a subset of Multidimensional Aptitude Battery and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised subtests

The phenotypic and genetic factor structure of performance on five Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB) subtests and one Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) subtest was explored in 390 adolescent twin pairs (184 monozygotic [MZ]; 206 dizygotic (DZ)). The temporal stability of these measures was derived from a subsample of 49 twin pairs, with test-retest correlations ranging from .67 to .85. A phenotypic factor model, in which performance and verbal factors were correlated, provided a good fit to the data. Genetic modeling was based on the phenotypic factor structure, but also took into account the additive genetic (A), common environmental (C), and unique environmental (E) parameters derived from a fully saturated ACE model. The best fitting model was characterized by a genetic correlated two-factor structure with specific effects, a general common environmental factor, and overlapping unique environmental effects. Results are compared to multivariate genetic models reported in children and adults, with the most notable difference being the growing importance of common genes influencing diverse abilities in adolescence. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of environmental and genetic factors for Parkinson's disease between Chinese and Caucasians

This review paper compares the differences in prevalence, and environmental and genetic risk factors for Parkinson's disease between Chinese and Caucasian subjects. Comparison of age-specific prevalence between Chinese people and Caucasians suggests that the prevalence is lower in the Chinese ( at least in the past), although the prevalence rate in China appears to be rising. Distinctions in environmental risk factors and genetic factors are discussed. The difference in prevalence may be due to distinctions in environmental and genetic risk factors as well as the complex interaction between these environmental and genetic factors, although discrepancies in methodology for prevalence surveys can also be an explanation. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The effects of habitat fragmentation due to forestry plantation establishment on the demography and genetic variation of a marsupial carnivore, Antechinus agilis

We conducted a demographic and genetic study to investigate the effects of fragmentation due to the establishment of an exotic softwood plantation on populations of a small marsupial carnivore, the agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis), and the factors influencing the persistence of those populations in the fragmented habitat. The first aspect of the study was a descriptive analysis of patch occupancy and population size, in which we found a patch occupancy rate of 70% among 23 sites in the fragmented habitat compared to 100% among 48 sites with the same habitat characteristics in unfragmented habitat. Mark-recapture analyses yielded most-likely population size estimates of between 3 and 85 among the 16 occupied patches in the fragmented habitat. Hierarchical partitioning and model selection were used to identify geographic and habitat-related characteristics that influence patch occupancy and population size. Patch occupancy was primarily influenced by geographic isolation and habitat quality (vegetation basal area). The variance in population size among occupied sites was influenced primarily by forest type (dominant Eucalyptus species) and, to a lesser extent, by patch area and topographic context (gully sites had larger populations). A comparison of the sex ratios between the samples from the two habitat contexts revealed a significant deficiency of males in the fragmented habitat. We hypothesise that this is due to male-biased dispersal in an environment with increased dispersal-associated mortality. The population size and sex ratio data were incorporated into a simulation study to estimate the proportion of genetic diversity that would have been lost over the known timescale since fragmentation if the patch populations had been totally isolated. The observed difference in genetic diversity (gene diversity and allelic richness at microsatellite and mitochondrial markers) between 16 fragmented and 12 unfragmented sites was extremely low and inconsistent with the isolation of the patch populations. Our results show that although the remnant habitat patches comprise approximately 2% of the study area, they can support non-isolated populations. However, the distribution of agile antechinus populations in the fragmented system is dependent on habitat quality and patch connectivity. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetic variability of Tomato spotted wilt virus in Australia and validation of real time RT-PCR for its detection in single and bulked leaf samples

The potential for large-scale use of a sensitive real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was evaluated for the detection of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in single and bulked leaf samples by comparing its sensitivity with that of DAS-ELISA. Using total RNA extracted with RNeasy (R) or leaf soak methods, real time RT-PCR detected TSWV in all infected samples collected from 16 horticultural crop species (including flowers, herbs and vegetables), two arable crop species, and four weed species by both assays. In samples in which DAS-ELISA had previously detected TSWV, real time RT-PCR was effective at detecting it in leaf tissues of all 22 plant species tested at a wide range of concentrations. Bulk samples required more robust and extensive extraction methods with real time RT-PCR, but it generally detected one infected sample in 1000 uninfected ones. By contrast, ELISA was less sensitive when used to test bulked samples, once detecting up to I infected in 800 samples with pepper but never detecting more than I infected in 200 samples in tomato and lettuce. It was also less reliable than real time RT-PCR when used to test samples from parts of the leaf where the virus concentration was low. The genetic variability among Australian isolates of TSWV was small. Direct sequencing of a 587 bp region of the nucleoprotein gene (S RNA) of 29 isolates from diverse crops and geographical locations yielded a maximum of only 4.3% nucleotide sequence difference. Phylogenetic analysis revealed no obvious groupings of isolates according to geographic origin or host species. TSWV isolates, that break TSWV resistance genes in tomato or pepper did not differ significantly in the N gene region studied, indicating that a different region of the virus genome is responsible for this trait.

Genetic structure and male-mediated gene flow in the ghost bat (Macroderma gigas)

The Australian ghost bat is a large, opportunistic carnivorous species that has undergone a marked range contraction toward more mesic, tropical sites over the past century. Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences and six nuclear microsatellite loci in 217 ghost bats from nine populations across subtropical and tropical Australia revealed strong population subdivision (mtDNA phi(ST) = 0.80; microsatellites URST = 0.337). Low-latitude (tropical) populations had higher heterozygosity and less marked phylogeographic structure and lower subdivision among sites within regions (within Northern Territory [NT] and within North Queensland [NQ]) than did populations at higher latitudes (subtropical sites; central Queensland [CQ]), although sampling of geographically proximal breeding sites is unavoidably restricted for the latter. Gene flow among populations within each of the northern regions appears to be male biased in that the difference in population subdivision for mtDNA and microsatellites (NT phi(ST) = 0.39, URST = 0.02; NQ phi(ST) = 0.60, URST = -0.03) is greater than expected from differences in the effective population size of haploid versus diploid loci. The high level of population subdivision across the range of the ghost bat contrasts with evidence for high gene flow in other chiropteran species and may be due to narrow physiological tolerances and consequent limited availability of roosts for ghost bats, particularly across the subtropical and relatively arid regions. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that the contraction of the species' range is associated with late Holocene climate change. The extreme isolation among higher-latitude populations may predispose them to additional local extinctions if the processes responsible for the range contraction continue to operate.

Genetic algorithm based distance spectrum technique for performance union bound of space-time trellis coded OFDM

This paper derives the performance union bound of space-time trellis codes in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system (STTC-OFDM) over quasi-static frequency selective fading channels based on the distance spectrum technique. The distance spectrum is the enumeration of the codeword difference measures and their multiplicities by exhausted searching through all the possible error event paths. Exhaustive search approach can be used for low memory order STTC with small frame size. However with moderate memory order STTC and moderate frame size the computational cost of exhaustive search increases exponentially, and may become impractical for high memory order STTCs. This requires advanced computational techniques such as Genetic Algorithms (GAS). In this paper, a GA with sharing function method is used to locate the multiple solutions of the distance spectrum for high memory order STTCs. Simulation evaluates the performance union bound and the complexity comparison of non-GA aided and GA aided distance spectrum techniques. It shows that the union bound give a close performance measure at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). It also shows that GA sharing function method based distance spectrum technique requires much less computational time as compared with exhaustive search approach but with satisfactory accuracy.