Multiple superoxide dismutase 1/splicing factor serine alanine 15 variants are associated with the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy:the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications Genetics study

Despite familial clustering of nephropathy and retinopathy severity in type 1 diabetes, few gene variants have been consistently associated with these outcomes.

Evidence for repeated independent evolution of migration in the largest family of bats

Background: How migration evolved represents one of the most poignant questions in evolutionary biology. While studies on the evolution of migration in birds are well represented in the literature, migration in bats has received relatively little attention. Yet, more than 30 species of bats are known to migrate annually from breeding to non-breeding locations. Our study is the first to test hypotheses on the evolutionary history of migration in bats using a phylogenetic framework. Methods and Principal Findings: In addition to providing a review of bat migration in relation to existing hypotheses on the evolution of migration in birds, we use a previously published supertree to formulate and test hypotheses on the evolutionary history of migration in bats. Our results suggest that migration in bats has evolved independently in several lineages potentially as the need arises to track resources (food, roosting site) but not through a series of steps from short- to long-distance migrants, as has been suggested for birds. Moreover, our analyses do not indicate that migration is an ancestral state but has relatively recently evolved in bats. Our results also show that migration is significantly less likely to evolve in cave roosting bats than in tree roosting species. Conclusions and Significance: This is the first study to provide evidence that migration has evolved independently in bat lineages that are not closely related. If migration evolved as a need to track seasonal resources or seek adequate roosting sites, climate change may have a pivotal impact on bat migratory habits. Our study provides a strong framework for future research on the evolution of migration in chiropterans. © 2009 Bisson et al.

IMMUNOCHEMICAL AND CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF A NEUROPEPTIDE FROM THE MONOGENEAN PARASITE, DICLIDOPHORA-MERLANGI - EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS OF THE NEUROPEPTIDE-Y SUPERFAMILY

1. A neuropeptide exhibiting pancreatic polypeptide-immunoreactivity (PP-IR) has been isolated and characterised from the parasitic platyhelminth, Diclidophora merlangi.

Applied aspects of Rhodococcus genetics

Eubacteria of the genus Rhodococcus are a diverse group of microorganisms commonly found in many environmental niches from soils to seawaters and as plant and animal pathogens. They exhibit a remarkable ability to degrade many organic compounds and their economic importance is becoming increasingly apparent. Although their genetic organisation is still far from understood, there have been many advances in recent years. Reviewed here is the current knowledge of rhodococci relating to gene transfer, recombination, plasmid replication and functions, cloning vectors and reporter genes, gene expression and its control, bacteriophages, insertion sequences and genomic rearrangements. Further fundamental studies of Rhodococcus genetics and the application of genetic techniques to the these bacteria will be needed for their continued biotechnological exploitation.

Evolutionary dynamics of the spatial Prisoner's Dilemma with self-inhibition

In this paper we study the influence of interventions on self-interactions in a spatial Prisoner's Dilemma on a two-dimensional grid with periodic boundary conditions and synchronous updating of the dynamics. We investigate two different types of self-interaction modifications. The first type (FSIP) is deterministic, effecting each self-interaction of a player by a constant factor, whereas the second type (PSIP) performs a probabilistic interventions. Both types of interventions lead to a reduction of the payoff of the players and, hence, represent inhibiting effects. We find that a constant but moderate reduction of self-interactions has a very beneficial effect on the evolution of cooperators in the population, whereas probabilistic interventions on self-interactions are in general counter productive for the coexistence of the two different strategies. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.