In hermaphroditic species, sexual interference can drive the evolution of dichogamy, where sporophylls (reproductive parts) are separated in time. However, the separation of sporophylls can lead to pollination inaccuracy, especially in movement-assisted dichogamy, where sporophylls alter their position over time. Is pollination inaccuracy minimised by the second sporophyll taking the exact position of the first? Are the sporophylls optimally positioned and stable in their respective active phases?...
Tue Jul 28, 2020 03:00
Hard ticks are blood-feeding arthropods that carry and transmit microbes to their vertebrate hosts. Tick-borne disease cases have been on the rise over the last several decades, drawing much-needed attention to the molecular interplay between transmitted pathogens and their human hosts. However, far less is known about how ticks control their own microbes, which is critical for understanding how zoonotic transmission cycles persist. We previously found that ticks horizontally acquired an antimicrobial...
Tue Jul 28, 2020 03:00
Mitochondrial mutational signature is very conserved and low deviations between species have been associated with longevity. By reconstructing species-specific mtDNA mutational spectrum for ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii), we observed that temperature is a strong additional factor shaping the mtDNA mutational spectrum in ectotherms. The analysis of mammalian endotherms, with a special focus on species with temporarily or permanently low metabolic rates (hibernators, daily torpors, naked mole rat,...
Tue Jul 28, 2020 03:00
A dynamic continuum exists from free-living environmental microbes to strict host associated symbionts that are vertically inherited. However, knowledge of the forces that drive transitions in the modes by which symbioses form is lacking. Arsenophonus is a diverse clade of bacterial symbionts, comprising reproductive parasites to coevolving obligate mutualists, in which the predominant mode of transmission is vertical. We describe a symbiosis between a member of the genus Arsenophonus and the Western...
Tue Jul 28, 2020 03:00
Trans-generational effects from fathers to offspring are increasingly reported from diverse organisms, but the underlying mechanisms are often unknown. Paternal trans-generational immune priming (TGIP) was demonstrated in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum: non-infectious bacterial exposure (priming) of fathers protects their offspring against an infectious challenge. Here we studied a potential role of the Dnmt2 (now also called Trdnmt1) gene, which encodes a highly conserved enzyme that provides...
Mon Jul 27, 2020 03:00
While DNA methylation is an important chromatin modification in many groups of organisms, the function of DNA methylation within the insects is unclear. The taxonomic distribution of DNA methyltransferase genes in insects is highly variable, as is the presence of methylated genomes. In the large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus, we have shown the maintenance methyltransferase Dnmt1 is required for oocyte production but this appears to be unrelated to methylation given that demethylating somatic...
Mon Jul 27, 2020 03:00
Invasive species provide an opportune system to investigate how populations respond to new environments. Babys breath (Gypsophila paniculata) was introduced to North America in the 1800s and has since spread throughout the United States and western Canada. We used an RNA-seq approach to explore how molecular processes contribute to the success of invasive populations with similar genetic backgrounds across distinct habitats. Transcription profiles were constructed from seedlings collected from a...
Mon Jul 27, 2020 03:00
Molecular analyses of closely related taxa have increasingly revealed the importance of higher-order genetic interactions in explaining the observed pattern of reproductive isolation between populations. Indeed, both empirical and theoretical studies have linked the process of speciation to complex genetic interactions. Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) capture the inter-dependencies of gene expression and encode information about an individual's phenotype and development at the molecular level. As...
Mon Jul 27, 2020 03:00
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου