Biology posts
- February 9, 2010
- 06:59 AM
- 5 views
Conserving the jaguar: a continent-wide assessment of habitat corridors
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
In order to protect the relative genetic health of jaguar populations and to establish priorities for habitat conservation, researchers use an innovative model to map potential corridors between 90 remaining areas of high jaguar density throughout Central and South America...... Read more »
Rabinowitz, A., & Zeller, K. (2010) A range-wide model of landscape connectivity and conservation for the jaguar, Panthera onca. Biological Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.01.002
- February 9, 2010
- 06:29 AM
- 6 views
Uncovering the Genetic Controls of Cellular Aging
by Rick Scavetta in DNA Dude
A fascinating thing about DNA replication is that the actual process lacks the ability to replicate the very ends of chromosomes. That means chromosomes should get shorter with every round of cell division (DNA replication), but they remain more or less the same length, getting gradually shorter with aging. The natural shortening of chromosomes is [...]... Read more »
Shore, D., & Bianchi, A. (2009) Telomere length regulation: coupling DNA end processing to feedback regulation of telomerase. The EMBO Journal, 28(16), 2309-2322. DOI: 10.1038/emboj.2009.195
Codd, V., Mangino, M., van der Harst, P., Braund, P., Kaiser, M., Beveridge, A., Rafelt, S., Moore, J., Nelson, C., Soranzo, N.... (2010) Common variants near TERC are associated with mean telomere length. Nature Genetics. DOI: 10.1038/ng.532
- February 9, 2010
- 05:56 AM
- 5 views
ToE Expansion pack: Foraminifera!
by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder
After getting over my little moment of rage there, I decided to go ahead and redo the forams while I could still vaguely remember the phylogeny, sort of. So here comes the Tree of Eukaryotes Expansion Pack: Forams!I hope somebody is happy now, after nagging me about the freaking forams for the past two weeks! I know they deserve more space, and I did them an awful injustice by shrinking the entire group to just 'Forams'. Since I still haven't figured out the space problem (should I just shrink e........ Read more »
Flakowski, J. (2005) ACTIN PHYLOGENY OF FORAMINIFERA. The Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 35(2), 93-102. DOI: 10.2113/35.2.93
HABURA, A., GOLDSTEIN, S., PARFREY, L., & BOWSER, S. (2006) Phylogeny and Ultrastructure of Miliammina fusca: Evidence for Secondary Loss of Calcification in a Miliolid Foraminifer. The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 53(3), 204-210. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2006.00096.x
LONGET, D., & PAWLOWSKI, J. (2007) Higher-level phylogeny of Foraminifera inferred from the RNA polymerase II (RPB1) gene. European Journal of Protistology, 43(3), 171-177. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2007.01.003
Pawlowski, J. (2003) The evolution of early Foraminifera. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(20), 11494-11498. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2035132100
- February 9, 2010
- 05:20 AM
- 16 views
Evolutionary origins of religion: weak relation to morality
by Björn Brembs in bjoern.brembs.blog
It is a long-standing argument among religious believers that religiosity were necessary for morality. In a recent Trends in Cognitive Sciences article (requires subscription), Pyysiäinen and Hauser argue that morality can arise and indeed can be found without and before any religious education and thus religion is a by-product of pre-existing cognitive properties of the brain. Indeed, religion is not ubiquitous, as for instance the Hadza's religion has been described as 'minimal', and yet, coo........ Read more »
Ilkka Pyysiäinen, & Marc Hauser. (2010) The origins of religion: evolved adaptation or by-product?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. info:/10.1016/j.tics.2009.12.007
- February 8, 2010
- 03:56 PM
- 12 views
Mean Streets
by Roberta Kwok in Journal Watch Online
Roadkill numbers in upstate New York look grim
... Read more »
Barthelmess, E., & Brooks, M. (2010) The influence of body-size and diet on road-kill trends in mammals. Biodiversity and Conservation. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-010-9791-3
- February 8, 2010
- 03:10 PM
- 12 views
Racehorse Research Identifies Speed Gene
by GrrlScientist in Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
tags: evolutionary biology, molecular biology, Thoroughbred race horses, horses, aerobic capacity, muscle development, myostatin, MSTN, myostatin-suppressing C variant, myostatin-suppressing T variant, Horse Genome Project, Equinome, bpr3.org/?p=52,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
Emerging from the mist is Rachel Alexandra, a champion American Thoroughbred who excels at winning both long and short distance races.
Image: Rob Carr, 2009, Associated Press [larger view]
If you'........ Read more »
Hill, E., Gu, J., Eivers, S., Fonseca, R., McGivney, B., Govindarajan, P., Orr, N., Katz, L., & MacHugh, D. (2010) A Sequence Polymorphism in MSTN Predicts Sprinting Ability and Racing Stamina in Thoroughbred Horses. PLoS ONE, 5(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008645
- February 8, 2010
- 02:34 PM
- 19 views
Barnacle Sex
by Kelsey in Mauka to Makai
Sad but true: Barnacles (critters who spend the majority of their lives with their heads glued to a hard surface) may be getting more action than you are.
Of course, that depends on how you quantify “action.” Barnacles have a fairly short mating season—compared to our non-stop mating season—but they cram a whole lotta nooky into [...]... Read more »
HOCH, J. (2008) Variation in penis morphology and mating ability in the acorn barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 359(2), 126-130. DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2008.03.002
Hoch, J. (2009) ADAPTIVE PLASTICITY OF THE PENIS IN A SIMULTANEOUS HERMAPHRODITE. Evolution, 63(8), 1946-1953. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00668.x
Murata, A., Imafuku, M., & Abe, N. (2001) Copulation by the barnacle Tetraclita japonica under natural conditions. Journal of Zoology, 253(2), 275-280. DOI: 10.1017/S0952836901000243
Neufeld, C., & Palmer, A. (2008) Precisely proportioned: intertidal barnacles alter penis form to suit coastal wave action. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1638), 1081-1087. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1760
- February 8, 2010
- 01:56 PM
- 16 views
Mazel tov! You should have such long telomeres
by ouroboros in Ouroboros: Research in the biology of aging
A study of Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians by Atzmon et al. has revealed that telomere length is correlated with longer lifespan and slower biological aging (reflected in measurements of several biomarkers of aging). Both lifespan and telomere length are, in turn, correlated with polymorphisms at the hTERT and hTERC loci, two genes that respectively encode the [...]... Read more »
Atzmon, G., Cho, M., Cawthon, R., Budagov, T., Katz, M., Yang, X., Siegel, G., Bergman, A., Huffman, D., Schechter, C.... (2009) Evolution in Health and Medicine Sackler Colloquium: Genetic variation in human telomerase is associated with telomere length in Ashkenazi centenarians. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(suppl_1), 1710-1717. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0906191106
- February 8, 2010
- 12:16 PM
- 61 views
MolBio Pick of the Week!: Tumour cell ecosystems, electrical crayfish and fluorescing corals
This week, I'm hosting the MolBio Pick Of the Week, usually hosted on the MolBio Research Highlights Blog. The picks of the week are taken from researchblogging.org, which contains a number of great science blog posts from all areas, however this post only chooses topics aggregated under 'biology'1) Tumour cells are cells in the body that have escaped the control system of the surrounded cells and are therefore about to diversify and mutate to a far greater extent than the cells surrounding the........ Read more »
Patullo, B., & Macmillan, D. (2010) Making sense of electrical sense in crayfish. Journal of Experimental Biology, 213(4), 651-657. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.039073
Park SY, Gönen M, Kim HJ, Michor F, & Polyak K. (2010) Cellular and genetic diversity in the progression of in situ human breast carcinomas to an invasive phenotype. The Journal of clinical investigation, 120(2), 636-44. PMID: 20101094
Field, S., & Matz, M. (2009) Retracing Evolution of Red Fluorescence in GFP-Like Proteins from Faviina Corals. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 27(2), 225-233. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msp230
- February 8, 2010
- 11:58 AM
- 21 views
Wanted: The Tomb of the Father of Modern Astronomy
by Promega Corporation in Promega Connections
What do Swedish war booty, the Frombork Cathedral in Poland, and Napoleon all have in common? Answer: Nicholaus Copernicus. While much is known about the cleric and astronomer, the location of his burial site and the identity of his possible remains were cloaked in mystery. Over the last 200 years, many have searched for Copernicus’s [...]... Read more »
Bogdanowicz W, Allen M, Branicki W, Lembring M, Gajewska M, & Kupiec T. (2009) Genetic identification of putative remains of the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(30), 12279-82. PMID: 19584252
- February 8, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 16 views
Species vulnerability to climate change: sharks and sting rays in the Great Barrier Reef
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
Scientists have developed an innovative model for predicting the vulnerability of multiple species in a geographic area to climate change. They tested the model on sharks and sting rays in the Great Barrier though the approach really is applicable to a wide range of ecosystems...... Read more »
CHIN, A., KYNE, P., WALKER, T., & McAULEY, R. (2010) An integrated risk assessment for climate change: analysing the vulnerability of sharks and rays on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02128.x
- February 8, 2010
- 07:30 AM
- 20 views
Origins and evolution of pathogens
by stajich in The Hyphal Tip
An article in PLoS Pathogens by Morris et al describe a hypothesis about the evolution and origins of plant pathogens applying the parallel theories to the emergence of medically relevant pathogens. The authors highlight the importance of understanding the evolution of organisms in the context of emerging pathogens like Puccinia Ug99 for our ability [...]... Read more »
Morris, C., Bardin, M., Kinkel, L., Moury, B., Nicot, P., & Sands, D. (2009) Expanding the Paradigms of Plant Pathogen Life History and Evolution of Parasitic Fitness beyond Agricultural Boundaries. PLoS Pathogens, 5(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000693
Casadevall, A. (2008) Evolution of Intracellular Pathogens. Annual Review of Microbiology, 62(1), 19-33. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.micro.61.080706.093305
- February 8, 2010
- 05:00 AM
- 16 views
Urban airports, a key refuge for insect conservation
by Rob Goldstein in Conservation Maven
... Read more »
Kutschbach-Brohl, L., Washburn, B., Bernhardt, G., Chipman, R., & Francoeur, L. (2010) Arthropods of a semi-natural grassland in an urban environment: the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York. Journal of Insect Conservation. DOI: 10.1007/s10841-010-9264-8
- February 8, 2010
- 04:51 AM
- 14 views
MapReduce goes evolutionary
by Abhishek Tiwari in Fisheye Perspective
Scientists from Texas A&M University have developed a new algorithm MrsRF (MapReduce Speeds up Robinson-Foulds) for analyzing large collection of evolutionary trees using MapReduce framework. Matthews et. al, have used their MapReduce algorithm to compute all-to-all Robinson-Foulds (RF) distance matrix on multi-core computing platforms. Calculation of all possible Robinson-Foulds distance pairs is a computationally intensive task. The results show that a significant speedup can be achieved ........ Read more »
Matthews, S., & Williams, T. (2010) MrsRF: an efficient MapReduce algorithm for analyzing large collections of evolutionary trees. BMC Bioinformatics, 11(Suppl 1). DOI: 10.1186/1471-2105-11-S1-S15
- February 7, 2010
- 10:14 PM
- 24 views
I say tomato…
by Anastasia Bodnar in Genetic Maize
Researchers at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in India have found a surprisingly simple way to extend the shelf life of fresh tomatoes. Most tomatoes will last about 10-15 days before going unappealingly squishy. The enhanced tomatoes last 45 days or more and are firmer than unmodified tomatoes, which I imagine makes for [...]... Read more »
Meli, V., Ghosh, S., Prabha, T., Chakraborty, N., Chakraborty, S., & Datta, A. (2010) Enhancement of fruit shelf life by suppressing N-glycan processing enzymes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0909329107
- February 7, 2010
- 10:14 PM
- 15 views
I say tomato…
by Anastasia Bodnar in Biofortified
Researchers at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in India have found a surprisingly simple way to extend the shelf life of fresh tomatoes. Most tomatoes will last about 10-15 days before going unappealingly squishy. The enhanced tomatoes last 45 days or more and are firmer than unmodified tomatoes, which I imagine makes for [...]... Read more »
Meli, V., Ghosh, S., Prabha, T., Chakraborty, N., Chakraborty, S., & Datta, A. (2010) Enhancement of fruit shelf life by suppressing N-glycan processing enzymes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0909329107
- February 7, 2010
- 12:28 PM
- 70 views
the evolutionary mystery of human breasts
by Greg Fish in weird things
There’s just something mysterious about breasts. No, not how entire business empires are built on the basis of showing them to a ravenous public. That’s not exactly what you’d call a mystery. The big question is why the female human breast evolved the way it is today. Is it a matter of comfort and security [...]... Read more »
Vorbach, C., Capecchi, M., & Penninger, J. (2006) Evolution of the mammary gland from the innate immune system?. BioEssays, 28(6), 606-616. DOI: 10.1002/bies.20423
- February 7, 2010
- 10:28 AM
- 26 views
Where the wild things glow
by Lucas in thoughtomics
Brown is not the colour that springs to mind when you hear the word ‘coral’. We are more accustomed to pictures of coral reefs with more aesthetically pleasing colours, like red or purple. That’s not an accurate representation of reality though: a large part of coral species has a more brownish colouring, due to the [...]... Read more »
Field, S., & Matz, M. (2009) Retracing Evolution of Red Fluorescence in GFP-Like Proteins from Faviina Corals. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 27(2), 225-233. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msp230
- February 7, 2010
- 09:49 AM
- 16 views
Heat shocking adaptive evolution…
by Jim Caryl in mental indigestion
IN evolutionary theory there is a phenomenon known as canalisation, a process in which the phenotype (i.e. the outward physical appearance of an organism) remains invariant, despite genetic or environmental perturbations. It suggests that a mechanism exists to buffer the phenotype from such changes, which may ultimately explain why species can remain mostly unchanged for [...]... Read more »
Specchia, V., Piacentini, L., Tritto, P., Fanti, L., D’Alessandro, R., Palumbo, G., Pimpinelli, S., & Bozzetti, M. (2010) Hsp90 prevents phenotypic variation by suppressing the mutagenic activity of transposons. Nature, 463(7281), 662-665. DOI: 10.1038/nature08739
- February 7, 2010
- 07:29 AM
- 21 views
MM#11 Answer: Rhizochromulina: algal amoeba
by Psi Wavefunction in Skeptic Wonder
Remember this from a looooooong time ago?Rhizochromulina. Mischievously looks like a chlorarachniophyte... [source]As a warning, about the only marginally comprehensive ochrophyte phylogeny I found was in TC-S & Chao, J Mol Evol. It looks like this, and makes me want to cry:[no comment needed] (TC-S & Chao 2006 J Mol Evol)In case those names look simply alien to you, you're not alone. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd stump some phycologists. Ochrophyte phycologists. This, my fr........ Read more »
CAVALIER-SMITH, T. (2009) Megaphylogeny, Cell Body Plans, Adaptive Zones: Causes and Timing of Eukaryote Basal Radiations. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 56(1), 26-33. DOI: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2008.00373.x
Eikrem, W, Romari, K, Latasa, M, Le Gall, F, & et al. (2004) Florenciella parvula gen. et sp. nov.(Dictyochophyceae, Heterokontophyta), a small flagellate isolated from the English Channel. Phycologia, 43(6), 658-668. info:/
Hibberd, D. (1971) Observations on the cytology and ultrastructure of Chrysamoeba radians Klebs (Chrysophyceae). European Journal of Phycology, 6(2), 207-223. DOI: 10.1080/00071617100650231
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