Search results for "POPULATION GENETICS"

Genetic diversity within the R408W phenylketonuria mutation lineages in Europe

2003

The R408W phenylketonuria mutation in Europe has arisen by recurrent mutation in the human phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) locus and is associated with two major PAH haplotypes. R408W-2.3 exhibits a west-to-east cline of relative frequency reaching its maximum in the Balto–Slavic region, while R408W-1.8 exhibits an east-to-west cline peaking in Connacht, the most westerly province of Ireland. Spatial autocorrelation analysis has demonstrated that the R408W-2.3 cline, like that of R408W-1.8, is consistent with a pattern likely to have been established by human dispersal. Genetic diversity within wild-type and R408W chromosomes in Europe was assessed through variable number tandem repeat (VNT…

The population genetics and evolutionary epidemiology of RNA viruses.

2004

Key Points The authors discuss the main mechanisms of RNA virus evolution — mutation, recombination, natural selection, genetic drift and migration, and how these interact to shape the genetic structure of populations.The quasispecies model of RNA virus evolution is explained and the question of whether this model provides an accurate description of RNA virus evolution is discussed.Experiments that can be carried out to test the basic principles of evolutionary theory are briefly described. The authors review what such experiments have told us about virus evolution and, more widely, what these experiments have revealed in terms of general evolutionary principles.RNA viruses evolve quickly, …

The genetic structure of Norway

2020

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to describe the genetic structure of the Norwegian population using genotypes from 6369 unrelated individuals with detailed information about places of residence. Using standard single marker- and haplotype-based approaches, we report evidence of two regions with distinctive patterns of genetic variation, one in the far northeast, and another in the south of Norway, as indicated by fixation indices, haplotype sharing, homozygosity, and effective population size. We detect and quantify a component of Uralic Sami ancestry that is enriched in the North. On a finer scale, we find that rates of migration have been affected by topography like mountain ridg…

Shedding Light on the Dark Ages: Sketching Potential Trade Relationships in Early Medieval Romania through Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of Sheep Remains

2021

Southeast Europe has played an important role in shaping the genetic diversity of sheep due to its proximity to the Danubian route of transport from the Near East into Europe, as well as its possible role as a post-domestication migration network and long tradition of sheep breeding. The history of Romania and, in particular, the historical province of Dobruja, located on the shore of the Black Sea, has been influenced by its geographical position at the intersection between the great powers of the Near East and mainland Europe, with the Middle Ages being an especially animated time in terms of trade, migration, and conflict. In this study, we analyzed the mitochondrial control region of fi…

Exceptional Heterogeneity in Viral Evolutionary Dynamics Characterises Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection.

2016

The treatment of HCV infection has seen significant progress, particularly since the approval of new direct-acting antiviral drugs. However these clinical achievements have been made despite an incomplete understanding of HCV replication and within-host evolution, especially compared with HIV-1. Here, we undertake a comprehensive analysis of HCV within-host evolution during chronic infection by investigating over 4000 viral sequences sampled longitudinally from 15 HCV-infected patients. We compare our HCV results to those from a well-studied HIV-1 cohort, revealing key differences in the evolutionary behaviour of these two chronic-infecting pathogens. Notably, we find an exceptional level o…

Vertical transmission of naturally occurring Bunyamwera and insect-specific flavivirus infections in mosquitoes from islands and mainland shores of L…

2018

Background Many arboviruses transmitted by mosquitoes have been implicated as causative agents of both human and animal illnesses in East Africa. Although epidemics of arboviral emerging infectious diseases have risen in frequency in recent years, the extent to which mosquitoes maintain pathogens in circulation during inter-epidemic periods is still poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate whether arboviruses may be maintained by vertical transmission via immature life stages of different mosquito vector species. Methodology We collected immature mosquitoes (egg, larva, pupa) on the shores and islands of Lake Baringo and Lake Victoria in western Kenya and reared them to adults. Mo…

A molecular approach to assess the population structure of Pomatoschistus tortonesei in the Mediterranean Sea.

2009

Data from: Population structure and reticulate evolution of Saccharomyces eubayanus and its lager-brewing hybrids

2014

Reticulate evolution can be a major driver of diversification into new niches, especially in disturbed habitats and at the edges of ranges. Industrial fermentation strains of yeast provide a window into these processes, but progress has been hampered by a limited understanding of the natural diversity and distribution of Saccharomyces species and populations. For example, lager beer is brewed with Saccharomyces pastorianus, an alloploid hybrid of S. cerevisiae and S. eubayanus, a species only recently discovered in Patagonia, Argentina. Here we report that genetically diverse strains of S. eubayanus are readily isolated from Patagonia, demonstrating that the species is well established ther…

The evolutionary history of the Arabidopsis arenosa complex: diverse tetraploids mask the Western Carpathian center of species and genetic diversity.

2012

The Arabidopsis arenosa complex is closely related to the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Species and subspecies in the complex are mainly biennial, predominantly outcrossing, herbaceous, and with a distribution range covering most parts of latitudes and the eastern reaches of Europe. In this study we present the first comprehensive evolutionary history of the A. arenosa species complex, covering its natural range, by using chromosome counts, nuclear AFLP data, and a maternally inherited marker from the chloroplast genome [trnL intron (trnL) and trnL/F intergenic spacer (trnL/F-IGS) of tRNA(Leu) and tRNA(Phe), respectively]. We unravel the broad-scale cytogeographic and phylogeographic pa…

On the taxonomy of three sympatric sibling species of the Brachionus plicatilis (Rotifera) complex from Spain, with the description of B. ibericus n.…

2001

The accumulation of evidence during the last decade led to the splitting of the Brachionus plicatilis complex (Rotifera) into two morphologically recognizable species: B. plicatilis Muller and B. rotundiformis Tschugunoff, previously referred to as L- and S-type B. plicatilis (s.l.), respectively. However, recent population genetics and molecular studies have revealed that each of these taxa concern cryptic species complexes. In particular, in Torreblanca Marsh, a wetland on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, three genetically distinct groups in this rotifer complex have been shown to co-occur. Differences in genetic markers, ecological preferences, mixis responses, mating behaviour and no e…