Search results for "developmental"
showing 10 items of 19870 documents
Drosophila Evolution over Space and Time (DEST) : A New Population Genomics Resource
2021
Drosophila melanogaster is a leading model in population genetics and genomics, and a growing number of whole-genome datasets from natural populations of this species have been published over the last years. A major challenge is the integration of disparate datasets, often generated using different sequencing technologies and bioinformatic pipelines, which hampers our ability to address questions about the evolution of this species. Here we address these issues by developing a bioinformatics pipeline that maps pooled sequencing (Pool-Seq) reads from D. melanogaster to a hologenome consisting of fly and symbiont genomes and estimates allele frequencies using either a heuristic (PoolSNP) or a…
Resource availability and competition shape the evolution of survival and growth ability in a bacterial community
2013
Resource availability is one of the main factors determining the ecological dynamics of populations or species. Fluctuations in resource availability can increase or decrease the intensity of resource competition. Resource availability and competition can also cause evolutionary changes in life-history traits. We studied how community structure and resource fluctuations affect the evolution of fitness related traits using a two-species bacterial model system. Replicated populations of Serratia marcescens (copiotroph) and Novosophingobium capsulatum (oligotroph) were reared alone or together in environments with intergenerational, pulsed resource renewal. The comparison of ancestral and evol…
Is Mating Alone Enough to Inhibit Infanticide in Male Bank Voles?
2010
Infanticide, the killing of conspecific young, is commonly recognized as an adaptive behavioural strategy enhancing the fitness of the perpetrator. Infanticide is supposed to be inhibited in several male rodent species after mating with a time lag to the time when perpetrators own offspring would be born. This is because males with no parental care do not recognize their own offspring. It has been suggested that copulation alone is enough to inhibit infanticidal behaviour in male rodents. Infanticidal behaviour occurs in more than 50% of male bank voles (Myodes glareolus), and offspring loss because of infanticide may have a great effect on breeding success and population recruitment. In a …
An electrochemical analysis suggests role of gynodioecy in adaptation to stress in Cortaderia selloana
2018
Cortaderia selloana is an invasive, gynodioecious species prevalent in Mediterranean area which contains both female and hermaphrodite specimens in the wild population. Using voltammetric data we show that the female and hermaphrodite specimens exhibit differential electrochemical response. Cortaderia selloana leaves from two different provenances in the Valencia Mediterranean area, Sueca and Cullera (Comunitat Valenciana, Spain), in the surroundings of the Albufera Natural Park, a peculiar ecosystem containing unspoilt dune beaches and forests, were studied to determine correlation of flower morphology with the plant's ability to adapt to stress conditions. Our data suggests that gynodioec…
Effects of photoperiod on life-history and thermal stress resistance traits across populations of Drosophila subobscura
2019
Introduction Organisms use environmental cues to match their phenotype with the future availability of resources and environmental conditions. Changes in the magnitude and frequency of environmental cues such as photoperiod and temperature along latitudes can be used by organisms to predict seasonal changes. While the role of temperature variation on the induction of plastic and seasonal responses is well established, the importance of photoperiod for predicting seasonal changes is less explored. Materials and methods Here we studied changes in life‐history and thermal stress resistance traits in Drosophila subobscura in response to variation in photoperiod (6:18, 12:12 and 18:6 light:dark …
Mixed company : a framework for understanding the composition and organization of mixed‐species animal groups
2020
Mixed‐species animal groups (MSGs) are widely acknowledged to increase predator avoidance and foraging efficiency, among other benefits, and thereby increase participants' fitness. Diversity in MSG composition ranges from two to 70 species of very similar or completely different phenotypes. Yet consistency in organization is also observable in that one or a few species usually have disproportionate importance for MSG formation and/or maintenance. We propose a two‐dimensional framework for understanding this diversity and consistency, concentrating on the types of interactions possible between two individuals, usually of different species. One axis represents the similarity of benefit types …
Were climatic changes a driving force in hominid evolution?
2000
International audience; A comparison of externalist and internalist approaches in hominid evolution shows that the externalist approach, with its claim that climate was responsible for the appearance of bipedalism and hominization, now seems to be ruled out by the biological, palaeogeographical, palaeontological and palaeoclimatic data on which it was based. Biological data support the embryonic origin of cranio-facial contraction, which determined the increase in cranial capacity and the shift in the position of the foramen magnum implying bipedalism. In the internalist approach, developmental biology appears as the driving force of hominid evolution, although climate exerts a significant …
Identification of Two Carbonic Anhydrases in the Mantle of the European Abalone Haliotis tuberculata (Gastropoda, Haliotidae): Phylogenetic Implicati…
2012
Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) represent a diversified family of metalloenzymes that reversibly catalyze the hydration of carbon dioxide. They are involved in a wide range of functions, among which is the formation of CaCO(3) skeletons in metazoans. In the shell-forming mantle tissues of mollusks, the location of the CA catalytic activity is elusive and gives birth to contradicting views. In the present paper, using the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata, a key model gastropod in biomineralization studies, we identified and characterized two CAs (htCA1 and htCA2) that are specific of the shell-forming mantle tissue. We analyzed them in a phylogenetic context. Combining various approaches, inc…
Effects of Acifluorfen-methyl on cucumber cotyledons : porphyrin accumulation
1988
Abstract The nitrodiphenyl ether herbicide acifluorfen-methyl and the pyridine derivative LS 82-556 induce porphyrin accumulation in green cucumber cotyledons. When experiments are done with intact plants absorbing the herbicide through the roots, that accumulation is light-dependent. 3-(3,4-Dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) which prevents cellular damages under these conditions (M. Matringe and R. Scalla, Pestic. Biochem. Physiol. 26 , 150 (1986), also inhibits porphyrin accumulation. In contrast, when detached cotyledons are cut into pieces and floated on herbicide solutions, porphyrins accumulate in the dark. Accordingly, DCMU does not inhibit porphyrin accumulation or protect the …
Cell interactions between a nonpathogenic Fusarium oxysporum strain and root tissues of Eucalyptus viminalis
2004
Nonpathogenic isolates of Fusarium oxysporum can be successful antagonists of pathogenic forms of the same fungal species that commonly attacks crop plants. The characteristics that distinguish nonpathogenic from pathogenic forms are not well understood. In this study, the mode of root colonization of Eucalyptus viminalis seedlings by a nonpathogenic F. oxysporum strain is described at the ultrastructural level. Root systems of E. viminalis plants were inoculated with nonpathogenic F. oxysporum strain Fo47 in an in vitro model system. Changes in the occurrence of nonesterified and methyl-esterified pectins in colonized E. viminalis roots were evaluated by in situ immunolabeling using two mo…