Effects of Chinese honeybee foraging on oilseed rape gene flow and honey ingredients

SUMMARYHoneybee foraging can transfer exogenous genes from genetically modified (GM) oilseed rape (Brassica napusL.) to closely related plants, which not only induces potential ecological risks but also contaminates non-GM seeds or honey products with GM ingredients. These events may lead to international trade disputes. Chinese honeybees (Apis cerana ceranaFabricius) and a herbicide (glufosinate)-resistant GM strain ofB. napus(Z7B10) were studied to examine the effects of honeybee short-range foraging on oilseed rape gene flow and honey ingredients. Results showed variable frequencies of gene flow between GM and non-GM oilseed rape cultivars, with the highest frequency under nylon net isolation with artificially stocked honeybees, the lowest frequency under nylon net isolation alone, and an intermediate frequency under natural pollination, suggesting the important role of honeybee foraging in gene flow frequency. Additionally, GM pollen grains were found in honey collected from honeybees foraging on both GM and non-GM oilseed rape cultivars. The phosphinothricin acetyltransferase protein was also detected in both unbroken pollen-containing and pollen-free honey by protein testing strips, suggesting that honeybee foraging on GM oilseed rape could lead to contamination with GM ingredients. Overall, the results provide a direct scientific basis for the ecological risk assessment and safety management of GM oilseed rape.

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THE ROLE OF HONEYBEES (Apis mellifera) AND OTHER INSECT POLLINATORS IN GENE FLOW BETWEEN OILSEED RAPE (Brassica napus) AND WILD RADISH (Raphanus raphanistrum)

Acta Horticulturae ◽

10.17660/actahortic.2001.561.6 ◽

2001 ◽

pp. 47-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

J. Pierre

Keyword(s):

Gene Flow ◽

Apis Mellifera ◽

Brassica Napus ◽

Oilseed Rape ◽

Wild Radish ◽

Raphanus Raphanistrum ◽

Insect Pollinators

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Does Employee Care Trigger Innovation Under a Healthy and Safe Working Environment? Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry in China

Healthcare ◽

10.3390/healthcare9020194 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 194

Author(s):

Minghui Yang ◽

Qian Lin ◽

Petra Maresova

Keyword(s):

Safety Management ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Working Environment ◽

Firm Innovation ◽

Corporate Managers ◽

Pharmaceutical Firms ◽

Corporate Ability ◽

Safe Working

Sustainability of the workforce becomes a crucial issue, of which responsible care for employees can increase job satisfaction and human capital that impact corporate ability to absorb and generate new knowledge. Firms are obligated to provide a healthy and safe working environment for their employees, but it may in turn hinder innovation due to rigid and structured institutional regulations. Drawing on data of 308 China’s pharmaceutical firms from 2010 to 2017, we investigated whether employee care can trigger innovation under corporate adoption of the occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS). Our results suggest that both employee care and OHSMS adoption have a positive impact on innovation. Moreover, the positive relationship between employee care and innovation was more pronounced in firms that had adopted the OHSMS certification. These findings are valuable to policymakers and corporate managers in emerging economies through corroborating the important role of workforce sustainability in facilitating firm innovation.

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Large-Scale Adaptive Hitchhiking Upon High Recombination inDrosophila simulans

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/165.2.895 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 165 (2) ◽

pp. 895-900 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Humberto Quesada ◽

Ursula E M Ramírez ◽

Julio Rozas ◽

Montserrat Aguadé

Keyword(s):

Genetic Linkage ◽

Large Scale ◽

Intermediate Frequency ◽

Core Region ◽

Adaptive Mutation ◽

Nucleotide Variation ◽

Extended Haplotype ◽

Major Haplotype ◽

Pattern Of Variation

AbstractNatural selection is expected to leave a characteristic footprint on neighboring nucleotide variation through the effects of genetic linkage. The size of the region affected is proportional to the strength of selection and greatly reduced with the recombinational distance from the selected site. Thus, the genomic footprint of selection is generally believed to be restricted to a small DNA stretch in normal and highly recombining regions. Here, we study the effect of selection on linked polymorphism (hitchhiking effect) by surveying nucleotide variation across a highly recombining ∼88-kb genomic fragment in an African population of Drosophila simulans. We find a core region of up to 38 kb with a major haplotype at intermediate frequency. The extended haplotype structure that gradually vanishes until disappearing is unusual for a highly recombining region. Both the presence in the structured genomic domain of a single major haplotype depleted of variability and the detected spatial pattern of variation along the ∼88-kb fragment are incompatible with neutral predictions in a panmictic population. A major role of demographic effects could also be discarded. The observed pattern of variation clearly provides evidence that directional selection has acted recently on this region, sweeping out variation around a strongly adaptive mutation. Our findings suggest a major role of positive selection in shaping DNA variability even in highly recombining regions.

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A Duplicated Copy of the Meiotic Gene ZIP4 Preserves up to 50% Pollen Viability and Grain Number in Polyploid Wheat

Biology ◽

10.3390/biology10040290 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 290

Author(s):

Abdul Kader Alabdullah ◽

Graham Moore ◽

Azahara C. Martín

Keyword(s):

Pollen Viability ◽

Pollen Grains ◽

Wheat Chromosome ◽

Grain Number ◽

Meiotic Gene ◽

Chromosome 5B ◽

Mutant Pollen ◽

Female Gametogenesis ◽

Chromosome 3B

Although most flowering plants are polyploid, little is known of how the meiotic process evolves after polyploidisation to stabilise and preserve fertility. On wheat polyploidisation, the major meiotic gene ZIP4 on chromosome 3B duplicated onto 5B and diverged (TaZIP4-B2). TaZIP4-B2 was recently shown to promote homologous pairing, synapsis and crossover, and suppress homoeologous crossover. We therefore suspected that these meiotic stabilising effects could be important for preserving wheat fertility. A CRISPR Tazip4-B2 mutant was exploited to assess the contribution of the 5B duplicated ZIP4 copy in maintaining pollen viability and grain setting. Analysis demonstrated abnormalities in 56% of meiocytes in the Tazip4-B2 mutant, with micronuclei in 50% of tetrads, reduced size in 48% of pollen grains and a near 50% reduction in grain number. Further studies showed that most of the reduced grain number occurred when Tazip4-B2 mutant plants were pollinated with the less viable Tazip4-B2 mutant pollen rather than with wild type pollen, suggesting that the stabilising effect of TaZIP4-B2 on meiosis has a greater consequence in subsequent male, rather than female gametogenesis. These studies reveal the extraordinary value of the wheat chromosome 5B TaZIP4-B2 duplication to agriculture and human nutrition. Future studies should further investigate the role of TaZIP4-B2 on female fertility and assess whether different TaZIP4-B2 alleles exhibit variable effects on meiotic stabilisation and/or resistance to temperature change.

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Premating barriers in young sympatric snail species

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-84407-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Arina L. Maltseva ◽

Marina A. Varfolomeeva ◽

Arseniy A. Lobov ◽

Polina O. Tikanova ◽

Egor A. Repkin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Flow ◽

Snail Species ◽

Sympatric Populations ◽

Gastropod Species ◽

Shell Size ◽

Closely Related Species ◽

Partial Canonical Correspondence Analysis ◽

In The Wild ◽

Isolation Index

AbstractSympatric coexistence of recently diverged species raises the question of barriers restricting the gene flow between them. Reproductive isolation may be implemented at several levels, and the weakening of some, e.g. premating, barriers may require the strengthening of the others, e.g. postcopulatory ones. We analysed mating patterns and shell size of mates in recently diverged closely related species of the subgenus Littorina Neritrema (Littorinidae, Caenogastropoda) in order to assess the role of premating reproductive barriers between them. We compared mating frequencies observed in the wild with those expected based on relative densities using partial canonical correspondence analysis. We introduced the fidelity index (FI) to estimate the relative accuracy of mating with conspecific females and precopulatory isolation index (IPC) to characterize the strength of premating barriers. The species under study, with the exception of L. arcana, clearly demonstrated preferential mating with conspecifics. According to FI and IPC, L. fabalis and L. compressa appeared reliably isolated from their closest relatives within Neritrema. Individuals of these two species tend to be smaller than those of the others, highlighting the importance of shell size changes in gastropod species divergence. L. arcana males were often found in pairs with L. saxatilis females, and no interspecific size differences were revealed in this sibling species pair. We discuss the lack of discriminative mate choice in the sympatric populations of L. arcana and L. saxatilis, and possible additional mechanisms restricting gene flow between them.

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Molecular Signatures of Reticulate Evolution within the Complex of European Pine Taxa

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12040489 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 489

Author(s):

Bartosz Łabiszak ◽

Witold Wachowiak

Keyword(s):

Gene Flow ◽

Reticulate Evolution ◽

Modeling Framework ◽

Closely Related Species ◽

Interspecific Gene Flow ◽

Nucleotide Sequence Variation ◽

History Of ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Species Integrity

Speciation mechanisms, including the role of interspecific gene flow and introgression in the emergence of new species, are the major focus of evolutionary studies. Inference of taxonomic relationship between closely related species may be challenged by past hybridization events, but at the same time, it may provide new knowledge about mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of species integrity despite interspecific gene flow. Here, using nucleotide sequence variation and utilizing a coalescent modeling framework, we tested the role of hybridization and introgression in the evolutionary history of closely related pine taxa from the Pinus mugo complex and P. sylvestris. We compared the patterns of polymorphism and divergence between taxa and found a great overlap of neutral variation within the P. mugo complex. Our phylogeny reconstruction indicated multiple instances of reticulation events in the past, suggesting an important role of interspecific gene flow in the species divergence. The best-fitting model revealed P. mugo and P. uncinata as sister species with basal P. uliginosa and asymmetric migration between all investigated species after their divergence. The magnitude of interspecies gene flow differed greatly, and it was consistently stronger from representatives of P. mugo complex to P. sylvestris than in the opposite direction. The results indicate the prominent role of reticulation evolution in those forest trees and provide a genetic framework to study species integrity maintained by selection and local adaptation.

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Introgression between non-sister species of honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) several million years after speciation

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society ◽

10.1093/biolinnean/blz129 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 128 (3) ◽

pp. 583-591

Author(s):

Leo Joseph ◽

Alex Drew ◽

Ian J Mason ◽

Jeffrey L Peters

Keyword(s):

Gene Flow ◽

Reproductive Isolation ◽

Sex Chromosomes ◽

Common Ancestor ◽

Sister Species ◽

Species Boundaries ◽

North Eastern ◽

The City

Abstract We reassessed whether two parapatric non-sister Australian honeyeater species (Aves: Meliphagidae), varied and mangrove honeyeaters (Gavicalis versicolor and G. fasciogularis, respectively), that diverged from a common ancestor c. 2.5 Mya intergrade in the Townsville area of north-eastern Queensland. Consistent with a previous specimen-based study, by using genomics methods we show one-way gene flow for autosomal but not Z-linked markers from varied into mangrove honeyeaters. Introgression barely extends south of the area of parapatry in and around the city of Townsville. While demonstrating the long-term porosity of species boundaries over several million years, our data also suggest a clear role of sex chromosomes in maintaining reproductive isolation.

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