Incorporating Chenopodium berlandieri into a Seasonal Subsistence Pattern: Implications of Biological Traits for Cultural Choices.

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 510
Author(s):  
Sara Halwas ◽  
Anne C. Worley
Author(s):  
Douglas William Jones

Within the past 20 years, archaeobotanical research in the Eastern United States has documented an early agricultural complex before the dominance of the Mesoamerican domesticates (corn, beans, and squash) in late prehistoric and historic agricultural systems. This early agricultural complex consisted of domesticated plants such as Iva annua var.macrocarpa (Sumpweed or Marshelder), Hellanthus annuus (Sunflower) and Chenopodium berlandieri, (Goosefoot or Lasbsquarters), and heavily utilized plants such as Polygonum erectum (Erect Knotweed), Phalaris caroliniana (May grass), and Hordeum pusillum (Little Barley).Recent research involving the use of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) specifically on Chenopodium has established diagnostic traits of wild and domesticated species seeds. This is important because carbonized or uncarbonized seeds are the most commonly recovered Chenopodium material from archaeological sites. The diagnostic seed traits assist archaeobotanists in identification of Chenopodium remains and provide a basis for evaluation of Chenopodium utilization in a culture's subsistence patterns. With the aid of SEM, an analysis of Chenopodium remains from three Late Prehistoric sites in Northwest Iowa (Blood Run [Oneota culture], Brewster [Mill Creek culture], and Chan-Ya-Ta [Mill Creek culture]) has been conducted to: 1) attempt seed identification to a species level, 2) evaluate the traits of the seeds for classification as either wild or domesticated, and 3) evaluate the role of Chenopodium utilization in both the Oneota and Mill Creek cultures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-32
Author(s):  
I.L. Garmasheva ◽  
◽  
N.K. Kovalenko ◽  
L.T. Oleschenko ◽  
◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Misbah Razzaq ◽  
Maria Jesus Iglesias ◽  
Manal Ibrahim-Kosta ◽  
Louisa Goumidi ◽  
Omar Soukarieh ◽  
...  

AbstractVenous thromboembolism is the third common cardiovascular disease and is composed of two entities, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and its potential fatal form, pulmonary embolism (PE). While PE is observed in ~ 40% of patients with documented DVT, there is limited biomarkers that can help identifying patients at high PE risk. To fill this need, we implemented a two hidden-layers artificial neural networks (ANN) on 376 antibodies and 19 biological traits measured in the plasma of 1388 DVT patients, with or without PE, of the MARTHA study. We used the LIME algorithm to obtain a linear approximate of the resulting ANN prediction model. As MARTHA patients were typed for genotyping DNA arrays, a genome wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on the LIME estimate. Detected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for association with PE risk in MARTHA. Main findings were replicated in the EOVT study composed of 143 PE patients and 196 DVT only patients. The derived ANN model for PE achieved an accuracy of 0.89 and 0.79 in our training and testing sets, respectively. A GWAS on the LIME approximate identified a strong statistical association peak (rs1424597: p = 5.3 × 10–7) at the PLXNA4 locus. Homozygote carriers for the rs1424597-A allele were then more frequently observed in PE than in DVT patients from the MARTHA (2% vs. 0.4%, p = 0.005) and the EOVT (3% vs. 0%, p = 0.013) studies. In a sample of 112 COVID-19 patients known to have endotheliopathy leading to acute lung injury and an increased risk of PE, decreased PLXNA4 levels were associated (p = 0.025) with worsened respiratory function. Using an original integrated proteomics and genetics strategy, we identified PLXNA4 as a new susceptibility gene for PE whose exact role now needs to be further elucidated.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
Habibu Mugerwa ◽  
Peter Sseruwagi ◽  
John Colvin ◽  
Susan Seal

In East Africa, the prevalent Bemisia tabaci whiteflies on the food security crop cassava are classified as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) species. Economically damaging cassava whitefly populations were associated with the SSA2 species in the 1990s, but more recently, it has been to SSA1 species. To investigate whether biological traits (number of first instar nymphs, emerged adults, proportion of females in progeny and development time) of the cassava whitefly species are significant drivers of the observed field abundance, our study determined the development of SSA1 sub-group (SG) 1 (5 populations), SG2 (5 populations), SG3 (1 population) and SSA2 (1 population) on cassava and eggplant under laboratory conditions. SSA1-(SG1-SG2) and SSA2 populations’ development traits were similar. Regardless of the host plant, SSA1-SG2 populations had the highest number of first instar nymphs (60.6 ± 3.4) and emerged adults (50.9 ± 3.6), followed by SSA1-SG1 (55.5 ± 3.2 and 44.6 ± 3.3), SSA2 (45.8 ± 5.7 and 32.6 ± 5.1) and the lowest were SSA1-SG3 (34.2 ± 6.1 and 32.0 ± 7.1) populations. SSA1-SG3 population had the shortest egg–adult emergence development time (26.7 days), followed by SSA1-SG1 (29.1 days), SSA1-SG2 (29.6 days) and SSA2 (32.2 days). Regardless of the whitefly population, development time was significantly shorter on eggplant (25.1 ± 0.9 days) than cassava (34.6 ± 1.0 days). These results support that SSA1-(SG1-SG2) and SSA2 B. tabaci can become highly abundant on cassava, with their species classification alone not correlating with observed abundance and prevalence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Koczyk ◽  
Julia Pawłowska ◽  
Anna Muszewska

Early-diverging fungi harbour unprecedented diversity in terms of living forms, biological traits and genome architecture. Before the sequencing era, non-Dikarya fungi were considered unable to produce secondary metabolites (SM); however, this perspective is changing. The main classes of secondary metabolites in fungi include polyketides, nonribosomal peptides, terpenoids and siderophores that serve different biological roles, including iron chelation and plant growth promotion. The same classes of SM are reported for representatives of early-diverging fungal lineages. Encouraged by the advancement in the field, we carried out a systematic survey of SM in Mucoromycotina and corroborated the presence of various SM clusters (SMCs) within the phylum. Among the core findings, considerable representation of terpene and nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)-like candidate SMCs was found. Terpene clusters with diverse domain composition and potentially highly variable products dominated the landscape of candidate SMCs. A uniform low-copy distribution of siderophore clusters was observed among most assemblies. Mortierellomycotina are highlighted as the most potent SMC producers among the Mucoromycota and as a source of novel peptide products. SMC identification is dependent on gene model quality and can be successfully performed on a batch scale with genomes of different quality and completeness.


Author(s):  
Meritxell Pérez-Hedo ◽  
Carolina Gallego ◽  
Amy Roda ◽  
Barry Kostyk ◽  
Mónica Triana ◽  
...  

Abstract The predatory mirid Macrolophus praeclarus is widely distributed throughout the Americas, and is reported to prey upon several horticultural pest species. However, little is known about its biology, thermal requirements, crop odour preferences, phytophagy, and capability to induce defensive responses in plants. When five temperatures studied (20, 25, 30, 33 and 35°C) were tested and Ephestia kuehniella was used as prey, the developmental time from egg to adult on tomato, was longest at 20°C (56.3 d) and shortest at 33°C (22.7 d). The ability of nymphs to develop to adults decreased as the temperature increased, with the highest number of nymphs reaching the adult stage at 20°C (78.0%) and lowest at 35°C (0%). The lower and upper developmental thresholds were estimated at 11.2° and 35.3°C, respectively. The maximum developmental rate occurred at 31.7°C and the thermal constant was 454.0 ± 8.1 degree days. The highest predation rate of E. kuehniella eggs was obtained at 30°C. In Y-tube olfactory choice tests, M. praeclarus selected tomato, sweet pepper and eggplant odours more frequently than no plant control treatment. Macrolophus praeclarus feeding did not damage tomato plants compared to another zoophytophagous mirid, Nesidiocoris tenuis, which caused necrotic rings. The phytophagy of M. praeclarus induced defensive responses in tomato plants through the upregulation of the jasmonic acid metabolic pathway. The implications of the findings for using M. praeclarus in tomato biological control programmes in the Americas are discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Kędra ◽  
Sławomira Gromisz ◽  
Radomir Jaskuła ◽  
Joanna Legeżyńska ◽  
Barbara Maciejewska ◽  
...  

Soft bottom macrofauna of an All Taxa Biodiversity Site: Hornsund (77○N, Svalbard) Hornsund, an Arctic fjord in the west coast of Spitsbergen (Svalbard), was selected as All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) site under EU 5th Framework Concerted Action BIOMARE (2000-2002), especially due to its pristine, undisturbed natural character. On the base of large material (89 stations located throughout the fjord and 129 Van Veen grab samples) collected during cruises of RV Oceania in July in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007 and literature search a comprehensive list of species recorded within Hornsund area, on the soft bottom with depth range of 30-250 m is provided. Over 220 species were identified including 93 species of Polychaeta, 62 species of Mollusca and 58 species of Crustacea. Species list is supported by information on the zoogeographical status, body length and biological traits of dominant species. Need for further research on Hornsund soft bottom fauna with more sampling effort is highlighted.


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