Phylogeny of actin and tubulin gene homologs in diverse eukaryotic species

Author(s):  
Pawan Kumar Jayaswal ◽  
Asheesh Shanker ◽  
Nagendra Kumar Singh

Actin and tubulin are cytoskeleton proteins, which are important components of the celland are conserved across species. Despite their crucial significance in cell motility and cell division the distribution and phylogeny of actin and tubulin genes across taxa is poorly understood. Here we used publicly available genomic data of 49 model species of plants, animals, fungi and Protista for further understanding the distribution of these genes among diverse eukaryotic species using rice as reference. The highest numbers of rice actin and tubulin gene homologs were present in plants followed by animals, fungi and Protista species, whereas ten actin and nine tubulin genes were conserved in all 49 species. Phylogenetic analysis of 19 actin and 18 tubulin genes clustered them into four major groups each. One each of the actin and tubulin gene clusters was conserved across eukaryotic species. Species trees based on the conserved actin and tubulin genes showed evolutionary relationship of 49 different taxa clustered into plants, animals, fungi and Protista. This study provides a phylogenetic insight into the evolution of actin and tubulin genes in diverse eukaryotic species.

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ilyas ◽  
Asif Mir ◽  
Sobiah Rauf ◽  
Sidrah Nazir ◽  
Humera Javed

Huntington gene is located on chromosome 4p16.3 IT15 locus considered a major causative gene of Huntington disorder. HTT is a neurodegenerative disorder mutation in gene cause abnormal movements and psychiatric disturbances. HTT is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner with almost complete penetrance and till now, no research studies provide insight into HTT gene. Bioinformatics analysis includes transcription factors binding sites, phylogenetic studies with reference to various selected orthologs and syntenic relationship of HTT gene. Our study showed that in HTT gene majority of the portion is conserved among two orthologs chimpanzee and mouse in significance to human. These studies also revealed information about conservation of genes among different ortholog species and their evolutionary relationship.


Author(s):  
T. H. I. Gayathree ◽  
S. I. Karunarathne ◽  
L. T. Ranaweera ◽  
H. S. M. Jayarathne ◽  
S. K. Kannangara ◽  
...  

Three types of spinach, green spinach (GS), red spinach (RS), and tree spinach (TS) are consumed in Sri Lanka. GS, RS, and TS are referred to as Basella alba, Basella rubra, and Talinum fruticosum respectively. However, some taxonomists categorize GS and RS under B. alba causing an ambiguity. Due to the poor sanitation, consumers prefer to purchase greenhouse-grown spinach over field grown material. However, the taste parameters of field grown and greenhouse-grown spinach have not been assessed. The objectives of the present study were to resolve the taxonomic ambiguity between GS and RS, identify the evolutionary relationship of TS to other two species and to assess the organoleptic preference on the dishes prepared using greenhouse and field-grown shoot-tops of three spinach. The genomic DNA extracted from GS, RS, and TS, PCR amplified and sequenced for the barcoding markers rbcL, ITS, matK-trnT and atpB-rbcL. The sequences obtained along with other reported related sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis.  A sensory test was carried out using the shoot-tops of three species grown under greenhouse and field conditions. The taste panelists were asked to rank the dishes for preferred levels of color, aroma, texture, bitterness, and overall taste and the data were subjected to the association analysis. The rbcL and ITS markers separate GS and RS into two well -supported clades, B. alba and B. rubra respectively. The polymorphisms of atpB-rbcL and matK-trnT markers support the definition of two species. The monophyly of B. alba and B. rubra with T. fruticosum must be the reason for the same palate in dishes and designation of all three species under “spinach” in Sri Lanka. The taste panel data demonstrated that there is no specific fondness for greenhouse or field grown materials enabling the popularization of greenhouse-grown spinach to answer the safety concerns.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengzhe Bian ◽  
Wenhong Zeng ◽  
Qiwen Li ◽  
Yinghui Li ◽  
Nai-Kei Wong ◽  
...  

Capsule-forming extracellular polysaccharides are crucial for bacterial host colonization, invasion, immune evasion, and ultimately pathogenicity. Due to warming ocean waters and human encroachment of coastal ecosystems, Vibrio parahaemolyticus has emerged as a globally important foodborne enteropathogen implicated in acute gastroenteritis, wound infections, and septic shock. Conventionally, the antigenic properties of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, O antigen) and capsular polysaccharide (CPS, K antigen) have provided a basis for serotyping V. parahaemolyticus, whereas disclosure of genetic elements encoding 13 O-serogroups have allowed molecular serotyping methods to be developed. However, the genetic structure of CPS loci for 71 K-serogroups has remained unidentified, limiting progress in understanding its roles in V. parahaemolyticus pathophysiology. In this study, we identified and characterized the genetic structure and their evolutionary relationship of CPS loci of 40 K-serogroups through whole genome sequencing of 443 V. parahaemolyticus strains. We found a distinct pattern of CPS gene cluster across different K-serogroups and expanded its new 3′-border by identifying glpX as a key gene conserved across all K-serogroups. A total of 217 genes involved in CPS biosynthesis were annotated. Functional contents and genetic structure of the 40 K-serogroups were analyzed. Based on inferences from species trees and gene trees, we proposed an evolution model of the CPS gene clusters of 40 K-serogroups. Horizontal gene transfer by recombination from other Vibrio species, gene duplication is likely to play instrumental roles in the evolution of CPS in V. parahaemolyticus. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that a large scale of CPS gene clusters of different K-serogroups in V. parahaemolyticus have been identified and characterized in evolutionary contexts. This work should help advance understanding on the variation of CPS in V. parahaemolyticus and provide a framework for developing diagnostically relevant serotyping methods.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Revilla-i-Domingo ◽  
Vinoth Babu Veedin Rajan ◽  
Monika Waldherr ◽  
Günther Prohaczka ◽  
Hugo Musset ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTRhabdomeric Opsins (r-Opsins) are light-sensors in cephalic eye photoreceptors, but also function in additional sensory organs. This has prompted questions on the evolutionary relationship of these cell types, and if ancient r-Opsins cells were non-photosensory. Our profiling of cephalic and non-cephalic r-opsin1-expressing cells of the marine bristleworm Platynereis dumerilii reveals shared and distinct features. Non-cephalic cells possess a full set of phototransduction components, but also a mechanosensory signature. We determine that Pdu-r-Opsin1 is a Gαq-coupled blue-light receptor. Profiling of cells from r-opsin1 mutants versus wild-types, and a comparison under different light conditions reveals that in the non-cephalic cells, light – mediated by r-Opsin1 – adjusts the expression level of a calcium transporter relevant for auditory mechanosensation in vertebrates. We establish a deep learning-based quantitative behavioral analysis for animal trunk movements, and identify a light-and r-Opsin-1-dependent fine-tuning of the worm’s undulatory movements in headless trunks, which are known to require mechanosensory feedback.Our results suggest an evolutionary concept in which r-Opsins act as ancient, light-dependent modulators of mechanosensation, and suggest that light-independent mechanosensory roles of r-Opsins likely evolved secondarily.


Author(s):  
D. F. Blake ◽  
L. F. Allard ◽  
D. R. Peacor

Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates which has been extant since Cambrian time (c.a. 500 m.y. before the present). Modern examples of echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies (crinoids). The endoskeletons of echinoderms are composed of plates or ossicles (Fig. 1) which are with few exceptions, porous, single crystals of high-magnesian calcite. Despite their single crystal nature, fracture surfaces do not exhibit the near-perfect {10.4} cleavage characteristic of inorganic calcite. This paradoxical mix of biogenic and inorganic features has prompted much recent work on echinoderm skeletal crystallography. Furthermore, fossil echinoderm hard parts comprise a volumetrically significant portion of some marine limestones sequences. The ultrastructural and microchemical characterization of modern skeletal material should lend insight into: 1). The nature of the biogenic processes involved, for example, the relationship of Mg heterogeneity to morphological and structural features in modern echinoderm material, and 2). The nature of the diagenetic changes undergone by their ancient, fossilized counterparts. In this study, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), high voltage TEM (HVTEM), and STEM microanalysis are used to characterize tha ultrastructural and microchemical composition of skeletal elements of the modern crinoid Neocrinus blakei.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259
Author(s):  
Joseph Acquisto

This essay examines a polemic between two Baudelaire critics of the 1930s, Jean Cassou and Benjamin Fondane, which centered on the relationship of poetry to progressive politics and metaphysics. I argue that a return to Baudelaire's poetry can yield insight into what seems like an impasse in Cassou and Fondane. Baudelaire provides the possibility of realigning metaphysics and politics so that poetry has the potential to become the space in which we can begin to think the two of them together, as opposed to seeing them in unresolvable tension. Or rather, the tension that Baudelaire animates between the two allows us a new way of thinking about the role of esthetics in moments of political crisis. We can in some ways see Baudelaire as responding, avant la lettre, to two of his early twentieth-century readers who correctly perceived his work as the space that breathes a new urgency into the questions of how modern poetry relates to the world from which it springs and in which it intervenes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Nicolai Moos ◽  
Carsten Juergens ◽  
Andreas P. Redecker

This paper describes a methodological approach that is able to analyse socio-demographic and -economic data in large-scale spatial detail. Based on the two variables, population density and annual income, one investigates the spatial relationship of these variables to identify locations of imbalance or disparities assisted by bivariate choropleth maps. The aim is to gain a deeper insight into spatial components of socioeconomic nexuses, such as the relationships between the two variables, especially for high-resolution spatial units. The used methodology is able to assist political decision-making, target group advertising in the field of geo-marketing and for the site searches of new shop locations, as well as further socioeconomic research and urban planning. The developed methodology was tested in a national case study in Germany and is easily transferrable to other countries with comparable datasets. The analysis was carried out utilising data about population density and average annual income linked to spatially referenced polygons of postal codes. These were disaggregated initially via a readapted three-class dasymetric mapping approach and allocated to large-scale city block polygons. Univariate and bivariate choropleth maps generated from the resulting datasets were then used to identify and compare spatial economic disparities for a study area in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany. Subsequently, based on these variables, a multivariate clustering approach was conducted for a demonstration area in Dortmund. In the result, it was obvious that the spatially disaggregated data allow more detailed insight into spatial patterns of socioeconomic attributes than the coarser data related to postal code polygons.


2015 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Degeest ◽  
P Corthals ◽  
I Dhooge ◽  
H Keppler

AbstractObjective:This study aimed to determine the characteristics of tinnitus and tinnitus-related variables and explore their possible relationship with tinnitus-related handicap.Methods:Eighty-one patients with chronic tinnitus were included. The study protocol measured hearing status, tinnitus pitch, loudness, maskability and loudness discomfort levels. All patients filled in the Tinnitus Sample Case History Questionnaire, the Hyperacusis Questionnaire and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory. The relationship of each variable with the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses.Results:Five univariables were associated with the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score: loudness discomfort level, subjective tinnitus loudness, tinnitus awareness, noise intolerance and Hyperacusis Questionnaire score. Multiple regression analysis showed that the Hyperacusis Questionnaire score and tinnitus awareness were independently associated with the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score.Conclusion:Hyperacusis and tinnitus awareness were independently associated with the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score. Questionnaires on tinnitus and hyperacusis are especially suited to providing additional insight into tinnitus-related handicap and are therefore useful for evaluating tinnitus patients.


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