At-Home Humbugs: Freaks and Fakes in the Nineteenth-Century Parlor Museum

In April 1885, a New York Herald journalist rushed to Madison Square Garden for a special reception highlighting Jo-Jo, the Dog-Faced Boy. A feature of P. T. Barnum's traveling show, Jo-Jo was confounding scientists who had requested a stand-alone inspection of the mysterious attraction. Accordingly, the reporter provided an anthropological description of the boy: “He stands about five feet high. . . . His whole body is covered by a very thick growth of long, tow colored hair . . . and the peculiar formation of his head [is] very suggestive of the Russian dachshund.” At first, Jo-Jo appeared docile, but as the scientists prodded him more and more, he started “snarling, showing his three canine teeth” and asked his guardian if he could bite the inspectors. Jo-Jo was decidedly not a dog-boy, or not exactly. He was, in fact, a Russian teenager suffering from hypertrichosis, a condition causing excessive hair growth all over the body, including nearly every surface area of the face. Barnum had signed him to perform a year earlier, and the boy made quite an auspicious debut. However, Jo-Jo was simply the latest in a long line of supposed hybrid species and exotic curiosities that Barnum had been displaying since midcentury. The famed showman built his name in part by presenting human creation itself as a continual spectrum. Barnum's attractions ranged from live tigers and giraffes to enigmatic simian performers to wax statues of America's degraded lower classes. As much of a draw as he became, even Jo-Jo had to share a bill with Tattooed Hindoo Dwarfs, Hungarian Gypsies, Buddhist Priests, as well as a menagerie of animals including baby elephants, kangaroos, lions, and twenty-foot-long “great sinewy serpents.” But Jo-Jo's specific appeal was tied to his inexplicability. Even given the closer inspection of the dog-faced boy, “none of the physicians present would hazard an opinion as to his ancestry.”

Checklist of the native tree flora of Algeria: diversity, distribution, and conservation

Background and aims – Trees represent an important component of many ecosystems of the world. The knowledge of their diversity and geographic distribution is of great theoretical and practical importance. This paper aims to provide the first comprehensive checklist of native tree taxa in Algeria. Material and methods – The checklist was based on the analysis of published data and has been improved with own field observations. Statistical analysis has been performed on the taxonomic richness, life forms, and chorological spectra in terms of diversity, endemism, habitats, and distribution of the tree flora in Algeria. The conservation status following IUCN and the protection status at national level have been presented.Key results – The checklist comprises 120 native tree taxa currently known in Algeria, including 106 species, one hybrid species, and 13 subspecies, belonging to 63 genera and 35 families. The four most species-rich families are Rosaceae (13 spp.), Fabaceae (12 spp.), Salicaceae (9 spp.), and Tamaricaceae (9 spp.). The richest genus is Tamarix (9 spp.), followed by Quercus (7 taxa in 6 spp.). We found that trees are more often single-stemmed (45%), and are small or medium-sized. Mediterranean element is dominant (46%), followed by Saharo-arabic (17%), wide distribution element (15%), and European elements (12%). Furthermore, 11% of all tree taxa are endemics or subendemics. The highest number of taxa (71%) is found in the Tellian area, whereas the lowest number (36%) occurs in the Saharan area. Only nine taxa are considered to be threatened or near threatened, while 36 taxa are yet not assessed. This analysis highlights 33 taxa with patrimonial value, both endemics and range-restricted. Out of these taxa, only 18 are protected by national legislation. Conclusion – This work shows that a relatively rich tree flora is found in Algeria. It aims to be used as a tool for managing tree species diversity. Some of the tree taxa need appropriate measures for their in situ conservation, a challenging but worth pursuing target.

Leaf morphology, wax composition, and residual (cuticular) transpiration of four poplar clones

Key message We identified two poplar clones of the same species as highly comparable, yet clones of two further species of the same genus to be distinctly different regarding multiple morphological and ecophysiological traits. Abstract Leaf morphology, wax composition, and residual (cuticular) transpiration of four poplar clones (two clones of the hybrid species P. × canescens, P. trichocarpa, and P. euphratica) were monitored from the beginning to end of the growing season 2020. A pronounced epicuticular wax coverage was found only with P. euphratica. As the most prominent substance classes of cuticular wax primary alcohols, alkanes and esters were identified with P. × canescens and P. trichocarpa, whereas esters and alkanes were completely lacking in P. euphratica. Wax amounts were slightly decreasing during the season and significantly lower wax amounts were found for newly formed leaves in summer compared to leaves of the same age formed in spring. Residual (cuticular) transpiration was about five to tenfold lower for P. × canescens compared with the two other poplar species. Interestingly, with three of the four investigated species, newly formed leaves in summer had lower wax coverages and lower rates of residual (cuticular) transpiration compared to leaves of exactly the same age formed in spring. Our findings were especially surprising with P. euphratica, representing the only one of the four investigated poplar species naturally growing in very dry and hot climates in Central Asia. Instead of developing very low rates of residual (cuticular) transpiration, it seems to be of major advantage for P. euphratica to develop a pronounced epicuticular wax bloom efficiently reflecting light.

The effect of feeding various species of mulberry (Morus spp.) on the growth of silkworm and quality of cocoon hybrid BS 09

Hybrid silkworm varieties, mulberry species, environmental factors, and rearing factors are essential for the cocoons’ quality. The species of silkworm feeding is a key factor in the sericulture industry, so the suitability of mulberry species for each silkworm hybrid species needs to be known. This study aimed to determine the effect of mulberry species on silkworm growth and quality of cocoons BS 09. The research method used was a randomized block design with four species of mulberry: Morus bombycis var Lembang, M. cathayana, M. multicaulis, and M. alba var Kanva 2 and one control species (mixed mulberry species). The research was carried out at Dramaga Research Forest, Bogor Regency. The determined parameters were the percentage of rearing, larva weight, cocoon weight, cocoon shell weight, and percentage of cocoon shell. The experiment results showed that the percentage of rearing was 97.5%-100% for all species of mulberry. The best result of the cocoon weight was feed treatment of M. multicaulis (1.89 g), but it was not significant with feed treatment of M. bombycis var Lembang or M. cathayana or M. alba var Kanva 2. M. cathayana feed treatments give the best results for the cocoon shell weight (0.44 gram) and percentage of cocoon shell (22.82%).

Convergent evolution of polyploid genomes from across the eukaryotic tree of life

By modeling the homoeologous gene losses that occurred in fifty genomes deriving from ten distinct polyploidy events, we show that the evolutionary forces acting on polyploids are remarkably similar, regardless of whether they occur in flowering plants, ciliates, fishes or yeasts. The models suggest these events were nearly all allopolyploidies, with two distinct progenitors contributing to the modern species. We show that many of the events show a relative rate of duplicate gene loss prior to the first post-polyploidy speciation that is significantly higher than in later phases of their evolution. The relatively low selective constraint seen for the single-copy genes these losses produced lead us to suggest that most of the purely selectively neutral duplicate gene losses occur in the immediate post-polyploid period. We also find ongoing and extensive reciprocal gene losses (RGL; alternative losses of duplicated ancestral genes) between these genomes. With the exception of a handful of closely related taxa, all of these polyploid organisms are separated from each other by tens to thousands of reciprocal gene losses. As a result, it is very unlikely that viable diploid hybrid species could form between these taxa, since matings between such hybrids would tend to produce offspring lacking essential genes. It is therefore possible that the relatively high frequency of recurrent polyploidies in some lineages may be due to the ability of new polyploidies to bypass RGL barriers.

A taxonomic revision of Rhamnus L. and Atadinus Raf. (Rhamnaceae) in Iran

This study aims to revise the taxonomic status of Rhamnus L. and Atadinus Raf. (Rhamnaceae) for the Flora of Iran. Nine species, including 15 taxa are recognized, described and compared with their closely related taxa. These include one new species, R. rahiminejadii Alijanpoor & Assadi, one new subspecies, R. pallasii subsp. mazandaranica Alijanpoor & Assadi, and one hybrid species, R. ×mehreghanii Alijanpoor & Khodayari (R. persica Boiss. × R. kurdica Boiss. & Hohen.). In addition, a hybrid species i.e, ×R. spathulifolia Fisch. & C. A. Mey., is accepted as a distinct species, R. spathulifolia Fisch. & C. A. Mey. and R. cornifolia and R. cornifolia var. denudata, from sect. Rhamnustrum Rouy. are transfered to genus Atadinus Raf. as A. cornifolius (Boiss. & Hohen.) Alijanpoor and A. cornifolius var. denudatus (Bornm.) Alijanpoor.

Multiplex knockout of trichome-regulating MYBs in poplar affects light sensitivity and triterpene accumulation

ABSTRACTHair-like trichomes cover the aerial organs of many plant species and act as a barrier between a plant and its environment. They function in defense against biotic and abiotic stresses, while also serving as sites for synthesis and storage of secondary metabolites. Previously, the transcription factor PtaMYB186 was identified as a positive regulator of trichome initiation during early stages of leaf development in Populus tremula x P. alba (IRNA 717-1B4). However, trichome regulation in poplar remains largely unexplored, as does the functional redundancy of duplicated poplar genes. Here, we employed CRISPR/Cas9 to target a consensus region of PtaMYB186 and its close paralogs for knockout. Regeneration of glabrous mutants suggested their essential roles in poplar trichome development. No apparent differences in growth and leaf transpiration rates between the mutants and the controls were observed, but trichomeless poplars showed increased insect pest susceptibility. RNA-seq analysis revealed widespread down-regulation of circadian- and light-responsive genes in the mutants. When exposed to a high light regime, trichomeless mutants accumulated significantly higher levels of photoprotective anthocyanins. Cuticular wax and whole leaf analyses showed a complete absence of triterpenes in the mutants, suggesting biosynthesis and storage of triterpenes in poplar occurs in the non-glandular trichomes. This work also demonstrates that a single gRNA with SNP-aware design is sufficient for multiplex targeting of paralogous genes in outcrossing and/or hybrid species with unexpected copy number variations.ONE SENTENCE SUMMARYNon-glandular trichomes in poplar have roles both as a physical barrier and a chemical factory to mediate plant interactions with the environment.

Gene Expression-Assisted Cancer Prediction Techniques

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases and with its growing number, its detection and treatment become essential. Researchers have developed various methods based on gene expression. Gene expression is a process that is used to convert deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) to ribose nucleic acid (RNA) and then RNA to protein. This protein serves so many purposes, such as creating cells, drugs for cancer, and even hybrid species. As genes carry genetic information from one generation to another, some gene deformity is also transferred to the next generation. Therefore, the deformity needs to be detected. There are many techniques available in the literature to predict cancerous and noncancerous genes from gene expression data. This is an important development from the point of diagnostics and giving a prognosis for the condition. This paper will present a review of some of those techniques from the literature; details about the various datasets on which these techniques are implemented and the advantages and disadvantages.

Diversification of mandarin citrus by hybrid speciation and apomixis

The origin and dispersal of cultivated and wild mandarin and related citrus are poorly understood. Here, comparative genome analysis of 69 new east Asian genomes and other mainland Asian citrus reveals a previously unrecognized wild sexual species native to the Ryukyu Islands: C. ryukyuensis sp. nov. The taxonomic complexity of east Asian mandarins then collapses to a satisfying simplicity, accounting for tachibana, shiikuwasha, and other traditional Ryukyuan mandarin types as homoploid hybrid species formed by combining C. ryukyuensis with various mainland mandarins. These hybrid species reproduce clonally by apomictic seed, a trait shared with oranges, grapefruits, lemons and many cultivated mandarins. We trace the origin of apomixis alleles in citrus to mangshanyeju wild mandarins, which played a central role in citrus domestication via adaptive wild introgression. Our results provide a coherent biogeographic framework for understanding the diversity and domestication of mandarin-type citrus through speciation, admixture, and rapid diffusion of apomictic reproduction.