Assessment of Genetic Diversity and Relatedness in an Andean Potato Collection from Argentina by High-Density Genotyping

Native potatoes are the most diverse among cultivated potato species and thus constitute a valuable source for identifying genes for potato improvement. Nevertheless, high-density mapping, needed to reveal allelic diversity, has not been performed for native Argentinian potatoes. We present a study of the genetic variability and population structure of 96 Andigena potatoes from Northwestern Argentina performed using a subset of 5035 SNPs with no missing data and full reproducibility. These high-density markers are distributed across the genome and present a good coverage of genomic regions. A Bayesian approach revealed the presence of: (I) a major group comprised of most of the Andean accessions; (II) a smaller group containing the out-group cv. Spunta and the sequenced genotype DM; and (III) a third group containing colored flesh potatoes. This grouping was also consistent when maximum likelihood trees were constructed and further confirmed by a principal coordinate analysis. A group of 19 accessions stored as Andean varieties clustered consistently with group Tuberosum accessions. This was in agreement with previous studies and we hypothesized that they may be reintroductions of European-bred long day-adapted potatoes. The present study constitutes a valuable source for allele mining of genes of interest and thus provides a tool for association mapping studies.

Complete Genome Sequences of Four Putatively Antibiotic-Producing Bacteria Isolated from Soil in Arkansas, USA

Soil bacteria can be a valuable source of antimicrobial compounds. Here, we report the complete genomes of four soil bacteria that were isolated by undergraduate microbiology students as part of a course-based research experience. These genomes were assembled using a hybrid approach combining paired-end Illumina reads with Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION reads.

Между фактом и фантазией: ранние источники по ойратской исторической диалектологии

The article presents the results of a linguistic analysis of three early sources on Oirat historical dialectology, Rashīd al-Dīn’s Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles, completed between 1306 and 1311) and the Mongol chronicles Sir-a tuγuǰi (Yellow History, between 1651 and 1662) and Erdeni tunumal neretü sudur (The Jewel Translucent Sūtra, c. 1607). The author concludes that these sources substantially differ in terms of their linguistic value and reliability. The early historical accounts of Oirat lexical differences, provided by Rashīd al-Dīn and the unknown author of the Sir-a tuγuǰi, are most likely to have been obtained from unreliable external sources and based on hearsay evidence, orally transmitted by non-Oirats, at best, only passingly familiar with the Oirat language and its actual features. Both authors probably heard something about distinctive lexical features of the Oirat dialects of their time, but they hardly had a clear idea of what these features were and how to explain them in an adequate manner. On the contrary, the ‘Oirat fragment’ contained in the Erdeni tunumal neretü sudur seems to be much closer to fact than to fantasy. It presents a deliberate and quite reliable attempt to introduce some features of the Oirat dialects spoken at the turn of the seventeenth century. In the absence of earlier internal evidence of the linguistic differences between the Mongolic languages, this may be the oldest known representation of dialectal data in the Mongolian literary tradition. The evidence is of special importance because it includes morphophonological (an innovative colloquial shape of the clitics ni ~ n̠i < *inu and la ~ =la < *ele) and morphosyntactic (the progressive/durative in ‑nA(y)i), rather than lexical, features, which seem to have been considered Oirat by the early seventeenth-century author(s) of the chronicle. These features look more genuinely Oirat, at least for the early 17th century, although their modern distribution is certainly rather wide and non-specific. It may be assumed that the information on Oirat dialects that the Erdeni tunumal neretü sudur contains may have been obtained from an Oirat, or, at least, from an individual well-versed in the language of the time. Thus, one cannot overestimate the importance of the chronicle as a highly valuable source on historical dialectology of Mongolic languages.

Prasa lokalna jako źródło do badań dialektologicznych (na przykładzie kieleckich „Przemian”)

The local press is used to a small extent for dialectological studies. In the article, I present a review and typology of press materials contained in the Kielce socio-cultural monthly „Przemiany” (Transformation, 1970–1989), which is a valuable source of language material, primarily for Polish dialectical lexicography, but also for the study of the language system of the Kielce dialects from the 1980s and 1990s. The sociolinguistic aspect is included in the description of dialects in the analyzed press texts. On the one hand, Kielce dialect materials broaden the number of printed sources for the issued Polish dialect dictionary, and on the other – they can be well used when developing a regional glossary.

Religion, Platonist Dialectics, and Pragmatist Analysis: Marcus Tullius Cicero’s Contributions to the Philosophy and Sociology of Divine and Human Knowing

Whereas Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Augustine are probably the best known of the early Western philosophers of religion, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) also played a particularly consequential role in the development and continuity of Greco-Latin-European social thought. Cicero may be best known for his work on rhetoric and his involvements in the political intrigues of Rome, but Cicero’s comparative examinations of the Greco-Roman philosophies of his day merit much more attention than they have received from contemporary scholars. Cicero’s considerations of philosophy encompass much more than the theological issues considered in this statement, but, in the process of engaging Epicurean and Stoic thought from an Academician (Platonist) perspective, Cicero significantly extends the remarkable insights provided by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Although especially central to the present analysis, Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods (1972) is only one of several texts that Cicero directs to a comparative (multiparadigmatic and transhistorical) analysis of divine and human knowing. Much of Cicero’s treatment of the philosophy of religion revolves around variants of the Socratic standpoints (i.e., dialectics, theology, moralism) that characterized the philosophies of Cicero’s era (i.e., Stoicism, Epicureanism, Academician dialectics), but Cicero also engages the matters of human knowing and acting in what may be envisioned as more distinctively pragmatist sociological terms. As well, although Cicero’s materials reflect the socio-historical context in which he worked, his detailed analysis of religion represents a valuable source of comparison with present day viewpoints and practices. Likewise, a closer examination of Cicero’s texts indicates that many of the issues of divine and human knowing, with which he explicitly grapples, have maintained an enduring conceptual currency. This paper concludes with a consideration of the relevance of Cicero’s works for a contemporary pragmatist sociological (symbolic interactionist) approach to the more generic study of human knowing and acting.

THE WORKS OF SPIRIDON MIKHAILOV (YANDUSH) IN THE ASPECT OF SOME HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY PROBLEMS

S.M. Mikhailov (Yandush) distinguished two ethnographic groups and two dialects of the Chuvash ethnos. The scientist attributed the population of Kozmodemyansky and the northern part of Yadrinsky uyezds to the upper (Virjal) Chuvash, and that of Tsivisky and Cheboksary uyezds of Kazan province – to the lower (Anatri) ones. Starting with the works of G.I. Komissarov, a third (middle-level) group began to be allocated from the lower group. According to the scientist, the Chuvash, being a separate community of Turkic-speaking peoples, used to live in Zakamye, where they had migrated from Siberia. He developed the Turkic-Bulgarian theory of the Chuvash language origin and the main ethnographic groups (middle lower and lower) of the Chuvash ethnos. He considered the upper dialect to be a mixed group, in whose culture, in addition to Turkic-Bulgar elements he found many elements of the Finno-Ugrians (the mountain Mari and the Mordvins-Erzya), and partly Kazan Tatars. Prior to annexation of the Chuvash Region to the Moscow state, two ethnographic groups of the mountain Chuvash functioned on the right bank of the Volga – the upper and the middle lower. After settling the southern steppe regions, in the process of cultural dialogue with the Mishar Tatars, a third ethnographic group was formed, known to the middle lower Chuvash as the khirti “steppe”. In Modern times, the geographical location of the ethnographic groups of the Chuvash ethnos contributed to penetration of the ideas of the European-Russian Enlightenment in the Chuvash Region (from the western territories to the eastern and southern ones). In the 1950s of the XX century the ideas of the Chuvash enlightenment were first formulated by S.M. Mikhailov, and later they began to spread in the academic circles of the entire Volga region. His works remain a valuable source for identifying the adaptive scheme of the ethnos, which the Chuvash built by localizing the “evil” principle outside of themselves, their society, ethnos.

A Survey of Methods and Technologies Used for Diagnosis of Scoliosis

The purpose of this article is to present diagnostic methods used in the diagnosis of scoliosis in the form of a brief review. This article aims to point out the advantages of select methods. This article focuses on general issues without elaborating on problems strictly related to physiotherapy and treatment methods, which may be the subject of further discussions. By outlining and categorizing each method, we summarize relevant publications that may not only help introduce other researchers to the field but also be a valuable source for studying existing methods, developing new ones or choosing evaluation strategies.

Enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of bioactive heterocycles

Enzymes are proteins that functions as biological catalyst. It is now a known fact that enzyme can catalyze many synthetic operations better than the conventional reagents. Not only in the synthesis of natural products, they can also be applied for construction of varieties of unnatural compounds. In this chapter, Pariyar and Ghosh have discussed in brief synthesis of various biologically active heterocyclic compounds using different enzymes as catalysts. Among various enzymes, laccases, trypsin, α-amylase and Bakers’ yeast are few that are easily available and have been extensively explored for various synthetic strategies. This chapter will definitely serve as valuable source of information to the readers in the field of enzyme-catalyzed reactions.

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES ON INTERACTIONS AND ABNORMAL COLORATION IN CARNIVORES IN THE ARAUCARIA FOREST, SOUTHERN BRAZIL

Carnivores typically exhibit cryptic behavior, which makes it difficult to study the ecology of species in this group. Camera trap bycatch can be a valuable source of important opportunistic records. In this short communication, we present rare records of carnivores in southern Brazil. The first record was of a tayra (Mustelidae) with anomalous coloration known as leucism. Other records were of a possible attempted predation event by two free-ranging dogs on lowland tapir (Perissodactyla, Tapiridae), a threatened species. Our remaining notable records consisted of intra and interspecific interactions of endangered felids (puma, ocelot and southern tiger cat).