Isolation of purple non-sulfur bacteria from the digestive tract of ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis)

Purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) reportedly have probiotic effects in fish, but whether they are indigenous in the digestive tract of fish is a question that requires answering. We attempted to isolate PNSB from the digestive tract of ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) from the Kuma River (Kumamoto, Japan), and successfully isolated 12 PNSB strains. All the isolated PNSB belonged to the genus Rhodopseudomonas. Five Rhodopseudomonas strains were also isolated from the soil samples collected along the Kuma River. The phylogenetic tree based on the partial sequence of pufLM gene indicated that the PNSB from ayu and soil were similar. The effects of NaCl concentration in growth medium on growth were also compared between the PNSB from ayu and soil. The PNSB from ayu showed a better growth performance at a higher NaCl concentration, suggesting that the intestinal tract of ayu, a euryhaline fish, might provide suitable environment for halophilic microorganisms.

Monuments from Area Town of Madjary (the North Caucasus): current research developments

The paper features the problem of selection of Golden Horde era sites located in the area neighbouring the town of Majary in the territory of the Middle Kuma valley. The bulk of information about the sites is mostly contained in archival documents relating to the 16th – 18th centuries. At present there is information about 9 sites. The locations of five of them have been discovered. Two sites could possibly be locations of the towns of Majary-al-Jedid and Karakogun, which are known due to numismatic and written sources. The medieval climate and landscape in the region allowed to a certain extent cultivating the Kuma river valley, prone to seasonal flooding. Permanent settlements in the area neighbouring Majary could have been founded in the Upland of the Kuma river valley or the terrace areas above the flood plain in the Kuma river valley or the Kuma tributaries. The areas of the estuaries of the left and the right tributaries of the Kuma river seem promising for the search of Golden Horde era artefacts of everyday life. The sites (“Orlovskoye-1”, 13th – 14th centuries, “Preobrazhenskoye-1”) which are situated in the neighborhood of the Madjary hillfort could relate to the rural area around Majary. Specification of a number of sites situated in some distance from Majary requires a more precise definition.

Whole-Genome Sequencing of 84 Japanese Eels Reveals Evidence against Panmixia and Support for Sympatric Speciation

The Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica), European eel (Anguilla anguilla), and American eel (Anguilla rostrata) are migratory, catadromous, temperate zone fish sharing several common life cycle features. The population genetics of panmixia in these eel species has already been investigated. Our extensive population genetics analysis was based on 1400 Gb of whole-genome sequence (WGS) data from 84 eels. It demonstrated that a Japanese eel group from the Kuma River differed from other populations of the same species. Even after removing the potential adapted/selected single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data, and with very small differences (fixation index [Fst] = 0.01), we obtained results consistently indicating that panmixia does not occur in Japanese eels. The life cycle of the Japanese eel is well-established and the Kuma River is in the center of its habitat. Nevertheless, simple reproductive isolation is not the probable cause of non-panmixia in this species. We propose that the combination of spawning area subdivision, philopatry, and habitat preference/avoidance accounts for the non-panmixia in the Japanese eel population. We named this hypothesis the “reproductive isolation like subset mapping” (RISM) model. This finding may be indicative of the initial stages of sympatric speciation in these eels.

Gold Threads from the High-Status Alan Burial near the Pegushin Farms tead in the Stavropol Region

В погребальной камере аристократической аланской катакомбы (конец IV – рубеж IV–V вв. н. э.) из кургана 15 могильника Пегушин 1 на Ставрополье, несмотря на тотальную ограбленность комплекса, удалось обнаружить фрагменты золотных нитей, которыми была украшена некая ткань. В статье представлены итоги реконструкции техники изготовления нитей и идентификации химического состава металла, из которого были изготовлены золотные нити. Данные результаты получены с помощью низковакуумного наблюдения на настольном электронном микроскопе ТМ3030 Hitachi В на кафедре археологии МГУ и посредством энергодисперсного РФА при помощи микро-РФА спектрометра M1 MISTRAL в отделе археологических памятников ГИМ. Хотя достоверно определить происхождение золотных нитей из могильника Пегушин 1 пока не удалось, весь контекст данного комплекса указывает на западный вектор связей. При этом конструктивное сходство пегушинской катакомбы с катакомбами из памятников Среднего Терека отражает перемещение в гуннское время больших групп населения, возглавляемых военными вождями, в бассейн реки Кумы – на северную периферию аланского мира, граничившую со степью. Though the burial chamber of an aristocratic Alan catacomb (the end of the 4th – turn of the 5th century AD) from kurgan 15, Pegushin 1 cemetery, in the Stavropol Region was completely plundered, fragments of gold threads which once decorated a cloth were identified there. The paper reports on the reconstruction of the thread production technique and identification of the chemical composition of the metal the threads were made of. The results were obtained by a low-vacuum observation with the use of a ТМ3030 Hitachi В tabletop electronic microscope conducted in the Department of Archaeology and energy-dispersive X-ray phase analysis carried out with the use of a M1 MISTRAL XRF spectrometer in the Department of Archaeological Sites of the State Historical Museum. Whereas it is not yet possible to identify the provenance of the gold threads from Pegushin 1 reliably, the entire context of this assemblage is indicative of the western direction of the links. At the same time constructive similarity of the Pegushin catacomb with catacombs from the Middle Terek sites reflects migration of large population groups led by military chieftains to the Kuma River basin, i.e. the northern periphery of the Alan world abutting the steppes, in the Hun period.