Publications
Molecular phylogenetics and evolution
Authors: Fiore-Donno AM, Meyer M, Baldauf SL, Pawlowski J
The Myxomycetes are a major component of soil amoebae, displaying a complex life cycle that terminates in the formation of often macroscopic fruiting bodies. The classification of Myxomycetes is controversial and strongly depends on the weight given by different authors to morphological and developmental characters. We used a molecular approach to establish the phylogenetic relationships in the dark-spored orders Stemonitales and Physarales. Twenty-five small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences were obtained, with focus on two Stemonitales genera, Lamproderma and Comatricha. Unexpectedly, our results show that Stemonitales are paraphyletic with Physarales arising from within a Lamproderma clade. The genus Lamproderma itself is polyphyletic and can be divided into two distinct clades. Additionally, we found that Comatricha nigricapillitia comprises two cryptic species, both related to Enerthenema. Our study allows the reappraisal of morphological and developmental characters in the light of molecular data and sets foundations for a new classification of Myxomycetes.
Molecular ecology
Authors: Neuenschwander S, Largiadèr CR, Ray N, Currat M, Vonlanthen P, Excoffier L
The present distribution of freshwater fish in the Alpine region has been strongly affected by colonization events occurring after the last glacial maximum (LGM), some 20,000 years ago. We use here a spatially explicit simulation framework to model and better understand their colonization dynamics in the Swiss Rhine basin. This approach is applied to the European bullhead (Cottus gobio), which is an ideal model organism to study fish past demographic processes since it has not been managed by humans. The molecular diversity of eight sampled populations is simulated and compared to observed data at six microsatellite loci under an approximate Bayesian computation framework to estimate the parameters of the colonization process. Our demographic estimates fit well with current knowledge about the biology of this species, but they suggest that the Swiss Rhine basin was colonized very recently, after the Younger Dryas some 6600 years ago. We discuss the implication of this result, as well as the strengths and limits of the spatially explicit approach coupled to the approximate Bayesian computation framework.
Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy in higher eukaryotes.
2008
Autophagy
Authors: Klionsky DJ, Abeliovich H, Agostinis P, Agrawal DK, Aliev G, Askew DS, Baba M, Baehrecke EH, Bahr BA, Ballabio A, Bamber BA, Bassham DC, Bergamini E, Bi X, Biard-Piechaczyk M, Blum JS, Bredesen DE, Brodsky JL, Brumell JH, Brunk UT, Bursch W, Camougrand N, Cebollero E, Cecconi F, Chen Y, Chin LS, Choi A, Chu CT, Chung J, Clarke PG, Clark RS, Clarke SG, Clavé C, Cleveland JL, Codogno P, Colombo MI, Coto-Montes A, Cregg JM, Cuervo AM, Debnath J, Demarchi F, Dennis PB, Dennis PA, Deretic V, Devenish RJ, Di Sano F, Dice JF, Difiglia M, Dinesh-Kumar S, Distelhorst CW, Djavaheri-Mergny M, Dorsey FC, Dröge W, Dron M, Dunn WA, Duszenko M, Eissa NT, Elazar Z, Esclatine A, Eskelinen EL, Fésüs L, Finley KD, Fuentes JM, Fueyo J, Fujisaki K, Galliot B, Gao FB, Gewirtz DA, Gibson SB, Gohla A, Goldberg AL, Gonzalez R, González-Estévez C, Gorski S, Gottlieb RA, Häussinger D, He YW, Heidenreich K, Hill JA, Høyer-Hansen M, Hu X, Huang WP, Iwasaki A, Jäättelä M, Jackson WT, Jiang X, Jin S, Johansen T, Jung JU, Kadowaki M, Kang C, Kelekar A, Kessel DH, Kiel JA, Kim HP, Kimchi A, Kinsella TJ, Kiselyov K, Kitamoto K, Knecht E, Komatsu M, Kominami E, Kondo S, Kovács AL, Kroemer G, Kuan CY, Kumar R, Kundu M, Landry J, Laporte M, Le W, Lei HY, Lenardo MJ, Levine B, Lieberman A, Lim KL, Lin FC, Liou W, Liu LF, Lopez-Berestein G, López-Otín C, Lu B, Macleod KF, Malorni W, Martinet W, Matsuoka K, Mautner J, Meijer AJ, Meléndez A, Michels P, Miotto G, Mistiaen WP, Mizushima N, Mograbi B, Monastyrska I, Moore MN, Moreira PI, Moriyasu Y, Motyl T, Münz C, Murphy LO, Naqvi NI, Neufeld TP, Nishino I, Nixon RA, Noda T, Nürnberg B, Ogawa M, Oleinick NL, Olsen LJ, Ozpolat B, Paglin S, Palmer GE, Papassideri I, Parkes M, Perlmutter DH, Perry G, Piacentini M, Pinkas-Kramarski R, Prescott M, Proikas-Cezanne T, Raben N, Rami A, Reggiori F, Rohrer B, Rubinsztein DC, Ryan KM, Sadoshima J, Sakagami H, Sakai Y, Sandri M, Sasakawa C, Sass M, Schneider C, Seglen PO, Seleverstov O, Settleman J, Shacka JJ, Shapiro IM, Sibirny A, Silva-Zacarin EC, Simon HU, Simone C, Simonsen A, Smith MA, Spanel-Borowski K, Srinivas V, Steeves M, Stenmark H, Stromhaug PE, Subauste CS, Sugimoto S, Sulzer D, Suzuki T, Swanson MS, Tabas I, Takeshita F, Talbot NJ, Tallóczy Z, Tanaka K, Tanaka K, Tanida I, Taylor GS, Taylor JP, Terman A, Tettamanti G, Thompson CB, Thumm M, Tolkovsky AM, Tooze SA, Truant R, Tumanovska LV, Uchiyama Y, Ueno T, Uzcátegui NL, van der Klei I, Vaquero EC, Vellai T, Vogel MW, Wang HG, Webster P, Wiley JW, Xi Z, Xiao G, Yahalom J, Yang JM, Yap G, Yin XM, Yoshimori T, Yu L, Yue Z, Yuzaki M, Zabirnyk O, Zheng X, Zhu X, Deter RL
Research in autophagy continues to accelerate,(1) and as a result many new scientists are entering the field. Accordingly, it is important to establish a standard set of criteria for monitoring macroautophagy in different organisms. Recent reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose.(2,3) There are many useful and convenient methods that can be used to monitor macroautophagy in yeast, but relatively few in other model systems, and there is much confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure macroautophagy in higher eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers of autophagosomes versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway; thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from fully functional autophagy that includes delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of the methods that can be used by investigators who are attempting to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as by reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that investigate these processes. This set of guidelines is not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to verify an autophagic response.
Molecular ecology
Authors: Tzika AC, Koenig S, Miller R, Garcia G, Remy C, Milinkovitch MC
The Jamaican boa (Epicrates subflavus; also called Yellow boa) is an endemic species whose natural populations greatly and constantly declined since the late 19th century, mainly because of predation by introduced species, human persecution, and habitat destruction. In-situ conservation of the Jamaican boa is seriously hindered by the lack of information on demographic and ecological parameters as well as by a poor understanding of the population structure and species distribution in the wild. Here, using nine nuclear microsatellite loci and a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene from 87 wild-born individuals, we present the first molecular genetic analyses focusing on the diversity and structure of the natural populations of the Jamaican boa. A model-based clustering analysis of multilocus microsatellite genotypes identifies three groups that are also significantly differentiated on the basis of F-statistics. Similarly, haplotypic network reconstruction methods applied on the cytochrome b haplotypes isolated here identify two well-differentiated haplogroups separated by four to six fixed mutations. Bayesian and metaGA analyses of the mitochondrial data set combined with sequences from other Boidae species indicate that rooting of the haplotypic network occurs most likely between the two defined haplogroups. Both analyses (based on nuclear and mitochondrial markers) underline an Eastern vs. (Western + Central) pattern of differentiation in agreement with geological data and patterns of differentiation uncovered in other vertebrate and invertebrate Jamaican species. Our results provide important insights for improving management of ex-situ captive populations and for guiding the development of proper in-situ species survival and habitat management plans for this spectacular, yet poorly known and vulnerable, snake.
A new tselfatiiform teleost from the mid-Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of the Kem Kem beds, Southern Morocco
2008
Mesozoic Fishes IV. Homology and Phylogeny
Authors: Cavin, L. & Forey, P.L.
Fishes and the breakup of Pangaea
Authors: Cavin, L., Longbottom, A. & Richter, M.
Fishes and the breakup of Pangaea
Authors: Cavin, L.
In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences eLS(Chichester: John Wiley & Sons), 2008
Authors: Sanchez-Mazas A, Poloni ES
In: Sanchez-Mazas A, Blench R, Ross M, Peiros I, Lin M, eds. Past human migrations in East Asia: matching archaeology, linguistics and genetics. Routledge, London and New York, p. 313-333 (2008)
Authors: Sanchez-Mazas A, Osipova L, Lin M, Dugoujon JM, Sagart L, Poloni, ES
Evolving Pathways: Key Themes in Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Authors: Tzika A.C. & Milinkovitch M.C.
One major classical justification of using a model metazoan species for experimentation has been that discoveries of biological phenomena in that species could be extrapolated to other multicellular species. Because the chances that this extrapolation is valid in humans depend on the phylogenetic distance between humans and the model species, many researchers have somewhat sacrificed the major benefits of small size, short generation time and ease of manipulation that characterise some invertebrates in order to use species that humans can more readily relate to, such as the laboratory mouse (Mus musculus). However, the community of biologists has continued to use additional model species because each of the selected taxa have specific features that make experimental manipulation easier (e.g. easy-to-score morphological variation and giant polytene chromosomes in Drosophila melanogaster, or accurate description of the largely invariant complete cell lineage and full neural connectivity in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans).
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