Inheritance patterns in citation networks reveal scientific memes

Memes are the cultural equivalent of genes that spread across human culture by means of imitation. What makes a meme and what distinguishes it from other forms of information, however, is still poorly understood. Our analysis of memes in the scientific literature reveals that they are governed by a surprisingly simple relationship between frequency of occurrence and the degree to which they propagate along the citation graph. We propose a simple formalization of this pattern and we validate it with data from close to 50 million publication records from the Web of Science, PubMed Central, and the American Physical Society. Evaluations relying on human annotators, citation network randomizations, and comparisons with several alternative approaches confirm that our formula is accurate and effective, without a dependence on linguistic or ontological knowledge and without the application of arbitrary thresholds or filters.Comment: 8 two-column pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review

Genetic Analysis of Tomato Fruit Ripening at Polypeptide Profiles Level through Quantitative and Multivariate Approaches

Multivariate analysis became essential in functional and structural Genomics because of the large quantity of biological data provided by these new research areas. Diallel mating design was widely applied to analyze the heritability of quantitative traits but it was recently used for approaching to the inheritance patterns of other levels of gene expression such as transcript profiles. Investigating the inheritance pattern of total polypeptide profiles with a diallel design remains as a vacancy subject. The objective of the present research was to infer the inheritance of total polypeptides profiles from tomato pericarp tissue at four different ripening stages in a diallel mating design including five recombinant inbred lines (RILs) and their ten second cycle hybrids (SCH). To achieve this objective, a multivariate analysis was applied to identify eventual inheritance patterns through a data mining approach and then univariate analyses were used to verify these patterns. Mainly dominance and also overdominance, though in a minor percentage, contributed to the gene actions involved in their genetic basis. Multivariate analysis was efficient in identifying inheritance patterns of total polypeptide profiles through a data mining approach, and univariate analyses largely verified the identified gene actionsFil: Marchionni Basté, Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Cs.agrarias. Departamento de Biologia. Cat.de Genetica; ArgentinaFil: Pereira Da Costa, Javier Hernán. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Cs.agrarias. Departamento de Biologia. Cat.de Genetica; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez, Gustavo Rubén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Cs.agrarias. Departamento de Biologia. Cat.de Genetica; ArgentinaFil: Zorzoli, Roxana. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Cs.agrarias. Departamento de Biologia. Cat.de Genetica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Consejo de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Pratta, Guillermo Raúl. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Cs.agrarias. Departamento de Biologia. Cat.de Genetica; Argentin

Mendelian Inheritance Pattern and High Mutation Rates of Microsatellite Alleles in the Diatom Pseudo-nitzchia multistriata

The diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata exhibits a diplontic life cycle composed of an extensive phase of vegetative cell division and a brief phase of sexual reproduction. To explore genotypic stability, we genotyped seven polymorphic microsatellite loci in 26 monoclonal strains over 3–16 months in a culture maintenance regime. Moreover, to assess inheritance patterns of the microsatellite alleles, we genotyped 246 F1 strains resulting from four mating experiments between parental strains of know genotype. Results generally conformed expectations according to Mendelian inheritance patterns, but deviations were detected indicating mutations during sexual reproduction. A total of forty-two mutations were detected in the clonal cultures over time. Microsatellites with more core-repeats accumulated mutations faster. The mutation rate varied significantly across loci and strains. A binomial mass function and a computer simulation showed that the mutation rate was significantly higher during the first months of culture (μ≈3×10-3 per locus per cell division) and decreased to μ≈1×10-3 in the strains kept for 16 months. Our results suggest that genetic mutations acquired in both the vegetative phase and sexual reproduction add to the allelic diversity of microsatellites, and hence to the genotypic variation present in a natural population

Inheritance patterns, consanguinity & risk for asthma

Background & Objectives: Family history is an important risk factor for the development of asthma, contingent upon genetic and environment interaction. Since there is paucity of data on asthma inheritance in Indian population, the present study was undertaken to investigate the inheritance patterns of asthma and the effect of family history and consanguineous marriage on asthma inheritance. Methods: A total of 200 families, 100 index children and 100 index adults with clinically diagnosed asthma, along with 400 non-asthmatic children and adults as controls were selected for the present study. Information about the family history of each patients and controls was collected and analyzed pedigrees were also constructed. Results: A history of asthma in any member of the family was observed in 44.5 per cent of cases and 5.3 per cent of controls (P<0.001). A differential risk of developing asthma was noted in family history of asthma in different first and second degree relatives of children and adult patients. Consanguineous marriage was also noted in parents in 24.5 per cent of cases and 12.3 per cent of controls (P<0.001). The most common mode of asthma inheritance was recessive. Interpretation & Conclusions: Our results showed that consanguineous marriage and family history of asthma are important determinants in the development of asthma in the offspring

Genomic linkage map of the human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni

The first genetic linkage map of Schistosoma mansoni reveals insights into higher female recombination, confirms ZW inheritance patterns and recombination hotspots

Whole genome sequencing of experimental hybrids supports meiosis-like sexual recombination in Leishmania

Hybrid genotypes have been repeatedly described among natural isolates of Leishmania, and the recovery of experimental hybrids from sand flies co-infected with different strains or species of Leishmania has formally demonstrated that members of the genus possess the machinery for genetic exchange. As neither gamete stages nor cell fusion events have been directly observed during parasite development in the vector, we have relied on a classical genetic analysis to determine if Leishmania has a true sexual cycle. Here, we used whole genome sequencing to follow the chromosomal inheritance patterns of experimental hybrids generated within and between different strains of L. major and L. infantum. We also generated and sequenced the first experimental hybrids in L. tropica. We found that in each case the parental somy and allele contributions matched the inheritance patterns expected under meiosis 97–99% of the time. The hybrids were equivalent to F1 progeny, heterozygous throughout most of the genome for the markers that were homozygous and different between the parents. Rare, non-Mendelian patterns of chromosomal inheritance were observed, including a gain or loss of somy, and loss of heterozygosity, that likely arose during meiosis or during mitotic divisions of the progeny clones in the fly or culture. While the interspecies hybrids appeared to be sterile, the intraspecies hybrids were able to produce backcross and outcross progeny. Analysis of 5 backcross and outcross progeny clones generated from an L. major F1 hybrid, as well as 17 progeny clones generated from backcrosses involving a natural hybrid of L. tropica, revealed genome wide patterns of recombination, demonstrating that classical crossing over occurs at meiosis, and allowed us to construct the first physical and genetic maps in Leishmania. Altogether, the findings provide strong evidence for meiosis-like sexual recombination in Leishmania, presenting clear opportunities for forward genetic analysis and positional cloning of important genes.</div

Selectively Breeding Hard Clams

Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | AP Biology Use knowledge of hard clam genotypes and inheritance patterns to cross parents and predict offspring phenotypes

Male and female inheritance patterns in tetraploid ‘Moncada’ mandarin

Triploid-breeding programs in citrus are key tool to develop seedless cultivars. Obtaining triploid citrus hybrids may be achieved through different strategies, such as the exploitation of female unreduced gamete in crosses between diploid parents and diploid by tetraploid sexual hybridizations, in which tetraploid genotypes can be used as male or female parents. Genetic configuration of triploid populations from interploid crosses greatly depends on the chromosomic segregation mode of the tetraploid parent used. Here, we have analyzed the inheritance of the tetraploid ‘Moncada’ mandarin and compared the genetic structures of the resulting gametes when used as male and as female parent. The preferential chromosome pairing rate is calculated from the parental heterozygosity restitution (PHR) of codominant molecular markers, indicating the proportion between disomic and tetrasomic segregation. Tetraploid ‘Moncada’ both as female and male parent largely exhibited tetrasomic segregation. However, as female parent, one linkage group (LG8) showed intermediate segregation with tendency towards tetrasomic inheritance, while another linkage group (LG4) evidenced a clear intermediate segregation. On the other hand, when used as male parent two linkage groups (LG5 and LG6) showed values that fit an intermediate inheritance model with tetrasomic tendency. Significant doubled reduction (DR) rates were observed in five linkage groups as female parent, and in six linkage groups as male parent. The new knowledge generated here will serve to define crossing strategies in citrus improvement programs to efficiently obtain new varieties of interest in the global fresh consumption market.EEA ConcordiaFil: Garavello, Miguel Fernando. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Citricultura y Producción Vegetal; España. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Concordia; ArgentinaFil: Cuenca, José. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Citricultura y Producción Vegetal; España.Fil: Garcia-Lor, Andrés. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Citricultura y Producción Vegetal; España.Fil: Ortega, Neus. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Citricultura y Producción Vegetal; España.Fil: Navarro, Luis. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Citricultura y Producción Vegetal; España.Fil: Ollitrault, Patrick. Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD). Amélioration Génétique et Adaptation des Plantes (UMR Agap). Unité Mixte de Recherche; FranciaFil: Aleza, Pablo. Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias. Centro de Citricultura y Producción Vegetal; España

Recurrent duplications of the annexin A1 gene (ANXA1) in autism spectrum disorders

Validating the potential pathogenicity of copy number variants (CNVs) identified in genome-wide studies of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) requires detailed assessment of case/control frequencies, inheritance patterns, clinical correlations, and functional impact. Here, we characterize a small recurrent duplication in the annexin A1 (ANXA1) gene, identified by the Autism Genome Project (AGP) study

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 33, No. 1

• Ritual and Folklore in Pennsylvania\u27s Wyoming Region: Old to New World Wonder • Ordinary Architecture of the Pennsylvania Germans: The Turnpike Houses • Set thy House in Order : Inheritance Patterns of the Colonial Pennsylvania Germans • The Literature on Fences, Walls and Hedges as Cultural Landscape Features • Aldes un Neieshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1101/thumbnail.jp