Paternity assessment in free ranging wild boar (Sus scrofa) - Are littermates full-sibs?

Multiple paternity within litters occurs in various groups of mammals exhibiting different mating systems. Using seven genetic markers (i.e., microsatellites) we investigated the paternity of littermates in free ranging wild boar (Sus scrofa) in a Mediterranean habitat. Using the software CERVUS 2.0 we estimated the probability of detecting multiple paternity across all loci (D), the probability of paternity (W) and a statistic ∆ that allows the assignment of paternity to the most likely male with strict and relaxed levels of confidence. Multiple paternity was inferred for one of the nine analysed litters at the 80% confidence level. This suggests that a single male may control the access to receptive adult females and it shows that multiple paternity is not very common in the studied free ranging wild boar population. Despite the possible occurrence of sperm competition and/or female cryptic choice, mate guarding seems to play a significant role in sexual selection. To better understand the wild boar’s mating strategies further studies analysing the reproductive success of both sexes and under different environmental conditions should be conducted

Characterization of the Oral Microbiome of Medicated Type-2 Diabetes Patients

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disease that is becoming a significant global health care problem. Several studies have shown that people with diabetes are more susceptible to oral problems, such as periodontitis and, although the causes are still inconclusive, oral microbiota is considered to play a major role in oral health. This study aimed to characterize the oral microbiome of a sample representing T2DM patients from Portugal and exploit potential associations between some microorganisms and variables like teeth brushing, smoking habits, average blood sugar levels, medication and nutrient intake. By sequencing the hypervariable regions V3-V4 of the 16S rRNA gene in 50 individuals belonging to a group of diabetes patients and a control group, we found a total of 232 taxa, from which only 65% were shared between both groups. No differences were found in terms of alpha and beta diversity between categories. We did not find significant differences in the oral microbiome profiles of control and diabetes patients. Only the class Synergistia and the genus TG5, which are related to periodontitis, were statistically more frequent in the control group. The similar microbiome profiles of medicated diabetics and the control group indicates that the relationship between the T2DM and the oral microbiome might be more related to either the lifestyle/diet rather than diabetes per se. Moreover, this study provides, for the first time, insights into the oral microbiome of a population with a high prevalence of diabetes.This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Grant Agreement Number 857251. LP-P was funded by national funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. MG-V was funded through UID/BIA/50027/2019 from FCT

Guanidinium 4-amino­benzoate

In the title compound, CH6N3 +·C7H6NO2 −, the cation and anion lie on crystallographic mirror planes. The 4-amino­benzoate anion is almost in a planar conformation with a maximum deviation of 0.024 (2) Å for the N atom. The bond length in the deprotonated carboxyl group is inter­mediate between those of normal single and double Csp2=O bonds, indicating delocalization of the charge over both O atoms of the COO− group. In the crystal, N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds assemble the ions in layers propagating in the bc plane. This structure is very similar to that of guanidinium benzoate

Bis(triphenyl­guanidinium) tetra­chlorido­cuprate(II)

The structure of the title compound, (C19H18N3)2[CuCl4], consists of square-planar [CuCl4]2− anions and triphenyl­guanidinium cations. The CuII ion occupies a crystallographic inversion centre. In the cation, the dihedral angles between the phenyl rings and the plane defined by the central guanidinium fragment are in the range 51.9 (4)–64.4 (3)°. N—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds assemble the ions into infinite chains running along the b axis

Heterozygosity decrease in wild boar mating system. A case of outbreeding avoidance?

In sexually reproducing organisms, the specific combinations of parental alleles can have important consequences on offspring viability and fitness. Accordingly, genetic relationship between mates can be used as a criterion for mate choice. Here, we used microsatellite genetic markers to estimate the genetic relationship between mating pairs in the wild boar, Sus scrofa. Males, females and foetuses proceeding from Portugal, Spain and Hungary were genotyped using 14 microsatellite markers. The genetic relationship between mates was estimated using different measures of foetus heterozygosity. We found that the observed heterozygosity of foetuses was lower than that expected under random mating. This result occurred mainly when Sd2 (relatedness of parental genomes) was used as the heterozygosity measure. After simulations, we concluded that the observed low heterozygosity was possibly due to outbreeding avoidance. Outbreeding avoidance based on genetically different genomes might play an important role in species evolution and its genetic conservation

N,N′,N′′-Triphenyl­guanidinium 5-nitro-2,4-dioxo-1,2,3,4-tetra­hydro­pyrimidin-1-ide

In the title compound, C19H18N3 +.C4H2N3O4 −, the dihedral angles between the phenyl rings and the plane defined by the central guanidinium fragment are in the range 41.3 (1)–66.6 (1)°. The pyrimidine ring of the anion is distorted towards a boat conformation and the nitro group is rotated 11.4 (2)° out of the uracil plane. Hydrogen bonds assemble the ions in infinite helical chains along the b axis

Sex-Biased Gene Flow Among Elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

We quantified patterns of population genetic structure to help understand gene flow among elk populations across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We sequenced 596 base pairs of the mitochondrial control region of 380 elk from eight populations. Analysis revealed high mitochondrial DNA variation within populations, averaging 13.0 haplotypes with high mean gene diversity (0.85). The genetic differentiation among populations for mitochondrial DNA was relatively high (FST = 0.161; P = 0.001) compared to genetic differentiation for nuclear microsatellite data (FST = 0.002; P = 0.332), which suggested relatively low female gene flow among populations. The estimated ratio of male to female gene flow (mm/mf = 46) was among the highest we have seen reported for large mammals. Genetic distance (for mitochondrial DNA pairwise FST) was not significantly correlated with geographic (Euclidean) distance between populations (Mantel’s r = 0.274, P = 0.168). Large mitochondrial DNA genetic distances (e.g., FST . 0.2) between some of the geographically closest populations (,65 km) suggested behavioral factors and/or landscape features might shape female gene flow patterns. Given the strong sex-biased gene flow, future research and conservation efforts should consider the sexes separately when modeling corridors of gene flow or predicting spread of maternally transmitted diseases. The growing availability of genetic data to compare male vs. female gene flow provides many exciting opportunities to explore the magnitude, causes, and implications of sex-biased gene flow likely to occur in many species

The biological origin of linguistic diversity

In contrast with animal communication systems, diversity is characteristic of almost every aspect of human language. Languages variously employ tones, clicks, or manual signs to signal differences in meaning; some languages lack the noun-verb distinction (e.g., Straits Salish), whereas others have a proliferation of fine-grained syntactic categories (e.g., Tzeltal); and some languages do without morphology (e.g., Mandarin), while others pack a whole sentence into a single word (e.g., Cayuga). A challenge for evolutionary biology is to reconcile the diversity of languages with the high degree of biological uniformity of their speakers. Here, we model processes of language change and geographical dispersion and find a consistent pressure for flexible learning, irrespective of the language being spoken. This pressure arises because flexible learners can best cope with the observed high rates of linguistic change associated with divergent cultural evolution following human migration. Thus, rather than genetic adaptations for specific aspects of language, such as recursion, the coevolution of genes and fast-changing linguistic structure provides the biological basis for linguistic diversity. Only biological adaptations for flexible learning combined with cultural evolution can explain how each child has the potential to learn any human language