A Comparison of Scent Marking between a Monogamous and Promiscuous Species of Peromyscus: Pair Bonded Males Do Not Advertise to Novel Females

Scent marking can provide behavioral and physiological information including territory ownership and mate advertisement. It is unknown how mating status and pair cohabitation influence marking by males from different social systems. We compared the highly territorial and monogamous California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) to the less territorial and promiscuous white-footed mouse (P. leucopus). Single and mated males of both species were assigned to one of the following arenas lined with filter paper: control (unscented arena), male scented (previously scent-marked by a male conspecific), or females present (containing females in small cages). As expected, the territorial P. californicus scent marked and overmarked an unfamiliar male conspecific's scent marks more frequently than P. leucopus. Species differences in responses to novel females were also found based on mating status. The presence of unfamiliar females failed to induce changes in scent marking in pair bonded P. californicus even though virgin males increased marking behavior. Pair bonding appears to reduce male advertisement for novel females. This is in contrast to P. leucopus males that continue to advertise regardless of mating status. Our data suggest that communication through scent-marking can diverge significantly between species based on mating system and that there are physiological mechanisms that can inhibit responsiveness of males to female cues

Transcriptome characterization of the South African abalone Haliotis midae using sequencing-by-synthesis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Worldwide, the genus <it>Haliotis </it>is represented by 56 extant species and several of these are commercially cultured. Among the six abalone species found in South Africa, <it>Haliotis midae </it>is the only aquacultured species. Despite its economic importance, genomic sequence resources for <it>H. midae</it>, and for abalone in general, are still scarce. Next generation sequencing technologies provide a fast and efficient tool to generate large sequence collections that can be used to characterize the transcriptome and identify expressed genes associated with economically important traits like growth and disease resistance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>More than 25 million short reads generated by the Illumina Genome Analyzer were <it>de novo </it>assembled in 22,761 contigs with an average size of 260 bp. With a stringent <it>E</it>-value threshold of 10^-10, 3,841 contigs (16.8%) had a BLAST homologous match against the Genbank non-redundant (NR) protein database. Most of these sequences were annotated using the gene ontology (GO) and eukaryotic orthologous groups of proteins (KOG) databases and assigned to various functional categories. According to annotation results, many gene families involved in immune response were identified. Thousands of simple sequence repeats (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were detected. Setting stringent parameters to ensure a high probability of amplification, 420 primer pairs in 181 contigs containing SSR loci were designed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This data represents the most comprehensive genomic resource for the South African abalone <it>H. midae </it>to date. The amount of assembled sequences demonstrated the utility of the Illumina sequencing technology in the transcriptome characterization of a non-model species. It allowed the development of several markers and the identification of promising candidate genes for future studies on population and functional genomics in <it>H. midae </it>and in other abalone species.</p

Rescue of replication failure by Fanconi anaemia proteins

Chromosomal aberrations are often associated with incomplete genome duplication, for instance at common fragile sites, or as a consequence of chemical alterations in the DNA template that block replication forks. Studies of the cancer-prone disease Fanconi anaemia (FA) have provided important insights into the resolution of replication problems. The repair of interstrand DNA crosslinks induced by chemotherapy drugs is coupled with DNA replication and controlled by FA proteins. We discuss here the recent discovery of new FA-associated proteins and the development of new tractable repair systems that have dramatically improved our understanding of crosslink repair. We focus also on how FA proteins protect against replication failure in the context of fragile sites and on the identification of reactive metabolites that account for the development of Fanconi anaemia symptoms

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers in the South African abalone <I>(Haliotis midae)</I>

AgriwetenskappeGenetikaPlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected]

New microsatellite markers for the abalone <I>Haliotis midae</I> developed by 454 pyrosequencing and <I>in silico</I> analyses

AgriwetenskappeGenetikaPlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected]

Evaluation of the OvineSNP50 chip for use in four South African sheep breeds

Relatively rapid and cost-effective genotyping using the OvineSNP50 chip holds great promise for the South African sheep industry and research partners. However, SNP ascertainment bias may influence inferences from the genotyping results of South African sheep breeds. Therefore, samples from Dorper, Namaqua Afrikaner (NA), South African Merino (SA Merino) and South African Mutton Merino (SAMM) were genotyped to determine the utility of the OvineSNP50 chip for these important South African sheep breeds. After quality control measures had been implemented, 85 SA Merino, 20 Dorper, 20 NA and 19 SAMM samples remained, with an average call rate of 99.72%. A total of 49 517 (91.30%) SNPs on the chip met quality control measures and were included in downstream analyses. The NA had the fewest polymorphic loci, 69.20%, while the SAMM, Dorper and SA Merino had between 81.16% and 86.85% polymorphic loci. Most loci of the SA Merino, Dorper and SAMM had a MAF greater than or equal to 0.3. In contrast, the NA exhibited a large number of rare alleles (MAF &lt; 0.1) and a uniform distribution of other loci across the MAF range (0.1 &lt; MAF ≤ 0.5). The NA exhibited the least genetic diversity and had the greatest inbreeding coefficient among the four breeds. The results of the Dorper, SA Merino, and SAMM compare favourably with those of international breeds and thus demonstrate the utility of the OvineSNP50 chip for these breeds. Effects of SNP ascertainment bias, however, could be seen in the number of non-polymorphic loci and MAF distribution of the three commercial breeds in comparison with those of the NA. The implementation of methods to reduce the effect of SNP ascertainment bias and to ensure unbiased interpretation of genotype results should therefore be considered for future studies using OvineSNP50 chip genotype results.Keywords: Dorper, genome-wide, Merino, Namaqua Afrikaner, OvineSNP50, SA Mutton Merino, SN

Genetic variation within and among three ostrich breeds, estimated by using microsatellite markers

Genetic diversity within and among three ostrich populations was investigated to corroborate whether these populations can be classified genetically as three different breeds. The DNA of South African Black (SAB, n = 30), Zimbabwean Blue (ZB, n = 32) and Kenyan Redneck (KR, n = 17) birds was assessed for genetic differences using 19 microsatellite loci. The number of alleles, as well as observed and expected heterozygosity of alleles, was determined. Genetic differentiation was measured using the F-statistic (FST) and Nei&#8217;s genetic distance. Significant differences were observed among the three breeds. The SAB and ZB (FST = 0.10 and Nei = 0.49) were genetically more similar, whereas the genetic distance between the KR and ZB breeds was the greatest (FST= 0.13 and Nei = 0.61). The SAB strain exhibited the greatest observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.72) within its population while the ZB and the KR exhibited lower levels of heterozygosity (Ho = 0.68). Based on these results, it was suggested that crossbreeding between these breeds would lead to heterosis in commercial ostrich enterprises.Keywords: Breed, genetic differentiation, heterosis, heterozygosit