Origins Of Heterospory And The Seed Habit: The Role Of Heterochrony

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149713/1/tax04577.pd

The emergence and diversification of a zoonotic pathogen from within the microbiota of intensively farmed pigs

The expansion and intensification of livestock production is predicted to promote the emergence of pathogens. As pathogens sometimes jump between species, this can affect the health of humans as well as livestock. Here, we investigate how livestock microbiota can act as a source of these emerging pathogens through analysis of Streptococcus suis, a ubiquitous component of the respiratory microbiota of pigs that is also a major cause of disease on pig farms and an important zoonotic pathogen. Combining molecular dating, phylogeography, and comparative genomic analyses of a large collection of isolates, we find that several pathogenic lineages of S. suis emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries, during an early period of growth in pig farming. These lineages have since spread between countries and continents, mirroring trade in live pigs. They are distinguished by the presence of three genomic islands with putative roles in metabolism and cell adhesion, and an ongoing reduction in genome size, which may reflect their recent shift to a more pathogenic ecology. Reconstructions of the evolutionary histories of these islands reveal constraints on pathogen emergence that could inform control strategies, with pathogenic lineages consistently emerging from one subpopulation of S. suis and acquiring genes through horizontal transfer from other pathogenic lineages. These results shed light on the capacity of the microbiota to rapidly evolve to exploit changes in their host population and suggest that the impact of changes in farming on the pathogenicity and zoonotic potential of S. suis is yet to be fully realized.This work was primarily funded by an EU Horizon 2020 grant “PIGSs” (727966) and a ZELS BBSRC award “Myanmar Pigs Partnership (MPP)” (BB/L018934/1). G.G.R.M., E.L.M., and L.A.W. were supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship to L.A.W. jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (109385/Z/15/Z). N.H. was supported by a Challenge grant from the Royal Society (CH16011) and an Isaac Newton Trust Research Grant [17.24(u)]. G.G.R.M. was also supported by a Research Fellowship at Newnham College. S.B. is supported by the Medical Research Council (MR/V032836/1). PIC North America provided part of the funds for the sequencing of the isolates from the USA. A.J.B. and M.M. were funded by Medical Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council studentships respectively, and M.M. was co-funded by the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Fund. We would like to acknowledge Susanna Williamson at the APHA for providing samples, Oscar Cabezón for sampling of the wild boar population in Spain, Mark O’Dea for access to sequence data from Australian isolates, the PIGSs and MPP consortiums for providing samples and helpful discussions, Julian Parkhill and John Welch for helpful discussions, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions for improving the manuscript. This research was funded in whole or in part by the Wellcome Trust. For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Neuro-cognitive mechanisms of conscious and unconscious visual perception: From a plethora of phenomena to general principles

Psychological and neuroscience approaches have promoted much progress in elucidating the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie phenomenal visual awareness during the last decades. In this article, we provide an overview of the latest research investigating important phenomena in conscious and unconscious vision. We identify general principles to characterize conscious and unconscious visual perception, which may serve as important building blocks for a unified model to explain the plethora of findings. We argue that in particular the integration of principles from both conscious and unconscious vision is advantageous and provides critical constraints for developing adequate theoretical models. Based on the principles identified in our review, we outline essential components of a unified model of conscious and unconscious visual perception. We propose that awareness refers to consolidated visual representations, which are accessible to the entire brain and therefore globally available. However, visual awareness not only depends on consolidation within the visual system, but is additionally the result of a post-sensory gating process, which is mediated by higher-level cognitive control mechanisms. We further propose that amplification of visual representations by attentional sensitization is not exclusive to the domain of conscious perception, but also applies to visual stimuli, which remain unconscious. Conscious and unconscious processing modes are highly interdependent with influences in both directions. We therefore argue that exactly this interdependence renders a unified model of conscious and unconscious visual perception valuable. Computational modeling jointly with focused experimental research could lead to a better understanding of the plethora of empirical phenomena in consciousness research

Tackling antibiotic resistance: the environmental framework

Antibiotic resistance is a threat to human and animal health worldwide, and key measures are required to reduce the risks posed by antibiotic resistance genes that occur in the environment. These measures include the identification of critical points of control, the development of reliable surveillance and risk assessment procedures, and the implementation of technological solutions that can prevent environmental contamination with antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes. In this Opinion article, we discuss the main knowledge gaps, the future research needs and the policy and management options that should be prioritized to tackle antibiotic resistance in the environment

Vom Prothallium der groβen Spore und von der Keimesentwicklung einiger Selaginella-Arten

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