Responses of Plasma Acetate Metabolism to Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) in Sheep

An isotope dilution method using [1-13C]sodium (Na) acetate was conducted to determine the effect of feeding hop (Humulus lupulus L.) residues on plasma acetate metabolism in six adult crossbred sheep. The sheep were fed 63 g/kg BW0.75/d of either mixed hay (MH-diet) of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) at a 60:40 ratio or MH-diet and hop-residues (Hop-diet) at 85:15 ratio with a crossover design for each of 3 week period. The isotope dilution method using single injection of [1-13C]Na acetate was performed thrice; before feeding (BF), 2 h after feeding (2F) and 4 h after feeding (4F), on the 21st day of each dietary treatment. Plasma acetate concentration tended to increase (P= 0.06) and turnover rate was numerically higher (P= 0.16) for MH-diet than Hop-diet. Plasma glucose, NEFA, VFA and lactic acid concentrations were similar between dietary treatments. In both the diets, although plasma concentration of acetate did not change, turnover rate increased significantly (P= 0.02) 2F than BF. Hop-residues did not show any negative impacts on acetate metabolism as well as physiology of animals in the present experimental conditions, hence thereby it could be used as an alternative to MH-diet for rearing sheep

Evidence of introgressive hybridization between the morphologically divergent land snails Ainohelix and Ezohelix

Hybridization between different taxa is likely to take place when adaptive morphological differences evolve more rapidly than reproductive isolation. When studying the phylogenetic relationship between two land snails of different nominal genera, Ainohelix editha and Ezohelix gainesi, from Hokkaido, Japan, using nuclear internal transcribed spacer and mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA, we found a marked incongruence in the topology between nuclear and mitochondrial phylogenies. Furthermore, no clear association was found between shell morphology (which defines the taxonomy) and nuclear or mitochondrial trees and morphology of reproductive system. These patterns are most likely explained by historical introgressive hybridization between A. editha and E. gainesi. Because the shell morphologies of the two species are quite distinct, even when they coexist, the implication is that natural selection is able to maintain (or has recreated) distinct morphologies in the face of gene flow. Future studies may be able to reveal the regions of the genome that maintain the morphological differences between these species

Data from: Quantitative genetic analysis of subspecific differences in body shape in the snail-feeding carabid beetle Damaster blaptoides

A dimorphic pattern of macrocephalic (wide, short) and stenocephalic (narrow, long) body shapes is observed in snail-feeding carabid beetles globally. The former exhibits high performance in crushing snail shells with powerful jaws, whereas the latter specializes in eating snails' soft body directly by inserting the head into the shell. In the snail-feeding species Damaster blaptoides, the subspecies D. b. capito has a wide short forebody, and D. b. fortunei has a narrow, long forebody. They exhibit distinct morphologies despite their geographic and phylogenetic proximity. To examine the genetic basis of the morphological differences between these two subspecies, we conducted quantitative genetic analyses by crossing these subspecies and producing F_1 and backcross hybrids. The hybrids had body shapes intermediate between the parental subspecies. The variation between wide, short and narrow, long forebodies was based on negative geneti c correlations between width and length of the head and thorax. Between one and eight genetic factors were involved in the morphological differences between subspecies. We suggest that the morphological integration of forebody parts in a small number of loci has facilitated the marked morphological diversification between subspecies of D. blaptoides

measurement_data

The file, measurement_data.csv, includes the measured values of the all individuals we used in our quantitative genetic analyses. The first column heading, "Population", indicates used populations in the quantitative genetics. “P1” is D. b. capito; “P2” is D. b. fortunei; “F1” is hybrids produced by crossing D. b. capito and D. b. fortunei; “B1” is backcross population to D. b. capito and “B2” is a backcross population to D. b. fortunei. The second column heading, “HW”, indicate head width. The third, “HL”, indicate head length. The forth, “TW”, indicate thorax width. The fifth, “TL”, indicate thorax length. The sixth, “EW”, indicate elytron width. The seventh, “EL”, indicate elytron length. These measurement values have the unit of millimeter. The last column heading, “Randomly chosen 48 individuals”, indicate the individuals used to determine the eigenvector for the principle component analysis. To remove bias caused by differences in sample size between parent, F1, and backcross populations and to determine PC axes meaningful for quantitative genetic analysis, we first randomly chose 48 individuals from each population (i.e., 240 individuals in total). “TRUE” indicates the chosen individuals. By using the determined eigenvector, we calculated the principle component scores of the other 268 individuals as well as randomly chosen 240 individuals

Responses of Plasma Acetate Metabolism to Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) in Sheep

<p>An isotope dilution method using [1-¹³C]sodium (Na) acetate was conducted to determine the effect of feeding hop (<i>Humulus lupulus</i> L.) residues on plasma acetate metabolism in six adult crossbred sheep. The sheep were fed 63 g/kg BW^0.75/d of either mixed hay (MH-diet) of orchardgrass (<i>Dactylis glomerata</i> L.) and reed canarygrass (<i>Phalaris arundinacea</i> L.) at a 60:40 ratio or MH-diet and hop-residues (Hop-diet) at 85:15 ratio with a crossover design for each of 3 week period. The isotope dilution method using single injection of [1-¹³C]Na acetate was performed thrice; before feeding (BF), 2 h after feeding (2F) and 4 h after feeding (4F), on the 21^st day of each dietary treatment. Plasma acetate concentration tended to increase (P= 0.06) and turnover rate was numerically higher (P= 0.16) for MH-diet than Hop-diet. Plasma glucose, NEFA, VFA and lactic acid concentrations were similar between dietary treatments. In both the diets, although plasma concentration of acetate did not change, turnover rate increased significantly (P= 0.02) 2F than BF. Hop-residues did not show any negative impacts on acetate metabolism as well as physiology of animals in the present experimental conditions, hence thereby it could be used as an alternative to MH-diet for rearing sheep.</p

Appendix A. Geographic distribution and morphology in Damaster blaptoides.

Geographic distribution and morphology in Damaster blaptoides

Appendix D. Statistical significance of the trade-off.

Statistical significance of the trade-off

Appendix C. The result of the logistic regressions.

The result of the logistic regressions