Antagonistic Parent-Offspring Co-Adaptation

In species across taxa, offspring have means to influence parental investment (PI). PI thus evolves as an interacting phenotype and indirect genetic effects may strongly affect the co-evolutionary dynamics of offspring and parental behaviors. Evolutionary theory focused on explaining how exaggerated offspring solicitation can be understood as resolution of parent-offspring conflict, but the evolutionary origin and diversification of different forms of family interactions remains unclear.Methodology/Principal Findings In contrast to previous theory that largely uses a static approach to predict how “offspring individuals” and “parental individuals” should interact given conflict over PI, we present a dynamic theoretical framework of antagonistic selection on the PI individuals obtain/take as offspring and the PI they provide as parents to maximize individual lifetime reproductive success; we analyze a deterministic and a stochastic version of this dynamic framework. We show that a zone for equivalent co-adaptation outcomes exists in which stable levels of PI can evolve and be maintained despite fast strategy transitions and ongoing co-evolutionary dynamics. Under antagonistic co-adaptation, cost-free solicitation can evolve as an adaptation to emerging preferences in parents. Conclusions/Significance We show that antagonistic selection across the offspring and parental life-stage of individuals favors co-adapted offspring and parental behavior within a zone of equivalent outcomes. This antagonistic parent-offspring co-adaptation does not require solicitation to be costly, allows for rapid divergence and evolutionary novelty and potentially explains the origin and diversification of the observed provisioning forms in family life

MiDAS 4: A global catalogue of full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences and taxonomy for studies of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants

Microbial communities are responsible for biological wastewater treatment, but our knowledge of their diversity and function is still poor. Here, we sequence more than 5 million high-quality, full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences from 740 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across the world and use the sequences to construct the ‘MiDAS 4’ database. MiDAS 4 is an amplicon sequence variant resolved, full-length 16S rRNA gene reference database with a comprehensive taxonomy from domain to species level for all sequences. We use an independent dataset (269 WWTPs) to show that MiDAS 4, compared to commonly used universal reference databases, provides a better coverage for WWTP bacteria and an improved rate of genus and species level classification. Taking advantage of MiDAS 4, we carry out an amplicon-based, global-scale microbial community profiling of activated sludge plants using two common sets of primers targeting regions of the 16S rRNA gene, revealing how environmental conditions and biogeography shape the activated sludge microbiota. We also identify core and conditionally rare or abundant taxa, encompassing 966 genera and 1530 species that represent approximately 80% and 50% of the accumulated read abundance, respectively. Finally, we show that for well-studied functional guilds, such as nitrifiers or polyphosphate-accumulating organisms, the same genera are prevalent worldwide, with only a few abundant species in each genus.Fil: Dueholm, Morten Kam Dahl. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Nierychlo, Marta. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Andersen, Kasper Skytte. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Rudkjøbing, Vibeke. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Knutsson, Simon. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Arriaga, Sonia. Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; MéxicoFil: Bakke, Rune. University College of Southeast Norway; NoruegaFil: Boon, Nico. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Bux, Faizal. Durban University of Technology; SudáfricaFil: Christensson, Magnus. Veolia Water Technologies Ab; SueciaFil: Chua, Adeline Seak May. University Malaya; MalasiaFil: Curtis, Thomas P.. University of Newcastle; Reino UnidoFil: Cytryn, Eddie. Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel; IsraelFil: Erijman, Leonardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Etchebehere, Claudia. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas "Clemente Estable"; UruguayFil: Fatta Kassinos, Despo. University of Cyprus; ChipreFil: Frigon, Dominic. McGill University; CanadáFil: Garcia Chaves, Maria Carolina. Universidad de Antioquia; ColombiaFil: Gu, April Z.. Cornell University; Estados UnidosFil: Horn, Harald. Karlsruher Institut Für Technologie; AlemaniaFil: Jenkins, David. David Jenkins & Associates Inc; Estados UnidosFil: Kreuzinger, Norbert. Tu Wien; AustriaFil: Kumari, Sheena. Durban University of Technology; SudáfricaFil: Lanham, Ana. University of Bath; Reino UnidoFil: Law, Yingyu. Singapore Centre For Environmental Life Sciences Engineering; SingapurFil: Leiknes, TorOve. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Arabia SauditaFil: Morgenroth, Eberhard. Eth Zürich; SuizaFil: Muszyński, Adam. Politechnika Warszawska; PoloniaFil: Petrovski, Steve. La Trobe University; AustraliaFil: Pijuan, Maite. Catalan Institute For Water Research; EspañaFil: Pillai, Suraj Babu. Va Tech Wabag Ltd; IndiaFil: Reis, Maria A. M.. Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Rong, Qi. Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Rossetti, Simona. Istituto Di Ricerca Sulle Acque (irsa) ; Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche;Fil: Seviour, Robert. La Trobe University; AustraliaFil: Tooker, Nick. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Vainio, Pirjo. Espoo R&D Center; FinlandiaFil: van Loosdrecht, Mark. Delft University of Technology; Países BajosFil: Vikraman, R.. VA Tech Wabag, Philippines Inc; FilipinasFil: Wanner, Jiří. University of Chemistry And Technology; República ChecaFil: Weissbrodt, David. Delft University of Technology; Países BajosFil: Wen, Xianghua. Tsinghua University; ChinaFil: Zhang, Tong. The University of Hong Kong; Hong KongFil: Nielsen, Per H.. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Albertsen, Mads. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Nielsen, Per Halkjær. Aalborg University; Dinamarc

The psychometric properties of the subscales of the GHQ-28 in a multi-ethnic maternal sample: results from the Born in Bradford cohort

Background: Poor maternal mental health can impact on children’s development and wellbeing; however, there is concern about the comparability of screening instruments administered to women of diverse ethnic origin. Methods: We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the subscale structure of the GHQ-28 in an ethnically diverse community cohort of pregnant women in the UK (N = 5,089). We defined five groups according to ethnicity and language of administration, and also conducted a CFA between four groups of 1,095 women who completed the GHQ-28 both during and after pregnancy. Results: After item reduction, 17 of the 28 items were considered to relate to the same four underlying concepts in each group; however, there was variation in the response to individual items by women of different ethnic origin and this rendered between group comparisons problematic. The EFA revealed that these measurement difficulties might be related to variation in the underlying concepts being measured by the factors. Conclusions: We found little evidence to recommend the use of the GHQ-28 subscales in routine clinical or epidemiological assessment of maternal women in populations of diverse ethnicity

Gravity reception in crickets: the influence of cereal and antennal afferences on the head position

Horn E, Bischof H-J. Gravity reception in crickets: the influence of cereal and antennal afferences on the head position. Journal of Comparative Physiology, A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology. 1983;150(1):93-98.In the cricket,Gryllus bimaculatus, compensatory head movements are elicited by cereal and antennal receptors when the animals are rotated around their longitudinal axis. The cereal afferences originate in the club-shaped sensilla, whereas the antennal ones probably arise in receptors measuring displacements of the flagellum at the joint between scapus and pedicellus. The clubshaped cereal sensilla are true gravity receptors different from the proprioceptive gravity receptor systems characteristic of most insects

Characterization of the metallic and insulating phase of V2O3 and (V,Cr)2O3 by XANES

We have measured the O Is x-ray absorption of single crystals and epitaxial films of V2O3 in both metallic and insulating phases. The spectrum exhibits two peaks, the lower (higher) energy peak due to O 2p contributions to the t2g (eg) states. The spectra of all samples in the insulating state vary strongly with the angle between the surface normal and the polarization vector of the incident photons while the spectra of metallic samples are almost isotropic. On cooling t ie single crystal into the insulating phase, the higher energy peak increases in intensity, producing a spectrum similar to that found in the insulating Cr doped and pure V2O3 thin films, although the single crystal is then monoclinic while the films are not This implies that the change in the c/a ratio in the transition, not the lattice distortion, is primarily responsible for the change in electronic properties