The Contribution of Religiosity to Ideology:Empirical Evidences From Five Continents

The current study examines the extent to which religiosity account for ideological orientations in 16 countries from five continents (Australia, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Greece, Finland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Results showed that religiosity was consistently related to right and conservative ideologies in all countries, except Australia. This relation held across different religions, and did not vary across participant’s demographic conditions (i.e., gender, age, income, and education). After controlling for basic personal values, the contribution of religiosity on ideology was still significant. However, the effect was substantial only in countries where religion has played a prominent role in the public sphere, such as Spain, Poland, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, and Turkey. In the other countries, the unique contribution of religiosity was marginal or small

Structural Alterations in a Component of Cytochrome c Oxidase and Molecular Evolution of Pathogenic Neisseria in Humans

Three closely related bacterial species within the genus Neisseria are of importance to human disease and health. Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of meningitis, while Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the agent of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea and Neisseria lactamica is a common, harmless commensal of children. Comparative genomics have yet to yield clear insights into which factors dictate the unique host-parasite relationships exhibited by each since, as a group, they display remarkable conservation at the levels of nucleotide sequence, gene content and synteny. Here, we discovered two rare alterations in the gene encoding the CcoP protein component of cytochrome cbb3 oxidase that are phylogenetically informative. One is a single nucleotide polymorphism resulting in CcoP truncation that acts as a molecular signature for the species N. meningitidis. We go on to show that the ancestral ccoP gene arose by a unique gene duplication and fusion event and is specifically and completely distributed within species of the genus Neisseria. Surprisingly, we found that strains engineered to express either of the two CcoP forms conditionally differed in their capacity to support nitrite-dependent, microaerobic growth mediated by NirK, a nitrite reductase. Thus, we propose that changes in CcoP domain architecture and ensuing alterations in function are key traits in successive, adaptive radiations within these metapopulations. These findings provide a dramatic example of how rare changes in core metabolic proteins can be connected to significant macroevolutionary shifts. They also show how evolutionary change at the molecular level can be linked to metabolic innovation and its reversal as well as demonstrating how genotype can be used to infer alterations of the fitness landscape within a single host

An atlas of over 90.000 conserved noncoding sequences provides insight into crucifer regulatory regions

Despite the central importance of noncoding DNA to gene regulation and evolution, understanding of the extent of selection on plant noncoding DNA remains limited compared to that of other organisms. Here we report sequencing of genomes from three Brassicaceae species (Leavenworthia alabamica, Sisymbrium irio and Aethionema arabicum) and their joint analysis with six previously sequenced crucifer genomes. Conservation across orthologous bases suggests that at least 17% of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome is under selection, with nearly one-quarter of the sequence under selection lying outside of coding regions. Much of this sequence can be localized to approximately 90,000 conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs) that show evidence of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. Population genomics analyses of two crucifer species, A. thaliana and Capsella grandiflora, confirm that most of the identified CNSs are evolving under medium to strong purifying selection. Overall, these CNSs highlight both similarities and several key differences between the regulatory DNA of plants and other species

Trophic pathways supporting juvenile Chinook and coho salmon in the glacial Susitna River, Alaska: patterns of freshwater, marine, and terrestrial food resource use across a seasonally dynamic habitat mosaic

Contributions of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine-derived prey resources to stream fishes vary over time and space, altering the energy pathways that regulate production. In this study we determined large-scale use of these resources by juvenile Chinook and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and O. kisutch) in the glacial Susitna River, Alaska. We resolved spatial and temporal trophic patterns among multiple macrohabitat types along a 97-km segment of the river corridor via stable isotope and stomach content analyses. Juvenile salmon were largely supported by freshwater-derived resources, and secondarily by marine and terrestrial sources. The relative contribution of marine-derived prey to rearing salmon was greatest in the fall within off-channel macrohabitats, whereas the contributions of terrestrial invertebrate prey were generally greatest during mid-summer, across all macrohabitats. No longitudinal (upstream-downstream) diet pattern was discernable. These results highlight large-scale spatial and seasonal patterns of energy flow and the dynamic interplay of pulsed marine and terrestrial prey subsidies to juvenile Chinook and coho salmon in a large, complex, and relatively pristine glacial river.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Appendix D. Lake trout growth models, lake trout catch rates, and predation risk for kokanee.

Lake trout growth models, lake trout catch rates, and predation risk for kokanee

Appendix B. Hydroacoustics analysis: detailed methods, kokanee density and abundance, and vertical distribution of kokanee and Mysis.

Hydroacoustics analysis: detailed methods, kokanee density and abundance, and vertical distribution of kokanee and Mysis

Appendix A. Zooplankton analysis: detailed methods, model selection results, and standing stock biomass figure.

Zooplankton analysis: detailed methods, model selection results, and standing stock biomass figure

Appendix C. Bioenergetics models for Mysis and kokanee: detailed methods and consumption : production ratios.

Bioenergetics models for Mysis and kokanee: detailed methods and consumption : production ratios