Genomic basis of ecological niche divergence among cryptic sister species of non-biting midges

Background: There is a lack of understanding the evolutionary forces driving niche segregation of closely related organisms. In addition, pinpointing the genes driving ecological divergence is a key goal in molecular ecology. Here, larval transcriptome sequences obtained by next-generation-sequencing are used to address these issues in a morphologically cryptic sister species pair of non-biting midges (Chironomus riparius and C. piger). Results: More than eight thousand orthologous open reading frames were screened for interspecific divergence and intraspecific polymorphisms. Despite a small mean sequence divergence of 1.53% between the sister species, 25.1% of 18,115 observed amino acid substitutions were inferred by α statistics to be driven by positive selection. Applying McDonald-Kreitman tests to 715 alignments of gene orthologues identified eleven (1.5%) genes driven by positive selection. Conclusions: Three candidate genes were identified as potentially responsible for the observed niche segregation concerning nitrite concentration, habitat temperature and water conductivity. Additionally, signs of positive selection in the hydrogen sulfide detoxification pathway were detected, providing a new plausible hypothesis for the species’ ecological differentiation. Finally, a divergently selected, nuclear encoded mitochondrial ribosomal protein may contribute to reproductive isolation due to cytonuclear coevolution

Micro-Raman spectroscopy of plagioclase and maskelynite in Martian meteorites: Evidence of progressive shock metamorphism

We present the first systematic Micro-Raman spectroscopic investigation of plagioclase of different degree of shock metamorphism in Martian meteorites. The equilibrium shock pressure of all plagioclase phases of seventeen unpaired Martian meteorites was determined by measuring the shock-induced reduction of the refractive index. Systematic variations in the recorded Raman spectra of the plagioclase phases correlate with increasing shock pressure. In general, the shock induced deformation of the plagioclase crystal lattice leads to an increase of luminescence background and a broadening of all Raman bands. The most persistent bands are those at 505 and 590cm^(-1). For shock pressures above ～40GPa, the post shock temperature in the meteorites was high enough to initialise reordering of the O-tetrahedra in the structure of the diaplectic glass, leading to a decrease of intensity for the band near 590cm^(-1). At higher shock pressure (>45GPa) and post-shock temperature plagioclase starts to recrystallise. This results in a reduced luminescence background and a decrease of the full width of half maximum of the characteristic Raman bands

Ser padre numa Igreja em transformação

Falar-se-á, aqui, de dois temas estreitamente inter-relacionados: sobre a actual transformação da Igreja e sobre uma tarefa daí resultante, que é a de dar corpo a uma nova forma de ser padre. Ambos os campos, a mudança da Igreja e o ministério do presbítero, são hoje controversos. Não existe consenso nas questões aqui colocadas. Nesse sentido, irei expor a minha opinião pessoal, que possivelmente não será partilhada por todos. Mas poderá servir de opor- tunidade para reflectir

Der Ursprung der Kommunikationsidee

Meine Absicht ist es nicht, gewissermaßen eine "archäologische" Begriffsgeschichte zu entwerfen, die sich allein an der Frage, wie es gewesen ist, also an der Vergangenheit orientiert. Zwar haben meine Darlegungen, um dem Thema zu genügen, zum größten Teil eine solche rückwärts gewandte historische Sicht zum Inhalt, doch liegt das letzte Interesse woanders. "Herkunft aber bleibt stets Zukunft", bemerkt Heidegger einmal. Der Ursprung einer Idee weist immer auch auf Unabgeschlossenes und Unabgegoltenes hin, kann Traditionssprünge aufdecken und Perspektiven für die Zukunft eröffnen. Aus Zeitgründen kann freilich jetzt für die Kommunikationsidee eine solche Aktualisierung nur im allerersten Ansatz erfolgen. Doch soll diese Intention wenigstens im Hintergrund meiner Ausführungen stehen. (...)EnglishGisbert Greshake: The Origin of the ldea of CommunicationGisbert Greshake's thesis in his fundamental theological essay states that communication is a determined theological idea based on Christian revelation and centring around the Christian understanding of the world and of God. Before an idea such as the one of communication can become a basic theological concept it has an even philosophical eve:ryday language meaning which can also be derived from the histo:ry of language. The emeritus professor of theology from Freiburg thus examines the implications of the pre-Christian occidental understanding of communication in order to bring out the fundamental shifts in meaning with respect to Christian revelation. Throughout the centuries the Christian experience of God ultimately Iead to a substantially new understanding of reality and communication. God is not "an unebanging monad" (as seen by Aristotle) "but communicating life, connection, relationship, communio, ( ... ) interlinking, in short: communication". Greshake's concept of communication follows the Trinitarian understanding of God and displays the specific theological communicative dimensions as weil as modern concepts of communication, for example philosophical personalism, cybemetics, linguistics and other theories of communication. The author concludes that "theology did not only stand at the beginning of a specific communication idea" but "still offers valuable and promising consequences for man's conception of himself''. (...

Comunicación. Origen y significado de una idea teológica

La palabra conductora de nuestro congreso es communio. ¿Cómo se relaciona con ella la idea de comunicación, de la que he de hablar a continuación? Para decirlo de una manera breve y precisa a la vez: la comunicación no es otra cosa que la communio in actu, es decir, es la realización de la communio. Mientras que la communio es más bien un concepto abstracto, la comunicación pone de relieve la práctica concreta, las formas concretas de realización de la communio. Pero, en este contexto, la comunicación no sólo significa las relaciones interhumanas logradas, sino que desde hace algunos decenios es "un componente central de la terminología de un conjunto de ciencias particulares": desde la biología hasta la sociología y la pedagogía pasando por la psicología y el periodismo. La comunicación es hoy, por así decirlo, una palabra clave que significa las diversas formas correlaciónales de realización que se manifiestan en las distintas ciencias particulares. En todos los ámbitos en que se trata de compartir, de dar parte y de tomar parte, así como de redes y relaciones sistemáticas, se habla de comunicación. Esta palabra se ha convertido, pues, en una de las grandes ideas vinculantes de la ciencia actual

A closer look at the Sci-Hub corpus: what is being downloaded and from where?

Sci-Hub remains among the most common sites via which readers circumvent article paywalls and access scholarly literature. But where exactly are its download requests coming from? And just what is being downloaded? Bastian Greshake has analysed the full Sci-Hub corpus and its request data, and found that articles are being downloaded from all over the world, more recently published papers are among the most requested, and there is a marked overrepresentation of requested articles from journals publishing on chemistry

Open sharing of genomic data: Who does it and why?

We explored the characteristics and motivations of people who, having obtained their genetic or genomic data from Direct-To-Consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) companies, voluntarily decide to share them on the publicly accessible web platform openSNP. The study is the first attempt to describe open data sharing activities undertaken by individuals without institutional oversight. In the paper we provide a detailed overview of the distribution of the demographic characteristics and motivations of people engaged in genetic or genomic open data sharing. The geographical distribution of the respondents showed the USA as dominant. There was no significant gender divide, the age distribution was broad, educational background varied and respondents with and without children were equally represented. Health, even though prominent, was not the respondents' primary or only motivation to be tested. As to their motivations to openly share their data, 86.05% indicated wanting to learn about themselves as relevant, followed by contributing to the advancement of medical research (80.30%), improving the predictability of genetic testing (76.02%) and considering it fun to explore genotype and phenotype data (75.51%). Whereas most respondents were well aware of the privacy risks of their involvement in open genetic data sharing and considered the possibility of direct, personal repercussions troubling, they estimated the risk of this happening to be negligible. Our findings highlight the diversity of DTC-GT consumers who decide to openly share their data. Instead of focusing exclusively on health-related aspects of genetic testing and data sharing, our study emphasizes the importance of taking into account benefits and risks that stretch beyond the health spectrum. Our results thus lend further support to the call for a broader and multi-faceted conceptualization of genomic utility

Impact vaporization and Condensation: Laser Irradiation Experiments with Natural Planetary Materials

0000-0002-4414-4917The attached files are the published version of the article from the 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2083), and the open access abstract (Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 20, EGU2018-16223, 2018, EGU General Assembly 2018, © Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 4.0 license.