The Caucasian corticioid fungi: Level of endemism, similarity, and possible contribution to European fungal diversity

We assess the composition of corticioid fungi in the Caucasus region for the first time. The Caucasian corticioids were compared with those of well-documented areas in the Northern Hemisphere using the Tripartite similarity index and cluster analysis. To investigate the significance of the Caucasus region as a possible contributor to the colonization of wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes in Europe, DNA sequences of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) belonging to the corticioid fungus Peniophorella praetermissa were analysed for comparisons of genetic diversity within and differentiation between geographical regions. Putative species endemism and disjunction of corticioids in the Caucasus region is also discussed. The composition of corticioid fungi in the Caucasus region was found to be distinctly more similar to Europe and North America than to East Asia and India. Similarity tests and molecular Fsts both point to a strong connection between the Caucasus and Europe. The highest molecular diversity in P praetermissa was in the Caucasus and East Asia as compared with other regions studied. The Caucasus and East Asia were significantly differentiated from each other, and unlike Caucasian samples, East Asian sequences were highly divergent from the European ones. This result suggests that the Caucasus might have been a source of colonization for Europe. Endemism is very low, possibly a common feature for wood-inhabiting saprotrophic fungi

The Importance of Context and Cognitive Agency in Developing Police Knowledge: Going Beyond the Police Science Discourse

This paper argues the current exposition of police knowledge through the discourses of police science and evidenced based policing (EBP) leads to exaggerated claims about what is, and can be, known in policing. This new orthodoxy underestimates the challenges of applying knowledge within culturally-mediated police practice. The paper draws upon virtue epistemology highlighting the role cognitive agency plays in establishing knowledge claims. We challenge the assumption that it is possible to derive what works in all instances of certain aspects of policing and suggest it would be more apt to speak about what worked within a specific police context

On regional security governance once again: how analysis of the Southern Caucasus can advance the concept

Already introduced to the academic and political debate some years ago, the concept of “security governance” still needs to be clarified. In particular, four main shortcomings need to be overcome to make the concept more useful for an assessment of current security dynamics: in the first place, attention has been devoted more to “governance” than to “security”, while failing to consider the role of the understandings and perceptions of the actors involved in the governance system. Second, the literature on the actors (governmental or not) involved is still fragmented. Third, the literature on security governance has too often been detached from reflections on regionalism, while it would be useful to further explore the relationship between cognitive definitions of regional and security dynamics. Fourth, the literature has predominantly focused on Europe and the transatlantic area, overlooking processes of “region-building” in security terms in other “unexpected” geographical spaces. After proposing avenues to overcome the current gaps in the literature, the Southern Caucasus is chosen as a case study to show the different instances of security governance emerging, thanks to definitions of the region in security terms that have involved regional and external actors, of a state and non-state nature

A software pipeline for processing and identification of fungal ITS sequences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fungi from environmental samples are typically identified to species level through DNA sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (<it>ITS</it>) region for use in BLAST-based similarity searches in the International Nucleotide Sequence Databases. These searches are time-consuming and regularly require a significant amount of manual intervention and complementary analyses. We here present software – in the form of an identification pipeline for large sets of fungal <it>ITS </it>sequences – developed to automate the BLAST process and several additional analysis steps. The performance of the pipeline was evaluated on a dataset of 350 <it>ITS </it>sequences from fungi growing as epiphytes on building material.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The pipeline was written in Perl and uses a local installation of NCBI-BLAST for the similarity searches of the query sequences. The variable subregion <it>ITS2 </it>of the <it>ITS </it>region is extracted from the sequences and used for additional searches of higher sensitivity. Multiple alignments of each query sequence and its closest matches are computed, and query sequences sharing at least 50% of their best matches are clustered to facilitate the evaluation of hypothetically conspecific groups. The pipeline proved to speed up the processing, as well as enhance the resolution, of the evaluation dataset considerably, and the fungi were found to belong chiefly to the <it>Ascomycota</it>, with <it>Penicillium </it>and <it>Aspergillus </it>as the two most common genera. The <it>ITS2 </it>was found to indicate a different taxonomic affiliation than did the complete <it>ITS </it>region for 10% of the query sequences, though this figure is likely to vary with the taxonomic scope of the query sequences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present software readily assigns large sets of fungal query sequences to their respective best matches in the international sequence databases and places them in a larger biological context. The output is highly structured to be easy to process, although it still needs to be inspected and possibly corrected for the impact of the incomplete and sometimes erroneously annotated fungal entries in these databases. The open source pipeline is available for UNIX-type platforms, and updated releases of the target database are made available biweekly. The pipeline is easily modified to operate on other molecular regions and organism groups.</p

Deletion of L-Selectin Increases Atherosclerosis Development in ApoE−/− Mice

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease characterized by accumulation of leukocytes in the arterial intima. Members of the selectin family of adhesion molecules are important mediators of leukocyte extravasation. However, it is unclear whether L-selectin (L-sel) is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In the present study, mice deficient in L-selectin (L-sel−/−) animals were crossed with mice lacking Apolipoprotein E (ApoE−/−). The development of atherosclerosis was analyzed in double-knockout ApoE/L-sel (ApoE−/− L-sel−/−) mice and the corresponding ApoE−/− controls fed either a normal or a high cholesterol diet (HCD). After 6 weeks of HCD, aortic lesions were increased two-fold in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− mice as compared to ApoE−/− controls (2.46%±0.54% vs 1.28%±0.24% of total aortic area; p<0.05). Formation of atherosclerotic lesions was also enhanced in 6-month-old ApoE−/− L-sel−/− animals fed a normal diet (10.45%±2.58% vs 1.87%±0.37%; p<0.05). In contrast, after 12 weeks of HCD, there was no difference in atheroma formation between ApoE−/− L-sel−/− and ApoE−/− mice. Serum cholesterol levels remained unchanged by L-sel deletion. Atherosclerotic plaques did not exhibit any differences in cellular composition assessed by immunohistochemistry for CD68, CD3, CD4, and CD8 in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− as compared to ApoE−/− mice. Leukocyte rolling on lesions in the aorta was similar in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− and ApoE−/− animals. ApoE−/− L-sel−/− mice exhibited reduced size and cellularity of peripheral lymph nodes, increased size of spleen, and increased number of peripheral lymphocytes as compared to ApoE−/− controls. These data indicate that L-sel does not promote atherosclerotic lesion formation and suggest that it rather protects from early atherosclerosis

Evolutionary history of Serpulaceae (Basidiomycota): molecular phylogeny, historical biogeography and evidence for a single transition of nutritional mode

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The fungal genus <it>Serpula </it>(Serpulaceae, Boletales) comprises several saprotrophic (brown rot) taxa, including the aggressive house-infecting dry rot fungus <it>Serpula lacrymans</it>. Recent phylogenetic analyses have indicated that the ectomycorrhiza forming genera <it>Austropaxillus </it>and <it>Gymnopaxillus </it>cluster within <it>Serpula</it>. In this study we use DNA sequence data to investigate phylogenetic relationships, historical biogeography of, and nutritional mode transitions in Serpulaceae.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results corroborate that the two ectomycorrhiza-forming genera, <it>Austropaxillus </it>and <it>Gymnopaxillus</it>, form a monophyletic group nested within the saprotrophic genus <it>Serpula</it>, and that the <it>Serpula </it>species <it>S. lacrymans </it>and <it>S. himantioides </it>constitute the sister group to the <it>Austropaxillus</it>-<it>Gymnopaxillus </it>clade. We found that both vicariance (Beringian) and long distance dispersal events are needed to explain the phylogeny and current distributions of taxa within Serpulaceae. Our results also show that the transition from brown rot to mycorrhiza has happened only once in a monophyletic Serpulaceae, probably between 50 and 22 million years before present.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study supports the growing understanding that the same geographical barriers that limit plant- and animal dispersal also limit the spread of fungi, as a combination of vicariance and long distance dispersal events are needed to explain the present patterns of distribution in Serpulaceae. Our results verify the transition from brown rot to ECM within Serpulaceae between 50 and 22 MyBP.</p

Transcription of human 5S rRNA genes is influenced by an upstream DNA sequence.

Six human 5S rRNA genes and gene variants and one pseudogene have been sequenced. The six genes/variants were transcribed in a HeLa cell extract with about equal efficiency. Three genes contain the Sp1 binding sequence GGGCGG in position -43 to -38 and three genes contain the Sp1 like sequence GGGCCG in this position. The six genes contain furthermore one Sp1 binding site in a position about -245 and one ATF recognition site in a position about -202. A 12 bp sequence (GGCTCTTGGGGC) found in position -32 to -21 strongly influenced the transcriptional efficiency in vitro. This 12-mer, designated the D box, has also been found upstream a 5S rRNA gene from hamster and mouse. Removal of the Sp1 binding sites had no effect on the transcription in vitro whereas the transcriptional efficiency decreased to 10% if the D box was removed from the human 5S rRNA gene

Long-distance spore dispersal in wood-inhabiting Basidiomycetes

Eight species of wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes (Laurilia sulcata, Peniophora aurantiaca, Resinicium bicolor, Scytinostroma galactinum, Terana caerulea, Trichaptum abietinum, T. biforme and T. fuscoviolaceum) were used in a spore-trapping test to evaluate their individual ability for long-distance spore dispersal. Petri dishes with single spore mycelia were used as baits. In the experiment, carried out at the Botanical Institute in Göteborg, spores from the air were regularly captured. Surprisingly, spores were captured from species whose nearest known natural occurrence was located quite far from Göteborg. The closest population of Peniophora aurantiaca is about 1000 km south of Göteborg. The results from this experiment support the hypothesis that fungal spores are widely and efficiently dispersed. Such a broad and extensive dispersal ability is of vital importance, especially for wood-inhabiting species which are highly dependent on a substrate which is onlv temporarily available