A Computational Method for the Rate Estimation of Evolutionary Transpositions

Genome rearrangements are evolutionary events that shuffle genomic architectures. Most frequent genome rearrangements are reversals, translocations, fusions, and fissions. While there are some more complex genome rearrangements such as transpositions, they are rarely observed and believed to constitute only a small fraction of genome rearrangements happening in the course of evolution. The analysis of transpositions is further obfuscated by intractability of the underlying computational problems. We propose a computational method for estimating the rate of transpositions in evolutionary scenarios between genomes. We applied our method to a set of mammalian genomes and estimated the transpositions rate in mammalian evolution to be around 0.26.Comment: Proceedings of the 3rd International Work-Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering (IWBBIO), 2015. (to appear

Melting dynamics of large ice balls in a turbulent swirling flow

We study the melting dynamics of large ice balls in a turbulent von Karman flow at very high Reynolds number. Using an optical shadowgraphy setup, we record the time evolution of particle sizes. We study the heat transfer as a function of the particle scale Reynolds number for three cases: fixed ice balls melting in a region of strong turbulence with zero mean flow, fixed ice balls melting under the action of a strong mean flow with lower fluctuations, and ice balls freely advected in the whole flow. For the fixed particles cases, heat transfer is observed to be much stronger than in laminar flows, the Nusselt number behaving as a power law of the Reynolds number of exponent 0.8. For freely advected ice balls, the turbulent transfer is further enhanced and the Nusselt number is proportional to the Reynolds number. The surface heat flux is then independent of the particles size, leading to an ultimate regime of heat transfer reached when the thermal boundary layer is fully turbulent

Multiscale analysis of the randomization limits of the chromosomal gene organization between Lepidoptera and Diptera

How chromosome gene organization and gene content evolve among distantly related and structurally malleable genomes remains unresolved. This is particularly the case when considering different insect orders. We have compared the highly contiguous genome assemblies of the lepidopteran Danaus plexippus and the dipteran Drosophila melanogaster, which shared a common ancestor around 290 Ma. The gene content of 23 out of 30 D. plexippus chromosomes was significantly associated with one or two of the six chromosomal elements of the Drosophila genome, denoting common ancestry. Despite the phylogenetic distance, 9.6% of the 1-to-1 orthologues still reside within the same ancestral genome neighbourhood. Furthermore, the comparison D. plexippus–Bombyx mori indicated that the rates of chromosome repatterning are lower in Lepidoptera than in Diptera, although still within the same order of magnitude. Concordantly, 14 developmental gene clusters showed a higher tendency to retain full or partial clustering in D. plexippus, further supporting that the physical association between the SuperHox and NK clusters existed in the ancestral bilaterian. Our results illuminate the scope and limits of the evolution of the gene organization and content of the ancestral chromosomes to the Lepidoptera and Diptera while helping reconstruct portions of the genome in their most recent common ancestor

Experimental study on AR fiberglass connectors for bridges made of composite materials

6 páginas, 11 figuras, 1 tabla.[ES] Un aspecto relevante dentro del proyecto de un puenterealizado en materiales compuestos es el estudio de losconectores. El caso mas frecuente de puente en materialescompuestos es aquel que presenta un tablero de materialescompuestos soportado por vigas metalicas o de hormigonarmado. En este trabajo se analizaran los tipos deconectores mas utilizados en este tipo de puentes Se analizaran tambien los conectores utilizados en elKing Stormwater Channel Bridge, donde ademas deltablero en fibra de vidrio, se fabricaron las vigas en fibrasde carbono rellenas de hormigon. En este articulo se propondran varios tipos de conectoresy se presentaran los resultados experimentales correspondientesal ensayo de “push-out” de varios prototipos condiferentes geometrias. Tras evaluar los resultados, se determinara el mas idoneopara su implantacion en el Paso Superior de la Autovia delCantabrico, de 46 metros de luz y que presenta las vigasen fibra de carbono y los conectores de vidrio AR.[EN] One highly relevant aspect in composite material bridge desing is the study of the shear connectors to be used. Composite material bridges most commonly comprise a composite deck resting on steel or reinforced concrete girders. This article analyzes the connectors most frequently used in such bridges. It also reviews the connectors used in the King Stormwater Channel Bridge, whose fibreglass deck is supported by girders made of concrete-filled carbon fibre girders. The paper advances proposals for several types of connectors and discusses the results of push-out test run on a number of prototypes with different geometries. The results are analyzed to identify the optimum model for the “Autovía del Cantábrico” Overpass, with its 46-m span, carbon fibre girders and AR glass shear connectors.Peer reviewe

La acústica submarina y su desarrollo desde la creación del Instituto de Acústica

PACS: 43.30.Xm; 43.30.Yj; 43.30.Vh; 43.30.Nb; 43.30.Ma.-- Publicado en el Vol. XXXI, núm. 3-4, tercer y cuarto trimestre 2000 de la Revista de Acústica: Número especial dedicado al XXV Aniversario del Instituto de Acústica del C.S.I.C.[ES] La Acústica Submarina fue una de las líneas de la Acústica que se desarrollan en el Instituto desde los primeros tiempos. Este trabajo describe como se inició, cómo se desarrolló y el estado actual de este campo.[EN] Underwater Acoustics was one line of Acoustics first developped at the Instituto de Acústica. This paper presents a description of the activities in the underwater field, done since 1969, when the Underwater Tank was installed, up to the present times.Peer reviewe

Understanding the early evolutionary stages of a tandem drosophila melanogaster-specific gene family: A structural and functional population study

Gene families underlie genetic innovation and phenotypic diversification. However, our understanding of the early genomic and functional evolution of tandemly arranged gene families remains incomplete as paralog sequence similarity hinders their accurate characterization. The Drosophila melanogaster-specific gene family Sdic is tandemly repeated and impacts sperm competition. We scrutinized Sdic in 20 geographically diverse populations using reference-quality genome assemblies, read-depth methodologies, and qPCR, finding that ∼90% of the individuals harbor 3-7 copies as well as evidence of population differentiation. In strains with reliable gene annotations, copy number variation (CNV) and differential transposable element insertions distinguish one structurally distinct version of the Sdic region per strain. All 31 annotated copies featured protein-coding potential and, based on the protein variant encoded, were categorized into 13 paratypes differing in their 30 ends, with 3-5 paratypes coexisting in any strain examined. Despite widespread gene conversion, the only copy present in all strains has functionally diverged at both coding and regulatory levels under positive selection. Contrary to artificial tandem duplications of the Sdic region that resulted in increasedmale expression, CNV in cosmopolitan strains did not correlate with expression levels, likely as a result of differential genome modifier composition. Duplicating the region did not enhance sperm competitiveness, suggesting a fitness cost at high expression levels or a plateau effect. Beyond facilitating a minimally optimal expression level, Sdic CNV acts as a catalyst of protein and regulatory diversity, showcasing a possible evolutionary path recently formed tandemmultigene families can follow toward long-term consolidation in eukaryotic genomes

A de novo transcriptional atlas in Danaus plexippus reveals variability in dosage compensation across tissues

A detailed knowledge of gene function in the monarch butterfly is still lacking. Here we generate a genome assembly from a Mexican nonmigratory population and used RNA-seq data from 14 biological samples for gene annotation and to construct an atlas portraying the breadth of gene expression during most of the monarch life cycle. Two thirds of the genes show expression changes, with long noncoding RNAs being particularly finely regulated during adulthood, and male-biased expression being four times more common than female-biased. The two portions of the monarch heterochromosome Z, one ancestral to the Lepidoptera and the other resulting from a chromosomal fusion, display distinct association with sex-biased expression, reflecting sample-dependent incompleteness or absence of dosage compensation in the ancestral but not the novel portion of the Z. This study presents extended genomic and transcriptomic resources that will facilitate a better understanding of the monarch's adaptation to a changing environment