THE STUDY OF RELATEDNESS AND GENETIC DIVERSITY IN CRANES

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is responsible for recovery of endangered species in the wild and, when necessary, maintenance in captivity. These programs provide an immediate measure of insurance against extinction. A prerequisite inherent in all of these programs is the preservation of enough genetic diversity to maintain a viable population and to maintain the capacity of the population to respond to change. Measures of genetic diversity examine polymorphic genes that are not influenced by selection pressures. Examples of these techniques and those used to determine relatedness are discussed. Studies of genetic diversity, electrophoresis of blood proteins, relatedness, blood typing, and restriction fragment length polymorphisms which are being used by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center are discussed in detail

Epithelial immunomodulation by aerosolized Toll-like receptor agonists prevents allergic inflammation in airway mucosa in mice

Allergic asthma is a chronic inflammatory respiratory disease associated with eosinophilic infiltration, increased mucus production, airway hyperresponsiveness, and airway remodeling. Epidemiologic data reveal that the prevalence of allergic sensitization and associated diseases has increased in the twentieth century. This has been hypothesized to be partly due to reduced contact with microbial organisms (the hygiene hypothesis) in industrialized society. Airway epithelial cells, once considered a static physical barrier between the body and the external world, are now widely recognized as immunologically active cells that can initiate, maintain, and restrain inflammatory responses, such as those that mediate allergic disease. Airway epithelial cells can sense allergens via expression of myriad Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and other pattern-recognition receptors. We sought to determine whether the innate immune response stimulated by a combination of Pam2CSK4 (“Pam2”, TLR2/6 ligand) and a class C oligodeoxynucleotide ODN362 (“ODN”, TLR9 ligand), when delivered together by aerosol (“Pam2ODN”), can modulate the allergic immune response to allergens. Treatment with Pam2ODN 7 days before sensitization to House Dust Mite (HDM) extract resulted in a strong reduction in eosinophilic and lymphocytic inflammation. This Pam2ODN immunomodulatory effect was also seen using Ovalbumin (OVA) and A. oryzae (Ao) mouse models. The immunomodulatory effect was observed as much as 30 days before sensitization to HDM, but ineffective just 2 days after sensitization, suggesting that Pam2ODN immunomodulation lowers the allergic responsiveness of the lung, and reduces the likelihood of inappropriate sensitization to aeroallergens. Furthermore, Pam2 and ODN cooperated synergistically suggesting that this treatment is superior to any single agonist in the setting of allergen immunotherapy

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Upregulation of Neuronal Growth Genes During a Therapy for Rat Spinal Cord Injury

Three dimensional cell-derived scaffolds charged with neuronal growth factors are currently being evaluated as therapeutics for healing spinal cord injuries in rats (Total Record, Inc). To determine if specific neuronal growth factor genes are activated by the therapy, an in vitro model was developed in which cultured human SHSY neuronal cells were treated with the growth factors, and the upregulation of specific genes monitored by RT-PCR. The data indicate the therapy upregulates several genes known to promote neuronal growth

THE STUDY OF RELATEDNESS AND GENETIC DIVERSITY IN CRANES

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is responsible for recovery of endangered species in the wild and, when necessary, maintenance in captivity. These programs provide an immediate measure of insurance against extinction. A prerequisite inherent in all of these programs is the preservation of enough genetic diversity to maintain a viable population and to maintain the capacity of the population to respond to change. Measures of genetic diversity examine polymorphic genes that are not influenced by selection pressures. Examples of these techniques and those used to determine relatedness are discussed. Studies of genetic diversity, electrophoresis of blood proteins, relatedness, blood typing, and restriction fragment length polymorphisms which are being used by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center are discussed in detail

Organization of repetitive DNA in the primitive reptile (Sphenodon Punctatus) /

no.178 (1998

Use of "Lysis Buffer" in DNA isolation and its implication for museum collections /

no.163 (1997

Organization of repetitive DNA in the primitive reptile Sphenodon punctatus

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