Estimating Queen Conch (Strombus gigas) home ranges using acoustic telemetry: implications for the design of marine fishery reserves

Marine reserves (MRs) may function as a vital tool in the conservation and management of marine resources if source populations are managed for the benefit of those downstream. Consequently, it is critical to evaluate the home range of marine animals to ensure that MRs are large enough to protect source populations. We used acoustic telemetry to study movements of adult queen conch (Strombus gigas) within aggregations at two sites in the Florida Keys from June 1997 through July 1998. A total of 68 conch were tagged and tracked for up to one year. Latitude and longitude of each conch were recorded biweekly and data used to estimate the minimum speed, degree of site fidelity, and home range of each animal. Conch showed significantly greater displacement/ time during the summer. There were no significant differences in movement rate, site fidelity, or size of home range between males and females. Mean home range was 5.98 ha. Based on estimated home ranges of the aggregations, the size and location of the existing reserves at these two sites were inadequate to protect the conch aggregations should the fishery reopen

Whole-exome sequencing study identifies four novel gene loci associated with diabetic kidney disease

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is recognized as an important public health challenge. However, its genomic mechanisms are poorly understood. To identify rare variants for DKD, we conducted a whole-exome sequencing (WES) study leveraging large cohorts well-phenotyped for chronic kidney disease and diabetes. Our two-stage WES study included 4372 European and African ancestry participants from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities studies (stage 1) and 11 487 multi-ancestry Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine participants (stage 2). Generalized linear mixed models, which accounted for genetic relatedness and adjusted for age, sex and ancestry, were used to test associations between single variants and DKD. Gene-based aggregate rare variant analyses were conducted using an optimized sequence kernel association test implemented within our mixed model framework. We identified four novel exome-wide significant DKD-related loci through initiating diabetes. In single-variant analyses, participants carrying a rare, in-frame insertion in the DIS3L2 gene (rs141560952) exhibited a 193-fold increased odds [95% confidence interval (CI): 33.6, 1105] of DKD compared with noncarriers (P = 3.59 × 10-9). Likewise, each copy of a low-frequency KRT6B splice-site variant (rs425827) conferred a 5.31-fold higher odds (95% CI: 3.06, 9.21) of DKD (P = 2.72 × 10-9). Aggregate gene-based analyses further identified ERAP2 (P = 4.03 × 10-8) and NPEPPS (P = 1.51 × 10-7), which are both expressed in the kidney and implicated in renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system modulated immune response. In the largest WES study of DKD, we identified novel rare variant loci attaining exome-wide significance. These findings provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying DKD