Structural and Content Diversity of Mitochondrial Genome in Beet: A Comparative Genomic Analysis

Despite their monophyletic origin, mitochondrial (mt) genomes of plants and animals have developed contrasted evolutionary paths over time. Animal mt genomes are generally small, compact, and exhibit high mutation rates, whereas plant mt genomes exhibit low mutation rates, little compactness, larger sizes, and highly rearranged structures. We present the (nearly) whole sequences of five new mt genomes in the Beta genus: four from Beta vulgaris and one from B. macrocarpa, a sister species belonging to the same Beta section. We pooled our results with two previously sequenced genomes of B. vulgaris and studied genome diversity at the species level with an emphasis on cytoplasmic male-sterilizing (CMS) genomes. We showed that, contrary to what was previously assumed, all three CMS genomes belong to a single sterile lineage. In addition, the CMSs seem to have undergone an acceleration of the rates of substitution and rearrangement. This study suggests that male sterility emergence might have been favored by faster rates of evolution, unless CMS itself caused faster evolution

Weakness of investment in Portugal : what role do credit supply and fiscal consolidation shocks play?

In order to illustrate how tightened financial conditions have hampered investment in Portugal, we estimate a Factor Augmented Vector AutoRegressive model (FAVAR) with Bayesian techniques. We extract a financial conditions indicator and identify credit supply, demand and fiscal consolidation shocks with sign restrictions. We show that changes in financial conditions, which result from both credit supply shocks and fiscal shocks, have a protracted impact, especially on bank loans and bank lending spreads. We then develop a scenario in which we the tightening in financial condi- tions in the wake of the sovereign crisis is attributed to credit supply shocks. The analysis suggests that, due to the crisis, by the end of 2017, Portuguese GDP, corpo- rate investment and corporate loans were reduced by respectively 6, 22 and 20 p.p., public investment by 1 p.p. of GDP and bank lending spreads widened by 80 b.p.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evidence against Equimolarity of Large Repeat Arrangements and a Predominant Master Circle Structure of the Mitochondrial Genome from a Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus) Lineage with Cryptic CMS

Despite intense investigation for over 25 years, the in vivo structure of plant mitochondrial genomes remains uncertain. Mapping studies and genome sequencing generally produce large circular chromosomes, whereas electrophoretic and microscopic studies typically reveal linear and multibranched molecules. To more fully assess the structure of plant mitochondrial genomes, the complete sequence of the monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus DC. line IM62) mitochondrial DNA was constructed from a large (35 kb) paired-end shotgun sequencing library to a high depth of coverage (∼30×). The complete genome maps as a 525,671 bp circular molecule and exhibits a fairly conventional set of features including 62 genes (encoding 35 proteins, 24 transfer RNAs, and 3 ribosomal RNAs), 22 introns, 3 large repeats (2.7, 9.6, and 29 kb), and 96 small repeats (40–293 bp). Most paired-end reads (71%) mapped to the consensus sequence at the expected distance and orientation across the entire genome, validating the accuracy of assembly. Another 10% of reads provided clear evidence of alternative genomic conformations due to apparent rearrangements across large repeats. Quantitative assessment of these repeat-spanning read pairs revealed that all large repeat arrangements are present at appreciable frequencies in vivo, although not always in equimolar amounts. The observed stoichiometric differences for some arrangements are inconsistent with a predominant master circular structure for the mitochondrial genome of M. guttatus IM62. Finally, because IM62 contains a cryptic cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system, an in silico search for potential CMS genes was undertaken. The three chimeric open reading frames (ORFs) identified in this study, in addition to the previously identified ORFs upstream of the nad6 gene, are the most likely CMS candidate genes in this line

Prefrontal Norepinephrine Determines Attribution of “High” Motivational Salience

Intense motivational salience attribution is considered to have a major role in the development of different psychopathologies. Numerous brain areas are involved in “normal” motivational salience attribution processes; however, it is not clear whether common or different neural mechanisms also underlie intense motivational salience attribution. To elucidate this a brain area and a neural system had to be envisaged that were involved only in motivational salience attribution to highly salient stimuli. Using intracerebral microdialysis, we found that natural stimuli induced an increase in norepinephrine release in the medial prefrontal cortex of mice proportional to their salience, and that selective prefrontal norepinephrine depletion abolished the increase of norepinephrine release in the medial prefrontal cortex induced by exposure to appetitive (palatable food) or aversive (light) stimuli independently of salience. However, selective norepinephrine depletion in the medial prefrontal cortex impaired the place conditioning induced exclusively by highly salient stimuli, thus indicating that prefrontal noradrenergic transmission determines approach or avoidance responses to both reward- and aversion-related natural stimuli only when the salience of the unconditioned natural stimulus is high enough to induce sustained norepinephrine outflow. This affirms that prefrontal noradrenergic transmission determines motivational salience attribution selectively when intense motivational salience is processed, as in conditions that characterize psychopathological outcomes

Mosaic Origins of a Complex Chimeric Mitochondrial Gene in Silene vulgaris

Chimeric genes are significant sources of evolutionary innovation that are normally created when portions of two or more protein coding regions fuse to form a new open reading frame. In plant mitochondria astonishingly high numbers of different novel chimeric genes have been reported, where they are generated through processes of rearrangement and recombination. Nonetheless, because most studies do not find or report nucleotide variation within the same chimeric gene, evolution after the origination of these chimeric genes remains unstudied. Here we identify two alleles of a complex chimera in Silene vulgaris that are divergent in nucleotide sequence, genomic position relative to other mitochondrial genes, and expression patterns. Structural patterns suggest a history partially influenced by gene conversion between the chimeric gene and functional copies of subunit 1 of the mitochondrial ATP synthase gene (atp1). We identified small repeat structures within the chimeras that are likely recombination sites allowing generation of the chimera. These results establish the potential for chimeric gene divergence in different plant mitochondrial lineages within the same species. This result contrasts with the absence of diversity within mitochondrial chimeras found in crop species

SNAPSHOT USA 2020: A second coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic

Managing wildlife populations in the face of global change requires regular data on the abundance and distribution of wild animals, but acquiring these over appropriate spatial scales in a sustainable way has proven challenging. Here we present the data from Snapshot USA 2020, a second annual national mammal survey of the USA. This project involved 152 scientists setting camera traps in a standardized protocol at 1485 locations across 103 arrays in 43 states for a total of 52,710 trap-nights of survey effort. Most (58) of these arrays were also sampled during the same months (September and October) in 2019, providing a direct comparison of animal populations in 2 years that includes data from both during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. All data were managed by the eMammal system, with all species identifications checked by at least two reviewers. In total, we recorded 117,415 detections of 78 species of wild mammals, 9236 detections of at least 43 species of birds, 15,851 detections of six domestic animals and 23,825 detections of humans or their vehicles. Spatial differences across arrays explained more variation in the relative abundance than temporal variation across years for all 38 species modeled, although there are examples of significant site-level differences among years for many species. Temporal results show how species allocate their time and can be used to study species interactions, including between humans and wildlife. These data provide a snapshot of the mammal community of the USA for 2020 and will be useful for exploring the drivers of spatial and temporal changes in relative abundance and distribution, and the impacts of species interactions on daily activity patterns. There are no copyright restrictions, and please cite this paper when using these data, or a subset of these data, for publication

SNAPSHOT USA 2019: a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States

With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August-24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1,509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the United States. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as will future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication