Macroevolutionary Patterns In The Evolutionary Radiation Of Archosaurs (Tetrapoda: Diapsida)

The rise of archosaurs during the Triassic and Early Jurassic has been treated as a classic example of an evolutionary radiation in the fossil record. This paper reviews published studies and provides new data on archosaur lineage origination, diversity and lineage evolution, morphological disparity, rates of morphological character change, and faunal abundance during the Triassic–Early Jurassic. The fundamental archosaur lineages originated early in the Triassic, in concert with the highest rates of character change. Disparity and diversity peaked later, during the Norian, but the most significant increase in disparity occurred before maximum diversity. Archosaurs were rare components of Early–Middle Triassic faunas, but were more abundant in the Late Triassic and pre-eminent globally by the Early Jurassic. The archosaur radiation was a drawn-out event and major components such as diversity and abundance were discordant from each other. Crurotarsans (crocodile-line archosaurs) were more disparate, diverse, and abundant than avemetatarsalians (bird-line archosaurs, including dinosaurs) during the Late Triassic, but these roles were reversed in the Early Jurassic. There is no strong evidence that dinosaurs outcompeted or gradually eclipsed crurotarsans during the Late Triassic. Instead, crurotarsan diversity decreased precipitously by the end-Triassic extinction, which helped usher in the age of dinosaurian dominance

Identification of Structural Variation in Chimpanzees Using Optical Mapping and Nanopore Sequencing.

Recent efforts to comprehensively characterize great ape genetic diversity using short-read sequencing and single-nucleotide variants have led to important discoveries related to selection within species, demographic history, and lineage-specific traits. Structural variants (SVs), including deletions and inversions, comprise a larger proportion of genetic differences between and within species, making them an important yet understudied source of trait divergence. Here, we used a combination of long-read and -range sequencing approaches to characterize the structural variant landscape of two additional Pan troglodytes verus individuals, one of whom carries 13% admixture from Pan troglodytes troglodytes. We performed optical mapping of both individuals followed by nanopore sequencing of one individual. Filtering for larger variants (>10 kbp) and combined with genotyping of SVs using short-read data from the Great Ape Genome Project, we identified 425 deletions and 59 inversions, of which 88 and 36, respectively, were novel. Compared with gene expression in humans, we found a significant enrichment of chimpanzee genes with differential expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines and induced pluripotent stem cells, both within deletions and near inversion breakpoints. We examined chromatin-conformation maps from human and chimpanzee using these same cell types and observed alterations in genomic interactions at SV breakpoints. Finally, we focused on 56 genes impacted by SVs in >90% of chimpanzees and absent in humans and gorillas, which may contribute to chimpanzee-specific features. Sequencing a greater set of individuals from diverse subspecies will be critical to establish the complete landscape of genetic variation in chimpanzees

Biobanking of vegetable genetic resources by in vitro conservation and cryopreservation

Today, application of in vitro culture by means of slow growth storage of shoot cultures and cryopreservation of organs, tissues and cells in liquid nitrogen presents a remarkable strategic tool to support medium- and long-term conservation of plant genetic resources. Over the last 30 years, considerable progresses have been made in the development of both methods that are currently considered as ex situ conservation strategies, complementary to traditional seed banks and in-field clonal collections. Efficient protocols were developed for the conservation of a large number of crops, including strategically-important vegetables, such as garlic, artichoke, asparagus, cassava, Jerusalem artichoke, mint, potato, sweet potato, chicory, taro, thyme and yam. As a consequence, more than 45,000 accessions of vegetable crops are maintained in 22 genetic resources conservation centers (biobanks), located in 16 countries and 6 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, North and South America). Approximately 4/5 of these accessions are maintained in vitro by means of slow growth storage of shoot cultures, but cryopreservation is also constantly growing, with almost 8300 vegetable accessions being stored in liquid nitrogen at − 196 °C

Small- and medium-sized businesses : growth expectations and financial performance in Latvia:does ethnicity matter?

By applying regulatory focus theory, this paper investigates the impact of both initial confidence and of exactness of growth expectations on subsequent financial performance of the small firms. Drawing on the unique data set based on the repeated survey design, we make one of the first attempts to explore the complexity of this relationship empirically. Overall the findings suggest that controlling for other relevant factors, including actual growth, the entrepreneurs having higher growth expectations perform significantly better later on in terms of profitability. In addition, education has a strong modifying effect: the impact of high growth expectations on subsequent profit performance is stronger for entrepreneurs with lower level of education

Artificial dataset generation to enhance the design exploration of residential buildings through data-informed energy load forecasting models

This study aims to assist urban planners and building designers in taking informed decisions based on energy performance – simulating a real-world urban development scenario – using limited computational resources. In particular, this paper proposes a new approach that integrates existing studies on building loads forecasting by using a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) generated dataset based on significant geometrical parameters. This overcomes the needs for large datasets – often difficult to access.The results demonstrate that the data-driven approaches have addressed the buildings' load predictions with a reasonable accuracy while significantly reducing the calculation time required

Micropropagation supports reintroduction of an apulian artichoke landrace in sustainable cropping systems

Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus L. var. scolymus (L.) Fiori) is a perennial plant of the Aster-aceae’s family native to the Mediterranean basin. Italy has rich artichoke biodiversity, but many landraces are subjected to genetic erosion caused by increasing use of commercial varieties that are more homogenous in production. An Apulian landrace ‘Troianella’ was established in vitro to valorize and provide high-quality material for propagation in nurseries and, subsequently, for cultivation in production fields. The shoot proliferation was tested on four different growth media, adding cytokinin (-6-benzylamminopurine (BAP-0.05 mg L−1 ). Among these, the best results were achieved on MS519-A and BM media in which MS macronutrients were supplemented with additional doses of CaCl2 and MgSO4 (plus 120 mg L−1 and 190 mg L−1, respectively). In vitro root induction was obtained with 10 mg L−1 of Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 30 g L−1 of sucrose. Plants derived from tissue culture were acclimatized in greenhouse using mycorrhizal symbiosis to increase survival during the acclimatization phase and to improve their performance after transplanting in field. Three arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (Septoglomus viscosum, Funelliformis mosseae, and Symbivit, a commercial mix) were added to a sterile substrate and compared to a sterile control without any AM fungal inocula. After 3 months, the best growth and plant appearance were on substrates with S. viscosum fungus or the commercial mycorrhizal fungi mix. The results supported a development of an efficient micropropagation protocol and a production of high quality plant material for sustainable farming of the endangered ’Troianella’ landrace

Elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism

Autism affects males more than females, giving rise to the idea that the influence of steroid hormones on early fetal brain development may be one important early biological risk factor. Utilizing the Danish Historic Birth Cohort and Danish Psychiatric Central Register, we identified all amniotic fluid samples of males born between 1993 and 1999 who later received ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision) diagnoses of autism, Asperger syndrome or PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) (n=128) compared with matched typically developing controls. Concentration levels of Δ4 sex steroids (progesterone, 17α-hydroxy-progesterone, androstenedione and testosterone) and cortisol were measured with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. All hormones were positively associated with each other and principal component analysis confirmed that one generalized latent steroidogenic factor was driving much of the variation in the data. The autism group showed elevations across all hormones on this latent generalized steroidogenic factor (Cohen's d=0.37, P=0.0009) and this elevation was uniform across ICD-10 diagnostic label. These results provide the first direct evidence of elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism. Such elevations may be important as epigenetic fetal programming mechanisms and may interact with other important pathophysiological factors in autism