Fundamental research questions in subterranean biology

Five decades ago, a landmark paper inSciencetitledThe Cave Environmentheralded caves as ideal natural experimental laboratories in which to develop and address general questions in geology, ecology, biogeography, and evolutionary biology. Although the 'caves as laboratory' paradigm has since been advocated by subterranean biologists, there are few examples of studies that successfully translated their results into general principles. The contemporary era of big data, modelling tools, and revolutionary advances in genetics and (meta)genomics provides an opportunity to revisit unresolved questions and challenges, as well as examine promising new avenues of research in subterranean biology. Accordingly, we have developed a roadmap to guide future research endeavours in subterranean biology by adapting a well-established methodology of 'horizon scanning' to identify the highest priority research questions across six subject areas. Based on the expert opinion of 30 scientists from around the globe with complementary expertise and of different academic ages, we assembled an initial list of 258 fundamental questions concentrating on macroecology and microbial ecology, adaptation, evolution, and conservation. Subsequently, through online surveys, 130 subterranean biologists with various backgrounds assisted us in reducing our list to 50 top-priority questions. These research questions are broad in scope and ready to be addressed in the next decade. We believe this exercise will stimulate research towards a deeper understanding of subterranean biology and foster hypothesis-driven studies likely to resonate broadly from the traditional boundaries of this field.Peer reviewe

Geographic distribution of amino acid mutations in DHFR and DHPS in Plasmodium vivax isolates from Lao PDR, India and Colombia

Background Non-synonymous mutations in dhfr and dhps genes in Plasmodium vivax are associated with sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine (SP) resistance. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of point mutations in P. vivax dhfr (pvdhfr) and P. vivax dhps (pvdhps) genes in three countries: Lao PDR, India and Colombia. Methods Samples from 203 microscopically diagnosed vivax malaria were collected from the three countries. Five codons at positions 13, 57, 58, 61, and 117 of pvdhfr and two codons at positions 383 and 553 of pvdhps were examined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism methodology. Results The largest number of 58R/117 N double mutations in pvdhfr was observed in Colombia (94.3 %), while the corresponding wild-type amino acids were found at high frequencies in Lao PDR during 2001–2004 (57.8 %). Size polymorphism analysis of the tandem repeats within pvdhfr revealed that 74.3 % of all the isolates carried the type B variant. Eighty-nine per cent of all the isolates examined carried wild-type pvdhps A383 and A553. Conclusions Although SP is not generally used to treat P. vivax infections, mutations in dhfr and dhps that confer antifolate resistance in P. vivax are common. The data strongly suggest that, when used primarily to treat falciparum malaria, SP can exert a substantial selective pressure on P. vivax populations, and this can lead to point mutations in dhfr and dhps. Accurate data on the global geographic distribution of dhfr and dhps genotypes should help to inform anti-malarial drug-use policies