Discrimination Of Nine Crassostrea Oyster Species Based Upon Restriction Fragment-Length Polymorphism Analysis Of Nuclear And Mitochondrial Dna Markers

A molecular genetic identification key for nine species of Crassostrea oysters was developed based on restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA markers. Seven of nine species were unambiguosly differentiated based on digestion of the ITS-1 nuclear marker with Hae III an Hinf I. Individual species exhibited one or two RFLP patterns for each restriction endonuclease, and only C. madrasensis and C. iredalei were indistinguishable electrophoretically. All nine species were unambiguosly differentiated based on digestion of the COI mitochondrial marker with Dde I and Hae III. Species exhibited one or two RFLP patterns for each restriction endonuclease, and species pairs unresolved by the first restriction enzyme were completely resolved with the second. The resulting key distinguishes among many Indo-Pacific Crassostrea oysters that overlap across some or all on their ranges, and establish as an expandable framework for future additions of other species to the key

Genetic Diversity In U.S. Hatchery Stocks Of Crassostrea Ariakensis (Fujita, 1913) And Comparison With Natural Populations In Asia

Although several different U.S. hatchery stocks of the Asian Suminoe oyster Crassosirea ariakensis were used in laboratory and field trials assessing performance, and in comparative studies with the native oyster Crassostrea virginica, the genetic composition of these hatchery stocks has not yet been examined comprehensively. Using eight microsatellite markers we investigated the genetic variability among five hatchery stocks and compared the genetic makeup of these stocks with 8 wild populations from Asia. Results showed significant genetic differentiation among the 5 hatchery stocks that was 6-fold larger than that observed among wild populations. A significant reduction in genetic diversity was observed in hatchery stocks compared with wild source populations, indicating a genetic bottleneck. Two long-established stocks showed significant decreases in both allelic diversity and heterozygosity compared with the wild Japanese source population, whereas three recently established stocks showed less severe reductions in allelic diversity and a nonsignificant change in levels of heterozygosity compared with their source Chinese populations. These microsatellite markers also proved useful for assignment of hatchery individuals back to their source stocks with a high degree of confidence. Although assignment of wild individuals back to their population of origin proved less reliable, approximately 70% of wild individuals could be assigned either to their source population or to geographically proximal populations. Our results suggest that results obtained from experiments that used hatchery animals of a single C. ariakensis stock for biological and ecological studies should be interpreted cautiously, because they may not always accurately reflect the behavior of wild populations or of other hatchery stocks

Non-Douglas-Kazakov phase transition of two-dimensional generalized Yang-Mills theories

In two-dimensional Yang-Mills and generalized Yang-Mills theories for large gauge groups, there is a dominant representation determining the thermodynamic limit of the system. This representation is characterized by a density the value of which should everywhere be between zero and one. This density itself is determined through a saddle-point analysis. For some values of the parameter space, this density exceeds one in some places. So one should modify it to obtain an acceptable density. This leads to the well-known Douglas-Kazakov phase transition. In generalized Yang-Mills theories, there are also regions in the parameter space where somewhere this density becomes negative. Here too, one should modify the density so that it remains nonnegative. This leads to another phase transition, different from the Douglas-Kazakov one. Here the general structure of this phase transition is studied, and it is shown that the order of this transition is typically three. Using carefully-chosen parameters, however, it is possible to construct models with phase-transition orders not equal to three. A class of these non-typical models are also studied.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

Coaligned dual-channel STED nanoscopy and molecular diffusion analysis at 20 nm resolution.

We report on a fiber laser-based stimulated emission-depletion microscope providing down to ~20 nm resolution in raw data images as well as 15–19 nm diameter probing areas in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Stimulated emission depletion pulses of nanosecond duration and 775 nm wavelength are used to silence two fluorophores simultaneously, ensuring offset-free colocalization analysis. The versatility of this superresolution method is exemplified by revealing the octameric arrangement of Xenopus nuclear pore complexes and by quantifying the diffusion of labeled lipid molecules in artificial and living cell membranes

Discovery of the energetic pulsar J1747-2809 in the supernova remnant G0.9+0.1

The supernova remnant G0.9+0.1 has long been inferred to contain a central energetic pulsar. In observations with the NRAO Green Bank Telescope at 2 GHz, we have detected radio pulsations from PSR J1747-2809. The pulsar has a rotation period of 52 ms, and a spin-down luminosity of 4.3e37 erg/s, the second largest among known Galactic pulsars. With a dispersion measure of 1133 pc/cc, PSR J1747-2809 is distant, at ~13 kpc according to the NE2001 electron density model, although it could be located as close as the Galactic center. The pulse profile is greatly scatter-broadened at a frequency of 2 GHz, so that it is effectively undetectable at 1.4 GHz, and is very faint, with period-averaged flux density of 40 uJy at 2 GHz.Comment: minor changes from v1 - matches published versio

Isolated vacua in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories

An explicit proof of the existence of nontrivial vacua in the pure supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories with higher orthogonal SO(N), N>=7 or the G_2 gauge group defined on a 3-torus with periodic boundary conditions is given. Extra vacuum states are separated by an energy barrier from the perturbative vacuum A_i=0 and its gauge copies.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, late

PSR J1856+0245: Arecibo Discovery of a Young, Energetic Pulsar Coincident with the TeV Gamma-ray Source HESS J1857+026

We present the discovery of the Vela-like radio pulsar J1856+0245 in the Arecibo PALFA survey. PSR J1856+0245 has a spin period of 81ms, a characteristic age of 21kyr, and a spin-down luminosity Edot = 4.6 x 10^36 ergs/s. It is positionally coincident with the TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1857+026, which has no other known counterparts. Young, energetic pulsars create wind nebulae, and more than a dozen pulsar wind nebulae have been associated with very-high-energy (100GeV-100TeV) gamma-ray sources discovered with the HESS telescope. The gamma-ray emission seen from HESS J1857+026 is potentially produced by a pulsar wind nebula powered by PSR J1856+0245; faint X-ray emission detected by ASCA at the pulsar's position supports this hypothesis. The inferred gamma-ray efficiency is epsilon_gamma = L_gamma/Edot = 3.1% (1-10TeV, for a distance of 9kpc), comparable to that observed in similar associations.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter