Genetic Assessment of Salmon and Sea Trout Stocking in a Baltic Sea River

Microsatellite DNA variation were used to assess the outcome of stocking salmon and trout in River Saevara, N Sweden. No information on pre-stocking genetic composition of salmon and trout in R Saevara was available. In two year classes of salmon smolt microsatellite data indicated that post-stocking genetic composition differed markedly (Fst = 0.048) from the main donor strain, Byskeaelven salmon, and from other Gulf of Bothnia salmon stocks (Fst 0.047- 0.132). The STRUCTURE program failed to detect any sub structuring within Saevara salmon. It was concluded that only minor introgression estimated to a proportion of 0.11 (95% CI 0.07 - 0.16) has occurred in salmon. Sea migrating trout showed overall low differentiation among populations with maximum Fst of 0.03 making analysis more cumbersome than in salmon. Still, the Saevara trout deviated significantly from potential donor populations and structure software supported that majority of trout in Saevara formed a distinct genetic population. Admixture was more extensive in trout and estimated to 0.17 (95% CI 0.10 - 0.25)

Facial first impressions from another angle: How social judgements are influenced by changeable and invariant facial properties

Funding Information: Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders. Grant Number: CE110001021 ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award. Grant Number: DP130102300Peer reviewedPostprin

Self-consistent calculation of total energies of the electron gas using many-body perturbation theory

The performance of many-body perturbation theory for calculating ground-state properties is investigated. We present fully numerical results for the electron gas in three and two dimensions in the framework of the GW approximation. The overall agreement with very accurate Monte Carlo data is excellent, even for those ranges of densities for which the GW approach is often supposed to be unsuitable. The latter seems to be due to the fulfillment of general conservation rules. These results open further prospects for accurate calculations of ground-state properties circumventing the limitations of standard density-functional theory

Interaction between row-type genes in barley controls meristem determinacy and reveals novel routes to improved grain

Hordeum species develop a central spikelet flanked by two lateral spikelets at each inflorescence node. In 'two-rowed' spikes, the central spikelet alone is fertile and sets grain, while in 'six-rowed' spikes, lateral spikelets can also produce grain. Induced loss-of-function alleles of any of five Six-rowed spike (VRS) genes (VRS1-5) cause complete to intermediate gains of lateral spikelet fertility. Current six-row cultivars contain natural defective vrs1 and vrs5 alleles. Little information is known about VRS mechanism(s). We used comparative developmental, expression and genetic analyses on single and double vrs mutants to learn more about how VRS genes control development and assess their agronomic potential. We show that all VRS genes repress fertility at carpel and awn emergence in developing lateral spikelets. VRS4, VRS3 and VRS5 work through VRS1 to suppress fertility, probably by inducing VRS1 expression. Pairing vrs3, vrs4 or vrs5 alleles increased lateral spikelet fertility, despite the presence of a functional VRS1 allele. The vrs3 allele caused loss of spikelet identity and determinacy, improved grain homogeneity and increased tillering in a vrs4 background, while with vrs5, decreased tiller number and increased grain weight. Interactions amongst VRS genes control spikelet infertility, determinacy and outgrowth, and novel routes to improving six-row grain.Monika Zwirek, Robbie Waugh, Sarah M. McKi

Momentum flux density, kinetic energy density and their fluctuations for one-dimensional confined gases of non-interacting fermions

We present a Green's function method for the evaluation of the particle density profile and of the higher moments of the one-body density matrix in a mesoscopic system of N Fermi particles moving independently in a linear potential. The usefulness of the method is illustrated by applications to a Fermi gas confined in a harmonic potential well, for which we evaluate the momentum flux and kinetic energy densities as well as their quantal mean-square fluctuations. We also study some properties of the kinetic energy functional E_{kin}[n(x)] in the same system. Whereas a local approximation to the kinetic energy density yields a multi-valued function, an exact single-valued relationship between the density derivative of E_{kin}[n(x)] and the particle density n(x) is demonstrated and evaluated for various values of the number of particles in the system.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Genome-wide SNPs and re-sequencing of growth habit and inflorescence genes in barley: implications for association mapping in germplasm arrays varying in size and structure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Considerations in applying association mapping (AM) to plant breeding are population structure and size: not accounting for structure and/or using small populations can lead to elevated false-positive rates. The principal determinants of population structure in cultivated barley are growth habit and inflorescence type. Both are under complex genetic control: growth habit is controlled by the epistatic interactions of several genes. For inflorescence type, multiple loss-of-function alleles in one gene lead to the same phenotype. We used these two traits as models for assessing the effectiveness of AM. This research was initiated using the CAP Core germplasm array (n = 102) assembled at the start of the Barley Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP). This array was genotyped with 4,608 SNPs and we re-sequenced genes involved in morphology, growth and development. Larger arrays of breeding germplasm were subsequently genotyped and phenotyped under the auspices of the CAP project. This provided sets of 247 accessions phenotyped for growth habit and 2,473 accessions phenotyped for inflorescence type. Each of the larger populations was genotyped with 3,072 SNPs derived from the original set of 4,608.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant associations with SNPs located in the vicinity of the loci involved in growth habit and inflorescence type were found in the CAP Core. Differentiation of true and spurious associations was not possible without <it>a priori </it>knowledge of the candidate genes, based on re-sequencing. The re-sequencing data were used to define allele types of the determinant genes based on functional polymorphisms. In a second round of association mapping, these synthetic markers based on allele types gave the most significant associations. When the synthetic markers were used as anchor points for analysis of interactions, we detected other known-function genes and candidate loci involved in the control of growth habit and inflorescence type. We then conducted association analyses - with SNP data only - in the larger germplasm arrays. For both vernalization sensitivity and inflorescence type, the most significant associations in the larger data sets were found with SNPs coincident with the synthetic markers used in the CAP Core and with SNPs detected via interaction analysis in the CAP Core.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Small and highly structured collections of germplasm, such as the CAP Core, are cost-effectively phenotyped and genotyped with high-throughput markers. They are also useful for characterizing allelic diversity at loci in germplasm of interest. Our results suggest that discovery-oriented exercises in AM in such small arrays may generate a large number of false-positives. However, if haplotypes in candidate genes are available, they may be used as anchors in an analysis of interactions to identify other candidate regions harboring genes determining target traits. Using larger germplasm arrays, genome regions where the principal genes determining vernalization sensitivity and row type are located were identified.</p

Nature of the metal-nonmetal transition in metal-ammonia solutions. I. Solvated electrons at low metal concentrations

Using a theory of polarizable fluids, we extend a variational treatment of an excess electron to the many-electron case corresponding to finite metal concentrations in metal-ammonia solutions (MAS). We evaluate dielectric, optical, and thermodynamical properties of MAS at low metal concentrations. Our semi-analytical calculations based on a mean-spherical approximation correlate well with the experimental data on the concentration and the temperature dependencies of the dielectric constant and the optical absorption spectrum. The properties are found to be mainly determined by the induced dipolar interactions between localized solvated electrons, which result in the two main effects: the dispersion attractions between the electrons and a sharp increase in the static dielectric constant of the solution. The first effect provides a classical phase separation for the light alkali metal solutes (Li, Na, K) below a critical temperature. The second effect leads to a dielectric instability, i.e., polarization catastrophe, which is the onset of metallization. The locus of the calculated critical concentrations is in a good agreement with the experimental phase diagram of Na-NH3 solutions. The proposed mechanism of the metal-nonmetal transition is quite general and may occur in systems involving self-trapped quantum quasiparticles.Comment: 13 figures, 42 page

A very low mass of Ni-56 in the ejecta of SN 1994W

We present spectroscopic and photometric observations of the luminous narrow- line Type IIP (plateau) supernova 1994W. After the plateau phase (t >120 days), the light curve dropped by 3.5 mag in V in only 12 days. Between 125 and 197 days after explosion the supernova faded substantially faster than the decay rate of Co-56, and by day 197 it was 3.6 magnitudes less luminous in R compared to SN 1987A. The low R-luminosity could indicate less than 0.0026 {+0.0017}/ {-0.0011} Msun of Ni-56 ejected at the explosion, but the emission between 125 and 197 days must then have been dominated by an additional power source, pre- sumably circumstellar interaction. Alternatively, the late light curve was dominated by Co-56 decay. In this case, the mass of the ejected Ni-56 was 0.015 {+0.012}/{-0.008} Msun, and the rapid fading between 125 and 197 days was most likely due to dust formation. Though this value of the mass is higher than in the case with the additional power source, it is still lower than estimated for any previous Type II supernova. Only progenitors with M(ZAMS) = 8-10 Msun and M(ZAMS) > 25 Msun are expected to eject such low masses of Ni-56. If M(ZAMS) = 8-10 Msun, the plateau phase indicates a low explosion energy, while for a progenitor with M(ZAMS) > 25 Msun the energy can be the canonical 1.0E{51} ergs. As SN 1994W was unusually luminous, the low-mass explosion may require an uncomfortably high efficiency in converting explosion energy into radiation. This favors a M(ZAMS) > 25 Msun progenitor. The supernova's narrow (roughly 1000 km s^{-1}) emission lines were excited by the hot supernova spectrum, rather than a circumstellar shock. The thin shell from which the lines origi- nated was most likely accelerated by the radiation from the supernova.Comment: 19 pages AASTeX v.4.0, including 5 Postscript figures; ApJ, in pres