Rare Parthenogenic Reproduction in a Common Reef Coral, Porites astreoides

Multiple stressors have caused a decline in coral populations. Broadcast spawning corals once dominated the Florida Reef Tract (FRT), but since their decline, smaller brooding corals, soft corals, and macroalgae are replacing them. Brooding corals are more resilient to current threats in part because they are reproductive throughout much of the year and their larvae are competent to settle after release. Despite the ubiquity of brooders on Florida reefs, much of their reproductive strategy remains unknown. This study aimed to examine paternity as a function of colony size and density in Porites astreoides, a common brooding coral in the FRT. Porites astreoides colonies were configured in arrays at three densities that were replicated three times. A focal colony was surrounded by six other colonies, separated from the focal colony at different distances (1m, 7m, and 15m) representing high, moderate, and low population densities, respectively. All arrays were placed in the field but were separated from the reef and naturally occurring P. astreoides colonies by at least 50 m. Four days before the new moon, colonies were transported to the laboratory for larval collection. Over a four day period, a total of 3,184 larvae were collected from 24 colonies, 13 of which released larvae over consecutive days. The resulting larvae were genotyped using seven microsatellite markers. All larvae had the exact genotypes of the colony from which the larvae were collected, i.e. maternal- egg donor. This suggested the larvae were parthenogenically produced and no sperm was used to fertilize the eggs. This is the first study to suggest that parthenogenesis is occurring in P. astreoides. In today\u27s oceans that have been depleted of corals, parthenogenesis may be an advantageous reproductive strategy used to boost populations. However, parthenogenesis reduces the genetic diversity which could hinder successful sexual reproduction in the future causing fragmented populations

Training increases concordance in classifying pulmonary adenocarcinomas according to the novel IASLC/ATS/ERS classification

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) proposed a classification for lung adenocarcinomas (ADC) based on the predominant growth pattern. This classification has been shown to have prognostic and maybe even predictive impact. However, until now, the reproducibility of this classification has not been sufficiently demonstrated. Digital images of 40 selected ADC cases were shown twice to members of the Pulmonary Pathology Working Group of the German Society of Pathology. Each time a teledialogue-based survey on the classification was performed. Between the voting procedures, salient features of the novel classification were presented and discussed in detail by its members. The mean percentages of consensual votes per pattern ranged between 59.6 and 75 %, with lepidic and solid being the pattern with the most discordant and concordant votes, respectively. The other patterns ranged in between (papillary 65.8 %; acinar 67.8 %; micropapillary 74.2 %). The extent of disagreement decreased after the educational session. This decrease, however, was heterogeneous for the different patterns with acinar being the pattern with the strongest improvement. The overall number of abstentions decreased significantly after the educational session (p < 0.001) as well. The IASLC/ATS/ERS classification of lung ADC can be applied with reasonable consensus even for difficult cases in a nationwide context. The reproducibility evidently improves following educational sessions, even among experienced lung pathologists. Worldwide harmonization is clearly the next step on the way to a clinically meaningful, internationally accepted use of this novel prognostic and potentially predictive tool in lung pathology