Impacts of UVB provision on serum vitamin D3, pigmentation, growth rates and total body mineral content in Mallorcan midwife toad larvae (Alytes muletensis)

The health of amphibians in captive breeding programmes can be compromised by nutritional metabolic bone disease and secondary hyperparathyroidism, which is a result of poor calcium metabolism or an inverse calcium:phosphorus ratio in the blood. UVB provision allows for cutaneous photobiosynthesis of vitamin D3, which is needed for adequate absorption of calcium from the diet, and so many post-metamorphic anurans are routinely provided with UVB radiation in captivity; however, tadpoles are not. This is the first study of its kind to investigate the effect of UVB radiation provision for anuran larvae from a captive husbandry perspective. This study examines the effects of ecologically appropriate levels of UVB exposure on growth rates, pigmentation acquisition, serum vitamin levels in the blood plasma, and whole-body mineral content in the Mallorcan midwife toad (Alytes muletensis). There were no significant effects of UVB exposure on any parameters measured. This may be because UVB radiation is simply not required by the larvae of this species, or because the provision of UVB radiation alone is not sufficient for its use in calcium metabolism. Further research is needed to elucidate how tadpoles interact with UVB radiation in nature and to examine how UVB radiation is provided in captivity and test for effects using a wider variety of species from a range of different habitats

Breed-Specific Hematological Phenotypes in the Dog: A Natural Resource for the Genetic Dissection of Hematological Parameters in a Mammalian Species

Remarkably little has been published on hematological phenotypes of the domestic dog, the most polymorphic species on the planet. Information on the signalment and complete blood cell count of all dogs with normal red and white blood cell parameters judged by existing reference intervals was extracted from a veterinary database. Normal hematological profiles were available for 6046 dogs, 5447 of which also had machine platelet concentrations within the reference interval. Seventy-five pure breeds plus a mixed breed control group were represented by 10 or more dogs. All measured parameters except mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) varied with age. Concentrations of white blood cells (WBCs), neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, eosinophils and platelets, but not red blood cell parameters, all varied with sex. Neutering status had an impact on hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), MCHC, and concentrations of WBCs, neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes and platelets. Principal component analysis of hematological data revealed 37 pure breeds with distinctive phenotypes. Furthermore, all hematological parameters except MCHC showed significant differences between specific individual breeds and the mixed breed group. Twenty-nine breeds had distinctive phenotypes when assessed in this way, of which 19 had already been identified by principal component analysis. Tentative breed-specific reference intervals were generated for breeds with a distinctive phenotype identified by comparative analysis. This study represents the first large-scale analysis of hematological phenotypes in the dog and underlines the important potential of this species in the elucidation of genetic determinants of hematological traits, triangulating phenotype, breed and genetic predisposition

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effects of age, sex and neutering status on hematological parameters.

<p>(a) Age: The adjusted mean values – accounting for sex, breed and neutering status – for each of the 12 hematological parameters are represented on the respective <i>y</i> axes, showing age in years on the x axes. All measurands except MCHC (p=0.24) varied with age and in the case of RBC concentration, Hct, Hb and lymphocyte concentration there was an interaction between age and neutering status; in these cases, values for the intact dogs (solid lines) were distinguished from those for the neutered dogs (interrupted lines) in the plots shown. (b) Sex and neutering status: The adjusted mean values – accounting for breed and age – for each of the 12 hematological parameters are represented on the respective <i>y</i> axes, showing sex (F=female; M=male) and neutering status (I=intact; N=neutered) on the x axes. When present, significant differences (in sex, neutering status, or sex*neutering status interaction) are shown at the top of the figure; in some cases, only the interaction between sex and neutering status was significant. These analyses were all undertaken on the complete dataset of dogs, including both mixed and pure breeds. </p

Principal component analysis identifies breed-specific hematological phenotypes.

<p>Of the 11 principal components identified in the current dataset, the first five had Eigenvalues of over 1 and cumulatively accounted for 82% of the total variance. A heatmap showing correlations between the hematological parameters and the first five principal components (PC1 to PC5) is shown in part (a). Biplots (PC1 <i>vs</i> PC2; PC1 <i>vs</i> PC3; PC4 <i>vs</i> PC5) are shown in part (b), revealing outlying breeds with principal components of greater than +2 and less than -2, representing distinctive phenotypes. These outlying breeds are labeled in the biplots. </p