37 research outputs found
Publisher Correction: The genome of the stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, reveals potential mechanisms underlying reproduction, host interactions, and novel targets for pest control (BMC Biology, (2021), 19, 1, (41), 10.1186/s12915-021-00975-9)
Following publication of the original article [1], it was reported that the article copyright was incorrect. The correct copyright statement is: © This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021. The original article [1] has been corrected
Otolith‐Based Age Estimates of Alligator Gar Assessed Using Bomb Radiocarbon Dating to Greater than 60 Years
Sex‐Specific Dynamic Rates in the Alligator Gar: Implications for Stock Assessment and Management
Validation of Annuli and Identification of Discontinuities in Sagittal Otoliths of Juvenile Alligator Gar
Sibship Analysis to Characterize Alligator Gar Reproductive Contributions in Two Texas Systems
© 2019 American Fisheries Society We used sibship analysis to further our understanding of Alligator Gar Atractosteus spatula reproductive biology. Quantifying the relative contributions of spawners and spatial patterns of reproduction is important in making management decisions, especially with regard to long-lived, large-bodied fish like Alligator Gar, for which exploitation of large females may negatively impact recruitment. Using genetic data from age-0 fish, we estimated the effective number of breeders (Nb) and the number of spawning adults (NS) at multiple spatial and temporal scales in two Texas systems over a 2-year period. Analysis of 265 fish collected in 2015 from six sites within an approximately 3,000-ha floodplain wetland system on the Trinity River identified no full siblings or half siblings with a probability greater than 0.90. Estimates of Nb (24–30) and NS (21–33) were comparable among sites, with low levels of relatedness among individuals within sites. Analysis of an additional 136 age-0 Alligator Gar collected during 2015 from six other sites distributed over 275 river kilometers downstream of the wetland system revealed similar patterns. Age-0 fish collected in Choke Canyon Reservoir (N = 131) in 2015 also demonstrated close correspondence between estimates of Nb and NS (54 and 56, respectively). Age-0 Alligator Gar (N = 88) were again collected at three sites in the Trinity River system during 2016; results were comparable to those of the previous year, with no evidence of repeat spawning at each site. The similarities we observed between the estimated Nb and NS indicated little variance in the number of offspring produced among individual spawners. Because individual spawners appear to contribute somewhat equally to the year-classes and spawning appears to occur over a broad geographic extent, there is likely little risk of year-class failure from harvesting a sustainable number of spawning adults
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Differences in basic fibroblast growth factor RNA and protein levels in human primary melanocytes and metastatic melanoma cells.
Cultivation of human melanocytes requires several growth factors for cell proliferation. For example, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is an essential growth agent for melanocyte proliferation in vitro and has been proposed to be an autocrine growth factor in human melanoma cells. Studies using either anti-bFGF antibodies or antisense oligonucleotides partially inhibited the proliferation of human melanoma cells. However, one group was unable to detect bFGF RNA transcripts in human melanoma cells using a human complementary DNA probe. These contradictory results prompted us to investigate the bFGF gene expression in human primary melanocytes and metastatic melanoma cells using Southern, Northern, and Western blot analyses. No gross rearrangements in the bFGF gene were detected in the genomic DNA. Although high levels of bFGF RNA transcripts were detected in melanocytes, no bFGF protein was detected using Western blot analysis. In contrast, melanoma cells expressed much lower levels of bFGF RNA transcripts, and cells from three of four cell strains synthesized the multiple isoforms of bFGF protein. In one of the melanoma cell strains, no bFGF protein was detected using Western blot analysis. Although three of four melanoma cell strains expressed bFGF protein, this molecule does not appear to function as an autocrine growth factor, and expression of the bFGF protein was not a consistent alteration in all melanoma cell strains