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

Revisiting Theories of Frontier Expansion in the Brazilian Amazon: A Survey of the Colonist Farming Population in Rondônia's Post-Frontier, 1992-2002

Summary In the 1970s, extensive areas of Brazilian Amazon were settled by landless farmers. These internal migrations prompted theoretical scholarship on the nature and outcomes of frontier expansion from three general frameworks: the capitalist penetration thesis, the inter-sectoral articulation thesis, and the household life-cycle thesis. This paper reports selected findings of a 10-year (1992-2002) panel study of 240 farms in three settlement areas in Rondônia. The empirical findings of this longitudinal survey research do not unequivocally confirm any of these theses. Instead, elements of each emerge from the data analysis inviting a more locally nuanced, pluralistic approach to understanding the frontier colonization experience.

Tropical Rhythms and Collective Action

Summaries This article looks at community fisheries management in the Peruvian varzea , the resource?rich floodplain of the Amazon river. This dynamic and heterogeneous world gives rise to a wide range of uncertainties and ambiguities that challenge the long?term viability of community management efforts. The authors focus on the unpredictable nature of the hydrologic regime, which not only governs the annual cycle of fisheries production and availability but also determines the timing and intensity of productive activities such as agriculture, extraction of forest products and hunting. To survive, both the community members and their fisheries management systems have to adapt to the dynamics of the aquatic world in which they live. Flexible institutions are key to the viability of management systems which must bend with the chaotic rhythms of both social life and the surrounding natural world

Cospeciation vs host-shift speciation: methods for testing, evidence from natural associations and relation to coevolution

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