@article{PlathKromuszczynskiTiedemann2009,
  author    = {Plath, Martin and Kromuszczynski, Katja and Tiedemann, Ralph},
  title     = {Audience effect alters male but not female mating preferences},
  issn      = {0340-5443},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00265-008-0672-7},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Males often face strong mating competition by neighboring males in their social environment. A recent study by Plath et al. (Anim Behav 75:21-29, 2008a) has demonstrated that the visual presence of a male competitor (i.e., an audience male) affects the expression of male mating preferences in a poeciliid fish (Poecilia mexicana) with a weaker expression of mating preferences when an audience male observed the focal male. This may be a tactic to reduce sperm competition, since surrounding males likely share intrinsic preferences for female traits or copy mate choice decisions. Here, we examined the hypothesis that a same-sex audience would affect female mate preferences less than male mating preferences. Our hypothesis was based on the assumptions that (1) competition for mates in a fashion that would be comparable in strength to sperm competition or overt male-male aggression is absent among Poecilia females, and (2) P. mexicana females typically form female-biased shoals, such that almost any female mate choice in nature occurs in front of a female audience. Poecilia females (P. mexicana, surface and cave form, and the closely related gynogenetic Poecilia formosa) were given a choice between a large and a small male, and the tests were repeated while a conspecific, a heterospecific, or no audience female (control) was presented. Females spent more time in the neutral zone and, thus, less time near the males during the second part of a trial when an audience was presented, but-consistent with predictions-females showed only slightly weaker expression of mate preferences during the second part of the tests. This decline was not specific to the treatment involving an audience and was significantly weaker than the effect seen in the male sex.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BleidornHillErseusetal.2009,
  author    = {Bleidorn, Christoph and Hill, Natascha and Ers{\´e}us, Christer and Tiedemann, Ralph},
  title     = {On the role of character loss in orbiniid phylogeny (Annelida) : molecules vs. morphology},
  issn      = {1055-7903},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.ympev.2009.03.022},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Orbiniid phylogeny is matter of debate and incongruence between hypothesis based on molecules and morphology has been repeatedly reported. Moreover, the phylogenetic position of the "oligochaetoid polychaetes" of the taxon Questa varies between morphological and molecular cladistic analyses. Here, we present a nearly complete mitochondrial genome of Questa ersei. The mitochondrial gene order is roughly identical to known orbiniid taxa. Several translocations of tRNAs are unique to Orbiniidae and Questa when compared to other annelid mitochondrial genomes. Additionally, we assembled sequence data of six genes (18S, 16S, cox1, cox3, nad1, nad4) for a representative orbiniid taxon sampling and analysed all data in concatenation using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference. For comparison with morphology we compiled a morphological data matrix for all taxa included in our molecular analyses. Our results strongly support a close relationship of Questa with orbiniids (sequence data, gene order, an 18 bp indel, morphology), and a position nested within orbiniids is recovered in our sequence based analyses. We demonstrate remarkable incongruence of most included morphological characters with the recovered best ML tree and suppose that repeated independent character loss might be an explanation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BleidornLanterbecqEeckhautetal.2009,
  author    = {Bleidorn, Christoph and Lanterbecq, Deborah and Eeckhaut, Igor and Tiedemann, Ralph},
  title     = {A PCR survey of Hox genes in the myzostomid Myzostoma cirriferum},
  issn      = {0949-944X},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00427-009-0282-z},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Using degenerate primers, we were able to identify seven Hox genes for the myzostomid Myzostoma cirriferum. The recovered fragments belong to anterior class (Mci_lab, Mci_pb), central class (Mci_Dfd, Mci_Lox5, Mci_Antp, Mci_Lox4), and posterior class (Mci_Post2) paralog groups. Orthology assignment was verified by phylogenetic analyses and presence of diagnostic regions in the homeodomain as well as flanking regions. The presence of Lox5, Lox4, and Post2 supports the inclusion of Myzostomida within Lophotrochozoa. We found signature residues within flanking regions of Lox5, which are also found in annelids, but not in Platyhelminthes. As such the available Hox genes data of myzostomids support an annelid relationship.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SharmaStuckasBhaskaretal.2009,
  author    = {Sharma, Reeta and Stuckas, Heiko and Bhaskar, Ranjana and Rajput, Sandeep and Khan, Imran and Goyal, Surendra Prakash and Tiedemann, Ralph},
  title     = {mtDNA indicates profound population structure in Indian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)},
  issn      = {1566-0621},
  doi       = {10.1007/s10592-008-9568-3},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {We analyzed mtDNA polymorphisms (parts of control region, ND5, ND2, Cytb, 12S, together 902 bp) in 59 scat and 18 tissue samples from 13 Indian populations of the critically endangered Indian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), along with zoo animals as reference. Northern tiger populations exhibit two unique haplotypes suggesting genetic isolation. Western populations from Sariska (extinct in 2004) and Ranthambore are genetically similar, such that Ranthambore could serve as a source for reintroduction in Sariska. Zoo populations maintain mitochondrial lineages that are rare or absent in the wild.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{StuckasStoofQuesadaetal.2009,
  author    = {Stuckas, Heiko and Stoof, Kathleen and Quesada, Humberto and Tiedemann, Ralph},
  title     = {Evolutionary implications of discordant clines across the Baltic Mytilus hybrid zone (Mytilus edulis and Mytilus trossulus)},
  issn      = {0018-067X},
  doi       = {10.1038/Hdy.2009.37},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {It is well established that reproductive isolation often arises from genome incompatibilities and that genes encoding reproductive traits are less prone to introgression. Hybrid zones of Mytilus trossulus and Mytilus edulis provide an intriguing model to assess reproductive isolation. Although gene flow is restricted in North America, introgression is pervasive in the Baltic. This study aimed at analyzing the shape of multilocus clines across the Baltic contact zone between M. edulis and M. trossulus to infer mechanisms of restriction to gene flow. We use maximum likelihood methods to construct the best fitting individual clines for five markers located on biparentally inherited autosomes and paternally and maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Strong cline shape differences among markers suggest that reproductive isolation arising from genome-wide incompatibilities is weak, and that these discrepancies possibly result from genetic drift, hybrid zone movement or marker-specific selection. However, the finding of a common cline center for M7 lysin (involved in fertilization) and paternally transmitted mtDNA (causing nuclear-mitochondrial incompatibilities in hybrids) suggest that these loci may play a role in incomplete reproductive isolation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FeulnerPlathEngelmannetal.2009,
  author    = {Feulner, Philine G. D. and Plath, Martin and Engelmann, Jacob and Kirschbaum, Frank and Tiedemann, Ralph},
  title     = {Electrifying love : electric fish use species-specific discharge for mate recognition},
  issn      = {1744-9561},
  doi       = {10.1098/rsbl.2008.0566},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Mate choice is mediated by a range of sensory cues, and assortative mating based on these cues can drive reproductive isolation among diverging populations. A specific feature of mormyrid fish, the electric organ discharge (EOD), is used for electrolocation and intraspecific communication. We hypothesized that the EOD also facilitates assortative mating and ultimately promotes prezygotic reproductive isolation in African weakly electric fishes. Our behavioural experiments using live males as well as EOD playback demonstrated that female mate recognition is influenced by EOD signals and that females are attracted to EOD characteristics of conspecific males. The dual function of the EOD for both foraging and social communication (including mate recognition leading to assortative mating) underlines the importance of electric signal differentiation for the divergence of African weakly electric fishes. Thus, the EOD provides an intriguing mechanism promoting trophic divergence and reproductive isolation between two closely related Campylomormyrus species occurring in sympatry in the lower Congo rapids.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PadurWedekindOeztuerketal.2009,
  author    = {Padur, Lisa and Wedekind, Juliane and {\"O}zt{\"u}rk, {\"O}znur and Streit, Bruno and Tiedemann, Ralph and Plath, Martin},
  title     = {Do audience effects lead to relaxed male sexual harassment?},
  issn      = {0005-7959},
  doi       = {10.1163/000579509x12483520922124},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Several recent studies reported on so-called audience effects in male Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana), in which the visual presence of a potential rival affects male sexual activity. We asked whether and how audience effects interact with male sexual harassment. Poecilia mexicana almost constantly attempt to mate, while females are mostly non- responsive to male approaches. Females flee from this sexual harassment and, thus, are more vigilant in the presence of males, so females may have hampered feeding opportunities. Do audience effects lead to altered male sexual harassment? Focal females were given an opportunity to feed in the presence of a male or a female partner and the difference in feeding times was interpreted as an effect caused by male harassment. Tests were conducted without an audience (1), or an audience male was visually presented either directly inside the test tank (2), or further away (in an adjoining compartment (3)). We found that levels of pre-mating behaviour did not vary significantly among treatments, but males exhibited more copulation attempts (thrusting) in treatment (3), suggesting that males respond to increased risk of sperm competition with higher sperm expenditure. Females fed less (and started feeding later) when a harassing partner male was around, and this effect was not dependent on the audience treatment, but, overall, females spent more time feeding (and started feeding earlier) when an audience was presented. Hence, feeding time reductions appear to be independent of audience effects, but perceived 'safety in numbers' may lead to increased foraging in larger groups.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchroederBleidornHartmannetal.2009,
  author    = {Schr{\"o}der, Christiane and Bleidorn, Christoph and Hartmann, Stefanie and Tiedemann, Ralph},
  title     = {Occurrence of Can-SINEs and intron sequence evolution supports robust phylogeny of pinniped carnivores and their terrestrial relatives},
  issn      = {0378-1119},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.gene.2009.06.012},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Investigating the dog genome we found 178965 introns with a moderate length of 200-1000 bp. A screening of these sequences against 23 different repeat libraries to find insertions of short interspersed elements (SINEs) detected 45276 SINEs. Virtually all of these SINEs (98\%) belong to the tRNA-derived Can-SINE family. Can-SINEs arose about 55 million years ago before Carnivora split into two basal groups, the Caniformia (doglike carnivores) and the Feliformia (cat-like carnivores). Genome comparisons of dog and cat recovered 506 putatively informative SINE loci for caniformian phylogeny. In this study we show how to use such genome information of model organisms to research the phylogeny of related non-model species of interest. Investigating a dataset including representatives of all major caniformian lineages, we analysed 24 randomly chosen loci for 22 taxa. All loci were amplifiable and revealed 17 parsimony- informative SINE insertions. The screening for informative SINE insertions yields a large amount of sequence information, in particular of introns, which contain reliable phylogenetic information as well. A phylogenetic analysis of intron- and SINE sequence data provided a statistically robust phylogeny which is congruent with the absence/presence pattern of our SINE markers. This phylogeny strongly supports a sistergroup relationship of Musteloidea and Pinnipedia. Within Pinnipedia, we see strong support from bootstrapping and the presence of a SINE insertion for a sistergroup relationship of the walrus with the Otariidae.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{StuckasMesserschmidtPutzleretal.2009,
  author    = {Stuckas, Heiko and Messerschmidt, Katrin and Putzler, Sascha and Baumann, Otto and Schenk, J{\"o}rg A. and Tiedemann, Ralph and Micheel, Burkhard},
  title     = {Detection and characterization of gamete-specific molecules in Mytilus edulis using selective antibody production},
  issn      = {1040-452X},
  doi       = {10.1002/Mrd.20916},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {The mussel Mytilus edulis can be used as model to study the molecular basis of reproductive isolation because this species maintains its species integrity, despite of hybridizing in zones of contact with the closely related species M. trossulus or M. galloprovincialis. This study uses selective antibody production by means of hybridoma technology to identify molecules which are involved in sperm function of M. edulis. Fragmented sperm were injected into mice and 25 hybridoma cell clones were established to obtain monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Five clones were identified producing mAb targeting molecules putatively involved in sperm function based on enzyme immunoassays, dot and Western blotting as well as immunostaining of tissue sections. Specific localization of these mAb targets on sperm and partly also in somatic tissue suggests that all five antibodies bind to different molecules. The targets of the mAb obtained from clone G26-AG8 were identified using mass spectrometry (nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS) as M6 and M7 lysin. These acrosomal proteins have egg vitelline lyses function and are highly similar (76\%) which explains the cross reactivity of mAb G26- AG8. Furthermore, M7 lysin was recently shown to be under strong positive selection suggesting a role in interspecific reproductive isolation. This study shows that M6 and M7 lysin are not only found in the sperm acrosome but also in male somatic tissue of the mantle and the posterior adductor muscle, while being completely absent in females. The monoclonal antibody G26-AG8 described here will allow elucidating M7/M6 lysin function in somatic and gonad tissue of adult and developing animals.},
  language  = {en}
}