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Data limitations can lead to unrealistic fits of predictive species distribution models (SDMs) and spurious extrapolation to novel environments. Here, we want to draw attention to novel combinations of environmental predictors that are within the sampled range of individual predictors but are nevertheless outside the sample space. These tend to be overlooked when visualizing model behaviour. They may be a cause of differing model transferability and environmental change predictions between methods, a problem described in some studies but generally not well understood. We here use a simple simulated data example to illustrate the problem and provide new and complementary visualization techniques to explore model behaviour and predictions to novel environments. We then apply these in a more complex real-world example. Our results underscore the necessity of scrutinizing model fits, ecological theory and environmental novelty.
Reply to Peng et al.: Archaeological contexts should not be ignored for early chicken domestication
(2015)
Xenikoudakis et al. report a partial mitochondrial genome of the extinct giant beaver Castoroides and estimate the origin of aquatic behavior in beavers to approximately 20 million years. This time estimate coincides with the extinction of terrestrial beavers and raises the question whether the two events had a common cause.
The origin of ambling horses
(2016)
Horseback riding is the most fundamental use of domestic horses and has had a huge influence on the development of human societies for millennia. Over time, riding techniques and the style of riding improved. Therefore, horses with the ability to perform comfortable gaits (e.g. ambling or pacing), so-called ‘gaited’ horses, have been highly valued by humans, especially for long distance travel. Recently, the causative mutation for gaitedness in horses has been linked to a substitution causing a premature stop codon in the DMRT3 gene (DMRT3_Ser301STOP) [1]. In mice, Dmrt3 is expressed in spinal cord interneurons and plays an important role in the development of limb movement coordination [1]. Genotyping the position in 4396 modern horses from 141 breeds revealed that nowadays the mutated allele is distributed worldwide with an especially high frequency in gaited horses and breeds used for harness racing [2]. Here, we examine historic horse remains for the DMRT3 SNP, tracking the origin of gaitedness to Medieval England between 850 and 900 AD. The presence of the corresponding allele in Icelandic horses (9th–11th century) strongly suggests that ambling horses were brought from the British Isles to Iceland by Norse people. Considering the high frequency of the ambling allele in early Icelandic horses, we believe that Norse settlers selected for this comfortable mode of horse riding soon after arrival. The absence of the allele in samples from continental Europe (including Scandinavia) at this time implies that ambling horses may have spread from Iceland and maybe also the British Isles across the continent at a later date.
As a potentially toxic agent on nervous system and bone, the safety of aluminium exposure from adjuvants in vaccines and subcutaneous immune therapy (SCIT) products has to be continuously reevaluated, especially regarding concomitant administrations. For this purpose, knowledge on absorption and disposition of aluminium in plasma and tissues is essential. Pharmacokinetic data after vaccination in humans, however, are not available, and for methodological and ethical reasons difficult to obtain. To overcome these limitations, we discuss the possibility of an in vitro-in silico approach combining a toxicokinetic model for aluminium disposition with biorelevant kinetic absorption parameters from adjuvants. We critically review available kinetic aluminium-26 data for model building and, on the basis of a reparameterized toxicokinetic model (Nolte et al., 2001), we identify main modelling gaps. The potential of in vitro dissolution experiments for the prediction of intramuscular absorption kinetics of aluminium after vaccination is explored. It becomes apparent that there is need for detailed in vitro dissolution and in vivo absorption data to establish an in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) for aluminium adjuvants. We conclude that a combination of new experimental data and further refinement of the Nolte model has the potential to fill a gap in aluminium risk assessment. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Dielectrophoretic functionalization of nanoelectrode arrays for the detection of influenza viruses
(2017)
Cold regulated protein 15A (COR15A) is a nuclear encoded, intrinsically disordered protein that is found in Arabidopsis thaliana. It belongs to the Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) family of proteins and is responsible for increased freezing tolerance in plants. COR15A is intrinsically disordered in dilute solutions and adopts a helical structure upon dehydration or in the presence of co-solutes such as TFE and ethylene glycol. This helical structure is thought to be important for protecting plants from dehydration induced by freezing. Multiple protein sequence alignments revealed the presence of several conserved glycine residues that we hypothesize keeps COR15A from becoming helical in dilute solutions. Using AGADIR, the change in helical content of COR15A when these conserved glycine residues were mutated to alanine residues was predicted. Based on the predictions, glycine to alanine mutants were made at position 68, and 54,68,81, and 84. Labeled samples of wildtype COR15A and mutant proteins were purified and NMR experiments were performed to examine any structural changes induced by the mutations. To test the effects of dehydration on the structure of COR15A, trifluoroethanol, an alcohol based co solvent that is proposed to induce/stabilize helical structure in peptides was added to the NMR samples, and the results of the experiment showed an increase in helical content, compared to the samples without TFE. To test the functional differences between wild type and the mutants, liposome leakage assays were performed. The results from these assays suggest the more helical mutants may augment membrane stability.
Capsella
(2018)
Female extra-pair mating, fitness and genetic diversity: Expression in socially monogamous Coal Tits
(2006)
Root infinitives on Twitter
(2017)
Philippine hornbills of the genera Aceros and Penelopides (Bucerotidae) are known to possess a large tandemly duplicated fragment in their mitochondrial genome, whose paralogous parts largely evolve in concert. In the present study, we surveyed the two distinguishable duplicated control regions in several individuals of the Luzon Tarictic Hornbill Penelopides manillae, compare their characteristics within and across individuals, and report on an intraspecific mitochondrial gene rearrangement found in one single specimen, i.e., an interchange between the two control regions. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of two distinct mitochondrial genome rearrangements within a bird species. We briefly discuss a possible evolutionary mechanism responsible for this pattern, and highlight potential implications for the application of control region sequences as a marker in population genetics and phylogeography.