The genus Coenagrion Kirby, 1890 (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) in the Russian part of the Caucasus.

Distribution, characters and habitats of Coenagrion spp. in the Russian part of the Caucasus is considered, chiefly by the authors' own data. There are seven species, of which C.

Development of Apomictic 56-Chromosomal Maize- Hybrids: A Potential Breakthrough in Heterosis Fixation.

Maize ( L.) is one of the most demanded grain crops in the world. Currently, production has exceeded one billion tons and is increasing by 3-5% annually.

Analysis of the Structural Organization and Expression of the Gene Controlling Growth Habit (Spring vs. Winter) in Coss.

The duration of the vegetative period is an important agronomic characteristic of cereal crops. It is mainly influenced by the (response to vernalization) and (response to photoperiod) genes. In this work, we searched for alleles of several known genes of these two systems of response to external conditions in 15 accessions of Coss.

Heterologous Expression of Extracellular Proteinase pAsPs of in .

Neutral protease pAsPs gene was obtained by sequence optimization of NpI protease from pAsPs was for the first time integrated in the genome of yeast strain T07, and then produced in a 5 L bioreactor with an enzyme yield of 150,800 U/mL of culture liquid towards casein. The specific activity of the pAsPs was 7,657,000 U/mg toward casein, 2320 U/mg toward hemoglobin, and 25,344 U/mg toward azocasein per 1 mg of the protein. The enzyme was found to be inhibited by Cu.

New insights from Opisthorchis felineus genome: update on genomics of the epidemiologically important liver flukes.

Background: The three epidemiologically important Opisthorchiidae liver flukes Opisthorchis felineus, O. viverrini, and Clonorchis sinensis, are believed to harbour similar potencies to provoke hepatobiliary diseases in their definitive hosts, although their populations have substantially different ecogeographical aspects including habitat, preferred hosts, population structure. Lack of O.

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of subfamilial placement of Haplotropis Saussure, 1888 (Orthoptera: Pamphagidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers.

The genus Haplotropis Sauss. is a relatively small genus in the family Pamphagidae (Orthoptera: Caelifera). Historically, there has been a discussion on the placement of this genus, whether it belongs in the subfamily Pamphaginae or in the subfamily Thrinchinae.

Genetic diversity among eight Dendrolimus species in Eurasia (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) inferred from mitochondrial COI and COII, and nuclear ITS2 markers.

Background: Moths of genus Dendrolimus (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) are among the major pests of coniferous forests worldwide. Taxonomy and nomenclature of this genus are not entirely established, and there are many species with a controversial taxonomic position. We present a comparative evolutionary analysis of the most economically important Dendrolimus species in Eurasia.

Distribution and diversity of Nosema bombi (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) in the natural populations of bumblebees (Bombus spp.) from West Siberia.

Nosema bombi is an obligate intracellular parasite of bumblebees (Hymenoptera, Bombus spp.), which has significant negative effect on individual bumblebees, colony fitness, and development. Recently, several new genetic variants of N.

Convergent evolution of ribonuclease h in LTR retrotransposons and retroviruses.

Ty3/Gypsy long terminals repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are structurally and phylogenetically close to retroviruses. Two notable structural differences between these groups of genetic elements are 1) the presence in retroviruses of an additional envelope gene, env, which mediates infection, and 2) a specific dual ribonuclease H (RNH) domain encoded by the retroviral pol gene. However, similar to retroviruses, many Ty3/Gypsy LTR retrotransposons harbor additional env-like genes, promoting concepts of the infective mode of these retrotransposons.

Acquisition of an Archaea-like ribonuclease H domain by plant L1 retrotransposons supports modular evolution.

Although a variety of non-LTR retrotransposons of the L1 superfamily have been found in plant genomes over recent decades, their diversity, distribution, and evolution have yet to be analyzed in depth. Here, we perform comprehensive comparative and evolutionary analyses of L1 retrotransposons from 29 genomes of land plants covering a wide range of taxa. We identify numerous L1 elements in these genomes and detect a striking diversity of their domain composition.

Vertical evolution and horizontal transfer of CR1 non-LTR retrotransposons and Tc1/mariner DNA transposons in Lepidoptera species.

Horizontal transfer (HT) is a complex phenomenon usually used as an explanation of phylogenetic inconsistence, which cannot be interpreted in terms of vertical evolution. Most examples of HT of eukaryotic genes involve transposable elements. An intriguing feature of HT is that its frequency differs among transposable elements classes.

Molecular characterization of vernalization loci VRN1 in wild and cultivated wheats.

Background: Variability of the VRN1 promoter region of the unique collection of spring polyploid and wild diploid wheat species together with diploid goatgrasses (donor of B and D genomes of polyploid wheats) were investigated. Accessions of wild diploid (T. boeoticum, T.

Evolutionary genomics revealed interkingdom distribution of Tcn1-like chromodomain-containing Gypsy LTR retrotransposons among fungi and plants.

Background: Chromodomain-containing Gypsy LTR retrotransposons or chromoviruses are widely distributed among eukaryotes and have been found in plants, fungi and vertebrates. The previous comprehensive survey of chromoviruses from mosses (Bryophyta) suggested that genomes of non-seed plants contain the clade which is closely related to the retrotransposons from fungi. The origin, distribution and evolutionary history of this clade remained unclear mainly due to the absence of information concerning the diversity and distribution of LTR retrotransposons in other groups of non-seed plants as well as in fungal genomes.

Non-LTR retrotransposons in fungi.

Non-long terminal repeat (non-LTR) retrotransposons have contributed to shaping the structure and function of genomes. Fungi have small genomes, usually with limited amounts of repetitive DNA. In silico approach has been used to survey the non-LTR elements in 57 fungal genomes.

Novel clades of chromodomain-containing Gypsy LTR retrotransposons from mosses (Bryophyta).

Retrotransposons are the major component of plant genomes. Chromodomain-containing Gypsy long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are widely distributed in eukaryotes. Four distinct clades of chromodomain-containing Gypsy retroelements are known from the vascular plants: Reina, CRM, Galadriel and Tekay.

CR1 clade of non-LTR retrotransposons from Maculinea butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): evidence for recent horizontal transmission.

Background: Non-long terminal repeat (non-LTR) retrotransposons are mobile genetic elements that propagate themselves by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate. Non-LTR retrotransposons are known to evolve mainly via vertical transmission and random loss. Horizontal transmission is believed to be a very rare event in non-LTR retrotransposons.

vasa-related genes and their expression in stem cells of colonial parasitic rhizocephalan barnacle Polyascus polygenea (Arthropoda: Crustacea: Cirripedia: Rhizocephala).

vasa (vas)-related genes are members of the DEAD-box protein family and are expressed in the germ cells of many Metazoa. We cloned vasa-related genes (PpVLG, CpVLG) and other DEAD-box family related genes (PpDRH1, PpDRH2, CpDRH, AtDRHr) from the colonial parasitic rhizocephalan barnacle Polyascus polygenea, the non-colonial Clistosaccus paguri (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Rhizocephala), and the parasitic isopodan Athelgis takanoshimensis (Crustacea: Isopoda). The colonial Polyascus polygenea, a parasite of the coastal crabs Hemigrapsus sanguineus and Hemigrapsus longitarsis was used as a model object for further detailed investigations.

Divergent non-LTR retrotransposon lineages from the genomes of scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones).

We screened across the taxonomic diversity of order Scorpiones (22 species belonging to 21 genera and 10 families) for the presence of seven different clades of non-LTR retrotransposons in their genomes using PCR with newly designed clade-specific consensus-degenerate hybrid oligonucleotide primers. Scorpion genomes were found to contain four known non-LTR retrotransposon clades: R1, I, Jockey, and CR1. In total, 35 fragments of reverse transcriptase genes of new elements from 22 scorpion species were obtained and analyzed for three clades, Jockey, I, and CR1.

Evolution and origin of merlin, the product of the Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) tumor-suppressor gene.

Background: Merlin, the product of the Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) tumor suppressor gene, belongs to the ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) subgroup of the protein 4.1 superfamily, which links cell surface glycoproteins to the actin cytoskeleton. While merlin's functional activity has been examined in mammalian and Drosophila models, little is understood about its evolution, diversity, and overall distribution among different taxa.

The Evolution of SINEs and LINEs in the genus Chironomus (Diptera).

Genomic DNA amplification from 51 species of the family Chironomidae shows that most contain relatives of NLRCth1 LINE and CTRT1 SINE retrotransposons first found in Chironomus thummi. More than 300 cloned PCR products were sequenced. The amplified region of the reverse transcriptase gene in the LINEs is intact and highly conserved, suggesting active elements.

Phylogeny of the endemic Baikalian Sergentia (Chironomidae, Diptera).

Fragments of two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome b (CytB) and Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) have been used as phylogenetic markers in Sergentia (Chironomidae, Diptera). The concatenated (1241 bp) sequences from both genes were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships among seven Sergentia species. Five of the species belong to the endemic fauna of Lake Baikal.