Independent somatic evolution underlies clustered neuroendocrine tumors in the human small intestine.

Small intestine neuroendocrine tumor (SI-NET), the most common cancer of the small bowel, often displays a curious multifocal phenotype with several tumors clustered together in a limited intestinal segment. SI-NET also shows an unusual absence of driver mutations explaining tumor initiation and metastatic spread. The evolutionary trajectories that underlie multifocal SI-NET lesions could provide insight into the underlying tumor biology, but this question remains unresolved.

Complete Range of the Universal mtDNA Gene Pool and High Genetic Diversity in the Thai Dog Population.

The dog population of Southern East Asia is unique in harboring virtually the full range of the universal mtDNA gene pool, and consequently, it has the highest genetic diversity worldwide. Despite this, limited research has been performed on dog genetics within this region. Here we present the first comprehensive study of a sub-region within Southern East Asia, analyzing 528bp of mtDNA for 265 dogs from Thailand, in the context of dogs from across the Old World.

Local origin or external input: modern horse origin in East Asia.

Background: Despite decades of research, the horse domestication scenario in East Asia remains poorly understood.

Results: The study identified 16 haplogroups with fine-scale phylogenetic resolution using mitochondrial genomes of 317 horse samples. The time to the most recent common ancestor of the 16 haplogroups ranges from [0.

Machine Learning Based Classification of Microsatellite Variation: An Effective Approach for Phylogeographic Characterization of Olive Populations.

Finding efficient analytical techniques is overwhelmingly turning into a bottleneck for the effectiveness of large biological data. Machine learning offers a novel and powerful tool to advance classification and modeling solutions in molecular biology. However, these methods have been less frequently used with empirical population genetics data.

African origin for Madagascan dogs revealed by mtDNA analysis.

Madagascar was one of the last major land masses to be inhabited by humans. It was initially colonized by Austronesian speaking Indonesians 1500-2000 years ago, but subsequent migration from Africa has resulted in approximately equal genetic contributions from Indonesia and Africa, and the material culture has mainly African influences. The dog, along with the pig and the chicken, was part of the Austronesian Neolithic culture, and was furthermore the only domestic animal to accompany humans to every continent in ancient times.

An old dog and new tricks: Genetic analysis of a Tudor dog recovered from the Mary Rose wreck.

The Tudor warship the Mary Rose sank in the Solent waters between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight on the 19th of July 1545, whilst engaging a French invasion fleet. The ship was rediscovered in 1971 and between 1979 and 1982 the entire contents of the ship were excavated resulting in the recovery of over 25,000 objects, including the skeleton of a small to medium sized dog referred to as the Mary Rose Dog (MRD). Here we report the extraction and analysis of both mitochondrial and genomic DNA from a tooth of this animal.

Narrow genetic basis for the Australian dingo confirmed through analysis of paternal ancestry.

The dingo (Canis lupus dingo) is an iconic animal in the native culture of Australia, but archaeological and molecular records indicate a relatively recent history on the continent. Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) imply that the current dingo population was founded by a small population of already tamed dogs from Southeast Asia. However, the maternal genetic data might give a unilateral picture, and the gene pool has yet to be screened for paternal ancestry.

Comprehensive study of mtDNA among Southwest Asian dogs contradicts independent domestication of wolf, but implies dog-wolf hybridization.

Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity indicate explicitly that dogs were domesticated, probably exclusively, in southern East Asia. However, Southwest Asia (SwAsia) has had poor representation and geographical coverage in these studies. Other studies based on archaeological and genome-wide SNP data have suggested an origin of dogs in SwAsia.

mtDNA data indicate a single origin for dogs south of Yangtze River, less than 16,300 years ago, from numerous wolves.

There is no generally accepted picture of where, when, and how the domestic dog originated. Previous studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have failed to establish the time and precise place of origin because of lack of phylogenetic resolution in the so far studied control region (CR), and inadequate sampling. We therefore analyzed entire mitochondrial genomes for 169 dogs to obtain maximal phylogenetic resolution and the CR for 1,543 dogs across the Old World for a comprehensive picture of geographical diversity.

Rapid alpha-1-antitrypsin M-variant genotyping by primer-induced restriction analysis.

The 4 normal alleles of M1, M2, M3, and M4 are the most common gene products of the human alpha-1-antitrypsin (hAAT). Two single substitutions in M1 are responsible for M3 and M4, whereas 2 substitutions in M1 produce M2. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the Arg(101)/His(101) sequence variation can separate M1 and M3 from M2 and M4 alleles.