Multifaceted biological insights from a draft genome sequence of the tobacco hornworm moth, Manduca sexta.

Manduca sexta, known as the tobacco hornworm or Carolina sphinx moth, is a lepidopteran insect that is used extensively as a model system for research in insect biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, development, and immunity. One important benefit of this species as an experimental model is its extremely large size, reaching more than 10 g in the larval stage. M.

Differential SINE evolution in vesper and non-vesper bats.

Background: Short interspersed elements (SINEs) have a powerful influence on genome evolution and can be useful markers for phylogenetic inference and population genetic analyses. In this study, we examined survey sequence and whole genome data to determine the evolutionary dynamics of Ves SINEs in the genomes of 11 bats, nine from Vespertilionidae.

Results: We identified 41 subfamilies of Ves and linked several to specific lineages.