Genetic ancestry, admixture, and population structure in rural Dominica.

The Caribbean is a genetically diverse region with heterogeneous admixture compositions influenced by local island ecologies, migrations, colonial conflicts, and demographic histories. The Commonwealth of Dominica is a mountainous island in the Lesser Antilles historically known to harbor communities with unique patterns of migration, mixture, and isolation. This community-based population genetic study adds biological evidence to inform post-colonial narrative histories in a Dominican horticultural village.

Inheritance of hormonal stress response and temperament in infant rhesus macaques (Macaca Mulatta): Nonadditive and sex-specific effects.

Objective: Early life interindividual variation in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) reactivity to stress is predictive of later life psychological and physical well-being, including the development of many pathological syndromes that are often sex-biased. A complex and interactive set of environmental and genetic causes for such variation has been implicated by previous studies, though little attention has been paid to nonadditive effects (e.g.

Examining the molecular basis of coat color in a nocturnal primate family (Lorisidae).

Organisms use color for camouflage, sexual signaling, or as a warning sign of danger. Primates are one of the most vibrantly colored Orders of mammals. However, the genetics underlying their coat color are poorly known, limiting our ability to study molecular aspects of its evolution.

Chemical Ecology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology of Insect Hydrocarbons.

Insect cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) consist of complex mixtures of straight-chain alkanes and alkenes, and methyl-branched hydrocarbons. In addition to restricting water loss through the cuticle and preventing desiccation, they have secondarily evolved to serve a variety of functions in chemical communication and play critical roles as signals mediating the life histories of insects. In this review, we describe the physical properties of CHCs that allow for both waterproofing and signaling functions, summarize their roles as inter- and intraspecific chemical signals, and discuss the influences of diet and environment on CHC profiles.

RNA-Seq used to identify ipsdienone reductase (IDONER): A novel monoterpene carbon-carbon double bond reductase central to Ips confusus pheromone production.

The pinyon ips beetle, Ips confusus (LeConte) is a highly destructive pest in pine forests in western North America. When colonizing a new host tree, I. confusus beetles coordinate a mass attack to overcome the tree's defenses using aggregation pheromones.

Cytochromes P450: terpene detoxification and pheromone production in bark beetles.

Bark beetles (family: Curculionidae; subfamily: Scolytinae) in the Dendroctonus and Ips genera are the most destructive forest pests in the Northern hemisphere. They use cytochromes P450 (P450s) to detoxify tree-produced terpenes to produce pheromones, in de novo pheromone production and to oxidize odorants on antennae. Many Dendroctonus spp.

Adaptation, phylogeny, and covariance in milk macronutrient composition.

Background: Milk is a complicated chemical mixture often studied through macronutrient concentrations of fat, protein, and sugar. There is a long-standing natural history tradition describing interspecific diversity in these concentrations. However, recent work has shown little influence of ecological or life history variables on them, aside from maternal diet effects, along with a strong phylogenetic signal.

Anthropometric heritability and child growth in a Caribbean village: A quantitative genetic analysis of longitudinal height, weight, and body mass index in Bwa Mawego, Dominica.

Objectives: Body size and composition vary widely among individuals and populations, and long-term research in diverse contexts informs our understanding of genetic, cultural, and environmental impacts on this variation. We analyze longitudinal measures of height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) from a Caribbean village, estimating the extent to which these anthropometrics are shaped by genetic variance in a small-scale population of mixed ancestry.

Materials And Methods: Longitudinal data from a traditionally horticultural village in Dominica document height and weight in a non-Western population that is transitioning to increasingly Westernized lifestyles, and an 11-generation pedigree enables us to estimate the proportions of phenotypic variation in height, weight, and BMI attributed to genetic variation.

Unpacking the heritability of body mass index and other ratios.

Objectives: Ratios of weight to height, especially body mass index (BMI = kg/m ), are often used in epidemiological and genetic studies of health, but the limitations of quantitative genetic analysis of ratios are not widely known. The heritability of these ratios can be closely approximated from a bivariate quantitative genetic model of weight and height which clarifies how BMI heritabilities change.

Methods: I explored this bivariate approximation and alternative measures through simulated datasets fit with linear mixed models.

Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) CYP4Gs convert long and short chain alcohols and aldehydes to hydrocarbons.

Hydrocarbon biosynthesis in insects involves the elongation of fatty acyl-CoAs to very-long chain fatty acyl-CoAs that are then reduced and converted to hydrocarbon, with the last step involving the oxidative decarbonylation of an aldehyde to hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide. Cytochromes P450 in the 4G family decarbonylate aldehydes to hydrocarbon. All insect acyl-CoA reductases studied to date reduce fatty acyl-CoAs to alcohols.

Functional characterization of CYP4G11-a highly conserved enzyme in the western honey bee Apis mellifera.

Determining the functionality of CYP4G11, the only CYP4G in the genome of the western honey bee Apis mellifera, can provide insight into its reduced CYP4 inventory. Toward this objective, CYP4G11 transcripts were quantified, and CYP4G11 was expressed as a fusion protein with housefly CPR in Sf9 cells. Transcript levels varied with age, task, and tissue type in a manner consistent with the need for cuticular hydrocarbon production to prevent desiccation or with comb wax production.

Using a multi-gene approach to infer the complicated phylogeny and evolutionary history of lorises (Order Primates: Family Lorisidae).

Extensive phylogenetic studies have found robust phylogenies are modeled by using a multi-gene approach and sampling from the majority of the taxa of interest. Yet, molecular studies focused on the lorises, a cryptic primate family, have often relied on one gene, or just mitochondrial DNA, and many were unable to include all four genera in the analyses, resulting in inconclusive phylogenies. Past phylogenetic loris studies resulted in lorises being monophyletic, paraphyletic, or an unresolvable trichotomy with the closely related galagos.

Pheromone biosynthesis in bark beetles.

Pine bark beetles rely on aggregation pheromones to coordinate mass attacks and thus reproduce in host trees. The structural similarity between many pheromone components and those of defensive tree resin led to early suggestions that pheromone components are metabolic derivatives of ingested precursors. This model has given way to our current understanding that most pheromone components are synthesized de novo.

Two-year cortical and trabecular bone loss in CKD-5D: biochemical and clinical predictors.

Unlabelled: This prospective two-year study of patients on chronic dialysis measured changes in bone mineral density (BMD). Patients with higher baseline BMD and shorter dialysis vintage lost more bone. Treatment with anti-hypertensives acting on the central nervous system was protective against bone loss.

Comparative transcriptomics of mountain pine beetle pheromone-biosynthetic tissues and functional analysis of CYP6DE3.

Background: The mountain pine beetle (MPB, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) is a highly destructive pest of pine forests in western North America. During flight to a new host tree and initiation of feeding, mountain pine beetles release aggregation pheromones. The biosynthetic pathways of these pheromones are sex-specific and localized in the midgut and fat body, but the enzymes involved have not all been identified or characterized.

Coronary artery calcification in CKD-5D patients is tied to adverse cardiac function and increased mortality .

Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is common in patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis (CKD-5D) and is an important predictor of mortality. However, cardiac functional links between CAC and mortality have not been well established. This study tested the hypothesis that CAC increases mortality by adversely affecting cardiac function.

Drosophila Spidey/Kar Regulates Oenocyte Growth via PI3-Kinase Signaling.

Cell growth and proliferation depend upon many different aspects of lipid metabolism. One key signaling pathway that is utilized in many different anabolic contexts involves Phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and its membrane lipid products, the Phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphates. It remains unclear, however, which other branches of lipid metabolism interact with the PI3K signaling pathway.

Cytochrome P450 associated with insecticide resistance catalyzes cuticular hydrocarbon production in Anopheles gambiae.

The role of cuticle changes in insecticide resistance in the major malaria vector Anopheles gambiae was assessed. The rate of internalization of (14)C deltamethrin was significantly slower in a resistant strain than in a susceptible strain. Topical application of an acetone insecticide formulation to circumvent lipid-based uptake barriers decreased the resistance ratio by ∼50%.

Desiccation tolerance in Anopheles coluzzii: the effects of spiracle size and cuticular hydrocarbons.

The African malaria mosquitoes Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii range over forests and arid areas, where they withstand dry spells and months-long dry seasons, suggesting variation in their desiccation tolerance. We subjected a laboratory colony (G3) and wild Sahelian mosquitoes during the rainy and dry seasons to desiccation assays. The thoracic spiracles and amount and composition of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) of individual mosquitoes were measured to determine the effects of these traits on desiccation tolerance.

Effect of age on cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in adult Chrysomya putoria (Diptera: Calliphoridae).

A species-specific complex mixture of highly stable cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) covers the external surface of all insects. Components can be readily analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to obtain a cuticular hydrocarbon profile, which may be used as an additional tool for the taxonomic differentiation of insect species and also for the determination of the age and sex of adult and immature forms. We used GC-MS to identify and quantify the CHCs of female and male Chrysomya putoria (Wiedemann, 1818) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) from one to five days old.

Diagnosis of low bone mass in CKD-5D patients.

Background And Objectives: Currently, there is no consensus whether dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or quantitative computed tomography (QCT) can be used to screen for osteoporosis or osteopenia in CKD-5D patients. This study uses iliac bone histology, the "gold standard" for bone volume evaluation, to determine the utility of DXA and QCT for low bone mass screening in CKD-5D patients.

Patients And Methods: A cross-sectional study of patients with CKD-5D employing iliac crest bone biopsies to assess bone volume by histology and comparing results to bone mineral density (BMD) measurements of the hip and spine by DXA and QCT.

High Parathyroid Hormone Level and Osteoporosis Predict Progression of Coronary Artery Calcification in Patients on Dialysis.

Coronary artery calcifications (CACs) are observed in most patients with CKD on dialysis (CKD-5D). CACs frequently progress and are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events, the major cause of death in these patients. A link between bone and vascular calcification has been shown.

Modeling variation in early life mortality in the western lowland gorilla: Genetic, maternal and other effects.

Uncovering sources of variation in gorilla infant mortality informs conservation and life history research efforts. The international studbook for the western lowland gorilla provides information on a sample of captive gorillas large enough for which to analyze genetic, maternal, and various other effects on early life mortality in this critically endangered species. We assess the importance of variables such as sex, maternal parity, paternal age, and hand rearing with regard to infant survival.