Small pelagic fish support profitable fisheries and are important for food security around the world. Yet, their sustainable management can be hindered by the indiscriminate impacts of simultaneous exploitation of fish from multiple distinct biological populations over extended periods of time. The quantification of such impacts is greatly facilitated by recently developed molecular tools-including diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panels for mixed-stock analysis (MSA)-that can accurately detect the population identity of individual fish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe brown rat () occupies nearly every terrestrial habitat with a human presence and is one of our most important model organisms. Despite this prevalence, gaps remain in understanding the evolution of brown rat commensalism, their global dispersal, and mechanisms underlying contemporary adaptations to diverse environments. In this Review, we explore recent advances in the evolutionary history of brown rats and discuss key challenges, including finding and accurately dating historical specimens, disentangling histories of multiple domestication events, and synthesizing functional variation in wild rat populations with the development of laboratory strains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding fungal lipid biology and metabolism is critical for antifungal target discovery as lipids play central roles in cellular processes. Nuances in lipid structural differences can significantly impact their functions, making it necessary to characterize lipids in detail to understand their roles in these complex systems. In particular, lipid double bond (DB) locations are an important component of lipid structure that can only be determined using a few specialized analytical techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCollagen is the most abundant protein in mammals and a major structural component of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Changes to ECM composition occur as a result of numerous physiological and pathophysiological causes, and a common means to evaluate these changes is the collagen 3 (Col3) to collagen 1 (Col1) ratio. Current methods to measure the Col3/1 ratio suffer from a lack of specificity and often under- or over-estimate collagen composition and quantity.
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