Novel insight into lepidopteran phylogenetics from the mitochondrial genome of the apple fruit moth of the family Argyresthiidae.

Background: The order Lepidoptera has an abundance of species, including both agriculturally beneficial and detrimental insects. Molecular data has been used to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of major subdivisions in Lepidoptera, which has enhanced our understanding of the evolutionary relationships at the family and superfamily levels. However, the phylogenetic placement of many superfamilies and/or families in this order is still unknown.

Successful Production and Ligninolytic Activity of a Bacterial Laccase, Lac51, Made in Transient Expression.

Giant panda could have bamboo as their exclusive diet for about 2 million years because of the contribution of numerous enzymes produced by their gut bacteria, for instance laccases. Laccases are blue multi-copper oxidases that catalyze the oxidation of a broad spectrum of phenolic and aromatic compounds with water as the only byproduct. As a "green enzyme," laccases have potential in industrial applications, for example, when dealing with degradation of recalcitrant biopolymers, such as lignin.

Antimicrobial resistance-Do we share more than companionship with our dogs?

Aims: To investigate and compare antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in faeces from cohabiting dogs and owners.

Methods And Results: DNA from faecal samples from 35 dogs and 35 owners was screened for the presence of 34 clinically relevant ARGs using high throughput qPCR. In total, 24 and 25 different ARGs were present in the dog and owner groups, respectively.

Mitogenomics of the suborder Cottoidei (Teleostei: Perciformes): Improved assemblies, mitogenome features, phylogeny, and ecological implications.

We determined the mitogenome of Cyclopterus lumpus using a hybrid sequencing approach, and another four closely related species in the Liparidae based on available next-generation sequence data. We found that the mitogenome of C. lumpus was 17,266 bp in length, where the length and organisation were comparable to those reported for cottoids.

Sea ice reduction drives genetic differentiation among Barents Sea polar bears.

Loss of Arctic sea ice owing to climate change is predicted to reduce both genetic diversity and gene flow in ice-dependent species, with potentially negative consequences for their long-term viability. Here, we tested for the population-genetic impacts of reduced sea ice cover on the polar bear () sampled across two decades (1995-2016) from the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway, an area that is affected by rapid sea ice loss in the Arctic Barents Sea. We analysed genetic variation at 22 microsatellite loci for 626 polar bears from four sampling areas within the archipelago.

Harvest is associated with the disruption of social and fine-scale genetic structure among matrilines of a solitary large carnivore.

Harvest can disrupt wildlife populations by removing adults with naturally high survival. This can reshape sociospatial structure, genetic composition, fitness, and potentially affect evolution. Genetic tools can detect changes in local, fine-scale genetic structure (FGS) and assess the interplay between harvest-caused social and FGS in populations.

Genetic analysis indicates spatial-dependent patterns of sex-biased dispersal in Eurasian lynx in Finland.

Conservation and management of large carnivores requires knowledge of female and male dispersal. Such information is crucial to evaluate the population's status and thus management actions. This knowledge is challenging to obtain, often incomplete and contradictory at times.

Seasonal dynamics of lotic bacterial communities assessed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon deep sequencing.

Aquatic microbial diversity, composition, and dynamics play vital roles in sustaining water ecosystem functionality. Yet, there is still limited knowledge on bacterial seasonal dynamics in lotic environments. This study explores a temporal pattern of bacterial community structures in lotic freshwater over a 2-year period.

Large-scale genetic admixture suggests high dispersal in an insect pest, the apple fruit moth.

Knowledge about population genetic structure and dispersal capabilities is important for the development of targeted management strategies for agricultural pest species. The apple fruit moth, Argyresthia conjugella (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae), is a pre-dispersal seed predator. Larvae feed on rowanberries (Sorbus aucuparia), and when rowanberry seed production is low (i.

Genome- and transcriptome-derived microsatellite loci in lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus: molecular tools for aquaculture, conservation and fisheries management.

The lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus is commercially exploited in numerous areas of its range in the North Atlantic Ocean, and is important in salmonid aquaculture as a biological agent for controlling sea lice. Despite the economic importance, few genetic resources for downstream applications, such as linkage mapping, parentage analysis, marker-assisted selection (MAS), quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis, and assessing adaptive genetic diversity are currently available for the species. Here, we identify both genome- and transcriptome-derived microsatellites loci from C.

Faecal pollution affects abundance and diversity of aquatic microbial community in anthropo-zoogenically influenced lotic ecosystems.

The aquatic microbiota is known to be an important factor in the sustainability of the natural water ecosystems. However, the microbial community also might include pathogens, which result in very serious waterborne diseases in humans and animals. Faecal pollution is the major cause of these diseases.

Heritability of head size in a hunted large carnivore, the brown bear ().

Wild animal populations experience selection pressures from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The availability of extensive pedigrees is increasing along with our ability to quantify the heritability and evolvability of phenotypic traits and thus the speed and potential for evolutionary change in wild populations. The environment may also affect gene expressions in individuals, which may in turn affect the potential of phenotypic traits to respond to selection.

Aquatic microbial diversity associated with faecal pollution of Norwegian waterbodies characterized by 16S rRNA gene amplicon deep sequencing.

Faecal contamination is one of the major factors affecting biological water quality. In this study, we investigated microbial taxonomic diversity of faecally polluted lotic ecosystems in Norway. These ecosystems comprise tributaries of drinking water reservoirs with moderate and high faecal contamination levels, an urban creek exposed to extremely high faecal pollution and a rural creek that was the least faecally polluted.

Genetic changes caused by restocking and hydroelectric dams in demographically bottlenecked brown trout in a transnational subarctic riverine system.

Habitat discontinuity, anthropogenic disturbance, and overharvesting have led to population fragmentation and decline worldwide. Preservation of remaining natural genetic diversity is crucial to avoid continued genetic erosion. Brown trout ( L.

Genetic evidence of female kin clusters in a continuous population of a solitary carnivore, the Eurasian lynx.

Large terrestrial carnivores can sometimes display strong family bonds affecting the spatial distribution of related individuals. We studied the spatial genetic relatedness and family structure of female Eurasian lynx, continuously distributed in southern Finland. We hypothesized that closely related females form matrilineal assemblages, clustering together with relatives living in the neighboring areas.

Monitoring of the Apple Fruit Moth: Detection of Genetic Variation and Structure Applying a Novel Multiplex Set of 19 STR Markers.

The apple fruit moth (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae) is a seed predator of rowan () and is distributed in Europe and Asia. In Fennoscandia (Finland, Norway and Sweden), rowan fruit production is low every 2-4 years, and apple () functions as an alternative host, resulting in economic loss in apple crops in inter-mast years. We have used Illumina MiSeq sequencing to identify a set of 19 novel tetra-nucleotide short tandem repeats (STRs) in .

Genetic substructure and admixture as important factors in linkage disequilibrium-based estimation of effective number of breeders in recovering wildlife populations.

The number of effective breeders ( ) and effective population size ( ) are population parameters reflective of evolutionary potential, susceptibility to stochasticity, and viability. We have estimated these parameters using the linkage disequilibrium-based approach with LDNE through the latest phase of population recovery of the brown bears () in Finland (1993-2010; = 621). This phase of the recovery was recently documented to be associated with major changes in genetic composition.

Sociodemographic factors modulate the spatial response of brown bears to vacancies created by hunting.

There is a growing recognition of the importance of indirect effects from hunting on wildlife populations, e.g. social and behavioural changes due to harvest, which occur after the initial offtake.

Sex-specific genetic analysis indicates low correlation between demographic and genetic connectivity in the Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos).

The degree of gene flow within and among populations, i.e. genetic population connectivity, may closely track demographic population connectivity.

Y chromosome haplotype distribution of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Northern Europe provides insight into population history and recovery.

High-resolution, male-inherited Y-chromosomal markers are a useful tool for population genetic analyses of wildlife species, but to date have only been applied in this context to relatively few species besides humans. Using nine Y-chromosomal STRs and three Y-chromosomal single nucleotide polymorphism markers (Y-SNPs), we studied whether male gene flow was important for the recent recovery of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Northern Europe, where the species declined dramatically in numbers and geographical distribution during the last centuries but is expanding now. We found 36 haplotypes in 443 male extant brown bears from Sweden, Norway, Finland and northwestern Russia.

Identification and Evaluation of 21 Novel Microsatellite Markers from the Autumnal Moth (Epirrita autumnata) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae).

The autumnal moth (Epirrita autumnata) is a cyclically outbreaking forest Lepidoptera with circumpolar distribution and substantial impact on Northern ecosystems. We have isolated 21 microsatellites from the species to facilitate population genetic studies of population cycles, outbreaks, and crashes. First, PCR primers and PCR conditions were developed to amplify 19 trinucleotide loci and two tetranucleotide loci in six multiplex PCR approaches and then analyzed for species specificity, sensitivity and precision.

Y-chromosomal testing of brown bears (Ursus arctos): Validation of a multiplex PCR-approach for nine STRs suitable for fecal and hair samples.

High-resolution Y-chromosomal markers have been applied to humans and other primates to study population genetics, migration, social structures and reproduction. Y-linked markers allow the direct assessment of the genetic structure and gene flow of uniquely male inherited lineages and may also be useful for wildlife conservation and forensics, but have so far been available only for few wild species. Thus, we have developed two multiplex PCR reactions encompassing nine Y-STR markers identified from the brown bear (Ursus arctos) and tested them on hair, fecal and tissue samples.

Evidence of rapid change in genetic structure and diversity during range expansion in a recovering large terrestrial carnivore.

Recovery of natural populations occurs often with simultaneous or subsequent range expansions. According to population genetic theory, genetic structuring emerges at the expansion front together with decreasing genetic diversity, owing to multiple founder events. Thereupon, as the expansion proceeds and connectivity among populations is established, homogenization and a resurgence of genetic diversity are to be expected.

Admixture and gene flow from Russia in the recovering Northern European brown bear (Ursus arctos).

Large carnivores were persecuted to near extinction during the last centuries, but have now recovered in some countries. It has been proposed earlier that the recovery of the Northern European brown bear is supported by migration from Russia. We tested this hypothesis by obtaining for the first time continuous sampling of the whole Finnish bear population, which is located centrally between the Russian and Scandinavian bear populations.