Species and population specific gene expression in blood transcriptomes of marine turtles.

Background: Transcriptomic data has demonstrated utility to advance the study of physiological diversity and organisms' responses to environmental stressors. However, a lack of genomic resources and challenges associated with collecting high-quality RNA can limit its application for many wild populations. Minimally invasive blood sampling combined with de novo transcriptomic approaches has great potential to alleviate these barriers.

Elevated Heterozygosity in Adults Relative to Juveniles Provides Evidence of Viability Selection on Eagles and Falcons.

Viability selection yields adult populations that are more genetically variable than those of juveniles, producing a positive correlation between heterozygosity and survival. Viability selection could be the result of decreased heterozygosity across many loci in inbred individuals and a subsequent decrease in survivorship resulting from the expression of the deleterious alleles. Alternatively, locus-specific differences in genetic variability between adults and juveniles may be driven by forms of balancing selection, including heterozygote advantage, frequency-dependent selection, or selection across temporal and spatial scales.

Characterization of the Gray Whale Eschrichtius robustus Genome and a Genotyping Array Based on Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Candidate Genes.

Genetic and genomic approaches have much to offer in terms of ecology, evolution, and conservation. To better understand the biology of the gray whale Eschrichtius robustus (Lilljeborg, 1861), we sequenced the genome and produced an assembly that contains ∼95% of the genes known to be highly conserved among eukaryotes. From this assembly, we annotated 22,711 genes and identified 2,057,254 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Golden Eagle fatalities and the continental-scale consequences of local wind-energy generation.

Renewable energy production is expanding rapidly despite mostly unknown environmental effects on wildlife and habitats. We used genetic and stable isotope data collected from Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) killed at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) in California in demographic models to test hypotheses about the geographic extent and demographic consequences of fatalities caused by renewable energy facilities. Geospatial analyses of δ H values obtained from feathers showed that ≥25% of these APWRA-killed eagles were recent immigrants to the population, most from long distances away (>100 km).

The impacts of inbreeding, drift and selection on genetic diversity in captive breeding populations.

The goal of captive breeding programmes is often to maintain genetic diversity until re-introductions can occur. However, due in part to changes that occur in captive populations, approximately one-third of re-introductions fail. We evaluated genetic changes in captive populations using microsatellites and mtDNA.

Mitochondria, Energy and Cancer: The Relationship with Ascorbic Acid.

Ascorbic Acid (AA) has been used in the prevention and treatment of cancer with reported effectiveness. Mitochondria may be one of the principal targets of ascorbate's cellular activity and it may play an important role in the development and progression of cancer. Mitochondria, besides generating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), has a role in apoptosis regulation and in the production of regulatory oxidative species that may be relevant in gene expression.