AIR: A batch-oriented web program package for construction of supermatrices ready for phylogenomic analyses.

Background: Large multigene sequence alignments have over recent years been increasingly employed for phylogenomic reconstruction of the eukaryote tree of life. Such supermatrices of sequence data are preferred over single gene alignments as they contain vastly more information about ancient sequence characteristics, and are thus more suitable for resolving deeply diverging relationships. However, as alignments are expanded, increasingly numbers of sites with misleading phylogenetic information are also added.

Multigene phylogeny of choanozoa and the origin of animals.

Animals are evolutionarily related to fungi and to the predominantly unicellular protozoan phylum Choanozoa, together known as opisthokonts. To establish the sequence of events when animals evolved from unicellular ancestors, and understand those key evolutionary transitions, we need to establish which choanozoans are most closely related to animals and also the evolutionary position of each choanozoan group within the opisthokont phylogenetic tree. Here we focus on Ministeria vibrans, a minute bacteria-eating cell with slender radiating tentacles.

Annotated expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from pre-smolt Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in a searchable data resource.

Background: To identify as many different transcripts/genes in the Atlantic salmon genome as possible, it is crucial to acquire good cDNA libraries from different tissues and developmental stages, their relevant sequences (ESTs or full length sequences) and attempt to predict function. Such libraries allow identification of a large number of different transcripts and can provide valuable information on genes expressed in a particular tissue at a specific developmental stage. This data is important in constructing a microarray chip, identifying SNPs in coding regions, and for future identification of genes in the whole genome sequence.

Coupled-cluster connected quadruples and quintuples corrections to the harmonic vibrational frequencies and equilibrium bond distances of HF, N(2), F(2), and CO.

Using the coupled-cluster method, we have examined the contributions from the connected quadruple and quintuple virtual excitations to the harmonic vibrational frequencies and equilibrium bond distances of HF, N(2), F(2), and CO. Whereas the largest quadruples contributions are -18.8 cm(-1) to the harmonic frequency of N(2) and 0.

The performance of hybrid density functional theory for the calculation of indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling constants in substituted hydrocarbons.

Density functional theory, in particular, with the Becke-3-parameter-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) hybrid functional, has been shown to be a promising method for the calculation of indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling constants. However, no systematic investigation has so far been undertaken to evaluate the capability of B3LYP to calculate these coupling constants accurately, taking properly into account the vibrational contributions. In this work, vibrationally corrected indirect spin-spin coupling constants were calculated using the B3LYP functional for 10 rigid unsubstituted and substituted hydrocarbons: ethyne, ethene, allene, cyclopropene, cyclopropane, cyclobutene, pyrrole, furan, thiophene and benzene.