The role of pigments in light color variation of the firefly .

Fireflies use bioluminescent signals to communicate with their mates. Luciferase has been thought to be the sole contributor to light color; however, populations of the Photinus pyralis firefly display variation in the color of their emitted signals yet have identical luciferase sequences. Here, we examined whether pigments could be present in the light organs of the twilight-active species P.

Assessing the Role of Patient Generation Techniques in Virtual Clinical Trial Outcomes.

Virtual clinical trials (VCTs) are growing in popularity as a tool for quantitatively predicting heterogeneous treatment responses across a population. In the context of a VCT, a plausible patient is an instance of a mathematical model with parameter (or attribute) values chosen to reflect features of the disease and response to treatment for that particular patient. A number of techniques have been introduced to determine the set of model parametrizations to include in a virtual patient cohort.

A Decade of Death and Other Dynamics: Deepening Perspectives on the Diversity and Distribution of Sea Stars and Wasting.

AbstractMass mortality events provide valuable insight into biological extremes and also ecological interactions more generally. The sea star wasting epidemic that began in 2013 catalyzed study of the microbiome, genetics, population dynamics, and community ecology of several high-profile species inhabiting the northeastern Pacific but exposed a dearth of information on the diversity, distributions, and impacts of sea star wasting for many lesser-known sea stars and a need for integration across scales. Here, we combine datasets from single-site to coast-wide studies, across time lines from weeks to decades, for 65 species.

Investigating biodiversity patterns across scales in freshwater mussels.

Hypotheses relating genomic diversity to community attributes such as abundance and species diversity attract attention from a wide and varied audience because their applications are twofold. First, testing such hypotheses can further a theoretical-and hopefully generalizable-understanding of the forces that assemble communities and create observed patterns of biodiversity. Second, relationships that hold true could ease the burden of data collection for conservation or other urgent applications; for example, a strong correlation between species diversity and genetic diversity could make it possible to use one as a proxy for the other, and focus limited resources on measuring the easier of the two without sacrificing information gained.

The Complete Genome Sequences of 2 Species of Geukensia (Brachidontinae, Mytilidae).

We present the complete genome sequences of and . Illumina sequencing was performed on genetic material from museum specimens. The reads were assembled using a de novo method followed by a finishing step.

Evidence of introgression, ecological divergence and adaptation in Asterias sea stars.

Hybrid zones are important windows into the evolutionary dynamics of populations, revealing how processes like introgression and adaptation structure population genomic variation. Importantly, they are useful for understanding speciation and how species respond to their environments. Here, we investigate two closely related sea star species, Asterias rubens and A.

Twenty-year record of white pox disease in the Florida Keys: importance of environmental risk factors as drivers of coral health.

Declining coral populations worldwide place a special premium on identifying risks and drivers that precipitate these declines. Understanding the relationship between disease outbreaks and their drivers can help to anticipate when the risk of a disease pandemic is high. Populations of the iconic branching Caribbean elkhorn coral Acropora palmata have collapsed in recent decades, in part due to white pox disease (WPX).

Latitudinal variation and plasticity in response to temperature in .

As global temperatures warm, species must adapt to a changing climate or transition to a different location suitable for their survival. Understanding the extent to which species are able to do so, particularly keystone species, is imperative to ensuring the survival of key ecosystems. The ribbed mussel is an integral part of salt marshes along the Atlantic coast of North America.

Is It in the Stars? Exploring the Relationships between Species' Traits and Sea Star Wasting Disease.

AbstractAn explanation for variation in impacts of sea star wasting disease across asteroid species remains elusive. Although various traits have been suggested to play a potential role in sea star wasting susceptibility, currently we lack a thorough comparison that explores how life-history and natural history traits shape responses to mass mortality across diverse asteroid taxa. To explore how asteroid traits may relate to sea star wasting, using available data and recognizing the potential for biological correlations to be driven by phylogeny, we generated a supertree, tested traits for phylogenetic association, and evaluated associations between traits and sea star wasting impact.

Minor Genetic Consequences of a Major Mass Mortality: Short-Term Effects in .

AbstractMass mortality events are increasing globally in frequency and magnitude, largely as a result of human-induced change. The effects of these mass mortality events, in both the long and short term, are of imminent concern because of their ecosystem impacts. Genomic data can be used to reveal some of the population-level changes associated with mass mortality events.

Predicting the impact of placing an overdose prevention site in Philadelphia: a mathematical modeling approach.

Background: Fatal overdoses from opioid use and substance disorders are increasing at an alarming rate. One proposed harm reduction strategy for reducing overdose fatalities is to place overdose prevention sites-commonly known as safe injection facilities-in proximity of locations with the highest rates of overdose. As urban centers in the USA are tackling legal hurdles and community skepticism around the introduction and location of these sites, it becomes increasingly important to assess the magnitude of the effect that these services might have on public health.

Evidence That Microorganisms at the Animal-Water Interface Drive Sea Star Wasting Disease.

Sea star wasting (SSW) disease describes a condition affecting asteroids that resulted in significant Northeastern Pacific population decline following a mass mortality event in 2013. The etiology of SSW is unresolved. We hypothesized that SSW is a sequela of microbial organic matter remineralization near respiratory surfaces, one consequence of which may be limited O availability at the animal-water interface.

Gene family amplification facilitates adaptation in freshwater unionid bivalve Megalonaias nervosa.

Freshwater unionid bivalves currently face severe anthropogenic challenges. Over 70% of species in the United States are threatened, endangered or extinct due to pollution, damming of waterways and overfishing. These species are notable for their unusual life history strategy, parasite-host co-evolution and biparental mitochondrial inheritance.

Extended phenotypes on coral reefs: cryptic phenotypes modulate coral-vermetid interactions.

Phenotypic variation can lead to variation in the strength and outcome of species interactions. Variation in phenotypic traits can arise due to plastic responses to environmental stimuli, underlying genetic variation, or both, and may reflect differences in the focal organism or aspects of the extended phenotype (e.g.

Global biogeography of marine dispersal potential.

The distance travelled by marine larvae varies by seven orders of magnitude. Dispersal shapes marine biodiversity, and must be understood if marine systems are to be well managed. Because warmer temperatures quicken larval development, larval durations might be systematically shorter in the tropics relative to those at high latitudes.

An initial comparative genomic autopsy of wasting disease in sea stars.

Beginning in 2013, sea stars throughout the Eastern North Pacific were decimated by wasting disease, also known as "asteroid idiopathic wasting syndrome" (AIWS) due to its elusive aetiology. The geographic extent and taxonomic scale of AIWS meant events leading up to the outbreak were heterogeneous, multifaceted, and oftentimes unobserved; progression from morbidity to death was rapid, leaving few tell-tale symptoms. Here, we take a forensic genomic approach to discover candidate genes that may help explain sea star wasting syndrome.

Maintenance of a Genetic Cline in the Barnacle .

The barnacle is a broadly distributed species in the temperate northeastern Pacific that is notable for a robust genetic cline between about 36° and 40° N latitude. Prior work established the evolutionary origins of this pattern and proposed that it is maintained by environmental selection. In recent years, "climate velocity" studies in marine habitats have shown dramatic distributional shifts for many species as they track their preferred temperature range in a warming ocean.

Draft Genome Sequences of 38 Serratia marcescens Isolates Associated with Acroporid Serratiosis.

is a Gram-negative bacterium causally linked to acroporid serratiosis, a form of white pox disease implicated in the decline of elkhorn corals. We report draft genomes of 38 isolates collected from host and nonhost sources. The availability of these genomes will aid future analyses of acroporid serratiosis.

Physical characterization of the hair of Mexican women.

Hairs collected from 257 Mexican women, residing in Mexico City, were characterized by instrumental measurements for comparison to more-commonly reported Caucasian, Asian and African hairs. Subjects were subdivided into five age groups and their hairs were characterized by fibre dimension, shape and tensile strength. Results show that Mexican hair appears to be intermediate of Asian and Caucasian hair in diameter and cross-sectional ellipticity.

Developing a Minimally Structured Mathematical Model of Cancer Treatment with Oncolytic Viruses and Dendritic Cell Injections.

Mathematical models of biological systems must strike a balance between being sufficiently complex to capture important biological features, while being simple enough that they remain tractable through analysis or simulation. In this work, we rigorously explore how to balance these competing interests when modeling murine melanoma treatment with oncolytic viruses and dendritic cell injections. Previously, we developed a system of six ordinary differential equations containing fourteen parameters that well describes experimental data on the efficacy of these treatments.