Dairy Cattle and the Iconic Autochthonous Cattle in Northern Portugal Are Reservoirs of Multidrug-Resistant .

Animals destined for human consumption play a key role in potentially transmitting bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes. However, there is limited knowledge about the carriage of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in native breeds. We aimed to characterize the phenotypic profiles and antibiotic resistance genes in isolated from bovines, including three native Portuguese bovine breeds.

Intrinsic and environmental drivers of pairwise cohesion in wild Canis social groups.

Animals within social groups respond to costs and benefits of sociality by adjusting the proportion of time they spend in close proximity to other individuals in the group (cohesion). Variation in cohesion between individuals, in turn, shapes important group-level processes such as subgroup formation and fission-fusion dynamics. Although critical to animal sociality, a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing cohesion remains a gap in our knowledge of cooperative behavior in animals.

MIMt: a curated 16S rRNA reference database with less redundancy and higher accuracy at species-level identification.

Motivation: Accurate determination and quantification of the taxonomic composition of microbial communities, especially at the species level, is one of the major issues in metagenomics. This is primarily due to the limitations of commonly used 16S rRNA reference databases, which either contain a lot of redundancy or a high percentage of sequences with missing taxonomic information. This may lead to erroneous identifications and, thus, to inaccurate conclusions regarding the ecological role and importance of those microorganisms in the ecosystem.

Mammal responses to human recreation depend on landscape context.

Rapid growth in outdoor recreation may have important and varied effects on terrestrial mammal communities. Few studies have investigated factors influencing variation in observed responses of multiple mammal species to recreation. We used data from 155 camera traps, in western Alberta (Canada), and a hierarchical Bayesian community modelling framework to document 15 mammal species responses to recreation, test for differential responses between predators and prey, and evaluate the influence of local context.

Novel Vpx virus-like particles to improve cytarabine treatment response against acute myeloid leukemia.

Knowledge of the molecular pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia has advanced in recent years. Despite novel treatment options, acute myeloid leukemia remains a survival challenge for elderly patients. We have recently shown that the triphosphohydrolase SAMHD1 is one of the factors determining resistance to Ara-C treatment.

Hepatitis E virus in wild and domestic rabbits from Portugal: a combined molecular and longitudinal serological study.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV), species Paslahepevirus balayani, poses a global public health threat, especially in developing countries, by causing acute enterically transmitted hepatitis. HEV infects various mammalian hosts and belongs to the genus Paslahepevirus in the family Hepeviridae. While swine are recognized as the main hosts of HEV, rabbits, which can also be affected by swine HEV-3 related strains, serve as the primary reservoir for the distinct emerging and zoonotic HEV-3ra subtype.

Disturbance-mediated changes to boreal mammal spatial networks in industrializing landscapes.

Compound effects of anthropogenic disturbances on wildlife emerge through a complex network of direct responses and species interactions. Land-use changes driven by energy and forestry industries are known to disrupt predator-prey dynamics in boreal ecosystems, yet how these disturbance effects propagate across mammal communities remains uncertain. Using structural equation modeling, we tested disturbance-mediated pathways governing the spatial structure of multipredator multiprey boreal mammal networks across a landscape-scale disturbance gradient within Canada's Athabasca oil sands region.

Immediate Impacts of Wildfires on Ground-dwelling macroinvertebrate Communities under Stones in Mediterranean Oak Forests.

Wildfires are considered a major disturbance to forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe. Although ground-dwelling macroinvertebrates are crucial to many soil functions, there is a fundamental lack of understanding of how wildfires impact this community in the immediate term and of the role of stones in their survival. Hence, in the present study we assessed the immediate effects of wildfires in the ground-dwelling macroinvertebrate community found under stones by comparing communities in burnt and non-burnt Mediterranean oak forests.

Comparative Brain Morphology of Cleaning and Sponge-Dwelling Elacatinus Gobies.

Introduction: Comparative studies of brain anatomy between closely related species have been very useful in demonstrating selective changes in brain structure. Within-species comparisons can be particularly useful for identifying changes in brain structure caused by contrasting environmental selection pressures. Here, we aimed to understand whether differences within and between species in habitat use and foraging behaviour influence brain morphology, on both ecological and evolutionary time scales.

Fire suppression and land-use strategies drive future dynamics of an invasive plant in a fire-prone mountain area under climate change.

Woody invasive alien species can have profound impacts on ecosystem processes and functions, including fire regulation, which can significantly affect landscape resilience. Acacia dealbata, a widespread invasive alien plant in the Iberian Peninsula, holds well-known fire-adaptation traits (e.g.

Limited associations between MHC diversity and reproductive success in a bird species with biparental care.

The selective pressure from pathogens on individuals can have direct consequences on reproduction. Genes from the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are central to the vertebrate adaptive immune system and pathogen resistance. In species with biparental care, each sex has distinct reproductive roles and levels of investment, and due to a trade-off with immunity, one can expect different selective regimes acting upon the MHC of each parent.

Vertebrate damage to Azorean vineyards: the role of the endemic Azores Woodpigeon Columba palumbus azorica.

In the Azores, complaints about grape loss to birds have become recurrent. Although winegrowers frequently blame the endemic Azores Woodpigeon Columba palumbus azorica, data about the magnitude of grape damage and the species responsible for them are lacking. This study provides detailed information about grape damage caused by vertebrates on Pico Island, home to the main wine-growing area of the region.

Evolutionary and functional characterization of lagomorph guanylate-binding proteins: a story of gain and loss and shedding light on expression, localization and innate immunity-related functions.

Guanylate binding proteins (GBPs) are an evolutionarily ancient family of proteins that are widely distributed among eukaryotes. They belong to the dynamin superfamily of GTPases, and their expression can be partially induced by interferons (IFNs). GBPs are involved in the cell-autonomous innate immune response against bacterial, parasitic and viral infections.

Template-specific optimization of NGS genotyping pipelines reveals allele-specific variation in MHC gene expression.

Using high-throughput sequencing for precise genotyping of multi-locus gene families, such as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), remains challenging, due to the complexity of the data and difficulties in distinguishing genuine from erroneous variants. Several dedicated genotyping pipelines for data from high-throughput sequencing, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), have been developed to tackle the ensuing risk of artificially inflated diversity. Here, we thoroughly assess three such multi-locus genotyping pipelines for NGS data, the DOC method, AmpliSAS and ACACIA, using MHC class IIβ data sets of three-spined stickleback gDNA, cDNA and "artificial" plasmid samples with known allelic diversity.

CD4 and LAG-3 from sharks to humans: related molecules with motifs for opposing functions.

CD4 and LAG-3 are related molecules that are receptors for MHC class II molecules. Their major functional differences are situated in their cytoplasmic tails, in which CD4 has an activation motif and LAG-3 an inhibitory motif. Here, we identify shark and show that a previously identified shark gene has a genomic location, expression pattern, and motifs similar to in other vertebrates.

Microsatellites reveal divergence in population genetic diversity, and structure of osyris lanceolata (santalaceae) in Uganda and Kenya.

Background: Osyris lanceolata (Hochst. & Steud.) (Santalaceae) is a multipurpose plant highly valued culturally and economically in Africa.

An Ancestral Major Histocompatibility Complex Organization in Cartilaginous Fish: Reconstructing MHC Origin and Evolution.

Cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays, and chimeras) comprise the oldest living jawed vertebrates with a mammalian-like adaptive immune system based on immunoglobulins (Ig), T-cell receptors (TCRs), and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Here, we show that the cartilaginous fish "adaptive MHC" is highly regimented and compact, containing (i) a classical MHC class Ia (MHC-Ia) region containing antigen processing (antigen peptide transporters and immunoproteasome) and presenting (MHC-Ia) genes, (ii) an MHC class II (MHC-II) region (with alpha and beta genes) with linkage to beta-2-microglobulin (β2m) and bromodomain-containing 2, (iii) nonclassical MHC class Ib (MHC-Ib) regions with 450 million-year-old lineages, and (iv) a complement C4 associated with the MHC-Ia region. No MHC-Ib genes were found outside of the elasmobranch MHC.

Dataset of the complete mitogenome of the deep-sea sailfin roughshark, Frade, 1929.

Chondrichthyans comprise a diverse group of vertebrate species with extraordinary ecological relevance. Yet, multiple members of this evolutionary lineage are associated with significant extinction risk. The sailfin roughshark is a deep-water benthic shark currently listed as vulnerable due to population declines in parts of its range.

Exploring the morphological dynamics of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linn. 1758) in Victoria Nile as depicted from geometric morphometrics.

Background: Various anthropogenic activities continue to threaten the fish biodiversity of the East African water bodies such as the Victoria Nile. Although the Victoria Nile is a significant source of livelihood for human populations, the biology and ecology of Nile tilapia in this ecosystem remain understudied with little or no information on the morphology of the fish given varying and immense anthropogenic activities. Here, we use geometric morphometrics to examine the morphology/shape variations of Nile tilapia populations in Victoria Nile to gain insights into their current ecological state.

Extensive gene loss parallels kidney aglomerulism in Syngnathidae.

The eccentric seahorses, seadragons, pipehorses and pipefishes (Syngnathidae) have an aglomerular kidney. Here, we show that nephron genes conserved in Bilateria are secondarily eroded/deleted in Syngnathidae genomes. A transcriptome enrichment analysis suggests the predominance of excretion processes in the Syngnathidae kidney.

Phylogenetic and Antimicrobial Pattern as an Indicator of Anthropogenic Impact on Threatened Freshwater Mussels.

Freshwater bivalves are widely used as accumulation indicators and monitoring tools for assessing contaminant effects on different levels of biological integration. This pilot study aimed to explore the phylogenetic diversity of isolated from freshwater mussels ( and ) and characterize their phenotypes and antibiotic resistance profiles. Samples were collected in the Rabaçal and Tua Rivers, in the Douro basin, Portugal-two sites representing different levels of anthropogenic contamination.

Unraveling phylogenetic relationships and species boundaries in the arid adapted Gerbillus rodents (Muridae: Gerbillinae) by RAD-seq data.

Gerbillus is one of the most speciose genera among rodents, with ca. 51 recognized species. Previous attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Gerbillus mainly relied on the mitochondrial cyt-b marker as a source of phylogenetic information.

Identification and characterization of a polyomavirus in the thornback skate (Raja clavata).

Members of the family Polyomaviridae have a circular double-stranded DNA genome that have been identified in various hosts ranging from mammals to arachnids. Here we report the identification and analysis of a complete genome sequence of a novel polyomavirus, Raja clavata polyomavirus (RcPyV1), from a cartilaginous fish, the thornback skate (Raja clavata). The genome sequence was determined using a metagenomics approach with an aim to provide baseline viral data in cartilaginous fish in different ecosystems.