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PubMed2000

Quantitative analysis of tumor initiation in rat liver: role of cell replication and cell death (apoptosis).

The formation and development of initiated cells has been studied at the beginning of hepatocarcinogenesis. Rats received the genotoxic carcinogen N-nitrosomorpholine (NNM); placental glutathione S-transferase was used as a marker of initiated cells (G+ cells). Single G+ cells appeared within 24 h after NNM; their frequency increased steeply for approximately 2 weeks, then decreased and finally remained constant. G+ foci consisting of >/=2 G+ cells appeared successively after the single cells. Histological determination of DNA replication and apoptosis revealed that: the formation of single G+ cells may not depend on DNA replication of precursor cells; single G+ cells showed considerably lower DNA replication than G- normal hepatocytes; from the 2-cell stage onwards G+ foci displayed enhanced DNA replication and apoptosis. Data from histological sections were transformed into the third dimension by a new stereological method which considers the non-spherical shape of many G+ lesions. Rates of division and death of G+ cells and of formation and growth of G+ foci were estimated by a stochastic model: initially G+ clones appeared at a rate of 12 000 per day and liver until a maximal number of 176 000 (phase I) was reached; thereafter they declined to 134 000 (phase II); they then remained constant (phase III). Estimated division rates of G+ cells decreased from phase I to phase III, while the death rate increased in phase II, when every third G+ clone disappeared. As a result, at day 50 after NNM only 0.3% of G+ single cells had formed a clone containing >/=5 cells. In conclusion, experimental and computed parameters provide direct evidence that hepatocarcinogenesis evolves clonally and that initiated hepatocytes have a selective proliferation advantage, associated with an enhanced potential to undergo apoptosis. Thereby, depending on the conditions, initiated clones expand or become extinct. Extinction may lead to reversion of the biological effects of initiation.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Use of the orcin reaction for the simultaneous determination of the RNA and DNA content in tissues].

It is shown that the orcinol method may be applied for simultaneous determination of the DNA content (by extinction at 600 nm after 2 min of the orcinol reaction) and RNA in the biologic meterial. By calculating for DNA standard solutions the value of the ratio between the extinction at 665 nm after 15 min to the extinction of 600 nm after 2 min of the orcinol reaction it is possible to increase specifiaty of the orcinol method for determination of the RNA content. The results of determining the content of nucleic acids in the biological material by the orcinol method are in good agreement with the data of its determination by the two-wave spectrophotometric method and the method of Barton.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

The genetic secrets some fossils hold.

Most animals that once lived have gone extinct. The remains of a few of these can be found in museum collections worldwide. As modern evolutionary biology is limited to the use of extant taxa, retrieving DNA from extinct or subfossil organisms can add significant insight into past population history and resolve phylogenies that can be tentative by morphology alone. DNA is a relatively weak molecule, comparatively speaking, yet under certain conditions it persists in the fossil record, despite what in vitro chemistry predicts. While most fossil remains do not contain DNA, museum specimens can be screened for the presence of conditions that would be conducive for nucleic acid preservation by measuring the extent of amino acid racemization and by looking at the extent of protein hydrolysis by pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Results from these types of analyses suggest that the preservation of DNA is linked to the temperature and its constancy at a site rather than its age. Chemical analyses of coprolites from extinct herbivores from the late Pleistocene, as well as Archaic Native Americans, show the presence of compounds from the Maillard reaction. Upon the cleaving of these products, the defecator can be identified and his diet analyzed.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1978

Facial expressions as conditioned stimuli for electrodermal responses: a case of "preparedness"?

Converging data suggest that human facial behavior has an evolutionary basis. Combining these data with Seligman's preparedness theory, it was predicted that facial expressions of anger should be more readily associated with aversive events than should expressions of happiness. Two experiments involving differential electrodermal conditioning to pictures of faces, with electric shock as the unconditioned stimulus, were performed. In the first experiment, the subjects were exposed to two pictures of the same person, one with an angry and one with a happy expression. For half of the subjects, the shock followed the angry face, and for the other half, it followed the happy face. In the second experiment, three groups of subjects differentiated between pictures of male and female faces, both showing angry, neutral, and happy expressions. Responses to angry conditioned stimuli showed significant resistance to extinction in both experiments, with a larger effect in Experiment 2. Responses to happy or neutral conditioned stimuli, on the other hand, extinguished immediately when the shock was withheld. The results are related to conditioning to phobic stimuli and to the preparedness theory.

Adult↗
PubMed2026

Emerging trends in genome editing of wild animals.

Globally, nearly one million species are currently threatened with extinction, highlighting the need for more efficient solutions to biological conservation. Genome editing, which allows for faster and more precise changes in genomes, is a promising technique for boosting populations through facilitated adaptation, management of invasive or pathogenic populations, and potentially even facilitating the revival of extinct species. These approaches belong to a new field of research termed conservation biotechnology, which places a great responsibility on researchers and decision makers to ensure sustainability. In this paper, we have mapped the emerging trends in genome editing of wild animals. Current projects primarily focus on population control and de-extinction, with fewer initiatives aimed at preserving threatened species. We then explore four critical dimensions of conservation biotechnology: the technology itself, new perspectives on conservation practices, research organization, and governance and policy. Despite its potential, key questions remain-particularly whether genome editing can increase genetic diversity without causing unintended non-target impacts. Genome editing also provokes new perspectives on conservation practices where ecosystem-wide impact assessment, case-by-case evaluations, and post-release monitoring needs to be prioritized. Furthermore, conservation biotechnology is heavily funded through private funding showing varying stakeholder interest, which can lead to untraditional and less transparent research processes. Stakeholders, including local and indigenous people, are only to a certain degree involved, which may weaken inclusion of local knowledge and monitoring efforts. Finally, concerning governance and policy, there is an urgent need to develop more adequate regulation of conservation biotechnology, as environmental release of genome-edited animals challenges definitions and guidelines in current nature protection laws and GMO regulations. Based on our analysis, we outline key points for further investigation toward a more sustainable approach to conservation biotechnology.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Complex limiting behaviour of multilocus genetic systems in cyclical environments.

Here we demonstrate that complex limiting behaviour (supercycles and chaotic-like phenomena) may arise in a rather broad and natural class of multilocus systems, both haploid and diploid, experiencing stabilizing selection with cyclically varying optima over a short period. These include loci with purely additive, dominant, or semidominant effects, with different types of their chromosome distribution. The observed complex dynamics appeared to manifest a certain stability with respect to disturbances of parameters specifying the structure of the selected system and environmental characteristics. This mode of multilocus dynamics by far exceeds the potential attainable under ordinary selection models resulting in simple behaviour. It may represent a novel evolutionary mechanism increasing genetic diversity over long time periods. This novel mechanism could contribute to the observation that biological diversity has increased over geological time regardless of the well-known massive extinctions.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Skin conductance responses to masked conditioned stimuli: phylogenetic/ontogenetic factors versus direction of threat?

Evolutionarily old threat stimuli are likely to require less conscious information processing than threat stimuli of a more recent date. To test this proposal two differential conditioning experiments, with biological threat stimuli (e.g. snakes) in half the groups and cultural threat stimuli (e.g. guns) in the other half, were conducted. The conditioned (CS+) and the control (CS-) stimuli were backward masked during the extinction phase to prevent conscious recognition. The differential skin conductance responding for both biological and cultural threat stimuli survived the masking procedure when the conditioned stimuli were directed towards the participants (Experiment 1), but for neither type of CS when stimuli were not directed towards the participants (Experiment 2). These findings are discussed in relation to the previous finding by Ohman and co-workers and in relation to imminence of threat.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Human impacts and the global distribution of extinction risk.

Understanding the global geographical distribution of extinction risk is a key challenge in conservation biology. It remains controversial, however, to what extent areas become threat hotspots simply because of high human impacts or due to predisposing ecological conditions. Limits to the taxonomic and geographical extent, resolution and quality of previously available data have precluded a full global assessment of the relative roles of these factors. Here, we use a new global database on the geographical distributions of birds on continents and continental islands to show that, after controlling for species richness, the best predictors of the global pattern of extinction risk are measures of human impact. Ecological gradients are of secondary importance at a global scale. The converse is true for individual biogeographic realms, within which variation in human impact is reduced and its influence on extinction risk globally is therefore underestimated. These results underline the importance of a global perspective on the mechanisms driving spatial patterns of extinction risk, and the key role of anthropogenic factors in driving the current extinction crisis.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

A branching process, its application in biology: influence of demographic parameters on the social structure in mammal groups.

Branching processes are widely used in biology. This theoretical tool is used in cell dynamics, epidemics and population dynamics. In population dynamics, branching processes are mainly used to access extinction probabilities of populations, groups or families, with the Galton-Watson branching process. Many mammal species live in socially-structured groups, and the smallest units of these groups are lineages (or families) of kin-related individuals. In many primate species, these lineages are matrilines, as females remain in their natal groups most of the time, whereas males generally disperse. Lineage parameters, such as numbers of matrilines, size of each matriline and average degree of relatedness, could strongly influence the genetic composition of groups. Evidence indicates that division along matrilines could induce substantial differentiation among fission groups. Here, we develop a novel mathematical model based on the branching process theory describing demographic dynamics of groups. The main result of this model is an explicit analytical expression of the joint distribution of numbers of lineages and sizes of socially-structured groups. We investigated the influence of parameters such as natality and mortality on the outcome of the process, including extinction probability. Finally, we discuss this theoretical result with respect to biological significance.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

A chicken consultation with ramifications.

In Madison I once worked with two postdoctoral fellows who had spent their youth in New York City and who, when asked what birds they knew both responded "why, pigeons and LBJ's!" (little brown jobbies). Despite their undoubted brilliance, they clearly had an educational deficiency not fixed by buying eggs and poultry at a grocery store. Though of enormous economic and nutritional importance to humans, turkeys and chickens constitute only a minute fraction of the disappearing avian life in our ecology. One could easily teach an entire middle or high school biology course around the reproduction, embryology, evolution, genetics, anatomy, special adaptations, virology, bacteriology, taxonomy, behavior, and extinctions of birds, as paradigmatic of all of life. Where would developmental or evolutionary biology be without the Galapagos finches, chick embryo, or neurobiology without the Zebra Finch? The modifications of the original red jungle fowl of India and South East Asia into hundreds of races through artificial selection and breeding practices provide as beautiful an example of developmental plasticity, well-known to Darwin, as the domestic dog, cat, laboratory mice, and guinea pigs. In what follows I have begun to repay my indebtedness to my mentor Emil Witschi who introduced me to developmental biology, physiology, and genetics and its historical study on the basis of birds (and amphibians); and to Mark Leppert, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Utah for collaborative support, and bird-watching fieldtrips.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Evolutionary speed limits inferred from the fossil record.

The dynamics of extinction and diversification determine the long-term effects of extinction episodes. If rapid bursts of extinction are offset by equally rapid bursts of diversification, their biodiversity consequences will be transient. But if diversification rates cannot accelerate rapidly enough, pulses of extinction will lead to long-lasting depletion of biodiversity. Here I use spectral analysis of the fossil record to test whether diversification rates can accelerate as much as extinction rates, over both short and long spans of geological time. I show that although the long-wavelength variability of diversification rates equals or exceeds that of extinctions, diversification rates are markedly less variable than extinction rates at wavelengths shorter than roughly 25 million years. This implies that there are intrinsic speed limits that constrain how rapidly diversification rates can accelerate in response to pulses of extinction.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Avian evolution, Gondwana biogeography and the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event.

The fossil record has been used to support the origin and radiation of modern birds (Neornithes) in Laurasia after the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event, whereas molecular clocks have suggested a Cretaceous origin for most avian orders. These alternative views of neornithine evolution are examined using an independent set of evidence, namely phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeography. Pylogenetic relationships of basal lineages of neornithines, including ratite birds and their allies (Palaleocognathae), galliforms and anseriforms (Galloanserae), as well as lineages of the more advanced Neoves (Gruiformes, (Capimulgiformes, Passeriformes and others) demonstrate pervasive trans-Antarctic distribution patterns. The temporal history of the neornithines can be inferred from fossil taxa and the ages of vicariance events, and along with their biogeographical patterns, leads to the conclusion that neornithines arose in Gondwana prior to the Cretaceous Tertiary extinction event.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Mass extinctions among tetrapods and the quality of the fossil record.

The fossil record of tetrapods is very patchy because of the problems of preservation, in terrestrial sediments in particular, and because vertebrates are rarely very abundant. However, the fossil record of tetrapods has the advantages that it is easier to establish a phylogenetic taxonomy than for many invertebrate groups, and there is the potential for more detailed ecological analyses. The relative incompleteness of a fossil record may be assessed readily, and this can be used to test whether drops in overall diversity are related to mass extinctions or to gaps in our knowledge. Absolute incompleteness cannot be assessed directly, but a historical approach may offer clues to future improvements in our knowledge. One of the key problems facing palaeobiologists is paraphyly, the fact that many higher taxa in common use do not contain all of the descendants of the common ancestor. This may be overcome by cladistic analysis and the identification of monophyletic groups. The diversity of tetrapods increased from the Devonian to the Permian, remained roughly constant during the Mesozoic, and then began to increase in the late Cretaceous, and continued to do so during the Tertiary. The rapid radiation of 'modern' tetrapod groups--frogs, salamanders, lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodilians, birds and mammals--was hardly affected by the celebrated end-Cretaceous extinction event. Major mass extinctions among tetrapods took place in the early Permian, late Permian, early Triassic, late Triassic, late Cretaceous, early Oligocene and late Miocene. Many of these events appear to coincide with the major mass extinctions among marine invertebrates, but the tetrapod record is largely equivocal with regard to the theory of periodicity of mass extinctions.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

The case for extraterrestrial causes of extinction.

The dramatic increase in our knowledge of large-body impacts that have occurred in Earth's history has led to strong arguments for the plausibility of meteorite impact as a cause of extinction. Proof of causation is often hampered, however, by our inability to demonstrate the synchronism of specific impacts and extinctions. A central problem is range truncation: the last reported occurrences of fossil taxa generally underestimate the true times of extinction. Range truncation, because of gaps in sedimentation, lack of preservation, or lack of discovery, can make sudden extinctions appear gradual and gradual extinctions appear sudden. Also, stepwise extinction may appear as an artefact of range truncation. These effects are demonstrated by experiments performed on data from field collections of Cretaceous ammonities from Zumaya (Spain). The challenge for future research is to develop a new calculus for treating biostratigraphic data so that fossils can provide more accurate assessments of the timing of extinctions.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Catalyst-induced growth with limited catalyst lifespan and competition.

Spatially extended catalyst-induced growth processes are studied. This type of processes exists in all domains of biology, ranging from ecology (nutrients and growth), through immunology (antigens and lymphocytes) to molecular biology (signaling molecules initiating signaling cascades). The extinction-proliferation transition is considered for a system containing discrete catalysts (A) that induces the proliferation of a discrete reactant (B). The realization of this model on an infinite capacity d-dimensional discrete lattice for immortal catalysts has been previously considered (the AB model). It was shown that the adaptation of the reactants to the diffusive noise induced by stochastic fluctuations of catalyst density yields proliferation even if the average environmental conditions lead to extinction. This model is extended here to include more realistic situations, like finite lifespan of the catalysts and finite carrying capacity of the reactants. By using a combination of Monte Carlo simulation, percolation-theory-based estimations and an analytic perturbative analysis, the asymptotic behavior of these systems is studied. In both cases studied, it turns out that the overall survival of the reactant population at the long run is based on the size and shape of a typical single colony, related to the localized proliferation around spatio-temporal catalyst density fluctuations. If the density of these colonies (based on the lifetime of the spatial fluctuation and the carrying capacity of the medium) is large enough, i.e. above the percolation threshold, the reactant population survives even in (on average) hostile environment. This model provides a new insight on the population dynamics in chemical, biological and ecological systems.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Extinction and permanence of one-prey multi-predators of Holling type II function response system with impulsive biological control.

In this paper, one investigates the dynamic behaviors of one-prey multi-predator model with Holling type II functional response by introducing impulsive biological control strategy (periodic releasing natural enemies at different fixed time). By using Floquet theorem and small amplitude perturbation method, it is proved that there exists an asymptotically stable pest-eradication periodic solution when the impulsive period is less than some critical value and permanence condition is established via the method of comparison involving multiple Liapunov functions. It is shown that multi-predator impulsive control strategy is more effective than the classical and single one.

Animals↗
PubMed1964

THE MICRODETERMINATION OF BIOLOGICAL COPPER WITH OXALYLDIHYDRAZIDE.

Methods are described for the determination of microgram quantities of biological copper in aqueous medium as the intensely coloured oxalyldihydrazide-acetaldehyde complex (molar extinction coefficient 23,000 to 23,500). The methods are applicable on a routine basis to any biological material, in particular to serum, urine, or tissues, such as liver, brain, or kidney. In the case of urine a simple semi-quantitative screening method is also described. For quantitative work copper is liberated from serum by acid extraction and protein precipitation, and from urine and tissues by a rapid wet-ashing procedure. Recoveries of added copper from urine are quantitative. Precision is high although day-to-day control with standards and blanks is desirable. The methods are applied in an investigation of the diurnal variations in a normal man and in two cases of Wilson's disease.

Blood↗