Two potential mechanisms for reducing the level of inbreeding, sex-biased dispersal and kin avoidance, were examined in the
Australian sleepy lizard, Tiliqua rugosa. The home range centres, and the genotypes at four polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci were determined for adult lizards
in a 70-ha study area near Mount Mary, South Australia. From estimates of genetic relatedness, females were as closely related
to other females as they were to males, both within the whole study area, and within home ranges. Similarly, males were as
closely related to other males as they were to females. This suggests that dispersal in the population is not sex-biased.
Sleepy lizards form monogamous pairs during the spring. Partners were less closely related to each other than to other potential
partners in the home range area. This suggests active choice of unrelated partners. The mechanism for recognising related
from unrelated individuals is unknown, but the behaviour could reduce inbreeding.
Received: 7 November 1998 / Accepted: 30 May 1999 相似文献
Queen mating frequency was studied in the European hornet, Vespa crabro, by analyzing four DNA microsatellite loci in 20 workers from each of 14 nests. Queens were found to be predominantly singly
mated (9/14), although double (4/14) and triple mating (1/14) also occurred. For most multiply mated queens, paternity was
significantly biased with the majority male fathering on average 80% of the female offspring. The population-wide effective
mating frequency was therefore low (1.11), and sister-sister relatedness high (0.701 ± 0.023 SE). Low effective mating frequency
in Vespa, in combination with data from other vespines, suggests that high paternity frequency is derived in the group. Some problems
with the non-detection of fathers, where the queen was not sampled or shared alleles with males, are analyzed.
Received: 16 November 1998 / Received in revised form: 29 March 1999 / Accepted: 12 April 1999 相似文献
To improve nitrogen removal performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), it is essential to understand the behavior of nitrogen cycling communities, which comprise various microorganisms. This study characterized the quantity and diversity of nitrogen cycling genes in various processes of municipal WWTPs by employing two molecular-based methods:most probable number-polymerase chain reaction (MPN-PCR) and DNA microarray. MPN-PCR analysis revealed that gene quantities were not statistically different among processes, suggesting that conventional activated sludge processes (CAS) are similar to nitrogen removal processes in their ability to retain an adequate population of nitrogen cycling microorganisms. Furthermore, most processes in the WWTPs that were researched shared a pattern:the nirS and the bacterial amoA genes were more abundant than the nirK and archaeal amoA genes, respectively. DNA microarray analysis revealed that several kinds of nitrification and denitrification genes were detected in both CAS and anaerobic-oxic processes (AO), whereas limited genes were detected in nitrogen removal processes. Results of this study suggest that CAS maintains a diverse community of nitrogen cycling microorganisms; moreover, the microbial communities in nitrogen removal processes may be specific.
