Changes in the structure of a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dactylorhiza incarnata</Emphasis> (L.) Soó population during the overgrowing of a meadow-bog community complex in the Moscow region

The overgrowing of meadow-bog communities by shrubs and trees (age 5–40 years, crown closure 0.4–0.9) leads to a decrease in incident illumination. As a consequence, juvenile and generative plants disappear from D. incarnata population loci, their average ecological density decreases, and the loci enter the state of regression. The digging activity of wild boars disrupts phytocenotically closed groups of longirhizomatous herbs, thereby creating favorable conditions for seed reproduction of D. incarnata. The species begins to form population loci with a complete ontogenetic spectrum and high ecological density, eventually restoring the normal (definitive) population structure.     

A molecular genetic analysis of social structure, dispersal, and interpack relationships of the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus )

The African wild dog is a highly social, pack-living predator of the African woodland and savannah. The archetypal wild dog pack consists of a single dominant breeding pair, their offspring, and non-breeding adults who are either offspring or siblings of one of the breeding pair. Non-breeding adults cooperate in hunting, provisioning and the protection of young. From these observations follows the prediction that the genetic structure of wild dogs packs should resemble that of a multigenerational family, with all same-sexed adults and offspring within a pack related as sibs or half-sibs. Additionally, a higher kinship between females from neighboring packs should be evident if females tend to have small dispersal distances relative to males. We test these predictions through analysis of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and 14 microsatellite loci in nine wild dog packs from Kruger National Park, Republic of South Africa. We show that as predicted, African wild dog packs generally consist of an unrelated alpha male and female, subdominant close relatives, and offspring of the breeding pair. Sub-dominant wild dogs occasionally reproduce but their offspring rarely survive to 1 year of age. Relatedness influences the timing and location of dispersal events as dispersal events frequently coincide with a change in pack dominance hierarchy and dispersers often move to areas with a high proportion of close relatives. Received: 22 February 1996 / Accepted after revision: 16 November 1996     

A simple and effective approach for detecting maternal cell contamination in molecular prenatal diagnosis

The presence of maternal cells in fetal samples constitutes a serious potential source for prenatal misdiagnosis. Here we present our approach for detecting maternal cell contamination (MCC) at prenatal diagnosis for eight monogenic disorders (autosomal recessive: β-thalassaemia, sickle-cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis, prelingual deafness; autosomal dominant: achondroplasia, Huntington disease, myotonic dystrophy, neurofibromatosis type I; X-linked: spinobulbar muscular atrophy). Our aim was to apply a simple and low-cost approach, which would easily and accurately provide information on the fetal tissue MCC status. MCC testing was applied to cases of recessive inheritance where the primary mutation screening of the fetus revealed the presence of the maternal mutation, to cases concerning dominant inheritance and to cases of multiple gestation. The potential presence of maternal cells was determined by the amplification of the 3′-HVR/APO B, D1S80, THO1 and VNTRI of vWf polymorphic loci, which have previously demonstrated high heterozygosity in Caucasians. Among 135 prenatal diagnoses, 44 finally needed to be tested for MCC (32.6%). MCC was detected in four cases, where DNA was isolated directly from chorionic villi samples (CVS), and in one case with DNA isolated directly from amniotic fluid (AF). In almost 90% of cases a simple test of one polymorphic locus provided sufficient information about MCC. The choice of the appropriate locus is therefore essential, while the simultaneous screening of both parents provides the means for distinguishing non-informative sites about MCC. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

RAPD markers suggest genotypic effects on forager specialization in a eusocial wasp

Genetic variability within insect societies may provide a mechanism for increasing behavioral diversity among workers, thereby augmenting colony efficiency or flexibility. In order to assess the possibility that division of labor has a genetic component in the eusocial wasp Polybia aequatorialis, I asked whether the genotypes of workers within colonies correlated with behavioral specialization. Workers specialized by foraging for one of the four materials (wood pulp, insect prey, nectar, or water) gathered by their colonies. I collected foragers on 2 days from each of three colonies and identified the material the foragers were carrying when collected. I produced random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers from the genomic DNA of these foragers and estimated genotypic similarity of foragers based on sharing of variable RAPD marker bands. Contingency tests on 20 variable loci per colony showed statistically significant (P <0.05) biases in RAPD marker frequencies among forager types in the three colonies. Patterns of association of RAPD marker bands with specializations were constant in two colonies, but changed between collection days in one colony. RAPD marker biases suggest that division of labor among workers includes a genetic component in P. aequatorialis. Colony-level selection on variation in division of labor is a possible factor favoring the evolutionary maintenance of high genotypic variability (low relatedness) in epiponine wasp colonies and in other eusocial insects. Received: 18 July 1995/Accepted after revision: 1 October 1995     

黄鳝野生群体和养殖群体遗传结构的RAPD分析

采用RAPD标记技术对黄鳝野生群体和养殖群体遗传结构进行初步研究.用24个随机引物在野生群体和养殖群体中分别扩增出259和251条DNA片段,其中多态性片段数分别为116和92条,多态性片段的比例分别为44.79%和36.65%,平均杂合度分别为0.2155和0.1908,遗传相似率分别为0.9053和0.9583,群体间遗传相似率为0.8863.而Shannon遗传多样性指数表明,两群体中的遗传变异有81.51%来自群体内,只有18.49%来自群体间.野生群体的多态性位点比例和杂合度明显高于养殖群体,说明黄鳝野生种质资源状况较好,应加以合理保护.与野生群体相比,养殖群体的杂合度和遗传多样性有所下降,提示在黄鳝的人工繁殖过程中应引进标记辅助选择等技术手段.图1表3参24     

Differential use of stored sperm during oviposition in the damselfly Calopteryx splendens xanthostoma (Charpentier)

Female Calopteryx splendens xanthostoma (Charpentier) (Odonata), have two discrete sperm storage organs, the bursa copulatrix and the paired spermathecae. We used the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA(RAPD) profiling technique to determine from which sperm storage organ spermatozoa were used to fertilise eggs during behaviourally distinct oviposition bouts. During oviposition bouts following remating sperm from the bursa copulatrix are largely used to fertilise eggs, but when females avoid remating before an oviposition bout the sperm used to fertilise eggs are derived mainly from the paired spermathecae. Our observations suggest that female C. s. xanthostoma can avoid male paternity assurance mechanisms by a combination of behavioural and anatomical adaptation: the reason(s) they do so is unclear. Received: 28 November 1995/Accepted after revision: 5 August 1996     

应用RAPD方法分析厌氧氨氧化污泥驯化过程中的微生物遗传性质

采用随机扩增多态性DNA(RAPD)方法研究了厌氧氨氧化污泥驯化过程中微生物遗传多样性的变化,并对接种物不同的3个反应器中的微生物作了聚类分析.在污泥驯化培养过程中,3个反应器内的微生物发生了较明显的遗传变异,以缺氧污泥接种的反应器中微生物在驯化过程中的Nei基因多样性指数和Shannon信息指数均较高,遗传变异较大.硝化污泥中存在与厌氧氨氧化细菌亲缘关系较近的菌种,更适宜作为接种物驯化培养厌氧氨氧化细菌.以好氧污泥作为种泥启动反应器,通过培养硝化污泥再转入厌氧氨氧化驯化,这种驯化途径优于以缺氧污泥和厌氧污泥启动反应器的途径.