Complete mitogenomes from Kurdistani sheep – abundant centromeric nuclear copies representing diverse ancestors

341. Mustafa SI, Schwarzacher T, and Heslop-Harrison JS. 2018. Complete mitogenomes from Kurdistani sheep: abundant centromeric nuclear copies representing diverse ancestors.  Mitochondrial DNA Part A https://doi.org/10.1080/24701394.2018.1431226 (publisher – see free publisher link below if you can’t access) AND Mustafa et al_2018 AuthorVersion The geographical center of domestication and species diversity for sheep (Ovis aries) lies around the…

Evidence of convergent evolution in humans and macaques supports an adaptive role for copy number variation of the β-defensin-2 gene

Ottolini B, Hornsby MJ, Abujaber R, Macarthur JA, Badge RM, Schwarzacher T, Albertson DG, Bevins CL, Solnick JV, Hollox EJ. 2014. Evidence of convergent evolution in humans and macaques supports an adaptive role for copy number variation of the β-defensin-2 gene. Genome Biology and Evolution 6(11): 3025-3038. DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evu236 β-defensins are a family of important peptides of…

Animal Cytogenetics, Gene Mapping and Chromosome Research – The 21st Colloquium Ischia, Naples, Italy

Cytogenetics of animals is moving forward rapidly with the integration of sequencing and robust phylogenies with methods of chromosome analysis. The 21st International Colloquium on Animal Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping held June 2014 covered a range of topics in comparative, molecular, veterinary and environmental cytogenetics, as well as a session on cytogenetics of non-mammalian vertebrates and…

From vegan to meat: human diet and trophic levels

Where are humans in the food chain? Bonhommeau et al. address this question in PNAS, apparently for the first time, in detail across all countries and over the period from 1961 that FAO statistics on food consumption and production are available (FAOstat.FAO.org). If we ate only the primary producers – plants – we would have a…