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Questing is a situation when a tick is seeking to get closer or ambush its potential host. However, information on questing tick species in Malaysia is still lacking, thus the association with tick-borne diseases (TBD) is not completely understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the tick species from five most frequently visited recreational areas in Pahang and Terengganu states, which were recorded to have high potential of TBD cases. By implementing handpick method, a total of 18 males and 15 females belonging to five Dermacentor Koch, 1844 species, were collected, namely D. compactus Neumann 1901, D. tricuspis (Schulze, 1933), D. auratus Supino 1897, D. steini (Schulze, 1933), and D. falsosteini Apanaskevich, Apanaskevich & Nooma respectively. The specimens were collected and identified based on morphological characters prior to obtaining the molecular data of COI and 16S rDNA. The D. compactus was the most abundant species collected in this study, while D. falsosteini was the least. All species were distinctly separated on the Neighbor Joining and Maximum Parsimony tree topologies and supported with high bootstrap values. Furthermore, a low intraspecific variation (0.00 - 0.01) was observed amongst the individuals of the same species in both genes. Meanwhile, each Dermacentor species was genetically different, with interspecific values ranging from 0.13-0.19 and 0.11-0.20 for COI and 16S rDNA. These findings had successfully recorded the tick species that were potentially associated with TBD, and which might be circulated among humans and animals. This study also has some implications on the diversity and geographical extension of Dermacentor ticks, thus should warrant further investigation as a potential vector of tick-borne diseases and public health importance.

Large indels greatly impact the observable phenotypes in different organisms including plants and human. Hence, extracting large indels with high precision and sensitivity is important. Here, we developed IndelEnsembler to detect large indels in 1047 Arabidopsis whole-genome sequencing data. IndelEnsembler identified 34 093 deletions, 12 913 tandem duplications and 9773 insertions. Our large indel dataset was more comprehensive and accurate compared with the previous dataset of AthCNV (1). We captured nearly twice of the ground truth deletions and on average 27% more ground truth duplications compared with AthCNV, though our dataset has less number of large indels compared with AthCNV. Our large indels were positively correlated with transposon elements across the Arabidopsis genome. The non-homologous recombination events were the major formation mechanism of deletions in Arabidopsis genome. The Neighbor joining (NJ) tree constructed based on IndelEnsembler's deletions clearly divided the geographic subgroups of 1047 Arabidopsis. More importantly, our large indels represent a previously unassessed source of genetic variation. Approximately 49% of the deletions have low linkage disequilibrium (LD) with surrounding single nucleotide polymorphisms. Some of them could affect trait performance. For instance, using deletion-based genome-wide association study (DEL-GWAS), the accessions containing a 182-bp deletion in AT1G11520 had delayed flowering time and all accessions in north Sweden had the 182-bp deletion. We also found the accessions with 65-bp deletion in the first exon of AT4G00650 (FRI) flowered earlier than those without it. These two deletions cannot be detected in AthCNV and, interestingly, they do not co-occur in any Arabidopsis thaliana accession. By SNP-GWAS, surrounding SNPs of these two deletions do not correlate with flowering time. This example demonstrated that existing large indel datasets miss phenotypic variations and our large indel dataset filled in the gap.

The Suez Gulf is one of the most important water bodies north of the Red Sea that contribute significantly in fish production in Egypt. The current study represents the first molecular identification of marine fish species from the Suez Gulf in Egypt based on DNA barcoding. A total of 96 DNA barcodes using a 662 bp-long fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene were generated from 32 species that represent 26 genera and 19 families. The average genetic divergence based on Kimura two-parameter model between families and species were 0.274 and 0.256, respectively. The genetic distance among families varied greatly with the lowest genetic distance of 0.190 obtained between Carangidae and Atherindae, while Sphyraenidae and Moronidae had genetic distance of 0.472. The percent GC content was above average across species and ranged between 51.74% in Acanthopagrus bifasciatus and 66.37% in Lagocephalus guentheri. The Neighbor Joining tree showed clear clustering of the 19 fish families with species of the same family formed a single cluster. The findings of the current study support that COI barcode effectively identified Suez Gulf fish species. Moreover, the results of the current study will establish the first DNA barcode records for Suez Gulf fishes in Egypt which will contribute in future fish species identification in the Suez Gulf and the Red Sea.

Asiatic cotton (G. arboreum) is one of the important cultivated species of cotton originated in Indian subcontinent. Owing to its climate resilience, Asiatic cotton in particular and desi cotton in general, constitutes valuable genetic resources for cotton improvement to achieve sustainable cotton production in India. In the present study, 24 popular Asiatic cotton varieties were profiled using 300 genome-wide SSR markers. Of these, 48 were identified as distinctly polymorphic which detected a total of 124 alleles ranging from 2 to 5 alleles per loci with an average of 2.58. The genetic dissimilarity among 24 G. arboreum varieties ranged from 0.27 to 0.53 with an average of 0.42 indicating presence of sufficient genetic diversity in Indian arboreum varieties. The dissimilarity based unweighted neighbor joining method of clustering grouped them into 6 distinct clusters. The clustering pattern was found to be inconsistent with their known source or pedigree. We propose a set of 8 informative SSR markers for variety identification in diploid cotton using those, DNA fingerprint of 24 Asiatic cotton varieties was developed. Very low probability of identical match (2.68 × 10–6) with goodness of fit of 0.65 indicated robustness and reliability of the developed DNA fingerprint. Information generated in the present study about pattern of diversity among popular Asiatic cotton varieties of India and identified polymorphic markers will be of immense utility in maintenance of valuable desi cotton varieties and marker assisted breeding.

The aim of this work was to study phylogenetic relationships between the new producer strain Bacillus subtilis IFBG MK-2 and the existing strains and increase the biosynthetic activity of this producer by mutagenesis. As a result of sequencing the 16S rRNA gene of the IFBG MK-2 strain, gene fragments with a total length of 1305 nucleotides have been obtained. Based on the 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences, a phylogenetic analysis was performed and a dendrogram was constructed using the Neighbor Joining method and the Kimura two-parameter model. It has been shown that the similarity between the sum of the 16S rRNA gene sequenced fragments of the IFBG MK-2 strain and the GenBank-deposited sequence of this gene of the B. subtilis IAM 12118 type strain reaches 99%. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, the IFBG MK-2 strain was identified as B. subtilis. Through induced mutagenesis, using UV radiation and subsequent stepwise selection, a mutant clone B. subtilis IFBG MK-1A providing for a 50% increase in riboflavin production compared with the original strain has been obtained.

The systematics and phylogeny of flatfish is investigated on the basis of an incomplete nucleotide sequence of 16S rRNA and the complete Co-1 and Cyt-b sequences. In total 62 specimens of 14 species of our own collections were submitted to the GenBank/BOLD repositories and studied. Four types of gene trees were reconstructed: Bayesian (BA), maximum likelihood (ML), minimum evolution (ME), and neighbor joining (NJ). These trees showed basically similar topology. Two separate branches on the trees support the previously identified subfamilies Hippoglossoidinae and Pleuronectinae with the monophyletic status of these taxa. The subfamily Pleuronectinae can be considered monophyletic if the tribe Microstomini is excluded from it and genus Lepidopsetta is moved into the tribe Pleuronectini. Three sets of nucleotide sequences were formed and independently studied. One set included all the obtained 16S rRNA gene sequences (291 bp), the second set included a sample of longer 16S rRNA sequences (617 bp), and the third set consisted of three gene sequences: 16S rRNA, Co-1, and Cyt-b (2926 bp). All three data sets gave a similar phylogenetic signal, which is consistent with the traditional concept of the taxonomy of the Pleuronectiformes order; however, the second and third sets provided better resolution of topology.

During the investigation of natural enemy insects in grain depots, we've found an Anthocoridae insect accounted for a high proportion of natural enemy insects. We identify the enemy insects from morphology and molecular biology, so as to realize more accurate and effective control of storage pests by using the enemy insect. The images of the insects under the ultra-depth microscope (VHX-5000) showed that the insect adults were black brown in colour; the antennas of both the female and male had four segments, which increase in length sequentially from the base to the end, and had a length of 756.2 μm for the female and 741.1 μm for the male. The rostrums of both the female and the male insects were composed of three segments, the male's rostrum (596.8 μm) were shorter than the female's (734.6 μm), and the former two segments of the female's rostrum were significantly longer than the male's. The abdomen of the insect was bilaterally symmetrical, the female's abdomen was wider than the male, and the male insect had a dent between its eighth and ninth segments of the left abdomen, in which its male genitalia was located. In addition, the nymphs as a whole were tangerine in colour, and the eggs were elliptic with creamy white gloss and gridding patterns on the surface. The cytochrome C oxidase I (COI) gene sequences of the insects were identified by DNA barcoding technique, and the determined COI sequences were then submitted to the Genbank database for Blast alignment, and the results showed that the COI gene sequences had a high degree of similarity (99%) with X. flavipes records in the Genbank database. Therefore, we could determine that the insect was X. flavipes. In addition, the neighbor joining (NJ) was used to construct the evolutionary tree, and 1,000 repeated tests were conducted on the confidence levels of each branch. Based on the phylogenetic tree, we've found that X. flavipes belongs to Xylocoris genus. Based on morphology and COI sequence identification, we confidentiy determined that the collected natural enemy insect was X. flavipes. This is the first time that the identification of X. flavipes is being investigated from morphology and molecular biology. The research results are helpful to identify and distinguish the species of flower bugs, and beneficial for the better application of X. flavipes in biological control.

Phylogenetic analysis is used to analyze the evolution of species according to the characteristics of biological sequences. The analytical results are generally represented by phylogenetic trees. NJ (neighbor joining) is a frequently used algorithm for constructing phylogenetic trees because of its few assumptions, fast operation, and high accuracy, and is based on the distance between taxa. It is known that NJ usually constructs different phylogenetic trees for the same dataset with differences in input order, which are known as “tied trees.” This article proposes an improved method of NJ, called ENJ (extended neighbor joining). The ENJ can join several (currently limited to three) nodes with the same minimum distance into a new node, rather than joining two nodes in one iteration, so it can construct triple phylogenetic trees. We have inferred the formulas for updating the distance values and calculating the branch lengths for the ENJ algorithm. We have tested the ENJ with simulated and real data. The experimental results show that, compared with other methods, the trees constructed by the ENJ have greater similarity to the initial trees, and the ENJ is much faster than the NJ algorithm. Moreover, we have constructed a phylogenetic tree for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and related coronaviruses by ENJ, which shows that COVID-19 and SARS-CoV are closer than other coronaviruses. Because it differs from the existing phylogenetic trees for those coronaviruses, we constructed a phylogenetic network for them. The network shows those species have had a reticulate evolution., Graphical Abstract, Accurately inferring evolutionary relationships between species can help humans to understand the evolutionary history and the mechanism. ENJ is an efficient and effective algorithm for constructing phylogenetic trees, which can construct triple phylogenetic trees, if necessary. The trees constructed by ENJ can better describe the original information and reflect the real evolutionary relationship of species.

Key message A molecular analysis using informative SNP markers in 1570 clones of cassava from Vietnam reveals varietal composition from farmers’ field and genebank collections Abstract Cassava is the most important smallholder cash crops in Southeast Asia and is especially used in industrial products. Yet, systematic genetic studies on molecular markers from Vietnamese germplasm have not been considered for breeding and conservation programs. We conducted a molecular analysis of 1570 clones of cassava germplasm from farms across six agro-ecological zones using informative SNP markers. We unraveled the genetic diversity and population structure and provided insights into the value of breeding and conservation programs. Duplicated genotypes comprised 98% of the total sample of the Central Highlands region. Ninety-six SNPs were amplified Central Highlands and South East provinces had the highest allelic richness, covering up to 83% of alleles. The average observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.43) was slightly higher than expected (He = 0.40) across SNP markers, suggesting an excess of heterozygotes plants. Diversity indexes indicated that cassava populations from North West and Eastern Vietnam are genetically diverse (mean He = 0.40). Genetic parentage tests identified 85 unique genetic groups within the varieties KM94, KM419, BRA1305, KM101, KM140, PER262, KM60, KM57 and two unidentified varieties, which accounted for 82% of the frequency distribution. KM94 is the most dominant variety in Vietnamese farms surveyed (38%), reflecting its superior quality and productivity. Discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) revealed four main subgroups, which were partially corroborated by neighbor joining (NJ) analyses. After removing duplicates, 31 unique genotypes were distributed across five of the agro-ecological zones. These were well distributed in the subgroups revealed via DAPC and NJ analyses. The genetic groups identified herein could be used to select unique accessions that should ideally conform with ex situ germplasm collections and identify areas where on-farm conservation programs should be targeted. Newly identified genotypes may also contribute as genetic breeding resources that could be used to adapt cassava to future changes and farmers’ needs.

The relationships among five Northwest Caucasian languages and Hattic were investigated. A list of 193 core vocabulary words was constructed and examined to find look-alike words. Data for Abhkaz, Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardian and Ubykh drew on the work of Starostin, Chirikba and Kuipers. A sub-set list of 15 look-alike words for Hattic was constructed from Soysal. These lists were formulated as character data for reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships of the languages. The phylogenetic relationships of these languages were investigated by a well known method, Neighbor Joining, as implemented in PAUP* 4.0. Supporting and dissenting evidence from human genetic population studies and archeological evidence were discussed. This project has produced a provisional set of character data for the Northwest Caucasian languages and, to a limited extent, Hattic. Phylogenetic trees have been generated and displayed to show their general character and the types of differences obtained by alternate methods. This research is a basis for further inquiries into the development of the Caucasian languages. Moreover, it presents an example of the method for contrast queries application in studying the evolution of language families.

Rhabosciadium aucheri is an Iranian endemic herbaceous species that grows in the west, center, and south regions of Iran. In the present study, genetic variation of 70 individuals belonging to seven natural populations of four provinces was investigated using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Ten out of twenty-two RAPD primers employed in this study, generated 110 highly amplified and reproducible loci and a mean of 11.1 bands per primer and 48.13% of polymorphism was obtained. According to our results, the primer OPA10 presented the highest effective number of alleles, Shannon's index, and genetic diversity. The highest value of genetic identity (0.916) was determined between Hamadan, Nahavand and Hamadan, Alvand Mts. populations and the highest genetic distance (0.277) was observed between Hamadan, Asadabad and Kurdistan, Qorveh populations. Therefore, there is an obvious correlation between genetic diversity and geographical distribution. PCA was obtained based on RAPD molecular data and Neighbor Joining (NJ) dendrogram was provided successively. Similar results were attained employing UPGMA and Neighbor Joining dendrograms, supported by PCA ordination plot. Overall, almost moderate level of polymorphism was obtained by RAPD molecular markers at the population level that shows a reasonable amount of intraspecific variability. The reason might be due to the low level of gene flow between populations that could give rise to high genetic differentiation.

Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure of germplasm collections provides an opportunity for plant breeders to develop new and improved cultivars. In this study, genotypic variation of 90 lentil genotypes was evaluated using 10 CAAT Box Derived Polymorphism (CBDP) markers. The polymorphism percentage was 100% with an average of 100% indicating a high polymorphism level. A total of 117 alleles were identified for different genetic locations and with an average of 13 alleles per primer. Among CBDP markers used, the highest allele amplified belonged to CBDP22 marker with 21 bands and the lowest allele amplified corresponded to CBDP3, CBDP6 and CBDP13 markers with 11 bands. The Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.413 to 0.471 with an average of 0.448. Marker Index (MI) ranged from 4.85 to 9.90. The highest index for genetic diversity (PIC and MI) belonged to the CBDP22 indicating a high resolution for this marker as compared to other markers. Based on neighbor joining clustering for molecular data, genotypes were grouped into five distinct groups. Population structure analysis showed that the highest peak was at K = 3, indicating the presence of three major clusters. The results of this study showed that CBDP markers can be used as a useful tool for studying the genetic diversity of lentil germplasm.

Background: Because milk and milk products play a vital role in human nutrition, dairy cattle farmers are working in increasing milk production or changing its composition. For this reason, researching the genes which play an important role in milk production and its composition is of high value. Information theory is an interdisciplinary branch of mathematics which overlaps with communications engineering, biology, and medicine. It has been used in genetic and bioinformatics analyses such as the biological structures and sequences. Materials and methods: In this study, a total of 20 microRNAs from those affecting the breast tissue and mammary glands have been extracted from the microRNA database. For each microRNA sequence, the entropy values of the first- to third-order were calculated and the Kullback-Leibler divergence criteria were estimated. Then, the Kullback-Leibler divergence matrix of the microRNAs was considered as the inputs for clustering methods. All calculations were performed in the R program. The biological pathway of each target was predicted using the KEGG server. Results: MicroRNAs are divided into two main groups based upon comparing and analyzing all the created clusters. The first group contains 18 microRNA and the second group contains 2 microRNAs at the first- and third-order entropies. The second-order entropy contains 19 microRNA in the first group and only 1 microRNA in the second group. The clustering topology changes as the entropy order changes from 1 to 3, with the most significant changes being seen in the clustering resulted from the third-order entropy. Conclusion: In the proposed method of clustering, we obtained a biological grouping of genes. There is a good concordance between most of the microRNAs within one cluster and their biological pathway. The algorithm is applicable for clustering a range of genes and even genomes based on their DNA sequences entropy. Our method can help assign and predict the biological activity of those genes that lack robust annotations because it relies only on the DNA sequence and length of the genes.

Hydatid cyst is one of the parasitic zoonoses caused by infection with the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm. The spread of this parasite is global and is of great importance in terms of public health. To date, ten different species of this parasite have been identified that differ in characteristics such as life cycle, epidemiology and pathogenesis. The purpose of this study was to determine the genotype and phylogenetic relationship of hydatid cysts isolated from livestock of Bushehr province, Iran. About 62 samples of hepatic and pulmonary hydatid cysts were collected from slaughtered animals. DNA extracted by phenol–chloroform method was amplified by PCR using primers specific for the cox1 gene. The PCR products of 50 samples were sequenced and analyzed using BioEdit software and compared with sequences in the GenBank. The phylogenetic tree was drawn using Neighbor Joining tree-NJ method, and its reliability was evaluated. Sequencing results showed that out of 50 sequenced samples, 43 samples had the genotype of Echinococcus granulosus and 7 samples had the genotype of Taenia hydatigena. By drawing a phylogenetic tree, all 43 hydatid cyst samples belonged to G1 strain. The predominance of G1 strain of hydatid cyst in livestock of Bushehr province shows the main role of this genotype in establishing the life cycle of parasite in this region and if the genotype of the parasite in dogs and humans is determined, then these findings can be used to disrupt the life cycle of the parasite and reduce the human infections.

The molecular phylogenetic relationship among two species of genus Leiurus, from Saudi Arabia with additional comparative sequence data available from Egypt, Oman and Turkey is presented. The molecular phylogeny was performed using maximum parsimony, neighbor joining and bayesian inference. Our results indicate a clear deep splitting between the Western clade, which represented by L. quinuestriatus sequences from Egypt and those from the Eastern clade which encompassing different Leiurus species from Saudi Arabia, Oman and Turkey was shown. Also, the phylogenetic relationship represents additional support for the taxonomic status of Arabian Leiurus species.

Rosemary (Salvia rosemarinus Schleid.) is cultivated worldwide due to its diverse uses as spice, preservative and medicine against many illnesses. Even though rosemary is widely grown in Ethiopia, the genetic diversity of available germplasms was not assessed. Therefore, this experiment was designed to analyze the genetic diversity of Ethiopian rosemary for further breeding activities. Genetic diversity of 45 rosemary accessions collected from different parts of Ethiopia was analyzed using 12 simple sequence repeat markers. A total of 189 alleles were detected, and the number of alleles per marker (Na) ranged from 7 to 27 with an average of 15.75. About 56.6% of the alleles were rare (frequency 0.5), respectively. Polymorphic information content per marker ranged from 0.74 to 0.94, with an average value of 0.87. The result depicted over all polymorphism of 92.6%, indicating the existence of high genetic variability among the accessions. The average values of expected (HE) and observed (HO) heterozygosities were 0.65 and 0.35, respectively. The average HO was lower than HE, showed heterozygote deficiency due to restricted cross-fertilization. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that within populations variations contributed more to the genetic diversity than between population variations. Unweighted Neighbor Joining based phylogenetic analysis, Principal Coordinate analysis and STRUCTURE analysis showed admixture of the populations, confirming that the sample groupings did not strictly follow the geographic origin of the accessions. Therefore, improvement program of the crop should focus on actual diversity, not on area of growing.

DNA barcoding is a rapid, precise, and effective way of species identification. A short and standard target gene marker is used to create sequence profile of identified species. Specific tag or marker is used, which is derived from mitochondrial COI for identification. Effectiveness of this method axes the degree of divergence among species. Identification is necessary for their representation. In the present work, Catla catla was used to study by using Cytochrome C Oxidase 1.The genetic distances were computed, and Neighbor Joining tree was constructed based on the Kimura 2 Parameter method. GenBank and BOLD revealed definitive identity matches. Conspecific and congeneric K2P nucleotide divergence was estimated. Evolutionary tree was analyzed clearly by relating their species to phylogenetic tree, as same as species were bunched under same tree node, while species were differently clustered under distinct nodes. These findings conclude that the gene sequence may serve as a milestone for identification and phylogenetic history of related species at molecular level.

Lallemantia (Lamiaceae) is a small genus with 5 species. In general, little biosystematics and molecular study has been performed on the genus Lallemantia. Moreover, the studies used only some of the species; none of them has considered all 5 species as a whole in one specific approach. Therefore, the species inter-relationship or nexus in the genus is not thoroughly probed. The present study investigated the molecular phylogeny and species relationship of all five species in the genus Lallemantia, using ribosomal protein L16 and the multilocus ISSR markers. It also compared their morphometric, anatomical and seed results. The species were efficaciously delimited by the morphological, anatomical and seed characters, as well as by ISSR and cpDNA markers. The PCA (Principal components analysis) plot of the species based upon the morphological characters, the MDS (Multidimensional Scaling) plot of the species based on the nutlet and anatomical characters, the NJ (neighbor joining) tree plot of ISSR dataand the ML tree of cpDNA revealed closer affinity between L. iberica and L. canescens and L. peltata was placed at some distance from these species. The phylogenetic trees displayed monophyly of the genus Lallemantia. The Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis by Sampling Trees (BEAST) analysis unveiled that the studied Lallemantia species started to diverge about 25 million years ago.

This study was aimed at determining the presence of five major yield responsive genes shown to be among key determinants of rice yield in ten rice cultivars grown in Nigeria using candidate gene SSRs markers (Cg-SSRs). DNAs were extracted from young leaf samples using optimized cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-extraction method. An established gene sequences for high yielding rice Nipponbare cultivar for the five genes were retrieved from NCBI database and used to mine for SSRS using SSR identification tool. A pair of primer were designed manually from the nucleotide sequences flanking the selected SSRS for each gene. The designed primers were used to screen for the presence of the genes. Three pair of primers (for Gif1, Gn1a and Gw2) were able to amplify the targeted regions. The remaining two (for Gs3 and Dep1) did not amplify even the positive control. Two representative polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-products for the PCR-positive genes were sequenced and compared with established gene sequences of high yielding cultivars on NCBI database and their percentage sequence identities were determined. Phylogenetic trees (dendrograms) were generated using neighbor joining method. Overall, all the ten cultivars have both Gif1 and Gn1a genes while only eight cultivars have Gw2 gene. Gs3 and Dep1 need further optimization of PCR-conditions. Key words: Polymerase chain reaction, SSRs markers, primer.

Picea mongolica is a conifer with a limited distribution in China and its taxonomic status is controversial. In order to explore genetic differences between P. mongolica and other nearby Picea species and to investigate its taxonomic status, phylogenetic relationships were analyzed between P. mongolica and Picea koraiensis, Picea meyeri and Picea wilsonii by three chloroplast gene sequences matK, chlB and atpA. The length of joint chloroplast sequence is 2379 bp. The fifteen haplotypes were identified by haplotype network analysis, among which two were major haplotypes and nine were unique. In addition, the genetic diversity of the sample collection species was inferred. Based on the haplotype network and Neighbor Joining phylogenetic tree analysis, P. mongolica was located on the basal clade of the phylogenetic tree which had more primitive taxa, and the genetic diversity of P. mongolica was highest. The significant differences between P. mongolica and these other Picea species were identified by this research.

Background. The current natural habitat of Tulipa suaveolens Roth rapidly decreases. In order to work out the strategy of the species’ preservation, evaluation of its intraand interpopulation polymorphism is required.Materials and methods. Molecular-genetic ISSR markers were used to analyze 125 samples from 10 populations of T. suaveolens occurring in Volgograd Province and 4 populations from Saratov Province.Results. ISSR analysis revealed high intrapopulation polymorphism (73–89%) in T. suaveolens populations form Volgograd Province. AMOVA attributed the largest proportion of variability (74.3%) to intrapopulation polymorphism. Interpopulation differences account for 25.7%. Total subdivision of populations (FST) was 0.257; total gene flow (Nm) between populations was 0.723. According to Bayesian analysis and clustering with both UPGMA and Neighbor Joining methods, all the studied T. suaveolens samples from Volgograd Province make up a large genetic group: within that group none of the potential subgroups may be associated with a particular place of collecting. The NewHybrids software was applied, and the results pointed to the hybrid nature of most samples. Samples of three populations from Saratov Province made up a separate genetic group; those samples fell under the category of parent forms.Conclusion. Considering that genetic subdivision of T. suaveolens populations within the administrative borders of Volgograd Province is insignificant, while all the province’s natural parks and a number of protected natural areas undertake measures to preserve the species, the existing conservation strategy may be recognized as effective and sufficient.

Resumen La cabecera de las cuencas de las quebradas Yomasa y Fucha abarca amplias zonas de vegetación silvestre, cuya degradación afecta los servicios ecosistémicos que brinda, entre ellos, la fertilidad del suelo, el agua y el aire puro. Para contribuir a su conservación se planteó un análisis de la riqueza, composición y estructura de dichas cuencas. Se delimitaron 22 parcelas de vegetación, se midieron el diámetro del tronco y la altura de individuos de las especies leñosas, y se estimó el porcentaje de cobertura de todas las especies con el método punto-intercepto. Se estimó la riqueza y el esfuerzo de muestreo, y se hicieron análisis de conglomerados y de ordenación con información florística y estructural para evidenciar los estados de desarrollo de la vegetación por comunidad y los parámetros más relacionados con ellos. Se registraron 247 especies, seis comunidades florísticas y siete estados de desarrollo estructural. A pesar de la transformación agropecuaria, los parches de vegetación todavía muestran un patrón de riqueza representativo de la región, con más especies en el bosque altoandino y matorrales y pajonales de páramo. Hubo similitud en la composición y estructura de la vegetación comparada con las montañas circundantes de la sabana de Bogotá. Algunas comunidades florísticas presentaron varios estados de desarrollo estructural (posiblemente debido a perturbaciones), siendo más evidentes en la vegetación boscosa, cuyo nivel de complejidad es mayor. La propuesta metodológica presentada sirve para evidenciar patrones generales de riqueza y composición de la vegetación, así como para profundizar en detalles de la variación estructural claves para su conservación. Abstract The basin headwaters of Yomasa and Fucha streams encompass large areas of wild vegetation. Its degradation affects the ecosystem services it provides, among them, soil fertility, water, and clean air. As a contribution to its conservation, I conducted richness, composition, and structure analyses in these watersheds establishing 22 vegetation plots to measure trunk diameter and height for woody species and estimate the percentage of coverage of all species using the point-intercept method. I determined the richness and the effort of sampling and carried out cluster and ordination analyses based on the floristic and structural information to evidence vegetation development stages in each community, as well as the parameters most related to them. I registered 247 species in six floristic communities and seven stages of structural development. The vegetation patches still show a representative richness pattern for the region despite the agricultural transformation, with more species in the high Andean Forest, the scrubs, and the paramo grasslands. There was similarities in the vegetation composition and structure compared to the surrounding mountains of the Bogotá Savannah. Some floristic communities showed various stages of structural development (possibly due to disturbances), which were more evident in the woody vegetation and evidenced the highest level of complexity. This methodological proposal can be used to determine the general patterns of vegetation richness and composition and reveal details of their structural variation key for their conservation.

Accurate identification of mosquito species is essential to support programs that involve the study of distribution and mosquito control. Numerous mosquito species are difficult to identify based only on morphological characteristics, due to the morphological similarities in different life stages and large numbers of some species that are members of morphologically similar species complexes. In the present study, the mosquitoes collected in the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve, southeastern Mexico, were evaluated using a combination of morphological and molecular approaches (mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I [COI] DNA barcode). A total of 1,576 specimens of 10 genera and 35 species, mostly adult stages, were collected. A total of 225 COI DNA barcode sequences were analyzed; most species formed well-supported groups in the neighbor joining, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference trees. The intraspecific Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) genetic distance averaged 1.52%. An intraspecific K2P distance of 6.20% was observed in Anopheles crucians s.l., while a deep split was identified in Culex erraticus and Cx. conspirator. This study showed that COI DNA barcodes offer a reliable approach to support mosquito species identification in Mexico.

Understanding how single cells divide and differentiate into different cell types in developed organs is one of the major tasks of developmental and stem cell biology. Recently, lineage tracing technology using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing have enabled simultaneous readouts of gene expressions and lineage barcodes in single cells, which allows for the reconstruction of the cell division tree, and even the detection of cell types and differentiation trajectories at the whole organism level. While most state-of-the-art methods for lineage reconstruction utilize only the lineage barcode data, methods that incorporate gene expression data are emerging, aiming to improve the accuracy of lineage reconstruction. However, effectively incorporating the gene expression data requires a reasonable model on how gene expression data changes along generations of divisions. Here, we present LinRace ( Lin eage R econstruction with a symmetric ce ll division model), a method that integrates the lineage barcode and gene expression data using the asymmetric cell division model and infers cell lineage under a framework combining Neighbor Joining and maximum-likelihood heuristics. On both simulated and real data, LinRace outputs more accurate cell division trees than existing methods for lineage reconstruction. Moreover, LinRace can output the cell states (cell types) of ancestral cells, which is rarely performed with existing lineage reconstruction methods. The information on ancestral cells can be used to analyze how a progenitor cell generates a large population of cells with various functionalities. LinRace is available at: https://github.com/ZhangLabGT/LinRace., Competing Interests: Additional Declarations: There is NO Competing Interest. 7 CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors declare no conflict of interest.