| 1. |
- Alexandersson, Marina, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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Genome sequence of the Brown Norway rat yields insights into mammalian evolution
- 2004
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Ingår i: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 428:6982, s. 493-521
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The laboratory rat (Rattus norvegicus) is an indispensable tool in experimental medicine and drug development, having made inestimable contributions to human health. We report here the genome sequence of the Brown Norway (BN) rat strain. The sequence represents a high-quality ‘draft’ covering over 90% of the genome. The BN rat sequence is the third complete mammalian genome to be deciphered, and three-way comparisons with the human and mouse genomes resolve details of mammalian evolution. This first comprehensive analysis includes genes and proteins and their relation to human disease, repeated sequences, comparative genome-wide studies of mammalian orthologous chromosomal regions and rearrangement breakpoints, reconstruction of ancestral karyotypes and the events leading to existing species, rates of variation, and lineage-specific and lineageindependent evolutionary events such as expansion of gene families, orthology relations and protein evolution.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Dunn, Casey W, et al.
(författare)
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Broad phylogenomic sampling improves resolution of the animal tree of life.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 452:7188, s. 745-9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Long-held ideas regarding the evolutionary relationships among animals have recently been upended by sometimes controversial hypotheses based largely on insights from molecular data. These new hypotheses include a clade of moulting animals (Ecdysozoa) and the close relationship of the lophophorates to molluscs and annelids (Lophotrochozoa). Many relationships remain disputed, including those that are required to polarize key features of character evolution, and support for deep nodes is often low. Phylogenomic approaches, which use data from many genes, have shown promise for resolving deep animal relationships, but are hindered by a lack of data from many important groups. Here we report a total of 39.9 Mb of expressed sequence tags from 29 animals belonging to 21 phyla, including 11 phyla previously lacking genomic or expressed-sequence-tag data. Analysed in combination with existing sequences, our data reinforce several previously identified clades that split deeply in the animal tree (including Protostomia, Ecdysozoa and Lophotrochozoa), unambiguously resolve multiple long-standing issues for which there was strong conflicting support in earlier studies with less data (such as velvet worms rather than tardigrades as the sister group of arthropods), and provide molecular support for the monophyly of molluscs, a group long recognized by morphologists. In addition, we find strong support for several new hypotheses. These include a clade that unites annelids (including sipunculans and echiurans) with nemerteans, phoronids and brachiopods, molluscs as sister to that assemblage, and the placement of ctenophores as the earliest diverging extant multicellular animals. A single origin of spiral cleavage (with subsequent losses) is inferred from well-supported nodes. Many relationships between a stable subset of taxa find strong support, and a diminishing number of lineages remain recalcitrant to placement on the tree.
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| 4. |
- Forsgren, Elisabet, et al.
(författare)
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Unusually dynamic sex roles in a fish
- 2004
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 429:6991, s. 551-554
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sex roles are typically thought of as being fixed for a given species. In most animals males compete for females, whereas the females are more reluctant to mate. Therefore sexual selection usually acts most strongly on males(1,2). This is explained by males having a higher potential reproductive rate than females, leading to more males being sexually active (a male-biased operational sex ratio)(3,4). However, what determines sex roles and the strength of sexual selection is a controversial and much debated question(3,5-10). In this large-scale field study, we show a striking temporal plasticity in the mating competition of a fish (two-spotted goby, Gobiusculus flavescens). Over the short breeding season fierce male-male competition and intensive courtship behaviour in males were replaced by female-female competition and actively courting females. Hence, sex role reversal occurred rapidly. This is the first time that a shift in sex roles has been shown in a vertebrate. The shift might be explained by a large decline in male abundance, strongly skewing the sex ratio towards females. Notably, the sex role reversal did not occur at an equal operational sex ratio, contrary to established sex role theory(3,4).
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Hellström, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Dll4 signalling through Notch1 regulates formation of tip cells during angiogenesis.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 445:7129, s. 776-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In sprouting angiogenesis, specialized endothelial tip cells lead the outgrowth of blood-vessel sprouts towards gradients of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A. VEGF-A is also essential for the induction of endothelial tip cells, but it is not known how single tip cells are selected to lead each vessel sprout, and how tip-cell numbers are determined. Here we present evidence that delta-like 4 (Dll4)-Notch1 signalling regulates the formation of appropriate numbers of tip cells to control vessel sprouting and branching in the mouse retina. We show that inhibition of Notch signalling using gamma-secretase inhibitors, genetic inactivation of one allele of the endothelial Notch ligand Dll4, or endothelial-specific genetic deletion of Notch1, all promote increased numbers of tip cells. Conversely, activation of Notch by a soluble jagged1 peptide leads to fewer tip cells and vessel branches. Dll4 and reporters of Notch signalling are distributed in a mosaic pattern among endothelial cells of actively sprouting retinal vessels. At this location, Notch1-deleted endothelial cells preferentially assume tip-cell characteristics. Together, our results suggest that Dll4-Notch1 signalling between the endothelial cells within the angiogenic sprout serves to restrict tip-cell formation in response to VEGF, thereby establishing the adequate ratio between tip and stalk cells required for correct sprouting and branching patterns. This model offers an explanation for the dose-dependency and haploinsufficiency of the Dll4 gene, and indicates that modulators of Dll4 or Notch signalling, such as gamma-secretase inhibitors developed for Alzheimer's disease, might find usage as pharmacological regulators of angiogenesis.
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| 8. |
- Laubach, M, et al.
(författare)
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Cortical ensemble activity increasingly predicts behaviour outcomes during learning of a motor task.
- 2000
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 405:6786, s. 567-71
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- When an animal learns to make movements in response to different stimuli, changes in activity in the motor cortex seem to accompany and underlie this learning. The precise nature of modifications in cortical motor areas during the initial stages of motor learning, however, is largely unknown. Here we address this issue by chronically recording from neuronal ensembles located in the rat motor cortex, throughout the period required for rats to learn a reaction-time task. Motor learning was demonstrated by a decrease in the variance of the rats' reaction times and an increase in the time the animals were able to wait for a trigger stimulus. These behavioural changes were correlated with a significant increase in our ability to predict the correct or incorrect outcome of single trials based on three measures of neuronal ensemble activity: average firing rate, temporal patterns of firing, and correlated firing. This increase in prediction indicates that an association between sensory cues and movement emerged in the motor cortex as the task was learned. Such modifications in cortical ensemble activity may be critical for the initial learning of motor tasks.
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| 9. |
- Liti, Gianni, et al.
(författare)
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Population genomics of domestic and wild yeasts.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 458:7236, s. 337-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the completion of the genome sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 1996 (refs 1, 2), there has been a large increase in complete genome sequences, accompanied by great advances in our understanding of genome evolution. Although little is known about the natural and life histories of yeasts in the wild, there are an increasing number of studies looking at ecological and geographic distributions, population structure and sexual versus asexual reproduction. Less well understood at the whole genome level are the evolutionary processes acting within populations and species that lead to adaptation to different environments, phenotypic differences and reproductive isolation. Here we present one- to fourfold or more coverage of the genome sequences of over seventy isolates of the baker's yeast S. cerevisiae and its closest relative, Saccharomyces paradoxus. We examine variation in gene content, single nucleotide polymorphisms, nucleotide insertions and deletions, copy numbers and transposable elements. We find that phenotypic variation broadly correlates with global genome-wide phylogenetic relationships. S. paradoxus populations are well delineated along geographic boundaries, whereas the variation among worldwide S. cerevisiae isolates shows less differentiation and is comparable to a single S. paradoxus population. Rather than one or two domestication events leading to the extant baker's yeasts, the population structure of S. cerevisiae consists of a few well-defined, geographically isolated lineages and many different mosaics of these lineages, supporting the idea that human influence provided the opportunity for cross-breeding and production of new combinations of pre-existing variations.
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| 10. |
- Marshall, Rupert C., et al.
(författare)
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Driving passion brought rare bird to the masses
- 2005
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 434:7033, s. 559-559
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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