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- Zamora, Juan Carlos, et al.
(författare)
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Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa
- 2018
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Ingår i: IMA Fungus. - : INT MYCOLOGICAL ASSOC. - 2210-6340 .- 2210-6359. ; 9:1, s. 167-185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.
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- Schroeder, J., et al.
(författare)
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Fewer invited talks by women in evolutionary biology symposia
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of evolutionary biology. - : Wiley. - 1420-9101 .- 1010-061X. ; 26:9, s. 2063-2069
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lower visibility of female scientists, compared to male scientists, is a potential reason for the under-representation of women among senior academic ranks. Visibility in the scientific community stems partly from presenting research as an invited speaker at organized meetings. We analysed the sex ratio of presenters at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Congress 2011, where all abstract submissions were accepted for presentation. Women were under-represented among invited speakers at symposia (15% women) compared to all presenters (46%), regular oral presenters (41%) and plenary speakers (25%). At the ESEB congresses in 2001-2011, 9-23% of invited speakers were women. This under-representation of women is partly attributable to a larger proportion of women, than men, declining invitations: in 2011, 50% of women declined an invitation to speak compared to 26% of men. We expect invited speakers to be scientists from top ranked institutions or authors of recent papers in high-impact journals. Considering all invited speakers (including declined invitations), 23% were women. This was lower than the baseline sex ratios of early-mid career stage scientists, but was similar to senior scientists and authors that have published in high-impact journals. High-quality science by women therefore has low exposure at international meetings, which will constrain Evolutionary Biology from reaching its full potential. We wish to highlight the wider implications of turning down invitations to speak, and encourage conference organizers to implement steps to increase acceptance rates of invited talks.
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- Svensson, Johan, 1964, et al.
(författare)
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Cerebrospinal Fluid Sulfatide Levels Lack Diagnostic Utility in the Subcortical Small Vessel Type of Dementia.
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. - 1875-8908. ; 82:2, s. 781-790
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sulfatides (STs) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-detected white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), may reflect demyelination. Here, we investigated the diagnostic utility of CSF ST levels in the subcortical small vessel type of dementia (SSVD), which is characterized by the presence of brain WMHs.To study the diagnostic utility of CSF ST levels in SSVD.This was a mono-center, cross-sectional study of SSVD (n = 16), Alzheimer's disease (n = 40), mixed dementia (n = 27), and healthy controls (n = 33). Totally, 20 ST species were measured in CSF by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).CSF total ST levels, as well as CSF levels of hydroxylated and nonhydroxylated ST species, did not differ across the study groups. In contrast, CSF neurofilament light chain (NFL) levels separated the patient groups from the controls. CSF total ST level correlated with CSF/serum albumin ratio in the total study population (r = 0.64, p < 0.001) and in all individual study groups. Furthermore, CSF total ST level correlated positively with MRI-estimated WMH volume in the total study population (r = 0.30, p < 0.05), but it did not correlate with CSF NFL level.Although there was some relation between CSF total ST level and WMH volume, CSF ST levels were unaltered in all dementia groups compared to the controls. This suggests that CSF total ST level is a poor biomarker of demyelination in SSVD. Further studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the marked correlation between CSF total ST level and CSF/serum albumin ratio.
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- Cornwallis, Charlie K, et al.
(författare)
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Single-cell adaptations shape evolutionary transitions to multicellularity in green algae
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Ecology and Evolution. - 2397-334X. ; 7:6, s. 889-902
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The evolution of multicellular life has played a pivotal role in shaping biological diversity. However, we know surprisingly little about the natural environmental conditions that favour the formation of multicellular groups. Here we experimentally examine how key environmental factors (predation, nitrogen and water turbulence) combine to influence multicellular group formation in 35 wild unicellular green algae strains (19 Chlorophyta species). All environmental factors induced the formation of multicellular groups (more than four cells), but there was no evidence this was adaptive, as multicellularity (% cells in groups) was not related to population growth rate under any condition. Instead, population growth was related to extracellular matrix (ECM) around single cells and palmelloid formation, a unicellular life-cycle stage where two to four cells are retained within a mother-cell wall after mitosis. ECM production increased with nitrogen levels resulting in more cells being in palmelloids and higher rates of multicellular group formation. Examining the distribution of 332 algae species across 478 lakes monitored over 55 years, showed that ECM and nitrogen availability also predicted patterns of obligate multicellularity in nature. Our results highlight that adaptations of unicellular organisms to cope with environmental challenges may be key to understanding evolutionary routes to multicellular life.
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