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- Ament-Velasquez, Sandra Lorena, et al.
(author)
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Population genomics of sexual and asexual lineages in fissiparous ribbon worms (Lineus, Nemertea) : hybridization, polyploidy and the Meselson effect
- 2016
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In: Molecular Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 25:14, s. 3356-3369
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Comparative population genetics in asexual vs. sexual species offers the opportunity to investigate the impact of asexuality on genome evolution. Here, we analyse coding sequence polymorphism and divergence patterns in the fascinating Lineus ribbon worms, a group of marine, carnivorous nemerteans with unusual regeneration abilities, and in which asexual reproduction by fissiparity is documented. The population genomics of the fissiparous L. pseudolacteus is characterized by an extremely high level of heterozygosity and unexpectedly elevated pi(N)/pi(S) ratio, in apparent agreement with theoretical expectations under clonal evolution. Analysis of among-species allele sharing and read-count distribution, however, reveals that L. pseudolacteus is a triploid hybrid between Atlantic populations of L. sanguineus and L. lacteus. We model and quantify the relative impact of hybridity, polyploidy and asexuality on molecular variation patterns in L. pseudolacteus and conclude that (i) the peculiarities of L. pseudolacteus population genomics result in the first place from hybridization and (ii) the accumulation of new mutations through the Meselson effect is more than compensated by processes of heterozygosity erosion, such as gene conversion or gene copy loss. This study illustrates the complexity of the evolutionary processes associated with asexuality and identifies L. pseudolacteus as a promising model to study the first steps of polyploid genome evolution in an asexual context.
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2. |
- Andres, N., et al.
(author)
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Energy cascade rate in isothermal compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
- 2018
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In: Journal of Plasma Physics. - : CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. - 0022-3778 .- 1469-7807. ; 84:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Three-dimensional direct numerical simulations are used to study the energy cascade rate in isothermal compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. Our analysis is guided by a two-point exact law derived recently for this problem in which flux, source, hybrid and mixed terms are present. The relative importance of each term is studied for different initial subsonic Mach numbers M-S and different magnetic guide fields B-0. The dominant contribution to the energy cascade rate comes from the compressible flux, which depends weakly on the magnetic guide field B-0, unlike the other terms whose moduli increase significantly with M s and B-0. In particular, for strong B-0 the source and hybrid terms are dominant at small scales with almost the same amplitude but with a different sign. A statistical analysis undertaken with an isotropic decomposition based on the SO(3) rotation group is shown to generate spurious results in the presence of B-0, when compared with an axisymmetric decomposition better suited to the geometry of the problem. Our numerical results are compared with previous analyses made with in situ measurements in the solar wind and the terrestrial magnetosheath.
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3. |
- Galtier, N., et al.
(author)
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Mitochondrial DNA as a marker of molecular diversity : a reappraisal
- 2009
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In: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 18:22, s. 4541-4550
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Over the last three decades, mitochondrial DNA has been the most popular marker of molecular diversity, for a combination of technical ease-of-use considerations, and supposed biological and evolutionary properties of clonality, near-neutrality and clock-like nature of its substitution rate. Reviewing recent literature on the subject, we argue that mitochondrial DNA is not always clonal, far from neutrally evolving and certainly not clock-like, questioning its relevance as a witness of recent species and population history. We critically evaluate the usage of mitochondrial DNA for species delineation and identification. Finally, we note the great potential of accumulating mtDNA data for evolutionary and functional analysis of the mitochondrial genome.
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4. |
- Vinko, S. M., et al.
(author)
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Electronic Structure of an XUV Photogenerated Solid-Density Aluminum Plasma
- 2010
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 104:22, s. 225001-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- By use of high intensity XUV radiation from the FLASH free-electron laser at DESY, we have created highly excited exotic states of matter in solid-density aluminum samples. The XUV intensity is sufficiently high to excite an inner-shell electron from a large fraction of the atoms in the focal region. We show that soft-x-ray emission spectroscopy measurements reveal the electronic temperature and density of this highly excited system immediately after the excitation pulse, with detailed calculations of the electronic structure, based on finite-temperature density functional theory, in good agreement with the experimental results.
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