Pneumocystis jirovecii is an unculturable fungus and the causative agent of Pneumocystis pneumonia, a life-threatening opportunistic infection. Although molecular diagnosis is often based on the detection of mtLSU rRNA mitochondrial gene, the number of copies of mitochondrial genes had not been investigated. We developed and optimized six real-time PCR assays in order to determine the copy numb...

Re-examination of the holotype of Burmoniscus kitadaitoensis Nunomura, 2009 from Kitadaitojima Island, southern Japan reveals that this species is a junior synonym of B. meeusei (Holthuis, 1947). Partial regions of mitochondrial COI, 12S and 16S rRNA genes, and nuclear 18S and 28S rRNA genes were detected for species identification in the future.

In this study, we report the biochemical characterization of the deafness-associated mitochondrial 12S rRNA C1494T mutation using 27 cybrid cell lines constructed by transferring mitochondria from 9 lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from a Chinese family into human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)-less (rho degrees) cells. Six cybrids derived from two asymptomatic members, and nine cybrids derived fro...

We report on a discovery of Siamophryne troglodytesGen. et sp. nov., a new troglophilous genus and species of microhylid frog from a limestone cave in the tropical forests of western Thailand. To assess its phylogenetic relationships we studied the 12S rRNA-16S rRNA mtDNA fragment with final alignment comprising up to 2,591 bp for 56 microhylid species. Morphological characterization of the new...

With over 150 described species, Astropecten Gray (Paxillosida:Astropectinidae) is one of the most species-rich genera among sea stars. This diversity is remarkable, because most species of Astropecten have a long-lived planktotrophic larval stage, which would be expected to lead to a low speciation rate. The taxonomy of this genus is complex and not well resolved, and phylogenetic relationship...

Species identification is one of the most basic yet crucial issues in biology with potentially far-reaching implications for fields such as conservation, population ecology, and epidemiology. The widely distributed but threatened frog Paa spinosa has been speculated to represent a complex of multiple species. In this study, 254 individuals representing species of the genus Paa were investigated...

Trontelj, P. & Gori~ki, [.: Monophyly of the family Proteidae (Amphibia: Caudata) tested by phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial 12s rDNA sequences. Nat. Croat., Vol. 12, No. 3., 113–120, 2003, Zagreb. A phylogenetic analysis of partial 12S rRNA mitochondrial gene sequences from representatives of salamandroid families provided moderate support for the monophyly of the family Proteidae, compr...

We used a five-gene data set (mtDNA: 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, cyt-b; nDNA: Cmos, Rag2) comprising approximately two-thirds of all extant testudinid species and, for the first time, including all five Testudo species to investigate the question of whether all western Palaearctic testudinids are monophyletic. Further, we examined whether the recently suggested allocation of the African Geochelone pard...