Several proponents of the interventionist theory of causation have recently argued for a neo-Russellian account of causation. The paper discusses two strategies for interventionists to be neo-Russellians. Firstly, I argue that the open systems argument – the main argument for a neo-Russellian account advocated by interventionists – fails. Secondly, I explore and discuss an alternative for inter...

Sex chromosomes turn over rapidly in some taxonomic groups, where closely related species have different sex chromosomes. Although there are many examples of sex chromosome turnover, we know little about the functional roles of sex chromosome turnover in phenotypic diversification and genomic evolution. The sympatric pair of Japanese threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) provides an e...

When nonmetastatic dimethylbenzanthracene-induced rat mammary cancer cells (RMC1) were transfected with a control plasmid containing the neomycin resistance gene (i.e., Neo/Only), none of the five clonal Neo/Only transfectants isolated and characterized was metastatic, only one of five had a single structural chromosomal abnormality, and only one of five had a single numerical chromosomal chang...

Most species' sex chromosomes are derived from ancient autosomes and show few signatures of their origins. We studied the sex chromosomes of Drosophila miranda, where a neo-Y chromosome originated only approximately 1 million years ago. Whole-genome and transcriptome analysis reveals massive degeneration of the neo-Y, that male-beneficial genes on the neo-Y are more likely to undergo accelerate...

Sex chromosomes evolve distinctive types of chromatin from a pair of ancestral autosomes that are usually euchromatic. In Drosophila, the dosage-compensated X becomes enriched for hyperactive chromatin in males (mediated by H4K16ac), while the Y chromosome acquires silencing heterochromatin (enriched for H3K9me2/3). Drosophila autosomes are typically mostly euchromatic but the small dot chromos...

Sex chromosomes are generally morphologically and functionally distinct, but the evolutionary forces that cause this differentiation are poorly understood. Drosophila americana americana was used in this study to examine one aspect of sex chromosome evolution, the degeneration of nonrecombining Y chromosomes. The primary X chromosome of D. a. americana is fused with a chromosomal element that w...

Covalent modifications of histones play an important role in chromatin architecture and dynamics. In particular, histone lysine methylation is important for transcriptional control during diverse biological processes. The nuclear protein Jmjd5 (also called Kdm8) is a histone lysine demethylase that contains a JmjC domain in the C-terminal region. In this study, we have generated Jmjd5-deficient...

Platelet activation is a hallmark of severe preeclampsia, and platelet PGH synthase 1-derived (PGHS1-derived) thromboxane A(2) (TxA(2)) has been implicated in its pathogenesis. However, genetic disruption of PGHS1 delays parturition. We created hypomorphic PGHS1 (PGHS1(Neo/Neo)) mice, in which the substantial but tissue-dependent variability in the inhibition of PGHS1-derived eicosanoids achiev...

Purpose: Telecommunications comprises a vital component of information infrastructures and services, with an historically strong public interest dimension. For the best part of 30 years, the telecommunications sector in Europe has been the subject of a radical reorganisation in structural and operational terms along the lines of neo-liberalism. This article analyses the significance of the neo-...

The neo-sex chromosomes of Drosophila miranda constitute an ideal system to study the effects of recombination on patterns of genome evolution. Due to a fusion of an autosome with the Y chromosome, one homolog is transmitted clonally. Here, I compare patterns of molecular evolution of 18 protein-coding genes located on the recombining neo-X and their homologs on the nonrecombining neo-Y chromos...