The identification of genetically homogeneous groups of individuals is a long standing issue in population genetics. A recent Bayesian algorithm implemented in the software STRUCTURE allows the identification of such groups. However, the ability of this algorithm to detect the true number of clusters (K) in a sample of individuals when patterns of dispersal among populations are not homogeneous...

Space qualified cryocoolers have been extensively developed for large military and commercial satellite electro-optical (EO) infrared (IR) missions, but not so for microsatellites due to the complexity of the thermodynamics and fluid mechanics of the mechanical refrigeration system. The trend in military responsive space programs is leaning towards microsatellites that are cheaper and faster to...

Catfishes of the genus Pseudoplatystoma are very important species due to both their high commercial value and their ecological role as voracious predators. They undertake lengthy migratory movements during their life-cycle, this including reproductive migration which occurs from October to December in the rainy season. In the present study, seven microsatellite loci were analyzed to access gen...

We identified 14 microsatellite loci for the wolf fish, Hoplias malabaricus (Erythrinidae), from a genomic shotgun library. Twenty-five primers were designed, and 48 individuals of H. malabaricus from four localities of northwest Goiás, in central Brazil, were genotyped to characterize the polymorphism at each locus. Fourteen primers amplified clearly interpretable products using a single PCR p...

Although there is little doubt that the domestication of mammals was instrumental for the modernization of human societies, even basic features of the path towards domestication remain largely unresolved for many species. Reindeer are considered to be in the early phase of domestication with wild and domestic herds still coexisting widely across Eurasia. This provides a unique model system for ...

"Selfish" genetic elements promote their own transmission to the next generation, often at a cost to the host individual. A sex-ratio (SR) driving X chromosome prevents the maturation of Y-bearing sperm, and as a result is transmitted to 100% of the offspring, all of which are female. Because the spread of a SR chromosome can result in a female-biased population sex ratio, the ecological and ev...

If parasite genotype influences the clinical course of malaria, we expect that isolates from patients with similar pathology would be more closely related than would be expected by chance. To explore this prediction, we typed nine microsatellite markers in sympatric Plasmodium falciparum isolates from cerebral and uncomplicated malaria patients from Vietnam. Temporal structure and linkage diseq...

Primers previously designed to amplify microsatellite DNA markers in the Old World bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, larvae were tested in three closely related species: the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, and Heliothis subflexa. Of the fourteen loci surveyed, only four loci (HaB60, HaC14, HaC87, HarSSR1) consistently demonstrated scorable single-copy microsat...

Although theory suggests that hybrid zones can move or change structure over time, studies supported by direct empirical evidence for these changes are relatively limited. We present a spatiotemporal genetic study of a hybrid zone between Pseudacris nigrita and P. fouquettei across the Pearl River between Louisiana and Mississippi. This hybrid zone was initially characterized in 1980 as a narro...

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