A phylogenetic analysis of 14 genera of the family Goneplacidae MacLeay (Decapoda: Brachyura: Xanthoidea) is presented based upon 45 adult morphological characters. Two most-parsimonious trees were obtained (length = 87, CI = 0.6667, RI = 0.8242, RC = 0.5495). The present analysis suggests that the Goneplacidae is divided into six subfamilies: Carinocarcinoidinae subfam. nov., Chasmocarcininae ...

Amongst the four bases that form DNA, guanine is the most susceptible to oxidation, and its oxidation product, 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) is the most prevalent base lesion found in DNA. Fortunately, throughout evolution cells have developed repair mechanisms, such as the 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylases (OGG), which recognize and excise 8-oxoG from DNA thereby preventing the accumulation of...

The Alu repetitive family of short interspersed elements (SINEs) in primates can be subdivided into distinct subfamilies by specific diagnostic nucleotide changes. The older subfamilies are generally very abundant, while the younger subfamilies have fewer copies. Some of the youngest Alu elements are absent in the orthologous loci of nonhuman primates, indicative of recent retroposition events,...

Tandemly repeated satellite DNAs are among most rapidly evolving sequences in eukaryotic genome, usually differing significantly among closely related species. By inducing changes in heterochromatin and/or centromere, satellite DNAs are expected to drive population and species divergence. However, despite high evolutionary dynamics, divergence of satellite DNA profiles at the level of natural p...

Patterson, Gilia, B.A., May 2016 Biology Discordant Classification of Transposable Elements in Segmental Duplications Raise Concerns About Subfamily Definitions Faculty Mentor: Travis Wheeler Most of the human genome comes from transposable elements (TEs), sequences of DNA that can move and insert copies of themselves throughout the genome. TE sequences both inform and complicate analyses of ge...

Phylogenetic analyses of the S:, M, and L: genes of the hantaviruses (Bunyaviridae: Hantavirus) revealed three well-differentiated clades corresponding to viruses parasitic on three subfamilies (Murinae, Arvicolinae, and Sigmodontinae) of the rodent family Muridae. In rooted trees of M: and L: genes, the viruses with hosts belonging to Murinae formed an outgroup to those with hosts in Arvicolin...

Lamiaceae, the sixth largest angiosperm family, contains more than 7000 species distributed all over the world. However, although considerable progress has been made in the last two decades, its phylogenetic backbone has never been well resolved. In the present study, a large-scale phylogenetic reconstruction of Lamiaceae using chloroplast sequences was carried out with the most comprehensive s...

Granzymes are a family of granule serine proteases found specifically in the cytotoxic granules of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells. Granzymes have features that are strongly conserved including: consensus sequences at their N-termini and around the three catalytic residues, activation from zymogemc forms, and conserved disuiphide bridges. However, there is good genetic evidence...

background: beijing family of mycobacterium tuberculosis (m. tuberculosis) is widespread in asia and has been involved in outbreaks of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in various parts of the world.  the aim of the current study was to evaluate the frequency of beijing family of m. tuberculosis in patients with tuberculosis in mashhad, iran. materials and methods: totally, 72 specimens of m. tu...

Hsp70 molecular chaperones are ubiquitous. By preventing aggregation, promoting folding, and regulating degradation, Hsp70s are major factors in the ability of cells to maintain proteostasis. Despite a wealth of functional information, little is understood about the evolutionary dynamics of Hsp70s. We undertook an analysis of Hsp70s in the fungal clade Ascomycota. Using the well-characterized 1...