Snakehead fishes of the family Channidae are predatory freshwater teleosts from Africa and Asia comprising 38 valid species. Snakeheads are important food fishes (aquaculture, live food trade) and have been introduced widely with several species becoming highly invasive. A channid barcode library was recently assembled by Serrao and co-workers to better detect and identify potential and establi...

The administration of a neurotoxic dose of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; 'ecstasy') to the rat results in mitochondrial oxidative damage in the central nervous system, namely lipid and protein oxidation and mitochondrial DNA deletions with subsequent impairment of the correspondent protein expression. Although these toxic effects were shown to be prevented by monoamine oxidase B inhi...

Stranded cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are frequently used to obtain data on species occurrence demographic trends. Accurate species-level identification of these individuals is crucial, but often challenging or impossible when relying solely morphological features (e.g., for highly decayed specimens). To aid in the development a reliable molecular assay cetacean DNA-based identif...

The genetic diversity and population genetics of the Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto complex were investigated based on sequencing of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Total 81 isolates of hydatid cyst collected from ungulate animals from different geographical areas of North India were identified by sequencing of cytochrome c oxidase subunit1 (coxi) gene. Three genotypes belonging to E. granulo...

To investigate genetic mechanisms of high altitude adaptations of native mammals on the Tibetan Plateau, we compared mitochondrial sequences of the endangered Pantholops hodgsonii with its lowland distant relatives Ovis aries and Capra hircus, as well as other mammals. The complete mitochondrial genome of P. hodgsonii (16,498 bp) revealed a similar gene order as of other mammals. Because of tan...

Euseius nicholsi (Ehara et Lee) is an important indigenous predator of many species of pest mites and insects in China. In this study, the genetic diversity of Euseius nicholsi among ten populations was investigated using coxI and ITS sequences from 145 individuals. This indicated the existence of 33 and 16 haplotypes, respectively. Most of the populations studied showed high levels of haplotyp...

Maternally inherited mutations, such as cytoplasmic male sterility, provide useful systems in which to study the function of plant mitochondrial genomes and also their interaction with nuclear genes. We have studied the organization and expression of the organelle genomes of the male-sterile cytoplasm of Ogura radish and compared them with those of normal radish to identify alterations that mig...

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) are lethal parasites of insects, used as biocontrol agents. The objectives of this work were to survey the presence of EPN in continental Portugal and to characterize the different species. Of the 791 soil samples collected throughout continental Portugal, 53 were positive for EPN. Steinernema feltiae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora were the two most abundant ...