The constraining effect of gene flow on adaptive divergence is often inferred but rarely quantified. We illustrate ways of doing so using stream populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) that experience different levels of gene flow from a parapatric lake population. In the Misty Lake watershed (British Columbia, Canada), the inlet stream population is morphologically diver...

Background: The B-cell defect in X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is caused by mutations in the gene for Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK). BTK mutations result in deficient expression of BTK protein in peripheral blood monocytes. Methods: Using the anti-BTK monoclonal antibody (48-2H), a flow cytometric analysis of intra cytoplasmic BTK protein expression in monocytes was performed to identify I...

Many studies have been focused on cytogenetic and molecular genetic defects in brain tumors; therefore the role of ATM as a tumor suppressor gene in these tumors is poorly considered. In this study mutation analysis of exon 19 and 39 of ATM gene and P53 accumulation were investigated by PCR-SSCP, sequencing, and flow cytometry . Four polymorphisms including D1853N, IVS 38-8 T?C, F858L, P872T we...

background: angiogenesis gene therapy has long been sought as a novel alternative treatment for restoring the blood flow and improving the contractile function of the ischemic heart in selected clinical settings. angiogenic fibroblast growth factor-1 (fgf-1) is a promising candidate for developing a promising gene therapy protocol due to its multipotent ability to stimulate endothelial cell (ec...

Although theory has demonstrated rather low levels of gene flow are sufficient to counteract opposing mutation, drift, and selection, widespread recognition of the evolutionary importance of gene flow has come slowly. The perceived role of gene flow as an evolutionary force has vacillated over the last century. In the last few decades, new methods and analyses have demonstrated that plant gene ...

approved: __________________________________________________ Steven H. Strauss Hybrid poplar plantations (Populus trichocarpa x Populus deltoides) are a relatively new feature on the landscape in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and these plantations may soon include genetically engineered trees. Meanwhile, many wild poplar populations (Populus spp.) are highly degraded due in part t...

Gene flow among populations can enhance local adaptation if it introduces new genetic variants available for selection, but strong gene flow can also stall adaptation by swamping locally beneficial genes. These outcomes can depend on population size, genetic variation, and the environmental context. Gene flow patterns may align with geographic distance (IBD--isolation by distance), whereby immi...

Species are commonly thought to be evolutionarily independent in a way that populations within a species are not. In recent years, studies that seek to identify evolutionarily independent lineages (i.e., to delimit species) using genetic data have typically adopted multispecies coalescent approaches that assume that evolutionary independence is formed by the differential sorting of ancestral al...