Community structure has been widely identified as a feature of many real-world networks. It has been shown that the antigenic diversity of a pathogen population can be significantly affected by the contact network of its hosts; however, the effects of community structure have not yet been explored. Here, we examine the congruence between patterns of antigenic diversity in pathogen populations i...

Bacterial abundance, biomass, cell volume, and morphological diversity were studied in sediment samples collected from the coastal area of the eastern mid Adriatic Sea. Samples from the topmost 10 cm of sediment were taken monthly from January to December 2002. The number of bacteria varied from 3.54 x 109 cells g–1 in July to 8.08 x 109 cells g–1 in September. Biomass was lowest in May (78 μg ...

Evolutionary genetics studies the patterns and mechanisms of genetic changes underlying evolutionary change. Because biological diversity at all levels (including population, species, and ecosystem diversity) has a genetic basis and is a result of evolution, evolutionary genetics provides insight into the ultimate mechanisms creating biodiversity. Evolutionary genetics utilizes empirical tools ...

Asymmetric cell division is critical for generating cell diversity in low eukaryotic organisms. We previously have reported that polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) induced by cobalt chloride demonstrate the ability to use an evolutionarily conserved process for renewal and fast reproduction, which is normally confined to simpler organisms. The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which re...

BACKGROUND An understanding of the role of yeasts in the environment has been uncertain because estimates of population size and diversity have often been based on species identifications that were determined from a limited number of phenotypic characteristics. DNA-based species identification has now become widely used, allowing an accurate assessment of species in different habitats. However,...