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Article Reference Adaptive evolution of stress response genes in parasites aligns with host niche diversity
Background Stress responses are key the survival of parasites and, consequently, also the evolutionary success of these organisms. Despite this importance, our understanding of the evolution of molecular pathways dealing with environmental stressors in parasitic animals remains limited. Here, we tested the link between adaptive evolution of parasite stress response genes and their ecological diversity and species richness. We comparatively investigated antioxidant, heat shock, osmoregulatory, and behaviour-related genes (foraging) in two model parasitic flatworm lineages with contrasting ecological diversity, Cichlidogyrus and Kapentagyrus (Platyhelminthes: Monopisthocotyla), through whole-genome sequencing of 11 species followed by in silico exon bait capture as well as phylogenetic and codon analyses. Results We assembled the sequences of 48 stress-related genes and report the first foraging (For) gene orthologs in flatworms. We found duplications of heat shock (Hsp) and oxidative stress genes in Cichlidogyrus compared to Kapentagyrus. We also observed positive selection patterns in genes related to mitochondrial protein import (Hsp) and behaviour (For) in species of Cichlidogyrus infecting East African cichlids—a host lineage under adaptive radiation. These patterns are consistent with a potential adaptation linked to a co-radiation of these parasites and their hosts. Additionally, the absence of cytochrome P450 and kappa and sigma-class glutathione S-transferases in monogenean flatworms is reported, genes considered essential for metazoan life. Conclusions This study potentially identifies the first molecular function linked to a flatworm radiation. Furthermore, the observed gene duplications and positive selection indicate the potentially important role of stress responses for the ecological adaptation of parasite species.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Adhoc: an R package to calculate ad hoc distance thresholds for DNA barcoding identification
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Adulis and the transshipment of baboons during classical antiquity
Adulis, located on the Red Sea coast in present-day Eritrea, was a bustling trading centre between the first and seventh centuries CE. Several classical geographers—Agatharchides of Cnidus, Pliny the Elder, Strabo—noted the value of Adulis to Greco-Roman Egypt, particularly as an emporium for living animals, including baboons (Papio spp.). Though fragmentary, these accounts predict the Adulite origins of mummified baboons in Ptolemaic catacombs, while inviting questions on the geoprovenance of older (Late Period) baboons recovered from Gabbanat el-Qurud (‘Valley of the Monkeys’), Egypt. Dated to ca. 800–540 BCE, these animals could extend the antiquity of Egyptian–Adulite trade by as much as five centuries. Previously, Dominy et al. (2020) used stable isotope analysis to show that two New Kingdom specimens of Papio hamadryas originate from the Horn of Africa. Here, we report the complete mitochondrial genomes from a mummified baboon from Gabbanat el-Qurud and 14 museum specimens with known provenance together with published georeferenced mitochondrial sequence data. Phylogenetic assignment connects the mummified baboon to modern populations of P. hamadryas in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and eastern Sudan. This result, assuming geographical stability of phylogenetic clades, corroborates Greco-Roman historiographies by pointing toward present-day Eritrea, and by extension Adulis, as a source of baboons for Late Period Egyptians. It also establishes geographic continuity with baboons from the fabled Land of Punt (Dominy et al., 2020), giving weight to speculation that Punt and Adulis were essentially the same trading centres separated by a thousand years of history.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Inproceedings Reference Advances in high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions using growth experiments, age modelling and clumped isotope analyses
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Advancing the Catalogue of the World’s Natural History Collections
Information about natural history collections helps to map the complex landscape of research resources and assists researchers in locating and contacting the holders of specimens. Collection records contribute to the development of a fully interlinked biodiversity knowledge graph (Page 2016), showcasing the existence and importance of museums and herbaria and supplying context to available data on specimens. These records also potentially open new avenues for fresh use of these collections and for accelerating their full availability online.A number of international (e.g., Index Herbariorum, GRSciColl) regional (e.g. DiSSCo and CETAF) national (e.g., ALA and the Living Atlases, iDigBio US Collections Catalog) and institutional networks (e.g., The Field Museum) separately document subsets of the world's collections, and the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Collection Descriptions Interest Group is actively developing standards to support information sharing on collections. However, these efforts do not yet combine to deliver a comprehensive and connected view of all collections globally.The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) received funding as part of the European Commission-funded SYNTHESYS+ 7 project to explore development of a roadmap towards delivering such a view, in part as a contribution towards the establishment of DiSSCo services within a global ecosystem of collection catalogues. Between 17 and 29 April 2020, a coordination team comprising international representatives from multiple networks ran Advancing the Catalogue of the World’s Natural History Collections, a fully online consultation using the GBIF Discourse forum platform to guide discussion around 26 consultation topics identified in an initial Ideas Paper (Hobern et al. 2020). Discussions included support for contributions in Spanish, Chinese and French and were summarised daily throughout the consultation.The consultation confirmed broad agreement around the needs and goals for a comprehensive catalogue of the world’s natural history collections, along with possible strategies to overcome the challenges. This presentation will summarise the results and recommendations.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Advantages of high quality SWIR bands for ocean colour processing: examples from Landsat-8
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Aerodynamics from Cursorial Running to Aerial Gliding for Avian Flight Evolution
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference African lates perches (Teleostei, Latidae, Lates): Paraphyly of Nile perch and recent colonization of Lake Tanganyika
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Webpublished Reference African Mammalia
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Age of mud breccia from mud volcanoes in Academician Ridge, Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the only freshwater reservoir on Earth with gas-hydrate accumulations in its bottom sediments, partly due to the activity of mud volcanoes. This paper describes a group of mud volcanoes recently discovered on the slope of the Academician Ridge between the northern and central Lake Baikal basins. Our analysis of diatom skeletons in the mud breccia sampled from the study area shows a high abundance of Cyclotella iris et var. These extinct species were also discovered in a core sample from BDP-98 borehole. Based on the biostratigraphic and seis-mostratigraphic correlations, the age of the mud breccia in the studied mud volcanoes ranges from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene (4.6 to 5.6 Ma). The correlations suggest that the material originated from a depth of less than 310 m below the lake bottom.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017