scholarly journals Ecological Genetics of the Wild Rabbit in Australia I. Geographical Distribution and Biochemical Characterization of Phosphogluconate Dehydrogenase Variants

1974 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Coggan ◽  
J Baldwin ◽  
BJ Richardson

Three electrophoretically distinguishable phQsphogluconate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.44) isoenzyme patterns, probably resulting from the expression of two alleles at one locus, were found in natural populations of rabbits in Eastern Australia. The homopolymers and heteropolymer were isolated and characterized kinetically. The three proteins were found to be indistinguishable with respect to Km for 6-phospho-D-gluconate and NADP+ (both in the presence and absence of magnesium), energies of activation, specific activities in liver, pH profiles and thermal stabilities. The rare allele was not found near the major initial release site of the rabbit in Australia and may have arisen in Australia.

1980 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 385 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJ Richardson

The differences in distribution of gene frequencies at three polymorphic loci (adenosine deaminase, carboxylesterase-1 and phosphogluconate dehydrogenase) were determined for rabbit populations living in two markedly different environments. One, a highland population from Snowy Plains N.S.W., has low productivity and high survival rates, and the second, a dry plains population from Urana, N.S.W., has high productivity and low survival rates. The amount of sub population differentiation at each locus was distinctive, and was different in the two environments with significant differentiation occurring for phosphogluconate dehydrogenase at both areas, for carboxylesterase-1 at Snowy Plains and for adenosine deaminase at Urana. The general significance of these results was demonstrated by determining the distribution of the variation in a third population. This population was subject to the same historical climatic events as the Urana population and showed a similar pattern of variation. Various explanations of the data are considered and a combination of chance and selection, rather than either alone, seems to offer the most satisfactory explanation. The demographic differences between the populations seemed to play no part in explaining the patterns observed.


1980 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 371 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJ Richardson ◽  
PM Rogers ◽  
GM Hewitt

A survey for genetic variation was carried out using 21 proteins controlled by 26 loci in rabbits from Britain, Mediterranean France and Australia. Five enzymes, adenosine deaminase, phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, carboxylesterase, carbonate dehydratase and dihydrolipoamide reductase (NAD+) were found to be polymorphic. The average heterozygosity in wild rabbits was 6%. The genetic distances separating the various populations indicated that three different stocks were present in these populations. The rabbits from Britain and mainland Australia belonged to one group, those from France to a second group and the rabbits from southern Tasmania were a distinctive third group. Highly significant differences in gene frequency were found between the various local populations studied from mainland Australia. This variation showed no clear pattern and was attributed to genetic drift due to small effective population sizes. Bottlenecks in population size occur regularly in local rabbit populations in Australia through, for example, drought, myxomatosis outbreaks or rabbit control programs.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLENN B. MCGREGOR

This volume provides the first detailed account of the Chroococcales of north-eastern Australia. It provides keys, morphological and ecological data for 6 families, 33 genera and 112 species, and photomicrographs and original illustrations to enable the identification of natural populations based on stable and recognizable characters observable with the aid of light microscopy. Distributional data are based on extensive surveys at 270 sites representing the major freshwater habitats including rivers and streams, palustrine and lacustrine wetlands, thermal springs, and man-made reservoirs in Queensland and the Northern Territory as well as a review of the Australian phycological literature. 


Genetics ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-366
Author(s):  
H Hollocher ◽  
A R Templeton ◽  
R DeSalle ◽  
J S Johnston

Abstract Natural populations of Drosophila mercatorum are polymorphic for a phenotypic syndrome known as abnormal abdomen (aa). This syndrome is characterized by a slow-down in egg-to-adult developmental time, retention of juvenile abdominal cuticle in the adult, increased early female fecundity, and decreased adult longevity. Previous studies revealed that the expression of this syndrome in females is controlled by two closely linked X chromosomal elements: the occurrence of an R1 insert in a third or more of the X-linked 28S ribosomal genes (rDNA), and the failure of replicative selection favoring uninserted 28S genes in larval polytene tissues. The expression of this syndrome in males in a laboratory stock was associated with the deletion of the rDNA normally found on the Y chromosome. In this paper we quantify the levels of genetic variation for these three components in a natural population of Drosophila mercatorum found near Kamuela, Hawaii. Extensive variation is found in the natural population for both of the X-linked components. Moreover, there is a significant association between variation in the proportion of R1 inserted 28S genes with allelic variation at the underreplication (ur) locus such that both of the necessary components for aa expression in females tend to cosegregate in the natural population. Accordingly, these two closely linked X chromosomal elements are behaving as a supergene in the natural population. Because of this association, we do not believe the R1 insert to be actively transposing to an appreciable extent. The Y chromosomes extracted from nature are also polymorphic, with 16% of the Ys lacking the Y-specific rDNA marker. The absence of this marker is significantly associated with the expression of aa in males. Hence, all three of the major genetic determinants of the abnormal abdomen syndrome are polymorphic in this natural population.


1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 2206-2211 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. Pezzack ◽  
D. R. Duggan

In the Browns Bank region of the Scotian Shelf between June 1982 and December 1983, 6285 tagged lobsters (Homarus americanus) were released. Of the 2486 lobsters recaptured, 361 were recaptured more than once. Eight lobsters released in late May to mid-July were recaptured the following spring and summer, with at least one intervening recapture in the fall–winter period. Five of the eight lobsters showed homing tendencies. Two lobsters made long-distance (> 200 km) return migrations, three made short (50–100 km) return migrations, and three moved long distances but did not return. One lobster at large 6 mo and four at large 22–34 mo made long-distance return migrations, moving over 200 km and returning to within 9–42 km of the initial release site. The data indicate that some lobsters undertake long-distance return migration, which returns the lobsters to specific sections of the Shelf.


Genome ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Luisa Aparisi ◽  
Carmen Nájera

From six captures of Drosophila melanogaster carried out in three different habitats (cellar, vineyard, and pinewood) in two different seasons of the year (spring and autumn), 60 eye-colour mutations were isolated, which were reduced to 29 loci by means of allelism tests within and between populations. Forty-five of these mutations were analyzed genetically and biochemically; of these 33 turned out to be previously described mutants and mapped to a total of 17 loci. Twelve new mutants were discovered and they mapped to 12 new loci, distributed on chromosomes X, II, and III. The eye-colour mutants show large effects on the red and brown pigments. The high variability of the eye-colour loci is discussed in relation to the mutation and selection hypotheses.Key words: eye-colour mutants, variability, mapping, Drosophila melanogaster, pigment patterns.


1974 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
BS Parker ◽  
K Myers

Aerial surveys can be used to measure the distribution of rabbit warrens over large areas of arid and semiarid Australia. Clumped patterns of distribution of rabbit warrens found by ground surveys are also detected in aerial surveys, which further show that the highest density of warrens occurs in habitats containing shales or other fine-grained rocks overlain by recent sediments, or those closely related to drainage systems. A good picture of rabbit distribution is obtained when about 25% of the area has been overed by the aircraft. * Part IV, Aust. J. Zool., 1971, 19, 355–70.


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