scholarly journals Phylogenetic and physiological signals in metazoan fossil biomolecules

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (28) ◽  
pp. eaba6883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmina Wiemann ◽  
Jason M. Crawford ◽  
Derek E. G. Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Information ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
In Situ Raman ◽  
History Of ◽  
Higher Rank ◽  
And Function ◽  
Molecular Signals

Proteins, lipids, and sugars establish animal form and function. However, the preservation of biological signals in fossil organic matter is poorly understood. Here, we used high-resolution in situ Raman microspectroscopy to analyze the molecular compositions of 113 Phanerozoic metazoan fossils and sediments. Proteins, lipids, and sugars converge in composition during fossilization through lipoxidation and glycoxidation to form endogenous N-, O-, and S-heterocyclic polymers. Nonetheless, multivariate spectral analysis reveals molecular heterogeneities: The relative abundance of glycoxidation and lipoxidation products distinguishes different tissue types. Preserved chelating ligands are diagnostic of different modes of biomineralization. Amino acid–specific fossilization products retain phylogenetic information and capture higher-rank metazoan relationships. Molecular signals survive in deep time and provide a powerful tool for reconstructing the evolutionary history of animals.

scholarly journals Evolutionary history of zoogeographical regions surrounding the Tibetan Plateau

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiekun He ◽  
Siliang Lin ◽  
Jiatang Li ◽  
Jiehua Yu ◽  
Haisheng Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
History Of ◽  
Striking Change ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe Tibetan Plateau (TP) and surrounding regions have one of the most complex biotas on Earth. However, the evolutionary history of these regions in deep time is poorly understood. Here, we quantify the temporal changes in beta dissimilarities among zoogeographical regions during the Cenozoic using 4,966 extant terrestrial vertebrates and 1,278 extinct mammal genera. We identify ten present-day zoogeographical regions and find that they underwent a striking change over time. Specifically, the fauna on the TP was close to the Oriental realm in deep time but became more similar to the Palearctic realms more recently. The present-day zoogeographical regions generally emerged during the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (ca. 5 Ma). These results indicate that geological events such as the Indo-Asian Collision, the TP uplift, and the aridification of the Asian interior underpinned the evolutionary history of the zoogeographical regions surrounding the TP over different time periods.

"Itzt kommen die Soldaten"

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman Venzl
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Military History ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time

In the 18th century, as many as 300 German-language plays were produced with the military and its contact and friction with civil society serving as focus of the dramatic events. The immense public interest these plays attracted feeds not least on the fundamental social structural change that was brought about by the establishment of standing armies. In his historico-cultural literary study, Tilman Venzl shows how these military dramas literarily depict complex social processes and discuss the new problems in an affirmative or critical manner. For the first time, the findings of the New Military History are comprehensively included in the literary history of the 18th century. Thus, the example of selected military dramas – including Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm and Lenz's Die Soldaten – reveals the entire range of variety characterizing the history of both form and function of the subject.

scholarly journals An integrative method for testing form–function linkages and reconstructed evolutionary pathways of masticatory specialization

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (107) ◽  
pp. 20150184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Jack Tseng ◽  
John J. Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Integrate Form ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Evolutionary Pathways ◽  
And Function

Morphology serves as a ubiquitous proxy in macroevolutionary studies to identify potential adaptive processes and patterns. Inferences of functional significance of phenotypes or their evolution are overwhelmingly based on data from living taxa. Yet, correspondence between form and function has been tested in only a few model species, and those linkages are highly complex. The lack of explicit methodologies to integrate form and function analyses within a deep-time and phylogenetic context weakens inferences of adaptive morphological evolution, by invoking but not testing form–function linkages. Here, we provide a novel approach to test mechanical properties at reconstructed ancestral nodes/taxa and the strength and direction of evolutionary pathways in feeding biomechanics, in a case study of carnivorous mammals. Using biomechanical profile comparisons that provide functional signals for the separation of feeding morphologies, we demonstrate, using experimental optimization criteria on estimation of strength and direction of functional changes on a phylogeny, that convergence in mechanical properties and degree of evolutionary optimization can be decoupled. This integrative approach is broadly applicable to other clades, by using quantitative data and model-based tests to evaluate interpretations of function from morphology and functional explanations for observed macroevolutionary pathways.

Descriptive Biostatistics and Epidemiology for Craniofacial Surgeons: The What, Who, When, Where, How, and Why in Data Description, Analysis, Presentation, and Interpretation

FACE ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 273250162110529
Author(s):  
Jack C. Yu ◽  
Dhairya Shukla ◽  
Atbin Doroodchi ◽  
Ramtin Doroodchi ◽  
Hesamoldin Khodadadi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Incomplete Data ◽  
Radical Mastectomy ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
Data Description ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Vaccine Trials ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function

Physicians often make diagnosis and treatment decisions based on incomplete data. That is why we practice medicine. We use accumulated knowledge and prior experience, individual and collective, to restore form and function of our patients to return them to normalcy with continued, durable homeostasis. However, due to the complex nature, our diagnosis may be wrong and our treatments ineffective or even harmful. The history of medicine and surgery is replete with such examples from snake oil and bloodletting to Halstedian radical mastectomy. Without knowing the governing dynamics, the cause-effect relationship is often obscure. Prospective, blinded, placebo-controlled trials provide the highest level of evidence, like the COVID vaccine trials, to determine if a treatment works. However, trials cannot explain in detail how and why a treatment works, or why it does not. Variabilities and uncertainty abound and require the correct mathematical methods to tease out the signal from the noise, causality from association. Collectively, statistics is the science of uncertainty and the extraction of reliable, useful information from raw data. The objectives of this review are to provide craniofacial surgeons with a primer in descriptive statistics: how to design investigations, collect, prepare, present, and interpret clinical data. Since large datasets at regional and national depositories represent powerful and valuable resources, and that their proper use requires a working knowledge in epidemiology, we included sections on incidence, prevalence, sensitivity, and specificity regarding diagnosis, treatments, and testing.

scholarly journals Virtual paleontology: computer-aided analysis of fossil form and function

2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran A. Rahman ◽  
Selena Y. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Fossil Plants ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Micro Tomography ◽  
And Function

‘Virtual paleontology’ entails the use of computational methods to assist in the three-dimensional (3-D) visualization and analysis of fossils, and has emerged as a powerful approach for research on the history of life. Three-dimensional imaging techniques allow poorly understood or previously unknown anatomies of fossil plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, as well as microfossils and trace fossils, to be described in much greater detail than formerly possible, and are applicable to a wide range of preservation types and specimen sizes (Table 1). These methods include non-destructive high-resolution scanning technologies such as conventional X-ray micro-tomography and synchrotron-based X-ray tomography. In addition, form and function can be rigorously investigated through quantitative analysis of computer models, for example finite-element analysis.

The conservation of number and location of 18S sites indicates the relative stability of rDNA in species of Pentatomomorpha (Heteroptera)

Genome ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 425-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Bellini Bardella ◽  
Thiago Fernandes ◽  
André Luís Laforga Vanzela
Keyword(s):  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
18S Rdna ◽  
Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Fish Analysis ◽  
Comparative Cytogenetics ◽  
Rdna Sites ◽  
History Of

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with rDNA probes has been used for comparative cytogenetics studies in different groups of organisms. Although heteropterans are a large suborder within Hemiptera, studies using rDNA are limited to the infraorder Cimicomorpha, in which rDNA sites are present in the autosomes or sex chromosomes. We isolated and sequenced a conserved 18S rDNA region of Antiteuchus tripterus (Pentatomidae) and used it as a probe against chromosomes of 25 species belonging to five different families of Pentatomomorpha. The clone pAt05, with a length of 736 bp, exhibited a conserved stretch of 590 bp. FISH analysis with the probe pAt05 always demonstrated hybridization signals in sub-terminal positions, except for Euschistus heros. Apparently, there is a tendency for 18S rDNA sites to locate in autosomes, except for Leptoglossus gonagra and Euryophthalmus rufipennis, which showed signals in the m- and sex chromosomes, respectively. Although FISH has produced evidence that rearrangements are involved in rDNA repositioning, whether in different autosomes or between sex and m-chromosomes, we have no conclusive evidence of what were the pathways of these rearrangements based on the evolutionary history of the species studied here. Nevertheless, the diversity in the number of species analyzed here showed a tendency of 18S rDNA to remain among the autosomes.

scholarly journals THE ROAD AS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE CONTENT OF THE SHOW GARDEN

space&FORM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2020 (46) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Izabela Myszka ◽  
◽  
Katarzyna Augustyniak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Essential Element ◽  
Entire Space ◽  
Research Results ◽  
The Road ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Decisive Influence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Function ◽  
Road System

In this article, we focus on the subject of the show garden and place for path in the garden, in particular its forms and functions in space and meaning. The form and function of path was examined on the basis of selected, representative examples of historical gardens and contemporary show gardens of the festival in Chaumont-sur-Loire. The results showed that a path is the leading element of every garden, and its form has a decisive influence on the composition of the entire space and allows you to note content. Based on the research results, road system diagrams in historical gardens were developed and model concepts for show gardens inspired by the history of gardens were developed. The currently very touching topic of Quarantine has become the leitmotif of the garden content.

scholarly journals Evolution of a chordate-specific mechanism for myoblast fusion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifeng Zhang ◽  
Renjie Shang ◽  
Kwantae Kim ◽  
Wei Zheng ◽  
Christopher J. Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Myoblast Fusion ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Functional Tests ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
New Genes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Vertebrates ◽  
And Function

The size of an animal is determined by the size of its musculoskeletal system. Myoblast fusion is an innovative mechanism that allows for multinucleated muscle fibers to compound the size and strength of individual mononucleated cells. However, the evolutionary history of the control mechanism underlying this important process is currently unknown. The phylum Chordata hosts closely related groups that span distinct myoblast fusion states: no fusion in cephalochordates, restricted fusion and multinucleation in tunicates, and extensive, obligatory fusion in vertebrates. To elucidate how these differences may have evolved, we studied the evolutionary origins and function of membrane-coalescing agents Myomaker and Myomixer in various groups of chordates. Here we report that Myomaker likely arose through gene duplication in the last common ancestor of tunicates and vertebrates, while Myomixer appears to have evolved de novo in early vertebrates. Functional tests revealed an unexpectedly complex evolutionary history of myoblast fusion in chordates. A pre-vertebrate phase of muscle multinucleation driven by Myomaker was followed by the later emergence of Myomixer that enables the highly efficient fusion system of vertebrates. Thus, our findings reveal the evolutionary origins of chordate-specific fusogens and illustrate how new genes can shape the emergence of novel morphogenetic traits and mechanisms.

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