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Ferrero L, Servetto N, Laudien J, Sahade R. Reproductive biology of the ascidians Styela rustica and Halocynthia pyriformis from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, Arctic. Polar Biol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00300-019-02570-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Dror H, Novak L, Evans JS, López-Legentil S, Shenkar N. Core and Dynamic Microbial Communities of Two Invasive Ascidians: Can Host-Symbiont Dynamics Plasticity Affect Invasion Capacity? MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2019; 78:170-184. [PMID: 30411189 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-018-1276-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/10/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Ascidians (Chordata, Ascidiacea) are considered to be prominent marine invaders, able to tolerate highly polluted environments and fluctuations in salinity and temperature. Here, we examined the seasonal and spatial dynamics of the microbial communities in the inner-tunic of two invasive ascidians, Styela plicata (Lesueur 1823) and Herdmania momus (Savigny 1816), in order to investigate the changes that occur in the microbiome of non-indigenous ascidians in different environments. Microbial communities were characterized using next-generation sequencing of partial (V4) 16S rRNA gene sequences. A clear differentiation between the ascidian-associated microbiome and bacterioplankton was observed, and two distinct sets of operational taxonomic units (OTUs), one core and the other dynamic, were recovered from both species. The relative abundance of the dynamic OTUs in H. momus was higher than in S. plicata, for which core OTU structure was maintained independently of location. Ten and seventeen core OTUs were identified in S. plicata and H. momus, respectively, including taxa with reported capabilities of carbon fixing, ammonia oxidization, denitrification, and heavy-metal processing. The ascidian-sourced dynamic OTUs clustered in response to site and season but significantly differed from the bacterioplankton community structure. These findings suggest that the associations between invasive ascidians and their symbionts may enhance host functionality while maintaining host adaptability to changing environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hila Dror
- School of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Lion Novak
- School of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - James S Evans
- Department of Biology and Marine Biology, Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane, Wilmington, NC, 28409, USA
| | - Susanna López-Legentil
- Department of Biology and Marine Biology, Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane, Wilmington, NC, 28409, USA
| | - Noa Shenkar
- School of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
- The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel-Aviv University, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel.
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Gewing MT, Goldstein E, Buba Y, Shenkar N. Temperature resilience facilitates invasion success of the solitary ascidian Herdmania momus. Biol Invasions 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-018-1827-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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4
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Levitt-Barmats Y, Shenkar N. Observations on the symbiotic relationship between the caridean shrimp Odontonia sibogae (Bruce, 1972) and its ascidian host Herdmania momus (Savigny, 1816). PLoS One 2018; 13:e0192045. [PMID: 29466373 PMCID: PMC5821439 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2017] [Accepted: 01/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Symbiotic relationships between shrimps and other invertebrates are a very common phenomenon in tropical environments. Although the caridean shrimp-ascidian association has been known for many years, the nature of this relationship is still unclear. The current study investigated the association between the caridean shrimp Odontonia sibogae (Bruce, 1972) and solitary ascidians. A combination of field work conducted along the Red Sea coast of Israel and laboratory experiments, conducted during 2015–2016, revealed a clear preference of the shrimps for the ascidian species Herdmania momus (Savigny, 1816), with a low survival ability of the shrimp outside their host's body. The shrimps usually inhabit their host as pairs of male and female or pair of females, but never as pairs of males. Out of the 53 studied females, 51% were observed to bear between 156–1,146 embryos, throughout the course of the year. As these ascidian hosts are known to create large aggregates, we suggest that males may possibly wander among the ascidians occupied by females in order to increase their reproductive success. To date, this is the first study to record the shrimp Dactylonia ascidicola (Borradaile, 1898) inhabiting the ascidian H. momus; and the first study to investigate in depth the ascidian-shrimp association in the Red Sea. It thus provides a platform for future research into the physiological and behavioral adaptations required for such a unique association.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya'arit Levitt-Barmats
- School of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- * E-mail: (YLB); (NS)
| | - Noa Shenkar
- School of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- * E-mail: (YLB); (NS)
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Nawrot R, Albano PG, Chattopadhyay D, Zuschin M. Climate change and body size shift in Mediterranean bivalve assemblages: unexpected role of biological invasions. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:rspb.2017.0357. [PMID: 28768884 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2017] [Accepted: 06/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Body size is a synthetic functional trait determining many key ecosystem properties. Reduction in average body size has been suggested as one of the universal responses to global warming in aquatic ecosystems. Climate change, however, coincides with human-enhanced dispersal of alien species and can facilitate their establishment. We address effects of species introductions on the size structure of recipient communities using data on Red Sea bivalves entering the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. We show that the invasion leads to increase in median body size of the Mediterranean assemblage. Alien species are significantly larger than native Mediterranean bivalves, even though they represent a random subset of the Red Sea species with respect to body size. The observed patterns result primarily from the differences in the taxonomic composition and body-size distributions of the source and recipient species pools. In contrast to the expectations based on the general temperature-size relationships in marine ectotherms, continued warming of the Mediterranean Sea indirectly leads to an increase in the proportion of large-bodied species in bivalve assemblages by accelerating the entry and spread of tropical aliens. These results underscore complex interactions between changing climate and species invasions in driving functional shifts in marine ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafał Nawrot
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria .,Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Paolo G Albano
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Devapriya Chattopadhyay
- Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, Mohanpur WB-741246, India
| | - Martin Zuschin
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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Raijman Nagar L, Shenkar N. From Tropical to Sub-Tropical: Prolonged Reproductive Activity of the Invasive Ascidian Microcosmus exasperatus in the Eastern Mediterranean. Front Ecol Evol 2016. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2016.00102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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López-Legentil S, Turon X, Espluga R, Erwin PM. Temporal stability of bacterial symbionts in a temperate ascidian. Front Microbiol 2015; 6:1022. [PMID: 26441944 PMCID: PMC4585324 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.01022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2015] [Accepted: 09/08/2015] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In temperate seas, both bacterioplankton communities and invertebrate lifecycles follow a seasonal pattern. To investigate whether the bacterial community associated with the Mediterranean ascidian Didemnum fulgens exhibited similar variations, we monitored its bacterial community structure monthly for over a year using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and clone library analyses based on a nearly full length fragment of the 16S rRNA gene. D. fulgens harbored a bacterial consortium typical of ascidians, including numerous members of the phylum Proteobacteria, and a few members of the phyla Cyanobacteria and Acidobacteria. The overall bacterial community in D. fulgens had a distinct signature from the surrounding seawater and was stable over time and across seasonal fluctuations in temperature. Bacterial symbionts were also observed around animal cells in the tunic of adult individuals and in the inner tunic of D. fulgens larvae by transmission electron microscopy. Our results suggest that, as seen for sponges and corals, some species of ascidians host stable and unique bacterial communities that are at least partially inherited by their progeny by vertical transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanna López-Legentil
- Department of Biology & Marine Biology and Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina WilmingtonWilmington, NC, USA
| | - Xavier Turon
- Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasBlanes, Spain
| | - Roger Espluga
- Department of Animal Biology, University of BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain
| | - Patrick M. Erwin
- Department of Biology & Marine Biology and Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina WilmingtonWilmington, NC, USA
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Rubinstein ND, Feldstein T, Shenkar N, Botero-Castro F, Griggio F, Mastrototaro F, Delsuc F, Douzery EJ, Gissi C, Huchon D. Deep sequencing of mixed total DNA without barcodes allows efficient assembly of highly plastic ascidian mitochondrial genomes. Genome Biol Evol 2013; 5:1185-99. [PMID: 23709623 PMCID: PMC3698926 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evt081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Ascidians or sea squirts form a diverse group within chordates, which includes a few thousand members of marine sessile filter-feeding animals. Their mitochondrial genomes are characterized by particularly high evolutionary rates and rampant gene rearrangements. This extreme variability complicates standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based techniques for molecular characterization studies, and consequently only a few complete Ascidian mitochondrial genome sequences are available. Using the standard PCR and Sanger sequencing approach, we produced the mitochondrial genome of Ascidiella aspersa only after a great effort. In contrast, we produced five additional mitogenomes (Botrylloides aff. leachii, Halocynthia spinosa, Polycarpa mytiligera, Pyura gangelion, and Rhodosoma turcicum) with a novel strategy, consisting in sequencing the pooled total DNA samples of these five species using one Illumina HiSeq 2000 flow cell lane. Each mitogenome was efficiently assembled in a single contig using de novo transcriptome assembly, as de novo genome assembly generally performed poorly for this task. Each of the new six mitogenomes presents a different and novel gene order, showing that no syntenic block has been conserved at the ordinal level (in Stolidobranchia and in Phlebobranchia). Phylogenetic analyses support the paraphyly of both Ascidiacea and Phlebobranchia, with Thaliacea nested inside Phlebobranchia, although the deepest nodes of the Phlebobranchia-Thaliacea clade are not well resolved. The strategy described here thus provides a cost-effective approach to obtain complete mitogenomes characterized by a highly plastic gene order and a fast nucleotide/amino acid substitution rate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nimrod D. Rubinstein
- Department of Cell Research and Immunology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
- Present address: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University
| | - Tamar Feldstein
- Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
- The Steinhardt National Collections of Natural History Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
| | - Noa Shenkar
- Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
| | - Fidel Botero-Castro
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), UMR 5554 - CNRS, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
| | | | | | - Frédéric Delsuc
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), UMR 5554 - CNRS, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
| | - Emmanuel J.P. Douzery
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), UMR 5554 - CNRS, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
| | - Carmela Gissi
- Dip. di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- *Corresponding authors: E-mail: ;
| | - Dorothée Huchon
- Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel
- *Corresponding authors: E-mail: ;
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Erwin PM, Carmen Pineda M, Webster N, Turon X, López-Legentil S. Small core communities and high variability in bacteria associated with the introduced ascidian Styela plicata. Symbiosis 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/s13199-012-0204-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Rius M, Shenkar N. Ascidian introductions through the Suez Canal: The case study of an Indo-Pacific species. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2012; 64:2060-2068. [PMID: 22857711 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.06.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2012] [Revised: 06/27/2012] [Accepted: 06/28/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Although marine biological invasions via the Suez Canal have been extensively documented, little is known about the introduction of non-indigenous ascidians (Chordata, Ascidiacea), a group containing particularly aggressive invasive species. Here, we used a multidisciplinary approach to study the introduction of the ascidian Herdmania momus into the Mediterranean Sea. We reviewed its taxonomy and global distribution, and analyzed how genetic variation is partitioned between sides of the Suez Canal. The taxonomic revision showed that H. momus currently has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. Genetic data indicated two well-differentiated colonization histories across the eastern Mediterranean. Our findings suggest that the range expansion of H. momus has been greatly facilitated by the combined effect of human-mediated transport and the species' ability to adapt to different environments. The integrative approach presented here is critical to attain a holistic understanding of marine biological invasions, especially when studying groups with a poorly resolved taxonomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Rius
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, USA.
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Abstract
The class Ascidiacea presents fundamental opportunities for research in the fields of development, evolution, ecology, natural products and more. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding the global biodiversity of the class Ascidiacea, focusing in their taxonomy, main regions of biodiversity, and distribution patterns. Based on analysis of the literature and the species registered in the online World Register of Marine Species, we assembled a list of 2815 described species. The highest number of species and families is found in the order Aplousobranchia. Didemnidae and Styelidae families have the highest number of species with more than 500 within each group. Sixty percent of described species are colonial. Species richness is highest in tropical regions, where colonial species predominate. In higher latitudes solitary species gradually contribute more to the total species richness. We emphasize the strong association between species richness and sampling efforts, and discuss the risks of invasive species. Our inventory is certainly incomplete as the ascidian fauna in many areas around the world is relatively poorly known, and many new species continue to be discovered and described each year.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noa Shenkar
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
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Zurel D, Benayahu Y, Or A, Kovacs A, Gophna U. Composition and dynamics of the gill microbiota of an invasive Indo-Pacific oyster in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Environ Microbiol 2011; 13:1467-76. [PMID: 21635673 DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02448.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Gill bacterial communities of Chama pacifica, an Indo-Pacific invasive oyster to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, were compared with those of Chama savignyi, its northern Red Sea congeneric species. Summer and winter bacterial populations were characterized and compared using 16S rDNA clone libraries, and seasonal population dynamics were monitored by automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA). Clone libraries revealed a specific clade of bacteria, closely related to marine endosymbionts from the Indo-Pacific, found in both ecosystems, of which one taxon was conserved in oysters from both sites. This taxon was dominant in summer libraries and was weakly present in winter ones, where other members of this group were dominant. ARISA results revealed significant seasonal variation in bacterial populations of Mediterranean Sea oysters, as opposed to Red Sea ones that were stable throughout the year. We suggest that this conserved association between bacteria and oyster reflects either a symbiosis between the oyster host and some of its bacteria, a co-invasion of both parties, or both.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dror Zurel
- The Porter School of Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
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Singh TR, Tsagkogeorga G, Delsuc F, Blanquart S, Shenkar N, Loya Y, Douzery EJ, Huchon D. Tunicate mitogenomics and phylogenetics: peculiarities of the Herdmania momus mitochondrial genome and support for the new chordate phylogeny. BMC Genomics 2009; 10:534. [PMID: 19922605 PMCID: PMC2785839 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-10-534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2009] [Accepted: 11/17/2009] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Tunicates represent a key metazoan group as the sister-group of vertebrates within chordates. The six complete mitochondrial genomes available so far for tunicates have revealed distinctive features. Extensive gene rearrangements and particularly high evolutionary rates have been evidenced with regard to other chordates. This peculiar evolutionary dynamics has hampered the reconstruction of tunicate phylogenetic relationships within chordates based on mitogenomic data. Results In order to further understand the atypical evolutionary dynamics of the mitochondrial genome of tunicates, we determined the complete sequence of the solitary ascidian Herdmania momus. This genome from a stolidobranch ascidian presents the typical tunicate gene content with 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs and 24 tRNAs which are all encoded on the same strand. However, it also presents a novel gene arrangement, highlighting the extreme plasticity of gene order observed in tunicate mitochondrial genomes. Probabilistic phylogenetic inferences were conducted on the concatenation of the 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes from representatives of major metazoan phyla. We show that whereas standard homogeneous amino acid models support an artefactual sister position of tunicates relative to all other bilaterians, the CAT and CAT+BP site- and time-heterogeneous mixture models place tunicates as the sister-group of vertebrates within monophyletic chordates. Moreover, the reference phylogeny indicates that tunicate mitochondrial genomes have experienced a drastic acceleration in their evolutionary rate that equally affects protein-coding and ribosomal-RNA genes. Conclusion This is the first mitogenomic study supporting the new chordate phylogeny revealed by recent phylogenomic analyses. It illustrates the beneficial effects of an increased taxon sampling coupled with the use of more realistic amino acid substitution models for the reconstruction of animal phylogeny.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiratha Raj Singh
- Department of Zoology, George S Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
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Population dynamics and life cycle of the introduced ascidian Microcosmus squamiger in the Mediterranean Sea. Biol Invasions 2008. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-008-9375-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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