Distinct electrophoretic polymorphism pattern at alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) locus of Drosophila melanogaster natural populations from Turkey

Small number of Drosophila melanogaster populations from two distinct geographical regions, Central Anatolia and Black Sea, of Turkey were studied. Populations sampled were electrophoresed for a single locus, alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) to assess population differentiation. Both the magnitude of genetic differentiation levels and the population structure based on hierarchical F-statistics allow populations to be grouped on two genetically divergent area, Central Anatolian and Black Sea. One ecological correlate, average yearly maximum rainfal. Ryear, seems to track this Adh genetic variation pattern. The study also shows that a typical pattern of geographical Adh polymorphism can emerge with a handfull of populations sampled across a relatively small distance.

Detection of virulence factors of Escherichia coli from children by multiplex polymerase chain reaction

A total of 161 Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains isolated from children with urinary tract infection (UTI) were analysed for the genes encoding the virulence factors such as pyelonephritis (pap), s fimbriae (sfa), afimbrial adhesin I (afaI), haemolysin (hly), cytotoxic necrotising factor I (cnf I) and aerobactin (aer) by multiplex PCR. Ninety-four E. coli strains were found to carry at least one virulence factor. Therefore, 58.38% of total population was positive for one virulence gene at least. Percentage of genes within the total population for pap, sfa, afaI, hly, cnf I and aer was found as 22.98, 6.21, 9.94, 1.24, 9.94 and 39.75, respectively. Our analysis showed that sfa-pap (p < 0.001); pap-aer, afaI-aer and cnf I-pap (P < 0.05) and hly-sfa (p < 0.01) significantly co-occurred in their respective samples. In the light of these findings, we suggest an important role of pap causing UTI.

Age-Related Enzyme Activity in Different Genotypes of Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH) in Drosophila Melanogaster

Ageing is a complex phenomenon with possibly a multitude of contributions from many genes. In our study, we tested the degree of contribution of alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh ) polymorphism (as specific enzyme activities) to ageing in Drosophila melanogaster. Our results indicate an overdominance of FS genotypes on ageing flies, with the two homozygotes, i.e., FF and SS, having significantly lower mean longevities. However, that kind of life-span-genotype relationship was not detected when the genotypes were observed for the immediate function of the Adh locus, ADH enzyme activity in which mean ADH-FF activity was the highest as compared to those of ADH-FS and ADH-SS. This irrelevancy of the ADH enzyme function to ageing, with an obvious overdominance effect of Adh locus, is discussed considering Adh 's known relation to other life history traits.