Relationship between wild greylag and European domestic geese based on mitochondrial DNA

The origins of the European domestic goose are uncertain. The available information comes from archaeological findings and historical literature, but genetic evidence has hitherto been scarce. The domestic goose in Europe is derived from the greylag goose (Anser anser), but it is not known where the initial domestication took place and which of the two subspecies of greylag goose was ancestral. We aimed to determine the amount and geographical distribution of genetic diversity in modern populations of greylag geese as well as in different breeds of the domestic goose to make inferences about goose domestication. We studied DNA sequence variation in the mitochondrial control region of greylag geese from multiple populations across Europe and western Asia as well as specimens of domestic geese representing 18 modern breeds and individuals not belonging to any recognised breed. Our results show notable differences in genetic diversity between different greylag goose populations and the presence of six mitochondrial haplogroups which show a degree of geographical partitioning. The genetic diversity of the domestic goose is low, with 84% of sampled individuals having one of two major closely related haplotypes, suggesting that modern European domestic geese may derive from a narrow genetic base. The site of domestication remains unresolved, but domestic geese in Turkey were unusually diverse, indicating the importance of further sampling in the vicinity of the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. There appears to be past or ongoing hybridisation between greylags and domestic geese in particular areas, consistent with field observations.

Temporal increase in mtDNA diversity in a declining population

In small and declining populations levels of genetic variability are expected to be reduced due to effects of inbreeding and random genetic drift. As a result, both individual fitness and populations' adaptability can be compromised, and the probability of extinction increased. Therefore, maintenance of genetic variability is a crucial goal in conservation biology. Here we show that although the level of genetic variability in mtDNA of the endangered Fennoscandian lesser white-fronted goose Anser erythropus population is currently lower than in the neigbouring populations, it has increased six-fold during the past 140 years despite the precipitously declining population. The explanation for increased genetic diversity in Fennoscandia appears to be recent spontaneous increase in male immigration rate equalling 0.56 per generation. This inference is supported by data on nuclear microsatellite markers, the latter of which show that the current and the historical Fennoscandian populations are significantly differentiated (F(ST) = 0.046, P = 0) due to changes in allele frequencies. The effect of male-mediated gene flow is potentially dichotomous. On the one hand it may rescue the Fennoscandian lesser white-fronted goose from loss of genetic variability, but on the other hand, it eradicates the original genetic characteristics of this population.

Allergic rhinitis in school-aged children with asthma - still under-diagnosed and under-treated? A retrospective study in a children's hospital

Allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma can be considered as manifestations of the same disease entity. The treatment of AR may improve also asthma symptoms. The aim of the study was to evaluate, how often AR is diagnosed and treated in patients with asthma. A retrospective chart review in the allergy and asthma unit of a secondary paediatric hospital. From 903 eligible 7- to 15-year-old children with doctor-diagnosed asthma, 372 were randomly included in the study. In all, 229 patients (61.6%, 95% CI: 56.5-66.4%) had symptoms presumptive for AR. The diagnosis of AR was recorded in the patient records only for 87 patients (23.4%, 95% CI: 19.4-28.0). There was evidence that children with AR or nasal symptoms had more severe asthma; 35% of the patients with AR, 23% with nasal symptoms without AR diagnosis and 12% without nasal symptoms required inhaled steroids and long-acting beta-agonists for asthma (p = 0.035). AR was both under-diagnosed and under-treated in school-aged children with doctor-diagnosed asthma.

Genetic diversity, population structure, effective population size and demographic history of the Finnish wolf population

The Finnish wolf population (Canis lupus) was sampled during three different periods (1996-1998, 1999-2001 and 2002-2004), and 118 individuals were genotyped with 10 microsatellite markers. Large genetic variation was found in the population despite a recent demographic bottleneck. No spatial population subdivision was found even though a significant negative relationship between genetic relatedness and geographic distance suggested isolation by distance. Very few individuals did not belong to the local wolf population as determined by assignment analyses, suggesting a low level of immigration in the population. We used the temporal approach and several statistical methods to estimate the variance effective size of the population. All methods gave similar estimates of effective population size, approximately 40 wolves. These estimates were slightly larger than the estimated census size of breeding individuals. A Bayesian model based on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations indicated strong evidence for a long-term population decline. These results suggest that the contemporary wolf population size is roughly 8% of its historical size, and that the population decline dates back to late 19th century or early 20th century. Despite an increase of over 50% in the census size of the population during the whole study period, there was only weak evidence that the effective population size during the last period was higher than during the first. This may be caused by increased inbreeding, diminished dispersal within the population, and decreased immigration to the population during the last study period.

Colonization history of the high-arctic pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchus

Population structure and phylogeography of the pink-footed goose, Anser brachyrhynchus Baillon 1833, was studied using mtDNA control region sequences (221 bp) from 142 individuals. Present breeding areas of the species in Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard were largely covered by ice during the late Pleistocene. In pairwise comparisons phiST estimates showed significant differentiation among eastern and western populations, whereas sampling localities within both areas were not differentiated. The mtDNA data indicate that the populations have separated recently (less than 10 000 years ago) and present breeding areas were colonized from one refugial population. The levels of haplotype and nucleotide diversity were approximately five times higher for the eastern population compared to the western population and suggest that the latter was colonized by a subset of eastern birds. Time to the most recent common ancestor of the species is 32 000-46 000 years, i.e. the present mtDNA variation of the pink-footed goose has accumulated during the last 0.1 My. Estimates of the long-term female effective population size (5400-7700 for the eastern population) imply that the refugial population of the pink-footed goose has been large. Tundra habitats were more extensive in cold periods of the late Pleistocene than today and may have sustained population sizes that allowed the accumulation of extant genetic polymorphism. It is not probable that the postulated small refugial areas in the high latitudes had a significant role in maintaining this diversity.

Mitochondrial control region polymorphism reveal high amount of gene flow in Fennoscandian willow tits (Parus montanus borealis)

We studied the genetic variability and differentiation of two Fennoscandian willow tit (Parus montanus borealis) populations located ca. 1000 km apart in Finland and Sweden by using the control region sequences of the mitochondrial DNA. Individual variation in the control region was extensive since all the 13 Finnish and the 12 Swedish individuals had unique haplotypes and the mean pairwise genetic distance resulted in 0.0052 (range 0.0008-0.0109). In the minimum spanning network connecting the genotypes, the two populations were completely intermingled. The mismatch distribution of the combined data set was very close to expected distribution of an expanding population. This result was supported by a significantly negative Tajima's D value. The sequence data indicate that (1) the long-term effective population size of the breeding willow tits has been large (122,000 and 110,000 females for the Finnish and the Swedish populations, respectively); and that (2) the gene exchange between distant localities is/has been extensive. Dispersal area for the Finnish females was estimated to be about 19,000-30,000 km2 and for the Swedish, 22,000-28,000 km2. Thus, the whole Fennoscandian population can be regarded as one panmictic unit, without any subdivisions to local demes. The amount of gene flow is remarkable because the willow tit has been considered a highly sedentary species. Provided that adult birds are site-tenacious, the gene flow must occur through juvenile summer dispersal, or irruptive autumn invasions, or both.

Steroid-involved transcriptional regulation of human genes encoding prostatic acid phosphatase, prostate-specific antigen, and prostate-specific glandular kallikrein

We have compared the steroid regulation of human genes encoding prostatic acid phosphatase (hPAP), prostate-specific antigen (hPSA), and prostate-specific glandular kallikrein (hK2) at the level of transcription. Reporter constructs of hPAP promoter covering the region -734/+467 were functional in both prostatic (LNCaP and PC-3) and nonprostatic (CV-1) cell lines in transient transfections. hPAP -231/+50 with eight identified transcription factor-binding sites showed the highest, and hPAP -734/+467 showed the lowest transcriptional activity in CV-1 cells. The hPAP promoter could not be induced with androgen, glucocorticoid, or progesterone, contrary to the hPSA (-620/+40) and hK2 (-493/+27) promoters in PC-3 cells cotransfected with the respective steroid receptor expression vector. Therefore, steroids cannot directly regulate hPAP gene expression via receptor binding to steroid response elements at -178 and +336, which have been shown to have androgen receptor-binding ability in vitro. Glucocorticoid was the most powerful activator of the hPSA construct at 10-nM steroid concentrations. On the contrary, glucocorticoid stimulation of the transcriptional activity of the hK2 construct was the weakest among the tested steroids. The results indicate that the steroid response elements in the proximal promoters of hPSA and hK2 genes are not androgen specific, offering the molecular basis for the expression of these genes outside the prostate in tissues containing steroid receptors.

Transfecting well-differentiated prostatic cancer cell line LNCaP

The transfection of well-differentiated sensitive cells requires careful optimization of the conditions used. In addition to the transfection method chosen, the amount of cells plated, and thus the density of the cells, as well as the influence of the serum concentration play a critical role in the case of LNCaP cells. We also found out that the only appropriate control plasmid for the transfection efficiency was pCMV beta-gal driven by the cytomegalovirus promoter.

Structural comparison of human and rat prostate-specific acid phosphatase genes and their promoters: identification of putative androgen response elements

Structural comparison of human and rat prostate-specific acid phosphatase (hPAP and rPAP) genes indicate that the exon number is different between these species. The hPAP gene contains 10 exons, whereas the rPAP gene was 11 exons. However, exons 2-9 of the genes are identical in size. The 5' regions of the two genes show 71% identity in the most homologous region +1 to +340. The 5' untranslated regions of the human and rat genes are 50 and 49 nucleotides long, respectively. An Alu sequence is present upstream from the proximal promoter of the hPAP gene. Five putative androgen response elements altogether were localized in both the human and rat gene, one of which is conserved in location and sequence between the two genes. Two of these elements in both genes, the conserved one in the proximal promoter region and another one in intron 1, were shown to bind androgen receptor efficiently in vitro.