Biomedical subjects

Brenda J Bradley

Publications and source records attributed to Brenda J Bradley.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Plant DNA sequences from feces: potential means for assessing diets of wild primates.

Analyses of plant DNA in feces provides a promising, yet largely unexplored, means of documenting the diets of elusive primates. Here we demonstrate the promise and pitfalls of this approach using DNA extracted from fecal samples of wild western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and black and white colobus monkeys (Colobus guereza). From these DNA extracts we amplified, cloned, and sequenced small segments of chloroplast DNA (part of the rbcL gene) and plant nuclear DNA (ITS-2). The obtained sequences were compared to sequences generated from known plant samples and to those in GenBank to identify plant taxa in the feces. With further optimization, this method could provide a basic evaluation of minimum primate dietary diversity even when knowledge of local flora is limited. This approach may find application in studies characterizing the diets of poorly-known, unhabituated primate species or assaying consumer-resource relationships in an ecosystem.

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PubMed2005

Mountain gorilla tug-of-war: silverbacks have limited control over reproduction in multimale groups.

To determine who fathers the offspring in wild mountain gorilla groups containing more than one adult male silverback, we genotyped nearly one-fourth (n = 92) of the mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) living in the Virunga Volcanoes region of Africa. Paternity analysis of 48 offspring born into four groups between 1985 and 1999 revealed that, although all infants were sired by within-group males, the socially dominant silverback did not always monopolize reproduction within his group. Instead, the second-ranking male sired an average of 15% of group offspring. This result, in combination with previous findings that second-ranking males fare best by not leaving the group but by staying and waiting to assume dominance even if no reproduction is possible while waiting, is not consistent with expectations from a reproductive skew model in which the silverback concedes controllable reproduction to the second-ranking male. Instead, the data suggest a "tug-of-war" scenario in which neither the dominant nor the second-ranking male has full control over his relative reproductive share. The two top-ranked males were typically unrelated and this, in combination with the mixed paternity of group offspring, means that multimale gorilla groups do not approximate family groups. Instead, as long-term assemblages of related and unrelated individuals, gorilla groups are similar to chimpanzee groups and so offer interesting possibilities for kin-biased interactions among individuals.

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PubMed2004

Gorillas.

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Africa↗

PubMed2004

Dispersed male networks in western gorillas.

Although kin-selection theory has been widely used to explain the tendency of individuals to bias beneficial behaviors towards relatives living within the same social group, less attention has focused on kin-biased interactions between groups. For animal societies in which females emigrate, as is the case for mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), encounters between males in different groups often involve aggressive displays that can escalate to physical violence and fatal injuries. However, recent findings on the little-studied western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) indicate that interactions between social groups occur more frequently than they do in mountain gorillas and are often, although not always, surprisingly nonaggressive. We investigated the pattern of genetic relationships between individuals of different groups and found evidence suggesting a previously unrecognized "dispersed male network" social structure in western gorillas in which the single males leading social groups were usually related to one or more nearby males. We propose that this provides a basis for extra-group, kin-biased behaviors and may explain the reported peaceful intergroup interactions. Furthermore, these results suggest that a patrilocal social structure, in which males remain in their natal region and potentially benefit from kin associations, is a feature unifying African apes and humans.

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PubMed2004

Genetic variation in gorillas.

This review summarizes what is currently known concerning genetic variation in gorillas, on both inter- and intraspecific levels. Compared to the human species, gorillas, along with the other great apes, possess greater genetic variation as a consequence of a demographic history of rather constant population size. Data and hence conclusions from analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), the usual means of describing intraspecific patterns of genetic diversity, are limited at this time. An important task for future studies is to determine the degree of confidence with which gorilla mtDNA can be analyzed, in view of the risk that one will inadvertently analyze artifactual rather than genuine sequences. The limited information available from sequences of nuclear genomic segments does not distinguish western from eastern gorillas, and, in comparison with results from the two chimpanzee species, suggests a relatively recent common ancestry for all gorillas. In the near future, the greatest insights are likely to come from studies aimed at genetic characterization of all individual members of social groups. Such studies, addressing topics such as behavior of individuals with kin and non-kin, and the actual success of male reproductive strategies, will provide a link between behavioral and genetic studies of gorillas.

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PubMed2004

T-cell receptor transgenic response to an endogenous polymorphic autoantigen determines susceptibility to diabetes.

We have produced a T-cell receptor (TCR) transgenic NOD mouse, 6.9TCR/NOD, in which the expression of both diabetogenic T-cells and naturally occurring autoantigen were simultaneously controlled. The parent T-cell clone, BDC-6.9, and T-cells from 6.9TCR/NOD mice recognize a currently unidentified antigen present in NOD but not in BALB/c islet cells. A gene that codes for the antigen, or a protein that regulates the antigen, was previously mapped to a locus on chromosome 6. We have developed transgenic mice bearing the TCR alpha- and beta-chains from the BDC-6.9 T-cell clone on a NOD congenic background in which the antigen locus on chromosome 6 of the NOD mouse is replaced by a segment from BALB/c. These NOD.C6 congenic mice lack the NOD islet cell antigen to which the BDC-6.9 T-cell clone responds. Diabetes in both male and female 6.9TCR/NOD mice is dramatically accelerated, but in 6.9TCR/NOD.C6 mice lacking the NOD islet cell autoantigen, we have not observed diabetes for up to 1 year of age. Thus, the generation of 6.9TCR transgenic mice provides a model of autoimmune diabetes whereby controlled expression of an endogenous polymorphic autoantigen effectively determines disease development.

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