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Maintenance of pre-mRNA secondary structure by epistatic selection.

Linkage disequilibrium between polymorphisms in a natural population may result from various evolutionary forces, including random genetic drift due to sampling of gametes during reproduction, restricted migration between subpopulations in a subdivided population, or epistatic selection. In this report, we present evidence that the majority of significant linkage disequilibria observed in introns of the alcohol dehydrogenase locus (Adh) of Drosophila pseudoobscura are due to epistatic selection maintaining secondary structure of precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA). Based on phylogenetic-comparative analysis and a likelihood approach, we propose secondary structure models of Adh pre-mRNA for the regions of the adult intron and intron 2 where clustering of linkage disequilibria has been observed. Furthermore, we applied the likelihood ratio test to the phylogenetically predicted secondary structure in intron 1. In contrast to the other two structures, polymorphisms associated with the more conserved stem-loop structure of intron 1 are in low frequency, and linkage disequilibria have not been observed. These findings are qualitatively consistent with a model of compensatory fitness interactions. This model assumes that mutations disrupting pairing in a secondary structural element are individually deleterious if they destabilize a functionally important structure; a second "compensatory" mutation, however, may restabilize the structure and restore fitness.

Animals↗

Ontogeny of additive and maternal genetic effects: lessons from domestic mammals.

Evolution of size and growth depends on heritable variation arising from additive and maternal genetic effects. Levels of heritable (and nonheritable) variation might change over ontogeny, increasing through "variance compounding" or decreasing through "compensatory growth." We test for these processes using a meta-analysis of age-specific weight traits in domestic ungulates. Generally, mean standardized variance components decrease with age, consistent with compensatory growth. Phenotypic convergence among adult sheep occurs through decreasing environmental and maternal genetic variation. Maternal variation similarly declines in cattle. Maternal genetic effects are thus reduced with age (both in absolute and relative terms). Significant trends in heritability (decreasing in cattle, increasing in sheep) result from declining maternal and environmental components rather than from changing additive variation. There was no evidence for increasing standardized variance components. Any compounding must therefore be masked by more important compensatory processes. While extrapolation of these patterns to processes in natural population is difficult, our results highlight the inadequacy of assuming constancy in genetic parameters over ontogeny. Negative covariance between direct and maternal genetic effects was common. Negative correlations with additive and maternal genetic variances indicate that antagonistic pleiotropy (between additive and maternal genetic effects) may maintain genetic variance and limit responses to selection.

Aging↗

Palatal epithelium of a monotreme and a marsupial.

The palatal epithelium of a monotreme, Tachyglossus aculeatus and a marsupial, Tarsipes spenserae were examined histologically and with the scanning electron microscope. Each animal possess keratinized palatal spines which although histologically similar, show significant differences in their external morphology. It is suggested that the spines in each case are highly differentiated filiform papillae which have developed as a compensatory mechanism of mastication, since both animals are in effect, edentulous. In the light of these findings and observations on the tongue of both animals, it is suggested that a degree of parallel evolution of the palate (as part of the masticatory apparatus) has occurred.

Animals↗

Compensated deleterious mutations in insect genomes.

Relatively little is known about the importance of amino acid interactions in protein and phenotypic evolution. Here we examine whether mutations that are pathogenic in Drosophila melanogaster become fixed via epistasis in other Dipteran genomes. Overall divergence at pathogenic amino acid sites is reduced. However, approximately 10% of the substitutions at these sites carry the exact same pathogenic amino acid found in D. melanogaster mutants. Hence compensatory mutation(s) must have evolved. Surprisingly, the fraction 10% is not affected by phylogenetic distance. These results support a selection-driven process that allows compensated amino acid substitutions to become rapidly fixed in taxa with large populations.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Karyotypic evolution of cells in culture: a new concept.

The Chapter summarizes peculiarities of karyotypic variability during establishment and long-term cultivation of permanent cell lines. A new concept on pathways of karyotypic evolution of cells in culture is put forward. A detailed description is presented of the author's original approach of cytogenetic analysis of cell lines provided for a principally new characteristic of the cell line: its generalized reconstructed karyotype (GRK). Its use as a criterion to evaluate authenticity, purity, and stability of cell lines is discussed. Based on analysis of the GRK, two stages of karyotype evolution of cell lines are revealed: establishment and stabilization, different in karyotypic variability of the cell population and in peculiarities of clone selection. Comparison of peculiarities of karyotypic variability of leukemic and tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo was made, and general regularities of their karyotypic evolution have been established, such as nonrandom changes in the number and structure of chromosomes and deletion of one of the sex chromosomes, as well as regularities characteristic only of cells in culture in most human and animal cell lines (at least 85%) of disomy on all autosomes. The rest of the cell lines, 15%, are characterized by either partial or total monosomies on certain autosomes during long-term cultivation. Three main compensatory mechanisms of maintaining viability of cell lines that have lost genetic material are discussed: polyploidization of the initial cell clone, amplification of oncogenes (predominantly of mys family), and extracopying of whole autosomes or of their fragments.

Animals↗

Changes in contractile and non-contractile proteins, intracellular Ca2+ and ultrastructures during the development of right ventricular hypertrophy and failure in rats.

Whether cardiac hypertrophy is a compensatory response or a cause of decompensation has been an interesting and important controversy in cardiology. The purpose of this study is to assess qualitative and quantitative changes in biological factors involved in the evolution and the development of right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and right ventricular failure in response to pressure overload in rats with pulmonary hypertension induced by monocrotaline injection, and to clarify the process from compensation to deterioration in cardiac hypertrophy biochemically and morphologically. Significant RVH was produced in rats at 2 weeks after single subcutaneous injection of monocrotaline, and signs of right ventricular failure became obvious at 4 weeks as RVH became more severe. In the right ventricle of these rats, we found that: 1) myosin isoenzymes shifted from V1 to V3 both at 2 and 4 weeks; 2) total collagen content increased, and type III and type V collagens increased with a relative decrease in type I collagen at both 2 and 4 weeks; 3) intracellular Ca2+ transient recorded from isolated myocytes showed a lower peak and slower descent slope compared to those of control rats; 4) ultrastructural changes observed by scanning electron microscopy at 1 and 2 weeks disappeared gradually as heart failure developed, and degeneration or destruction of mitochondria or sarcoplasmic reticulum became remarkable at 3 and 4 weeks. These findings suggest that cardiac hypertrophy might be an ominous sign of cardiac failure rather than a benign adaptive process, at least in this model.

Animals↗

Late modifications of residual parenchyma after splenic resections.

The increased experience in the field of splenic resections have brought up questions about the evolution of the residual parenchyma. Weight increase and the histologic structure of the splenic remnant were studied during a year following hemisplenectomy in rats. Histological studies show that the residual spleen presents a permanent compensatory hyperplasia rather than a true regeneration. This hyperplasia causes an increase in weight of the residual parenchyma which is moderate and only transitory. Indirect confirmation of findings obtained in rats comes from scintigraphic study of residual human splenic tissue after hemisplenectomy. The residual tissue keeps its original form without increase in volume, and the sectioned surface is always well identified one year after splenic resection.

Animals↗

Increased fitness of drug resistant HIV-1 protease as a result of acquisition of compensatory mutations during suboptimal therapy.

OBJECTIVE: It is thought as a consequence of continuous replication, HIV-1 has acquired an optimal fitness state and that suboptimal antiretroviral therapy selects for drug resistant variants which show impaired fitness in the absence of the drug. In this paper we studied the evolution and fitness of viral populations appearing in a patient who received protease monotherapy. METHODS: Two factors contributing to fitness, drug resistance and protease catalytic activity, were studied at the enzymatic and virological level. RESULTS: The first drug resistant viral variants that were selected in vivo harboured one to three protease substitutions. These mutants showed reduced protease activity and consequently a reduction in viral replication capacity. During continued in vivo replication of these viruses in the presence of the drug, novel variants harbouring additional substitutions in the viral protease appeared. These variants did not display any further increase in drug resistance but demonstrated clearly increased protease activity. Consequently the replication capacity of these viruses was raised to a level at which they replicated better than the original wild-type virus. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the viral population in the patient does not have to represent the fittest possible variants, and thus antiretroviral therapy may drive the viral population first through a lower fitness level and then to a higher fitness level.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Genetics of survival.

The fields of gerontology and genetics have merged, spawning novel lines of investigation and generating a wealth of new results in recent years. However, the lack of clarity and consistency in the basic definitions upon which the science of gerontology must rest has fostered a certain amount of enduring confusion. Among the unclear issues are the genetic components of life span and the distinction between "normal" and "pathologic" aging. At a time of massive world population aging, such issues have, beyond their scientific importance, a momentous social and economic impact. A simple axiomatic framework, consisting of three definitions and five axioms, is proposed that clarifies the aforementioned issues and reconciles disparate data in gerontology. Based on this framework, a new classification of genes involved in survival is proposed. Within the Compensatory Adaptation Theory of aging, apparent paradoxes are solved and problems in gerontology may be formulated anew.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Progression of renal failure in patients with compromised renal function is not always present: evaluation of underlying disease.

BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that, once renal function has been restricted in chronic kidney disease, compensatory hyperfiltration results in a compulsory deterioration of renal function. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 83 patients originally starting from a serum creatinine (S(crea)) between 2.0 and 5.0 mg/dl were followed for the evolution of renal function. This overall population, with a follow-up (FU) of(M +/- SD) 67 +/- 50 months, was stratified into two groups based upon their slope of 1/S(crea), whereby the median of this slope (-0.0019) was taken as the cut-off value. RESULTS: There was an expected decline of renal function in the group with the lowest slope (group A = progression) whereas renal function remained stable in the group with the highest slope (group B = no progression). This evolution occurred in spite of a similar S(crea) in both groups at the start of the study (group A: 2.45 +/- 0.71 mg/100 ml (n = 41) vs. group B: 2.94 +/- 0.88 mg/100 ml (n = 42); p = ns) and an even higher creatinine clearance in group A (group A: 46.43 +/- 18.65 mg/100 ml(n = 41)vs. group B: 34.03 +/- 20.11 mg/100 ml (n = 42); p = 0.0049). Group B contained a higher number of patients with interstitial nephritis (34/42 = 81% vs. 6/41 = 15%; p < 0.00001) while patients with chronic glomerulopathy could be found especially in group A (23/41 = 56% vs. 8/42 = 19%; p < 0.00001). Proteinuria was continuously higher in group A (start FU: p = 0.0097; FU 72 months: p = 0.0155) and tended to decrease in group B (start FU, 0.89 +/- 1.42 g/l (n = 42) vs. FU 72 months, 0.41 +/- 0.78 g/l (n = 26); p = 0.0474) whereas no significant decrease was observed in group A (start FU, 2.16 +/- 2.83 g/l (n = 41) vs. FU 72 months, 1.77 +/- 0.72 g/l (n = 6); p = ns). CONCLUSION: Within the time limit and patient inclusion criteria of this FU, a compromised renal function does not necessarily result in a further decline. This study points more towards a major role for the underlying nature of renal disease.

Creatinine↗

Temperature: a "shaping force' in protein evolution.

1. Comparisons of homologous enzymes from species adapted to widely different temperatures reveal that ligand-binding affinities are rigorously conserved. This is interpreted to mean that a critical relationship between ligand-binding ability and intracellular ligand concentrations must be maintained for proper enzymic regulation. 2. The catalytic efficiencies of enzyme homologues differ in temperature-compensatory manners. Activation free energies are proportional to adaptation temperature and, consequently, low-temperature-adapted enzymes have the highest substrate turnover numbers. 3. Temperature compensatory adjustments in catalytic efficiency may be achieved by altering the number of weak bonds that form or break during a catalytic conformational change. Support for this hypothesis comes from the finding that activation enthalpy and activation entropy values co-vary in a regular manner and by magnitudes consistent with different amounts of weak-bond formation/rupture during catalytic activation in differnt enzyme homologues. 4. Adaptive adjustments in ligand-binding energetics may also involve utilization of the energy changes that occur during conformational changes. This mechanism would permit enzymes with identical binding-site chemistries to display adaptively different ligand affinities. 5. The greater heat-stabilities of enzymes from warm-adapted species may cause these enzymes to be less efficient catalysts than cold-adapted heat-labile enzymes. Heat-stable enzymes may have to break more weak bonds during a catalytic conformational change than do cold-adapted enzymes. The requirements for thermal stability and high catalytic efficiency thus appear to force an adaptational 'compromise'.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Plasma cortisol transport and primate evolution.

Primates have diverged into three major evolutionary groups: prosimians, Old World primates, and New World primates; the last group is distinguished by high circulating cortisol concentrations and resistance to the action of glucocorticoids. We have studied a large spectrum of primate species within these groups to characterize the phylogenetic relationships of cortisol-binding globulin (CBG) among them. The CBG in each species was found to be glycosylated, as judged from lectin interactions, and to exhibit an electrophoretic mobility similar to that of human CBG. Although the CBG affinity for cortisol differed among species, the effects of changes in temperature on the CBG affinity were similar. Strikingly, the CBG-binding capacity of plasma in the New World primates was 1/10th to 1/100th those in the Old World primates and prosimians, while the CBG-binding affinity for cortisol was lower. The reduced capacity and affinity of CBG result in a markedly higher fraction of unbound plasma cortisol in the New World primates than in the Old World primates or the prosimian species examined. This evolutionary pattern of CBG may be a compensatory mechanism for the target organ resistance to glucocorticoids that characterizes the New World monkeys.

Animals↗

Molecular circumscription of the hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) based on the chloroplast DNA trnL-trnF region.

In phylogenetic trees generated from partial trnL(UAA) intron sequences, the hornworts (represented by nine species from the genera Anthoceros, Dendroceros, Megaceros, Notothylas and Phaeoceros) are resolved as a monophyletic group and are separated from the clades of mosses, liverworts and tracheophytes. A secondary structure of the trnL(UAA) intron of Anthoceros agrestis is presented, displaying the arrangement of the stem-loop regions P1-P9. Compensatory base-pair changes (coevolutionary sites) are detected in regions P4/5 and P9 within the hornwort sequences. The original homology of the most variable region, P8, cannot be detected anymore due to the extremely fast divergent evolution of this segment in the major land plant groups. Similarly, a high sequence divergence occurs in the trnL-trnF intergenic spacer. Apart from synapomorphic substitutions in the trnL(UAA) intron, the hornworts are characterised by a large P6 region consisting of many repetitive elements. The molecular data therefore support the hornworts as representing an independent land plant lineage (Anthocerotophyta). Although relationships between hornworts and the other land plant groups remain unresolved in the trnL(UAA) intron trees, it is rather unlikely that bryophytes are monophyletic in their traditional circumscription, i.e. comprising hornworts, mosses and liverworts.

Anthocerotophyta↗

Evolution of calcium antagonists: past, present, and future.

Calcium antagonists were originally introduced as fast-acting vasodilators exhibiting powerful antihypertensive properties. They have now evolved into agents exhibiting a smooth onset and a long duration of action. Early agents, because of their rapid onset of action, were associated with a host of compensatory hemodynamic adverse effects including cardioacceleration and sympathetic stimulation. In contrast, the newer agents appear to retain the antihypertensive properties, but with an improved tolerability profile. Across the cardiovascular disease continuum, the presence of diabetes adds to the risk forcardiovascular events. In diabetic patients with hypertension, multiple drug therapy is clearly indicated. Agents such as calcium antagonists that normalize hemodynamics in this patient population might be expected to demonstrate beneficial effects on mortality. Evidence from the Systolic Hypertension in Europe and the Systolic Hypertension in China trials demonstrated over a 50% reduction in total mortality in the diabetic subgroup in patients treated with calcium antagonists. Among the calcium antagonists, particularly among the dihydropyridine subclasses, the efficacy of the drugs has been accompanied by some side effects, in particular pedal edema. The incidence of pedal edema is dose dependent and is the result of vasodilation and intracapillary hypertension. Newer calcium antagonists demonstrate antihypertensive efficacy similar to that of their predecessors but appear to have a reduced propensity to cause edema.

Amlodipine↗

Phylogeny of the photosynthetic euglenophytes inferred from the nuclear SSU and partial LSU rDNA.

Previous studies using the nuclear SSU rDNA have indicated that the photosynthetic euglenoids are a monophyletic group; however, some of the genera within the photosynthetic lineage are not monophyletic. To test these results further, evolutionary relationships among the photosynthetic genera were investigated by obtaining partial LSU nuclear rDNA sequences. Taxa from each of the external clades of the SSU rDNA-based phylogeny were chosen to create a combined dataset and to compare the individual LSU and SSU rDNA datasets. Conserved areas of the aligned sequences for both the LSU and SSU rDNA were used to generate parsimony, log-det, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian trees. The SSU and LSU rDNA consistently generated the same seven terminal clades; however, the relationship among those clades varied depending on the type of analysis and the dataset used. The combined dataset generated a more robust phylogeny, but the relationships among clades still varied. The addition of the LSU rDNA dataset to the euglenophyte phylogeny supports the view that the genera Euglena, Lepocinclis and Phacus are not monophyletic and substantiates the existence of several well-supported clades. A secondary structural model for the D2 region of the LSU rDNA was proposed on the basis of compensatory base changes found in the alignment.

Animals↗

Thermodynamics constrains the evolution of insect population growth rates: "warmer is better".

Diverse biochemical and physiological adaptations enable different species of ectotherms to survive and reproduce in very different temperature regimes, but whether these adaptations fully compensate for the thermodynamically depressing effects of low temperature on rates of biological processes is debated. If such adaptations are fully compensatory, then temperature-dependent processes (e.g., digestion rate, population growth rate) of cold-adapted species will match those of warm-adapted species when each is measured at its own optimal temperature. Here we show that cold-adapted insect species have much lower maximum rates of population growth than do warm-adapted species, even when we control for phylogenetic relatedness. This pattern also holds when we use a structural-equation model to analyze alternative hypotheses that might otherwise explain this correlation. Thus, although physiological adaptations enable some insects to survive and reproduce at low temperatures, these adaptations do not overcome the "tyranny" of thermodynamics, at least for rates of population increase. Indeed, the sensitivity of population growth rates of insects to temperature is even greater than predicted by a recent thermodynamic model. Our findings suggest that adaptation to temperature inevitably alters the population dynamics of insects. This result has broad evolutionary and ecological consequences.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Experimental models of Parkinson's disease: from the static to the dynamic.

The experimental models of Parkinson's disease (PD) available today can be divided into two categories according to the mode of action of the compound used: transient pharmacological impairment of dopaminergic transmission along the nigrostriatal pathway or selective destruction by a neurotoxic agent of the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta. The present article looks at the relative merits of each model, the clinical symptoms and neuronal impairment it induces, and the contribution it could make to the development of a truly dynamic model. It is becoming more and more clear that there is an urgent need for a chronic model integrating all the clinical features of PD including resting tremor, and reproducing the gradual but continuous nigral degeneration observed in the human pathology. Discrepancies have been reported several times between results obtained in classic animal models and those described in PD, and it would seem probable that such contradictions can be ascribed to the fact that animal models do not, as yet, reproduce the continuous evolution of the human disease. Dynamic experimental models which come closer to the progressive neurodegeneration and gradual intensification of motor disability so characteristic of human PD will enable us to investigate crucial aspects of the disease, such as compensatory mechanisms and dyskinesia.

Animals↗

Schistosomal hepatopathy.

Gross anatomical features and a complex set of vascular changes characterize schistosomal hepatopathy as a peculiar form of chronic liver disease, clinically known as "hepatosplenic schistosomiasis". It differs from hepatic cirrhosis, although clinical and pathological aspects may sometimes induce confusion between these two conditions. Intrahepatic portal vein obstruction and compensatory arterial hypertrophy render the hepatic parenchyma vulnerable to ischemic insult. This may lead to focal necrosis, which may give place to focal post-necrotic scars. These events are of paramount importance for the clinico-pathological evolution of schistosomal hepatopathy. Although portal fibrosis due to schistosomiasis sometimes reveals numerous myofibroblasts, it does not mean that such fibrosis belongs to a peculiar type. Damage to the muscular walls of the portal vein may be followed by dissociation of smooth muscle cells and their transition toward myofibroblasts, which appear only as transient cells in schistosomal portal fibrosis. Studies made with plastic vascular casts, especially those with the murine model of "pipestem" fibrosis have helped to reveal the mechanisms involved in systematized portal fibrosis formation. However, the factors involved in the pathogenesis of hepatosplenic disease remain poorly understood. A process of chronic hepatitis is a common accompaniment of portal fibrosis in schistosomiasis. Most of the times it is caused by concomitant viral infection. However, no special interaction seems to exist between schistosomal hepatopathy and viral hepatitis.

Animals↗