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A set of test life tables for theoretical gerontology.

Prediction of life tables, which provide the most empirical information available about the statistical properties of aging, provides a rigorous test for any theory of aging as manifested at the organismic level of biological organization. For this purpose, a set of test tables for the wild boar (Sus scrofa), domestic sheep (Ovis aries), Dall sheep (Ovis dalli dalli), African buffalo (Syncerus cafer), and hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is reconstructed from primary data taken from the literature. The tables, which exhibit a broad range of survival characteristics, satisfy the criteria that (1) the data are statistically sound, (2) their survival functions are concave, except for the limiting case of the convex wild boar function, and (3) the species are natural populations (i.e., are in the same environment in which they evolved). Each test table is reported numerically and as a least-squares regression formula for the age-specific mortality rate over a given range of age.

Actuarial Analysis↗

Calibration and error in placental molecular clocks: a conservative approach using the cetartiodactyl fossil record.

The nature of the molecular and fossil record and their limitations must be ascertained in order to gain the most precise and accurate evolutionary timescale using genetic information. Yet the majority of such timescales are based on point estimates using fossils or the molecular clock. Here we document from the primary literature minimum and maximum fossil age estimates of the divergence of whales from artiodactyls, a commonly used anchor point for calibrating both mitogenomic and nucleogenomic placental timescales. We applied these reestimates to the most recently established placental timescale based on mitochondrial rRNA and several nuclear loci, and present an attempt to account for both genetic and fossil uncertainty. Our results indicate that disregard for fossil calibration error may inflate the power of the molecular clock when testing the time of ordinal diversification in context with the K-T boundary. However, the early history of placentals, including their superordinal diversification, remained in the Cretaceous despite a conservative approach. Our conclusions need corroboration across other frequently used fossil anchor points, but also with more genetic partitions on the linear relationship between molecular substitutions and geologic time.

Animals↗

Mineral status of llamas and sheep in the Bolivian Altiplano.

An experiment was conducted in the highlands (Altiplano) of Bolivia to establish the specific mineral status for growing llamas compared to sheep grazing unfertilized, native pastures. Animal tissues (plasma, liver and bone), forage and soil samples were collected during the wet and dry seasons and analyzed for mineral contents. During the wet season, forages were higher (P less than 0.05) in Ca, K, Fe and protein. Percent borderline to deficient forage concentrations during the wet and dry seasons, respectively, were found as follows: protein (less than 7.0%) 20 and 53; CCa (less than 0.30%) 10 and 40; Cu (less than 5 ppm) 20 and 47; K (less than 0.5%) 10 and 20; Mg (less than 0.08%) 10 and 20; Na (less than 0.1%) 30 and 69; P (less than 0.25%) 100 and 100; Zn (less than 30 ppm) 60 and 80; and Se (less than 0.1 ppm) 90 and 93% of the total forages, respectively. Concentrations of liver Mg, Co, Mn, Mo, Se and Zn, plasma Mg and Cu and rib (percent ash) Ca, Mg and P were all higher (P less than 0.05) during the wet than in the dry season. Compared to llamas, sheep had higher (P les than 0.05) concentrations of plasma Ca, Cu, Fe and Zn, rib (milligram/milliliter) P, Mg and Zn and liver Fe, but lower (P less than 0.05) concentrations of liver Co, Cu, Mn and MO. On the basis of forage and animal tissue analyses, the nutrients protein, P, Ca, Zn, Na and Se would be insufficient for optimum production of grazing livestock in the high plains of Bolivia.

Animal Feed↗

Hepatic ketogenesis and peripheral ketone body utilization in the ruminant.

Hepatic and alimentary ketogenesis occur at similar rates in fed, nonpregnant, nonlactating goats, sheep and dairy cows. Alimentary ketogenesis begins to diminish within 24 h after fasting but compensatory increases in hepatic ketogenesis maintain total splanchnic release and, therefore, no change in circulating concentrations of ketone bodies is observed. By the third day of fast the gut is utilizing acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate and alimentary ketogenesis has ceased. Hepatic ketogenesis of both ketone bodies accelerates rapidly due to portal-drained visceral and hindquarter lipolysis and subsequent hepatic fatty acid uptake and total circulating concentrations are doubled. During pregnancy and lactation in sheep and cows alimentary ketogenesis is maintained as long as digestible organic matter intake is constant. Hepatic and total splanchnic release of beta-hydroxybutyrate increases in late gestation and early lactation. Again, this is due to increased portal-drained visceral and hindquarter free fatty acid release and hepatic free fatty acid uptake. Hindquarter uptake of both ketones during late gestation is similar to the ratio observed in nonpregnant fed sheep but the percentage of utilization decreases, perhaps reflecting partitioning to uteroplacental tissues. Hindquarter uptake of both ketone bodies in sheep increases in early lactation due to increased circulating concentrations because extraction ratios are similar to those of fed animals. Ketosis during pregnancy in sheep and lactation in cows may be prevented by beta-hydroxybutyrate stimulation of pancreatic insulin production. However, an insulin-independent intrahepatic mechanism apparently occurs in sheep.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

A survey of serum and dietary carotenoids in captive wild animals.

Accumulation of carotenoids varies greatly among animal species and is not fully characterized. Circulating carotenoid concentration data in captive wild animals are limited and may be useful for their management. Serum carotenoid concentrations and dietary intakes were surveyed and the extent of accumulation categorized for 76 species of captive wild animals at Brookfield Zoo. Blood samples were obtained opportunistically from 275 individual animals immobilized for a variety of reasons; serum was analyzed for alpha- and beta-carotene, lutein + zeaxanthin, lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin and canthaxanthin. Total carotenoid content of diets was calculated from tables and chemical analyses of commonly consumed dietary components. Diets were categorized as low, moderate or high in carotenoid content as were total serum carotenoid concentrations. Animals were classified as unknown, high, moderate or low (non-) accumulators of dietary cartenoids. Nonaccumulators had total serum carotenoid concentrations of 0-101 nmol/L, whereas accumulators had concentrations that ranged widely, from 225 to 35,351 nmol/L. Primates were uniquely distinguished by the widest range of type and concentration of carotenoids in their sera. Most were classified as high to moderate accumulators. Felids had high accumulation of beta-carotene regardless of dietary intake, whereas a wide range of exotic birds accumulated only the xanthophylls, lutein + zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin or cryptoxanthin. The exotic ungulates, with the exception of the bovids, had negligible or nondetectable carotenoid serum concentrations despite moderate intakes. Bovids accumulated only beta-carotene despite moderately high lutein + zeaxanthin intakes. Wild captive species demonstrated a wide variety of carotenoid accumulation patterns, which could be exploited to answer remaining questions concerning carotenoid metabolism and function.

Animals↗

Physicochemical evolution and molecular adaptation of the cetacean and artiodactyl cytochrome b proteins.

Cetaceans have most likely experienced metabolic shifts since evolutionarily diverging from their terrestrial ancestors, shifts that may be reflected in the proteins such as cytochrome b that are responsible for metabolic efficiency. However, accepted statistical methods for detecting molecular adaptation are largely biased against even moderately conservative proteins because the primary criterion involves a comparison of nonsynonymous and synonymous substitution rates (dN/dS); they do not allow for the possibility that adaptation may come in the form of very few amino acid changes. We apply the MM01 model to the possible molecular adaptation of cytochrome b among cetaceans because it does not rely on a dN/dS ratio, instead evaluating positive selection in terms of the amino acid properties that comprise protein phenotypes that selection at the molecular level may act upon. We also apply the codon-degeneracy model (CDM), which focuses on evaluating overall patterns of nucleotide substitution in terms of base exchange, codon position, and synonymy to estimate the overall effect of selection. Using these relatively new models, we characterize the molecular adaptation that has occurred in the cetacean cytochrome b protein by comparing revealed amino acid replacement patterns to those found among artiodactyls, the modern terrestrial mammals found to be most closely related to cetaceans. Our findings suggest that several regions of the cetacean cytochrome b protein have experienced molecular adaptation. Also, these adaptations are spatially associated with domain structure, protein function, and the structure and function of the cytochrome bc(1) complex and its constituents. We also have found a general correlation between the results of the analytical software programs TreeSAAP (which implements the MM01 model) and CDM (which implements the codon-degeneracy model).

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Genomic organization of the bovine alpha-S1 casein gene.

We report the sequence of the complete bovine alpha-s1 casein gene eludicating for the first time the genomic organization of an alpha-s type casein gene. Extending over 17508 bp the gene is split into 19 exons, ranging in size from 24 bp to 385 bp. Except for the translational stop codon not a single coding triplet of the alpha-s1 reading frame is disrupted by any of the splice junctions, which all confirm to known splice consensus sequences. Nine out of 16 coding exons begin with a 'GAX' codon, specific for glutamate. Splicing of this codon from exon 10 to the preceding exon creates a major phosphorylation site. An intron-exon-intron stretch of 154 bp comprising exons 10 and 13 is found precisely duplicated. Associated with the gene, copies of 8 atriodactyla retroposons are found, 6 of which are interspersed into the sequences of the three longest introns. We discuss the possibility that three functional parts of the gene have been recruited and evolutionary conserved at a time before gene diversification gave rise to the separate evolution of alpha- and beta-type casein-genes.

Animals↗

Evolutionarily conserved and non-conserved retrovirus restriction activities of artiodactyl APOBEC3F proteins.

The APOBEC3 proteins are unique to mammals. Many inhibit retrovirus infection through a cDNA cytosine deamination mechanism. HIV-1 neutralizes this host defense through Vif, which triggers APOBEC3 ubiquitination and degradation. Here, we report an APOBEC3F-like, double deaminase domain protein from three artiodactyls: cattle, pigs and sheep. Like their human counterparts, APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G, the artiodactyl APOBEC3F proteins are DNA cytosine deaminases that locate predominantly to the cytosol and can inhibit the replication of HIV-1 and MLV. Retrovirus restriction is attributable to deaminase-dependent and -independent mechanisms, as deaminase-defective mutants retain significant anti-retroviral activity. However, unlike human APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G, the artiodactyl APOBEC3F proteins have an active N-terminal DNA cytosine deaminase domain, which elicits a broader dinucleotide deamination preference, and they are resistant to HIV-1 Vif. These data indicate that DNA cytosine deamination; sub-cellular localization and retrovirus restriction activities are conserved in mammals, whereas active site location, local mutational preferences and Vif susceptibility are not. Together, these studies indicate that some properties of the mammal-specific, APOBEC3-dependent retroelement restriction system are necessary and conserved, but others are simultaneously modular and highly adaptable.

Amino Acid Sequence↗