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Cross-lineage expression of Ig-beta (B29) in thymocytes: positive and negative gene regulation to establish T cell identity.

Developmental commitment involves activation of lineage-specific genes, stabilization of a lineage-specific gene expression program, and permanent inhibition of inappropriate characteristics. To determine how these processes are coordinated in early T cell development, the expression of T and B lineage-specific genes was assessed in staged subsets of immature thymocytes. T lineage characteristics are acquired sequentially, with germ-line T cell antigen receptor-beta transcripts detected very early, followed by CD3epsilon and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, then pTalpha, and finally RAG1. Only RAG1 expression coincides with commitment. Thus, much T lineage gene expression precedes commitment and does not depend on it. Early in the course of commitment to the T lineage, thymocytes lose the ability to develop into B cells. To understand how this occurs, we also examined expression of well defined B lineage-specific genes. Although lambda5 and Ig-alpha are not expressed, the mu 0 and I mu transcripts from the unrearranged IgH locus are expressed early, in distinct patterns, then repressed just before RAG1 expression. By contrast, RNA encoding the B cell receptor component Ig-beta was found to be transcribed in all immature thymocyte subpopulations and throughout most thymocyte differentiation. Ig-beta expression is down-regulated only during positive selection of CD4(+)CD8(-) cells. Thus several key participants in the B cell developmental program are expressed in non-B lineage-committed cells, and one is maintained even through commitment to an alternative lineage, and repressed only after extensive T lineage differentiation. The results show that transcriptional activation of "lymphocyte-specific" genes can occur in uncommitted precursors, and that T lineage commitment is a composite of distinct positive and negative regulatory events.

Animals↗

The monosaccharide transporter gene family in land plants is ancient and shows differential subfamily expression and expansion across lineages.

BACKGROUND: In plants, tandem, segmental and whole-genome duplications are prevalent, resulting in large numbers of duplicate loci. Recent studies suggest that duplicate genes diverge predominantly through the partitioning of expression and that breadth of gene expression is related to the rate of gene duplication and protein sequence evolution.Here, we utilize expressed sequence tag (EST) data to study gene duplication and expression patterns in the monosaccharide transporter (MST) gene family across the land plants. In Arabidopsis, there are 53 MST genes that form seven distinct subfamilies. We created profile hidden Markov models of each subfamily and searched EST databases representing diverse land plant lineages to address the following questions: 1) Are homologs of each Arabidopsis subfamily present in the earliest land plants? 2) Do expression patterns among subfamilies and individual genes within subfamilies differ across lineages? 3) Has gene duplication within each lineage resulted in lineage-specific expansion patterns? We also looked for correlations between relative EST database representation in Arabidopsis and similarity to orthologs in early lineages. RESULTS: Homologs of all seven MST subfamilies were present in land plants at least 400 million years ago. Subfamily expression levels vary across lineages with greater relative expression of the STP, ERD6-like, INT and PLT subfamilies in the vascular plants. In the large EST databases of the moss, gymnosperm, monocot and eudicot lineages, EST contig construction reveals that MST subfamilies have experienced lineage-specific expansions. Large subfamily expansions appear to be due to multiple gene duplications arising from single ancestral genes. In Arabidopsis, one or a few genes within most subfamilies have much higher EST database representation than others. Most highly represented (broadly expressed) genes in Arabidopsis have best match orthologs in early divergent lineages. CONCLUSION: The seven subfamilies of the Arabidopsis MST gene family are ancient in land plants and show differential subfamily expression and lineage-specific subfamily expansions. Patterns of gene expression in Arabidopsis and correlation of highly represented genes with best match homologs in early lineages suggests that broadly expressed genes are often highly conserved, and that most genes have more limited expression.

Arabidopsis↗

A2B5 lineages of human astrocytic tumors and their recurrence.

Astrocytomas are very common intracranial glial cell neoplasms with an inherent tendency to progress. However, the heterogeneity of the morphological features and clinical behavior of the tumors makes accurate prognosis based on the histopathological grading system very difficult. Studies demonstrated that astrocytes have two distinctive cell lineages, and tumors arisen from these two astrocytic lineages have been speculated to have different biological and clinical manifestations. The present study aimed to delineate these two astrocytic lineages in human astrocytomas by using different immunohistochemical markers and to correlate the cell lineages of the tumors with their recurrence. Three markers were used, namely the A2B5 antigen, which is present in type 2 astrocytes but absent in type 1 astrocytes, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker for astrocytes, and galactocerebroside (GC), a marker for oligodendrocytes. It was found that astrocytomas sharing the A2B5+ lineage (A2B5 positive and GFAP positive) have a significantly higher recurrence rate than the tumors of the A2B5- lineage (A2B5 negative and GFAP positive). Immunohistochemical staining and PCR-single-stranded conformational polymorphism analysis showed that p53 overexpression and p53 mutations were closely associated with the recurrent astrocytomas, and p53 abnormalities were more frequently detected in astrocytomas of the A2B5+ lineage. Quantification of proliferation by counting argyrophil nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) indicated a higher AgNOR count in the A2B5+ lineage than the A2B5- lineage. Our findings thus suggest that astrocytomas share similar antigenicity with astrocytes, and that the A2B5+ lineage exhibited a higher recurrence rate than the A2B5- lineage. The higher recurrence rate of the A2B5+ tumors may be in part related to the higher frequency of p53 abnormalities found in the tumors and the higher proliferative activity as reflected by the higher AgNOR count of the tumors.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

Trypanosoma cruzi: typing of genotype (sub)lineages in megacolon samples from bolivian patients.

Visceral dystrophy, a clinical complication of Chagas' disease, is more frequent in southern cone countries in South America, where Trypanosoma cruzi II (TcII) lineage predominates in human infection. As this major TcII lineage is not homogeneous population and its (sub)lineages are not geographically distributed evenly, therefore, we investigated the possible relationship between parasite (sub)lineages in megacolon patients. We typified the T. cruzi lineages and (sub)lineages in megacolon samples from 18 patients using kDNA probes specific of lineage TcI, TcIIb, TcIId and TcIIe. The majority of the samples (16/18) were (sub)lineage TcIId positive. However, two samples were positive for (sub)lineage TcIIb. Two synthetic probes discriminated variants of lineage TcIId. Proportion of TcIId variants encountered were 6/16, 6/16 and 4/16, similar to the distribution of Chagasic populations in Bolivia. Our data suggest that there is no preferential tropism of one particular lineage or variant of T. cruzi II in megacolon pathology.

Animals↗

Wastewater-based sequencing of respiratory syncytial virus to investigate lineage dynamics and antigenic site mutations: a retrospective genomic epidemiology study.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections pose a substantial health burden, particularly for clinically vulnerable populations such as infants and older adults. Although novel immunoprophylactic interventions show promise in providing protection, many countries may not have robust surveillance systems to monitor circulating RSV lineages and detect mutations that might reduce the effectiveness of these new interventions. We aimed to assess the diversity and temporal dynamics of circulating RSV lineages in urban populations through amplicon-based sequencing and analysis of wastewater extracts. METHODS: In this prospective observational wastewater-based genomic surveillance study, 32 raw influent 24-h composite samples were collected during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 RSV seasons from both Zurich and Geneva, Switzerland. We applied an RSV subtype-specific amplicon-based sequencing approach to obtain RSV-A and RSV-B sequences from all 64 samples. Mutations relative to reference genomes were identified at positions with read depth above 30. Relative abundances of RSV lineages were estimated from frequencies of lineage-signature mutations, present in greater than 90% of publicly available sequences of that lineage. FINDINGS: Relative abundances of RSV-B (2022-23) and RSV-A (2023-24) lineages were estimated over the two RSV seasons. During the 2022-23 season, the RSV-B B.D.E.1 lineage prevailed in both cities. In the 2023-24 season, multiple RSV-A lineages cocirculated, including A.D.1, A.D.3, A.D.5, and their sub-lineages. Identification and frequency estimation of mutations showed low-frequency, non-synonymous mutations in antigenic sites on the fusion gene of both RSV-A and RSV-B, some of which have not been reported in clinical sequences. The primary outcome was identification and relative abundance of RSV lineages in wastewater samples. INTERPRETATION: These findings show the potential of wastewater-based genomic surveillance to identify and track circulating RSV lineages and clinically relevant mutations. As novel RSV immunoprophylaxis measures are introduced in upcoming RSV seasons, wastewater-derived genomic RSV data provide a valuable baseline for understanding RSV diversity and future viral evolution under increased immunological pressure. FUNDING: This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and in part by the National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. Funding for sample collection and processing was provided by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health.

Humans↗

Alternate circulation of recent equine-2 influenza viruses (H3N8) from two distinct lineages in the United States.

Phylogenetic and antigenic analyses indicate that recent circulating equine-2 influenza viruses in the United States have been alternating between two genetic and antigenic distinct lineages since 1996. The evolution rates for these two lineages, the Kentucky and the Florida lineage, are very similar. For the earlier isolates in the Kentucky lineage, there are multiple and sequential nonsynonymous substitutions at antigenic sites B and D. However, there are no changes at any of these antigenic sites for KY98 and OK00. In the Florida lineage, except for NY99 with one amino acid substitution at antigenic site B, viruses in this lineage do not have nonsynonymous substitutions at any of the antigenic sites. The lack of amino acid substitutions at these antigenic sites suggests a mechanism other than immune selection is responsible for the maintenance of these viral lineages. Serological analysis indicates that these two lineages are antigenic distinct, and the pattern of reactivity of horse sera towards these two lineages alternates in consecutive years, parallel to the "switching" of virus lineage seen in the phylogenetic tree. This alternate circulation may play a role in the maintenance of these two lineages of equine-2 influenza virus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Developmental regulation of the multiple myogenic cell lineages of the avian embryo.

The developmental regulation of myoblasts committed to fast, mixed fast/slow, and slow myogenic cell lineages was determined by analyzing myotube formation in high density and clonal cultures of myoblasts isolated from chicken and quail embryos of different ages. To identify cells of different myogenic lineages, myotubes were analyzed for content of fast and slow classes of myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms by immunocytochemistry and immunoblotting using specific monoclonal antibodies. Myoblasts from the hindlimb bud, forelimb bud, trunk, and pectoral regions of the early chicken embryo and hindlimb bud of the early quail embryo (days 3-6 in ovo) were committed to three distinct lineages with 60-90% of the myoblasts in the fast lineage, 10-40% in the mixed fast/slow lineage, and 0-3% in the slow lineage depending on the age and species of the myoblast donor. In contrast, 99-100% of the myoblasts in the later embryos (days 9-12 in ovo) were in the fast lineage. Serial subculturing from a single myoblast demonstrated that commitment to a particular lineage was stably inherited for over 30 cell doublings. When myoblasts from embryos of the same age were cultured, the percentage of muscle colonies of the fast, fast/slow, and slow types that formed in clonal cultures was the same as the percentage of myotubes of each of these types that formed in high density cultures, indicating that intercellular contact between myoblasts of different lineages did not affect the type of myotube formed. An analysis in vivo showed that three types of primary myotubes--fast, fast/slow, and slow--were also found in the chicken thigh at day 7 in ovo and that synthesis of both the fast and slow classes of MHC isoforms was concomitant with the formation of primary myotubes. On the basis of these results, we propose that in the avian embryo, there is an early phase of muscle fiber formation in which primary myotubes with differing MHC contents are formed from myoblasts committed to three intrinsically different primary myogenic lineages independent of innervation and a later phase in which secondary myotubes are formed from myoblasts in a single, secondary myogenic lineage with maturation and maintenance of fiber diversity dependent on innervation.

Animals↗

Multiple lineages of R1 retrotransposable elements can coexist in the rDNA loci of Drosophila.

R1 non-long terminal repeat retrotransposable elements insert specifically into the 28S rRNA genes of arthropods. One aspect of R1 evolution that has been difficult to explain is the presence of divergent lineages of R1 in the rDNA loci of the same species. Multiple lineages should compete for a limited number of insertion sites, in addition to being subject to the concerted evolution processes homogenizing the rRNA genes. The presence of multiple lineages suggests either the ability of the elements to overcome these factors and diverge within rDNA loci, or the introduction of new lineages by horizontal transmission. To address this issue, we attempted to characterize the complete set of R1 elements in the rDNA locus from five Drosophila species groups (melanogaster, obscura, testacea, quinaria, and repleta). Two major R1 lineages, A and B, that diverged about 100 MYA were found to exist in Drosophila. Elements of the A lineage were found in all 35 Drosophila species tested, while elements of the B lineage were found in only 11 species from three species groups. Phylogenetic analysis of the R1 elements, supported by comparison of their rates of nucleotide sequence substitution, revealed that both the A and the B lineages have been maintained by vertical descent. The B lineage was less stable and has undergone numerous, independent elimination events, while the A lineage has diverged into three sublineages, which were, in turn, differentially stable. We conclude that while the differential retention of multiple lineages greatly complicates its phylogenetic history, the available R1 data continue to be consistent with the strict vertical descent of these elements.

Animals↗

Developmental homologues: lineages and analysis.

Developmental processes present several problems for identifying homologies and analyzing their evolution. Most evolutionary techniques approach homologies from either a taxonomic or a molecular perspective. Approaches that can accommodate many problems of developmental evolution are not well developed. Developmental process and evolutionary lineage complexity lead to a number of largely unappreciated conceptual and analytic problems. Developmental processes can evolve by duplication or diversification. Each process is in a hierarchy of super- and subprocesses. As they evolve, process components may be exchanged with or acquired by those of other processes. Because they do not fit into standard analytic procedures, these situations (including reticulate or reticulate-appearing lineages, partial homologues, iterative features, and the tracing of nontaxonomic and nonmolecular evolutionary lineages) are often ignored or considered illegitimate. Biology's disdain for the dichotomously branching phylogenetic lineages that are the basis of standard analytic approaches is ignored at the risk of making falsely negative homology evaluations. I will present an approach that can accommodate analyses of these situations. The use of nontaxonomic and nonmolecular lineages provides a way to structure comparisons between other entities, as taxonomic lineages structure comparisons among potential homologues. From an informational point of view, any entity (either a structure or process) with an evolutionary history is a potential homologue with a potential evolutionary lineage. Comparing lineages of interacting entities can reveal topological incongruences among them. Methods that identify reticulated taxonomic and molecular lineages should also apply to other lineages. Partial homologues, resulting from reticulated lineages, can be handled in several possible ways. Analytically, such an entity can be treated as a partial homologue, a novel feature, an independent sub-unit, or a unitary feature homologous to the major contributor of its inherited features.

Animals↗

Behavioral differences between Pogonomyrmex rugosus and dependent lineage (H1/H2) harvester ants.

The discovery of genetic caste determination (GCD) in populations of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants raises many questions about the evolution and persistence of such populations. The genetic caste determination arises from the existence of two distinct, but mutually dependent, genetic lineages within a population. Workers always develop from a combination of the two lineages, but their sister queens develop from within-lineage matings. Maintaining genetic caste determination appears to be costly because many queen-destined eggs are wasted when a colony is not in the reproductive stage, yet these populations appear to be widespread. We investigated whether inter-lineage workers have novel traits that give GCD colonies a selective advantage in certain environments. In particular, we compared ecologically relevant behavioral characteristics of inter-lineage workers in H-lineage colonies with co-occurring normal colonies of P. rugosus. First, we measured colony defensive response toward a simulated vertebrate predator. Second, we set up direct competitive foraging and recruitment experiments between dependent lineage and P. rugosus colonies. Last, we measured individual aggressive response to foreign inter-lineage and P. rugosus workers. We found that H1/H2 inter-lineage workers explored objects on the nest more thoroughly and responded much more aggressively to simulated predator disturbance than the P. rugosus colonies. In individual encounters, H1/H2 inter-lineage and P. rugosus workers were equally aggressive toward foreign ants, but both worker types could discriminate P. rugosus from inter-lineage intruders and were more aggressive toward ants of the alternate type to themselves. When competing directly for resources, however, P. rugosus colonies consistently dominated seed piles. In summary, H1/H2 GCD colonies show distinct behavioral differences, but there is no clear ecological advantage from the traits we examined.

Aggression↗

The molecular analyses of hematological malignancies--lineage specific classification and its clinical implications.

Cells from 203 children with leukemia/lymphoma were analyzed by the FAB (French-American-British) system using a broad panel of markers such as immunological marker studies, Southern blot and Northern blot analyses to establish a lineage specific classification of childhood leukemia. Phenotypically, they were divided into B-lineage (62.6%), T-lineage (9.8%), non-lymphoid (14.3%) and uncertain lineage (13.3%). Two B-lineage ALL cells and two T-lineage ALL cells studied did not show immunoglobulin (Ig) or T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements, respectively. Therefore, those four cases were excluded from the final classification. The uncertain lineage leukemia, which includes undifferentiated leukemia and mixed lineage leukemia, were further subclassified at the DNA and RNA levels. The definitions of B-lineage and T-lineage cells, incidence of dual genotypes or spillover, heterogeneity of undifferentiated leukemia, and a new classification for mixed lineage leukemia were discussed.

Child↗

Neurogenin 3 and the enteroendocrine cell lineage in the adult mouse small intestinal epithelium.

It is thought that small intestinal epithelial stem cell progeny, via Notch signaling, yield a Hes1-expressing columnar lineage progenitor and an Atoh1 (also known as Math1)-expressing common progenitor for all granulocytic lineages including enteroendocrine cells, one of the body's largest populations of endocrine cells. Because Neurogenin 3 (Neurog3) null mice lack enteroendocrine cells, Neurog3-expressing progenitors derived from the common granulocytic progenitor are thought to produce the enteroendocrine lineage, although more recent work indicates that Neurog3+ progenitors also contribute to non-enteroendocrine lineages. We aimed to test this model and better characterize the progenitors leading from the stem cells to the enteroendocrine lineage. We investigated clones derived from enteroendocrine precursors and found no evidence of a common granulocytic progenitor that routinely yields all granulocytic lineages. Rather, enteroendocrine cells are derived from a short-lived bipotential progenitor whose offspring, probably via Notch signaling, yield a Neurog3+ cell committed to the enteroendocrine lineage and a progenitor committed to the columnar lineage. The Neurog3+ cell population is heterogeneous; only about 1/3 are slowly cycling progenitors, the rest are postmitotic cells in early stages of enteroendocrine differentiation. No evidence was found that Neurog3+ cells contribute to non-enteroendocrine lineages. Revised lineage models for the small intestinal epithelium are introduced.

Animals↗

LAML-Pro: joint maximum likelihood inference of cell genotypes and cell lineage trees.

MOTIVATION: Recent dynamic lineage tracing technologies use genome editing to induce heritable mutations, or edits, that accumulate across successive cell divisions. These edits are measured using single-cell sequencing or imaging, providing data to reconstruct cell lineages at single-cell resolution. Current computational approaches to infer cell lineage trees, or phylogenies, from these data perform two separate steps: (i) Identify each cell's edits (genotype) from the raw sequencing or imaging data; (ii) Infer a cell lineage tree from the cell genotypes. However, genotyping cells is an inexact process and genotype errors can yield an inaccurate lineage tree. For example, using fluorescence based-imaging to measure edits results in a high fraction (≈25%-50%) of uncertain or erroneous genotypes. RESULTS: We introduce Lineage Analysis via Maximum Likelihood with PRobabilistic Observations (LAML-Pro), an algorithm that jointly infers cell genotypes and a cell lineage tree. LAML-Pro is based on the Probabilistic Mixed-type Missing Observation (PMMO) model, which we derive to describe both the genome editing and genotype observation processes. LAML-Pro constructs lineage trees from thousands of cells in under an hour by leveraging the sparsity of transitions under the PMMO model. On simulated data, we demonstrate that LAML-Pro corrects genotype errors and infers substantially more accurate trees than existing methods which are vulnerable to genotype errors. Applied to data from two recent imaging-based lineage tracing systems, LAML-Pro reduces genotype errors by 5-fold and produces more spatially coherent lineage trees compared to existing methods. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: LAML-Pro is implemented in C++ and is available as both a command-line interface and as a Python library at: github.com/raphael-group/LAML-Pro.

Cell Lineage↗

ALES: cell lineage analysis and mapping of developmental events.

MOTIVATION: Animals build their bodies by altering the fates of cells. The way in which they do so is reflected in the topology of cell lineages and the fates of terminal cells. Cell lineages should, therefore, contain information about the molecular events that determined them. Here we introduce new tools for visualizing, manipulating, and extracting the information contained in cell lineages. Our tools enable us to analyze very large cell lineages, where previously analyses have only been carried out on cell lineages no larger than a few dozen cells. RESULTS: Ales (A Lineage Evaluation System) allows the display, evaluation and comparison of cell lineages with the aim of identifying molecular and cellular events underlying development. Ales introduces a series of algorithms that locate putative developmental events. The distribution of these predicted events can then be compared to gene expression patterns or other cellular characteristics. In addition, artificial lineages can be generated, or existing lineages modified, according to a range of models, in order to test hypotheses about lineage evolution. AVAILABILITY: The program can run on any operating system with a compliant Java 2 environment. Ales is free for academic use and can be downloaded from http://mbi.dkfz-heidelberg.de/mbi/research/cellsim/ales.

Algorithms↗

Measurement of antibody against contemporary virus lineages of human respiratory syncytial virus sub-group A in infants and their mothers.

BACKGROUND: Human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) infects the majority of infants in their first year of life. Maternal antibodies offer some protection although a small proportion of infected infants develop bronchiolitis and require admission to hospital. A number of lineages of the virus co-circulate in the population and the prevalent virus lineage changes from epidemic to epidemic. The effect of antigenic variation between virus lineages upon the protection offered by maternal antibodies has not been assessed. OBJECTIVES: To explore the possibility that infants may develop bronchiolitis because of a virus lineage-specific deficiency in their maternal antibodies. STUDY DESIGN: Virus isolates from infants admitted to hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne with hRSV infection during two consecutive winter epidemics were classified into lineages by genotypic analysis. Antibodies to the surface glycoproteins of contemporary sub-group A lineages and to the A2 virus strain were assayed in the acute sera of infected infants, in a group of uninfected infants and in the mothers of both groups. RESULTS: Four lineages of sub-group A hRSV were found circulating during the study period. Antibody titres measured against all virus lineages in the acute serum of infants with hRSV bronchiolitis were similar. In the uninfected infants and in the mothers of both infected and uninfected groups antibody titres to all four contemporary virus lineages were also similar. However, in these groups antibodies to the A2 virus strain were four-fold lower than those to contemporary isolates. CONCLUSIONS: Infants admitted to hospital with hRSV bronchiolitis exhibited no apparent selective deficiency in maternal antibodies to the viral glycoproteins of the infecting virus strain or lineage.

Antibodies, Viral↗

Lineage specification and plasticity in CD19- early B cell precursors.

We describe here three CD19- B cell precursor populations in mouse bone marrow identified using 12-color flow cytometry. Cell transfer experiments indicate lineage potentials consistent with multilineage progenitor (MLP), common lymphoid progenitor (CLP), and B lineage-restricted pre-pro-B (Fr. A), respectively. However, single cell in vitro assays reveal lineage plasticity: lymphoid/myeloid lineage potential for CLP and B/T lineage potential for Fr. A. Despite myeloid potential, recombination activating gene 2 reporter activation is first detected at low levels in most MLP cells, with 95% of CLPs showing 10-fold increased levels. Furthermore, single cell analysis shows that half of CLP and 90% of Fr. A cells contain heavy chain DJ rearrangements. These data, together with expression profiles of lineage-specific genes, demonstrate progressive acquisition of B lineage potential and support an asynchronous view of early B cell development, in which B lineage specification initiates in the MLP/CLP stage, whereas myeloid potential is not lost until the pre-pro-B (Fr. A) stage, and B/T lymphoid plasticity persists until the CD19+ pro-B stage. Thus, MLP, CLP, and Fr. A represent progressively B lineage-specified stages in development, before the CD19+ B lineage-committed pro-B stage.

Animals↗

Two persistent LINE-1 lineages in Peromyscus have unequal rates of evolution.

LINE-1, the major family of long, interspersed repeats in the mammalian genome, moves via an RNA intermediate and encodes its own reverse transcriptase. Comparative sequence analysis was used to reconstruct the phylogenetic history of LINE-1 dynamics in the deer mouse, Peromyscus. As is the case in Mus and Rattus, a very small number of active templates produce the majority of LINE-1 copies in Peromyscus. However, in contrast to the single LINE-1 lineage seen in the muroid rodents, Peromyscus has at least two LINE-1 lineages whose most recent common ancestor probably existed before the peromyscine radiation. Species-specific variants of Lineage 1, and intact open reading frames in the youngest elements of both Lineages 1 and 2, suggest that both lineages have remained active within the same genome. The higher number of shared-sequence variants in Lineage 1 relative to Lineage 2 suggests that Lineage 1 has replaced its master template much more frequently than Lineage 2 or that the reverse transcriptase Lineage 1 is more error prone. The implications of the method used to acquire LINE-1 sequences for analysis are discussed.

Animals↗

Incidence of four-generation family lineages: is timing of fertility or mortality a better explanation?

OBJECTIVES: This article estimates the percentage of lineages that include four or more generations for a sample of the U.S. population and explores how social status and race are related to lineage depth. METHODS: We assembled data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households in order to estimate the proportion of adults in four or more generations for the Wave 2 sample (1992-1994). When necessary, we used various decision rules to overcome an absence of information about specific generations. We examine relationships between lineage depth and sociodemographic variables by using logistic regressions. RESULTS: The data show that 32% of the respondents were in lineages comprising four or more generations. Blacks and individuals of lower social class were more likely to be in four-generation lineages, especially shorter-gapped lineages. Whites and individuals of higher social class were not more likely to be in longer-gapped, four-generation lineages. DISCUSSION: The majority of the adult population in the early 1990s was in three-generation lineages. The verdict is still out on whether population aging results in the wholesale verticalization of lineages. Social differentials in four-generation lineages in the early 1990s were mainly due to differences in the timing of fertility, rather than mortality.

Adult↗