THE TARUKA IS ONE OF THE LEAST KNOWN DEER SPECIES OF THE WORLD. ITS RANGE INCLUDES THE NORTHERN ANDEAN MOUNTAINS IN CHILE, WHERE THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH AYMARA PEASANTS IS CONFLICTIVE BECAUSE OF CROP RAIDING. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY IS TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF THIS CONFLICT IN CHILE, AND IDENTIFY SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL FEATURES THAT MAY EXPLAIN IT. DATA OF DIFFERENT SAMPLING DATES FROM 2003 TO 2011 OF NIGHT TRANSECTS ON ROADS, CROP EXAMINATION, INTERVIEWS AND DIRECT SIGHTING OF TARUKAS WERE USED TO UNDERSTAND ITS ECOLOGY AND RELATIONSHIP WITH LOCAL PEASANTS. PEASANTS INTERVIEWED (N=47) CULTIVATED MAINLY CORN (85.1%) AND ALFALFA (74.5%) IN SMALL FARMS AND 83% OF THEM RAISE LIVESTOCK. THE CONFLICT IS WIDESPREAD IN PARINACOTA PROVINCE, WHERE TARUKAS EFFECTIVELY CONSUME CROPS, MAINLY ABANDONED ALFALFA AT NIGHT. THE OCCURRENCE OF CROP RAIDING IS NOT POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH DRY SEASON AS EXPECTED. HOWEVER CROP CONSUMPTION IS LOW (10.3% AVERAGE OF DAMAGED PLANTS IN CROP PLOTS). IN DEL TAMARUGAL PROVINCE ONLY 29.4% OF PEASANTS MANIFESTED CONFLICT WITH TARUKAS BUT THEY DID REPORT CONFLICT WITH OTHER UNGULATES. DAY SIGHTINGS SHOWED 78 TARUKAS IN 34 ENCOUNTERS DURING 59 DAYS. NIGHT SURVEYS YIELDED 11.6 ± 7.4 TARUKAS/ SURVEY, SIGHTED ONLY IN ALFALFA PLOTS. AYMARA AGRICULTURE FEEDS TARUKAS AND IS DECLINING BECAUSE OF RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION. THE CONFLICT MUST BE CONSIDERED IN THE CONSERVATION STRATEGY OF THE SPECIES.

A SMALL, NEW SPECIES OF GERBIL RODENTS OF THE GENUS ELIGMODONTIA FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN DUNES OF THE ATACAMA DESERT IN NORTHERN CHILE IS DESCRIBED; THE GENUS HAD NOT BEEN REPORTED FOR THIS WESTERN LOWLAND REGION. OUR DESCRIPTION IS BASED ON CYTOGENETIC AND MOLECULAR DATA, AS WELL AS CRANIAL AND EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY. IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THIS HYPOTHESIS, WE STUDIED 27 SPECIMENS CAPTURED IN PLAYA LOS CHOROS (COQUIMBO) AND COPIAPÓ (ATACAMA), COMPARING THEM WITH SAMPLES OF ALL THE EXTANT SPECIES OF THE GENUS. NINETEEN INDIVIDUALS CONSISTENTLY SHOWED 2N=50, FN=48, WITH TELOCENTRIC CHROMOSOMES AND G-BANDS IDENTICAL TO THOSE OF THE GEOGRAPHICALLY NORTHEASTERN E. HIRTIPES; THESE TWO GROUPS WERE GEOGRAPHICALLY SEPARATED BY E. PUERULUS (2N = 34, FN = 48). THE PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF 56 ELIGMODONTIA CYTOCHROME-B GENE SEQUENCES YIELDED A MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD PHYLOGENETIC TREE WHERE THE NEW SPECIES FORMED A DIVERGENT AND WELL-SUPPORTED CLADE WITHIN THE GENUS, WHICH WAS ALSO CONFIRMED BY UNWEIGHTED PARSIMONY, MINIMUM EVOLUTION, AND BAYESIAN ANALYSES. THE NEW SPECIES HAS K2P GENETIC DISTANCES OF 12.8% FROM THE GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTANT E. HIRTIPES, AND 10.3% FROM E. PUERULUS. AXES 1 AND 2 OF PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS BASED ON 12 BODY AND SKULL MEASUREMENTS CLEARLY SEPARATED THE NEW SPECIES, THE LATTER HAVING A SMALLER HEAD+BODY LENGTH (70.6 +/- 3.4 MM, N = 17) AND LOWER WEIGHT (11.9 +/- 1.9 G, N = 20). WE PROVIDE STRONG EVIDENCE TO RECOGNIZE A DISTINCT NEW WESTERN LINEAGE WITHIN ELIGMODONTIA GENUS, ELIGMODONTIA DUNARIS SP. NOV., FOR WHICH WE GIVE A COMPLETE TAXONOMIC DESCRIPTION AND A HYPOTHETICAL BIOGEOGRAPHIC SCENARIO. THE NEW SPECIES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED ENDANGERED, DUE TO ITS LEVEL OF ENDEMISM, ITS LOW POPULATION NUMBERS (WHICH CAN BE OCCASIONALLY INCREASED AFTER A BLOOMING DESERT) AND ITS FRAGILE DRY HABITAT PATCHILY DISTRIBUTED NEAR THE ATACAMA DESERT.

CUTICLE INTEGRITY REPRESENTS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN FRUIT QUALITY OF SWEET CHERRIES. PLANTS HORMONES, ESPECIALLY ABSCISIC ACID (ABA), ARE INVOLVED IN FRUIT CUTICLE INTEGRITY. THE EFFECT OF PRE-HARVEST APPLICATION OF ABSCISIC ACID ON CHERRY FRUIT CUTICLES WAS INVESTIGATED. CHANGES OF THE CONCENTRATIONS OF SEVERAL PHYTOHORMONES, EXPRESSION LEVELS OF GENES RELATED TO CELL WALL-MODIFICATION, AND TO WAX- AND CUTIN BIOSYNTHESIS WERE MEASURED FIVE DAYS AFTER APPLYING ABA TO SWEET CHERRY TREES (PRUNUS AVIUM CV. BING) AT THE STAGE OF FRUIT SET. AT THE RIPE STAGE CHANGES IN CELL WALL POLYMERS AND FRUIT CUTICLE COMPOSITION WERE MEASURED. OUR RESULTS SHOW THAT PRE-HARVEST APPLICATION OF 0.1 MM ABA AT THE STAGE OF FRUIT SET RESULTED IN INCREASED LEVELS OF ZEATIN RIBOSE (204-FOLD), ZEATIN (126-FOLD), SALICYLIC ACID (30-FOLD), AND ABA (19-FOLD). TRANSCRIPTION LEVELS OF KEY GENES INVOLVED IN CUTICLE BIOSYNTHESIS, THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR PAWINA AND THE WAX BIOSYNTHESIS-RELATED ENZYME PALACS1 (5.8- AND 3.4-FOLD INCREASE), AS WELL AS FOR THE KEY ENZYME PANCED1, INVOLVED IN ABA BIOSYNTHESIS (6.9-FOLD INCREASE), WERE INCREASED. AT THE RIPE STAGE, CONTENTS OF COVALENTLY-BOUND PECTINS AND HEMICELLULOSES WERE HIGHER WITH A CONCOMITANT REDUCTION OF WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMERS IN ABA-TREATED FRUITS. AMOUNTS OF LINEAR LONG-CHAIN ALIPHATIC WAX COMPOUNDS, ESPECIALLY C27, C29, AND C31 ALKANES, WERE INCREASED (1.2-, 1.3- AND 2.3-FOLD, RESPECTIVELY), WHEREAS NO EFFECT OF ABA ON PENTYCYLCIC TRITERPENOIDS WAS OBSERVED. WE CONCLUDE THAT ABA TREATMENT OF CHERRY TREES AT THE STAGE OF FRUIT SET POSITIVELY AFFECTS SWEET CHERRY FRUIT QUALITY AT RIPENING BY ENFORCING THE CELL WALL AND MODIFYING THE CUTICLE COMPOSITION.

BACKGROUND: THE CUTICLE PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE SURVIVAL OF PLANTS, AND IT IS IMPORTANT TO PRESERVE THE QUALITY OFFLESHYFRUITS LIKE SWEET CHERRY. PLANT HORMONES PLAY A ROLE IN CUTICLE FORMATION. IN THIS SENSE, JASMONATES HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO INDUCECUTICLE BIOSYNTHESIS, BUT UNTIL TODAY THIS HAS NOT BEEN DEMONSTRATED IN SWEET CHERRY FRUIT. THEREFORE, THE EFFECT OF EXOGENOUSMETHYL JASMONATE (MEJA) APPLICATION AT THE FRUIT SET STAGE ON THE EXPRESSION LEVELS OF CUTICLE SYNTHESIS-RELATED GENES AND THEWAX COMPOSITION OF THE ISOLATED CUTICLE WAS STUDIED IN DEVELOPING AND RIPE FRUITS OF SWEET CHERRY (PRUNUS AVIUM?BING?),RESPECTIVELY.RESULTS: MEJA TREATMENT RESULTED IN UP-REGULATION OF THE CUTICLE BIOSYNTHESIS-RELATED GENE EXPRESSION, SUCH ASPAWINA,PAWINB,PAKCS1,PAKCS6,PALACS1,PALACS2,PAWS, ANDPAWBC11. THESE GENES PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN THE ELONGATION AND TRANSPORT OF FATTYACIDS, AND WAX BIOSYNTHESIS. ANALYSIS OF CUTICULAR COMPONENTS IN RIPE FRUIT SHOWED AN INCREASE IN LONG-CHAIN LINEAR ALIPHATIC WAXCOMPOUNDS, PARTICULARLY C27, C28, C29, C30, AND C31 ALKANES.CONCLUSION: EXOGENOUS MEJA APPLICATION AT THE FRUIT SET STAGE OF SWEET CHERRY HAS A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE WAX COMPOSITION OFTHE RIPE FRUIT CUTICLE, PARTICULARLY IN TERMS OF ALKANE BIOSYNTHESIS. THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY MAY PROVIDE INSIGHTS INTO THE REGU-LATION OF CUTICLE BIOSYNTHESIS BY JASMONATES AND BE USEFUL FOR IMPROVING FRUIT QUALITY AND STORAGE LIFE.© 2023 SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY.

THE STUDY OF SOUTH AMERICAN CAMELIDS AND THEIR DOMESTICATION IS A HIGHLY DEBATED TOPIC IN ZOOARCHAEOLOGY. IDENTIFYING THE DOMESTIC SPECIES (ALPACA AND LLAMA) IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES BASED SOLELY ON MORPHOLOGICAL DATA IS CHALLENGING DUE TO THEIR SIMILARITY WITH RESPECT TO THEIR WILD ANCESTORS. USING GENETIC METHODS ALSO PRESENTS CHALLENGES DUE TO THE HYBRIDIZATION HISTORY OF THE DOMESTIC SPECIES, WHICH ARE THOUGHT TO HAVE EXTENSIVELY HYBRIDIZED FOLLOWING THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF SOUTH AMERICA THAT RESULTED IN CAMELIDS SLAUGHTERED EN MASSE. IN THIS STUDY, WE GENERATED MITOCHONDRIAL GENOMES FOR 61 ANCIENT SOUTH AMERICAN CAMELIDS DATED BETWEEN 3,500 AND 2,400 YEARS BEFORE THE PRESENT (EARLY FORMATIVE PERIOD) FROM TWO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN NORTHERN CHILE (TULÁN-54 AND TULÁN-85), AS WELL AS 66 MODERN CAMELID MITOGENOMES AND 815 MODERN MITOCHONDRIAL CONTROL REGION SEQUENCES FROM ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA. IN ADDITION, WE PERFORMED OSTEOMETRIC ANALYSES TO DIFFERENTIATE BIG AND SMALL BODY SIZE CAMELIDS. A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THESE DATA SUGGESTS THAT A SUBSTANTIAL PROPORTION OF THE ANCIENT VICUÑA GENETIC VARIATION HAS BEEN LOST SINCE THE EARLY FORMATIVE PERIOD, AS IT IS NOT PRESENT IN MODERN SPECIMENS. MOREOVER, WE PROPOSE A DOMESTICATION HYPOTHESIS THAT INCLUDES AN ANCIENT GUANACO POPULATION THAT NO LONGER EXISTS. FINALLY, WE FIND EVIDENCE THAT INTERBREEDING PRACTICES WERE WIDESPREAD DURING THE DOMESTICATION PROCESS BY THE EARLY CAMELID HERDERS IN THE ATACAMA DURING THE EARLY FORMATIVE PERIOD AND PREDATING THE SPANISH CONQUEST.

ALTHOUGH GUANACOS (LAMA GUANICOE) ARE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THEIR HISTORIC RANGE, THEY ARE OFTEN RESTRICTED TO SMALL, ISOLATED POPULATIONS THAT ARE AT RISK OF INBREEDING AND LOSS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY. HERE WE DOCUMENT AND INTERPRET BASELINE PATTERNS OF GENETIC VARIATION IN A GUANACO POPULATION INHABITING IN THE BOLIVIAN CHACO THAT IS THREATENED BY HUNTING AND HABITAT DEGRADATION. THE REGION, ONCE OPEN GRASSLANDS, IS DOMINATED BY DENSE SHRUBS, THE RESULT OF LIVESTOCK GRAZING. THE MOST-RECENT CENSUS IDENTIFIED ONLY 74 INDIVIDUALS AND IS DESIGNATED AS AT ?RISK OF EXTINCTION? BY THE BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT. WE ASSESSED THE POPULATION?S GENETIC HEALTH AND UNIQUENESS FROM THE GENETIC PATTERNS OF 16 MICROSATELLITE LOCI, THE HYPER-VARIABLE DOMAIN I OF THE MITOCHONDRIAL CONTROL REGION AND SRY GENE WITH 29 FECAL SAMPLES. WE IDENTIFIED 19 MALE AND 10 FEMALE UNIQUE INDIVIDUALS. MICROSATELLITE VARIATION (HO = 0.64) WAS SIMILAR TO LARGER, LESS-ISOLATED POPULATIONS. HOWEVER, THE ESTIMATED EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE WAS LOW AND CONSISTENT WITH THE CONTINUING LOSS OF ALLELIC VARIATION. THE TWO OBSERVED MTDNA HAPLOTYPES ARE COMMON IN OTHER L. G. GUANICOE POPULATIONS. ALTHOUGH WE DOCUMENTED MODERATE GENETIC DIVERSITY, GENE FLOW AMONG BOLIVIAN AND PARAGUAYAN GUANACO CHACO POPULATIONS SHOULD BE ASSESSED AND INTEGRATED INTO EXPLICIT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLANS.

BACKGROUND: THE ENDOMETRIUM IS A DYNAMIC TISSUE WHOSE CHANGES ARE DRIVEN BY THE OVARIAN STEROIDAL HORMONES. ITS MAIN FUNCTION IS TO PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE SUBSTRATE FOR EMBRYO IMPLANTATION. USING MICROARRAY TECHNOLOGY, SEVERAL REPORTS HAVE PROVIDED THE GENE EXPRESSION PATTERNS OF HUMAN ENDOMETRIAL TISSUE DURING THE WINDOW OF IMPLANTATION. HOWEVER IT IS REQUIRED THAT BIOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS BE MADE ACROSS THESE GENOMIC DATASETS TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THEM. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK WAS TO PERFORM A RESEARCH SYNTHESIS OF AVAILABLE GENE EXPRESSION PROFILES RELATED TO ACQUISITION OF ENDOMETRIAL RECEPTIVITY FOR EMBRYO IMPLANTATION, IN ORDER TO GAIN INSIGHTS INTO ITS MOLECULAR BASIS AND REGULATION. METHODS: GENE EXPRESSION DATASETS WERE INTERSECTED TO DETERMINE A CONSENSUS ENDOMETRIAL RECEPTIVITY TRANSCRIPT LIST (CERTL). FOR THIS CLUSTER OF GENES WE DETERMINED THEIR FUNCTIONAL ANNOTATIONS USING AVAILABLE WEB-BASED DATABASES. IN ADDITION, PROMOTER SEQUENCES WERE ANALYZED TO IDENTIFY PUTATIVE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR BINDING SITES USING BIOINFORMATICS TOOLS AND DETERMINED OVER-REPRESENTED FEATURES.

COMPARATIVE PHYLOGEOGRAPHY DESCRIBES THE PATTERNS OF EVOLUTIONARY DIVERGENCE AND WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE CONGRUENT, IN CO-DISTRIBUTED POPULATIONS OF DIFFERENT TAXA. IF THE POPULATIONS OF THESE TAXA HAVE BEEN CO-DISTRIBUTED FOR A PROLONGED TIME, AND IF THE TIMES BETWEEN PROCESSES OF PERTURBATION OR VICARIANCE HAVE BEEN MORE OR LESS STABLE, IT IS EXPECTED THAT PATTERNS OF DIVERGENCE WILL BE CONGRUENT IN CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES, FOR EXAMPLE BECAUSE OF SIMILAR BIOLOGICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS. LIOLAEMUS PICTUS AND L. CYANOGASTER ARE WIDELY CO-DISTRIBUTED LIZARD SPECIES IN SOUTHERN CHILE, OCCURRING IN A REGION WITH A COMPLEX TOPOLOGY. WE ANALYZED THE PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF THE TWO LIZARD SPECIES USING CYTOCHROME B DNA SEQUENCES TO ESTIMATE THEIR GENETIC STRUCTURE IN RESPONSE TO HISTORICAL EVENTS. OUR RESULTS SUGGEST AN EVOLUTIONARY PATTERN OF GENETIC DIVERSITY FOR EACH SPECIES THAT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE GEOMORPHOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE REGION, SUGGESTING A COMPLEX PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC HISTORY IN LIOLAEMUS SPECIES. ALSO, THE HIGH LEVELS OF DIVERGENCE AMONG HAPLOTYPES IN SEVERAL POPULATIONS SUGGEST THE POSSIBILITY THAT THEIR ORIGIN MIGHT PREDATE THE MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE IN BOTH SPECIES. FINALLY, OUR RESULTS ARE CONSISTENT WITH OUR HYPOTHESIS THAT TWO SPECIES HAVE RESPONDED TO HISTORICAL EVENTS IN PARALLEL, WHERE HISTORICAL PROCESS HAVE BEEN SUFFICIENT TO INFLUENCE THEIR PHYLOGEOGRAPHICAL STRUCTURE (0.80 CONGRUENCY BETWEEN TOPOLOGIES).

VICUÑAS AND GUANACOS ARE TWO SPECIES OF WILD SOUTH AMERICAN CAMELIDS THAT ARE KEY RUMINANTS IN THE ECOSYSTEMS WHERE THEY OCCUR. ALTHOUGH CLOSELY RELATED, THESE SPECIES FEATURE DIFFERING ECOLOGIES AND LIFE HISTORY CHARACTERS, WHICH ARE EXPECTED TO INFLUENCE BOTH THEIR GENETIC DIVERSITY AND POPULATION DIFFERENTIATION AT DIFFERENT SPATIAL SCALES. HERE, USING MITOCHONDRIAL AND MICROSATELLITE GENETIC MARKERS, WE SHOW THAT VICUÑA DISPLAY LOWER GENETIC DIVERSITY WITHIN POPULATIONS THAN GUANACO BUT EXHIBIT MORE STRUCTURE ACROSS THEIR PERUVIAN RANGE, WHICH MAY REFLECT A COMBINATION OF NATURAL GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION LINKED TO GEOGRAPHIC ISOLATION AND RECENT ANTHROPOGENIC POPULATION DECLINES. COALESCENT-BASED DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSES INDICATE THAT BOTH SPECIES HAVE PASSED THROUGH A STRONG BOTTLENECK, REDUCING THEIR EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZES FROM OVER 20,000 TO LESS THAN 1000 INDIVIDUALS. FOR VICUÑA, THIS BOTTLENECK IS INFERRED TO HAVE TAKEN PLACE ~3300 YEARS AGO, BUT TO HAVE OCCURRED MORE RECENTLY FOR GUANACO AT ~2000 YEARS AGO. THESE INFERRED DATES ARE CONSIDERABLY LATER THAN THE ONSET OF DOMESTICATION (WHEN THE ALPACA WAS DOMESTICATED FROM THE VICUÑA WHILE THE LLAMA WAS DOMESTICATED FROM THE GUANACO), COINCIDING INSTEAD WITH A MAJOR HUMAN POPULATION EXPANSION FOLLOWING THE MID-HOLOCENE COLD PERIOD. AS IMPORTANTLY, THEY IMPLY EARLIER DECLINES THAN THE WELL-DOCUMENTED SPANISH CONQUEST, WHERE MAJOR MASS MORTALITY EVENTS WERE RECORDED FOR ANDEAN HUMAN AND CAMELID POPULATIONS. WE ARGUE THAT UNDERLYING SPECIES? DIFFERENCES AND RECENT DEMOGRAPHIC PERTURBATIONS HAVE INFLUENCED GENETIC DIVERSITY IN MODERN VICUÑA AND GUANACO POPULATIONS, AND THESE PROCESSES SHOULD BE CAREFULLY EVALUATED IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR THESE IMPORTANT GENETIC RESOURCES.

CONSERVATION GENETICS THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER FOR THIS ARTICLE WAS INCORRECTLY GIVEN AS ?SPRINGER NATURE B.V. 2023? BUT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ?THE AUTHOR(S), UNDER EXCLUSIVE LICENCE TO SPRINGER NATURE B.V. 2023?. THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HAS BEEN CORRECTED.

THIRTY-NINE MICROSATELLITE LOCI THAT ARE HIGHLY CONSERVED IN RED DEER, SIKA DEER, REINDEER, SOAY SHEEP, AND OTHER ARTIODACTYLS WERE TESTED IN TWO VULNERABLE AND ENDANGERED NEOTROPICAL DEER (PUDU: PUDU PUDA AND HUEMUL: HIPPOCAMELUS BISULCUS) WITH THE AIM OF PRODUCING A STANDARDIZED SET OF MARKERS THAT CAN BE USED SUCCESSFULLY IN NONINVASIVE SAMPLES FROM THESE SPECIES. WE ALSO COMPARED THESE NONSPECIFIC LOCI AGAINST EIGHT POLYMORPHIC LOCI THAT WERE RECENTLY DEVELOPED FOR HUEMUL TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE NONSPECIFIC MARKERS COULD REFLECT THE HUEMUL'S GENETIC VARIATION THAT WAS OBSERVED WITH THE SPECIFIC LOCI. WE IDENTIFIED 10 SUITABLE LOCI, SIX OF WHICH CONSTITUTE A STANDARDIZED SET FOR THE TWO SPECIES AND CAN BE USED TO IDENTIFY THEM IN THE ABSENCE OF PHENOTYPIC DATA. THE EXPECTED HETEROZYGOSITY PER LOCUS FOR THE PANEL OF SIX LOCI RANGED FROM 0.461 TO 0.889 (AVERAGE 0.665), AND THE MAXIMUM PROBABILITY OF IDENTITY VALUE WAS 6.9X10(-6) AND 3.2X10(-4) IN PUDU AND HUEMUL, RESPECTIVELY. THIS SET OF LOCI HAS POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN EVOLUTIONARY, ECOLOGICAL, FORENSIC, AND CONSERVATION STUDIES IN PUDU AND HUEMUL.

WE DEVELOPED EIGHT POLYMORPHIC MICROSATELLITE LOCI FOR THE HUEMUL (HIPPOCAMELUS BISULCUS) AND TESTED FOR CROSS-SPECIES AMPLIFICATION IN SIX OTHER UNGULATE SPECIES. MICROSATELLITE LOCI WERE TYPED IN 58 INDIVIDUALS FROM THE LAGO COCHRANE NATIONAL RESERVE, CHILE. TWO TO FIVE ALLELES WERE OBSERVED PER LOCUS (MEAN 3.4) AND OBSERVED HETEROZYGOSITY RANGED FROM 0.29 TO 0.60 (MEAN 0.53). ONE TO FIVE LOCI AMPLIFIED IN OTHER UNGULATE SPECIES. THESE MARKERS WILL BE USED TO REFINE STUDIES OF POPULATION STRUCTURE AND ALLOW FOR MORE ACCURATE PEDIGREE RECONSTRUCTION IN THE HUEMUL.

BACKGROUND: ENDOMETRIAL FUNCTION IS ESSENTIAL FOR EMBRYO IMPLANTATION. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO ANALYZE GENE EXPRESSION PROFILES FROM INDIVIDUAL ENDOMETRIAL SAMPLES OBTAINED FROM WOMEN WITH REPEATED IMPLANTATION FAILURE AFTER IVF IN OOCYTE DONATION PROGRAMS. METHODS: SEVENTEEN VOLUNTEERS WERE RECRUITED: WOMEN WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY PARTICIPATED AS RECIPIENTS IN OOCYTE DONATION CYCLES AND REPEATEDLY EXHIBITED IMPLANTATION FAILURE (GROUP A, STUDY GROUP, N = 5) OR HAD AT LEAST ONE SUCCESSFUL CYCLE (GROUP B, CONTROL GROUP, N = 6) AND SPONTANEOUSLY FERTILE WOMEN (GROUP C, NORMAL FERTILITY GROUP, N = 6). AN ENDOMETRIAL CYCLE WAS INDUCED WITH EXOGENOUS ESTRADIOL (E2) AND PROGESTERONE (P) AND AN ENDOMETRIAL SAMPLE WAS COLLECTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF P TREATMENT. RESULTS: TRANSCRIPTOME ANALYSIS SHOWED 82 GENES WITH CONSISTENT DIFFERENTIAL GENE EXPRESSION WHEN COMPARING A VS. B AND A VS. C. ONE HUNDRED TRANSCRIPTS DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED IN GROUP A VS. B HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE REGULATED BY P, SUGGESTING COMPROMISED P SIGNALING IN THE ENDOMETRIUM. THE P RECEPTOR (PR) MUTATION PROGINS WAS NOT DETECTED IN WOMEN FROM GROUP A. SEMI-QUANTITATION OF IMMUNOREACTIVE PRA/B, PRB AND SP1 (A TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR RELATED TO P SIGNALING) IN PARAFFIN-EMBEDDED ENDOMETRIAL SECTIONS, DID NOT SHOW STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES AMONGST GROUPS. HOWEVER IMMUNOSTAINING GLYCODELIN WAS SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASED IN ENDOMETRIAL SAMPLES FROM GROUP A.

THE DOMESTICATION OF WILD VICUÑA AND GUANACO BY EARLY PRE-INCA CULTURES IS AN ICONIC EXAMPLE OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND DOMESTICATION IN THE AMERICAS. ALTHOUGH DOMESTIC LLAMAS AND ALPACAS WERE CLEARLY SELECTED FOR KEY, YET DISTINCT, PHENOTYPIC TRAITS, THE RELATIVE PATTERNS AND DIRECTION OF SELECTION AND DOMESTICATION HAVE NOT BEEN CONFIRMED USING GENETIC APPROACHES. HOWEVER, THE DETAILED ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDS FROM THE REGION SUGGEST THAT DOMESTICATION WAS A PROCESS CARRIED OUT UNDER SIGNIFICANT CONTROL AND PLANNING, WHICH WOULD HAVE FACILITATED COORDINATED AND THUS EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE SELECTIVE PRESSURE TO ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN DESIRED PHENOTYPIC TRAITS. HERE WE LINK PATTERNS OF SEQUENCE VARIATION IN TWO WELL-CHARACTERISED GENES CODING FOR COLOUR VARIATION IN VERTEBRATES AND INTERPRET THE RESULTS IN THE CONTEXT OF DOMESTICATION IN GUANACOS AND VICUÑAS. WE HYPOTHESISE THAT COLOUR VARIATION IN WILD POPULATIONS OF GUANACOS AND VICUNAS WERE STRONGLY SELECTED AGAINST. IN CONTRAST, VARIATION IN COAT COLOUR VARIATION IN ALPACA WAS STRONGLY SELECTED FOR AND BECAME RAPIDLY FIXED IN ALPACAS. IN CONTRAST, COAT COLOUR VARIANTS IN LLAMAS WERE OF LESS ECONOMIC VALUE, AND THUS WERE UNDER LESS SELECTIVE PRESSURE. WE REPORT FOR THE FIRST TIME THE FULL SEQUENCE OF MC1R AND 3 EXONS OF ASIP IN 171 WILD SPECIMENS FROM THROUGHOUT THEIR DISTRIBUTION AND WHICH REPRESENTED A RANGE OF COMMONLY OBSERVED COLOUR PATTERNS. WE FOUND A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THE NUMBER OF NON-SYNONYMOUS SUBSTITUTIONS, BUT NOT SYNONYMOUS SUBSTITUTIONS AMONG WILD AND DOMESTICS SPECIES. THE GENETIC VARIATION IN MC1R AND ASIP DID NOT DIFFERENTIATE ALPACA FROM LLAMA DUE TO THE HIGH DEGREE OF RECIPROCAL INTROGRESSION, BUT THE COMBINATION OF 11 SUBSTITUTIONS ARE SUFFICIENT TO DISTINGUISH DOMESTIC FROM WILD ANIMALS.

BACKGROUND DESPITE THEIR REGIONAL ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE AND BEING INCREASINGLY REARED GLOBALLY, THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF THE LLAMA AND ALPACA REMAIN POORLY UNDERSTOOD. HERE WE REPORT REFERENCE GENOMES FOR THE LLAMA, AND FOR THE GUANACO AND VICUÑA (THEIR PUTATIVE WILD PROGENITORS), COMPARE THESE WITH THE PUBLISHED ALPACA GENOME, AND RESEQUENCE SEVEN INDIVIDUALS OF ALL FOUR SPECIES TO BETTER UNDERSTAND DOMESTICATION AND INTROGRESSION BETWEEN THE LLAMA AND ALPACA. RESULTS PHYLOGENOMIC ANALYSIS CONFIRMS THAT THE LLAMA WAS DOMESTICATED FROM THE GUANACO AND THE ALPACA FROM THE VICUÑA. INTROGRESSION WAS MUCH HIGHER IN THE ALPACA GENOME (36%) THAN THE LLAMA (5%) AND COULD BE DATED CLOSE TO THE TIME OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST, APPROXIMATELY 500?YEARS AGO. INTROGRESSION PATTERNS ARE AT THEIR MOST VARIABLE ON THE X-CHROMOSOME OF THE ALPACA, FEATURING 53 GENES KNOWN TO HAVE DELETERIOUS X-LINKED PHENOTYPES IN HUMANS. STRONG GENOME-WIDE INTROGRESSION SIGNATURES INCLUDE OLFACTORY RECEPTOR COMPLEXES INTO BOTH SPECIES, HYPERTENSION RESISTANCE INTO ALPACA, AND FLEECE/FIBER TRAITS INTO LLAMA. GENOMIC SIGNATURES OF DOMESTICATION IN THE LLAMA INCLUDE MALE REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS, WHILE IN ALPACA FEATURE FLEECE CHARACTERISTICS, OLFACTION-RELATED AND HYPOXIA ADAPTATION TRAITS. EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE INTROGRESSED REGION THAT IS SYNTENIC TO HUMAN HSA4Q21, A GENE CLUSTER PREVIOUSLY ASSOCIATED WITH HYPERTENSION IN HUMANS UNDER HYPOXIC CONDITIONS, SHOWS A PREVIOUSLY UNDOCUMENTED ROLE FOR PRDM8 DOWNREGULATION AS A POTENTIAL TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION MECHANISM, ANALOGOUS TO THAT PREVIOUSLY REPORTED AT HIGH ALTITUDE FOR HYPOXIA-INDUCIBLE FACTOR 1?. CONCLUSIONS THE UNPRECEDENTED INTROGRESSION SIGNATURES WITHIN BOTH DOMESTIC CAMELID GENOMES MAY REFLECT POST-CONQUEST CHANGES IN AGRICULTURE AND THE BREAKDOWN OF TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES.

THE INCREASED AVAILABILITY OF QUALITY GENOMIC DATA HAS GREATLY IMPROVED THE SCOPE AND RESOLUTION OF OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE RECENT EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF WILD SPECIES ADAPTED TO EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS AND THEIR SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACTS. THE GUANACO (LAMA GUANICOE), THE LARGEST WILD UNGULATE IN SOUTH AMERICA, IS A GOOD EXAMPLE. THE GUANACO IS WELL ADAPTED TO A WIDE RANGE OF HABITATS, INCLUDING THE SECHURA DESERT, THE HIGH ANDES MOUNTAINS TO THE NORTH, AND THE EXTREME TEMPERATURES AND CONDITIONS OF NAVARINO ISLAND TO THE SOUTH. GUANACOS ALSO HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF OVEREXPLOITATION BY HUMANS. TO ASSESS THE EVOLUTIONARY IMPACT OF THESE CHALLENGING HABITATS ON THE GENOMIC DIVERSITY, WE ANALYZED 38 GENOMES (?10 TO 16×) THROUGHOUT THEIR EXTENSIVE LATITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION FROM THE SECHURA AND ATACAMA DESERT TO SOUTHWARD INTO TIERRA DEL FUEGO ISLAND. THESE INCLUDED ANALYSES OF PATTERNS OF UNIQUE DIFFERENTIATION IN THE NORTH AND GEOGRAPHIC REGION FURTHER SOUTH WITH ADMIXTURE AMONG L. G. CACSILENSIS AND L. G. GUANICOE. OUR FINDINGS PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS ON THE DIVERGENCE OF THE SUBSPECIES ?800,000 YR BP AND DOCUMENT TWO DIVERGENT DEMOGRAPHIC TRAJECTORIES AND TO THE INITIAL EXPANSION OF GUANACO INTO THE MORE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE ATACAMA DESERT. PATAGONIAN GUANACOS HAVE EXPERIENCED CONTEMPORARY REDUCTIONS IN EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZES, LIKELY THE CONSEQUENCE OF ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACTS. THE LOWEST LEVELS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY CORRESPONDED TO THEIR NORTHERN AND WESTERN LIMITS OF DISTRIBUTION AND SOME VARYING DEGREES OF GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION. ADAPTIVE GENOMIC DIVERSITY WAS STRONGLY LINKED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES AND WAS LINKED WITH COLONIZATION TOWARD THE SOUTH FOLLOWED BY ADAPTATION.

LIBRO: TROPICAL CONSERVATION: PERSPECTIVES ON LOCAL AND GLOBAL PRIORITIES.

SELECTIVE BREEDING OF THE GUANACO AND VICUÑA INDISPUTABLY LED TO THE DOMESTIC LLAMA AND ALPACA. HOWEVER, THE PLACE, TIME AND PROCESS OF DOMESTICATION REMAIN POORLY DOCUMENTED, EXACERBATED BY INCREASED EVIDENCE OF HISTORIC AND RECENT INTROGRESSION AMONG BOTH DOMESTIC POPULATIONS, ESPECIALLY THOSE INVOLVING ALPACA. HERE, WE REPORT THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF PATTERNS OF MICROSATELLITE VARIATION OF 13 POLYMORPHIC MICROSATELLITES IN 797 INDIVIDUALS REPRESENTING 4 SPECIES AND 2 SUBSPECIES TO ESTIMATE HISTORIC AND ONGOING PATTERNS OF GENE FLOW. OUR RESULTS CONFIRM THAT LLAMAS WERE DOMESTICATED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE NORTHERN SUBSPECIES OF GUANACO (LAMA GUANICOE CACSILENSIS), BUT CLUSTER ANALYSES DID NOT SUPPORT PREVIOUS FINDINGS THAT ALPACAS ARE SOLELY DERIVED FROM THE NORTHERN SUBSPECIES OF VICUÑA (VICUGNA MENSALIS), WITH SOME MORE-RECENT ADMIXTURE WITH SOUTHERN POPULATIONS. WE ALSO CONFIRMED CONTINUED GENE FLOW BETWEEN LLAMA AND ALPACA, AND FOUND EVIDENCE FOR CROSSES BETWEEN PRESUMABLY FERAL LLAMAS AND GUANACOS IN NORTHERN CHILE. OUR RESULTS HIGHLIGHT THE NEED TO DEVELOP AND TEST MORE-ACCURATE MARKERS AND TOOLS FOR ASSESSING THE GENETIC HERITAGE OF INDIVIDUALS, TO LINK PHENOTYPIC VARIATION WITH GENETIC ANCESTRY, AND TO CONSERVE HISTORIC PATTERNS OF UNIQUE VARIATION AMONG BOTH THE WILD AND DOMESTIC POPULATIONS.