Project description:The ability to learn abstract relational concepts is fundamental to higher level cognition. In contrast to item-specific concepts (e.g. pictures containing trees versus pictures containing cars), abstract relational concepts are not bound to particular stimulus features, but instead involve the relationship between stimuli and therefore may be extrapolated to novel stimuli. Previous research investigating the same/different abstract concept has suggested that primates might be specially adapted to extract relations among items and would require fewer exemplars of a rule to learn an abstract concept than non-primate species. We assessed abstract-concept learning in an avian species, Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), using a small number of exemplars (eight pairs of the same rule, and 56 pairs of the different rule) identical to that previously used to compare rhesus monkeys, capuchin monkeys and pigeons. Nutcrackers as a group (N = 9) showed more novel stimulus transfer than any previous species tested with this small number of exemplars. Two nutcrackers showed full concept learning and four more showed transfer considerably above chance performance, indicating partial concept learning. These results show that the Clark's nutcracker, a corvid species well known for its amazing feats of spatial memory, learns the same/different abstract concept better than any non-human species (including non-human primates) yet tested on this same task.

| S-EPMC4455740 | biostudies-literature

Association analysis identifies Melampsora ×columbiana poplar leaf rust resistance SNPs.

Project description:Populus species are currently being domesticated through intensive time- and resource-dependent programs for utilization in phytoremediation, wood and paper products, and conversion to biofuels. Poplar leaf rust disease can greatly reduce wood volume. Genetic resistance is effective in reducing economic losses but major resistance loci have been race-specific and can be readily defeated by the pathogen. Developing durable disease resistance requires the identification of non-race-specific loci. In the presented study, area under the disease progress curve was calculated from natural infection of Melampsora ×columbiana in three consecutive years. Association analysis was performed using 412 P. trichocarpa clones genotyped with 29,355 SNPs covering 3,543 genes. We found 40 SNPs within 26 unique genes significantly associated (permutated P<0.05) with poplar rust severity. Moreover, two SNPs were repeated in all three years suggesting non-race-specificity and three additional SNPs were differentially expressed in other poplar rust interactions. These five SNPs were found in genes that have orthologs in Arabidopsis with functionality in pathogen induced transcriptome reprogramming, Ca²?/calmodulin and salicylic acid signaling, and tolerance to reactive oxygen species. The additive effect of non-R gene functional variants may constitute high levels of durable poplar leaf rust resistance. Therefore, these findings are of significance for speeding the genetic improvement of this long-lived, economically important organism.

| S-EPMC3827267 | biostudies-literature

Melampsora medusae x Melampsora occidentalis

Project description:Melampsora x columbiana overview

| PRJNA573262 | ENA

Population-Wide Failure to Breed in the Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana).

Project description:In highly variable environments, conditions can be so stressful in some years that entire populations forgo reproduction in favor of higher likelihood of surviving to breed in future years. In two out of five years, Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga Columbiana) in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem exhibited population-wide failure to breed. Clark's nutcrackers at the study site experienced substantial interannual differences in food availability and weather conditions, and the two nonbreeding years corresponded with low whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) cone crops the previous autumn (? an average of 8 ± 2 cones per tree versus ? an average of 20 ± 2 cones per tree during breeding years) and high snowpack in early spring (? 61.2 ± 5.5 cm versus ? 51.9 ± 4.4 cm during breeding years). The average adult body condition index during the breeding season was significantly lower in 2011 (-1.5 ± 1.1), a nonbreeding year, as compared to 2012 (6.2 ± 2.0), a breeding year. The environmental cues available to the birds prior to breeding, specifically availability of cached whitebark pine seeds, may have allowed them to predict that breeding conditions would be poor, leading to the decision to skip breeding. Alternatively, the Clark's nutcrackers may have had such low body energy stores that they chose not to or were unable to breed. Breeding plasticity would allow Clark's nutcrackers to exploit an unpredictable environment. However, if large-scale mortality of whitebark pines is leading to an increase in the number of nonbreeding years, there could be serious population-level and ecosystem-wide consequences.

| S-EPMC4430254 | biostudies-literature

Melampsora medusae x Melampsora occidentalis strain:Clatskanie

Project description:Melampsora x columbiana Clatskanie transcriptome

| PRJNA572452 | ENA

Melampsora medusae x Melampsora occidentalis strain:Clatskanie

Project description:Melampsora x columbiana Clatskanie genome sequencing

| PRJNA346795 | ENA