Project description:The European Roller (Coracias garrulus), a long-distance migratory bird, faced a considerable decline in breeding pairs throughout Europe at the end of the 20th century. Due to conservation efforts and the installation of nesting boxes, the population of the European Roller in Serbia has made a remarkable recovery. Here, we used the variability of nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region and 10 microsatellite loci to assess the genetic diversity and structuring, phylogeographic patterns and demographic history of this species using 224 individuals from Serbia. Our results showed moderate level of genetic diversity (HO = 0.392) and a slightly elevated level of inbreeding and homozygosity (FIS = 0.393). Genetic structuring based on microsatellite data indicated three genetic clusters, but without a clear spatial pattern. High haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.987) of the mtDNA control region sequences was detected, and neutrality tests indicated a recent demographic expansion. The phylogeographic analysis, which also included previously published sequences of the mtDNA control region, supported the subdivision into two distinct European and Asian haplogroups (ΦST = 0.712). However, the results of our study showed that a larger number of haplotypes sampled in Serbia are clustered in the Asian haplogroup as compared to previous studies, indicating a historically continuous distribution of this species and possibly a wider distribution of the subspecies Coracias garrulus semenovwi. Our results suggest that the European Roller population in Serbia is genetically stable, with no evidence of recent bottlenecks, and emphasize the importance of artificial nest boxes for promoting and maintaining population dynamics of European Rollers.
Project description:Despite the continuously growing number of known avian picornaviruses (family Picornaviridae), knowledge of their genetic diversity in wild birds, especially in long-distance migrant species is very limited. In this study, we report the presence of a novel picornavirus identified from one of 18 analysed faecal samples of an Afro-Palearctic migrant bird, the European roller (Coracias garrulus L., 1758), which is distantly related to the marine-mammal-infecting seal aquamavirus A1 (genus Aquamavirus). The phylogenetic analyses and the low sequence identity (P1 26.3 %, P2 25.8 % and P3 28.4 %) suggest that this picornavirus could be the founding member of a novel picornavirus genus that we have provisionally named 'Kunsagivirus', with 'Greplavirus A' (strain roller/SZAL6-KuV/2011/HUN, GenBank accession no. KC935379) as the candidate type species.
Project description:modENCODE_submission_5986 This submission comes from a modENCODE project of Jason Lieb. For full list of modENCODE projects, see http://www.genome.gov/26524648 Project Goal: The focus of our analysis will be elements that specify nucleosome positioning and occupancy, control domains of gene expression, induce repression of the X chromosome, guide mitotic segregation and genome duplication, govern homolog pairing and recombination during meiosis, and organize chromosome positioning within the nucleus. Our 126 strategically selected targets include RNA polymerase II isoforms, dosage-compensation proteins, centromere components, homolog-pairing facilitators, recombination markers, and nuclear-envelope constituents. We will integrate information generated with existing knowledge on the biology of the targets and perform ChIP-seq analysis on mutant and RNAi extracts lacking selected target proteins. For data usage terms and conditions, please refer to http://www.genome.gov/27528022 and http://www.genome.gov/Pages/Research/ENCODE/ENCODEDataReleasePolicyFinal2008.pdf EXPERIMENT TYPE: CHIP-seq. BIOLOGICAL SOURCE: Strain: N2; Developmental Stage: L3 Larva; Genotype: wild type; Sex: mixed Male and Hermaphrodite population; EXPERIMENTAL FACTORS: Developmental Stage L3 Larva; temp (temperature) 20 degree celsius; Strain N2; Antibody NURF-1 SDQ3525 (target is NURF-1)