In comparison to biodiversity on Earth's surface, subterranean biodiversity has largely remained concealed. The olm (Proteus anguinus) is one of the most enigmatic extant cave inhabitants, and until ...now little was known regarding its genetic structure and evolutionary history. Olms inhabit subterranean waters throughout the Dinaric Karst of the western Balkans, with a seemingly uniform phenotypic appearance of cave‐specialized traits: an elongate body, snout and limbs, degenerated eyes and loss of pigmentation (“white olm”). Only a single small region in southeastern Slovenia harbours olms with a phenotype typical of surface animals: pigmented skin, eyes, a blunt snout and short limbs (“black olm”). We used a combination of mitochondrial DNA and genome‐wide single nucleotide polymorphism data to investigate the molecular diversity, evolutionary history and biogeography of olms along the Dinaric Karst. We found nine deeply divergent species‐level lineages that separated between 17 and 4 million years ago, while molecular diversity within lineages was low. We detected no signal of recent admixture between lineages and only limited historical gene flow. Biogeographically, the contemporaneous distribution of lineages mostly mirrors hydrologically separated subterranean environments, while the historical separation of olm lineages follows microtectonic and climatic changes in the area. The reconstructed phylogeny suggests at least four independent transitions to the cave phenotype. Two of the species‐level lineages have miniscule ranges and may represent Europe's rarest amphibians. Their rarity and the decline in other lineages call for protection of their subterranean habitats.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Subterranean animals are known for their highly evolved phenotypes. They are eyeless, depigmented and possess elongated appendages compared to their surface relatives. Increased antenna and leg ...length of cave species has traditionally been explained as a consequence of selection for non‐visual senses and increased food‐finding ability in an environment low in energy. Variation in appendage length between cave species is usually thought to result from differences in time since the colonization of the subterranean habitat. In this study, we analyzed appendage length variation in the Dinaric amphipod species Niphargus croaticus. Relative length of appendages varied substantially among populations. Using multilocus phylogenetic analysis, we showed that the species is nested within highly specialized N. steueri species complex and rejected the time hypothesis. Next, we explored the effects and strength of two environmental factors, water flow and presence of a competing species, N. subtypicus. Populations in caves with flowing water had shorter appendages than populations in cave lakes. Presence of the competing sister species did lead to longer appendages in stagnant water, but had no effect in flowing water. Abiotic factors had a stronger effect than biotic factors, but their relative strength differed among appendage pairs. High variation in appendage length between adjacent population shows that the morphology of cave arthropods is changing quickly and therefore cannot be used to predict species age. Rather than being a general adaptation to cave life, long appendages seem to be associated with the absence of water flow as well as character displacement when in sympatry with ecologically similar competing species.
We critically address the question of antenna and leg length in cave arthropods, an important trait in the study of convergent evolution. This classical cave‐related trait is almost unanimously considered as adaptation to the lightless and energy‐low cave environment. However, we demonstrate that variation in appendage length can be explained by selective factors that are not peculiar to the subterranean environment, such as water flow velocity and presence of competing species.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Research conducted in this study shows the applied in vitro antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity of the four extracts isolated from Trapa natans L. leaves. In this study, different methods were ...used (microdilution, tissue culture plate, different colorimetric methods, GC-FID and GC-MS analysis). While the water extract didn't show antibacterial activity, the acetone extract showed the strongest one. The same activity in the case of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC was 313 μg/mL) was better than the activity of controls and it matched with antibiofilm activity. The effect of extracts was better on G+ bacteria (MICs were <78-625 μg/mL). For ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts all BIC values were better than MICs. Extracts showed a significant effect on Aspergillus restrictus (MICs were < 78/156 μg/mL). The GC and GC-MS analysis of the ethyl acetate extract revealed the identification of 22 compounds with (all E)-squalene (20.2%), n-alkanes and norlignan hinokiresinol among the most abundant ones. This is the first time that T. natans was studied using these methods.
The antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid content of ethanolic,
acetone and ethyl acetate extracts of Ruscus hypoglossum L. and Ruscus
aculeatus L. (aerial parts) from Serbia were ...investigated in this paper. The
best total antioxidant capacity (23.329 ?g AA g-1) and the highest DPPH
scavenging activity (IC50 = 182.54 ?g mL-1) were found in acetone and ethyl
acetate extract of R. aculeatus L. Ethanolic extract of R. hypoglossum L.
showed the highest ABTS radical cation scavenging activity (IC50 = 3.04 ?g
mL-1) as well as reducing power (IC50 = 0.143 ?g mL-1). The best inhibitory
activity against lipid peroxidation (IC50 =651 ?g mL-1) and the best ferrous
ion chelating ability (IC50 = 110 ?g mL-1) were found in acetone and ethyl
acetate extract of R. hypoglossum L. The highest total phenolic (8.569 mg GAE
g-1) and flavonoid content (0.136 mg RU g-1) were found in ethanolic and
acetone extract of R. hypoglossum L. and R. aculeatus L, respectively.
In this paper the research related to the development of a deep neural network based speech synthesizer for the Serbian language, trained on recorded utterances of a single female voice talent, is ...described. Two separate networks are used for prediction of acoustic features and phonetic segment durations. Through a set of experiments the optimal values of the hyper-parameters of the neural networks are established, and then the influence of the amount of training data on the quality of synthesized speech is examined. The quality is evaluated through objective measures as well as appropriate listening tests. It has been confirmed that 4-layer deep neural networks with 512 units per hidden layer, trained on 3 hours of data, produce speech of very good quality. The results also suggest that a further increase in the amount of training data may contribute to further improvement in quality.
Velkovrhia enigmatica is the only freshwater hydrozoan living exclusively in groundwater. It is endemic to the Dinarides in the Balkan Peninsula, where it has been known from four caves only. Here we ...report on a new V. enigmatica population from cave Logarček near Laze in southwestern Slovenia. In addition, after almost 30 years since its last recorded presence, we confirm the current presence of numerous V. enigmatica individuals in the type locality, Planinska jama. Individuals from the two caves were morphologically different: polyps from the type locality had 4–9 tentacles, while the ones from Logarček had 14–36 tentacles. The mitochondrial DNA sequences in populations from both caves did not differ. Additional research is needed to provide further insights into species taxonomy, biology and distribution.
We offer preliminary reports on the presence of the Danube Crested Newt, Triturus dobrogicus, in Slovenia. This species reaches its western border of distribution in Hungary, Austria and Croatia, but ...untill recently it was not known from Slovenia. Here we report on the first record of this species in Slovenia, found in Dolinsko polje of the Prekmurje region during the herpetological surveys carried out in the spring of 2009 and 2010. The species identity was determined by coloration, body shape and the Wolterstorff Index values. Only with additional genetic analysis could we answer if this is a pure population or whether hybridisation with T. carnifex is present.
The aim of this study was to determine the bioaccumulation of the metals in Rumex acetosella L. collected from the tailings of abandoned mine in Žitkovac (near Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo and ...Metohija), and to establish the possibility of using those plants for medicinal purposes. Concentrations of heavy metals (Mn, Fe, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu, Cd, Zn, Ca and Mg) in soil, roots and aboveground parts of R. acetosella were determined by wet mineralization with nitric and perchloric acid. The results of the research indicate that R. acetosella accumulates large amounts of Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, and Mn. The total phenol content, the total amount of flavonoids and the antioxidant activity of three different extracts of the root and aboveground parts of R. acetosella were determined by spectrophotometric methods. The acetone extracts contain the highest concentration of phenols and flavonoids. Ethyl acetate has proven to be a solvent that releases the least amount of phenols and flavonoids. The methanol extract of aboveground parts has the highest, while acetone root extract has the lowest antioxidant activity. Rumex acetosella can be used for medicinal purposes, but only collected from uncontaminated soil.
Eryngium amethystinum L. belonging to the Apiaceae family, is a perennial plant distributed in Southeast Europe. Even though this plant is used in traditional medicine, its phytochemical ...characterization is still incomplete. In this study composition of bioactive constituents of the methanol extract are reported for the first time. By means of the UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MSn method, altogether sixty-three constituents were characterized: eight hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives (7-13, 32), fifteen cinnamic acid derivatives (14, 17-19, 21, 24-26, 28, 30, 39-42 and 44), four flavonoid aglycones (45, 51, 52, 54), twenty-four flavonoid derivatives (23, 27, 29, 31, 33-38, 43, 46-50, 53, 55-59, 61 and 62), three coumarin derivatives (15, 16 and 22) and nine other compounds (1-6, 20, 60 and 63).
The antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid content of ethanolic, acetone and ethyl acetate extracts of Ruscus hypoglossum L. and Ruscus aculeatus L. (aerial parts) from Serbia were ...investigated in this paper. The best total antioxidant capacity (23.329 microg AA g.sup-1) and the highest DPPH scavenging activity (IC.sub.50 = 182.54 microg mL.sup.-1) were found in acetone and ethyl acetate extract of R. aculeatus L. Ethanolic extract of R. hypoglossum L. showed the highest ABTS radical cation scavenging activity (IC.sub.50 = 3.04 microg mL.sup.-1) as well as reducing power (IC.sub.50 = 0.143 microg mL.sup.-1). The best inhibitory activity against lipid peroxidation (IC.sub.50 =651 microg mL.sup.-1) and the best ferrous ion chelating ability (IC.sub.50 = 110 microg mL.sup.-1) were found in acetone and ethyl acetate extract of R. hypoglossum L. The highest total phenolic (8.569 mg GAE g.sup-1) and flavonoid content (0.136 mg RU g.sup-1) were found in ethanolic and acetone extract of R. hypoglossum L. and R. aculeatus L, respectively. Keywords: free radical scavenging, reducing power, chelating ability, lipid peroxidation, total phenolic and flavonoid contents Antioksidativna aktivnost etanolnog, acetonskog i etil-acetatnog ekstrakta nadzemnih delova biljaka Ruscus hypoglossum L. i Ruscus aculeatus L. poreklom iz Srbije, kao i ukupan sadrzaj fenola i flavonoida u ekstraktima, ispitivani su u ovom radu. Acetonski ekstrakt R. aculeatus L. pokazao je najveci ukupni antioksidativni kapacitet (23.329 microg AA g.sup-1) a etilacetatni ekstrakt najbolju sposobnost neutralizacije slobodnih DPPH radikala (IC.sub.50 = 182.54 microg mL.sup.-1). Etanolni ekstrakt R. hypoglossum L. pokazao je najbolju sposobnost neutralizacije ABTS + radikala (IC.sub.50 = 3.04 microg mL.sup.-1) i Fe.sup.3+ -redukujuci kapacitet (IC.sub.50 = 0.143 microg mL.sup.-1). Acetonski ekstrakt biljke pokazao je najbolju sposobnost inhibicije pri lipidnoj peroksidaciji (IC.sub.50 =651 microg mL.sup.-1), a etil-acetatni ekstrakt najbolju Fe.sup.2+-helatacionu aktivnost (IC.sub.50 = 110 microg mL.sup.-1). Najveca kolicina ukupnih fenola (8.569 mg GAE g.sup-1) izmerena je u etanolnom ekstraktu R. hypoglossum L, dok je najveca kolicina ukupnih flavonoida (0.136 mg RU g.sup-1) izmerena je u acetonskom ekstraktu R. aculeatus L. Na osnovu prikazanih rezultata, obe vrste Ruscus koje zive na teritoriji Srbije predstavljaju znacajne izvore novih prirodnih antioksidanata sa mogucom primenom u farmaceutskoj i prehrambenoj industriji. Kljucne reci: hvatanje slobodnih radikala, redukujuci kapacitet, helataciona sposobnost, lipidna peroksidacija, ukupan sadrzaj fenola i flavonoida
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