Evolutionary ecology of telomeres: a review Olsson, Mats; Wapstra, Erik; Friesen, Christopher R.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,
June 2018, Letnik:
1422, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Telomere‐induced selection could take place if telomere‐associated disease risk shortens reproductive life span and differently reduces relative fitness among individuals. Some of these diseases ...first appear before reproductive senescence and could thus influence ongoing selection. We ask whether we can estimate the components of the breeder's equation for telomeres, in which the response to selection (R, by definition “evolution”) is the product of ongoing selection (S) and heritability (h2). However, telomere inheritance is a conundrum: in quantitative genetics, traits can usually be allocated to categories with relatively high or low heritability, depending on their association with relative fitness. Telomere traits, however, show wide variation in heritability from zero to one, across taxa, gender, ethnicity, age, and disease status. In spite of this, there is divergence in telomere length among populations, supporting past and ongoing telomere evolution. Rates of telomere attrition and elongation vary among taxa with some, but not complete, taxonomic coherence. For example, telomerase is commonly referred to as “restricted to the germ line in mammals,” but inbred mice and beavers have telomerase upregulation in somatic tissue, as do many ectotherms. These observations provoke a simplistic understanding of telomere evolutionary biology—clearly much is yet to be discovered.
Based on sub-arcsecond Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Submillimeter Array (SMA) 1.3 mm continuum images of the massive protocluster NGC 6334I obtained in 2015 and 2008, we ...find that the dust emission from MM1 has increased by a factor of 4.0 0.3 during the intervening years, and undergone a significant change in morphology. The continuum emission from the other cluster members (MM2, MM4, and the UCH ii region MM3 = NGC 6334F) has remained constant. Long-term single-dish maser monitoring at HartRAO finds that multiple maser species toward NGC 6334I flared beginning in early 2015, a few months before our ALMA observation, and some persist in that state. New ALMA images obtained in 2016 July-August at 1.1 and 0.87 mm confirm the changes with respect to SMA 0.87 mm images from 2008, and indicate that the (sub)millimeter flaring has continued for at least a year. The excess continuum emission, centered on the hypercompact H ii region MM1B, is extended and elongated (1 6 × 1 0 2100 × 1300 au) with multiple peaks, suggestive of general heating of the surrounding subcomponents of MM1, some of which may trace clumps in a fragmented disk rather than separate protostars. In either case, these remarkable increases in maser and dust emission provide direct observational evidence of a sudden accretion event in the growth of a massive protostar yielding a sustained luminosity surge by a factor of 70 20, analogous to the largest events in simulations by Meyer et al. This target provides an excellent opportunity to assess the impact of such a rare event on a protocluster over many years.
ABSTRACT
The seahorses, pipefishes and seadragons (Syngnathidae) are among the few vertebrates in which pregnant males incubate developing embryos. Syngnathids are popular in studies of sexual ...selection, sex‐role reversal, and reproductive trade‐offs, and are now emerging as valuable comparative models for the study of the biology and evolution of reproductive complexity. These fish offer the opportunity to examine the physiology, behavioural implications, and evolutionary origins of embryo incubation, independent of the female reproductive tract and female hormonal milieu. Such studies allow us to examine flexibility in regulatory systems, by determining whether the pathways underpinning female pregnancy are also co‐opted in incubating males, or whether novel pathways have evolved in response to the common challenges imposed by incubating developing embryos and releasing live young. The Syngnathidae are also ideal for studies of the evolution of reproductive complexity, because they exhibit multiple parallel origins of complex reproductive phenotypes. Here we assay the taxonomic distribution of syngnathid parity mode, examine the selective pressures that may have led to the emergence of male pregnancy, describe the biology of syngnathid reproduction, and highlight pressing areas for future research. Experimental tests of a range of hypotheses, including many generated with genomic tools, are required to inform overarching theories about the fitness implications of pregnancy and the evolution of male pregnancy. Such information will be widely applicable to our understanding of fundamental reproductive and evolutionary processes in animals.
We report the first sub-arcsecond VLA imaging of 6 GHz continuum, methanol maser, and excited-state hydroxyl maser emission toward the massive protostellar cluster NGC 6334I following the recent 2015 ...outburst in (sub)millimeter continuum toward MM1, the strongest (sub)millimeter source in the protocluster. In addition to detections toward the previously known 6.7 GHz Class II methanol maser sites in the hot core MM2 and the UCHII region MM3 (NGC 6334F), we find new maser features toward several components of MM1, along with weaker features ∼1″ north, west, and southwest of MM1, and toward the nonthermal radio continuum source CM2. None of these areas have heretofore exhibited Class II methanol maser emission in three decades of observations. The strongest MM1 masers trace a dust cavity, while no masers are seen toward the strongest dust sources MM1A, 1B, and 1D. The locations of the masers are consistent with a combination of increased radiative pumping due to elevated dust grain temperature following the outburst, the presence of infrared photon propagation cavities, and the presence of high methanol column densities as indicated by ALMA images of thermal transitions. The nonthermal radio emission source CM2 (2″ north of MM1) also exhibits new maser emission from the excited 6.035 and 6.030 GHz OH lines. Using the Zeeman effect, we measure a line-of-sight magnetic field of +0.5 to +3.7 mG toward CM2. In agreement with previous studies, we also detect numerous methanol and excited OH maser spots toward the UCHII region MM3, with predominantly negative line-of-sight magnetic field strengths of −2 to −5 mG and an intriguing south-north field reversal.
ABSTRACT We present Very Large Array and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array imaging of the deeply embedded protostellar cluster NGC 6334I from 5 cm to 1.3 mm at angular resolutions as fine ...as 0 17 (220 au). The dominant hot core MM1 is resolved into seven components at 1.3 mm, clustered within a radius of 1000 au. Four of the components have brightness temperatures >200 K, radii ∼300 au, minimum luminosities ∼104 L , and must be centrally heated. We term this new phenomenon a "hot multi-core." Two of these objects also exhibit compact free-free emission at longer wavelengths, consistent with a hypercompact H ii region (MM1B) and a jet (MM1D). The spatial kinematics of the water maser emission centered on MM1D are consistent with it being the origin of the high-velocity bipolar molecular outflow seen in CO. The close proximity of MM1B and MM1D (440 au) suggests a proto-binary or a transient bound system. Several components of MM1 exhibit steep millimeter spectral energy distributions indicative of either unusual dust spectral properties or time variability. In addition to resolving MM1 and the other hot core (MM2) into multiple components, we detect five new millimeter and two new centimeter sources. Water masers are detected for the first time toward MM4A, confirming its membership in the protocluster. With a 1.3 mm brightness temperature of 97 K coupled with a lack of thermal molecular line emission, MM4A appears to be a highly optically thick 240 L dust core, possibly tracing a transient stage of massive protostellar evolution. The nature of the strongest water maser source CM2 remains unclear due to its combination of non-thermal radio continuum and lack of dust emission.
We compare multi-epoch sub-arcsecond Very Large Array imaging of the 22 GHz water masers toward the massive protocluster NGC 6334I observed before and after the recent outburst of MM1B in ...(sub)millimeter continuum. Since the outburst, the water maser emission toward MM1 has substantially weakened. Simultaneously, the strong water masers associated with the synchrotron continuum point source CM2 have flared by a mean factor of 6.5 (to 4.2 kJy) with highly blueshifted features (up to 70 km s−1 from the LSR) becoming more prominent. The strongest flaring water masers reside 3000 au north of MM1B and form a remarkable bow shock pattern whose vertex coincides with CM2 and tail points back to MM1B. Excited OH masers trace a secondary bow shock located ∼120 au downstream. Atacama Large Millimeter Array images of CS (6-5) reveal a highly collimated north-south structure encompassing the flaring masers to the north and the nonflaring masers to the south seen in projection toward the MM3-UCHII region. Proper motions of the southern water masers over 5.3 years indicate a bulk projected motion of 117 km s−1 southward from MM1B with a dynamical time of 170 years. We conclude that CM2, the water masers, and many of the excited OH masers trace the interaction of the high-velocity bipolar outflow from MM1B with ambient molecular gas. The previously excavated outflow cavity has apparently allowed the radiative energy of the current outburst to propagate freely until terminating at the northern bow shock where it strengthened the masers. Additionally, water masers have been detected toward MM7 for the first time, and a highly collimated CS (6-5) outflow has been detected toward MM4.
The role of oxidative stress in postcopulatory selection Friesen, Christopher R; Noble, Daniel W A; Olsson, Mats
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences,
12/2020, Letnik:
375, Številka:
1813
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Two decades ago, von Schantz
. (von Schantz T, Bensch S, Grahn M, Hasselquist D, Wittzell H. 1999 Good genes, oxidative stress and condition-dependent sexual signals.
266, 1-12. ...(doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0597)) united oxidative stress (OS) biology with sexual selection and life-history theory. This set the scene for analysis of how evolutionary trade-offs may be mediated by the increase in reactive molecules resulting from metabolic processes at reproduction. Despite 30 years of research on OS effects on infertility in humans, one research area that has been left behind in this integration of evolution and OS biology is postcopulatory sexual selection-this integration is long overdue. We review the basic mechanisms in OS biology, why mitochondria are the primary source of ROS and ATP production during oxidative metabolism, and why sperm, and its performance, is uniquely susceptible to OS. We also review how postcopulatory processes select for antioxidation in seminal fluids to counter OS and the implications of the net outcome of these processes on sperm damage, sperm storage, and female and oocyte manipulation of sperm metabolism and repair of DNA to enhance offspring fitness. This article is part of the theme issue 'Fifty years of sperm competition'.
ABSTRACT Filamentary structures are ubiquitous in molecular clouds, and have been recently argued to play an important role in regulating the size and mass of embedded clumps through fragmentation ...and mass accretion. Here, we reveal the dynamical state and fragmentation of filamentary molecular gas associated with the Serpens South protocluster through analysis of wide ( ) observations of NH3 (1, 1) and (2, 2) inversion transitions with the Green Bank Telescope. Detailed modeling of the NH3 lines reveals that the kinematics of the cluster and surrounding filaments are complex. We identify hierarchical structure using a dendrogram analysis of the NH3 emission. The distance between neighbor structures that are embedded within the same parent structure is generally greater than expected from a spherical Jeans analysis, and is in better agreement with cylindrical fragmentation models. The NH3 line width-size relation is flat, and average gas motions are sub- or trans-sonic over all physical scales observed. Subsonic regions extend far beyond the typical 0.1 pc scale previously identified in star-forming cores. As a result, we find a strong trend of decreasing virial parameter with increasing structure mass in Serpens South. Extremely low virial parameters on the largest scales probed by our data suggest that the previously observed, ordered magnetic field is insufficient to support the region against collapse, in agreement with large radial infall motions previously measured toward some of the filaments. A more complex magnetic field configuration in the dense gas, however, may be able to support the filaments.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of 1.1 mm dust continuum and CO 2-1 emission toward six dense cores within the Ophiuchus molecular cloud. We detect ...compact, subarcsecond continuum structures toward three targets, two of which (Oph A N6 and SM1) are located in the Ophiuchus A ridge. Two targets, SM1 and GSS 30, contain two compact sources within the ALMA primary beam. We argue that several of the compact structures are small (R 80 au) accretion disks around young protostars, based on their resolved, elongated structures, coincident radio and X-ray detections, or bipolar outflow detections. While CO line wings extend to 10-20 km s−1 for the more evolved sources GSS 30 IRS3 and IRS1, CO emission toward other sources, where detected, only extends a few km s−1 from the cloud vLSR. The dust spectral index toward the compact objects suggests either that the disks are optically thick at 1.1 mm or that significant grain growth has already occurred. We identify, for the first time, a single compact continuum source (R ∼ 100 au) toward N6 embedded within a larger continuum structure. SM1N is extended in the continuum but is highly centrally concentrated, with a density profile that follows a r−1.3 power law within 200 au and additional structure suggested by the uv-data. Both N6 and SM1N show no clear bipolar outflows with velocities greater than a few km s−1 from the cloud velocity. These sources are candidates to be the youngest protostars or first hydrostatic cores in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud.
We have detected bright HC7N J = 21 − 20 emission towards multiple locations in the Serpens South cluster-forming region using the K-Band Focal Plane Array at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. ...HC7N is seen primarily towards cold filamentary structures that have yet to form stars, largely avoiding the dense gas associated with small protostellar groups and the main central cluster of Serpens South. Where detected, the HC7N abundances are similar to those found in other nearby star-forming regions. Towards some HC7N 'clumps', we find consistent variations in the line centroids relative to NH3 (1,1) emission, as well as systematic increases in the HC7N non-thermal line widths, which we argue reveal infall motions on to dense filaments within Serpens South with minimum mass accretion rates of M ∼ 2-5 M Myr−1. The relative abundance of NH3 to HC7N suggests that the HC7N is tracing gas that has been at densities n ∼ 104 cm−3 for time-scales t 1-2 × 105 yr. Since HC7N emission peaks are rarely co-located with those of either NH3 or continuum, it is likely that Serpens South is not particularly remarkable in its abundance of HC7N, but instead the serendipitous mapping of HC7N simultaneously with NH3 has allowed us to detect HC7N at low abundances in regions where it otherwise may not have been looked for. This result extends the known star-forming regions containing significant HC7N emission from typically quiescent regions, like the Taurus molecular cloud, to more complex, active environments.