Summary
Lavender Foal Syndrome (LFS) is a rare autosomal recessive lethal disorder affecting Arabian foals which is also characterized by a dilute coat colour and severe neurological signs. Dilute mouse and rat mutants, and Griscelli syndrome type 1 in humans, which are characterized by similar clinical signs, are caused by mutations in the MYO5A gene. MYO5A was, therefore, identified as a possible candidate gene for LFS. Sequencing of the coding region identified a single‐base deletion in a conserved region of the tail domain. The deletion produces a truncated protein product through the insertion of a premature stop codon (p.Arg1487AlafsX13). The deletion was confirmed as the causative mutation by genotyping affected, carrier and normal individuals.
The black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens, is a promising candidate for the emerging insect farming industry with favourable characteristics for both bioremediation and production of animal delivered nutritive and industrial compounds. The genetic management of commercial colonies will become increasingly important for the sustainability of the industry. However, r-selected life history traits of insects pose challenges to conventional animal husbandry and breeding approaches. In this study, the long-term genetic effects of mass-rearing were evaluated as well as mating systems in the species to establish factors that might influence genetic diversity, and by implication fitness and productivity in commercial colonies. Population genetic parameters, based on microsatellite markers, were estimated and compared amongst two temporal wild sampling populations and four generations (F28, F48, F52, and F62) of a mass-reared colony. Furthermore, genetic relationships amongst mate pairs were evaluated and parentage analysis was performed to determine the oc-currence of preferential mate choice and multiple paternity. The mass-reared colony showed a reduction in genetic diversity and evidence for inbreeding with significant successive generational genetic differentiation from the wild progenitor population. Population-level analysis also gave the first tentative evidence of positive assortative mating and genetic polyandry in BSF. The homoge-neity of the mass-reared colony seems to result from a dual action caused by small effective popu-lation size and increased homozygosity due to positive assortative mating. However, the high ge-netic diversity in the wild and a polyandrous mating system might suggest the possible restoration of diversity in mass-reared colonies through augmentation with the wild population.
Wastewater stabilization ponds (WSP) are a common method to treat wastewater before release. The purpose of the current study was to find the most inexpensive coagulation and flocculation reagents to use during harvesting of WSP algae from effluent so that water without algae can be generated for irrigation purposes. In the study, the toxicity of effluent from the algae-based WSP system after treatment with alum and chitosan was investigated. The chemical composition of the resultant supernatants was tested in conjunction with a battery of bioassays (Daphnia magna, Allium cepa, Lactuca sativa and Triticum aestivum). The bioindicator organisms were exposed to varying concentrations of the supernatant resulting from harvesting the algae biomass with chitosan (0.368 g/L chitosan) and aluminium sulphate (9.96 g/L powder). Alum was lethal to D. magna, while chitosan did not seem to affect the Daphnia test specimens. Undiluted chitosan supernatant and 100% alum resulted in minimal inhibition of the rate of T. aestivum seed germination, while both resulted in significant inhibition of the L. sativa seed germination rates. Similarly, minimal effects were found for the root growth in T. aestivum, with significant root growth inhibition observed in L. sativa and A. cepa. In A. cepa, clear differences were observed in the inhibition of root growth when the two reagents were compared. The alum and chitosan supernatants had a total carbon, iron and sulphate concentration of 327.78 mg/L, 0.12 mg/L and 68.44 mg/L and 182.04 mg/L, 0.16 mg/L and 166.80 mg/L, respectively. Based on the test specimens' response, chitosan as flocculation method was less toxic when compared with alum coagulation, even though both algae harvesting methods changed the chemical composition of the algae-treated water.
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