Hawaiian Drosophila offer an excellent model for adaptive evolution. More than 500 species are reported in Hawaiian islands, and there is considerable diversity in behavior and morphology. Such diversity is mainly driven by sexual selection. In this study qualitative and quantitative chemical compositions of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) in 138 flies belonging to 27 Hawaiian Drosophila species, picture-winged and non picture-winged, were analyzed regarding sexual dimorphism, differences in saturation, branching position, and lengths of CHCs. We found significant variation in the CHC patterns. In several subgroups, new species show decreases in unsaturated hydrocarbons, and gradual increases in branched compounds, monomethylalkanes and dimethylalkanes, not commonly found in Drosophila. Moreover, branching positions gradually shifted towards internal carbons, and chain lengths increased in the new species. The long-term evolution of CHCs in the light of the recent evolutionary migration and adaptation history of Hawaiian Drosophila species along the developing archipelago was discussed.
Leptin, a polypeptide hormone secreted mainly by adipose tissue, plays an important role in feed intake regulation, energy metabolism and reproduction in several species. Its function has been intensively studied in mammals; however, in birds limited information is available. The cDNA sequence for chicken leptin has been reported, and high hepatic expression levels of leptin were associated with fat deposition in selected bird lines. However, controversies still remain concerning to the chicken leptin gene and several authors failed to amplify this gene from genomic DNA or cDNA. In view of this controversy and the importance of this gene, the present study aimed to investigate the leptin gene in a population of birds developed by Embrapa Swine and Poultry Research Center (Brazil). First of all, the sequences of Gallus gallus leptin gene (GenBank AF012727) and Mus musculus (GenBank NM_008493) were aligned with the objective of designing primers in conserved regions among the two species, since 94.6% of similarity is described in the literature in those species. For all four pairs of primers designed, several amplification tests were performed with both DNA and cDNA, but neither unique fragment nor expected band size was ever achieved. The leptin sequence in GenBank does not represent the sequence of the chicken leptin gene.
Important advances have been made in understanding the genetic processes that control skeletal muscle formation. Studies conducted on quails detected a delay in the myogenic program of animals selected for high growth rates. These studies have led to the hypothesis that a delay in myogenesis would allow somitic cells to proliferate longer and consequently increase the number of embryonic myoblasts. To test this hypothesis, recently segmented somites and part of the unsegmented paraxial mesoderm were separated from the neural tube/ notochord complex in HH12 chicken embryos. In situ hybridization and competitive RT-PCR revealed that MyoD transcripts, which are responsible for myoblast determination, were absent in somites separated from neural tube/notochord (1.06 and 0.06 10 -3 attomol MyoD/ 1 attomol ß-actin for control and separated somites, respectively; P<0.01). However, reapproximation of these structures allowed MyoD to be expressed in somites. Cellular proliferation was analyzed by immunohistochemical detection of incorporated BrdU, a thymidine analogue. A smaller but not significant (P = 0.27) number of proliferating cells was observed in somites that had been separated from neural tube/notochord (27 and 18 for control and separated somites, respectively). These results confirm the influence of the axial structures on MyoD activation but do not support the hypothesis that in the absence of MyoD transcripts the cellular proliferation would be maintained for a longer period of time.
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