In the present article, we consider certain subfamilies of analytic functions connected with the cardioid domain in the region of the unit disk. The purpose of this article is to investigate the estimates of the third Hankel determinant for these families. Further, the same bounds have been investigated for two-fold and three-fold symmetric functions.

Hibernation is a physiological state for Chinese alligators to cope with cold weather. In mammals, gene expression changes during hibernation and their regulatory mechanisms have been extensively studied, however, these studies in reptiles are still rare. Here, integrated analysis of messenger RNA (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) reveals the molecular mechanisms of the hypothalamus, liver, and skeletal muscle in hibernating and active individuals. During hibernation, the number of genes increased in the hypothalamus, liver, and skeletal muscle was 585, 282, and 297, while the number of genes decreased was 215, 561, and 627, respectively, as compared with active individuals. Through Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis, the differential expressed genes were mainly enriched in DNA damage repair, biological rhythm, energy metabolism, myoprotein degradation, and other related items and pathways. Besides, 4740 miRNAs were identified in three tissues. Through the comprehensive analysis of miRNA and mRNA abundance profiles, 12,291, 6997, and 8232 miRNA–mRNA pairs all showed a negative correlation in the hypothalamus, liver, and skeletal muscle, respectively. Some miRNA target genes were related tobiological rhythm and energy metabolism, suggesting that miRNA may play an important role in the physiological metabolism of the hibernating adaptability of Chinese alligators. Moreover, 402, 230, and 130 differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified in the hypothalamus, liver, and skeletal muscle, respectively. The targeting relationship of four lncRNA–mRNA pairs were predicted, with the main function of target genes involved in the amino acid transportation. These results are helpful to further understand the molecular regulatory basis of the hibernation adaptation in Chinese alligators.

Kisspeptin1 (Kiss1), a product of the Kiss1 gene, plays an important role in the regulation of reproduction in vertebrates by activating the Kiss1 receptor (Kiss1R) and its coexpression with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in GnRH neurons. The purpose of this study was to clone the Kiss1 and Kiss1R genes found in the brain of Alligator sinensis and to explore their relationship with reproduction. The full-length cDNA of Kiss1 is 816bp, the open reading frame (ORF) is 417bp and the gene encodes a 138-amino acid precursor protein. The full-length cDNA of Kiss1R is 2348bp, the ORF is 1086bp and the gene encodes a 361-amino acid protein. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that, except for Kiss1R expression in the hypothalamus, the expression of Kiss1 and Kiss1Rduring the reproductive period of A. sinensis was higher than that in the hypothalamus, pituitary gland and ovary during the hibernation period. The changes in GnRH2 mRNA in the hypothalamus were similar to those of GnRH1 and peaked during the reproductive period. This study confirms the existence of Kiss1 and Kiss1R in A. sinensis and the findings strongly suggest that Kiss1 and Kiss1R may participate in the regulation of GnRH secretion in the hypothalamus of alligators during the reproductive period. Furthermore, this is the first report of the full-length cDNA sequences of Kiss1 and Kiss1R in reptiles.

No abstract

No abstract

Species are the cornerstone in many domains of biology research, which make accurate species delimitation critically important. In this study, the systematics and biogeography of the Hyla chinensis group were analyzed based on phylogeny, species delimitation, and ancestral area reconstruction methods. The phylogenetic results showed that six specific clusters existed in the H. chinensis group. Bayesian Phylogenetics and Phylogeography (BPP) analysis indicated that six distinct species exist due to the high probability values (>0.95), which were also supported by the Bayes factor (BF) analysis. The divergence time of the H. chinensis group was estimated to date back to 18.84 million years ago (Mya) in the early Miocene. Combining the results of ancestral area reconstruction, the H. chinensis group might have originated from Guangxi-Hainan, then spread eastwardly and reached Nanling Mountains, Wuyi Mountains, Huangshan Mountain, and Taiwan. In right-about colonization, it was gradually extended to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Sichuan Basin, Qinling Mountains, and Dabie Mountains. Considering the geological movement from early Miocene to Pliocene, the colonization pattern of the H. chinensis group may be closely related to the progressive uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and historical climate change. Our study provided evidence for species delimitation and speciation process within the H. chinensis group. Our study supported the hypothesis that the evolutionary divergence in this species group was a consequence of the progressive uplift of the QTP and environmental change.

No abstract

The Chinese alligator is an endemic crocodilian species in China. We isolated and obtained the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor genes coding from the kidney of Alligator sinensis by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene has 2343 base pairs encoding 780 amino acids, while the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) gene is 2958 bp in length encoding 985 amino acids. Quantitative real‐time PCR was used to detect the distribution of messenger RNA (mRNA) levels. The maximum mRNA expressions were observed in the ovary and kidney, suggesting that these receptors may be involved in basic cellular functions or stress response of alligators. Besides this, RT‐qPCR was performed to analyze the abundance of GR and MR mRNA transcripts in early embryonic development of the Chinese alligator in the kidney, liver, and heart. The mRNA levels of GR and MR at earlier stages in kidney, liver, and heart indicates that they might involve in the transcriptional regulation of early embryos and activate many precise developmental effects in fetal tissues. We also measured the protein expression in the liver embryonic developmental stages and found that the GR and MR proteins were restricted to both the nuclei and cytoplasm. The protein expression levels in the liver at different embryonic developmental stages have extremely prominent differences. Taken together, our results showed the full coding regions of GR and MR, their characteristics, and embryonic developmental mRNA and protein expressions of both genes in A. sinensis. This study could provide the necessary information for further investigating the diverse functions of GR and MR in A. sinensis.