9645
2013
eng
article
1
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Compensatory Base Changes in ITS2 Secondary Structures Correlate with the Biological Species Concept Despite Intragenomic Variability in ITS2 Sequences – A Proof of Concept
Compensatory base changes (CBCs) in internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) rDNA secondary structures correlate with Ernst Mayr’s biological species concept. This hypothesis also referred to as the CBC species concept recently was subjected to large-scale testing, indicating two distinct probabilities. (1) If there is a CBC then there are two different species with a probability of ~0.93. (2) If there is no CBC then there is the same species with a probability of ~0.76. In ITS2 research, however, the main problem is the multicopy nature of ITS2 sequences. Most recently, 454 pyrosequencing data have been used to characterize more than 5000 intragenomic variations of ITS2 regions from 178 plant species, demonstrating that mutation of ITS2 is frequent, with a mean of 35 variants per species, respectively per individual organism. In this study, using those 454 data, the CBC criterion is reconsidered in the light of intragenomic variability, a proof of concept, a necessary criterion, expecting no intragenomic CBCs in variant ITS2 copies. In accordance with the CBC species concept, we could demonstrate that the probability that there is no intragenomic CBC is ~0.99.
PLoS ONE
10.1371/journal.pone.0066726
urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-96450
In: PLoS ONE (2013) 8: 6, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066726
Matthias Wolf
Shilin Chen
Jingyuan Song
Markus Ankenbrand
Tobias Müller
eng
uncontrolled
citrus
eng
uncontrolled
concerted evolution
eng
uncontrolled
DNA sequences
eng
uncontrolled
Genome evolution
eng
uncontrolled
Phylogenetics
eng
uncontrolled
plant evolution
eng
uncontrolled
sequence alignment
eng
uncontrolled
sequence databases
Biowissenschaften; Biologie
open_access
Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften
Förderzeitraum 2013
Universität Würzburg
https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/files/9645/Wolf_journal.pone.0066726.pdf
11934
2014
eng
e105718
8
9
article
1
2015-09-29
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Microbial Communities of Three Sympatric Australian Stingless Bee Species
Bacterial symbionts of insects have received increasing attention due to their prominent role in nutrient acquisition and defense. In social bees, symbiotic bacteria can maintain colony homeostasis and fitness, and the loss or alteration of the bacterial community may be associated with the ongoing bee decline observed worldwide. However, analyses of microbiota associated with bees have been largely confined to the social honeybees (Apis mellifera) and bumblebees (Bombus spec.), revealing – among other taxa – host-specific lactic acid bacteria (LAB, genus Lactobacillus) that are not found in solitary bees. Here, we characterized the microbiota of three Australian stingless bee species (Apidae: Meliponini) of two phylogenetically distant genera (Tetragonula and Austroplebeia). Besides common plant bacteria, we find LAB in all three species, showing that LAB are shared by honeybees, bumblebees and stingless bees across geographical regions. However, while LAB of the honeybee-associated Firm4–5 clusters were present in Tetragonula, they were lacking in Austroplebeia. Instead, we found a novel clade of likely host-specific LAB in all three Australian stingless bee species which forms a sister clade to a large cluster of Halictidae-associated lactobacilli. Our findings indicate both a phylogenetic and geographical signal of host-specific LAB in stingless bees and highlight stingless bees as an interesting group to investigate the evolutionary history of the bee-LAB association.
PLoS ONE
10.1371/journal.pone.0105718
urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-119341
PLoS ONE 9(8): e105718. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0105718
Sara D. Leonhardt
Martin Kaltenpoth
eng
uncontrolled
bacteria
eng
uncontrolled
lactic acid bacteria
eng
uncontrolled
sequence alignment
eng
uncontrolled
insects
eng
uncontrolled
lactobacillus
eng
uncontrolled
sequence databases
eng
uncontrolled
honey bees
Arthropoden (Gliederfüßer)
open_access
Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften
Universität Würzburg
https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/files/11934/029_Leonhardt_PLOS_ONE.pdf