CONTENT - International Society of Zoological Sciences

S1 ICZ2008 - Abstracts
Patterns of skeleto-muscular connectivity: brackets across
development and evolution
Georgy Koentges 1 , B. Ryll 1 , K. Vance 1 , Sacha Ott 1 , D. Woodcock 1 , D.
Rand 1 , Toshiyuki Matsuoka 4 , Paul Tafforeau 2 and Per E. Ahlberg 3
1 Warwick Systems Biology Centre, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL,
UK ; 2 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France ; 3
Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden ; 4 Kyoto
University, Japan
Our work concerns questions of how transcriptional decision making
in cells of vertebrates is controlled in such a way that it affects
patterning in embryos, resulting adult morphologies and their deeper
macroevolutionary transformations (Koentges, Nature Feb 2008). This
has three aspects. Based on previous discoveries of cryptic
boundaries of cell populations carrying distinct molecular and cellular
identities (Matsuoka et al. Nature 2005) and that are precisely
reflected in muscle attachment systems we have now gone into the
fine-histology of fossils, using latest synchrotron-based imaging, in
order to trace muscle attachment patterns and thereby cellular
lineages in fossils many hundred million years old. I will report latest
findings in this area. Secondly, I will try to outline the basics of genetic
fate mapping that allow us to trace the anatomical impact of early
embryonic decision making processes with single cell resolution. We
will look at other cryptic boundaries in the vertebrate head. Thirdly, I
will investigate the mechanics of the transcriptional process by
showing latest results from our efforts in Warwick to discover cisregulatory
regions, to study their function in massively parallel singlecell
assays using a novel imaging platform we have established and
describe their action and combinatorial logic in mathematical terms (of
stochastical differential equations). This might provide a substantive
experimental and theoretical foundation for a future functional
comparative analysis of gene-regulatory regions affecting patterns
and speeds of gene expression across evolutionary history, and can
help us explain fundamental aspects of gene-regulatory change in a
macro-evolutionary perspective.
Towards cyber exchange facilities for systematic studies
Elise Kuntzelmann, Visotheary Rivière-Ung and Régine Vignes-Lebbe
MNHN, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France
Taxon names are the main access keys to biological information and
the link between the real biological world and the conceptual world
proposed by systematists through the description and characterization
of taxa. The generalization and the integration into current taxonomic
work of knowledge base management systems may be the next
revolution in taxonomy. International projects are already opening the
way of this new, delocalized, taxonomy. As an example, the european
union project EDIT1 aims to contribute to change current taxonomic
practices. EDIT is a 5 years european network started in 2006
including 21 major natural history institutions and several
organisations. An important goal of this program is to reduce
fragmentation, encourage durable integration of institutions and to
promote collaborative research using biodiversity informatics. A main
part of EDIT is dedicated to biodiversity informatics and to the creation
of an internet platform for cybertaxonomy based on a Common Data
Model (CDM). The aim of this platform is to support the taxonomic
work process through applications and services. In this context
software tools for descriptive data were inventoried and a number of
them selected for further testing. In order to formalize data exchange
between all the tools, an XML based standard has been adopted by
the Taxonomic Data Working Group (TDWG2): the Structured
Descriptive Data (SDD). We focus here on the program Xper2 3. It is
a state-of the- art taxonomic management system for the storage,
edition and on line distribution of taxonomic knowlege. To do this,
Xper©˜ has is own data format but it can also be connected to the
cyberplatform thanks to the SDD format. There is a complete
export/import procedure from Xper©˜ to SDD format. Taxonomy has
become a planetary-scale science and deserves a planetary-scale
tool (Wheeler, 2004). All this contributes to the common objective of
main inter-connected projects like GBIF, BIOTA, Catalogue of Life etc.:
to provide a free web access to biodiversity information.
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Barcoding gene COI fails to distinguish between two fiddler
crabs (Brachyura: Ocypodidae: Uca) across their entire range of
geographic overlap
Richard B. Landstorfer 1 , Christoph D. Schubart 1 and Darryl L. Felder 2
1 Fakultät für Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg,
Germany ; 2 Dept. of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
Lafayette 70504, USA
Uca minax (Le Conte, 1855) and Uca longisignalis Salmon & Atsaides,
1968 are two closely related fiddler crab species from the
northwestern Atlantic. Uca longisignalis is endemic to the northern
Gulf of Mexico including northwestern Florida and northern Texas.
The geographic range of Uca minax is wider and includes most of the
American East Coast up to Massachusetts with a disjunct distribution
across the Peninsula of Florida. Following the description of Uca
longisignalis by Salmon and Atsaides, there was a long-standing
debate on the validity of this species. However, following a redescription
in 1982, it has been accepted by most systematists.
Several diagnostic morphological traits, like differences in pubescence
and in color, allow us to distinguish the two sister species.
Intraspecific allozyme divergences in trans-Floridian populations in
Uca minax have also raised the question of whether the Gulf of
Mexico hosts an endemic lineage of this species. Our studies include
populations in the region of sympatry for the two species as well as
regions where Uca minax (along the Carolinian Province) and Uca
longisignalis (south-central Texas) occur alone. Samples of at least
ten specimens each from separate populations were examined for
morphological characters and color; thereafter, six to ten specimens
from eight populations were used for genetic examination with the
barcoding gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI). Results are presented as
phylogenetic networks. Both species are characterized by high
haplotype diversities, but limited geographic structuring. The amount
of gene flow within and between species was calculated with AMOVA.
As opposed to the morphology, our COI analysis does not allow
distinction between these two species, suggesting a very recent
separation, possibly during Pleistocene isolation. This is one more
example, where COI barcoding methods fail to recognize actual
species diversity.
Phylogeography of the Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus
pallas, 1887)
YunSun Lee, Nickolay Markov, Inna V. Voloshina, Alexander I.
Myslenkov and Irina Sheremetyeva
Seoul National University College of veterinary Medicine 85-803, San
56-1, Sillim-dong, Gwanak-Gu, Seoul 151-742, South Korea., 151-742,
Seoul, KOREA
The Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) is widely distributed in
Eurasia, including Russian Siberia, Yakutia, Transbaikalia, Russian
Far East, Northern Mongolia, Northern China and Korea. In a number
of these areas, the population fluctuate significantly due to overhunting
and habit! at degradation. This has resulted in the formation of
fragmented and isolated populations within their range. Information on
the genetic diversity and phylogeographic structure of the Siberian roe
deer populations would be very helpful for the proper management of
the populations. In the present study, mitochondrial cytochrome b and
control region sequences of roe deer samples from Russian Siberia,
Trans-Baikal, Amurskyi region, Primorskyi Krai, Korean peninsula and
Jeju Island were utilized to evaluated genetic diversity and
phylogeographic structure of the species. The phylogenetic trees and
network analysis indicated that there were three main lineages in
Siberian roe deer. Two of them, present in mainland, do not show any
geographic affinities suggesting historical gene flow among the
populations. The third group is composed entirely of individuals from
Jeju Island. Nucleotide and haplotype diversities of C. pygargus in
Jeju Island were much lower than those in Russia a! nd mainland
Korea probably due to founder effect during the spatial isolation of the
population from the mainland. In contrast, the levels of genetic
diversity in mainland groups are comparable to other populations of C.
pygargus and C. capreolus. To understand their detailed
phylogeographic structure, analysis with a faster evolving genetic
markers such as microsatellites would be needed.