Distant Relatives Research Articles

Repeatome Analysis and Satellite DNA Chromosome Patterns in Hedysarum Species

The cosmopolitan genus Hedysarum L. (Fabaceae) is divided into sections Hedysarum, Stracheya, and Multicaulia. This genus includes many valuable medicinal, melliferous, and forage species. The species taxonomy and genome relationships within the sections are still unclear. We examined intra- and interspecific diversity in the section (sect.) Hedysarum based on repeatome analyses using NGS data, bioinformatic technologies, and chromosome FISH mapping of 35S rDNA, 5S rDNA, and the identified satellite DNA families (satDNAs). A comparison of repeatomes of H. alpinum, H. theinum, and H. flavescens revealed differences in their composition. However, similarity in sequences of most satDNAs indicated a close relationship between genomes within sect. Hedysarum. New effective satDNA chromosomal markers were detected, which is important for karyotype analyses within Hedysarum. Intra- and interspecific variability in the chromosomal distribution patterns of the studied markers were revealed, and species karyograms were constructed. These results provided new insight into the karyotype structures and genomic diversity within sect. Hedysarum, clarified the systematic position of H. sachalinense and H. arcticum, and confirmed the distant genomic relationships between species from sections Hedysarum and Multicaulia. Our findings are important for further comparative genome studies within the genus Hedysarum.

Comparative Analysis of Suboccipital Muscle Inhibition Technique and Static Hamstring Stretching in Normal Healthy Individuals with Hamstring Tightness: A Randomised Clinical Trial

BACKGROUNDHamstring tightness is a major contributing factor for lower back pain, lumbar spine disorders and sports related injuries. Many studies has been done to improve the flexibility of hamstring muscle by various techniques such as different stretching techniques myofascial Release Therapy, neuro-muscular therapy and Muscle Energy Technique etc. All of these technique mentioned act at the hamstring muscle level to provide its effectiveness. In a present study we aimed at to find out the effectiveness of suboccipital muscle inhibition technique for improving tightness in hamstring muscle. Hence this study is done to find out the effectiveness of applying suboccipital muscle inhibition technique on distant muscle flexibility in turn to prove the distant muscle relationship. Study is done with the aim to find whether suboccipital muscle inhibition technique can be used along with conventional methods for improving tightness of hamstring muscle.AIMTo compare the effectiveness of suboccipital muscle inhibition technique and static hamstring stretching in normal individuals with hamstring tightness.MethodsIn this comparative study total 165 individuals were screened for tightness of hamstring. Individuals who satisfied the inclusion criteria were selected from the normal healthy population. A total of 100 healthy subjects of both genders between the age of 18 and 25 were recruited in this trial. After doing block randomization subjects were assigned to two groups ,in Group A 50 subjects were given suboccipital muscle inhibition technique for 5 sessions for 5 consecutive days. Another group 50 subjects were given static stretching to both the lower limbs for 30 seconds followed by 15 seconds relaxation, for 5 sessions for 5 consecutive days.RESULTSActive knee extension test using Mann Whitney U test in both suboccipital muscle inhibition technique and static hamstring stretching group shows no difference(p=0.623) for pretreatment, while significant result immediately post treatment (0.002) and statistically significant result in baseline parameters after 5 sessions of treatment (0.000)Forward flexion distance test using Mann Whitney U test in both suboccipital muscle inhibition technique and static hamstring stretching group shows no significant difference(p=0.088) for pretreatment and also for immediately post treatment (0.893) but shows statistically significant result in baseline parameters after 5 sessions of treatment (0.009)CONCLUSIONSuboccipital muscle inhibition technique and static hamstring stretching are both effective in improving the flexibility of hamstring muscle. The Suboccipital muscle inhibition technique is more effective compared to static hamstring stretching in normal healthy individuals with hamstring tightness.

Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Brain Tumor Classification with a Hybrid Swin Transformer and ResNet50V2 Model

Brain tumors can be serious; consequently, rapid and accurate detection is crucial. Nevertheless, a variety of obstacles, such as poor imaging resolution, doubts over the accuracy of data, a lack of diverse tumor classes and stages, and the possibility of misunderstanding, present challenges to achieve an accurate and final diagnosis. Effective brain cancer detection is crucial for patients’ safety and health. Deep learning systems provide the capability to assist radiologists in quickly and accurately detecting diagnoses. This study presents an innovative deep learning approach that utilizes the Swin Transformer. The suggested method entails integrating the Swin Transformer with the pretrained deep learning model Resnet50V2, called (SwT+Resnet50V2). The objective of this modification is to decrease memory utilization, enhance classification accuracy, and reduce training complexity. The self-attention mechanism of the Swin Transformer identifies distant relationships and captures the overall context. Resnet 50V2 improves both accuracy and training speed by extracting adaptive features from the Swin Transformer’s dependencies. We evaluate the proposed framework using two publicly accessible brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets, each including two and four distinct classes, respectively. Employing data augmentation and transfer learning techniques enhances model performance, leading to more dependable and cost-effective training. The suggested model achieves an impressive accuracy of 99.9% on the binary-labeled dataset and 96.8% on the four-labeled dataset, outperforming the VGG16, MobileNetV2, Resnet50V2, EfficientNetV2B3, ConvNeXtTiny, and convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithms used for comparison. This demonstrates that the Swin transducer, when combined with Resnet50V2, is capable of accurately diagnosing brain tumors. This method leverages the combination of SwT+Resnet50V2 to create an innovative diagnostic tool. Radiologists have the potential to accelerate and improve the detection of brain tumors, leading to improved patient outcomes and reduced risks.

Population Structure and Selection Signatures in Chinese Indigenous Zhaotong Pigs Revealed by Whole-Genome Resequencing.

Zhaotong pig (ZTP) is a Chinese indigenous pig breed in Yunnan Province, known for its unique body shape and appearance, good meat quality, strong foraging ability, and adaptability. However, there is still a lack of research on its genome. In order to investigate the genetic diversity, population structure, and selection signatures of the breed, we conducted a comprehensive analysis by resequencing on 30 ZTPs and comparing them with genomic data from 10 Asian wild boars (AWBs). A total of 45,514,452 autosomal SNPs were detected in the 40 pigs, and 23,649,650 SNPs were retained for further analysis after filtering. The HE, HO, PN, MAF, π, and Fis values were calculated to evaluate the genetic diversity, and the results showed that ZTPs had higher genetic diversity and lower inbreeding coefficient compared with AWBs. Population structure was analyzed using NJ tree, PCA, ADMIXTURE, and LD methods. It was found that ZTPs were population independent of AWBs and had a lower LD decay compared to AWBs. Moreover, the results of the IBS genetic distance and G matrix showed that most of the individuals had large genetic distances and distant genetic relationships in ZTPs. Selection signatures were detected between ZTPs and AWBs by using two methods, FST and π ratio. Totals of 1104 selected regions and 275 candidate genes were identified. Finally, functional enrichment analysis identified some annotated genes that might affect fat deposition (NPY1R, NPY5R, and NMU), reproduction (COL3A1, COL5A2, GLRB, TAC3, and MAP3K12), growth (STAT6 and SQOR), tooth development (AMBN, ENAM, and ODAM), and immune response (MBL2, IL1A, and DNAJA3). Our results will provide a valuable basis for the future effective protection, breeding, and utilization of ZTPs.

Exploring the Relationship Needs of Service Users During Crisis Interventions: A Qualitative Study

AbstractPeople in crisis sometimes seek professional support, and the relationship between service users and professionals is crucial in overcoming the crisis. To understand the relationship needs of people in crisis, 29 semi-structured interviews with service users were conducted and analyzed using a grounded-theory approach. The findings reveal that people in crisis seek a professional who is there for them, recognizes the crisis as an emergency and a solvable situation, treats them with respect, and offers individual support. Furthermore, there needs to be a general fit between professionals, the support services, and service users for a supportive relationship to be established. However, two main aspects were discovered where service users differ depending on the resources they can access during the crisis: While people with access to many resources seek a rather distant and egalitarian relationship, those with access to fewer resources prefer more intimate and hierarchical relationships with professionals.

Whole-genome sequencing of clinical isolates of Klebsiella michiganensi in China carrying blaIPM-4 and blaNDM-1

AimThis study aimed to analyze the prevalence, phenotypes, and carriage of resistance genes of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella michiganensis strains isolated in our hospital. Methodology: Four K. michiganensis strains were collected from January 2015 to December 2023. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested using 21 antibiotics with the BD Phoenix™ M50 System. Whole-genome sequencing of the four strains was performed on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform. Species identification was performed using Kleborate software, sequence type (ST) was performed using MLST, and prediction of antibiotic resistance genes and virulence genes were performed using ABRicate. PlasmidFinder was used to search for plasmids. Whole genome data from 211 strains of carbapenem-resistant K. michiganensis were downloaded from the NCBI database; together with the strains in this study, these data were used to construct an phylogenetic tree using genome single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). ResultsAntimicrobial susceptibility showed that K. michiganensis was highly resistant to β-lactams. For the three carbapenems, strain WF0046 was only resistant to ertapenem, while WF0047, WF0052, and WF0053 were resistant to all three carbapenems tested. The four strains of K. michiganensis only showed complete sensitivity to polymyxin E and tigecycline. The four K. michiganensis strains were found to have 43 resistance genes, and all carried carbapenem resistance genes; WF0046 carried the carbapenem resistance gene blaIMP-4, while the other three strains carried blaNDM-1. Among the other resistance genes, β-lactam resistance genes were predicted most (11 types), followed by eight types of aminoglycoside resistance genes. Of the strains characterized in this study, WF0046 belonged to ST158, WF0047 belonged to ST40, WF0052 belonged to ST533, and WF0053 belonged to ST13. These four strains, along with 211 carbapenem-resistant K. michiganensis strains downloaded from NCBI, were divided into five clades; WF0052 belonged to clade A, WF0046 belonged to clade C, and WF0047 and WF0053 both belonged to clade D. The four strains had relatively distant genetic relationships; WF0046, WF0047, and WF0053 were closely related to strains of human origin from other regions of China, while WF0052 was genetically close with a strain of K. michiganensis isolated in the United States. ConclusionThe strains of K. michiganensis from our hospital were resistant to multiple antibiotics, and all strains carried carbapenem resistance genes along with multiple other antibiotic resistance genes. The phylogenetic results showed that these four strains had distant genetic relationships and different ST types, indicating that they came from different sources and the possibility of polyclonal transmission.

Reconstructing the sequence specificities of RNA-binding proteins across eukaryotes.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are key regulators of gene expression. Here, we introduce EuPRI (Eukaryotic Protein-RNA Interactions) - a freely available resource of RNA motifs for 34,736 RBPs from 690 eukaryotes. EuPRI includes in vitro binding data for 504 RBPs, including newly collected RNAcompete data for 174 RBPs, along with thousands of reconstructed motifs. We reconstruct these motifs with a new computational platform - Joint Protein-Ligand Embedding (JPLE) - which can detect distant homology relationships and map specificity-determining peptides. EuPRI quadruples the number of known RBP motifs, expanding the motif repertoire across all major eukaryotic clades, and assigning motifs to the majority of human RBPs. EuPRI drastically improves knowledge of RBP motifs in flowering plants. For example, it increases the number of Arabidopsis thaliana RBP motifs 7-fold, from 14 to 105. EuPRI also has broad utility for inferring post-transcriptional function and evolutionary relationships. We demonstrate this by predicting a role for 12 Arabidopsis thaliana RBPs in RNA stability and identifying rapid and recent evolution of post-transcriptional regulatory networks in worms and plants. In contrast, the vertebrate RNA motif set has remained relatively stable after its drastic expansion between the metazoan and vertebrate ancestors. EuPRI represents a powerful resource for the study of gene regulation across eukaryotes.

Vigilantism and criminal governance

What do vigilantism and criminal governance have in common and different? Both build a political-social order at the local level with sanctions against breaking that order, establish a repertoire of lethal and non-lethal violence as part of those sanctions, sometimes build legitimacy, and develop within the framework of a low level of Rule of law. Between vigilantism and criminal governance there is an air of family, but the claims of justice that frame vigilantism make them like distant relatives.

Origin, Evolution and Diversity of φ29-like Phages-Review and Bioinformatic Analysis.

Phage φ29 and related bacteriophages are currently the smallest known tailed viruses infecting various representatives of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. They are characterised by genomic content features and distinctive properties that are unique among known tailed phages; their characteristics include protein primer-driven replication and a packaging process characteristic of this group. Searches conducted using public genomic databases revealed in excess of 2000 entries, including bacteriophages, phage plasmids and sequences identified as being archaeal that share the characteristic features of phage φ29. An analysis of predicted proteins, however, indicated that the metagenomic sequences attributed as archaeal appear to be misclassified and belong to bacteriophages. An analysis of the translated polypeptides of major capsid proteins (MCPs) of φ29-related phages indicated the dissimilarity of MCP sequences to those of almost all other known Caudoviricetes groups and a possible distant relationship to MCPs of T7-like (Autographiviridae) phages. Sequence searches conducted using HMM revealed the relatedness between the main structural proteins of φ29-like phages and an unusual lactococcal phage, KSY1 (Chopinvirus KSY1), whose genome contains two genes of RNA polymerase that are similar to the RNA polymerases of phages of the Autographiviridae and Schitoviridae (N4-like) families. An analysis of the tail tube proteins of φ29-like phages indicated their dissimilarity of the lower collar protein to tail proteins of all other viral groups, but revealed its possible distant relatedness with proteins of toxin translocation complexes. The combination of the unique features and distinctive origin of φ29-related phages suggests the categorisation of this vast group in a new order or as a new taxon of a higher rank.

Towards attributed graph clustering using enhanced graph and reconstructed graph structure

Attributed graph clustering, leveraging both structural and attribute information, is crucial in various real-world applications. However, current approaches face challenges stemming from the sparsity of graphs and sensitivity to noise in Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs). Moreover, GCN-based methods are often designed based on the assumption of homophilic graph and ignore heterophilic graph. To address these, we propose a graph clustering method that consists of four phases: graph enhance, graph reconstruction, graph refine, and dual-guidance supervisor module. An enhanced graph module is defined by an auxiliary graph to consider distant relationships in the topology structure to alleviate the limitations of sparse graphs. The graph reconstruction phase includes the creation and integration of homophily and heterophily graphs to achieve graph-agnostic. In graph refine, the auxiliary graph is iteratively improved to enhance the generalization of the representation. In this phase, a subspace clustering module is applied to convert attribute-based embeddings into relationship-based representations. Finally, the extracted graphs are fed to a dual-guidance supervisor module to obtain the final clustering result. Experimental validation on several benchmark datasets demonstrates the efficiency of our model. Meanwhile, the findings offer significant advancements in attributed graph clustering, promising improved applicability in various domains.

Subjective Well-Being of Parents and Childless People in Older Age in Germany

AbstractThe growing number of older childless individuals in Western societies has raised concerns about their subjective well-being. In this study, we scrutinize the subjective well-being of parents and childless individuals aged 60 years and older. We examine subjective well-being as a multi-dimensional construct encompassing life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Based on the value-of-children approach, we hypothesize that childless individuals experience lower subjective well-being than parents and that the disparity in well-being differs with age, gender, and the quality of the parent-child relationship. For our analysis, we use data from a nationally representative sample of adults aged 60 years and older (n = 10,682) drawn from the German Ageing Survey. Our findings from random effects regression models show that childless individuals report lower life satisfaction, less positive affect, and more negative affect than parents. These associations are larger for men than for women but do not vary significantly across age groups. Furthermore, our results suggest that the benefits of parenthood strongly depend on the quality of the parent-child relationship. Childless people report lower subjective well-being than parents with a close emotional bond with their children, but similar or even higher subjective well-being than parents with an emotionally distant parent-child relationship. In sum, our study indicates that childless people experience, on average, lower well-being across all three dimensions of subjective well-being in older age. However, under specific circumstances, childless individuals may fare better than parents.

Genetic diversity and potential transmission of Escherichia albertii in a poultry breeding rural village.

Escherichia albertii is an emerging foodborne pathogen causing diarrhea. Though various animals, especially poultry, serve as reservoirs, the transmission of E. albertii among reservoirs and the risk to humans remain unclear. This study investigated an E. albertii infected infant with poultry exposure and collected samples from contact persons, poultries, and environment to better understand the transmission dynamics of E. albertii. One E. albertii isolate from contact person, seven isolates from poultries, and six isolates from environment were recovered, respectively. Whole genome sequencing analysis showed that eight strains derived from poultry or environment and classified as ST4633, shared great similarity (cgSNP ≤ 20). However, the patient-derived strain ESA311 had a cgSNP difference of 1165 with human strain ESA339, and differed from poultry and environmental strains (cgSNP range 2417 to 14997), suggesting a distant relatedness. Whole genome phylogeny showed several human-derived E. albertii strains were clustered with those from animal origins. Our results suggested that family-breeding poultry constituted a possible reservoir of E. albertii, with the environment acting as a crucial vector for the spread of these bacteria, posing a risk to humans. Further poultry surveillance is needed to elucidate public health risks associated with E. albertii infection.

Entropy Stacked Autoencoder based Diffusion Model (ESADM) and Fuzzy Clustering with Semi Supervised Fuzzy Graph Convolutional Network (FC-SSFGCN) for Rail Surface Defect Detection

Rails, fasteners, and other parts of railway track lines eventually develop flaws due to continuous strain from train operations and direct exposure to the environment; these faults directly affect the safety of train operations. Detecting defects on rail surfaces presents a formidable challenge due to the wide array of possible flaws and their unpredictable nature. However, Defect identification errors, massive variances, inadequate training sample availability, and weak contrast between faults and the surrounding background all contribute to the complexity of this procedure. In this work, rail surface and fastener flaws may be detected non-destructively using a multi-crack detection approach based on the Entropy Stacked Autoencoder Diffusion Model (ESADM). A novel approach, ESAFM, has been developed, combining a rail surface image encoder with a multi-layer, Stacked Autoencoder to extract latent materials from images showcasing different types of cracks. This integration reduces the need for significant processing resources by integrating easily into the conventional physically-based image workflow. Additionally, the Zero Shot-Semi Supervised Fuzzy Class Knowledge Graph (ZS-SSFCKG) method proposes Class Knowledge Graph Construction (CKGC), which constructs a CKG to elucidate the connection between defects and non-defects. Class features are learned by using a Fuzzy Clustering with Semi Supervised Fuzzy Graph Convolutional Network (FC-SSFGCN). The method employs a transformer encoder to capture distant relationships, allowing for the extraction of features from defect samples. This facilitates the acquisition of distinct defect image characteristics, as industrial defects vary in shape and size. The experimental results on the public Railway Track Fault Detection (RTFD)and Rail Surface Defect Datasets (RSDDs) with rail surface defects are collected from rail tracks surface defect detection.

Complete chloroplast genome of a montane plant Spathoglottis aurea Lindl.: Comparative analyses and phylogenetic relationships among members of tribe collabieae.

The yellow-flowered Spathoglottis aurea (tribe Collabieae; family Orchidaceae) is native to the mountainous areas of Peninsular Malaysia. The species is well known as an ornamental plant and for its role in artificial hybrid breeding. There is an interesting evolutionary relationship between S. aurea and the geographically isolated S. microchilina from Borneo that has encouraged further study of the S. aurea populations, but the genomic resource for S. aurea has not yet been reported. The present study reports the first work to characterize a chloroplast (cp) genome among the Spathoglottis genus. The complete cp genome of S. aurea was assembled from a sequence generated by the Illumina platform and analysed in comparison with other Collabieae species available in the GenBank database. The cp genome of S. aurea is 157,957 base pairs (bp) in length with guanine-cytosine (GC) content of 37.3%. The genome possessed a typical quadripartite cp genome structure with large single-copy (LSC) (86,888 bp), small single-copy (SSC) (18,125 bp) and inverted repeat (IR) (26,472 bp) sequences. A total of 134 genes were annotated, with 88 protein coding genes (PCGs), 38 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and eight ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Overall, 80 simple sequence repeats (SSR) or microsatellites were identified. Comparative analysis with other Collabieae species revealed high conservation in the cp genome arrangements with minimal difference in genome lengths. However, several mutational hotspots were also detected, with high potential to be developed as genetic markers for phylogenetic analysis. Characterization of the S. aurea cp genome revealed its conserved nature without gene loss or rearrangements when compared to other species of the Collabieae tribe. Phylogenetic analysis of Collabieae species also revealed that S. aurea has a distant evolutionary relationship to other members of the Collabieae species, despite the presence of problematic genera such as Phaius and Cephalantheropsis.

Deep generative models of protein structure uncover distant relationships across a continuous fold space

Our views of fold space implicitly rest upon many assumptions that impact how we analyze, interpret and understand protein structure, function and evolution. For instance, is there an optimal granularity in viewing protein structural similarities (e.g., architecture, topology or some other level)? Similarly, the discrete/continuous dichotomy of fold space is central, but remains unresolved. Discrete views of fold space bin similar folds into distinct, non-overlapping groups; unfortunately, such binning can miss remote relationships. While hierarchical systems like CATH are indispensable resources, less heuristic and more conceptually flexible approaches could enable more nuanced explorations of fold space. Building upon an Urfold model of protein structure, here we present a deep generative modeling framework, termed DeepUrfold, for analyzing protein relationships at scale. DeepUrfold’s learned embeddings occupy high-dimensional latent spaces that can be distilled for a given protein in terms of an amalgamated representation uniting sequence, structure and biophysical properties. This approach is structure-guided, versus being purely structure-based, and DeepUrfold learns representations that, in a sense, define superfamilies. Deploying DeepUrfold with CATH reveals evolutionarily-remote relationships that evade existing methodologies, and suggests a mostly-continuous view of fold space—a view that extends beyond simple geometric similarity, towards the realm of integrated sequence ↔ structure ↔ function properties.

Analysis of the Genetic Diversity and Genetic Structure of Jiangshan Black Pigs Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) Chips.

The Jiangshan black pig is an indigenous pig breed in China, renowned for its superior meat quality and adaptability to roughage. However, the population of Jiangshan black pigs has dwindled due to the introduction of cosmopolitan pig breeds and the outbreak of African swine fever, putting them at risk of extinction. To offer insights into the conservation and breeding of Jiangshan black pigs, this study involved 118 Jiangshan black pigs as the research subjects and employed the Zhongxin-1 Porcine Breeding Array PLUS chip to detect whole-genome SNPs. Additionally, various software tools were utilized to accurately analyze the genetic diversity, phylogenetic relationship, inbreeding coefficient, and pedigree structure of the Jiangshan black pig conservation population. The findings indicated that the effective population size (Ne) of the Jiangshan black pig was 4.9, with an average inbreeding coefficient of 0.253 within the population. A genetic relationship analysis identified that the 16 male pigs were clustered into four families, and the 100 female pigs were also assigned to these familial groups. Furthermore, two female pigs were classified as "other" due to their distant genetic relatedness to all the males. These results contribute to a better understanding of the current status of the conservation of the Jiangshan black pig population and offer a theoretical foundation for the development of conservation strategies.

CORRECTING MODEL MISSPECIFICATION IN RELATIONSHIP ESTIMATES.

The datasets of large genotyping biobanks and direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies contain many related individuals. Until now, it has been widely accepted that the most distant relationships that can be detected are around fifteen degrees (approximately 8 th cousins) and that practical relationship estimates have a ceiling around ten degrees (approximately 5 th cousins). However, we show that these assumptions are incorrect and that they are due to a misapplication of relationship estimators. In particular, relationship estimators are applied almost exclusively to putative relatives who have been identified because they share detectable tracts of DNA identically by descent (IBD). However, no existing relationship estimator conditions on the event that two individuals share at least one detectable segment of IBD anywhere in the genome. As a result, the relationship estimates obtained using existing estimators are dramatically biased for distant relationships, inferring all sufficiently distant relationships to be around ten degrees regardless of the depth of the true relationship. Existing relationship estimators are derived under a model that assumes that each pair of related individuals shares a single common ancestor (or mating pair of ancestors). This model breaks down for relationships beyond 10 generations in the past because individuals share many thousands of cryptic common ancestors due to pedigree collapse. We first derive a corrected likelihood that conditions on the event that at least one segment is observed between a pair of putative relatives and we demonstrate that the corrected likelihood largely eliminates the bias in estimates of pairwise relationships and provides a more accurate characterization of the uncertainty in these estimates. We then reformulate the relationship inference problem to account for the fact that individuals share many common ancestors, not just one. We demonstrate that the most distant relationship that can be inferred using IBD may be 200 degrees or more, rather than ten, extending the time-to-common ancestor from approximately 300 years in the past to approximately 3,000 years in the past or more. This dramatic increase in the range of relationship estimators makes it possible to infer relationships whose common ancestors lived before historical events such as European settlement of the Americas, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

Distant Relations: The Othered Construction and Communicability of Mona Brigstock and Communities Offstage

Abstract: In The Spoils of Poynton , Henry James draws on his dramatic experience to represent his protagonists in a spatial configuration enacting a gradation of allocated character space. Mona Brigstock occupies a paradoxical position—absent for much of the novel, she initially dominates the mimetic onstage action as the central protagonists represent her, speaking of, for, and about her. Shadowy undifferentiated figures suggest a larger world acting as an offstage chorus to the action. Mona shifts literally and diegetically further from the portrayed action over the course of the novel ultimately being absorbed by the chorus of her social class.

“They Were Married in Heart”: Race, Inheritance, and Interracial Common-Law Marriage in Reconstruction Era Mississippi

Abstract: In 1869, Mississippi voters ratified a radical new constitution that eliminated distinctions of race, including in its provision formalizing the unions of cohabiting couples as legal common law marriages at the time of ratification. Although white men had long established relationships of concubinage with Black women, the new constitution made it possible for interracial couples to claim the status of legal families. This article examines how Black women and their biracial children employed the 1869 state constitution to situate themselves as legal wives and legitimate children and the lawful heirs of dead white men. In response, white supremacists sought to deny them legitimacy by casting all relationships between Black women and white men as forms of concubinage that could never constitute legal marriages. This article examines how judges used the classification of concubine to distinguish Black common-law wives from white ones, undermining the radicalism of the new state constitution. By making it more difficult for Black widows and children to claim to be the rightful heirs of white men, the courts channeled inheritances toward more distant white relatives.

Detection of distant relatedness in biobanks to identify undiagnosed cases of Mendelian disease as applied to Long QT syndrome

Rare genetic diseases are typically studied in referral populations, resulting in underdiagnosis and biased assessment of penetrance and phenotype. To address this, we develop a generalizable method of genotype inference based on distant relatedness and deploy this to identify undiagnosed Type 5 Long QT Syndrome (LQT5) rare variant carriers in a non-referral population. We identify 9 LQT5 families referred to a single specialty clinic, each carrying p.Asp76Asn, the most common LQT5 variant. We uncover recent common ancestry and a single shared haplotype among probands. Application to a non-referral population of 69,819 BioVU biobank subjects identifies 22 additional subjects sharing this haplotype, which we confirm to carry p.Asp76Asn. Referral and non-referral carriers have prolonged QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) compared to controls, and, among carriers, the QTc polygenic score is independently associated with QTc prolongation. Thus, our innovative analysis of shared chromosomal segments identifies undiagnosed cases of genetic disease and refines the understanding of LQT5 penetrance and phenotype.