Key Traits Research Articles

Genomic insights into oxalate content in spinach: A genome-wide association study and genomic prediction approach

Oxalate content in spinach is a key trait of interest due to its relevance to human health. Understanding the genetic basis of it can facilitate the development of spinach varieties with reduced oxalate levels. In pursuit of understanding the genetic determinants, a diverse panel comprising 288 spinach accessions underwent thorough phenotyping of oxalate content and were subjected to whole-genome resequencing, resulting in a comprehensive dataset encompassing 14 386 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Leveraging this dataset, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify noteworthy SNPs associated with oxalate content. Furthermore, we employed genomic prediction (GP) via cross-prediction, utilizing five GP models, to assess genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) for oxalate content. The observed normal distribution and the wide range of oxalate content, exceeding 600.0 mg · 100 g−1, underscore the complex and quantitative nature of this trait, likely influenced by multiple genes. Additionally, our analysis revealed distinct stratification, delineating the population into four discernible subpopulations. Furthermore, GWAS analysis employing five models in GAPIT 3 and TASSEL 5 unveiled nine significant SNPs (four SNPs on chromosome 1 and five on chromosome 5) associated with oxalate content. These loci exhibited associations with six candidate genes, which might have potential contribution to oxalate content regulation. Remarkably, our GP models exhibited notable predictive abilities, yielding average accuracies of up to 0.51 for GEBV estimation. The integration of GWAS and GP approaches offers a holistic comprehension of the genetic underpinnings of oxalate content in spinach. These findings offered a promising avenue for the development of spinach cultivars and hybrids optimized for oxalate levels, promoting consumer health.

Future-Proofing Leadership: Cultivating Adaptability and Alignment in Times of Change

Abstract: This article examines how organizational leaders can develop agility to enable successful navigation of disruptive change and uncertainty. It first reviews research on organizational agility and identifies key traits of sensing, deciding, and acting that agile companies exhibit. Next, it outlines the responsibilities of senior leaders to serve as catalysts for adaptability through establishing a shared vision and strategy, building alignment, developing agile talent, reinforcing an adaptive culture, removing obstacles, empowering distributed leadership, and embracing uncertainty. The article then provides specific strategies leaders can implement to fulfill these imperatives, such as co-creating visions, rewarding risk-taking, decentralizing decision-making, and establishing a "learning from failures" mindset. Overall, the article argues that cultivating an agile culture focused on continuous learning, empowerment, and strategic adaptation will allow organizations to thrive amid disruptive uncertainty in coming decades.

Density and Differentiation: Cities in Global Social History

AbstractThe present article examines the particular role that cities have played, and should play, in global social history. It notes that many of the historiographical discussions that in the past years have addressed the reach and limits of the bourgeoisie and the middle class as a globalized social formation have implicitly focused on cities. It also notes that these discussions have often not been very forthcoming in explicitly acknowledging this urban focus. From this starting point, the present article ponders the implications and ramifications of making this focus more explicit. What do we conclude from the observation that the ‘global bourgeoisie’ or the ‘global middle class’, inasmuch as they existed at all, were quintessentially urban formations? And what do these conclusions, conversely, entail for the field of urban history? Highlighting density and differentiation as key traits of the urban form, the article ultimately argues for greater attention to the spatiality and to the built environment of class formation in global history.

Artificial selection of mutations in two nearby genes gave rise to shattering resistance in soybean

Resistance to pod shattering is a key domestication-related trait selected for seed production in many crops. Here, we show that the transition from shattering in wild soybeans to shattering resistance in cultivated soybeans resulted from selection of mutations within the coding sequences of two nearby genes - Sh1 and Pdh1. Sh1 encodes a C2H2-like zinc finger transcription factor that promotes shattering by repressing SHAT1-5 expression, thereby reducing the secondary wall thickness of fiber cap cells in the abscission layers of pod sutures, while Pdh1 encodes a dirigent protein that orchestrates asymmetric lignin distribution in inner sclerenchyma, creating torsion in pod walls that facilitates shattering. Integration analyses of quantitative trait locus mapping, genome-wide association studies, and allele distribution in representative soybean germplasm suggest that these two genes are primary modulators underlying this domestication trait. Our study thus provides comprehensive understanding regarding the genetic, molecular, and cellular bases of shattering resistance in soybeans.

Seasonality in embolism resistance and hydraulic capacitance jointly mediate hydraulic safety in branches and leaves of oriental cork oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.).

Seasonality in temperate regions is prominent during the era of increased climatic variability. A hydraulic trait that can adjust to seasonally changing climatic conditions is crucial for tree safety. However, little attention has been paid to the intraspecific seasonality of drought-related traits and hydraulic safety of keystone forest trees. We examined seasonal variations in the key morphological and physiological traits as well as multiple hydraulic safety margins (SMs) at the branch and leaf levels in oriental cork oak (Quercus variabilis Bl.), which is predominant in Chinese temperate forests. Pneumatic measurements indicated that, as seasons progressed, the water potential at which 50% of branch embolisms occur (P50_branch) decreased from -3.34 to -4.23MPa, with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 9.08%. Sapwood capacitance ranged from 48.19 to 248.08kgm-3MPa-1, peaking in autumn and reaching minimum in winter (CV 60.58%). Rehydration kinetics confirmed higher leaf embolism vulnerability (P50_leaf) in spring and autumn than those in summer, with values ranging from -1.06 to -3.02MPa (CV 39.85%). All leaf pressure-volume (PV) traits shifted with growth, with CVs ranging from 6.95% to 46.69%. Sapwood density had significant negative correlations with P50_branch and hydraulic capacitance for elastic water storage, whereas leaf mass per area was linearly associated with PV traits but not with P50_leaf. Furthermore, the branch typical SMs (difference between branch midday water potential and P50_branch) were consistently >1.84MPa, and vulnerability segmentation was prevalent throughout, implying a plausible hydraulic foundation for the dominance of Q. variabilis. Diverse hydraulic response patterns existed across seasons, leading to positive SMs mediated by the aforementioned physiological traits. Although Q. variabilis exhibits a high level of hydraulic safety, its susceptibility to sudden summer droughts may increase due to global climate change.

Differential responses of community‐level functional traits to mid‐ and late‐season experimental drought in a temperate grassland

Abstract Extreme precipitation events are becoming more intense and frequent due to climate change. This climatic shift is impacting the structure and dynamics of natural communities and the key ecosystem services they provide. Changes in species abundance under these conditions are thought to be mediated by functional traits, morpho‐physiological characteristics of an organism that impact its fitness. Future environmental conditions may, therefore, favour different traits to those in present‐day communities. After 6 years of manipulated precipitation levels, including drought (−50% of ambient precipitation), irrigation (+50% of ambient precipitation), and control (ambient precipitation), we measured five key functional traits (plant height, leaf dry matter content [LDMC], leaf thickness, specific leaf area [SLA], and leaf phosphorus concentration) in 586 individual vascular plants to study the effects of precipitation changes on community‐weighted functional traits. Additionally, we tested whether the precipitation change effects on the traits depend on the time of the growing season. As expected, reduced precipitation impacted community composition only for the late‐season timing, after the seasonal field mowing, but led to a significant change in all community‐level plant traits between season timings. Under drought, communities shifted towards shorter individuals with thicker but small leaves and lower phosphorous content. Overall, a combination of community reassembly and intraspecific variation contributed to community‐weighted differences between control and drought plots for plant height, SLA, and LDMC traits. Species turnover was the main driver of community‐weighted means (CWMs) shifts in all traits in the late‐season but SLA. Whereas all traits showed variations at the community level with drought, SLA and LDMC were the most responsive traits at the species level. Nevertheless, our results suggest underestimation of intraspecific variation due to sensitive species lower abundance under stress. No differences in CWMs of functional traits were observed between control and irrigated plots. Synthesis: Our findings suggest that functional trait composition of grassland communities may shift under climate change‐induced drought, depending on the growing season timings. Trait‐based attempts to predict ecosystem functioning must account for such temporal variation in community trait values.

A behavioral syndrome of competitiveness in a non-social rodent

Animals compete for limited resources such as food, mating partners, and territory. The outcome of this intraspecific competition should be determined by individual variation in behavioral traits, such as aggressiveness and dominance status. Consistent among-individual differences in behavior likely contribute to competitiveness and predispose individuals to acquire specific dominance ranks during parts of their adult life. Nevertheless, how dominance rank is correlated with animal personality traits remains largely unclear. In a first step towards better understanding these functional links, we studied trait integration into behavioral syndromes, using 26 captive male bank voles (Myodes glareolus). We repeatedly assessed boldness in an emergence test, exploration in an open-field test, aggressiveness in staged dyadic encounters, and the among-individual correlations between these behaviors. We further related these personality traits to dominance rank, from quantifying urine marking value (UMV), as marking in bank voles is related to dominance rank. We found repeatable variations in boldness, exploration, aggressiveness, and UMV, which were correlated at the among-individual level. Aggressiveness tended to be negatively correlated with body condition, a proxy for fitness. Thus, key personality traits and social rank are functionally integrated into a behavioral syndrome of intraspecific competitiveness. By joining social and non-social aspects of personality, our findings contribute to the ecological validation of personality traits and suggest how they contribute to higher-order component traits, such as dominance which directly affect fitness components.

Genetic characterization and distinctiveness of forage cactus accessions in Northern Minas Gerais, Brazil

Forage cactus is a vital alternative food source for livestock in arid and semiarid regions. This study aimed to estimate the genetic dissimilarity among forage cactus genotypes grown in the semiarid region of northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study evaluated forage cactus accessions through morphological characteristics over different periods and molecular marker data. Key morphological traits assessed included cladode length, width, thickness, and the number of cladodes per plant. The experiments were conducted at the Agricultural Research Company of Minas Gerais (EPAMIG Norte) using a completely randomized experimental design with five replications in a split-plot arrangement. The design consisted of 21 forage cactus accessions in the plots and 7 evaluation times in the subplots. Morphological dissimilarities were compared individually (Scott-Knott test; p<0.05) and jointly (Euclidean distance). Molecular genotyping involved DNA extraction from young cladodes using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) oligonucleotides. Dissimilarity based on molecular markers was estimated using the Jaccard index. Separate dendrograms were generated for each analysis (morphological and molecular) using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), and a tanglegram was created to illustrate the relationships between the two dendrograms. Significant differences were found in cladode length and width and in the fresh and dry weight of plants. The molecular analysis differentiated genotypes at the species and genus levels, even among those that appeared morphologically similar. Comparing morphological and molecular data revealed both divergences and similarities, providing valuable insights into the diversity and structure within the groups.

Heritable intraspecific variation among prey in size and movement interact to shape predation risk and potential natural selection

Abstract Predator and prey traits are important determinants of the outcomes of trophic interactions. In turn, the outcomes of trophic interactions shape predator and prey trait evolution. How species' traits respond to selection from trophic interactions depends crucially on whether and how heritable species' traits are and their genetic correlations. Of the many traits influencing the outcomes of trophic interactions, body size and movement traits have emerged as key traits. Yet, how these traits shape and are shaped by trophic interactions is unclear, as few studies have simultaneously measured the impacts of these traits on the outcomes of trophic interactions, their heritability, and their correlations within the same system. We used outcrossed lines of the ciliate protist Paramecium caudatum from natural populations to examine variation in morphology and movement behaviour, the heritability of that variation, and its effects on Paramecium susceptibility to predation by the copepod Macrocyclops albidus. We found that the Paramecium lines exhibited heritable variation in body size and movement traits. In contrast to expectations from allometric relationships, body size and movement speed showed little covariance among clonal lines. The proportion of Paramecium consumed by copepods was positively associated with Paramecium body size and velocity but with an interaction such that greater velocities led to greater predation risk for large body‐sized paramecia but did not alter predation risk for smaller paramecia. The proportion of paramecia consumed was not related to copepod body size. These patterns of predation risk and heritable trait variation in paramecia suggest that copepod predation may act as a selective force operating independently on movement and body size and generating the strongest selection against large, high‐velocity paramecia. Our results illustrate how ecology and genetics can shape potential natural selection on prey traits through the outcomes of trophic interactions. Further simultaneous measures of predation outcomes, traits, and their quantitative genetics will provide insights into the evolutionary ecology of species interactions and their eco‐evolutionary consequences. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Parallel ecological and evolutionary responses to selection in a natural bacterial community

Evolution can occur over ecological timescales, suggesting a potentially important role for rapid evolution in shaping community trait distributions. However, evidence of concordant eco-evolutionary dynamics often comes from in vitro studies of highly simplified communities, and measures of ecological and evolutionary dynamics are rarely directly comparable. Here, we quantified how ecological species sorting and rapid evolution simultaneously shape community trait distributions by tracking within- and between-species changes in a key trait in a complex bacterial community. We focused on the production of siderophores; bacteria use these costly secreted metabolites to scavenge poorly soluble iron and to detoxify environments polluted with toxic nonferrous metals. We found that responses to copper-imposed selection within and between species were ultimately the same-intermediate siderophore levels were favored-and occurred over similar timescales. Despite being a social trait, this level of siderophore production was selected regardless of whether species evolved in isolation or in a community context. Our study suggests that evolutionary selection can play a pivotal role in shaping community trait distributions within natural, highly complex, bacterial communities. Furthermore, trait evolution may not always be qualitatively affected by interactions with other community members.

Long-term effects of widespread pharmaceutical pollution on trade-offs between behavioural, life-history and reproductive traits in fish.

In our rapidly changing world, understanding how species respond to shifting conditions is of paramount importance. Pharmaceutical pollutants are widespread in aquatic ecosystems globally, yet their impacts on animal behaviour, life-history and reproductive allocation remain poorly understood, especially in the context of intraspecific variation in ecologically important traits that facilitate species' adaptive capacities. We test whether a widespread pharmaceutical pollutant, fluoxetine (Prozac), disrupts the trade-off between individual-level (co)variation in behavioural, life-history and reproductive traits of freshwater fish. We exposed the progeny of wild-caught guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to three field-relevant levels of fluoxetine (mean measured concentrations: 0, 31.5 and 316 ng/L) for 5 years, across multiple generations. We used 12 independent laboratory populations and repeatedly quantified activity and risk-taking behaviour of male guppies, capturing both mean behaviours and variation within and between individuals across exposure treatments. We also measured key life-history traits (body condition, coloration and gonopodium size) and assessed post-copulatory sperm traits (sperm vitality, number and velocity) that are known to be under strong sexual selection in polyandrous species. Intraspecific (co)variation of these traits was analysed using a comprehensive, multivariate statistical approach. Fluoxetine had a dose-specific (mean) effect on the life-history and sperm trait of guppies: low pollutant exposure altered male body condition and increased gonopodium size, but reduced sperm velocity. At the individual level, fluoxetine reduced the behavioural plasticity of guppies by eroding their within-individual variation in both activity and risk-taking behaviour. Fluoxetine also altered between-individual correlations in pace-of-life syndrome traits: it triggered the emergence of correlations between behavioural and life-history traits (e.g. activity and body condition) and between life-history and sperm traits (e.g. gonopodium size and sperm vitality), but collapsed other between-individual correlations (e.g. activity and gonopodium size). Our results reveal that chronic exposure to global pollutants can affect phenotypic traits at both population and individual levels, and even alter individual-level correlations among such traits in a dose-specific manner. We discuss the need to integrate individual-level analyses and test behaviour in association with life-history and reproductive traits to fully understand how animals respond to human-induced environmental change.

Using Biochemical and Growth Parameters to Assess Soybean Yield Potential

This study, conducted in 2022 at the All India Coordinated Research Project on Soybean Dharwad, aimed to evaluate the yield potential of ten soybean genotypes, including three checks, using biochemical and growth parameters. Employing a randomized block design, the study assessed variations in chlorophyll content, which was highest in genotypes DLSb 3, DSb 34, and DSb 23. Significant differences among genotypes were observed in absolute growth rate (AGR), crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR), and net assimilation rate (NAR). Notably, DSb 34 and DLSb 5 exhibited the highest AGR and CGR at 60-90 days after sowing (DAS), while RGR was most pronounced in DSb 39 at 30-60 DAS. NAR peaked at 60-90 DAS, with DLSb 1 showing the highest values. Yield component analysis identified DLSb 5 and DSb 34 as the top-yielding genotypes, with significant variations in the number of pods per plant among the genotypes. These findings highlight key traits for breeding higher-yielding soybean varieties and offer valuable insights for future research and practical applications in crop improvement.”

Political burden of local government and land insider trading in major Chinese cities

ABSTRACT Chinese local governments transfer political burdens through land trading. One key example of this practice is the requirement for for-profit organizations to bid on land when undertaking public welfare projects. By analysing comprehensive data on public welfare project development in major Chinese cities, we conducted regression analyses and endogeneity tests to explore whether there is a causal relationship between the political burdens faced by for-profit organizations and their land trading priorities, with a focus on insider trading characteristics. Our findings reveal that, even in marketized transactions, the land designated for public welfare projects tends to have lower prices and bidding premiums, reflecting key insider trading traits. Price priority is more apparent among private developers, indicating higher compensation for political burdens, while premium priority is more evident among government-controlled enterprises due to increased paternalism.

Unravelling the hydrogen bonding patterns in telomeric G-quadruplexes: from structure to function*

In this work, we investigate the molecular basis of the telomere model of ageing. Its key trait is the hydrogen (H–) bonding patterns of G-tetrads that serve a top of G-quadruplexes composing telomeres. We show that these patterns demonstrate a variety of bonding characters – from classic hydrogen bonds to so-called ‘over-coordinated oxygen (OCO)’ bifurcated H-bonds that thus result in non-rigidity of G-tetrad structures. This work has implications for the functionality of G-quadruplexes and, in turn, for the quadruplex-based telomere model of ageing.

LLMv2: A Language Model with Holistic Hidden Markov Models and Machine Learning for Fake News Detection

The usage of social media has expanded in recent years, allowing them to get news from around the world at any time. This in turn, is questioning the authenticity of the news that is being spread both globally and locally. Fake news such as misinformation, gossips is widely disseminated on social media having a negative impact on society and lives of the people. As a result, much study is being is carried out in order to detect them. The data can be clustered into smaller groups based on the type of news using a few learning approaches. A novel method has been proposed for prediction of the authenticity of the news of the LIAR dataset [1] using Logistic Regression and a boosting algorithm eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) for efficacy, computational pace and performance of the model. This method detects fake news by analyzing the semantic and syntactic connections between sentences. Various graphs (like heat maps, bar charts) are plotted to show the distribution of the authenticity of news and also to compare the predicted result with the actual one. The proposed strategy addresses the effects of the hoax's global spread. People are hungry for information to defend themselves and others in a community where humans are confronting large-scale risks from harms. Some key traits such as Sentimental features, Content-based features, Frequency features, and Hybrid features (combinations of two or more features) are incorporated for early prediction of fake news spread via social media. The liar dataset is used to train the method and tested for accurate results. The experimental accuracy is found out to be 98%. Key Words: fake news detection, social media, logistic regression, XG boost, natural language processing

Landrace introgression contributed to the recent feralization of weedy rice in East China

This study leveraged knowledge of the specific known cultivar progenitor "Nanjing11" of a weedy rice population from East China, and discovered that the landrace introgression greatly contributed to the recent feralization of modern cultivars, including the introduction of the Rc gene that confers key weedy traits such as red pericarp and seed dormancy.

Comparative Examination of Spoken Language Recognition Through Deep Learning Algorithms – A Review

This work investigates the area of spoken language recognition, which is essential to language translation and natural language processing. It examines existing models that have been trained on deep learning techniques, datasets, and performance metrics. The article presents a thorough comparative examination of spoken language identification methods using deep learning, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. In order to help researchers develop new language identification models for speech signals, the effectiveness of spoken language models is examined. Additionally, a number of spoken language identification models were investigated using a variety of deep learning approaches, datasets, and performance indicators. This analysis focused on the key traits and challenges that these models face.

Functional redundancy in carrion decomposition by temperate forest ant communities

Abstract Scavenging of small avian corpses may provide ants with a valuable source of nutrients, a possibility poorly studied. Here, we assessed whether ants are efficient carrion‐decomposers of avian corpses in Mediterranean dehesas through an exclusion experiment comparing decomposition rates among three treatments: vertebrate exclusion, vertebrate + invertebrate exclusion and control. Treatments were applied in a paired design in bird cavities and on the ground in two zones to assess functional redundancy. Ant community was characterized by pitfall traps, and key functional traits influencing ants' presence on carrion were identified by using phylogenetic comparative methods. Carrion decomposition was influenced by the exclusion treatment, being significantly faster when ants and other invertebrates were not excluded, but not by location (cavity/ground). Vertebrates were less likely to detect baits in cavities and removed more bait mass in the most transformed zone. Twelve of 25 ant species in the community were found foraging on baits. Ant communities differed between carrion location and localities. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the proneness of ant species to forage on carrion was unrelated to morphological or social traits, but behavioural, being higher among species foraging collectively. Our results show that ants play a functionally unique role in the decomposition of small corpses in dehesas, and particularly so in trees and less transformed pastureland. Decomposition involves different species in different microhabitats, suggesting high functional redundancy across ants. Our findings provide new insights into the role of ants as scavengers and expand our understanding of the functioning of Mediterranean communities.

Synergies of Cultural–Creative Industries and Development in Peripheral Areas: Networking, Social Capital, and Place

Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) are widely acknowledged in academic and policy discourse as fundamental resources for local development. Nevertheless, a deeper understanding of the analysis of CCI function patterns and full potential exploitation in peripheral areas is needed in the literature on regional and local economic development. Peripheral destinations are often characterized by specific obstacles such as geographical remoteness from dominant economic centers, poor infrastructure and amenities, limited capacity for decision-making, etc. However, they can also have characteristics that can support the sustainability and development of a place, such as rich cultural heritage, traditional cultural industries, uniqueness and authenticity, and cultural identity and social cohesion. This paper provides an overview of the main characteristics of the CCIs in peripheral areas and explores synergy patterns, a significant procedure for sustainability, exchange of knowledge and practices, development of actions, promotion of innovation and local development. More specifically, the study incorporates formal networking through entrepreneurial practices and informal networking through social capital into the network theory of the cultural sector in peripheral areas of Greece. In order to identify the key traits and factors that contribute to synergies in the cultural sector, a two-stage research design has been employed. A qualitative approach based on structured interviews and relative importance index analysis to provide an assessment framework has been used. Results indicate that CCI synergy in peripheral areas depends primarily on social capital, which is extremely important in local policies rather than just entrepreneurial practices.

Aging and physiological barriers: mechanisms of barrier integrity changes and implications for age-related diseases.

The phenomenon of compartmentalization is one of the key traits of life. Biological membranes and histohematic barriers protect the internal environment of the cell and organism from endogenous and exogenous impacts. It is known that the integrity of these barriers decreases with age due to the loss of homeostasis, including age-related gene expression profile changes and the abnormal folding/assembly, crosslinking, and cleavage of barrier-forming macromolecules in addition to morphological changes in cells and tissues. The critical molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in physiological barrier integrity maintenance and aging-associated changes in their functioning are reviewed on different levels: molecular, organelle, cellular, tissue (histohematic, epithelial, and endothelial barriers), and organ one (skin). Biogerontology, which studies physiological barriers in the aspect of age, is still in its infancy; data are being accumulated, but there is no talk of the synthesis of complex theories yet. This paper mainly presents the mechanisms that will become targets of anti-aging therapy only in the future, possibly: pharmacological, cellular, and gene therapies, including potential geroprotectors, hormetins, senomorphic drugs, and senolytics.