Tiny Population Research Articles

Targeting Hepatic Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) and Related Drug Resistance by Small Interfering RNA (siRNA).

Tumor recurrence after curative therapy and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells' resistance to conventional therapies is the reasons for the worse clinical results of HCC patients. A tiny population of cancer cells with a strong potential for self-renewal, differentiation, and tumorigenesis has been identified as cancer stem cells (CSCs). The discovery of CSC surface markers and the separation of CSC subpopulations from HCC cells have been made possible by recent developments in the study of hepatic (liver) CSCs. Hepatic CSC surface markers include epithelial cell adhesion molecules (EpCAM), CD133, CD90, CD13, CD44, OV-6, ALDH, and K19. CSCs have a significant influence on the development of cancer, invasiveness, self-renewal, metastasis, and drug resistance in HCC, and thus provide a therapeutic chance to treat HCC and avoid its recurrence. Therefore, it is essential to develop treatment approaches that specifically and effectively target hepatic stem cells. Given this, one potential treatment approach is to use particular small interfering RNA (siRNA) to target CSC, disrupting their behavior and microenvironment as well as changing their epigenetic state. The characteristics of CSCs in HCC are outlined in this study, along with new treatment approaches based on siRNA that may be used to target hepatic CSCs and overcome HCC resistance to traditional therapies.

Spontaneous mutations and mutational responses to penicillin treatment in the bacterial pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae D39

Bacteria with functional DNA repair systems are expected to have low mutation rates due to strong natural selection for genomic stability. However, our study of the wild-type Streptococcus pneumoniae D39, a pathogen responsible for many common diseases, revealed a high spontaneous mutation rate of 0.02 per genome per cell division in mutation-accumulation (MA) lines. This rate is orders of magnitude higher than that of other non-mutator bacteria and is characterized by a high mutation bias in the A/T direction. The high mutation rate may have resulted from a reduction in the overall efficiency of selection, conferred by the tiny effective population size in nature. In line with this, S. pneumoniae D39 also exhibited the lowest DNA mismatch-repair (MMR) efficiency among bacteria. Treatment with the antibiotic penicillin did not elevate the mutation rate, as penicillin did not induce DNA damage and S. pneumoniae lacks a stress response pathway. Our findings suggested that the MA results are applicable to within-host scenarios and provide insights into pathogen evolution.

Modelling habitat suitability for the Critically Endangered Manumea or Tooth-billed Pigeon Didunculus strigirostris using past and present baselines

Summary Evidence-based conservation can be hindered by limited field data, but historical archives have the potential to provide unique insights into conservation-relevant parameters, such as identification of suitable habitat for threatened species. The Manumea or Tooth-billed Pigeon Didunculus strigirostris has declined on Samoa and only a tiny remnant population still persists, and a key first step for conservation is to locate surviving birds. Numerous Manumea records are available from the nineteenth century onwards, and we used historical and modern records to generate a series of species distribution models to predict the distribution of suitable habitat across Samoa to guide new field searches. Manumea distribution is closely associated with forest cover or its proxies. Preferred Manumea food plants are suggested to be low-elevation trees, but elevation provides relatively low percentage contribution in most models, thus not excluding the possibility that Manumea might occur at high elevations. There is also little evidence for elevational change in records over the past century. Models based on visual versus acoustic records exhibit differences in predicted habitat suitability, suggesting that some purported acoustic records might not actually represent Manumea calls. Field searches should target areas representing high habitat suitability across all models, notably the forested central axis of Upolu.

μMOSM: A hybrid multi-objective micro evolutionary algorithm

In multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs), several mutually conflicting objectives are optimized simultaneously. In such scenarios, there is not a unique solution to the problem; instead, there is a set of solutions known as the Pareto front, representing the trade-off between objectives. Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) can approximate these solutions in a single run. However, due to their resource-intensive nature, MOEAs are not suitable for solving real-time and engineering MOPs such as the optimization of manufacturing processes and energy consumption in wireless networks, where a fast convergence rate with less computational cost is required. Fortunately, micro versions of MOEAs can meet this requirement by utilizing a tiny population size. However, this can result in a rapid loss of diversity and the algorithm may easily fall into a local optimum. While some approaches such as the restart technique have been proposed to address this issue, hybrid techniques such as integrative, collaborative, and decomposition-based methods have not been effectively considered in the design of micro algorithms, despite hybridization being a widely accepted method for enhancing the diversity of evolutionary algorithms. In this study, we propose a hybrid micro MOEA called μMOSM that can effectively tackle the diversity loss problem and accelerate the convergence rate in approximating Pareto front solutions. Experimental results on benchmark test suites and a real-world MOP demonstrate the advantages of our proposed algorithm and confirm that μMOSM outperforms state-of-the-art MOEAs and micro MOEAs such as MOSM, ADE-MOIA, MMOPSO, NSGA-III, MOEA/D-FRRMAB, μFAME, and ASMiGA.

Development, behaviour, productivity, and health status of the native honey bee Apis mellifera ruttneri vs. the introduced A. m. ligustica in Malta

The tiny population of the endemic Maltese honey bee (A. m. ruttneri) is threatened by anthropogenic influences, such as urbanisation, habitat loss, and unsustainable agricultural practices, but most prominently by the importation of commercially important non-native stock. To obtain data on the colony life cycle parameters of A. m. ruttneri and to measure its apicultural performance in relation to imported A. m. ligustica under Maltese conditions, we conducted a comparative study between mid-2017 and early 2020. Over one full season, colonies of both subspecies (A. m. ruttneri (n = 15) vs. A. m. ligustica (n = 18)) were regularly assessed for survival, colony size, behaviour, and presence of diseases. The comparative assessments were completed in September 2018, but monitoring and sampling of the surviving colonies of A. m. ruttneri continued until March 2020. Our results clearly indicate that the tested group of sister queens of A. m. ruttneri is well adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions in Malta. The colonies survived significantly longer compared to the tested group of sister queens of A. m. ligustica and performed better in several parameters measured, their colony development, and health being well in tune with the environment. A. m. ruttneri received acceptable scores for behavioural traits (gentleness and calmness on the comb), showing potential for improvement by breeding. The results from this pioneering study clearly indicate that A. m. ruttneri, with its superior adaptation to Maltese conditions and the potential to improve by breeding, represents a prime option towards economically sound beekeeping on the Maltese archipelago.

Role of trade liberalization, industrialisation and energy use on carbon dioxide emissions in Australia: 1990 to 2018.

Australia is one of the largest nations in the globe in terms of land area and is home to numerous animals alongside unique and unusual climates and immense forests and oceans. Despite having a very tiny population, the nation is an extremely valuable ecological territory. Unfortunately, due to several changes in land use, habitat loss and deterioration-particularly in light of the recent severe bush fires exacerbated by climate change-the environmental issues in Australia have got the attention of many academics. Therefore, this paper seeks to assess the association between Australia's energy use, [Formula: see text] emission, trade liberalization, industrialization and economic growth from 1990 to 2018. An autoregressive distributed lag and a vector error correction model (VECM) are employed to take care of possible endogeneity and the long-run association. Our results demonstrated that economic growth and energy use have positive and statistically significant effects on emissions of [Formula: see text], but trade liberalization has a significantly adverse influence on emissions of [Formula: see text] both in the long and short term. Granger test in VECM uncovered single-direction Granger interrelationships among trade liberalization and industrialization, as well as among industrialization and carbon dioxide. When attempting to implement effective energy policies, Australian policymakers should first take into account the prominent role played by energy usage and trade liberalization in promoting economic development and impeding environmental health.

Complete Chloroplast Genome of Endangered Bruguiera hainesii C.G.Rogers 1919 and Phylogenetic Analysis with Associated Species

Abstract Background: Bruguiera hainesii C.G. Rogers 1919, a true mangrove tree is a critically endangered species (CR) in Vietnam. This species is restricted to the Con Dao National Park, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, where it occurs in very tiny populations. However, the exploration of the chloroplast genome of B. hainesii in Vietnam has a serious lack of information. It is extremely challenging to promote the conservation of B. hainesii. Therefore, urgently required to discover and comprehend the chloroplast genome of B. hainesii. Methods: To detect evolutionary analysis between mangroves, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of B. hainesii using next-generation sequencing technology (Illumina Hiseq X Ten). Results: We sequenced and assembled the complete chloroplast genome of B. hainesii, which was deposited in GenBank as accession number OR086085. The DNA was circular with 164,305 bp length, comprising 37% GC. The genome contained a large single-copy region of 91,724 bp, inverted repeat regions of 26,360 bp, and a short single-copy region of 19,861 bp. Furthermore, it contained 130 genes, consisting of 83 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNAs, and 8 rRNAs. We detected 131 single-sequence repeats, including 119 mononucleotides, 11 dinucleotides, and one trinucleotide. Phylogenetic analysis showed strong support that B. hainesii was sister to B. cylindrica. Conclusions: The findings in this study provide a foundation for species identification, evolutionary genetics, and the conservation of endangered B. hainesii in Vietnam.

TNFAIP3 promotes ALDH-positive breast cancer stem cells through FGFR1/MEK/ERK pathway.

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are a tiny population of self-renewing cells that may contribute to cancer initiation, progression, and resistance to therapy in patients. In our prior study, we found that tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3) is necessary for fibroblast growth factors receptor 1 (FGFR1) signaling-promoted tumor growth and progression in breast cancer (BC). This study aims to investigate the involvement of TNFAIP3 in regulating BCSCs. In this work, we showed that ALDH-positive BCSCs were increased by activating the FGFR1-MEK-ERK pathway, meanwhile utilizing FGFR1 inhibitor, MEK inhibitor, or ERK inhibitor reversed the phenomenon in BC cells. Moreover, ALDH-positive BCSCs were decreased in TNFAIP3-knockout or TNFAIP3-depressing cells. In vivo analysis displayed that TNFAIP3-silenced MDA-MB-231 xenografts developed smaller tumors and ALDH immunostaining levels were significantly lower in TNFAIP3-depressing or TNFAIP3-knockout tumor tissues. Besides, our results also revealed that TNFAIP3 influences the transcription stemness factors gene expression. Taken together, TNFAIP3 could be a potential regulator in FGFR1-MEK-ERK-promoted ALDH-positive BCSCs.

Molecular phylogenetics, speciation, and long distance dispersal in tardigrade evolution: A case study of the genus Milnesium

Microorganisms (sensu lato, i.e., including micrometazoans) are thought to have cosmopolitan geographic distributions due to their theoretically unlimited dispersal capabilities, a consequence of their tiny size, population dynamics, and resistant forms. However, several molecular studies of microorganisms have identified biogeographic patterns indicating cryptic speciation and/or weak species definitions. Using a multi-locus approach with the genus Milnesium (Tardigrada), we aimed to determine the genetic structure of populations worldwide and the effects of long distance dispersal (LDD) on genetic connectivity and relationships across the six continents. Our results on this micrometazoan’s genetic structure and LDD at global and micro-local scales indicate contrasting patterns not easily explained by a unique or simple phenomenon. Overall, we report three key findings: (i) confirmation of long distance dispersal for tardigrades, (ii) populations with globally-shared or endemic micro-local haplotypes, and (iii) a supported genetic structure instead of the homogeneous genetic distribution hypothesized for microorganisms with LDD capabilities. Moreover, incongruences between our morphological and molecular results suggest that species delimitation within the genus Milnesium could be problematic due to homoplasy. Duality found for Milnesium populations at the global scale, namely, a molecular phylogenetic structure mixed with widely distributed haplotypes (but without any apparent biogeographic structure), is similar to patterns observed for some unicellular, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, microorganisms. Factors influencing these patterns are discussed within an evolutionary framework.

The Future of Progressive Politics in a Post-Fordist World

The Future of Progressive Politics in a Post-Fordist World

The Distribution and Origins of Pyrus hopeiensis-"Wild Plant With Tiny Population" Using Whole Genome Resequencing.

Pyrus hopeiensis is a valuable but endangered wild resource in the genus Pyrus. It has been listed as one of the 120 wild species with tiny population in China. The specie has been little studied. A preliminary study of propagation modes in P. hopeiensis was performed through seed propagation, hybridization, self-crossing trials, bud grafting, branch grafting, and investigations of natural growth. The results showed that the population size of P. hopeiensis was very small, the distribution range was limited, and the habitat was extremely degraded. In the wild population, natural hybridization and root tiller production were the major modes of propagation. Whole genome re-sequencing of the 23 wild and cultivated accessions from Pyrus species collected was performed using an Illumina HiSeq sequencing platform. The sequencing depth range was 26.56x−44.85x and the average sequencing depth was 32x. Phylogenetic tree and principal component analyses (PCA) based on SNPs showed that the wild Pyrus species, such as PWH06, PWH07, PWH09, PWH10, PWH13, and PWH17, were closely related to both P. hopeiensis HB-1 and P. hopeiensis HB-2. Using these results in combination with morphological characteristics, it speculated that P. hopeiensis populations may form a natural hybrid group with frequent gene exchanges between and within groups. A selective elimination analysis on the P. hopeiensis population were performed using Fst and π radio and a total of 381 overlapping genes including SAUR72, IAA20, HSFA2, and RKP genes were obtained. These genes were analyzed by gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) function enrichment. And four KEGG pathways, including lysine degradation, sphingolipid metabolism, other glycan degradation, and betaine biosynthesis were significantly enriched in the P. hopeiensis population. Our study provided information on genetic variation, evolutionary relationships, and gene enrichment in P. hopeiensis population. These data will help reveal the evolutionary history and origin of P. hopeiensis and provide guidelines for subsequent research on the locations of functional genes.

An interesting new record of the almost unknown brachypterous phaneropterine katydid Xenicola dohrni (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Argentina, and its high-ultrasound male-female communication.

The southernmost record of the neotropical genus Xenicola is documented. An apparently tiny population of X. dohrni, a species described long ago from southern Brazil without other published records, lives at the shore of the Río de la Plata, 1000 km further south. Perhaps it has been established there by means of floating vegetation. The acoustic communication of this species is also very interesting: The male produces with its minuscule tegmina brief signals with a carrier frequency range between 80 and 100 kHz. The female responds, and the male modifies its song when engaged in a duet. It modifies it further, when the female responds from very close. The paper includes a review of the records of Xenicola species on biodiversity observation platforms.

From glacial refugia to hydrological microrefugia: Factors and processes driving the persistence of the climate relict tree Zelkova sicula.

With only two tiny populations, the climate relict Zelkova sicula (Sicily, Italy) is one of the rarest trees in the world. It also represents the most marginal member of genus Zelkova that was widespread in the broadleaved forests thriving in warm–temperate climates throughout Eurasia until the Last Glacial Age. Occurring at the westernmost range of the genus under typical Mediterranean climate, the micro‐topographic settings have always appeared crucial for the survival of this relict. However, the factors and processes actually involved in its persistence in the current refugia, as well as the response of similar relict trees in arid environments, are poorly understood worldwide. In the aim to elucidate these aspects, in the two sites hosting Z. sicula analyses of topographical attributes were combined with investigations on soil moisture dynamics. Additionally, plants’ growth and spatial distribution patterns were analyzed to detect fine‐scale differences between populations and assess the possible ecological amplitude of the species. Results revealed that convergent topographies are basic determinants of microrefugia in arid environments. Within the investigated sites, underground moisture never decreases below 25%, buffering seasonal rainfall fluctuations. Therefore, hydrological microrefugia play a key role in decoupling from regional climate, supporting the target species in coping with an unsuitable climatic envelope. Additionally, the inter‐population variability of biometric attributes showed that individual growth is site‐dependent and the species retains a relative ecological plasticity, whereas the strongly clumped spatial patterns confirmed the common clonal growth. On one hand, deeply incised landforms have acted as effective hydrologic microrefugia, on the other clonality coupled with triploidy supposedly improved the resistance of Z. sicula to harsh environments, though entailing inability to reproduce sexually. Most likely, sterility and environmental/physical barriers that have existed for millennia have prevented this relict from leaving the last suitable microrefugia, resulting in the two current rear edge populations.

The Jews of Eighteenth-Century Jamaica: A Testamentary History of a Diaspora in Transition by Stanley Mirvis

Reviewed by: The Jews of Eighteenth-Century Jamaica: A Testamentary History of a Diaspora in Transition by Stanley Mirvis Trevor Burnard (bio) The Jews of Eighteenth-Century Jamaica: A Testamentary History of a Diaspora in Transition. By Stanley Mirvis. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020. 285 pp. The old saying is that you wait for a bus for ages, and then two come along at once. For scholars of Jewish history in the Caribbean, two buses have just arrived, both superb and thought-provoking. In Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651–1925 (2020), Aviva Ben-Ur has written a compelling social and religious history of Jews in colonial Suriname, focusing on the twin themes of autonomy and creolization. Stanley Mirvis's extensively researched analysis of the history of Jamaican Jews in both seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Jamaica (the title, along with being off-puttingly narrow in conception, is misleading in its chronology) examines similar themes for the Jews in Jamaica. Together, these books extend our knowledge of this remarkable subcommunity of Jews in the Caribbean. Mirvis's book is extremely valuable not only for the light it sheds on a still little-understood aspect of Jewish history but also for demonstrating the heterogenous and diverse [End Page 447] nature of Jamaica during the period of slavery. He shows, in particular, how Jews generally thrived and prospered in Jamaica despite living in a fiercely antisemitic society in which Jews were distrusted for their commercial acumen and forced to endure political ostracization and economic discrimination. Mirvis's Jewish community was both part of and separate from the white Protestant society that ruled Jamaica and which subjected enslaved Africans to perhaps greater oppression than anywhere else in the Atlantic world. The easiest thing for Mirvis to have done in this study would have been to show a religious and ethnic community that became incorporated through ideologies of whiteness into the dominant minority ruling class. One noticeable characteristic of Jews in both Suriname and Jamaica is that their religious adherence was often skin deep—an adherence to rituals and ceremonies but not much of an engagement with faith. It is also noticeable that Jews were as devoted to the institution of slavery as the white population in general. They were seldom numbered among the biggest slave holders, as they tended to congregate in Port Royal and Kingston and engage in commerce, largely with Spanish America but also drawing on their contacts in Europe, notably and remarkably with the Jewish community of Bayonne in France. But Jews frequently owned slaves, disposed of enslaved people regularly in their wills to their families, established irregular unions with enslaved women and free women of color, and showed little to no antislavery inclination. Mirvis is especially good on what is sometimes a sensitive topic: Jews and Caribbean slavery. He shows the extent to which Jamaican Jews' acceptance of the slave system contributed to their creolization within white society without succumbing to the tendency to see Jamaican Jews solely through a prism of slavery. What fascinates Mirvis most is how Jamaican Jews maintained and shaped community life. It is this area where wills are extremely useful, as they show family patterns in great detail and sophistication, if explored with the skill which Mirvis deploys in this book. A particularly valuable section of the book is a lengthy appendix which outlines testamentary dispositions and shows the variety of inheritance practices possible within a rather rigid institutional framework. He pays a lot of attention to women and has some penetrating insights into the role of women in fostering Jewish customs over the generation. His analysis might have been helped by comparing Jews more explicitly to other Jamaican populations. What strikes me most about Jamaican Jews is that they did not suffer as much as Blacks and white Jamaicans from demographic disaster. They, alone of groups in Jamaica save perhaps free people of color (to whom they are often compared as communities that achieved [End Page 448] creole identities in the face of legal discrimination), were demographically self-sustaining. From a tiny base population, extensively interrelated family groupings of mostly Portuguese Jews increased in numbers and in...

Habitat modelling reveals extreme habitat fragmentation in the endangered and declining Asir Magpie, Pica asirensis, Saudi Arabia’s only endemic bird (Aves: Passeriformes)

The endangered Asir Magpie Pica asirensis formerly occurred in alpine habitat across Saudi Arabia’s Asir Mountains but is now restricted to small patches of remnant forest within a 37-km strip of highlands. Perhaps only 100 pairs remain and this tiny population appears to be declining, though the causes of its decline are unknown. We mined published presence/absence data to develop a fuzzy logic habitat model. The model considered six variables that correlate with Asir Magpie presence: elevation, aspect, forested areas, drainage systems, and major urban areas. Our model reveals that only 80 km2 of prime quality habitat remains across 11 fragmented patches. We tested the model using 38 GPS locations of Asir Magpies from independent birdwatchers. In total, 35/38 magpies were located within the modelled habitat. We suggest that the Asir Magpie may be suffering from limited dispersal between isolated high quality habitat fragments, which could be leading to genetically depauperate subpopulations, thereby enabling an extinction vortex. It may also be suffering from habitat loss through development and construction, habitat degradation through climate change, unregulated grazing, overharvesting of wood, and over-consumption of food scraps. Corrective actions are urgently needed to save this rare and nationally endemic species.

Homelessness and the Universal Family in China

AbstractDepending on how one defines homelessness, China has either a very tiny homeless population or an extremely large one. Compared to other countries, there very few vagrants: people living on the streets of China's cities without means of support. But if one counts the people who migrated to cities without a legal permit (hukou), work as day laborers without job security or a company dormitory, and live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on the edge of cities, there are nearly 300 million homeless. Free market fundamentalism is responsible for the emergence of this sort of homelessness in China. We review China's recent new policies to tackle homelessness and offer suggestions based on the traditional Chinese wisdom, which includes the concept of the universal family (family ‐ tian xia). Homelessness in China must be addressed as a cultural problem caused by the breakdown of ancient methods of social integration. Treating it merely as a housing deficit will fail.

Genomic Analysis of Cellular Hierarchy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Using Ultrasensitive LC-FACS-Seq

Genomic Analysis of Cellular Hierarchy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Using Ultrasensitive LC-FACS-Seq

Extinction in the Anthropocene.

Samuel Turvey and Jennifer Crees introduce the effects of humans on biodiversity.

The Genomic Footprints of the Fall and Recovery of the Crested Ibis

SummaryHuman-induced environmental change and habitat fragmentation pose major threats to biodiversity and require active conservation efforts to mitigate their consequences. Genetic rescue through translocation and the introduction of variation into imperiled populations has been argued as a powerful means to preserve, or even increase, the genetic diversity and evolutionary potential of endangered species [1, 2, 3, 4]. However, factors such as outbreeding depression [5, 6] and a reduction in available genetic diversity render the success of such approaches uncertain. An improved evaluation of the consequence of genetic restoration requires knowledge of temporal changes to genetic diversity before and after the advent of management programs. To provide such information, a growing number of studies have included small numbers of genomic loci extracted from historic and even ancient specimens [7, 8]. We extend this approach to its natural conclusion, by characterizing the complete genomic sequences of modern and historic population samples of the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), an endangered bird that is perhaps the most successful example of how conservation effort has brought a species back from the brink of extinction. Though its once tiny population has today recovered to >2,000 individuals [9], this process was accompanied by almost half of ancestral loss of genetic variation and high deleterious mutation load. We furthermore show how genetic drift coupled to inbreeding following the population bottleneck has largely purged the ancient polymorphisms from the current population. In conclusion, we demonstrate the unique promise of exploiting genomic information held within museum samples for conservation and ecological research.

Ensayo sobre la cuestión social

La Cuestión Social se presenta hoy como una forma de interpelación hacia el orden social, económico y cultural impuesto por las formas actuales del Capitalismo. Se expresa a través de la desigualdad socia y la exclusión que afecta a grandes sectores de la población en todo el planeta en forma peligrosamente inequitativa. Sobresalen en ella formas singulares de construcción de subjetividad en un contexto mundial donde la desigualdad se enuncia de forma relevante a partir de niveles hasta ahora desconocidos de concentración de la riqueza en porcentajes ínfimos de la población. Por otra parte, en nuestro continente reaparecen nuevas formas del colonialismo, a veces, de manera disimulada a través de importantes construcciones discursivas donde sobresale lo mediático como instrumento apreciable, sumado a nuevas y sofisticadas formas de control social. Estas, poseen diferentes expresiones de orden punitivo que conjugan de manera novedosa diferentes aspectos objetivos y subjetivos.