Reunited Ravens Genotypes were once individual lineages

 In this article, the species of the holoarctic(common) raven, the Californian raven and the Chihuahuan raven were hypothesized to have been more separated in genotype in the past. Scientists have studied the ravens' mitochondrial DNA, one of the nuclear introns on the Z chromosome, several autosomal introns and genome-wide SNPs and mapped out how much was shared between the species. Combined with the ecological niches of the current day ravens and behaviors, a comparison of the shared genetic material was made between all of the birds.

For the mitochondrial DNA, it showed that the holoarctic and the Californian ravens shared mtDNA but only what is currently in the northwestern US. But the Z nuclear intron did shed a light on the paraphyletic branches of the holoarctic and the Californian ravens. The Chihuahuan raven split off earlier to speciate. Taking over a period of a million years, the ravens were once their own species with the holoarctic and the Californian lines converging into a single lineage, and from tens of thousands of years and hybridized.

This also would shed light on how humans came to be. Since speciation reversal is still evident in the Homo sapiens genotype. With bits of Neanderthal and Denosovian DNA in our genotype, there could have been hybridization between differing homind groups and that the parts were swapped over eons of randomized mating. 

Did Humans Domesticate Cats?

Dated back to ancient times, cat’s DNA showed that they domesticated themselves stated in an article on National Geographic website. Although cats now prefer to lay on the couch instead of outside their DNA shows that it hasn’t changed in thousands of years. Cats, even as wildcats, has been by a human’s side way before they became our house pets. A cat’s genes have only changed slightly in the past 9,000 years. This change appeared to be the dots and stripes on their coat of hair.

In this article, it states that researchers looked at DNA of over two hundred cats within the past 9,000 years and it showed that all the cats came from these two pedigrees; from Asia into Europe and Africa into Egypt. Both pedigrees showed that cats were not forced into being house pets, but just settled into it. Cats naturally patrolled around human's yards and killed mice and rats. They also were just attracted to humans, especially in the African lineage. 

Even though cats surprisingly attached to humans, the researchers still looked into the DNA of cats and it revealed that the DNA has not changed but the marking of its coat. When the coat of the cat was stripped, it showed that they were domesticated. This was not a definite identification of domesticated tabby cats until the 18th- 19th century.

The researchers suggested that the more we look into cats, the more we will understand the domestication process of animals. Being that cats naturally domesticated themselves, I do think further research into this animal could open up new doors or an explanation of how animals became domesticated.

Using Vampire Bat Genetics to Predict Rabies Expansions in Peru

Rabies is a serious viral disease in animals that effects the central nervous system, ultimately leading to brain inflammation and death. This disease is most often transmitted through animal bites, scratches or salvia of infected animals. It causes serious public health risk in Latin America as it causes human death and the death of millions of dollars of livestock every year. The largest cause of rabies spread in Latin America is due to vampire bats and their blood-feeding diet. Although there are efforts to reduce vampire bat populations in epidemic areas, it has proved ineffective because the the death toll of humans and livestock is higher than before and the rabies virus is spreading to areas it was not before. Scientists have come up with the idea to use the genetic analysis of vampire bats in Peru to forecast the migration of the rabies disease. This research has led to the theory that the rabies virus will spread to the Pacific coast of Peru by the year 2020. Peru's Pacific coast is currently VBRV(Vampire Bat Rabies Virus)-free, however, evidence from testing the genomic sequences of vampire bats in VBRV-epidemic areas have given researchers insight on how the rabies virus is spreading and it suggests it is moving towards the coast. They analyzed 264 samples of rabies virus collected from livestock all over the country over fifteen years, and that it could be traced back to one of three common ancestors. The virus lineages were traced back the the east North Andes, east South Andes, and the inter-Andean valleys south of these areas. To collect data from the vampire bats, they used tissue samples from 468 vampire bats across Peru over five years and examined the mitochondrial DNA and the nuclear DNA. The data suggested that females did not move between different regions of Peru and that spatial distribution of the three location lineages was at fault of the male vampire bats. Based off of this information, scientists were able to create a map that forecasted future rabies invasions. To confirm their map's predictions, these scientists have been tracking livestock in their predicted areas and seen an increase in rabies spread toward the coast. Understanding how a disease spreads can allow us to prevent or control proliferation and prevent epidemics. 

Rabies is most commonly associated with canines in the United States, or wildlife such as foxes, raccoons, and squirrels. However, in the United States the most common source of human rabies is from vampire bats as well. At every veterinary hospital, animal clinic, and wildlife rehabilitation clinic in the nation, it is required that every animal handled is up to date on it's rabies shot. Most jobs that require jobs handling wildlife, including my job with exotic birds and wildlife animal care center, require humans to receive a preliminary rabies vaccine before handling any animal that could possibly have rabies. It is the worst time anyone could have at the doctors to receive those shots. If an animal is suspected of having rabies, this is taken very seriously in the veterinary field. Since rabies is a disease that effects the central nervous system, and not blood or tissue or urine/feces, the way to test for an animal having rabies is extremely gruesome. The animal must be euthanized and the head must be decapitated and sent to a lab to test the brain tissue for rabies. This process may seem harsh, especially when it affects domesticated animals who bit someone and may not have rabies being euthanized and having their head removed to test, but it is the only accurate testing method for rabies. This is done so that the people who have come in contact with the rabid animal can receive medical treatment if the animal did in fact have rabies. This has happened at the practice I work for only a handful of times, and it never gets easier for anyone involved in the process. The spread of rabies in Peru being able to be tracked is one step closer in understanding the disease, and hopefully making strides toward it's containment. 

Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology. "Learning about Bats and Rabies." Rabies. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2016. <https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/bats/education/>. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology. "Rabies Basics." Rabies. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 05 Oct. 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016. <https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/>. 

Escobar, Luis E., A. Townsend Peterson, Myriam Favi, Verónica Yung, and Gonzalo Medina-Vogel. "BAT-BORNE RABIES IN LATIN AMERICA." Revista Do Instituto De Medicina Tropical De São Paulo. Instituto De Medicina Tropical, Jan. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2016. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4325525/>. 

National Geographic Society. "Desmodus Rotundus: Vampire Bat." Common Vampire Bat. National Geographic, 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/common-vampire-bat/>. 

The New Jersey Department of Health, Communicable Disease Service, Infectious and Zoonotic Diseases Program, and Zoonotic Disease Unit. "Packaging and Transport of Animal Rabies Specimens to the New Jersey Rabies Laboratory." Rabies Laboratory Form. The New Jersey Department of Health, Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2016. <https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/faq/specimentophel.pdf>. 

University of Georgia. "Scientists Use Genetic Analysis to Forecast Spatial Expansion of Rabies in Peru." Science News: Genetics. ScienceDaily, 16 Sept. 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016. <https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160912161303.htm>.

Some Cultures Hardwired for Vegetarian Diet

       Ever heard of the expression "you are what you eat," well in this study, scientists compared the genetic make up of individuals who have a lineage of vegetarianism to those who eat red meat daily. Scientists discovered the gene that is affected by vegetarianism is called s66698963 found in the FADS2 gene.

The scientists compared genomes to those from Kansans who love red meat, to those from Pune India who have a long history of vegetarians. When searching for the genetic mutation throughout other cultures and populations, researchers found the mutation has spread from South America, Northern Europe, and other similar locations.

Although researchers found the spreading of the mutation, they also discovered the deletion of the mutation in Northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska this mutation became maladaptive. Results explain there is no Paleo diet out there for anyone. Instead, you can now thank your ancestors for your eating habits and diet patterns.

I found this article extremely interesting due to the fact that I was raised into a meat eating family but since my heritage's primary diet consists of seafood and shellfish my diet for the last 10 years have consisted of a strict pescatarian diet. I never imagined that the diets of my ancestors would have such a strong influence on my diet today.

Click here for original source: http://news.discovery.com/human/genetics/some-cultures-are-hardwired-for-vegetarian-diet-160329.htm

Your Ancestors, Your Fate

   

     In this article, Your Ancestors, Your Fate, it talks about how social mobility has not changed much over the years despite the fact that society thinks it has. A study conducted by researchers at Harvard and Berkeley suggest that social mobility hasn't slowed but has always been slow. This fact seems to be consistent across different nationalities and sociopolitical systems. The recent study suggests that you can predict your social status based on the lineage of your family and that it takes somewhere between 10-15 generations for a families status to merge towards the mean (high status families fall and low status families rise). This conclusion comes from examining data of surnames across the globe. The article provides examinations of several different countries with similar conclusions to include; Chile, China, England, India, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and the United States.The article also talks about how adoption and siblings studies show that biological factors are the main determinant of social status. Due to the aforementioned factors in this article, the authors than talk about how "policies to lift up the lives of the disadvantaged" should be enacted.
     I am not sure how I feel about the findings in this article. Sure, it is more likely if your family is rich you will be rich and vice versa. However, the point that we should push public policies "to lift up the lives of the disadvantaged" is controversial to me. At some point public policies to lift up the disadvantaged will pull down the so-called "privileged" in possibly an unfair manner. The article concludes by saying "What governments can do is ameliorate the effects of life’s inherent unfairness" and I think we can all agree on that but how this is done "fairly" is a much more difficult task, in my opinion.
     For more on the subject of social mobility see the link http://www.verisi.com/resources/prosperity-upward-mobility.htm

Genetics: a Clue to the Past

Genetics can sometimes be used to support legends and historical theories. In a remote region of China, Caucasian genes account for two-thirds of the villagers’ DNA. Many of the villagers have fair hair, blue or green eyes, and long noses like people of European descent. Their genetic makeup points to the introduction of European blood into their lineage.

In the 1950’s, Homer Dubs, a professor of Chinese history in Oxford University first proposed the theory that a legion of Roman soldiers settled in that area after a defeat.  In 53 BC, there was a clash between a Roman army led by Marcus Crassus and a force of Parthians. Many were killed in the defeat, but legend has it that some escaped to the east and integrated with the inhabitants.

The genetics of the current population cannot be the sole evidence to prove the theory of Roman soldiers entering the gene pool after a defeat. Other evidences such as archaeological and historical documents must be taken into consideration. It is amazing  how genetics can act as living record of ancestry and possibly provide insight into the origins of a person’s genetic background.

This is a summary of an article The Telegraph titled: "Chinese Villagers 'Descended from Roman Soldiers.'"