DNA is fundamentally important for all cellular organisms due to its role as a store of hereditary genetic information. The precise and accurate regulation of gene transcription depends primarily on promoters, which vary significantly within and between genomes. Some promoters are rich in specific types of bases, while others have more varied, complex sequence characteristics. However, it is not only base sequence but also epigenetic modifications and altered DNA structure that regulate promoter activity. Significantly, many promoters across all organisms contain sequences that can form intrastrand hairpins (cruciforms) or four-stranded structures (G-quadruplex or i-motif). In this review we integrate recent studies on promoter regulation that highlight the importance of DNA structure in the evolutionary adaptation of promoter sequences.

• MeSH
• DNA genetika   ultrastruktura   MeSH
• G-kvadruplexy MeSH
• genetická transkripce genetika   MeSH
• konformace nukleové kyseliny MeSH
• molekulární evoluce * MeSH
• promotorové oblasti (genetika) genetika   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• přehledy MeSH

• MeSH
• genetika MeSH
• molekulární biologie MeSH
• vývojová biologie MeSH
• Publikační typ
• monografie MeSH

• Konspekt
• Biologické vědy
• NLK Obory
• molekulární biologie, molekulární medicína

• MeSH
• ekologie MeSH

The publication focuses on the development of the national health plan of Portugal. Intended for professional public.

• MeSH
• programy národního zdraví MeSH
• zdravotní politika MeSH
• zdravotnické plánování MeSH
• Publikační typ
• monografie MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Portugalsko MeSH

• Konspekt
• Veřejné zdraví a hygiena
• NLK Obory
• veřejné zdravotnictví
• politologie, politika, zdravotní politika
• NLK Publikační typ
• brožury

Many species have evolved alternate phenotypes, thus enabling individuals to conditionally produce phenotypes that are favorable for reproductive success. Examples of this phenomenon include sexual dimorphism, alternative reproductive strategies, and social insect castes. While the evolutionary functions and developmental mechanisms of dimorphic phenotypes have been studied extensively, little attention has focused on the evolutionary covariance between each phenotype. We extend the conceptual framework and methods of morphological integration to hypothesize that dimorphic traits tend to be less integrated between sexes or social castes. In the case of social insects, we describe results from our recent study of an ant genus in which workers have major and minor worker castes that perform different behavioral repertoires in and around the nest. In the case of birds, we describe a new analysis of a family of songbirds that exhibits plumage coloration that can differ greatly between males and females, with apparently independent changes in each sex. Ant head shape, which is highly specialized in each worker caste, was weakly integrated between worker castes, whereas thorax shape, which is more monomorphic, was tightly integrated. Similarly, in birds, we found a negative association between dimorphism and the degree of integration between sexes. We also found that integration decreased in fairy wrens (Malurus) for many feather patches that evolved greater dichromatism. Together, this suggests that the process of evolving increased dimorphism results in a decrease in integration between sexes and social castes. We speculate that once a mechanism for dimorphism evolves, that mechanism can create independent variation in one sex or caste upon which selection may act.

• MeSH
• biologická evoluce * MeSH
• hmyz anatomie a histologie   fyziologie   MeSH
• pohlavní dimorfismus MeSH
• sociální chování MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• zvláštnosti životní historie * MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Methods of artificial evolution such as SELEX and in vitro selection have made it possible to isolate RNA and DNA motifs with a wide range of functions from large random sequence libraries. Once the primary sequence of a functional motif is known, the sequence space around it can be comprehensively explored using a combination of random mutagenesis and selection. However, methods to explore the sequence space of a secondary structure are not as well characterized. Here we address this question by describing a method to construct libraries in a single synthesis which are enriched for sequences with the potential to form a specific secondary structure, such as that of an aptamer, ribozyme, or deoxyribozyme. Although interactions such as base pairs cannot be encoded in a library using conventional DNA synthesizers, it is possible to modulate the probability that two positions will have the potential to pair by biasing the nucleotide composition at these positions. Here we show how to maximize this probability for each of the possible ways to encode a pair (in this study defined as A-U or U-A or C-G or G-C or G.U or U.G). We then use these optimized coding schemes to calculate the number of different variants of model stems and secondary structures expected to occur in a library for a series of structures in which the number of pairs and the extent of conservation of unpaired positions is systematically varied. Our calculations reveal a tradeoff between maximizing the probability of forming a pair and maximizing the number of possible variants of a desired secondary structure that can occur in the library. They also indicate that the optimal coding strategy for a library depends on the complexity of the motif being characterized. Because this approach provides a simple way to generate libraries enriched for sequences with the potential to form a specific secondary structure, we anticipate that it should be useful for the optimization and structural characterization of functional nucleic acid motifs.

• MeSH
• aptamery nukleotidové genetika   MeSH
• DNA katalytická genetika   MeSH
• genová knihovna * MeSH
• konformace nukleové kyseliny MeSH
• mutageneze MeSH
• nukleotidové motivy genetika   MeSH
• obrácené repetice genetika   MeSH
• párování bází MeSH
• pravděpodobnost MeSH
• řízená evoluce molekul metody   MeSH
• RNA katalytická genetika   MeSH
• syntetická biologie metody   MeSH
• techniky in vitro MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

This document summarizes key WHO publications in the field of air quality and health since the 1950s, which led to the development of the series of WHO air quality guidelines. It outlines the evolution of the scientific evidence on the health effects of air pollution and of its interpretation, supporting policy- and other decision-makers in setting outdoor and indoor air quality management strategies worldwide. Current WHO activities and their future directions in this field are also presented.

• MeSH
• látky znečišťující vzduch MeSH
• vystavení vlivu životního prostředí MeSH
• znečištění ovzduší MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

• Konspekt
• Veřejné zdraví a hygiena
• NLK Obory
• environmentální vědy
• NLK Publikační typ
• publikace WHO

Lizards are remarkable amongst amniotes, for they display a unique mosaic of reproduction modes ranging from egg-laying to live-bearing. Within this patchwork, geckoes are believed to represent the only group to ever have produced fully calcified rigid-shelled eggs, contrasting with the ubiquitous parchment shelled-eggs observed in other lineages. However, this hypothesis relies only on observations of modern taxa and fossilised gecko-like eggshells which have never been found in association with any embryonic or parental remains. We report here the first attested fossil eggs of lizards from the Early Cretaceous of Thailand, combining hard eggshells with exquisitely preserved embryos of anguimoph (e.g. Komodo dragons, mosasaurs). These fossils shed light on an apparently rare reproduction strategy of squamates, demonstrate that the evolution of rigid-shelled eggs are not an exclusive specialization of geckoes, and suggest a high plasticity in the reproductive organs mineralizing eggshells.

• MeSH
• biodiverzita MeSH
• ekologie a životní prostředí - jevy * MeSH
• embryo nesavčí * MeSH
• ještěři embryologie   fyziologie   MeSH
• kosti a kostní tkáň radiografie   MeSH
• molekulární evoluce * MeSH
• ovum * fyziologie   radiografie   MeSH
• rozmnožování MeSH
• vaječná skořápka MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

Cnidaria is the earliest-branching metazoan phylum containing a well-developed, lens-containing visual system located on specialized sensory structures called rhopalia. Each rhopalium in a cubozoan jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora has a large and a small complex, camera-type eye with a cellular lens containing distinct families of crystallins. Here, we have characterized J2-crystallin and its gene in T. cystophora. The J2-crystallin gene is composed of a single exon and encodes a 157-amino acid cytoplasmic protein with no apparent homology to known proteins from other species. The non-lens expression of J2-crystallin suggests nonoptical as well as crystallin functions consistent with the gene-sharing strategy that has been used during evolution of lens crystallins in other invertebrates and vertebrates. Although nonfunctional in transfected mammalian lens cells, the J2-crystallin promoter is activated by the jellyfish paired domain transcription factor PaxB in co-transfection tests via binding to three paired domain sites. PaxB paired domain-binding sites were also identified in the PaxB-regulated promoters of the J1A- and J1B-crystallin genes, which are not homologous to the J2-crystallin gene. Taken together with previous studies on the regulation of the diverse crystallin genes, the present report strongly supports the idea that crystallin recruitment of multifunctional proteins was driven by convergent changes involving Pax (as well as other transcription factors) in the promoters of nonhomologous genes within and between species as well as within gene families.

• MeSH
• buněčné linie MeSH
• Cercopithecus aethiops MeSH
• COS buňky MeSH
• Cubozoa genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• cytoplazma metabolismus   MeSH
• exony MeSH
• financování organizované MeSH
• klonování DNA MeSH
• krystaliny genetika   chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• molekulární evoluce MeSH
• molekulární sekvence - údaje MeSH
• oční čočka metabolismus   MeSH
• promotorové oblasti (genetika) MeSH
• regulace genové exprese MeSH
• sekvence nukleotidů MeSH
• transkripční faktory paired box genetika   metabolismus   metabolismus   MeSH
• vazebná místa MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH

This article deals with Gaussian process surrogate models for the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolutionary Strategy (CMA-ES)-several already existing and two by the authors recently proposed models are presented. The work discusses different variants of surrogate model exploitation and focuses on the benefits of employing the Gaussian process uncertainty prediction, especially during the selection of points for the evaluation with a surrogate model. The experimental part of the article thoroughly compares and evaluates the five presented Gaussian process surrogate and six other state-of-the-art optimizers on the COCO benchmarks. The algorithm presented in most detail, DTS-CMA-ES, which combines cheap surrogate-model predictions with the objective function evaluations in every iteration, is shown to approach the function optimum at least comparably fast and often faster than the state-of-the-art black-box optimizers for budgets of roughly 25-100 function evaluations per dimension, in 10- and less-dimensional spaces even for 25-250 evaluations per dimension.

• MeSH
• algoritmy * MeSH
• biologická evoluce * MeSH
• normální rozdělení MeSH
• počítačová simulace MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH