whether a specific plant or animal is present. But mislabelling is rampant so researchers do not always know what to look for
or animals they come from. This'deep sequencing'technique has been used to characterize mixtures of microbes living in environments such as oceans and animal guts.
The researchers also found DNA from eight genera of vertebrate animals. Genetic material from the critically endangered Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) was present in one powder;
or decorated with the outline of a bear contained traces of DNA from the Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus),
Nearly half of the medicine samples tested for animal DNA contained genetic material from multiple animals,
and more than three-quarters included DNA from animals not listed on the packaging, such as water buffalo, domestic cows and goats."
Monkey genetics track social statusimagebroker/FLPAGROOMING is one way in which rhesus macaques show deference and curry favour.
and her colleagues studied 49 captive female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). At the start of the study, all the animals had a medium social rank,
judged by the access they got to food, water and grooming. The researchers divided the monkeys into ten new groups, where their social ranks changed.
Typically, the first animal assigned to a group had the highest ranking and the last the lowest,
which meant that its social stress increased, as it experienced more bullying and found it harder to get resources.
Tung and her colleagues analysed blood samples from the monkeys for differences in gene expression. Of the 6, 097 genes tested
whether an animal was high, middle or low ranking with 80%accuracy, on the basis of gene expression alone.
Increased activity in immune-system genes, particularly those related to inflammation, was twice as common among low-ranking monkeys as would be expected by chance.
although the study did not look at the monkeys'health. The changes did not seem permanent.
Analysing samples from seven monkeys that changed rank a second time when other animals entered the group showed that their gene expression responded rapidly,
and predictably, to match their new status."It suggests a lot of plasticity in our gene expression response to our social environment,
which genes get turned on and off in insects and fish, but this is the first study to look at nonhuman primates,
says Tung. Research has shown also the health consequences of low social status on both animals and humans.
One investigation, known as the Whitehall study2, found that low-ranking British civil servants suffer higher rates of illness and death than their superiors.
The results of the macaque study are"potentially highly relevant to humans because they confirm that health depends on social status,
and not vice versa, says Michael Marmot, an epidemiologist at University college London, who led the Whitehall study."
The macaque study suggests potential mechanisms for the Whitehall study's findings, Marmot adds. The link between genes and social status may be more difficult to tease out in humans than in monkeys,
says Tung, owing to the greater complexity of our society. The monkey experiment is an"important study,
says Dario Maestripieri, a behavioural biologist at the University of Chicago, Illinois. But, he adds,
researchers should replicate the experiment using bigger groups that include males, to see if the effect is seen in a more natural social situation.
and is hoping to examine how social rank affects the macaques'susceptibility to infection
Million-year-old ash hints at origins of cookinggreatstock Photographic Library/Alamythe plant and animal ash was found thirty metres inside the Wonderwerk Cave beyond the reach of a lightning strike.
Berna and his colleagues searched the sediments for bat faeces, because large piles of rotting guano can become hot enough to ignite spontaneously.
and carbon-storage potential than others, says William Laurance, a forest-conservation scientist at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia.
Tomato genome sequence bears fruitthe genome sequence of one of the world s highest-value salad plants the tomato has been decoded by an international team of scientists,
They also hope it will help in the development of tomatoes that can survive pests, pathogens and even climate change,
The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica was known already to affect the standard skin test for btb, but it was unclear
questions whether the liver fluke hides infections.""Cattle carcasses are inspected in abattoirs and we would see evidence of TB in the slaughtered animals
if this was the case, a spokesperson said in a statement. The authors of the Nature Communications study hypothesize that cows display fewer symptoms
showing that animals with preexisting tuberculosis had reduced sensitivity to the skin test when they were infected with liver fluke2.
animals that test positive are destroyed and the herd is retested. But the strategy isn t working.
Eradicating liver fluke could increase the sensitivity of the skin test and allow better control of infected cattle,
Badgers have been blamed for spreading btb between farms, and after a fraught debate the UK government last year announced a badger cull in England.
The Welsh government backed out of the trial last month. David Williams, chairman of the UK charity, the Badger Trust, believes the decision to cull should be reassessed in light of the new research."
"The unreliability allows disease to remain undetected, and badgers are blamed when infected cows are found later,
he says.""We have queried frequently the accuracy of testing, only to be told it is acceptable by EU standards
Human liver flukes are rife in tropical and subtropical regions, and btb causes 10%of human tuberculosis deaths in Africa."
Liver fluke could also explain epidemiological mysteries, such as why btb has gained never a foothold in northwest England."
who has become frustrated by the badger-centric debate.""If this can make people look more at epidemiology than politics,
says agronomist Harold Coble at the Office of Pest Management Policy in Raleigh, North carolina, part of the US Department of agriculture (USDA), who notes that 383 known weed varieties have the genetic defences to survive one or more herbicides."
A key factor in this progress has been improved control of mosquitoes, which transmit the Plasmodium parasite a potent killer that claimed an estimated 655,000 lives in 2010 alone.
But health officials fear that the spread of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes could bring about a resurgence of the disease.
To help combat this threat, on 15 Â May the World health organization (WHO), based in Geneva,
WHOTHE WHO report says that insecticide-resistant mosquitoes already inhabit 64 Â malaria-ridden countries (see map.
where mosquitoes are frequently resistant to compounds known as pyrethroids and even to the organochloride DDT, venerable tools of mosquito control.
Because they are extremely safe for children, effective against mosquitoes and affordable, pyrethroids are the only insecticides used to treat bed nets,
and other insecticides favours resistant mosquitoes.""In 2004, there were pockets of resistance in Africa, and now there are pockets of susceptibility,
Their spending on mosquito control is already high in 2009,39%of the Global Fund s malaria expenditures went towards insecticide-treated bed nets and household spraying,
It is also one of several companies partnering with the IVCC to create innovative mosquito-control products.
for instance, mosquitoes regained susceptibility to pyrethroids after five years of treatment with an organophosphate. But some African countries lack the surveillance needed to spur such an approach.
Because pigs mimic these human diseases more closely than mice, they are desirable models for drug testing
However, as the first company to seek approval for a disease model in a GE animal that could, in theory,
Nevertheless, the company remains hopeful that its pigs will skirt the hardships that have befallen other GE animals in the pipeline.
As early as 1999, the FDA spoke about the promise of GE animals for both food and pharmaceutical purposes.
however, FDA approvals for two GE food animals have stalled: a salmon with a gene prompting faster growth,
and environmental groups are concerned that transgenic animals might escape and interbreed with wild populations. In April, amid the delays, the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada,
Nonetheless, Swart is worried about the regulatory process for new animal drugs (NAD), which applies to all GE animals,
whether they re bred to produce food, drugs or, in Swart s case, disease.""The NAD process doesn t fit us real well,
Exemplar must ensure that no unintended consequences befall the animals themselves. But Swart points out that diseases have variable symptoms."
a handful of investigators at US universities have begun already to study how diseases develop in the transgenic animals.
If a scientist in Iowa sends tissue from one of the animals to a colleague in California,
such as that granted to transgenic mice, but so far the FDA has provided not one. Although delays have driven nearly other GE animal companies under,
000 years ago it would have been more lush landscape capable of supporting dairy animals. The Takarkori shelter and others nearby are home to vivid and colourful rock art depicting cattle, some with full udders,
whether the animals were kept for meat, dairying or other uses. Evershed and Dunne hoped to overcome these problems by examining fat residues left on the pottery shards.
Carbon isotopes from milk fat can also point to the sorts of food the dairy animals ate
potentially suggesting that the people milking the animals moved around a lot, Evershed says. They may even have grazed their cattle up and down mountains,
The 19 Â June report, chaired by sociologist Janet Finch at the University of Manchester,
and other cloven-hoofed animals, would have devastating consequences for the US cattle industry were it to emerge in domestic herds.
which diseases in large animals can be studied. Â"I think all of us recognize the need to advance our research
Preemptive treatment of children living in regions where the mosquito-transmitted disease is prevalent only during the rainy season could avert 11 million cases and 50,000 deaths a year.
After the iconic giant tortoise died last month, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa mourned the reptile s loss in an address to the nation,
expressing hope that one day, science and technology will be able to reproduce him, to clone him.
George was the last of the Pinta tortoises (Chelonoidis abingdoni), and it is too soon to know
George s death is already offering hope for other giant tortoises. Last week, Nature joined experts in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa cruz for an international workshop dedicated to the memory of Lonesome George. The meeting aimed to galvanize efforts to prevent the loss of other Galapagos tortoise
species and their habitats.""One species is very important, but most important are the ecosystems,
Conservationists launched a long and frustrating campaign to persuade the reptile to mate with females from other Galapagos islands1.
Within hours, Llerena was helping to carry the tortoise s corpse, trussed onto a wooden frame, into a chilled storage chamber.
Cruz found nothing obviously wrong with the tortoise; she concluded that he probably died of natural causes.
explains Oliver Ryder, a geneticist at San diego Zoo in California and champion of the Frozen Zoo,
ten species of Galapagos tortoise remain. The reptiles populations have suffered as a result of hunting, habitat destruction and the introduction of destructive species over the past few hundred years;
some are now on the increase as a result of conservation efforts, but with a tortoise typically taking 20-30 Â years to reach sexual maturity,
recovery has been very slow. Last week s workshop took several years to organize, and one subject on the agenda was what to do with George in the event of his death,
the workshop focused on its main goal of thrashing out a ten-year plan to preserve the surviving animals (see Endangered Galapagos giants).
will be a single set of recommendations that can be delivered to the Galapagos National park. The meeting also began work to review the status of the Galapagos tortoises on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species
. The tortoises Red List entries date from 1996 and are need in urgent of revision, says Peter Paul Van dijk, co-chairman of the IUCN/Species Survival Commission Tortoise and Fresh  water Turtle Specialist Group,
who attended the meeting. Some Galapagos tortoises could have their threat categories downgraded. But the Pinta tortoise  still listed as Extinct in the Wild  will be recategorized as Extinct.
To some visitors, the giant tortoises on one island of the Galapagos might look much the same as those on another.
But as Charles darwin came to appreciate after his brief sojourn in the Galapagos in 1835,
each island or main volcano seems to have its own distinct type of tortoise, and all are diverging into separate species. Genetic differences suggest that Lonesome George s own ancestors somehow travelled to Pinta from the island of Espa  ola about 300,000  years ago,
and had been diverging from their relatives ever since. From a management perspective,"each island is totally different,
who was one of the first researchers to carry out an in depth study3 of the behavioural ecology of giant tortoises, in the early 1980s."
"Pinz  n has rats. Santiago had pigs and goats. Pinta had goats, but only for 20  years.
One of the most fascinating populations lives around Wolf volcano at the northern tip of the island of Isabela.
In a study4 based on blood samples from a few dozen individuals, she found evidence that tortoises from Espa  ola and San Crist  bal had crossed more than 250  kilometres
of sea to reach Wolf, probably carried by pirates and whalers. Using DNA from museum specimens
6 that Wolf is also harbouring descendants of the long-lost Floreana lineage and the recently lost Pinta one.
The researchers hope to mount a return expedition to Wolf volcano next year, in an effort to locate the Floreana-and Pinta-like tortoises.
In theory, these animals could be taken off Wolf volcano for captive breeding. Floreana has been affected heavily by habitat destruction
and introduced species, and has been without tortoises for more than 150 Â years. But the Floreana-like tortoises on Wolf could help with a long-term project to restore the island s ecology.
The situation on Pinta is more urgent and waiting for a captive-breeding programme to bear fruit may not be an option.
Much of the island s original vegetation is intact, but without tortoises  once the island s dominant herbivore  there is a danger that some plant species could be choked out and lost.
If a rapid solution cannot be found using tortoises of Pinta pedigree, it looks increasingly likely that conservationists will introduce a species from another island."
"Given that tortoises from Espa  ola founded the original population that landed on Pinta
and evolved into the Pinta tortoises, I don t see a problem with us repopulating that island with Espa  ola tortoises,
says Cayot. The Espa  ola tortoise was once on the brink of extinction, but now there are more than 1, 700 of the reptiles,
and conservationists can afford to consider transferring some of them to Pinta. This kind of deliberate introduction is unprecedented in the Galapagos,
however, so researchers are cautious. As a precursor experiment, almost 40 Â sterilized hybrid tortoises have been introduced to Pinta
and are being tracked by satellite to see what impact they have on the ecosystem. For Cayot, introducing a breeding population of tortoises to Pinta is a much more rational proposal than a plan that relies on cloning Lonesome George."In 100,000 Â years, through evolutionary processes,
we ll have a Pinta tortoise in Galapagos, she says.""100,000 Â years is a time frame
I can deal with
Food science deserves a place at the tablealthough it typically commands less attention than many areas of government-funded research,
agricultural science accounts for roughly $2 billion of this year's US federal budget. A key component of this spending is the $705 million allocated to the US National Institute of Food
His research has focused on the fundamental nature of the relationships between plants and insects and the development of tools for managing insect pests.
Two months into his new role Ramaswamy chatted with Nature about NIFA research, working with a tight budget,
and the Hanoi School of Public health in Vietnam, analysed 1, 000 surveys of disease covering 10 million people and 6 million animals.
For example, the study estimates that one in eight livestock animals in poor countries are affected by brucellosis,
and African elephant poaching levels are at their highest for a decade, according to a 21 june report from the United nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Pharma fines Drug giant Glaxosmithkline will pay US$3 billion in fines for enormous health-care fraud.
says William Laurance, a forest-conservation scientist at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. Indonesia, the world s largest grower of oil palms (see Palm sprouts),
a viral disease so lethal to the animals that it has been likened to Ebola. The spread of the disease comes with a heavy economic toll last year,
Scientists first encountered African swine fever in the 1920s in domestic pigs in Kenya, where the vicious haemorrhagic fever felled nearly every animal infected.
for example, exposing whole shipments of uninfected animals. Biosecurity measures, such as scrubbing trucks and decontaminating farmers before they enter
around 94%of the soya beans and 88%of the maize (corn) grown in the United states is engineered genetically to resist herbicides, insect pests or both, according to the US Department of agriculture.
Meat from animals fed on GM CROPS would not need to be labelled. Bob Goldberg, a plant geneticist at the University of California, Los angeles, says the proposition is"anti-science,
and insects have evolved resistance to the modified crops3. Seed companies can counter this by engineering new crops that are resistant to additional herbicides such as a new soya bean developed by Dow Agrosciences of Indianapolis,
Jaguars, lowland tapirs, woolly spider-monkeys and giant anteaters are almost absent in Brazilian northeastern forests, which are among the most ancient and threatened tropical ecosystems on the planet.
and the United kingdom, focused on populations of 18 mammal species in 196 forest fragments, within an area of more than 250,000 square kilometres.
The researchers estimated the population density of the mammals from before European colonists arrived roughly 500 years ago,
Only three species (two small monkeys and one armadillo) are still present across the region.
even big forest patches are in fact largely empty of mammals a proxy for the general health of the ecosystem."
Estimates of earlier mammal populations were based on the relationship between forest area and its capacity to support various species
Canale and his co-authors spent two years driving along dirt roads in three Brazilian states to interview local people about the presence of large mammals."
"In most places, jaguars, tapirs, woolly spider-monkeys and white-lipped peccaries weren t even in living memory,
-or shooting animals themselves.""What we need is protected for large areas to be surrounded by landscapes that allow for gene flows.
Chandrayaan-1. Primate transport Air china said on 31 Â July that it would stop shipments of nonhuman primates for research.
The move followed sustained campaigning from animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA),
which has led to many major air carriers refusing to fly primates bound for research centres (see Nature 483,381-382;
) PETA says that China Eastern is the only major airline now known to be flying primates out of China the country that last year transported more than 70%of the primates bound for US labs. See go. nature. com/ckhq93
A. DI MEO/EPA/CORBISITALIAN dog-breeding facility at risk One of the largest suppliers of beagles (pictured) for mandatory drug testing in Europe could struggle to survive after an Italian court ordered its temporary closure
and granted guardianship of the dogs to the animal-rights groups that filed charges of maltreatment.
By 6 Â August, some 1, 400 beagles had been placed in private homes; they will not be allowed to return to Green Hill
In past decades, outbreaks ripped through herds and wiped out up to 90%of animals, often leaving famine,
To identify labs that might still hold rinder  pest virus, the FAO carried out extensive literature searches,
whether vaccines can be developed against another related virus, the sheep and goat disease called peste des petits ruminants,
Arctic drilling stops Plans to drill for oil and gas resources off the coast of Alaska have been abandoned following damage to oil containers on the spill-cleanup barge Arctic Challenger,
The setback means that the mission no longer meets the safety requirements for a permit to drill specific wells. Shell will continue to bore exploratory top holes in the Chukchi sea in preparation for further drilling,
Chimp research cut The US National institutes of health (NIH) is ending its funding for chimpanzee work at the largest centre for such research that it supports.
The agency will retire 110 Â chimpanzees from the New Iberia Research center, part of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
There are still 308 Â chimpanzees available for invasive experiments at two other NIH-supported centres;
the agency says that these animals are sufficient for dwindling research needs. See go. nature. com/8mkgnf for more.
Rat study sparks GM furoreeurope has never been particularly fond of genetically modified (GM) foods, but a startling research paper published last week looks set to harden public and political opposition even further,
and Chemical Toxicology, looked for adverse health effects in rats fed NK603 maize (corn), developed by biotech company Monsanto to resist the herbicide glyphosate
It reported that the rats developed higher levels of cancers had larger cancerous tumours and died earlier than controls.
The rats were monitored for two years (almost their whole life  span), making this the first long-term study of maize containing these specific genes.
An earlier test of NK603 maize in rats in a 90-day feeding trial the current regulatory norm sponsored by Monsanto showed no adverse effects3.
Other scientists point out that the Sprague-Dawley strain of rats used in the experiments has been shown to be susceptible to developing tumours spontaneously,
such as claims that graphs in the paper showing rat survival over time do not include data for the controls.
The authors concede that Sprague-Dawley rats may not be the best model for such long-term studies,
but argue that the difference between the NK603-fed rats and controls is marked, and that many fewer control rats developed tumours in middle age.
The 90-day trial of Monsanto s NK603 maize used in its authorization also used Sprague-Dawley rats,
Job swapping makes its mark on honeybee DNASUBTLE differences in the DNA of honeybees are reflected in the bees'roles within the hive.
All honeybees (Apis mellifera) are born equal, but this situation doesn t last long. Although genetically identical, the bees soon take on the specific roles of queen or worker.
These roles are defined not just by behavioural differences, but by physical ones. Underlying them are minor modifications to their DNA:
Once a bee is a queen or worker, they fulfil that role for life the change is irreversible.
which look after and feed the queen and larvae, and most then go on to become foragers,
which travel out from the hive in search of pollen. Again the two types have very different methylation patterns in their DNA.
and Gro Amdam of Arizona State university in Tempe, the researchers coaxed forager bees back into nursing roles by removing all the nurses from the hive
But Amdam says that the fact that honeybees can revert to a previous role indicates that there is a kind of epigenetic roadmap."
reminded us of the need to monitor animals such as pigs that can host the development of dangerous viral strains.
and his colleagues have isolated a new strain of H1n2 influenza from Korean pigs that kills infected ferrets the model animal of choice for influenza work
Like that responsible for the 2009 pandemic, the new strain, known as Sw/1204, is a'triple-reassortant'virus that is, one with genes from avian, swine and human flu.
Most of these viruses did not cause any signs of serious disease in ferrets. Sw/1204 was the exception.
It replicated in the airways and lungs of three infected ferrets killing one and causing such severe disease in the others that they had to be euthanized.
The virus also spread through the air to infect three healthy ferrets that were housed in cages next to infected ones.
Vietnam, says that the study"certainly underscores the need for surveillance of mammals. But he adds that humans, poultry,
wild birds and other species are also important targets for surveillance, and endemic countries have limited resources."
Recent experiments show how Avian flu may become transmissible among mammals. In an era of constant and rapid international travel,
The development of new countermeasures, from diagnostics to antibiotics and antivirals to respirators, will help protect human lives in the face of new bugs and superbugs.
says William Laurance, a conservation biologist at James Cook University in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.""Much of this forest disruption is illegal,
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011