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Silvia E Pavan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a revision of the Monodelphis glirina group didelphidae marmosini with a description of a new species from roraima brazil
Journal of Mammalogy, 2019Co-Authors: Silvia E PavanAbstract:Short-tailed opossums of the nominotypical subgenus Monodelphis occur throughout most of the cis-Andean lowlands of tropical South America. Among its member species, a monophyletic group that includes M. glirina (Amazonian red-sided opossum), M. sanctaerosae (Santa Rosa short-tailed opossum), and an unnamed taxon, herein referred to as the Monodelphis glirina group, is the focus of this paper. I provide an emended diagnosis for species of the group, information about geographic variation in M. glirina (including M. maraxina [Marajo short-tailed opossum]), and a formal description for the unnamed taxon mentioned above. The new species, known from two savanna localities in northeastern Roraima, is geographically disjunct from its closer relatives, M. glirina and M. sanctaerosae, only known to occur south of the Amazon. The new species differs from other congeneric taxa by a set of morphological characters and by DNA sequences.
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a new species of Monodelphis didelphimorphia didelphidae from the brazilian amazon
American Museum Novitates, 2017Co-Authors: Silvia E Pavan, Ana Cristina Mendesoliveira, Robert S VossAbstract:ABSTRACT We describe a new species of the didelphid marsupial genus Monodelphis from Brazil, where it appears to be widely distributed in the states of Para, Mato Grosso, Rondonia, and Acre. Monodelphis saci, new species, belongs to the subgenus Mygalodelphys, and analyses of DNA sequence data suggest that it is most closely related to M. handleyi, M. osgoodi, and M. peruviana. Diagnostic morphological traits include pelage coloration, qualitative aspects of craniodental morphology, and a distinctive range of morphometric variation. The new species has sometimes been misidentified in the literature as M. kunsi, a distinct but apparently allopatric taxon. Monodelphis saci occurs sympatrically with M. emiliae, M. glirina, and M. touan in the rainforested lowlands south of the Amazon River.
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a revised subgeneric classification of short tailed opossums didelphidae Monodelphis
American Museum Novitates, 2016Co-Authors: Silvia E Pavan, Robert S VossAbstract:ABSTRACT Members of the didelphid marsupial genus Monodelphis have previously been classified into species groups, but such informal subdivisions are inconsistent among authors and have contributed little but confusion to the taxonomic history of the genus. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies, however, have consistently recovered several strongly supported multispecies clades that merit formal recognition. Here we define and illustrate morphological characters that are useful for diagnosing these monophyletic groups, which we name and rank as subgenera to conserve binomial usage: Monodelphis Burnett, 1830 (for M. arlindoi, M. brevicaudata, M. domestica, M. glirina, M. palliolata, M. sanctaerosae, and M. touan), Microdelphys Burmeister, 1856 (for M. americana, M. gardneri, M. iheringi, and M. scalops), Monodelphiops Matschie, 1916 (for M. dimidiata and M. unistriata); Mygalodelphys, new subgenus (for M. adusta, M. handleyi, M. kunsi, M. osgoodi, M. peruviana, M. pinocchio, M. reigi, and M. ronaldi); and ...
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a new species of Monodelphis didelphimorphia didelphidae from the brazilian atlantic forest
American Museum Novitates, 2015Co-Authors: Silvia E PavanAbstract:ABSTRACT A new species of the didelphid marsupial genus Monodelphis is described from southeastern Brazil. The new species is closely related to Monodelphis kunsi Pine, 1975, and other members of the M. adusta group, but differs from those species and from other congeneric taxa by unique external and cranial characters and by cytochrome-b and nuclear DNA sequences. Diagnostic morphological characters of the new species include uniformly brownish dorsolateral pelage without distinct stripes or other sharp pigment discontinuities; diminutive eyes and ears; a remarkably long and narrow rostrum; apparent loss of an interparietal ossification; and the presence of diastemata between C1 and P1, P1 and P2, c1 and p1, p1 and p2, and p2 and p3. The new species is known from the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) of southeastern Brazil, where it occurs sympatrically with four other congeners (M. americana, M. iheringi, M. scalops, M. dimidiata) and seems to be restricted to montane habitats.
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rate of evolutionary change in cranial morphology of the marsupial genus Monodelphis is constrained by the availability of additive genetic variation
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2015Co-Authors: Arthur Porto, John L Vandeberg, Silvia E Pavan, Harley Sebastiao, Gabriel Marroig, James M CheverudAbstract:We tested the hypothesis that the rate of marsupial cranial evolution is dependent on the distribution of genetic variation in multivariate space. To do so, we carried out a genetic analysis of cranial morphological variation in laboratory strains of Monodelphis domestica and used estimates of genetic covariation to analyse the morphological diversification of the Monodelphis brevicaudata species group. We found that within-species genetic variation is concentrated in only a few axes of the morphospace and that this strong genetic covariation influenced the rate of morphological diversification of the brevicaudata group, with between-species divergence occurring fastest when occurring along the genetic line of least resistance. Accounting for the geometric distribution of genetic variation also increased our ability to detect the selective regimen underlying species diversification, with several instances of selection only being detected when genetic covariances were taken into account. Therefore, this work directly links patterns of genetic covariation among traits to macroevolutionary patterns of morphological divergence. Our findings also suggest that the limited distribution of Monodelphis species in morphospace is the result of a complex interplay between the limited dimensionality of available genetic variation and strong stabilizing selection along two major axes of genetic variation.
Robert S Voss - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a new species of Monodelphis didelphimorphia didelphidae from the brazilian amazon
American Museum Novitates, 2017Co-Authors: Silvia E Pavan, Ana Cristina Mendesoliveira, Robert S VossAbstract:ABSTRACT We describe a new species of the didelphid marsupial genus Monodelphis from Brazil, where it appears to be widely distributed in the states of Para, Mato Grosso, Rondonia, and Acre. Monodelphis saci, new species, belongs to the subgenus Mygalodelphys, and analyses of DNA sequence data suggest that it is most closely related to M. handleyi, M. osgoodi, and M. peruviana. Diagnostic morphological traits include pelage coloration, qualitative aspects of craniodental morphology, and a distinctive range of morphometric variation. The new species has sometimes been misidentified in the literature as M. kunsi, a distinct but apparently allopatric taxon. Monodelphis saci occurs sympatrically with M. emiliae, M. glirina, and M. touan in the rainforested lowlands south of the Amazon River.
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a revised subgeneric classification of short tailed opossums didelphidae Monodelphis
American Museum Novitates, 2016Co-Authors: Silvia E Pavan, Robert S VossAbstract:ABSTRACT Members of the didelphid marsupial genus Monodelphis have previously been classified into species groups, but such informal subdivisions are inconsistent among authors and have contributed little but confusion to the taxonomic history of the genus. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies, however, have consistently recovered several strongly supported multispecies clades that merit formal recognition. Here we define and illustrate morphological characters that are useful for diagnosing these monophyletic groups, which we name and rank as subgenera to conserve binomial usage: Monodelphis Burnett, 1830 (for M. arlindoi, M. brevicaudata, M. domestica, M. glirina, M. palliolata, M. sanctaerosae, and M. touan), Microdelphys Burmeister, 1856 (for M. americana, M. gardneri, M. iheringi, and M. scalops), Monodelphiops Matschie, 1916 (for M. dimidiata and M. unistriata); Mygalodelphys, new subgenus (for M. adusta, M. handleyi, M. kunsi, M. osgoodi, M. peruviana, M. pinocchio, M. reigi, and M. ronaldi); and ...
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a Phylogenetic Puzzle from the Chaco of Northern
2015Co-Authors: Robert S Voss, Alfred L. Gardner, Sharon A JansaAbstract:The holotype and only known specimen of Marmosa formosa Shamel, a nominal species currently synonymized with Gracilinanus agilis Burmeister, is strikingly unlike any other known didelphid marsupial. Phylogenetic analyses based on nonmolecular characters and IRBP sequences suggest that formosa is either the sister-taxon of Thylamys (including Lestodelphys) or Monodelphis. Because neither alternative is strongly supported by the data at hand, and because including formosa in Thylamys or in Monodelphis would compromise the diagnosa-bility of those taxa, a new genus—Chacodelphys—is proposed to contain it. Currently known only from northern Argentina, Chacodelphys formosa may be widely distributed in the Chaco and other adjacent Neotropical biomes
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molecular phylogeny of short tailed opossums didelphidae Monodelphis taxonomic implications and tests of evolutionary hypotheses
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2014Co-Authors: Sharon A Jansa, Silvia E Pavan, Robert S VossAbstract:Abstract Short-tailed opossums (genus Monodelphis ) represent one of the most speciose clades of New World marsupials, with 26 currently recognized species that collectively range from eastern Panama to northern Argentina. Here we present the first phylogenetic analyses of the genus based on dense taxonomic sampling and multiple genes. From most sampled species we obtained >4800 bp of DNA sequence from one mitochondrial gene (CYTB), two autosomal exons (IRBP exon 1, BRCA1 exon 11), one autosomal intron (SLC38 intron 7), and one X-linked intron (OGT intron 14). Maximum-parsimony, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses of these data strongly support the monophyly of Monodelphis and recover six major clades within the genus. Additionally, our analyses support previous suggestions that several nominal taxa are synonyms of other species ( M. “ sorex ” of M. dimidiata , M. “ theresa ” of M. scalops , M. “ rubida ” and M. “ umbristriata ” of M. americana , and M. “ maraxina ” of M. glirina ). By contrast, four unnamed lineages recovered by our analyses may represent new species. Reconstructions of ancestral states of two discrete characters—dorsal pelage color pattern and habitat—suggest that the most recent common ancestor of Monodelphis was uniformly colored (with unpatterned dorsal pelage) and inhabited moist forest. Whereas some dorsal pelage patterns appear to have evolved homoplastically in Monodelphis , dorsal stripes may have had a unique historical origin in this genus.
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a new species of the didelphid marsupial genus Monodelphis from eastern bolivia
American Museum Novitates, 2012Co-Authors: Robert S Voss, Ronald H Pine, Sergio SolariAbstract:ABSTRACT A new species of the didelphid marsupial genus Monodelphis is described from the eastern Bolivian province of Santa Cruz. The new species, currently known from a single specimen, belongs to the M. brevicaudata group but differs from other taxa within that clade (M. brevicaudata, M. domestica, M. glirina, M. maraxina, and M. palliolata) in size, qualitative morphological characters, and cytochrome-b gene sequences.
Leah Krubitzer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Comparison of mammalian RBC morphologies.
2018Co-Authors: Nicolas D. Lutz, Leah Krubitzer, Emina Lemes, Shaun P. Collin, Silke Haverkamp, Leo PeichlAbstract:Drawings of RBCs of the gray short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica and the fat-tailed dunnart Sminthopsis crassicaudata (PKCα immunolabel, present study), of the house mouse Mus musculus (dye-injected cell, modified from Fig 8 in [45]), and of Seba's short-tailed bat Carollia perspicillata (dye-injected cell, modified from Fig 7 in [40]). The gray lines divide the IPL into five equal strata S1 –S5. In Monodelphis and mouse, the OFF (outer) sublayer of the IPL is made up of the top two strata S1 and S2 (gray shading), the ON (inner) sublayer is made up of strata S3–S5. In Sminthopsis, the OFF sublayer includes S1 and a large part of S2, and in Carollia, it includes S1 and only a small part of S2. The positions of the outer (OFF) and the inner (ON) band of cholinergic amacrine cell processes (ChAT bands) are indicated in red. Drawings are scaled to equal IPL thickness.
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Transverse sections of the Monodelphis domestica retina.
2018Co-Authors: Nicolas D. Lutz, Leah Krubitzer, Emina Lemes, Shaun P. Collin, Silke Haverkamp, Leo PeichlAbstract:(A) The electron micrograph of an ultrathin transverse section shows a typical retinal layering as seen in nocturnal placental mammals. The thickest layer is the outer nuclear layer (ONL), containing the photoreceptor somata. (B) Immunolabeling of a transverse cryostat section for rod opsin (yellow) shows the densely packed rod outer segments; counterstaining with DAPI (blue) shows the retinal layers. (C) Double-immunolabeling of a transverse cryostat section for shortwave-sensitive SWS1 (green) and middle-to-longwave-sensitive LWS cone opsin (red) shows the opsin-containing cone outer segments of the sparse cone populations; counterstaining with DAPI (blue). Images in (B) and (C) are maximum intensity projections of confocal image stacks. RPE, retinal pigment epithelium; OS, photoreceptor outer segments; IS, photoreceptor inner segments; OPL, outer plexiform layer; INL, inner nuclear layer; IPL, inner plexiform layer, GCL, ganglion cell layer. Scale bar in (B) applies to (B, C).
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Cortical plasticity following stripe rearing in the marsupial Monodelphis domestica: neural response properties of V1
Journal of neurophysiology, 2016Co-Authors: James C. Dooley, Michaela S. Donaldson, Leah KrubitzerAbstract:These results are the first description of visual response properties of the most commonly studied marsupial model organism, the short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). Further, these results...
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Visual acuity in the short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica).
Neuroscience, 2012Co-Authors: James C. Dooley, Hoang Nguyen, Adele M. H. Seelke, Leah KrubitzerAbstract:Monodelphis domestica (short-tailed opossum) is an emerging animal model for studies of neural development due to the extremely immature state of the nervous system at birth and its subsequent rapid growth to adulthood. Yet little is known about its normal sensory discrimination abilities. In the present investigation, visual acuity was determined in this species using the optokinetic test (OPT), which relies on involuntary head tracking of a moving stimulus and can be easily elicited using a rotating visual stimulus of varying spatial frequencies. Using this methodology, we determined that the acuity of Monodelphis is 0.58 cycles per degree (cpd), which is similar to the acuity of rats using the same methodology, and higher than in mice. However, acuity in the short-tailed opossum is lower than in other marsupials. This is in part due to the methodology used to determine acuity, but may also be due to differences in diel patterns, lifestyle and phylogeny. We demonstrate that for the short-tailed opossum, the OPT is a rapid and reliable method of determining a baseline acuity and can be used to study enhanced acuities due to cortical plasticity.
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normal organ weights serum chemistry hematology and cecal and nasopharyngeal bacterial cultures in the gray short tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica
Journal of The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, 2010Co-Authors: Kristin D Evans, Leah Krubitzer, Terry Hewett, Cindy J Clayton, Stephen M GriffeyAbstract:Gray short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica) currently are used in genetic, developmental, oncology, and neurologic research. Little is known about their natural flora or potential for pathogenic infectious disease. The present study aims to improve existing comparative normal blood and organ weight values available to researchers and to describe flora of clinically normal M. domestica to obtain an understanding of potential pathogenic flora in clinically abnormal animals. For evaluation of serum hematology and serum chemistry, clinically normal animals were assigned to 1 of 6 groups stratified by age (younger than 1 y, 1 to 2 y, and 2 to 3 y) and sex. Hemoglobin and phosphorus levels were higher in male than female opossums, whereas monocyte and eosinophil counts were greater in females than males. Hemoglobin concentration decreased with increasing age. The youngest group had significantly higher levels of serum alkaline phosphatase and lower serum protein levels compared with older age groups. Liver and kidney weights of adult animals (1 to 3 y) were greater in female than male opossums. The predominant nasopharyngeal flora in 20 clinically normal animals from the 2- to 3-y-old group were Streptococcus viridans, Escherichia coli, and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp.; predominant cecal organisms were Escherichia coli and Citrobacter spp. The availability of reference hematologic values and flora for Monodelphis domestica will aid researchers in comparisons and analysis of experimental data and in diagnosis and evaluation of potential pathogens in clinically ill animals.
Kevin R. Nicholas - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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gene expression profiling of postnatal lung development in the marsupial gray short tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica highlights conserved developmental pathways and specific characteristics during lung organogenesis
BMC Genomics, 2018Co-Authors: Vengamanaidu Modepalli, Kevin R. Nicholas, Amit Kumar, Julie A Sharp, Norman R Saunders, Christophe LefevreAbstract:After a short gestation, marsupials give birth to immature neonates with lungs that are not fully developed and in early life the neonate partially relies on gas exchange through the skin. Therefore, significant lung development occurs after birth in marsupials in contrast to eutherian mammals such as humans and mice where lung development occurs predominantly in the embryo. To explore the mechanisms of marsupial lung development in comparison to eutherians, morphological and gene expression analysis were conducted in the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). Postnatal lung development of Monodelphis involves three key stages of development: (i) transition from late canalicular to early saccular stages, (ii) saccular and (iii) alveolar stages, similar to developmental stages overlapping the embryonic and perinatal period in eutherians. Differentially expressed genes were identified and correlated with developmental stages. Functional categories included growth factors, extracellular matrix protein (ECMs), transcriptional factors and signalling pathways related to branching morphogenesis, alveologenesis and vascularisation. Comparison with published data on mice highlighted the conserved importance of extracellular matrix remodelling and signalling pathways such as Wnt, Notch, IGF, TGFβ, retinoic acid and angiopoietin. The comparison also revealed changes in the mammalian gene expression program associated with the initiation of alveologenesis and birth, pointing to subtle differences between the non-functional embryonic lung of the eutherian mouse and the partially functional developing lung of the marsupial Monodelphis neonates. The data also highlighted a subset of contractile proteins specifically expressed in Monodelphis during and after alveologenesis. The results provide insights into marsupial lung development and support the potential of the marsupial model of postnatal development towards better understanding of the evolution of the mammalian bronchioalveolar lung.
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Gene expression profiling of postnatal lung development in the marsupial gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) highlights conserved developmental pathways and specific characteristics during lung organogenesis
BMC, 2018Co-Authors: Vengamanaidu Modepalli, Kevin R. Nicholas, Amit Kumar, Julie A Sharp, Norman R Saunders, Christophe LefevreAbstract:Abstract Background After a short gestation, marsupials give birth to immature neonates with lungs that are not fully developed and in early life the neonate partially relies on gas exchange through the skin. Therefore, significant lung development occurs after birth in marsupials in contrast to eutherian mammals such as humans and mice where lung development occurs predominantly in the embryo. To explore the mechanisms of marsupial lung development in comparison to eutherians, morphological and gene expression analysis were conducted in the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). Results Postnatal lung development of Monodelphis involves three key stages of development: (i) transition from late canalicular to early saccular stages, (ii) saccular and (iii) alveolar stages, similar to developmental stages overlapping the embryonic and perinatal period in eutherians. Differentially expressed genes were identified and correlated with developmental stages. Functional categories included growth factors, extracellular matrix protein (ECMs), transcriptional factors and signalling pathways related to branching morphogenesis, alveologenesis and vascularisation. Comparison with published data on mice highlighted the conserved importance of extracellular matrix remodelling and signalling pathways such as Wnt, Notch, IGF, TGFβ, retinoic acid and angiopoietin. The comparison also revealed changes in the mammalian gene expression program associated with the initiation of alveologenesis and birth, pointing to subtle differences between the non-functional embryonic lung of the eutherian mouse and the partially functional developing lung of the marsupial Monodelphis neonates. The data also highlighted a subset of contractile proteins specifically expressed in Monodelphis during and after alveologenesis. Conclusion The results provide insights into marsupial lung development and support the potential of the marsupial model of postnatal development towards better understanding of the evolution of the mammalian bronchioalveolar lung
John L Vandeberg - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Influence of biological sex on social behavior, individual recogntion, and non-associative learning in the adult gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica).
Physiology & behavior, 2019Co-Authors: Mario Gil, John L Vandeberg, Annelyn Torres-reveron, Ana C. Ramirez, Oscar Maldonado, Gabriel A. De ErausquinAbstract:Abstract Social behavior is critical for relationship formation and is influenced by myriad environmental and individual factors. Basic and preclinical research typically relies on rodent models to identify the mechanisms that underlie behavior; however, it is important to use non-rodent models as well. A major objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis that biological sex and social experience modulate the expression of social behavior in the adult gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica), a non-traditional model. We also investigated the non-associative learning abilities of these animals. Following a period of social isolation, animals of both sexes were paired with a non-familiar, same-sex partner for 10 min on three different occasions, with 24-hour inter-trial intervals. We are the first research group to find significant sex differences in submissive and nonsocial behaviors in Monodelphis. Females displayed significantly higher durations of nonsocial behavior that increased over trials. Males were more aggressive; their latencies to the first attack and submissive behavior decreased over trials whereas these latencies increased for females; males' duration of submissive behavior increased over trials whereas it decreased for females. A different group of subjects habituated in response to repeated presentations to neutral odors and dishabituated in response to novel odors. In addition, both males and females demonstrated the ability to form social memories in a standard individual (social) recognition test. Our results contribute to the characterization of this marsupial species, an important first step in developing it as a model of complex social behaviors.
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rate of evolutionary change in cranial morphology of the marsupial genus Monodelphis is constrained by the availability of additive genetic variation
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2015Co-Authors: Arthur Porto, John L Vandeberg, Silvia E Pavan, Harley Sebastiao, Gabriel Marroig, James M CheverudAbstract:We tested the hypothesis that the rate of marsupial cranial evolution is dependent on the distribution of genetic variation in multivariate space. To do so, we carried out a genetic analysis of cranial morphological variation in laboratory strains of Monodelphis domestica and used estimates of genetic covariation to analyse the morphological diversification of the Monodelphis brevicaudata species group. We found that within-species genetic variation is concentrated in only a few axes of the morphospace and that this strong genetic covariation influenced the rate of morphological diversification of the brevicaudata group, with between-species divergence occurring fastest when occurring along the genetic line of least resistance. Accounting for the geometric distribution of genetic variation also increased our ability to detect the selective regimen underlying species diversification, with several instances of selection only being detected when genetic covariances were taken into account. Therefore, this work directly links patterns of genetic covariation among traits to macroevolutionary patterns of morphological divergence. Our findings also suggest that the limited distribution of Monodelphis species in morphospace is the result of a complex interplay between the limited dimensionality of available genetic variation and strong stabilizing selection along two major axes of genetic variation.
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body size and the small branch niche using marsupial ontogeny to model primate locomotor evolution
Journal of Human Evolution, 2014Co-Authors: Liza J Shapiro, Jesse W Young, John L VandebergAbstract:Abstract Recently proposed ancestral locomotor and morphological ‘stages’ leading to the evolution of primates have emphasized small body size, and a transition from a clawed non-grasping stage, to a clawed, grasping stage with clawless opposable hallux, to a fully-nailed primate with grasping extremities. This evolutionary transition was presumably associated with frequent use of the small branch niche. To model elements of these evolutionary transitions, we investigate how body size, substrate size, substrate orientation and grasping morphology interact to influence quadrupedal kinematics within and between ontogenetic samples of two small-bodied marsupials, one arboreal ( Petaurus breviceps ) and the other mainly terrestrial ( Monodelphis domestica ). Longitudinal morphometric and kinematic data were collected from four juvenile P. breviceps (33–75 g) and two juvenile M. domestica (18–95 g) walking across poles of three diameters (2.5, 1.0, and 0.5 cm) and three orientations (horizontal, 30° incline, 30° decline). The two species responded similarly to some substrate conditions, but diverged in response to others. Kinematic divergence between the two species reflects Monodelphis ' relatively shorter digits, reduced grasping ability and greater need for stabilizing mechanisms on narrow substrates. At a given relative body size or pole orientation, Monodelphis used higher limb duty factors, more limbs in support per stride, lower limb phases, and in some conditions, faster speeds compared with Petaurus . Interspecific differences were the least distinct on declined poles, highlighting the particular challenge of this substrate condition, even for arboreally adapted species. Small-bodied, arboreal primate ancestors would likely have employed the kinematic mechanisms common to our model taxa, but those with enhanced grasping adaptations would most likely not have required the increased level of stabilizing mechanisms exhibited by Monodelphis . Thus, using these two species as locomotor models has underscored the functional importance of grasping extremities in primate origins, even if ancestral primates were very small in body size.
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genome wide histone state profiling of fibroblasts from the opossum Monodelphis domestica identifies the first marsupial specific imprinted gene
BMC Genomics, 2014Co-Authors: Kory C Douglas, John L Vandeberg, Xu Wang, Madhuri Jasti, Abigail Wolff, Andrew G Clark, Paul B. SamollowAbstract:Background Imprinted genes have been extensively documented in eutherian mammals and found to exhibit significant interspecific variation in the suites of genes that are imprinted and in their regulation between tissues and developmental stages. Much less is known about imprinted loci in metatherian (marsupial) mammals, wherein studies have been limited to a small number of genes previously known to be imprinted in eutherians. We describe the first ab initio search for imprinted marsupial genes, in fibroblasts from the opossum, Monodelphis domestica, based on a genome-wide ChIP-seq strategy to identify promoters that are simultaneously marked by mutually exclusive, transcriptionally opposing histone modifications.
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Aldolase C polymorphism in the laboratory opossum, Monodelphis domestica.
Animal genetics, 1997Co-Authors: O V Sokolova, R A H Van Oorschot, John L VandebergAbstract:A two-allele polymorphism in aldolase C was identified in brain extracts of grey short-tailed opposums, Monodelphis domestica, by electrophoresis in starch or cellulose acetate gels. Pedigree data were consistent with autosomal codominant inheritance. The polymorphism was present in two of the six genetically distinct laboratory populations that have been established for this species.