Biology subjects

Foerster, F.

Publications and source records attributed to Foerster, F..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2017

FENNEC - Functional Exploration of Natural Networks and Ecological Communities

O_LISpecies composition assessment of ecological communities and networks is an important aspect of biodiversity research. Yet often ecological traits of organisms in a community are more informative than scientific names only. Furthermore, other properties like threat status, invasiveness, or human usage are relevant for many studies, but cannot be evaluated from taxonomy alone. Despite public databases collecting such information, it is still a tedious manual task to enrich community analyses with such, especially for large-scaled data.\nC_LIO_LIThus we aimed to develop a public and free tool that eases bulk trait mapping of community data in a web browser, implemented with current standard web and database technologies.\nC_LIO_LIHere we present the FO_SCPLOWENNECC_SCPLOW, a workbench that eases the process of mapping publicly available trait data to the users communities in an automated process. Usage is either by a local self-hosted or a public instance (https://fennec.molecular.eco) covering exemplary traits. Alongside the software we also provide usage and hosting documentation as well as online tutorials.\nC_LIO_LIThe FO_SCPLOWENNECC_SCPLOW aims to motivate public trait data submission and its reuse in meta-analyses. Further, it is an open-source development project with the code freely available to use and open for community contributions (https://github.com/molbiodiv/fennec).\nC_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2017

Draft genome of the Heterotardigrade Milnesium tardigradum sheds light on ecdysozoan evolution

Tardigrades are among the most stress tolerant animals and survived even unassisted exposure to space in low earth orbit. Still, the adaptations leading to these unusual physiological features remain unclear. Even the phylogenetic position of this phylum within the Ecdysozoa is unclear. Complete genome sequences might help to address these questions as genomic adaptations can be revealed and phylogenetic reconstructions can be based on new markers. Here, we present a first draft genome of a species from the family Milnesiidae, namely Milnesium tardigradum. We consistently place M. tardigradum and the two previously sequenced Hypsibiidae species, Hypsibius dujardini and Ramazzottius varieornatus, as sister group of the nematodes with the arthropods as outgroup. Based on this placement, we identify a massive gene loss thus far attributed to the nematodes which predates their split from the tardigrades. We provide a comprehensive catalog of protein domain expansions linked to stress response and show that previously identified tardigrade-unique proteins are erratically distributed across the genome of M. tardigradum. We further suggest alternative pathways to cope with high stress levels that are yet unexplored in tardigrades and further promote the phylum Tardigrada as a rich source of stress protection genes and mechanisms.

evolutionary biology↗