Biology subjects

Reher, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Reher, D..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Analysing variations in pelage patterning among European Felis silvestris silvestris populations

The pelage pattern of wildcats from six regions within the distribution range of the species is analysed to test the hypothesis that clear differences between different regions exist. In total, 98 furs were used, but with different distribution from the Eifel (Germany), Harz Mountains (Germany), Caucasus, Western Spain, Switzerland/France and Greece. Specimens were at least seven months old, sex was not considered. The characteristics used were adapted from the literature and included typical wildcat features like the tail and stripes on the neck. Polychoric correlations, as a binary version of Spearmans rank correlation coefficient, were used as a measure of correlation between pelage characteristics. Pairwise tetrachoric correlations were computed with R 3.1.2., cluster analyses were conducted with SPSS 14. No clear relationship between the pelage characteristics and the geographic distribution of the six studied wildcat populations were found, the hypothesis needs to be rejected. It is however suggested, that coat patterning of Caucasian wildcats to some degree differ from other European wildcat. The results, however, do not clearly corroborate this hypothesis as Caucasian wildcats were not grouped into closed clusters in all the cluster analyses. To a lesser extent, pelage characteristic differences may also exist between wildcats from Western Spain as well as South-Western Greece and other European regions, but the samples are too small to draw conclusions. To test these refined hypotheses, more specimens from the Caucasus, Western Spain and South-Western Greece (but also Switzerland/North-Eastern France) need to be collected and compared according to our protocol.

zoology↗

bioRxiv2018

Immune gene diversity in archaic and present-day humans

Genome-wide analyses of two Neandertals and a Denisovan have shown that these archaic humans had lower genetic heterozygosity than present-day people. A similar reduction in genetic diversity of protein-coding genes (gene diversity) was found in exome sequences of three Neandertals. Reduced gene diversity, and particularly in genes involved in immunity, may have important functional consequences. In fact, it has been suggested that reduced diversity in immune genes may have contributed to Neandertal extinction. We therefore explored gene diversity in different human groups and at different time points on the Neandertal lineage with a particular focus on the diversity of genes involved in innate immunity and genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC).\n\nWe find that the two Neandertals and the Denisovan have similar gene diversity, both significantly lower than any present-day human. This is true across gene categories, with no gene set showing an excess decrease in diversity compared to the genome-wide average. Innate immune-related genes show a similar reduction in diversity to other genes, both in present-day and archaic humans. There is also no observable decrease in gene diversity over time in Neandertals, suggesting that there may have been no ongoing reduction in gene diversity in later Neandertals, although this needs confirmation with a larger sample size. In both archaic and present-day humans, genes with the highest levels of diversity are enriched for MHC-related functions. In fact, in archaic humans the MHC genes show evidence of having retained more diversity than genes involved only in the innate immune system.

genetics↗