Search Results (45)

Tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) is a globally important farmed fish. Analyses of genetic variation across different types of tilapia are essential for the development of superior breeding populations. We investigated the genetic structures of breeding populations of blue tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) (OA), Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (ON), and red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) (OS) by whole-genome resequencing. The results showed that the OS population had maintained high genetic diversity but significant genetic differentiation from the OA population. Principal component analysis, phylogenetic analysis, and genetic clustering analysis revealed a clear pattern of genetic differentiation among the three populations. The genetic structure of the ON population differed from that of the OA population but was similar to that of the OS population. Population kinship analysis revealed a close relationship between the ON and OS populations. Selective scanning analyses of three comparison groups (OA vs. ON, OA vs. OS, and ON vs. OS) revealed population-selected regions related to metabolism, endocrine, and immune systems, harboring key genes (qrsl1, pde4d, hras, ikbkb, prkag1, prkaa2, prkacb, irs2, and eif4e2). These key genes were related to growth, reproduction, and disease resistance, indicating that breeding programs have selected for these traits. Due to the lack of stable morphological characteristics of juvenile fish and the changes in external environmental conditions that lead to changes in individual morphological characteristics, SNP fingerprints were successfully constructed for the identification of the three populations based on the differences in SNPs. Based on the five core SNP markers, two combinations of SNP markers were developed to accurately identify the three populations of tilapia at the genomic level. These results provide new information about tilapia genetic resources and reference data for identification and breeding purposes. Full article

Liangshan Black pigs are a new Chinese indigenous breed discovered during the Third National Survey of Livestock and Plant Genetic Resources. To uncover genetic diversity, population structure, and potential exotic introgression in this breed, we sampled 191 Liangshan Black pigs from the conservation population and genotyped these individuals using the “Zhongxin-I” porcine chip, then conducted in-depth population genetic analyses in the context of pigs from five introduced breeds. The results revealed that the tested individuals exhibited significant genetic diversity, displayed uneven kinship relationships, and were assigned to nine families according to their clustering patterns in the phylogenetic tree. Further relationship analyses with the five introduced breeds demonstrated that Liangshan Black pigs were clustered separately from the introduced breeds, had larger evolutionary distances with the introduced breeds, and possessed certain genetic components of the introduced breeds, especially those of Duroc. These findings demonstrate that Liangshan Black pigs are generally an indigenous breed independent of the introduced breeds but are slightly affected by the introduced breeds. In summary, the results of our study not only contribute to an in-depth understanding of the population genetic characteristics of Liangshan Black pigs but also provide the necessary data for the implementation of conservation programs. Full article

Background/Objectives: Kinship inference is commonly adopted in various forensic applications, but previous studies have often lacked precision. Methods: In this study, a new method for the nomenclature of kinship types, i.e., kinship chain (KC), was proposed, and then, six types of identity by state (IBS) scores were calculated for simulated and real families using four types of markers. Finally, several Bayesian network (BN)-based classifiers were constructed to investigate the efficiency of the kinship inference. Results: A total of 7, 22, 58, and 3 KCs were obtained for common first-, second-, and third-degree relatives and unrelated pairs, respectively. High accuracies could be achieved in distinguishing between related and unrelated pairs after combining the four types of genetic markers, with an accuracy of >99.99% for all 7 KCs of first-degree relationships and ~99% for 14 out of 22 KCs of second-degree relatives. When comparing relationships of the same degree, the accuracies were 99.28%, 42.31%, and 15.82% for first-, second-, and third-degree relationships, respectively. When it came to differentiating unspecific relationships, the overall accuracy was over 80%. All the results were validated on real family data. Conclusions: With the new nomenclature method of kinship types and the combination of autosomal and non-autosomal genetic markers, kinship inference can be realized with high accuracy and precision, which will be helpful in complex forensic cases, such as the identification of mass disaster victims. Full article

The anthropology of food is a sub-field of cultural anthropology interested in studying food and foodways. This article provides a concise overview of the anthropology of food, tracing its development from the early twentieth century to contemporary debates and emerging research trajectories. Drawing on foundational work by figures such as Boas and Malinowski, it shows how early anthropologists approached food as integral to understanding social organization, kinship, and cultural meaning. As the field evolved, structuralist, materialist, feminist, and political-economic perspectives broadened its scope, highlighting the symbolic significance of cuisine, the interplay between environment and subsistence, and the pivotal role of gender and class in shaping food practices. In recent decades, the anthropology of food has engaged intensively with globalization, investigating how transnational flows reshape culinary identities, local economies, and cultural heritage, as well as other significant topics. At the same time, emerging themes—such as multispecies perspectives, sensory studies, and the application of innovative methodologies—offer new lenses for understanding how food mediates relationships between humans, non-human beings, and environments. By examining case studies spanning regions from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Americas, this article illustrates how contemporary anthropologists use food as a prism to investigate cultural identity, social change, ethical relations, and the complex entanglements of local and global food systems. Full article

Celiac disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the small bowel caused, in genetically predisposed subjects, by the ingestion of gluten and characterised by a broad clinical polymorphism, ranging from patients with an asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic disease. The clinical presentation ranges from the presence of minor, apparently unrelated symptoms or first-degree kinship with known patients to severe intestinal malabsorption and all its clinical consequences and complications. Even if a large body of research improved our understanding of the molecular basis of celiac disease pathophysiology, enhancing the identification of new targets for future new treatments, an accurate gluten-free diet remains the mainstay of the therapy for this condition, restoring a normal absorptive mucosa. It is very rare, nowadays, to deal with patients with severe malabsorption syndrome secondary to celiac disease. Consequently, physicians are currently less prone to search for nutritional deficiencies in celiac disease. To pinpoint the possibility of both a disease-related and a diet-induced vitamin deficiency, we reviewed the literature on vitamin deficiency in this condition and reported the impact both in untreated and treated patients with celiac disease. A gluten-free diet must be tailored for each patient to meet nutritional targets: the pre-existence or diet-induced intake inadequacies should be carefully considered for an effective management of celiac disease. Full article

This study articulates how naming and family trees can become epic texts upon which intended or unintended meanings, identities and narratives can be decoded, including mutations in families, as basic units of society. Many studies in African anthroponym have articulated names and naming from differing perspectives, but have tended to ignore the diachronic and synchronic significance of looking at family trees which are woven in time and space through naming. Within the framework of Darwinian Theory of Evolution, we used in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of respondents from the Bette people of the Obudu local government area, to enable us to build family trees which were subtextually analyzed for meaning and mutations through six generations. Our findings enabled us to develop deeper insights into how a longitudinal articulation of naming and family trees can enhance our understanding of the synchronic realities, increased cultural aliteracy, dislocation of homesteads due to occupational shifts, changing ideas of kinship, patriarchal attitudes towards women and challenge of new technologies like DNA testing and new media within the Bette traditional kinship tradition. Significantly, naming and family trees, beyond dynastic delineations for identity, inclusivity and otherness, can become signifiers of a people’s epic progression and mutation, and, as it were, a tapestry of significant narratives of micro and macro family history. Full article

Emerging technologies are leading the fourth industrial revolution, bringing profound changes to modern life. However, the contagion of public risk perceptions pertaining to these technologies may result in new social stability risks according to the social amplification of risk framework (SARF). As such, understanding the formation and contagion mechanisms behind public risk perceptions of emerging technologies is critical to promoting their increased receptivity. Based on an evolutionary game theoretical approach to complex networks, this paper constructs a social contagion model of the risk perception of emerging technologies and uses simulations to analyze the influence of factors such as individual cognition and social environment. Results indicate the following: (1) the rate of risk perception contagion gradually increases with the level of individual risk perception and trust in communicators; (2) the risk perception contagion rate gradually decreases as the level of risk governance participation increases; and (3) comparing different social networks, kinship networks have a greater effect than social media networks on risk perception contagion. Full article

Family history for CAD (coronary artery disease) is an established cardiovascular (CV) risk factor and it is progressively acquiring importance in patients’ CV risk stratification. Numerous studies have demonstrated that individuals with a first-degree relative affected by CAD have a significantly higher risk of developing the condition themselves; in particular, when CAD occurs at an early age in relatives. Indeed, recently published CCS (chronic coronary syndrome) ESC (European Society of Cardiology) guidelines include family history (FH) as a risk factor to consider when calculating pre-test risk for CAD. ESC guidelines on preventive cardiology (2021) only suggested CV risk assessment in the presence of a positive FH for CV disease, not considering it in the actual risk scores. Evidence suggests that positive anamnesis for relatives affected by CAD correlates with ACS (acute coronary syndrome) and CAD, with slight differences in relative risk as far as the degree of kinship is concerned. Genetic factors contribute to this correlation by influencing key processes that affect heart health, such as cholesterol metabolism, blood pressure regulation, and inflammatory responses. New technologies in the genetics field are increasing the availability of genome sequencing, and new polymorphism panels are being tested as predictive for CAD, objectifying familiarity. Advances in imaging techniques allow the assessment of coronary atherosclerosis and its composition, and these are acquiring strength in evidence and recommendations in ESC guidelines as a way to define coronary disease in low and low-to-intermediate risk patients and to guide medical therapy and interventional procedures. Use of these emerging tools to guide screening is likely to be extended, beyond high CV risk patients, to individuals with FH for early CAD and/or specific genetic profiles, as recent evidence in the literature is suggesting. Full article

Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article is concerned with how undocumented refugees and migrants use invisibility strategies to navigate a hostile host environment in Western Tanzania. This article explores how the shifts in Tanzania’s refugee policy have affected different generations of refugees differently, and how older cohorts assist newer cohorts. This article argues that the challenges of migration are productive of ‘affective circuits’ and of generating new forms of kinship. It argues that it can be productive to bring together the different understandings of generations, as it was found that generations as cohorts can transform into generations as kin in situations of rupture and adversity. Full article

Alicella gigantea, the largest amphipod scavengers found to date, play key roles in the food web of the hadal ecosystem. However, the genetic structure of A. gigantea populations among different trenches has not been reported yet. In this study, SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) markers were developed for three A. gigantea geographic populations collected from the southern Mariana Trench (SMT), the central New Britain Trench (CNBT), and the eastern New Britain Trench (ENBT), based on the SLAF-seq (specific locus amplified fragment sequencing) technology. A total of 570,168 filtered SNPs were screened out for subsequent population genetic analysis. Results showed that the inbreeding levels across the three geographic populations were relatively low, and the genomic inbreeding coefficients of the three populations were similar in magnitude. Based on the results of phylogenetic analysis, population structure analysis, and principal component analysis, it is believed that the three A. gigantea geographic populations belong to the same population, and the kinship relationship between the ENBT and CNBT populations is close. Moreover, the differential candidate adaptive sites on the SNPs suggest that there may be variations in metabolic rates among the three geographic populations, possibly linked to differences in food availability and sources in different trenches, ultimately resulting in different survival strategies in A. gigantea populations within distinct trenches. Compared with the Mariana Trench, the New Britain Trench has a richer organic matter input, and it is speculated that the A. gigantea Mariana Trench population may adopt a lower metabolic rate to cope with the harsher environment of nutrient deficiency. Full article

Microhaplotypes (MHs) consisting of multiple SNPs and indels on short stretches of DNA are new and interesting loci for forensic genetic investigations. In this study, we analysed 74 previously defined MHs in two of the populations that our laboratory provides with forensic genetic services, Danes and Greenlanders. In addition to the 229 SNPs that originally made up the 74 MHs, 66 SNPs and 3 indels were identified in the two populations, and 45 of these variants were included in new definitions of the MHs, whereas 24 SNPs were considered rare and of little value for case work. The average effective number of alleles (A_e) was 3.2, 3.0, and 2.6 in Danes, West Greenlanders, and East Greenlanders, respectively. High levels of linkage disequilibrium were observed in East Greenlanders, which reflects the characteristics of this population that has a small size, and signs of admixture and substructure. Pairwise kinship simulations of full siblings, half-siblings, first cousins, and unrelated individuals were performed using allele frequencies from MHs, STRs and SNPs from Danish and Greenlandic populations. The MH panel outperformed the currently used STR and SNP marker sets and was able to differentiate siblings from unrelated individuals with a 0% false positive rate and a 1.1% false negative rate using an LR threshold of 10,000 in the Danish population. However, the panel was not able to differentiate half-siblings or first cousins from unrelated individuals. The results generated in this study will be used to implement MHs as investigative markers for relationship testing in our laboratory. Full article

Oats (Avena sativa L.) are mostly used as a germplasm resource for forage. This experiment showed the differences in the nutrient composition and the forage quality of five wild leather oat populations from Israel and one cultivated leather oat population from China. It also showed the correlation of the indicators with the geo-environmental factors in the places of origin of the six populations that were analysed. Three replicated experiments were conducted during a three-year period from 2018.10 to 2020.03, mainly from 11 indicators of nutrient composition and forage quality. In this experiment, Spearman’s correlation was used to analyse the differences between different groups (p < 0.05), the relationship between components was analysed by principal component analysis (PCA), and the kinship relationship between six groups was also analysed based on the data of 11 components. In terms of nutrient content, the cultivated group Hu had significantly lower ash (8.92%), crude protein (11.96%), and soluble sugar content (10.51%) than the wild oat groups. In terms of forage quality, the lignin content (3.31%) of the Hu population was 2.3 times higher than that of Evolution Canyon, and the fibre content was 8 times higher than that of Sede Boqer. This indicates that wild oats have better nutritional value and palatability. Following the correlation analysis, it was found that the environmental factors of the origin had a significant effect on the indexes of ash, crude protein, and soluble sugar of oat straw, but had less effect on the content of crude fat, total phosphorus, and total potassium. Meanwhile, the annual rainfall and the number of rainfall days in the origin had a significant effect on the fibre content. In conclusion, the higher variability of wild oat populations due to the influence of different environmental and geographical factors may be a new possibility brought by forage oats. Full article

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by coronavirus 2 of the severe acute syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes, such as TLR2, responsible for an effective human immune response, can change the course of infection. The objective of this article was to verify associations between epidemiological factors and TLR2 SNP rs3804100 (Thymine [T] > Cytosine [C]) in professionals from Health Institutions (HI) who worked during the first pandemic wave and COVID-19. A case-control study was conducted with Belém-PA HI workers (Northern Brazil), divided into symptomatology groups (Asymptomatic-AS; n = 91; and Symptomatic-SI; n = 123); and severity groups classified by Chest Computerized Tomography data (symptomatic with pulmonary involvement—SCP; n = 35; symptomatic without pulmonary involvement—SSP; n = 8). Genotyping was performed by Sanger sequencing, and Statistical Analysis was conducted through the SPSS program. Bioinformatics servers predicted the biological functions of the TLR2 SNP. There were associations between the presence of comorbidities and poor prognosis of COVID-19 (especially between symptomatology and severity of COVID-19 and overweight and obesity) and between the sickness in family members and kinship (related to blood relatives). The homozygous recessive (C/C) genotype was not found, and the frequency of the mutant allele (C) was less than 10% in the cohort. No significant associations were found for this SNP in this cohort. The presence of SNP was indicated to be benign and causes a decrease in the stability of the TLR2 protein. These data can help the scientific community and medicine find new forms of COVID-19 containment. Full article

The surname Fitzpatrick is readily identified as Irish. Until recently, the traditional Fitzpatrick surname narrative was of a medieval super-progenitor named Giolla Phádraig. His offspring, the eponymous Mac Giolla Phádraig, it was said, somehow came to dwell in every Irish province; yet this is an Irish surname myth that works to erase the history of ancient ‘Fitzpatrick’ clans. This article demonstrates how deconstructing the surname Fitzpatrick, through working the hyphen of gene-eaology, is a practice of decolonisation. Via genetic data and archival records, dominant clan identities are disrupted, while connections with lost clans are re/membered. Critical analysis dismantles the dominant narrative imposed by colonial strategies and reconnects people with kinship groups and forgotten forebears. Questions arise from the deconstruction of an Irish surname. How might new clan identities be imagined, and how is losing a dominant surname narrative negotiated? Full article

The supply of, and demand for, housing in Aotearoa, New Zealand, is in a state of crisis. With all other areas of social deprivation, Māori are impacted disproportionately in the housing space, and have been locked out of the housing market. In order to address this crisis, a range of government, community and iwi initiatives have been established in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) to provide various housing interventions, from emergency housing, accommodation supplements and subsidies to transitional housing, home ownership programmes and papakāinga (Māori settlement, village) development opportunities. Marae Ora, Kāinga Ora (MOKO) is a Kaupapa Māori (Māori approach) research project created to explore the role of marae (cultural centre) and kāinga (village, settlement) in supporting the wellbeing of whānau (family group), hapū (extended kinship grouping), iwi (extended kinship–tribal grouping) and communities, which includes the potential provision of housing. Five marae in the South Auckland landscape are partners in this research and bring to life the prospect of their contribution to housing solutions for their local Māori communities. This article presents some valuable insights into the aspirations of each whānau involved with the five marae with regard to their perspectives and developments with marae-led housing provision. Full article