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Evolutionary origin of RNA editing.

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Evolutionary origin of RNA editing.
Biochemistry. 2012 Jul 3;51(26):5235-42
Authors: Gray MW
Abstract
The term “RNA editing” encompasses a wide variety of mechanistically and phylogenetically…

Population genomics: how bacterial species form and why they don't exist.

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Population genomics: how bacterial species form and why they don’t exist.
Curr Biol. 2012 Jun 5;22(11):R451-3
Authors: Doolittle WF
Abstract
Two processes suggested to drive bacterial speciat…

Composition of the mitochondrial electron transport chain in acanthamoeba castellanii: structural and evolutionary insights.

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Composition of the mitochondrial electron transport chain in acanthamoeba castellanii: structural and evolutionary insights.

Biochim Biophys Acta. 2012 Nov;1817(11):2027-37

Authors: Gawryluk RM, Chisholm KA, Pinto DM, Gray MW

Abstract
The mitochondrion, derived in evolution from an α-proteobacterial progenitor, plays a key metabolic role in eukaryotes. Mitochondria house the electron transport chain (ETC) that couples oxidation of organic substrates and electron transfer to proton pumping and synthesis of ATP. The ETC comprises several multiprotein enzyme complexes, all of which have counterparts in bacteria. However, mitochondrial ETC assemblies from animals, plants and fungi are generally more complex than their bacterial counterparts, with a number of ‘supernumerary’ subunits appearing early in eukaryotic evolution. Little is known, however, about the ETC of unicellular eukaryotes (protists), which are key to understanding the evolution of mitochondria and the ETC. We present an analysis of the ETC proteome from Acanthamoeba castellanii, an ecologically, medically and evolutionarily important member of Amoebozoa (sister to Opisthokonta). Data obtained from tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) analyses of purified mitochondria as well as ETC complexes isolated via blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are combined with the results of bioinformatic queries of sequence databases. Our bioinformatic analyses have identified most of the ETC subunits found in other eukaryotes, confirming and extending previous observations. The assignment of proteins as ETC subunits by MS/MS provides important insights into the primary structures of ETC proteins and makes possible, through the use of sensitive profile-based similarity searches, the identification of novel constituents of the ETC along with the annotation of highly divergent but phylogenetically conserved ETC subunits.

PMID: 22709906 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Absence of a universal element for tRNAHis identity in Acanthamoeba castellanii.

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Absence of a universal element for tRNAHis identity in Acanthamoeba castellanii.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Dec 14;
Authors: Rao BS, Mohammad F, Gray MW, Jackman JE
Abstract
The additional G(-1) …

First article published in the open access journal Protist Genomics

Protist Genomics (PG) has just published its first research article: Gene discovery from a pilot study of the transcriptomes from three diverse microbial eukaryotes: Corallomyxa tenera, Chilodonella uncinata, and Subulatomonas tetraspora. By Jessica Grant, Daniel Lahr, Federico Rey, Gordon Burleigh, Jeffrey Gordon, Rob Knight, Robert Molestina and Laura Katz. Grant and collaborators present and describe new sequence data from …

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The Tree of Life, a poem by David Maddison

The Tree of Life David R. Maddison I think that I shall never see A thing so awesome as the Tree That links us all in paths of genes Down into depths of time unseen; Whose many branches spreading wide House wondrous creatures of the tide, Ocean deep and mountain tall, Darkened cave and waterfall. …

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PhD and postdoctoral opportunities for Brazilian students

Students from Brazil who wish to enrol in a PhD program or conduct postdoctoral training in Dalhousie University and other Canadian institutions can apply for scholarships administered by CNPq and CAPES. This program offers the following options: A complete doctoral degree program (up to 4 years) A 12-month stay in the Canadian institution as part of …

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Postdoctoral Research Assistant – bioinformatics / computational biology

Institution/Company: CHUQ Research Center / Université Laval Location: Québec, Qc Job Description: We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow with strong background and interest in Bioinformatics to work under the supervision of Dr Chantal Guillemette, professor at the faculty of pharmacy and Canada research chair in pharmacogenomics and co-supervision of Dr Arnaud Droit, assistant professor at …

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Faculty job openings in evolution

There are three new call for applications to tenure-track faculty positions in USA Valdosta State University, Georgia: Host-microbe interactions and Phylogenetics and macroevolution University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC: Microbial molecular ecology  

Evolution of Fe/S cluster biogenesis in the anaerobic parasite Blastocystis.

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Evolution of Fe/S cluster biogenesis in the anaerobic parasite Blastocystis.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jun 26;109(26):10426-31
Authors: Tsaousis AD, Ollagnier de Choudens S, Gentekaki E, Long S, Gaston …