Catastrophic wildfire and number of populations as factors influencing risk of extinction for Gila trout ( Oncorhynchus gilae )

We used the computer program RAMAS to explore the sensitivity of an extinction-risk model for the Gila trout ( Oncorhynchus gilae ) to management of wildfires and number of populations of the species. The Gila trout is an endangered salmonid presently restricted to very few headwaters of the Gila and San Francisco river tributaries in southwestern New Mexico. Life history data for 10 extant populations were used to examine sensitivity of the species viability to changes in a variety of factors including population size, fecundity, life stage structure, number of populations, severity and probability of forest fires, and a regulated fishery. The probability and severity of forest fires and number of populations had the greatest effect on viability. Results indicate that successful conservation of Gila trout requires establishment of additional populations and reduction of the severity of forest fires through a program incorporating more frequent, but less severe, fires.     

New synonymy and new species of American bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), Part III

New synonomy is proposed as follows: Metacorthylus Blandford (= Paracorthylus Wood), Corthylus spinifer Schwarz (= Corthylus tomentosus Schedl), Cryptocarinus brevicollis Eggers ( = Cryptocarenus coronatus Wood), Dendrocranulus guatemalensis (Hopkins), n. comb. (= Dendrocranulus parallelus Schedl), Dendroterus mexicanus Blandford (= Conophthocranulus umbratus Schedl), Hypothenemus cylindricus (Hopkins) (= Hypothenemus guadeloupensis Schedl), Hypothenemus erectus LeConte (= Stephanoderes discedens Schedl), Hypothenemus javanus (Eggers) (= Stephanoderes pistor Schedl, Stephanoderes prosper Schedl), Xyleborus pseudotenuis Schedl (= Xyleborus tenuis Schedl), and Xyleborus villosulus Blandford (= Xyleborus coccotrypoides Eggers, villosus Schedl). Scolytodes punctiferus n. n. is proposed for Scolytodes punctifer Wood, 1971 (nec Wood 1969). The following species are named as new to science: Amphicranus argutus, A. fulgidus, A. micans, Pityophthorus inops, P. debilis, P. strictus. P. galeritus. P. sobrinus, P. laetus, P. lenis, P. conspectus P. medialis (Costa Rica), P. perexiguus (Costa Rica and Panama), P. scitulus (Panama), P. costatulus, P. costabilis, P. detentus, P. nebulosus, P. melanurus, P. indigens, P. burserae, P. molestus, P. diligens, P. corruptus (Mexico), P. tenax, P. nugalis, P. minutalis (Guatemala), P. nemoralis, P. morosus, P. hermosus (Honduras), Araptus gracilens (Mexico).     

New taxa in miscellaneous families from Utah

Named are the following: Astragalus limnocharis Barneby var. tabulaeus Welsh var. nov., from the pass between Boulder Mountain and the Table Cliff Plateau, Garfield County, Utah; A. eremiticus Sheldon var. ampularioides Welsh var. nov. from Washington County, Utah; Lupinus argenteus Pursh var. moabensis Welsh var. nov., from southeastern Utah, validated by inclusion of a Latin diagnosis; Erigeron zothecinus Welsh sp. nov. described from moist alcoves along Lake Powell, eastern Kane County, Utah; Cleomella palmerana Jones var. goodrichii Welsh var. nov. described from Uintah County, Utah; Arabis vivariensis Welsh sp. nov. named from northeastern Uintah County, Utah; Draba kassii Welsh sp. nov. described from material taken in the Deep Creek Mountains, western Tooele County, Utah.     

Mutations in the human homologue of mouse dl cause autosomal recessive and dominant hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia.

X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia results in abnormal morphogenesis of teeth, hair and eccrine sweat glands. The gene (ED1) responsible for the disorder has been identified, as well as the analogous X-linked gene (Ta) in the mouse. Autosomal recessive disorders, phenotypically indistinguishable from the X-linked forms, exist in humans and at two separate loci (crinkled, cr, and downless, dl) in mice. Dominant disorders, possibly allelic to the recessive loci, are seen in both species (ED3, Dlslk). A candidate gene has recently been identified at the dl locus that is mutated in both dl and Dlslk mutant alleles. We isolated and characterized its human DL homologue, and identified mutations in three families displaying recessive inheritance and two with dominant inheritance. The disorder does not map to the candidate gene locus in all autosomal recessive families, implying the existence of at least one additional human locus. The putative protein is predicted to have a single transmembrane domain, and shows similarity to two separate domains of the tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family.     

Mutations in a gene encoding a new oxygen-regulated photoreceptor protein cause dominant retinitis pigmentosa.

The autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (RP) locus, designated RP1, has been mapped through linkage studies to a 4-cM interval at 8q11-13. Here we describe a new photoreceptor-specific gene that maps in this interval and whose expression is modulated by retinal oxygen levels in vivo. This gene consists of at least 4 exons that encode a predicted protein of 2,156 amino acids. A nonsense mutation at codon 677 of this gene is present in approximately 3% of cases of dominant RP in North America. We also detected two deletion mutations that cause frameshifts and introduce premature termination codons in three other families with dominant RP. Our data suggest that mutations in this gene cause dominant RP, and that the encoded protein has an important but unknown role in photoreceptor biology.     

A single EFEMP1 mutation associated with both Malattia Leventinese and Doyne honeycomb retinal dystrophy.

Malattia Leventinese (ML) and Doyne honeycomb retinal dystrophy (DHRD) refer to two autosomal dominant diseases characterized by yellow-white deposits known as drusen that accumulate beneath the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Both loci were mapped to chromosome 2p16-21 (refs 5,6) and this genetic interval has been subsequently narrowed. The importance of these diseases is due in large part to their close phenotypic similarity to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disorder with a strong genetic component that accounts for approximately 50% of registered blindness in the Western world. Just as in ML and DHRD, the early hallmark of AMD is the presence of drusen. Here we use a combination of positional and candidate gene methods to identify a single non-conservative mutation (Arg345Trp) in the gene EFEMP1 (for EGF-containing fibrillin-like extracellular matrix protein 1) in all families studied. This change was not present in 477 control individuals or in 494 patients with age-related macular degeneration. Identification of this mutation may aid in the development of an animal model for drusen, as well as in the identification of other genes involved in human macular degeneration.