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Reviving African fruit species
01-29-2008 · EurekAlert!One resource that could help combat malnutrition and rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is largely untapped, says a new report from the National Research Council. Native fruit species that have fed Africans for thousands of years -- such as butterfruit and ebony -- are now largely neglected and displaced by non-native species, leaving the indigenous plants' potential unrealized.
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Keywords: reviving, african, fruit, species, specy
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- Scientists detect presence of marburg virus in african fruit bats
08-21-2007 · EurekAlert!
A team of scientists reported findings today demonstrating the presence of Marburg virus RNA genome and antibodies in a common species of African fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). The work, appearing in the Aug. 22 issue of the open-access journal PLoS ONE, was done in collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Franceville, Gabon.
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- New studies find amazing concentration of species unique to east African mountains
01-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
New studies published this month in the scientific journal Biological Conservation document an amazing concentration of over 1000 species unique -- or endemic -- to an area slightly larger than Rhode Island in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and Kenya. This remaining habitat in the Eastern Arcs has the highest concentration of endemic animals in Africa and is increasingly endangered by complex threats.
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- In promiscuous antelopes, the 'battle of the sexes' gets flipped
11-29-2007 · EurekAlert!
In some promiscuous species, sexual conflict runs in reverse, reveals a new study published online on Nov. 29 in Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press. Among African topi antelopes, females are the ones who aggressively pursue their mates, while males play hard to get.
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- Similar brain chemicals influence aggression in fruit flies and humans
04-22-2007 · EurekAlert!
Serotonin is a major signaling chemical in the brain, and it has long been thought to be involved in aggressive behavior in animals and humans. Another brain chemical signal, neuropeptide Y (aka neuropeptide F in invertebrates), is also known to affect an array of behaviors in many species, including territoriality in mice. A new study at The Neurosciences Institute (San Diego) shows that these two chemicals also regulate aggression in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.
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- Scientists compare 12 fruit fly genomes
11-07-2007 · EurekAlert!
An international research consortium of scientists, supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced publications comparing the genome sequences of 12 closely related fruit fly species, 10 of which were sequenced for the first time. The analyses identify thousands of novel genes and other functional elements in the insects' genomes, and describe how evolution has shaped the genomes of these important models for genetic research.
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- Big vegetarian mammals can play a critical role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, study finds
01-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
Removing large herbivorous mammals from the African savanna can cause a dramatic shift in the relative abundance of species throughout the food chain, according to scientists from Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California-Davis.
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- Study of planarians offers insight into germ cell development
04-24-2007 · EurekAlert!
The planarian is not as well known as other, more widely used subjects of scientific study -- model creatures such as the fruit fly, nematode or mouse. But University of Illinois cell and developmental biology professor Phillip Newmark thinks it should be. As it turns out, the tiny, seemingly cross-eyed flatworm is an ideal subject for the study of germ cells, precursors of eggs and sperm in all sexually reproducing species.
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- International team compares 12 fruit fly genomes
11-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
Cornell University researchers have played a major role in an international scientific team that has compared the complete set of genes of 12 closely related fruit fly species. As well has having implications for human health, the analysis paves the way for better understanding the evolution of each species.
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- Clues to future evolution of HIV come from African green monkeys
07-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
Monkey viruses related to HIV may have swept across Africa more recently than previously thought, according to research from the University of Arizona in Tucson. A new family tree for African green monkeys shows that simian immunodeficiency virus first infected those monkeys after the lineage split into four species. The new research reveals the split happened about 3 million years ago. Scientists had thought SIV infected an ancestor of green monkeys before the speciation event.
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08-15-2007 · EurekAlert!
An international team of scientists from Canada (Université Laval), the UK (University of Hull, Cardiff University) and Spain (Doòana Biological Station), have discovered that a pair of closely related species of East African cichlid fishes -- a group of fish whose diversity comprising hundreds of species has puzzled evolutionary biologists for decades -- evolved divergent immune gene adaptations which might explain why they do not interbreed, despite living side-by-side.
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