Historically, the evolution of bats has been analyzed using a small number of genetic loci for many species or many genetic loci for a few species. Here we present a phylogeny of 18 bat species, each of which is represented in 1,107 orthologous gene alignments used to build the tree. We generated a transcriptome sequence of Hypsignathus monstrosus , the African hammer-headed bat, and additional transcriptome sequence for Rousettus aegyptiacus , the Egyptian fruit bat. We then combined these data with existing genomic and transcriptomic data from 16 other bat species. In the analysis of such datasets, there is no clear consensus on the most reliable computational methods for the curation of quality multiple sequence alignments since these public datasets represent multiple investigators and methods, including different source materials (chromosomal DNA or expressed RNA). Here we lay out a systematic analysis of parameters and produce an advanced pipeline for curating orthologous gene alignments from combined transcriptomic and genomic data, including a software package: the Mismatching Isoform eXon Remover (MIXR). Using this method, we created alignments of 11,677 bat genes, 1,107 of which contain orthologs from all 18 species. Using the orthologous gene alignments created, we assessed bat phylogeny and also performed a holistic analysis of positive selection acting in bat genomes. We found that 181 genes have been subject to positive natural selection. This list is dominated by genes involved in immune responses and genes involved in the production of collagens.
This book, written by A. Lightman, V. Press, R. Price and S. Tyukolsky, is a collection of problems with solutions to the General theory of relativity and gravity. It is unique in its breadth and overall design. Almost 500 problems introduce the reader to the modern mathematical apparatus and methods used in this field of physics. The problems presented in this collection are borrowed from the latest original works on topical problems of General relativity and gravity (solution of the equations of gravitation, physics of curved space-time, black holes, gravitational healing, cosmological aspects of General relativity and its experimental verification). The book is intended for a wide range of researchers, teachers, graduate students and students of physical and mathematical specialties
Harold Agnew (1921–2013) was etched into history at 8:16 AM on August 6, 1945, by the actinic flash of the Hiroshima explosion. He was a scientific observer in The Great Artiste, a B-29 flying immediately behind the Enola Gay. Smuggling aboard a contraband movie camera, Agnew recorded the only known motion picture of the event. One might argue that his destiny, or at any rate the course of his professional life, was also fixed by the flash.
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