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- Evolution of the immune system in Antarctic notothenioidsPublication . Sousa, Cármen Sofia Vieira de; Canário, Adelino V. M.; Power, DeborahNotothenioids are the most abundant group of teleost fish found in the Southern Ocean. These fish evolved relatively recently from a single benthic ancestor and radiated and expanded in the extreme cold of Antarctica waters and their physiology was adapted accordingly. Surprisingly, little is known about their immune system and how immune defences were modulated during adaptation to the cold environment and to its water specific microbiome. The main objective of this thesis was to characterise the immune cellular and humoral responses to bacterial and viral-like challenges in immune tissues and plasma of two phylogenetically related notothenioids, Notothenia coriiceps and Notothenia rossii. The methodologies applied were based on DNA sequencing technologies and biochemical assays to measure functional plasma enzyme activity using a comparative approach. This study a) characterised and uncovered a role of iron-metabolism and of the pattern recognition receptors family toll-like receptors (TLRs) after a LPS immune challenge, b) characterised for the first time the transcriptomes of important immune tissues (head-kidney, skin, duodenum, liver and spleen) and their response to bacterial and viral challenges and in response to temperature, c) described the microbiome communities associated to important immune tissue barriers in recently caught and immune challenged notothenioids. The results contribute substantially to the understanding of the main immune and non-immune pathways in the defence against external agents in Antarctic notothenioids.
- Genomic variation in baboons from central Mozambique unveils complex evolutionary relationships with other Papio speciesPublication . Santander, Cindy; Molinaro, Ludovica; Mutti, Giacomo; Martínez, Felipe I.; Mathe, Jacinto; Ferreira da Silva, Maria J.; Caldon, Matteo; Oteo-Garcia, Gonzalo; Aldeias, Vera; Archer, Will; Bamford, Marion; Biro, Dora; Bobe, René; Braun, David R.; Hammond, Philippa; Lüdecke, Tina; Pinto, Maria J.; Meira Paulo, Luis; Stalmans, Marc; Regala, Frederico; Bertolini, Francesco; Moltke, Ida; Raveane, Alessandro; Pagani, Luca; Carvalho, Susana; Capelli, CristianBackground Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique hosts a large population of baboons, numbering over 200 troops. Gorongosa baboons have been tentatively identified as part of Papio ursinus on the basis of previous limited morphological analysis and a handful of mitochondrial DNA sequences. However, a recent morphological and morphometric analysis of Gorongosa baboons pinpointed the occurrence of several traits intermediate between P. ursinus and P. cynocephalus, leaving open the possibility of past and/or ongoing gene flow in the baboon population of Gorongosa National Park. In order to investigate the evolutionary history of baboons in Gorongosa, we generated high and low coverage whole genome sequence data of Gorongosa baboons and compared it to available Papio genomes. Results We confirmed that P. ursinus is the species closest to Gorongosa baboons. However, the Gorongosa baboon genomes share more derived alleles with P. cynocephalus than P. ursinus does, but no recent gene flow between P. ursinus and P. cynocephalus was detected when available Papio genomes were analyzed. Our results, based on the analysis of autosomal, mitochondrial and Y chromosome data, suggest complex, possibly male-biased, gene flow between Gorongosa baboons and P. cynocephalus, hinting to direct or indirect contributions from baboons belonging to the “northern” Papio clade, and signal the presence of population structure within P. ursinus. Conclusions The analysis of genome data generated from baboon samples collected in central Mozambique highlighted a complex set of evolutionary relationships with other baboons. Our results provided new insights in the population dynamics that have shaped baboon diversity.