ALBERT

Description: Understanding the evolution of accretion activity is fundamental to our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve over the history of the Universe. We analyse a complete sample of 27 radio galaxies which includes both high-excitation galaxies (HEGs) and low-excitation galaxies (LEGs), spanning a mnrasrow redshift range of 0.9 〈  z  〈 1.1 and covering a factor of ~1000 in radio luminosity. Using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope combined with ground-based optical and near-infrared imaging, we show that the host galaxies have masses in the range of 10.7 〈 log 10 ( M /M ) 〈 12.0 with HEGs and LEGs exhibiting no difference in their mass distributions. We also find that HEGs accrete at significantly higher rates than LEGs, with the HEG/LEG division lying at an Eddington ratio of  ~ 0.04, which is in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions of where the accretion rate becomes radiatively inefficient, thus supporting the idea of HEGs and LEGs being powered by different modes of accretion. Our study also shows that at least up to L 151 MHz  ~ 3 10 27 W Hz –1 sr –1 , HEGs and LEGs are indistinguishable in terms of their radio properties. From this result we infer that, at least for the lower radio luminosity range, another factor besides accretion rate must play an important role in the process of triggering jet activity.

Description: Understanding the evolution of accretion activity is fundamental to our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve over the history of the Universe. We analyse a complete sample of 27 radio galaxies which includes both high-excitation galaxies (HEGs) and low-excitation galaxies (LEGs), spanning a mnrasrow redshift range of 0.9 〈  z  〈 1.1 and covering a factor of ~1000 in radio luminosity. Using data from the Spitzer Space Telescope combined with ground-based optical and near-infrared imaging, we show that the host galaxies have masses in the range of 10.7 〈 log 10 ( M /M ) 〈 12.0 with HEGs and LEGs exhibiting no difference in their mass distributions. We also find that HEGs accrete at significantly higher rates than LEGs, with the HEG/LEG division lying at an Eddington ratio of  ~ 0.04, which is in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions of where the accretion rate becomes radiatively inefficient, thus supporting the idea of HEGs and LEGs being powered by different modes of accretion. Our study also shows that at least up to L 151 MHz  ~ 3 10 27 W Hz –1 sr –1 , HEGs and LEGs are indistinguishable in terms of their radio properties. From this result we infer that, at least for the lower radio luminosity range, another factor besides accretion rate must play an important role in the process of triggering jet activity.

Description: The genetic changes underlying the initial steps of animal domestication are still poorly understood. We generated a high-quality reference genome for the rabbit and compared it to resequencing data from populations of wild and domestic rabbits. We identified more than 100 selective sweeps specific to domestic rabbits but only a relatively small number of fixed (or nearly fixed) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for derived alleles. SNPs with marked allele frequency differences between wild and domestic rabbits were enriched for conserved noncoding sites. Enrichment analyses suggest that genes affecting brain and neuronal development have often been targeted during domestication. We propose that because of a truly complex genetic background, tame behavior in rabbits and other domestic animals evolved by shifts in allele frequencies at many loci, rather than by critical changes at only a few domestication loci.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Carneiro, Miguel -- Rubin, Carl-Johan -- Di Palma, Federica -- Albert, Frank W -- Alfoldi, Jessica -- Barrio, Alvaro Martinez -- Pielberg, Gerli -- Rafati, Nima -- Sayyab, Shumaila -- Turner-Maier, Jason -- Younis, Shady -- Afonso, Sandra -- Aken, Bronwen -- Alves, Joel M -- Barrell, Daniel -- Bolet, Gerard -- Boucher, Samuel -- Burbano, Hernan A -- Campos, Rita -- Chang, Jean L -- Duranthon, Veronique -- Fontanesi, Luca -- Garreau, Herve -- Heiman, David -- Johnson, Jeremy -- Mage, Rose G -- Peng, Ze -- Queney, Guillaume -- Rogel-Gaillard, Claire -- Ruffier, Magali -- Searle, Steve -- Villafuerte, Rafael -- Xiong, Anqi -- Young, Sarah -- Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin -- Good, Jeffrey M -- Lander, Eric S -- Ferrand, Nuno -- Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin -- Andersson, Leif -- 095908/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- U54 HG003067/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- WT095908/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- WT098051/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Aug 29;345(6200):1074-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1253714.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, Campus Agrario de Vairao, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairao, Portugal. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. ; Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Vertebrate and Health Genomics, The Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich, UK. ; Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. ; Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Animal Production, Ain Shams University, Shoubra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. ; CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, Campus Agrario de Vairao, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairao, Portugal. Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK. ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), UMR1388 Genetique, Physiologie et Systemes d'Elevage, F-31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France. ; Labovet Conseil, BP539, 85505 Les Herbiers Cedex, France. ; INRA, UMR1198 Biologie du Developpement et Reproduction, F-78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France. ; Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy. ; Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. ; U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA. ; ANTAGENE, Animal Genomics Laboratory, Lyon, France. ; INRA, UMR1313 Genetique Animale et Biologie Integrative, F- 78350, Jouy-en-Josas, France. ; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK. ; Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados, (IESA-CSIC) Campo Santo de los Martires 7, Cordoba, Spain. ; Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. ; Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. Division of Biological Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA. ; CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, Campus Agrario de Vairao, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairao, Portugal. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre sn. 4169-007 Porto, Portugal. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Broad Institute of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. kersli@broadinstitute.org leif.andersson@imbim.uu.se. ; Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4458, USA. kersli@broadinstitute.org leif.andersson@imbim.uu.se.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25170157" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Nature Geoscience 8, 479 (2015). doi:10.1038/ngeo2437 Authors: J. M. Whittaker, J. C. Afonso, S. Masterton, R. D. Müller, P. Wessel, S. E. Williams & M. Seton Plate tectonic motions are commonly considered to be driven by slab pull at subduction zones and ridge push at mid-ocean ridges, with motion punctuated by plumes of hot material rising from the lower mantle. Within this model, the geometry and location of mid-ocean ridges are considered to be independent of lower-mantle dynamics, such as deeply sourced plumes that produce voluminous lava eruptions—termed large igneous provinces. Here we use a global plate model to reconstruct the locations of large igneous provinces relative to plumes and mid-ocean ridges at the time they formed. We find that large igneous provinces repeatedly formed at specific locations where mid-ocean ridges and plumes interact. We calculate how much mantle material was converted to oceanic lithosphere at the mid-ocean ridges and find that slowly migrating ridge systems that have been stabilized by upwelling plumes have extracted large volumes of material from the same part of the upper mantle over periods up to 180 million years. The geochemical signatures of mid-ocean ridge basalts and seismic tomographic data show that upper-mantle temperatures are elevated at significant distances from ridge–plume interactions, indicating a far-field, indirect influence of plume–ridge interactions on the upper-mantle structure. We conclude that strong feedbacks exist between the dynamics of slowly migrating ridges and deeply sourced plumes.