Author Archives: LS

Kurtén club special presentation on tue 25.5

Dear all,
Kes Schroer is visiting researcher in the Jernvall lab for a few weeks, and would be happy to present her own and the research group’s current research.
As there is no planned schedule for next tuesday, we decided to grab the opportunity. So Kes will present her current research and view from other side of the big ocean on next Tuesday, 25.5., at 16.00 in the C108 (the normal place).
Kes is working in The Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology (CASHP) which is a research center at The George Washington University, USA. Her primary research interest is the development of teeth, particularly enamel. Currently, she is investigating the molarization process in Paranthropus and developmental differences between deciduous and permanent enamel. On the side, Kes is analyzing the pedagogical effectiveness of evolution exhibits in American museums.

Special lecture in Paleontology on 26.5

Björn Kurtén – club is proud to host another special lecture!
As the season’s last lecture, we have the pleasure to have Prof. Sophie Montuire from University of Bourgogne and EPHE Dijon present a talk titled:
Rodent’s biodiversity, evolution and emergence of phenotype
The talk will take place on the 26th of May (26.5.) at 16.00, in the Kumpula Campus, the Department of Geosciences and Geography, Physicum building, room C108.
after the talk there is some time for discussions and questions.
Everybody warmly Welcome!
Background:
Sophie Montuire is a specialist in rodent evolution. She is interested in paleontology and biodiversity focusing on the evolution of rodents in relation to biotic and abiotic factors. First, she seeks to understand the relationships between mammalian communities and climate (size and species richness). The observation of the species richness evolution through time allows us to constructing transfer functions in order to quantify climatic parameters. Second, she studies the relationships between shape and climate in rodents, and peculiarly in arvicolines. This sub-species shows a great variability of the tooth patterns both at intra-specific or inter-specific scales in relation to geography or environment during the Quaternary period. Finally, she tries to understand the mechanisms acting on the morphological variability (Evo-Devo) through morphometrical analyses leading to link developmental mechanisms with morphological variability (modularity) in arvicolines.  She works at Université de Bourgogne, and Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Dijon as a Professor and director of studies.
Key references:
MONTUIRE, S. & BRUNET-LECOMTE, P. (2004). Relation between climatic fluctuation and morphological variability in Microtus (Terricola) grafi (Arvicolinae, Rodentia) from Bacho Kiro (Bulgaria, Upper Pleistocene). Lethaia, 37: 71-78.
MONTUIRE, S., MARIDET O. & LEGENDRE, S. (2006). Estimations of Late Neogene climates in Europe using rodents. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 238: 247-262.
RENVOISÉ E., EVANS A., JEBRANE A, LABRUÈRE C., LAFFONT R. & MONTUIRE S. (2009). Evolution of mammal tooth pattern: new insights from a developmental prediction model. Evolution 63: 1327-1340.
LAFFONT R., RENVOISÉ E., NAVARRO N., ALIBERT P., MONTUIRE S. (2009). Morphological modularity and assessment of developmental processes within the vole dental row (Microtus arvalis, Arvicolinae, Rodentia). Evolution & Development 11: 302-311.

Kurtén Club 11.5.

Dear all,

tomorrow, Suvi Viranta-Kovanen will give a talk about

These feet were made for walking
– cursorial adaptations in the human foot

Time & Loc.:
16.00, 11.5.2010, C108 (Physicum)

Welcome,
Allu

Neandertal genome sequenced!

Science 7 May 2010:
Vol. 328. no. 5979, pp. 710 – 722

A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome

Richard E. Green et al.

Neandertals, the closest evolutionary relatives of present-day humans, lived in large parts of Europe and western Asia before disappearing 30,000 years ago. We present a draft sequence of the Neandertal genome composed of more than 4 billion nucleotides from three individuals. Comparisons of the Neandertal genome to the genomes of five present-day humans from different parts of the world identify a number of genomic regions that may have been affected by positive selection in ancestral modern humans, including genes involved in metabolism and in cognitive and skeletal development. We show that Neandertals shared more genetic variants with present-day humans in Eurasia than with present-day humans in sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that gene flow from Neandertals into the ancestors of non-Africans occurred before the divergence of Eurasian groups from each other.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/328/5979/710

____________________________________

Laura K. Säilä, PhD

Woolly mammoth antifreeze!

All over the internet today! – Laura

Substitutions in woolly mammoth hemoglobin confer biochemical properties adaptive for cold tolerance

We have genetically retrieved, resurrected and performed detailed structure-function analyses on authentic woolly mammoth hemoglobin to reveal for the first time both the evolutionary origins and the structural underpinnings of a key adaptive physiochemical trait in an extinct species. Hemoglobin binds and carries O2; however, its ability to offload O2 to respiring cells is hampered at low temperatures, as heme deoxygenation is inherently endothermic (that is, hemoglobin-O2 affinity increases as temperature decreases). We identify amino acid substitutions with large phenotypic effect on the chimeric b/d-globin subunit of mammoth hemoglobin that provide a unique solution to this problem and thereby minimize energetically costly heat loss. This biochemical specialization may have been involved in the exploitation of high-latitude environments by this African-derived elephantid lineage during the Pleistocene period. This powerful new approach to directly analyze the genetic and structural basis of physiological adaptations in an extinct species adds an important new dimension to the study of natural selection.

http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ng.574.html#/

Kurtén Club 27.4.

Dear all,

today, Majid Mirzaie Ataabadi will give a talk about

The Miocene of Western Asia; fossil mammals at the crossroad of faunal provinces and climate regimes

Time & Loc.:
16.00, 27.4.2010, C108 (Physicum)

Welcome,
Allu