Human-mediated dispersal interplays with natural processes and complicates understanding of the biogeographical history of species. This is exemplified by two invasive tunicates, Ciona robusta (formerly Ciona intestinalis type A) and C. intestinalis (formerly Ciona intestinalis type B), globally distributed and sympatric in Europe. By gathering new mitochondrial sequences that were merged with ...

BACKGROUND Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis, marked by numerous gas-filled cysts in the intestinal wall and submucosa or intestinal submucosa, is a very uncommon condition. CASE PRESENTATION A 79-year-old Asian man presented to our emergency department after 2 days of lower abdominal pain with nausea and constipation. His past medical history included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease a...

The study of marine invertebrates is useful in various biological research fields. However, genetic analyses of these animals are limited, mainly due to difficulties in culturing them, and the genetic resources of marine invertebrates have not been organized. Recently, advances have been made in the study of two deuterostomes, an ascidian Ciona intestinalis and a feather star Oxycomanthus japon...

BACKGROUND Current control policies for intestinal parasitosis focuses on soil-transmitted helminths, being ineffective against Giardia intestinalis, a highly prevalent protozoon that impacts children's nutritional status in developing countries. The objective of this study was to explore spatial and molecular epidemiology of Giardia intestinalis in children of Amerindian descent in the Brazili...

To gain insights into the relation between evolution of cis-regulatory DNA and evolution of gene function, we identified tissue-specific enhancers of the engrailed gene of the basal chordate amphioxus (Branchiostoma floridae) and compared their ability to direct expression in both amphioxus and its nearest chordate relative, the tunicate Ciona intestinalis. In amphioxus embryos, the native engr...

Ascidians, belonging to the subphylum Urochordata, the earliest branch from the lineage to the vertebrates, exhibit a prototypical morphogenesis of chordates in the larval development, although they subsequently metamorphose into adults with a unique body structure. Recent draft genome analysis of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis has identified 9 Hox genes, which, however, have been located on f...

A mathematical model was used to describe the population of the aquatic invasive species, Ciona intestinalis in the presence of cultured mussel production. A differential equation model was developed to represent the key life stages: egg, larva, recruit, juvenile and adult. Stage transition rates were calculated from time spent in a stage and transition probabilities. Because surface availabili...

Ascidians, especially those belonging to the suborder Phlebobranchia, can accumulate high levels of vanadium. Vanadium-binding proteins (vanabins) were first isolated from a vanadium-accumulating ascidian, Ascidia sydneiensis samea, and then the vanabins were cloned, their expression was studied, and metal-binding assays were conducted. In order to unravel the mechanism of vanadium accumulation...

Intra-annual and inter-annual reproductive periodicity for in situ populations of Ciona intestinalis were documented from October 2013 to August 2015 in the small vessel marina at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, NS. Three metrics of reproduction were monitored: (i) larval settlement, (ii) gonad development and (iii) gamete viability. In situ settlement was observed between J...