The capsule polysaccharide locus (cps) is the site of the capsule biosynthesis gene cluster in encapsulated Streptococcus pneumoniae. A set of pneumococcal samples and non-pneumococcal streptococci from Denmark, the Gambia, the Netherlands, Thailand, the UK and the USA were sequenced at the cps locus to elucidate serologically mistyped or non-typable isolates. We identified a novel serotype 33B...

The evolution of multicellularity was one of the key innovations in the history of life on Earth. Virtually all morphological and ecological diversity in macro-organisms builds upon the evolutionary potential associated with multicellularity. We examined the potential for ecological diversity to rapidly arise following transitions to multicellularity. Replicate microcosms containing the yeast S...

Approximately 7000 marine zooplanktonic species have been described so far for the World Ocean; in the South Atlantic the presence of 40% of these has been confirmed, and an additional 20–30% are expected to be recorded in the future. The overall number of described species is very low when compared with other communities, and yet it may not be too far from the final, complete inventory. Very a...

Punctuated antigenic change is believed to be a key element in the evolution of influenza A; clusters of antigenically similar strains predominate worldwide for several years until an antigenically distant mutant emerges and instigates a selective sweep. It is thought that a region of East-Southeast Asia with year-round transmission acts as a source of antigenic diversity for influenza A and se...

Among the variety and diversity of pigeon houses, Multi-Tier Pigeon Houses (MTPHs) are distinguished from the functional and aesthetic point of view and are considered as a specific local architectural sights of Lenjanat. However, few studies have been conducted to study this type of pigeon house and these constructs have remained unknown. In this study we have conducted library and field studi...

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Band 4 Foliage-height diversity Horizontal vegetation structure Image texture Infrared air photo Landsat NDVI Wildlife habitat Ecologists commonly collect data on vegetation structure, which is an important attribute for characterizing habitat. However, measuring vegetation structure across large areas is logistically difficult. Our goal was to evaluate the degre...