The generally accepted hypothesis regarding the origin of fossorial mammals proposes adaptive convergence from open environments towards the use of subterranean environments. We evaluated this hypothesis for South American mole-mice using conventional and Bayesian frameworks, with independent evidence. By using a molecular approach based on Cytochrome b and IRBP sequences, we evaluated phylogen...

This paper discusses cluster analysis in a probabilistic and inferential framework as opposed to more exploratory, heuristic or algorithmic approaches. It presents a broad survey on probabilistic models for partitiontype, hierarchical and tree-like clustering structures and points to the relevant literature. It is shown how suitable clustering criteria or grouping methods may be derived from th...

Several toxigenic trichothecene-producing and nonproducing Fusarium species are involved in Fusarium head blight, which reduces both crop yield and quality in cereals. Climate change has altered crop production in many countries, and this in turn influences the pathogen populations. E.g. in northern areas a risk will be new toxigenic Fusarium species spreading to the north due to higher tempera...

Seven fungal isolates were identified as pan-global Hypocrea/Trichoderma species, from section Trichoderma, on the basis of their morphology. These species were H. lixii/T. harzianum and H. orientalis/T. longibrachiatum. PCR-based markers with primer M13 (core sequence of phage M13) and internal-transcribed spacer sequences of ribosomal DNA were used to confirm the identity of the two Trichoder...

In this study, 922 consecutive non-duplicate clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae obtained from hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients at Bejaia, Algeria were analyzed for AmpC-type β-lactamases production. The ampC genes and their genetic environment were characterized using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. Plasmid incompatibility groups were determined by using PCR-based...

We have reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships of 23 species in the dog family, Canidae, using DNA sequence data from six nuclear loci. Individual gene trees were generated with maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) analysis. In general, these individual gene trees were not well resolved, but several identical groupings were supported by more than one locus. Phylogenetic anal...

PURPOSE We investigated the molecular types of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) by using conventional phylogrouping, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and fimH genotyping. METHODS Samples of patients younger than 18 years of age were collected from the Chung-Ang University Hospital over 2 years. Conventional phylogenetic grouping for UPEC strains was performed by polymerase chain reacti...