Songbirds are important models for the study of social behaviour and communication. To complement the recent genome sequencing of the domesticated zebra finch, we sequenced the brain transcriptome of a closely related songbird species, the violet-eared waxbill (Uraeginthus granatina). Both the zebra finch and violet-eared waxbill are members of the family Estrildidae, but differ markedly in the...

Measureable rates of genome evolution are well documented in human pathogens but are less well understood in bacterial pathogens in the wild, particularly during and after host switches. Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) is a pathogenic bacterium that has evolved predominantly in poultry and recently jumped to wild house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), a common North American songbird. For the firs...

BACKGROUND Avian beta-defensins (AvBDs) represent a group of innate immune genes with broad antimicrobial activity. Within the chicken genome, previous work identified 14 AvBDs in a cluster on chromosome three. The release of a second bird genome, the zebra finch, allows us to study the comparative evolutionary history of these gene clusters between from two species that shared a common ancesto...

Rubinstein J (1995) Cohtmn Flotation: Processes, Designs and Practices. New York: Gordon and Breach. Schubert Hand Bischofberger C (1979) On the optimization of hydrodynamics in flotation processes. In: Laskowski J (ed.) Proceedings of the 13th International Mineral Process Congress, pp. 1261-1287. Warsaw: Elsevier. Wills BA (1992) Introduction to Mineral Processing Technology, 5th edn, pp. 558...

Zebra Finches have become the most widely researched bird species outside of those used in agricultural production. Their adoption as avian model choice is largely down to a number characteristics that make them easy obtain and use captivity. The main point our paper very Finch highly amenable laboratory mean it by definition different from many other passerine birds, therefore not good general...