Genetic analysis reveals candidate genes for activity QTL in the blind Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus.

Animal models provide useful tools for exploring the genetic basis of morphological, physiological and behavioral phenotypes. Cave-adapted species are particularly powerful models for a broad array of phenotypic changes with evolutionary, developmental and clinical relevance. Here, we explored the genetic underpinnings of previously characterized differences in locomotor activity patterns between the surface-dwelling and Pachón cave-dwelling populations of Astyanax mexicanus. We identified multiple novel QTL underlying patterns in overall levels of activity (velocity), as well as spatial tank use (time spent near the top or bottom of the tank). Further, we demonstrated that different regions of the genome mediate distinct patterns in velocity and tank usage. We interrogated eight genomic intervals underlying these activity QTL distributed across six linkage groups. In addition, we employed transcriptomic data and draft genomic resources to generate and evaluate a list of 36 potential candidate genes. Interestingly, our data support the candidacy of a number of genes, but do not suggest that differences in the patterns of behavior observed here are the result of alterations to certain candidate genes described in other species (e.g., teleost multiple tissue opsins, melanopsins or members of the core circadian clockwork). This study expands our knowledge of the genetic architecture underlying activity differences in surface and cavefish. Future studies will help define the role of specific genes in shaping complex behavioral phenotypes in Astyanax and other vertebrate taxa.

Triggered Star Formation inside the Shell of a Wolf-Rayet Bubble as the Origin of the Solar System.

A constraint on Solar System formation is the high 26Al/27Al abundance ratio, 17 times higher than the average Galactic ratio, while the 60Fe/56Fe value was lower than the Galactic value. This challenges the assumption that a nearby supernova was responsible for the injection of these short-lived radionuclides into the early Solar System. We suggest that the Solar System was formed by triggered star formation at the edge of a Wolf-Rayet (W-R) bubble. We discuss the details of various processes within the model using numerical simulations, and analytic and semi-analytic calculations, and conclude that it is a viable model that can explain the initial abundances of 26Al and 60Fe. We estimate that 1%-16% of all Sun-like stars could have formed in such a setting.

Triggered Star Formation inside the Shell of a Wolf-Rayet Bubble as the Origin of the Solar System.

A critical constraint on solar system formation is the high 26Al/27Al abundance ratio of 5 × 10-5 at the time of formation, which was about 17 times higher than the average Galactic ratio, while the 60Fe/56Fe value was about 2 × 10-8, lower than the Galactic value. This challenges the assumption that a nearby supernova (SN) was responsible for the injection of these short-lived radionuclides into the early solar system. We show that this conundrum can be resolved if the solar system was formed by a triggered star formation at the edge of a Wolf-Rayet (W-R) bubble. 26Al is produced during the evolution of the massive star, released in the wind during the W-R phase, and condenses into dust grains that are seen around W-R stars. The dust grains survive passage through the reverse shock and the low-density shocked wind, reach the dense shell swept-up by the bubble, detach from the decelerated wind, and are injected into the shell. Some portions of this shell subsequently collapse to form the dense cores that give rise to solar-type systems. The subsequent aspherical SN does not inject appreciable amounts of 60Fe into the proto-solar system, thus accounting for the observed low abundance of 60Fe. We discuss the details of various processes within the model and conclude that it is a viable model that can explain the initial abundances of 26Al and 60Fe. We estimate that 1%-16% of all Sun-like stars could have formed in such a setting of triggered star formation in the shell of a W-R bubble.

The rise of Astyanax cavefish.

Numerous animals have invaded subterranean caverns and evolved remarkably similar features. These features include loss of vision and pigmentation, and gains in nonvisual sensation. This broad convergence echoes smaller-scale convergence, in which members of the same species repeatedly evolve the same cave-associated phenotypes. The blind Mexican tetra of the Sierra de El Abra region of northeastern Mexico has a complex origin, having recurrently colonized subterranean environments through numerous invasions of surface-dwelling fish. These colonizations likely occurred ∼1-5 MYa. Despite evidence of historical and contemporary gene flow between cave and surface forms, the cave-associated phenotype appears to remain quite stable in nature. This model system has provided insight to the mechanisms of phenotypic regression, the genetic basis for constructive trait evolution, and the origin of behavioral novelties. Here, we document the rise of this model system from its discovery by a Mexican surveyor in 1936, to a powerful system for cave biology and contemporary genetic research. The recently sequenced genome provides exciting opportunities for future research, and will help resolve several long-standing biological problems. Developmental Dynamics 244:1031-1038, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evidence for a late supernova injection of 60Fe into the protoplanetary disk.

High-precision 60Fe-60Ni isotope data show that most meteorites originating from differentiated planetesimals that accreted within 1 million years of the solar system's formation have 60Ni/58Ni ratios that are approximately 25 parts per million lower than samples from Earth, Mars, and chondrite parent bodies. This difference indicates that the oldest solar system planetesimals formed in the absence of 60Fe. Evidence for live 60Fe in younger objects suggests that 60Fe was injected into the protoplanetary disk approximately 1 million years after solar system formation, when 26Al was already homogeneously distributed. Decoupling the first appearance of 26Al and 60Fe constrains the environment where the Sun's formation could have taken place, indicating that it occurred in a dense stellar cluster in association with numerous massive stars.

r-Process nucleosynthesis without excess neutrons.

Matter expanding sufficiently rapidly and at high enough entropy per nucleon can enter a heavy-element synthesis regime heretofore unexplored. In this extreme regime, more similar to nucleosynthesis in the early universe than to that typical in stellar explosive environments, there is a persistent disequilibrium between free nucleons and abundant alpha particles, which allows heavy r-process nucleus production even in matter with more protons than neutrons. This observation bears on the issue of the site of the r process, on the variability of abundance yields from r-process events, and on constraints on neutrino physics derived from nucleosynthesis.