High impact information on Birds

• Does behavior reflect phylogeny in swiftlets (Aves: Apodidae)? A test using cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA sequences [1].
• In this study, multiple analyses were applied to data from three loci (cytochrome b, alpha-enolase intron VIII, and MHC class II B) to test for founder effects associated with speciation in Aethia (Aves: Alcidae), a genus of seabirds thought to have undergone a rapid founder-induced radiation [2].
• The measured affinity for binding of APP to these cerebellar binding sites is consistent with normal plasma concentrations (3-6 ng/ml) of APP in all Aves examined [3].
• Here we report cloning and characterization of two subtypes of BN-like peptide receptors in Aves [4].
• Since the two bird species studied are taxonomically quite distinct, this would indicate that this rod-like green cone opsin gene, although absent in mammals, is common in the Aves [5].

Biological context of Birds

• Mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence data from 15 species of herons (Aves: Ardeidae), representing 13 genera, were compared with DNA hybridization data of single-copy nuclear DNA (scnDNA) from the same species in a taxonomic congruence assessment of heron phylogeny [6].
• We investigated the relationship between synaptonemal complex (SC) length and genome size in 18 species of vertebrates from the classes Osteicthyes (bony fish), Reptilia (reptiles), Aves (birds), and Mammalia (mammals) [7].
• Large differences in immunological distances are evident between species of the Class Insecta and of the Class Aves indicating considerable differences in the amino acid sequences of the aldehyde reductase of these species [8].

Anatomical context of Birds

• Gametogenic responses of the testis in spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata; Aves) to oral administration of lithium chloride [9].

Associations of Birds with chemical compounds

• The inability to utilize 7-methyl-8-ethyl-flavin represents a real difference in the utilization of flavin between the classes Mammalia and Aves [10].
• Molar I/G ratios have been useful in mammals in studying the needs of the organism to produce glucose to meet a metabolic crisis/need and, when compared with that found in normal Aves, a value of 1.8-2.2 has been established [11].
• Paraliga charadrii n. sp. (Cestoda: Dilepididae) from the semipalmated plover, Charadrius semipalmatus Bonaparte (Aves: Charadriiformes) [12].
• Specimens were recovered from Calidris canutus rufa Wilson (Aves: Scolopacidae) from the Southwest Atlantic coast of Uruguay [13].
• Cadmium and lead concentrations in Contracaecum rudolphii (Nematoda) and its host, the cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo (Aves) [14].

Gene context of Birds

• We sequenced 2690 nucleotides of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) including the entire control region (CR), partial 12S and 16S ribosomal RNAs, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2, and cytochrome b genes from representatives of all the 17 living species of grouse and ptarmigan (Aves; Galliformes; subfamily Tetraoninae) [15].
• MBL has been extensively studied in mammals but recently also in Aves [16].
• Comparative studies on the Osteichthyes, Mammalia and Aves vertebrate class GH promoters suggested that the TATAAA box was the only conserved region between these sequences [17].
• Class I alcohol dehydrogenase has been characterized from ostrich liver in order to evaluate enzyme variability between two independent lines, mammalian forms of class I alcohol dehydrogenase as a group, and a sufficient number of the enzyme from the most recent animal class (Aves, birds) as another [18].
• Some Platyhelminths inhabiting white-throated sparrows, Zonotrichia albicollis (Aves: Emberizidae: Emberizinae), from Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada [19].

References