To evaluate the contrast sensitivity of a degenerate retina stimulated by a photovoltaic subretinal prosthesis, and assess the impact of low contrast sensitivity on transmission of visual information. We measure ex vivo the full-field contrast sensitivity of healthy rat retina stimulated with white light, and the contrast sensitivity of degenerate ...
Transcriptome is the entire repertoire of transcripts present in a cell at any particular time. We undertook a next-generation whole transcriptome sequencing approach to gain insight into the transcriptional landscape of the developing mouse lens. We ascertained mouse lenses at six developmental time points including two embryonic (E15 and E18) and...
Successful sequencing of the Clostridium difficile genome requires high-quality genomic DNA (gDNA) as the starting material. gDNA extraction using conventional methods is laborious. We describe here an optimized method for the simple extraction of C. difficile gDNA using the QIAamp DNA minikit, which yielded high-quality sequence reads on the Illum...
The Genome 10K Project was established in 2009 by a consortium of biologists and genome scientists determined to facilitate the sequencing and analysis of the complete genomes of 10,000 vertebrate species. Since then the number of selected and initiated species has risen from ∼26 to 277 sequenced or ongoing with funding, an approximately tenfold in...
Birds are the most species-rich class of tetrapod vertebrates and have wide relevance across many research fields. We explored bird macroevolution using full genomes from 48 avian species representing all major extant clades. The avian genome is principally characterized by its constrained size, which predominantly arose because of lineage-specific...
To better determine the history of modern birds, we performed a genome-scale phylogenetic analysis of 48 species representing all orders of Neoaves using phylogenomic methods created to handle genome-scale data. We recovered a highly resolved tree that confirms previously controversial sister or close relationships. We identified the first divergen...
Everyone loves the birds of the world. From their haunting songs and majesty of flight to dazzling plumage and mating rituals, bird watchers – both amateurs and professionals - have marveled for centuries at their considerable adaptations. Now, we are offered a special treat with the publication of a series of papers in dedicated issues of Science,...
The acute cellular response to stress generates a subpopulation of reversibly stress-tolerant cells under conditions that are lethal to the majority of the population. Stress tolerance is attributed to heterogeneity of gene expression within the population to ensure survival of a minority. We performed whole transcriptome sequencing analyses of met...
Do genetically closely related organisms under identical, but strong selection pressure converge to a common resistant genotype or will they diverge to different genomic solutions? This question gets at the heart of how rough is the fitness landscape in the local vicinity of two closely related strains under stress. We chose a Growth Advantage in S...
