Bird Research this week on PubMed: May 2014 Week 1

PubMed listing for 'bird' OR 'songbird' excluding references to influenza and flu - May 2014 Week 1

1.	Vaccine. 2014 Apr 30. pii: S0264-410X(14)00606-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.04.068. [Epub ahead of print] A recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV) expressing infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) surface glycoprotein D protects against highly virulent ILTV and NDV challenges in chickens. Kanabagatte Basavarajappa M1, Kumar S1, Khattar SK1, Gebreluul GT1, Paldurai A1, Samal SK2.Author information: 1Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. 2Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: ssamal@umd.edu. Abstract Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease of chickens caused by infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV). Currently, modified live ILTV vaccines are used to control ILT infections. However, the live ILTV vaccines can revert to virulence after bird-to-bird passage and are capable of establishing latent infections, suggesting the need to develop safer vaccines against ILT. We have evaluated the role of three major ILTV surface glycoproteins, namely, gB, gC, and gD in protection and immunity against ILTV infection in chickens. Using reverse genetics approach, three recombinant Newcastle disease viruses (rNDVs) designated rNDV gB, rNDV gC, and rNDV gD were generated, each expressing gB, gC, and gD, respectively, of ILTV. Chickens received two immunizations with rNDVs alone (gB, gC, and gD) or in combination (gB+gC, gB+gD, gC+gD, and gB+gC+gD). Immunization with rNDV gD induced detectable levels of neutralizing antibodies with the magnitude of response greater than the rest of the experimental groups including those vaccinated with commercially available vaccines. The birds immunized with rNDV gD showed complete protection against virulent ILTV challenge. The birds immunized with rNDV gC alone or multivalent vaccines consisting of combination of rNDVs displayed partial protection with minimal disease and reduced replication of challenge virus in trachea. Immunization with rNDV gB neither reduced the severity of the disease nor the replication of challenge virus in trachea. The superior protective efficacy of rNDV gD vaccine compared to rNDV gB or rNDV gC vaccine was attributed to the higher levels of envelope incorporation and infected cell surface expression of gD than gB or gC. Our results suggest that rNDV expressing gD is a safe and effective bivalent vaccine against NDV and ILTV. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
	PMID: 24793943 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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2.	Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2014 Apr 29;28C:1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.04.004. [Epub ahead of print] Communication about social status. Fernald RD.Author information: Biology and Neuroscience, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States. Electronic address: rfernald@stanford.edu. Abstract Dominance hierarchies are ubiquitous in social species and serve to organize social systems. Social and sexual status is communicated directly among animals via sensory systems evolved in the particular species. Such signals may be chemical, visual, auditory, postural or a combination of signals. In most species, status is initially established through physical conflict between individuals that leads to ritualized conflict or threats, reducing possibly dangerous results of fighting. Many of the status signals contain other information, as in some bird species that communicate both the size of their group and their individual rank vocally. Recent studies have shown that scent signaling among hyenas of east Africa is unique, being produced by fermentative, odor producing bacteria residing in the scent glands. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
	PMID: 24793315 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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3.	Behav Processes. 2014 Apr 30. pii: S0376-6357(14)00112-0. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.04.010. [Epub ahead of print] The structure of an avian syllable syntax network. Deslandes V1, Faria LR2, Borges ME3, Pie MR4.Author information: 1Laboratório de Dinâmica Evolutiva e Sistemas Complexos, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil; Pós Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil. Electronic address: viviane.deslandes@gmail.com. 2Laboratório de Dinâmica Evolutiva e Sistemas Complexos, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil; Instituto Latino-Americano de Ciências da Vida e da Natureza, Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA), Brazil. 3Laboratório de Dinâmica Evolutiva e Sistemas Complexos, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil. 4Laboratório de Dinâmica Evolutiva e Sistemas Complexos, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil; Pós Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil. Abstract A common result in recent linguistic studies on word association networks is that their topology can often be described by Zipf's law, in which most words have few associations, whereas a few words are highly connected. However, little is known about syntactic networks in more rudimentary communication systems, which could represent a window into the early stages of language evolution. In this study, we investigate the syntactic network formed by syllable associations in the song of the oscine bird Troglodytes musculus. We use methods recently developed in the context of the study of complex networks to assess topological characteristics in the syntactic networks of T. musculus. We found statistically significant evidence for nestedness in the syllable association network of T. musculus, indicating network organization around a core of commonly used notes, small-world features, and a non-random degree distribution. Our analyses suggest the possibility of a balance between the maintenance of core notes and the acquisition/loss of rare notes through both cultural drift and improvisation. These results underscore the usefulness of investigating communication networks of other animal species in uncovering the initial steps in the evolution of complex syntax networks. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.
	PMID: 24792818 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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4.	Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2014 Apr 30. pii: S1055-7903(14)00153-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2014.04.025. [Epub ahead of print] A comprehensive multilocus assessment of sparrow (Aves: Passerellidae) relationships. Klicka J1, Keith Barker F2, Burns KJ3, Lanyon SM4, Lovette IJ5, Chaves JA6, Bryson RW Jr7.Author information: 1Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Box 353010, Seattle, WA 98195-3010, USA. Electronic address: klicka@uw.edu. 2Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA; Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. 3Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA. 4Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. 5Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14950, USA. 6Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA; Universidad San Francisco de Quito, USFQ, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, y Extensión Galápagos, Campus Cumbayá, Casilla Postal 17-1200-841, Quito, Ecuador. 7Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Box 353010, Seattle, WA 98195-3010, USA. Abstract The New World sparrows (Emberizidae) are among the best known of songbird groups and have long-been recognized as one of the prominent components of the New World nine-primaried oscine assemblage. Despite receiving much attention from taxonomists over the years, and only recently using molecular methods, was a "core" sparrow clade established allowing the reconstruction of a phylogenetic hypothesis that includes the full sampling of sparrow species diversity. In this paper, we use mitochondrial DNA gene sequences from all 129 putative species of sparrow and four additional (nuclear) loci for a subset of these taxa to resolve both generic and species level relationships. Hypotheses derived from our mitochondrial (2184 base pairs) and nuclear (5705 base pairs) DNA data sets were generally in agreement with respect to clade constituency but differed somewhat with respect to among-clade relationships. Sparrow diversity is defined predominantly by eight well-supported clades that indicate a lack of monophyly for at least three currently recognized genera. Ammodramus is polyphyletic and requires the naming of two additional genera. Spizella is also polyphyletic with Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) as a taxonomic "outlier". Pselliophorus is embedded within a larger Atlapetes assemblage and should be merged with that group. This new hypothesis of sparrow relationships will form the basis for future comparative analyses of variation within songbirds. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.
	PMID: 24792084 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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