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      Structural and proteomic analyses of vitelline membrane proteins of blackbird ( Turdus merula) and song thrush ( Turdus philomelos)

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      1 , , 2 , , 3
      Scientific Reports
      Nature Publishing Group UK
      Structural biology, Zoology

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          Abstract

          In this study, we aimed to perform structural and proteomic analysis of the vitelline membrane (VM) of two species birds belonging to the family Turdidae: blackbird ( Turdus merula) and song thrush ( Turdus philomelos). We performed structural analyses using scanning electron microscopy. The VM proteins were identified and compared to the best-known chicken VM proteins. According to our results, VM of both species has a typical three-layered structure: the outer layer, inner layer, and the continuous membrane between them. An unusual observation was the finding of “convexity” formed by the inner layer in blackbird. The role of these convex structures is not known, but they can be typical for the species and can be used in their identification. In addition, we identified two proteins in the VM of both species of birds, of which U3KEZ1 FICAL was not previously identified in any other bird species, and the U3JXV8 FICAL protein was confirmed only once in cockatiel parrot VM. The function of these proteins is not exactly known, but their structure shows similarities to the SERPIN proteins that are involved in microbiological defense, i.e., they are immune proteins. This study contributes to the current knowledge about the structure and composition of proteins of VM, especially because similar analyses have never been performed for Turdidae family. Knowledge of the structure and specific proteins of blackbird and song thrush VM can be beneficial in research on ecology and bird biology and also helpful in developing noninvasive and nongenetic identification methods.

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          Most cited references35

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          Serpin structure, mechanism, and function.

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            How Many Kinds of Birds Are There and Why Does It Matter?

            Estimates of global species diversity have varied widely, primarily based on variation in the numbers derived from different inventory methods of arthropods and other small invertebrates. Within vertebrates, current diversity metrics for fishes, amphibians, and reptiles are known to be poor estimators, whereas those for birds and mammals are often assumed to be relatively well established. We show that avian evolutionary diversity is significantly underestimated due to a taxonomic tradition not found in most other taxonomic groups. Using a sample of 200 species taken from a list of 9159 biological species determined primarily by morphological criteria, we applied a diagnostic, evolutionary species concept to a morphological and distributional data set that resulted in an estimate of 18,043 species of birds worldwide, with a 95% confidence interval of 15,845 to 20,470. In a second, independent analysis, we examined intraspecific genetic data from 437 traditional avian species, finding an average of 2.4 evolutionary units per species, which can be considered proxies for phylogenetic species. Comparing recent lists of species to that used in this study (based primarily on morphology) revealed that taxonomic changes in the past 25 years have led to an increase of only 9%, well below what our results predict. Therefore, our molecular and morphological results suggest that the current taxonomy of birds understimates avian species diversity by at least a factor of two. We suggest that a revised taxonomy that better captures avian species diversity will enhance the quantification and analysis of global patterns of diversity and distribution, as well as provide a more appropriate framework for understanding the evolutionary history of birds.
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              Avian egg shape: Form, function, and evolution.

              Avian egg shape is generally explained as an adaptation to life history, yet we currently lack a global synthesis of how egg-shape differences arise and evolve. Here, we apply morphometric, mechanistic, and macroevolutionary analyses to the egg shapes of 1400 bird species. We characterize egg-shape diversity in terms of two biologically relevant variables, asymmetry and ellipticity, allowing us to quantify the observed morphologies in a two-dimensional morphospace. We then propose a simple mechanical model that explains the observed egg-shape diversity based on geometric and material properties of the egg membrane. Finally, using phylogenetic models, we show that egg shape correlates with flight ability on broad taxonomic scales, suggesting that adaptations for flight may have been critical drivers of egg-shape variation in birds.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                krzysztof_damaziak@sggw.edu.pl
                marek_kieliszek@sggw.edu.pl
                Journal
                Sci Rep
                Sci Rep
                Scientific Reports
                Nature Publishing Group UK (London )
                2045-2322
                9 November 2020
                9 November 2020
                2020
                : 10
                : 19344
                Affiliations
                [1 ]GRID grid.13276.31, ISNI 0000 0001 1955 7966, Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Breeding. Bioengineering and Conservation, Institute of Animal Science, , Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, ; Ciszewskiego 9 Street, 02-786 Warsaw, Poland
                [2 ]GRID grid.13276.31, ISNI 0000 0001 1955 7966, Department of Food Biotechnology and Microbiology, Institute of Food Sciences, , Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, ; Nowoursynowska 159C Street, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
                [3 ]GRID grid.13276.31, ISNI 0000 0001 1955 7966, Department of Experimental Design and Bioinformatics, , Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, ; Nowoursynowska 159, 02-786 Warsaw, Poland
                Article
                76559
                10.1038/s41598-020-76559-4
                7652871
                33168893
                5602de61-edfd-4fad-8551-d5ec0d409d26
                © The Author(s) 2020

                Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

                History
                : 28 March 2020
                : 27 October 2020
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                © The Author(s) 2020

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                structural biology,zoology
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                structural biology, zoology

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