As another example, the distribution of the tropical gymnosperms

As another example, the distribution of the tropical gymnosperms the Podocarps is

often interpreted as a product of purely natural factors (e.g., van der Hammen and Absy, 1994, Colinvaux et al., 1996 and Haberle, 1997). But the distribution of this important group of economic species is also very affected by such human activities as cutting, burning, cultivation, and ranching, from which Podocarps recover slowly or not at all (Adie and Lawes, 2011, Cernusak et al., 2011 and Dalling et al., 2011). No modern biological community or taxon should be used for paleoecological reconstruction without a clear statement accounting for its ecology and recent history of human management. When species cultivated today turn up in prehistoric sites it’s often assumed to prove prehistoric cultivation (e.g., Mora, 2003:127; Piperno, 1995). Researchers also generalize about prehistoric staple crop utilization from statistically inadequate microfossil RG7204 datasheet samples with no quantitative data from isotopic analysis of human bones of the period (e.g., Bush et al., 1989 on maize). Without other evidence, the simple presence of a species does not tell us what its role was in the human system (Pearsall, 1995:127–129). Holistic, comprehensive, experimentally-verified paleoecological and archeological research at multiple

types of deposits can help clarify major cultural-ecological patterns of the Anthropocene Caspase inhibitor in vivo in Amazonia only if researchers make that a purposeful strategy. Taken together, the interdisciplinary Amisulpride results of many research projects yield some clarity on the environmental background of human impacts in Amazonia. According to comprehensive reviews of evidence

and issues, the tropical forest vegetation of Amazonia has been much more stable than 20th century researchers imagined (Bush and Silman, 2007, Colinvaux et al., 2000, Haberle, 1997, Hoogiemstra and van der Hammen, 1998, Kastner and Goni, 2003, Piperno and Pearsall, 1998 and Roosevelt, 2000:468–471, 480–486; van der Hammen and Hoogiemstra, 2000). Rainforest persisted over most of Amazonia during the entire period of human occupation (Maslin et al., 2012). Many environmental changes took place: in temperature, rainfall, sea level, tectonism, etc., but these never moved the region out of the humid tropical zone where rainforest is the dominant vegetation. Periodic drier periods are recorded, but these did not create savannas (Absy, 1979:3). Hypothesized temperature depression in the late Pleistocene, now revised to c. 5 degrees Centigrade, remained well within the tropical range, and, if anything, made for greater moisture availability than in the Holocene, in most regions (Colinvaux et al., 1996 and Colinvaux et al., 2000). The forest community also changed through time, but tropical plants have been continuously dominant during the entire period of human occupation.

This difference has been explained by (i) the smaller effective p

This difference has been explained by (i) the smaller effective population size of Y chromosomes causing stronger genetic drift,

Trichostatin A nmr and (ii) haplotype clustering due to widespread patrilocality. Therefore, population structure, will be more pronounced in Y-chromosomal genetic databases and must be taken into account when database counts are used to quantify the evidential value of matches in forensic casework [38]. It has been shown, however, that so-called meta-populations may be constructed for Y-STRs that have low haplotypic variation among population groups within a meta-population, but large variation between meta-populations [39]. If necessary, such meta-populations can be defined ab initio using geography as a proxy of genetic relatedness, or by taking ethnic or linguistic data into account. For all five forensic marker sets studied here, samples of African ancestry were clearly separated genetically from all other continental meta-populations. Pairwise genetic distances, measured by RST, between Africa and the four non-African meta-populations were of similar magnitude.

These results confirm a previous study of 40,669 haplotypes from 339 populations typed only for the nine markers of the MHT panel [39]. Moreover, genetic distances between non-African meta-populations were comparatively small. While North and South America still differed to some degree in the first MDS component, Eastern and Western Asia showed notable differences only in the second component. However, since the study here lacked samples from large parts of Northern and Central Asia, reasonable inference about the population structure in see more Asia

as a whole was not possible. Europe was the most intensively sampled continent in the present study and made up ∼60% of the overall sample size. A separate MDS analysis of samples of European residency and ancestry recapitulated the outcome of previous studies with smaller marker sets [32] and [40]. In particular, PtdIns(3,4)P2 a clear East–West divide became evident in the first component of the MDS analysis for all five forensic marker sets. Finland and some regions of the Balkans (Croatia, Bosnia–Herzegovina) showed consistently large differences to other European populations in the second MDS component. It must be emphasized that this population genetic analysis was based upon marker sets that were designed for forensic purposes, and that shared several markers. That all five sets yielded a similar picture of the geographic distribution of Y-STR haplotypes may therefore indicate that, in terms of population structure, the effects of markers included in the MHT (which are common to all five sets) dominate those of more mutable markers, such as PPY23-specific STRs DYS576, DYS570 and DYS481. Indeed, it has been shown recently that haplotypes comprising only rapidly mutating markers lack strong signals of population history (Ballantyne et al., submitted for publication).

The disadvantage of plethysmography is that WNND is usually not f

The disadvantage of plethysmography is that WNND is usually not fatal in human patients, so other assays are necessary to measure more common neurological deficits. Since poliomyelitis-like disease and motor function deficits are well documented in some arbovirus-infected patients, tools to neurologically monitor motor function deficits in rodent models is important, if not necessary, to discover the physiological mechanisms of this deficit. Tools such as EMG and optogenetic photoactivation will be important to pre-clinically evaluate candidate therapeutics (Table 2). Since mortality is

not a surrogate readout to monitor limb motor deficits (Morrey et al., 2010, Morrey et al., 2008b and Siddharthan et al., Stem Cell Compound Library research buy 2009), these neurological tools are probably essential for pre-clinical development of therapeutics. Such studies will also

solidify the value of current clinical tests of motor function. Optogenetic photoactivation of motor neurons in the spinal cord is our favored experimental assay by us for measuring motor deficits responsible for limb weakness, paresis, or paralysis. The procedure essentially has two components: optogenetic stimulation find more and EMG readout. The main advantage of the optogenetics approach is the accuracy, exquisite sensitivity, and quantitative measurements of subclinical limb weakness to overt paralysis. EMGs are relatively straightforward to perform. The disadvantages are that the procedure requires transgenic mice expressing channel rhodopsin in motor neurons,

surgical expertise, specialized training in optogenetics, and assembly of specialized instruments. The alternative for measuring motor deficits is motor unit number estimation (MUNE), which is multiple EMG measurements of limb muscle at sequentially different levels of voltage stimulation of the nerves innervating the muscle, but it is difficult to perform, subjective, employs custom-assembled HA-1077 clinical trial instrumentation and software, and is best performed only in hamsters as opposed to mice. Surgically implanted radiotelemetry chips have proven to be useful to experimentally monitor autonomic function by HRV, ECG cardiac function, temperature, and activity levels. They might be useful for measuring loss of circadian rhythm, but further studies are necessary to confirm loss of circadian rhythm. Chips designed to measure blood pressure, however, involve difficult surgical procedures that limit their utility. These basic physiological studies may help to investigate autonomic dysfunctions in patients and may serve to better clinically manage the disease using currently available clinical tests.

Additional risk factors for HC include donor origin, NCCR (non-co

Additional risk factors for HC include donor origin, NCCR (non-coding control region) viral mutants,

treatment with anti-thymocyte globulins and type of conditioning. All these factors may influence the response to adjuvant therapies. It has been shown that CDV does not affect early steps of PyV replication such as receptor binding and entry (Bernhoff et al., 2008). Neither initial transcription nor expression of the LT-ag was impaired by CDV. However, the drug reduced MLN0128 ic50 intracellular BKPyV DNA replication by >90% while at equivalent concentrations a reduction of cellular DNA replication and metabolic activity of 7% and 11%, respectively, in uninfected human renal tubular cells was found. Furthermore, BKPyV infection increased cellular DNA replication to 142% and metabolic activity to 116%, respectively, which were reduced by CDV to levels of uninfected untreated cells. Our laboratory Screening Library selected SV40 mutants resistant to CDV, following growth of the virus in increasing drug-concentration in the Monkey African green kidney epithelial cell line BSC-1. This system was used because the entire lytic replicative cycle of SV40 is accomplished. CDV-resistant viruses bear

mutations in the ORI and helicase domains of the LT-ag, indicating that the helicase activity required for viral DNA unwinding during replication may be affected by CDV (our unpublished data). Further research is required to prove that the helicase/ATPase activity of the LT-ag is affected by Erythromycin CDV and/or its metabolites. Interference with the helicase/ATPase activity of the LT-ag may explain the activity of CDV during PyV productive infection but not against PyV-induced tumors. Liekens and collaborators reported the activity of CDV against cerebral hemangiomas induced following intraperitoneal inoculation of newborn rats with mouse PyV (Liekens et al., 1998). The drug was able to completely suppress hemangioma development even when applied 3 days following viral inoculation and resulted in 40% survival and delay in tumor-associated

mortality when treatment started at the time cerebral hemangiomas were macroscopically visible (i.e. 9 days post-viral infection). Infectious virus or viral DNA were not detected in the brain of the infected animals at any time post-infection, indicating that there was not viral replication in mouse PyV-infected rats and that an antitumor effect of CDV should be responsible for the activity of the drug in this model. A similar mode of action was postulated to explain the efficacy of CDV on the growth of hemangiosarcomas in mice originating from PyV-transformed (PV/2b/35) cells which do not produce infectious virus but express the viral T antigen (Liekens et al., 2001). CDV was also found to induce apoptosis in the hemangiosarcomas.

, 1988 and Similowski et al , 1989) Although we did not compare

, 1988 and Similowski et al., 1989). Although we did not compare the deterioration seen in OLV and that in a control group continued for an hour on TLV, Prost et al. (2007) found no mechanical difference in control rats ventilated (TLV) for 3 h with low VT and PEEP (similar to our V5P5 group), but at the end of a 3-h high-volume mechanical ventilation their animals’ peak airway pressure increased and compliance fell. The difference between theirs and our results (V10P2) may result from our shorter experiment (1 h) and somewhat smaller VT. Additionally, in line with De Carvalho et al. (2007)

we disclosed an early triggering of type-III procollagen mRNA expression (see below) in the latter animals. Some mechanical ventilation conditions produce or worsen lung injury. During the initial stage of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) proinflammatory cytokines Crizotinib are released (Copland et al., 2003), triggering infiltration FG-4592 of PMN leukocytes into the alveoli (Dreyfuss and Saumon, 1998). However, the exact time profile of PMN

recruitment into the lung during VILI and its underlying physiological mechanisms remain poorly understood. Tekinbas et al. (2007) observed time-dependent inflammatory cell infiltration during OLV in both collapsed and contralateral lungs. In addition, Musch et al. (2007) demonstrated inflammatory cell activation by positron emission tomography in VILI lungs even when gas exchange, respiratory compliance, and lung histology were still preserved. In the present study a 1-h OLV sufficed to increase the amount of PMN in the lung parenchyma in V5P2 and V10P2 in relation to Non-Vent, whereas a 5-cm H2O PEEP avoided such recruitment. Possibly during V5P2 shear forces triggered the inflammatory response owing to the cyclic closing and reopening of airspaces at low lung volumes (Gattinoni et al., 2003), while V10P2 led to the same outcome because of an excessive volume being delivered to one lung (Schilling et al., 2005). V5P5 avoided the phenomenon both because of the slightly higher EELV and the conservative tidal volume. One-hour of V5P2 OLV led to hypoxemia (Table

1). The application of a higher V  T or PEEP was enough to prevent this alteration. Higher volume may promote end-inspiratory alveolar Interleukin-3 receptor recruitment and PEEP could have expanded collapsed alveoli ( Lohser, 2008). In this context higher volume or PEEP promoted a better ventilation–perfusion matching. In accordance with our findings, Michelet et al. (2005) demonstrated an improvement in oxygenation with increasing PEEP, during OLV with 7 ml/kg V  T and 0.4 FiO2FiO2 in healthy lungs. However, these authors did not examine the effects of this protective strategy on tissue damage. It should be stressed that very frequently only oxygenation ( Watanabe et al., 2000) or oxygenation and lung mechanics ( Michelet et al., 2005, Unzueta et al., 2007 and Pardos et al., 2009) are taken into account to evaluate the status of the respiratory system during OLV.

Floodplain and swamp forests changed greatly as sea-level changed

Floodplain and swamp forests changed greatly as sea-level changed. During significantly lowered sea and river levels in the late Pleistocene, floodplain and wetland plants, such as Mauritia flexuosa, were scarcer, then expanded during the higher water levels of the Holocene. There also may have been shifts in rainfall. But there is no evidence that temperature, rainfall, or hydrology changes caused the wide spread of savannas ( Maslin et al., 2012), as once hypothesized ( van der

Hammen and Absy, 1994, Prance, 1982 and Whitmore and Prance, 1987). Some pollen strata claimed to represent late Pleistocene savanna (e.g., Athens and Ward, 1999, Burbridge et al., 2004, Hoogiemstra Nivolumab price and van der Hammen, 1998 and van der Hammen and Absy, 1994) are consistent, instead, with ephemeral floodplain or lakeside vegetation in tropical rainforest ( Absy, 1979 and Absy, 1985). Rainfall throughout Amazonia now is high in the range of what tropical forests can survive, and all prehistoric records claimed to show lower rainfall are nonetheless consistent with forest dominance. In any case, multiple data sets from ancient sediments off the mouth of the Amazon, a sum for the basin as a whole, unequivocally show tropical forest dominance throughout the record (

Haberle, 1997 and Maslin et al., 2012). Thus, although the Amazon rainforest and hydrology were at least as variable through time as they are now variable through space, the Amazon has been a rainforest since before humans arrived. The formation was thus much more durable in the face of “climate forcing” than researchers selleck screening library had expected. An issue relevant to Anthropocene theory is

when earth’s virgin wilderness was first significantly altered by human activities. In Amazonia, the Anthropocene could be said to have begun with first human occupation, with impacts on forest communities and certain rock formations. Twentieth-century environmental limitation theorists believed humans could not have lived as hunter-gatherers in the supposedly resource-poor tropical forests (Bailey et al., 1989 and Roosevelt, 3-oxoacyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) reductase 1998) and would have entered the humid tropical lowlands only 1000 years ago from the Andean agricultural civilizations (Meggers, 1954 and Meggers and Evans, 1957). However, late 20th century research has uncovered several stratified early forager archeological sites from ca. 13,000 to 10,000 cal BP in the northwest, southeast, and mainstream lower Amazon (Davis, 2009, Gnecco and Mora, 1997, Imazio da Silveira, 1994, Lopez, 2008, Magalhaes, 2004, Michab et al., 1998, Mora, 2003, Roosevelt et al., 2002, Roosevelt et al., 1996 and Roosevelt et al., 2009). These Paleoindian sites lie in caves or rockshelters or deep under the surface and became known through construction, mining prospection/mitigation, or pot-hunting. Uncovering them usually required extensive subsurface sampling by stratigraphic excavations.

Background maps of point-based radionuclide inventories in soils

Background maps of point-based radionuclide inventories in soils (134Cs + 137Cs, 110mAg) designed in this study (Fig.

1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4 and Fig. 7) were drawn from data provided by MEXT for these 2200 investigated locations. We hypothesized that those radionuclides were concentrated in the soil upper 2 cm layer, and that soils had a mean bulk density of 1.15 g.cm−3 based on data collected in the area selleck kinase inhibitor (Kato et al., 2011; Matsunaga et al., 2013). Within this set of 2200 soil samples, 110mAg activities were only reported for a selection of 345 samples that were counted long enough to detect this radioisotope (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4). All activities were decay corrected to 14 June 2011. A map of total radiocaesium activities was interpolated across the entire study area by performing ordinary kriging to appreciate regional fallout patterns in soils (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Fig. 7; Chilès and Delfiner, 1988 and Goovaerts, 1997). A cross validation was then applied to the original data to corroborate the variogram model. The mean error (R) was defined as follows (Eq. selleck compound (1)): equation(1) R=1n∑i=1nz*(xi)−z(xi),where z*(xi) is the estimated value at xi, and z(xi) is the measured value at xi. The ratio of the mean squared error to the kriging

variance was calculated as described in Eq. (2): equation(2) SR2=1n∑i=1n[z*(xi)−z(xi)]2σk2(xi),where σ2k(xi) is the theoretical estimation variance for the prediction of z*(xi). The temporal evolution of contamination in rivers draining the main radioactive plume was analyzed based on samples (described in Section 2.2) taken after the main erosive events which were expected to affect this area (i.e., the summer typhoons and the

spring snowmelt). During the first fieldwork campaign in November 2011, we travelled through the entire area where access was unrestricted (i.e., outside the area of 20-km radius centred on FDNPP; Fig. 1b) Selleck MG132 and that potentially drained the main radioactive plume of Fukushima Prefecture, i.e. the Abukuma River basin (5200 km2), and the coastal catchments (Mano, Nitta and Ota Rivers, covering a total area of 525 km2). Those systems drain to the Pacific Ocean from an upstream altitude of 1835 m a.s.l. Woodland (79%) and cropland (18%) represent the main land uses in the area. Mean annual precipitation varies appreciably across the study area (1100–2000 mm), in response to the high variation of altitude and relief and the associated variable importance of snowfall. During the second campaign (April 2012), based on the results of the first survey, the size and the delineation of the study area were adapted for a set of practical, logistical and safety reasons.

Based on a previous report in which the density of the epicuticul

Based on a previous report in which the density of the epicuticular wrinkle was incorrectly described as the

cuticle density, the densities of Yunpoong and Chunpoong were 53.0% and 17.9% respectively [20]. This finding corroborates that the density of epicuticular wrinkle is more effective against leaf Cytoskeletal Signaling inhibitor burning, compared to the thickness of the cuticle. Because of its characteristic morphology, epicuticular wax or the epicuticular wrinkle of epidermal surfaces can be useful as a taxonomic key of plant classification in the near future. They are also significant for researchers who have been studying the cuticle for the relationship between plants and external environmental stressors. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. This work was supported by a grant from Konkuk University (Seoul, Korea) in 2011. The authors gratefully acknowledge KT&G Central Institute for providing the ginseng leaves. We also thank Korea Basic Science Institute (Chuncheon, Korea) for technical assistance with scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. “
“Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) is a well characterized medicinal herb listed in the classic oriental herbal dictionary, Shin-nong-bon-cho-kyung. SB431542 manufacturer Ginseng has a sweet taste, is able to keep the body warm, and has protective effects on the five viscera (i.e., heart, lung, liver, kidney, and spleen) [1]. Ginseng can be

classified by how it is processed. Red ginseng (RG; Ginseng Radix Rubra) refers to ginseng that has been steamed

once. White ginseng (Ginseng Radix Alba) refers to dried ginseng. Black ginseng (BG; Ginseng Radix Nigra) is produced by repeatedly steaming fresh ginseng nine times. The fine roots (hairy roots or fibrous roots) of fresh ginseng that has been steamed nine times are called Fine Black ginseng (FBG). There are more than 30 different ginseng saponins with various physiological and pharmacological activities [2] and [3]. Ginsenosides are divided into two groups: protopanaxadiols and protopanaxatriols. The root of Panax ginseng reportedly has various biological effects, including anticarcinogenic effects. One study showed that ginseng extracts induce apoptosis and decrease Adenosine triphosphate telomerase activity and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in human leukemia cells [4]. In addition, ginseng extracts suppress 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colon carcinogenesis by inhibiting cell proliferation [5]. Until recently, research on anticancer effects of ginseng has focused on ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) and ginsenoside Rh2 (Rh2). Ginsenoside Rg3 is not present in raw ginseng or White ginseng, but is synthesized during heating hydrolysis; thus, only a small amount of Rg3 is present in Red ginseng. Ginsenoside Rg3 has an anticancer effect by suppressing phorbol ester-induced COX-2 expression and decreasing activation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) [6].

05% and blocked with 200 μL of PBS with 3% bovine serum

a

05% and blocked with 200 μL of PBS with 3% bovine serum

albumin (BSA) for 1 h at 37 °C. The serum samples were diluted 1:50 in PBS 1× with BSA at 3% and were added to the wells and incubated for 2 h at 37 °C. The plates were washed five times and incubated for 1 h at 37 °C, washed five times again and incubated with 100 μL of peroxidase labeled monoclonal antibody anti-human IgE (KPL, USA) for 1 h at 37 °C. The assays were developed by addition of the substrate (H2O2, Sigma-Aldrich Co., USA) and the chromogen (O-phenylenediamine, Sigma-Aldrich Co., USA). The optical density was determined using an automatic ELISA Dabrafenib purchase microplate reader at 492 nm (SpectrMax 340 PC reader, Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) running Softmax Pro software (Molecular Devices). A serum pool obtained from urban area subjects and free of parasitic infection was used as a control sample. The interviews were held at the subjects’ homes in 2011 (Caju) and 2008 (São Pedro de Jequitinhonha). Children under 13 Epacadostat cost years old had the questionnaire answered by their tutors. Data were collected by a portable computer PDA—Personal Digital Assistant-Dell-Axim X 50 (Dell Inc., Texas, EUA). The frequency of allergic

disorders was estimated by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire. This questionnaire was created to develop an epidemiological study of asthma and allergy distributions worldwide and is divided in three phases with questions

of behavioral and environmental aspects. Questions of the first phase, related to previous symptoms and confirming diagnosis of allergic disease, were used to estimate allergic disorders distribution on these two localities. Furthermore, secondary questions were asked to characterize many the occurrence of risk factors such as contact with animals and smoking habit. For statistical analysis were used Microsoft Excel 2010 SP1 (Microsoft Corporation, Washington, EUA) and Graph Pad Prism 5.0.3 (San Diego, CA, EUA). Chi-square, Mann–Whitney and Tukey’s post-tests were used for multiple comparisons tests to investigate differences between frequencies. In all cases, differences were considered significant when p < 0.05. Long-term anthelminthic treatment can modify the allergen specific immune response in S. mansoni and hookworm infected individuals. Our data demonstrated that the prevalence of HW infection as well as HW + SCH co-infection were higher in population 1 when compared to population 2 (Fig. 1A). No significant differences were observed on the age ranges as well as gender distribution between the two localities (Fig. 1B). Population 1 also had higher intensity of infection (Fig. 1C) in all age ranges as compared to population 2 (Fig. 1D). Moreover, population 1 also presented greater frequency of individuals displaying high intensity S. mansoni infection (Sm >100 epg) ( Fig. 1E).

In addition, BLAST analysis using mammalian CD2f members as queri

In addition, BLAST analysis using mammalian CD2f members as queries showed that additional homologs to CD2f genes (zfCD2f-22) cluster on chromosome 22. The phylogenetic tree showed that these CD2f-22 genes formed a distinct clade from caauCD2fs and zfCD2f-1.2

genes (Fig. 3). The EST clones encoding to the zfCD2f-22 (EB955995, EH432290, CN171971, and DY559574) showed high homology to the mammalian CD2f, such as CD48, CD84, and CD244. As shown in Fig. 3, all the EST sequences formed a clade with teleost CD2f, indicating that the indentified CD2f isoforms diversified in cyprinid fishes. The teleost CD2f genes are not grouped into the same cluster as any of the amphibian CD2f genes described in recent reports [10]. CD2-homologous sequences were found in the zebrafish genome LBH589 database (NW_003039148) and EST libraries (DT061500, EB987025, CO813765, and EB977172). Three CD2-homologous genes formed a NU7441 research buy small cluster on a different locus apart from the CD2f clusters in chromosome 1 (Zv9_scaffold12). In a phylogenetic tree analysis, the zebrafish CD2 genes

were classified into a different group from the teleost CD2fs and other mammalian CD2f members (Fig. 3). It is believed that diversification of IgSF has generated an extremely complex set of proteins with a huge variety of roles including cell–cell interactions and immune functions [8], [22] and [27]. The CD2f, belonging to IgSF, consists of more than 10 cell surface molecules that are predominantly expressed on hematopoeitic cells and involved in various immune responses. In the present study, we identified several teleost CD2fs that possess two, three, or no ITSM motifs in their cytoplasmic tail, and showed that they are differentially expressed by different leukocytes. Multiple CD2f genes are clustered together and at least 35 Ig-like domains corresponding to caauCD2f triclocarban are present in the zebrafish genome 1 and 2. Although it remains unclear how many CD2f receptors are functional in zebrafish, several zebrafish CD2f genes are indeed functional, as proved by the appearance of a corresponding zebrafish

EST. The phylogenetic tree indicates that these CD2f genes are evolutionally distinct from amphibian CD2f genes. Although it is difficult to conclude that all types of CD2f genes in zebrafish and ginbuna crucian carp have been found in the present study, these findings suggest that the identified CD2f receptors have uniquely evolved within cyprinid fishes. SLAM family receptors, which are a subfamily of the CD2 receptors, contain multiple copies of the ITSM that recruit SAP [12] and [13]. The caauCD2fs have different number of ITSM motifs in their cytoplasmic tail, whereas the sequence similarity of the extracellular domains of the four caauCD2fs is very high. The extracellular domains of caauCD2fs show higher similarity to CD48, CD244, and CD319 compared with other CD2 family receptors.