Alisa Vershinina

LifeMine Therapeutics · Genomics

Despite predictions of the classic, hybrid-sterility model of chromosomal speciation, some organisms demonstrate high rate of karyotype evolution. This rate is especially impressive in Agrodiaetus butterflies that rapidly evolved the greatest chromosome number diversity known in animal kingdom within a single subgenus. Here we analyzed karyotype ev...

Recent advances in genomic sequencing technology and computational assembly methods have allowed scientists to improve reference genome assemblies in terms of contiguity and composition. EquCab2, a reference genome for the domestic horse, was released in 2007. Although of equal or better quality compared to other first-generation Sanger assemblies,...

The remains of a Holocene extinct steppe bison, Bison priscus Bojanus 1827, that died 9.5 thousand years ago, were discovered on the Rauchua River (Chukotka, Russia) in 2012. Sample F-3246 yielded ancient DNA and, when compared to other extant and extinct Bison lineages, clustered outside the known bison genetic diversity, suggesting that this biso...

Museum collections are essential for reconstructing and understanding past biodiversity. Many museum specimens are, however, challenging to identify. Museum samples may be incomplete, have an unusual morphology, or represent juvenile individuals, all of which complicate accurate identification. In some cases, inaccurate identification can lead to f...

The Bering Land Bridge (BLB) last connected Eurasia and North America during the Late Pleistocene. Although the BLB would have enabled transfers of terrestrial biota in both directions, it also acted as an ecological filter whose permeability varied considerably over time. Here we explore the possible impacts of this ecological corridor on genetic...

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos) are sister species possessing distinct physiological and behavioural adaptations that evolved over the last 500,000 years. However, comparative and population genomics analyses have revealed that several extant and extinct brown bear populations have relatively recent polar bear ancestry,...

Ancient hair and remnant plant DNA are important environmental proxies that preserve for millennia in specific archaeological contexts. However, recovery has been rare from late Pleistocene sites and more may be found if deliberately sought. Once discovered, singular hair fragments are not easily identified to taxa through comparative analyses and...

Merck’s rhino (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jäger 1839)), one of the extinct members of the Pleistocene megafauna, is scarce in Russia’s geological record. According to the previous research paradigm, that large rhinoceros inhabited forest environments during interglacials, consumed mostly branch- and leaf-containing food, and went extinct across...

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An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

EquCab2, a high-quality reference genome for the domestic horse, was released in 2007. Since then, it has served as the foundation for nearly all genomic work done in equids. Recent advances in genomic sequencing technology and computational assembly methods have allowed scientists to improve reference assemblies of large animal and plant genomes i...

This paper reports the results of an in-depth analysis of the frozen remains of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) named Zhenya, which has been dated to 48,000 cal BP. The carcass, found near the mouth of the Yenisey River in eastern Siberia, was a juvenile male whose ontogenetic age at death was 8-10 AEY. Its reconstructed live height at the...

The Zhenya Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius (Blum.)): Taphonomy, geology, age, morphology and ancient DNA of a 48,000 year old frozen mummy from western Taimyr, Russia.

In hexapods, unlike the majority of animals, development without fertilization is a common phenomenon. They evolved a striking diversity of unisexual reproductive types that include a variety of modes starting from spontaneous parthenogenesis in females to the production of impaternate males with different variants in between. Many reports about pa...

Citation: Vershinina AO, Anokhin BA, Lukhtanov VA (2015) Ribosomal DNA clusters and telomeric (TTAGG)n repeats in blue butterflies (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae) with low and high chromosome numbers. Comparative Cytogenetics 9(2): 161–171. Abstract Ribosomal DNA clusters and telomeric repeats are important parts of eukaryotic genome. However, little is...

A phylogenetic comparative method was employed to study karyotype evolution in the Agrodiaetus phyllis species complex characterized by high variation in haploid chromosome number (from 10 to 134). We found that different phylogenetic lineages of this group have different rates of chromosome-number changes. Chromosome numbers in the complex possess...

Agrodiaetus alcestis (Zerny, 1932) and A. demavendi (Pfeiffer, 1938) belong to the “brown” complex of the genus Agrodiaetus Hübner, 1822. This complex includes several cryptic species which are extremely uniform in wing colouration and genitalia structure, but have distinct chromosome numbers. In this paper we analyse karyotypes of A. alcestis kara...