Biology subjects

G, A.

Publications and source records attributed to G, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A large-scale crowd-sourced annotated acoustic dataset of Indian fauna

Global rates of biodiversity loss warrant conservation action and monitoring at large geographic scales. Conservation technologies such as acoustic monitoring in conjunction with deep learning now enable us to monitor wildlife simultaneously across space and time. However, for a significant proportion of biodiversity in tropical regions, we cannot yet rely on automated recognition approaches because we lack acoustic templates to robustly train deep learning algorithms. In this paper, we relied on a novel participatory approach, enlisting researchers, conservation practitioners, and nature enthusiasts to create a unique crowd-sourced, open-access dataset of acoustic annotations across taxonomic groups for biodiversity in India. Our dataset comprises 3311 minutes of strongly labelled data (bounding boxes or annotations for a species vocalization) and 2504 minutes of weakly labelled data (indicating the presence of a species within an audio file but lacking bounding boxes) for 518 species across India, spanning 25 of 36 states and union territories. We present metadata and code for data processing and highlight the strengths of a participatory approach to biodiversity monitoring.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Crystal structure of a MarR family transcriptional regulator protein

The multiple antibiotic resistance regulator (MarR) family of transcription factor proteins form a large group of multitasking bio-molecules in pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli). HosA is one of these MarR transcription factors reported in dozens of pathogenic E. coli with highly conserved sequence profiles. The HosA from the enteropathogenic E. coli O127:H6 (strain E2348/69), a predominantly monomeric protein, was overexpressed in E. coli and purified. The HosA protein crystals were obtained in microbatch under oil method at 4{degrees} C. The X-rays of the diffracted spots were extended to 2.21 [A] resolution. The crystal belongs to the space group P4322, with unit-cell parameters a = 67.16 [A], b = 67.16 [A], c = 95.66 [A] and = {beta} = {gamma} = 90{degrees}. In the asymmetric unit, monomeric HosA protein was crystallized and confirmed with the Matthew coefficient analysis (3.48 [A]3 Da-1). The monomeric structure is compared with previously solved structures of other homologous transcription factors. This confirmed the winged loop at the DNA binding region of the HosA protein.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2020

When to be a male? Role of resource-limitation and pollinators in determining gender in an andromonoecious spiderwort.

The evolution and maintenance of sexual systems in plants is often driven by resource allocation and pollinator preferences, and very little is known about their role in determining floral sex expression in plants. In annual, entomophilous plants three major constraints can be identified towards optimal reproduction: 1) nutrient resources available from the environment, 2) nutrient resources allocated towards reproduction, i.e., fruits vs. flowers, and 3) pollinator visitations.Andromonoecy is a sexual system where plants bear both staminate and hermaphrodite flowers on the same inflorescence. The optimal resource allocation hypothesis suggests that under nutrient constraints, plants will produce more male flowers since they are energetically cheaper to produce over the more expensive hermaphrodite flowers. We test this hypothesis in the andromonoecious Murdannia simplex (Commelinaceae) by quantifying male and hermaphrodite flowers in a natural population and contrasting the distribution of the two sexes in plants from two resource conditions (stream population vs. plateau population). We next carried out choice experiments to test pollinator preference towards a specific sex.We found that in M. simplex, production of hermaphrodite flowers is resource-dependent and under resource constraints fewer numbers of flowers were produced and most of them were males. We failed to observe pollinator preference towards either sex but Amegilla spp. and Apis cerana showed higher visitation towards the most abundant sex within a trial, suggesting frequency-dependent visitation. Thus, we conclude that environmentally driven resource constraints play a bigger role in driving floral sex expression in Murdannia over direct pollinator-driven constraints.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text

ecology↗