Gecko

This contribution provides the first karyotype description of Hemidactylus mercatorius and discusses the interspecific chromosome diversification in the genus. Chromosomal analysis was performed on samples from different Malagasy populations using standard karyotyping, Ag-NOR staining, and banding methods (sequential C-banding + Giemsa, + Chromomycin A3 , +4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole). Irrespective of sex or sampling locality, H. mercatorius shows a karyotype of 2n = 42 with metacentric (1, 18-21), submetacentric (4), subtelocentric (5, 11), and acrocentric pairs (all the remaining pairs)...

Two haemogregarine "species" names, Haemogregarina tarentannulari and Haemogregarina rawashi, were cited by Saoud et al. (1995) as having been described by Mohammed and Ramadan (1996, in press). However, the paper by Mohammed and Ramadan (1996) was never published and, therefore, these names and their authorities must be suppressed because they violate Chapter 3 (Criteria for Publication), Article 8 (What Constitutes Published Work) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The following new names are introduced to replace them based on the Principle of Priority (Chapter 6, Article 23, 23...

Geckos exhibit derived karyotypes without clear distinction between macrochromosomes and microchromosomes and intriguing diversity in sex determination mechanisms. We conducted cytogenetic analyses in six species from the genera Nephrurus, Phyllurus, and Saltuarius of the gecko family Carphodactylidae. We confirmed the presence of a female heterogametic system with markedly differentiated and heteromorphic sex chromosomes in all examined species, typically with the W chromosome notably larger than the Z chromosome...

In winter, many reptiles have a period of inactivity ("brumation"). During brumation there is no energetic intake, therefore there would be an advantage to reducing energetic expenditure. The size of energetically costly organs, a major determinant of metabolic rate, is known to be flexible in many tetrapods. Seasonal plasticity of organ size could serve as both an energy-saving mechanism and a source of nutrients for brumating reptiles. We studied a population of an invasive gecko, Tarentola annularis, to test for seasonal changes in activity, metabolic rate, and mass of various organs...

The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria presents a significant challenge to public health, increasing the risk of infections that are resistant to current antibiotic treatment. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) offer a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics in the prevention of MDR bacterial infections. In the present study, we identified a novel cathelicidin AMP from Gekko japonicus , which exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, with minimal inhibitory concentrations ranging from 2...

The imbalance of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms such as DNA methylation, which can promote aberrant gene expression profiles without affecting the DNA sequence, may cause the deregulation of signaling, regulatory, and metabolic processes, contributing to a cancerous phenotype. Since some metabolites are substrates and cofactors of epigenetic regulators, their availability can be affected by characteristic cancer cell metabolic shifts, feeding cancer onset and progression through epigenetic deregulation. Hence, there is a need to study the influence of cancer metabolic reprogramming in DNA methylation to design new effective treatments...

We analyzed the mitochondrial DNA of Gekko hokouensis collected from the Izu Islands (maybe an introduced population) and the Nansei Islands (native population), both in Japan. A molecular phylogenetic analysis suggested that G. hokouensis of Japan belongs to a cryptic monophyletic group different from that of the currently discovered sample of China. Furthermore, the Japanese clade of G. hokouensis is differentiated into two subclades (Clade 1 and Clade 2 in this article). In the Nansei Islands, these two subclades form a complicated nested-distribution pattern and do not coexist on any of the islands, whereas both clades appear to coexist in the Izu Islands...

Reactive nitrogen species (RNS), a mediator of nitrosative stress, plays a vital role during wound healing but its role during tissue regeneration is poorly understood. In the present study, the role of RNS was investigated post-tail autotomy and limb amputation in a gecko species, Hemidactylus murrayi Gleadow, 1887. Tail autotomy led to an increased expression of iNOS and nitrosative stress leading to protein S-nitrosylation that probably restricted the acute inflammatory response caused by wounding. Increased nitrosative stress was also associated with proliferation of the wound epithelium and the tail blastema...

Ghrelin is known to be a gastrointestinal peptide hormone in vertebrates. It has a unique posttransrational modification, octanoylation, at the Ser side chain of the third position. In this study, we identified the genes encoding ghrelin and its receptor from the Schlegel's Japanese gecko Gekko japonicus. The C-terminal residue of gecko ghrelin was His, although the chemical synthesis method for the O-octanoyl peptide with a C-terminal His residue has not yet been well-established. Acyl-ghrelin has been synthesized using a Ser derivative without side chain protecting group in the solid-phase peptide synthesis, although this synthetic strategy has not yet been well-established...

Reptiles constitute a highly diverse group of vertebrates, with their evolutionary lineages having diverged relatively early. The types of sex determination exemplify the diversity of reptiles; however, there are limited data regarding the gonadal development in squamate reptiles. Geckos constitute a group that is increasingly used in research and that serves as a potential reptilian model organism. The aim of this study was to trace the changes in the structure of developing gonads in the embryos of three gecko species: the crested gecko, leopard gecko, and mourning gecko...

Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) are computational representations that enable mathematical exploration of metabolic behaviors within cellular and environmental constraints. Despite their wide usage in biotechnology, biomedicine and fundamental studies, there are many phenotypes that GEMs are unable to correctly predict. GECKO is a method to improve the predictive power of a GEM by incorporating enzymatic constraints using kinetic and omics data. GECKO has enabled reconstruction of enzyme-constrained metabolic models (ecModels) for diverse organisms, which show better predictive performance than conventional GEMs...

Versatile nanostructures of conducting polymers are highly relevant based on unique properties, including electrical, optical, and thermal, with changes in morphology. This contribution reports a facile and reproducible synthesis approach for the design of conducting polymer nanostructures from zero- to three-dimensional composites. Two polymerization steps, namely, self-assembly-directed and interface thin layer-templated polymerizations in this synthesis, were kinetically controlled to fabricate such nanostructures directly...

Endothermic and ectothermic amniotes differ in the timing of reproductive onset, with reptiles initiating reproduction before reaching final body size. Long-term consequences of maternal effect for early reptile offspring are poorly explored. We conducted growth experiments to compare the growth of offspring produced by young and older females of gecko Paroedura picta . Young, not fully grown females lay smaller eggs leading to production of smaller offspring. These offspring undergo accelerated growth and ultimately reach a comparable sex-specific final body length as do offspring of older females...

Several species of geckos of the genus Lepidodactylus are endemic to the Solomon Islands and very poorly known. I redescribe one of these, L. flaviocularis, from Guadalcanal, based on examination of a second, newly obtained specimen and quantification of diagnostically useful features of the digits. I also describe a closely related new species from nearby Makira Island in the southern Solomon Islands. Both species are distinguished by their large number of undivided subdigital lamellae, extensive toe webbing, and a continuous row of enlarged precloacal/femoral scales...

Many species of sphaerodactyl gecko exhibit sexual dichromatism. In particular, dichromatism plays an important role in intersexual signaling for Sphaerodactylus. Furthermore, some species exhibit polymorphism in male color and pattern. Here, we describe a regional male color morph of Sphaerodactylus macrolepis from St. Croix. After generating both mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenies, we found that individuals with the St. Croix-specific yellow/orange head morph are part of the S. macrolepis clade. This distinct color morph likely contributed to the turbulent taxonomic history of the S...

Geckos of the genus Amalosia Wells & Wellington, 1984 occur across eastern and northern Australia. Only five species are described but additional diversity has been recognised for some time. Here we assess species diversity in eastern Australia, using morphological and genetic (ND4 mtDNA) data. We describe five new species, all morphologically distinct and highly genetically distinct (>25% divergence). Amalosia hinesi sp. nov. is found in woodlands on the western side of the Great Dividing Range in south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales...

An updated herpetofaunal checklist of Hon Son Island, Rach Gia Bay, Kien Giang Province, southern Vietnam is presented which reports of new records for Kaloula pulchra, Sylvirana cf. mortenseni, Cyrtodactylus sp., and Gehyra mutilata bringing the island total to 21 species. Cyrtodactylus sp. is an unidentified granite-cave adapted species that occurs in syntopy with the granite-cave adapted C. eisenmanae, bringing the total number of Cyrtodactylus on this tiny island (11.5 km2) to three. The implications of highly specialized syntopic congeneric ecomorphs is discussed...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Woodworthia is a diverse genus of diplodactylid geckos found in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, with 17 likely species. Despite this diversity, only two species have been formally described: Woodworthia maculata (Gray, 1845) and W. chrysosiretica (Robb, 1980). In this paper, we use an integrated taxonomic approach to describe a new species of Woodworthia gecko, Woodworthia korowai sp. nov., found along the western coastline of the Auckland Region, New Zealand. Although this species occurs in duneland habitat behind a popular beach near New Zealands most populated city, it was only recognised as a distinct taxon in 2016...

BACKGROUND: Burn damage to skin often results in scarring; however in some individuals the failure of normal wound-healing processes results in excessive scar tissue formation, termed 'hypertrophic scarring'. The most commonly used method for the prevention and treatment of hypertrophic scarring is pressure-garment therapy (PGT). PGT is considered standard care globally; however, there is continued uncertainty around its effectiveness. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the benefits and harms of pressure-garment therapy for the prevention of hypertrophic scarring after burn injury...