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Schreiber’s bent-winged bat Miniopterus schreibersii (Chiroptera) is a widespread, cave-dwelling, regionally migrating species whose genetic diversity was studied throughout its distribution area using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Previous studies revealed little to no structuring of populations and established Anatolia to be a single refugium during the last glacial maximum. The Balkans were well covered in these studies but usually lacked samples from Serbia. We sequenced the mitochondrial hypervariable region 1 (HV1) gene in M. schreibersii collected at seven sites in Serbia to assess their genetic relatedness to other European and Asia Minor populations and check whether the Balkans exhibit a higher genetic diversity than Western Europe due to its closeness to Anatolia. We recorded nine haplotypes from Serbia, six of which had not been previously reported, with a haplotype diversity of 0.585. The remaining three were shared with individuals from Portugal, Greece, and Turkey. A single most common haplotype was present throughout the species distribution range, pointing to a well-connected population and as indicated by the shape of the haplotype network, a common origin, and a sudden population expansion. Results complement existing data on M. schreibersii having a non-structured population, adding valuable new data from the Balkans supporting the previous hypothesis about its Anatolian origin.

The Balkan Peninsula is identified as one of the major glacial refugia in Europe during the Pleistocene, and it has served as a genetic source for post-glacial recolonization for many temperate species. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity and phylogeographic patterns of the Mediterranean horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus euryale Blasius 1853, on the Balkan Peninsula. We also analyzed its demographic history and tested the hypothesis that this region was a glacial refugium for this species. We collected 82 samples from 20 localities in the Balkans and Italy and sequenced the mitochondrial D-loop region. Our results revealed low nucleotide but high haplotype diversity, with 20 out of 24 haplotypes reported for the first time. All Balkan and Italian samples belonged to a single genetic clade in the phylogenetic reconstruction, where they clustered together with previously published samples from Turkey, southern France and North Africa. The haplotype network had a star-like pattern that is indicative of recent population expansion. Both mismatch distribution and shallow genetic differentiation also supported the scenario of a sudden demographic expansion. We estimated that expansion within this lineage commenced in the Late Pleistocene. We suggest that the Balkan Peninsula was a glacial refugium for R. euryale. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 173003]

Arvicoline voles are known as a karyotypically extremely polymorphic group in which the genus Microtus leads with the highest rate of karyotype change. A member of this genus, the European pine vole Microtus subterraneus (de Selys-Longchamps, 1836), is widely distributed in Europe and parts of Asia. There are two cytotypes differing in diploid chromosome number, 2n=54 and 52, each showing different chromosomal polymorphisms. At two localities in southeastern Serbia, Mt. Jastrebac and Vlasina, we found the 2n=52 cytotype. Meiotic preparations from males revealed the presence of asynaptic sex chromosomes. Although asynaptic sex chromosomes are frequent in Microtus, this is the first finding for M. subterraneus. From summarized data it appears that two-thirds of the studied species, mainly from Microtus and Terricola subgenera, possess asynaptic sex chromosomes.

The most intriguing karyological features of the genus Allium are polyploidy and the frequent appearance of supernumerary or B chromosomes (Bs). Specimens of Allium flavum from natural populations at the Gornjačka Gorge in the vicinity of Gornjak Monastery, Serbia, were analyzed karyologically. All studied plants were tetraploid (2n = 32). One submetacentric B chromosome representing 1% of the genome, smaller than the smallest chromosomes of the standard set, was present in some plants. This is the first finding of Bs in tetraploid A. flavum. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 173003]

Different types of interferon are widely used to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Results obtained in vitro suggest that interferon inhibits internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-mediated translation of the HCV genome. To elucidate the possible effect of the nucleotide sequence of IRES on therapy outcome, we compared HCV isolates from patients with sustained response and non-response to interferon/ribavirin combination therapy. In 56 analyzed HCV isolates, nucleotide changes appeared strictly in the stem-loop IIIb region, the stem part from 243 nt to 248 nt, and the polypyrimidine-II region. The natural sequence variability of IRES in isolates of genotype 3a was significantly higher than in isolates of genotype 1b (p < 0.05). The average number of nucleotide changes in genotype 3a correlated with response to therapy (p < 0.05).

The presence of B chromosomes (Bs) is frequently found in populations of yellow-necked mouse, Apodemus flavicollis. Differences in frequencies of Bs in age categories were analyzed in 717 animals in order to clarify the mechanisms of their maintenance in populations of A. flavicollis. The absence of statistically significant differences in the frequency of Bs between six age categories indicates that the maintenance of Bs in populations can be explained by in terms of their contribution to overall genetic diversity of the species rather than by parasitic behavior.

The distribution of ABO blood groups and the Rhesus factor was analyzed in 279 patients who suffered from malignant tumors of the digestive system. Patients were registered retrospectively in the Gastroenterohepatology Clinic, Clinical Center, University of Sarajevo over a discontinuous period of 88 months. From the results obtained, it was concluded that: (a) men became ill from gastric cancer significantly more frequently than women; (b) the frequency of liver carcinoma was three times higher than the global frequency and the frequency neighboring ethnic groups; and (c) patients with blood group B and patients with RhD(-) exhibited a significantly higher proportion of disease.

The effects of the presence of B chromosomes on fecundity of the yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis were studied in 46 females without and 28 with Bs from four localities in Serbia. Uterine inspection showed that there was no significant difference in the mean number of scars and embryos between females with and those without Bs. Thus, B chromosomes do not appear to affect the fecundity of females carrying them, indicating that the presence of Bs does not affect fitness characteristics.

The contribution of school curricula to public understanding and acceptance of evolution is still mostly unknown, due to the scarcity of studies that compare the learning goals present in different curricula. To overcome this lack of data we analysed 19 school curricula (18 European and one from Israel) to study the differences regarding the inclusion of learning goals targeting evolution understanding. We performed a quantitative content analysis using the Framework for the Assessment of school Curricula on the presence of Evolutionary concepts (FACE). For each country/region we analysed what this educational system considered the minimum evolution education a citizen should get. Our results reveal that: (i) the curricula include less than half of the learning goals considered important for scientific literacy in evolution; (ii) the most frequent learning goals address basic knowledge of evolution; (iii) learning goals related with the processes that drive evolution are often not included or rarely mentioned; (iv) evolution is most often not linked to its applications in everyday life. These results highlight the need to rethink evolution education across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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