Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25972400›Full record

ArticleBiology letters2015

The molecular correlates of organ loss: the case of insect Malpighian tubules.

Xiangfeng Jing, Thomas A White, Xiaowei Yang, Angela E Douglas

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Biology letters, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Xiangfeng JingDepartment of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Thomas A WhiteLancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.
Xiaowei YangDepartment of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Angela E DouglasDepartment of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA aes326@cornell.edu.
Cornell University · USLancaster University · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Malpighian tubules play an essential role in excretion, osmoregulation and immunity of most insects. Exceptionally, aphids lack Malpighian tubules, providing the opportunity to investigate the fate of genes expressed in an organ that has undergone evolutionary reduction and loss. Making use of the sequenced genomes of Drosophila melanogaster and the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, we demonstrated that more than 50% of Drosophila genes expressed specifically in the Malpighian tubules had orthologues in the pea aphid genome and that most of the pea aphid orthologues with detectable expression were identified in the gut transcriptome. Relative to the whole genome, genes functioning in amino acid metabolism are significantly over-represented among the pea aphid orthologues of Malpighian tubule genes, likely reflecting the central importance of amino acid acquisition and metabolism in aphids. This study demonstrates that the evolutionary loss of a key insect organ, the Malpighian tubules, has not been associated with the coupled loss of molecular functions.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionGene ExpressionAnimalsAphidsDrosophila melanogasterEvolution, MolecularMalpighian TubulesAcyrthosiphon pisumDrosophila melanogastergene orthologueMalpighian tubulesorgan loss

Identifiers

PMID25972400
PMCPMC4455741
OpenAlexW2179469884

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.