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1. Multiple paternity in a lek mating system: Females mate multiply when they choose inexperienced sires

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13158  

   Rivers, Pearl R. ; DuVal, Emily H. ; Sheldon, ed., Ben ( December 2019 , Journal of Animal Ecology)

   Multiple mating by females is common and often driven by social constraints on female mate choice. However, females mate with multiple males even in systems without these social constraints and rates of multiple mating tend to be highly variable within and between populations. In lek mating systems, females are able to assess multiple males and their choice is unrestricted by pair bonds or the need for biparental care, yet some females mate with multiple males.

   To better understand the factors affecting variation in multiple mating, we investigated the occurrence of multiple paternity within clutches in a highly polygynous lek mating system.

   Using long‐term data on genetic paternity, survival, social status and individual age from a population of lance‐tailed manakinsChiroxiphia lanceolata, a species where males lek in cooperative alpha‐beta pairs, we tested five non‐exclusive hypotheses about the causes of variation in multiple mating and its benefits in females.

   We found that inexperienced males, including new alphas and rare beta sires, were disproportionately likely to share paternity when they sired any chicks. In contrast, female age (experience) was unrelated to multiple paternity. Multiple mating did not result in higher reproductive success or reduced variance in success for females, and there were neither consistently promiscuous females nor males that consistently shared paternity.

   The occurrence of multiple paternity in this lek mating system was best explained by female choice related to male characteristics that change with male experience. Our results support the hypothesis that there is a developmental component to the occurrence of multiple mating, and suggest females choose to mate multiply when their choices are not optimal.

    

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2. Multiple paternity and the number of offspring: A model reveals two major groups of species

   https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.202000247  

   Correia, Hannah E. ; Abebe, Ash ; Dobson, F. Stephen ( January 2021 , BioEssays)

   Parentage analyses via microsatellite markers have revealed multiple paternity within the broods of polytocous species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes and invertebrates. The widespread phenomenon of multiple paternity may have attending relationships with such evolutionary processes as sexual selection and kin selection. However, just how much multiple paternity should a species exhibit? We developed Bayesian null models of how multiple paternity relates to brood sizes. For each of 114 species with published data on brood sizes and numbers of sires, we compared our null model estimates to published frequencies of multiple paternity. The majority of species fell close to our null model, especially among fish and invertebrate species. Some species, however, had low probabilities of multiple paternity, far from the predictions of the null model, likely due to sexual selection and environmental constraints. We suggest a major division among species’ mating systems between those with close to random mating and high levels of multiple paternity, and those with constraints that produce low levels of multiple paternity.

    

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3. Assessment of genetic susceptibility to multiple primary cancers through whole-exome sequencing in two large multi-ancestry studies

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02535-6  

   Cavazos, Taylor B. ; Kachuri, Linda ; Graff, Rebecca E. ; Nierenberg, Jovia L. ; Thai, Khanh K. ; Alexeeff, Stacey ; Van Den Eeden, Stephen ; Corley, Douglas A. ; Kushi, Lawrence H. ; Regeneron Genetics Center ; et al ( October 2022 , BMC Medicine)

   Up to one of every six individuals diagnosed with one cancer will be diagnosed with a second primary cancer in their lifetime. Genetic factors contributing to the development of multiple primary cancers, beyond known cancer syndromes, have been underexplored.

   To characterize genetic susceptibility to multiple cancers, we conducted a pan-cancer, whole-exome sequencing study of individuals drawn from two large multi-ancestry populations (6429 cases, 165,853 controls). We created two groupings of individuals diagnosed with multiple primary cancers: (1) an overall combined set with at least two cancers across any of 36 organ sites and (2) cancer-specific sets defined by an index cancer at one of 16 organ sites with at least 50 cases from each study population. We then investigated whether variants identified from exome sequencing were associated with these sets of multiple cancer cases in comparison to individuals with one and, separately, no cancers.

   We identified 22 variant-phenotype associations, 10 of which have not been previously discovered and were significantly overrepresented among individuals with multiple cancers, compared to those with a single cancer.

   Overall, we describe variants and genes that may play a fundamental role in the development of multiple primary cancers and improve our understanding of shared mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis.

    

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4. High‐Performance Organic Bulk‐Heterojunction Solar Cells Based on Multiple‐Donor or Multiple‐Acceptor Components

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201705706  

   Huang, Wenchao ; Cheng, Pei ; Yang, Yang ; Li, Gang ; Yang, Yang ( January 2018 , Advanced Materials)

   Organic solar cells (OSCs) based on bulk heterojunction structures are promising candidates for next‐generation solar cells. However, the narrow absorption bandwidth of organic semiconductors is a critical issue resulting in insufficient usage of the energy from the solar spectrum, and as a result, it hinders performance. Devices based on multiple‐donor or multiple‐acceptor components with complementary absorption spectra provide a solution to address this issue. OSCs based on multiple‐donor or multiple‐acceptor systems have achieved power conversion efficiencies over 12%. Moreover, the introduction of an additional component can further facilitate charge transfer and reduce charge recombination through cascade energy structure and optimized morphology. This progress report provides an overview of the recent progress in OSCs based on multiple‐donor (polymer/polymer, polymer/dye, and polymer/small molecule) or multiple‐acceptor (fullerene/fullerene, fullerene/nonfullerene, and nonfullerene/nonfullerene) components.

    

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5. Determining the refractive index, absolute thickness and local slope of a thin transparent film using multi-wavelength and multi-incident-angle interference

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.397736  

   He, Mengfei ; Nagel, Sidney_R ( July 2020 , Optics Express)

   We describe a high-speed interferometric method, using multiple angles of incidence and multiple wavelengths, to measure the absolute thickness, tilt, the local angle between the surfaces, and the refractive index of a fluctuating transparent wedge. The method is well suited for biological, fluid and industrial applications.

    

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