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Creators/Authors contains: "Fowler, Benjamin"

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  1. null (Ed.)
  2. Abstract

    Fish have evolved a variety of sex‐determining (SD) systems including male heterogamy (XY), female heterogamy (ZW) and environmental SD. Little is known about SD mechanisms ofSebastesrockfishes, a highly speciose genus of importance to evolutionary and conservation biology. Here, we characterize the sex determination system in the sympatrically distributed sister speciesSebastes chrysomelasandSebastes carnatus. To identify sex‐specific genotypic markers, double digest restriction site – associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD‐seq) of genomic DNA from 40 sexed individuals of both species was performed. Loci were filtered for presence in all of the individuals of one sex, absence in the other sex and no heterozygosity. Of the 74 965 loci present in all males, 33 male‐specific loci met the criteria in at least one species and 17 in both. Conversely, no female‐specific loci were detected, together providing evidence of an XY sex determination system in both species. When aligned to a draft reference genome fromSebastes aleutianus, 26 sex‐specific loci were interspersed among 1168 loci that were identical between sexes. The nascent Y chromosome averaged 5% divergence from the X chromosome and mapped to referenceSebastesgenome scaffolds totalling 6.9Mbp in length. These scaffolds aligned to a single chromosome in three model fish genomes. Read coverage differences were also detected between sex‐specific and autosomal loci. A PCR‐RFLP assay validated the bioinformatic results and correctly identified sex of five additional individuals of known sex. A sex‐determining gene in other teleostsgonadal soma‐derived factor(gsdf) was present in the model fish chromosomes that spanned our sex‐specific markers.

     
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  3. Abstract

    Conductive polymers largely derive their electronic functionality from chemical doping, processes by which redox and charge‐transfer reactions form mobile carriers. While decades of research have demonstrated fundamentally new technologies that merge the unique functionality of these materials with the chemical versatility of macromolecules, doping and the resultant material properties are not ideal for many applications. Here, it is demonstrated that open‐shell conjugated polymers comprised of alternating cyclopentadithiophene and thiadiazoloquinoxaline units can achieve high electrical conductivities in their native “undoped” form. Spectroscopic, electrochemical, electron paramagnetic resonance, and magnetic susceptibility measurements demonstrate that this donor–acceptor architecture promotes very narrow bandgaps, strong electronic correlations, high‐spin ground states, and long‐range π‐delocalization. A comparative study of structural variants and processing methodologies demonstrates that the conductivity can be tuned up to 8.18 S cm−1. This exceeds other neutral narrow bandgap conjugated polymers, many doped polymers, radical conductors, and is comparable to commercial grades of poly(styrene‐sulfonate)‐doped poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene). X‐ray and morphological studies trace the high conductivity to rigid backbone conformations emanating from strong π‐interactions and long‐range ordered structures formed through self‐organization that lead to a network of delocalized open‐shell sites in electronic communication. The results offer a new platform for the transport of charge in molecular systems.

     
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