PESI - a taxonomic backbone for Europe.

BACKGROUND: Reliable taxonomy underpins communication in all of biology, not least nature conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem resources. The flexibility of taxonomic interpretations, however, presents a serious challenge for end-users of taxonomic concepts. Users need standardised and continuously harmonised taxonomic reference systems, as well as high-quality and complete taxonomic data sets, but these are generally lacking for non-specialists. The solution is in dynamic, expertly curated web-based taxonomic tools. The Pan-European Species-directories Infrastructure (PESI) worked to solve this key issue by providing a taxonomic e-infrastructure for Europe. It strengthened the relevant social (expertise) and information (standards, data and technical) capacities of five major community networks on taxonomic indexing in Europe, which is essential for proper biodiversity assessment and monitoring activities. The key objectives of PESI were: 1) standardisation in taxonomic reference systems, 2) enhancement of the quality and completeness of taxonomic data sets and 3) creation of integrated access to taxonomic information. NEW INFORMATION: This paper describes the results of PESI and its future prospects, including the involvement in major European biodiversity informatics initiatives and programs.

Fauna Europaea - all European animal species on the web.

Fauna Europaea is Europe's main zoological taxonomic index, making the scientific names and distributions of all living, currently known, multicellular, European land and freshwater animals species integrally available in one authoritative database. Fauna Europaea covers about 260,000 taxon names, including 145,000 accepted (sub)species, assembled by a large network of (>400) leading specialists, using advanced electronic tools for data collations with data quality assured through sophisticated validation routines. Fauna Europaea started in 2000 as an EC funded FP5 project and provides a unique taxonomic reference for many user-groups such as scientists, governments, industries, nature conservation communities and educational programs. Fauna Europaea was formally accepted as an INSPIRE standard for Europe, as part of the European Taxonomic Backbone established in PESI. Fauna Europaea provides a public web portal at faunaeur.org with links to other key biodiversity services, is installed as a taxonomic backbone in wide range of biodiversity services and actively contributes to biodiversity informatics innovations in various initiatives and EC programs.

Exencephaly in a subset of animals heterozygous for AP-2alpha mutation.

BACKGROUND: Transcription factor AP-2alpha has been implicated as a cell-type-specific regulator of gene expression during vertebrate embryogenesis based on its expression pattern in neural crest cells, ectoderm, and the nervous system in mouse, chick, and frog embryos. AP-2alpha is prominently expressed in cranial neural crest cells, a population of cells migrating from the lateral margins of the neural folds during closure of the neural tube in E (embryonic day of development) 8-9 mouse embryos. Homozygous AP-2alpha mutant mice die perinatally with cranio-abdominoschisis, full facial clefting, and defects in cranial ganglia and sensory organs. METHODS: Mice heterozygous for the AP-2alpha mutation on a 129/Sv strain were crossed with wildtype mice from the strain 129/Ola. The resulting embryos were genotyped, examined and used for histological analysis. RESULTS: A subset of animals heterozygous for the AP-2alpha mutation develop a midbrain exencephaly after the mutation was crossed for one generation in the 129/Ola mouse strain. Up to 14% of the animals show a failure of the cranial neural folds to close resulting in a partial exencephaly, all of them being heterozygous for the mutation. The affected animals show reduced rostrocaudal dimensions of the skull and malformations of the bones of the cranial vault. The neural tube defects vary from pure midbrain exencephaly to a forebrain/midbrain exencephaly where the proliferating neural tissue covers the eyes completely. CONCLUSIONS: The results support a role of AP-2alpha in the etiology of exencephalic disorders. The phenotype observed might be due to a downregulation of the remaining allele suggesting the presence of an upstream modifier gene.