Publications

helicobacter monodelphidis sp. nov. and helicobacter didelphidarum sp. nov., isolated from grey short-tailed opossums (monodelphis domestica) with endemic cloacal prolapses.	in a search for potential causes of increased prolapse incidence in grey short-tailed opossum colonies, samples from the gastrointestinal tracts of 94 clinically normal opossums with rectal prolapses were screened for helicobacter species by culture and pcr. forty strains of two novel helicobacter species which differed from the established helicobacter taxa were isolated from opossums with and without prolapses. one of the helicobacter species was spiral-shaped and urease-negative whereas the o ...	2020	33079029
j. p. hill and katherine watson's studies of the neural crest in marsupials.	in the early part of the 20th century, j. p. hill and k. p. watson embarked on a comprehensive study of the development of the brain in australian marsupials. their work included series from three major groups: dasyurids, peramelids, and diprotodonts, covering early primitive streak through brain closure and folding stages. while the major part of the work was on the development of the brain, in the course of this work they documented that cellular proliferations from the neural plate provided m ...	2020	32960453
a single-cell transcriptome atlas of marsupial embryogenesis and x inactivation.	single-cell rna sequencing of embryos can resolve the transcriptional landscape of development at unprecedented resolution. to date, single-cell rna-sequencing studies of mammalian embryos have focused exclusively on eutherian species. analysis of mammalian outgroups has the potential to identify deeply conserved lineage specification and pluripotency factors, and can extend our understanding of x dosage compensation. metatherian (marsupial) mammals diverged from eutherians around 160 million ye ...	2020	32814901
identification of regenerative processes in neonatal spinal cord injury in the opossum (monodelphis domestica): a transcriptomic study.	this study investigates the response to spinal cord injury in the gray short-tailed opossum (monodelphis domestica). in opossums spinal injury early in development results in spontaneous axon growth through the injury, but this regenerative potential diminishes with maturity until it is lost entirely. the mechanisms underlying this regeneration remain unknown. rna sequencing was used to identify differential gene expression in regenerating (sci at postnatal day 7, p7sci) and nonregenerating (sci ...	2020	32710567
experimental infection of monodelphis domestica with rickettsia parkeri.	this study aimed to evaluate the infection of the marsupial monodelphis domestica (the gray short-tailed opossum) by rickettsia parkeri and its role as an amplifier of the bacterium for amblyomma ticks. ten m. domestica males were inoculated with phosphate-buffered saline (pbs) and 106 vero cells infected with r. parkeri. in seven animals, inoculation was intramuscular, and in three intraperitoneal. one male (control) received 1 ml of the same vehicle used for inoculation intraperitoneally. the ...	2020	31883908
influence of temperature on motor behaviors in newborn opossums (monodelphis domestica): an in vitro study.	external thermosensation is crucial to regulate animal behavior and homeostasis, but the development of the mammalian thermosensory system is not well known. we investigated whether temperature could play a role in the control of movements in a mammalian model born very immature, the opossum (monodelphis domestica). like other marsupials, at birth the opossum performs alternate and rhythmic movements with its forelimbs (fls) to reach a teat where it attaches in order to continue its development. ...	2020	31097626
evidence for regulation of the complement system during pregnancy being ancient and conserved in mammals.	here we demonstrate that regulation of the complement (c') components of the immune system is an ancient and conserved feature of mammalian pregnancy. transcript levels were reduced for complement components c3 and c4 throughout pregnancy in a marsupial, monodelphis domestica. downstream c' component transcripts were significantly less abundant relative to non-pregnant controls at the start of pregnancy but increased during late pregnancy, in some cases peaking close to parturition. these result ...	2020	31785265
uterine epithelial remodelling during pregnancy in the marsupial monodelphis domestica (didelphidae): implications for mammalian placental evolution.	mammalian pregnancy involves remodelling of the uterine epithelium to enable placentation. in marsupials, such remodelling has probably played a key role in the transition from ancestral invasive placentation to non-invasive placentation. identifying uterine alterations that are unique to marsupials with non-invasive placentation can thus elucidate mechanisms of marsupial placental evolution. we identified apical alterations to uterine epithelial cells prior to implantation in monodelphis domest ...	2020	32052440
the embryo of the silky shrew opossum, caenolestes fuliginosus (tomes, 1863): first description of the embryo of paucituberculata.	the development of caenolestid marsupials (order paucituberculata) is virtually unknown. we provide here the first description of caenolestes fuliginosus embryos collected in the colombian central andes. our sample of four embryos comes from a single female caught during a fieldtrip at río blanco (manizales, caldas), in 2014. the sample was processed for macroscopic description using a standard event system and for histological descriptions (sectioning and staining). the grade of development of ...	2020	31984547