Showing papers by "Hermann Wagner published in 2019"
TL;DR: Two strains of a new bacterial species from the preen oil of American barn owls represent a hitherto undescribed species, for which the name Kocuria tytonicola sp.
11 citations
TL;DR: A strain of Gram-stain-positive, non-motile,non-spore-forming cocci from the uropygial gland of an American barn owl is isolated and characterized using a polyphasic approach and considered to be a member of a novel species, for which the name Kocuria tytonis sp.
Abstract: Avian uropygial glands have received increasing attention in recent years, but little is known about micro-organisms in uropygial glands. In this study, we isolated a strain of Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming cocci, designated 442T, from the uropygial gland of an American barn owl (Tyto furcata) and characterized it using a polyphasic approach. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed the isolate in the genus
Kocuria
. The G+C content was 70.8 mol%, the major menaquinone was MK-7(H2) and the predominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene identified
Kocuria rhizophila
DSM 11926T (99.6 % similarity),
Kocuria salsicia
DSM 24776T (98.7 %),
Kocuria varians
DSM 20033T (98.3 %) and
Kocuria marina
DSM 16420T (98.3 %) as the most closely related species. However, average nucleotide identity values below 86 % indicated that the isolate differed from all species hitherto described. Chemotaxonomic analyses and whole-cell protein profiles corroborated these findings. Accordingly, the isolate is considered to be a member of a novel species, for which the name
Kocuria
tytonis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 442T (=DSM 104130T=LMG 29944T).
8 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that a small, but significant ear asymmetry occurs in the embryonic development of little owls, despite the presence of symmetrical ears in adults, which is interpreted as an indication of a secondarily evolved diurnal activity inlittle owls.
3 citations
TL;DR: The impact of an auditory specialist, the barn owl, to the authors' understanding of sensory processing, especially auditory processing, is discussed from the perspective of a long-lasting career.
Abstract: Abstract In this personal view article, the impact of an auditory specialist, the barn owl, to our understanding of sensory processing, especially auditory processing, is discussed from the perspective of a long-lasting career. In times when research on model systems such as the mouse or the fruit fly, both generalists for most of the behaviors examined, celebrates big successes, one may ask what the work on animals occupying specialized niches, “specialists”, can contribute to advance our knowledge about sensory systems. A specialist in this context is an animal that occupies a certain ecological niche and shows corresponding adaptations in anatomy and physiology. This article presents a personal view on the impact of the work on such a specialist. In my article I shall focus on audition in the barn owl, a specialist for hunting by listening. I started my scientific career in 1979, working with houseflies, and have worked with barn owls since my time as a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”, Pasadena, CA, USA) in 1985. My interest in specialists derived from my work as an ornithologist when I realized that adaptations like the long and curved bill of the curlew help animals to occupy certain ecological niches. I wanted to understand in a formal sense, and in comparison to engineering, how evolution shapes such specializations.
1 citations