A high proportion of purebred Hampshire pigs carries the dominant RN- mutation, which causes high glycogen content in skeletal muscle. The mutation has beneficial effects on meat content but detrimental effects on processing yield. Here, it is shown that the mutation is a nonconservative substitution (R200Q) in the PRKAG3 gene, which encodes a muscle-specific isoform of the regulatory gamma subunit of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Loss-of-function mutations in the homologous gene in yeast (SNF4) cause defects in glucose metabolism, including glycogen storage. Further analysis of the PRKAG3 signaling pathway may provide insights into muscle physiology as well as the pathogenesis of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in humans, a metabolic disorder associated with impaired glycogen synthesis.

No abstract

We offer the concept of multicommunicating to describe overlapping conversations, an increasingly common occurrence in the technology-enriched workplace. We define multicommunicating, distinguish it from other behaviors, and develop propositions for future research. Our work extends the literature on technology-stimulated restructuring and reveals one of the opportunities provided by lean media-specifically, an opportunity to multicommunicate. We conclude that the concept of multicommunicating has value both to the scholar and to the practicing manager. Scenario 1: At five o'clock in the afternoon (local time), a crew drilling for oil in Indonesia encounters a problem. The field engineer contacts a twenty-four-hour-a-day technology center in Texas (local time, four o'clock in the morning). The engineer in Texas-with access to multiple communication technologies-interacts with two other engineers while responding to queries from Indonesia. Within forty-five minutes the engineer in Texas has worked out a solution and communicated it to the crew in Indonesia (Amin et al., 2001). The company estimates that such practices save the company more than $200 million per year (Smith et al., 2001). Scenario 2: While supervising employees and receiving occasional calls from friends, a manager, Trina, has to respond to complex questions from executives engaged in legally binding negotiations. "What commonly happens for me [is] I'm typing an email and the phone rings so I'll take the conversation [and] while I'm on the telephone. .. [also send a chat message to] somebody at the same time. So you have like three things going at once. In some cases. .. [I lose track] of what the person on the phone is saying and they can be irritated. .. [because] they have to repeat themselves." Trina added that a mistake "could be very detrimental." (We interviewed Trina and several other experienced multicommunicators during the preparation of this paper.) The preceding examples point to an emerging trend in workplace communication-the use of technology to participate in several interactions at the same time (Cameron & Webster, 2005). We call this practice "multicommunicating" (cf. Turner & Tinsley, 2002), which we define as engaging in two or more overlapping, synchronous conversations. The first scenario shows how multicommunicating can contribute to performance; the second points to problems, including inefficiency, irritation, and mistakes. Multicommunicating is facilitated by technologies, particularly chat software. But technologies do not determine behavior. They are, as Barley explains, only "occasions that trigger social dynamics" (1986: 81). Management scholars, therefore, have drawn on structuration theory

A whole-genome scan to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for functional traits was performed in the German Holstein cattle population. For this purpose, 263 genetic markers across all autosomes and the pseudoautosomal region of the sex chromosomes were genotyped in 16 granddaughter-design families with 872 sons. The traits investigated were deregressed breedingvalues for maternal and direct effects on dystocia (DYSm, DYSd) and stillbirth (STIm, STId) as well as maternal and paternal effects on nonreturn rates of 90 d (NR90m, NR90p). Furthermore, deregressed breeding values for functional herd life (FHL) and daughter yield deviation for somatic cell count (SCC) were investigated. Weighted multimarker regression analyses across families and permutation tests were applied for the detection of QTL and the calculation of statistical significance. A ten percent genomewise significant QTL was localized for DYSm on chromosome 8 and for SCC on chromosome 18. A further 24 putative QTL exceeding the 5% chromosomewise threshold were detected. On chromosomes 7, 8, 10, 18, and X/Yps, coincidence of QTL for several traits was observed. Our results suggest that loci with influence on udder health may also contribute to genetic variance of longevity. Prior to implementation of these QTL in marker assisted selection programs for functional traits, information about direct and correlated effects of these QTL as well as fine mapping of their chromosomal positions is required.

No abstract