Phylogeny of leafcutter ants in the genus Atta Fabricius (Formicidae: Attini) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Caste in the swarming wasps: 'queenless' societies in highly social insects

Morphometric data for 30 species of swarming wasps (Vespidae: Polistinae: Epiponini) are presented, representing all currently recognized genera. Data are coded according to whether females that were shown by dissection to be egglayers are larger, similar, or smaller for each dimension than non-egglayers. These data are analysed in a phylogenetic framework with primitively social Polistes and Mischocyttarus as outgroups. Representative measurements are illustrated to show that most genera of Epiponini appear to have ancestry in a lineage that has no queen caste comparable with either the primitively social outgroups, or the more derived species of the tribe. This analysis indicates that a conspiracy of workers that operates without a queen characterizes the societies of many Epiponini, or their recent ancestors. (c) 2008 The Linnean Society of London.

Changes in T-cell phenotype and cytokines profile in maternal blood, cord blood and colostrum of diabetic mothers

The present study evaluated the cells and cytokine of maternal blood, cord blood and colostrum of diabetic mothers. The women evaluated were divided according to their body mass index (BMI) and glycemic status into non-diabetic (ND - N = 15), mild gestational hyperglycemic (MGH - N = 15), diabetes mellitus gestational (DMG - N = 13) and type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM2 - N = 15) groups. The subsets of cells and cytokine profile were determined by flow cytometry. Maternal blood from MGH group had increase percentage of CD3(+)T cells, and DM-2 group had decrease percentage of CD4(+) T cells. The cord blood from hyperglycemic groups showed lower percentage of CD3(+) T cells expressing CD45RO(+) and higher of CD4(+) T cells and CD4(+) T cells expressing CD45RA(+). In the colostrum, the CD4(+) T cells and CD4(+) T cells expressed CD45RA(+) increase in hyperglycemic groups. The DM2 group exhibited higher IL17 levels in maternal blood. IFN-γ was lower in cord blood from MGH and DMG groups with overweight/obese. Irrespective of the glycemic status, IL6 was higher in colostrum. The results obtained suggest that maternal hyperglycemia modifies the phenotypes of T cells and cytokines profile in maternal, cord blood and colostrum.