Comportamiento de "Osilinus atratus" (Wood, 1828) ante diferentes sustratos rocosos

[ES] Se estudia el comportamiento del burgado (Osilinus atratus) ante diferentes tipos de sustratos rocosos, tanto en color como en tamaño. Los individuos muestran cierta tendencia a permanecer sobre sustratos de color gris-verdoso, sobre piedras de basalto-fonolitas, muy similares a los colores que abundan en las conchas de esta especie. Igualmente, evitan permanecer sobre sedimentos de pequeña granulometría, incrementándose el tiempo de permanencia cuanto mayor es el grano del sedimento.

In Plant Activation: An inducible, hyperexpression platform for recombinant protein production in plants

In this study, we describe a novel protein production platform that provides both activation and amplification of transgene expression in planta. The In Plant Activation (INPACT) system is based on the replication machinery of tobacco yellow dwarf mastrevirus (TYDV) and is essentially transient gene expression from a stably transformed plant, thus combining the advantages of both means of expression. The INPACT cassette is uniquely arranged such that the gene of interest is split and only reconstituted in the presence of the TYDV-encoded Rep/RepA proteins. Rep/RepA expression is placed under the control of the AlcA:AlcR gene switch, which is responsive to trace levels of ethanol. Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv Samsun) plants containing an INPACT cassette encoding the b-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter had negligible background expression but accumulated very high GUS levels (up to 10% total soluble protein) throughout the plant, within 3 d of a 1% ethanol application. The GUS reporter was replaced with a gene encoding a lethal ribonuclease, barnase, demonstrating that the INPACT system provides exquisite control of transgene expression and can be adapted to potentially toxic or inhibitory compounds. The INPACT gene expression platform is scalable, not host-limited, and has been used to express both a therapeutic and an industrial protein.

The evolution and biogeography of the austral horse fly tribe Scionini (Diptera: Tabanidae: Pangoniinae) inferred from multiple mitochondrial and nuclear genes

Phylogenetic relationships within the Tabanidae are largely unknown, despite their considerable medical and ecological importance. The first robust phylogenetic hypothesis for the horse fly tribe Scionini is provided, completing the systematic placement of all tribes in the subfamily Pangoniinae. The Scionini consists of seven mostly southern hemisphere genera distributed in Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and South America. A 5757. bp alignment of 6 genes, including mitochondrial (COI and COII), ribosomal (28S) and nuclear (AATS and CAD regions 1, 3 and 4) genes, was analysed for 176 taxa using both Bayesian and maximum likelihood approaches. Results indicate the Scionini are strongly monophyletic, with the exclusion of the only northern hemisphere genus Goniops. The South American genera Fidena, Pityocera and Scione were strongly monophyletic, corresponding to current morphology-based classification schemes. The most widespread genus Scaptia was paraphyletic and formed nine strongly supported monophyletic clades, each corresponding to either the current subgenera or several previously synonymised genera that should be formally resurrected. Molecular results also reveal a newly recognised genus endemic to New Zealand, formerly placed within Scaptia. Divergence time estimation was employed to assess the global biogeographical patterns in the Pangoniinae. These analyses demonstrated that the Scionini are a typical Gondwanan group whose diversification was influenced by the fragmentation of that ancient land mass. Furthermore, results indicate that the Scionini most likely originated in Australia and subsequently radiated to New Zealand and South American by both long distance dispersal and vicariance. The phylogenetic framework of the Scionini provided herein will be valuable for taxonomic revisions of the Tabanidae.

Distribution and Density of Vegetative Hydrilla Propagules in the Sediments of Two New Zealand Lakes

The distribution and density of hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.)Royle) turions and tubers in two New Zealand lakes were assessed by sampling cores of sediment from Lakes Tutira and Waikapiro each year from 1994 to 1997. Turion and tuber density differed with water depth, with maximum numbers of tubers and turions found in the 1-2 m and 1.5-4m water depth ranges respectively. A high turion to tuber ratio was observed, with turions accounting for over 80% of propagules. The relatively low numbers of turions and tubers compared with other reports, and the distribution of most tubers within the shallow water is likely to be associated with black swan grazing (Cygnus atratus Latham), with maintains a canopy of hydrilla consistently 1 m below the water surface.

Visitantes florais de Lagerstroemia speciosa Pers: (Lythraceae)

Studies were carried out with Lagerstroemia speciosa Pers. on floral reproductive systems, diversity and constancy of visiting insects at different hours of day, the behaviour of these insects at the flowers and the influence of these environmental factors in relation to their visits. The fenology, anthesis and others particularity of this vegetal species was studied. A great diversity of insects was verified visiting the flowers with the predominance of bees. The most frequent and constant species encountered were: Nannotrigona testaceicornis (Lepeletier, 1836) (40,2%), Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille, 1811) (16,9%), Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758 (11,8%), Plebeia droryana (Friese, 1900) (9,1 %) e Exomalopsis fulvofasciata (Smith, 1879) (8,5%). The blossoms possessis features of melittophily syndrome and diurnal anthesis. The environmental factors influence the insects foraging activity, mainly temperature, light, time of day, humidity and wind speed. The effective pollinators were the large insects like Bombus morio (Swederus, 1787), Bombus atratus (Franklin, 1913), Centris tarsata (Smith, 1874), Centris flavifrons Fabricius, 1775, Xylocopa suspecta Camargo & Moure, 1988, Xylocopa frontalis (Olivier, 1789) and Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier, 1841.

Contribution of the Malpighian tubules for the maintenance of symbiotic microorganisms in cephalotes ants

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The midgut of Cephalotes ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae): Ultrastructure of the epithelium and symbiotic bacteria

The ultrastructural analysis of the midgut of Cephalotes atratus. C. clypeatus, and C. pusillus reveled that the midgut epithelium lays on a basal lamina and is composed basically of three cell types: digestive cells, regenerative cells, and goblet cells. In these ants, the rough endoplasmic reticulum, in addition to producing digestive enzymes, is involved in the formation of concretions and ion storage in specialized vacuoles present in the midgut. These concretions are spherocrystals and may contribute to stabilize the pH and to maintain symbiotic bacteria found between microvilli. The ultrastructure analysis of these bacteria revealed the presence of a double envelope typical of gram-negative bacteria. For the three species examined, the ultrastructure similarities are conspicuous, suggesting that this may be the pattern for the genus Cephalotes. Details of the relationship between bacteria and microvilli were examined. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Symbiotic bacteria and the structural specializations in the ileum of Cephalotes ants

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Molecular and ultrastructural profiles of the symbionts in Cephalotes ants

The molecular and ultrastructural profiles of the symbionts found in the midgut and ileum of Cephalotes atratus, Cephalotes clypeatus, and Cephalotes pusillus were determined using the V3 region of the bacterial 16S rDNA gene and transmission electron microscopy (T.E.M.). Two samples of C atratus, three of C clypeatus, and six of C. pusillus were analyzed. The coefficients of similarity ranged from 80% to 94% for the samples of symbionts from C. clypeatus and C. atratus, despite being collected in geographically distant sites. The variability within symbionts found in the samples of C. pusillus varied from 29% to 55%, in samples geographically close as well as distant. PCR-DGGE was effective for the purpose of this study and can be considered a versatile tool to analyze gut microbiota. Details of the ultrastructural aspect of these bacteria are presented. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ileum of the Cephalotes ants: A specialized structure to harbor symbionts microorganisms

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Proventriculus of Cephalotes ants: A structural and comparative analysis

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Sensitivity of ant (Cephalotes) colonies and individuals to antibiotics implies feeding symbiosis with gut microorganisms

Ants in the tribe Cephalotini are exceptional in that they maintain microorganisms in their digestive tract. To understand what these microorganisms mean to the ants, we observed the feeding habits of Cephalotes pusillus and Cephalotes atratus, finding that in nature they feed on extrafloral nectars, homopteran secretions, and bird droppings. Feeding the antibiotic kanamycin to colonies of C. pusillus in the laboratory kills them. Ants desiccate or starve rather than feed on liquids to which the antibiotics gentamycin and netilmycin have been added, but feed and survive on liquids containing nystatin, penicillin, and ampicillin. We identified over 10 microorganisms from the intestine of C. pusillus with different antibiotic-resistance patterns. The bacteria are from the genera Corynebacterium, Brevibacterium, Sphingobacterium, Ochrobactrum, Myroides, Brevundimonas, Alcaligenes, Stenotrophomonas, Moraxella, and Pseudomonas. We hypothesize that the microorganisms provide nutrients to the ants by synthesizing amino acids from carbohydrates and nitrates. We do not know whether the ants collect the bacteria from the environment, but they transmit them to their young. They culture them in their digestive tract, eventually feeding on them.

Comparative study of the histology, histochemistry and ultramorphology of the proventriculus in the cephalotini tribe (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The use of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy propitiated the comparative examination of the nature of the histology, histochemistry and ultramorphology of the proventriculus bulb of Cephalotes atratus, C. clypeatus and C. pusillus. This portion of the digestive tract possesses highly sclerotized cuticular projections which act in the selection of victuals. A layer of amorphous material with mucous characteristics is present over the cuticle projections. That layer seems to optimize the efficiency of the proventriculus in the selection of food for social function in the colony (trophallaxis). More details of the characteristics of this structure are described in this study.

Comparative morphology of the ileum of three species of Cephalotes (formicidae, myrmicinae)

The histology (H.E.), histochemistry (carbohydrates, proteins, collagen, and calcium), enzyme profile (ATPase and Acid phosphatase), and ultramorphology of the ileum of Cephalotes atratus, C. clypeatus and C. pusillus were studied in order to obtain some information about the similarities of these species. The relationship among these three species, as well as the results obtained for the wall, and the contents of this portion of the digestive tract were discussed. In C. clypeatus the ileum is somewhat smaller than that of C. atratus, despite the similarities in body size. The ATPase results showed 2 different regions: the anterior region responsible for absorbing material from the haemolymph and the posterior region for absorbtion from the ileum lumen. Other histochemical analyses failed to show any differences.