Erratum to: Examining the "evolution of increased competitive ability" hypothesis in response to parasites and pathogens in the invasive paper wasp Polistes dominula

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Chronic parasitization by Nosema microsporidia causes global expression changes in core nutritional, metabolic and behavioral pathways in honey bee workers (Apis mellifera)

BACKGROUND: Chronic infections can profoundly affect the physiology, behavior, fitness and longevity of individuals, and may alter the organization and demography of social groups. Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae are two microsporidian parasites which chronically infect the digestive tract of honey bees (Apis mellifera). These parasites, in addition to other stressors, have been linked to increased mortality of individual workers and colony losses in this key pollinator species. Physiologically, Nosema infection damages midgut tissue, is energetically expensive and alters expression of immune genes in worker honey bees. Infection also accelerates worker transition from nursing to foraging behavior (termed behavioral maturation). Here, using microarrays, we characterized global gene expression patterns in adult worker honey bee midgut and fat body tissue in response to Nosema infection. RESULTS: Our results indicate that N. apis infection in young workers (1 and 2 days old) disrupts midgut development. At 2 and 7 days post-infection in the fat body tissue, N. apis drives metabolic changes consistent with energetic costs of infection. A final experiment characterizing gene expression in the fat bodies of 14 day old workers parasitized with N. apis and N. ceranae demonstrated that Nosema co-infection specifically alters conserved nutritional, metabolic and hormonal pathways, including the insulin signaling pathway, which is also linked to behavioral maturation in workers. Interestingly, in all experiments, Nosema infection did not appear to significantly regulate overall expression of canonical immune response genes, but infection did alter expression of acute immune response genes identified in a previous study. Comparative analyses suggest that changes in nutritional/metabolic processes precede changes in behavioral maturation and immune processes. CONCLUSIONS: These genome-wide studies of expression patterns can help us disentangle the direct and indirect effects of chronic infection, and understand the molecular pathways that regulate disease symptoms. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-14-799) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Caste Specific Pheromone-Related Gene Expression in Honeybee Mandibular Glands

Dissertação de mestrado em Biocinética, apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física da Universidade de CoimbraO presente trabalho teve como principal objetivo determinar a influência dos valores da curva força-velocidade dos flexores e extensores do joelho no remate de futebol. Foram avaliados sete atletas amadores de futebol (25,1 ± 1,97 anos), os quais foram submetidos a dois tipos de testes. Sendo o primeiro cinemático, através da filmagem de execução de um remate de futebol. Posteriomente, foi feita uma análise no programa kinovea, para determinar a velocidade de saida de bola, variáveis temporais e comportamento angular. Para a recolha dos dados isocinéticos foi utilizado um dinamómetro (Biodex Multijoint System 3 Pro 2) para cálculo da força máxima do membro inferior dos sujeitos. Na análise cinemática do futebol a variável velocidade máxima do joelho foi a que obteve maior correlação com a velocidade de saída de bola (r=0.96; P≤0.001). As variáveis, Distância do pé à bola e a Percentagem da posição do centro de gravidade obtiveram valores de correlação significativos (r=0.81 e r= 0.83; P≤ 0.01) correspondentemente. Por fim, as variáveis, ângulo da cintura pélvica e deslocamento angular do joelho em extensão, também mostraram correlações significativas (r=0.76 e r=0.70; P≤0.05) com a velocidade de saída de bola. Na correlação entre variáveis cinemáticas do remate de futebol com os testes isocinéticos, constatou-se que das três variáveis analisadas, os resultados das diferenças dos valores dos torques máximos em todas as velocidades de teste e o valor dos ângulos nos torques máximos obtiveram maior número de correlações significativas (ambas com 12 correlações cada para P≤0.05), já os valores dos torques máximos apenas obtiveram quatro correlações significativas para P≤0.05. Concluindo, a variável cinemática mais importante para o remate de futebol é a velocidade máxima do joelho, sendo que só é possível a sua análise a partir da utilização de novas tecnologias no treino. Relativamente aos testes isocinéticos, verificamos que a aplicação da curva força-velocidade nos testes isocinéticos apresenta mais informações do que os valores dos torques máximos. Palavras-chave: Futebol; Análise Cinemática; Testes Isocinéticos; Curva Força-Velocidade. iv Abstract The purpose of this study was to establish the values which influence the force-velocity curve of flexors and knee extensors on the soccer kick. Our subjects were seven amateur soccer players (25.1 ± 1.97 years), who underwent two types of tests. Therefore, the first Kinematic test was the avaluation of the soccer kick and maximal instep kicking with the preferred leg. Afterwards, an analysis on Kinovea program was made in order to calculate the ball speed, the angular behavior, and temporal variables. For the collection of data we used isokinetic dynamometers ((Biodex System 3 Pro Multijoint 2) to calculate the maximum strength of the lower member of the subjects. In kinematics football analysis, the variable maximum knee speed, was the one with the highest correlation with the ball speed (r = 0.96; P≤0.001). The variables, distance from the ball to the foot and the percentage of the center of gravity position obtained significant correlation (r = 0.81 and r = 0.83; P ≤ 0.01) correspondingly. Finally, the variables angle of the pelvis and the knee angular movement in extension, also showed a significant correlation (r = 0.76 and r = 0.70; P≤0.05) with the ball speed. As far as the correlation between kinematic variables football kicking with the isokinetic testing is concerned, it was found that the three variables in study, which were the results of the differences of the values of the maximum torque in all test speed and the value of the angles the maximum torques obtained more significant correlations (both with 12 correlations for each P≤0.05), since the values of the maximum torques only had four significant correlations for p≤0.05. In conclusion, the most important kinematics variable for the football kick is the maximum speed of the knee, and it is only possible to analyse by using new technologies in training. For isokinetic tests, we found that the application of the force-velocity curve in isokinetic tests gave us more information than the values of the maximum torque

Warming Increases Pollen Lipid Concentration in an Invasive Thistle, with Minor Effects on the Associated Floral-Visitor Community

Climate warming is likely to change the ways in which plants interact with their insect mutualists, for example through changes in phytochemistry. In particular, this may have implications for the ways in which we manage noxious weeds, which may spread more quickly if they experience stronger mutualistic interactions. We grew the invasive nodding thistle, Carduus nutans, in two experimental treatments in the field: either passively warmed with open top chambers or at ambient temperatures. We collected pollen from thistles in each treatment and analysed the total protein, lipid, and carbohydrate content. We observed no difference in the pollen protein or carbohydrate content, but the total lipid content of the pollen was significantly higher in warmed plants. We conducted a total of 12.75 h of observations of putatively mutualistic, flower-visiting insects. In addition, we spent 4.17 h collecting bees that visited thistle inflorescences in the treatments, allowing us to identify them to species. We found a significant increase in the abundance of flower-visiting insects in the observations, but not bee abundance in collections. In addition, there was no treatment effect on the number of flower-visiting morphotypes in the observations, or bee species richness in the collections. However, a nonparametric test did identify a significant effect of warming on the composition of flower-visiting morphotypes in observations and bee species in collections. Overall, the warming treatment significantly increased lipid content of the pollen, but had relatively weak effects on insect visitation patterns. However, these effects may be amplified at larger spatial and temporal scales or higher temperatures