76 research outputs found
Local dispersal pathways during the invasion of the cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, within North America and the Caribbean
Cactoblastis cactorum, a species of moth native to Argentina, feeds on several prickly pear cactus species (Opuntia) and has been successfully used as a biological control of invading Opuntia species in Australia, South Africa and native ruderal Opuntia species in some Caribbean islands. Since its introduction to the Caribbean its spread was uncontrolled, invading successfully Florida, Texas and Louisiana. Despite this long history of invasion, we are still far from understanding the factors determining the patterns of invasion of Cactoblastis in North America. Here, we explored three non-mutually exclusive explanations: a) a stepping stone model of colonization, b) long distance colonization due to hurricanes, and/or c) hitchhiking through previously reported commercial routes. Genetic diversity, genetic structure and the patterns of migration among populations were obtained by analyzing 10 nuclear microsatellite loci. Results revealed the presence of genetic structure among populations of C. cactorum in the invaded region and suggest that both marine commercial trade between the Caribbean islands and continental USA, as well as recurrent transport by hurricanes, explain the observed patterns of colonization. Provided that sanitary regulations avoiding humanmediated dispersal are enforced, hurricanes probably represent the most important agent of dispersal and future invasion to continental areas.Fil: Andraca GĂłmez, Guadalupe. Universidad Nacional AutĂłnoma de MĂ©xico. Instituto de EcologĂa; MĂ©xicoFil: Lombaert, Eric. UniversitĂ© CĂŽte d'Azur; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Ordano, Mariano AndrĂ©s. FundaciĂłn Miguel Lillo; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de TucumĂĄn. Instituto de EcologĂa Regional. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - TucumĂĄn. Instituto de EcologĂa Regional; ArgentinaFil: PĂ©rez Ishiwara, RubĂ©n. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Departamento de EcologĂa Evolutiva; MĂ©xicoFil: Boege, Karina. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Departamento de EcologĂa Evolutiva; MĂ©xicoFil: DomĂnguez, CĂ©sar A.. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Departamento de EcologĂa Evolutiva; MĂ©xicoFil: Fornoni, Juan. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Departamento de EcologĂa Evolutiva; MĂ©xic
Daily fluctuations in pollination effectiveness explain higher efficiency of native over exotic bees in Lepechinia floribunda (Lamiaceae)
Despite Stebbinsâ principle of the most efficient pollinator being proposed decades ago, the most important pollinators are still mainly identified using the frequency of visits to flowers. This shortcoming results in a gap between the characterization of the flower visitors of a plant species and a reliable estimation of the plant fitness consequences of the mutualistic interaction. The performance of a mutualistic visitor depends on its abundance, behaviour, effectiveness (pollen removal and deposition per unit time) and efficiency (seed set per unit time) conditioned by the temporal matching between pollinator activity and temporal patterns of maturation of the sexual functions of flowers. Although there have been recent attempts to provide a conceptual and methodological framework to characterize pollinatorsâ performance, few have combined all key elements of visitors and plants to provide an accurate estimation of pollinatorsâ performance under natural conditions.Fil: Baranzelli, Matias Cristian. Universidad Nacional AutĂłnoma de MĂ©xico; MĂ©xico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Benitez-Vieyra, Santiago Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Glinos, Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Trenchi, Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: CĂłrdoba, Silvina Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Camina, Julia Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Ashworth, Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Sersic, Alicia Noemi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Cocucci, Andrea Aristides. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Fornoni, Juan Enrique. Universidad Nacional AutĂłnoma de MĂ©xico; MĂ©xic
Las fluctuaciones diarias en la efectividad explican la mayor eficiencia de las abejas nativas sobre las exĂłticas en la polinizaciĂłn en Lepechinia floribunda (Lamiaceae)
El principio del polinizador mĂĄs eficiente se propuso hace dĂ©cadas, sin embargo los polinizadores mĂĄs importantes todavĂa se identifican por sus frecuencias de visitas, generando una brecha entre la caracterizaciĂłn de la comunidad de visitantes y la estimaciĂłn cuantitativa de las consecuencias de las interacciones sobre la adecuaciĂłn de las plantas. El desempeño de un visitante depende de su abundancia, comportamiento, efectividad (remociĂłn/deposiciĂłn de polen por tiempo) y eficiencia (semillas por de tiempo) condicionado por la correspondencia temporal entre el periodo de forrajeo del polinizador y la maduraciĂłn de las funciones sexuales en la planta. Aunque estudios recientes proporcionan un marco conceptual para caracterizar el desemepeño, pocos han combinado todos los elementos para estimar con precisiĂłn el rendimiento de los polinizadores en condiciones naturales. Aqui, complementamos el estudio de la biologĂa floral y el sistema de apareamiento de Lepechinia floribunda con la estimaciĂłn cuantitativa del rendimiento (efectividad y eficiencia) de sus polinizadores principales: abejorros (Bombus spp.) y abejas meliferas (Apis mellifera). Los abejorros mostraron un patrĂłn de forrajeo concomitante con la producciĂłn de nĂ©ctar y la receptividad estigmĂĄtica en la planta resultando en un mayor desempeño. A pesar de la sobreabundancia de abejas, sus visitas ocurrieron principalmente cuando los estigmas no estaban receptivos, reduciendo su rendimiento general. Los abejorros resultaron los polinizadores mĂĄs importantes, potenciales mediadores de la evoluciĂłn fenotĂpica floral en L. floribunda. Debido a que la producciĂłn de semillas por los abejorros involucrĂł menos polen e inversiĂłn en despliegue que las abejas, cambios contemporĂĄneos en su abundancia pueden afectar la evoluciĂłn floral de L. floribunda. Si los abejorros fueran desplazados por alteraciones antropogĂ©nica o por competencia, su menor eficiencia impondrĂĄ presiones de selecciĂłn sobre el despliegue incrementando los costos reproductivos, e incluso favorecer la reducciĂłn de la dicogamia para que coincida con la actividad de alimentaciĂłn de abejas.Fil: Baranzelli, Matias Cristian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; Argentina. Instituto de EcologĂa; MĂ©xicoFil: Benitez-Vieyra, Santiago Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Glinos, Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Trenchi, Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: CĂłrdoba, Silvina Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Camina, Julia Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Ashworth, Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Sersic, Alicia Noemi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Cocucci, Andrea Aristides. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Fornoni, Juan Enrique. Instituto de EcologĂa; MĂ©xicoVII Congreso Mexicano de EcologĂaJuriquillaMĂ©xicoSociedad CientĂfica Mexicana de EcologĂ
TAT-Mediated Transduction of MafA Protein In Utero Results in Enhanced Pancreatic Insulin Expression and Changes in Islet Morphology
Alongside Pdx1 and Beta2/NeuroD, the transcription factor MafA has been shown to be instrumental in the maintenance of the beta cell phenotype. Indeed, a combination of MafA, Pdx1 and Ngn3 (an upstream regulator of Beta2/NeuroD) was recently reported to lead to the effective reprogramming of acinar cells into insulin-producing beta cells. These experiments set the stage for the development of new strategies to address the impairment of glycemic control in diabetic patients. However, the clinical applicability of reprogramming in this context is deemed to be poor due to the need to use viral vehicles for the delivery of the above factors. Here we describe a recombinant transducible version of the MafA protein (TAT-MafA) that penetrates across cell membranes with an efficiency of 100% and binds to the insulin promoter in vitro. When injected in utero into living mouse embryos, TAT-MafA significantly up-regulates target genes and induces enhanced insulin production as well as cytoarchitectural changes consistent with faster islet maturation. As the latest addition to our armamentarium of transducible proteins (which already includes Pdx1 and Ngn3), the purification and characterization of a functional TAT-MafA protein opens the door to prospective therapeutic uses that circumvent the use of viral delivery. To our knowledge, this is also the first report on the use of protein transduction in utero
An experimental test of hostâs life history traits modulation in response to cuckoo parasitism risk
Hosts can counteract parasites through defences based on resistance and/or tolerance.
The mechanistic basis of tolerance, which involve defensive mechanisms minimizing parasite
damage after a successful parasitic attack, remains poorly explored in the study of
cuckoo-host interactions. Here, we experimentally explore the possibility that the risk of
great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius parasitism may induce tolerance defences in
magpie Pica pica hosts through plasticity in life-history traits. We predict that magpies
exposed to auditory cues indicating high parasitism risk will more likely exhibit resistance
and/or modify their life-history traits to minimize parasitism costs (i.e. tolerance) compared
to magpies under low parasitism risk. We found that manipulating the perceived parasitism
risk did not affect host resistance (i.e. rejection of parasitic eggs) nor host life-history traits.
Unexpectedly, host's egg volume increased over the season in nests exposed to auditory
cues of control non-harmful hoopoes Upupa epops. Our results do not provide support for
inducible defences (either based on resistance or tolerance) in response to risk of parasitism
in magpie hosts. Even so, we encourage studying plastic expression of breeding strategies
in response to risk of cuckoo parasitism to achieve a better understanding of the mechanistic
basis of tolerance defences.This work was supported by the Spanish
Ministry of Education and Science/FEDER (Projects
CGL2011-27561/BOS and CGL2014-56769-P to D.
P. and J.M.A.). D.P. was supported by the
Government of Extremadura while writing (contract
number TA13002). M.E.G. was supported by the
Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
(grant number BES-2012-051898).
Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover
Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale
Data from: Evolutionary changes in plant tolerance against herbivory through a resurrection experiment
Both theoretical and empirical works have highlighted the difference in the evolutionary implications of host resistance and tolerance against their enemies. However, it has been difficult to show evolutionary changes in host defences in natural populations; thus, evaluating theoretical predictions of simultaneous evolution of defences remains a challenge. We studied the evolutionary changes in traits related to resistance and tolerance against herbivory in a natural plant population using seeds from two collections made in a period of 20 years. In a common garden experiment, we compared defensive traits of ancestral (1987) and descendant (2007) subpopulations of the annual plant Datura stramonium that shows genetic variation for tolerance and to which the specialist herbivore Lema daturaphila is locally adapted. We also examined the effects of different plant genotypes on the herbivore for testing the plant genetic variation in resistance. Based on the response to the contemporary herbivore populations, results revealed a nonsignificant response in plant resistance traits (herbivore consumption, foliar trichomes and tropane alkaloids), but a significant one in tolerance. The survival of herbivores in laboratory experiments depended on the plant genotype, which suggests genetic variation in plant resistance. Although we cannot identify the selective agent for the change nor exclude genetic drift, the results are consistent with the expectation that when resistance fails to control herbivory, tolerance should play a more important role in the evolution of the interaction
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