Cytogenetic analysis of three species of Pseudacteon (Diptera, Phoridae) parasitoids of the fire ants using standard and molecular techniques

Pseudacteon flies, parasitoids of worker ants, are being intensively studied as potentially effective agents in the biological control of the invasive pest fire ant genus Solenopsis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). This is the first attempt to describe the karyotype of P. curvatus Borgmeier, P. nocens Borgmeier and P. tricuspis Borgmeier. The three species possess 2n = 6; chromosomes I and II were metacentric in the three species, but chromosome pair III was subtelocentric in P. curvatus and P. tricuspis, and telocentric in P. nocens. All three species possess a C positive band in chromosome II, lack C positive heterochromatin on chromosome I, and are mostly differentiated with respect to chromosome III. P. curvatus and P. tricuspis possess a C positive band, but at different locations, whereas this band is absent in P. nocens. Heterochromatic bands are neither AT nor GC rich as revealed by fluorescent banding. In situ hybridization with an 18S rDNA probe revealed a signal on chromosome II in a similar location to the C positive band in the three species. The apparent lack of morphologically distinct sex chromosomes is consistent with proposals of environmental sex determination in the genus. Small differences detected in chromosome length and morphology suggests that chromosomes have been highly conserved during the evolutionary radiation of Pseudacteon. Possible mechanisms of karyotype evolution in the three species are suggested

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Rat c-myc oncogene is located on chromosome 7 and rearranges in immunocytomas with t(6:7) chromosomal translocation.

Two B-cell-derived tumours, human Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) and murine plasmacytoma (MPC), are regularly associated with a distinctive form of chromosomal translocation (for reviews see refs 1, 2). In BL, the distal portion of chromosome 8 breaks off and is transposed, in most cases, to chromosome 14, known to carry the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus. In about 5% of the cases the same distal part of the chromosome 8 has moved to either chromosome 2 or 22, to the neighbourhood of the kappa or the lambda locus, respectively. In MPC the distal region of chromosome 15 is transposed to the chromosome 12, known to carry the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus, or enters into reciprocal exchange with the kappa locus-carrying chromosome 6 (ref. 7). Several laboratories have located c-myc, the cellular homologue of the MC29 retroviral oncogene v-myc, to human chromosome 8 (refs 8-10) and mouse chromosome 15 (refs 11-13). It has also been shown that the BL- and MPC-associated translocations remove the c-myc gene from its original site and transpose it into or close to one of the immunoglobulin gene clusters. In view of the above findings we also looked for possible involvement of the c-myc gene in a B-cell-derived tumour of a third species, the rat. Rat immunocytomas of spontaneous origin carry a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 6 and 7 (ref. 17). Here we have localized the c-myc locus to chromosome 7 of the rat. Moreover, we have found that the c-myc gene was rearranged in four of five immunocytomas carrying the characteristic chromosomal translocation.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe