Blood-feeding adaptations and virome assessment of the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae guided by RNA-seq

Dermanyssus gallinae is a blood-feeding mite that parasitises wild birds and farmed poultry. Its remarkably swift processing of blood, together with the capacity to blood-feed during most developmental stages, makes this mite a highly debilitating pest. To identify specific adaptations to digestion of a haemoglobin-rich diet, we constructed and compared transcriptomes from starved and blood-fed stages of the parasite and identified midgut-enriched transcripts. We noted that midgut transcripts encoding cysteine proteases were upregulated with a blood meal. Mapping the full proteolytic apparatus, we noted a reduction in the suite of cysteine proteases, missing homologues for Cathepsin B and C.Instituto de Patología VegetalFil: Ribeiro, José M. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research; Estados UnidosFil: Hartmann, David. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology. Biology Centre; República ChecaFil: Bartošová-Sojková, Pavla. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology. Biology Centre; República ChecaFil: Debat, Humberto Julio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Debat, Humberto Julio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Fitopatología y Modelización Agrícola (UFyMA); ArgentinaFil: Moos, Martin. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Entomology; República ChecaFil: Šimek, Petr. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Entomology; República ChecaFil: Fara, Jiří.International Poultry Testing Station Ústrašice; República ChecaFil: Palus, Martin. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República ChecaFil: Kučera, Matěj. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República ChecaFil: Hajdušek, Ondřej. Czech Academy of Sciences. Biology Centre. Institute of Parasitology; República Chec

Mechanisms and drivers for the establishment of life cycle complexity in Myxozoan parasites

It is assumed that complex life cycles in cnidarian parasites belonging to the Myxozoa result from incorporation of vertebrates into simple life cycles exploiting aquatic invertebrates. However, nothing is known about the driving forces and implementation of this event, though it fostered massive diversification. We performed a comprehensive search for myxozoans in evolutionary ancient fishes (Chondrichthyes), and more than doubled existing 18S rDNA sequence data, discovering seven independent phylogenetic lineages. We performed cophylogenetic and character mapping methods in the largest monophyletic dataset and demonstrate that host and parasite phylogenies are strongly correlated, and that tectonic changes may explain phylogeographic clustering in recent skates and softnose skates, in the Atlantic. The most basal lineages of myxozoans inhabit the bile of chondrichthyans, an immunologically privileged site and protective niche, easily accessible from the gut via the bile duct. We hypothesize that feed-integration is a likely mechanism of host acquisition, an idea supported by feeding habits of chimaeras and ancient sharks and by multiple entries of different parasite lineages from invertebrates into the new host group. We provide exciting first insights into the early evolutionary history of ancient metazoan parasites in a host group that embodies more evolutionary distinctiveness than most other vertebrates.Fil: Lisnerová, Martina. Czech Academy of Sciences; República ChecaFil: Fiala, Ivan. Czech Academy of Sciences; República ChecaFil: Cantatore, Delfina María Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Irigoitia, Manuel Marcial. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Timi, Juan Tomas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Pecková, Hana. Czech Academy of Sciences; República ChecaFil: Bartoová Sojková, Pavla. Czech Academy of Sciences; República ChecaFil: Sandoval, Christrian M.. Czech Academy of Sciences; República ChecaFil: Luer, Carl. Mote Marine Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Morris, Jack. Mote Marine Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Holzer, Astrid Sybylle. Czech Academy of Sciences; República Chec

LSMO Films with Increased Temperature of MI Transition

Epitaxial $La_{0.67}Sr_{0.33}MnO_{3}$ thin films with a significant increased temperature of metal-insulator transition (~450 K) are prepared on single crystal MgO (001) substrates using different deposition techniques - a dc magnetron sputtering or a pulsed laser deposition. The crystalline perfection of the films is characterized by X-ray diffraction technique (rocking curve measurements and reciprocal space maps). As a consequence of different methods of the film preparation we show various types of the LSMO crystal structure. Our results indicate that all the LSMO layers grown on the MgO substrate with a lattice misfit of about 8% are relaxed

LSMO/YBCO heterostructures and investigation of "negative" resistance effect in the interface

Samples containing the ferromagnetic manganite La_{0.67}Sr_{0.33}MnO₃ (LSMO) and high temperature superconducting YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (YBCO) single thin film areas and YBCO/LSMO bilayer area were prepared on LaAlO₃ (LAO) substrates and were used for investigation of the electrical properties of the interface. The measurements in the YBCO/LSMO interface demonstrated "negative" values of the resistance. A good interpretation of the obtained results was performed in the framework of a 1D model, which took into account the resistance of the interface R_{if} and the temperature dependence of the resistance of YBCO and LSMO films. It was shown that the effect of "negative" resistance arises because of the redistribution of the measuring electrical current in the interphase area if the resistance of the interface R_{if} is small in comparison with the resistances of the neighboring electrodes

Diversification in Hawaiian long-legged flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae: Campsicnemus): Biogeographic isolation and ecological adaptation

a b s t r a c t Flies in the genus Campsicnemus have diversified into the second-largest adaptive radiation of Diptera in the Hawaiian Islands, with 179 Hawaiian endemic species currently described. Here we present the first phylogenetic analysis of Campsicnemus, with a focus on the Hawaiian fauna. We analyzed a combination of two nuclear (CAD, EF1a) and five mitochondrial (COI, COII, 12S, 16S, ND2) loci using Bayesian and maximum likelihood approaches to generate a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus Campsicnemus. Our sampling included a total of 84 species (6 species from Europe, 1 from North America, 7 species from French Polynesia and 70 species from the Hawaiian Islands). The phylogenies were used to estimate divergence times, reconstruct biogeographic history, and infer ancestral ecological associations within this large genus. We found strong support for a South Pacific + Hawaiian clade, as well as for a monophyletic Hawaiian lineage. Divergence time estimates suggest that Hawaiian Islands were colonized approximately 4.6 million years ago, suggesting that most of the diversity within Campsicnemus evolved since the current high islands began forming $5 million years ago. We also observe a novel ecotype within the Pacific Campsicnemus; a widespread obligate water-skating form that has arisen multiple times across the Pacific Islands. Together, these analyses suggest that a combination of ecological, biogeographic and temporal factors have led to the impressive diversity of long-legged flies in Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific

Magnetization, Susceptibility and Critical Currents of (Tl2−xRex)Ba2CaCu2Oy(Tl_{2-x}Re_{x})Ba_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{y} Thin Films

The magnetization and the AC susceptibility vs. the temperature as well as the applied magnetic field of the thin film $(Tl_{2-x}Re_{x})Ba_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{y}$ with x=0 and 0.15 on R-plane sapphire substrate with $CeO_{2}$ buffer layer were measured and analyzed. XRD measurements show c-axis as well as a-b plane oriented Tl-1212 and superconducting pure phase. The zero critical temperature of the Tl-Re sample is 99.9 K and is practically the same as the critical temperature of the rhenium free sample: 99.5 K. The Tl-Re superconductor exhibits two peaks of the absorption part of AC susceptibility in the vicinity of the critical temperature in contrary to the rhenium free sample. The first peak placed in higher temperature is related to intragranular properties while the second peak is connected with the intergranular one. The critical current densities versus temperature were calculated from AC susceptibility as well as from the magnetization loops measurements using the Bean's critical state model. The Tl-Re film exhibits the higher critical current in comparison to the rhenium free thallium based film

Characterization of epitaxial LSMO films grown on STO substrates

Epitaxial manganite La_{0.67}Sr_{0.33}MnO₃ (LSMO) layers, with a thickness of 20-50 nm, are prepared on single crystal (001) SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. Structural characterization (composition analysis, surface morphology), investigated by the Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, reveals the growth of stoichiometric LSMO films with a smooth surface (root-mean-square value of 0.21-1.6 nm). The prepared LSMO films possess high Curie temperature ( ≈ 412 K), low room temperature resistivity (1-2 mΩ cm) and maximum of temperature coefficient of resistivity TCR = 2.7% K¯¹ at 321 K

Trypsin- and Chymotrypsin-Like Serine Proteases in Schistosoma mansoni - 'The Undiscovered Country'

Background:Blood flukes (Schistosoma spp.) are parasites that can survive for years or decades in the vasculature of permissive mammalian hosts, including humans. Proteolytic enzymes (proteases) are crucial for successful parasitism, including aspects of