Encontro de Trypanosoma forattinii Coutinho & Pattoli em roedores de Trinidad

Recovery of Trypanosoma forattinii from natural infected Oryzomys capito velutinus from Trinidad, is reported. Negative results were obtained with attempts to infect experimentally, several laboratories animals, silvatyc rodents of the same ecological area and several species of triatomids bugs. Positive results were obtained only by using O. capito velutinus born in laboratory.Relata-se o encontro de Trypanosoma forattinii, em exemplares de Oryzomys capito velutinus de Trinidad. Tentativas de isolamento em meio de NNN e de inoculação experimental em animais de laboratório, foram completamente negativas. Resultados positivos foram obtidos com inoculação de O. capito velutinus criados em laboratórios. As tentativas de infectar triatomíneos e roedores silvestres da mesma área foram igualmente negativas

Manifesto à cidade de Ponta Delgada dos arquitetos e estudantes de arquitetura micaelense

Os micaelenses sabem-no já: o importante conjunto da nova praça lado-sul da matriz, está projectado e vai erguer-se em moldes pombalinos!... A incongruência e o absurdo de uma tal proposição sente-o todo e qualquer leigo; basta para tanto boa fé e um pouco de bom senso

Genomic signatures of introgression between commercial and native bumblebees, <i>Bombus terrestris</i>, in western Iberian Peninsula:implications for conservation and trade regulation

Original ArticleHuman‐mediated introductions of species may have profound impacts on native ecosystems. One potential impact with largely unforeseen consequences is the potential admixture of introduced with autochthonous species through hybridization. Throughout the world, bumblebees have been deliberately introduced for crop pollination with known negative impacts on native pollinators. Given the likely allochthonous origin of commercial bumblebees used in Portugal (subspecies Bombus terrestris terrestris and B. t. dalmatinus), our aim was to assess their putative introgression with the native Iberian subspecies B. terrestris lusitanicus. We analysed one mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX1) and genomic data involving thousands of genome‐wide restriction‐site‐associated DNA markers (RAD‐seq). In the mitochondrial COX1 analyses, we detected one relatively common haplotype in commercial bumblebees, also present in wild samples collected nearby the greenhouses where the commercial hives are used. In the RAD‐seq analysis, we found a clear genetic differentiation between native and commercial lineages. Furthermore, we detected candidate hybrids in the wild, as well as putatively escaped commercial bumblebees, some of which being potentially fertile males. Although we cannot assess directly the fitness effects of introgressed alleles, there is a risk of maladaptive allele introgression to the local bumblebee subspecies, which can negatively impact autochthon populations. One immediate recommendation to farmers is for the proper disposal of hive boxes, after their use in greenhouses, so as to minimize the risk of escapees contaminating native populations. On the other hand, the feasibility of using local subspecies B. t. lusitanicus, preferably with local production, should be evaluatedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

In Vitro and In Silico Evaluation of Indole-Bearing Squaraine Dyes as Potential Human Serum Albumin Fluorescent Probes

The quantitative determination of proteins is an important parameter in biochemistry, biotechnology and immunodiagnostics, and the importance of serum albumin in clinical diagnosis should be highlighted, given that alterations in its concentration are generally associated with certain diseases. As possible probes for this purpose, squaraine dyes have been arousing the interest of many researchers due to their unique properties, such as absorption in the visible spectra, moderate relative fluorescence quantum yields and increased fluorescence intensity after non-covalent binding to specific ligands. In this work, five squaraine dyes, four of which have never been reported in the literature, were characterized and evaluated in vitro and in silico concerning their potential application as fluorescent probes for human serum albumin detection. After interaction with the protein, the fluorescence intensity increased from 12 to 41 times, depending on the dye under study. High sensitivity (1.0 &times; 105&ndash;5.4 &times; 105 nM), low detection limits (168&ndash;352 nM) and moderate quantitation limits (560&ndash;1172 nM) were obtained, proving the efficiency of the method. In addition, moderate-to-excellent selectivity was observed compared to &gamma;-globulin proteins. Molecular docking suggests that the dyes interact more effectively with the Sudlow site I, and binding energies have been markedly higher than those of warfarin, a molecule known to bind to this site specifically

Life-History Traits of Spodoptera frugiperda Populations Exposed to Low-Dose Bt Maize.

Exposure to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins in low- and moderate-dose transgenic crops may induce sublethal effects and increase the rate of Bt resistance evolution, potentially compromising control efficacy against target pests. We tested this hypothesis using the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda, a major polyphagous lepidopteran pest relatively tolerant to Bt notorious for evolving field-relevant resistance to single-gene Bt maize. Late-instar larvae were collected from Bt Cry1Ab and non-Bt maize fields in five locations in Brazil, and their offspring was compared for survival, development, and population growth in rearing environment without and with Cry1Ab throughout larval development. Larval survival on Cry1Ab maize leaves varied from 20 to 80% among the populations. Larvae reared on Cry1Ab maize had seven-day delay in development time in relation to control larvae, and such delay was shorter in offspring of armyworms from Cry1Ab maize. Population growth rates were 50-70% lower for insects continuously exposed to Cry1Ab maize relative to controls, showing the population-level effect of Cry1Ab, which varied among the populations and prior exposure to Cry1Ab maize in the field. In three out of five populations, armyworms derived from Bt maize reared on Cry1Ab maize showed higher larval weight, faster larval development and better reproductive performance than the armyworms derived from non-Bt maize, and one of these populations showed better performance on both Cry1Ab and control diets, indicating no fitness cost of the resistance trait. Altogether, these results indicate that offspring of armyworms that developed on field-grown, single-gene Bt Cry1Ab maize had reduced performance on Cry1Ab maize foliage in two populations studied, but in other three populations, these offspring had better overall performance on the Bt maize foliage than that of the armyworms from non-Bt maize fields, possibly because of Cry1Ab resistance alleles in these populations. Implications of these findings for resistance management of S. frugiperda in Bt crops are discussed

Genomic Patterns of Iberian Wild Bees Reveal Levels of Diversity, Differentiation and Population Structure, Supporting the “Refugia within Refugia” Hypothesis

We used a population genomic approach to unravel the population structure, genetic differentiation, and genetic diversity of three widespread wild bee species across the Iberian Peninsula, Andrena agilissima, Andrena flavipes and Lasioglossum malachurum. Our results demonstrated that genetic lineages in the Ebro River valley or near the Pyrenees mountains are different from the rest of Iberia. This relatively congruent pattern across species once more supports the hypothesis of “refugia within refugia” in the Iberian Peninsula. The results for A. flavipes and A. agilissima showed an unexpected pattern of genetic differentiation, with the generalist polylectic A. flavipes having lower levels of genetic diversity (Ho = 0.0807, He = 0.2883) and higher differentiation (FST = 0.5611), while the specialist oligolectic A. agilissima had higher genetic diversity (Ho = 0.2104, He = 0.3282) and lower differentiation values (FST = 0.0957). For L. malachurum, the smallest and the only social species showed the lowest inbreeding coefficient (FIS = 0.1009) and the lowest differentiation level (FST = 0.0663). Overall, our results, suggest that this pattern of population structure and genetic diversity could be explained by the combined role of past climate changes and the life-history traits of the species (i.e., size, sociality and host-plant specialization), supporting the role of the Iberian refugia as a biodiversity hotspot