Spread and establishment of Aedes albopictus in southern Switzerland between 2003 and 2014 : an analysis of oviposition data and weather conditions

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is a highly invasive mosquito species of public health importance. In the wake of its arrival in neighbouring Italy the authorities of the canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland initiated a surveillance programme in 2000 that is still on-going. Here we explored the unique data set, compiled from 2003 to 2014, to analyse the local dynamic of introduction and establishment of Ae. albopictus, its relative density in relation to precipitation and temperature, and its potential distribution at the passage from southern to northern Europe.; The presence of Ae. albopictus was recorded by ovitraps placed across Ticino. In addition to presence-absence, the relationship between relative egg densities and year, month, temperature and precipitation was analysed by a generalised linear mixed model.; Since its first detection in 2003 at Ticino's border with Italy Ae. albopictus has continuously spread north across the lower valleys, mainly along the trans-European motorway, E35. Detailed local analysis showed that industrial areas were colonised by the mosquito before residential areas and that, afterwards, the mosquito was more present in residential than in industrial areas. Ae. albopictus appeared sporadically and then became more present in the same places the following years, suggesting gradual establishment of locally reproducing populations that manage to overwinter. This trend continues as witnessed by both a growing area being infested and increasing egg counts in the ovitraps. There was a clear South-North gradient with more traps being repeatedly positive in the South and fewer eggs laid during periods of intensive precipitation. In the North, the mosquito appeared repeatedly through the years, but never managed to establish, probably because of unfavourable weather conditions and low road traffic.; Given the present results we assume that additional areas may still become infested. While the current study provides good estimates of relative egg densities and shows the local and regional dynamics of Ae. albopictus invasion, additional parameters ought to be measured to make an objective risk assessment for epidemic disease transmission. The likelihood of Ae. albopictus to further spread and increase in densities calls for continued surveillance

Spatio-temporal distribution of phototrophic sulfur bacteria in the chemocline of meromictic Lake Cadagno (Switzerland)

In situ hybridization was used to study the spatio-temporal distribution of phototrophic sulfur bacteria in the permanent chemocline of meromictic Lake Cadagno, Switzerland. At all four sampling times during the year the numerically most important phototrophic sulfur bacteria in the chemocline were small-celled purple sulfur bacteria of two yet uncultured populations designated D and F. Other small-celled purple sulfur bacteria (Amoebobacter purpureus and Lamprocystis roseopersicina) were found in numbers about one order of magnitude lower. These numbers were similar to those of large-celled purple sulfur bacteria (Chromatium okenii) and green sulfur bacteria that almost entirely consisted of Chlorobium phaeobacteroides. In March and June when low light intensities reached the chemocline, cell densities of all populations, with the exception of L. roseopersicina, were about one order of magnitude lower than in August and October when light intensities were much higher. Most populations were evenly distributed throughout the whole chemocline during March and June, while in August and October a microstratification of populations was detected suggesting specific eco-physiological adaptations of different populations of phototrophic sulfur bacteria to the steep physico-chemical gradients in the chemocline of Lake Cadagn

Discrimination of freshwater fish species by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization- Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS): a pilot study

In this study we discriminate three freshwater fish species (the shad Alosa agone Scopoli 1786, the whitefish Coregonus macrophthalmus N?sslin1882 and the roach Rutilus rutilus Linnaeus 1758) by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization- Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) using both muscle and liver tissues. The technology enables to analyze tissues after a simple single-step extraction procedure without any further purification. The molecular profile of muscle tissues showed the most intense peaks at m/z range of 11,354.0 (?2.0 SD) Da, 3508.5 (?1.5 SD) Da and 8567.2 (?1.1 SD) Da for the shad, the whitefish and the roach respectively. The molecular profiles of liver tissues exhibit most of the highest peak intensities in the range between 2000 and 6000 m/z values. The roach shows the clearest pattern with high intensities detected at mass ranges between 3000 and 3550 Da with maxima at m/z 3035.2 (?0.2) Da and 3468.7 (?0.3) Da. The shad shows a shared high peak at m/z 3429.0 (?0.3) Da. The whitefish shows a group of major peaks in the m/z range of 3000-3700 Da with the highest being at 3635 (?0.3) Da. The overall signal pattern generated is highly specific for each species and, according to cluster analyses based on the total number of peaks, we could discriminate the three species

Changes in freshwater bacterial community composition during measurements of microbial and community respiration

The respiration rates of a pelagic community and of its microbial fraction (< 1.2 μm) were measured at two depths in the oxic layer of a meromictic alpine lake (Cadagno, Switzerland) using the oxygen technique. The duration of the incubations were 12, 24 and 55 h. Bacterioplankton abundance (DAPI counts) and composition (whole cell hybridization using 11 group-specific rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes) were measured during the incubations. Respiration generally increased with time, especially in the microbial fraction, or remained similar. This result was not always consistent with changes in bacterial abundance and cell volume. The composition of the community also changed during the incubations. The abundance of β-Proteobacteria increased during the course of all the experiments. These results extend the previous conclusions drawn in marine environments to fresh waters and demonstrate that, in addition to changes in bacterial abundance, cell volume and biomass, changes in the taxonomic composition of the bacterial community can occur during discrete incubations of freshwater planktonic communitie

Potential of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for the identification of freshwater zooplankton: a pilot study with three Eudiaptomus (Copepoda: Diaptomidae) species

The accurate identification of individuals in zooplankton samples is a crucial step in many plankton studies. Up to now, this has been done primarily by microscopic analysis of morphological characters, and new molecular methodologies are still relatively rarely applied. Another promising technology is matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), which has had a major impact in applied and systematic microbiology, where it is used for routine high throughput identification of bacteria and fungi. For the present study, we developed a protocol for the rapid acquisition of mass spectra from whole individual copepods. The final protocol enabled us to obtain mass spectra with more than 100 distinct peaks in the mass range of 2000-20 000 Da. A comparison of the mass spectra of three species of Eudiaptomus showed that they could all be clearly discriminated, whereas the mass spectra of different developmental stages and sexes of each particular species were highly similar. Further, a discrimination of con-specific individuals from different habitats was achieved, at least partly, even without extensive optimization of the analytical and statistical procedures. These results indicate the feasibility of identifying copepods by a rapid and simple MALDI-TOF MS analysis, e.g. for population ecology studie

Mixotrophic Growth Under Micro-Oxic Conditions in the Purple Sulfur Bacterium “Thiodictyon syntrophicum”

The microbial ecosystem of the meromictic Lake Cadagno (Ticino, Swiss Alps) has been studied intensively in order to understand structure and functioning of the anoxygenic phototrophic sulfur bacteria community living in the chemocline. It has been found that the purple sulfur bacterium “Thiodictyon syntrophicum” strain Cad16T, belonging to the Chromatiaceae, fixes around 26% of all bulk inorganic carbon in the chemocline, both during day and night. With this study, we elucidated for the first time the mode of carbon fixation of str. Cad16T under micro-oxic conditions with a combination of long-term monitoring of key physicochemical parameters with CTD, 14C-incorporation experiments and quantitative proteomics using in-situ dialysis bag incubations of str. Cad16T cultures. Regular vertical CTD profiling during the study period in summer 2017 revealed that the chemocline sank from 12 to 14 m which was accompanied by a bloom of cyanobacteria and the subsequent oxygenation of the deeper water column. Sampling was performed both day and night. CO2 assimilation rates were higher during the light period compared to those in the dark, both in the chemocline population and in the incubated cultures. The relative change in the proteome between day and night (663 quantified proteins) comprised only 1% of all proteins encoded in str. Cad16T. Oxidative respiration pathways were upregulated at light, whereas stress-related mechanisms prevailed during the night. These results indicate that low light availability and the co-occurring oxygenation of the chemocline induced mixotrophic growth in str. Cad16T. Our study thereby helps to further understand the consequences micro-oxic conditions for phototrophic sulfur oxidizing bacteria. The complete proteome data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange database with identifier PXD010641

CO2 assimilation in the chemocline of Lake Cadagno is dominated by a few types of phototrophic purple sulfur bacteria

Lake Cadagno is characterized by a compact chemocline that harbors high concentrations of various phototrophic sulfur bacteria. Four strains representing the numerically most abundant populations in the chemocline were tested in dialysis bags in situ for their ability to fix CO2. The purple sulfur bacterium Candidatus ‘Thiodictyon syntrophicum' strain Cad16T had the highest CO2 assimilation rate in the light of the four strains tested and had a high CO2 assimilation rate even in the dark. The CO2 assimilation of the population represented by strain Cad16T was estimated to be up to 25% of the total primary production in the chemocline. Pure cultures of strain Cad16T exposed to cycles of 12 h of light and 12 h of darkness exhibited the highest CO2 assimilation during the first 4 h of light. The draft genome sequence of Cad16T showed the presence of cbbL and cbbM genes, which encode form I and form II of RuBisCO, respectively. Transcription analyses confirmed that, whereas cbbM remained poorly expressed throughout light and dark exposure, cbbL expression varied during the light-dark cycle and was affected by the available carbon sources. Interestingly, the peaks in cbbL expression did not correlate with the peaks in CO2 assimilatio

Evidence for anaerobic oxidation of methane in sediments of a freshwater system (Lago di Cadagno)

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) has been investigated in sediments of a high alpine sulfate-rich lake. Hot spots of AOM could be identified based on geochemical and isotopic evidence. Very high fractionation of methane (α=1.031) during oxidation was observed in the uppermost sediment layers, where methane is oxidized most likely with sulfate-containing bottom waters. However, we could not exclude that other electron acceptors such as iron, or manganese might also be involved. Light carbon isotope values (δ13C=−10‰ vs. Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite [VPDB]) of sedimentary carbonates at 16-20 cm sediment depth are indicative of a zone where methane was oxidized and the resulting bicarbonate ions were used for carbonate precipitation. 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed the presence of sequences belonging to the marine benthic groups B, C, and D and to the recently described clade of AOM-associated archaea (AAA). Catalyzed reporter deposition-FISH analysis revealed a high abundance of Deltaproteobacteria, especially of free-living sulfate-reducing bacteria of the Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus branch of Deltaproteobacteria in the AOM zone. Here, loose aggregations of AAA cells were found, suggesting that AAA might be responsible for oxidation of methane in Lake Cadagno sediment

Identification of dermatophytes by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

In this study we evaluated the suitability of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for the identification of dermatophytes in diagnostic laboratories. First, a spectral database was built with 108 reference strains belonging to 18 species of the anamorphic genera Epidermophyton, Microsporum and Trichophyton. All strains were well characterized by morphological criteria and ITS sequencing (gold standard). The dendrogram resulting from MALDI-TOF mass spectra was almost identical with the phylogenetic tree based on ITS sequencing. Subsequently, MALDI-TOF MS SuperSpectra were created for the identification of Epidermophyton floccosum, Microsporium audouinii, M. canis, M. gypseum (teleomorph: Arthroderma gypseum), M. gypseum (teleomorph: A. incurvatum), M. persicolor, A. benhamiae (Tax. Entity 3 and Am-Eur. race), T. erinacei, T. interdigitale (anthropophilic and zoophilic populations), T. rubrum/T. violaceum, T. tonsurans and T. terrestre. Because T. rubrum and T. violaceum did not present enough mismatches, a SuperSpectrum covering both species was created, and differentiation between them was done by comparison of eight specific peptide masses. In the second part of this study, MALDI-TOF MS with the newly created SuperSpectra was tested using 141 clinical isolates representing nine species. Analyses were done with 3-day-old cultures. Results were compared to morphological identification and ITS sequencing; 135/141 (95.8%) strains were correctly identified by MALDI-TOF MS compared to 128/141 (90.8%) by morphology. Therefore, MALDI-TOF MS has proven to be a useful and rapid identification method for dermatophyte

Impacts de l’utilisation des eaux polluées en agriculture urbaine sur la qualité de la nappe de Dakar (Sénégal)

L’agriculture urbaine de la région de Dakar est un secteur en plein essor. À cause de la salinisation progressive des eaux de la nappe peu profonde (eaux de Céanes ), des eaux usées brutes sont utilisées pour irriguer les champs. L’objectif de notre étude est d’évaluer la qualité chimique et microbiologique des eaux de la nappe sous-jacentes aux champs irrigués et d’identifier les sources de pollution. Notre travail a été effectué dans les sites de Pikine et de Patte d’Oie.L’analyse de la qualité chimique des eaux d’arrosage a montré qu’à Pikine, la conductivité des eaux de Céanes est plus élevée (4822±2411 µS cm-1) par rapport à celle des eaux usées (3579±1242 µS cm-1 ; p<0.04). Par contre à Patte d’Oie, les eaux d’arrosage sont moins salées (<3000 µS cm-1). La quantité d’azote total de tous les types d’eaux d’arrosage est supérieure à la valeur guide de l’OMS (5-30 mg l-1).Salmonella spp. a été isolée dans 35 % des eaux d’arrosage. Un échantillon d’eaux usées a été positif pour Vibrio cholerae.L’impact des eaux d’irrigation sur la qualité chimique et microbiologique de la nappe d’eau souterraine est fortement influencé par la pluviométrie et est différent selon le site considéré.Ce travail a montré que l’irrigation avec les eaux polluées et l’usage de fumiers organiques peut altérer la qualité de la nappe et constituer des risques pour la santé.In Dakar capital city of Senegal, the urban agriculture is in high expansion. Since the progressive increase of salinity in the local groundwater (Céanes water), raw wastewater is used to water the crops. The objective of this study is to assess chemical and microbiological quality of the groundwater underlying the irrigated plots and to identify the sources of pollution. This work was carried out in the sites of Pikine and Patte d’Oie in Dakar Senegal.Chemical analysis of irrigation water showed that in Pikine, the conductivity of Céanes water was higher (4822±2411 µS cm-1) than those of the wastewater (3579±1242 µS cm-1 ; p<0.04), while at Patte d’Oie it was less salted (<3000 µS cm-1). The quantity of total nitrogen of irrigation water in both sites was higher than the WHO’s threshold (5-30 mg l-1).Salmonella spp. was isolated in 35 % of the irrigation water. One wastewater sample was Vibrio cholerae positive.The impact of irrigation water on the chemical and microbiological quality of the groundwater is strongly influenced by precipitations and is different according to the site considered.This work showed that the use of polluted water and organic manures can spoil the quality of the groundwater and constitute a health threat.Urban agricultur