Revision of the genus Philonome Chambers and its proposed reassignment to the family Tineidae (Lepidoptera, Tineoidea)

International audienceThe New World genus Philonome Chambers, 1874 is revised. This genus comprises twelve species, seven of which are described as new: two species, P. nigrescens sp. n. and P. wielgusi sp. n., from the United States; four species, P. albivittata sp. n., P. curvilineata sp. n., P. kawakitai sp. n., and P. lambdagrapha sp. n., from French Guiana; and one species, P. penerivifera sp. n., from Brazil. Lectotypes are designated for Philonome clemensella Chambers, 1874 and P. rivifera Meyrick, 1915. Partially on evidence of their head morphology and particularly from molecular evidence, the genus Philonome, previously associated with Bucculatricidae or Lyonetiidae, is reassigned to Tineidae. A possible systematic position of Philonome within Tineidae is discussed. Eurynome Chambers, 1875, is synonymized with Argyresthia Hübner, 1825 (Argyresthiidae). Photographs of adults and illustrations of genitalia, when available, are provided for all described species of Philo-nome and two species previously misplaced in Philonome, Argyresthia luteella (Chambers, 1875) and Elachista albella (Chambers, 1877). In addition, DNA barcodes were used for the delimitation of most species

Gene expression differences in relation to age and social environment in queen and worker bumble bees

Eusocial insects provide special insights into the genetic pathways influencing aging because of their long-lived queens and flexible aging schedules. Using qRT-PCR in the primitively eusocial bumble bee Bombus terrestris (Linnaeus), we investigated expression levels of four candidate genes associated with taxonomically widespread age-related pathways (coenzyme Q biosynthesis protein 7, COQ7; DNA methyltransferase 3, Dnmt3; foraging, for; and vitellogenin, vg). In Experiment 1, we tested how expression changes with queen relative age and productivity. We found a significant age-related increase in COQ7 expression in queen ovary. In brain, all four genes showed higher expression with increasing female (queen plus worker) production, with this relationship strengthening as queen age increased, suggesting a link with the positive association of fecundity and longevity found in eusocial insect queens. In Experiment 2, we tested effects of relative age and social environment (worker removal) in foundress queens and effects of age and reproductive status in workers. In this experiment, workerless queens showed significantly higher for expression in brain, as predicted if downregulation of for is associated with the cessation of foraging by foundress queens following worker emergence. Workers showed a significant age-related increase in Dnmt3 expression in fat body, suggesting a novel association between aging and methylation in B. terrestris. Ovary activation was associated with significantly higher vg expression in fat body and, in younger workers, in brain, consistent with vitellogenin's ancestral role in regulating egg production. Overall, our findings reveal a mixture of novel and conserved features in age-related genetic pathways under primitive eusociality

The mitochondrial inhibitor oligomycin induces an inflammatory response in the rat knee joint

[Abstract] Background. Recent findings support a connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and activation of inflammatory pathways in articular cells. This study investigates in vivo in an acute model whether intra-articular administration of oligomycin, an inhibitor of mitochondrial function, induces an oxidative and inflammatory response in rat knee joints. Methods. Oligomycin was injected into the rat left knee joint on days 0, 2, and 5 before joint tissues were obtained on day 6. The right knee joint served as control. Results were evaluated by macroscopy and histopathology and by measuring cellular and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS), 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE, a marker of lipid peroxidation), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and CD68 (macrophages) and chemokine levels. The marker of mitochondrial mass COX-IV was also evaluated. Results. The macroscopic findings showed significantly greater swelling in oligomycin-injected knees than in control knees. Likewise, the histological score of synovial damage was also increased significantly. Immunohistochemical studies showed high expression of IL-8, coinciding with a marked infiltration of polymorphonuclears and CD68+ cells in the synovium. Mitochondrial mass was increased in the synovium of oligomycin-injected joints, as well as cellular and mitochondrial ROS production, and 4-HNE. Relatedly, expression of the oxidative stress-related transcription factor Nrf2 was also increased. As expected, no histological differences were observed in the cartilage; however, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 mRNA and protein expression were up-regulated in this tissue. Conclusions. Mitochondrial failure in the joint is able to reproduce the oxidative and inflammatory status observed in arthritic joints.Instituto de Salud Carlos III; 09/02340Instituto de Salud Carlos III, RD12/0009/0018, RIERGalicia. Consellería de Innovación, Industria e Comercio; PXIB916357PRInstituto de Salud Carlos III; PI12/02771Xunta de Galicia; PS09/56Galicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; INCITE 09E1R916139ESGalicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; IN845B2010/176Galicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; 10CSA916035P

The mitochondrial inhibitor oligomycin induces an inflammatory response in the rat knee joint

[Abstract] Background. Recent findings support a connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and activation of inflammatory pathways in articular cells. This study investigates in vivo in an acute model whether intra-articular administration of oligomycin, an inhibitor of mitochondrial function, induces an oxidative and inflammatory response in rat knee joints. Methods. Oligomycin was injected into the rat left knee joint on days 0, 2, and 5 before joint tissues were obtained on day 6. The right knee joint served as control. Results were evaluated by macroscopy and histopathology and by measuring cellular and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS), 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE, a marker of lipid peroxidation), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and CD68 (macrophages) and chemokine levels. The marker of mitochondrial mass COX-IV was also evaluated. Results. The macroscopic findings showed significantly greater swelling in oligomycin-injected knees than in control knees. Likewise, the histological score of synovial damage was also increased significantly. Immunohistochemical studies showed high expression of IL-8, coinciding with a marked infiltration of polymorphonuclears and CD68+ cells in the synovium. Mitochondrial mass was increased in the synovium of oligomycin-injected joints, as well as cellular and mitochondrial ROS production, and 4-HNE. Relatedly, expression of the oxidative stress-related transcription factor Nrf2 was also increased. As expected, no histological differences were observed in the cartilage; however, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 mRNA and protein expression were up-regulated in this tissue. Conclusions. Mitochondrial failure in the joint is able to reproduce the oxidative and inflammatory status observed in arthritic joints.Instituto de Salud Carlos III; 09/02340Instituto de Salud Carlos III, RD12/0009/0018, RIERGalicia. Consellería de Innovación, Industria e Comercio; PXIB916357PRInstituto de Salud Carlos III; PI12/02771Xunta de Galicia; PS09/56Galicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; INCITE 09E1R916139ESGalicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; IN845B2010/176Galicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; 10CSA916035P

Finding the Area of Origin of the Horse-Chestnut Leaf Miner : a Challenge

CABI Bioscience Switzerland centreTechnological Educational Institution of KavalaInstitute of Animal EcologyUniversity pf Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Institute of Plant ProtectionUniversity of SopronInstitute of ZoologyInstitute of Organic Chemistry and BiochemistryUniversity of ForestryProceedings : IUFRO Kanazawa 2003 "Forest Insect Population Dynamics and Host Influences"., Scedule:14－19 September 2003, Vemue: Kanazawa Citymonde Hotel, Kanazawa, Japan, Joint metting of IUFRO working groups : 7.01.02 Tree resistance to Insects | 7.03.06 Integrated management of forset defoloating insects | 7.03.07 Population dynamics of forest insects, Sponsored by: IUFRO-J | Ishikawa Prefecture | Kanazawa City | 21st-COE Program of Kanazawa University, Editors: Kamata, Naoto | Liebhold, Nadrew M. | Quiring, Dan T. | Clancy, Karen M

Proyecto COVIDBENS. Seguimiento de la pandemia de COVID-19 en aguas residuales del área metropolitana de A Coruña

XVI Congreso Español y VI Iberoamericano de Salud Ambiental y IV Jornada de la Asociación Española de Aerobiología[Resumen]: El virus SARS-CoV-2 está compuesto por una nucleocápside que engloba su material genético y la proteína N, rodeada por una membrana bilipídica, que contiene las proteínas M y E, y una corona de espinas, que contienen la proteína S. La proteína S se encarga de unirse a los receptores ACE2 presentes en gran variedad de células del cuerpo humano, sobre todo en el epitelio alveolar pulmonar y en el epitelio intestinal, en donde se aloja de forma persistente. Cuando el virus se une a estos receptores, se puede desencadenar una cascada inflamatoria que origina la enfermedad COVID-19, que incluso puede llegar a desencadenar la muerte del individuo. Un porcentaje importante de infectados no desarrollan la enfermedad y permanecen asintomáticos aunque su cuerpo esté invadido por el virus. De hecho, SARS-CoV-2 se excreta en las heces de las personas infectadas, tengan o no síntomas de COVID-19, desde el inicio de la infección hasta mucho tiempo después de dar negativo en muestras nasofaríngeas1. Por eso, las estaciones depuradoras de aguas residuales (EDAR) sirven como sistemas de vigilancia epidemiológica y permiten conocer la verdadera magnitud de la pandemia de COVID-19 a partir del análisis de la cantidad de virus presente en sus aguas.COVIDBENS ha recibido financiación de EDAR Bens S.A. desde abril de 2020 hasta la actualidad (marzo 2022). Además, la Consellería de Política Social, de la Xunta de Galicia (XUGA) ha financiado el rastreo en residencias de ancianos y Aguas de Galicia ha financiado parcialmente una parte de la secuenciación de material genético del virus. El equipo quiere agradecer especialmente a Carlos Lamora, director de EDAR Bens SA, su labor como promotor y su apoyo al proyecto. Además, queremos agradecer la colaboración al personal del Servicio de Microbiología del Hospital Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), a Fernando Lamelo (HADO-CHUAC), a Francisco Pérez, Javier Martínez, Javier Fernández, Cristina Rodríguez y José M Lobelos (DIAGNÓSTICA y CADAGUA), a Joaquín Suárez, Alfredo Jácome y José Pajarrón-Puga (GEAMA-CITEEC, UDC), a la empresa Allgenetics & Biology S.L., a Ángeles Cid (MICROALGAE, UDC), a Antonio Acevedo (XUGA), a Andrés Paz-Ares, Xurxo Hervada, María Isolina Santiago, Gael Naveira y Alberto Malvar (DXSP, XUGA), a Amalia Jácome, Ana López-Cheda, Rebeca Peláez y Wende Safari (MODES-CITIC, UDC), a Miguel R. Luaces y Alejandro Cortiñas (LBD-CITIC, UDC), a Fernanda Rodríguez (SAI, UDC), a Laura Larriba (CHUAC), a Fiona Veira McTiernan (FEBS) y a NORMAN European Network for ‘Collaboration in the time of Covid19’ European Virus Archive Global (EVA-GLOBAL)

The impacts of predators and parasites on wild bumblebee colonies

1. The study of wild bumblebee nests has been hindered by the difficulty in locating and observing them. Here, 47 wild nests were located using a sniffer dog and volunteers. The entrances to 32 nests were filmed continuously to identify successful nests (those that produced gynes) and observe vertebrate species interactions.   2. Of the 47 nests, 71% and 21% produced gynes in 2010 and 2011, respectively.  3. A total of 39 vertebrate species were filmed at entrances but the majority did not interact with the nests. Great tits (Parus major) depredated or attempted to depredate bees on 32 occasions at the entrances to 10 nests, something that has not previously been described. Small mammals were very often recorded accessing entrances to bumblebee nests, but whether they depredated bees was not known, and frequently visited nests were no less likely to produce gynes. Eight nests were entered by adult wax moths,Aphomia sociella.  4. The faeces of 1179 workers from 29Bombus terrestrisnests were screened microscopically for parasites.Crithidia bombiinfections were apparent in 49% of worker bees, whileNosema bombiandApicystis bombiwere present in 5.5% and 0.68% of bees, respectively. Nests with a high prevalence ofC. bombiinfection were less likely to produce gynes, the first evidence of a direct impact of this common parasite on bumblebee colony reproduction in wild nests.  5. Overall, our data indicate that bumblebee nests are at the heart of a rich web of interactions between many different predator and parasite species

Increased gene sampling strengthens support for higher-level groups within leaf-mining moths and relatives (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae)

Background: Researchers conducting molecular phylogenetic studies are frequently faced with the decision of what to do when weak branch support is obtained for key nodes of importance. As one solution, the researcher may choose to sequence additional orthologous genes of appropriate evolutionary rate for the taxa in the study. However, generating large, complete data matrices can become increasingly difficult as the number of characters increases. A few empirical studies have shown that augmenting genes even for a subset of taxa can improve branch support. However, because each study differs in the number of characters and taxa, there is still a need for additional studies that examine whether incomplete sampling designs are likely to aid at increasing deep node resolution. We target Gracillariidae, a Cretaceous-age (similar to 100 Ma) group of leaf-mining moths to test whether the strategy of adding genes for a subset of taxa can improve branch support for deep nodes. We initially sequenced ten genes (8,418 bp) for 57 taxa that represent the major lineages of Gracillariidae plus outgroups. After finding that many deep divergences remained weakly supported, we sequenced eleven additional genes (6,375 bp) for a 27-taxon subset. We then compared results from different data sets to assess whether one sampling design can be favored over another. The concatenated data set comprising all genes and all taxa and three other data sets of different taxon and gene sub-sampling design were analyzed with maximum likelihood. Each data set was subject to five different models and partitioning schemes of non-synonymous and synonymous changes. Statistical significance of non-monophyly was examined with the Approximately Unbiased (AU) test. Results: Partial augmentation of genes led to high support for deep divergences, especially when non-synonymous changes were analyzed alone. Increasing the number of taxa without an increase in number of characters led to lower bootstrap support; increasing the number of characters without increasing the number of taxa generally increased bootstrap support. More than three-quarters of nodes were supported with bootstrap values greater than 80% when all taxa and genes were combined. Gracillariidae, Lithocolletinae + Leucanthiza, and Acrocercops and Parectopa groups were strongly supported in nearly every analysis. Gracillaria group was well supported in some analyses, but less so in others. We find strong evidence for the exclusion of Douglasiidae from Gracillarioidea sensu Davis and Robinson (1998). Our results strongly support the monophyly of a G.B.R.Y. clade, a group comprised of Gracillariidae + Bucculatricidae + Roeslerstammiidae + Yponomeutidae, when analyzed with non-synonymous changes only, but this group was frequently split when synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions were analyzed together. Conclusions: 1) Partially or fully augmenting a data set with more characters increased bootstrap support for particular deep nodes, and this increase was dramatic when non-synonymous changes were analyzed alone. Thus, the addition of sites that have low levels of saturation and compositional heterogeneity can greatly improve results. 2) Gracillarioidea, as defined by Davis and Robinson (1998), clearly do not include Douglasiidae, and changes to current classification will be required. 3) Gracillariidae were monophyletic in all analyses conducted, and nearly all species can be placed into one of six strongly supported clades though relationships among these remain unclear. 4) The difficulty in determining the phylogenetic placement of Bucculatricidae is probably attributable to compositional heterogeneity at the third codon position. From our tests for compositional heterogeneity and strong bootstrap values obtained when synonymous changes are excluded, we tentatively conclude that Bucculatricidae is closely related to Gracillariidae + Roeslerstammiidae + Yponomeutidae

Complex Feeding Tracks of the Sessile Herbivorous Insect Ophiomyia maura as a Function of the Defense against Insect Parasitoids

Because insect herbivores generally suffer from high mortality due to their natural enemies, reducing the risk of being located by natural enemies is of critical importance for them, forcing them to develop a variety of defensive measures. Larvae of leaf-mining insects lead a sedentary life inside a leaf and make conspicuous feeding tracks called mines, exposing themselves to the potential risk of parasitism. We investigated the defense strategy of the linear leafminer Ophiomyia maura Meigen (Diptera: Agromyzidae), by focusing on its mining patterns. We examined whether the leafminer could reduce the risk of being parasitized (1) by making cross structures in the inner area of a leaf to deter parasitoids from tracking the mines due to complex pathways, and (2) by mining along the edge of a leaf to hinder visually searching parasitoids from finding mined leaves due to effective background matching of the mined leaves among intact leaves. We quantified fractal dimension as mine complexity and area of mine in the inner area of the leaf as interior mine density for each sample mine, and analyzed whether these mine traits affected the susceptibility of O. maura to parasitism. Our results have shown that an increase in mine complexity with the development of occupying larvae decreases the probability of being parasitized, while interior mine density has no influence on parasitism. These results suggest that the larval development increases the host defense ability through increasing mine complexity. Thus the feeding pattern of these sessile insects has a defensive function by reducing the risk of parasitism