Chromosomal mapping of rDNAs and H3 histone sequences in the grasshopper rhammatocerus brasiliensis (acrididae, gomphocerinae): extensive chromosomal dispersion and co-localization of 5S rDNA/H3 histone clusters in the A complement and B chromosome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Supernumerary B chromosomes occur in addition to standard karyotype and have been described in about 15% of eukaryotes, being the repetitive DNAs the major component of these chromosomes, including in some cases the presence of multigene families. To advance in the understanding of chromosomal organization of multigene families and B chromosome structure and evolution, the distribution of rRNA and H3 histone genes were analyzed in the standard karyotype and B chromosome of three populations of the grasshopper <it>Rhammatocerus brasiliensis</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The location of major rDNA was coincident with the previous analysis for this species. On the other hand, the 5S rDNA mapped in almost all chromosomes of the standard complement (except in the pair 11) and in the B chromosome, showing a distinct result from other populations previously analyzed. Besides the spreading of 5S rDNA in the genome of <it>R. brasiliensis </it>it was also observed multiple sites for H3 histone genes, being located in the same chromosomal regions of 5S rDNAs, including the presence of the H3 gene in the B chromosome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Due to the intense spreading of 5S rRNA and H3 histone genes in the genome of <it>R. brasiliensis</it>, their chromosomal distribution was not informative in the clarification of the origin of B elements. Our results indicate a linked organization for the 5S rRNA and H3 histone multigene families investigated in <it>R. brasiliensis</it>, reinforcing previous data concerning the association of both genes in some insect groups. The present findings contribute to understanding the organization/evolution of multigene families in the insect genomes.</p

Causes of B chromosome variant substitution in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans

We have analysed B chromosome frequency for three consecutive years, B transmission rate at population and individual levels, clutch size, egg fertility and embryoYadult viability in a natural population of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans containing two different B chromosome variants, i.e. B2 and B24, the second being derived from the first and having replaced it in nearby populations. From 2002 to 2003 the relative frequency of both variants changed, although the differences did not reach significance. A motherYoffspring analysis showed no significant effect of any of the two B variants on clutch size, egg fertility or embryoYadult viability, but B24 was more efficiently transmitted than B2 through males from the 2002 season, which explains the observed frequency change. Controlled crosses, at individual level, showed significant drive through some females for B24 but not for B2, suggesting that this difference in transmission rate might also be important for the substitution process. The analysis of relative fitness for B2 and B24 carriers for all fitness components, as a whole, showed a significantly better performance of B24-carrying individuals, suggesting that the cumulative effect of these slight differences might contribute to the replacement of B2 by B24

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI &lt;18·5 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). For school&#x2;aged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI &lt;2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference) and obesity (BMI &gt;2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesit

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity . Here we use 2,009\ua0population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112\ua0million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean\ua0BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017—and more than 80% in\ua0some low- and middle-income regions—was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities\ua0in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing—and in some countries reversal—of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions

Análise citogenética comparativa em gafanhotos das famílias Acrididae e Romaleidae através de técnicas convencionais e moleculares

Uma análise citogenética comparativa foi realizada entre as espécies de romaleídeos Chromacris nuptialis e C. speciosa buscando detectar possíveis marcadores cromossômicos através de bandeamento C, coloração com nitrato de prata, fluorocromos base-específicos (CMA3 e DAPI) e FISH com sonda de DNAr 45S. Ambas as espécies têm o mesmo cariótipo 2n=23,X0 e cromossomos acrocêntricos. Diferenças foram observadas com relação à localização e quantidade de heterocromatina constitutiva (HC) e na localização das regiões organizadoras de nucléolos (RONs). Chromacris speciosa tem maior quantidade de HC estando os blocos situados nas regiões pericentroméricas, teloméricas e intersticiais. O único par de RONs nessa espécie está na região proximal do M6. Por sua vez, C. nuptialis tem pouca HC com pequenos blocos praticamente restritos as regiões pericentroméricas e a RON está situada na região pericentromérica do M6. Alguns indivíduos desta última espécie mostraram irregularidades meióticas (retardo anafásico e formação de pontes) envolvendo o bivalente G. O uso dos fluorocromos base-específicos CMA e DAPI revelou padrões diferenciais com relação à composição de bases da HC nas espécies. Análise comparativa também foi realizada nas cinco espécies de gonfoceríneos (Rhammatocerus brasiliensis, R. brunneri, R. palustris, R. pictus e Amblytropidia sp.). Estas espécies apresentaram cariótipo do tipo 2n=23,X0 e cromossomos acro-telocêntricos. Adicionalmente, a análise das RONs através da coloração com nitrato de prata e FISH com sonda de DNAr 45S revelou o mesmo par (P) como portador de RONs. Entretanto, R. brasiliensis apresentou múltiplas seqüências de DNAr 45S localizadas na região pericentromérica do M, M e P. A análise do cromossomo B em R. brasiliensis e no romaleídeo Xyleus angulatus permitiu identificar vários aspectos com relação ao tamanho, picnose e comportamento meiótico desses elementos extras, assim como sugerir uma provável origem autossômica para o surgimento desses cromossomos no cariótipo das espécies com base no padrão de HC e localização de genes de DNAr 45S e 5

Karyotype, constitutive heterochromatin and nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) in Belosacris coccineipes (Acrididae-Leptysminae)

Several techniques including C-banding, fluorochromes and silver staining were used to obtain information about heterochromatin patterns in the grasshopper B. coccineipes. Conventional staining showed a karyotype with 2n = 23 chromosomes in males and 2n = 24 in females, as well as XO:XX sex determination and acrotelocentric chromosomes. The medium-sized X chromosome was heteropycnotic positive at the beginning of prophase I and negative in metaphase I. C-banding revealed heterochromatic blocks in the pericentromeric regions of all chromosomes. Silver nitrate staining in this species showed three small bivalents (S9-S11) as nucleolar organizers with NORs located in the pericentromeric regions. CMA3-positive blocks were seen in pericentromeric regions of pairs M6, S9, S10 and S11. Sequential staining with CMA3/AgNO3 revealed homology between the CMA3-positive bands and NORs of the bivalents S9, S10 and S11. The CMA3-positive block of the bivalent M6 could represent a latent secondary NOR. The results obtained permit us to distinguish two categories of the constitutive heterochromatin in B. coccineipes

Chromosome mapping of ribosomal genes and histone H4 in the genus Radacridium (Romaleidae)

In this study, two species of Romaleidae grasshoppers, Radacridium mariajoseae and R.nordestinum, were analyzed after CMA3/DA/DAPI sequential staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to determine the location of the 18S and 5S rDNA and histone H4 genes. Both species presented karyotypes composed of 2n = 23, X0 with exclusively acrocentric chromosomes. CMA3+ blocks were detected after CMA3/DA/DAPI staining in only one medium size autosome bivalent and in the X chromosome in R. mariajoseae. On the other hand, all chromosomes, except the L1 bivalent, of R. nordestinum presented CMA3+ blocks. FISH analysis showed that the 18S genes are restricted to the X chromosome in R. mariajoseae, whereas these genes were located in the L2,S9 and S10 autosomes in R. nordestinum.In R. mariajoseae, the 5S rDNA sites were localized in the in L1 and L2 bivalents and in the X chromosome. In R. nordestinum, the 5S genes were located in the L2,L3,M4 and M5 pairs. In both species the histone H4 genes were present in a medium size bivalent. Together, these data evidence a great variability of chromosome markers and show that the 18S and 5S ribosomal genes are dispersed in the Radacridium genome without a significant correlation