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Sample records for saltans kinetoplastida euglenozoa

  1. Complete genome sequence of the gliding, heparinolytic Pedobacter saltans type strain (113T)

    OpenAIRE

    Liolios, Konstantinos; Sikorski, Johannes; Lu, Meagan; Nolan, Matt; Lapidus, Alla; Lucas, Susan; Hammon, Nancy; Deshpande, Shweta; Cheng, Jan-Fang; Tapia, Roxanne; Han, Cliff; Goodwin, Lynne; Pitluck, Sam; Huntemann, Marcel; Ivanova, Natalia

    2011-01-01

    Pedobacter saltans Steyn et al. 1998 is one of currently 32 species in the genus Pedobacter within the family Sphingobacteriaceae. The species is of interest for its isolated location in the tree of life. Like other members of the genus P. saltans is heparinolytic. Cells of P. saltans show a peculiar gliding, dancing motility and can be distinguished from other Pedobacter strains by their ability to utilize glycerol and the inability to assimilate D-cellobiose. The genome presented here is on...

  2. Complete genome sequence of the gliding, heparinolytic Pedobacter saltans type strain (113).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liolios, Konstantinos; Sikorski, Johannes; Lu, Meagan; Nolan, Matt; Lapidus, Alla; Lucas, Susan; Hammon, Nancy; Deshpande, Shweta; Cheng, Jan-Fang; Tapia, Roxanne; Han, Cliff; Goodwin, Lynne; Pitluck, Sam; Huntemann, Marcel; Ivanova, Natalia; Pagani, Ioanna; Mavromatis, Konstantinos; Ovchinikova, Galina; Pati, Amrita; Chen, Amy; Palaniappan, Krishna; Land, Miriam; Hauser, Loren; Brambilla, Evelyne-Marie; Kotsyurbenko, Oleg; Rohde, Manfred; Tindall, Brian J; Abt, Birte; Göker, Markus; Detter, John C; Woyke, Tanja; Bristow, James; Eisen, Jonathan A; Markowitz, Victor; Hugenholtz, Philip; Klenk, Hans-Peter; Kyrpides, Nikos C

    2011-10-15

    Pedobacter saltans Steyn et al. 1998 is one of currently 32 species in the genus Pedobacter within the family Sphingobacteriaceae. The species is of interest for its isolated location in the tree of life. Like other members of the genus P. saltans is heparinolytic. Cells of P. saltans show a peculiar gliding, dancing motility and can be distinguished from other Pedobacter strains by their ability to utilize glycerol and the inability to assimilate D-cellobiose. The genome presented here is only the second completed genome sequence of a type strain from a member of the family Sphingobacteriaceae to be published. The 4,635,236 bp long genome with its 3,854 protein-coding and 67 RNA genes consists of one chromosome, and is a part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project.

  3. Complete genome sequence of the gliding, heparinolytic Pedobacter saltans type strain (113T)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liolios, Konstantinos; Sikorski, Johannes; Lu, Meagan; Nolan, Matt; Lapidus, Alla; Lucas, Susan; Hammon, Nancy; Deshpande, Shweta; Cheng, Jan-Fang; Tapia, Roxanne; Han, Cliff; Goodwin, Lynne; Pitluck, Sam; Huntemann, Marcel; Ivanova, Natalia; Pagani, Ioanna; Mavromatis, Konstantinos; Ovchinikova, Galina; Pati, Amrita; Chen, Amy; Palaniappan, Krishna; Land, Miriam; Hauser, Loren; Brambilla, Evelyne-Marie; Kotsyurbenko, Oleg; Rohde, Manfred; Tindall, Brian J.; Abt, Birte; Göker, Markus; Detter, John C.; Woyke, Tanja; Bristow, James; Eisen, Jonathan A.; Markowitz, Victor; Hugenholtz, Philip; Klenk, Hans-Peter; Kyrpides, Nikos C.

    2011-01-01

    Pedobacter saltans Steyn et al. 1998 is one of currently 32 species in the genus Pedobacter within the family Sphingobacteriaceae. The species is of interest for its isolated location in the tree of life. Like other members of the genus P. saltans is heparinolytic. Cells of P. saltans show a peculiar gliding, dancing motility and can be distinguished from other Pedobacter strains by their ability to utilize glycerol and the inability to assimilate D-cellobiose. The genome presented here is only the second completed genome sequence of a type strain from a member of the family Sphingobacteriaceae to be published. The 4,635,236 bp long genome with its 3,854 protein-coding and 67 RNA genes consists of one chromosome, and is a part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project. PMID:22180808

  4. Scanning electron microscopy of male terminalia and its application to species recognition and phylogenetic reconstruction in the Drosophila saltans group.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, Tiago Alves Jorge; Noll, Fernando Barbosa; Bicudo, Hermione Elly Melara de Campos; Madi-Ravazzi, Lilian

    2014-01-01

    The Drosophila saltans group consists of five subgroups and 21 species, most of which have been identified only by morphological aspects of the male terminalia revealed by drawings using a camera lucida and a bright-field microscope. However, several species in the group, mainly those included in the saltans subgroup, are difficult to differentiate using only these characteristics. In this study, we used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyze 19 structures of the male terminalia in 10 species from the five saltans subgroups. Among these structures, nine could be identified only through SEM analysis. We aimed to find other characteristics useful for morphological recognition of these species and to use these characteristics for phylogenetic reconstruction. These morphological differences enabled us to effectively distinguish among sibling species. These findings confirmed the monophyly of this group as previously determined in evolutionary studies based on other markers. The single most parsimonious tree (CI = 87 and RI = 90) indicated that the cordata subgroup is the most basal lineage and the saltans subgroup is the most apical lineage, as shown in earlier studies based on morphological data. However, our findings differed somewhat from these studies with respect to the phylogenetic relationships of species in the saltans group indicating that this group is still a puzzle that remains to be deciphered.

  5. Pseudopedobacter beijingensis gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from coking wastewater activated sludge, and reclassification of Pedobacter saltans as Pseudopedobacter saltans comb. nov.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Junwei; Lai, Qiliang; Li, Guizhen; Shao, Zongze

    2014-06-01

    A taxonomic study was carried out on strain GCS-AE-31(T), which was isolated from a phenol-degrading consortium, enriched from coking wastewater activated sludge of the Beijing Shougang Company Limited during the screening of phenol-degrading bacteria. Cells of strain GCS-AE-31(T) were Gram-stain-negative, short rods, motile by gliding, oxidase- and catalase-positive. Growth was observed at salinities of 0-3% and at temperatures of 10-37 °C. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain GCS-AE-31(T) was most closely related to Pedobacter saltans LMG 10337(T) (96.17%), but it showed low similarity to all other species of the genus Pedobacter (89.28-92.45%). It also showed low 16S rRNA gene similarity to all other species of the family Sphingobacteriaceae (87.25-92.45%) examined. The dominant fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0), summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)ω7c/C(16 : 1)ω6c), anteiso-C(15 : 0) and iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH. The menaquinones were MK-7 (95.5%) and MK-6 (4.5%). The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, three aminolipids and three unknown phospholipids. Sphingolipid was present. The G+C content of the chromosomal DNA was 36.2 mol%. According to its phylogenetic position and phenotypic traits, the novel strain could not be assigned to the genus Pedobacter; it should be classified as representing a novel species of a novel genus in the family Sphingobacteriaceae, for which the name Pseudopedobacter beijingensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed (type strain GCS-AE-31(T) = MCCC 1A01299(T) = CGMCC 1.12329(T) = LMG 27180(T)). The misclassified species Pedobacter saltans is transferred to the novel genus as Pseudopedobacter saltans comb. nov. (type strain LMG 10337(T) = MCCC 1A06472(T) = DSM 12145(T) = CCUG 39354(T) = CIP 105500(T) = JCM 21818(T) = NBRC 100064(T)). © 2014 IUMS.

  6. Translational initiation in Leishmania tarentolae and Phytomonas serpens (Kinetoplastida) is strongly influenced by pre-ATG triplet and its 5´ sequence context

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Lukeš, Julius; Paris, Zdeněk; Regmi, Sandesh; Breitling, R.; Mureev, S.; Kushnir, S.; Pyatkov, K.; Jirků, Milan; Alexandrov, K. A.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 148, č. 2 (2006), s. 125-132 ISSN 0166-6851 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR 1QS600220554 Grant - others:Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft(DE) AL484/5-3 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : Kinetoplastida * translation * initiation Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.641, year: 2006

  7. Reconstruction of the feeding apparatus in Postgaardi mariagerensis provides evidence for character evolution within the Symbiontida (Euglenozoa).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yubuki, Naoji; Simpson, Alastair G B; Leander, Brian S

    2013-01-01

    Microbial eukaryotes living in low oxygen environments often have novel physiological and morphological features that facilitate symbiotic relationships with bacteria and other means for acquiring nutrients. Comparative studies of these features provide evidence for phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history. Postgaardi mariagerensis, for instance, is a euglenozoan that lives in low oxygen environments and is enveloped by episymbiotic bacteria. The general ultrastructure of P. mariagerensis was described more than a decade ago and no further studies have been carried out since, mainly because these cells are difficult to obtain. Postgaardi lacks the diagnostic features found in other major euglenozoan lineages (e.g., pellicle strips and kinetoplast-like mitochondrial inclusions) and no molecular data are available, so the phylogenetic position of this genus within the Euglenozoa remains unclear. We re-examined and reconstructed the ultrastructural organization of the feeding apparatus in Postgaardi by serial sectioning an existing block of resin-embedded cells. Postgaardi possesses distinctive finger-like projections within the feeding apparatus; this system has only been found in one other highly distinctive flagellate, namely the symbiontid Calkinsia. Detailed comparisons of the cytoskeleton in Postgaardi and in two symbiontids, Calkinsia and Bihospites, provided new evidence for phylogenetic relationships and character evolution in all three genera. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  8. Lutzomyia adiketis sp. n. (Diptera: Phlebotomidae, a vector of Paleoleishmania neotropicum sp. n. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae in Dominican amber

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Poinar George

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Amber fossils can be used to trace the history of disease-vector associations because microorganisms are preserved "in situ" inside the alimentary tract and body cavity of blood-sucking insects. Results Lutzomyia adiketis sp. n. (Phlebotomidae: Diptera is described from Dominican amber as a vector of Paleoleishmania neotropicum sp. n. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae. The fossil sand fly differs from all previously described extinct and extant members of the genus by the following combination of characters: Sc forked with the branches meeting the costa and radius veins; wing L/W value of 4.1; a δ value of 18; a ratio β/α value of 0.86, and the shape and size of the spatulate rods on the ninth sternite. The trypanosomatid is characterized by the structure of its promastigotes, amastigotes and paramastigotes and its transmission by an extinct species of sand fly. Conclusion Morphological characters show that the fossil sand fly is a new extinct species and that it is host to a digenetic species of trypanosomatid. This study provides the first fossil evidence that Neotropical sand flies were vectors of trypanosomatids in the mid-Tertiary (20–30 mya.

  9. Classification of heparinolytic bacteria into a new genus, Pedobacter, comprising four species: Pedobacter heparinus comb. nov., Pedobacter piscium comb. nov., Pedobacter africanus sp. nov. and Pedobacter saltans sp. nov. proposal of the family Sphingobacteriaceae fam. nov.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steyn, P L; Segers, P; Vancanneyt, M; Sandra, P; Kersters, K; Joubert, J J

    1998-01-01

    Sixteen heparinase-producing isolates, related to Sphingobacterium heparinum, were grouped into three major clusters by SDS-PAGE and DNA-rRNA hybridizations. Based on a polyphasic approach, it was shown that isolates of two of these clusters and S. heparinum species belong to a new genus for which the name Pedobacter is proposed. The genus consists of Pedobacter heparinus comb. nov. (formerly Sphingobacterium heparinum), which is the type species, Pedobacter piscium comb. nov. (formerly Sphingobacterium piscium), Pedobacter africanus sp. nov. and Pedobacter saltans sp. nov. and four as-yet-unnamed DNA hybridization groups. All the previously named taxa can be discriminated by phenotypic features, but have strong overall similarities with representatives of the genus Sphingobacterium and the misclassified species [Flexibacter] canadensis. All these organisms constitute a separate rRNA branch in rRNA superfamily V for which the family Sphingobacteriaceae fam. nov. is proposed.

  10. Ultrastructure and molecular phylogeny of Calkinsia aureus: cellular identity of a novel clade of deep-sea euglenozoans with epibiotic bacteria

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    Leander Brian S

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Euglenozoa is a large group of eukaryotic flagellates with diverse modes of nutrition. The group consists of three main subclades – euglenids, kinetoplastids and diplonemids – that have been confirmed with both molecular phylogenetic analyses and a combination of shared ultrastructural characteristics. Several poorly understood lineages of putative euglenozoans live in anoxic environments, such as Calkinsia aureus, and have yet to be characterized at the molecular and ultrastructural levels. Improved understanding of these lineages is expected to shed considerable light onto the ultrastructure of prokaryote-eukaryote symbioses and the associated cellular innovations found within the Euglenozoa and beyond. Results We collected Calkinsia aureus from core samples taken from the low-oxygen seafloor of the Santa Barbara Basin (580 – 592 m depth, California. These biflagellates were distinctively orange in color and covered with a dense array of elongated epibiotic bacteria. Serial TEM sections through individually prepared cells demonstrated that C. aureus shares derived ultrastructural features with other members of the Euglenozoa (e.g. the same paraxonemal rods, microtubular root system and extrusomes. However, C. aureus also possessed several novel ultrastructural systems, such as modified mitochondria (i.e. hydrogenosome-like, an "extrusomal pocket", a highly organized extracellular matrix beneath epibiotic bacteria and a complex flagellar transition zone. Molecular phylogenies inferred from SSU rDNA sequences demonstrated that C. aureus grouped strongly within the Euglenozoa and with several environmental sequences taken from low-oxygen sediments in various locations around the world. Conclusion Calkinsia aureus possesses all of the synapomorphies for the Euglenozoa, but lacks traits that are specific to any of the three previously recognized euglenozoan subgroups. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of C. aureus

  11. Tests for attraction to prey and predator avoidance by chemical cues in spiders of the beech forest floor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wetter, Melissa B.

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Spiders leave draglines, faeces and other secretions behind when traveling through their microhabitat. The presence of these secretions may unintentionally inform other animals, prey as well as predators, about a recent and possible current predation risk or food availability. For a wolf spider, other spiders including smaller conspecifics, form a substantial part of their prey, and larger wolf spiders, again including conspecifics, are potential predators. We tested two hypotheses: that large wolf spiders may locate patches of potential spider prey through the presence of silk threads and/or other secretions; and that prey spiders may use secretions from large wolf spiders to avoid patches with high predation risk. We used large (subadult or adult Pardosa saltans to provide predator cues and mixed dwarf spiders or small (juvenile P. saltans to provide prey cues. Subadult wolf spiders were significantly attracted to litter contaminated by dwarf spiders or small conspecifics after 6 hours but no longer after 24 hours. In contrast, neither dwarf spiders nor small P. saltans showed significant avoidance of substrate contaminated by adult P. saltans. However, small P. saltans showed different activity patterns on the two substrates. The results indicate that wolf spiders are able to increase the efficiency of foraging by searching preferentially in patches with the presence of intraguild prey. The lack of a clear patch selection response of the prey in spite of a modified activity pattern may possibly be associated with the vertical stratification of the beech litter habitat: the reduced volume of spaces in the deeper layers could make downward rather than horizontal movement a fast and safe tactic against a large predator that cannot enter these spaces.

  12. Infección de fibroblastos de piel de animales con distinto grado de susceptibilidad a Leishmania infantum y Leishmania mexicana (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae

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    Miguel Angel Minero

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available En este estudio se presenta un modelo in vitro de cultivo de fibroblastos de piel de hámster, ratón y rata hecho con el propósito de determinar diferencias en cuanto a la susceptibilidad a la infección por dos especies del género Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae. Se realizó además un estudio ultraestructural por microscopía electrónica de transmisión con el fin de establecer si las formas intracelulares observadas correspondían a multiplicación interna o a fagocitosis múltiple. Se estudió la multiplicación de los parásitos en los fibroblastos de las tres especies de roedores infectados tanto por Leishmania infantum como por L. mexicana (cepa OCR y las diferencias entre las tres fueron estadísticamente significativas (pInfection and multiplication of Leishmania infantum and L. mexicana inside of skin fibroblasts from hamsters, mice and rats was achieved. This process was demonstrated either by counting parasites inside the stained cells or by electronic microscopy studies. In addition multiplication rate differences in the cells from these rodent species were determined, for L. infantum as well as for L. mexicana. Parasite development in hamsters and mice fibroblasts was evident but there was not multiplication in rat cells showing that apparently they are refractory to Leishmania infection. These results suggest that the parasite affinity for each animal, as well as any intracellular environment resistance, could involve genetic factors in the parasite multiplication. On the other hand, presence of amastigote multiplication inside of parasitophorus vacuole, showed by electronic microscopy images, probes a true parasite transformation. Therefore it is suggested that fibroblasts could work as host cells for parasite survival and permanency in the infected animals

  13. From simple to supercomplex: mitochondrial genomes of euglenozoan protists

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Faktorová, Drahomíra; Dobáková, Eva; Peña-Diaz, Priscila; Lukeš, Julius

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 5, 15 NOV (2016), č. článku 392. ISSN 2046-1402 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-21974S Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : euglenozoa * mitochondria * mitochondrial genome Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology

  14. Transposon display supports transpositional activity of P elements in ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    . Abstract. Mobilization of two P element subfamilies (canonical and O-type) from Drosophila sturtevanti and D. saltans was evaluated for copy number and transposition activity using the transposon display (TD) technique. Pairwise distances ...

  15. Extreme Diversity of Diplonemid Eukaryotes in the Ocean

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Flegontova, Olga; Flegontov, Pavel; Malviya, S.; Audic, S.; Wincker, P.; de Vargas, C.; Bowler, C.; Lukeš, Julius; Horák, Aleš

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 26, č. 22 (2016), s. 3060-3065 ISSN 0960-9822 R&D Projects: GA ČR GPP506/12/P931; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-23986S Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : virus-sized particles * microbial eukaryotes * sea-floor * phytoplankton * communities * euglenozoa * dispersal * ecosystem Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 8.851, year: 2016

  16. An integrated morphological and molecular approach to a new species description in the Trypanosomatidae: the case of Leptomonas podlipaevi n.sp., a parasite of Boisea rubrolineata (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Yurchenko, V.; Lukeš, Julius; Xu, X.; Maslov, D. A.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 53, č. 2 (2006), s. 103-111 ISSN 1066-5234 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : Kinetoplastida * species description * phylogeny Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.288, year: 2006

  17. Serological evidence of Leishmania donovani infection in apparently healthy dogs using direct agglutination test (DAT) and rk39 dipstick tests in Kafta Humera, north-west Ethiopia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kalayou, S.; Tadelle, H.; Bsrat, A.; Abebe, N.; Haileselassie, M.; Schallig, H. D. F. H.

    2011-01-01

    Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) are protozoan parasites of significant medical and veterinary importance. Over the last decade, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has emerged as a major opportunistic infection associated with HIV/AIDS in North Western Ethiopia. This paper reports on

  18. Ivan Bilibin a Nikolaj Benois: československá zastavení (Ruští scénografové ve spolupráci s Prahou a Brnem)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Jančárková, Julie; Velemanová, V.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 24, č. 2 (2013), s. 7-21 ISSN 0862-5409 Institutional support: RVO:68378017 Keywords : Russian theater * Czechoslovakia * Russian visual artists * Bilibin, I. J. * Benois, N.A. * Tale of Tsar Saltan * Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh * Prince Igor Subject RIV: AL - Art, Architecture, Cultural Heritage

  19. Recognition of base J in duplex DNA by J-binding protein

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sabatini, Robert; Meeuwenoord, Nico; van Boom, Jacques H.; Borst, Piet

    2002-01-01

    beta-d-Glucosylhydroxymethyluracil, also called base J, is an unusual modified DNA base conserved among Kinetoplastida. Base J is found predominantly in repetitive DNA and correlates with epigenetic silencing of telomeric variant surface glycoprotein genes. We have previously found a J-binding

  20. Unusual mitochondrial genome structures throughout the Euglenozoa

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Roy, J.; Faktorová, Drahomíra; Lukeš, Julius; Burger, G.

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 158, č. 3 (2007), s. 385-396 ISSN 1434-4610 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA204/06/1558; GA MŠk 2B06129 Grant - others:Canadian Institutes of Health Research(CA) MOP-79309 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : euglenozoan protists * mitochondrial chromosomes * mitochondrial ultrastructure Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.102, year: 2007

  1. Experimental exposure to cadmium affects metallothionein-like protein levels but not survival and growth in wolf spiders from polluted and reference populations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eraly, Debbie, E-mail: debbie.eraly@ugent.b [Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent (Belgium); Hendrickx, Frederik, E-mail: frederik.hendrickx@naturalsciences.b [Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent (Belgium); Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Department of Entomology, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels (Belgium); Bervoets, Lieven, E-mail: lieven.bervoets@ua.ac.b [Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp (Belgium); Lens, Luc, E-mail: luc.lens@ugent.b [Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent (Belgium)

    2010-06-15

    Both local adaptation and acclimation in tolerance mechanisms may allow populations to persist under metal pollution. However, both mechanisms are presumed to incur (energetic) costs and to trade-off with other life-history traits. To test this hypothesis, we exposed Pardosa saltans (Lycosidae) spiderlings originating from metal-polluted and unpolluted sites to a controlled cadmium (Cd) treatment, and compared contents of metal-binding metallothionein-like proteins (MTLPs), internal metal concentrations, and individual survival and growth rates with a reference treatment. While increased MTLP concentrations in offspring originating from both polluted and unpolluted populations upon exposure indicates a plastic tolerance mechanism, survival and growth rates remain largely unaffected, independent of the population of origin. However, MTLP and Cd concentrations were not significantly correlated. We suggest that MTLP production may be an important mechanism enabling P. saltans populations to persist in ecosystems polluted with heavy metals above a certain level. - Spiders from metal-polluted and unpolluted populations show a similar increase in MTLP production when exposed to Cd, with unaffected growth and survival.

  2. Experimental exposure to cadmium affects metallothionein-like protein levels but not survival and growth in wolf spiders from polluted and reference populations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eraly, Debbie; Hendrickx, Frederik; Bervoets, Lieven; Lens, Luc

    2010-01-01

    Both local adaptation and acclimation in tolerance mechanisms may allow populations to persist under metal pollution. However, both mechanisms are presumed to incur (energetic) costs and to trade-off with other life-history traits. To test this hypothesis, we exposed Pardosa saltans (Lycosidae) spiderlings originating from metal-polluted and unpolluted sites to a controlled cadmium (Cd) treatment, and compared contents of metal-binding metallothionein-like proteins (MTLPs), internal metal concentrations, and individual survival and growth rates with a reference treatment. While increased MTLP concentrations in offspring originating from both polluted and unpolluted populations upon exposure indicates a plastic tolerance mechanism, survival and growth rates remain largely unaffected, independent of the population of origin. However, MTLP and Cd concentrations were not significantly correlated. We suggest that MTLP production may be an important mechanism enabling P. saltans populations to persist in ecosystems polluted with heavy metals above a certain level. - Spiders from metal-polluted and unpolluted populations show a similar increase in MTLP production when exposed to Cd, with unaffected growth and survival.

  3. Mitochondrial histone-like DNA-binding proteins are essential for normal cell growth and mitochondrial function in Crithidia fasciculata

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Avliyakulov, N. K.; Lukeš, Julius; Ray, D. S.

    2004-01-01

    Roč. 3, č. 2 (2004), s. 518-526 ISSN 1535-9778 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA5022302 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z6022909 Keywords : cell growth * mitochondrial function * Kinetoplastida Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.954, year: 2004

  4. Diversity of insect trypanosomatids assessed from the spliced leader RNA and 5S rRNA genes and intergenic regions

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Podlipaev, Sergei; Sturm, N. R.; Fiala, Ivan; Fernandes, O.; Westenberger, S. J.; Dollet, M.; Campbell, D. A.; Lukeš, Julius

    2004-01-01

    Roč. 51, č. 3 (2004), s. 283-290 ISSN 1066-5234 Grant - others:European Community(XE) QLK 2-CT-2001-01810 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z6022909 Keywords : Kinetoplastida * phylogeny * Trypanosomatidae Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 1.403, year: 2004

  5. Cascades of convergent evolution: The corresponding evolutionary histories of euglenozoans and dinoflagellates

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Lukeš, Julius; Leander, B. S.; Keeling, P. J.

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 106, č. 1 (2009), s. 9963-9970 ISSN 0027-8424 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA204/09/1667; GA MŠk LC07032; GA MŠk 2B06129 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : comparative genomics * convergent evolution * dinoflagellates * Euglenozoa * mitochondria * molecular evolution * plastids * RNA editing * RNA editing Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 9.432, year: 2009

  6. Description of Rhynchopus euleeides n. sp. (Diplonemea), a free-living, marine euglenozoan

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Roy, J.; Faktorová, Drahomíra; Benada, Oldřich; Lukeš, Julius; Burger, G.

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 54, č. 2 (2007), s. 137-145 ISSN 1066-5234 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA5022302; GA MŠk 2B06129 Grant - others:Canadian Institutes of Health Research(CA) MOP-79309 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50200510; CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : Diplonemea * Euglenozoa * flagellates * morphology * taxonomy * ultrastructure Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 1.525, year: 2007

  7. Development of a direct species-specific PCR assay for differential diagnosis of Leishmania tropica

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Jirků, Milan; Zemanová, Eva; Al-Jawabreh, A.; Schönian, G.; Lukeš, Julius

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 55, č. 1 (2006), s. 75-79 ISSN 0732-8893 Grant - others:European Comission(EU) QLK2-CT-2001-01810 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : Kinetoplastida * Leishmania tropica * PCR assay Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.553, year: 2006

  8. Ultrastructure and molecular phylogeny of four new species of monoxenous trypanosomatids from flies (Diptera: Brachycera) with redefinition of the genus Wallaceina

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Yurchenko, V.; Votýpka, Jan; Tesařová, Martina; Klepetková, H.; Kraeva, N.; Jirků, Milan; Lukeš, Julius

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 61, č. 2 (2014), s. 97-112 ISSN 0015-5683 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) EE2.3.30.0032 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Kinetoplastida * Trypanosomatidae * monoxenous kientoplastids * Leishmaniinae * molecular taxonomy * phylogeny Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 1.147, year: 2014

  9. A historical overview of the classification, evolution, and dispersion of Leishmania parasites and sandflies

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Akhoundi, M.; Kuhls, K.; Cannet, A.; Votýpka, Jan; Marty, P.; Delaunay, P.; Sereno, D.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 10, č. 3 (2016), č. článku e0004349. ISSN 1935-2735 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : phlebotomine sand flies * human cutaneous leishmaniasis * North-Central Venezuela * visceral leishmaniasis * genus Leishmania * diptera-psychodidae * old world * causative agent * kinetoplastida trypanosomatidae Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.834, year: 2016

  10. Trypanosoma culicavium sp nov., an avian trypanosome transmitted by Culex mosquitoes

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Votýpka, Jan; Szabová, J.; Rádrová, J.; Zídková, J.; Svobodová, M.

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 62, MAR (2012), s. 745-754 ISSN 1466-5026 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LC06009; GA ČR GD206/09/H026 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : ORNITHOMYIA-AVICULARIA * BITING MIDGES * RIBOSOMAL-RNA * BLACK FLIES * AVIUM * TRANSMISSION * KINETOPLASTIDA * PARASITE * DIPTERA * VECTOR Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.112, year: 2012

  11. Dual core processing: MRB1 is an emerging kinetoplast RNA editing complex

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hashimi, Hassan; Zimmer, S.L.; Ammerman, M. L.; Read, L. K.; Lukeš, Julius

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 29, č. 2 (2013), s. 91-99 ISSN 1471-4922 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP305/12/2261; GA ČR GA204/09/1667 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : kinetoplastida * trypanosome * RNA editing * protein complexes * RECC * MRB1 Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 6.217, year: 2013 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471492212001985

  12. Mitochondrial localization of human frataxin is necessary but processing is not for rescuing frataxin deficiency in Trypanosoma brucei

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Long, Shaojun; Jirků, Milan; Ayala, F. J.; Lukeš, Julius

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 105, č. 36 (2008), s. 13468-13473 ISSN 0027-8424 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA500960705; GA MŠk LC07032; GA MŠk 2B06129; GA ČR GA204/06/1558 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : frataxin * mitochondrion * Trypanosoma * Kinetoplastida Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 9.380, year: 2008

  13. Fe/S protein biogenesis in trypanosomes — A review

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Lukeš, Julius; Basu, Somsuvro

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 1853, č. 6 (2015), s. 1481-1492 ISSN 0167-4889 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP305/12/2261; GA MŠk(CZ) EE2.3.30.0032; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-23986S EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 316304 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Fe/S cluster * Trypanosoma brucei * protists * Kinetoplastida Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 5.128, year: 2015

  14. Morfología y citoquímica de cultivos celulares de Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae y susceptibilidad a Leishmania panamensis (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfonso Arturo Miranda H

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available La primera línea celular de Aedes aegypti fue establecida por Grace en 1966 y desde entonces se han utilizado para el estudio de virus, bacterias y parásitos. En el presente trabajo se describen, por primera vez, algunas características citoquímicas de los cultivos celulares de A. aegypti, infectados con la cepa (MHOM/CO/87CL412 de Leishmania panamensis. También se realizó un estudio morfológico de las células del cultivo. Se observaron 30 células pequeñas con apariencia fibrolastoide de 10.84±2.54 µm de largo y 5.31±1.26 µm de ancho; otras 30 presentaron apariencia epitelioide con 23.04±4.00 µm de largo y 13.96±3.70 µm de ancho; éstas últimas predominaron sobre las de apariencia fibroblastoide. De 113 células, un 7.08%, presentaron abundantes gránulos citoplasmáticos positivos con la coloración de PAS, indicando presencia de polisacáridos. La prueba de peroxidasa dio un resultado negativo. El mayor porcentaje de infección (18.90%, de un total de 101 células, se presentó el día 6. Ultraestructuralmente, las células presentaron un citoplasma con aspecto vacuolado; algunas contenían parásitos, otras material fibrilar y otras estaban vacías. Los resultados indican que los cultivos celulares de A. aegypti pueden ser infectados por L. panamensis y mantener dicho proceso por aproximadamente una semana.Morphology and cytochemistry of Aedes aegypti’s cell cultures (Diptera: Culicidae and susceptibility to Leishmania panamensis (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae. The first cellular line of Aedes aegypti was developed by Grace in 1966; afterwards, other cellular lines of this species have been generated. These have been used for the study of pathogenic organisms like viruses, bacteria and parasites, which demonstrates their importance in biomedical applications. This research describes, for the first time, some cytochemical characteristics of A. aegypti cell cultures, that were infected with (MHOM/CO/87CL412 strain of

  15. Gene fragmentation: a key to mitochondrial genome evolution in Euglenozoa?

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Flegontov, Pavel; Gray, M.W.; Burger, G.; Lukeš, Julius

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 57, č. 4 (2011), 225-232 ISSN 0172-8083 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : Euglena * Diplonema * Mitochondrial genome * RNA editing * Constructive neutral evolution Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.556, year: 2011

  16. Estudo do papel funcional da cisteína sintase e da cistationina B-sintase na resposta ao estresse oxidativo e nitrosativo em leishmania (viannia) braziliensis, trypanosoma rangeli e trypanosoma cruzi

    OpenAIRE

    Romero Calderon, Ibeth Cristina

    2014-01-01

    Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biotecnologia e Biociências, Florianópolis, 2014 Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, Trypanosoma rangeli e o Trypanosoma cruzi são parasitos hemoflagelados pertencentes à Ordem Kinetoplastida, família Trypanosomatidae, capazes de infectar insetos, animais silvestres e domésticos, assim como o homem. Durante seu ciclo de vida, estes parasitos são expostos a uma grande quanti...

  17. Comparative Metabolism of Free-living Bodo saltans and Parasitic Trypanosomatids

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Opperdoes, F. R.; Butenko, A.; Flegontov, P.; Yurchenko, V.; Lukeš, Julius

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 63, č. 5 (2016), s. 657-678 ISSN 1066-5234 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-23986S Grant - others:EU COST Action CM1307 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : adaptation * Leishmania * Leptomonas * lateral gene transfer * parasitism * Phytomonas * Trypanosoma Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.692, year: 2016

  18. An overview on the ecology of Triatominae (Hemiptera:Reduviidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galvão, Cleber; Justi, Silvia A

    2015-11-01

    Chagas disease, the American trypanosomiasis, is an important neglected tropical illness caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastida, Trypanosomatidae) and transmitted by insects of the subfamily Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Here we provide an overview on the current knowledge about Triatominae ecology, its association with human, T. cruzi infection and the immediate consequences of habitat fragmentation. We also discuss the geographic distribution of the species and the importance of predicting their distributions to control programs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. The morphology of ovine Trypanosoma melophagium (zoomastigophorea: kinetoplastida).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Büscher, G; Friedhoff, K T

    1984-02-01

    Morphologic and biometric data on bloodstream stages of Trypanosoma melophagium are presented. An increasing parasitemia with 111 trypomastigote stages of T. melophagium were found in Giemsa-stained thin blood smears taken from a splenectomized, cortisone-treated sheep recently infested with Melophagus ovinus infected with T. melophagium . The arithmetic mean and standard deviation in micron of the distances between posterior end and kinetoplast were 14.7 and 2.9, from the kinetoplastic to the center of the nucleus 5.1 and 1.1, and from there to the anterior end 19.5 and 1.9. The free flagellum measured 6.0 microns +/- 1.6 microns. The median and the range of the central 70% of values (median +/- 35%) of the nuclear index were 1.1 and 0.9-1.2 and of the kinetoplastic index 3.8 and 3.3-4.9. The same data in microns for the maximal width were 3.1 and 2.1-4.6, and for the width at the level of the nucleus 2.9 and 2.2-4.6. The larger and smaller diameters of the nucleus measured 2.6 (2.2-3.7) micron and 1.7 (1.3-1.7) micron, respectively. The corresponding kinetoplast diameters were 1.1 (0.9-1.3) microns and 0.9 (0.6-0.9) micron, respectively.

  20. Evidence for loss of a partial flagellar glycolytic pathway during trypanosomatid evolution.

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    Robert W B Brown

    Full Text Available Classically viewed as a cytosolic pathway, glycolysis is increasingly recognized as a metabolic pathway exhibiting surprisingly wide-ranging variations in compartmentalization within eukaryotic cells. Trypanosomatid parasites provide an extreme view of glycolytic enzyme compartmentalization as several glycolytic enzymes are found exclusively in peroxisomes. Here, we characterize Trypanosoma brucei flagellar proteins resembling glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH and phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK: we show the latter associates with the axoneme and the former is a novel paraflagellar rod component. The paraflagellar rod is an essential extra-axonemal structure in trypanosomes and related protists, providing a platform into which metabolic activities can be built. Yet, bioinformatics interrogation and structural modelling indicate neither the trypanosome PGK-like nor the GAPDH-like protein is catalytically active. Orthologs are present in a free-living ancestor of the trypanosomatids, Bodo saltans: the PGK-like protein from B. saltans also lacks key catalytic residues, but its GAPDH-like protein is predicted to be catalytically competent. We discuss the likelihood that the trypanosome GAPDH-like and PGK-like proteins constitute molecular evidence for evolutionary loss of a flagellar glycolytic pathway, either as a consequence of niche adaptation or the re-localization of glycolytic enzymes to peroxisomes and the extensive changes to glycolytic flux regulation that accompanied this re-localization. Evidence indicating loss of localized ATP provision via glycolytic enzymes therefore provides a novel contribution to an emerging theme of hidden diversity with respect to compartmentalization of the ubiquitous glycolytic pathway in eukaryotes. A possibility that trypanosome GAPDH-like protein additionally represents a degenerate example of a moonlighting protein is also discussed.

  1. Chronic exposure to soil salinity in terrestrial species: Does plasticity and underlying physiology differ among specialized ground-dwelling spiders?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renault, D; Puzin, C; Foucreau, N; Bouchereau, A; Pétillon, J

    2016-07-01

    In salt marshes, the alternation of low and high tides entails rapid shifts of submersion and aerial exposure for terrestrial communities. In these intertidal environments, terrestrial species have to deal with an osmotic loss in body water content and an increase in sodium chloride concentration when salt load increases. In salt marshes, spiders represent an abundant arthropod group, whose physiological ecology in response to variations of soil salinity must be further investigated. In this study, we compared the effect of salinity on the survival and physiology of three species of Lycosidae; two salt marsh species (Arctosa fulvolineata and Pardosa purbeckensis) and one forest species (P. saltans). Spiders were individually exposed at three salinity conditions (0‰, 35‰ and 70‰) and survival, changes in body water content, hemolymph ions (Na(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), K(+); ICP-MS technique) and metabolites (mainly amino acids, polyols, sugars; LC and GC techniques) were assessed. The survival of the forest species P. saltans was very quickly hampered at moderate and high salinities. In this spider, variations of hemolymph ions and metabolites revealed a quick loss of physiological homeostasis and a rapid salt-induced dehydration of the specimens. Conversely, high survival durations were measured in the two salt-marsh spiders, and more particularly in A. fulvolineata. In both P. purbeckensis and A. fulvolineata, the proportion of Na(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), K(+) remained constant at the three experimental conditions. Accumulation of hemolymph Na(+) and amino acids (mainly glutamine and proline) demonstrated stronger osmoregulatory capacities in these salt-marsh resident spiders. To conclude, even if phylogenetically close (belonging to the same, monophyletic, family), we found different physiological capacities to cope with salt load among the three tested spider species. Nevertheless, physiological responses to salinity were highly consistent with the realized

  2. Age and egg-sac loss determine maternal behaviour and locomotor activity of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruhland, Fanny; Chiara, Violette; Trabalon, Marie

    2016-11-01

    Wolf spiders' (Lycosidae) maternal behaviour includes a specific phase called "egg brooding" which consists of guarding and carrying an egg-sac throughout the incubation period. The transport of an egg-sac can restrict mothers' exploratory and locomotor activity, in particular when foraging. The present study details the ontogeny of maternal behaviour and assesses the influence of age of egg-sac (or embryos' developmental stage) on vagrant wolf spider Pardosa saltans females' exploration and locomotion. We observed these spiders' maternal behaviour in the laboratory and evaluated their locomotor activity using a digital activity recording device. Our subjects were virgin females (without egg-sac) and first time mothers (with her egg-sac) who were divided into three groups. The first group of mothers were tested on the day the egg-sac was built (day 0), and the females of the other two groups were tested 10 or 15days after they had built their egg-sac. We evaluated the effects of the presence and the loss of egg-sac on mothers' activity. Pardosa saltans females' behaviour depended on mothers' physiological state and/or age of egg-sac (developmental stage of embryos). Virgin females' behaviour was not modified by the presence of an egg-sac in their environment. Mothers' reactions to the presence, the loss and the recovery of their egg-sac varied during the maternal cycle. Maternal behaviour changed with age of egg-sac, but the levels of locomotor activity of mothers with egg-sacs was similar to those of virgin females. Loss of egg-sac modified the maternal behaviour and locomotor activity of all mothers; these modifications were greater on "day 15" when embryos had emerged from eggs. All mothers were able to retrieve their egg-sacs and to re-attach them to their spinnerets. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. La Planta del Oro

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cantalá. Julio

    1941-06-01

    Full Text Available Una planta de talle esbelto, adornada con apéndices casi capilares como la cola de un caballo, salpica las veredas de estas frondosas montañas de Catskills en donde la nieve recién derretida se convierte en jugo que fortalece la vegetación primaveral. Esta planta casi inclusera que en inglés se llama "horse tail"o cola de caballo, la botánica la califica como de la familia de las gnetaceas y pertenece a la especie "Ephedra vulgaris". Efectivamente, muy vulgar es la planta. Por todos los sitios crece y ni siquiera las cabras hambrientas que saltan por estos matorrales, orientan su olfato hacia el arbusto.

  4. Hablando de ensanches y cicatrices urbanas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Waldo Martínez Riquelme

    2001-12-01

    Full Text Available El presente artículo es de carácter analítico descriptivo y se basa en realidades urbanas que he podido apreciar a lo largo de veinticinco años de trabajo ligado al desarrollo urbano. En este caso en particular se trata de reflexiones en torno a los resultados de un fenómeno, como los ensanches de calles, que saltan a la vista y sobre los cuales vale la pena hacerse algunos cuestionamientos, de manera tal de motivar a la revisión de ciertas políticas o formas de enfrentar el problema, tanto por parte de la autoridad como de los ciudadanos todos.

  5. Estudo da competência vetorial de Lutzomyia intermedia (Lutz & Neiva, 1912 para Leishmania (Viannia braziliensis, Vianna, 1911 Study of the vectorial competence of Lutzomyia intermedia (Lutz & Neiva, 1912 to Leishmania (Viannia braziliensis, Vianna, 1911

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Carlos da Silva

    2001-04-01

    Full Text Available Estudou-se a competência vetorial de Lutzomyia intermedia (Diptera: Psychodidae do Vale do Ribeira (SP para estirpes de Leishmania (Viannia braziliensis (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae, mediante pesquisa de infectividade natural; exposições de fêmeas silvestres e colonizadas (F1 às lesões de hamsters experimentalmente infectados e testes de transmissão via picada. A infectividade natural e os testes de transmissão revelaram-se negativos e, nas exposições, foram obtidas positividades de 74% (123+/166 dissecados e 70% (115+/164 dissecados para fêmeas silvestres e colonizadas respectivamente, e o desenvolvimento das formas evolutivas compatíveis com o modelo Peripilaria. A suscetibilidade às estirpes testadas associada aos indicadores epidemiológicos concorrem para a suspeita do papel vetorial de Lutzomyia intermedia na região estudada.This paper investigated the vectorial competence of Lutzomyia intermedia (Diptera: Psychodidae in Vale do Ribeira (SP to strains of Leishmania (Viannia braziliensis (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae, by means of a search for natural infection; exposure of wild and colonized females (F1 to the lesions of experimentally infected hamsters and transmission tests by bite. The natural infection and the transmission tests were negative. In the exposures of Lu. intermedia to infected lesions we found rates of 74% (123+/166 dissected and 70% (115+/164 dissected for the wild and colonized females respectively. The development of the parasites was compatible with the development model of Peripilaria. The susceptibility of the tested strains associated with the epidemiological indicators contribute to the vectorial role suspicion of Lutzomyia intermedia in the studied region.

  6. Infection of a mammal by monogenetic insect trypanosomatids (Kinetoplastida, trypanosomatidae

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    Ana M. Jansen

    1988-09-01

    Full Text Available Monogenetic insect trypanosomatids of the genera Crithidia, Leptomonas and Herpetomonas, multiplied as in axenic cultures, for many months, in the lumen of the scent glands of the opossum Didelphis marsupialis. Specific antibodies were detected in the serum of the animals but there was no evidence of invasion of their tissues by the parasites.

  7. African trypanosomiasis with special reference to Egyptian Trypanosoma evansi: is it a neglected zoonosis?

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Bahnasawy, Mamdouh M M; Khater, Mai Kh A; Morsy, Tosson A

    2014-12-01

    Trypanosomes (including humans) are blood and sometimes tissue parasites of the order Kinetoplastida, family Trypanosomatidae, genus Trypanosoma, principally transmitted by biting insects where most of them undergo a biological cycle. They are divided into Stercoraria with the posterior station inoculation, including T. cruzi, both an extra- and intracellular parasite that causes Chagas disease, a major human disease affecting 15 million people and threatening 100 million people in Latin America, and the Salivaria with the anterior station inoculation, mainly African livestock pathogenic trypanosomes, including the agents of sleeping sickness, a major human disease affecting around half a million people and threatening 60 million people in Africa. Now, T. evansi was reported in man is it required to investigate its zoonotic potential?

  8. Identification and phylogenetic analysis of heme synthesis genes in trypanosomatids and their bacterial endosymbionts.

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    João M P Alves

    Full Text Available It has been known for decades that some insect-infecting trypanosomatids can survive in culture without heme supplementation while others cannot, and that this capability is associated with the presence of a betaproteobacterial endosymbiont in the flagellate's cytoplasm. However, the specific mechanisms involved in this process remained obscure. In this work, we sequence and phylogenetically analyze the heme pathway genes from the symbionts and from their hosts, as well as from a number of heme synthesis-deficient Kinetoplastida. Our results show that the enzymes responsible for synthesis of heme are encoded on the symbiont genomes and produced in close cooperation with the flagellate host. Our evidence suggests that this synergistic relationship is the end result of a history of extensive gene loss and multiple lateral gene transfer events in different branches of the phylogeny of the Trypanosomatidae.

  9. Demonstration of glycosomes (microbodies) in the Bodonid flagellate Trypanoplasma borelli (Protozoa, Kinetoplastida)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Opperdoes, Fred R.; Nohynkova, Eva; Schaftingen, Emile Van; Lambeir, Anne-Marie; Veenhuis, Marten; Roy, Joris Van

    1988-01-01

    Homogenates of Trypanoplasma borelli were subjected to subcellular fractionation by sequential differential and isopycnic centrifugation in sucrose. Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and the glycolytic enzymes, glucosephosphate isomerase and triosephosphate isomerase, as well as the peroxisomal

  10. Assessment of PCR in the detection of Leishmania spp in experimentally infected individual phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MICHALSKY Érika M.

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR was applied in the investigation of the presence of Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae parasites in single phlebotomine sandflies. Three phlebotomine/parasite pairs were used: Lutzomyia longipalpis/Leishmania chagasi, Lutzomyia migonei/Leishmania amazonensis and Lutzomyia migonei/Leishmania braziliensis, all of them incriminated in the transmission of visceral or cutaneous leishmaniasis. DNA extraction was performed with whole insects, with no need of previous digestive tract dissection or pooling specimens. The presence of either mouse blood in the digestive tract of the sandflies or the digestive tract itself did not interfere in the PCR. Infection by as few as 10 Leishmania sp. per individual were sufficient for DNA amplification with genus-specific primers. Using primers for L. braziliensis and L. mexicana complexes, respectively, it was possible to discriminate between L. braziliensis and L. amazonensis in experimentally infected vectors (L. migonei.

  11. Distribución de los vectores de Leishmania infantum (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae en Colombia

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    Camila González

    2006-10-01

    Full Text Available Introducción. Debido a la importancia que tiene la vigilancia entomológica como principalmedida de control en el manejo de la leishmaniasis visceral, es necesario contar con informaciónactualizada acerca de la distribución y ecología de los insectos involucrados en la transmisiónpara optimizar las estrategias de prevención. Objetivo. Presentar la distribución actualizada geo-referenciada de L. longipalpis y L. evansi,vectores de los parásitos que causan leishmaniasis visceral en Colombia, teniendo en cuentala asociación de los insectos con su hábitat. Materiales y métodos. Los registros de distribución se obtuvieron a partir de los ejemplaresrecolectados en Colombia desde 1967. La información obtenida se organizó en una base dedatos a partir de la cual se tomaron las localidades que, posteriormente, fueron sometidas aanálisis geográficos por medio de Arc View que se utilizaron para realizar los mapas dedistribución. Resultados. Para L. longipalpis se obtuvieron 40 localidades todas distribuidas a lo largo delvalle del río Magdalena: Alto (24, Medio (11 y Bajo (5 Magdalena. L. evansi fue registradoen 19 localidades también ubicadas en el mismo valle: cinco en el Magdalena Medio y 14 elMagdalena Bajo. Conclusiones. Ambas especies demostraron una consistente asociación con regionesclasificadas principalmente como bosque seco tropical según las zonas de vida de Holdridgelo que confirma el riesgo epidemiológico de leishmaniasis visceral en estas áreas.Palabras clave: Psychodidae, leishmaniasis visceral, Colombia.

  12. Riesgo de transmisión de Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae en Mérida Venezuela

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    Elsa Nieves

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available La leishmaniasis es una enfermedad causada por la infección de un parásito protozoario del género Leishmania, transmitido por la picada de insectos hematófagos conocidos como flebotominos. El estudio tiene como objetivo determinar la presencia de flebotominos en los Distritos Sanitarios del estado Mérida y diseñar un mapa de riesgo de transmisión entomológico. Se utilizaron cuatro métodos de captura de flebotominos, los ejemplares se identificaron y se les determinó la infección natural por Leishmania. Se estimó la riqueza de especies, y se realizó un proceso analítico Jerárquico. Los resultados muestran la presencia de diversas especies de flebotominos en los Distritos Sanitarios del estado Mérida, siendo las especies de mayor frecuencia L. youngi, L. gomezi, L. ovallesi y L. walkeri. Se detectó 2,1% de infección natural con Leishmania, la cual se encontró en las 4 especies más frecuentes. Se presenta un mapa de riesgo de transmisión entomológico para el estado Mérida. El conocimiento de la situación actual de los vectores de Leishmania en el estado Mérida y el riesgo de transmisión son relevantes a la hora de considerar la prevención y posible surgimiento de nuevos brotes de leishmaniasis. Abstract (english The leishmaniasis is a disease caused by infection with a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania, transmitted by the bite of blood-sucking insects known as sandflies. The study aims to determine the presence of sandflies in Merida state health districts and design a map of entomological risk of transmission. Four methods capture sandflies were used, the specimens were identified and natural Leishmania infection was determined. The richness species was estimated and analityc Hierarchie procesess was performed. The results show the presence of various species of sandflies in Merida state health districts, L. youngi, L. gomezi, L. ovallesi and L. walkeri were most abundant species. The 2.1% of natural infection with Leishmania was detected, which were found in the 4 most abundant species. A map of risk of transmission to Mérida is presented. Knowledge of the current status of Leishmania vectors in Mérida and the risk of transmission are relevant when considering the prevention and possible emergence of new outbreaks of leishmaniasis.

  13. Everybody needs sphingolipids, right! Mining for new drug targets in protozoan sphingolipid biosynthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mina, John G M; Denny, P W

    2018-02-01

    Sphingolipids (SLs) are an integral part of all eukaryotic cellular membranes. In addition, they have indispensable functions as signalling molecules controlling a myriad of cellular events. Disruption of either the de novo synthesis or the degradation pathways has been shown to have detrimental effects. The earlier identification of selective inhibitors of fungal SL biosynthesis promised potent broad-spectrum anti-fungal agents, which later encouraged testing some of those agents against protozoan parasites. In this review we focus on the key enzymes of the SL de novo biosynthetic pathway in protozoan parasites of the Apicomplexa and Kinetoplastidae, outlining the divergence and interconnection between host and pathogen metabolism. The druggability of the SL biosynthesis is considered, alongside recent technology advances that will enable the dissection and analyses of this pathway in the parasitic protozoa. The future impact of these advances for the development of new therapeutics for both globally threatening and neglected infectious diseases is potentially profound.

  14. No need for labels: the autofluorescence of Leishmania tarentolae mitochondria and the necessity of negative controls.

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    Elisabeth Eckers

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool to study the morphology and function of subcellular compartments or to determine the localization of proteins. The method is also regularly used for the analysis of parasitic protists including kinetoplastida. RESULTS: Here, we report a significant autofluorescence of Leishmania tarentolae mitochondria. The autofluorescence, presumably caused by flavoproteins, was detectable using a variety of cell fixation protocols and had a maximum emission at approximately 538 nm. Stable signals were obtained with xenon lamps as a light source and filter sets that are commonly used for the detection of green fluorescent protein. CONCLUSIONS: On the one hand, we present a methodological approach to examine mitochondrial morphology or to study the colocalization of mitochondrial proteins without additional staining or labeling procedures. On the other hand, under certain experimental conditions, mitochondrial autofluorescence can result in false positive signals, demonstrating the necessity to analyze unlabeled cells as negative controls.

  15. Combined culture-based and culture-independent approaches provide insights into diversity of jakobids, an extremely plesiomorphic eukaryotic lineage

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    Tomáš ePánek

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available We used culture-based and culture-independent approaches to discover diversity and ecology of anaerobic jakobids (Excavata: Jakobida, an overlooked, deep-branching lineage of free-living nanoflagellates related to Euglenozoa. Jakobids are among a few lineages of nanoflagellates frequently detected in anoxic habitats by PCR-based studies, however only two strains of a single jakobid species have been isolated from those habitats. We recovered 712 environmental sequences and cultured 21 new isolates of anaerobic jakobids that collectively represent at least ten different species in total, from which four are uncultured. Two cultured species have never been detected by environmental, PCR-based methods. Surprisingly, culture-based and culture-independent approaches were able to reveal a relatively high proportion of overall species diversity of anaerobic jakobids - 60 % or 80 %, respectively. Our phylogenetic analyses based on SSU rDNA and six protein-coding genes showed that anaerobic jakobids constitute a clade of morphologically similar, but genetically and ecologically diverse protists – Stygiellidae fam. nov. Our investigation combines culture-based and environmental molecular-based approaches to capture a wider extent of species diversity and shows Stygiellidae as a group that ordinarily inhabits anoxic, sulfide- and ammonium-rich marine habitats worldwide.

  16. Del federalismo a las autonomías. Perspectiva histórica

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    Tomás PÉREZ DELGADO

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Hace unos meses, cuando en un celebrado artículo Francis Fukuyama analizaba «¿El fin de la Historia?», señalaba: «Si admitimos por el momento que el comunismo y el fascismo, rivales del liberalismo, han muerto, ¿queda algún oponente ideológico?... Dos posibilidades saltan a la vista: la religión y el nacionalismo ... Desde luego, es cierto que desde la batalla de lena, gran parte de los conflictos tienen su base en este...»l. Un movimiento que dominó gran parte del siglo XIX y las primeras décadas del siglo actual, apareció incluso en países europeos consolidados como forma de conciencia racial o cultural diferenciada, que reclamaba diversos grados de autonomía para algunas regiones y que vuelve a perfilarse como «uno de los más poderosos movimientos individuales que funcionan en el mundo actual...» (Sir Isaac Berlin, 1979; sobre todo a raíz del reciente derrumbe del centralismo comunista en la Europa del Este.

  17. FLAGELLATE CRYPTOBIA BRANCHIALIS (BODONIDA: KINETOPLASTIDA), ECTOPARASITE OF TILAPIA FROM THE SALTON SEA. (R826552)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Concl...

  18. Keeping it complicated: Mitochondrial genome plasticity across diplonemids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valach, Matus; Moreira, Sandrine; Hoffmann, Steve; Stadler, Peter F; Burger, Gertraud

    2017-10-26

    Chromosome rearrangements are important drivers in genome and gene evolution, with implications ranging from speciation to development to disease. In the flagellate Diplonema papillatum (Euglenozoa), mitochondrial genome rearrangements have resulted in nearly hundred chromosomes and a systematic dispersal of gene fragments across the multipartite genome. Maturation into functional RNAs involves separate transcription of gene pieces, joining of precursor RNAs via trans-splicing, and RNA editing by substitution and uridine additions both reconstituting crucial coding sequence. How widespread these unusual features are across diplonemids is unclear. We have analyzed the mitochondrial genomes and transcriptomes of four species from the Diplonema/Rhynchopus clade, revealing a considerable genomic plasticity. Although gene breakpoints, and thus the total number of gene pieces (~80), are essentially conserved across this group, the number of distinct chromosomes varies by a factor of two, with certain chromosomes combining up to eight unrelated gene fragments. Several internal protein-coding gene pieces overlap substantially, resulting, for example, in a stretch of 22 identical amino acids in cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5. Finally, the variation of post-transcriptional editing patterns across diplonemids indicates compensation of two adverse trends: rapid sequence evolution and loss of genetic information through unequal chromosome segregation.

  19. Notes on the occurrence of Trypanosoma sp. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae in freshwater fishes from South Africa

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    Maryke L. Ferreira

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available A total of 257 fishes from four families, Clariidae, Cichlidae, Cyprinidae and Schilbeidae were collected from three localities: the Sand River Dam, Swaziland; the Nylsvlei Nature Reserve, South Africa and the Vaal Dam and Vaal River Barrage, South Africa. Only fishes (n= 154 from Clariidae and Cichlidae were found to be infected with trypanosomes. A total of 221 Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822 were collected from the Vaal Dam and Vaal Barrage area, South Africa. Of these, 74%(89/121 were infected with trypanosomes from the Vaal Dam and 63%(63/100 from the Vaal River Barrage, with no seasonal infection pattern. A prevalence of 25%(1/4 was found in C. gariepinus from the Sand River Dam, Swaziland, and a 50% (1/2 prevalence was found in Tilapia sparrmanii from the Nylsvlei Nature Reserve, South Africa. Standard measurements conformed closely to the morphometric and morphological descriptions of Trypanosoma mukasai. This article provides new locality records for T. mukasai from the Vaal Dam, Vaal River Barrage and Nylsvlei Nature Reserve (South Africa and the Sand River Dam (Swaziland. Tilapia sparrmanii collected in the Sand River Dam in Swaziland is also noted as a new host record.

  20. Ichthyobodo salmonis sp. n. (Ichthyobodonidae, Kinetoplastida), an euryhaline ectoparasite infecting Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ISAKSEN, TROND E.; KARLSBAKK, EGIL; WATANABE, KUNINORI; NYLUND, ARE

    2011-01-01

    SUMMARY Phylogenetic analyses of SSU rDNA sequences have previously revealed the existence of 2 Ichthyobodo species able to infect Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Ichthyobodo necator sensu stricto (s.s.) is assumed to be a freshwater parasite, while a genetically distinct but undescribed species, Ichthyobodo sp. II sensu Todal et al. (2004) have been detected on Atlantic salmon in both fresh- and seawater. In the present study a morphological description of Ichthyobodo sp. II from the gills of salmon reared in fresh-, brackish- and seawater is presented, using both light- and electron microscopy. Comparative morphometry show that Ichthyobodo sp. II from both freshwater and seawater displays a different cell shape, and is significantly smaller than I. necator s.s. Also, ultrastructural characteristics distinguish these two species, notably differences in the attachment region and the presence of spine-like surface projections in Ichthyobodo sp. II. Based on both unique SSU rDNA sequences and morphological characteristics, we conclude that Ichthyobodo sp. II. represents a novel species for which we propose the name Ichthyobodo salmonis sp. n. PMID:21756424

  1. Toward establishing model organisms for marine protists: Successful transfection protocols for Parabodo caudatus (Kinetoplastida: Excavata).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomaa, Fatma; Garcia, Paulo A; Delaney, Jennifer; Girguis, Peter R; Buie, Cullen R; Edgcomb, Virginia P

    2017-09-01

    We developed protocols for, and demonstrated successful transfection of, the free-living kinetoplastid flagellate Parabodo caudatus with three plasmids carrying a fluorescence reporter gene (pEF-GFP with the EF1 alpha promoter, pUB-GFP with Ubiquitin C promoter, and pEYFP-Mitotrap with CMV promoter). We evaluated three electroporation approaches: (1) a square-wave electroporator designed for eukaryotes, (2) a novel microfluidic transfection system employing hydrodynamically-controlled electric field waveforms, and (3) a traditional exponential decay electroporator. We found the microfluidic device provides a simple and efficient platform to quickly test a wide range of electric field parameters to find the optimal set of conditions for electroporation of target species. It also allows for processing large sample volumes (>10 ml) within minutes, increasing throughput 100 times over cuvettes. Fluorescence signal from the reporter gene was detected a few hours after transfection and persisted for 3 days in cells transfected by pEF-GFP and pUB-GFP plasmids and for at least 5 days post-transfection for cells transfected with pEYFP-Mitotrap. Expression of the reporter genes (GFP and YFP) was also confirmed using reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). This work opens the door for further efforts with this taxon and close relatives toward establishing model systems for genome editing. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Nitric oxide production by Peromyscus yucatanicus (Rodentia infected with Leishmania (Leishmania mexicana

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    Elsy Nalleli Loría-Cervera

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Peromyscus yucatanicus (Rodentia: Cricetidae is a primary reservoir of Leishmania (Leishmania mexicana (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae. Nitric oxide (NO generally plays a crucial role in the containment and elimination of Leishmania. The aim of this study was to determine the amount of NO produced by P. yucatanicus infected with L. (L. mexicana. Subclinical and clinical infections were established in P. yucatanicus through inoculation with 1 x 10 2 and 2.5 x 10 6 promastigotes, respectively. Peritoneal macrophages were cultured alone or co-cultured with lymphocytes with or without soluble Leishmania antigen. The level of NO production was determined using the Griess reaction. The amount of NO produced was significantly higher (p ≤ 0.0001 in co-cultured macrophages and lymphocytes than in macrophages cultured alone. No differences in NO production were found between P. yucatanicus with subclinical L. (L. mexicana infections and animals with clinical infections. These results support the hypothesis that the immunological mechanisms of NO production in P. yucatanicus are similar to those described in mouse models of leishmaniasis and, despite NO production, P. yucatanicus is unable to clear the parasite infection.

  3. Infections of Hypostomus spp. by Trypanosoma spp. and leeches: a study of hematology and record of these hirudineans as potential vectors of these hemoflagellates

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    Lincoln Lima Corrêa

    Full Text Available Abstract Among Kinetoplastida, the Trypanosoma is the genus with the highest occurrence infecting populations of marine fish and freshwater in the world, with high levels of prevalence, causing influences fish health and consequent economic losses, mainly for fish populations in situation stress. This study investigated infections of Hypostomus spp. by Trypanosoma spp. and leeches, as well as blood parameters of this host in the network of tributaries of the Tapajós River in the state of Pará, in the eastern Amazon region in Brazil. Of the 47 hosts examined, 89.4% were parasitized by Trypanosoma spp. and 55.4% also had leeches attached around the mouth. The intensity of Trypanosoma spp. increased with the size of the host, but the body conditions were not influenced by the parasitism. The number of red blood cells, and hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH, total number of leukocytes and thrombocytes showed variations and negative correlation with the intensity of Trypanosoma spp. in the blood of the hosts. The results suggest that the leeches were vectors of Trypanosoma spp. in Hypostomus spp.

  4. Allozyme comparison of three Trypanosoma species (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) of toads and frogs by starch-gel electrophoresis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, D S; Desser, S S; Hong, H

    1992-04-01

    Six metabolic enzymes, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glucosephosphate isomerase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase, and purine nucleoside phosphorylase, from clonal isolates of 3 presumptive species of Trypanosoma (T. fallisi, T. ranarum, and T. rotatorium) from 3 anuran hosts (Bufo americanus, Rana clamitans, and Rana catesbeiana) were compared using starch-gel electrophoresis. Although bands were shared among the different zymodemes of isolates of the same host genus, low genetic polymorphism of the enzyme loci was observed with few apparent shared bands between samples isolated from frogs and toads. A distance value calculated between toad and frog trypanosome isolates suggests the likelihood of long-time separation of species. Cluster analysis based on overall similarity distinguished the trypanosomes of toads and frogs as separate taxa, suggesting that host specificity and observed morphological differences are consistent with heritable allozyme differences.

  5. Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum saloboense n. sp. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae parasite of Monodelphis emiliae (Marsupiala: Didelphidae from Amazonian Brazil

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    Lainson R.

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum saloboense n. sp., is described in the Brazilian opossum Monodelphis emiliae (Thomas, 1912 from primary forest in the Salobo area of the Serra dos Carajás (6° S, 50° 18′ W Pará State, North Brazil. Two morphologically different trypomastigotes were noted. Slender forms, regarded as immature parasites, have a poorly developed undulating membrane adhering closely to the body: large, broad forms with a well developed membrane are considered to be the mature trypomastigotes and have a mean total length of 71.2 μm (62.4-76.2 and a width of 6.1 (5.0-8.0. Infections studied in two opossums were of very low parasitaemia. The large size of T. (M. saloboense readily distinguishes it from the two previously described members of the subgenus Megatrypanum of neotropical marsupials, T. (M. freitasi Régo et al., 1957 of Didelphis azarae and D. marsupialis, and T. (M. samueli Mello, 1977 of Monodelphis domesticus, which measure only 49.0-51.5 μm and 42.4 μm respectively. No infections were obtained in hamsters inoculated with triturated liver and spleen from one infected M. emiliae, or in laboratory mice inoculated with epimastigotes from a blood-agar culture. No division stages could be detected in the internal organs or the peripheral blood.

  6. Molecular identification of Lutzomyia migonei (Diptera: Psychodidae) as a potential vector for Leishmania infantum (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodrigues, Ana Caroline Moura; Melo, Luciana Magalhães; Magalhães, Rafaela Damasceno; de Moraes, Nélio Batista; de Souza Júnior, Antônio Domingos; Bevilaqua, Claudia Maria Leal

    2016-04-15

    Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Brazil is caused by the protozoan Leishmania infantum. This parasite is transmitted by the bite of a female sand fly. The most important sand fly species in VL transmission is Lutzomyia longipalpis. In Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará State, Brazil, the simultaneous occurrence of Lutzomyia migonei and L. longipalpis was detected in localities where VL transmission is observed. The purpose of this study was to determine conclusively if L. migonei can be found naturally infected with L. infantum in key focus in Fortaleza. Using a CDC traps we performed phlebotomine capture during one year. External morphological features and qPCR targeting species-specific gene sequences of Lutzomyia species were used to identify the female phlebotomine sand flies. The molecular identification of the Leishmania species was performed using qPCR targeting species-specific gene sequences of L. infantum and Leishmania braziliensis. The males L. migonei abundance was higher in the rainy season. Humidity and rainfall positively correlated with males L. migonei abundance, while temperature showed a negative correlation. The correlation between the density of L. migonei female with rainfall, relative air humidity, and temperature were not statistically significant. According to the molecular data produced by qPCR amplifications, three positive sand flies were identified as L. longipalpis, and one was identified as L. migonei. The infection rate was 0.35% and 0.18%, respectively. The parasite load was 32,492±2572 L. infantum in L. migonei while the L. longipalpis had parasite loads between 2,444,964.6±116,000 and 6,287,130±124,277. Our findings confirm L. migonei as a potential vector of VL in Fortaleza at a molecular level. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Feeding preferences of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae), the sand fly vector, for Leishmania infantum (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macedo-Silva, Virgínia P; Martins, Daniella R A; De Queiroz, Paula Vivianne Souza; Pinheiro, Marcos Paulo G; Freire, Caio C M; Queiroz, José W; Dupnik, Kathryn M; Pearson, Richard D; Wilson, Mary E; Jeronimo, Selma M B; Ximenes, Maria De Fátima F M

    2014-01-01

    Leishmania infantum, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Brazil, is spread mostly by the bite of the sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva). We trapped sand flies in endemic neighborhoods near Natal, Brazil, where cases of human and dog VL were documented. Amplification of species-specific cytochrome b (Cyt b) genes by polymerase chain reaction revealed that sand flies from rural and periurban areas harbored blood from different sources. The most common source ofbloodmeal was human, but blood from dog, chicken, and armadillo was also present. We tested the preference for a source of bloodmeal experimentally by feeding L. longipalpis F1 with blood from different animals. There were significant differences between the proportion of flies engorged and number of eggs laid among flies fed on different sources, varying from 8.4 to 19 (P < 0.0001). Blood from guinea pig or horse was best to support sand fly oviposition, but human blood also supported sand fly oviposition well. No sand flies fed on cats, and sand flies feeding on the opossum Monodelphis domestica Wagner produced no eggs. These data support the hypothesis that L. longipalpis is an eclectic feeder, and humans are an important source of blood for this sand fly species in periurban areas of Brazil.

  8. Parapedobacter koreensis gen. nov., sp. nov.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Myung Kyum; Na, Ju-Ryun; Cho, Dong Ha; Soung, Nak-Kyun; Yang, Deok-Chun

    2007-06-01

    Strain Jip14(T), a Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, non-motile bacterium, was isolated from dried rice straw and characterized in order to determine its taxonomic position. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain Jip14(T) belongs to the family Sphingobacteriaceae, and the highest degree of sequence similarity was determined to be to Pedobacter saltans DSM 12145(T) (88.5 %), Pedobacter africanus DSM 12126(T) (87.6 %), Pedobacter heparinus DSM 2366(T) (87.1 %) and Pedobacter caeni LMG 22862(T) (86.9 %). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that strain Jip14(T) possesses menaquinone MK-7 and the predominant fatty acids C(15 : 0) iso, C(16 : 0), C(16 : 0) 10-methyl, C(17 : 0) iso 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C(15 : 0) iso 2-OH/C(16 : 1)omega7c). The results of physiological and biochemical tests clearly demonstrated that strain Jip14(T) represents a distinct species. Based on these data, Jip14(T) should be classified within a novel genus and species, for which the name Parapedobacter koreensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Parapedobacter koreensis is Jip14(T) (=KCTC 12643(T)=LMG 23493(T)).

  9. Abundance, diversity and community composition of free-living protozoa on vegetable sprouts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavatte, N; Lambrecht, E; Van Damme, I; Sabbe, K; Houf, K

    2016-05-01

    Interactions with free-living protozoa (FLP) have been implicated in the persistence of pathogenic bacteria on food products. In order to assess the potential involvement of FLP in this contamination, detailed knowledge on their occurrence, abundance and diversity on food products is required. In the present study, enrichment and cultivation methods were used to inventory and quantify FLP on eight types of commercial vegetable sprouts (alfalfa, beetroot, cress, green pea, leek, mung bean, red cabbage and rosabi). In parallel, total aerobic bacteria and Escherichia coli counts were performed. The vegetable sprouts harbored diverse communities of FLP, with Tetrahymena (ciliate), Bodo saltans and cercomonads (flagellates), and Acanthamoeba and Vannella (amoebae) as the dominant taxa. Protozoan community composition and abundance significantly differed between the sprout types. Beetroot harbored the most abundant and diverse FLP communities, with many unique species such as Korotnevella sp., Vannella sp., Chilodonella sp., Podophrya sp. and Sphaerophrya sp. In contrast, mung bean sprouts were species-poor and had low FLP numbers. Sampling month and company had no significant influence, suggesting that seasonal and local factors are of minor importance. Likewise, no significant relationship between protozoan community composition and bacterial load was observed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Insights into the structural characteristics and substrate binding analysis of chondroitin AC lyase (PsPL8A) from Pedobacter saltans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rani, Aruna; Dhillon, Arun; Sharma, Kedar; Goyal, Arun

    2018-04-01

    The structure of chondroitin AC lyase (PsPL8A) of family 8 polysaccharide lyase was characterized. Modeled PsPL8A structure showed, it contains N-terminal (α/α) 6 incomplete toroidal fold and a layered β sandwich structure at C-terminal. Ramchandran plot displayed 98.5% residues in favoured and 1.2% in generously allowed region. Secondary structure of PsPL8A by CD revealed 27.31% α helices 22.7% β sheets and 49.9% random coils. Protein melting study showed, PsPL8A completely unfolds at 60°C. SAXS analysis showed, PsPL8A is fully folded in solution form. The ab initio derived dummy model of PsPL8A superposed well with its modeled structure excluding some α-helices and loop region. Structural superposition and docking analysis showed, N153, W105, H203, Y208, Y212, R266 and E349 were involved in catalysis. Mutants N153A, H203A, Y212F, R266A and E349A created by SDM revealed no residual activity. Isothermal titration calorimetry analysis of Y212F and H203A with C4S polysaccharide, showed moderate binding by Y212F (Ka=9.56±3.81×10 5 ) and no binding with H203A, showing active contribution of Y212 in substrate binding. Residues Y212 and H203 or R266 might act as general base and general acid respectively. Residues N153 and E349 are likely contributing in charge neutralization and stabilizing enolate anion intermediate during β-elimination. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Descripción ultraestructural de Euglena pailasensis (Euglenozoa del Volcán Rincón de la Vieja, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

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    Ethel Sánchez

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available Los euglenoides son eucariotas unicelulares flagelados que habitan ambientes acuáticos y suelos de una gran diversidad de ecosistemas. Este trabajo presenta la descripción morfológica ultraestructural del euglenoide E. pailasensis aislado de las fuentes de lodo caliente de las "pailas de barro" en el Volcán Rincón de la Vieja, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. La temperatura de estos sitios puede variar entre 38 y 98° C y puede tener un pH entre 1 y 4. El estudio se realizó utilizando microscopia electrónica de barrido y transmisión. El euglenoide está constituido por una célula típica que puede medir de 30 a 45 µm de largo y 8-10 µm de ancho, con membrana externa, película, cloroplastos, mitocondrias, núcleo, pigmentos granulares y demás organelas citoplasmáticas de un eucarionte. Esta delimitado por una membrana continua y por una película compuesta de aproximadamente 40 - 90 mionemas que miden entre 0.8 y 1.0 µm de ancho, dispuestas helicoidalmente sobre la célula. Se observó 5 cloroplastos elongados por célula, de 1-2 µm de diámetro y 6-12 µm de largo, delimitados por tres membranas y localizados en la periferia celular. Este posee glóbulos osmiofílicos y un pirenoide penetrado por pocos tilacoides. El material nutritivo se almacena en gránulos de paramilón y las mitocondrias presentan las crestas en disposición radial hacia el interior del lumen. La zona de la ámpula se observó sin flagelo y se notó una red de fibrillas que envuelve el espécimen. Las características ultraestructurales observadas en este estudio, no permiten explicar la capacidad de E. pailasensis para habitar en el ambiente volcánico extremo de las Pailas de Barro CalienteThe euglenoids are unicellular eukaryotic flagellates living in a diversity of soils and aquatic environments and ecosystems. This study describes the ultrastructure of an euglenoid isolated from the surface of a boiling mud pool with temperatures ranging from 38 to 98°C and pH 2 - 4. The hot mud pool is located in Area de Pailas de Barro, Las Pailas, Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The morphological characterization of the Euglena pailasensis was performed by SEM and TEM. It was determined that, although the euglenoid was obtained from an extreme volcanic environment, the general morphology corresponds to that of a typical member of Euglena of 30-45 µm long and 8-10 µm wide, with membrane, pellicle, chloroplasts, mitochondria, nucleus, pigments and other cytoplasmic organelles. E. pailasensis is delimited by a membrane and by 40 to 90 pellicle strips. It was observed up to 5 elongated chloroplasts per cell. The chloroplast contains several osmiophilic globules and a pyrenoid penetrated by few thylakoid pairs. The nutritious material is reserved in numerous small paramylon grains located at the center of the cell, mitocondria are characterized by the presence of crests in radial disposition toward the interior of the lumen. It was also observed around the external surface "pili" like filaments originating from the pellicle strips. There is no evidence for the presence of flagella in the ampulla (reservoir/canal area, a fact confirmed by negative staining, and a difference regarding other species of Euglena. The observed ultrastructural characteristics are not sufficient to explain the adaptation of this species to acid and hot environments

  12. Actividad contra Leishmania sp. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae de plantas en una Reserva Biológica de Costa Rica

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    Misael Chinchilla-Carmona

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available La leishmaniosis es una enfermedad muy importante para el ser humano pero su tratamiento es bastante difícil. Por esta razón muchos investigadores han venido buscando plantas que contengan componentes químicos activos contra esta parasitosis. En Costa Rica no se tienen estudios al respecto y por eso el objetivo de este estudio fue la búsqueda de componentes activos contra Leishmania sp. en plantas de Costa Rica; 67 especies de la Reserva Biológica Alberto Manuel Brenes (REBAMB fueron seleccionadas para realizar este trabajo. Para ello se prepararon extractos crudos hidro-alcohólicos de material fresco o desecado de raíz, tallo, hojas maduras o tiernas, flores y frutos inmaduros o maduros. Usando pruebas presuntivas y luego específicas, se analizó el efecto de tales extractos sobre una cepa de Leishmania (OCR. Se consideraron plantas promisorias solamente aquellas en que al menos una de sus partes presentara un CI50<100µg/mL. Las plantas seleccionadas fueron: Bocconia frutescens, Clematis dioica,Cordia megalantha, Eugenia austin-smithii, Guarea bullata, Guateria tonduzii, Mikania holwayana, Nectandra membranacea,Neurolaena lobata, Persea povedae, Piper auritum, Rollinia pittieri, Solanum arboreum, Tetrorchidium euryphyllum, Witheringia solanacea y Zanthoxylum juniperinum. Existió una ligera tendencia de positividad mayor para los extractos frescos y la actividad se presentó en una y hasta más de cuatro partes de la planta. La mayoría de los extractos activos no fueron tóxicos. Se discute la importancia de estos nuevos hallazgos, en relación con el nuevo conocimiento científico y su proyección en el tratamiento de la leishmaniosis.

  13. Actividad contra Leishmania sp. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) de plantas en una Reserva Biológica de Costa Rica

    OpenAIRE

    Misael Chinchilla-Carmona; Idalia Valerio-Campos; Ronald Sánchez-Porras; Vanessa Bagnarello-Madrigal; Laura Martínez-Esquivel; Antonieta González-Paniagua; Javier Alpizar-Cordero; Maribel Cordero-Villalobos; Daniela Rodríguez-Chaves

    2014-01-01

    La leishmaniosis es una enfermedad muy importante para el ser humano pero su tratamiento es bastante difícil. Por esta razón muchos investigadores han venido buscando plantas que contengan componentes químicos activos contra esta parasitosis. En Costa Rica no se tienen estudios al respecto y por eso el objetivo de este estudio fue la búsqueda de componentes activos contra Leishmania sp. en plantas de Costa Rica; 67 especies de la Reserva Biológica Alberto Manuel Brenes (REBAMB) fueron selecci...

  14. [Natural infection of Lutzomyia cayennensis cayennensis with trypanosomatid parasites (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in Los Montes de Maria, Colombia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cochero, Suljey; Anaya, Yosed; Díaz, Yirys; Paternina, Margaret; Luna, Arturo; Paternina, Luis; Eduar Elías, Bejarano

    2007-01-01

    The presence of sand flies naturally infected with trypanosomatid parasites was determined in Los Montes de Maria, Colombia, a region considered endemic for visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis. Phlebotomines were collected using CDC light-traps, and sticky traps soaked with castor oil placed in the peri and intradomestic habitats. Six species of Lutzomyia were morphologically identified among the 159 sand flies captured: Lu. evansi, Lu. cayennensis cayennensis, Lu. trinidadensis, Lu. atroclavata, Lu. gomezi and Lu. dubitans. A DNA band of 800 pb corresponding to the small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene (ssrRNA) of the family Trypanosomatidae was amplified in one pool of nine females of Lu. cayennensis cayennensis. This finding constitutes the first evidence of natural infection of this sand fly species with trypanosomatid parasites in Los Montes de Maria.

  15. Old Yellow Enzyme from Trypanosoma cruzi Exhibits In Vivo Prostaglandin F2α Synthase Activity and Has a Key Role in Parasite Infection and Drug Susceptibility

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    Florencia Díaz-Viraqué

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The discovery that trypanosomatids, unicellular organisms of the order Kinetoplastida, are capable of synthesizing prostaglandins raised questions about the role of these molecules during parasitic infections. Multiple studies indicate that prostaglandins could be related to the infection processes and pathogenesis in trypanosomatids. This work aimed to unveil the role of the prostaglandin F2α synthase TcOYE in the establishment of Trypanosoma cruzi infection, the causative agent of Chagas disease. This chronic disease affects several million people in Latin America causing high morbidity and mortality. Here, we propose a prokaryotic evolutionary origin for TcOYE, and then we used in vitro and in vivo experiments to show that T. cruzi prostaglandin F2α synthase plays an important role in modulating the infection process. TcOYE overexpressing parasites were less able to complete the infective cycle in cell culture infections and increased cardiac tissue parasitic load in infected mice. Additionally, parasites overexpressing the enzyme increased PGF2α synthesis from arachidonic acid. Finally, an increase in benznidazole and nifurtimox susceptibility in TcOYE overexpressing parasites showed its participation in activating the currently anti-chagasic drugs, which added to its observed ability to confer resistance to hydrogen peroxide, highlights the relevance of this enzyme in multiple events including host–parasite interaction.

  16. The salivary glands of two sand fly vectors of Leishmania: Lutzomyia migonei (França) and Lutzomyia ovallesi (Ortiz)(Diptera: Psychodidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nieves, Elsa; Buelvas, Neudo; Rondón, Maritza; González, Néstor

    2010-01-01

    Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease transmitted by the intradermal inoculation of Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) promastigotes together with saliva during the bite of an infected sand fly. The salivary glands were compared from two vector species, Lutzomyia ovallesi (Ortiz,1952) and Lutzomyia migonei (França,1920) (Diptera: Psychodidae). Protein profiles by SDS PAGE of salivary glands were compared among species as well as their development at several times post feeding. First, mice were immunized to salivary proteins by exposure to biting by L. ovallesi and of L. migonei. Antibodies in these mice against salivary gland-specific proteins were evaluated by immunoblotting. No apparent change was revealed in the kinetic expression of salivary proteins induced by the different physiological states post feeding. Qualitative and quantitative variations were detected in16-18 polypeptides with molecular weights ranging from 6 to 180 kDa. Species-specific proteins were demonstrated for L. migonei and L. ovallesi. In addition, antibodies against salivary gland specific proteins were found in mice immunized by the saliva of both species. Basic information was obtained concerning the nature of salivary gland proteins of L. migonei and L. ovallesi. This information helps to elucidate the role of salivary proteins and their potential as effective tools in screening risk factors in human and other vertebrate hosts.

  17. Diversity and distribution of eukaryotic microbes in and around a brine pool adjacent to the Thuwal cold seeps in the Red Sea

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Yong

    2014-02-04

    A hypoxic/suboxic brine pool at a depth of about 850 m was discovered near the Thuwal cold seeps in the Red Sea. Filled with high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, such a brine pool might limit the spread of eukaryotic organisms. Here, we compared the communities of the eukaryotic microbes in a microbial mat, sediments and water samples distributed in 7 sites within and adjacent to the brine pool. Taxonomic classification of the pyrosequenced 18S rRNA amplicon reads showed that fungi highly similar to the species identified along the Arabic coast were almost ubiquitous in the water and sediment samples, supporting their wide distribution in various environments. The microbial mat displayed the highest species diversity and contained grazers and a considerable percentage of unclassified species. Phylogeny-based methods revealed novel lineages representing a majority of the reads from the interface between the sea water and brine pool. Phylogenetic relationships with more reference sequences suggest that the lineages were affiliated with novel Alveolata and Euglenozoa inhabiting the interface where chemosynthetic prokaryotes are highly proliferative due to the strong chemocline and halocline. The brine sediments harbored abundant species highly similar to invertebrate gregarine parasites identified in different oxygen-depleted sediments. Therefore, the present findings support the uniqueness of some microbial eukaryotic groups in this cold seep brine system. 2014 Wang, Zhang, Cao, Shek, Tian, Wong, Batang, Al-suwailem and Qian.

  18. Seasonal diversity of planktonic protists in Southwestern Alberta rivers over a 1-year period as revealed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and 18S rRNA gene library analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Matthew C; Selinger, L Brent; Inglis, G Douglas

    2012-08-01

    The temporal dynamics of planktonic protists in river water have received limited attention despite their ecological significance and recent studies linking phagotrophic protists to the persistence of human-pathogenic bacteria. Using molecular-based techniques targeting the 18S rRNA gene, we studied the seasonal diversity of planktonic protists in Southwestern Alberta rivers (Oldman River Basin) over a 1-year period. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) data revealed distinct shifts in protistan community profiles that corresponded to season rather than geographical location. Community structures were examined by using clone library analysis; HaeIII restriction profiles of 18S rRNA gene amplicons were used to remove prevalent solanaceous plant clones prior to sequencing. Sanger sequencing of the V1-to-V3 region of the 18S rRNA gene libraries from spring, summer, fall, and winter supported the T-RFLP results and showed marked seasonal differences in the protistan community structure. The spring library was dominated by Chloroplastidae (29.8%), Centrohelida (28.1%), and Alveolata (25.5%), while the summer and fall libraries contained primarily fungal clones (83.0% and 88.0%, respectively). Alveolata (35.6%), Euglenozoa (24.4%), Chloroplastida (15.6%), and Fungi (15.6%) dominated the winter library. These data demonstrate that planktonic protists, including protozoa, are abundant in river water in Southwestern Alberta and that conspicuous seasonal shifts occur in the community structure.

  19. El Boom y el fracaso de los intelectuales. Sobre Conversación en la Catedral (1969 de Vargas Llosa y Cien años de soledad (1967 de García Márquez

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mercedes Alonso

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available El debate en torno al papel de los intelectuales tiene un lugar central en el Boom de la Literatura Latinoamericana. Por un lado,  porque es un momento en que los escritores saltan a la esfera pública e intervienen en ámbitos que exceden o literario. Por otro, porque ha sido uno de los temas que ha ocupado a la crítica en su afán de adscribir el fenómeno al mercado o a las circunstancias políticas de América Latina. Bajo el supuesto de esa centralidad, el presente artículo busca desentrañar las representaciones del intelectual que aparecen en dos novelas del período: Conversación en la Catedral (1969 de Mario Vargas Llosa y Cien años de soledad (1967 de Gabriel García Márquez. En ellas aparecen elementos y problemáticas presentes en los debates que les son contemporáneos con una mirada más amplia que la que opone al escritor y el político (o al intelectual y el revolucionario. Las tareas propias del letrado y la relación con la esfera pública y con las masas definen a los dos personajes principales a partir de los que se puede reconstruir una definición del intelectual.

  20. New records of parasites for culture Cobia, Rachycentron canadum (Perciformes: Rachycentridae in Puerto Rico

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    Lucy Bunkley-Williams

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Intensive aquaculture sometimes provides conditions favorable for parasites that are not ordinarily found on culture fishes in the wild, and the use of introduced stocks sometimes introduces non-indigenous species to the habitat. When officially asked about the culture of Cobia Rachycentron canadum (Linnaeus in Puerto Rico, the authors responded that it was unlikely to cause harm. It was assumed that a well-known culture facility in Florida would assure parasite-free stocks. Subsequent examinations of stocked juveniles surprisingly found parasites new to this fish. An outbreak of Slime-blotch disease, Brooklynella hostilis Lom & Nigrilli, 1970 (Dysteriida: Hartmannulidae occurred in juvenile Cobia after they were shipped from Florida and stocked. This apparently represents a local parasite that took advantage of the weakened and/or crowded fish. The universal aquarium and culture superparasite, Marine Ich, Cryptocaryon irritans Brown, 1951 (Colpodia: Ichthyophthiriidae was introduced with a shipment of juvenile Cobia from Florida. This may not be serious, since the parasite occurs worldwide, unless it represents a new strain to Puerto Rico. Marine Costia, Ichthyobodo sp. (Kinetoplastida: Bodonidae was introduced into Puerto Rico with juvenile Cobia shipped from Florida. This parasite has caused some severe problems in aquaculture hatcheries in Hawaii and Texas after it was introduced with cultured organisms. Thus far, it has not caused any problems locally, but Puerto Rico lacks the marine hatchery facilities where such outbreaks would occur. The question of whether it is established locally will have to wait the development of similar facilities in Puerto Rico. These three species of parasites represent new host records for Cobia. The non-indigenous Ichthyobodo sp. represents new locality records for the tropical Atlantic, Caribbean, and Florida and Puerto Rico. Cobia mature more quickly in culture than in the wild and thus female Cobia

  1. Molecular screening of Leishmania spp. infection and bloodmeals in sandflies from a leishmaniasis focus in southwestern Turkey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karaku Ş, M; Pekağ Irba Ş, M; Demir, S; Eren, H; Töz, S; Özbel, Y

    2017-06-01

    Leishmaniasis is an arthropod-borne disease that affects approximately 2 million people worldwide annually. The aims of this study were to detect the presence of Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) DNA and the feeding preferences of probable vector species in an endemic focus of Leishmania infantum in Turkey. Entomological sampling was performed in August and October 2015 in Aydın province, where cases of human and canine leishmaniasis have been reported previously. A total of 1059 sandfly specimens comprising nine species belonging to two genera, Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia (both: Diptera: Psychodidae), and five subgenera of the Phlebotomus genus (Phlebotomus, Paraphlebotomus, Larroussius, Adlerius and Transphlebotomus) were collected in five villages. Among all Phlebotomus specimens, Phlebotomus neglectus (39%) was noted as the most abundant species, followed by Phlebotomus tobbi (18%). Leishmania DNA was detected in pools from P. neglectus, P. tobbi and Sergentomyia dentata by kDNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Leishmania DNA from Phlebotomus specimens was identified as L. infantum, but Leishmania DNA from Sergentomyia spp. could not be identified to species level by ITS-1 real-time PCR. The detection of Leishmania DNA in wild-caught P. neglectus and the high percentage (24.2%) of human DNA in engorged specimens suggests that P. neglectus is probably an important vector species for L. infantum in Aydın province. © 2016 The Royal Entomological Society.

  2. Characteristics of Phytoplankton Biomass, Primary Production and Community Structure in the Modaomen Channel, Pearl River Estuary, with Special Reference to the Influence of Saltwater Intrusion during Neap and Spring Tides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Weihua; Gao, Jie; Liao, Jianzu; Shi, Ronggui; Li, Tao; Guo, Yajuan; Long, Aimin

    2016-01-01

    In recent decades, increasing frequency and intensity of saltwater intrusion in the Modaomen Channel has threatened the freshwater supply in the surrounding cities of the Pearl River Estuary, and ulteriorly changed the environmental conditions of the estuarine waters. Phytoplankton biomass, primary production (PP) and species composition, as well as hydrological and chemical parameters were examined along a downstream transect in the Modaomen Channel during neap tide (NT) and spring tide (ST), when a strong saltwater intrusion event occurred in late September, 2011. A total of 46 species phytoplankton were identified, including Bacillariophyta (25 species), Dinoflagellate (14 species), Chlorophyta (4 species), Cyanophyta (2 species) and Euglenozoa (1 species). The dominant species were shifted from freshwater diatoms (e.g., Melosira granulata and Melosira granulata var. angustissima) in the upper reaches to saline water diatoms (e.g., Skeletonema costatum and Coscinodiscus sp.) in the river mouth. Generally, phytoplankton density, biomass (chl-a) and PP decreased from the upper to lower reaches along the channel, and were significantly higher in NT than those of ST. There was a shift from large-sized phytoplankton (>20 μm) in the upper reaches to relative small-sized cells (5-20 μm) in the lower reaches. Compared to NT, low discharge and flow velocity, coupled with strong easterly winds during ST specially aggravated saltwater intrusion further to the upstream (~50 km from the estuary). The intruded saltwater diluted nutrients, N/P ratios, chl-a, and phytoplankton abundances, and thereby led to a decline in PP during ST.

  3. Phylogenomic analyses support the monophyly of Excavata and resolve relationships among eukaryotic "supergroups".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hampl, Vladimir; Hug, Laura; Leigh, Jessica W; Dacks, Joel B; Lang, B Franz; Simpson, Alastair G B; Roger, Andrew J

    2009-03-10

    Nearly all of eukaryotic diversity has been classified into 6 suprakingdom-level groups (supergroups) based on molecular and morphological/cell-biological evidence; these are Opisthokonta, Amoebozoa, Archaeplastida, Rhizaria, Chromalveolata, and Excavata. However, molecular phylogeny has not provided clear evidence that either Chromalveolata or Excavata is monophyletic, nor has it resolved the relationships among the supergroups. To establish the affinities of Excavata, which contains parasites of global importance and organisms regarded previously as primitive eukaryotes, we conducted a phylogenomic analysis of a dataset of 143 proteins and 48 taxa, including 19 excavates. Previous phylogenomic studies have not included all major subgroups of Excavata, and thus have not definitively addressed their interrelationships. The enigmatic flagellate Andalucia is sister to typical jakobids. Jakobids (including Andalucia), Euglenozoa and Heterolobosea form a major clade that we name Discoba. Analyses of the complete dataset group Discoba with the mitochondrion-lacking excavates or "metamonads" (diplomonads, parabasalids, and Preaxostyla), but not with the final excavate group, Malawimonas. This separation likely results from a long-branch attraction artifact. Gradual removal of rapidly-evolving taxa from the dataset leads to moderate bootstrap support (69%) for the monophyly of all Excavata, and 90% support once all metamonads are removed. Most importantly, Excavata robustly emerges between unikonts (Amoebozoa + Opisthokonta) and "megagrouping" of Archaeplastida, Rhizaria, and chromalveolates. Our analyses indicate that Excavata forms a monophyletic suprakingdom-level group that is one of the 3 primary divisions within eukaryotes, along with unikonts and a megagroup of Archaeplastida, Rhizaria, and the chromalveolate lineages.

  4. Morphostasis in a novel eukaryote illuminates the evolutionary transition from phagotrophy to phototrophy: description of Rapaza viridis n. gen. et sp. (Euglenozoa, Euglenida

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    Yamaguchi Aika

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Morphostasis of traits in different species is necessary for reconstructing the evolutionary history of complex characters. Studies that place these species into a molecular phylogenetic context test hypotheses about the transitional stages that link divergent character states. For instance, the transition from a phagotrophic mode of nutrition to a phototrophic lifestyle has occurred several times independently across the tree of eukaryotes; one of these events took place within the Euglenida, a large group of flagellates with diverse modes of nutrition. Phototrophic euglenids form a clade that is nested within lineages of phagotrophic euglenids and that originated through a secondary endosymbiosis with green algae. Although it is clear that phototrophic euglenids evolved from phagotrophic ancestors, the morphological disparity between species representing these different nutritional modes remains substantial. Results We cultivated a novel marine euglenid, Rapaza viridis n. gen. et sp. ("green grasper", and a green alga, Tetraselmis sp., from the same environment. Cells of R. viridis were comprehensively characterized with light microscopy, SEM, TEM, and molecular phylogenetic analysis of small subunit rDNA sequences. Ultrastructural and behavioral observations demonstrated that this isolate habitually consumes a specific strain of Tetraselmis prey cells and possesses a functional chloroplast that is homologous with other phototrophic euglenids. A novel feeding apparatus consisting of a reduced rod of microtubules facilitated this first and only example of mixotrophy among euglenids. R. viridis also possessed a robust photoreception apparatus, two flagella of unequal length, euglenoid movement, and a pellicle consisting of 16 strips and one (square-shaped whorl of posterior strip reduction. The molecular phylogenetic data demonstrated that R. viridis branches as the nearest sister lineage to phototrophic euglenids. Conclusions The unusual combination of features in R. viridis combined with its molecular phylogenetic position completely conforms to the expected transitional stage that occurred during the early evolution of phototrophic euglenids from phagotrophic ancestors. The marine mixotrophic mode of nutrition, the preference for green algal prey cells, the structure of the feeding apparatus, and the organization of the pellicle are outstanding examples of morphostasis that clarify pivotal stages in the evolutionary history of this diverse group of microbial eukaryotes.

  5. Pedobacter insulae sp. nov., isolated from soil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Jung-Hoon; Kang, So-Jung; Oh, Hyun Woo; Oh, Tae-Kwang

    2007-09-01

    A Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, DS-139(T), was isolated from a soil sample collected from Dokdo, Korea, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic analysis. Strain DS-139(T) grew optimally at 25 degrees C and pH 6.5-7.5 in the presence of 0-0.5 % (w/v) NaCl. It contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C(15 : 0), C(16 : 1)omega7c and/or iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH and iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C content was 39.4 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain DS-39(T) belongs to the genus Pedobacter in the family Sphingobacteriaceae. The similarity values between the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain DS-139(T) and those of the type strains of recognized Pedobacter species, except Pedobacter saltans, were in the range 93.9-96.7 %. The differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, were sufficient to assign strain DS-139(T) to a species that is separate from recognized Pedobacter species. On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic data, therefore, strain DS-139(T) represents a novel species of the genus Pedobacter, for which the name Pedobacter insulae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DS-139(T) (=KCTC 12820(T) =DSM 18684(T)).

  6. [Ecoepidemiology of leishmaniases in Syria. 2--Presence, in dogs, of Leishmania infantum Nicolle and Leishmania tropica (Wright) (Kinetoplastida-Trypanonomatidae)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dereure, J; Rioux, J A; Khiami, A; Pratlong, F; Périères, J; Martini, A

    1991-01-01

    In an ecoepidemiological study in the Syrian foci of human visceral (VL) and cutaneous (CL) leishmaniasis, domestic dogs infected with Leishmania infantum MON-1 and L. tropica MON-76 were found for the first time. In Syria canine leishmaniasis caused by L. infantum, occurs in the humid and sub-humid western belt from the coastal zone to the nearby mountain ranges. Sporadis cases of human VL occur in this area. Canine CL, caused by L. tropica was found in the semi-arid zone in a village with a high human infection rate. The infection causes small papules or crusted ulcers on the nose or muzzle. These observations are relevant to control. In human VL foci it is recommended not to control the dog population, unless this is linked with other activities, such as rabies control. Control of dogs in the CL areas is not justified because of the small size of the lesions and the rarity of the parasites. Indeed the role of the dog as the "true" reservoir host is questionable. Human CL infection is best controlled by active case detection and specific treatment.

  7. The F1 -ATPase from Trypanosoma brucei is elaborated by three copies of an additional p18-subunit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gahura, Ondřej; Šubrtová, Karolína; Váchová, Hana; Panicucci, Brian; Fearnley, Ian M; Harbour, Michael E; Walker, John E; Zíková, Alena

    2018-02-01

    The F-ATPases (also called the F 1 F o -ATPases or ATP synthases) are multi-subunit membrane-bound molecular machines that produce ATP in bacteria and in eukaryotic mitochondria and chloroplasts. The structures and enzymic mechanisms of their F 1 -catalytic domains are highly conserved in all species investigated hitherto. However, there is evidence that the F-ATPases from the group of protozoa known as Euglenozoa have novel features. Therefore, we have isolated pure and active F 1 -ATPase from the euglenozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, and characterized it. All of the usual eukaryotic subunits (α, β, γ, δ, and ε) were present in the enzyme, and, in addition, two unique features were detected. First, each of the three α-subunits in the F 1 -domain has been cleaved by proteolysis in vivo at two sites eight residues apart, producing two assembled fragments. Second, the T. brucei F 1 -ATPase has an additional subunit, called p18, present in three copies per complex. Suppression of expression of p18 affected in vitro growth of both the insect and infectious mammalian forms of T. brucei. It also reduced the levels of monomeric and multimeric F-ATPase complexes and diminished the in vivo hydrolytic activity of the enzyme significantly. These observations imply that p18 plays a role in the assembly of the F 1 domain. These unique features of the F 1 -ATPase extend the list of special characteristics of the F-ATPase from T. brucei, and also, demonstrate that the architecture of the F 1 -ATPase complex is not strictly conserved in eukaryotes. © 2017 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

  8. Ecological and epidemiological status of species of the Phlebotomus perniciosus complex (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) in Morocco.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarrouk, Asmae; Kahime, Kholoud; Boussaa, Samia; Belqat, Boutaïna

    2016-03-01

    Leishmania infantum (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) infection is transmitted by an infected female sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae, Phlebotominae) of the subgenus Larroussius: Phlebotomus ariasi, Phlebotomus perniciosus, and Phlebotomus longicuspis in the Mediterranean basin. In Morocco, the vectorial role of P. ariasi was demonstrated, while that of P. longicuspis and P. perniciosus is not elucidated. In addition, Moroccan P. longicuspis and P. perniciosus populations present a higher morphologic and genetic variability. It was classified as P. perniciosus complex, including typical (PN) and atypical (PNA) morphs of P. perniciosus, P. longicuspis sensu stricto (LCss), and a sibling species of P. longicuspis (LCx). With the aim to study the ecological and epidemiological status of P. perniciosus complex species in Morocco, entomological surveys were carried out during three entomological seasons (2012, 2013, and 2014). We collected a total of 6298 specimens from 81 localities of northern, central, and southern Morocco. After describing the geographical distribution of P. perniciosus complex trough Morocco according to many variables (altitude, latitude, and longitude), we discuss the resulting epidemiological implications of its species. Our results highlight the geographical distribution of the two morphs of P. perniciosus through Morocco: PN is limited to the north, while PNA is widespread in northern, central, and southern Morocco. In terms of vectorial role, we hypothesize the potential involvement of PN, LCss, and LCx, at least, with P. ariasi, in the epidemiological cycle of L. infantum in Morocco.

  9. Synthetic sex pheromone attracts the leishmaniasis vector Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) to traps in the field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bray, D P; Bandi, K K; Brazil, R P; Oliveira, A G; Hamilton, J G C

    2009-05-01

    Improving vector control remains a key goal in reducing the world's burden of infectious diseases. More cost-effective approaches to vector control are urgently needed, particularly because vaccines are unavailable and treatment is prohibitively expensive. The causative agent of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL), Leishmania chagasi, Cunha and Chagas (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), is transmitted between animal and human hosts by blood-feeding female sand flies attracted to mating aggregations formed on or above host animals by male-produced sex pheromones. Our results show the potential of using synthetic pheromones to control populations of Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz and Neiva (Diptera: Psychodidae), the sand fly vector of one of the world's most important neglected diseases, AVL. We showed that a synthetic pheromone, (+/-)-9-methylgermacrene-B, produced from a low-cost plant intermediate, attracted females in the laboratory. By formulating dispensers that released this pheromone at a rate similar to that released by aggregating males, we were able to attract flies of both sexes to traps in the field. These dispensers worked equally well when deployed with mechanical light traps and inexpensive sticky traps. If deployed effectively, pheromone-based traps could be used to decrease AVL transmission rates through specific targeting and reduction of L. longipalpis populations. This is the first study to show attraction of a human disease-transmitting insect to a synthetic pheromone in the field, showing the general applicability of this novel approach for developing new tools for use in vector control.

  10. Synthetic Sex Pheromone Attracts the Leishmaniasis Vector Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) to Traps in the Field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bray, D. P.; Bandi, K. K.; Brazil, R. P.; Oliveira, A. G.; Hamilton, J.G.C.

    2011-01-01

    Improving vector control remains a key goal in reducing the world’s burden of infectious diseases. More cost-effective approaches to vector control are urgently needed, particularly as vaccines are unavailable and treatment is prohibitively expensive. The causative agent of AVL, Leishmania chagasi, Cunha and Chagas (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) is transmitted between animal and human hosts by blood-feeding female sand flies, attracted to mating aggregations formed on or above host animals by male-produced sex pheromones. Our results demonstrate the potential of using synthetic pheromones to control populations of Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz and Neiva (Diptera: Psychodidae), the sand fly vector of one of the world’s most important neglected diseases, American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL). We showed that a synthetic pheromone, (±)-9-methylgermacrene-B, produced from a low-cost plant intermediate, attracted females in the laboratory. Then by formulating dispensers that released this pheromone at a rate similar to that released by aggregating males, we were able to attract flies of both sexes to traps in the field. These dispensers worked equally well when deployed with mechanical light traps and inexpensive sticky traps. If deployed effectively, pheromone-based traps could be used to decrease AVL transmission rates through specific targeting and reduction of L. longipalpis populations. This is the first study to show attraction of a human disease-transmitting insect to a synthetic pheromone in the field, demonstrating the general applicability of this novel approach for developing new tools for use in vector control. PMID:19496409

  11. Trypanosomatids (Protozoa: Kinetoplastida in three species of Armored Catfish from Mogi-Guaçu river, Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Pereira Molina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Trypanosome infections have been reported in several species of fish, in majority of cases described on the basis of morphological characteristics. Trypanosomes in fish are heteroxenous and transmitted by hirudineans. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and density of infections by Trypanosoma sp. in blood from three species of catfish, Hypostomus regani, H. strigaticeps, H. albopunctatus, from the Mogi Guaçu River, Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil. Further, this study intends to characterize the Trypanosoma specimens found in the blood of these fish by morphological and molecular techniques. The trypanosomes overall prevalence observed was 47.6% with a general average density of 0.75 parasites/µl of blood. Hypostomus regani and Hypostomus strigaticeps showed a significant difference in prevalence. The average densities of parasites were not significantly different among the three fish species. Similar findings were observed for the monthly variations in densities. The parasites found in the three species of catfish studied showed similar morphological characteristics. The morphological data and the statistical analyses used in this study didn’t show the formation of groups. The analyses provided evidence of the presence of pleomorphisms in the trypanosomes found in the three studied fish.

  12. Chemical luminescence measurement of singlet oxygen generated by photodynamic therapy in solutions in real time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Shiming; Xing, Da; Zhou, Jing; Qin, Yanfang; Chen, Qun

    2005-04-01

    Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a cancer therapy that utilizes optical energy to activate a photosensitizer drug in a target tissue. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as 1O2 and superoxide, are believed to be the major cytotoxic agents involved in PDT. Although current PDT dosimetry mostly involves measurements of light and photosensitizer doses delivered to a patient, the quantification of ROS production during a treatment would be the ultimate dosimetry of PDT. Technically, it is very difficult and expensive to directly measure the fluorescence from 1O2, due to its extreme short lifetime and weak signal strength. In this paper, Photofrin(R) and 635nm laser were used to generate 1O2 and superoxide in a PDT in solution. Compound 3,7- dihydro-6-{4-[2-(N"-(5-fluoresceinyl) thioureido) ethoxy] phenyl}-2- methylimidazo{1,2-a} pyrazin-3-one sodium salt,an Cyp- ridina luciferin analog commonly referred as FCLA, was used as a chemical reporter of ROS. The 532nm chemiluminescence (CL) from the reaction of the FCLA and ROS was detected with a photon multiplier tube (PMT) system operating at single photon counting mode. With the setup, we have made detections of ROS generated by PDT in real time. By varying the amount of conventional PDT dosage (photosensitizer concentration, light irradiation fluence and its delivery rate) and the amount of FCLA, the intensity of CL and its consumption rate were investigated. The results show that the intensity and temporal profile of CL are highly related to the PDT treatment parameters. This suggests that FCLA CL may provide a highly potential alternative for ROS detection during PDT.

  13. Structural and biochemical characterization of novel bacterial α-galactosidases belonging to glycoside hydrolase family 31.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyazaki, Takatsugu; Ishizaki, Yuichi; Ichikawa, Megumi; Nishikawa, Atsushi; Tonozuka, Takashi

    2015-07-01

    Glycoside hydrolase family 31 (GH31) proteins have been reportedly identified as exo-α-glycosidases with activity for α-glucosides and α-xylosides. We focused on a GH31 subfamily, which contains proteins with low sequence identity (Pedobacter heparinus and Pedobacter saltans. The enzymes unexpectedly exhibited α-galactosidase activity, but were not active on α-glucosides and α-xylosides. The crystal structures of one of the enzymes, PsGal31A, in unliganded form and in complexes with D-galactose or L-fucose and the catalytic nucleophile mutant in unliganded form and in complex with p-nitrophenyl-α-D-galactopyranoside, were determined at 1.85-2.30 Å (1 Å=0.1 nm) resolution. The overall structure of PsGal31A contains four domains and the catalytic domain adopts a (β/α)8-barrel fold that resembles the structures of other GH31 enzymes. Two catalytic aspartic acid residues are structurally conserved in the enzymes, whereas most residues forming the active site differ from those of GH31 α-glucosidases and α-xylosidases. PsGal31A forms a dimer via a unique loop that is not conserved in other reported GH31 enzymes; this loop is involved in its aglycone specificity and in binding L-fucose. Considering potential genes for α-L-fucosidases and carbohydrate-related proteins within the vicinity of Pedobacter Gal31, the identified Gal31 enzymes are likely to function in a novel sugar degradation system. This is the first report of α-galactosidases which belong to GH31 family. © 2015 Authors; published by Portland Press Limited.

  14. Efeito de extratos de plantas utilizadas na medicina popular no crescimento e diferenciação celular de Herpetomonas samuelpessoai (Kinetoplastida, Trypanosomatidae cultivada em meio definido Effect of plant extracts used in folk medicine on cell growth and differentiation of Herpetomonas samuelpessoai (Kinetoplastida, Trypanosomatidae cultivated in defined medium

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    Fabiola Barbieri Holetz

    2002-04-01

    Full Text Available Neste trabalho, verificou-se o efeito de 15 plantas medicinais no crescimento e diferenciação celular de Herpetomonas samuelpessoai, um tripanosomatídeo não patogênico utilizado como modelo biológico, que apresenta antígenos semelhantes aos do Trypanosoma cruzi. Extratos brutos (1.000 g/ml ou óleo essencial (250 µg/ml foram adicionados ao meio definido. O crescimento celular foi determinado pela contagem em câmara de Newbauer e a diferenciação celular examinada por microscopia ótica. Ocimum gratissimum, Lippia alba, Piper regnellii, Stryphnodendron adstringens, e Tanacetum vulgare mostraram atividade antiprotozoário, Psidium guajava e Punica granatum menor atividade e Achillea millefolium, Eugenia uniflora, Mikania glomerata, Plantago major, e Spilanthes acmella não apresentaram atividade. Por outro lado, Arctium lappa, Erythrina speciosa, e Sambucus canadensis estimularam o crescimento de H. samuelpessoai e L. alba e S. acmella a diferenciação celular deste flagelado. Estes resultados indicam que plantas medicinais possuem princípios ativos contra H. samuelpessoai, o qual parece ser útil como modelo para seleção de plantas que contém drogas tripanomicidasThis work reports the effect of 15 medicinal plants on cell growth and differentiation of Herpetomonas samuelpessoai, a non-pathogenic trypanosomatid, used as biological model for its similar antigens to Trypanosoma cruzi. Crude extracts (1,000 g/ml or essential oil (250 g/ml were added in a defined medium. Cell growth was estimated by counting in Neubauer’s chamber and cell differentiation was examined by light microscope. Ocimum gratissimum, Lippia alba, Piper regnellii, Stryphnodendron adstringens, and Tanacetum vulgare showed antiprotozoan activity, Psidium guajava and Punica granatum a lower activity and Achillea millefolium, Eugenia uniflora, Mikania glomerata, Plantago major, and Spilanthes acmella had no activity. In contrast, Arctium lappa, Erythrina speciosa, and Sambucus Canadensis stimulated H. samuelpessoai growth. Only L. alba and S. acmella stimulated cell differentiation in this flagellate. These results indicate that medicinal plants possess active compounds against H. samuelpessoai. Thus, this protozoan seems to be a suitable model for screening plants containing trypanocidal drugs

  15. Single and concomitant experimental infectionsby Endotrypanum spp. and Leishmania (Viannia guyanensis (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae in the Neotropical sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae

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    André F Barbosa

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Lutzomyia longipalpis females received single and mixed infections with Endotrypanum and Leishmania. Two biological parameters were analyzed: the percentage of infected females and the distribution of flagellates in the gut of the females. The principal comparisons were performed between (1 two strains of Endotrypanum, (2 cloned versus primary sample of one strain of Endotrypanum, (3 Endotrypanum versus Leishmania guyanensis, and (4 the pattern of flagellates behaviour by optical microscopy in females with single or mixed infection versus the identification of parasites isolated from digestive tracts by isoenzyme electrophoresis. Flagellates of Endotrypanum showed distinct patterns of infection suggesting that there is variation between and within strains. The distribution of Endotrypanum and L. guyanensis differed significantly in relation to the colonization of the stomodeal valve. In co-infection with L. guyanensis, a large number of flagellates were seen to be plentifully infecting the stomodeal valve in significantly more specimens than in females infected by Endotrypanum only. However, the electrophoretic profiles of isoenzymes of parasites recovered from all co-infected specimens corresponded to Endotrypanum. This suggests that the mere correlation sand fly infection-biochemical analysis of isolates may induce parasitological incorrect consideration.

  16. Rapid, Selection-Free, High-Efficiency Genome Editing in Protozoan Parasites Using CRISPR-Cas9 Ribonucleoproteins

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    Lia Carolina Soares Medeiros

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Trypanosomatids (order Kinetoplastida, including the human pathogens Trypanosoma cruzi (agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma brucei, (African sleeping sickness, and Leishmania (leishmaniasis, affect millions of people and animals globally. T. cruzi is considered one of the least studied and most poorly understood tropical disease-causing parasites, in part because of the relative lack of facile genetic engineering tools. This situation has improved recently through the application of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats–CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9 technology, but a number of limitations remain, including the toxicity of continuous Cas9 expression and the long drug marker selection times. In this study, we show that the delivery of ribonucleoprotein (RNP complexes composed of recombinant Cas9 from Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9, but not from the more routinely used Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9, and in vitro-transcribed single guide RNAs (sgRNAs results in rapid gene edits in T. cruzi and other kinetoplastids at frequencies approaching 100%. The highly efficient genome editing via SaCas9/sgRNA RNPs was obtained for both reporter and endogenous genes and observed in multiple parasite life cycle stages in various strains of T. cruzi, as well as in T. brucei and Leishmania major. RNP complex delivery was also used to successfully tag proteins at endogenous loci and to assess the biological functions of essential genes. Thus, the use of SaCas9 RNP complexes for gene editing in kinetoplastids provides a simple, rapid, and cloning- and selection-free method to assess gene function in these important human pathogens.

  17. Small subunit ribosomal metabarcoding reveals extraordinary trypanosomatid diversity in Brazilian bats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Augusta Dario

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Bats are a highly successful, globally dispersed order of mammals that occupy a wide array of ecological niches. They are also intensely parasitized and implicated in multiple viral, bacterial and parasitic zoonoses. Trypanosomes are thought to be especially abundant and diverse in bats. In this study, we used 18S ribosomal RNA metabarcoding to probe bat trypanosome diversity in unprecedented detail.Total DNA was extracted from the blood of 90 bat individuals (17 species captured along Atlantic Forest fragments of Espírito Santo state, southeast Brazil. 18S ribosomal RNA was amplified by standard and/or nested PCR, then deep sequenced to recover and identify Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs for phylogenetic analysis. Blood samples from 34 bat individuals (13 species tested positive for infection by 18S rRNA amplification. Amplicon sequences clustered to 14 OTUs, of which five were identified as Trypanosoma cruzi I, T. cruzi III/V, Trypanosoma cruzi marinkellei, Trypanosoma rangeli, and Trypanosoma dionisii, and seven were identified as novel genotypes monophyletic to basal T. cruzi clade types of the New World. Another OTU was identified as a trypanosome like those found in reptiles. Surprisingly, the remaining OTU was identified as Bodo saltans-closest non-parasitic relative of the trypanosomatid order. While three blood samples featured just one OTU (T. dionisii, all others resolved as mixed infections of up to eight OTUs.This study demonstrates the utility of next-generation barcoding methods to screen parasite diversity in mammalian reservoir hosts. We exposed high rates of local bat parasitism by multiple trypanosome species, some known to cause fatal human disease, others non-pathogenic, novel or yet little understood. Our results highlight bats as a long-standing nexus among host-parasite interactions of multiple niches, sustained in part by opportunistic and incidental infections of consequence to evolutionary theory as much as to

  18. Local television stations in the Basque Country in Internet/ Las televisiones locales del País Vasco en Internet

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dra. Teresa Santos Díez, mariateresa.santos@ehu.es

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available As it is happening with all mass media, the future of local televisions inevitably depends on the Internet. Local media have found in the new technologies a way to defy their natural communication space. Thanks to Internet, territory disappears as a geographical limit; it allows local media to reach a wider audience, placing them alongside large media companies and increasing their competition chances. For this reason, in recent years many television stations have shown an interest in this area and have developed a website. In this investigation the authors analyze the presence of local television stations of the Basque Country in the Web and study whether they fully exploit the resources at their disposal in the cyberspace.El futuro de las televisiones locales, al igual que el de todo medio de comunicación, pasa necesariamente por estar presente en Internet. Estos pequeños medios locales encuentran en las nuevas tecnologías una manera de superar su espacio de comunicación original. No sólo el territorio, como límite geográfico, deja de ser una desventaja sino que las emisoras locales que saltan a la Red tienen acceso de esta forma a una audiencia potencial que no tiene nada que envidiar a la de las grandes empresas de comunicación, lo que les permite competir en mejores condiciones. De esta forma, en los últimos años muchas emisoras locales han mostrado su interés en el medio y han desarrollado un sitio web. Este artículo estudia la presencia de las televisiones locales del País Vasco en la Red y el grado de aprovechamiento que hacen de las posibilidades que les ofrece el medio digital.

  19. Soil biochar amendment shapes the composition of N2O-reducing microbial communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harter, Johannes; Weigold, Pascal; El-Hadidi, Mohamed; Huson, Daniel H; Kappler, Andreas; Behrens, Sebastian

    2016-08-15

    Soil biochar amendment has been described as a promising tool to improve soil quality, sequester carbon, and mitigate nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. N2O is a potent greenhouse gas. The main sources of N2O in soils are microbially-mediated nitrogen transformation processes such as nitrification and denitrification. While previous studies have focused on the link between N2O emission mitigation and the abundance and activity of N2O-reducing microorganisms in biochar-amended soils, the impact of biochar on the taxonomic composition of the nosZ gene carrying soil microbial community has not been subject of systematic study to date. We used 454 pyrosequencing in order to study the microbial diversity in biochar-amended and biochar-free soil microcosms. We sequenced bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons as well as fragments of common (typical) nosZ genes and the recently described 'atypical' nosZ genes. The aim was to describe biochar-induced shifts in general bacterial community diversity and taxonomic variations among the nosZ gene containing N2O-reducing microbial communities. While soil biochar amendment significantly altered the 16S rRNA gene-based community composition and structure, it also led to the development of distinct functional traits capable of N2O reduction containing typical and atypical nosZ genes related to nosZ genes found in Pseudomonas stutzeri and Pedobacter saltans, respectively. Our results showed that biochar amendment can affect the relative abundance and taxonomic composition of N2O-reducing functional microbial traits in soil. Thus these findings broaden our knowledge on the impact of biochar on soil microbial community composition and nitrogen cycling. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Inventario de la entomofauna asociada al cultivo de pitahaya amarilla (Selenicereus megalanthus Haw. en Briceño (Boyacá

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    Héctor Iván Patiño-Tiria

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Boyacá es uno de los departamentos con mayor producción de pitahaya amarilla en el país. Los estudios realizados sobre este cultivo son muy pocos, y el conocimiento de la entomofauna asociada a él es un punto de partida para realizar nuevas investigaciones que permitan identificar la entomofauna asociada a este cultivo en el municipio de Briceño (Boyacá. El desarrollo de esta investigación se llevó a cabo en plantaciones de pitahaya en tres fincas del municipio de Briceño (Boyacá. Se realizaron muestreos empleando métodos activos, como captura manual directa, uso de red y aspirador entomológico, y métodos pasivos, como trampas con atrayentes y trampas  de caída. Los insectos colectados se sometieron a cámara letal y luego se montaron en alfileres para su posterior identificación con ayuda del estereoscopio y claves taxonómicas. En las tres fincas se identificaron un total de 9 órdenes y 58 familias, y los órdenes Hymenóptera y Díptera se reportaron con la mayor cantidad de individuos benéficos. En la finca San Pablo se observó la mayor cantidad de insectos; también fue la única en donde se evidenció la presencia de la plaga más limitante para este cultivo, que es Dasiops saltans (mosca del botón floral. La cantidad de familias presentes en los muestreos se ve influenciada más por el manejo agronómico implementado en cada finca que por las variables climatológicas, como temperatura, humedad relativa y precipitación.

  1. Hemoparasites of the genus Trypanosoma (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) and hemogregarines in Anurans of the São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul States - Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leal, Denise D M; O'dwyer, Lucia H; Ribeiro, Vitor C; Silva, Reinaldo J; Ferreira, Vanda L; Rodrigues, Rozangela B

    2009-06-01

    Wild animals are exposed to numerous pathogens, including hemoparasites. The Trypanosoma and hemogregarinegroup are frequently reported as parasites in anurans (frogs, tree frogs and toads). The identification of these hemoparasites is usually made through stage observation of their morphology in the peripheral blood of the host. There areno studies, however, based on the biological cycle of these hemoparasites. The objective of the present study was toevaluate the presence of hemogregarines and Trypanosoma spp. in anurans captured in the States of São Paulo andMato Grosso do Sul- Brazil and to perform the morphological and morphometric characterization of these hemoparasites. The species of anurans examined were: Dendropsophus nanus, D. minutus, Leptodactylus chaquensis L. podicipinus, L. labyrinthicus, L. fuscus, Bufo granulosus, B. schneideri, Phyllomedusa hypocondrialis, Trachicephalus venulosus, Scinax fuscovarius and Hypsiboas albopunctatus. Of the total of 40 animals studied, four (10%)were positive for hemogregarines and eight (20%) were positive for Trypanosoma spp. Hemogregarine gamontsshowed variable morphology and, in addition to intraerythrocytic forms, extraerythrocytic forms were also observed.Extremely different forms of Trypanosoma were observed, as described in the literature, with the broad and oval forms being the most common.

  2. Hemoparasites of the genus Trypanosoma (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae and hemogregarines in Anurans of the São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul States - Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise D.M. Leal

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Wild animals are exposed to numerous pathogens, including hemoparasites. The Trypanosoma and hemogregarinegroup are frequently reported as parasites in anurans (frogs, tree frogs and toads. The identification of these hemoparasites is usually made through stage observation of their morphology in the peripheral blood of the host. There areno studies, however, based on the biological cycle of these hemoparasites. The objective of the present study was toevaluate the presence of hemogregarines and Trypanosoma spp. in anurans captured in the States of São Paulo andMato Grosso do Sul- Brazil and to perform the morphological and morphometric characterization of these hemoparasites. The species of anurans examined were: Dendropsophus nanus, D. minutus, Leptodactylus chaquensis L. podicipinus, L. labyrinthicus, L. fuscus, Bufo granulosus, B. schneideri, Phyllomedusa hypocondrialis, Trachicephalus venulosus, Scinax fuscovarius and Hypsiboas albopunctatus. Of the total of 40 animals studied, four (10%were positive for hemogregarines and eight (20% were positive for Trypanosoma spp. Hemogregarine gamontsshowed variable morphology and, in addition to intraerythrocytic forms, extraerythrocytic forms were also observed.Extremely different forms of Trypanosoma were observed, as described in the literature, with the broad and oval forms being the most common.Os animais silvestres estão expostos a inúmeros patógenos,dentre eles estão os hemoparasitas. Podem-se destacar espécies do gênero Trypanosoma e do grupo das hemogregarinas,que ocorrem com freqüência parasitando anuros (rãs, pererecas e sapos. Normalmente, a descrição destes hemoparasitas é feita através da morfologia dos estágios observados nosangue periférico do hospedeiro e as pesquisas sobre o ciclobiológico desses hemoparasitas são escassas. Os objetivos dopresente estudo foram avaliar a presença de hemogregarinas eTrypanosoma spp. em anuros capturados nos Estados de São Paulo e Mato Grosso do Sul e fazer a caracterização morfológica e morfométrica dos seus hemoparasitas. As espécies deanuros examinadas foram: Dendropsophus nanus, D. minutus, Leptodactylus chaquensis, L. podicipinus, L. labyrinthicus, L. fuscus, Bufo granulosus, B. schneideri, Phyllomedusahypocondrialis, Trachicephalus venulosus, Scinax fuscovarius e Hypsiboas albopunctatus. Dos 40 animais estudados, foramencontrados quatro (10% positivos para hemogregarinas e oito(20% positivos para Trypanosoma spp. Foram observadosgamontes de hemogregarinas com morfologia variável e, alémdas formas intraeritrocíticas, também foram observados gamontes fora das hemácias. As formas de Trypanosoma encontradas eram muito polimórficas, conforme é descrito na literatura, sendo na sua maioria, larga e oval.

  3. Hemoparasites of the genus Trypanosoma (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) and hemogregarines in Anurans of the São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul States - Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Leal, Denise D.M.; O'dwyer, Lucia H.; Ribeiro, Vitor C.; Silva, Reinaldo J.; Ferreira, Vanda L.; Rodrigues, Rozangela B.

    2009-01-01

    Wild animals are exposed to numerous pathogens, including hemoparasites. The Trypanosoma and hemogregarinegroup are frequently reported as parasites in anurans (frogs, tree frogs and toads). The identification of these hemoparasites is usually made through stage observation of their morphology in the peripheral blood of the host. There areno studies, however, based on the biological cycle of these hemoparasites. The objective of the present study was toevaluate the presence of hemogregarines ...

  4. The evolution of trypanosomatid taxonomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaufer, Alexa; Ellis, John; Stark, Damien; Barratt, Joel

    2017-06-08

    Trypanosomatids are protozoan parasites of the class Kinetoplastida predominately restricted to invertebrate hosts (i.e. possess a monoxenous life-cycle). However, several genera are pathogenic to humans, animals and plants, and have an invertebrate vector that facilitates their transmission (i.e. possess a dixenous life-cycle). Phytomonas is one dixenous genus that includes several plant pathogens transmitted by phytophagous insects. Trypanosoma and Leishmania are dixenous genera that infect vertebrates, including humans, and are transmitted by hematophagous invertebrates. Traditionally, monoxenous trypanosomatids such as Leptomonas were distinguished from morphologically similar dixenous species based on their restriction to an invertebrate host. Nonetheless, this criterion is somewhat flawed as exemplified by Leptomonas seymouri which reportedly infects vertebrates opportunistically. Similarly, Novymonas and Zelonia are presumably monoxenous genera yet sit comfortably in the dixenous clade occupied by Leishmania. The isolation of Leishmania macropodum from a biting midge (Forcipomyia spp.) rather than a phlebotomine sand fly calls into question the exclusivity of the Leishmania-sand fly relationship, and its suitability for defining the Leishmania genus. It is now accepted that classic genus-defining characteristics based on parasite morphology and host range are insufficient to form the sole basis of trypanosomatid taxonomy as this has led to several instances of paraphyly. While improvements have been made, resolution of evolutionary relationships within the Trypanosomatidae is confounded by our incomplete knowledge of its true diversity. The known trypanosomatids probably represent a fraction of those that exist and isolation of new species will help resolve relationships in this group with greater accuracy. This review incites a dialogue on how our understanding of the relationships between certain trypanosomatids has shifted, and discusses new knowledge

  5. Trypanosome lytic factor, an antimicrobial high-density lipoprotein, ameliorates Leishmania infection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Samanovic

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Innate immunity is the first line of defense against invading microorganisms. Trypanosome Lytic Factor (TLF is a minor sub-fraction of human high-density lipoprotein that provides innate immunity by completely protecting humans from infection by most species of African trypanosomes, which belong to the Kinetoplastida order. Herein, we demonstrate the broader protective effects of human TLF, which inhibits intracellular infection by Leishmania, a kinetoplastid that replicates in phagolysosomes of macrophages. We show that TLF accumulates within the parasitophorous vacuole of macrophages in vitro and reduces the number of Leishmania metacyclic promastigotes, but not amastigotes. We do not detect any activation of the macrophages by TLF in the presence or absence of Leishmania, and therefore propose that TLF directly damages the parasite in the acidic parasitophorous vacuole. To investigate the physiological relevance of this observation, we have reconstituted lytic activity in vivo by generating mice that express the two main protein components of TLFs: human apolipoprotein L-I and haptoglobin-related protein. Both proteins are expressed in mice at levels equivalent to those found in humans and circulate within high-density lipoproteins. We find that TLF mice can ameliorate an infection with Leishmania by significantly reducing the pathogen burden. In contrast, TLF mice were not protected against infection by the kinetoplastid Trypanosoma cruzi, which infects many cell types and transiently passes through a phagolysosome. We conclude that TLF not only determines species specificity for African trypanosomes, but can also ameliorate an infection with Leishmania, while having no effect on T. cruzi. We propose that TLFs are a component of the innate immune system that can limit infections by their ability to selectively damage pathogens in phagolysosomes within the reticuloendothelial system.

  6. Una nueva especie de Euglena (Euglenozoa: Euglenales aislada de ambientes extremófilos en las Pailas de Barro del Volcán Rincón de la Vieja, Costa Rica

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    Ana Sittenfeld

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available Se describe una nueva especie de euglena aislada de las Pailas de Barro Caliente del Volcán Rincón de la Vieja, Costa Rica. Esta especie se caracteriza por habitar sitios ácidos y calientes. Euglena pailasensis sp. nov. tiene como características principales: la ausencia de flagelos, presencia de filamentos similares a "pilis", presencia de cloroplastos con pirenoides atravesados por varios tilacoides, además, es termotolerante y acido-tolerante. Los análisis filogenéticos para el gen ADNr 18S y la secuencia del gen para la enzima Gap C indican que la nueva especie está relacionada con E. mutabilis. Las características taxonómicas basadas en la morfología, biología y secuencia del ADNr 18S y los genes GAP C, son discutidas y comparadas con otras especies relativamente cercanas al géneroAnew species of euglena isolated from a hot and acid mud pool located in Las Pailas de Barro, Volcán Rincón de la Vieja, Costa Rica is described. This species inhabits hot and acid environments. Euglena pailasensis sp. nov. main features are: the absence of flagella, the presence filaments like "pilis", the presence of chloroplasts with pyrenoids crossed by several tylakoids, and acid and heat tolerance. Molecular phylogeny studies using 18S rDNA and Gap C genes indicated that the new species is related to E mutabilis. Its taxonomic characters based on morphology, biology and sequence of the 18S rDNA and Gap C genes are discussed and compared with other closely related species of the genus

  7. Soil biochar amendment shapes the composition of N_2O-reducing microbial communities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harter, Johannes; Weigold, Pascal; El-Hadidi, Mohamed; Huson, Daniel H.; Kappler, Andreas; Behrens, Sebastian

    2016-01-01

    Soil biochar amendment has been described as a promising tool to improve soil quality, sequester carbon, and mitigate nitrous oxide (N_2O) emissions. N_2O is a potent greenhouse gas. The main sources of N_2O in soils are microbially-mediated nitrogen transformation processes such as nitrification and denitrification. While previous studies have focused on the link between N_2O emission mitigation and the abundance and activity of N_2O-reducing microorganisms in biochar-amended soils, the impact of biochar on the taxonomic composition of the nosZ gene carrying soil microbial community has not been subject of systematic study to date. We used 454 pyrosequencing in order to study the microbial diversity in biochar-amended and biochar-free soil microcosms. We sequenced bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons as well as fragments of common (typical) nosZ genes and the recently described ‘atypical’ nosZ genes. The aim was to describe biochar-induced shifts in general bacterial community diversity and taxonomic variations among the nosZ gene containing N_2O-reducing microbial communities. While soil biochar amendment significantly altered the 16S rRNA gene-based community composition and structure, it also led to the development of distinct functional traits capable of N_2O reduction containing typical and atypical nosZ genes related to nosZ genes found in Pseudomonas stutzeri and Pedobacter saltans, respectively. Our results showed that biochar amendment can affect the relative abundance and taxonomic composition of N_2O-reducing functional microbial traits in soil. Thus these findings broaden our knowledge on the impact of biochar on soil microbial community composition and nitrogen cycling. - Highlights: • Biochar promoted anaerobic, alkalinity-adapted, and polymer-degrading microbial taxa. • Biochar fostered the development of distinct N_2O-reducing microbial taxa. • Taxonomic shifts among N_2O-reducing microbes might explain lower N_2O emissions.

  8. Crimean Khanate, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian State in 1524–1571: The Diplomatic Correspondence from the Archive of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erusalimskiy K.Yu.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The manuscript of the Czartoryskis’ Library in Krakow № 2893 contains, among other sources, the correspondence of the Crimean-Kazan Gireys with the kings of Polish Crown and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Ruthenian translation (“prosta mowa”. The collection of letters springs from the Radziwills’ archive and can be dated back to 1524–1571 based on the reasons outlined in this article. The manuscript from the Warsaw Main Archive of the Ancient Acts (Radziwills coll., part II, № 3294 contains a part of the same correspondence, which is present in the Czartoryski manuscript № 2893. The author reinterprets the historical context of the Warsaw manuscript. The senders of the letters are Sahib-Giray (to Sigismund I, 1st: ca. 1521–1524, 2nd: June–July 1530, 3rd: September–October 1537, Safa-Giray (two letters to Sigismund I, spring or summer of 1524, Amin-Giray-Saltan (a letter to Sigismund I, September–October 1537 and Poland’s King Sigismund I the Old (to Khan Sahib-Giray at end of December 1537 or the beginning of January 1538. The latest-dated part of the Polish-Lithuanian and Crimean-Kazan correspondence in the Czartoryski manuscript contains the materials of Devlet-Giray’s diplomatic correspondence with Sigismund II Augustus, which sheds a new light on the Crimean march against the Muscovite state in 1571. These materials are contextualized and studied with respect to the new information they may provide on the history of Russian-Crimean relations (letter to Sigismund II ca. April 5, 1571 and Ardy-Berdey’s embassy ca. July 5, 1571. The author found a list of 27 towns devastated by the khan during the war against Moscow recorded in the embassy accounts of the Polish Royal Treasury at the Warsaw Archive. It was composed as a means of propaganda, but it reflects the marching route of the Crimean troops to Moscow and the ravaging of other Russian districts after Moscow had been burned on May 24, 1574.

  9. Adaptation to the degradation of natural resources in the semiarid area of Mexico Adaptación a la Degradación de los Recursos Naturales en la Zona Semiárida Mexicana

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    José Luis Gonzalez Barrios

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Hydrology and soil research in the semiarid zone of Mexico highlight an erosion process that is worsened by climate and land use changes. Scientific results have inspired a successful adaptation program with an environmental and socioeconomic scope. The Hydrological Environmental Services Programm.e (PSAH, in Spanish pays local workers to build soil and water conservation infrastructure in areas with the potential to provide hydrological environmental services. The programme’s results are still under assessment, but some qualitative results may be already identified: soil and water retention, plant cover recovery, permanence of local people in their comm.unities, and social welfare, among others. The PSAH as a strategy should be echoed in other places of Mexico in order to replicate their benefits on the physical and human environments of the semiarid zone.La investigación hidrológica y edafológica en la zona semiárida mexicana ha puesto en evidencia un proceso de erosión hídrica exacerbado por el cambio climático y el cambio de uso del suelo. Los resultados de investigación han inspirado un programa de adaptación exitoso con una visión ambiental, económica y social. El Programa de Servicios Ambientales Hidrológicos (PSAH consiste en el pago de mano de obra local para la construcción de obras de conservación del suelo y del agua en áreas susceptibles de proporcionar servicios ambientales hidrológicos. Sus resultados cualitativos saltan a la vista: retención del suelo y del agua, mantenimiento de la cobertura vegetal, retención de pobladores en sus comunidades y bienestar social, entre otros. El PSAH como estrategia de adaptación AL impacto del cambio climático deberá encontrar eco en otros lugares de México con el fin de replicar sus beneficios en el medio físico y humano de la zona semiárida.

  10. Soil biochar amendment shapes the composition of N{sub 2}O-reducing microbial communities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harter, Johannes; Weigold, Pascal [Geomicrobiology & Microbial Ecology, Center for Applied Geosciences, University of Tuebingen, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076 Tuebingen (Germany); El-Hadidi, Mohamed; Huson, Daniel H. [Algorithms in Bioinformatics, Center for Bioinformatics, University of Tuebingen, Sand 14, 72076 Tuebingen (Germany); Kappler, Andreas [Geomicrobiology & Microbial Ecology, Center for Applied Geosciences, University of Tuebingen, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076 Tuebingen (Germany); Behrens, Sebastian, E-mail: sbehrens@umn.edu [Geomicrobiology & Microbial Ecology, Center for Applied Geosciences, University of Tuebingen, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076 Tuebingen (Germany); Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering, University of Minnesota, 500 Pillsbury Drive S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455-0116 (United States); BioTechnology Institute, 140 Gortner Labs, 1479 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108-6106 (United States)

    2016-08-15

    Soil biochar amendment has been described as a promising tool to improve soil quality, sequester carbon, and mitigate nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O) emissions. N{sub 2}O is a potent greenhouse gas. The main sources of N{sub 2}O in soils are microbially-mediated nitrogen transformation processes such as nitrification and denitrification. While previous studies have focused on the link between N{sub 2}O emission mitigation and the abundance and activity of N{sub 2}O-reducing microorganisms in biochar-amended soils, the impact of biochar on the taxonomic composition of the nosZ gene carrying soil microbial community has not been subject of systematic study to date. We used 454 pyrosequencing in order to study the microbial diversity in biochar-amended and biochar-free soil microcosms. We sequenced bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons as well as fragments of common (typical) nosZ genes and the recently described ‘atypical’ nosZ genes. The aim was to describe biochar-induced shifts in general bacterial community diversity and taxonomic variations among the nosZ gene containing N{sub 2}O-reducing microbial communities. While soil biochar amendment significantly altered the 16S rRNA gene-based community composition and structure, it also led to the development of distinct functional traits capable of N{sub 2}O reduction containing typical and atypical nosZ genes related to nosZ genes found in Pseudomonas stutzeri and Pedobacter saltans, respectively. Our results showed that biochar amendment can affect the relative abundance and taxonomic composition of N{sub 2}O-reducing functional microbial traits in soil. Thus these findings broaden our knowledge on the impact of biochar on soil microbial community composition and nitrogen cycling. - Highlights: • Biochar promoted anaerobic, alkalinity-adapted, and polymer-degrading microbial taxa. • Biochar fostered the development of distinct N{sub 2}O-reducing microbial taxa. • Taxonomic shifts among N{sub 2}O-reducing microbes

  11. Anti-proliferative effect of the essential oil of Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf (lemongrass) on intracellular amastigotes, bloodstream trypomastigotes and culture epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi (Protozoa: Kinetoplastida).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santoro, G F; Cardoso, M G; Guimarães, L G L; Freire, J M; Soares, M J

    2007-10-01

    This study analyses the anti-proliferative effect of lemongrass essential oil and its main constituent (citral) on all 3 evolutive forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. Steam distillation was used to obtain lemongrass essential oil, with chemical composition determined by gas chromatography (GC) and GC coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The IC50/24 h (concentration that reduced the parasite population by 50%) of the oil and of citral upon T. cruzi was determined by cell counting in a Neubauer chamber, while morphological alterations were visualized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Treatment with the essential oil resulted in epimastigote growth inhibition with IC50=126.5 microg/ml, while the IC50 for trypomastigote lysis was 15.5 microg/ml. The IC50/48 h for the Association Index (% macrophage infection x number of amastigotes per cell) was 5.1 microg/ml, with a strong inhibition of intracellular amastigote proliferation. Ultrastructural analysis demonstrated cytoplasmic and nuclear extraction, while the plasma membrane remained morphologically preserved. Our data show that lemongrass essential oil is effective against T. cruzi trypomastigotes and amastigotes, and that its main component, citral, is responsible for the trypanocidal activity. These results indicate that essential oils can be promising anti-parasitic agents, opening perspectives to the discovery of more effective drugs of vegetal origin for treatment of parasitic diseases. However, additional cytotoxicity experiments on different cell lines and tests in a T. cruzi-mouse model are needed to support these data.

  12. Genetic structure and evolution of the Vps25 family, a yeast ESCRT-II component

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    Slater Ruth

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Vps25p is the product of yeast gene VPS25 and is found in an endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT-II, along with Vps22p and Vps36p. This complex is essential for sorting of ubiquitinated biosynthetic and endosomal cargoes into endosomes. Results We found that VPS25 is a highly conserved and widely expressed eukaryotic gene, with single orthologs in chromalveolate, excavate, amoebozoan, plant, fungal and metazoan species. Two paralogs were found in Trichomonas vaginalis. An ortholog was strikingly absent from the Encephalitozoon cuniculi genome. Intron positions were analyzed in VPS25 from 36 species. We found evidence for five ancestral VPS25 introns, intron loss, and single instances of intron gain (a Paramecium species and intron slippage (Theileria species. Processed pseudogenes were identified in four mammalian genomes, with a notable absence in the mouse genome. Two retropseudogenes were found in the chimpanzee genome, one more recently inserted, and one evolving from a common primate ancestor. The amino acid sequences of 119 Vps25 orthologs are aligned, compared with the known secondary structure of yeast Vps25p, and used to carry out phylogenetic analysis. Residues in two amino-terminal PPXY motifs (motif I and II, involved in dimerization of Vps25p and interaction with Vps22p and Vps36p, were closely, but not absolutely conserved. Specifically, motif I was absent in Vps25 homologs of chromalveolates, euglenozoa, and diplomonads. A highly conserved carboxy-terminal lysine was identified, which suggests Vps25 is ubiquitinated. Arginine-83 of yeast Vps25p involved in Vps22p interaction was highly, but not absolutely, conserved. Human tissue expression analysis showed universal expression. Conclusion We have identified 119 orthologs of yeast Vps25p. Expression of mammalian VPS25 in a wide range of tissues, and the presence in a broad range of eukaryotic species, indicates a basic role in eukaryotic cell

  13. A molecular timescale of eukaryote evolution and the rise of complex multicellular life

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedges, S. Blair; Blair, Jaime E.; Venturi, Maria L.; Shoe, Jason L.

    2004-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The pattern and timing of the rise in complex multicellular life during Earth's history has not been established. Great disparity persists between the pattern suggested by the fossil record and that estimated by molecular clocks, especially for plants, animals, fungi, and the deepest branches of the eukaryote tree. Here, we used all available protein sequence data and molecular clock methods to place constraints on the increase in complexity through time. RESULTS: Our phylogenetic analyses revealed that (i) animals are more closely related to fungi than to plants, (ii) red algae are closer to plants than to animals or fungi, (iii) choanoflagellates are closer to animals than to fungi or plants, (iv) diplomonads, euglenozoans, and alveolates each are basal to plants+animals+fungi, and (v) diplomonads are basal to other eukaryotes (including alveolates and euglenozoans). Divergence times were estimated from global and local clock methods using 20-188 proteins per node, with data treated separately (multigene) and concatenated (supergene). Different time estimation methods yielded similar results (within 5%): vertebrate-arthropod (964 million years ago, Ma), Cnidaria-Bilateria (1,298 Ma), Porifera-Eumetozoa (1,351 Ma), Pyrenomycetes-Plectomycetes (551 Ma), Candida-Saccharomyces (723 Ma), Hemiascomycetes-filamentous Ascomycota (982 Ma), Basidiomycota-Ascomycota (968 Ma), Mucorales-Basidiomycota (947 Ma), Fungi-Animalia (1,513 Ma), mosses-vascular plants (707 Ma), Chlorophyta-Tracheophyta (968 Ma), Rhodophyta-Chlorophyta+Embryophyta (1,428 Ma), Plantae-Animalia (1,609 Ma), Alveolata-plants+animals+fungi (1,973 Ma), Euglenozoa-plants+animals+fungi (1,961 Ma), and Giardia-plants+animals+fungi (2,309 Ma). By extrapolation, mitochondria arose approximately 2300-1800 Ma and plastids arose 1600-1500 Ma. Estimates of the maximum number of cell types of common ancestors, combined with divergence times, showed an increase from two cell types at 2500 Ma to

  14. A molecular timescale of eukaryote evolution and the rise of complex multicellular life

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    Venturi Maria L

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The pattern and timing of the rise in complex multicellular life during Earth's history has not been established. Great disparity persists between the pattern suggested by the fossil record and that estimated by molecular clocks, especially for plants, animals, fungi, and the deepest branches of the eukaryote tree. Here, we used all available protein sequence data and molecular clock methods to place constraints on the increase in complexity through time. Results Our phylogenetic analyses revealed that (i animals are more closely related to fungi than to plants, (ii red algae are closer to plants than to animals or fungi, (iii choanoflagellates are closer to animals than to fungi or plants, (iv diplomonads, euglenozoans, and alveolates each are basal to plants+animals+fungi, and (v diplomonads are basal to other eukaryotes (including alveolates and euglenozoans. Divergence times were estimated from global and local clock methods using 20–188 proteins per node, with data treated separately (multigene and concatenated (supergene. Different time estimation methods yielded similar results (within 5%: vertebrate-arthropod (964 million years ago, Ma, Cnidaria-Bilateria (1,298 Ma, Porifera-Eumetozoa (1,351 Ma, Pyrenomycetes-Plectomycetes (551 Ma, Candida-Saccharomyces (723 Ma, Hemiascomycetes-filamentous Ascomycota (982 Ma, Basidiomycota-Ascomycota (968 Ma, Mucorales-Basidiomycota (947 Ma, Fungi-Animalia (1,513 Ma, mosses-vascular plants (707 Ma, Chlorophyta-Tracheophyta (968 Ma, Rhodophyta-Chlorophyta+Embryophyta (1,428 Ma, Plantae-Animalia (1,609 Ma, Alveolata-plants+animals+fungi (1,973 Ma, Euglenozoa-plants+animals+fungi (1,961 Ma, and Giardia-plants+animals+fungi (2,309 Ma. By extrapolation, mitochondria arose approximately 2300-1800 Ma and plastids arose 1600-1500 Ma. Estimates of the maximum number of cell types of common ancestors, combined with divergence times, showed an increase from two cell types at 2500 Ma to ~10

  15. Ecological aspects and molecular detection of Leishmania DNA Ross (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in terra firme and várzea environments in the Middle Solimões Region, Amazonas State, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira Júnior, Antonio Marques; Teles, Carolina Bioni Garcia; de Azevedo dos Santos, Ana Paula; de Souza Rodrigues, Moreno; Marialva, Eric Fabrício; Pessoa, Felipe Arley Costa; Medeiros, Jansen Fernandes

    2015-03-25

    Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are insects of medical importance due to the role that some species play in the transmission of leishmaniasis. This work aimed to study some ecological aspects among sand flies fauna inhabiting two different environments: the várzea (lowland Amazonian forest) and terra firme (upland Amazonian forest), both located in Tefé Municipality, Amazonas State, Braziland to detect Leishmania infection in those phlebotomine populations. Sand flies were collected using HP light traps. Collection took place over the course of six months: January, February, April, August, September, and October of 2013. To detect natural infection by Leishmania, DNA samples were extracted from female sand flies and submitted to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) targeting the kDNA gene; Leishmania species were identified by PCR-RFLP targeting the hsp70 gene and genetic sequencing. In all, 5,716 individuals were collected, and 46 species were identified. Trichophoromyia ubiquitalis (3,330 - 58.26%) and Nyssomyia antunesi (661 - 11.26%) were the most abundant species. Species richness was greater in terra firme environments (42 species) than in the várzea environments (22 species), and forests ecotopes (43 species) were richer than peridomiciles (28 species). DNA of Leishmania was found in Th. ubiquitalis and Psychodopygus davisi, both of which inhabit the terra firme environment and sequencing analysis confirmed the presence of Leishmania (Viannia) lainsoni DNA in Th. ubiquitalis in Tefé Municipality. The high abundance of Th. ubiquitalis and Ps. davisi and detection of DNA of Leishmania sp. may indicate that both species could be putative vectors for American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) in the terra firme environment of Tefé. The sand fly fauna found in várzea is rich and diverse, exhibiting several species, nevertheless the seasonal hydric stress during part of the year that could influence the local diversity, if compared with other studies. This is the first report in Amazonas State of Th. ubiquitalis with presence of L. (V.) lainsoni DNA.

  16. Obituario: El doctor Victor Manuel Ferrans

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    Alfredo Jácome Roca

    2002-04-01

    Full Text Available

    A finales del año pasado falleció en los Estados Unidos el médico colombiano Víctor Ferrans, quien dedicó su vida entera a la investigación en biología molecular.

    “Vic” (como le decían sus contemporáneos norteamericanos nació en Barranquilla en la década de los 30. Con raíces catalanas, se graduó de bachiller en el tradicional Colegio Biffi de los Hermanos Cristianos; viajó a New Orleans, donde se graduó de médico en la Universidad de Tulane e hizo su internado en el Charity Hospital de la misma ciudad.

    En vez de proseguir con una tradicional residencia en campos clínicoquirúrgicos que le hubieran garantizado una vida sin aulagas, decidió sacar un doctorado en anatomía, en su misma Alma Mater.

    Los colombianos éramos particularmente apreciados en aquel sitio, merced a programas como el “Tulane-Colombia” (ahora Cideim en Cali, orientado hacia el estudio de las enfermedades tropicales, y a la presencia de decenas de profesionales becados para hacer postgrados allí (que en nuestro país adquirirían luego el remoquete de los “Tulane boys”.

    Numerosas personas saltan a mi memoria, entre las que se encuentran Eduardo Gaitán, Germán Beltrán, Eugenio González, Ramsés Hakim, Alfonso Villamil, Jorge León, su hermana María Amalia y los hermanos Alberto y Mario Bernal, Oscar Bolaños, Mario Hurtado y muchos otros, que pasamos por aquellos claustros y residimos en esa interesante ciudad. Yo lo hice entre 1965 y 1967, cuando compartí trabajo y amistad con mi paisano Ferrans.

    Casado con la también barranquillera Gloria Grocer, Víctor se ubicó en el grupo del Profesor George E. Burch, jefe de Medicina Interna y eminente cardiólogo e investigador.

    Sus primeros “papers” llevaron la co-autoría de Burch, entre los que recuerdo uno sobre la necesidad de tratar las cardiomiopatìas dilatadas que se observaban en situaciones como los embarazos, con reposo estricto y prolongado

  17. Cyclic nucleotide specific phosphodiesterases of Leishmania major

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    Linder Markus

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Leishmania represent a complex of important human pathogens that belong to the systematic order of the kinetoplastida. They are transmitted between their human and mammalian hosts by different bloodsucking sandfly vectors. In their hosts, the Leishmania undergo several differentiation steps, and their coordination and optimization crucially depend on numerous interactions between the parasites and the physiological environment presented by the fly and human hosts. Little is still known about the signalling networks involved in these functions. In an attempt to better understand the role of cyclic nucleotide signalling in Leishmania differentiation and host-parasite interaction, we here present an initial study on the cyclic nucleotide-specific phosphodiesterases of Leishmania major. Results This paper presents the identification of three class I cyclic-nucleotide-specific phosphodiesterases (PDEs from L. major, PDEs whose catalytic domains exhibit considerable sequence conservation with, among other, all eleven human PDE families. In contrast to other protozoa such as Dictyostelium, or fungi such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida ssp or Neurospora, no genes for class II PDEs were found in the Leishmania genomes. LmjPDEA contains a class I catalytic domain at the C-terminus of the polypeptide, with no other discernible functional domains elsewhere. LmjPDEB1 and LmjPDEB2 are coded for by closely related, tandemly linked genes on chromosome 15. Both PDEs contain two GAF domains in their N-terminal region, and their almost identical catalytic domains are located at the C-terminus of the polypeptide. LmjPDEA, LmjPDEB1 and LmjPDEB2 were further characterized by functional complementation in a PDE-deficient S. cerevisiae strain. All three enzymes conferred complementation, demonstrating that all three can hydrolyze cAMP. Recombinant LmjPDEB1 and LmjPDEB2 were shown to be cAMP-specific, with Km values in the low micromolar range

  18. Pediculose nos centros de educação infantil: conhecimentos e práticas dos trabalhadores Infestión de piojos en los centros de educación infantil: conocimientos y prácticas de los trabajadores Pediculosis in children attending day care centers: knowledge and practice of workers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flávia Lopes Gabani

    2010-06-01

    ún son limitadas. Persisten muchos mitos y tabúes (que los piojos saltan, el uso de la sal, del vinagre y de la parafina, etc. Las principales dudas se relacionan con el tratamiento y la mayor dificultad que se presenta es la falta de cooperación de los padres. Por último, cabe señalar la necesidad y la importancia de que se implementen acciones intersectoriales, preventivas y sistemáticas en el ambiente escolar.This study aimed to identify and analyze knowledge and practices, about pediculosis, from employees at Child Day Care Centers at two areas of coverage of the Family Health Units, Londrina, Paraná. It's descriptive transversal study. Form was applied with questions about myths, taboos, practices, doubts and difficulties in stopping the infestation of pediculosis in eight Child Day Care Centers. Subsequently, workshop was held with educational materials. 60.4% of employees participated, those who were present on the day determined by the institution. Almost all indicated the ectoparasitic infestation, as well as their families. The problem is faced daily in Child Day Care Centers (72.1%. Practice appropriate care is still limited. Many myths and taboos persist (lice jump, use salt, vinegar and kerosene, etc. The main questions are related to treatment and the greatest difficulty is the lack of cooperation from parents. It emphasizes, finally, the need and the importance of internal actions, preventive and systematic in the school environment.