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Waters JS, Keough NW, Burt J, Eckel JD, Hutchinson T, Ewanchuk J, Rock M, Markert JA, Axen HJ, Gregg D. Survey of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the city of Providence (Rhode Island, United States) and a new northern-most record for Brachyponera chinensis (Emery, 1895). CheckList 2022. [DOI: 10.15560/18.6.1347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
We surveyed ants in Providence, Rhode Island, from 2015 to 2019. Methods including repeated pitfall trap sampling and manual searching were used to collect ants at Providence College and a rapid biological assess-ment was conducted at Roger Williams Park. A total of 36 species were identified based on morphology, including the first observations of a colony of Needle Ants (Brachyponera chinensis Emery, 1895) in New England. Twenty-six species identified were new county records and seven species were new state records, representing a substantial update to the list of known ant species in Rhode Island, currently totaling 41 species in Providence and 69 spe-cies from six subfamilies across the state. These results are comparable with similarly scaled surveys conducted at parks and cities across the world, and they also offer a reminder that while urbanization can be associated with reductions in habitat availability for some fauna, cities can be accessible and ecologically important locations for exploring myrmecological biodiversity.
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Stevens L, Lima-Cordón RA, Helms Cahan S, Dorn PL, Monroy MC, Axen HJ, Nguyen A, Hernáiz-Hernánde Y, Rodas A, Justi SA. Catch me if you can: Under-detection of Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatida) infections in Triatoma dimidiata s.l. (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from Central America. Acta Trop 2021; 224:106130. [PMID: 34536368 DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2021.106130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 09/02/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Assays for parasite detection in insect vectors provide important information for disease control. American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) is the most devastating vector-borne illness and the fourth most common in Central America behind HIV/AIDS and acute respiratory and diarrheal infections (Peterson et al., 2019). Under-detection of parasites is a general problem which may be influenced by parasite genetic variation; however, little is known about the genetic variation of the Chagas parasite, especially in this region. In this study we compared six assays for detecting the Chagas parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi: genomic reduced representation sequencing (here referred to as genotype-by-sequencing or GBS), two with conventional PCR (i.e., agarose gel detection), two with qPCR, and microscopy. Our results show that, compared to GBS genomic analysis, microscopy and PCR under-detected T. cruzi in vectors from Central America. Of 94 samples, 44% (50/94) were positive based on genomic analysis. The lowest detection, 9% (3/32) was in a subset assayed with microscopy. Four PCR assays, two with conventional PCR and two with qPCR showed intermediate levels of detection. Both qPCR tests and one conventional PCR test targeted the 195 bp repeat of satellite DNA while the fourth test targeted the 18S gene. Statistical analyses of the genomic and PCR results indicate that the PCR assays significantly under detect infections of Central American T. cruzi genotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lori Stevens
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05401, USA.
| | | | - Sara Helms Cahan
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05401, USA
| | - Patricia L Dorn
- Department of Biological Sciences, Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - M Carlota Monroy
- The Applied Entomology and Parasitology Laboratory, Biology School, Pharmacy Faculty, San Carlos University of Guatemala, Guatemala
| | - Heather J Axen
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05401, USA
| | - Andrew Nguyen
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05401, USA
| | | | - Antonieta Rodas
- The Applied Entomology and Parasitology Laboratory, Biology School, Pharmacy Faculty, San Carlos University of Guatemala, Guatemala
| | - Silvia A Justi
- The Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, Smithsonian Institution Museum Support Center, MD, USA; Entomology Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD, USA
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Lecheta MC, Awde DN, O’Leary TS, Unfried LN, Jacobs NA, Whitlock MH, McCabe E, Powers B, Bora K, Waters JS, Axen HJ, Frietze S, Lockwood BL, Teets NM, Cahan SH. Integrating GWAS and Transcriptomics to Identify the Molecular Underpinnings of Thermal Stress Responses in Drosophila melanogaster. Front Genet 2020; 11:658. [PMID: 32655626 PMCID: PMC7324644 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Thermal tolerance of an organism depends on both the ability to dynamically adjust to a thermal stress and preparatory developmental processes that enhance thermal resistance. However, the extent to which standing genetic variation in thermal tolerance alleles influence dynamic stress responses vs. preparatory processes is unknown. Here, using the model species Drosophila melanogaster, we used a combination of Genome Wide Association mapping (GWAS) and transcriptomic profiling to characterize whether genes associated with thermal tolerance are primarily involved in dynamic stress responses or preparatory processes that influence physiological condition at the time of thermal stress. To test our hypotheses, we measured the critical thermal minimum (CTmin) and critical thermal maximum (CTmax) of 100 lines of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) and used GWAS to identify loci that explain variation in thermal limits. We observed greater variation in lower thermal limits, with CTmin ranging from 1.81 to 8.60°C, while CTmax ranged from 38.74 to 40.64°C. We identified 151 and 99 distinct genes associated with CTmin and CTmax, respectively, and there was strong support that these genes are involved in both dynamic responses to thermal stress and preparatory processes that increase thermal resistance. Many of the genes identified by GWAS were involved in the direct transcriptional response to thermal stress (72/151 for cold; 59/99 for heat), and overall GWAS candidates were more likely to be differentially expressed than other genes. Further, several GWAS candidates were regulatory genes that may participate in the regulation of stress responses, and gene ontologies related to development and morphogenesis were enriched, suggesting many of these genes influence thermal tolerance through effects on development and physiological status. Overall, our results suggest that thermal tolerance alleles can influence both dynamic plastic responses to thermal stress and preparatory processes that improve thermal resistance. These results also have utility for directly comparing GWAS and transcriptomic approaches for identifying candidate genes associated with thermal tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melise C. Lecheta
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - David N. Awde
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Thomas S. O’Leary
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
| | - Laura N. Unfried
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Nicholas A. Jacobs
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Miles H. Whitlock
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Eleanor McCabe
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Beck Powers
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
| | - Katie Bora
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
| | - James S. Waters
- Department of Biology, Providence College, Providence, RI, United States
| | - Heather J. Axen
- Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Salve Regina College, Providence, RI, United States
| | - Seth Frietze
- Department of Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
| | - Brent L. Lockwood
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
| | - Nicholas M. Teets
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Sara H. Cahan
- Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
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Gotzek D, Axen HJ, Suarez AV, Helms Cahan S, Shoemaker D. Global invasion history of the tropical fire ant: a stowaway on the first global trade routes. Mol Ecol 2015; 24:374-88. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.13040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2014] [Revised: 11/24/2014] [Accepted: 12/06/2014] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Dietrich Gotzek
- Department of Animal Biology and Department of Entomology; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
- Department of Entomology; National Museum of Natural History; Smithsonian Institution; Washington DC 20013 USA
| | - Heather J. Axen
- Department of Biology; University of Vermont; Burlington VT 05405 USA
| | - Andrew V. Suarez
- Department of Animal Biology and Department of Entomology; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
| | - Sara Helms Cahan
- Department of Biology; University of Vermont; Burlington VT 05405 USA
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