Phylogenomic analysis of Stylops reveals the evolutionary history of a Holarctic Strepsiptera radiation parasitizing wild bees.

Holarctic Stylops is the largest genus of the enigmatic insect order Strepsiptera, twisted winged parasites. Members of Stylops are obligate endoparasites of Andrena mining bees and exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism typical of Strepsiptera. So far, molecular studies on Stylops have focused on questions on species delimitation.

Global taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of bees in apple orchards.

An essential prerequisite to safeguard pollinator species is characterisation of the multifaceted diversity of crop pollinators and identification of the drivers of pollinator community changes across biogeographical gradients. The extent to which intensive agriculture is associated with the homogenisation of biological communities at large spatial scales remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated diversity drivers for 644 bee species/morphospecies in 177 commercial apple orchards across 33 countries and four global biogeographical biomes.

A generic classification of Xenidae (Strepsiptera) based on the morphology of the female cephalothorax and male cephalotheca with a preliminary checklist of species.

The generic taxonomy and host specialization of Xenidae have been understood differently by previous authors. Although the recent generic classification has implied a specialization on the level of host families or subfamilies, the hypothesis that each xenid genus is specialized to a single host genus was also previously postulated. A critical evaluation of the classification of the genera of Xenidae is provided here based on morphology in accordance with results of recent molecular phylogenetic studies.

Frozen Antarctic path for dispersal initiated parallel host-parasite evolution on different continents.

After the break-up of Gondwana dispersal of organisms between America, Australia and Africa became more complicated. One of the possible remaining paths led through Antarctica, that was not yet glaciated and it remained habitable for many organisms. This favourable climate made Antarctica an important migration corridor for organisms with good dispersal ability, such as Aculeata (Hymenoptera), till the Oligocene cooling.

Synthesis and characterization of a new MeCAT reagent containing a photocleavable linker for labeling of proteins and peptides in mass spectrometric analyses.

The quantification of proteins and peptides becomes more important besides mere identification in modern life sciences. Therefore, we have developed a new reagent that adds to the known metall-coded affinity tagging strategy employed in molecular and elemental mass spectrometry containing a photocleavable linker. A synthesis route was developed that provides the new reagent in good yields.

Quantification of intact covalently metal labeled proteins using ESI-MS/MS.

Mass spectrometric methods matured from the successful qualitative characterization of proteins in complex mixtures into methods for quantitative proteomics often based on chemical tags with stable isotope labeling. In the study presented here, we extended the application of lanthanide-ion-based tags from the quantification using inductively coupled plasma-MS into the quantification of labeled intact proteins using electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS and ESI-MS/MS. We applied the metal chelate tag MeCAT-iodoacetamide (IA) (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane N,N',N″,N″ '-tetra acetic acid with a IA reactive site).

MeCAT--comparing relative quantification of alpha lactalbumin using both molecular and elemental mass spectrometry.

Chemical tagging with stable isotopes is one of the best established methods for the quantification of proteins using mass spectrometry, especially in non-proliferating cells and tissue. The absolute quantification of proteins is still a challenge. Metal-coded affinity tagging (MeCAT), used to label proteins and peptides with lanthanide ions, allows both, relative and absolute, quantitative determination.