Counting rare endosymbionts using digital droplet PCR.

is the most widespread animal-associated intracellular microbe, living within the cells of over half of insect species. Since they can suppress pathogen replication and spread rapidly through insect populations, is at the vanguard of public health initiatives to control mosquito-borne diseases. 's abilities to block pathogens and spread quickly are closely linked to their abundance in host tissues.

Rapid host switching of and even more rapid turnover of their phages and incompatibility-causing loci.

About half of all insect species carry maternally inherited alphaproteobacteria, making the most common endosymbionts known in nature. Often spread to high frequencies within populations due to cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), a -induced sperm modification caused by prophage-associated genes () that kill embryos without . Several variants also block viruses, including Mel from when transinfected into the mosquito .

Practical Guide to Measuring Wetland Carbon Pools and Fluxes.

Unlabelled: Wetlands cover a small portion of the world, but have disproportionate influence on global carbon (C) sequestration, carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and aquatic C fluxes. However, the underlying biogeochemical processes that affect wetland C pools and fluxes are complex and dynamic, making measurements of wetland C challenging. Over decades of research, many observational, experimental, and analytical approaches have been developed to understand and quantify pools and fluxes of wetland C.

A male-killing Wolbachia endosymbiont is concealed by another endosymbiont and a nuclear suppressor.

Bacteria that live inside the cells of insect hosts (endosymbionts) can alter the reproduction of their hosts, including the killing of male offspring (male killing, MK). MK has only been described in a few insects, but this may reflect challenges in detecting MK rather than its rarity. Here, we identify MK Wolbachia at a low frequency (around 4%) in natural populations of Drosophila pseudotakahashii.

Twenty-Seven Year Response of South Carolina Coastal Plain Forests Affected by Hurricane Hugo.

In 1989, Hurricane Hugo inflicted catastrophic damage on approximately 1.8 million ha of forested land in South Carolina. The purpose of this study was to monitor species compositional shifts and structural changes in several forest types following the hurricane's disturbance.

High duty cycle moth sounds jam bat echolocation: bats counter with compensatory changes in buzz duration.

Tiger moth species vary greatly in the number of clicks they produce and the resultant duty cycle. Signals with higher duty cycles are expected to more effectively interfere with bat sonar. However, little is known about the minimum duty cycle of tiger moth signals for sonar jamming.

transcript levels largely explain cytoplasmic incompatibility variation across divergent .

Divergent hosts often associate with intracellular microbes that influence their fitness. Maternally transmitted bacteria are the most common of these endosymbionts, due largely to cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) that kills uninfected embryos fertilized by -infected males. Closely related infections in females rescue CI, providing a relative fitness advantage that drives to high frequencies.

CALMODULIN-LIKE 38 Regulates Hypoxia-Induced Autophagy of SUPPRESSOR OF GENE SILENCING 3 Bodies.

During the energy crisis associated with submergence stress, plants restrict mRNA translation and rapidly accumulate stress granules that act as storage hubs for arrested mRNA complexes. One of the proteins associated with hypoxia-induced stress granules in is the calcium-sensor protein CALMODULIN-LIKE 38 (CML38). Here, we show that SUPPRESSOR OF GENE SILENCING 3 (SGS3) is a CML38-binding protein, and that SGS3 and CML38 co-localize within hypoxia-induced RNA stress granule-like structures.

in the spittlebug : Variable infection frequencies, but no apparent effect on host reproductive isolation.

Animals serve as hosts for complex communities of microorganisms, including endosymbionts that live inside their cells. bacteria are perhaps the most common endosymbionts, manipulating host reproduction to propagate. Many cause cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), which results in reduced egg hatch when uninfected females mate with infected males.

Extreme Duty Cycles in the Acoustic Signals of Tiger Moths: Sexual and Natural Selection Operating in Parallel.

Sound production in tiger moths (Erebidae: Arctiinae) plays a role in natural selection. Some species use tymbal sounds as jamming signals avoiding bat predation. High duty cycle signals have the greatest efficacy in this regard.

A phylogeny for the Drosophila montium species group: A model clade for comparative analyses.

The Drosophila montium species group is a clade of 94 named species, closely related to the model species D. melanogaster. The montium species group is distributed over a broad geographic range throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia.

Spontaneous motor-behavior abnormalities in two models of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Mutations in hundreds of genes cause neurodevelopmental disorders with abnormal motor behavior alongside cognitive deficits. Boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS), a leading monogenic cause of intellectual disability, often display repetitive behaviors, a core feature of autism. By direct observation and manual analysis, we characterized spontaneous-motor-behavior phenotypes of mutants, an established model for FXS.

Divergent biotic and abiotic filtering of root endosphere and rhizosphere soil fungal communities along ecological gradients.

Plant roots assemble in two distinct microbial compartments: the rhizosphere (microbes in soil surrounding roots) and the endosphere (microbes within roots). Our knowledge of fungal community assembly in these compartments is limited, especially in wetlands. We tested the hypothesis that biotic factors would have direct effects on rhizosphere and endosphere assembly, while abiotic factors would have direct and indirect effects.

Dynamics of dissolved organic matter and disinfection byproduct precursors along a low elevation gradient in woody wetlands - an implication of hydrologic impacts of climate change on source water quality.

Foliar litter is an important terrestrial source of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in the source water supply. Climate changes could alter precipitation patterns and hydroperiods in woody wetlands, resulting in a hydrologic shift along the low elevation gradient and change the productions of DOC and DBP precursors and their exports to source water. Here, we conducted an 80-week field decomposition study using fresh-fallen leaves along an elevation gradient, representing well-drained, relatively moist, and inundated environments, in Congaree National Park, South Carolina.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: A Narrative Review of its Application in Cardiac Surgery.

Background: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a perioperative patient management strategy that is being adopted rapidly across surgical specialties worldwide. Components of ERAS work collaboratively throughout the perioperative course to achieve significant benefits for both the patient and the entire health care system. The use of ERAS in cardiac surgery (ERAS-C) could lead to similar improvements, but currently, use of ERAS-C programs is lacking and not well defined.

Acquisition by -Clade Hosts and Transfer of Incompatibility Loci Between Distantly Related .

Maternally transmitted infect about half of insect species, yet the predominant mode(s) of acquisition remains uncertain. Species-specific associations could be old, with and hosts codiversifying (, cladogenic acquisition), or relatively young and acquired by horizontal transfer or introgression. The three -clade hosts [(, ) ] diverged ∼3 MYA and currently hybridize on the West African islands Bioko and São Tomé.

Loss of cytoplasmic incompatibility and minimal fecundity effects explain relatively low Wolbachia frequencies in Drosophila mauritiana.

Maternally transmitted Wolbachia bacteria infect about half of all insect species. Many Wolbachia cause cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) and reduced egg hatch when uninfected females mate with infected males. Although CI produces a frequency-dependent fitness advantage that leads to high equilibrium Wolbachia frequencies, it does not aid Wolbachia spread from low frequencies.

The jamming avoidance response in echolocating bats.

Bats face many sources of acoustic interference in their natural environments, including other bats and potential prey items that affect their ability to interpret the returning echoes of their biosonar signals. To be able to navigate and forage successfully, bats must be able to counteract this interference and one of the ways they achieve this is by altering the various parameters of their echolocation. We describe these changes in signal design within the context of a modified definition of the jamming avoidance response originally applied to the signal changes of weakly electric fish.

Genome-wide divergence among invasive populations of Aedes aegypti in California.

Background: In the summer of 2013, Aedes aegypti Linnaeus was first detected in three cities in central California (Clovis, Madera and Menlo Park). It has now been detected in multiple locations in central and southern CA as far south as San Diego and Imperial Counties. A number of published reports suggest that CA populations have been established from multiple independent introductions.

Active acoustic interference elicits echolocation changes in heterospecific bats.

Echolocating bats often forage in the presence of both conspecific and heterospecific individuals, which have the potential to produce acoustic interference. Recent studies have shown that at least one bat species, the Brazilian free-tailed bat (), produces specialized social signals that disrupt the sonar of conspecific competitors. We herein discuss the differences between passive and active jamming signals and test whether heterospecific jamming occurs in species overlapping spatiotemporally, as well as whether such interference elicits a jamming avoidance response.

Rapid Global Spread of wRi-like Wolbachia across Multiple Drosophila.

Maternally transmitted Wolbachia, Spiroplasma, and Cardinium bacteria are common in insects [1], but their interspecific spread is poorly understood. Endosymbionts can spread rapidly within host species by manipulating host reproduction, as typified by the global spread of wRi Wolbachia observed in Drosophila simulans [2, 3]. However, because Wolbachia cannot survive outside host cells, spread between distantly related host species requires horizontal transfers that are presumably rare [4-7].

Genome comparisons indicate recent transfer of Ri-like between sister species and .

endosymbionts may be acquired by horizontal transfer, by introgression through hybridization between closely related species, or by cladogenic retention during speciation. All three modes of acquisition have been demonstrated, but their relative frequency is largely unknown. and its sister species harbor , denoted Suz and Spc, very closely related to Ri, identified in California populations of .